To the Editor:

Thank you for the commentary from Mr. Euan Davis about the negative effects of rental and lease terms on small businesses in the Feb. 6 edition of The Reporter. His story struck a chord here in Roslindale.

The Planning Department has not made it easy for our diverse business owners. Specifically, the department has not recognized the important economic outcomes that small businesses provide. Moreover, the department is threatening conditions that help businesses thrive. Finally, no effective anti-displacement policies will be codified and fully funded before the Roslindale business area is re-zoned under Squares and Streets. Our experiences provide a cautionary tale for neighborhoods undergoing or anticipating this rezoning – Fields Corner and Codman Square/Four Corners, specifically.

As Mr. Davis described, Roslindale’s personal service establishments are resilient. Barber shops, manicure salons, spas, and the like survived the pandemic. Immigrants and people of color own many of these businesses. For all intents and purposes, they have been invisible in the Planning Department’s data sets in that they have not been distinctively credited as economic drivers in terms of consumer spending or status as employers.

In addition, the department’s key business information inventory – only 21 out of more than 200 businesses – does not seem to include these personal service businesses.

And beyond that, there is no data base that identifies owners of color and immigrant owners who may qualify for special programs or other considerations despite repeated requests to the Wu administration and to Roslindale Village Main Streets.

City policies limit parking, a key asset for our Roslindale businesses. Customers drive to Roslindale from around Boston and farther out, including places like Newton and Sharon. However, curbside street parking has been, and will be, lost due to projects from the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) and other agencies. In fact, a BTD director acknowledged that 26 of the 2-hour spaces in the core commercial district from projects were lost.

An analysis of curbside parking data reveals what appears to be racial and ethnic disparities. Specifically, compared with their white counterparts, nearly three times as many Latinx, Black, Asian, and immigrant small business owners lost curbside spaces fronting their businesses. One street, Poplar, where the businesses are all owned by immigrants and people of color, lost the highest percentage of spaces in the core commercial district. And now their parking spaces are marked as 5-minutes only. No other street has so severe a restriction on parking. Despite the owners’ objections, a component of the Squares and Street plan will alter Poplar Street further.

Along with not being fully recognized in the Roslindale Squares and Streets materials, and with an apparent inequity in curbside parking, no protections against displacement are in effect for all of our business owners. The Planning Department claims that such protections will be introduced. However, residents city-wide are not satisfied with claims of future protections. At a recent City Council hearing, these groups asked the city to delay any re-zoning until anti-displacement policies are formulated, codified, and funded.

In anticipation of Squares and Streets rezoning, we are already seeing businesses at risk. For example, a Honduran immigrant who owns an auto body shop that has been in Roslindale for 24 years will have to move so that the landlord can build condominiums. The owner’s lawyer gave a displacement cautionary note – city antidisplacement provisions put into place will be very likely be challenged in court. This makes the Planning Department’s assertions of protection feel even less certain.

The Planning and Transportation Departments could adjust the conditions to mitigate current and potential damage to small businesses. For example, the administration has been asked to generate a database of business owner demographics. With this information, the City of Boston could analyze the potential effects of its decisions – such as eliminating more parking – to determine whether the effects are fairly distributed. Another way to prevent harm would be for the BPDA Board and the Zoning Commission to defer zoning changes until true anti-displacement measures are present.

Just as Mr. Davis asserts, rental and leasing agreements can certainly harm neighborhood small businesses.  However, small businesses can also be harmed by city actions and policies.  Such negative effects are being perpetuated by the Planning Department’s zoning initiatives, like Squares and Streets, and by parking changes from the Boston Transportation Department.
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Laurie Radwin is the coordinator of the Roslindale Coalition.