Let’s Talk About Dust (And Everything Else).

As anyone who has survived a home renovation project knows, trying to maintain normal domestic routines within the tumult of construction is anything but a picnic. Workers arriving outside your doorstep at unholy hours of the morning. Noises reminiscent of your worst dental experience. And then there’s the dust. Don’t even get me started on the dust!

Living under these conditions can really knock the zen right out of you - if you let it.

Fortunately, nothing like that has happened in the Navy Yard, thanks in large part to Dave Whelan and the Charlestown Neighborhood Council, who have done a great job of keeping many lines of communication open. Still, there’s always room for improvement, right? So meet Bart.

Bart Mendel (pictured here) is a California-based construction manager and a Buddhist teacher with 35 years of experience. Often called to counsel people on how to avoid disputes during construction, Bart has synthesized his thoughts into a series of tips for a “blissful building process.” Some of his ideas are particularly relevant to community life in the Navy Yard right now:

1. Seek Wisdom in All the Right Places. Spaulding has every confidence in our creative architects from Perkins + Will, the talented construction team from Walsh Brothers, and the 300 local men and women who have been working onsite over the past two years.

The community input process includes multiple levels of support and participation – from Representative Eugene O’Flaherty, to the Council, and especially our new neighbors at the Basilica. We’ve been so fortunate to have committed, involved community partners working shoulder to shoulder with us since the very beginning.

2. Plan, Plan, Plan. In fact, planning for Spaulding’s new home has been in the works for more than a decade. The building itself is a model of environmentally sustainable design and is expected to have an 80-year lifespan.

3. Embrace Change. Learn to Accept Some Dust and Discomfort Along the Path to Progress. Prior to the Navy’s departure in 1974, Parcel 6 had housed a refuse incinerator, a sandblasting facility, scrap storage bins, several dump areas and an underground oil storage tank, all of which left a legacy of oil, grease, lead and PCBs in the soil. Fast forward 30 years, to 2004 and the arrival of Spaulding. $21.6 million has already been spent to transform a brownfield into a greenfield. When your new hospital opens next year, a site that was once a health hazard will become a center of wellness and renewal for the entire community.

And finally:

4. Engage in Clear, Calm Communication. Reader, here’s where you come in!

Would you like to speak in person about the latest construction update? If so, please join me at our next Charlestown Community Meeting on Tuesday, May 15 from 7 – 8 PM in the 5^th Floor Conference Room at the YMCA Constitution Inn. You can also email me at rkkaiser@partners.org if you’d like to receive notices about upcoming meetings.

Hope to see you next Tuesday, or sometime soon. Talk to me, Charlestown. I’m all ears.