The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met on Wednesday, Nov. 19 in a virtual format and discussed the start of construction on the project that will hopefully return a post office to the neighborhood.

ACA President Tony DIsidoro said the redevelopment project for what is still tentatively the new Allston Post Office https://tinyurl.com/32vv2jp6 has started demolition and construction.

Noah (Maslan) and Mike (Samuels), from Eden Properties have been working hard for a long time to start construction and it has now begun, he said. We still havent gotten them signed on the dotted line yet, but were hoping the United States Postal Service will sign a lease agreement to bring the post office back to Allston.

DIsidoro alluded to the myriad of development coming to that area Great Scott and Allston Square just to name a few and said he felt it was unfair that Allston, one of the most densely-populated and car-free neighborhoods in the city, has not had a post office.

Given what the future holds in that part of Allston, its absolutely a disgrace that we dont have a post office, he said.

The post office was shut down when it was deemed structurally unsound. Apparently, a tree was growing into the building and affecting the foundation https://tinyurl.com/4s5f8uck

In other development news, DIsidoro brought up an upcoming public meeting for the third Notice of Project Change for the Allston Square development https://tinyurl.com/mr35fhrh

The project, originally approved in 2019 the same year the post office shut down encompasses several buildings around Cambridge Street, right before the bridge to Lower Allston. More than 300 units of residential housing are planned, along with commercial space and other amenities, but the City Realty project has, apparently run into funding issues.

This is the third project change for the development, with the first having to do with address changes, and the second being a conversion from homeowner condo units to rental (which, in a neighborhood with around 12 percent homeownership, is a blow).

During that requested change, City Realty said the economy had shifted and it couldnt provide the homeownership units the community had been demanding throughout the public process and in return, it increased the affordability of the rental units that were originally homeownership. This time, its asking for reduced parking on several buildings.

Due to high interest rates and elevated costs, especially for parking infrastructure, the Proponent asserts that the proposed changes are the only feasible option to advance this long-planned redevelopment and activation of a prominent site in Allston, the company states on the notice of project change.

DIsidoro was not pleased, and urged residents to attend the upcoming public hearing on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. https://tinyurl.com/yabp55rv to express their views. He said he understands that the originally-proposed underground parking was extremely expensive before the recent tariffs and economic slowdown occurred, but he said City Realty needs to start building or get off the pot.

I was speaking with City Realty today, they were nice enough to reach out to talk about it, but what pisses me off is that the city viewed this as a minor change and put it on a fast-track and didnt even want to do a public hearing, he said. I dont consider this a minor change, another major change to the project and the community has to make a determination as to whether it is still a good project I did say to City Realty and Ill say it to you that if they want a better chance of the community accepting this recent change, give us a construction date. Enough is enough.

DIsidoro pointed out the project was originally approved six years ago and many other similar projects in the neighborhood have moved forward, whereas this one hasnt. For instance, the post office was originally shut down the same year Allston Square was first approved.

Give us a date, commit to it, dont walk away and come back a month from now and say, Oh guess what, we need to add another four or five stories to the buildings, we just cant build it the way we planned, no, end of story, he said. Either you can do it or you cant. And as to the idea that theyre in the same boat as everybody else, there are plenty of projects going on across the city like Allston Square that are being built. I have trouble trying to understand all of this, but its up to the community and what they want. But enough is enough.

Also at the meeting, Boston Police Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) analyst Jillian Berte dropped by to promote the upcoming comprehensive statistics (CompStat) meeting on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. at 224 Western Ave. in Allston. She said the idea purpose of the meeting is to share statistics and get a sense from residents of what is happening in the community and what the ongoing concerns are.

The numbers dont always reflect what the community concerns are, and so were trying to hear more from the community about the way they feel about how their neighborhoods are policed, she said. So at the event someone from my office will do a quick overview of crime in the entire City of Boston in general, and then I will just do a brief overview of the district and will do more specific stats for the presentation based on pre-survey results.

Berte said the pre-survey is essential for her to be able to tailor the presentation to the neighborhoods concerns. The meeting will have presentations from the D-14 District officers and then they will leave about an hour for questions from the community.

Just please fill out the pre-survey so the presentation is something you want to hear about, she said.

For more information on the CompStat meeting and to fill out a pre-survey, go to https://tinyurl.com/yc47rddc