The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 16

16 THE BOSTON GLOBE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4. 1986 it f. If I I a il 1 1 ff KtJ ill'" tn i i "if i (IT I I II'; i UMtj 'A if1 51 'f' i 1 i'u to A stretch of the Orange Line winds through Roxbury at Washington and Eustis streets. Globe photoDavid Aklba ment ashington Street braces for develop 'Until we get some control, the taking down of the El will unleash market forces in a way in which the community will lose Kenneth Wade CORRIDOR Continued from Page 1 Rather, they will rely on such things as the "Interim planning overlay district" scheduled to be Completed for much of Roxbury next spring, under which all development must be approved by the BRA for two years while permanent new zoning is worked out. Despite the city's assurances, neighborhood leaders who lived through the dramatic gentrifica-tion of parts of the South End remain skeptical.

"Until we get some control," said Kenneth Wade, development planner for United South End Settlements, "the taking down of the El will unleash market forces in a way in which the community will lose put." How exactly those market forces, will work is a matter of debate among business people on brick building housing the former Bowman Cutter Hardware Store at 2379 Washington at the edge of Dudley Station, sold last July for $130,000. A four-story stone building in the heart of the station area, housing Bowen's One Hour Cleaner's, fetched $375,000 last November. A four-story, boarded-up brick building at 2304 Washington also in the heart of Dudley, sold for $175,000 18 months ago. Most developers are reluctant to signal their intentions this early in the game. "Everyone's sort of being very cautious in Dudley.

No one really knows what's happening," said John Spears, architect for Aristotle Politas, a key building owner in Dudley. "Would you make the first big move there, without the support of the BRA or the community? There is no consensus in Dudley, no guidelines that we can see." Kenneth Guscott, who owns part of the Ferdinand's building, which anchors Dudley Station, said he would like to turn it into a "commercial service center," but is indefinite about when. "The market will determine our timetable," Guscott said. Roxbury leaders say they want those buildings, as well as city-owned land parcels, to go to nesses that will employ their residents and keep dollars in their neighborhood. Robert Terrell, placement, the mayor added, "I say it will be a policy of this city to see that it will not take place." Academics and other urban affairs experts predict that more whites and a wealthier population are likely for both Roxbury and the South End along Washington Street several years from now.

But the degree and timing of that change are hard to tell. They say that with adequate city guidelines, development of the street need not mean displacement. Rob Hollister, director of the Center for Public Service at Tufts University, called the neighborhood leaders' prediction of gentrl-fication "a sound one. A lot of what is being talked 'about is a projection of a trend that has already played out in the South End. "It is folly to suggest you can arrest population change.

But insistence on detailed city plans for the street is important. What a plan sanctioned by the city does Is make a framework within which parties can duke it out over the future of an area." Lew Finfer, staff director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, said Dudley Square will not "by any means" be all middle class in five years, "but some of that will be happening. The city must set out a clear policy, 'this is what we want to see on Washington and try to attract people within that context," "When the El comes down, we won't be here." The building's current owner has told developers he has no interest in selling. But Vafidas predicts the owner's relatives probably will want to sell after he retires, and that rents then will triple. In a lengthy interview at City Hall.

Flynn maintained that Washington Street can be developed without displacement of current tenants or businesses. He seemed frustrated that neighborhood leaders could doubt his determination to prevent the poor from being pushed out. Of development in the one-mile-square Dudley area, Including Washington Street, he said, "There has been enormous disinvestment in that area. We're aware of that. History goes against everything we're trying to do.

No administration has had the urge even to attempt it but It's important to achieve a goal the community and administration can work towards together. If it's 'us' versus 'them' we will never get investment and Jobs to that area." "I don't see what the problem is with an administration that wants to work with the community," Flynn said. "Someone has to have confidence at some point that city government is concerned, and city planners know what they're doing." Regarding those who fear dis- chairman of the Greater Roxbury Neighborhood Authority, proposes restaurants, movie theaters, a bookstore and perhaps a Marshall's or Bradlees for Dudley Station. In the South End, the city has done some initial planning on Washington Street by earmarking six city-owned parcels fronting on the street for housing, and proposing 50 percent low- and moderate-income units for those developments. Rushing predicts that without more extensive guidelines for privately owned property, Washington Street could become "a 1980s version of Boylston Street.

Property owners will begin to offer rents a square foot cheaper than on Boylston. Then you'll get lawyers, a few advertising firms, housing like The Greenhouse condominiums on Huntington Avenue. The spin-off will be high rents, and because there aren't enough rich blacks in New England, it's going to be all white. We've got to Some real estate professionals disagree. "People who think it will be gentrified don't know the social fabric of Washington Street," said Walter Ferme, a South End developer and renovator.

"You have 1,000 people in the Cathedral housing project, then the Franklin House project for the elderly, the Blackstone parks, the Tenants Development Corporation subsidized housing units and behind Washington Street, Boston City Hospital. People confuse the Gold Coast of the South End, around Tremont and St. Botolph, with this area, and they are different. This is not going to be a mecca of housing. Roxbury is the boom town, not here." But the view of an inevitable boom is shared by several owners of small businesses in the South End.

They already assume they will be pushed out by higher rents. Mark Vafides, who helps his father run Nick's Fine Tailoring at 1166 Washington, predicts, Washington Street and developers who have recently acquired property Building purchases and specu-lation so far have clustered around Dudley Station and Egles-ton Square. In Dudley Station, sale prices of buildings since January 1985 have ranged from $5,000 for one building to $375,000 for another indicating perhaps some uncertainty about what will happen there. According to the Real Estate Transfer Directory for Suffolk County, the well-kept two-story Choice of light rail or buses anxiously awaited nette Boone, chairwoman of the Four Corners Neighborhood Association, said her group favors light rail because it offers a faster trip downtown. Kenneth Wade, housing specialist for United South End Settlements, said a decision to use buses will be perceived as a political statement that residents in the Washington Street corridor don't deserve top-quality service.

"The state said years ago replacement service would be equal or better than what is lost. It seems to me a light rail vehicle is the only alternative," Wade said. MBTA officials estimate that the cost of a trolley would range from $38 million to $49 million in 1984 dollars. Bus service, which will require reconstruction of Washington Street, would cost about $14 million, also in 1984 dollars. O'Leary said money is available for either alternative.

The MBTA's estimate of travel time from Dudley Station to downtown by trolley is 1 1.7 minutes; by the Washington Street bus alternatives, about 20 minutes. A trolley down Washington Street would be completed by 1991, while reconstruction of Washington Street for buses would be finished in about 1989. If a trolley is selected, the MBTA will have to take down six buildings near Dudley Station, housing five businesses, in order to widen the street. The businesses, which include Tropical Foods Store, a $3 million-a-year operation, would be moved. Gary Kirtland manages the food well." The MBTA is studying these alternatives to replace the elevated transportation system: Buses from Dudley Station to downtown, along Washington Street.

Three downtown loops are being considered, (see illustration.) Paired bus routes using either Tremont and Albany streets or Tremont and Harrison streets, with nothing down Washington Street. A trolley from Dudley Station to Chinatown, along Washington Street. The trolley would connect to the Green Line by entering an existing tunnel near Don Bosco Technical High School. Residents close to downtown in Chinatown and parts of the South End -tend to prefer buses because they interfere less with pedestrian traffic. If a trolley is selected, "we'd fight it," said Carol Lee, a member of the Chinatown Housing and Land Development Task Force.

Lee said too many students and elderly people cross Tremont Street in Chinatown for a trolley to go there. Charles Schuetz, principal of Don Bosco Technical High School, said a trolley along Tremont Street would run "virtually alongside our building while classes are in progress, and I'm not interested in that." Patricia Schooley of the Blackstone Franklin Square Neighborhood Association in the South End said her group is pushing for buses because a trolley would form "a psychological river, a very depressing, dividing kind of thing." Yet only a few blocks away, Jean- store, which was started 15 years ago by Cuban-born Pastor Medina. Kirtland worries about a move, saying it could badly hurt business. But he said it may be possible to build a new store, further away from the street, on a city-owned lot 1 i next door. Regardless of the long-term decision, interim bus service will begin on Wash- ington Street on the day that Orange Line service switches to the new South- west Corridor, MBTA officials say.

The frequency of the buses has not yet been worked out. ",,,) To many business people, replace; ment service is of less concern than the: 7 demolition of the elevated system. process involves the use of welding" torches to disconnect the tracks from r-their supports and cranes to lower the steel debris into trucks. There is no blasting. 1 "There will be some loss of busiu" ness," said O'Leary.

He added that he does not think the inconvenience will severe enough to close any businesses. bill pending in the Legislature would of1" fer bridge loans to Washington Street" businesses during the demolition. Demolition is scheduled to begin in April, starting simultaneously at Forest Hills, the New England Medical Center- South Cove station in Chinatown and Egleston Square, said Dan Ocasio. MBTA director for development of the Southwest Corridor. Demolition of the Dudley Station tracks is scheduled to start about June, and Ocasio said he ex- pects the entire elevated system to be torn down in eight months.

-SARAH SNYDER 2 Whenever MBTA project manager Peter Calcaterra drops by Lebanon Baking Co. on Washington Street for spinach pie, owner Joseph Kalio collars him. Kalio asks the same question Calcaterra has heard at 25 neighborhood meetings this year: When the Orange Line comes down from Washington Street next year, will it be replaced with a trolley or with buses? "I keep asking him, 'What does it look said Kalio, whose South End business, like several near it, faces restricted parking and shortened delivery times If a trolley Is the choice. Kalio figures that no matter which decision is made, "56 percent of people will be mad, 50 percent will be happy. I don't know which I'll be." James O'Leary, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said he plans to make a recommendation to the MBTA board "within 12 months" on whether buses or a trolley should be selected.

But the lack of a decision so far aggravates some residents. The issue is a ticklish one for public officials: Chinatown residents are lobbying hard for buses, South End residents are often divided, and many Roxbury residents would like to see "light rail vehicles" (trolleys). "We were surprised there was no consensus," said O'Leary. "My feeling was a light rail vehicle would have been most favored, because of the fixed nature of it. And it's likely to attract development.

But a number of strong advo-cates are spying buses work just as II If 1 Globe stall photoGeorge Rlzer Gary Kirtland, manager of a tropical foods store near Dudley Station, worries about having to relocate. v. -t.