District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon won an unexpected victory in this session’s vote for City Council president, and she said one of the biggest issues for Allston Brighton that she wants to push forward is that of the Jackson Mann Community Center.

“I think being in this new position definitely elevates my issues; it certainly puts me on a different bully pulpit,” she said. “I will be working totally with the administration on all sorts of issues across all sorts of policy issues and topics, but I will continue to be a strong advocate for the Jackson Mann. I think it’s really important to remember that Allston Brighton is the same size as the City of Somerville, and we have a community center at the moment that is very much degraded and not meeting the moment in terms of what we need for a modern, 21st century community center in Union Center in Allston. I’m hopeful we will be able to move the ball down the field.”

If you’re unaware, the city was planning on shutting down the Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) Jackson Mann Community Center in 2022 when the Jackson Mann school and Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing were shut down as well. Both buildings – connected but technically separate – were (and still are) in deteriorated condition, despite being built in the 70s (many Boston Public School buildings are more than 100 years old, and while that’s a different story, it’s somewhat relevant here).

The city since instituted some shoring-up measures forthe building after abandoning the idea of shifting programming to the Brighton High School. But little has changed, and many advocates say a new building is as needed as ever.

However, Breadon said she is seeing some movement in the process.

“We’ve been working with Public Facilities, and they’ve been doing test pits on different scenarios for things like a community, a community center with housing, do we need a pool with the community, or a community center with a school,” she said. “They’ve been doing a lot on that, and we’re hoping to hear about what they’ve been working on in February and then continue this process.”

Though the process seems very much stuck where it was all the way back in 2023, with a community survey from the city still on the Jackson Mann webpage – https://tinyurl.com/mr2znbvf

Breadon said it is frustrating working within the capital planning process, because progress is slow, if at all.

“I think the one thing that’s discouraging for me when we’re looking at capital planning and projects is that sometimes things are identified as projects they would encumber debt for, but they never actually come to fruition over time,” she said. “Obviously if there’s a change in administration or economic conditions, things shift, but I think in our case it’s very clear we do need a community center.”

Breadon said ,however, not to lose hope.

“The timeline is the question, but it’s undoubtedly a very important piece of our community infrastructure that’s missing, a functioning 21st century community center,” she said. “It has to happen. It’s non-negotiable for the community in Allston Brighton.”

However, that’s not to say Breadon is satisfied with the process so far.

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“I’m impatient for things to keep moving, let’s put it that way,” she said.

And if you want to see a bit of Breadon’s impatience, her team has put together a six-and-a-half-minute “greatest hits” video of each time she has asked the administration – from 2020 to 2024 – for updates and movement on the Jackson Mann. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgCGQ1nT4ZM to see it.

“What do we have to do in Allston Brighton to get anybody to pay attention?” she said during a 2024 City Council budget hearing.

The Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) is currently conducting another community survey, and while it might seem like all one can do is take a survey again and again and again, Breadon said the more community interest that stays on this project, the more political will can be mobilized.

“We need to get community feedback on what residents would like to see in a community center and just the particular subsections of our population – elders, families with children, youths who have grown up in the neighborhood, young adults who have come to the neighborhood who want to be connected and need a third space where they can engage with their neighbors – I think the more feedback we can get on what people’s vision for what a community center can be, it’s just all valuable,” she said.

The ABCDC’s survey can be found at https://tinyurl.com/7u2sj42y

And while the underlying thought by many outside of Allston Brighton might be “What are students going to do with a community center?” Breadon pointed out that more demographics than just students live in the district.

“We love our students, they add a lot of vitality and are certainly an economic driver in the community,” she said. “The reality is that the student population is probably about 20 percent of the population of Allston Brighton. It’s not the whole population of Allston. We have a host of people who live here. It’s a very diverse community that requires this kind of support.”