You can make a difference!

Our mission is to spread awareness of how proposed development will forever affect Boston’s waterfront.  We ask everyone who lives, works or simply loves Boston to urge Governor Baker to not approve the City of Boston’s Municipal Harbor Plan, which would allow towering buildings at the edge of Boston’s historic waterfront to the detriment of the neighborhood and the public realm.

Click the Orange Bar to sign and add your name to the list of Concerned Citizens.

The Petition Text:
(Letter to Governor Baker)

Citizens opposed to the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan

Dear Governor Baker,

I join with hundreds of other citizens who live, work, visit and enjoy the Downtown Waterfront in opposing the proposed MHP.

How does it hurt the public realm?  Let me count the ways.

• It totally ignores the need to continue the Harborwalk from Columbus Park to Congress Street.
• Where is the much-discussed pedestrian connection to continue the Harborwalk from Hooks’ across the Moakley Bridge?
• Why isn’t there a plan to close Old Atlantic Ave. for pedestrian access?
• Where is the ferry terminal?
  How is a desperately needed public amenity totally ignored in favor of an easy-to-build, easy-to-maintain park?  This is especially ridiculous since Christopher Columbus Park and the Greenway are just steps away.
  A park isn’t needed; a ferry terminal is.
• It ignores the unique historical significance of the area, which is just a stone’s throw from the site of the Boston Tea Party.
• It is simply not a PLAN … it is not a vision … it is not transformational … it’s a developer’s dream.
• What is the plan for the hundreds of additional vehicles that will service and visit the new hotel and condos and offices?  The hotel guests, the food delivery trucks, the utility trucks, the taxis and Ubers, the laundry services, the residents, the office workers, the sanitation trucks … Again, no plan.  Building with no transportation infrastructure plan = the Seaport and resultant traffic chaos.  Can the City of Boston and the State of Massachusetts not learn from their mistakes?

In addition to hurting the public realm, the MHP hurts the neighborhood.
I support the financial protection provided for the Aquarium in the MHP and the impressive vision plans of the Wharf District Council and the Aquarium (both nonprofits) for the area.
But the BPDA’s promise in the 2017 MHP draft of 50% open space on the Harbor Garage site made was changed behind closed doors with no input from or notice to the public until it was a done deal. Reducing open space below the Chapter 91 requirement of 50% reduces the livability of the area by dramatically increasing congestion on the ground.

The insult to the spirit of Chapter 91 is obvious for all to see as are the benefits to the developers.  The MHP process has taken five years but our concerns have not been addressed.

DO NOT approve this plan  – DO NOT allow this to happen!
Boston and the State must do better!

Signature (Sign by Clicking the Orange Bar)