Decades of poor planning brought us a tiny commercial tax base and an outsized burden on homeowners to pay for city services.

So
when we develop one of our long underutilized commercial districts
like, say, Union Square, we have to keep dollar signs in our eyes. Even
Davis Square, with its Red Line stop, coffee shops and hip craft stores
does not bring the intense commercial development this city needs.

Remember
your tax bill (and any shortcomings you see in the city's schools,
public works or police department) the next time you hear a Prospect
Hill resident complain that the city's proposal to allow office
buildings in Union Square to reach 150 feet will get in the way of
their view of Boston.

Please.

It must be nice to live on
top of a hill and dictate city policy based on your cherished view.
Taxes are up. State aid, which makes up more than a third of our
budget, will soon be cut by 10 percent. Layoffs aren ºt inevitable but
they are a real possibility.

And a group like Union Square Neighbors is complaining about their view?

(That's right. We're blasting the view from Prospect Hill in The View From Prospect Hill.)

The
city's proposal to rezone Union Square is imperfect. It could use
stronger affordable housing requirements and the ethics of a district
in which people of one occupation, the arts, take precedent over all
others, are questionable.

However, it is a strong plan and its
goal to encourage substantial commercial development must be realized
if residents of this city want to improve city services without going
bankrupt.

The taller the office buildings are in Union Square,
the more taxes they produce, and the more tax relief for homeowners.
Union Square Neighbors should act more neighborly and sacrifice a
luxury they have enjoyed for years for the good of the entire
community.