The Evisceration of Roxbury

Without any concrete evidence, I will stop short of claiming intimidation or conspiracy. But, how is it possible that nearly every major politician representing Roxbury (some of the few relevant local politicians of color, by the way) has been caught up in some kind of alleged scandal recently?! Wilkerson, Turner, and now Fox? The politicians representing Roxbury can't be any more corrupt than the pols in any other city or district around Massachusetts. So what's the deal? Are they being careless? Are they being targeted? Or is the community itself the battleground?

With Boston running out of large lots of land for new building projects, Roxbury is one of the few areas close to downtown with enough space left for major construction projects (Allston and the South Boston waterfront are two of the others). Mayor Menino's recent attempt to seize control of P3, the redevelopment plans for Dudley Square, resistance to institutional creep (such as Northeastern's campus expansion and Boston University's Bio Lab), and the community's demands for improved transportation are just a few examples of how competition for space in and control over the neighborhood are heating up.

With the community's senior and most vocal politicians knocked off their pedistals, it would be easy to pick apart the neighborhood bit by bit. That, of course, doesn't excuse our politicians of wrongdoing, if they've done something wrong. But, let's put everything on the table. If they've done wrong, let's see more than a few clips and allegations in the media. In the meantime, the community would be wise to keep its eyes on real estate trends and development patterns in the area. If Harvard was able to secretly purchase half of Allston, there's no reason to suspect that it wouldn't happen in Roxbury, too.

Comments

[Can-Can]

Sho you right. On all accounts. History repeating. Development in Roxbury stalls as it has for many years and the people who stand to benefit are mostly not people of color because most of us don't have the $ power to buy and redevelop the huge parcels. I hope the P3 project headed by the MNCAAA is able to happen but...
It's funny how university's cry poor but they buy up land and build more quickly than all except private developers. The Harvard stall on Allston is an anomaly because usually universities buy and jump on building.
What do you think of that monstrous building Northeastern University has erected at the corner of Ruggles and Tremont? I find it ugly, too tall for that neighborhood and just plain overwhelming.
While people were fighting over the Davenport Development about 10 years back - this one slipped through.
Oh, well. A luta continua.

[Jonas Prang]

Evisceration of Roxbury? I'd call it a willful, cut-off-my-nose truncation of Roxbury.

Looking all the way back to the 70s, Black Roxbury has never had a vibrant and effective political life, still less an electorate that could be bothered to actually vote. All we've had is such luminaries as Althea Garrison, Gareth Saunders, the laughable Lloyd King, the hapless Chuck Turner, and the larcenous Diane Wilkerson. Mel King made a laudable bid, but then decided he had other fish to fry. When I needed city services I held my nose and called Albert Dapper O'Neil (God rest his odious soul)--he always, always delivered.

After the Highland Park 'diamond in the rough' didn't polish up as fast as their climber economic ambitions desired, it was exeunt to the 'burbs for the politically potent middle class (and their children), until they started to dribble back in the '80s and '90s.

The Big Mistake was politically to emulate the embattled South Boston Irish. After a lot of hard work, we managed to redefine Roxbury by trimming out all the inconvenient parts so that just us Black Folk would be firmly in the majority. Now the Heart of Roxbury is solidly Black (except for the remaining inconvenient whites and queers) and we've ceded all of Mission Hill, all of Northeastern University (the Great Institutional Enemy), and the Museum of Fine Arts and its environs, including the YMCA to the neighboring white politicians. We would have cut loose Lower Roxbury, too, except for St. Cyprian's and, of course, there was that inconvenient name.

Anybody remember the secessionist City of Mandela, the desire to incorporate Greater [sic] Roxbury as its own municipality separate from Boston. Look at a map and think, Brookline. That self-mutilating joke was the earnest goal. Hack away any part that didn't Look Like Us and then We would be able to seize the political power that They had denied Us.

So, now that worked out nicely, didn't it? Brigham Circle has been redeveloped and is brimming with multi-cultural life while Governor Dudley Square is most decidedly not. (Ferdinand's Department Store anyone?) What did we get? We got a mosque run by a bunch of out-of-towners with not a square inch of parking and the rundown Jeep Jones Park in the bargain (Thanks Muhammad Ali-Salaam, nice work!). We have Boston Police Headquarters (also with no parking), but we failed to keep the Registry and got Diane's parting present at the corner of Ruggles and Tremont, instead. Modern Electroplating and Jackson Square are just getting started, a dozen years late. Oh, and Roxbury Crossing has got about a million busses diverted from the Washington Street alignment smoking their way from Dudley to the transportation hub at Ruggles, while the White Folk in suburban Jamaica Plain have their one-seat Orange Line ride to work.

So, we bemoan the indictment of our own and suspect that it's not fair...But wait, late breaking news! Scratch-my-back Sal and his pals have their own date with the Feds. As I was saying, we bemoan the fact that our own politicians can get jack down. We ignore that Sonia has shoved aside the mortally wounded Felonious Diane, sniffing that she's not Latina enough compared to Felix No-show Arroyo's ethnic chops. And we really feel Egobudike Ezedi is just a tad too African for our tastes.

You're a very nice man, 3D, I enjoy your blog, and I suppose this post could have been less venomous. I have watched Roxbury politically self-mutilate for too long to let another misinformed Woe-Is-Us, Roxbury-the-Victim lament go unanswered.

After all these years, I've come to the firm conclusion that Roxbury gets the political representation that it deserves. I swear to God I wish it were different. But, it's not.

[3D]

Jonas, I appreciate the perspective you provided on the political situation in Roxbury. Now that Sal DiMaisi is in the news for his problems, I don't feel that Roxbury's pols are being targeted. Clearly the entire establishment is in trouble.

I wasn't trying to write a woe-is-us piece about Roxbury or its politicians. I was feeling frustrated by the endless political bad news surrounding this community (Dianne, Chuck, and Gloria). You're right when you say that we get who we vote for...but I think more and more people are realizing that and are slowly becoming more politically engaged.

Having grown up in the 80s on Mission Hill, I never understood why that section of Roxbury was considered separate from the rest. My friends (Black, Irish, and PR) and I all said that we lived in Roxbury. It's people elsewhere who said otherwise. Lately, though, friends in my age group have made it a point to talk about Roxbury as it original unified whole, from Mass Ave to Franklin Park, from Mission Hill to Grove Hall.

I think things will be different, but it is going to take a lot of time and effort. I hope people like you continue to provide the perspective that the community needs.