The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met last week in a virtual setting with Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS) Allston-Brighton liaison Jennifer Roberts, who had some disturbing news about the Jackson Mann Community Center rebuild project – https://gvimes.link/jcksnccmtg

While the news has nominally been good for the Jackson Mann – which has been in apparent limbo for a few years since the community meeting last month – Roberts said more community input is needed for the survey touted at the meeting – https://gvimes.link/jackmanncomment

She said while she was away during the actual meeting, when she came back, she said the city saw a great deal of community response.

“We at the city were seeing brisk responses; I got 200 in the first five days of that meeting, but the issue is it has slowed significantly since then,” she said. “That survey is open until July 10, so there is time, but the city feels like we should see at least 400 responses to the survey, but right now we’re not there.”

The Jackson Mann project, for those who missed the meeting, will almost certainly include a community center, but the land used to hold two schools and a community center. Boston Public Schools (BPS) stated at the meeting that it is looking at a new school on the site, but will consider enrollment trends above all, and since BPS enrollment has been dropping for about a decade now, it’s not likely.

The option is using housing to help offset the cost of the community center. Residents advocated for affordable housing instead of market-rate, but the less market-rate, the less subsidy for the community center.

So, the survey is designed to help planners figure out what residents want for the community center, and their responses are essential. Roberts suggested that many residents in the neighborhood are already plugged in and have likely responded, but they need to reach residents outside the bubble.

“My fear is we’re just sharing it with the ones of us who are in the know already,” she said. “I am sure everyone who attended that meeting filled out that survey, so I think we need a dedicated push. I’m reaching out to school councils, the libraries, and if you guys have any ideas of other community entities who you think might have been overlooked, because that’s the whole point. We have to show a representative sampling of the neighborhood, not just the people we already talked to.”

Charlesview Executive Director JoAnn Barbour and reisdent Kin Chow both said ‘flyering’ would be necessary to get more responses on the survey.

“We need to see not just a couple hundred more, we need to see several hundred more,” Barbour said. “Put it out wherever you possibly can, and make sure people understand that this is really important for the community.

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ACA President Tony D’Isidoro said they need the sentiment of a wide range of residents for the survey to have really useful information to help direct the community center.

“If it’s only a certain demographic that’s being heard from, that’s not going to really have much value,” he said. “We’ll have to redouble our efforts, because we only have until July 10. I think it’s important to get as many people as possible to chime in.”

“Neighbors, friends, foes, anybody!” Barbour added.

In other news, Roberts said in her work around Penniman Park’s renovation – https://gvimes.link/pnmnprk – she found funds earmarked from community benefits for the park that had not been properly allocated for the park. Those funds were part of a community benefits package from a developer. She said she’s taking a second look at all such community benefit agreements, and if residents know of any other such issues to reach out to her at jennifer.roberts@boston.gov

Also at the meeting, District D-14 of the Boston Police Department Officer Christine Marini shared the neighborhood’s crime stats, which included several scams, a few break-ins (one involving a pushed-in air conditioning window unit), and several package and bike thefts. Marini said the bike thefts are getting more and more common as e-bikes become more and more common. She said several were taken from lock racks and basement storage areas.

“I know they have great locks, maybe two locks could help, some people put air tags or trackers on their bikes and I know they take pictures, write down serial numbers or put some type of identifying marks on the bikes,” she said. “Just so if the bike’s recovered, we have some way of contacting you.”

The ACA meets every third Wednesday of the month. For more information, go to https://www.allstoncivicassociation.org