   | Newsletter #25 January 11, 2023 https://alewife.org |
This ASG Newsletter includes the following updates:
- Letter from Cambridge Mayor Siddiqui regarding the death of Sayed Arif Faisal
- IQHQ New Website
- IQHQ Soil Disturbance Risk and Air Quality
- IQHQ Pile Driving Noise and Vibration
- IQHQ Path Changes
- Alewife Development – planning process nearing the end
- How to contact ASG, subscribe or unsubscribe to newsletter
Letter from Cambridge Mayor Siddiqui regarding the death of Sayed Arif Faisal
Dear Cambridge,
It is with deep sorrow that I write to you regarding the death of Sayed Arif Faisal, who was fatally shot during an incident with the Cambridge Police in the Cambridgeport neighborhood. This has been a devastating week for the entire city and my heart breaks for the Faisal family and Bengali community who are grieving the loss of a young member of their tight-knit community. You can read my full statement from tonight’s City Council meeting here.
This tragic incident that occurred last Wednesday has brought forward numerous questions about how and why this happened. Over the next few weeks, we have organized a series of meetings to provide available information and hear from the community. While it is likely that the investigation will take many months, City officials and the District Attorney will provide all information that is presently available and use the time to take questions from attendees.
The first community meeting is on Thursday, January 12 at 6pm at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School (102 Putnam Avenue) where City Leadership and the District Attorney will share information about the investigation process and any updates thus far. I have called a Special City Council Meeting next Wednesday, January 18 at 3pm to discuss protocols, processes, and training of the Cambridge Police Department related to the shooting of Sayed Faisal. Additional community meetings will be scheduled in the coming weeks as well. All meetings will be available to stream remotely.
Finally, the City has made trauma counselors from Riverside Trauma Center available for residents who are looking for support during this difficult time. Do not hesitate to reach out to me if you would like to be connected to this service or need support. I am available at (617) 349-4321 or via email at mayor@cambridgema.gov.
In solidarity,
Mayor Siddiqui
ASG expresses its condolences to the family of Sayed Faisal and offers our support to the Bangladeshi community. See our Contact Information below.
IQHQ New Website
IQHQ’s new website for their development at Alewife is now live. It includes:
- Monthly Construction Updates
- Construction Management, including work hours and measures to control air quality, noise, vibration, dust, odors, and rodents
- IQHQ’s Development and Community Benefit Plans
- How to contact IQHQ with questions or issues, receive email updates, share historical knowledge, or learn about the IQHQ Alewife Career Internship Program
IQHQ’s new website uses the same URL as their previous one:
IQHQ Soil Disturbance Risk and Air Quality
IQHQ is in the process of excavating several feet of soil over several acres north of the T headhouse, to meet flood storage requirements and to prepare some areas for construction. Much of this soil may be contaminated with asbestos, and so this work is being done within large tent structures, which are kept under a slight vacuum by large fans so that dust does not escape into the surrounding area, as required by the Cambridge Asbestos Protection Ordinance.
The exhaust from the fans is passed through a HEPA filter and so is very safe to breathe. The excavated soil is replaced by clean fill brought in from offsite before the tent is moved to the next area to be excavated. Daily air monitoring around the site, including the fan exhaust, around all four sides of the tent, and between the excavation zone and Russell Field, has detected no asbestos. The system is working just as intended.
There is also ongoing work on the site that is not occurring in a tent even though soil is being disturbed. This should not be a cause for concern. In areas where the existing soil has been excavated and replaced with clean fill, trenches are being dug in the fill to install underground utilities; and roads and ramps are being constructed in preparation for building construction. Because this work is disturbing only clean fill there is no potential for mobilizing asbestos, and so it is not being done in a tent. All work at the site is in compliance with MassDEP requirements.
IQHQ Pile Driving Noise and Vibration
IQHQ this week began driving steel piles into the soil to support the three new buildings and garage that they are building at their North Cambridge development. About 575 piles will be installed in three phases for different sets of buildings. The current phase is expected to go through the end of April, the second phase from mid-June to mid-July, and the last phase from late August through October.
In order to reduce noise and vibrations to neighbors as much as possible, the piles will be driven by vibration until they reach bedrock. They will then need to be driven by impact hammering, which will be louder and cause more vibration.
This work will happen Monday through Friday between 7:00am and 3:00pm. ASG asked IQHQ to not do any impact hammer pile driving before 8:00am, and IQHQ agreed. It’s possible that some pile driving will happen on Saturdays, but none is planned so far.
IQHQ’s contractor is using H-piles, which are low-displacement piles. Each pile is lifted by the crane and the pile tip is placed on the ground. It is then driven through the existing protective top soil. The friction between the pile and the soil drags some soil downward. Any contaminated soil lower in the ground would not become airborne using this process.
If you experience harmful vibrations or noise in your home from the pile driving, please contact IQHQ at 617-314-7252. IQHQ very much wants to hear feedback from our neighborhood.
Please also tell the Alewife Study Group about any problems with noise, vibration, or other effects from the construction. We are in regular communication with IQHQ to tell them about community issues. See our contact info at the end of this newsletter.
IQHQ Path Changes
Since October, IQHQ has made the following improvements to the alternative path between the Alewife T plaza and Whittemore Avenue:
- More lighting all along the path
- New signs, some with maps, with more to be added soon
- Two police call boxes on the southern part of this path, between the T plaza and the Alewife Loop Road. These boxes are currently wrapped with plastic because they are not completely ready. IQHQ is working to arrange cellular and monitoring services so that calls from these boxes can go to emergency services.
See ASG Newsletter #22 for more information about and plans for this path: https://alewife.org/category/newsletters
Alewife Development – planning process nearing the end
The City’s Community Development Department (CDD) has been holding working group meetings to discuss the future of development in the Alewife area. The last meeting showed a proposal that would allow almost 5 times the amount of development that existed during the reference point of 2017.
During the Envision Cambridge process, a previous working group looked at the buildings at the time and said there was about 3 Prudential Towers’ worth of development in the “Alewife District” (3.7 million square feet). The Alewife District Plan proposed allowing over 6 Prudential Towers’ worth of new development. The latest proposal allows about double that increase to over 11 Prudential Towers’ worth of new development, primarily in the area between the commuter rail tracks and Fresh Pond plus the Fresh Pond Mall area.
The Alewife District Plan focused on retaining light industrial jobs, which are well-paying career jobs for those who don’t fit into large corporations. These trade jobs pay about four times the wages of retail and service jobs. The new proposal has shifted to Mixed Commercial development, which was roundly rejected in the discussions of the Envision working group.
Building heights of 10-12 stories would be allowed in most of the area, with 18-20-story buildings allowed near the big bridge over the railroad tracks. For comparison, Rindge Towers are 22 stories.
A 2019 Governor’s report on congestion said Fresh Pond Parkway was the second most congested roadway in the state. Under the Alewife District Plan, two of the seven major intersections were above capacity in 2016, and that number would increase to five of the seven after the area was developed. The CDD has not presented the traffic effects of the new proposal.
Unfortunately, there are not many public transit options to/from the suburbs. The area is a bottleneck for traffic from the northwest suburbs to Boston, which will increase demand and raise housing prices in the area as workers seek to live nearby or in the inner city (Cambridge and Boston) to be able to take the Red Line to Alewife.
The planning process is nearing the end, and new recommendations for future building rules will be presented soon. Time for public comments are at the end of each working group meeting if you’d like to express your views. See the City’s website for the project for details:
https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/communitydevelopment/alewifeplanningzoning
Alewife District Plan: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Images/CDD/Planning/alewifeplanningandzoning/alewifereportbook11_05_19forprint.pdf
Congestion in the Commonwealth: Report to the Governor 2019: https://www.mass.gov/doc/congestion-in-the-commonwealth/download
2023
The Alewife Study Group wishes a safe, healthy, and good year.
ASG Newsletter
ASG will send email updates about once a month during this busy time in the development of the IQHQ site.
Click here for previous ASG Newsletters
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