We're used to it in Boston: people losing their minds over shadows, claiming that tall buildings will ruin everyone's lives because they may throw a few shadows. And we've pretty much come to accept that exorbitant housing prices will remain a fact of life around here, because when faced with the choice of increasing housing supply or avoiding a few shadows, we as a city have decided that we care more about the shadows. Sad, but true.
But can it be that the same is true over on "Boston's Left Bank," as an old Cambridge tourism campaign once called it? Yup. Central Square, the most urban-feeling part of that city, and I'd say, one of the most urban-feeling parts of the metro area, was faced with the horror of a 15-story residential building. That building would provide homes for 130 families. Since it's Cambridge, I bet 20% of those would be affordable housing.
But the shadows! The shadows! Those homes for human beings might mar the dull, lifeless University Park complex and the empty park that abuts it. So the City Council listened to the pleas of the neighbors and chose shadow-fighting over housing-crisis-fighting, just like their big brother across the river.
Next time you write a rent check, ask yourself this: is it worth it to pay so much to avoid a few shadows?
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