I Went to School in Allston

The old joke — or is it a truism? — about Harvard University alumni is that they will say “I went to school in Cambridge” as way of modestly saying that they attended Harvard without saying the word Harvard. In the future this line may not work anymore, because Harvard University has acquired large tracts of land across the river in Allston. And they have a plan.

The Boston Globe revealed the news about the plan for Harvard in Allston earlier today. I perused the 74-page document (oh, okay I just looked at the pictures) and includes ambitious efforts to reshape Allston into a dense neighborhood similar to Harvard Square and have it be friendly to pedestrians, bicyclists, the local community, and the environment. All this work will take place over the next 20 to 50 years. I should live so long!

I envision myself as a curmudgeonly old man wagging my finger and shouting “You whippersnappers don’t know what it was like to ride a bicycle down North Harvard Street when it was nothing but potholes and broken glass.”