Councilor Davis-Mullen Criticizes Construction of New Center

BOSTON-A controversy is brewing over the development of a Catholic community center in South Boston on the site of a former public-housing project. The Laboure Center, an affiliate of 100-year old Catholic Charities, will go up on West Broadway on part of the former D Street public-housing project.

The site is part of a once-defunct public-housing project that has been redeveloped in quadrants by the Boston Housing Authority. Laboure is the last quadrant to be redeveloped and necessitated taking down 244 units of low-income housing. The city plans on redeveloping a 133-unit public housing complex next to the Community Center.

According to Lydia Agro, communications director for the BHA, “It’s impossible to remain with the same number of housing units when there is redevelopment because of new housing codes and density issues. When we did the first three quadrants of the site, that happened also.”