Alexander+Tufts+2

Upon getting into college and moving away from home, I chose to live in Harbor Point. Harbor Point is a community of apartments in the Dorchester subsection of the city of Boston. Formally known as Columbia Point, the building of the development was completed in 1954 and had 1,500 apartments. Built on a former garbage dump that thrusts into Boston Harbor, Columbia Point was never an appealing place. The Columbia Point Development was built by the Boston Housing Authority and was the largest housing projects in Boston and New England. With the coming of the new development public schools and the Columbia Point Health Center were built just across the street. The T stop we know now as the JFK/UMass stop was also built just down the street, although when it was first built the stop’s name was Columbia. As in most low income projects, there was an abundance of crime.  Columbia Point || || Crime became so bad in the area that families started moving out. The community’s reputation was ruined because of the fear people had. The reputation that was built kept the apartments empty when people moved out because no one wanted to move in. Common, everyday crimes included robbery and assault and to most people it wasn’t worth living in the area. By the 1980’s only three hundred families lived in Columbia Point and its buildings were falling apart. After realizing the situation was hopeless, Boston turned over the property to the private development firm Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison. The company acquired the property in 1984 and by 1990 it had been knocked down and rebuilt into an attractive, very well kept community. To help get rid of the bad reputation the Community’s name was changed to Harbor Point. When older folks ask where I live and I reply I usually get looks like “are you crazy!?” From these looks I can tell that part of the reputation that Columbia Point had still resides in the area. What people don’t understand is how truly beautiful this little community of apartments really is. With its many brick buildings and very well kept landscape Harbor Point has a lot to offer. It’s located right on the water and right across Old Harbor where you get a beautiful look at South Boston and Boston’s high rises behind it. Sitting in the pavilions at the end of Harbor Point you can see all sorts of people running, walking and biking along the thirty-eight mile harbor walk that extends along the shores of Boston. Looking in at the little community you see people of all different nationalities buzzing about, coming and going from school, work and I’m sure many other places. You see kids of all ages, elementary to college kids coming home from a long day at school happy to be outside instead of behind a desk. Across Mt. Vernon Street is an elementary school and every weekday from eleven to about one if you have your windows open you can hear all the kids outside at recess. You can hear the kickball games and the teachers yelling at kids get back on the other side of the fence. The littler kids coming home from school often race each other across the green strip of grass that runs down the middle of Harbor Point Boulevard. Down at the pavilions you can hear the water very quietly lopping up on the rock wall below. You can smell the ocean breeze as it is almost always windy because we are out on a peninsula. Being near the ocean comforts me because growing up on Cape Cod I was always only about a mile and a half away from the ocean. Now I’m only about 300 yards from the water. Harbor Point being an apartment complex means that there are a lot of people packed in a little place. This makes it an extremely busy place.  Harbor Point || || Every street in the neighborhood is lined with cars and every parking lot almost full. I live across the street from the entrance gate and there is always a constant flow of cars going in and out. Everyone who does not live here has to enter through this gate in order to get in to the community. It’s almost a daily thing that I see the fire trucks in here and I don’t really get why they come in here so often I still have yet to figure it out. With the slider door open I can here each and every car and listen to all of the conversations in many different languages as people walk by below. In the air you can smell just the slightest hint of car exhaust because of all of the traffic. My apartment is so close to Mt. Vernon street that I can hear every car, bus, and dump truck drive by. Down the green courtyard you can see rows of trees on each side. It makes for a perfect spot to play a pick-up game of wiffle ball or just kick a soccer ball around with some friends. You can see the two tennis courts that are well kept and very regularly used. Next to the tennis courts is the Public Safety where there is security cars parked outside. Down at the end of the street is the workout center and two outdoor pools, covered of course at this time of the year. It is a very lively community, there isn’t once when I’ve been outside and seen not a single soul, no matter what hour it was. I’m not sure exactly what it would have been like to live in Columbia Point back in the day but I understand that it was pretty dangerous. I think that it has made a total 180 degrees turn around in a short amount of time. From being run down projects to brand new apartments with security and gates to keep track of who comes in and out. It is absolutely much safer now then it was back in the day. It is really a wonderful place to live, especially for college kids who attend UMass Boston because it is so close. Harbor Point is a great little community.