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A brutalist Boston landmark gets a new redevelopment plan — with a focus on housing
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The humidity is back, but fortunately not for long. Now, to the news:
Back to the drawing board: Gov. Maura Healey is relaunching plans to redevelop a giant brutalist landmark (some say eyesore) in downtown Boston. No, we’re not talking about City Hall. State officials announced new plans for the hulking state office complex known as the Charles F. Hurley and Erich Lindemann buildings. (It’s hard to miss if you’ve ever driven down Staniford Street.)
- Flashback: It’s the state’s second try at redeveloping the so-called “superblock.” Former Gov. Charlie Baker made moves in 2019 to convert just the Hurley building (not the Lindemann) into a mixed-use development, with a focus on lab space.
- What’s new? Healey’s plan includes the adjacent Lindemann building, and nixes the lab space (something the state now has more than enough of). Instead, it will focus on “urgently needed” housing. According to The Boston Globe, officials hope to build another building, possibly a residential tower, on the site.
- What about the complex’s current inhabitants? While the Hurley building is basically empty, the Lindemann still houses a mental health center. The plan is for the new redevelopment to include “upgraded, modern space” for mental health patients.
- Don’t worry, brutalism fans. Healey’s administration says any project also needs to “prioritize historic preservation,” likely sparing the building the same fate as other concrete behemoths.
New rules for nurses: Clean syringes and smoking pipes. Narcan. Fentanyl test strips. Massachusetts nurses in any setting can now use a range of harm reduction strategies without fear of violating the rules of their license. WBUR’s Martha Bebinger reports the state board that regulates nurses recently issued guidance to clarify that giving clean supplies to people who use drugs is allowed.
- Why? Nurses routinely help patients manage many chronic diseases, but also (less commonly) addiction. Colleen LaBelle, a nurse at Boston Medical Center who pushed for the new rules, says connecting with patients who are actively using drugs can create a path toward treatment, while helping to curb the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C through used needles. “We have to try to meet the person where they are and help them keep themselves safe and decrease the harms,” LaBelle told Martha.
Heads up: Thousands of nurses with Brigham and Women’s Hospital could soon go on strike. Nurses at the the Boston hospital voted overwhelmingly last night to allow a potential one-day strike, amid nearly a year of contract negotiations with Mass General Brigham executives. Meanwhile, nurses at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital (who are represented by the same statewide union) are set to vote today to follow suit and authorize a strike.
- The votes don’t mean the strikes are certain. But if approved, they could impact about 4,500 nurses total. (The union would have to give hospital leaders a 10-day heads up before any work stoppage.)
The latest: A “manufacturing error” is to blame for the Vineyard Wind turbine blade that broke and littered debris into the ocean, according the company that built the blade. GE Vernova says they believe the root cause of the problem was “insufficient bonding.”
- In related news: An initial environmental assessment of the broken blade found the material washing up on Nantucket beaches — and now, Cape Cod — is non-toxic and non-hazardous, but could pose an injury risk for beachgoers.
Three more years: It looks like Red Sox manager Alex Cora is sticking around. Cora inked a three-year contract extension with the Sox yesterday, as the young team continues to beat expectations this season.
RIP: Funeral arrangements have been set for the late Boston philanthropist and powerbroker Jack Connors. A wake will be held on Monday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Saint Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill, followed by a live-streamed funeral at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
- ICYMI: Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh remembered Connors on WBUR’s Morning Edition: “He would help anybody.”
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