5 Responses to “Response to Alexandra Hotel sale is fast and furious” »»

1. Christos Hamawi
   Comment by Christos Hamawi | 01/31/08 at 3:18 pm

   As the author of that first quote, I don’t doubt that the Church of Scientology will do a good job on the actual restoration piece. The reason I see this as “apocalyptic” is because the neighborhood has been trying desperately, for years, to get this amazing building and amazing neighborhood back to its old glory. We have sacrificed hours and hours of our personal time towards this goal. Condos or boutique hotel with a ground floor restaurant and retail space would be the best possible solution for this building. Any religious organization taking over the entire property would completely isolate this building once again, restricting its use to Church members or would be members. That is hardly a catalyst for development and investment in the area. It feels like the final blow to this amazing building.

   It doesn’t matter that it’s the Church of Scientology, but it certainly doesn’t help that they are widely considered to be a controversial group. Our area doesn’t need more controversy. It needs progress.

   I’m also furious that the seller, Peter Bakis, didn’t consult the neighborhood or the BRA about this sale. (or so I was told)

   I will do my best to keep an open mind about this, but unless the Church of Scientology rents out the ground floor space for unaffiliated commercial restaurant or retail (and I don’t consider a Dianetics bookstore retail) then I don’t see how this will improve our area. I believe it will further marginalize us and keep many would be investors away.

   I suppose we still have the BUMC Biolab to look forward to. Perhaps that will encourage more investment and foot traffic in our area, just in case the Church of Scientology doesn’t do the trick.

2. John A Keith
   Comment by John A Keith | 01/31/08 at 4:47 pm

   Christos, thank you for taking the time to respond.

   Yes, it is totally depressing that this all happened, after years (YEARS - DECADES, even) of community involvement. The seller certainly did nothing to build goodwill with our neighborhood’s residents.

   Having first-floor retail would be best for us. Yes, that probably won’t happen. Shame.

   Condos would have been best, with retail. Everything you say is true.

   Thank you for all the work you’ve done in the past to help our community.

3. Nicole
   Comment by Nicole | 02/05/08 at 4:19 pm

   Is there any way to read the full article you cited, “Alexandra Hotel Plan Critics, Skeptics Surface - By Thomas Grillo, Banker & Tradesman”. When I select the link it says you have to be a subscriber. Thanks!
   ~Nicole

4. Christos Hamawi
   Comment by Christos Hamawi | 02/11/08 at 11:11 am

   Hi Nicole, You do need to have a subscription, or you can make a request to the publication directly.

   On another note, I was rather disappointed to read in today’s “Boston Now” that there were hundreds of protesters wearing masks and shouting all sorts of anti-scientology slogans at the current Scientology headquarters on Beacon Street in the Back Bay yesterday morning. If you see the video, there was a lot of horn honking as well. I hope this is not a common occurrence. We certainly don’t need more noise pollution in our neighborhood. I am trying to understand why they are protesting and why they are wearing masks. I’m hoping the Church will explain this at upcoming neighborhood meetings. 150 protesters would be a fairly large number for our neighborhood. That would jam up that intersection quickly.

   http://www.bostonnow.com/news/local/2008/02/11/masked-group-protests-to-039dissolve039-church-of-scientology

   On a positive note, I learned that the Church is heavily involved in community work, specifically dealing with drug addiction and crime prevention. This would be a welcome benefit for the area. They also offer tutoring services to students. I’m not sure what their success rate is, but it’s definitely a positive. There is a Scientology branch office on that block now, so they should be able to discuss the types of community work they have been engaged in since arriving. As you may know, there is a history of gang warfare stemming from some of the housing developments just down the street from the Alexandra. I’d be interested in knowing if they are aware of this and how they might be able to help. There is a beautiful park a block from there called Ramsey Park, that no one on the South End Side of Mass ave ever uses. Even residents from the housing developments near the park avoid it, since it’s considered too dangerous. People have been shot there by gang members in broad daylight. It’s turf warfare, and very sad.

   So in hindsight, I may have overreacted a bit. I think most residents would be fine with the Organization’s plans to move their headquarters here if they could help reduce crime in the area and include some mainstream commercial retail on the ground floor of the Alexandra. I don’t think that’s asking too much. The first floor of the Alexandra and the adjacent Ivory Beam red brick bow front building accounts for a very large amount of retail space. My guess is it would be around 9000 square feet or more if combined. Having mainstream commercial retail there would encourage more retail to open up on that block and bring in more foot traffic. I think a bookstore/cafe or perhaps a restaurant, or a small grocery store would be terrific. I would love to see a Barnes and Noble or Borders, but even a small cafe or restaurant would be fine. We’ll have to discuss this at the upcoming community meetings sponsored by the BRA. There has got to be a way for everyone to be happy. I would also think that it would be in the best interest of the Scientology organization to have something mainstream in that building to attract more visitors to the block.

   I’m also curious to know how they plan to resolve the parking situation.

   There are lots of unanswered questions. The neighborhood needs to take a very active role in this, so encourage your neighbors to attend the hearings. If I get any dates from the BRA I’ll post them up at http://www.wsana.net

   Stay tuned!

   -Christos

5. Mike
   Comment by Mike | 03/08/08 at 5:53 pm

   Isn’t a church part of the “diversity” that you all clamor for? Or is a church not sufficiently “diverse” for you? Are not churches part of the important fabric of any community? Would you be making these demands if a Jewish congregation were buying the building? Or would you be just demanding that they put a NY style kosher deli in the lobby and sell bagels and lox?

   The root of all these criticisms is clearly religious bigotry.

   Why on earth do you think a church should be forced to put secular, commercial enterprises on their own property? Haven’t you ever heard of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the right of religions to the free exercise of religion? That includes building churches for church purposes. Churches are not restaurants any more than restaurants should be required to have a Bible come with every menu at every table.

   If you think the church should put a Barnes & Noble in the lobby, why stop your demands there? How about an Abercrmobie & Fitch on the second floor? And, a Filenes Basement “outlet” in the basement!! Now there’s some good diversity for you!!

   The funny thing is so many churches are being closed and turned into condominiums all over the place. When that happens, everyone bitches about the upscale condominiums that are replacing the “loss” of the neighborhood church. Go figure! ???

   One man’s church is another man’s prime location for another 7 Eleven I guess. Curious isn’t it?

Leave a Reply »»