The Boston City Council threw its unanimous support yesterday behind a plan to install a commuter rail station in Allston, the site of planned expansions from area universities.
Councilor Salvatore LaMattina (North End, East Boston), an Aviation and Transportation Committee chairman, said yesterday his committee accepted a $1 million grant from the Massachusetts Highway Department to study potential roadway and traffic management improvements, including the proposed station.
“This is going to help public transportation as we know it in the city,” said Councilor Michael Ross (Back Bay, Fenway). “The west side of the state will be able to go from Yawkey, for example, to Longwood Medical Center, bypassing Downtown.”
Ross said another commuter rail station would ease highway congestion from western Massachusetts by encouraging more residents to use public transportation and would also benefit the environment.
Although local residents did not discuss the proposal during the meeting yesterday, Councilor Jerry McDermott (Allston, Brighton) said residents would welcome the new station.
“We’re heavily anticipating this,” he said.
Councilors also discussed ways to combat poverty and hunger in the city.
Councilor-at-Large Sam Yoon proposed a hearing to help the city’s poor after one of his constituents, who voiced concern about what he saw as the growing gap between Boston’s rich and poor, inspired him to draw attention to the issue.
Yoon said one in five Boston residents live in poverty, a problem that affects the physical and mental health of local families. He said that percentage increases in children, with one quarter of them living in poverty. Three in four children in the Boston Public Schools system qualify for the free lunch program, Yoon added.
“Poverty is [at] the core of issues that face our children,” Yoon said.
LaMattina, who said he has dealt with poverty as a former employee of the Crossroads Family Shelter in East Boston, asked what specific steps the Council should take to address the problem.
“It’s really sad seeing whole families in shelters,” he said, adding that Boston’s Holy Family Food Pantry in his district has been serving more people than ever.
McDermott, who took a tour of food pantries in Allston-Brighton, said the city should reach out to immigrants learning English to help eliminate the city’s hunger problem.
“The number of people living in poverty in Allston-Brighton blew us away,” he said. “Lots of people who don’t speak English are going to be trapped in low-paying jobs.”