BOSTON — A border war is underway in a part of Boston where the line is gray. The dividing line between South End and Roxbury has varied over the years depending on whom you ask. And now a debate to potentially redefine those lines is really heating up.
"It is the last stretch of the South End that was to be redeveloped," said Joe Digangi, a South End resident.
It's a part of Boston where the lines are blurred depending on whom you ask. A building boom branding new development as the South End and bringing out a heated argument over neighborhood borders.
"Now that that's happening, some people are trying to say no that’s Roxbury now," Digangi said. "That's just not the case."
The dividing line between South End and lower Roxbury has been a contentious issue for years, with conflicting borders on different government maps. Digangi lives on the last stretch of Washington Street, identified with South End resident parking.
He and others there say, without any notification, South End parking privileges were recently stripped from posted signs. That's led to speculation about a bigger plan to redefine the identity of the area from Mass. Ave over to Melnea Cass and from Columbus down to Harrison.
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"If an effort was underway that impacted the lives of the residents in a certain area […] there [should] be dialogue with those residents and there simply isn't," Digangi said.
Just one block away, a granite marker stands that's been in place since the 1800s, which some residents identify as the Roxbury line. When that new Residence Inn by Marriott branded itself as a South End hotel, the debate thrust itself into the public arena.
"I think the hotel drove the issue," said Michael Fleming, a South End resident. "We just had our South End residency revoked, so we can't park where we live."
Fleming says City Councilor Kim Janey enacted the emergency action order that altered these parking signs without any community engagement. He’s convinced it’s just the first step to rebrand the neighborhood.
"We tried to reach out to her numerous times, we’ve had many people call Councilor Janey's office," he said. "We're just not getting a response from Councilor Janey's office."
"I understand frustration," Councilor Janey told Boston 25 News. "Neighbors feeling like they are not being notified, not feeling like they had opportunity to weigh in to a process."
Councilor Janey added that any future changes will be discussed with neighbors but denies that she's in charge of any larger plan to rezone the community currently caught in confusion.
"I do not have some sort of secret plan to rezone or change neighborhood lines," she said.
"It should be transparent," Fleming said. "If you want to make a change, make a change and bring out the community and talk to everyone."
"The hope is, just leave it the way it was," Digangi said.
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