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As the budget hearing process in city council draws to a close, residents will have an opportunity to provide two minutes of public testimony on May 26. The council will hold a capital budget hearing in the morning from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. The public can provide testimony during that hearing or at another hearing later in the evening between 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. 

The hearings will take place prior to the council’s first vote on the budget on June 3. 

Allstonia has compiled a few takeaways from the budget hearings focused on schools and community centers. Over the next two days, we will continue to release summaries from parts of the budget hearings related to Allston-Brighton. 

City officials acknowledged importance of Jackson Mann, did not commit to a timeline

Over the course of multiple budget meetings, city officials acknowledged the importance of the Jackson Mann Community Center for the Allston-Brighton community. Officials say that they are taking tangible steps, but they could not commit to a timeline.

As discussion for the capital budget meeting opened on April 14, Chief of Operations Dion Irish says that the Wu administration agrees that Allston-Brighton needs a community center.

He said that the city was taking steps through studies, including the feasibility study that was released later in April, and discussions with Boston Public Schools (BPS), which owns at least a part of the Jackson Mann, regarding its long-term facility plan.

“Things are not moving as fast as any of us would like, but they’re moving and the commitment is still there,” Irish said. 

Later in the same hearing, Councilor-at-Large Henry Santana pushed Irish for a timeline that he could share with the Allston-Brighton community regarding the Jackson Mann. 

“I wish I could give a timeline for every single project on this five-year plan, but the reality is that we can’t, but we’re taking tangible steps,” said Irish. 

Two weeks later, Allston-Brighton City Councilor Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Breadon pressed Chief of Civic Organizing Brianna Millor on how the decision to not allocate new funding for the Jackson Mann was made. 

Millor said that the Wu administration heard “loud and clear” that the Allston-Brighton neighborhood wants to see a community center. She said that her understanding was that the city was going through the process with programming and housing studies.

Breadon pushed back, saying that there has already been a long community process and that the studies will age out after five years if the city doesn’t take action.

Millor said that she does not oversee that part of the capital planning. Her role, she says, was to “uplift the voices of the community.”

When Breadon asked Millor for a timeline, her six minutes of questioning had run out. 

Boston Public Schools reinforce commitment for an Allston-Brighton elementary school, no timeline given

Boston Public Schools (BPS) Chief of Capital Planning Delavern Stanislaus said that the city remained committed to a pre-K-6 school in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood but said that there was no timeline or location when questioned.

In the current capital budget, Boston Public Schools was allocated $500,000 for a programming study for an Allston Elementary School. However, there are no plans to spend that money until 2028 at the earliest.

“We don’t have a timeline,” Stanislaus said regarding the Allston Elementary school.

“We don’t have a location yet. As we partner with MSBA [Massachusetts School Building Authority], one of the things that happens is if we move through the eligibility period and into feasibility, the MSBA would work with the district looking at the different parcels that the district owned and identify a site that would fit the program for an elementary school.”

Brighton High School repairs will proceed with a feasibility study in August

Repairs for Brighton High School received a ten-million dollar allocation in this year’s capital budget. The repairs are intended for the auditorium, roof and heating, vent and air-conditioning system. 

Delavern Stanislaus, Chief of Capital Planning of BPS, said that the project was moving along “quite well” and that the next step is to put together a team with the city’s Public Facilities department and move forward with a feasibility study in August. 

Breadon raised a concern with Stanislaus about whether there will be a functional heating system in time for October given that one of the two heating systems at the school was no longer functioning. 

Stanislaus said that BPS’s Chief of Operations Brian Forde was working on it.

Breadon inquires about weekend programming, cooling center status for the Jackson Mann

During the budget hearing with Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) on May 18, Breadon inquired about the possibility of Saturday programming at the Jackson Mann Communtiy Center and its status as a cooling center.

Councilor Breadon said that Saturday programming will allow for more families to use the facility. 

Edward McGuire, Director of Operations at BCYF, said that under current funding and staff capacity, the community center can operate five days a week either Monday to Friday or Tuesday to Saturday. 

McGuire said that the Jackson Mann is currently down one staff member, which is an athletics director. He said that with the addition of a staff member, they could explore the possibility of programming for six days a week.

Breadon asked BCYF Commissioner Marta Rivera if there were plans for the Jackson Mann to be a cooling center for this upcoming summer given that it had served as a cooling center in the past. 

“I don’t know if it is functioning as a cooling center currently,” said Rivera. “If it was, it will continue to be so long as it has the ability to cool.” 

Jackson Mann was listed as a BCYF cooling center in 2020, but, in the 2026 list of cooling centers published on the City of Boston website, it was no longer listed as one. However, it’s unclear why it was removed as a cooling center between 2020 and 2026. 

McGuire mentioned that the only way for a site to be removed from the cooling center list is if it has a specific issue with the heating, venting, and air conditioning system. 

On the City of Boston website, the Veronica Smith Senior Center is the only location in Allston-Brighton listed as a cooling center. However, the center will be undergoing repairs starting this summer for its HVAC system. ■