

Sure, Becerra was breaking the law: spray-painting art on a concrete underpass. And there the story would have probably ended, another ‘false positive’ among the thousands of Colombian civilians killed over the years then fitted up to look like guerrillas to up the body-count, or armed gangsters to get a trigger-happy cop off the hook.
Boston underpass art cut down on crime driver#
Later the police would coerce a bus driver to claim the young street artist had been part of an armed gang that had boarded and robbed his bus some time before. At some point a gun was planted on the scene. A bridge that today, eight years later, carries his name: Diego Felipe Becerra Lizarazo, and the statement ‘ No + Falsos Positivos’: No more false positives.īack in August 2011, a cop gunned down Becerra as he fled the underpass, having just sprayed his signature Felix the Cat motif.

It took a while for my brain to unravel the unfolding tale of a 16-year-old graffiti artist shot dead by a patrolman under a flyover on Calle 116 and Avenida Boyacá. Now the dead youth’s parents were under armed protection because of death threats, she said. I remember the day about eight years ago that my kid’s teacher told me her 16-year-old relative had been shot dead. The flyover on the 116 with Boyacá has Becerra’s name as remembrance. “That would be so sad.How the controversial shooting of 16-year-old graffiti artist Diego Felipe Becerra led to allegations of a police cover-up. “You don’t want this parage to march by and not be part of it,” Dimino said. However, the timeline is not open-ended, suggests a report by A Better City, with the federal government likely to put a “premium” on projects that can break ground in the next two or three years before 2024 and the next presidential election. In fact, the massive highway reconfiguration and redevelopment project could compete for money under two different funding streams built into the $1 trillion package, he said. In outlining its infrastructure goals, the Biden administration earlier this year began using the term “shovel worthy” term to signal support for more complex projects that have not yet crossed the permitting finish line. While the project is not shovel ready yet, supporters will make the argument to federal officials in charge of the infrastructure purse strings that it is a “shovel worthy” project, Dimino said. In order to make that happen, however, state transportation officials and other stakeholders have roughly two years of permitting work ahead in order to win approval form various state and federal regulatory agencies, Dimino said. The decision to move forward with the ambitious project will also put it on the radar for a potential federal infusion of funds should the $1 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure project pass, Dimino contends. In addition, a planned pedestrian and bike path will now be built on pilings over the river, while the shoulders of the highway have been narrowed as well.
Boston underpass art cut down on crime how to#
State officials began looking at options for dealing with the aging viaduct more than a decade, but find a solution was complicated by the complex logistics involved with reconfiguring the site.Ī particular challenge has been a narrow section of the site called “the throat” where planners have struggled to figure out how to squeeze in, all at-grade, the Turnpike, Soldiers’ Field road, and rail tracks.īoston University, which abuts the site, helped break the logjam, agreeing to provide a seven-foot stretch of land. There will also be a pedestrian/bicycle bridge connecting Agganis Way to the walkway and bike path planned for pilings over the Charles River. The price includes an array of infrastructure work, from highway and bridge construction to new streets, parks, walkways, and a $180 million commuter rail station. While support for the current iteration of the Allston I-90 Multi-Modal Project has surged, so has its total price-tag, rising by $400 million from $1.3 billion last year. “We applaud MassDOT for its design decision at this critical stage, and … look forward to fighting for this important project to receive the federal funding it needs moving forward,” Markey and Pressley said in a statement. Ayanna Pressley, now former Mayor Marty Walsh, and dozens of state lawmakers ranging from Boston to Central Mass had weighed in during the regulatory process with comments supporting the at-grade option. Members of the state’s Congressional delegation, such as Sen Ed Markey and Rep. “This is such a renaissance and such a significant city building opportunity,” Rick Dimino, president of a business-backed nonprofit, A Better City, and a vocal supporter of the at-grade option.
