Walsh hits unions for public spat
Southie Edison plant project has sides at odds
Mayor Martin Walsh chided two local unions for “fighting publicly” over a controversial proposal that would put residential homes next door to the state’s busiest cargo port, saying the residents and unions should trust in a community process that others call “flawed.”
“I don’t think that that fight should have went public. I don’t agree with the two different union organizations fighting publicly. That’s not how we resolve issues. It’s solidarity — a brother and sisterhood — that shouldn’t be done in the paper,” Walsh said, referring to a Herald report this week that stated the proposal was pitting the longshoremen’s union — which is against the project — against the building trades unions, which support it.
Critics, however, say the project is the problem, not the dispute surrounding it.
“I think this process, the development process has been flawed and not handled well,” said City Councilor Edward Flynn, who represents South Boston.
Redgate and Hilco Redevelopment Partners want to build a 1.8 millionsquare-foot development that would include 636 condos and apartments, 80,000 square feet of retail space, and 960,000 square feet of offices and two hotels at the site of the former Boston Edison plant.
To do that, developers are asking Massport to lift a deed restriction imposed five years ago that prohibits housing from being built at 776 Summer St. in order to “benefit” Conley Cargo Terminal — the adjacent port that moves 1.5 million metric tons of cargo each year and serves as an economic generator to the entire region.
The longshoremen see it as a threat to the more than 2,500 jobs the terminal supports, but the unions representing sheet metal, construction, hotel and other workers overwhelmingly support the development, which has already pledged to use union labor.
Walsh said the Boston Planning and Development Agency is “working through the process” to reach consensus on what mix of commercial and residential could work on the 15-acre site.
“The Edison plant, as you know, has caused a lot of pollution. Something’s going to be built,” Walsh said.
Dozens of community meetings have been held since the controversial project was proposed in 2017, but Flynn said residents are far from reaching consensus with the developer.
“They haven’t done a good job in communicating with residents on the project,” Flynn said. “They still haven’t addressed traffic and pedestrian safety.”
Hilco and Redgate Development Partners purchased the land for $17 million several years ago from Exelon Corp — a tiny price tag for such a large parcel on the waterfront. The residential construction prohibition and need to remediate pollution on the site were factored into the price.