Re “Neighbor sues to halt Pine St. Inn housing project: Jamaica Plain dispute centers on parking” (Business, Aug. 10): It is disappointing to see that the “neighbor” is the landlord of a Jamaica Plain brewery who, one supposes, may not appreciate the plight of our homeless population here in Boston or that the Pine Street Inn is nationally recognized as a leader in transitioning beds from the homeless shelter itself to supportive-living apartments in the community.
Pine Street has successfully integrated housing units in Dorchester, the South End, and elsewhere in Jamaica Plain and has migrated many beds to the community. This is how to effectively end homelessness.
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I was surprised that neither the landlord filing suit nor the reporter underscored the point that most of the individuals who will move into an apartment at this site have next to nothing, let alone a car for which they would need a space. The fact that lack of parking is the neighbor’s primary issue is confounding.
Let’s be part of the solution and not look for false barriers to prevent people from leaving the streets and living in an apartment of their own.
Kenneth J. Smith
Boston
The writer is president of the East Berkeley Neighborhood Association in the South End.
For 14 years, we have lived next to Pine Street Inn’s low-income housing facility on Green Street in Jamaica Plain. They’ve been great neighbors. Most residents don’t own cars, or they use the few parking spaces they have — we’ve seen no traffic congestion problems. We support the new facility Pine Street Inn is planning on Washington Street, to provide 140 apartments with supportive services for the formerly homeless and 62 units of more traditional affordable housing. We oppose the lawsuit by property owner Monty Gold.
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The suit alleges harm to the community from density and traffic — the opposite of what we have experienced. The Washington Street project has community support, developed over nearly two years of public hearings. It is widely recognized as being a great benefit to the community.
Gold’s lawsuit is an attack on the diversity of the community and on our efforts to help each other in adversity.
Jeffrey Jacobson
Christopher Graefe
Jamaica Plain