Boston City Councilor Breadon Slams Proposed Capital Project Budget for Allston-Brighton

Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. Breadon slammed the city’s fiscal year 2025 capital budget allocations for Allston-Brighton in an interview Thursday, saying she was “profoundly disappointed” with a proposal that will leave her district lagging far behind other neighborhoods in funding.

Breadon, who represents District 9, said that much of the funding for the neighborhood’s biggest projects was only earmarked for planning. Two of the most expensive projects — planning for a new Allston elementary school and a new community center for the area — were marked “to be scheduled,” with no clear timelines for their completion.

“We have many projects that have been in the works for many years, and they are not being advanced into the construction stage,” Breadon said. “It’s an eight to 10-year process to build these things.”

“We generate a lot of funds of revenue for the city of Boston, and we need to be treated fairly,” she added.

The City of Boston proposed a $46.7 million budget for capital projects across Allston and Brighton in a release this week, including park improvements and planning for a new elementary school and community center.

Split into more than 400 projects across the city’s nine districts, this year’s budget is set to put $4.7 billion overall into local infrastructure and resources, funded mainly through municipal bonds, money from the American Rescue Plan Act, and other grants.

Most of the capital investments for Allston-Brighton will go to improving the neighborhood’s parks.

The budget includes roughly $2 million each to create designs for the renovations of Ringer Playground and Penniman Road Play Area, which will alter the paths, landscape, and furnishings of both parks.

Another $4.3 million will go to improving Winship Elementary’s schoolyard and McKinney Playground; Hardiman Playground and Rogers Park, both also in Brighton, will receive smaller funds for improvements as well.

Still, Breadon noted that Allston-Brighton received far less money than other neighborhoods.

Every other district except District 8, which includes Back Bay and Fenway, received around four times more than Allston-Brighton. District 8 — the second-to-lowest recipient — still received twice as much funding as Allston-Brighton.

Allston-Brighton has long received the lowest amount of capital allocations, according to Breadon, who added that an analysis several years ago found they were consistently “at the bottom of the heap.”

Rosie C. Hanlon, administrative coordinator of Allston Brighton’s current Jackson Mann Community Center, acknowledged that Allston-Brighton had long been under-allocated, leaving them more reliant on benefits from private development for neighborhood improvements.

“You can’t always milk the same cow,” she said, adding that the city should be doing more to fund improvements in the area.

Despite the funding difference, Hanlon said she “couldn’t be happier” that a new community center will eventually come to the neighborhood.

“It is, first of all, so long overdue, but so welcome,” Hanlon said.

The Jackson Mann Community Center, the only city-run community center in Allston-Brighton, has shared a building with Boston Public Schools for nearly 50 years. Two years ago, the city announced plans to replace the center.

At the time, State Representative Kevin G. Honan — whose district includes parts of the neighborhood — said that the center was “in terrible shape” at the time.

While Breadon said she was disappointed with the proposed budget, she noted that it had not been finalized yet.

“I plan to go in strongly and continue to advocate for capital investment that addresses the needs of our neighborhood,” Breadon said.

“It’s not like we don’t have new projects that need attention,” she added.

—Staff writer Jack R. Trapanick can be reached at jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @jackrtrapanick.