Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Allston Civic Association Monthly Meeting on September 16

• ACA looking for new leadership: At the beginning of this month’s meeting, Tony D’Isidoro announced that this was the beginning of his tenth year as President of the ACA. He says that his interest was to serve ten years and is now looking for recommendations for a new ACA president.
• Police Report by BPD District Police Officer Christine Marini
  • Linden Street Nightly Closures: As construction for the Cambridge Street Bridge Preservation moves onto its next stage, Linden Street will be closed nightly between 9pm to 5am from Monday to Friday (and occasionally on Saturday) for the next two to six months. Traffic from Brighton Avenue to Linden Street will be diverted into Harvard Avenue.
  • Crime Report:
    • Overall, crime is down.
    • One attempted break-in on Mapleton Street (unsuccessful)
    • Guest Street has had some robberies:
      • at least 18 people have had their chains stolen from their necks across three events at Roadrunner
      • unsuccessful break-in at 40 Guest Street (around $1000 of damage)
      • Moped stolen on 125 Guest Street
    • Shoplifting at CVSs on Harvard Avenue and Market Street
• Alcohol Licensing:
  • Balance Patch is seeking to upgrade beer/wine license to all-alcohol license. They hope to upgrade to an all-alcohol license. One of the reasons that they cited was to expand their offerings to include more flavors of soju (a Korean alcoholic drink) that are classified as liquors rather than cordials. They are looking for a hearing date in October.
  • Myung Dong 1st Avenue is seeking to upgrade its beer/wine license to all-alcohol license. As a Korean “pocha” restaurant in Allston since 2009, they hope to expand their offerings to include more authentic drinks and to compete with newer restaurants in the area. 
  • Tom Yum Yang, a new Thai restaurant that is about to open, is seeking a full alcohol license to serve higher-proof sake and cocktails. The restaurant will have seating for 88 customers, and hours will run from 11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M.
• Extended Hours:
  • Novo Marketplace, made up of 14 different food vendors, is looking to extend its closing time from 12:00 A.M. to 2:00 A.M. 
• 169-177 Cambridge Street:
  • A new development proposes to demolish four existing structures and build a new six-story residential unit with 151 units. 
  • The current breakdown is 89 (59%) one-bedroom units, 52 (34%) studios, and 10 (7%) two-bedroom units. Twenty-six of the units will be designated as affordable units.
  • There will be 26 underground parking units.
    

Three Developments Considered for Tax Abatement from the City

On September 14, the City of Boston Planning Department announced that it was considering three Allston-Brighton developments for tax abatement. These developments are: 22-24 Pratt Street, 83 Leo M. Birmingham Parkway, and Allston Yards Building D. According to an email from the Planning Department, these developments have not begun construction “due to macroeconomic conditions, including high interest rates, and increasing costs on building materials and labor.” 

By considering these developments for tax relief, the City of Boston hopes that it would make the project more financially viable and could catalyze the beginning of construction to build housing. 

Residents have until October 14 to comment on the tax abatement. Link to comments above.

Second Survey on Jackson Mann

The City of Boston has extended the deadline for the second Jackson Mann survey to September 28. The survey follows a planning meeting in August about the potential uses of the space alongside the community center. At the ACA meeting on September 16, Jo Ann Barbour said that at a recent Allston Brighton Health Collaborative meeting, Grey Black from the Boston Planning Department mentioned that the City was looking for at least 100 more responses.

USPS Questionnaire for Permanently Closing Allston Office

The United States Postal Service is seeking community feedback for a study to permanently close the Allston Post Office. They seek feedback in the form of a questionnaire mailed to residents on September 4. They ask that residents mail their feedback to the address on the questionnaire by October 11.