In late July, throughout a summer season heatwave, an overhead electrical wire in Charlestown caught fireplace as a result of overload. The wire indifferent and ignited a parked automotive. If the wind had blown just a bit in a different way — towards one among our wood rowhouses — this may be a really completely different dialog.
It’s straightforward to see why. Simply search for. Dozens of wires hold from each pole — electrical, telecom, even deserted landlines —bundled collectively, snaking and sagging from avenue to house. Many are coated in plastic or rubber. When ignited, they will act like a wick towards a home. They’re not simply unpleasant. They’re flammable. And in a neighborhood filled with century-old wood properties, they pose a critical danger. That is Public Security 101.
Since then, one thing uncommon has occurred in Charlestown: coordinated consideration. Simply two days after the fireplace, Josh Kraft walked the streets with residents to know the issue firsthand. This week, I walked a senior advisor to Mayor Michelle Wu down Russell Road, stating each house the place a Boston Public College pupil lives — together with my very own. That’s only a portion of the youngsters on these blocks. Charlestown has the best focus of younger children in all the Metropolis of Boston. These are households who’ve chosen to remain and put money into the town. The chance isn’t theoretical.
Within the week because the fireplace, we’ve walked the affected streets with Eversource to demand solutions and subsequent steps. We didn’t come alone. Metropolis Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata and State Consultant Dan Ryan introduced their groups. Town despatched representatives. Collectively, they stood with Charlestown neighbors.
For his or her half, Eversource introduced engineers, neighborhood reps — and media relations. That’s not routine. That’s legal responsibility mitigation.
Everyone seems to be listening.
However consideration doesn’t clear up infrastructure. And far of Charlestown’s utility system — strung overhead via slim streets and connected to growing older wood poles — isn’t constructed to deal with what’s coming. Each season brings failures: blown transformers, snapped strains, prolonged outages. The poles lean. The wires sag. We reside with the results.
In the meantime, development is accelerating. New housing models are beneath building. Single-family properties are transformed into multi-unit buildings. Main redevelopment is reshaping the neighborhood’s footprint. And simply throughout the river in Everett, a 25,000-seat stadium seems inevitable. When it opens, Charlestown will take in the brunt of game-day visitors — on roads, rails, and footpaths. Our infrastructure will really feel it whether or not it’s prepared or not.
The ability grid is already strained. Eversource plans to construct a brand new substation in Charlestown by 2034 — not as a routine improve, however as a result of the present system gained’t be capable to sustain. Substations don’t seem on planning paperwork until they’re essential.
For the primary time in a very long time, Charlestown has each urgency and alternative. The mayor is engaged. Eversource is within the room. A public listening to is being scheduled. Stadium negotiations are underway. Now’s a second to make actual selections.
And undergrounding utilities must be one among them.
If the town expects this neighborhood to soak up extra demand —extra growth, extra individuals, extra strain — then the infrastructure must mirror that. Trendy neighborhoods shouldn’t depend on an internet of reside wires inches above porches and sidewalks. And when a neighborhood has already seen the danger play out — actually in flames — it shouldn’t be requested to attend and hope it doesn’t occur once more.
We’re not naïve. Undergrounding gained’t be straightforward. It gained’t be fast. And it gained’t be low-cost. Nevertheless it’s been carried out right here in Boston. A few of the metropolis’s different neighborhoods have lengthy had buried utilities, usually as a result of historic preservation efforts or piecemeal capital tasks. There’s no excellent precedent or timeline — nevertheless it’s not extraordinary. It’s time to review what labored, what didn’t, and learn how to apply that perception equitably throughout Boston.
What we’re asking for isn’t a clean test. It’s a critical plan. One which treats this as a phased, once-in-a-generation funding in public security and reliability. One that appears at cost-sharing throughout companions. One which aligns with capital tasks already in movement, just like the Rutherford Avenue redesign and the Bunker Hill housing rebuild. One which takes benefit of the second we’re in — not an ideal second, however higher than any we’ve had earlier than.
Charlestown might function a pilot for modernizing Boston’s overhead grid. Begin with essentially the most at-risk blocks. Plan for the remainder. Interact the utilities, the town, and sure, the stadium builders. And start to take the wires down.
That is Boston — the town that buried a freeway. We are able to work out learn how to bury just a few miles of utility cable.
Shannon Felton Spence lives in Charlestown together with her husband and two younger sons. She is a public affairs skilled and a frequent commentator on politics and coverage.
