What we're reading this week | The #FridayFive
Walsh Delivers Final State of the City
East Boston Times-Free Press, January 20, John Lynds
Four days after being nominated by President-Elect Joe Biden to serve as United States Secretary of Labor in the new administration’s cabinet, Mayor Martin Walsh delivered his final State of the City address as Mayor of Boston. Walsh delivered his address virtually from the new Nubian Square Library in Roxbury and reflected on the work of his administration over the last seven years, the City’s collective accomplishments, and the vital work that will continue to expand equity and opportunity in Boston during these uncertain times. [READ MORE]
Boston drops plans for Melnea Cass Boulevard redesign after backlash over tree removal
Boston.com, January 22, Christopher Gavin
Boston leaders say they are scrapping plans for the redesign of Roxbury’s Melnea Cass Boulevard — a controversial project that initially sought to remove 124 mature trees in a bid to make the roadway more pedestrian friendly. [READ MORE]
$60 Million High Line Expansion to Connect Park to Moynihan Train Hall
The New York Times, January 11, Mihir Zaveri and Daniel E. Slotnik
For more than a decade, the High Line, an elevated park that stretches for nearly a mile and half through the West Side of Lower Manhattan, has been a symbol of ambitious urban renewal: a sleek, tree-lined walkway created from an old run-down rail line that cuts through once-industrial neighborhoods. Before the pandemic, it had become a major New York destination for residents and out-of-town visitors alike, drawing about eight million people in 2019. And now, the park, which showed how the city could reinvent itself and reimagine decaying spaces, is to be expanded. [READ MORE]
'It's Not Inevitable That This Will Be Unjust': A Q&A With Shalanda Baker On Energy Justice
WBUR, January 20, Barbara Moran
Most discussions of institutional racism focus on schools, housing and the criminal justice system. But our energy system – how we power our lights and gas up our cars – can also enforce racism. That’s because most of our energy comes through a system of “extraction and pollution” – we take stuff out of the ground, burn it to make energy, and dump the pollution somewhere — usually in a poor neighborhood or community of color. [READ MORE]
Sea Level Being Studied at Clippership Wharf in Boston
NBC Boston, January 15
As sea level continues to rise due to climate change, new buildings and communities are being forced to adapt. Researchers at Clippership Wharf in East Boston are working on nature-based solutions that can be implemented on the mainland. [READ MORE]