Action Alert: Speak up about 340 W 2nd Street project

UPDATE: We hear from the City that the community process on this project will "most likely be concluding tomorrow" 3/11. Speak up now.

Our friends at the Saint Vincent’s Lower End Neighborhood Association (SVLENA) need your help to speak up about 340 W 2nd Street.

Please help by attending the ZBA meeting on March 11th at 11:30 am at Boston City Hall, Room 801 and speak out against this project because: 

• Grossly exceeds the Floor to Area Ratio that is established on the site.
• Developer was unwilling to make height & density changes requested by the community.
• The entire Saint Vinny's Neighborhood Association is against this project.
• Major privacy concerns between proposed building and nearby existing building.
• Will create an unsanitary condition in the small gap between buildings.
• Density issues for the neighborhood.
• (Please feel free to add to this list) 

Can't attend, but want to speak up? Contact: Eric Prentis and Councillor Bill Linehan

Action Alert: BU Bio Lab

About
For over 10 years, local residents have been fighting to stop Boston University from building a BioSafety Level 4 (BSL4) laboratory in the Roxbury/South End area. According to the Stop the Bio Lab Coalition, the lab would research pathogens such as tularemia, anthrax, and the Ebola viruses -- many of which can be transmitted through the air. According to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, 

"An agent escaping containment would pose a severe threat to public health and the environment and could cause a public health crisis." 

Action Alert: South Boston deserves safety for all pedestrians

Southie Walks Action Alert
Call our neighborhood officials and let them know: South Boston deserves safety for all pedestrians.

• Neighborhood Coordinator Eric Prentis: 617-635-3485
• City Councilor Bill Linehan: 617-635-3203
• Representative Nick Collins: 617-722-2080

Below is a photo of E 4th St at the Stop and Shop parking lot. The same thing happens on East Broadway at the Rite Aid lot where vehicles park over the lot line onto the sidewalk and into the path of pedestrians, strollers and kids -- without any barriers. Just look at the Rite Aid on Dot Ave to see what we in South Boston deserve -- fences, landscape, walkways and well marked direction exits. 

Conflict with pedestrians and vehicles is reaching crisis. More curb cuts and garage doors are crossing side walks (that have been narrowed by variance relief from lot line set backs) everywhere in South Boston.

The BRA and the ZBA apparently have ignored the city's recommendations in the Complete Streets document from the Transportation Dept. regarding sidewalk depth in many new projects.

Without adequate safety measures and attention to sidewalk design to protect pedestrians, the developers are not being held accountable. Businesses like Stop and Shop and Rite Aid have to make their lots safer and we need our elected officials support to insure that changes are made.
  

The above alert was submitted by Mary Cooney, a South Boston pedestrian advocate.

2/21 Update: A woman was in serious condition after being struck Thursday night by a car on Day Boulevard in South Boston. Details. When you call the above officials, please ask them to share and act on their ideas about how to prevent more tragic pedestrian incidents.