OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
DESIGN ISSUES AND PLANNING PROCESSES
SOCIAL ISSUES
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
-- Street: City of Boston
-- Walnut Park: Boston Housing Authority (BHA)

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CONDITIONS:
Columbus Avenue is a four-lane major thoroughfare that begins at the northern-most corner of Franklin Park (where Seaver Street ends), continues through Egleston Square, and heads north towards downtown Boston. There is parking on either side of the street and wide sidewalks. In comparison to the Washington Street section of Egleston Square, Columbus Avenue does not facilitate pedestrian activity because traffic is daunting and the wide street is difficult to cross.

Public buildings between Franklin Park and Egleston Square include the Egleston Square branch of the Boston Public Library, which was closed during a period of disinvestment in the neighborhood. The Rafael Hernandez School and Walnut Park, a 20-story public housing tower for low and moderate-income elderly and the disabled, are also located on Columbus Avenue. Closer to Egleston Square at the intersection with Washington Street -- a City of Boston designated Main Street -- there is a strip of chain stores and banks, including Savings Bank, McDonalds, Athlete's Foot, and H&R Block. These businesses were opened in the square in the late 1990s, and have honored their commitment to hire local residents for managerial as well as entry-level positions. There are also a number of smaller, local businesses along the southwestern side of the strip, including a video store.

There is a "Main Street" sign for those driving north on Columbus Avenue to welcome people to Egleston Square. There is no equivalent sign for those driving south on Columbus. The avenue is accessed by Buses 44, 222 and 9.
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CONTEXT:
Many people refer to Columbus Avenue as the demarcation between the neighborhoods of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. Mossik Hacobian, executive director of Urban Edge, which is based in Egleston Square, described the line between the two communities as "like a Berlin Wall in people's minds" during the 1980s. Today, the line between the two communities is more amorphous. Most people seem to agree that the significance of the line between the two communities, which was once marked by gang conflict, has decreased in recent years and that conflict between territorial groups has declined.

In recent decades, the neighborhoods along the Washington Street/ Columbus Avenue corridor have been predominantly Latino.

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HISTORY:
Columbus Avenue was not a major thoroughfare until it was reconstructed in the early 1990s. Before that time, Washington Street received the majority of through-traffic in the area, and had a rapid transit line as well.

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DESIGN ISSUES and PLANNING PROCESSES:
The Urban Edge Community Development Corporation is addressing many of the design issues and community concerns of people who live and work along Columbus Avenue as they plan for "Egleston Crossing" around the intersection of Washington Street and Columbus Avenue. Egleston Crossing will include two housing complexes and a limited amount of new and renovated business space. Urban Edge initiated an intensive public process regarding the Egleston Crossing development beginning in the winter of 2002.

On the Roxbury side, Egleston Crossing will include the redevelopment of a former garage that will become a five-story apartment complex with 44 two- and three-bedroom affordable units. The ground floor will be retail space. On the Jamaica Plain side, Egleston Crossing will include the redevelopment of a long-vacant movie theater as a three-story apartment building with 22 apartments.

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SOCIAL ISSUES:
Two police districts split Columbus Avenue: B-2 and E-13. Some residents feel that Columbus Avenue is under-serviced and chaotic as a result.

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TESTIMONIES:
"The Warren and Blue Hill Avenue corridor has been dominated by blacks, and the Washington Street and Columbus area has been dominated by Latinos. Now with Latinos being forced out of Jamaica Plain, they are being forced across the [Franklin] Park to areas like Harvard Street and around Franklin Field. Some who can't find a place in Boston are being forced out to Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River, and other areas where they can afford to live. The Latino population is shrinking fast in Roxbury" (Bruce Smith, deputy director of public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health and lifelong Dorchester resident).

"Columbus Avenue is the Indy 500 of Boston" (Betty Greene, Egleston Square area resident, Jamaica Plain Gazette, May 28, 1999).

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