Joan Wallace-Benjamin is not a person who goes looking for controversy. Yet here she is mired in one, and it shows no sign of quick resolution.
Wallace-Benjamin is head of the Home for Little Wanderers. Its Dickensian name reflects its status as perhaps America’s oldest social service agency. The Home serves 7,000 families a year, all of them with children struggling with behavioral or developmental issues. Since 1914, a lot of this service was provided from a bucolic setting in Jamaica Plain overlooking the Jamaicaway.
Comments
Why don't the JP opposition start a campaign to raise the $50M needed to renovate the property?
Well said, PracticePerfect. There are lots of folks in JP who want nothing to change. Meanwhile there isn't enough housing, which itself is driving rents up. If there is more luxury housing that should take the pressure off other less posh properties. I agree there should be more units big enough for families, More housing is more housing, period. There is no rent control in Boston and landlords aren't artificially keeping their rents low to preserve the character of the neighborhood - they're raising them to get whatever they can. I don't get how the opponents can't see that expanding the inventory should take pressure off rents. And if they somehow managed to overbuild (which will never happen in JP with all the opposition)the "luxury" housing will wind up renting for less.
Mr. Walker's article makes it sound like all of JP is up in arms against this project, which is not the case. There are many of us who believe that we need more housing inventory - of all income levels. I support affordable housing, but in private developments it must be done in a way that is economically feasible otherwise nothing gets built. I understand the desire to save the old building, but unless someone has some serious preservation cash on hand then it's not going to happen. I applaud the activists for pushing the developer to create more affordable units and more family-friendly units, but now is the time to let this development move forward.
Mr Day chairs the JP Neighborhood Council, an organization he has such respect for he calls it a 'lowly neighbor council.' It might be help to know that even people who agree with Mr. Day on the issues, are protesting the way he runs the council. Even to the point of quitting in protest. Other former members of the council are starting petitions to recall him For him to say that everyone agrees with him shows how willing he is to twist the facts.
http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2012/11/09/jpnc-chairs-role-in-donation-debate-questioned/