In other less than cheery news, Harry Mattison has more on Harvard School of Public Health putting stronger root down in Longwood. The space they have over there really is cramped, dirty and disjointed, but given the Global Financial Clusterfuck(tm) it’s apparently more logical for them to creep up into on Mission Hill than continue working on plans for an Allston campus.

Dean Julio Frenk-

“With the economic environment making the pace of Allston less certain, we did not feel as though we could pass up the opportunity to lease a significant amount of space so close to our main campus.”

Harry Mattison has some constructive hopes surrounding our Harvard overlords.

Harvard’s School of Public Health is expected to relocate to Allston at some point and there has been ongoing brainstorming about what type of partnerships might benefit both the HSPH and the local community. Many people at HSPH, specifically in its Department of Nutrition, are actively interested the connection between weight and health. (…) Even though A/B residents have one of the lowest obesity rates in Boston, our rate of 37% means that 25,000 people here are obese! Think of the potential for improved quality of life and reduced medical costs!

Somehow I don’t think this would work without a city-wide tax on beer and curly fries, but then again I’m a pessimist.