| January 11, 2005
| Attended a public meeting on the Nashua Street Residences project. Will attend a public meeting Jan. 19 on the Penny Savings Bank project in the South End. |
| February 15, 2005
| Working with the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, we have developed a list of community groups to invite to a meeting with Andrew Gottlieb that would also include Bo Holland and probably Toni Pollak. As soon as we clear format and location details with Mr. Gottlieb, we'll start calling to set up the meeting. Hopeful timeframe is late February or early March. |
| February 15, 2005
| Attended BRA Small Project Review public meetings on Penny Savings Bank and Gatehouse projects. Both have led to what will likely be agreements to include monitoring and certification of no groundwater removal in cooperation agreements. The meeting on the Gatehouse led to an agreement to redo their solution to groundwater issues in their foundation design to assure that groundwater will not be removed from the site. |
| March 22, 2005
| Meeting with Andrew Gottlieb: At his request, I set up a meeting between Andrew Gottlieb, the new Deputy Secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development and community leaders. In addition to Tim and me, attendees included representatives of Beacon Hill Civic Association, Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, Fenway CDC, Fenway Civic Association, Bay Village Neighborhood Association, and the Groundwater Emergency Taskforce; several other organizations were invited but unable to attend after confirming. Also present from the Mayor's Office were Bo Holland and Nikko Mendoza. The meeting was a good opportunity to raise issues that concerned each organization. Andrew announced that we would be receiving a report on the MBTA's findings related to the Southwest Corridor (this was later confirmed by the T's consultant, Steve Poulos, but I'm still waiting). He is pushing for more information from DCR on their plans for the reconstruction of the Storrow Drive underpass. He also pledged to reconvene the State-City working group by late April. All of the attendees with whom I have spoken were very pleased with the meeting. |
| March 22, 2005
| Meeting with Boston Delegation: Reps. Marty Walz and Byron Rushing are working to set up a meeting of the Boston delegation to the legislature, scheduled for March 31, at which Tim Mitchell, Gary Saunders, and I can brief them about progress to date on the well program they have financed, future plans for wells, what we have found, and what we think should happen next. |
| April 11, 2005
| Meeting with Boston Legislative Delegation: Gary, Tim, and I met with the delegation at a meeting arranged by Reps. Byron Rushing and Marty Walz. Over half the delegation either attended or sent staff. We had a very good opportunity to explain the issue to members for whom it has not been high on their priority list and to tell why it was of concern for the whole city and the state. Sen. Diane Wilkerson was very vocal in her concerns about the issue. The meeting gave us a leg up on potential legislative solutions. |
| May 16, 2005
| I attended BRA sponsored public meetings on The Clarendon and 1330 Boylston St projects. |
| October 11, 2005
| Christian and I hosted Byron Rushing to demonstrate to him how we read wells. I have also had meetings with Aaron Michlewitz, an aide to Speaker DiMasi, to go over the Wentworth presentation and the zoning amendment. |
| October 11, 2005
| Meeting with City Councilors: Along with two leaders from Citywide GET, I met with Councilors Kelly, Ross, Murphy, and Arroyo, and an aide to Councilor Flaherty to discuss groundwater issues. Much of the meeting was spent on the zoning amendment. The Councilors also committed to a periodic review of the City’s progress on groundwater issues. |
| November 17, 2005
| Galen Gilbert and I met with Jim Hunt, John Sullivan, Nikko Mendoza of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Gordon Richardson of Citywide GET, and DPW Commissioner Joe Casazza on Nov 15 to discuss recharge from public sidewalks in the context of the proposed Groundwater Conservation Overlay District zoning. The meeting was an opportunity to explore ideas on reasonable and affordable ways to recharge. We discussed the concerns with using pervious concrete, especially the increased maintenance requirements. The City will explore the possibility of installing onor more pilot project to see what real world experience might be in sidewalks or possibly parking lots. |
| March 22, 2007
| I met this week with a group of neighbors from Montgomery Street in the South End who are concerned about new very low water levels at a well on the street. We discussed the groundwater problem and potential solutions in general and also some possible causes of the change on their block. This was a productive small group way to answer neighbors’ questions and raise their consciousness about the issue. |
| September 27, 2007
| I met again with the groundwater committee of the North End Waterfront Residents Association. I’ll be meeting with West End Civic Association’s Zoning and Planning Committee on October 1. |
| October 25, 2007
| I met with the West End Civic Association’s Zoning and Planning Committee on October 1. They had many questions about the whole groundwater issue and felt that the meeting was very useful. |
| April 29, 2008
| I attended a public meeting on a new project at 5-10 St. George Street in the South End to address potential groundwater issues. |
| May 29, 2008
| I attended both a public meeting and a BRA scoping session for the new office building planned for 212-222 Stuart Street. The developer was responsive to the issues that we raised and appears to have a proposal that will meet GCOD standards. |
| June 27, 2008
| I attended scoping sessions on the Seaport Square, Grand Marc at St Botolph, and 350 Boylston Street projects, as well as public meetings on the Storrow Drive and 350 Boylston Street projects. |
| July 31, 2008
| I attended a presentation on the expansion project for Copley Place. |
| August 29, 2008
| I attended a scoping session on the revised project for the Jacob Wirth’s site at 45 Stuart St. I also had meetings on projects in Bay Village and the Fenway. |
| September 25, 2008
| I attended scoping sessions on the Parcel 24 air rights project in Chinatown and the Parcel 7 air rights project near Kenmore Square. I also met with Boston Properties to iron out some of the groundwater issues on the Prudential Center expansion projects on Boylston and Exeter Streets. I discussed the GCOD process with the Condo Owners Group of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. I also met with staffers from the Boston Preservation Alliance and Historic Boston who are working on a new program for preservation related neighborhood seminars and wanted to better understand the groundwater issue. |
| October 27, 2008
| I attended public meetings on the Storrow Drive Tunnel interim repair project as well as on a project to rebuild the structure at 199 West Brookline Street. I also had a meeting about the details of the geothermal heating system to be installed in the new structure at 212-222 Stuart Street and steps needed to make sure that it will not cause a reduction in groundwater levels in the critical upper aquifer. |
| November 20, 2008
| I met with a resident at Trinity Place to discuss ways in which that condominium building can help raise area groundwater levels. |
| August 26, 2009
| I met this month with engineers for projects in the South End and Fenway to discuss how they can best comply with groundwater requirements. |
| September 24, 2009
| I met with engineers for a rehab project at Castle Square in the South End to discuss how they could most effectively meet groundwater recharge requirements under GCOD. |
| October 27, 2009
| I attended a scoping session for the upcoming projects at Boston Medical Center. I also attended a meeting to discuss potential causes and solutions to the low groundwater area in the North End. |
| November 19, 2009
| I attended scoping sessions on upcoming projects at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Mass Mental Health Center in the Longwood Medical Area and at 319 A Street Rear in Fort Point. I will be meeting with Councilor at Large John Connolly tomorrow to update him on groundwater issues. |
| December 21, 2009
| I attended BRA scoping sessions on projects at 1000 Washington Street, Castle Square, and Seaport Square. I also met with Councilor-at-Large John Connolly to update him on groundwater issues. |
| January 21, 2010
| I attended the BWSC public meeting on the Back Bay alley sewer work. I also met with the consultants for Boston Medical Center about the best locations for the recharge system and new observation well to be installed in connection with their new power plant project. |
| February 12, 2010
| I attended a BRA scoping session on the proposed hotel project at 275 Albany Street in the South End. I’m scheduled to meet with the Union Park Neighborhood Association in March to discuss groundwater issues. |
| March 18, 2010
| I had a productive meeting with the membership of the Union Park Neighborhood Association to explain the groundwater issue and efforts undertaken to alleviate it to them. Christian and I met with the Goethe Institute to discuss apparent piling problems in their building on Beacon Street. |
| April 16, 2010
| I had a meeting with the Boston Architectural College to discuss their plans for recharge as part of a potential Green Alley project behind their building on Newbury Street. I also met with the engineer for a project on Milford Street and the representative of the Castle Square Tenants Association to discuss recharge requirements. I am scheduled to meet with the new General Manager of the MBTA later this month to discuss groundwater issues. |
| May 20, 2010
| In addition to my meeting with the MBTA, I had meetings with project teams from 282 Beacon Street, the Christian Science Church project, and the planned new Liberty Mutual building. I attended a scoping session this morning on a new student center at Boston University and will attend one on Liberty Mutual in June. |
| June 18, 2010
| In addition to the MBTA public meeting, I have attended two public meetings on the planned Liberty Mutual project on Berkeley Street, as well as scoping sessions on Liberty Mutual and the Landmark Center North project in the Fenway. |
| July 29, 2010
| I attended an additional presentation on the Liberty Mutual project. |
| September 16, 2010
| I attended a scoping session on the revised project at 93 Massachusetts Avenue and also met with the proponents of 350 Boylston Street to make sure that their GCOD work was in order before they went before the Board of Appeals. |
| October 19, 2010
| I attended a scoping session on the revised Kensington project in the Theater District/Chinatown area. I also met with consultants from the 100 Arlington Street project on the edge of Bay Village (the former Renaissance Charter School) to discuss their planned recharge system and other groundwater related issues. |
| November 18, 2010
| I met with Councilor Arroyo to update him on the groundwater issue. I met with the proponents of projects at 368 Congress Street and 5 Channel Center Street, both in the Fort Point Channel section of South Boston, to help them better understand GCOD requirements in that area. |
| December 17, 2010
| I attended a scoping session about Northeastern University’s upcoming dormitory project that will replace the back part of the YMCA on Huntington Avenue. I then had a productive followup meeting with Northeastern and their consultants to discuss possible locations for the required recharge system. |
| January 27, 2011
| I’ve attended two meetings on the potential recharge from the Central Artery, including one of the Technical Advisory Committee of the City-State Groundwater Working Group. I attended scoping sessions on the Fenway Triangle mixed use project, the redesigned Parcel 24 Chinatown housing project, the expansion plans for the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and the housing project planned for the Boston Garden Garage site. I met with the Worcester Square Neighborhood Association to discuss groundwater levels in their South End neighborhood. Jim Lambrechts and I presented to a meeting of home inspectors to tell them some of the signs to look for in groundwater sensitive areas and why they were important; we got very positive feedback from attendees. |
| March 24, 2011
| I attended scoping sessions for the GrandMarc at Northeastern and Berklee College of Music 168 Massachusetts Avenue projects. |
| April 29, 2011
| I attended scoping sessions on the Winsor School and 41 Westland Avenue projects. I also met with proponents of the Berklee College of Music 168 Massachusetts Ave project, as well as the project planned for the Boston Herald site in the South End to discuss groundwater considerations. I met with the developers of the new Exeter Street tower at the Prudential Center to discuss the revised recharge system planned for Exeter Street that will handle infiltration mandated both for that project and the planned office building at 888 Boylston Street. I also attended the annual meeting of the Charles River Watershed Association to see our trustee Jim Hunt receive a well deserved award. |
| May 26, 2011
| Christian and I met with Avalon Bay Communities and their engineer at their Exeter Street site in the Prudential Center to discuss the recharge system and plans to monitor groundwater levels before and during construction on their planned apartment tower that is expected to begin shortly. We met with the engineer for a project planned for 126 Brookline Avenue to discuss issues around potential GCOD compliance problems.. |
| June 23, 2011
| I attended a public meeting on the master plan for the Christian Science Center revitalization project. I met with developers to discuss recharge systems for projects at Kensington and 126 Brookline Avenue. Christian and I met with DPW to discuss ways to integrate our well locations with their information systems so that we can help to avoid damage to wells during sidewalk reconstruction and similar projects. I met with teams from Avalon Bay and Saunders Hotel Group to discuss ways that assure the recharge system to be installed in Exeter Street in conjunction with the two new buildings planned at the Prudential Center will not cause flooding at the Lenox. I met with the newest City Councilor, Tito Jackson, to brief him on the groundwater issue and how it impacts his district. I attended a scoping session for the new Institutional Master Plan for the Boston Conservatory. |
| July 21, 2011
| I attended a meeting at the PIC on the recharge system that will be installed as part of the construction of the Avalon Bay Exeter Street tower at the Prudential Center. |
| August 29, 2011
| In addition to the Working Group and MBTA meetings, I attended a BRA scoping session for a new project at 1282 Boylston St and met twice with the proponents of a project at 126 Brookline Ave that will likely need a variance from GCOD recharge requirements. |
| September 22, 2011
| Christian and I met with the proponents for the new residential tower planned for Copley Place to review their planned recharge system and other groundwater related issues. We met with DPW to discuss ways to assure that our well locations are highlighted so that they are protected from damage by DPW contractors. I met with a journalism student from Emerson for an interview. |
| October 28, 2011
| I had a meeting with the consultants for the planned expansion at the Winsor School to discuss their plans for compliance with GCOD recharge requirements. I met with the Chinatown Coalition, the Claremont Neighborhood Association, and the Ellis South End Neighborhood Association to discuss groundwater issues in their respective areas. I also did a lesson on the groundwater problem for the entire student body of the Learning Project Elementary School. |
| November 17, 2011
| Christian and I met with the consultant for Emmanuel College on their plans for GCOD compliance that will be included in the new Institutional Master Plan that the college is developing. |
| December 19, 2011
| In addition to our meeting with the T and its consultants, Christian and I participated in a training session at Haley and Aldrich that included sections on groundwater and the work of the BGwT. |
| January 19, 2012
| Christian and I met with consultants for projects at the New England Conservatory and at the main YMCA on Huntington Avenue. We also attended a scoping session on the New England Conservatory. |
