DORCHESTER, Mass. — New buildings are popping up across Dorchester. Many are new condos, and, on the horizon, some major mixed-use residential and commercial developments are also in the works.
"And I'm looking at it as an opportunity," said Frank Baker of the Boston City Council
Baker says the city is growing. Areas like the fenced-off open field on Dorchester Avenue will be home to an area dubbed, 'Dot Bloc,' a return, Baker says, to how city neighborhoods used to be.
"They're going to bring amenities for people who live here and need to go to a market," he said. "They don’t need to get in their vehicle and drive."
He says the density will support new business, and with more and more people moving into the city and Dorchester, infrastructure is a concern.
Baker added that the T and the state realize that most people in that area don’t drive. And while T problems persist, long-term investment aims to handle more riders.
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Neighbors also worry about rising rents, something the city is wrestling with.
Keeping residents in the city means affordable housing. Some will be part of the new development on Dudley Street. More will be part of a massive development eyed for the former Bayside Expo Center on Columbia Point that is now a UMass parking lot while plans for the 20-acre site are developed.
"We are in the city, and we're at a point now that you're just going [to be] seeing every place going up," Baker said.
Cox Media Group
