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Consalvo conservation kudos
October 30, 2005
I live in Roslindale, and I do know who my city councilor is: Rob Consalvo (''Your city councilor can . . ." Oct. 23, City Weekly). Our neighborhood has been struggling the last two years to deter development initiatives for a 10-acre, environmentally important wetland just southwest of the Arboretum (Weld/Walter streets area).
Consalvo attended the first, last, and every public meeting in between concerning this matter. Early on he approached and successfully lobbied the mayor and appropriate city departments to have numerous small tax-foreclosed parcels within the wetlands conserved rather than flipped back into the private sector for potential development.
This month the neighborhood prevailed: The wetland has been permanently saved. To be sure, the actions of many hundreds of residents had much to do with this outcome. And the mayor came out in favor of preservation and acted decisively to achieve it. However, it was Consalvo who built much of the support for this issue within city government and then shepherded it along within City Hall at each phase of its protracted history.
JAMES TAFF Roslindale Wetlands Task Force |