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Shortly before neighbors congregated for a rally at the Jackson Mann Community Center on April 14, Mayor Michelle Wu convened an invite-only meeting with residents at the Veronica Smith Senior Center (20 Chestnut Hill Ave) about funding for a community center.

The meeting marked the one of the first times Wu spoke with residents about the Jackson Mann a little more than a week after she released the capital budget. The budget, which allocated 10 million dollars for a programming study across five years, drew criticism from residents for its lack of a long-term commitment. 

In a statement to Allstonia, a City of Boston spokesperson confirmed that the meeting took place.

Several attendees, who were given a few hours’ notice about the meeting, say that Wu organized the meeting to explain her perspective on Jackson Mann.

Wu had been in the neighborhood earlier that day for an event at the Brighton Marines Hospital (77 Warren St). At 2:30 P.M., eight to ten residents gathered in the senior center with the mayor. 

Alongside Wu, attendees say that other city officials attended the meeting including Chief of Community Engagement Brianna Millor, Deputy Chief of Operations Patricia Cafferky, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning Beata Coloyan, and Allston-Brighton Neighborhood Liaison Jennifer Roberts.

According to multiple residents at the meeting, Wu explained that the City could not commit more money to the Jackson Mann in this year’s capital budget because it still has to make several key decisions, including whether Boston Public Schools (BPS) will retain ownership of the building and how much a new community center would cost.

Nikhil Dasgupta, who produces digital content around local issues and attended the meeting, says that although he does not find the mayor’s arguments unreasonable, he is concerned that they could be excuses to delay funding the project further. 

“We’ve been asking for this funding for a really long time. While it might feel like there are good reasons this year, once you’re being given excuses for kicking the can down the road for a decade, it’s hard to be mollified by the arguments,” says Dasgupta, who also serves as the Engagement and Operations Manager for Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative. 

At the meeting, Wu said that the ongoing financial feasibility study would be released at the end of month. A few weeks later in late April, the city released the feasibility study, which offers a first glimpse of a price tag on several models of the new Jackson Mann site. These models include variations on inclusion of a community center, BPS school, and housing.

Dasgupta says that the mayor mentioned that the City seems to be moving away from combining community centers and schools, due to restrictions around accessibility along with privacy and security concerns. However, he said that Wu did not make a definitive commitment on the issue with regard to Jackson Mann.

Because the current Jackson Mann was the site of two now-closed public schools, BPS must make a decision on whether to retain its partial ownership of the school before development for a community center can proceed. 

Both Dasgupta and Anthony D’Isidoro, who is the President of the Allston Civic Association and was present at the meeting, said that, based on the meeting, the City plans to make a final decision about the model for a new Jackson Mann by the end of this year.

Attendees also say that Wu asked three things of them during the meeting: to not be divisive regarding other neighborhoods, to lobby with the state legislature regarding property tax allocation, and to be creative about the programming for Jackson Mann such that it suits the needs of Allston-Brighton. 

Some say that while they appreciate these requests from the mayor, they push back particularly on the first point.

“I personally support more community resources being invested in neighborhoods,” says Dasgupta. “I just want to see that equity extended to Allston-Brighton as well. I don’t think we’ve been divisive so far. I don’t think that’s been the approach in the way we’ve been talking about this.”

In the end, residents say that the meeting fell short of the firm and public commitment that they were looking for.

Barbara Parmenter, an attendee who campaigned for Mayor Wu twice and now leads the coalition Allston-Brighton Housing Action, says that she hopes for a more public statement from the mayor on a timeline for the Jackson Mann. 

“What I like to see is some clear, publicly-stated commitment. Why meet with a small number of us? Why not make this public statement to the whole community?” she said. “Without saying that publicly and putting some dates to it, it’s hard for me to see it as very reassuring.” 

A city spokesperson wrote in a statement, “The Jackson Mann has been a cornerstone of Allston-Brighton and continued community engagement is essential to shaping its future. To support that process, the City is holding additional public meetings to share updates, gather feedback on potential future uses of the site, and help guide the next phase of redevelopment planning so the project best serves the neighborhood and its residents.”

D’Isidoro says that without a clear design and full budget commitment from the city, neighboring institutions, like Harvard University and New Balance, will be less likely to contribute toward the costs for a new Jackson Mann. 

While she was on the Harvard Allston Task Force, Parmenter said that Harvard University rejected their request to include funding for a Jackson Mann in their ten-year institutional master plan because there was no commitment from the city.

D’Isidoro also says that while Wu “made a commitment to a process” during the meeting, he ultimately hopes for something stronger. 

“Do we hope to get to a point where the mayor, in writing, publicly comes out and makes a firm enough commitment to move forward to, in essence, finalize a design, put a budget together, allocate more money in the capital budget, go out and get other people to contribute?” he stated.

“Is that the goal to get at least to that point? Absolutely.”