Councilor Flynn Calls for Community Process on Proposal to Designate Boston Fish Pier as a Landmark
BOSTON – At this week’s Boston City Council meeting, Councilor Ed Flynn filed a hearing order to discuss the community process to designate the Boston Fish Pier as a landmark. This project is expected to appear on the Boston Landmarks Commission Agenda in July without any community process or notification to the neighbors and local South Boston elected officials. More importantly, it has come to the public’s attention that the City is acting on a petition filed in 1995.
The South Boston Waterfront was a very different place thirty years ago, void of almost all of the buildings, residents, and visitors we see today. Most of the buildings we see along Seaport Boulevard today were only constructed over the last decade and a half. In 2017, there was a successful effort to place the Boston Fish Pier – a state asset, owned and operated by Massport – on the National Register of Historic Places. Moreover, marine industrial uses provide thousands of jobs in the Port of Boston. Protecting these jobs is critical and in order to keep rents low for tenants, building owners may need to be flexible with their spaces to support these seafood businesses.
“I continue to emphasize that residents in a neighborhood deserve to have a voice in what takes place there. It is critical that we should not hastily proceed on a petition filed thirty years ago, and with a process that has thus far failed to engage relevant stakeholders and the surrounding neighborhood,” said Councilor Flynn. “Designating any historic landmark in the City of Boston requires thoughtful consideration and debate. Considering the Boston Landmarks Commission is acting on a thirty-year old petition, it is wholly appropriate to pause this designation and allow for genuine and meaningful dialogue with the community and its duly elected representatives on why this designation is necessary at this time.”
For more information, please contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 or [email protected].
Maureen Dahill is the founder of Caught in Media. Once a longtime wardrobe and prop stylist for brands such as Rue La La, TJ Max & Hasbro, she is a devoted lover of vintage clothing, Martini Mondays, Castle Island, AND a 4th generation South Boston native. Mother of three, married to Peter G.
After what has been built in the Seaport up to now, why interfere with preserving something lower than 20 stories. The setback of the building will also allow for real public access to the waterfront, rather than the phony baloney games played in the rest of the neighborhood.
I’m not sure you understand Historic buildings.