boston bulletin · 2019-03-07 · page 2 the bulletin march 7, 2019 footprints i visited the...

VOLUME 13 NUMBER 10 MARCH 7, 2019

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JP Glass Site near Green Streetplanned for development

Wyatt Komarin, VeronicaCadenas and Jenny Shenof Primary listen to KathyKottaridis at the Feb 21community meeting for3326 Washington St. inJamaica Plain. The loca-tion is the site of a formerschool, and developers areasking residents what theywould want to see at thecurrent auto glass repairshop.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD HEATH

JP GlassJP GlassJP GlassJP GlassJP GlassContinued on page 12

RicharRicharRicharRicharRichard Heathd Heathd Heathd Heathd HeathStaff Reporter

Primary of Cambridgewants to do things differentlywith its proposed developmentof the JP Glass site at 3326Washington St.: it first wantsto learn what the priorities arefor the abutting communityand then see if those work fi-nancially to design and build.

Word trickled out on Jan.31 when a demolition delaywas filed with the Boston

Landmark Commission apply-ing to raze the old wood frameschoolhouse used as an autoglass shop since 1969.

On Feb. 21 Primary hosteda community meeting to intro-duce themselves and theirgoals.

Wyatt Komarin is co-founder of Primary,a group offour young architect/plannerswith solid experience on threeapproved buildings on TerraceStreet on Mission Hill.

All hold masters degrees

from Harvard GraduateSchool of Design. They de-scribe themselves as architectsand urbanists; two of thefounders have experiencewith European architecturalfirms. They also have an of-fice mascot dog, Aalto,named after the Finnish archi-tect.

“ We haven’t started de-signing anything yet,”Komarin told the audience of

WalkUP Roslindalediscusses Arboretum

Gateway Path

The Gateway Path is at 25 Percent Design now, and the architectswanted to show the community what they've been working on.

PHOTO BY ARIANE KOMYATI

SWBCDC looking fornew property, working

on Neponset Path

Ariane KAriane KAriane KAriane KAriane KomomomomomyyyyyatiatiatiatiatiStaff Reporter

Community members andresidents packed into the BCYFMenino Archdale CommunityCenter in Roslindale to discussthe Arboretum Gateway 25%Path Design. The meeting wasvery well attended and wasstreamed live on Facebookthrough Walk UP Roslindale’sFacebook page. Food and re-freshments were provided tothe attendees.

Walk UP Roslindale pro-motes modes of transportationin Roslindale that do not in-volve cars, such as paths, buslanes, crosswalks, etc.

The Feb. 28 meeting fo-cused on the entire length ofthe new planned path, includ-ing the section closest to theArchdale neighborhood inRoslindale. The path runs nearthe Needham Line commuterrail tracks adjacent to Peter’sHill from the entrance of theArboretum through to the tun-nel entrance at the end of Ar-boretum Road, and then all theway to the existing BlackwellPath.

The purpose of this projectis to “merge the two previouspath designs into one continu-ous path; advance design and

GatGatGatGatGateeeeewwwwwaaaaay Py Py Py Py PathathathathathContinued on page 10

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Southwest BostonCommunity DevelopmentCorporation (SWBCDC) isramping up its efforts to im-prove Hyde Park after suc-cessfully opening the Resi-dences at Fairmount late lastyear.

SWBCDC President MimiTuchinetz said the group doesnot want to just sit on its heelsafter the successful construc-tion of the first fully-afford-able building built in HydePark in over 10 years.

“We’re in the process oftrying to do some strategicthinking and so we’re lookingfor new deals,” she said.“We’ve rented all the Resi-

dences at Fairmount, andwe’re not sure everybody hasmoved in yet. So manypeople wanted to live there,and it’s pretty amazing andreflective of the need forhousing in the neighbor-hood.”

Turchinetz said they arefocusing on locations aroundRiver Street to increase theirproperty holdings to be ableto offer new affordable hous-ing, however the current realestate market is making ittough.

“Many people have beenreally interested to sustainsome of those buildingsthere, and it’s always aboutsite control,” she said. “It’s

SSSSSWBCDCWBCDCWBCDCWBCDCWBCDCContinued on page 6

Council looks for cost savings in$126M BPS transportation budget

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Boston City Council helda hearing last week to discuss withmembers of the Boston PublicSchools District (BPS) ways thedepartment could potentially savesome funds.

The budget this year is $126.1million. It’s been on a steady in-crease every year, as At-Large CityCouncilor and chair of the Com-mittee on Education AnnissaEssaibi-George acknowledged, but

she said she held the hearing sothey could get a handle on thecosts now and look at ways to re-duce them in the future.

Chief of Operations at BPSJohn Hanlon said the costs of theBPS transportation budget are theresult of policy choices by theBPS.

“While we pride ourselves onthe level of school choice that weoffer students in Boston, andwhile we pride ourselves on thelevel of service that we offer stu-dents with special needs, it is with-

out question those two factorscome at a very high cost,” he said.“We are burdened with state lawrequirements that mandate that wehave to provide service for nonBPS students, including morethan 5,000 charter and parochialschool students alone to 100 dif-ferent sites, some of them outsidethe Boston area.”

Of that $120 million, $28 mil-lion is dedicated to non BPS stu-

Cost SaCost SaCost SaCost SaCost SavingsvingsvingsvingsvingsContinued on page 12

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FOOTPRINTS

I visited the village of MyLai, Vietnam today, March 16,2018, on the 50th commemora-tion of the massacre. At that site50 years ago to the day, anAmerican infantry companyfrom the Americal Division, ledby officers Lt. Calley and Cap-tain Medina, entered the villageand massacred everyone andeverything living there. 504deaths were confirmed. Pigs,chickens, water buffaloes werewasted.

Why? You ask.Supposedly the Americans

were frustrated by all the casu-alties they were taking withoutever seeing the enemy. My Laiwas to make up for their losses.504 innocent, helpless, defense-

less, women (some pregnant),children and old men brutallymassacred because the Ameri-cans were frustrated!

As I walked the groundsthat were once a peaceful agri-cultural village along the coastof mid-South Vietnam, manysights haunted me. Whoeverrecreated this devastated vil-lage as a memorial did an ex-cellent job. Most of thehooches {slang term for Viet-namese homes} were depictedas they looked after the Ameri-cans left, burned to the ground.However, the recreators built ahooch exactly as it looked 50years ago, the day of the mas-sacre. As I walked into thehooch, my mind flashed back50 years, when I was a young18 year old infantryman in VietNam.

Although I wasn’t involvedin the massacre, most Vietnam-ese hooches were built in thesame fashion. Straw mattedroofs held up by wooden poles,dirt floors, walls made of eitherdirt or bamboo, with a fewpieces of wooden furniture andclay pots strewn about. On theoutside, farming utensils hungfrom the side of the coop hold-ing the cattle or water buffalo– if the family was luckyenough to own one.

But of all the sounds andsights and smells I encoun-

tered, one vision haunted methe most, indelibly etched in mybrain – the footprints.

The recreator of My Lai vil-lage showed all the footprintsin the muddy footpaths of the

village; footprints of little chil-dren, mothers and old men asthey were dragged off to theirdeaths by the American troops.Amongst the impressions of

these bare feet I could see thedistinctive boot marks of thesoldiers. The path along thecanal was most revealing; thecanal where 170 villagers weresystematically gunned down. I

could see the impressions ofhundreds of feet in the mud,mostly small bare feet, but thenthere were those haunting bootmarks of the American soldiers.

My eyes were riveted onthese footprints – of the villag-ers and the soldiers. What couldhave been, if their lives weren’tsnuffed out at such a youngage? What was going through

their minds as they weredragged to the ditch and thrownin, to be slaughtered by such

Impressions of hundreds of feet in the mud, mostly small bare feet, interspersed with the hauntingboot marks of American soldiers.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Michael Cunningham

Michael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael CunninghamSpecial to the Boston Bulletin

FFFFFooooooooootprintstprintstprintstprintstprintsContinued on page 14

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Letters to the Editor

Marilyn Wentworth’s legacy

My Kindof Town/Joe Galeota

Several hundred city resi-dents jammed the Elks Hall ona frigid night in late February. They had come to the standing-room-only meeting orches-trated by City Councilor MattO’Malley to ensure that whathappened to MarilynWentworth would never hap-pen to anyone else.

Marilyn was fatally killedcrossing Centre Street in WestRoxbury in the late afternoonof an early February weekday. Her husband was waiting in aparked car while the lifelongresident of the area utilized acrosswalk to approach a restau-rant on the other side of thestreet for a cup of coffee. Withthe sun setting in the west, amotorist, blinded by solar glare,was unable to see this pedes-trian.

The solemn meeting begunwith her tearful husband Altonand similarly distraught sonMatthew commenting aboutMarilyn and thanking thecrowd for attending; the meet-ing closed with her disconso-late daughter Jennifer similarlythanking the outpouring of at-tendees and with St. JohnChrysostom pastor, Father JohnCarroll, offering his heartfeltcondolences.

The bulk of the hour-and-a-half meeting consisted of im-passioned residents makingsuggestions for eliminating, asone speaker so aptly phrased it,the “Wild West” syndrome thatcharacterizes motor vehicle ac-tivity in West Roxbury not onlyon Centre Street but now onother major streets now refer-enced on the GPS navigationsystem Waze by harried motor-ists.

After the introduction of theWentworth family, a police of-ficial from E-5 itemized thenumber of citations given sincethe New Year began. An offi-cial from the Boston Transpor-tation Department listed someof the improvements that wouldtake place. A Northeastern pro-fessor of traffic engineeringmentioned that infrastructureimprovements could be morereadily accomplished by raisingthe gas tax.

The official held in highestesteem by the very large assem-blage from Hyde Park,Roslindale, and West Roxburywas not even in the hall: CathyGordon, among others, refer-enced a legendary Boston cop,Officer Kilduff. He was re-spectfully and fondly character-ized as a police officer who didway more than his share tolasso in all the wild motoristsin the area.

Some of the suggestions forimproving Centre Street wereto make it one lane in each di-rection (which one speaker saidwould turn the road into aRoute 28 in Falmouth, presum-ably on a rainy summer day);electrified signage that wouldflash a driver’s illegal speedand automatically result in aticket; more police presence/enforcement; an island in themiddle of Centre Street; morepedestrian activated signals;and crosswalks painted moreclearly. Interestingly enough,no one mentioned speed bumps,such as those on JP’s EliotStreet, or the slightly elevatedcrosswalks that neighboringBrookline has implemented onPond Avenue and Walnut Streetto slow down traffic.

Speaker after speaker told ofclose calls in trying to crossother streets, sometimes withsmall children in tow. Theyrevealed how 40 mph signs, in-credible to believe, are stillpresent on Washington Streetnear the Beethoven School.

Hopefully, the state legisla-tors in attendance, SenatorRush and CongressmanCoppinger, will do more thanever before to quickly facilitatepassage of laws banning dis-tracted driving, whether per-taining to telephone usage or,as Florida is now envisioning,the presence of pets in the frontseat.

Many attendees left withlarge purple signs, provided byCouncilor O’Malley, saying“PLEASE SLOW DOWNBOSTON/Be a Good Neigh-bor.” When the warm weatherreturns, they’ll be planted in somany yards throughout the areayou’d think it was election sea-son again. Anything, yes any-thing, to prevent anotherMarilyn Wentworth tragedy.

Letter ToThe Editor

Please write to:THE BULLETIN

661 Washington St,Suite 202

Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: (617) 361-8400Fax: (617) 361-1933

e-mail us [email protected]

Tell ‘emwhat you

think with aPlease include your name,

address & telephone number.Unsigned letters will not be

published.

TRAFFIC SAFETY NOTA SIMPLE SOLUTION

To the Editor:It was encouraging to see on

a snowy evening how manyturned out to last week’s meet-ing about traffic safety in WestRoxbury. I will say what was Iam sure on many people’s minds.It should not have taken the deathof a pedestrian at the HastingsStreet crosswalk for the meetingto take place.

I commend the family of theperson killed at that crosswalkfor being the first to speak at themeeting. I believe their remarkshelped set the proper tone for the

meeting. The last thing the meet-ing needed was for people to startpointing fingers at the Area E-5police the Boston Traffic Depart-ment or the Department of Pub-lic Works.

There is the saying, “We havemet the enemy and it is us”. Inthis case the speeding you see onstreets, drivers going through redlights, not using their directional,ignoring crosswalks and doubleparking they are us for the mostpart. We are part of the problemso we need to be part of the so-lution.

A number of years ago I at-tended many of the meetings in

regards to the Centre Street re-construction. It cost several mil-lions of dollars and I said in myremarks last week that we failed.We may have given a better roadfor drivers but failed pedestriansand bicyclists.

At the meeting was an MITprofessor who spoke about lanereductions. It is not a new idea,it was mentioned during the re-construction of Centre Street. Iwas given the consideration of aNew York minute. The peoplepushing the idea were a small mi-nority. A tweak here and therewon’t solve the issues on CentreStreet. People seem far morewilling this time to give the ideamore consideration.

There are, what I call, thethree Es that all must play a partregarding Centre Street; Educa-tion, Enforcement and Engineer-ing. We can redo Centre Street,have police enforcement but if

LeLeLeLeLettttttttttererererersssssContinued on page 14

A NEW CHAPTER

Editorial

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There are those who argue that the era of the public li-brary is over. With the Internet making book and periodicalbuying and borrowing easy and ubiquitous, why have dedi-cated buildings on the taxpayer dime? Who needs a trip to areference room to seek out an encyclopedia when all theworld’s collected knowledge fits in the palm of your hand?

Plans to renovate the Roslindale Library should squashthose naysayers.

We’ve recently seen the fruits of a beautiful, revitalizingrenovation of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.The Roslindale plan is just as important for that neighbor-hood.

As reported in the Bulletin, the design phase will be com-pleted in mid-spring. It will be put out to bid in mid-sum-mer, with construction slated to begin in October and takeapproximately 14 months.

Let’s look at the features and improvements.* The new library will have a basement, providing work-

ing and meeting space for the Friends of the Roslindale Li-brary, the Roslindale Historical Society as well as a roomfor the staff. This clears away additional first floor spacethat may house an early literacy center.

* The renovated building will have an elevator and otherfeatures needed to make it more accessible.

* There will be a new teen center.* There will be the addition of a terrace in the rear of the

building with an outdoor seating area and landscaping. Ad-ditional greenspace will be provided for patrons to sit andread on the Poplar Street side of the building.

* A defining detail of the $10.2 million renovation is anew domed roof.

Some may argue that this is an awful lot of money for ahandful of improvements. Our rebuttal is that the librarywas built in 1961, and lacking improvements, is at risk ofjust being another building that is walked by but never en-tered. If kids and teens start using the renovated buildingmore, it becomes an adjunct of sorts to their schooling, andis worth every penny.

Most important of all is another intangible. The librarywill serve as a point of neighborhood identity and pride.Too often Roslindale, flanked by West Roxbury and JamaicaPlain, is an overlooked neighborhood. This library is animportant recognition of, and investment in, the neighbor-hood.

Are libraries a dying breed? Sadly, the writing may be onthe wall. We can be thankful, however, that the City of Bos-ton is willing to buck the trend and invest in these tremen-dous community resources.

Don’t think of these projects as investing in libraries.This is investing in neighborhoods. It is investing in fami-lies and giving them and their neighbors a place to escapethe hustle and bustle of the city that surrounds them.


BostBostBostBostBoston shoon shoon shoon shoon shovvvvvels out hels out hels out hels out hels out hydrantsydrantsydrantsydrantsydrants

Dozens of photos swarmed social media on Monday after Sunday's snowstorm that dropped more than a foot ontothe streets, sidewalks and fire hydrants in Boston. The Boston Fire Department wants to remind all residents to helpthem out and clear fire hydrants after a snowstorm in case they need to be used to save a house, or a life.

COURTESY PHOTOS

COURTESY PHOTO

Conserve ourresources.

Recycle thisnewspaper.

Mayor Walsh appointsCity’s first Chief

Information Security OfficerMayor Martin

J. Walsh Recentlyannounced the ap-pointment of Gre-gory McCarthy asthe City’s firstChief InformationSecurity Officer(CISO) to lead theC y b e r s e c u r i t yTeam within theDepartment of In-novation andTechnology. Thisappointment el-evates the role previously held by McCarthy and marks a com-mitment to strengthening efforts to protect the City of Boston’stechnology platforms and data from cyber threats.

Since joining the City of Boston’s Cybersecurity Team in2010, McCarthy has managed the implementation of numer-ous information security solutions and helped develop the City’sfirst Cybersecurity Awareness Program for employees. In thisrole, McCarthy will continue to lead efforts to strengthen thecybersecurity capabilities across the City and further the team’smission through modernizing technology, partnerships, andregular training.

“Cybersecurity is something we clearly have to take seri-ously, and there are always new challenges ahead; a humblingreminder that our work in this field is never done,” saidMcCarthy.

Prior to joining the City, McCarthy spent five years as aPrincipal Research Technician at the Rhode Island Departmentof Corrections. McCarthy resides in Jamaica Plain with hishusband and serves as a Board Member for the Friends of theJamaica Plain Branch Library.

Gregory McCarthy


One of my graduate schoolprofessors once likened the roleof a Licensed School Counselorto trying to catch students as theygo over a waterfall. Adolescence(and pre-adolescence) is a turbu-lent time and for young peoplethis time can often feel like therapids are raging all around them.The challenge our professor gaveus was to try to catch students be-fore they went over the falls.Imagine the number of studentsin Boston right now slippingthrough because they don’t havea School Counselor to help catchthem and provide support.

Homelessness. Trauma.Finding and applying to highschools and colleges. Familychallenges. Peer mediation. Con-flict resolution. Family meetings.Home visits. Challenges with ateacher. Each student I work withas a Boston Public School Coun-selor has their own unique needs— and often they have many ofthem all at once. Supporting themis my job, and I love every minuteof it. Advocating with and on be-half of young people is the job Iwas born to do.

At UP Academy Boston, Isupport 165 8th graders, eachwith unique and pressing needs,so my time with each of them isprecious. If this sounds like a lot,my colleague who has 938 stu-dents to support would probablyjump for joy at the chance to sup-port this number of students. Icannot speak to her full experi-ence except to say that she spendsmuch of her time responding tocrises. While responding to crisissituations is an important part ofa School Counselor’s job, itleaves little time for proactiveplanning, outreach to service pro-viders, collaboration with teach-ers, and visits to students not incrises, to name only a few.

In BPS, we currently have

107 counselors serving a districtthat includes 27,300 students ingrades 6-12. While there is a con-tractually mandated rate of 1:300for high school and 1:400 formiddle school, that number is av-eraged and does not always ap-ply to every school. Since they arenot covered by the language in thecurrent contract, many K-5 and K-8 - more than 50% of the BostonPublic School population - arecurrently without a LicensedSchool Counselor.

Our 107 current counselorsare not equitably staffed in ourhighest need schools. There aresome public schools in Bostonthat have as many as eight schoolcounselors to support their stu-dent body. Let me be clear: I thinkthis is a great phenomenon, andthose students and their familiesare blessed to have those greateducators supporting them everyday. At the same time, there aremany other schools in Boston thathave no school counselors at all.Are these children in less need ofsupport? Not at all. Are they lessdeserving than those who happento be a better-resourced school?Of course not. Social-emotionalsupport, as one of the district’sstated priorities, should be giventhe same equitable staffing wewould give core content.

We must take steps to pro-vide support in ALL our BostonPublic Schools. This starts withour next contract, currently beingnegotiated between the SchoolDepartment and the BostonTeachers Union. Right now thereare more than 40 schools thatserve students between K-8,which are not subject to any ofthe contract provisions for

counselor:student ratios. Withover 30,000 students in schoolswith these grade configurations,this leaves more than 50% of BPSstudents without a mandatedSchool Counselor to supportthem. Are there committed ser-vice providers from the commu-nity in these schools? Theresurely are. There are also princi-pals who have found a way tomake School Counselors a bud-geting priority, but without anymandate or accountability, we areleaving student support servicesto the whims of the next schooladministrator. The time is now toaddress this issue.

As the BuildBPS plan rollsout in the coming years, it seemslikely that Interim SuperintendentPerille and her team are set ontransitioning to set grade configu-rations of K-6 and 7-12 while re-taining some K-8 and 9-12. As theteacher’s contract is currentlywritten, neither of these configu-rations is subject to the counselorratio requirements as written inthe contract language. We mustspeak out, on behalf of our li-censed School Counselors, butmore importantly on behalf of ourstudents. This new contract andthe BuildBPS plan rollout thatwill follow will likely shape ourschools for decades to come.

This problem is within ourlocus of control and the nextteacher’s contract represents agolden opportunity to address theinequitable distribution of supportservices for students in Boston.Thousands of young people in ourcity are approaching the waterfallevery day — let’s make sure wecatch them.

Dan Goldsbury is a BTUmember and a School Counselorat UP Academy Boston. He’s theproud parent of a 10-year-old and8-year old.

Why School Counselors MatterGuest ColumnistDan Goldsbury

SWBCDC continued from page 1

all the co-mmodification of land, land that used to be af-fordable now has people trying to get a million dollars forit. There’s a lot of different ideas and we’re having informalconversations now around the Fairmount Line, but we don’thave anything hard and fast just yet.”

Turchinetz said the group is also looking for a new per-manent executive director. Former Dorchester Bay EconomicDevelopment Corporation Director Jeanne DuBois has tem-porarily taken the helm.

“She’s got a long history at the Dorchester Bay,”Turchinetz said. “She’s got a significant capacity to help usget deals...We’re trying now to stabilize the organizationand are looking at a lot of different properties while we dothat. We’re having conversations with different owners andare looking at what opportunities we can.”

Assistant Executive Director Patricia Alvarez said theyare also looking at the areas around the Neponset River. Shesaid there have been some significant gains in bringing apark resource to the people of River Street and nearby envi-rons, but those gains are actually stepping stones to bring ariverfront path connecting Fairmount Station in Hyde Parkto Edgewater Drive in Mattapan. She said the SWBCDCmet with several community groups last week, includingPeople of Hyde Park Wanting Equal Representation(POHWER), Livable Streets, the Boston Parks Department,Speak for the Trees and the Fairmount Greenway Task Force.

Specifically the group met to talk about the site formerlyknown as the Doyle Playground, which the group has beenworking on to create a new park.

“We met to talk about the Doyle Park and the West StreetUrban Wild down the road,” she said. “That Urban Wild is atwo-acre site of conservation land managed by the City ParksDepartment and where several years ago, you might remem-ber, we hired goats there to eat the poison ivy. Parks re-moved a lot of heavy construction debris and the neighbor-hood volunteers planted 80 trees there.”

Alvarez said the plan is to have the path go from theFairmount Station to the West Street Urban Wild, to Doyle,to the Shops at Riverwood to end at Edgewater in Mattapan.

“That will take some time, but in the short term we’reworking on Doyle and a path that connects Riverwood andthe West Street Urban Wild,” she said. “The obstacle nowis access to the river bank where there are issues of owner-ship and whether there’s a right-of-way across from WestStreet where it’s unclear who owns it. It’s like a privateway with public access, and we’re working to figure thatout.”

Alvarez said they are also looking to use the path foreducation on two levels, firstly that of informing residentsabout their natural habitat and secondly, just to let themknow its there.

“”Most people who live on River Street don’t even knowthe river is there and there’s certainly very little access toit,” she said. “We hope this will enhance the communitylife for people and create a healthy, beautiful greenspacethat people can enjoy. Everybody’s really excited abouttrying to make this happen.”

Alvarez added that, ideally, someday they hope to beable to clean the sediment contamination of PCBs fromthe riverbed of the Neponset as much as possible, but that’svery far off at this point.

For more information and to hear about upcoming meet-ings, go to swbcdc.org

The Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation is work-ing to develop Doyle Playground into a full fledged park.

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Around the NeighborhoodsCITY

COMMUNITY BREAKFASTTO BENEFIT THEBERKSHIRE PARTNERSBLUE HILL BOYS & GIRLSCLUB

The Latino Law EnforcementGroup of Boston (LLEGO Bos-ton) presents a COMMUNITYBREAKFAST to benefit theBerkshire Partners Blue HillBoys & Girls Club on Saturday;March 30, 2019 from 9am to11am. The Blue Hill Club lo-cated at 15 Talbot Avenue inDorchester services 300 childrendaily.

These children are from lowincome families that benefit fromthe Blue Hill Club’s commitmentto transforming lives.

In partnership with the Bos-ton Police District B-3 station,the proceeds from the breakfastbenefits the many programs thatthe Blue Hill Club provides. Spe-cial guest speakers for the com-munity breakfast include BostonPolice Commissioner WillieGross and Dan Lebowicz. Com-missioner Gross is the first per-son of color to lead the BostonPolice Department. In his tenurethus far, Boston has seen a steadydecrease in crime. Mr. DanLebowicz is the Executive Direc-tor of the Center for the Study ofSports in Society at Northeast-ern University. Under his lead-ership, the Center has led discus-sion on Domestic Violence on anational level. He has appearedon ESPN and other major net-works discussing many topicsthat affect our everyday lives.

Tickets for the breakfast are$20.00 per person or $200.00 pertable. To purchase tickets, a tableor to donate, please contact Ms.Shari Maestre at the Blue HillClub ([email protected]) orOfficer Pele James 617-343-4717.)

BCYF FAMILYGYM IS BACK!

Boston Centers for Youth &Families (BCYF) free FamilyGym Program is back for the

spring season and Boston fami-lies are invited to join in! FamilyGym is a free, weekly play pro-gram that promotes physical ac-tivity for children ages 3-8 andtheir families.

Family Gym runs on Satur-days from 10-11:30 a.m. atBCYF Blackstone CommunityCenter in the South End,BCYF Holland CommunityCenter in Dorchester, andBCYF Vine Street CommunityCenter in Roxbury. FamilyGym has had over 2,007 chil-dren and caregivers participatein the program since it beganin 2011. More than 300 collegestudents have volunteered forFamily Gym contributing morethan 8,000 volunteer hours!

Children and adults moveat their own pace in supervisedactivit ies. Colorful playequipment encourages indi-vidual, small, and large groupplay. Families can jump rope,play on an obstacle course, dothe limbo, or play parachutegames or sports. No pre-regis-trat ion required howevercaregivers must participateand remain in the gym withtheir children at all times.Thanks to a partnership withNortheastern University, stu-dent volunteers serve as Activ-ity Leaders at Family Gym.Family Gym is sponsored byThe Foundation for BCYF,Boston Children’s Hospital,and Northeastern University.

This session of FamilyGym will run through April 13.In the fall the program willexpand to additional BCYFcommunity centers. For up-dated information or programcancellat ions follow@BCYFCenters.

ALLSTON / BRIGHTON

ANNUAL DINNERSave the Date for the 2019

Allston and Brighton Boardsof Trade Annual Dinner.Wednesday, April 24, 2019with special guest DanShaugnessy

PROGRAMS AT THEBRIGHTON LIBRARY

BOOKDISCUSSION GROUP

A book discussion groupmeets at the Brighton Library/40Academy Hill Road (617) 782-6032 on the last Wednesday ofeach month at 11:15 am.

The featured selectionfor March 27th will be BeforeWe Were Yours by Lisa Wingateby Bryan Stevenson Copies ofthe book are available at thebranch. Everyone is invited andnew members are welcome.

BEGINNINGINTERNET CLASS

Mystified by the net? Don’tknow how to surf? Help is avail-able on a one on one basis to getyou started. Call for an appoint-ment and ask for Alan. BrightonBranch Library/40 Academy HillRoad/ (617) 782-6032

ESLCONVERSATION GROUPS

Two ESL conversationgroups meet at the Brighton Li-brary;: One on Monday eveningat 6:15 pm; The other on Tues-day afternoon at 1 pm. Comeand practice your language skillsin an informal and friendly set-ting with other new Englishspeakers. Brighton Branch Li-brary/40 Academy Hill Road/(617) 782-6032.

EXHIBITION RECEPTION:PARTITIONPERSPECTIVES

Tuesday, March 12,2019 , 6 :00pm to 8 :00pm,Harvard Ed Portal, 224 WesternAve, Allston

Join the Harvard Ed Portalfor a reception to celebrate thelatest Crossings Gallerye x h i b i t i o n , P a r t i t i o nPerspectives. The 1947 Partitionof British India displaced mil-lions of people along religiouslines and led to the creation oftwo new countries: Pakistan andIndia. In this exhibition, MahbubJokhio and Krupa Makhija,

Spring 2019 Visiting Artist Fel-lows at Harvard’s LakshmiMittal and Family South AsiaInstitute, reflect on the impact ofthe partition. Their work ex-plores the deeply personal issuesof culture, language, and iden-tity in the region. The exhibitionis open from March 5 untilMarch 28 https://edportal.harvard.edu/event/exhi-bition-reception-partition-per-spectives

WISE AND YOUNGThursday, March 7,

2019 , 7 :00pm to 8 :00pm.Harvard Ed Portal, 224 WesternAve, Allston

Join the Harvard Ed Portalfor the premiere of new music byviolinist Jeffrey Young and per-cussionist Peter Wise. Inspiredby jazz, electronic, and classicalmusic, these collaborative cre-ations were developed over twomonths through a process of im-provisation, recording, and revi-sion. Following the concert, themusicians will discuss their mu-sic and development processwith the audience.

This program is supported inpart by a grant from the BostonCultural Council.

https://edportal.harvard.edu/event/concert-peter-wise-jeffrey-young

HYDE PARK

FREE TAX SITE @ HYDEPARK PUBLIC LIBRARY

Thanks to Blue Hills Bank,Jean Antoine, Hyde Park Librar-ian, and Mimi Turchinetz, Direc-tor of the program and Hyde Parkresident, we are able to providefree tax services at Hyde ParkPublic Library. Located at 35Harvard Ave, Hyde Park 02136.It is a walk-in site, no appoint-ment needed. Days: Feb 23rd,Mar 9th, Mar 23rd and Apr 6thFrom 9 am - 1 pm. More info,please call 617-908-5246 orwww.bostontaxhelp.org.

WINTER PROGRAMS ATTHE BCYF HYDE PARKCOMMUNITY CENTER

Senior Coffee Hour: Join useach Friday morning from10:00am- 11:30am. Drop by thecommunity center for an oppor-tunity to socialize with others,enjoy refreshments and partici-pate in activities. On Friday,January 25th we will have a guestpresentation from Boston Waterand Sewer Commission.

Freelance Players: Calling allactors ages 8 -13 years old, theFreelance Players, a non-profitmusical theatre company, is of-fering a spring session at thecommunity center. They HydePark Troupe will meet on Tues-days from 4:00-6:00pm from

February 5th – May 10th. Formore information contactFreelance Players at 617-274-6065 [email protected].

After school Tutoring: Tutor-ing for students in grades 2 – 6.Our program is offered Tuesday,Wednesday, & Thursday from4:00-6:00pm. A new Sessionwill be starting January 22nd.Contact us for more information617-635-5178.

PURIM BALL TO BE HELDAT TEMPLE BETH DAVIDOF THE SOUTH SHORE

Temple Beth David of theSouth Shore will host a Purimcostume ball on Saturday, March16 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Thedragon-themed event will in-clude a full Chinese food buffet,dancing to the tunes of profes-sional DJ Jimmy Jay and someterrific raffle prizes. Guests areencouraged to come in costumeto this adult-only event.

Tickets are $25 per person,and reservations can be made bye m a i l i n [email protected] reserve by March 1.Temple Beth David is located at1060 Randolph Street in Canton,MA.

For more information, pleasecall the Temple office at 781-828-2275 [email protected] [email protected].

WEST ROXBURY /ROSLINDALE

PSA ROSLINDALE ARTSALLIANCE FUNDRAISER

The Roslindale Arts Alliance(RAA) and CSz Boston an-nounce an exciting upcomingevent in Roslindale. On SaturdayApril 6, ComedySportz will per-form at the Rozzie Theatre. Theevent is being planned to raisefunds for the RAA and It’s AllAbout Arts “Youth Art Scholar-ship” program. In addition to theperformance there will be a si-lent art auction and raffles. Aportion of the ticket sales will goto the fundraiser. Event takesplace from 5-6:30pm and is lo-cated at the Rozzie Theatre, 5Basile Street, Roslindale.ComedySportz is appropriate forall ages. For more info visitroslindalearts.org. For info aboutIt’s All About Arts visitfacebook.com/TalkArts/

To purchase tickets and learnmore about ComedySportzv i s i t h t t p s : / /www.cszboston.com/calendar-of-events/?edid=126570

To donate to the fund or forsilent art auction or raffle, callJanice at 617-710-3811. ThankYou.

FREE ENGLISHCOVERSATION CLASSES

The Highrock SW BostonChurch is offering a series offree Free English ConversationClasses on Saturdays from 3:00- 4:30 p.m. at the RoslindaleCommunity Center, 6 CumminsHwy, Roslindale. Classes are fornon-native speakers to practice

CalendarCalendarCalendarCalendarCalendarContinued on page 11

DeadlineDeadlineDeadlineDeadlineDeadlineThe deadline for

all press releases forThe Bulletin is Friday.

Send to:661 Washington St, Suite 202

Norwood, MA 02062.FFFFFax us at (6ax us at (6ax us at (6ax us at (6ax us at (6111117) 367) 367) 367) 367) 361-11-11-11-11-1933933933933933

or e-mail us ator e-mail us ator e-mail us ator e-mail us ator e-mail us atnenenenenews@bullews@bullews@bullews@bullews@bulletinnetinnetinnetinnetinnewspaperwspaperwspaperwspaperwspapers.coms.coms.coms.coms.com

Boston’s own Junior Damato, “The Auto Doctor” has agreed to field auto repairquestions from Bulletin and Record readers. Please forward your questions to

[email protected] and we will do our best to get your questions answered.

Junior Damato began servicing vehicles in 1969. He owns a 10-bay auto repairservice center in Hyde Park and an 8-bay center in Middleboro. Junior is anASE-certified Master Technician, ASE-certified L-1 and ASE-certified Natural Gas.

Ask The DoctorTo the Doctor: I read your response regarding the “Chevy Shake” issue with a 2015 ChevySilverado. I would like to suggest that the Chevy Shake is simply caused by the factory standard forfront-end alignment on all GM trucks. GM alignment standards are a fairly wide range for camberand toe-in, and if you take your vehicle to a generic front-end specialist, they will almost alwaysfind the vehicle to be “in alignment” according to factory specifications. But, GM ships all of theirvehicles with at least a half-inch of front-end toe-in, and usually more than a full degree of positivecamber. This causes the tires to be pushing against each other the entire time that the vehicle isrolling. It may cause the vehicle to track straight, but it also causes front-end vibration andpremature tire wear. What do you think about fixing the “Chevy Shake” by taking the truck to afront-end expert who knows what he’s doing and have him align the tires much closer to the“Zero-Zero” alignment specifications – meaning zero inches of toe-in and zero degrees of camber?If the front end of the vehicle is in good condition, it won’t really increase road wander and it willend the shake that is caused by the tires continuously “slipping” on the pavement.

From the Doctor: Alignments usually will not have an effect of vibration. I see a lot of cars andtrucks every week. If the alignment is way out of factory specs, unusual tire wear will occur. Allvehicles have tolerances in alignment specs. As long as the alignment is in the specs, the vehicleswill handle fine without experiencing abnormal tire wear. The common shake complaint can becaused by a number of drive-line problems including tires and wheels, as well as transmission andtorque converter. A qualified technician will need to follow a trouble flow chart to determine thecause of the shake.


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alignment of the path; and ex-amine connectivity and wayfinding for both cyclists andpedestrians”.

The primary path is in madeup of three sections - the MBTAparcel, the Peter’s Hill section,and the Blackwell Path exten-sion. The MBTA section allowspeople to navigate through thewoods on a formed path with aboardwalk towards the end thatleads to arboretum. Peter’s Hillsection will consist of mostlystabilized soil and a naturalpath. The Blackwell path willinclude a raised boardwalkalong South St.

The Horsley Witten Group,an engineering and environ-mental consulting firm, dis-cussed the design and vision ofthe path with community mem-bers. Jennifer Relstab of theHorsley Witten Group pre-sented a slideshow featuringpossible designs of the Arbore-tum Rd. portion of the path. Thepresentation also includedmaps, renderings, the possibil-ity of adding educationalsignage along the path, andphotos of what the ArboretumRoad currently looks like.

Relstab presented two dif-ferent visions of ArboretumRoad - the first vision was a“green scheme”, which in-

Gateway Path continued from page 1

cluded more nature and green-ery, and resembled the Arbore-tum entrance.

The second idea was an “ur-ban option.” This idea includesa small concrete plaza, urbanart, and sitting spaces. “It doesnot have to be one or the other,”Relstab remarked. “The visioncould be a mix of both.”

Relstab also discussed add-ing wayfinding and educationalsignage along the path.“Wayfinding signage is recom-mended at the gateway to ori-ent path users and to identifythe entrance into Arnold Arbo-retum. Ingrade textured surfacematerials or reflective materi-als, on or along the path or onthe boardwalk, can be used asindicators to key path changes,like approaching the board-walk,” she stated.

“These are not final plans,”explained Relstab. “They areonly ideas and visions; we arelooking for feedback from thepublic. We really want to hearwhat you have to say. We wantto get your feedback to see ifwe are headed in the right di-rection.”

After the presentation,meeting attendees were givengreen and red stickers, whichthey could stick on photos ofdesigns they liked and disliked

(the green sticker meant theyliked the idea, and the redsticker meant they were notfond of the idea). Markers werealso provided for communitymembers to write comments onwhiteboards. Members fromWalkUP Roslindale and theHorsley Witten Group mingledwith community members anddiscussed ideas.

One resident who lives ad-jacent to the Arboretum, statedthat he would like to see con-crete posts or similar barriers.This is due to the fact that hehas seen motorcycles cutthrough the Arboretum. “Iwould like to see that kind ofactivity discouraged,” the resi-dent stated.

The last community meet-ing discussing the path tookplace in July, 2018. It focusedon the MBTA land adjacent tothe Roslindale Commuter RailStation. In September, the Cityof Boston secured design fundsfor the Arboretum Road greenlink. In November, WalkUpRoslindale identified additionaldesign funding.

For more information andupdates on the Arboretum Gate-way Path, visitwww.walkuproslindale.org orfollow WalkUp on Twitter@walkuprozzie.

The whole project for the path from Roslindale Commuter Rail Station to Forest Hills will be segmented intothree sections for construction.

PHOTO BY ARIANE KOMYATI

Miracle PrayerDear Heart of Jesus, in the pastI have asked You for manyfavours. This time, I ask youthis very special one (mentionfavour). Take it, dear Heart ofJesus, and place it within Yourown broken heart where YourFather sees it. Then, in Hismerciful eyes, it will becomeYour favour, not mine. Amen.Say for three days, promisepublication and favour will begranted.

—P.H.


—P.L.D.

St. Jude’s NovenaMay the Sacred Heart of Jesusbe adored, glorified, lovedand preserved throughout theworld, now and forever.Sacred Heart of Jesus pray forus. St. Jude, worker ofmiracles, pray for us. St. Jude,helper of the hopeless, prayfor us. Say this prayer 9 timesa day. By the 9th day yourprayer will be answered. Ithas never been known to fail.Publication must be prom-ised. Thank you St. Jude. MyPrayers were answered.

Grateful, D.L.


their English skills and learnabout different activities, such asgoing to the doctor and applyingfor a job. Classes will runthrough June. For more informa-tion [email protected].

St. Patrick’s Celebration withThe Fenian Sons to support theMark Bavis Leadership Founda-tion

Saturday, March 30, 2019,7:00 pm – 12:00 am at the IrishSocial Club, 119 Park Street,West Roxbury

Mark Bavis was on Flight175 on September 11, 2001. Thefamily and friends of Mark Bavisestablished a foundation inMark’s name to preserve hismemory and to perpetuate theprinciples by which he lived ev-ery day. The Mark Bavis Lead-ership Foundation was created tohelp deserving young men andwomen excel in their quest toimprove themselves, their schoolor their community. Proceedsfrom this evening will be specifi-cally designated for a scholarshipfor a student from the Parkwayarea. Live Music by The FenianSons and Nolan Donato. IrishStep Dance Performance by TheHarney Pender Keady School OfIrish Dance. Door Prize, Raffles,and Silent Auction. Tickets $20in advance. $25 at the door. Mark(617) 438-2964 Dave (781)771-3880

PARKWAY IN MOTIONSCHOLARSHIPS

Parkway in Motion Scholar-ships - May 15 Deadline to Ap-ply

Providing academic scholar-ships to students in the Parkwayarea has been a long-term goalof Parkway In Motion since theirinception in 1998. Thanks to thegenerosity of the community,they have distributed $70,000 inscholarships since 2014. OnMarch 30th, Parkway In Motionwill award the 5th AnnualMichael Kennedy MemorialScholarship valued at $5,000 forstudents in grade 6-8 and Park-way pride scholarships for K-5grade students, valued at$1,0000 each. If you are inter-ested in sponsoring a ParkwayPride scholarship for 2019-2029academic year, please [email protected]. In2019, Parkway In Motion is in-troducing their Summer Enrich-ment Scholarship Program. Thisprogram provides financial re-sources to students enteringgrades 3-8 in the Parkway com-munity so that they can partici-pate in the summer enrichmentlearning experience of theirchoice. Students may apply forfunding for camps in the areasof music, art, mathematics,dance, language, robotics, sports,science, and more. Learn more atwww.parkwayinmotion.org/scholarships.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE!THE WEST ROXBURYHISTORICAL SOCIETYWEST ROXBURY BRANCHLIBRARY

Saturday, March 30, 2019 @2:00 - Mel Simons will be regal-ing us. He will do the audio cliptrivia quiz: playing voices of fa-mous Bostonians past andpresent. We will have to guessthe owner of the voice! It’s a lot

of fun! Come one, Come all!Bring a friend or two. Free andopen to the public Please like uson Facebook: facebook/WestRoxbury Historical SocietyQUESTIONS? COMMENTS?RSVP Sandi [email protected]

GARDENING LECTURE —“TRANSFORMING YOURPERSONAL SPACE: FROMBACKYARD TO GARDEN”

Hosted by The Evening Gar-den Club of West Roxbury.Please join us at the Elks Lodge,1 Morrell St., West Roxbury, onWednesday evening, March13th, for this informative talk byaward-winning local landscapedesigner Sally Muspratt. “A pri-vate garden space,” saysMuspratt, “is one where you feelyou can be your true self,whether others can see you ornot.” Attendees will learn waysto separate and join public andprivate spaces, as well as tech-niques for creating privacy inresidential gardens. Doors openfor sign-in and light refreshmentsat 6:30 PM on the 13th; the lec-ture runs approximately 7:00 –8:30 PM. No reservations re-quired – a $7.00 donation is re-quested at the door.

NEW LEARN-TO-SKATECLASSES FOR AGES 4 TO18 IN WEST ROXBURYRINK

New classes start at the JimRoche Arena, 1255 VFW Pkwy.on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. for 7weeks. Get 7 classes for theprice of 6. Use code WR5. Of-fer expires at 5 PM on March3rd.

Use figure, recreational orhockey skates. Beginner, inter-mediate and advanced classes areavailable. For information andto register, call Bay State Skat-ing School at 781-890-8480 orvisit online atwww.BayStateSkatingSchool.org.

THE WOMEN OF BROOKFARM COME TOROSLINDALE

Saturday, March 9, 2019 at2:00 p.m. @ Rozzie Square The-atre, 5 Basile Street, Roslindale(just off the square)

In partnership withthe Boston Women’s HeritageTrail, New Brook Farm will anupdated edition of ourengaging exploration of the ex-traordinary women whofounded, joined, and visitedBrook Farm. Come hear thewords of Margaret Fuller, Eliza-beth Peabody, Sophia Ripley,Amelia Russell (the Mistress ofRevels) and others, drawn fromtheir journals, letters, books, andinterviews.

Through a generous grantfrom Mass Humanities, the per-formance will be followed by acommunity discussionon “Shaping the Social Contract:Insights from the Women ofBrook Farm.” Historian andw r i t e r M a r i l y nRichardson will guide the dis-cussion, which will examine theinterconnections of genderequality, abolitionism, andwomen’s suffrage in the 19thcentury and current issues of rac-ism and sexism. Marilyn hastaught and lectured nationallyand internationally on African-

American cultural and intellec-tual history. A former Fellow ofHarvard’s Bunting (nowRadcliffe) Institute andthe DuBois Institute, her publi-cations include Black Womenand Religion (G.K. Hall)and Maria W. Stewart: America’sFirst Black Woman PoliticalWriter (Indiana UniversityPress).

The event is free. All are wel-come. Please note that seating inthe Rozzie Square Theater is lim-ited, so come early to be sure youget a seat. Moreinformation: [email protected] or617-694-6407.

PARKWAY YOUTHSOCCER LEAGUE ISACCEPTINGAPPLICATIONS

Parkway Youth SoccerLeague is accepting applicationsfor the 2019 season. Games be-gin in April. There will be 2 sea-sons, spring and fall, played atMillennium Park, West Roxbury.Applications may be down-loaded and printed from the‘parkwaysoccerwestroxbury’ siteon Google. Applications mayalso be picked up at the RocheFamily Center, Phil’s BarberShop in West Roxbury, Elie’sBarber Shop in West Roxburyand Sebastian’s Barber Shop inRoslindale.

Parkway Youth Soccer is inits 41th season. Children bornbetween Jan 1, 2004 and Dec.31, 2014 are eligible to play inthe regular league. High schoolstudents born between 2001 and2003 are eligible to play in the Senior Division. Applicationsreceived after Feb. 28 dependupon availability of space. Formore information, contact 617-962-4271.

IRISH NIGHTSt. John Chrysostom Parish

will host an Irish Night on Sat-urday, March 16 at 5:30 pm inthe parish center. Dinner is

corned beef and cabbage withentertainment from local Irishdancers. All from the communityare invited. Tickets are $15 aperson and $25 a family. You canpurchase tickets in the parish of-fice. Please call 617-323-4410.4750 Washington St. WestRoxbury

FRIENDS OF THE WESTROXBURY LIBRARYANNOUNCES BOOKSELECTION FOR 2019WEST ROXBURY READS

The Friends of the WestRoxbury Branch Library has se-lected These Truths, a History ofthe United States by Harvard his-torian Jill Lepore for its commu-nity-wide read event, “WestRoxbury Reads.” Dr. Lepore willdiscuss These Truths on April 11at the West Roxbury Branch Li-brary, 1961 Centre Street, WestRoxbury. The event starts at 6:30pm with a reception and booksale followed by Lepore’s talkand book signing. The event isfree and open to the public.

The book examines Ameri-can history through the lens ofthe “self-evident truths” as writ-ten in the Preamble of our Dec-laration of Independence. It hasgarnered praise from critics andreaders alike. NPR’s MichaelSchaub wrote “Jill Lepore is anextraordinarily gifted writer, andThese Truths is nothing short ofa masterpiece of American his-tory.” The book was published inSeptember 2018 and is availableat the West Roxbury Library.

In announcing the selectionof the book, Gwynne Morgan,co-chair of West Roxbury Readsstated, “We chose ‘These Truths:A History of the United States’as the centerpiece of our 2019West Roxbury Reads series be-cause Dr. Lepore, besides beingan eloquent writer, highlightsthemes which still challenge theU.S today: racism, immigration,technology, press and religiousfreedom, and the crucial need tounderstand civics and history.”

In addition to the author talk,“West Roxbury Reads” will

present a series of eventsthroughout the month of Aprilrelated to the themes discussedin the book. A full schedule ofthese events will be announcedin early February.

OHRENBERGER COMMU-NITY CENTER ADULT &SENIOR CLASSES

Watercolor Pencils Work-shop

Instructor, Maria Conte. Thiscourse, for all levels, provides anopportunity to create fabulousillustrations, suitable for fram-ing, using watercolor pencils. Ina relaxed atmosphere with a lotof individualized attention, par-ticipants will expand their cre-ative abilities and pursue per-sonal choices in subject matterand style, while learning texturaleffects, harmonious color com-binations, and balanced compo-sitions. No previous experienceis required. A supply list will beemailed upon registration. It willbe offered at the OhrenbergerCommunity Center on Fridays,12:30-2:00pm. Call 617-635-5183 for more information.

ITALIAN FOR TRAVELERSInstructor, Maria Conte.

Whether you are traveling toItaly, or just want to learn the lan-guage for fun, this class is foryou. Using a variety of didacticmaterials in a relaxed atmo-sphere, you will learn simplegrammar travel related vocabu-lary and expressions, pronuncia-tion, verb conjugation, as well asthe culture. Emphasis will beplaced on speaking and listeningskills. A $25.00 textbook fee ispayable to the instructor at thefirst class. The class will be of-fered on Fridays from, 6:00-7:30pm. Call 617-635-5183 formore information.

Calendar continued from page 8

Conserve our resources.Recycle this newspaper.


about 25.“ We’re working in Jamaica

Plain for the first time. We wantto understand what the priori-ties are; these will inform ourdesign.”

“ Our mission statement isgood buildings make goodneighbors and design amenitiesbring in more neighbors.”

“There’s development fa-tigue here,” he said. “Every-thing looks the same. We thinkJP is unique. We want to start acommunity process and workon a design that’s financiallyfeasible.”

Primary partner SteveMeyer came from WilliamRawn Associates,architects.

“It’s much more useful forus to design something that theneighbors like,” he said.Veronica Cardenas was re-cently added to the staff. Shesaid it was important to under-stand the neighborhood; she dida lot of the door-to-doorleafleting for the meeting.

“ We’re not regular devel-opers,” she said.

Unlike any other developerworking in Jamaica Plain today,history is important to Primary.Jenny Shen is a founding part-ner.

“ We know it was a publicschool in 1851,” she said at themeeting. “In 1896 it was a twofamily home. In 1958 an autowindow shop and garage. Dowe demolish the building orrenovate? We asked for an ex-tension on the purchase con-tract so we could ask the city tostudy the history of the build-ing.”

Shen spoke with The Bulle-tin after the meeting.

“We found the property on-line – it was listed for sale onLoopNet and Zillow.” she said.“The current property owner,Sandra Tardanico, owns JPGlass business. I don’t believeshe plans to stay in business atthis location.”

“We’re currently under con-tract with a contingency periodto allow for tonight’s meetingas well as the research the his-toric value of the house.

"The open question is notthe history of the site but ratherwhat remains of it today that

can be preserved. We’ll engageexperts to look into this.”

Komarin at the meeting de-scribed Primary’s experience. Ithas designed artist, live–workcondominiums on two DND-owned lots at 40-42 and132Terrace Street, he said. Theyare both four-story buildingsthat Primary worked for twoyears with DND to develop asthirteen, homeownership, live-work spaces for certified artists.

This was a new undertakingthe city was working on,Komarin said. The buildingswill have ground floor exhibitspaces and will be offeredthrough the Boston Hoe Cen-ter.

Approved by the ZBA onNovember 13, the land was do-nated by DND and the mayorrecommended on Feb 18 that itreceive $927,000 in CPA funds.

Primary described the de-sign paths for 3326 Washing-ton St. as large and small foot-print.

The large footprint optionwould be a multifamily build-ing with ground floor retail thatwould prioritize affordablehousing. There is a 25% fund-ing gap-this will be privatelyfunded- given the costs of con-struction.

Option two is smaller foot-print that would preserve thehouse if this is important to theneighbors. 3346 Washington isa 12,420 square foot lot adja-cent to two, brick, 18 familywalk-ups owned a since 1987as income restricted housing byUrban Edge. These were builtin 1899 on the same sized lot.

Neither Primary nor those atthe meeting advocating for af-fordable housing on the JPGlass site acknowledged thisfact; Urban Edge was not at themeeting.

Marty Jones, Interim CEOof Urban Edge, spoke with TheBulletin the next day.

“Primary contacted us andagreed to stay in touch with us,”she said. “Our concerns wouldbe about the siting and designdetails of any new buildingabutting ours.”

Alan Benenfeld of UnionAvenue was leaning towardshistoric preservation.

“ There’s not many spacesfor community meetings,” hesaid. “It could be an historic useof the building which used tobe a school.”

Tim Reardon of BeethovenStreet is a member of ESNA.“It’s baffling,” he said. “His-toric preservation is hostile tothe neighborhood. This shouldbe a placemaking design forpeople.”

Kathy Kottaridis of ForestHills was cautious.

“ Don’t throw the baby outwith the bathwater,” she said.“This requires creativity. Pre-serve what we can but makesure we have space for contem-porary Bostonians.”

Speaking with The Bulletinafter the meeting, Kottaridisexplained further.

“ The significance of manysmall properties is not so wellknown or long forgotten,” shesaid. “The developers shoulddemonstrate that they haveevaluated the alternatives toclearance in case there’s a po-tential for saving a link to thehistory of Jamaica Plain. Butcontrasting affordability withhistoric preservation seemed tobe aimed at justifying demoli-tion.”

Meyer said that this was thefirst community meeting.

“The design will be basedon neighborhood preferences,”he said.

One Glen Road resident wasenthusiastic.

“ This is a great opportunityto speak about artists,” he said.“They’re being kicked out twoblocks away [on BrooksideAve].This is a pivotal moment.”

Shen told The Bulletin thenext day what the next stepswould be.

“ If we do acquire the prop-erty,” she said, “we will pro-ceed with initial concept designand return to the community ina few months.”

“We don’t have a budgetyet,”she added. “We will beworking with a contractor to getinitial pricing for a few designoptions, based on the input wegot last night. Typically it takesseveral weeks after we sendthem the design.”

JP Glass continued from page 1 Cost Savingscontinued from page 1

dent transportation services. BPS Director of TransportationDelavern Stanislaus went through a presentation detailing the prac-tices of the BPS Transportation Department, and said that 80 per-cent of the department’s costs are on staff salary and benefits. Shesaid 26,000 students are transported to 228 sites each day, whichincludes 5,000 students on door-to-door delivery in the special needseducation section of their budget. She also said that special needsstudents who require monitors has grown 153 percent since fiscalyear 2016.

Hanlon also pointed out that costs are increasing because thenumber of school sites is increasing year-to-year while the numberof students is falling. In FY 2015, the BPS transported 25,276 stu-dents in the BPS district, as opposed to 18,092 in FY 2018. Thenumber of sites has gone up from 221 in 2015 to 228 now.

Essaibi-George pointed out that the costs might have been an-ticipated, and that the projected costs for this year’s 2018-2019 schoolyear budget were off by quite a bit.

“For FY2018, the total actual cost was $123.1 million, but whatwe had approved as part of that budget process was actually $116million,” she said. “Obviously, it’s important to look at what weactually spend, but the root of this hearing is to understand what wehad budgeted as opposed to what we ended up spending. The growthor the percentage of difference would be much larger if we used thetrue number of what we budgeted.”

She said they had a budget of $119 million this year, but it’slooking more like the above $126 million.

“So we’re looking at a $7 million cost overrun in transportationspending,” she said. “That’s a significant number... And I get thatthere are lots of costs that we can’t control, there are things thatpolicy determines that you all are just responding to, but part ofwhat this hearing is meant to do is bring to light the budgeting pro-cess.”

Essaibi-George asked how the transportation department couldlook at reducing costs for transporting non BPS students.

“To be totally frank, we can look at the state law,” Hanlon said.“These are not our students, we could look at the state law andcontemplate addressing that. If we don’t address it through a changein the state law requirement of transportation charter or parochialstudents then maybe we look at tthe state from a level of how shortfunded we are in our charter school reimbursement.”

Hanlon added that they should also look at the Promise Act in-troduced in January by State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz to change thefunding formula for charter schools. It hasn’t been changed since1993, the implementation of the charter system, and has left theBPS picking up the tab for hundreds of millions of dollars. Basi-cally, the formula states that when a student moves from a publicschool to a charter, the per pupil expenditure for that student (about$20,000 per year, give or take) is supposed to be fully reimbursed tothe public school for one year, 50 percent reimbursed the next and25 percent the following two years.

This formula was set up so that schools would have time toreorganize their funding, as it would be impossible for a school toreduce its heating or electric costs by the amount of funds lost byone or two students. But the state has not been fully reimbursingdistricts since 2013, and that has cost the city about $100 million inthat time.

“If we were able to receive some of that, then I think some ofthis would be much more palatable,” Hanlon said. “But the fact thatwe are so woefully underfunded in our charter school commitments,and then are left to pick up the tab for this, it causes quite a burdenon the transportation budget.”

Assistant Director of Transportation at BPS Ed Pesce said thereare six unions associated with transporting students to Boston’sschools and, according to contracts the city agreed to, those unionshave a “baked in” 2 percent increase in salary every year, leading tocost increases regardless of charter schools, students leaving or otherareas of cost increase.

“Because we bear the burden of health insurance, that no otherdepartmental budget bears, that’s going to go up every year becauseof the health insurance market,” he said. “Premiums are just goingup.”

Pesce did say however the number of students participating inthe district’s Opt Out program, which encourages students whostop taking the bus to inform the district as soon as possible so as toreduce costs, has been on the rise. He said the number of BPS stu-dent that opted out in October was 1,483 for BPS students and 180for charter students. The hope is that bus routes will not be headingto stops for students not getting on the bus and save costs in thefuture.


Grateful thanks. —B.T.F.


Mayor Walsh announces summer youth employment registrationMayor Martin J. Walsh re-

cently announced the openingof SuccessLink, the City ofBoston’s online tool that en-ables Boston youth to registerfor summer jobs. Boston teensbetween the ages of 15-18 canapply on the Department ofYouth Engagement & Employ-ment (YEE) website onyouth.boston.gov. TheSuccessLink application will beavailable through 11:59 p.m. onFriday, April 12th, 2019.

“The SuccessLink YouthSummer Jobs program is a criti-cal part of our effort to provideyoung people with chances tobuild lifelong skills, confidenceand personal success throughyouth workforce opportuni-ties,” said Mayor Walsh. “I en-courage all Boston teens to reg-ister for the program, and takeadvantage of this incredibleopportunity to get a head startin learning the workplace skillsthat will last a lifetime.”

In 2018, the City of Bostonserved over 10,600 youngpeople through summer jobs,civic engagement, career devel-opment training, impactprojects. Every year, the City ofBoston partners with hundredsof community-based nonprofitorganizations across the city toprovide meaningful employ-ment opportunities. Partici-pants can work in various posi-

tions that include after-schoolprogram assistant, administra-tive assistants, mural painters,peer leaders, and more.

“The Mayor’s Youth Sum-mer Jobs Program plays an in-tegral role in positively shap-ing the future trajectory ofBoston’s youth,” said MartyMartinez, Chief of Health andHuman Services. “Through theprogram, youth are introducedto an array of professional de-velopment opportunities,mentoring, and work opportu-nities that can increase ouryouth’s social capital, all whilegiving them the hard and softskills they need to thrive in theirfuture career.”

The Department of YouthEngagement & Employmentserves as a youth engagementresource center and works toadvance the lives of Boston’syouth through employment op-portunities, career developmenttraining, and youth engagement.

The SuccessLink YouthSummer Jobs program advancesyouth workforce developmentand increases the impact of com-munity-based organizations byemploying almost 4,000 ofBoston’s youth at local non-profits.

“Creating more opportuni-ties for Boston’s youth throughworkforce and civic engagementis central to our mission, and our

department has a unique oppor-tunity to connect youth with or-ganizations that see the value oftheir work, while moving Bos-ton forward as an innovative andengaging city,” said Departmentof Youth Engagement & Em-ployment, Director, RashadCope.

“During high school, youthjobs are important because theyexpose youth to future careerinterest while allowing you theopportunity to build relation-ships with employers. I’m cur-rently employed as a Youth Di-rector on the Mayor’s YouthCouncil”, said MohamedAbannor, Senior at HoraceMann School for the Deaf. “Asa deaf student, at first, I was notconfident with public speakingand I only felt connected withdeaf and hard of hearing people.Since being employed as aYouth Director on the Mayor’sYouth Council, I have gainedskills in public speaking, net-working, problem-solving, inno-vative thinking, empathy, andlistening to different perspectiveand ideas. It’s made me feelmore comfortable and acceptedin the hearing community.”

Registering for SuccessLinkis available online. Teens ages15-18 interested in registeringmust meet the following require-ments:

Must be a full-time resi-

dent of the City of BostonMust have been born betweenJuly 8, 2004, and August 16,2000 Must be legally permit-ted to work in the United States

Registering for a summerposition with SuccessLink doesnot guarantee a job. Applicantsare welcome to register onlineat Youth Summer Jobs or visitDepartment of Youth Engage-ment & Employment at 1483Tremont Street, Roxbury, orcall 617-635-4202 for regis-tration assistance.

The City also invitesyouth to register for the 2019

City of Boston Youth Job andResource Fair on Saturday,March 30th, 2019, from 10A.M. - 2 P.M. at the ReggieLewis Track and AthleticCenter 1350 Tremont St,Roxbury Crossing, MA02120. This year’s theme,“Success Awaits, Come FindIt,” aspires to connect Boston’syouth with onsite summerworkforce development oppor-tunities through engaging withemployers, job placement, ca-reer development workshops,access to youth-serving organi-zations and more!

To advertise, call the Bulletinat (617) 361-8400


drivers ignore the rules of the roadthen we fail.

Of course, Centre Street is notthe only traffic issue we havehere. Other streets mentioned atlast week’s meeting were SpringStreet, Washington Street, WeldStreet, West Boundary Road andMontview Streets in terms of speed-ing and/or congestion.

I thank Councilor MattO’Malley for helping to put themeeting together. It was a good firststep, but just that, a first step. I hopewe continue to have the turnout andengagement that we had at futuremeetings

Stephen SmithWest Roxbury

EXCITED ABOUTROXBURY PREP

To the Editor:I live in West Roxbury on

Belgrade Ave., and I am so excitedto have Roxbury Prep High Schoolbe a part of our neighborhood andcommunity. While I acknowledgemy neighbors’ concerns of logisticsand traffic, the benefits of having ahigh-quality school in our neighborexceeds any minimal impact.

I’ve attended both BPDA hear-ings and was encouraged to see somany neighbors come out in sup-port of the school. However, the cov-erage in The Bulletin in the Feb. 21issue would make one think that the400+ person crowd on Feb. 13 wasjust made up of opponents. Thatcould not be further from the truth.Just as many, if not more, peoplespoke up in favor of the high schoolproject. There were so many posi-tive, welcoming sentiments made bymy neighbors; there is certainly ro-bust community support for thisproject. I appreciated the develop-ment team’s ability to present solu-tions to concerns. Throughout thenight, they clarified many misunder-standings and misinformation andemphasized their eagerness to con-tinue to work with the community.

There was a strong contingentof Roxbury Prep staff in attendance.I cannot begin to imagine workinga full day only to continue their workinto the night and fight for a homefor their students. The students atRoxbury Prep are so lucky to havesuch dedicated school leadershipand committed teachers, many ofwhom were grading papers in be-tween quick pauses. As a univer-sity administrator, I see how a high-quality secondary education shapesstudents to become civic-minded,compassionate, and influentialmembers of their communities.There is no doubt that RoxburyPrep is doing this for their students,who are the future leaders in ourcommunity.

I know that being an educatorcan sometimes feel like a thanklessjob but I was so happy to see that Ijoin many other neighbors who areappreciative of the work that theydo and look forward to welcomingRoxbury Prep into the neighbor-hood.

Jimmy DoanWest Roxbury

savagery? We’ll never know.But, I also thought of the soldiers. What was going

through their minds as they were committing these tragicacts? Were they just “following orders” or were they will-ing participants? Probably a bit of both.

But once again, Why? How could one human commitsuch savagery upon another?

One possible answer, Training. We were taught in ba-sic training and advanced infantry training that we werebeing shipped off to fight a people that were sub-human;gooks, dinks and slope heads were terms often used byour cadre. The value of their lives was not comparable toours. By devaluing the lives of our enemy, it would beeasier to kill them.

Even General William Westmoreland, CommandingGeneral of all American troops in Vietnam, conveys thisdemeaning attitude. He is quoted as saying,” The Orientaldoesn’t put the same high price on life as does a West-erner. Life is plentiful. Life is cheap in the Orient.”

When I first heard General Westmoreland make this re-mark, something flashed through my mind. It was the well-publicized picture of a Vietnamese father holding the life-less body of his child in his arms, standing beside an ar-mored personnel carrier (APC) and looking up at the GIsatop the APC, pleading, crying for help.

Somehow this image didn’t j ive with GeneralWestmoreland’s rather cavalier remarks.

But is there more? What happened to our “moral com-pass”? Did we leave it at home?

Leadership? Obviously there wasn’t any.The tragedy of 504 lives wasted cannot be rectified.

They are gone and nothing we do can bring them back.The long enduring tragedy is the impact these events hadon the soldiers’ lives and on society. How do you live withyourself after committing such egregious acts?

When I walked through the front gate of My Lai vil-lage on this most solemn of days, I was shocked to see somany people; mostly Vietnamese with a few westerners.Though it was a sad, reflective day, I saw many smiles andwitnessed many warm greetings amongst the attendees.

I was no more than 100 feet past the main gate when itfirst happened. An elderly Vietnamese gentleman about myage approached me, grabbed my hands in his, and whilelooking deep into my eyes, he mumbled a few words. Eventhough I didn’t know what he was saying, I did know. Hewas thanking me for attending this sad event and he wastelling me he forgave me for this senseless act of violence.As this gentleman walked away, another man grabbed myhand and squeezed tightly, again muttering a few softwords.

I stayed at My Lai for only a few hours, but I wasgreeted by so many kind, gentle Vietnamese. All passion-ately holding my hand and saying gentle, soft words.

Ironically, I was greeted by the younger generation ofVietnamese in a totally different fashion. So many youngVietnamese approached me with a big smile on their facesaying “Hello.” They wanted to speak English with meand have their picture taken with me. Initially, I was alittle embarrassed. I didn’t want attention focused on me.We were here for a somber occasion. Respect was of high-est priority. But then I realized, time goes on and theyoung weren’t even around when My Lai happened. So Iattempted to blend my presence with respect, reverenceand a bit of good public relations by speaking with thekids and discreetly posing for their photographs.

After several hours, I left. My Lai was behind me. Butthe image of the footprints kept nagging me. The poorbare feet. What pain they must have suffered. What cru-elty. And the boot marks of the soldiers. Fifty years havepassed but memories like these live forever. Just a fewshort hours of their lives will linger forever in the mindsof these soldiers who left their boot marks on the villageof My Lai.

Michael Cunningham is a Viet Nam Veteran, Norwoodresident and a lover of history.

Mr. Cunningham wrote a book about his experiencesin Viet Nam called Walking Point: An Infantryman’s Un-told Story. He can be reached [email protected]

Footprintscontinued from page 2

LEGLEGLEGLEGLEGAL NOAL NOAL NOAL NOAL NOTICESTICESTICESTICESTICES Letterscontinued from page 4


Requests for proposals to support open spaces and community gardensMayor Martin J. Walsh an-

nounced a competitive Re-quest for Proposals (RFP)from the City of BostonGrassroots program, whichsupports the development ofcommunity gardens. Winningproposals must demonstratehow it will improve neighbor-hood open spaces, create newopen space opportunities, orsupport urban agriculture de-signed to increase the avail-ability of fresh food inBoston’s neighborhoods.

Grassroots, a program ofthe City of Boston’s Depart-ment of Neighborhood Devel-opment (DND), promotes ac-cess to urban green spacethrough the conveyance ofcity-owned land to non-profitorganizations, and the provi-sion of grant funding for gar-den design and construction.The Grassroots program hasawarded more than $20 millionin competitive grants to morethan 130 community gardensand food forests throughout

Boston, and has also funded anumber of urban agricultureprojects and open space initia-tives.

The new Grassroots Pro-gram Funding RFP was createdto assist neighborhood-basedgroups which demonstrate thecapacity to develop and main-tain community gardens andopen space within their neigh-borhood. To apply for thisfunding, groups must demon-strate the capacity to make per-manent improvements that

provide a long-term publicbenefit to the neighborhood. Inparticular, improvementslikely to be funded will bethose that increase productioncapacity of already existinggarden spaces, or add new fea-tures to existing gardens andopen spaces. Community resi-dents must be fully involved inthe development of design pro-posals, and have a leadershiprole in the organization andmanagement of garden activi-ties.

Proposals for this fundinground must be submitted to theDepartment of NeighborhoodDevelopment no later than4:00 p.m. on April 1, 2019. TheCity of Boston’s GrassrootsProgram has created more than13,000 square feet of commu-nity garden space and pre-served an additional 27,000square feet greenspace in Bos-ton. More information aboutthe Grassroots program may befound on Grassroots program’swebpage.

boston bulletin · 2019-03-07 · page 2 the bulletin march 7, 2019 footprints i visited the...

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