New appointment to BioLab committee
South End News
June 19, 2008
by Linda Rodriguez
managing editor
Three South End residents have been appointed or re-appointed to the Community Liaison Committee of the controversial Boston University BioLab, rounding out the six-member committee.
Glen Berkowitz, the chair of the CLC in 2007 and a member of the Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association, was reappointed this year, as was Christopher Brayton, a South End resident and former member of the Blackstone/Franklin Neighborhood Association. Ana Salas, a resident of Villa Victoria and a member of the board of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, is the newest member of the committee. She, along with 14 other applicants, submitted an application for one of three open spots on the committee.
The other members of the committee are Dolly Battle, a Roxbury resident and an outspoken critic of the BioLab; Michael Kozu of Roslindale; and Sandra Silver of the South End.
The BioLab, known officially as the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, has long been a divisive issue in the South End and throughout the city. The National Institutes of Health awarded BU a $128 million grant in 2003 – a grant that has now increased to $148 million to accommodate construction costs – and since that time, public outcry over the siting of the lab has been fierce. Though it makes up the majority of public concern, the biosafety level-4 labs – the ones studying infamous viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola – make up about 13 percent of the actual facility. The rest of the facility is dedicated to biosafety level-2 and 3 labs. The building, an enormous structure rising out of an Albany Street lot, is expected to be complete by October 2008, at a total cost of $198 million. At that point, when any of the labs will begin their work is dependent on the NIH’s completion of the court-ordered supplemental risk assessment. According to court documents filed earlier this year, that risk assessment will likely not be issued until April 2009.
The Community Liaison Committee (CLC) was formed in June 2006 to promote public participation in and transparency of the process around the BioLab. During the summer of 2007, the CLC held a series of open forums, allowing members of the community to ask questions of BU officials and of the director of the lab. Those forums were sparsely attended.
Linda Rodriguez can be reached at lrodriguez@southendnews.com