CLICK HERE [3,554 KB] to download a copy of our 2005 Boston Harbor Indicators Report.

CLICK HERE [153 KB] to download the data file on which the Harbor Indicators Report is based.

CLICK HERE [121 KB] to download a copy of the results of our public opinion poll.

Click here to download a copy of the Leading Edge report. [410 KB]

With more than $4 billion invested in the Boston Harbor Cleanup, and billions more invested in the depression of the Central Artery, Boston sits at a critical crossroads. We have a unique opportunity to leverage our public investment and help Boston become a truly world class waterfront city.

A major new thrust of our activities is helping to set the civic agenda – in a formal partnership with The Boston Redevelopment Authority and The Boston Foundation – on the Harbor and the waterfront. To that end, we are developing two new exciting projects: An Economic Analysis of Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Indicators Project.

In addition, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay continues to play a leadership role in City and State planning processes and public discussions about the shape and future of our Harbor and our Waterfront.

~ Save the Harbor/Save the Bay chaired the committee that developed the award winning Fort Point Channel Plan that will create the "next great place in Boston".
Click here to download the Fort Point Channel Watersheet Activation Plan [2,007 KB]
~ On critical projects like Fan Pier, FleetBoston Pavilion, Russia Wharf, and the redevelopment of the East Boston waterfront, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay took the lead in supporting the City’s efforts to plan and build a world class waterfront that is inviting to neighborhood residents, visitors and citizens from across the region.

~ We led charettes and other critical planning efforts for Revere Mayor Ambrasino and Quincy Mayor Phalen that resulted in plans to revitalize the waterfronts in Revere and Quincy.

~ We secured funds to retain leading economic analysts to develop an economic impact study and a harbor indicators project for the Harbor to focus the city’s leadership on the enormous opportunities and the very real challenges that we face in making Boston a world-class waterfront city.

World Class Waterfront

A major new thrust of our activities over the next few years will be elevating our leadership role in the city to focus Boston’s public, corporate and nonprofit leaders on the opportunities we face in becoming a world-class waterfront city and helping to mobilize the city to action.

Our activities include:

~ Continuing to participate in the formal and informal planning processes for the development and the redevelopment of Boston’s waterfront.

~ Developing innovative tools to better understand the value of the Harbor to our region and to build consensus around our vision as a waterfront city.

Planning
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has a unique planning perspective – one that looks at the Harbor as a whole. Therefore, we believe it is important for us to actively engage in the public and private debates going forward.

Leadership Tools
In the past fifteen years, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has built a powerful constituency to support the restoration of the Harbor. In the process we have built strong partnerships with community leaders and with stakeholders in every neighborhood of our city, and with every community on the Harbor. We have worked hard to win the trust and respect of elected officials and neighborhood activists, of regulators, decision makers, and the corporate community.

We have two exciting projects in the pipeline that will build on our successes and help advance our agenda in this area:

Economic Impact Study
We are conducting an Economic Impact Study that measures, in economic terms, the value of Boston Harbor and how that value has been enhanced during the period of the Cleanup.
Click here to download a copy of The Leading Edge report [410 KB]

A rigorous economic analysis of the Harbor’s value will help us to identify and advocate for public policies as well as private and philanthropic dollars that will help promote economic growth and expand economic opportunity around the waterfront and the Harbor. In essence, it will help us to better leverage the Harbor as a resource.

It is critical that decision-makers and the public understand the enhanced value of the asset as they evaluate additional investment, particularly in tough times where there is less appetite to make investments in any public project – whether it is a park, a bridge repair, or a water and sewer project.

The economic analysis will provide us with a tool to more thoughtfully broaden the context in which planning decisions around the waterfront are made. We believe that injecting hard economic facts – like jobs and changes in property values – will better inform the public process and, ultimately, lead to better decisions.

Hugh O’Neill, Founder and President of Appleseed, Inc., is our partner on the economic impact study. Appleseed has conducted economic impact analyses for a wide-range of non-profit, governmental, and corporate clients, and has also provided assistance in development planning on a wide range of projects. Some examples of his work include: Assessing the economic impact of the proposed development of a new cruise ship terminal and exhibition facility on the Brooklyn waterfront; assessing the economic impact of the planned redevelopment of the World Trade Center site for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; and a study of the impact of eight leading research universities on the Boston-area economy.

Harbor Indicators Project
We are developing a Harbor Indicators Project for Boston Harbor that will identify and then track key elements that make a "great" waterfront. The Indicators Project, which we will produce every year going forward, will provide powerful and objective measurements that would both guide us to where we want to take the waterfront – and our city – and measure our success over time. Given the planned build-out in and around the Harbor over the next decade, we believe it is critical to conduct a review each year to highlight the accomplishments and to underscore the areas in need of improvement, attention and investment to make our waterfront great.

We have already begun to engage stakeholders from across many different sectors and communities in a process that will determine what key elements make a great waterfront and identify the appropriate metrics by which to measure them.

Our goal is to identify five to ten broad categories that will serve as indicators of what we want to see on our Harbor and waterfront as we become a world-class waterfront city, and then build consensus around the metrics. Examples of these categories could include:

Easily Accessible by All. Safe for Boating, Fishing and Swimming. A Diverse Mix of Uses. Compelling Destination.Widely Used Year Round. Effectively Planned and Managed.

In each instance, we will identify "hard" numbers to evaluate where we are in each category. For example, in the case of "easily accessible by all" we would look at metrics that could include square feet of Harbor walk and open space, distance from public transportation, number of public transportation alternatives, and sampling data that looks at use – attendance at a particular park, event or other destination.

Recognizing that the public’s perception of reality is as important as the metrics, we seek to develop tools to measure public opinion in each area so that we can track the public’s perception of reality and the gap that is likely to exist.

The Harbor Indicators Project will help keep our leaders focused on critical issues such as the shape, pace, and quality of redevelopment, water quality and other civic goals related to the Harbor and the Bay. Importantly, the indicators project will measure how we are doing against our goals and provide objective data and arm stakeholders, policy makers, opinion leaders and the community with the facts they need to evaluate and encourage investment in our Harbor.