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Mayor Menino Breaks Ground on New Dudley Square Police Station
10/15/2009
-
Released by
Police Department
For more information contact Press Office at 617-635-4461
Celebration marks latest milestone in Dudley Vision Master Plan; Website is another example of the City’s commitment to using technology to enhance communication at the neighborhood level
Mayor Menino today was joined by Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, other City officials, and members of the Dudley Vision Advisory Task Force for a groundbreaking ceremony on the highly anticipated new Area B-2 police station in Dudley Square at the former Modern Electroplating Company, Inc. site. The groundbreaking follows a 10-month demolition and remediation process, making way for a new $15 million facility expected to open in the spring of 2011. Mayor Menino also launched the new, expanded BPDNews.com - the Boston Police Department’s enhanced website designed to serve as Boston’s number one online source for public safety news, community alerts and crime mapping information.
“Today we are celebrating the next step in the revitalization of Dudley Square, one of our City’s most historic retail districts,” said Mayor Menino. “A new, state-of-the art police station not only means that we’ll be able to improve policing in a large section of our City – but this is truly a catalyst for unlocking the commercial potential of this area.”
Today’s groundbreaking marks the latest milestone for the City’s Dudley Vision planning process, first announced by Mayor Menino in the summer of 2007. The City appointed the Dudley Vision Advisory Task Force one year later to work with City officials and consultant teams on key real estate and programmatic components for enhancing Dudley Square. The task force is composed of representatives of various community and business groups, as well as members of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee.
The new three-story station, which will be the City’s first LEED certified police building, will total approximately 34,500 square-feet – 40% larger than the existing station – and will include a community meeting room, and new police permitted parking spaces to allow street parking to be utilized by the neighborhood.
The station will feature a ‘green’ roof designed to reduce storm water run-off, and high efficiency windows and mechanical systems. The project team is made up of J&J Contractors, Inc. as the general contractor, and Leers Weinzapfel Associates as the design firm.
New Technology
At today’s celebration, Mayor Menino also announced the launch of the new, expanded BPDNews.com which brings all of BPD’s various online efforts together on one site to enhance the department’s communications with residents citywide.
“The new BPD News is the latest example of the City’s commitment to using technology to enhance communication at the neighborhood level,” said Mayor Menino. “Thinking outside the box and being innovative is what Boston is known for, and we have been at the forefront of adapting technology to enhance our community policing efforts to keep our residents safe.”
In addition to a successful Twitter feed, the department has partnered with crime mapping site, CrimeReports.com, community social networking site, Neighbors For Neighbors, and Citizen Observer, an online outreach tool that provides community members with e-alerts and text messages on important public safety news.
“BPDNews.com was the first police department blog in the nation and the BPD Twitter feed is the most effective police department Twitter feed in the country reaching hundreds of thousands of people with crime alerts everyday,” said Commissioner Davis. “The new BPDNews is our effort to bring all of these groundbreaking Virtual Community initiatives together in one place.”
Background on Development
The existing B-2 police station, located adjacent to the Modern site, was deemed necessary for replacement due to capacity needs and challenges around the significant renovations required in order to meet them. Relocating the facility will create a new developable site along New Dudley Street for retail and/or commercial ventures as well as improved open space for community use.
Modern Electroplating Company, Inc. operated the facility from 1955 until 1994, when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) obtained a court order requiring the facility to cease operations and remove and dispose of all wastes present at the property. The owner only partially complied; while 20,000 gallons of plating and industrial waste was removed from the site, the property – containing thousands more gallons of waste materials – was left abandoned just one year later. Emergency response actions by both local and federal Environmental Protection offices enabled the removal of imminent hazards at the facility. The Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) acquired the 2.53-acre property through tax foreclosure later that year.
Under the direction of the City’s Capital Construction division, DND, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the City’s Economic Development & Industrial Corporation (EDIC) worked collaboratively to complete pre-development remediation and demolition at the site at a cost of $3 million, made possible by a combination of city, state, and federal funds.
In addition to the redevelopment of the Modern Electroplating site and construction of a new police station, the Dudley Vision Advisory Task Force is also working on the rehabilitation of the historic Ferdinand Building into a new municipal building, a transportation action plan, and the development of an invigorated strategy to attract retailers to the square. Residents can learn more about the Dudley Vision planning process by visiting the BRA website at www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/planning.
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©2009 The City of Boston
©2009 The City of Boston
©2009 The City of Boston
