Despite saying it offers a chance for residents and visitors to connect with the city’s waterfront, Seaport completely ignores Boston’s black population, The Boston Globe revealed in a new report on race in the city.
Seaport, which sprawls on nearly 1,000 square feet of land that had long sat dormant, is the city’s newest neighborhood, where young professionals live, work and play. Its website boasts a map of the neighborhood’s many new restaurants, hotels, museums, parks, shops, residences and offices. The veritable city within a city means Seaport residents hardly ever have to leave the area — but should they need to, there are plenty of bike-share locations and train stations nearby.
Seaport sprang up in downtown’s Fort Point district with help of more than $18 million in investments and tax money from the city’s residents — 25 percent of which are black. And despite purporting to serve “all Bostonians,” The Globe found that it’s coming up short: Just three of 660 residential mortgages have been issued to black borrowers in the past year. Further, Seaport’s population — which is 89 percent white — has a median household income of nearly $133,000, the highest of any Boston ZIP code, according to the newspaper.
For more of “A Brand New Boston, Even Whiter Than the Old,” head to The Boston Globe.