Hello Everybody!
Our campaign is up and running!
We kicked off our campaign on Saturday, April 22 at the new Portico Brewing taproom at 101 South Street in Boynton Yards. We heard uplifting comments from several local figures, including Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott, State Rep Erika Uyterhoeven, Henry Parker, Kate Auspitz, and of course Will himself. There was good ale, cider, and lots of energetic conversation.
Boynton Yards, Wow!
The kickoff gave us a chance to check in on the development in Boynton Yards and Union Square. Portico Brewing is on the ground floor of 101 South Street - a new nine story lab building with more than 300,000 square feet of research space. The building is already fully leased and is host to four biotech companies who bring a total of more 600 workers in genetics and artificial intelligence to the site on a daily basis.
Union Square T-station
On the way to the event, we passed the new Union Square T station - which is Just a block from 101 South Street. The influx of workers in Boynton Yards has given city planners an early test of their theories around mobility.
We wondered - What are the volumes of passengers at peak hours? How many of those lab workers are taking the T, biking, walking, or driving? How many people use the new Boynton Yard shuttle busses that go directly to the Orange Line at Sullivan and the Red Line at Kendall?
The city and state have not yet released any official numbers, but an urban planner friend has been making informal counts. He estimates that the morning and evening peak hour trains are carrying 50-60 people each, and the daytime off-peak trains have 20-25 apiece. In total, that’s 2,000 passengers who use Union Station on an average weekday. While we cannot yet measure any trend of diminishing auto use, we are optimistic.
In a few more months the new labs at 10 Prospect Street will open, along with the adjacent residential buildings. When that happens, we will finally be rid of the construction scaffolds and fences around the T station. Instead, passengers will be welcomed to Union Square through a wide an lively plaza.
Budgets and Policies
The early signs seem to validate the decisions made by the former Mayor and prior City Councils. Long-promised tax revenue is materializing, along with linkage fees to support housing and, of course, jobs. While we celebrate those wins, we also need to keep parallel trends in mind - particularly those around displacement and the ongoing challenges with developers trying to walk back their promises to the community. These lessons learned should inform future plans, budgets, and policies at all levels.
The Boston regional economy is showing signs of slowing growth. Office buildings downtown and in the suburbs have been slow to re-fill after the worst of the COVID epidemic. Large blocks of office space remain vacant, and commercial property rents and prices are dropping.
For now, the market for lab space remains strong. Some say that we risk having too much lab space, an over-supply, with more than 20 million square feet of new lab space under construction regionally. Combined with the waves of layoffs in local biotechs, and the failure of the venture economy’s long-time partner, Silicon Valley Bank the signals are certainly mixed.
City leaders need to drive forward with a strong, optimistic vision - but balance it with realism and careful attention to detail.
Sincerely,
The Committee to Elect Will Mbah
