Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday said he doesn't want the South Boston Waterfront to be just for luxury condos and glittery retail stores. In a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Menino also reiterated his provocative call of last year to move City Hall to the South Boston Waterfront.
The 1,000-acre waterfront, he said, has room for other businesses and activities: universities, hospitals, nonprofit organizations, life sciences laboratories, and financial services firms. After decades of false starts, the area is busy with development. The 21-acre Fan Pier is under construction, develop er John B. Hynes III is planning a large mixed-use development on parking lots nearby, and World Trade Center developer John Drew is hoping to start Waterside Place, a shopping complex near the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.
But, Menino said, "I am not totally satisfied with our results thus far, and I remain firm in my belief that this part of town must belong to all Bostonians. We must broaden the mix of uses in these blocks." His spoke at the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel, one of several large projects in the area built in the past two years. Menino told the audience that he and the new director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, John Palmieri, "will think boldly to empower Boston" by working with the private sector to create economic growth.
The BRA, a real estate planning and development agency, will become even more involved in economic development, Menino said. "Today's global competition demands that we reorient our planning and economic development," he said. "City government must do more to reach out to businesses and support you." At the same time, Menino said, he will be promoting city efforts to improve the environment. He said $500 million from various sources will be spent toward the city's goal of creating 2,500 "green collar" jobs in the next five years.
Menino said he has brought the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, Boston's public schools, and organized labor together to develop a "green" workforce and worked to provide $250,000 to help "empower young Boston residents to take full advantage of the new jobs we are creating." Menino praised the chamber's efforts to get financial services executives to work with local business schools on programs that will "solidify Boston's reputation as a global center for years to come."
"I love this idea," the mayor said. In January, he will convene a discussion among business-school deans and top company executives to develop strategies to develop "innovative public policy that can help this industry grow."
Menino clearly has not given up on his idea of selling City Hall and its 9 acres for development and moving out of the current building, which has been neglected and needs millions of dollars' worth of maintenance work. Though his suggestion to move to a new building in South Boston has brought him criticism, Menino said: "I will not just sit back and stare at the status quo. That is no way to lead a city as great as Boston."
Source: Boston.com