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Boston, MA
Boston wants to revamp Chinatown zoning. Will it be enough to blunt gentrification? – The Boston Globe
The aspect of the city’s zoning plan that perhaps most strongly signals a break with the past would strike the rules that gave birth to the Combat Zone in the neighborhood. It would largely be a symbolic move, as the heyday of the notorious den of sleaze — once home to strip clubs, X-rated theaters, peep shows, and adult bookstores in the downtown core of Boston — is decades in the past.
Still, for those who advocate for Chinatown, removing a slice of the zoning that for years allowed for Boston’s only adult entertainment district in their neighborhood matters. It’s a modicum of recompense for a time when city authorities largely ignored the wants and needs of a place that has for generations offered a beachhead for immigrants.
“Chinatown suffered decades of increased crime and negative impacts on the community,” said Lydia Lowe, executive director of Chinatown Community Land Trust. “That issue is very important.”
The rezoning discussion — a comment period for the city’s proposed changes ends in mid-January — comes amid a time of transition for Chinatown, one of Boston’s smallest neighborhoods, an ethnic enclave with a rich history in the city’s urban core. Talk to seemingly anyone in Chinatown and they’ll say that displacement is their largest concern. And demographic data back up the notion that the effects of years-long gentrification continue to alter the fabric of the neighborhood.
The city’s planning department this fall released a draft of new zoning regulations and design guidelines that “seek to promote affordable housing, emphasize the significance of small businesses and cultural spaces, and highlight Chinatown’s unique character,” Brittany Comak, a department spokesperson, said in an email.
The next public meeting, focused on property owners, will be held in January, with final recommendations to come later, Comak said.
The proposal looks to better protect the neighborhood’s historic row houses — symbols of Chinatown’s working class, which now faces displacement — by capping how tall developments can be in part of the district. Residents have fought to preserve the affordability and character of those structures, saying they are integral to the area’s cultural fabric, one of the last untouched pockets of a neighborhood roiled by development.
Under the plan, the maximum height of projects would be 45 feet, down from the current 80 feet. (Chinatown’s row houses tend to be three to four stories in height.) Other restrictions, according to the city, would help ensure new buildings “would be of similar size and scale to the existing row houses” in a certain subdistrict of Chinatown.
“We find that to be a positive change,” said Müge Ündemir, director of real estate for Asian Community Development Corporation, of the city’s zoning approach to the row houses.
Other parts of the rezoning initiative are being met with questions or outright skepticism.
For instance, an affordable housing overlay district would allow developers in parts of Chinatown to build structures up to 350 feet tall, if they meet two thresholds: 60 percent of the gross floor area must be devoted to residential uses, and 60 percent of the residential units must be income-restricted and meet an affordability standard. While advocates support the idea of more affordable housing in Chinatown, 35 stories, they argue, is way too high for the neighborhood.
Karen Chen, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, worries that such towering buildings could exacerbate quality-of-life issues in a neighborhood where some blocks are already cast in shadow and wind tunnels are a reality thanks to past development.
“Chinatown is so small and congested already,” said Chen. “Up to 35 stories is just ridiculous.”
Through a spokesperson, the city’s planning department said the overlay “reflects heights of recent projects in the area, how other areas of downtown are being rezoned to increase allowable building height, and acknowledges the clear community priority to deliver affordable housing in Chinatown in an area of limited sites for development.”
Others are critical of the income ceiling for who would qualify for the affordable housing in such projects. Under the city’s plan, households making up to the area median income would qualify. For a one-person household, the cap would be about $114,000.
Advocates want the cap to be much lower, say 60 percent of area median income, which would be about $68,000 for a one-person household. That would more directly help the neighborhood’s working class and working poor, they argue.
“The affordability standard, it needs to match where the neighborhood is at,” said Chen, who also worries that a proposed “transition zone” would contribute to the further encroachment into Chinatown of downtown’s luxury residential towers.
Angie Liou, executive director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, concurs, saying the general idea of incentivizing more affordable housing in the neighborhood is a good one.
“The devil’s really in the details,” she said.
Officially, more than 4,200 residents live within about one-fifth of a square mile that makes up Chinatown. (Advocates have long challenged the population estimate there as severely undercounted.)
According to city figures, about 64 percent of the neighborhood’s population identifies as Asian or Pacific Islander. Half the population is foreign-born, with just under half of all Chinatown residents speaking Mandarin or Cantonese at home. There was a time when those numbers were much higher. An old master plan for the neighborhood estimated that in 1990, 91 percent of residents were Chinese.
Chinatown’s history is one of political marginalization. The Combat Zone, which is now occupied by luxury apartments and trendy restaurants, is a high–profile example of the city treating the neighborhood as an afterthought. Two strip clubs on LaGrange Street still stand in the city’s “adult entertainment district” as a reminder of what once was. They would remain part of an adult entertainment district under the proposed zoning changes, as they are located just outside of what the city considers to be Chinatown.
There is a history of development profoundly changing the neighborhood, which has never produced a Boston city councilor. Construction of the Central Artery and the Massachusetts Turnpike took sizable bites out of Chinatown decades ago, and the steady expansion of Tufts Medical Center also ate away at blocks.
Amid current gentrification and displacement challenges, many first-generation immigrants and working-class Chinese Americans still look to Chinatown for their day-to-day needs, as they have for more than a century. A plaque at Ping On Alley memorializes the city’s first Chinese immigrants, who pitched their tents there starting in 1875.
Advocates say new zoning alone won’t stop gentrification, but some hope it could have a “calming effect” on the neighborhood. Enforcement of the zoning rules also matters. Liou, of the Asian Community Development Corporation, said the city has historically given out variances to Chinatown projects on a regular basis, which has had a cumulative effect of largely rendering the existing zoning moot.
“If it’s on the books and no one follows it,” said Liou, “It’s pointless.”
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.
Boston police, federal agents and the National Park Service are investigating an incident involving a fire behind the historic African Meeting House, a landmark that is part of Boston’s Museum of African American History.
The National Park Service said it responded to the African Meeting House during the early morning hours of June 3 after an unidentified person was seen on surveillance video opening a package that had been left outside the building. Authorities said the individual removed some of the contents and burned several items in a small alley behind the structure.
Officials said there are no early indications the incident was an attempt to set fire to the building itself, but the case remains under active investigation.
The African Meeting House, built in 1806 on Beacon Hill, is recognized as the nation’s oldest surviving Black church building and is a National Historic Landmark.
“This has been a distressing situation, and quite sobering,” museum President and CEO Noelle Trent said.
Trent said the package contained materials intended for upcoming Juneteenth celebrations. According to the museum, the person scattered and burned some of the contents behind the building.
Outside the Museum of African American History, where a package fire was reported early Wednesday, June 4, 2026.
“A small ember would be devastating, not only for this building but also for the community around us,” Trent said.
Investigators from the Boston Police Department, the Boston Fire Department’s Arson Unit and federal authorities are working to determine a motive.
Trent said the incident is particularly concerning because of the building’s historical significance.
“We do not have many buildings like this in the country, so we are a physical marker and a reminder of the community and what happened here,” she said. “If this goes, there’s nothing else like it anywhere else in the world.”
NBC10 Boston NBC10 Boston Inside the Museum of African American History in Boston.
Mayor Michelle Wu also highlighted the importance of the African Meeting House and said the Civil Rights Division of the Boston Police Department is investigating.
“At a time of unrelenting attacks on Black history and Black communities, the Museum of African American History in Boston stands as a pillar of truth and conscience for our city and our country,” Wu said in a statement. “The African Meeting House — the oldest standing Black church in the United States — continues to be a home for important community convenings to this day. This disturbing incident of suspected arson is under investigation by the Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights Division, and hateful acts of violence will never be tolerated in Boston. The City of Boston stands firmly with Dr. Trent and the entire MAAH team, and we will not be intimidated in our work to make Boston a home for everyone.”
No injuries were reported. Authorities said additional information will be released as the investigation continues.
Boston, MA
Karen Read sues the police agencies that investigated her Boston police boyfriend’s death
BOSTON — Karen Read has filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton, alleging misconduct and negligence in the investigation that led to her prosecution in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.
The suit filed Thursday in Bristol County Superior Court argues that Read’s acquittal last June revealed “an embedded culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.” It alleges that the town and the police department were negligent in the hiring, training, and supervision of officers.
The town of Canton and the Canton Police Department did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.
Read walked out of court a free woman about a year ago after more than three years and two trials over the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found on the suburban lawn of a fellow officer’s home after a night of heavy drinking during a snowstorm.
Read faced charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. The jury convicted her of a lesser charge, drunken driving.
Prosecutors said Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV on January 2022 night of the party, leaving him to die in a blizzard.
Her lawyers successfully defended her, painting a sinister picture of police misconduct and theorizing that O’Keefe was in fact killed by colleagues who then covered it up.
The trial centered in part on lead investigator Michael Proctor, whom defense attorneys described as biased against Read from the beginning. The Massachusetts State Police trial board found Proctor guilty of sending crude and defamatory text messages about Read while leading the investigation into her. He was fired and drew the ire of Read supporters who believe he played a key role in an alleged cover-up to frame her.
The complaint filed Thursday devotes dozens of pages to Proctor and former Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode, citing texts, recordings and other communications that it says demonstrate racist, sexist and other derogatory remarks. Read argues that those materials show both men were unfit to participate in the investigation and that their conduct reflected broader failures in oversight by state and local law enforcement officials.
Goode was placed on leave in November 2025 when the town was notified about allegations of misconduct. He resigned earlier this week, according to news outlets.
Boston, MA
Clover plans to reopen some locations after sudden closure, thanks to an anonymous investor
Local News
The vegetarian restaurant chain, founded in 2008 at MIT, will reopen its Cambridge and Boston locations Tuesday, June 9.
Just days after announcing it would shut down for good, Clover Food Lab now says it has found a path forward to reopen some restaurants.
The vegetarian restaurant chain will reopen its Cambridge and Boston locations for lunch service on Tuesday, June 9, after securing a deal with an investor, CEO Julia Wrin Piper told Boston.com.
Clover announced May 26 it would close all 11 of its restaurants and its meal-box delivery operations, citing inflation, thin margins, and limited ability to raise prices.
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Wrin Piper said the company is focusing on Boston and Cambridge as it reopens some locations. Before last week, the chain also had restaurants in Sudbury, Burlington, Westford, and Somerville.
“We are intentionally focusing on shrinking our footprint to focus on our core communities,” Wrin Piper said. “The operational plan is still being worked out.”
Since March, the company had been searching for a buyer but was unable to find one. However, late last week, Clover finalized an investment deal that will allow the company to continue operating, Wrin Piper said.
Wrin Piper declined to identify the investor or disclose further details about the deal. In an email announcing the reopening, Clover described the investor as “mission-aligned” with the brand and motivated by the “differentiation of [Clover’s] locally-sourced menu.”
“Now, we’re in a position where we’re resourced enough that we’ll be able to move forward with some of the operational changes that will be essential for long-term financial sustainability, specifically reduced footprint, really focusing on serving truly the local community,” Wrin Piper said.
The reopening also comes after an “outpouring of love” from customers following the closure announcement, Wrin Piper noted.
Clover locations saw an increase in traffic, and sales surged as supporters flocked to restaurants in their final days, the company said in the email.
The company also received messages from customers sharing memories and expressing appreciation for the brand. In notes shared with Boston.com, customers described Clover as “irreplaceable” and a “unique Boston institution.” Others reflected on years of meals and experiences tied to the restaurant.
“My memories are mostly about the vibe — welcoming, delicious, passionate, sustainable, and community oriented,” one note reads. “Clover staff were always friendly and helpful. I estimate I had at least 2,000 Clover sandwiches over the 17 years. I tried them all and had my favorites.”
Wrin Piper said the response was deeply touching.
“It’s meaningful to see a customer really enjoy a sandwich or really connect with a story that we’re telling about a local farm,” she said. “It’s exciting if you see one customer doing it. If you see literally 1,000 customers do it over the course of a day, it’s incredibly meaningful.”
Founded as a food truck outside MIT in 2008, Clover built its reputation on vegetarian meals made with ingredients sourced from local farms. What began as a single truck eventually expanded into a regional fast-casual chain and meal-box delivery service.
Clover went public with its financial issues when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2023, citing rising costs, slow sales, and difficulty raising capital. The restaurant emerged from bankruptcy the following year with two fewer restaurants and 240 employees.
Inflation was one of the factors behind the company’s recent closure announcement, and Wrin Piper acknowledged those pressures have not disappeared.
However, she said Clover’s restructuring efforts are designed to better position the company for long-term stability.
“Our restaurant portfolio, as a whole, was profitable,” she said. “But because we were challenged with some of these pressures, it’s very important in this next iteration to really focus on the core stores that are not only profitable but also very economically service as a tight community around Boston and Cambridge.”
While the company’s long-term operating plan is still being finalized, it will include reducing its store count and scaling back on infrastructure built for expansion.
Clover currently operates a large commissary in East Cambridge, where ingredients from local farmers are processed and prepared for restaurants throughout the system. Wrin Piper said that model was designed to support “scaled growth” and is no longer what the company needs.
“Right now, it’s important that we’re focused on a reduced store portfolio,” she said. “We’ll be closing or downsizing our commissary, because it’s simply too big for our needs.”
The chain also faces growing competition from other healthy lifestyle chains that have popped up in the region, such as Life Alive, CAVA, and Sweetgreen. Still, Wrin Piper said she believes Clover’s distinct identity and local sourcing will continue to set it apart.
“I think providing super fresh, exciting food with really warm and inviting customer service is the way that we’re going to continue to raise sales,” she said.
Wrin Piper noted that many customers choose Clover for its sourcing that “stays 100 percent the same” despite the operational challenges the company faces, adding that reinvesting in the local agriculture economy has been core to Clover’s mission.
“[Sourcing is] never something we’ve compromised on,” Wrin Piper said. “We will keep our commitment to sourcing from local farms in New England that you can drive to within a few hours.”
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