The Boston Indicators Project

Construction is finally underway along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which has replaced the old elevated Central Artery. Construction is underway on two of the three planned major parks, the 5 acre Wharf District parks and Chinatown Park; the North End park is still in the design phase.
The long-awaited 120 acre park on Spectacle Island finally opened in the summer of 2006, with a new pier, marina, visitor center, two public beaches and five miles of walking trails.
Nearly 38 miles of the 47-mile Harborwalk are now complete. New segments of the Harborwalk were constructed downtown near Lovejoy Wharf, Long Wharf and Lewis Wharf, in South Boston near the K Street Electrical Substation and Institute of Contemporary Art, along Fort Point Channel near the InterContinental Hotel and Gillette, and in Dorchester near the Bayside Expo Center and Venezia Restaurant.
In 2006 the Department of Conservation and Recreation opened the 7-acre Neponset II Park, which connects Pope John Paul II park in Dorchester with the Neponset River Greenway.
The Central Artery/Tunnel project’s environmental mitigation commitments include 40 acres of new parkland along both the Cambridge and Boston sides of the Charles River, linking the Esplanade and Harborwalk. Recent additions include Nashua Street and North Point parks.
Another Central Artery/Tunnel mitigation park, the 20-acre Bremen Street park in East Boston, also opened in 2006.

Public Policies and market demand encouraged “smart growth” and transit-oriented development rather than low-density, automobile-dependent growth.

During 2005 and 2006, the Commonwealth created “building blocks” to promote smart growth, including zoning overlay districts developed by the Commonwealth Housing Task Force enacted into law as Chapters 40R and 40S and a 20-year transportation plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Organization (MTO). Twelve communities have adopted the new zoning—with twice as many considering the new smart growth districts.
An analysis of the City of Boston’s development housing pipeline by Northeastern University’s Center for Urban and Regional Policy identified a large number of transit-oriented development projects, with 46 projects located in 15 of Boston’s 19 neighborhoods. The projects represent a pipeline of more than 9,000 residential units and 23 million square feet of development planned for locations less than a quarter mile from a transit station.
The Greater Boston area scored well on Smart Growth America’s “Sprawl Index,”outscoring all but 6 of the 83 metropolitan areas assessed for their residential density, mix of uses, strength of town centers and downtowns, and accessibility of the street network.

Massachusetts joined 8 other Northeastern states to create a regional system for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. On December 20, 2005, seven states—Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont—announced an agreement to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which will cap emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants from 2009 to 2014 and then reduce those emissions incrementally over the next four years. Newly-elected Governor Deval Patrick brought Massachusetts back into RGGI in January 2007 and Rhode Island joined as well.

Boston became the first major city in the United States to incorporate “green building” requirements into its zoning code for large development projects. Developers will be required to achieve a specified number of “points” for incorporating specific green features, choosing from more than 70 options. This regulatory change implements a unanimous recommendation made by Mayor Menino’s Green Building Task Force.

Volunteers organized by the Urban Ecology Institute in partnership with the Boston Parks Department completed a three-year effort to create a comprehensive inventory of the city’s urban forest. The first-ever inventory of street trees found that Boston has 34,497 street trees, with 77% of them in good condition, 17% in fair condition and 6% in poor condition. An accompanying analysis of overall tree cover (including trees along streets, in parks and in private yards) found that Boston has 29% canopy cover.

The City of Boston has become a national leader on sustainability. Boston has been recognized as the 7th most sustainable city in the United States by SustainLane, a national organization advancing sustainable development for state and local government. SustainLane concluded that “Boston is well on its way to becoming a more sustainable city, with a city government committed to sustainable policies.” In 2005, Boston’s Energy Management Board completed an Integrated Energy Management Plan for the city’s 362 municipal buildings. In September of that year Mayor Menino announced that all new vehicles purchased by the city would run on alternative fuels or have similar fuel economy.

The legislature ensured continued investment in the clean-up and re-use of contaminated “brownfields” sites by re-capitalizing the state’s Brownfields Redevelopment Fund and extending the brownfields tax credit created in 1998. The initial $30 million in the fund had been completely spent on 102 redevelopment projects before $30 million in new funds was approved at the end of the 2005-2006 legislative session.

Principles of environmental sustainability are being incorporated into residential, commercial and other public and private development projects in greater Boston. For example, the 500-unit Olmstead Green project on 42 acres at the site of the former Boston State Hospital was designed to minimize disturbance to mature trees and wetlands and to incorporate green features such as “rain gardens” that collect rainwater and allow it to slowly percolate back into the ground. The Boston Housing Authority’s Maverick Landing development in East Boston, which is applying for LEED certification, received a national award. The Children’s Museum expansion project incorporates green features, including green roofs over the main entry and new wing. As of November 2006, there were 28 certified “green buildings” in Massachusetts, 8 of which were located in the City of Boston (See Indicator 5.2.4).

Massachusetts is one of five New England states that are moving toward adopting California’s Clean Car Program for the 2009 model year. The California standards would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles by 30% when fully phased in 2016.

Several transit-oriented development projects in Boston received state funding under the first two rounds of awards in the Commonwealth’s Transit-Oriented Development Bond Program. Five of the seven projects receiving construction funds from the Commonwealth in 2005 and 2006 are located in the City of Boston, including projects near Dudley Square, Fields Corner and Ashmont stations. The Parcel 24 project in Chinatown, Jackson Square redevelopment, and projects near Mattapan Station and Ashmont Station received design funds.

Massachusetts enacted the Mercury Management Act, which will phase out most consumer products containing mercury beginning in 2007. Due to regulations adopted in 2004 and being implemented in phases, the Commonwealth already leads the nation in regulating mercury emissions from power plants. These are just two of the measures designed to ensure that the state meets the provisions of the regional Mercury Action Plan, which is designed to reduce total mercury emissions 75% by 2010 and achieve a long-term goal of zero mercury emissions.

Greater Boston Breathes Better (GB3), a partnership among the US EPA, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Boston and numerous local businesses and organizations successfully began reducing diesel pollution from construction and transportation sources. Through its partners, GB3 helped retrofit more than 1,600 diesel vehicles with advanced pollution controls that reduce per-vehicle emissions by 30-90%. During 2005 and 2006, the City of Boston retrofitted all 500 of its school buses with this technology and committed to supplying them with ultra-low diesel fuel.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s MetroFuture planning effort made substantial progress in its effort to develop a vision for the region’s future and a strategy to achieve that vision. At the beginning of 2006, MAPC released its “base case” projections for the region in 2030. Later in 2006, MAPC released four alternative growth strategies developed through a broadly-based outreach and visioning process that attracted thousands of participants from across the region.

A public-private partnership invested $1.8 million to rebuild the youth athletic fields in Lederman Park on the Charles River Esplanade. One of the premier projects of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs’ recently-established Office of Public-Private Partnerships, this effort restored fields for youth soccer, youth baseball, T ball and adult softball with funding from the state, the Red Sox Foundation, Hill House and the Esplanade Association.

More than 850 people attended the fourth annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities conference in Boston in May 2006. Mayor Thomas M. Menino used the occasion to unveil a pilot green roof on one of City Hall’s roof terraces.

Boston’s visitor industry has gone green. The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), Hynes Convention Center and World Trade Center all added aggressive recycling programs. BCEC received a WasteWise Reduction Leadership Award from the Environmental Protection Agency and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for its food waste composting program. There are now five Energy Star certified hotels in Boston and a handful of eateries certified by the Green Restaurant Association. Boston Green Tourism lists “green” hospitality industry resources on its website, and the Saunders Hotel Group consults with the hospitality industry worldwide.