OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
DESIGN ISSUES
TESTIMONIES

Click here for map and orthophoto

Click here for data from census tract 902. (From U.S. 2000 Census).

OWNERSHIP: 
-- Oldfields wooded area: six people and organizations own these nine parcels of land, each of which is detailed below (one church, three local residents, and one owner from outside the neighborhood). 
-- Vacant lots and abandoned buildings on Geneva Street near the Jeremiah Burke High School: six parcels are owned by City of Boston through foreclosure. Three others are owned by Joseph Pizzaferri, who has an address in Quincy. Two vacant, wooded lots connect with the Oldfield wooded area described above.
-- New homes on Stanwood Street: City-owned vacant land is being redeveloped for affordable home-ownership opportunities.
-- Two burned out and boarded up homes on Stanwood Street are owned by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA). These are adjacent to recently renovated or new homes.

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CONDITIONS:
This is a neighborhood in transition. It experienced a flush of new investement in recent years, particularly in terms of the new Grove Hall Mecca Mall on the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Geneva Street, which has driven other types of investment throughout the area. In 2002, many people are renovating their homes, while new homes are being built or have recently been completed. The City is planning to make new investments in infrastructure for Jeremiah Burke High School.

At the same time, vacant lots and trashy wooded areas remain. The periphery of the Jeremiah Burke High School continues to be in poor condition. Some homes are derelict and some buildings have been abandoned. Some residents are very concerned that new investment will increase property values to the point where they will no longer be able to afford to live in the neighborhood. The following descriptions give more detailed information about particular parts of the neighborhood.

Oldfields natural area:
Extending from Geneva Street at the end of Joe L. Smith Way northeast to Stanwood Street is a natural area that covers two city blocks. The area shifts from a grassy meadow next door to a trim lawn with one or two mature trees, into a dense, biologically diverse woodland. One major trail runs through the wooded area. This urban wild is an amalgam of nine properties owned by various groups and individuals. There are no woody plants on one side of the meadow, which is dominated by yarrow, milkweed, thistles, and several species of grasses. The forest is predominantly comprised of Norway maples, but also includes ash, cherry, and oak trees, as well as sumac, jewelweed, low bush blueberry, and patches of poison ivy.

This area is ecologically valuable. It is also valuable as open space. Although this community is relatively close to Franklin Park, the park is not accessible to the people who live here. The high fences that border the Franklin Park Zoo run along this edge and block access to the park. There are many possible uses for this area as greenspace, including educational and recreational uses by the Jeremiah Burke High School next door. There are no community gardens in this area, and gardening is an additional possible use for this plot of land. Although on many Boston maps Oldfields Road appears to connect Washington Street and Normandy Street, in actuality the road dead ends at the edge of forested land.

Three of the largest parcels are owned by greenspace advocate and active Grove Hall citizen Walter Little. Other landowners are Deliverance Revival Church (two parcels off of Geneva Street), Mary Ambrosino (one parcel off of Oldfields Road), and Eva Silver (one parcel off of Stanwood Street) of Springfield, MA. The nine parcels are used by the community as a cut-through. There is a partially paved but overgrown path that connects Oldfields Road with Stanwood Street. Other residents appear to use the area as a social space. Some people also use the area as a dumping ground. While there is one specific area where tires are piled high and large items such as car seats and appliances have been dumped, the landscape is not overrun by trash.

Geneva Avenue:
The back entrance of Jeremiah Burke High School opens onto Geneva Avenue, which is characterized almost entirely by vacant lots and vacant buildings. The lots are trash-strewn and appear to be going almost entirely unused. In the winter/ spring of 2002, the City of Boston demolished two of the buildings that it owned through foreclosure, including a run-down, unused "recreation center." In May 2002, the lot is fenced but unused. Other dilapidated buildings still stand, including one that is covered with a brilliant mural painted by city youth.

Two of the vacant lots are covered in gravel, visible from the Grove Hall Mecca, and strewn with trash and large pieces of rubish. Another lot is a sprawling, grassy, open area that connects to the Oldfields wooded area described above.

New housing on Stanwood Street:
In May 2002, 19 units of housing on Stanwood Street directly behind the Grove Hall Mecca Mall are approaching completion. This is the Stanwood/ Devon project, initiated by the City. It is part of a homeownership program that will build one- and two-family homes on City-owned vacant land. Community Developers of Grove Hall was selected as the developer through a community process. An active residents association in this area called the Stanwood Street/ Columbia Road Residents Association has been deeply involved in the process.

There is a tremendous amount of renovation occurring on these streets in the vicinity of the Grove Hall Mecca Mall. Although some dilapidated, burned-out homes remain, in May 2002, construction is occurring at many points along Stanwood Street, as well as Laredo Street and Normandy Street. Many of the older homes on Stanwood Street are still in good condition, particularly brick apartments with common areas in the back. Construction of the new Middle School on Columbia Road backs up all the way to Normandy Street.

Vacant buildings:
In May 2002, there are two burned out and boarded-up buildings on Stanwood Street near the intersection with Loredo Street. Both are owned by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA). These types of buildings are becoming increasingly rare in this neighborhood around the Grove Hall Mecca as homes are renovated and vacant lots are redeveloped.

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CONTEXT:
Decline in Grove Hall:
The Grove Hall area in general, and this area in particular, has been in decline over the past several decades. In 2002, the area was in the midst of a revitalization period that was driven to some degree by major investments at the Grove Hall Mecca, a mall opened in 2001 on a mostly vacant, contaminated brownfield property. When the Jeremiah Burke High School lost its accreditation in 1995, significant resources were invested in the school as well.
Jeremiah Burke:
The urban wild mentioned above is at the back end of the Jeremiah Burke High School, which is slated by the City for major renovations and additions and possibly a community center. For many years, the Grove Hall community has requested a community center in Grove Hall that would serve the needs of the high school students as well as the community as a whole. There is no community center in Grove Hall, an area that in 2002 had the highest rate of violent crime among youth in the City of Boston.

Transit-dependence:
This is one of the most transit-dependent areas in the Heart of the City, with between 53% and 80% of households without an automobile, according to the 1990 Census. There is no rapid transit available here, and residents use buses -- often environmentally hazardous diesel buses -- to get where they need to go.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
In part due to the Grove Hall Mecca Mall and in part due to increasing development in the area, the volume of traffic through Grove Hall has risen sharply over the past several years. Because of this, Grove Hall in the Stanwood Street Area was selected by the Boston Transportation Department as a pilot site for a transportation safety program.

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TESTIMONIES:
"For the right use, we'd be willing to give up our land. If its used for the school and for the youth in the community" (Walter Little, September 2002).

"The people around here are glad about this change [on Geneva Street and Stanwood Street] and about the money coming in for housing. But you'd have to be a sultan to afford some of the prices for rent. Fifteen hundred, sixteen hundred a month for a place to live. When I came here in the 1960s it was $12 a week for a place, including linens" (Roderick, Grove Hall resident for more than 30 years; employee at the National Auto Service on Geneva Street in Grove Hall).

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