Allston-Brighton residents are no strangers to living with college students. The area is heavily populated with Boston University students who live off-campus, and Harvard University owns several buildings in Allston. Now, Boston College wants to expand into the neighborhood. The decision by the Boston Redevelopment Authority to permit BC to house hundreds of students on their Brighton Campus will have a negative impact on the community and should not be carried out.
Allston-Brighton residents have a history not getting along with the large student population. As far back as five years ago, Allston-Brighton residents were complaining about having to compete with so many student residents for housing. They also expressed concerns about students’ partying and causing disturbances. Adding even more undergraduates to the area is not going to improve the situation. Everyone knows that college students are not always ideal neighbors, and it is clear that Allston-Brighton inhabitants have had enough.
BC has had problems trying to accommodate all undergraduates who request housing, but building residence halls on its Brighton campus is not the solution. One of BC’s main selling points is that its campus is greener, and less urban than other Boston-area colleges. BC should recognize this and heed Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s call to do everything it can to add housing to its main campus. If BC students wanted to live in the city, they would have come to BU.
Though these economic times are challenging, all Boston-area colleges should be making every effort to keep their students on campus and out of neighborhoods with high non-student populations. With last year’s Boston Zoning Commission regulation limiting the number of college students allowed to share an apartment to four, the city is clearly sympathetic toward residents who want to keep hoards of college students out of their neighborhoods.
Keeping students out of residential neighborhoods is in the best interest of everyone. Neighborhood residents would be able to live in peace, and colleges would have a greater sense of unity among students. Allston-Brighton residents have long been opposed to a new influx of students in their neighborhood, and BC should take note.
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BU is not nearly as good of a school. Putting housing on the main campus will make it less green. Maybe BU should purge some of its students from Allston-Brighton… they take up quite a bit of space. Building housing on campus will take students out of the neighborhoods.<p/>Have you been to the archdiocease property.. that is out of the neighborhood. It will prevent residents from having to compete with students for housing. <p/>Whoever wrote this is retarded.
You say the City of Boston, is sympathetic toward residents. I think that is A bunch of BULL. Allston & Brighton is the DUMPING GROUND FOR THE CITY OF BOSTON WE DO NOT GET OUR FAIR SHARE OF CITY SERVICES, AND WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ALL THE TRANSIENT STUDENT POPULATION WHO RAISE HOLY HELL IN OUR COMMUNITY.
says the school that houses less than 80% of their students on campus to the school that houses over 95%. And please if i wasnt going to BC id go to NYU or Georgetown not BU. Id even pick NU if i wanted to live in the city over BU