Region 1: EPA New England

Greenbytes: April 29, 2005 Edition

Greetings from EPA New England. We hope you find this edition of Greenbytes useful and we encourage you to give us feedback. For information on subscribing or unsubscribing see the section at the end of this message.

Feature: Brownfields Success Stories
Boston Hope in Dorchester

Note From EPA New England Regional Administrator Bob Varney:

Most people in the environmental field know what Brownfields are - a property (often urban) for which redevelopment or reuse may be complicated because of the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. During the past several years, EPA has focused intently on how we can assist communities to evaluate, clean and put Brownfields back into productive use.

This is the second of an occasional series that explores recent projects that demonstrate how Brownfields revitalization projects truly make a difference to people, families and communities in need - bringing new economic opportunities, resources and pride to areas that suffered from neglect, blight and contamination.

New Community Brings the Elderly and Foster Children Together, Keeping "Boston's Hope" High

The face of one Boston's neighborhood is forever changed. Where trash and weeds once littered the ground, landscaped yards and beautiful apartments now stand. Young children run across green lawns to visit their new foster grandparents who are always just a block away. The neighborhood that was once home to 23 abandoned or demolished buildings is now home to young children, their new foster families, and their new "grandparents."

This revolutionary intergenerational neighborhood is called Boston's Hope. Its $31 million transformation was made possible, in part, by an EPA Targeted Brownfields Assessment grant, along with the federal Brownfields tax deduction program and a partnership between the Home for Little Wanderers (a social service agency for families and children) and the Boston Aging Concerns Young & Old United, Inc. (BAC-YOU), an organization that finds housing for a growing number of homeless seniors.

The properties that make up the new Boston Hope neighborhood are spread across the northern section of Franklin Field in Dorchester. Historically, the properties were residential buildings built between 1967 and 1985. The properties were abandoned and destroyed when the city of Boston acquired them in the 1990s. Only a single-family dwelling at 219 Harvard Street built circa 1900 was left, boarded up and charred following an earlier interior fire. The undeveloped plots were purchased from the city by BAC-YOU in 1999 following an environmental site assessment on all the properties.

The site assessment was funded by EPA's Targeted Brownfields Assessment grant of $105,000. The money allowed the city and BAC-YOU to afford the costly task of evaluating environmental contamination within the site and determining what the cost of cleanup would be.

The EPA site assessment activities, which were completed in Dec. 2001, revealed that the over 90,000 square feet of unutilized property contained a fuel oil above ground storage tank, soil contamination including the presence of lead, and multiple sites with solid wastes including tires, abandoned cars and other trash. Armed with the site assessment information, the city and BAC-YOU were able to begin the long road to site cleanup.

Through the Federal Brownfields Tax Incentive Program, BAC-YOU, the developer for the project, was able to deduct any expenses incurred during the cleanup from their income taxes. This important program helped the organization reach the Massachusetts residential cleanup standards needed to prepare the once contaminated properties for residential redevelopment.

The project is complete and encompasses 41 new and affordable apartments. The apartments are homes to 30 seniors, 10 families and their foster children between the ages of 6 and 12. The center has computers, games, and large meeting areas to allow for group dinners and meetings between foster families and their new grandparents.

Having the seniors and foster children together offers members of the revolutionary Boston's Hope a sense of community and gives the once neglected children the opportunity to experience life in an extended family situation, complete with the love and mentoring of foster grandparents. The Boston's Hope neighborhood gives foster children and their guardians and foster grandparents, a new sense of community, quality and affordable housing, and the opportunity to develop familial relationships that will last a life time.

More information on Brownfields in New England is available at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/brownfields/index.html.

Press Releases

Providence, RI - Childhood Lead Action Project receives award

Medford, MA - City awarded for Energy Star, clean air

VT site added to NPL; NH site proposed

Meetings & Conferences

Lenox, MA Model calibration peer review
May 4-5, 9 a.m.

Full index of May meetings

What's New on the Web

Regional

Healthy Community Grants - April 30 cutoff to apply!

GE - Housatonic site - 2004 Restoration Monitoring report

National

$5 Million in EPA Grants to Fund Innovative Idling Reduction Project

In The News Daily Email Service

"In The News" is a free daily service that provides links to today's top newspaper stories about the New England environment and links to related EPA New England information.

In The News Email Service: As soon as today's edition of "In The News" has been posted we will inform you via email.