PAUL MCMORROW’S op-ed about the Rose Kennedy Greenway (“Something beautiful,’’ March 29) fails to correctly understand the lessons of the ongoing transformation of the Southwest Corridor. There, complex rapid transit and railroad infrastructure elements were laid out with careful regard for development of the land so as to reknit the neighborhoods that were wrenched apart by expressway clearance. That job is not yet finished.
City building is a long process. When based on a foundation of community involvement, plans are sustainable. In the Southwest Corridor, thousands of affordable housing units have been created; a five-mile long mature park is the shining example of design and neighborhood-based maintenance; Roxbury Community College educates many hundreds of students each year; and a half million square-foot gateway to Northeastern University opened in September. All of this development was predicated in the Corridor’s planning stages. More is yet to come.
While McMorrow points out that creativity is required on the Greenway, there is also the need for a solid base of long-term community involvement; a full rendering of alternative plans; a salutary economic climate; and thoughtful and consistent public policy.
Short-term phenomena (such as economic reversals or developer proposals) can interrupt even the best process. On an early day in planning for the Southwest Corridor, a Roxbury activist chided us with what was truly a lesson: “We’ve waited a long time to get here, and we can wait even longer to get it built right.’’
Anthony Pangaro
Boston
The writer is former manager of the Southwest Corridor Project.
