EAST BOSTON JULY 29, 2021
Residents are pushing back against the over-development of East Boston. From Jeffries Point to Orient Heights, Stand Up Eastie, a new coalition of longtime and recent arrivals is worried that the city’s push for housing, particularly high-end luxury housing is changing the character of East Boston.
“East Boston is losing its green space, parking and affordability due to over-development condoned by the City,” says Stand Up For Eastie. “Therefore families are being forced to leave!”
Amidst gray skies and the threat of rain, approximately 100 protestors gathered in front of the Wood Island Blue Line Station on Bennington Street Thursday evening and marched toward Neptune Road earning support from passing motorists as they moved toward Day Square. Chanting both in English and Spanish, Stand Up For Eastie carried signs expressing disapproval of the Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority) and the push of putting profits before people.
Stand Up for Eastie believes that the city is too lax in approving outsized luxury developments that obscure and dominate a neighborhood known for its triple-deckers and human-scaled business districts such as Maverick, Central, Day and Orient Heights squares. Unofficial estimates suggest the neighborhood’s population has grown since the beginning of the century.
Audio: Organizer Joni DiMarzo
More photographs from the protest.
