#WillTwitterSaveSouthie? Look what happened last week

Fed up with feeling unheard in the development process, one neighbor turned to Twitter. Look what happened!

The South Boston resident who started @SaveKStreet explains, "This was my second tweet and I sent it on my way to work. That morning I had a 3 hour meeting first thing in the morning. When I got out and checked my phone I could not believe what I saw. Twitter (relatively speaking) blew up. I had retweets, favorites, mentions and followers." 

@planetsouthie Developer at 151-155 K St is trying to build 3 townhouses on a tiny lot with zero open space against zoning. Need your help!
— Save K Street (@SaveKStreet) February 6, 2014

@PlanetSouthie and several others retweeted. 

Hey #Southie ! Care about development & quality of life issues in #SouthBoston ? Follow @SaveKStreet and act. Please RT! @maureencaught
— Planet Southie (@planetsouthie) February 6, 2014

Just 8 hours after @SaveKStreet's first tweet: Success! 

@planetsouthie @kennycooks @SaveKStreet did you hear the news? The project has been stopped. #kstreethasbeensaved
— Caught in Southie (@maureencaught) February 6, 2014

Hey @planetsouthie This morning I had two followers. Then I tweeted you. Thank God you use your powers for good! #kstreetsaved
— Save K Street (@SaveKStreet) February 6, 2014

Awwww shucks

And a thank you to the unnamed developer who clearly loves Southie as much as I do! #kstreetsaved
— Save K Street (@SaveKStreet) February 6, 2014

Since we're on a roll, we will continue to engage our community via Twitter:

@maureencaught @SaveKStreet Next: 340 W 2nd St. Entire St Vinny's Neighborhood Assoc opposes. 8 variances! Grossly exceeds Floor:Area Ratio
— Planet Southie (@planetsouthie) February 6, 2014

While social media is no substitute for real-life community engagement (join your Neighborhood Association!), this is a new angle on what feels like an otherwise impenetrable process.

We realize the above is a grand simplification of a far more complex multi-sided issue. We highly recommend that you read SaveKStreet's story about it for a much richer account and insights from different angles. Oh, and be sure to follow @SaveKStreet on Twitter!

Stay tuned!


Note: at Planet Southie's January Strategic Planning Meeting, "Balanced Development" was identified as a priority area to take action and engage new and long-time residents.