The Battle for Gate of Heaven School

1.4 min readBy Published On: May 9th, 2015Categories: News8 Comments

Some neighbors would rather condos.

A CIS reader shared this note they received in the neighborhood of the Gate of Heaven School. Apparently not everyone shares the same view of the Gate of Heaven Neighborhood Association led by life-long Southie resident and neighborhood association president Kevin Lally. Lally and company challenged the archdiocese over selling the building to a developer instead of making into a charter school. After organizing a neighborhood meeting and attending the the City of Boston Zoning Board of Appeals hearing to voice opposition, the zoning board granted a deferral for the hearing until June 23rd to give more time for discussion about the project. According to the Boston Herald, a few dozen people showed up to voice their concern over converting the Gate of Heaven School into condos. This pro-condo neighborhood group – is urging resident who may feel like they have been “bullied,” to reach out to their local politicians and voice their opposition to the charter school.

The backstory:
Mayor Marty Walsh had temporarily blocked the condo proposal last summer after the Gate of Heaven Neighborhood Association was so passionately opposed to it. The Boston Archdiocese closed the school in 2008 and neighbors wanted a new public school or charter school to take over the space. But eight months later, no school tenant has been found, so Walsh decided to let the project go before the BRA and well…we know how that ends. Approved.

We shall see come June 23rd.

To read a signed letter in support of condos visit: https://caughtinsouthie.com/news-politics/different-pov-kids-condos

8 Comments

Anonymous May 9, 2015 at 6:52 pm

So the only thing we know here is that whoever put out this letter has no balls and does not necessarily live in the neighborhood.
george May 10, 2015 at 9:51 pm

REALLY sounds a bite racist don't want the element to close might bring down YOUR home value which you just overpayed for. DON'T need luxury condos. All as we need is a party when at Mass.
4rth Street Resident May 11, 2015 at 7:24 pm

I own a condo in one of the existing Gates of Heaven conversions and I can say they are some of the nicest, best quality units I've seen around Southie lately. Builder's are thowing up siding all over city point and trying to charge 600/sq. foot for a plywood box. These are beautiful conversions meant to last. While some have a stong attachment to how this neighborhood "used to be" it is true that it changed long ago. To leave these old brick buildings vacant for vandals while builders clutter every vacant lot near a gas station or autobody shop with overpriced condos is the real shame in all this.
george May 12, 2015 at 8:06 pm

I commented before and I'll do it again. Letter sounds a bit racist, don't want that element across from their overpaid condo. Too bad. We also don't need these luxury condos next to a place of God last thing we need is a roof top party while Mass is being said.
Southie Original May 14, 2015 at 3:15 pm

If all these neighbors are so against the planned conversion then why dont they buy it from the developer and do whatever they want with it? The fact that people would rather have an empty lot, which has been vacant for years and gets some shady characters especially at night, than a nice new building, just because their 3rd cousins aunt went to school there 80 years ago is crazy.
southoftheboston May 15, 2015 at 1:50 am

In the 70's when people were against busing they were called racist's. This letter opposes busing in kids from other neighborhoods because it will bring "unwanted aggravation & lesson the appeal of living there". Racist? Bigoted?
John R Donovan May 17, 2015 at 11:13 pm

Who's the bully?
Jane June 23, 2015 at 2:36 am
It's not necessarily about preserving the school where my third cousin's aunt attended but more about trying to preserve a space that was once about families and community. Accusing lifelong residents of wanting to keep it the way "it used to be" is unfair and ignorant. There are, of course, benefits to some of the changes our neighborhood has undergone. However, this movement, in my opinion, is also about blocking YET another condo development. It's getting far too crowded in our neighborhood. It's sad to perhaps admit that South Boston as a "neighborhood" is no longer or soon will be no longer for both new and old residents. There is, logistically, no room for more condos. South Boston is overcrowded. A school or business of like purpose would be a welcome and refreshing change to a neighborhood overwrought with people and cars. "Change" is not building more condos…that's been the norm now for a decade or more. Change is being open to other possibilities and enhancing what was, and still is, an amazing neighborhood to be from.