Above: District 7 Councillor Miniard Culpepper discussed a City Council resolution affirming the Roxbury Neighborhood Council’s role in development decisions on public land. Yawu Miller photo
In January, Mayor Michelle Wu sent shockwaves through Roxbury with a decision to plan a new campus for Madison Park High School on Parcel P3, a 7.6-acre lot that Roxbury residents along with city officials had previously designated for housing and commercial use.
On July 22, District 7 City Councillor Miniard Culpepper pushed back with a resolution aimed at affirming local residents’ role in determining what gets developed on publicly owned land in Roxbury. The council voted, 10-0, to approve the measure, with three councillors absent.
“We all know that the council has a role, not only a role of advice, in regard to the development of Roxbury,” Culpepper said during a press conference before the City Council’s meeting on July 22. “In fact, the Roxbury Neighborhood Council is an entity that makes referrals, decisions and advises on what happens in Roxbury, how Roxbury is developed, and how the planning for Roxbury takes place.”
The Roxbury Neighborhood Council (RNC) dates back to 1983, when the community organizing group Massachusetts Fair Share placed a non-binding referendum on Boston’s ballot calling for the creation of neighborhood councils with controls over development projects. Mayor Raymond Flynn, who was elected that year, recognized the RNC and four other councils.
Like the other councils, the RNC did not have veto power, but under Article 50 of the BRA charter, it has the right to review development projects in a 30-day window before the BRA board either approves or rejects plans.
Critics of the Parcel P3 decision say the Wu administration was required to notify the RNC of its plan to relocate Madison Park High School under the BRA rules. Administration officials, they say, also ignored agreements the city reached with the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee that require the Boston Planning and Development Agency to solicit ideas from community residents for the development of publicly owned land before beginning a bid process.
The RNC has been active over the last ten years after more than a decade of inactivity. At the same time RNC members are asserting their power in decisions over Roxbury development, they are also reaffirming their commitment to open and democratic processes for the administration of the council.
Currently, there are two other functioning neighborhood councils that were created along with the RNC in 1984 by the Boston Redevelopment Authority: the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council and the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council. Both bodies hold public elections for board members. The RNC has not done so in recent years.
“Article 50 of the Boston zoning code recognizes that community participation is critical to planning, zoning, land use, and development decisions in Roxbury, and the master plan establishes the Roxbury’s Strategic Masterplan Oversight Committee, and a community-based process for selecting its members,” said Reggie Stewart, a member of the RNC board of directors.
“Over the years, this process has not been fully maintained. Current oversight members have served beyond the three-year terms set forth in the master plan. And now the community nomination process must be restored.”
Stewart told The Reporter that the absence of any community process in the mayor’s Madison Park decision spurred RNC members to ensure they’re in compliance with their own bylaws.
“What happened with Parcel P3 was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said. “Prior to that, the RNC was actively weighing in in on projects. But P3 showed a lack of respect for process. We want to make sure things are done right.”
RNC members have met with the Wu administration about the lack of process in the mayor’s Parcel P3. Wu has not backed down from her plan to relocate Madison Park from P3.
The RNC members at the press conference were joined by councilors Culpepper, Ed Flynn, and Erin Murphy.
“What’s good for one part of the city is good for others,” Murphy said. “If we fight for one part, we have to fight for all of them.”
Stewart said Roxbury residents should feel empowered to work with and join the RNC.
“This is your community voice, and we need the people in Roxbury to help shape it, strengthen it, and carry it forward,” he said. “We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking the city to honor its existing community processes that it adopted and the formal role promised to Roxbury residents.
“Community participation must be meaningful,” he added, “and it must happen before decisions are made, not after the direction has already been determined. And this resolution is an important step towards restoring that promise.”
