By Shannon Holmes
April 14, 2003

The city of Boston is trying a cutting-edge strategy to rein in development in the congested Longwood medical area. It will allow hospitals and colleges to keep building and expanding their campuses, but only if they agree to hire and train city residents for some of the jobs they create.

The idea is to deliver jobs to Bostonians and, at the same time, cut back on the area's heavy traffic, since job-training programs will be targeted at people who live within walking distance. Boston, which in the early 1980s pioneered the strategy of linking new development to the creation of low-cost housing, is the first city to try the approach, according to the Washington-based National Association of Workforce Boards.

The Longwood area, which is about 3 miles from downtown and within walking distance of the Mission Hill, Audubon Circle, and Fenway neighborhoods, encompasses about 210 acres and provides about 30,000 jobs, according to the city. The area is already densely developed, with about 14 million square feet of space, but institutions in the area have proposed adding 2.6 million square feet.

Neil Sullivan, Director of the Private Industry Council, a business-led nonprofit group that is working with Longwood institutions on job training, acknowledges that the restrictions have sparked some --creative tension-- with those that are looking to expand. However, Sullivan said the rules will probably end up helping hospitals that are struggling to find enough nurses and radiologists.

Some hospitals and colleges with plans to expand are also praising the plan, at least publicly. Beth Israel Deaconess spokesman Jerry Berger said training local residents is --being a good neighbor and it is good business. We do need employees who are trained with specific skills, and we can help create that work force in the neighborhood."

In a bid to shape development and limit the traffic on already overburdened streets, the Boston Redevelopment Authority will draw up a master plan for the area over the next 18 months. In the meantime, it has issued interim guidelines, which include the training and hiring rules.

Under the guidelines, an institution looking to expand will have to provide Boston with a projection of future staffing needs, a description of its current training programs, and a commitment to the number of its employees who live in the city that would be hired. In considering whether to approve a project, the city will also ask for help in designing a training program to fill many of the new jobs that would be created.

--People who are just going to build an office tower are not employers. But when an [existing] institution expands, they are the employers - they're building and they're going to put employees on their payroll in the building,-- said Conny Doty, Director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services and past President of the Workforce Development Council. --It's a different type of situation, so you can have conversations about jobs.--