BUMC Biolab delays opening to 2009

By Kate Klinck

The laboratory has been built, but it will not be open for research until at least 2009, and if some South End residents have their way, the doors may never open.

Susan Passoni, president of the Ellis Neighborhood Association, said the National Infectious Disease Laboratory bring new jobs to the area, but she worries about the dangers and plans for evacuation in the densely populated area of the Boston University Medical campus.

“The lab is located right next to 93,” Passoni said. “Anyone who’s driven in Boston knows the freeway and how congested it can get. How would they be able to manage an emergency event and coordinate with the hierarchy of city, state and federal authorities?”

As a result of two lawsuits, one filed by the state, and the other by the South End community, The Boston University Medical Campus delayed the Biolab’s scheduled 2008 opening, so risks of the lab can be properly assessed. A judge must properly decide whether the lab is safe to open.

The Blue Ribbon Panel, an advisory panel formed by the National Institute of Health, will asses risks such as how the infectious diseases will be transported, how they will be handled in the Biolab, and the effectiveness of the evacuation methods in the event of an accident.

Dr. Dennis L. Kasper, a member of the panel and professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School, said the panel is analyzing the risk of potential problems such as accidentally exposing infectious diseases to residents in the vicinity of the Biolab.

“Things could go wrong in the lab, while diseases are being transported to the lab or even with someone who wants to do evil,” Kasper

said.

The Biolab will be a level four laboratory, which means it will research diseases that require the highest level of containment, such as naturally occurring infectious diseases and potential agents of bioterrorism, according to the Boston University Medical Campus National Emerging Infectious Diseases website. The research will be used to develop vaccines and therapeutics to fight the diseases.

On Oct. 14, the panel held a meeting in the Roxbury Center for the Arts to outline the next steps in assessing the risk of the Biolab.

Tabitha Bennett, the South End neighborhood coordinator said many residents attended the meeting to express their opinions to the panel.

“The people that were against it wanted their voices to be heard, and they wanted to speak out against it,” Bennett said. “I know that some of the benefits include jobs, especially in the biomedical and research field. The concerns with the lab are what are the risks involved, and what kind of safety precautions are going to be taken.”

Ellen Berlin, director of the corporate communications for the Boston University Medical Campus, said the lab will be open in February, and is scheduled to be open for research next year.

Boston University Medical Center is also doing psychological and criminal background checks on scientists who will work in the lab.

As the Economy drops, South End Non-Profits See Effects

By Kate Klinck

The Pine Street Inn will have the homeless will sleep on floors and in hallways this winter instead of beds that were available last year.

Barbara Trevisan, a spokeswoman for the Pine Street Inn, one of the city’s largest homeless shelters, said the effects of Governor Deval Patrick’s $1 billion budget cuts will affect them when winter comes.

“One thing that has been cut is additional beds for winter,” Trevisan said. “As the weather gets colder, we also feel the pressure with the costs of utilities such as heat and gas for trucks and vans.”

As the economy worsens, non-profit organizations such as the Pine Street Inn and the Haley House in the South End and Roxbury are seeing an increased number of clients, but have fewer resources to offer because of budget cuts and a drop in the amount of donations from local foundations.

Bing Broderick, the bakery director of the Haley House in Roxbury, said he has seen an increase in the number of people applying for the work training program.


“I have a waiting list of 19 people right now,” Broderick said. “That’s increased since last year.”

Noreen Manzo, the director of affordable housing at the Haley House in the South End, said the organization has seen an increase in the applications of people applying for transitional and permanent affordable housing.

Together, the Haley House and the Madison Park Development Corporation in the South End manage 69 housing units. Because of the increase in applicants, the Haley House has started a waiting list. “If the funds for endowments dry up, we’ll be affected,” Manzo said. Linda Royer, the director of Washington Gateway Main Street, said that she does not know of any development plans for affordable housing in the South End at this time.

The Cost of the Silver Line Phase III Rises Again

By Kate Klinck

He won’t be a passenger on a bus that will travel through the new tunnel, but he will still have to pay for the $1 billion project.

John Cater, a member of the T Riders Union based in Roxbury, said the union is opposed to the Silver Line Phase III project because they will have to pay for the project in raised fares, but they will not benefit from the new additions.

Originally proposed as a $756 million project in 2003, the cost of the Silver Line Phase III rose again this year to over $1 billion.

The Phase III project is a mile long tunnel connecting Phase I, the existing Silver Line/Washington Street Service, with Phase II, the Silver Line/Waterfront Service. The tunnel will be used by the Bus Rapid Transit, and will help provide service from Dudley Square and lower Roxbury through the South End, Chinatown and downtown, to the South Boston Waterfront and Logan International Airport, according to the MBTA website.

“We will be targeted because it’s lower income people and people of color who rely on the T,” Cater said. “But we wouldn’t be going where they extended the T.”

The rising costs of the project, the MBTA’s $8.1 billion dollar debt, and construction plans that will re-route traffic and create an eye-sore have caused residents to become concerned.

Chris Betke, the chairman of the Leather District Neighborhood Association said the district did not approve the construction that will take place in Gateway Park.

“A lot of us just don’t see the public benefit. It’s too expensive, with minimal benefit,” he said. “Only recently was the Big Dig finished. Now along comes the Silver Line and wants to use Gateway Park as a stage for the construction for this project. Not in our backyard again.”

Richard H. Doyle, the regional manager for the Federal Transit Administration, said phase III is needed because it is the “missing link between the projects.”

“It will provide better connections for people who want to transfer from the Green Line to the Orange and Red line,” Doyle said.

The MBTA submitted a proposal to the Federal Transit Administration asking for federal funding of 60 percent of the project. Doyle said the administration is in the preliminary stages of considering the project.

The Silver Line Communications and Community Development Office did not return calls regarding the funding of the project.

The project must also be approved by the community. Linda Royer, the executive director of Washington Gateway Main Street, said the organization must write a letter of reference for the MBTA to proceed.

The members of Washington Gateway Main Street are mostly in favor of the project, but Royer said different people want different things.

“Detail is the devil,” Royer said.

Right now there are two methods being considered for the construction. One option is “cut and cover,” which would involve excavating from the surface down almost 120 feet, starting on a section of the tunnel at Charles St. South. The other method is “mine tunneling,” which would be below ground with access shafts at the surface to remove dirt. Both methods of construction would cause traffic to be re-routed.

Construction of Phase III is scheduled to start in early 2011, and be open to passengers in 2016.

According to the MBTA’s 2006 proposal to the Federal Transit Administration, by 2030, the silver line is expected to have 15,100 new passengers as a result of the project. In 2007, 14,000 passengers rode the Silver Line Washington Street, and 15,000 ride the silver line Waterfront.

The increase in buses and passengers would increase the number of bus drivers needed as well. If there is a shortage of drivers, the new buses may not arrive as frequently as scheduled, or routes may have to be changed. The Boston Carmen’s Union did not return calls.