BRA approves controversial West Roxbury apartment building

Who is being forced to get a car here? I don't know and I think you also don't know if the project was scaled down to specifically accommodate more parking. If it was, then you're right but I don't think that's what happened.

Replacing a decrepit fire risk with 48 units of housing on a very small lot is a win. I suspect you are not familiar with the site - this is plenty of housing on a small footprint lot for the residential neighborhoods.

Forcing other people to have cars because "they've got theirs" different from you wanting to force people *not" to have cars because you "ain't got yours?" At least they live in a neighborhood where cars are more of a necessity than a luxury, whereas you live in a walkable part of town yet you don't want anybody to have a car regardless of where they live.

It could reasonably be argued that the road to San Fransisco is letting developers and build whatever they want at the expense of local character, infrastructure, and economic diversity.

Not everyone can afford a $4000/month shoebox-sized Ikea showroom in one of those glass boxes and walk/bike to work, and not too many are masochistic enough to rely on commuter rail.

But you do also realize that people who live in West Roxbury are also likely to work in the Waltham/Weston business cluster or Canton or Needham office parks, none of which are served by public transit? DTX is a central point and we do need to improve the MBTA, but we are so, so far from a car free society.

We need more housing
We need better public transportation
You can't always serve both interests all the time.

45 -60 by commuter rail orange line combo to DTX, use the bus 60 minutes minimum, I know do it every day. Problem now is there is no on street parking there because of the MBCR stop and the busy intersection. So yes worrying about off street parking was called for. Sticking 80+ units with limited parking is not rational.

I lived out in Westie for a bit and commuted down 128 to Waltham - how would travel times to DTX help me? Also, at peak rush out the commuter rail will get you to South Station in about 25-30 minutes and it runs once an hour and costs a Zone 1 pass (2x the cost of a normal subway/bus). Getting to DTX at peak rush hour via the Orange line and a bus is well over an hour, even when taking it from the border at Roslindale.

"we have residents acting in their short term self interest."

Civic planning, whether it's concerns over traffic, neighborhood character, or environmental demands are absolutely long term planning. You might disagree with the perspective of the residents, but these definitely are long term considerations, and they should be allowed to argue for them.

It's strange how so many transplants seem outright antagonistic that locals might want to retain some aspects of the neighborhood that they have lined in and contributed to for a long while.

"Is there anybody who reads these discussions who is 30 or under?"

Yes

" but people who assume that every. last. couple. looking for an apartment or condo in Boston will automatically come with two cars"

You misunderstood. Of course not everyone will want cars.

The point was not that building near transit won't encourage some people to forgo cars. Rather, all developments will attract some people who will want cars or need them for jobs, adding to total congestion.

Some people here almost speak as if building near transit will solve all problems, add no cars, or even reduce congestion, which obviously doesn't make any sense.

The truth is that most young people moving to a city like Boston are happy to do the car free thing for a while and openly pay lip service to it, but then reality sets in. Friends move away, they want to see things outside of the city, and yet they aren't immediately ready or willing to move as soon as their neighborhood starts feeling small.

... and have cars.I have yet to have an applicant who doesn't have a car (even those under 30). And they always ask about where they can park and where can their visitors park.
Car-free living is great for Downtown, Chinatown, Fenway, Allston (been there, done that), etc. But it's tough here in WR without a car. I don't have one now so I speak from experience. With the exception of rush hours, public transportation here is infrequent and often unreliable. So even if one is lucky enough to have reasonable public transportation from here to one's place of employment and to have work hours that correspond to rush hour, one can't do anything nights and weekends without lengthy public transit rides - or good friends who have cars. And be sure to have very good winter/wet weather clothing for the long waits at the shelter-less bus stops - which aren't shoveled.
And all of this is why I'm researching buying a car. WR is not a car-free friendly place.

I live in roslindale. We have one car but It's only used on weekends to get out of the city. And we have a kid. Wouldn't want to move that far out in west Roxbury because then we'd both need a car.

What I want is better bike infrastructure so we can bike most places and not have to rely on the T or be forced to drive someplace relatively close. But it's nice having off street parking so I don't have to keep moving the car for street cleaning. Absolutely no desire to live in the suburbs where all you're doing is driving everywhere.

Lots of people like us. Prefer not to drive, but have car and need a place to store the car.