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In 2023, City Planners Approved Enough Parking to Bring 8,000 More Cars Into Boston – Streetsblog Massachusetts

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In spite of an acute housing crisis and unfulfilled goals to slash motor vehicle pollution throughout the city, Boston’s planning agency approved more parking spaces than homes over the course of 2023.

According to year-end statistics compiled by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), Boston approved 69 development proposals that would create 7,346 new homes and 6.2 million square feet of new commercial space.

The proposals would also build enough parking to bring up to 8,053 more cars into the City of Boston – enough to fill all eight lanes of the Southeast Expressway (I-93) with bumper-to-bumper traffic from the Neponset River to the I-90 interchange downtown.

2023 BPDA new project approvals

Total Within 1/4 mi. of
transit stations
Number of projects 69 28
Gross sq. footage 13.1 million 6.6 million
Number of new homes 7,346 4,041
Non-residential square footage 6.2 million 2.9 million
Parking spaces 8,053 3,640
Data courtesy of the BPDA.

3,640 of those new parking spaces – 45 percent of the total approved – would be built in the city’s most transit-accessible neighborhoods, within a quarter-mile of an MBTA rapid transit or regional rail station.

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BPDA officials told StreetsblogMASS that the majority of those parking spaces – 4,935 of them – would be assigned to non-residential uses, like offices, hotels, and labs.

Among residential projects, the BPDA’s 2023 approvals averaged 0.42 new parking spaces for each new home.

2021 parking reforms show little effect to date

StreetsblogMASS has reported similar results in year-end roundups of the BPDA’s parking and housing approvals for five consecutive years now (read our stories from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022).

Only in one of those stories – our roundup from 2020 – could we report that the BPDA approved more homes than parking spaces.

In 2021, the BPDA adopted new rules that limit the amount of parking that developers will be allowed to build, with stricter limits applying in the city’s most transit-accessible neighborhoods.

In October of the same year, the Boston City Council voted unanimously to eliminate minimum off-street parking requirements for affordable residential development projects.

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Many of the applications that the BPDA approved in 2023 came in after those reforms took effect.

But the overall ratio of parking spaces per approved home nevertheless remained similar to what it had been in 2020 and 2021.

Compared to past years, a higher ratio of new development approvals in 2023 were for projects in outlying neighborhoods, far from the city’s rapid transit and commuter rail stations.

41 of the 69 new developments that the BPDA approved in 2023 were at least a quarter-mile away from an MBTA rapid transit or regional rail station.

Those developments, on average, proposed higher ratios of parking compared to projects that were approved in more transit-accessible areas, within a quarter-mile of an MBTA station.

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Among the subset of 28 projects located within a quarter mile of an MBTA stop, developers are actually planning to build more housing units (4,041) than parking spaces (3,640).

Parking exemptions for affordable housing has limited impact in practice

The city’s new exemption in parking mandates for affordable housing applies only to buildings where at least 60 percent of the units are set aside for lower-income households.

Only a small handful of the BPDA’s 2023 project approvals would have met that criterion, as most of the new affordable housing the city approved this year would be integrated into larger developments that would include more higher-income housing.

Still, the zoning reform helped a few affordable housing projects move forward in 2023.

A rendering of a 5-story apartment building on a hillside. The building is clad primarily in grey with a brick-red accent on the corners.
A rendering of Old Colony Phase 6, a proposed affordable apartment building next to Moakley Park in South Boston.

For instance, the Boston Housing Authority won approvals for the final phase in its redevelopment of the Old Colony neighborhood near Moakley Park (pictured above).

The new 6-story building, roughly half a mile away from the Andrew Square Red Line station, will have 89 apartments and no off-street parking.

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On the other hand, and on the other side of the city, the East Boston Community Development Corporation opted not to take advantage of the new parking rules for a new affordable housing development at 2 Shawasheen Road, next to the Orient Heights park-and-ride lot in East Boston.

That project proposes to build 57 new affordable apartments, but also proposes to build 36 indoor parking spaces in two separate ground-floor parking garages.



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Boston, MA

Red Sox Icon David Ortiz Urges Boston To ‘Make It Rain’ For Free-Agent Slugger

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Red Sox Icon David Ortiz Urges Boston To ‘Make It Rain’ For Free-Agent Slugger


The Boston Red Sox hive mind doesn’t always come to a perfect agreement on what they want the team to do. That is, of course, unless David Ortiz is asking for it.

A three-time World Series champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most clutch players of all time, Ortiz is unquestionably on the Red Sox’s all-time Mount Rushmore. Even though he retired in 2016, he’s still closely woven into the fabric of the organization.

Ortiz sees what we all do: this Red Sox team is close to being ready to contend for the playoffs, but there’s one key ingredient missing. He made his feelings known about what he hopes the front office does between now and Opening Day to address that issue.

On Saturday, Ortiz relayed a simple message to the Red Sox: spend whatever it takes to get one more big bat.

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“There’s still some guys out there that we can still go for, and I think we have a really good front office,” Ortiz said in an appearance on NESN. “To put a good lineup together nowadays is not that difficult. What you got to do is just make it rain, and you can go pick a few guys. Now pitching, on the other hand, is the toughest thing to put together.

“We got pitching. Pitching can always stop good offenses. The playoff is a playoff pitching (staff) we got right now. We line up a couple of thunders in the lineup to help (Rafael Devers) and the rest of them boys — one good bat would do.”

Ortiz and NESN host Tom Caron both strongly hinted at the end of the interview who that big bat could be: former Houston Astros All-Star Alex Bregman. Manager Alex Cora also signaled earlier in the day that Bregman would be a great fit in Boston.

Bregman isn’t quite Ortiz, but he does have one thing on him: the career record for OPS at Fenway Park. He has a wild 1.245 mark in 98 plate appearances in Boston throughout his career.

When David Ortiz asks for something, the Red Sox would usually be wise to follow through. And it seems he wants Bregman. Will that move the needle in the suites at Fenway?

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More MLB: Red Sox Predicted To Land Ex-Padres $28 Million Gold Glover In Free Agency Surprise



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Greater Boston enjoys a light snow, travel not significantly impacted – The Boston Globe

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Greater Boston enjoys a light snow, travel not significantly impacted – The Boston Globe


The snow showers come from a weakening system approaching from the Great Lakes that tapped into some of the moisture from a strong storm passing south of New England.

The region was spared the worst precipitation of the storm thanks to persistent sub-freezing temperatures earlier this week, which pushed it south toward its current location off the coast of North Carolina, Nocera said. New England’s light snowfall is on the northern fringes of the storm.

Nocera added that this weekend’s “decorative snow” will not significantly impact ground travel.

The Massachusetts Port Authority issued a travel advisory for flight delays at Boston Logan International Airport. According to the flight tracking website Flight Aware, as of around 1:00 p.m. 212 flights were delayed at Boston Logan and another 15 were cancelled.

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Margo Griffin, a teaching associate at the University of Cambridge in England, was initially worried about driving through the snow on her way to get coffee in Cambridge, but said the view from the Charles River was worth the trek.

“I thought it might be a problem, but I just decided to go ahead with the plan, and I’m enjoying walking through the snow,” Griffin said.

People walked along a snow-covered path at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston Saturday, as a winter storm brought light accumulation to New England.

Erin Clark / Globe Staff

Other Boston-area residents who spoke to the Globe Saturday morning were happy to wake up to the winter scene on Saturday.

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“I am feeling wonderful about the snow. I haven’t seen it in a long time,” said Barbara Delollis, a communications lead at Harvard Business School.

Delollis already made snow day plans.

“We want to go out and have some fun in the snow, and take a lot of pictures and just remember this moment, because we don’t know how much more snowfall we’re going to see in the Boston area anymore with climate change,” Delollis said.

Talia, a Cambridge resident, said that the snow had no effect on her plans to attend synagogue with her two-year-old son Saturday morning.

“It feels nice and seasonal, which is cool because climate change is terrifying,” she said.

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Snowstorms can still occur, despite warming temperatures from climate change, Nocera said. Although Saturday’s snowfall cannot guarantee heavy snow this winter, there is a slightly higher chance of snow towards the end of the month as cold temperatures ease.

A frostbite sailor passed snow covered houseboats while headed out to race on the Annisquam River in Gloucester, Mass. Jan. 11, 2025. John Blanding/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe

Materials from previous Globe stories were used in this report.





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Boston College drops Hockey East contest to Merrimack

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Boston College drops Hockey East contest to Merrimack


The second-ranked Boston College men’s hockey team suffered its first home loss of the season, falling to Merrimack by a score of 5-2 in Hockey East action on Friday night at Kelley Rink. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, but the Warriors scored the next five. BC falls to 12-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Hockey East, while Merrimack improves to 8-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in league play. The Eagles opened the scoring midway through the first period when Oskar Jellvik one-timed the rebound off an Aram Minnetian shot that was saved by the Merrimack goaltender. Minnetian’s shot fell right into the path of Jellvik for the quick shot into the open net to put the Eagles in front. BC added to its lead shortly into the second period when Brady Berard scored a short-handed goal. Merrimack responded 32 seconds later with a power-play goal to get on the board, before scoring the game-tying goal less than one minute after that. The Warriors took the lead nearly three minutes later when Merrimack scored its third goal of the period. The Warriors scored twice in the third period to push their lead to three. Jacob Fowler made 23 saves while Nils Wallstrom had 27 stops for Merrimack.



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