Last week Mayor Thomas Menino submitted his Fiscal Year 2014 budget that includes capital spending in Charlestown. The spending in neighborhood is part of Menino’s $2.6 billion Operating Budget for FY2014 and five year $1.8 billion Capital Plan, including $196 million in new FY 2014 project authorizations.
“This year’s budget invests in our most valuable assets: our people and our neighborhoods,” said Menino said. “Today we are proposing a sound financial plan. It builds on our long history of achieving balanced budgets and at the same time improves delivery of high-quality services that Boston residents expect and deserve. The city’s resources are for all people, not just some, and so in this budget as in the nineteen before it, we invest to raise up every neighborhood.”
In Charlestown, the High School will receive money for a major HVAC and fire safety improvement at the school.
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) is the technology of indoor environmental comfort. HVAC is important in the design of schools, medium to large industrial and office buildings such as skyscrapers and in marine environments such as aquariums, where safe and healthy building conditions are regulated with respect to temperature and humidity, using fresh air from outdoors.
Also, the city will spend money to create an outdoor play space at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The new playground will be adjacent to the Spaulding Rehab and will be handicapped accessible for children with special needs.
This will serve as a resource for children receiving treatment at Spaulding. Last year, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) approved the contract with Weston and Sampson, an engineering firm based in Peabody, to begin the process of adding a water recreational use to the Charlestown Navy Yard.
The Navy Yard is a BRA parcel and houses the historic USS Constitution, a harborwalk, restaurants and residential units.