Developers and Boston residents convened at a meeting Thursday night to discuss a shady controversy: the shadow that will be cast over the Boston Common by a building on the site of the Winthrop Square garage.
The developers, Millennium Partners, say they simply overlooked the state’s laws meant to prevent shadows on the Common.
But, not everyone buys that excuse.
Shirley Leung, the business columnist for the Boston Globe, joined WGBH’s Boston Public Radio to explain her hunch about the development and talk about her column published Thursday.
“I was not only suspicious of the developer,” Leung said. “City hall said, ‘We didn’t really know the magnitude of the shadow issue,’ and I feel like was being spun.”
She said it’s unlikely Millennium Partners and the city of Boston didn’t know about the shadow laws.
Millennium knows that any building over 365 feet will cast a shadow, she said, but the developer still pushed forth proposals for 600- and 700-foot buildings.
“They were very tall, so all of the other proposals would have violated the shadow law,” she said. “Why didn’t the city figure this out?”
Leung noted that money that’d be brought in by the development would benefit the city, which she said could motivate City Hall to side with developers.
But, from her perspective, concerns about the public should come first.
“It shouldn’t be about the money. The city council and the state legislature shouldn't be under pressure to make an exemption so the city can get $150 million,” Leung said. “It should be about how tall of a building [should be built] on Winthrop Square.”
Shirley Leung is the business columnist at the Boston Globe. To hear her interview on BPR in its entirety, click on the audio link above.
