City and state officials joined Mayor Thomas Menino Thursday to break ground on Boston’s latest affordable housing project, the Brian J. Honan Apartments in Allston, named for the city councilor who died last year.
Honan, who died following surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, was a city councilor for more than seven years. The housing is being built on the site of a closed fish plant, according to Jim Creamer, a member of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation’s Board of Directors.
Each unit will cost 30 to 60 percent of the resident’s income, depending on income and family size, according to information provided at Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Of the 50 units, five will be set aside for homeless tenants and three for disabled tenants, Menino said.
Menino spoke to the crowd gathered at 33 Everett St. for the ceremony, which included numerous city councilors. He called Honan a ‘good friend’ and said he ‘was a catalyst for making this happen.’
Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers also spoke, saying he was delighted to represent his university at the event.
Summers quoted the old saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ and said it takes capital to raise a village. Harvard was ‘delighted to do our part’ by helping to finance the project, Summers added. He also said it was very important for Harvard to play a greater part in the future of Allston-Brighton than it has in the past.
Summers said Harvard has many remarkable students and alumni and it was a pleasure to ‘name this after someone whose life is a powerful example to all the students at Harvard University.’
U.S. Representative Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) called the affordable housing ‘exactly the kind of things Brian would have fought for.’
‘He was a great guy and I know that I miss him and we all miss him,’ he added.
Jane Gumble, director of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, said she was ‘delighted to be here on behalf of Governor [Mitt] Romney.’
Although she said she never met Honan, his commitment was legendary for all politicians.
Creamer spoke about ideas of fairness, justice and democracy, saying, ‘Brian was visited by those ideas during his short but vibrant life.’
He also said Allston has a reputation of being a transitional place to live, comparing it to a subway stop where people do not connect with one another but only with the trains they ride on. He said he wants to change Allston back into a community where people actually interact.
Brian’s brother Kevin, Allston-Brighton’s state representative, said his brother was especially interested in creating more affordable housing for the city’s low-income families.
‘Brian felt passionately about affordable housing,’ Kevin Honan said. “He would be so proud of this he would be so very proud.’
‘It’s bittersweet to have this honor for someone whose career ended far too soon,’ Honan said.
Afterward, a sign was unveiled that read: ‘The Future Home of the Brian J. Honan Apartments.’ All of the councilors then participated in the ground breaking, and those who helped to raise funds were invited to join in.
‘It was a very fitting tribute to Councilor Honan. He was a great man,’ said Greg Glennon, an Allston-Brighton resident.
‘I thought [the ceremony] was wonderful,’ said Sheila Tracey, who worked with Honan a few years ago in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. ‘He was a truly wonderful person who cared a lot about people. His enthusiasm was contagious. He inspired a lot of people.’