On immigration building East
Boston's input is clearly not of interest
A recent article in the local press about a special
day for 28 new Americans was an interesting one. Most readers,
however, are probably unaware of a sad irony: The event was held on
the Massport-owned site where much earlier waves of immigrants
landed -- and which is now on the edge of being redeveloped without
even a nod to that rich history.
My reason for pointing this out is that less than a year ago,
Massport generated a report in which it specified in that it needed
“qualified historical and cultural consultants to assist the
Authority with documentation of the social, economic, and
architectural history of the Immigration Building (located in East
Boston Shipyard), in the context of the broader history of the East
Boston waterfront.” The report, dated Dec. 11, 2009, went on to
note, “Massport recognizes the importance to the East Boston
community of documenting the history of this building and will
create a permanent record of the immigration-related activities that
took place there in the early part of the 20th Century.”
This sounds impressive until you learn that the consulting firm
Massport hired to do this report subsequently told a neighborhood
meeting that the feds had lost or destroyed all the records that
involved the building. Yet several immigration scholars later
contacted about this said the consulting firm was either
disingenuous, to say it politely, or simply clueless about where to
look for the records. They did not, in other words, have the
background or qualifications to perform the work.
And what was our elected representatives’ reaction when questioned
in writing as to whether Massport should be required to hire a
qualified immigration scholar/consultant to locate the “missing”
records and actually document the immigration history as required?
Absolutely no response from any of them.
As of this writing, the final report is not at the East Boston
branch library on Meridian Street. East Boston’s input is clearly
not of interest to the state.
A community noted for immigration deserves better. We need to honor
those who came before us, and at least get Massport to live up to
its own specifications.
