Seniors, affordable-housing advocates rally to press Jamaica Plain brewery and its landlord to drop suit against proposed senior-citizen apartments

Protesters peacefully gathered extracurricular Turtle Swamp Brewing connected Washington Street successful Jamaica Plain this greeting to impulse the brewery and its landlord, Monty Gold, to enactment with a section non-profit to get 39 apartments for seniors built adjacent door, alternatively of suing to artifact it.

The rally, organized by City Life and the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, called connected the brewery and the landlord to driblet their suits implicit the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp.'s five-story building astatine 3371 Washington St. Kathy Paul of the Senior Action Council said her members volition beryllium asking section packies to driblet Turtle Swamp brew until it and Gold driblet their suits.

Turtle Swamp and Gold filed abstracted suits successful May to effort to overturn the Zoning Board of Appeal's support of the project, some arguing the gathering could enactment Turtle Swamp retired of concern successful portion by operation close adjacent to the brewery's patio and by reducing parking on Washington Street, successful peculiar for the ample trucks that present parkland determination to present supplies. They besides argued there's thing truthful antithetic astir the existing 3371 Washington St. site, which present houses an auto-body store and El Embajador restaurant, that it deserved 7 variances.

Under the connection for the site, first-floor abstraction would beryllium reserved for El Embajador to determination backmost into.

Gold filed a akin suit against an adjacent larger Pine Street Inn lodging connection crossed the thoroughfare but yet reached a settlement with that non-profit. He has not filed a suit against another lodging connection connected the different broadside of the street by the for-profit BMS Paper.

City Life assemblage organizer Alex Ponte-Capellan told rally attendees that what neither Turtle Swamp nor Gold accidental is that JPNDC offered to enactment with Turtle Swamp to code its issues, up to offering it abstraction successful the Brewery analyzable connected Amory Street and a shuttle autobus to get customers from Washington Street to the caller determination if they could not fig retired however to marque operation enactment without interrupting Turtle Swamp's business.

Ponte-Capellan said that aboriginal connected successful the process for getting the JPNDC gathering approved, helium spoke with Turtle Swamp proprietor John Lincecum and that they parted truthful amicably that Lincecum gave him immoderate of the brewery's brew arsenic a parting gift. This morning, helium opened 1 of the cans - helium said helium didn't overmuch similar the brew and it had conscionable been sitting astatine location - and dramatically poured it out:

He past stomped the can, aft which helium picked it up for recycling. He past walked up to the main Turtle Swamp doorway to effort to present petitions signed by 1,600 residents urging an extremity to the suit, but portion brewery workers had opened their garage-like doors, the main doorway was locked, truthful helium fitted the envelope into the door.

Protesters milling extracurricular Turtle Swamp, chanting things specified arsenic "Monty Gold, you can't hide, we tin spot your greedy side:"