Why Sunlight Preservation Should Trump Local Control

Boston markets itself as a “walking city,” but visitors shouldn’t expect to walk in the sun, a diminishing resource downtown and in Back Bay. Boston is no longer a low-rise city, and its high rise skyline comes at a cost.

“Downtown spaces are not just for buildings; they’re for buildings and people,” Massachusetts State Representative Byron Rushing stresses. Rushing, who lives in Boston, (as I do) is a co-sponsor of the “shadow bill," aimed at limiting new high-rises that would cast additional shadows on remaining open spaces. It was inspired partly by a Simon Property Group proposal for a residential tower atop the Neiman Marcus at Copley Place, a Simon Property mall near Copley Plaza, the landmark Boston Public Library, and Commonwealth Avenue boulevard. The shadow bill is an amendment to laws enacted in the early 1990s to preserve sunlight in the Boston Common and Public Garden.