Where else but in Boston can a demographic that contributes several billion dollars a year to the local economy be considered a blight? Mayor Menino and his policies continue to single out and punish college students with zeal typically reserved for corporate criminals.
Ironically, the Mayor reserves his venom for the time every year when Boston once again hungers for the economic infusion provided by these “temporary” residents. It’s high time Menino re-address his feelings toward Boston’s student population and allow them the “preferred resident” status he reserves for his political contributors. Boston’s leadership should regard the city’s yearly shift in population as an economic blessing, with the bulk of hardship falling squarely on the shoulders of students.
The annual August pilgrimage of more than 250,000 students and simultaneous relocation of most returning students is a feat that would leave any Federal Emergency Management Agency manager in awe. With no central leadership, complete strangers complete the moving process in one weekend. In most instances, it’s a family event that involves the infusion of nearly 750,000 visitors to Boston with no access to a working kitchen (two parents with each student).
The unfortunate bi-product is a crowd of trucks and cars, a mass of rubbish and discarded furniture, and some noise (okay, a lot of noise). But, for the most part, there are very few arrests and the whole undertaking is completed by the day after Labor Day. Were any of the Woodstocks this successful?
The attitude of the Menino administration this weekend bordered on fascist. They rightly brought out front loaders and dump trucks to haul off the detritus. But they also brought out masses of police officers to fine students and landlords, fines levied because police officers feel the situation “adversely affects the quality of life for permanent residents.”
Their statement may be true, but don’t they describe each and every Boston construction project? The difference is that one is temporary, the other is interminable. Why can’t the city provide the cleanup assistance as an expected yearly service and fund it with the property taxes paid for by student rents? It may seem like an additional cost, but given that students pay for public schools they don’t use and fund road improvements that don’t get completed before they graduate, it balances out.
Two yearly events are equally disruptive, unopposed by Mayor Menino: The Boston Marathon and the Fourth of July celebration on the Esplanade. Both bring masses of crowds, snarl traffic throughout the city, leave widespread debris and generate tremendous amounts of noise. A majority of their participants and spectators are likely not even Boston residents and, I would also wager, the economic impact of each event is a fraction of that contributed by the student population. Apparently the city is willing to clean up after its visitors, but not the people who actually live here.
Mayor Menino also continues to blame college students for skyrocketing rents. He has demanded that colleges build enough dorms to house all of their students. Firstly, even if the universities did supply enough dorm rooms for all students, many students would still choose to live in private apartments. Menino’s legal advisors should remind him that in a free society, adults have the right to live where they choose. This is a sentiment echoed by his employees in their repeated attempts to repeal “home rule” regulation (maybe the city should build dorms for them).
Secondly, Menino has feuded with Harvard over their land acquisitions in Allston. How can universities build dorms without purchasing the land needed to build them? Would anyone mind if the Allston area in dispute were razed and rebuilt?
It should be noted that areas directly surrounding universities are the best maintained in Boston. BU, Harvard, Suffolk University, Northeastern University and Emerson University (to name a few) have long contributed to the beauty and charm of their surroundings.
Ten years ago, the Allston section of Commonwealth Avenue and the Boston section of Huntington Avenue were unlivable. Residents and businesses of these areas have enjoyed all of the resulting benefits: improved T service, better supermarkets and brisk economic development (read: JOBS). Take away the universities, and residents’ only work would be as sagebrush wranglers.
Sure, there are detriments: traffic, congestion, high rents and noise. Welcome to a typical 21st century city. I moved from Allston to Malden, where I have all the detriments and none of the benefits.
Face it, Mr. Menino. The annual Labor Day Weekend scramble will long outlive your administration. I suggest you recruit a corporate sponsor and embrace it as a citywide event. If you’re fortunate enough, maybe you will be allowed to emcee it and use it as a photo opportunity. Without the colleges and students in Boston, the city would be second rate, reliant on outside tourism dollars. That alone would never maintain a city with an infrastructure that dates back to the colonial period and a leadership mentality to match it.
Kevin Anderton is a 2000 graduate of the College of Communication graduate program.
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