At 2072 Massachusetts Ave. project, we sacrifice one affordable housing community for another
I am a resident of the Leonard J. Russell Apartments, the low-income affordable housing for seniors and disabled people at 2050 Massachusetts Ave. in North Cambridge. I’ve lived in Cambridge for many decades and believe in the importance of civic engagement. That is why when plans were unveiled for a major new affordable housing development next door at 2072 Massachusetts Ave., I volunteered to help collect input from the residents of our building.
The residents of our building know the value of affordable housing; it is a lifesaver for our community members who could not otherwise afford to live in Cambridge. We want more people to have this opportunity – all the better if they are next door! But while we are the most highly affected of any abutter to the proposed project, we have been the least consulted or prioritized.
We struggled to get specific visual renderings of the Russell side view of the project from the developers. Communication with our residents about the building plans was limited and ineffective (many residents don’t have computers, speak English as a second language or are afraid to speak out for fear of jeopardizing their housing). We have been ignored: We were not consulted on major design changes that would significantly affect our residents. Despite these challenges, we engaged more than 60 percent of our community in providing feedback about the project.
We realized quickly that the proposed building was not designed with its neighbors – or neighborhood – in mind. The enormous scale of the proposed building will tower over our home, bringing new traffic and safety risks to the front of the building and removing light, privacy and quiet from the back of the building. The Walden Street and Massachusetts Avenue intersection, already highly congested and risky for our seniors, will become even more dangerous. The construction process is guaranteed to be hellish for us, as the proposed building is only 4 feet from our apartment walls. We have shared our concerns with the developers and city officials, but they did not respond with any significant changes to the building design that address our concerns.
Worst of all, the latest revision in the project design, to be presented at the Board of Zoning Appeal on Thursday, offers no improvements that respond to the needs of our community. It makes almost no reduction in building size and density, while actually expanding the part of the building that looms over our back windows and terrace. These plans were released too late for us to be able to submit comments on them in advance of the meeting.
This project is being heard Thursday by the Board of Zoning Appeal. Meeting details are here.
The process leading up to this point has been disillusioning. We have watched developers and regulators (such as the Planning Board and city officials) make decisions without considering us or prioritizing our needs. We have seen community dialogue degenerate into insults, caricatures and ideological rants without considering the realities of our vulnerable population. We hear lots of people making speeches about the need to expand affordable housing at any cost – including the cost of the well-being and safety of the existing affordable-housing community here at Russell Apartments.
I’m disappointed that the City of Cambridge could embrace an approach to development that crams every possible unit into a small space without regard to neighbors or the context of the community. Our hope is that the building could be six stories on Massachusetts Avenue and three on Walden. The polarized, moralistic arguments about this project are not helping. We should instead be using visionary urban design, together with community consultation, to bring affordable housing that gives consideration to neighborhoods.
No plan is perfect. But in this case Cambridge is sacrificing one affordable housing community for another.
Margaret Rueter, Russell Apartments
It’s upsetting to read that no one is advocating for this vulnerable population who lives in affordable housing and is right next door to the proposed development.
These are the people whose lives will be negatively impacted. It’s important to listen and act on their concerns.
For those hoping to see affordable housing built at 2072 Mass Ave but with less impact to the Russell Apartment residents, please consider signing our petition. Email us at [email protected]
This is really a wonderful letter from Margaret Rueter. I commend her for speaking up on behalf of the elderly residents of affordable housing next door to 2072 Mass Ave. How people get away with preaching about “affordable housing” while never demonstrating the slightest concern for the people who actually live in it is a great mystery to me. (“Virtue signaling” is the new word for this, I gather.) I fear the real problem here is not so much “affordable housing communities” being pitted against reach other, as it is a for-profit developer trying to play one largely united group of neighbors who are asking for a more reasonably-scaled project overall off against a smaller group who may be tempted to acquiesce to an extremely modest “concession” in height at the rear of the building, which would hurt residents of the Russell Apartments, in particular. No one should fall for this ruse. In unity has always been our strength, especially in situations like this one. Demand something reasonable that respects the needs of everyone. Cambridge is supposed to be a “center” for the “innovation economy.” So why do we seem unable to “innovate” when it comes to the design and production of affordable housing in a manner that is more compatible with the needs of existing neighbors?? At roughly $700,000 a unit – financed largely with public funds – we certainly deserve something which will pass muster with the majority of those in Cambridge who live closest to this project, while simultaneously meeting a regional need for more affordable housing in general. Let’s see if we can “walk and chew gum” at the same time.
This is really a wonderful letter from Margaret Rueter. I commend her for speaking up on behalf of the elderly residents of affordable housing next door to 2072 Mass Ave. How people get away with preaching about “affordable housing” while never demonstrating the slightest concern for the people who actually live in it is a great mystery to me. (“Virtue signaling” is the new word for this, I gather.) I fear the real problem here is not so much “affordable housing communities” being pitted against each other, as it is a for-profit developer trying to play one largely united group of neighbors, who are asking for a more reasonably-scaled project overall, against a smaller group, who may be tempted to acquiesce to an extremely modest “concession” in height at the rear of the building, which would hurt residents of the Russell Apartments in particular. No one should fall for such a ruse. In unity has always been our strength, especially in situations like this one. Demand something reasonable that respects the needs of everyone. Cambridge is supposed to be a “center” for the “innovation economy.” So, why do we seem unable to “innovate” when it comes to the design and production of affordable housing in a manner which is more compatible with the needs of existing neighbors?? At roughly $700,000 a unit – financed largely with public funds – we certainly deserve something which will pass muster with the majority of those in Cambridge who live closest to this project, while simultaneously meeting a regional need for more affordable housing in general. Let’s see if we can “walk and chew gum” at the same time.