Boston Bulletin · O’Malley said the unanimous ... days of the Menino adminis-tration and “a lot of mistakes were made. ... What began as genial intro-

Council says yes toplastic bag ordinance

Residents will have some changes coming to thier grocery routine nextyear.

COURTESY PHOTO

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Boston City Councilvoted last week on an ordi-nance to ban thin plastic bagsin the city and require storesto provide thick plastic bagsfor 5 cents apiece.

Ordinance sponsor and

Plastic BagsPlastic BagsPlastic BagsPlastic BagsPlastic BagsContinued on page 13

VOLUME 11 NUMBER 49 DECEMBER 7, 2017

BBBBBostonostonostonostonoston BBBBBulletinulletinulletinulletinulletincitywide news citywide news citywide news citywide news citywide news • street by street street by street street by street street by street street by street

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Brighton comes out for annualTree Lighting on Washington

Hundreds of residents came out on Monday for the annual Brighton Tree Lighting at the corner of Wash-ington and Market streets.

PHOTO BY JEFF SULLIVAN


The Brighton Main Streets,in collaboration with the localElks Hall 2199, Rockland Trustand the City of Boston held itsannual tree lighting on Mondayto a crowd of about 200 resi-dents.

The night featured goodiesfor the kids, songs from the lo-cal Girl Scout troop and, ofcourse, a visit from Santa Claus.

Brighton Main Streets Di-rector Elizabeth Sullivan saidthis was her first tree lightingfor the neighborhood, but thecollaborations between the

BMS, the Elks, the city and thelocal businesses made it easy.

“It was really wonderful get-ting everything together becausewe had really great partners,” shesaid. “The Elks have done it formany, many years, and so they’rekind of on-boarding me to it thisyear. They organize it with theBoston Firefighters, who donatethe truck and their time, publicworks does all of the lighting,special events does the mic andthis all donated.”

Sullivan said it wasn’t hardto find those willing to donatetheir time to make the holidayseason a little brighter for theneighborhood.

“We had volunteers direct-ing traffic and handing out ci-der and cookies, and the Elksprovide the hot chocolate, thelocal Prime Realty group pro-vided the cookies, and newbusiness Kohi Coffee is hand-ing out cider, coffee and past-ries,” she said.

Sullivan said her son alsocame out for the event, thoughher daughter was sick.

“She’s so sad she’s missingit,” she said. “My son’s herehelping out, he’ll be 4 in Janu-ary and my daughter is sick andvery, very disappointed to miss

District 6 City Councilor MattO’Malley said the unanimousvote was a great victory forclimate change advocates inthe city and a good way to re-duce litter in Boston. He feelsthe businesses are more thanready to step up to the chal-lenge.

“As we have seen with ev-ery city or town that has op-posed this, once they’ve gone

into implementation you’veseen the private sector reallystep up,” he said. “You’veseen individuals step up andoffer reusable plastic bags... Ifpassed today and signed intolaw, this will have a one-yearsort of ramping up period.”

He said the ordinancewon’t go into effect until a

year from now, and added thiswould give them plenty oftime to work with ABCD, theBoston Housing Authority,food banks, the Boston Cen-ters for Youth and Familiesand farmers markets to makesure that residents are awareof the ordinance.

“We can work and we can

BPDA struggles to enforcedevelopment agreements

Council talksAcoustics, JacksonSquare Rec Center

RicharRicharRicharRicharRichard Heathd Heathd Heathd Heathd HeathStaff Reporter

The Boston Planning andDevelopment Agency (BPDA)was “in chaos” in the waningdays of the Menino adminis-tration and “a lot of mistakeswere made.”

This confession by AaronHalquist, BPDA AssistantCompliance Manager cameout of a meeting of the JamaicaPlain Neighborhood Council(JPNC) on Nov. 27. The topicwas how BPDA Article 80 co-operative agreements with de-velopments are followed out.

Joining Halquist at thehearing table were MarieMercurio, Senior Planner for

Jamaica Plain, Michael Chris-topher, Deputy Director of De-velopment Review, TimDavis,Housing Policy Direc-tor, and Peter Sasso, Compli-ance Director.

What began as genial intro-ductions by each BPDA stafferon their responsibilitiesquickly went south; to 105South Huntington Ave. where24 units (two floors) have beensubleased for short-term cor-porate rentals.

While Halquist, who saidhe had been with the agencysince 2006, admitted that a lotof Article 80 agreements onleases and affordable housingwere “put on the back burner,”JPNC chair Kevin Moloney

wasted no time getting to thepoint.

“What happened at 105South Huntington Ave?” heasked. “It’s in violation of theJune 2013 memorandum re-garding occupancy which for-bids subleases. Two floors aresubleased for short-term rent-als.”

Sasso also got to the point.“That cooperation agree-

ment did not happen,” he said.“It’s unacceptable. No one waswatching this.”

Moloney appeared skepti-cal.

“I’m glad you’re admittingthis,” he said. “It’s a failure toCouncilCouncilCouncilCouncilCouncil

Continued on page 10 AAAAAgreementsgreementsgreementsgreementsgreementsContinued on page 12

LightingLightingLightingLightingLightingContinued on page 13


The Boston City Councilmet last week and voted on sev-eral key topics around the city.

The most prominent was thevote to accept a $2 million rev-enue increase from a tax pay-ment on the Old City Hall aftera lease renewal agreement.Committee on Ways and MeansChair and District 9 City Coun-cilor Mark Ciommo said thefunds would be put towards theJackson Square RecreationCenter in conjunction with non-profit Urban Edge, which hasbeen on the minds of local resi-

dents for more than a decade.“This $2 million supple-

mental appropriation will sup-port the creation of a new youthrecreation center in JacksonSquare, an effort that has been15 years in the making,” hesaid. “It was heavily-advocatedby local youth and will be anintegral part of the JacksonSquare planning initiative. Thisis a great public-private partner-ship, I believe they have a goalof $21 million to make this areality and they’re almost to$18 million as we speak. Thefunding for this program is the

Page 2Page 2Page 2Page 2Page 2 The Bulletin December 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 201111177777

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* Rates expressed as Annual Percentage Yields (APYs), are accurate as of 9/20/17, and are subject to change without notice. The bump-up option can only be exercised once during the term of the certificate. The certificate term is not extended by the bump-up/APY increase. To initiate the one-time bump-up contact a Member Service Representative at any branch office. City of Boston Credit Union will use its best efforts to comply with all APY increase requests by the close of business on the next business day. APY increases are not retroactive, and will apply to the remainder of the certificate term. APY increases can be initiated on the 34-month certificate if the then current APY for City of Boston Credit Union’s 34-month certificate or 36-month certificate is above 1.40%, or on the 46-month certificate if the then current APY for City of Boston Credit Union’s 46-month certificate or 48-month certificate is above 1.78% APY or on the 58-month certificate if the then current APY for City of Boston Credit Union’s 58-month certificate or 60-month certificate is above 2.15%. In no event can the bump-up rate exceed the then current rate for the certificate. Dividends will be credited to your account and compounded every month. Upon maturity, 34-, 46- and 58-month Bump-Up Certificates will automatically rollover into the member’s City of Boston Credit Union share account. All other certificate terms and conditions will apply. Minimum deposit of $500. Deposits can not be made during the term of the account. Rates may change after account is opened. Fees could reduce earnings. Subject to penalty for early withdrawal. Not available for IRA Certificates. Must be a member of City of Boston Credit Union to open certificate account. Offer may be withdrawn at any time. Federally Insured by NCUA. Excess share insurance by MSIC.

Two neighborhoods: One RiverMatt MacDonaldMatt MacDonaldMatt MacDonaldMatt MacDonaldMatt MacDonald

Staff Reporter

The Hyde Park/MattapanNeponset River NeighborhoodForum was held on Thursdayevening, Nov. 30 at 912 RiverSt.

The meeting featured ahandful of pertinent speakersfrom different entities and or-ganizations who presentedtheir areas of expertise regard-ing the River to a group of over50 people from both the HydePark and Mattapan neighbor-hoods.

Introductory speakerVivian Morris, Chair of theMattapan Food and FitnessCoalition and Coordinator ofthe Edgewater Drive Neigh-borhood Association, got at thereason for the meeting in herremarks.

“A big part of why we hadthis meeting tonight is so thatwe who live here can feelgreater ownership of the riverthat runs through our neighbor-hood,” she said.

Morris went on to speak ofiniquity in terms of theNeponset River Greenway go-ing online in 2001, while “ittook 15 years to get construc-

A packed roomful of Hyde Park and Mattapan residents listen in as one of them – standing in the back of theroom and wearing a blue jacket – asks a question about Neponset River pollution.

PHOTO BY MATT MACDONALD

One RivOne RivOne RivOne RivOne RiverererererContinued on page 11

tion started on the only sectionof (it) that was going to abut acommunity of color.”

This led to a response fromDave Vieira, who felt uncom-fortable addressing theNeponset in racial terms.

“The River is the River andthe people are the people, andI would prefer that we go for-ward on that basis,” he said.

This, in turn, brought abouta response from a blackwoman sitting nearby.

“It’s the people that controlwhat we need done, though, sowe need to call it as it is,” shesaid.

“I’ve lived in Hyde Park for50 years and that river has beenpolluted since long before Ilived here and it was never de-scribed in terms of racial in-equity,” Vieira came back.

M o d e r a t o r / P O H W E Rmember RaushanahMuhammad reluctantlystopped the building discus-sion in order to keep with theprogram schedule and despiteher suggestion that they goback to it later, it was neverrevisited.

Instead, the direction of themeeting did essentially shift inVieira’s direction, as succes-

sive speakers spoke of differ-ent aspects of the NeponsetRiver’s pollution and how toalleviate it.

Ian Cooke, Executive Di-rector of the Neponset RiverWatershed Association madean informative presentationfirst covering some definitions(a watershed: the area of landthat drains into a particularriver) and laying out some lo-gistic information (the River

runs from Foxboro, is 30 mileslong, covers a 120 square milearea, and has 330,000 peopleliving in its watershed area).

He then moved on to pol-lution problems, spendingmost of his time on streetstormwater runoff and show-ing, as one of his first slides, acommon curbside storm drain/catch basin before mildlyshocking probably more thana few in the room by inform-

ing everyone that whatevergoes down the drain goes di-rectly into the river via stormdrain system network and“outfall” pipe.

“I think it’s fair to say thatthe vast majority of people donot realize that they could bestanding a mile away from theriver and, if they’re washingtheir car, or if they’re saying,

Page 3 Page 3 Page 3 Page 3 Page 3The BulletinDecember 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 20December 7, 201111177777

City releases North Station Area Mobility PlanJefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The City of Boston, in con-junction with the BostonTransportation Departmentand the Boston Planning andDevelopment Agency(BPDA), recently released theNorth Station Area MobilityAction Plan (NSAMAP),which is designed to help traf-fic move fluidly through partsof the West End, North Endand Bulfinch Triangle neigh-borhoods.

The plan is designed tocombine private developmentwith public infrastructureprojects. In the North End, thatmeans private developmentwill help fund projects like theBeverly Street Park (from the239-unit Beverly Develop-ment), the North WashingtonStreet Bridge (set for construc-tion in 2018) and the ConnectHistoric Boston CommercialStreet project (slated forcompletion next year).

The process was a series ofmeetings held over the pastyears or so and includes 15 im-provements in the next fiveyears around North Station.

“For over a year, they haveshared their vision and con-cerns, and prioritized solu-tions, at community meetings,

pop-up sessions and online,”said Boston Mayor MartyWalsh. “We look forward toputting this plan into actionalongside the community, andworking with them on addi-tional future neighborhoodimprovement projects.”

The project also includespedestrian crossing improve-ments to Causeway Street forthe Connect Historic BostonProject, and the Hub on Cause-way development is alsoscheduled to restore the under-ground tunnel between NorthStation and the Orange andGreen Line MBTA stations inlate 2018. The Connect His-toric Boston is also helping tofund protected bike lanes thatare being added to Staniford,Causeway, and Commercialstreets.

“By incorporating a com-bination of pedestrian en-hancements, protected bikelanes, improved transit con-nections and updated trafficsignal technology, the NorthStation Area Mobility ActionPlan brings us one step closertoward realizing the goals es-tablished in Go Boston 2030,”said BTD Commissioner GinaFiandaca.

The North WashingtonStreet Bridge reconstructionwill also include one-way pro-

tected bike lanes for most ofits span, and includes a prior-ity bus lane in the inbound di-rection from Charlestown.The new lane will help peoplewho ride the MBTA’s 92, 93,and 111 bus routes get to workfaster, and help the bridgemove more people faster.

“The business communityaround North Station is look-ing forward to working withour neighbors and the City toimplement the many goodprojects in this plan,” said Jay

Among the many pedestrian and cycling improvements included in the plan is the North Washington StreetBridge, which is slated to begin construction soon.

COURTESY PHOTO

Walsh, Director of the Down-town North Association. “Im-provements to walking, bik-ing, driving and transit willallow our employees and cus-tomers to access and movearound the neighborhoodmore easily, and provide amore pleasant place to spendtime.”

The city is also looking toplace performance-basedparking meter pricing, essen-tially basing the pricing on theperceived demand by the fre-

quency at which each space isused. The City of Boston isrunning two pilot programsfor performance-based meterpricing, one in Back Bay andthe other in the South BostonWaterfront. The plan statesthat based on the results ofthese pilot programs, the Citywill consider a similar pro-gram for the North StationArea/West End and otherparts of the City to help im-prove the utilization and effi-ciency of curbside parking.


My Kindof Town/Joe Galeota

Seasonal traditions bring a smileAs a young boy, I was fas-

cinated by Jordan Marsh’sfif th f loor annex: that’swhere the Christmas toyswere, a long time before toystores came to populate thearea.

And on that floor only wasa huge electric train display,featuring Lionel trains run-ning every which way.

As a teenager, I was mes-merized by Downtown Cross-ing in mid-December. JordanMarsh’s windows, FileneBasement’s hustle-and-bustle, the all-encompassingproducts of Woolworth’s, thesports equipment inRaymond’s, and the milieu ofGilchrist’s.

As a young father, I de-lighted in my children’s eyesas they viewed the EnchantedVillage of Jordan’s/Macy’sand tasted the ice cream sun-daes of Bailey’s served inpewter.

As a father of teenagers, Iwas not stirred by the mod-ern malls’ blaring of seasonalmusic. Repulsion set in uponviewing various imperson-ations of Santa outside gro-cery stores, virtually destroy-ing the magic in the eyes ofvery young shoppers in stroll-ers.

But now in the autumn, ifnot the winter, of my life,there’s one store that seemsto capture the “old-fash-ioned-ness” of Christmas,

right out of a L.L. Bean cata-logue or a Hallmark made-for-television show. It sellsplants, food products, variousnon-edible items, and evenreal Christmas wreaths andtrees by the hundreds (no ar-tificial ones at this store).

The few aisles are notnumbered, nor do they havecutesy road names, such asPark Street, Centre Street,and Belgrade Avenue. Nordoes this store feature num-bered aisles.

Just as an aside, howmany grocery shopperswould calmly tolerate beingtold, after a question aboutthe location of say, gluten-free maple syrup, that “It’s isin the Hastings Street aisle.”Hmmm. Why do stores thinkwe need this familiarization

with local streets? Andwhat’s with onesupermarket’s idea of postingthe numbered aisles with auseless zero, perpendicular tothe products? Thus aisle 8appears as 08 written at a 90-degree angle next to genericcategories.

Back to the quintessentialChristmas store: it straddlesthe Jamaica Plain-Brooklineborder on Allandale Road.There’s a dirt parking lot.Don’t bother looking for anywhite lines indicating park-ing spaces. There might evenbe a fire in an outside barrelto warm your hands, with anaroma of burnt pine waftingacross the parking lot. Thereare no flyers mentioningsales or prices. There’s notmuch heat inside: most clerkswear flannel shirts and stock-ing hats. Only heaven knowsif there’s a public restroomavailable.

For some great seasonalwarmth, head to theAllandale Farm andRoadstand, shortened by lo-cals to merely AllandaleFarm. There’s always pro-duce but no meat; yes, theprices are - well, you be thejudge - and there might evenbe a truck there selling freshfish on Wednesdays.

Indeed, a great place forstarting or maintaining the(secular) Christmas spirit.LeLeLeLeLettttttttttererererersssss

Continued on page 15

Letters to the EditorSPRAGUE STREETEXTORTION

To the Editor:As reported in the Nov. 30,

2017 edition of the Hyde ParkBulletin, a recent meeting wasconducted by BRA/BPDA forthe Impact Advisory Group(IAG) regarding the proposedmassive 521-unit apartmentcomplex along the side of theSprague Street Bridge in theReadville neighborhood. Ifthe reader is unfamiliar withan IAG, it is a group of neigh-borhood residents nominatedby local elected officials to sitwith the BRA and the projectproponents to ascertain theappropriateness and futureramifications of the proposalif implemented. This writerattended the aforementionedmeeting and, quite frankly,left with a good bout of nau-sea.

For virtually the entiremeeting, the city Councilorand the BRA manager werecoaching the IAG members onhow to ask the proponents forthings the members might liketo have. They were urged toprepare a “wish list.” BRA,oddly in my view, repeatedlygave an example of askingthat the developer providesome of the new solar-pow-ered trash cans throughout theReadville neighborhood. BRAprefers to call this procedure

“mitigation.” But indeed it ismore accurately described asextortion. On this night theImpact Advisory Group ap-peared to be serving as an ex-tortion committee. One of theIAG members rightfully pro-claimed that in his view thegroup should be assessingwhether the proposal is ac-ceptable before drafting up alist of requests.

It should be noted that aneighborhood group, Citizensfor the Preservation ofReadville (CPR), conducted athorough petition drivethroughout the entire neigh-borhood and gathered close to400 signatures from residentsopposed to changing the cur-rent light industrial zoning soas to accommodate this apart-ment complex. At the end ofthe petition drive, we couldsee that 89 percent of the resi-dents were opposed, 9 percentwere unaware of the proposalor needed more informationbefore forming a decision, and2 percent were not opposed.These opponents were vehe-ment in their decision and didnot make it contingent onwhat “goodies” we could ex-tort from the proponents.

Craig MartinReadville



To advertise, call (617) 361-8400 Consulate awards Waitethe Légion d’Honneur

TTTTTrenese Frenese Frenese Frenese Frenese FranklinranklinranklinranklinranklinStaff Reporter

Boston’s French Consul Valéry Freland pins the honor on Boston Veteran Edwin "Bud" Waite's chest duringthe ceremony at the Stratford Street Church.

PHOTO BY TRENESE FRANKLIN

Friends, family and city of-ficials gathered on Dec. 2 towitness World War II Veteranand West Roxbury residentEdwin “Bud” Waite be awardedthe French Legion of Honor.

There wasn’t an empty seatat the ceremony, which drew in

a crowd of about 100 people.Rev. Enid Watson, Co-Pastor ofStratford Street Church, helpedto host the event.

“We are very proud and de-lighted to welcome you all heretoday,” Watson said.

The ceremony then com-menced by the singing of theFrench and American NationalAnthems. Everyone stood totheir feet and honored both theFrench and American Flags,which were held up by Veteransof West Roxbury’s VFW Post2902.

“We have a number of dis-tinguished guests, besides Bud,”Watson said jokingly. “And Iwould like to invite our electedofficials to come forward, CityCouncilor Matt O’Malley,Giselle Sterling, Commissionerof Veteran Affairs and (At-Large) City CouncilwomanAnnissa Essaibi-George.”

O’Malley then took to thepodium to commend Waite onhis accomplishments.

“I have had the great plea-sure of getting to know Bud andhis family over the last severalyears,” he said. “I knew Bud wasa veteran, but I did not know theextent of his legendary service."

O’Malley explained that forBud, it wasn’t about receivingrecognition.

“It wasn’t about receivingaccolades and it wasn’t aboutevents like this. It was about sup-porting others,” he said.

O’Malley also gave a briefhistory of Waite’s life and ex-pressed how much of an amaz-ing person he believes Waite is.

“To the people of France, weare incredibly honored that youare recognizing one of our Na-tive sons. In a time when wehave such discord in this worldand uncertainty in this country,one thing is certain: the men and

women who served in WorldWar II truly were the greatestgeneration,” O’Malley con-cluded.

Councilor Annissa EssaibiGeorge and O’Malley then pre-sented Waite with a Councilorproclamation and congratulatedhim for being awarded theFrench Medal of Honor. Com-missioner of Veteran affairs andLord Mayor of West Roxburyand Post 2902 CommanderRichie Gormley both spoke andcongratulated Waite for a jobwell done.

The ceremony concludedwith Boston’s French ConsulGeneral Valéry Freland present-ing Edwin Waite with theFrench Legion of Honor.

“You are a true hero and youwill be our hero forever,”Freland said.

As Waite walked to the po-dium, everyone in the audiencecheered for him. He then tookthe microphone and expressedhow elated and thankful he wasfor the honor.

“I’m pretty overwhelmed; Idon’t know what to say. I can’tstop thanking people, there areso many on the list,” he said.

He then thanked his familyand friends for supporting himand putting together the cer-emony.

“I’m so honored!” Waite ex-claimed.

Waite served in the CompanyL, 260th Infantry Regiment fromJuly 1944 to August 1945. Sta-tioned 16 months overseas as anautomatic rifleman, PrivateEdwin Waite participated in as-saults on enemy positions inFrance, Germany and Austria.After arriving in Metz, France,the 260th Infantry Regimentjoined General Patton’s 3rdArmy in an attempt to breach theSiegfried Line.


Snow Angel program launched at Laboure Center

The Laboure Center inSouth Boston announced onSunday the launch of its newSnow Angel program as part ofits 28th annual ChristmasHouse Tour.

Jake Bombard, the directorat the Laboure Center, said thecollaboration of the LaboureCenter and the city was part ofBoston Mayor Marty Walsh’sAge Friendly Boston ActionPlan, which has more than 70steps to help Boston become afriendlier city to seniors. Hesaid one of those steps was topartner with local faith-basedorganizations to help isolated orinfirm seniors in the neighbor-hoods.

“We thought this would bea great way to do it, this is avolunteer-based program,where volunteers and theCatholic Charity Laboure Cen-ter provides shovels and snowmelt to willing volunteers andwe pair them with local elders,”he said. “When the forecastsays three inches of snow more,it will be their job to go out andshovel out their neighbors.”

“We’re very excited, todayreally is a call for volunteers.We’re here making our localelected officials our honoraryAngels and we’re hopingthey’ll help spread the wordand we’re hoping we’ll be ableto get 70 volunteers this year.”

However, Bombard addedshould the supply of volunteersgo over that, they’re more thanready.

“We actually just got a do-nation of 200 bags of snow-melt as soon as yesterday,” hesaid. “We’ll be in talks with vol-unteers this month and thenwe’ll have an assessment ofhow many shovels we’ll need,and then in January we’ll hope-fully have shovels in theground. Or rather, in the snow.”

Debbie Rambo, President ofthe Archdiocese of Boston

Catholic Charities group, saidthough she’s glad this programexists, she’s hoping for a lightwinter this year.

“We’re happy to have thispartnership, but as a New En-glander I’m just hoping, pleasedon’t snow,” she said. “But it’sbetter to be prepared.”

Bombard said the goal is toget at least one to two volun-teers per block, per senior.

“Which is ambitious, but wewanted to be ambitious so thatwe get enough people out there,because people get held up,they’re out of town, they can’tmake it, we want more than onevolunteer per elderly person,”he said.

Boston Mayor Marty Walshsaid he was happy to participatein the day’s event and raiseawareness of the new program.

“It’s a great idea,” he said.“He worked up at the StateHouse and he understands thatcalls come in, particularly fromseniors unable to shovel theirsidewalks, and this programhere is incredible such that anysnow storm that will happen,the Laboure will get involvedget volunteers out to helpshovel out frail elders in theirhomes and really help them,you really don’t want someonewho’s elderly out there shovel-ing the snow, they could gethurt out there, so this programis really a great program.

“Hopefully we can be help-ful and hopefully volunteerscan step up here and be support-ive. There are a lot of youngpeople here in South Bostonand hopefully they will step uphere at the Laboure.”

Residents Richard Dahilland Joe Bebartas said they’vebeen volunteering at theLaboure for some time, and arehappy to help residents dig outwhen they need it. Dahill saidhe has a personal connection tothe center.

“They took my aunt, whowas sick about 25 years ago andI’ve been coming ever since.

They did a great job helping herout and I figure I owe them acouple of favors,” he said.

Bebartas said he volunteersbecause the center also helpedhis family in a time of need.

“My mother used to workhere and it’s a wonderful orga-nization that needs support fromthe community, and I’m in thecommunity,” he said. “I wasborn here, so I decided to chipin and help out on the tour to-day and I hope that the Labouregets a lot of support.”

Resident Sharon Fogartysaid she’s a recent addition to theneighborhood, but found outabout the Laboure through herwork at historical preservation.

“I’ve been here about two-and-a-half years we’re now part


Boston officials joined in at the Laboure Center's annual House Tour to raise awareness of the new SnowAngels Program.


of the South Boston HistoricalSociety, so I love a lot of the his-tory and that’s why we’re talk-ing about the community of theLaboure, I really feel there’s alot of history here so I wantedto help preserve it,” she said.

Residents Matt Wells,Lauren Riley and Kelley O’Sheasaid they’re happy the Laboureis in South Boston doing thiswork and connecting the differ-ent age groups that now defineSouthie.

“We’re neighbors, we liveabout two streets over and weknew some people and we’veseen the house tour before andwe had some friends in theneighborhood and it’s a greatorganization and one of the fewneighborhood-based organiza-

tions in the city and it’s still verylocal-focused but it’s also get-ting out to the rest of the citywhich is awesome,” Wells said.“I think the Snow Angels pro-gram is much-needed in thisneighborhood with the changethat’s happening over the last 10or 15 years with a lot moreyounger people coming in anda lot of the older residents stay-ing put, sort of connecting thosetwo is a good thing in generaland if we can help clean theirstreets and their driveways,that’s really good too.”

Residents wishing to volun-teer can call the Laboure Centerfront desk directly at 617-464-8500 and also by going to theCatholic Charities website athttp://www.ccab.org/volunteer.


Around the NeighborhoodsCITYWIDE

MAIN STREETSEXPLORER

Jump on a free shuttle andvisit Main Streets in HydePark, Roslindale Village, andWest Roxbury. The MainStreets Explorer is a pilot pro-gram. We’re offering a shuttleon Dec. 7, 14, and 21 betweenthree Main Street Districts:Hyde Park, Roslindale Village,and West Roxbury.

We want riders to experi-ence the live music, restau-rants, stores, and events ineach neighborhood. Our freeshuttle is open to anyone whowants to ride. It’s an easy wayto shop, eat, and play locally.Learn more about when andwhere to pick up the shuttle atthe bottom of this page.

This pilot program is run bythe Mayor’s Office of New Ur-ban Mechanics. Through thisexperiment, they are testingways Main Street Districtscould be even more welcom-ing spaces for all.

It goes from 4 p.m.-9:30p.m. and repeats every Thurs-

day until Dec. 21, 2017. Thisservice extends to Hyde Park,Roslindale Village, and WestRoxbury Boston, MA 02136,02131, 02132. If you have anyquestions please [email protected] call 617-635-0044

ALLSTON/BRIGHTON

BOOKDISCUSSION GROUP

A book discussion meets atthe Brighton Branch Libraryon the last Wednesday of eachmonth at 11:15 a.m. The fea-tured selection for Dec. 27 willbe A Streetcar Named Desireby Tennessee Williams Copiesof the book are available at thelibrary Everyone is invited andnew members are welcome.Brighton Branch Library/40Academy Hill Road/(617)782-6032.

ESL CLASSAn ESL conversation group

meets at 12:30 p.m. everyMonday. Come practice yourlanguage skills in an informaland friendly setting with other

new English speakers.

BEGINNING INTERNETCLASS/MYSTIFIED BYTHE NET? DON’T KNOWHOW TO SURF?

Help is available on a oneon one basis to get you started.Call for an appointment andask for Alan Brighton BranchLibrary/40 Academy HillRoad/ (617) 782-6032.

HISTORY OF BOSTON’SLIBRARIES AND HOWTHE BRIGHTONBRANCH CAME TO BE

An intriguing history of theBoston’s libraries and how theBrighton Branch came to bewith Anthony Sammarco/Noted author and historian,Anthony Sammarco gives anintriguing history of Boston’slibraries and how the BrightonBranch came to be. His highlyentertaining account of the be-ginnings and ultimate fate ofthe original Holton Library—now the Brighton Branch—provides an interesting backstory to the city of Boston andits growth.

The Friends of the BrightonBranch Library and theBrighton Allston HistoricalSociety invite you to thisunique literary event. Monday,Dec. 18, 6:30 p.m. at BrightonBranch Library/40 AcademyHill Road/ (617) 782-6032

HYDE PARK

PLAY AND LEARNBLOCK PARTY

Come play, build, and learntogether at a block party – li-brary style. Playing withblocks provides opportunitiesto learn about math and sci-ence, pre-reading skills, socialskills, and motor skills. Vari-ous building blocks will beavailable including woodblocks, magnetic blocks,KAPLA blocks, soft blocks,and baby blocks. No registra-tion is required. Located at theHyde Park Branch of the Bos-ton Public Library, 35 HarvardAve., Hyde Park.

SEVENTH ANNUAL HOLI-DAY PUB CRAWL

Please join us for this yearAnnual Holiday Pub CrawlSinging warm up for the Holi-day Pub Crawl on December15th, 6:30 – 7 p.m. located atthe Riverside Theatre Works(RTW) with a champagne toastat the kick off the crawl!

This is a FREE EVENTsponsored by Hyde Park MainStreets.

Riverside Theatre Works(6:30 – 7 p.m.) 45 FairmountAve., The Switch Co-op (7 –7:30 p.m.) 45 Fairmount Ave.,Rincon Caribeno Restaurant(7:30 – 8:10 p.m.) 18Fairmount Ave., MasterMcGrath’s (8:10 – 8:50 p.m.)1154 River St., ZAZ Restau-rant (8:50 – 9:20 p.m.) 1238River St., Bacaro (9:20 – 10p.m.) 5 Fairmount Ave.,Fairmount Grille (10 p.m.) 81Fairmount Ave.

We Hope you enjoy your-selves and the holidays inHyde Park!

10TH ANNUAL TOYS FORTOTS EXTRAVAGANZA

This year marks our 10thyear of this special event. Wehave had a part in making surethousands of children wake upfeeling The Magic of Christ-mas. This night is so special toCappy and we hope that youcan be a part in creating amemorable Christmas for somany deserving children. Joinus for a night full of music,friends, spirits and lots oflaughs. All the best, Kathi andRay” Cappy’s Tavern, 11Wolcott Court, Hyde Park.December 16th @ 7:00pm-1:00am

ANNUAL HYDE PARKCHILDREN CHRISTMASPARTY

Ho, Ho, HO! Santa Clausis calling Hyde Park Childrenbetween the ages of 1 and 10years old to join him for ourAnnual Hyde Park Children’sChristmas Party, sponsored byPAL and Boston Police Dis-trict 18. Join us! Dec. 9, 2017from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. atBCLA/New Mission HightSchool Gymnasium,655 Met-ropolitan Ave., Hyde Park.

CHESS AND CHECKERSWITH CHARLIE

Children are welcome tocome and learn to play chessor checkers with CharlieCleary on Saturday afternoonsat 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. Spon-sored by the Friends of theHyde Park Branch Library. Noregistration required. Locatedat the Hyde Park Branch of theBoston Public Library.

WEST ROXBURYROSLINDALE

ANNUALHOLIDAY PARTY

Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 10a.m. – 2 p.m. Located at theBoston Lodge of Elks #10 1Morrell St., West Roxbury.THIS EVENT IS FREE!There will be great music,dancing, our famous hlidaysweater contest, and theSubaru Unveiling Ceremonyto celebrate our newest Mealson Wheels vehicle. Reserva-tions are required and acceptedon a first come, first serve ba-sis. Call reservation line 617-477-6724 and leave yourname, the full names of every-one in your party, and a phonenumber.

CELEBRATION OF THEFEAST OF OUR LADY OFGUADALUPE

On Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7p.m. please join us for a cel-ebration of the Feast of OurLady of Guadalupe. We willhave a prayer service whichwill feature a talk on Our Ladyby Sister Bárbara Gutiérrez,SND who was born and raisedin Mexico City. Sister came tothe United States 21 years agoand entered the congregationof the Sisters of Notre Damede Namur 11 years ago. Thiswill be an inspiring AdventEvening of Prayer. Come andjoin in our evening of prayerdevoted to her. Bring a

SINGLE flower to honor ourLady if you wish. There willbe an opportunity to bring it upto the altar during the service.This celebration will takeplace at St. John ChrysostomChurch, 4750 Washington St.,West Roxbury.

ADVENT PENANCESERVICE

On Sunday, Dec. 18 at 7p.m. there will be an AdventPenance Service for all Catho-lics in the West Roxbury andRoslindale area at St. JohnChrysostom Church, 4750Washington St., West Roxbury.All are welcome to receive thesacrament of Reconciliationbefore Christmas. Thisevening will include readings,songs and the sacrament itself.

HOLIDAYBOOK STROLL

The Friends of the WestRoxbury Library is hosting aHoliday Book Stroll on Thurs-day, Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Au-thors Tonya Mezrich, CaseySherman and Dave Wedge,Carter Alan, Hank PhilippiRyan, Hallie Ephron, Jay Hajj,Jane Healey, Upton Bell andRon Borges and others will bein attendance with their latestbooks, which you can purchaseand have signed while enjoy-ing refreshments and mingling.

They sign. You sip. Holidayshopping: done. Held at theWest Roxbury Library.

ROSLINDALE VILLAGEMAIN STREET HOSTS2ND ANNUAL HOLIDAYMARKET ON BIRCHSTREET

This December brings thereturn of Roslindale VillageMain Street’s Holiday Marketon Birch Street, a festive eventto bring residents, visitors, andlocal businesses together tocelebrate and shop for the sea-son. The Holiday Market willtake place on Thursday, Dec.7 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. onBirch Street between Corinthand South streets. Birch Streetwill be closed to traffic for thisspecial event.

Visitors can enjoy treatsfrom the Whoo(pie) Wagonfood truck, free hot chocolate,holiday classics sung by car-oling group Songful Artists,and play-based activities forall ages, in collaboration withlocal group Roslindale Wantsto Play. JP Honk Band will per-form throughout the Villageand at the Commuter Rail Sta-tion, and the folk-rock bandRock ‘n Roll Dreamers willplay inside Emerald SocietyBuilding during the event.

The Holiday Market willalso feature over 20 visitingvendors, offering everythingfrom French soaps, to art andprints, pottery, locally-madehoneys and sauces, jewelryand accessories, children’sbooks and clothes, and more.Vendors will be located insidethe Emerald Society Buildingat 10 Birch St., as well as twovacant storefronts at 22 BirchSt. and 756 South St.

CalendarCalendarCalendarCalendarCalendarContinued on page 14


City looking to modernize Amory Elderly developmentJefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Boston City CouncilCommittee on GovernmentOperations met last week anddiscussed a home-rule petitionthat would, in theory, increaseaffordable units in the AmoryStreet Public Housing Devel-opment.

Through a proposal fromthe Boston Housing Authority(BHA) to renovate the prop-erty, the city is looking to ex-empt itself from Common-wealth of Massachusetts LawChapter 149, which requiresthat the BHA to go through anexpensive bidding process forcontractors and subcontrac-tors. The exemption, which iscovered by federal law, wouldallow the developer to selectthe contractors and the con-tractors to select subcontrac-tors (under BHA regulations)independently. It would alsonot require a new bidding pro-cess if (more likely when) de-sign changes to the redevelop-ment come into play in the fu-ture to create overall cost sav-ings on the project.

Kate Bennett, Deputy Ad-ministrator for Planning andSustainability for the BHA,said they are also applying forthis exemption for the LennoxStreet Public Housing Devel-

opment, and with the cost-sav-ings from this exemption, theywould be able to renovate andrehabilitate both developmentswithout displacing residents.

“Without the legislation,the projects must adhere to anextremely-structured sub-bid-ding process with separategeneral contractor and subcon-tractor selection,” she said.“The GC has no control inchoosing its subs, and the BHAand its developer has no abil-ity to value its engineer or re-designs should costs increasebeyond the funding availabil-ity, which frequently what hap-pens in redevelopment. Thevalue engineering is where sig-nificant savings can be madeby allowing the developers tonegotiate pricing with varioussubcontractors. Under existingstatutes, changes in designmade to reduce costs may re-quire the bid process begin allover again, putting projectsand funding at risk.”

Bennett said the redevelop-ment of both properties is mosturgent.

“Both the Amory andLennox properties are in dis-tress, they are in need of mod-ernization,” she said. “Ourresidents who live there, manyof whom are children and eld-erly, deserve to have adequatehousing. The aim for Amory is

to preserve the existing publichousing units and the genera-tion of up to $3 million in costsubsidy for new mixed-incomeunits that will be added to thesite. This will make for a morecomprehensive rehabilitationof the existing 199-unit Amorybuilding without demolitionand without displacing the cur-rent resident population.”

Bennett said the final de-sign will include 558 units, ofwhich 215 will be market rateand 343 will be workforce andaffordable units. She said thisis a project where they will beadding net-affordable units tothe site in addition to market

units to make the project fea-sible.

“Our developers, Commu-nity Builders, Jamaica PlainNeighborhood DevelopmentCorporation and Urban Edge,are working closely with theresidents on this and the resi-dents will remain onsite dur-ing the renovations,” she said.

Bennett said all BHA regu-lations regarding the use of lo-cal workers, women-ownedbusinesses and minority-owned businesses will bepassed down to the developers.

“There’s also a number ofBHA regulatory and policyprovisions in our Request for

Advocates are pushing for new rules regarding the Amory Street development in Jamaica Plain to allowdevelopers to cut some red tape.

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Proposals (RFP) that we trans-fer as requirements to our de-velopment teams as they selectcontractors and then to thecontractors themselves,” shesaid. “Hiring of women andminority, both for workforcewithin the subs but alsowomen and minority-ownedbusinesses, is a big part of therequirements that get trans-lated from the BHA to the de-veloper to the contractor, reallyall this allows is there to be aselection by the GC of its subs,and they can therefore chosesubs that are going to respondto those requirements as well.”


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The Bulletin Newspapers andThe Boston People’s Voicepublishes obituaries from in-formation supplied by funeralhomes. Relatives and friendsalso may supplement infor-mation by e-mailing [email protected] Monday at 1 p.m. Photosalso will be accepted.

Obituary Policy

result of a one-time payment to the city following the completenegotiation and extension of leases of old City Hall.”

Ciommo said these funds will go a long way to seeing therecreation center through.

“It is clear that this renegotiation was a win for the city andthe $2 million in revenues will help close the gap in funding somemuch-needed community investment,” he said.

District 6 City Councilor Matt O’Malley said the construc-tion of the center will help to bring much-needed activities to thecity’s youth, in Jamaica Plain and beyond.

“This will be absolutely transformative for the youth of theCity of Boston,” he said. “For decades now the Kelly Rink hasbeen a temporary outdoor facility for youth recreation and learn-ing opportunities, it’s been wonderful but it’s time we had a per-manent facility.”

O’Malley said this initiative has been a long time coming forhis district.

“This has been a labor of love that predates my election to thecouncil seven years ago, and because of great leadership of Ur-ban Edge and other great nonprofits of the Commonwealth and,most importantly, this $2 million commitment from the City ofBoston and this mayor will be absolutely transformative,” he said.“We’re in the end zone, this will get us to our goal. This is re-markable.”

O’Malley said that activities for youth in troubled areas of thecity are at least a way to help get kids off the streets and intomore productive actions. He said he doesn’t believe it would be asilver bullet for crime in the neighborhood, and thinks it couldhelp. He brought up the original announcement of the funds fromOctober, where literally across the street 16-year-old GerrodBrown was fatally shot.

“On that day, just across the street of the Mildred Hailey Hous-ing Development, a young man was killed,” he said. “I’m notnaive enough to contend that had this youth center been there,that life would have been saved. However, it is important tonote that this will give opportunities for kids to learn to skate, tolearn to get exercise, to work.”

The council also voted to permanently enact the Acoustic onMain Ordinance, which allows any establishment to provideacoustic live music to its patrons, as long as there are no morethan five performers.

“This ordinance is just a very minor amendment that wouldremove the sunset clause on the ordinance the council passed lastyear,” said City Council President and ordinance sponsor MichelleWu. “We’ve heard from businesses and Main Streets directorsthat this has directly meant that not only are the Friday and Satur-day nights the busy nights, but when they are able to have spokenword or a local band there, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, andThursday nights are also filled.”

Wu said making the ordinance permanent would allow busi-nesses to cut through regulations and fees to offer more enter-tainment options in the city, as many local music venues are find-ing it hard to pay the bills in the city’s boom of housing growthand property taxes.

“We’re trying to celebrate and build our arts community. We’retrying to support our small businesses, again the ordinance re-moved any permitting licensing registration fees, red tape forbusinesses to be able to offer acoustic live entertainment for upto five performers, just something that doesn’t disturb the abut-ting neighbors,” she said. “We’ve not received any complaintsabout this. We had passed this with a one-year sunset clause andI’m asking you to go over and remove that.”

District 5 City Councilor Tim McCarthy said businesses inhis district have made full use of the ordinance.

“Again, I have three Main Streets in District 5 and all threehave utilized the Acoustic on Main to their Benefit,” he said.“Sunday mornings at Fairmount Grill, Sunday morning JazzBrunch, it’s all because of Councilor Wu; it’s a great morning,you have to get there early and chicken and waffles is the go-to.”

The council also voted to accept a donation for the benefit ofthe City of Boston of three bicycles for the use by District C-6 ofthe Boston Police Department in South Boston. Sponsor and Dis-trict 4 City Councilor Andrea Campbell said the bicycles willallow for continual contact and visibility within the South Bos-ton neighborhood and help improve the day-to-day lives of resi-dents, workers and visitors in the area, which will further facili-tate the district’s services and benefit the residents of Boston.

Council continued from page 1

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


One River continued from page 2

St. Jude’s NovenaMay the Sacred Heart of Jesusbe adored, glorified, loved andpreserved throughout theworld, now and forever. Sa-cred Heart of Jesus pray for us.St. Jude, worker of miracles,pray for us. St. Jude, helper ofthe hopeless, pray for us. Saythis prayer 9 times a day. Bythe 9th day your prayer will beanswered. It has never beenknown to fail. Publicationmust be promised. Thank youSt. Jude. My Prayers were an-swered.

In gratitude for helping me.—P.L.D.

‘Hey, I’ve got this motor oil.I’d like to just drop it in thatcatch basin…’ that it ends upin the river,” he said.

In terms of what the com-munity can do to help, Cookerecommended that people becareful as to what goes intostorm drains, that they reportnoticeable problems with theRiver to the Boston Water andSewer Commission, that theyvolunteer as water testers or onRiver clean-ups and that theyadvocate on the River’s behalfto their elected officials.

Following Cooke, North-eastern University’s CaroleMcCauley, working under anEnvironmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) grant dealingwith the Boston Harbor eco-system network, gave somebrief details on the EPA’s in-volvement with the Neponset.

Having accepted an invita-tion from the Commonwealth,the EPA is currently conduct-ing its own investigation andtesting of the site – includingmuddy sections the riverbedheavily polluted with PCBs(polychlorinated biphenyl).

According to McCauley,based on its findings, the EPAmay make a recommendationthat the River become a“superfund” site which will“open the door for some sortsof clean ups.”

If the River does get addedto this national priorities list,it will be about a year fromnow. McCauley also made sureto mention that the clean-upprocess can take from 10-20years.

She also added the impor-tance of project advocacy toelected officials, since statesare responsible for at least 10percent of clean-up expenses.Nonetheless, McCauley waspositive.

“Even though it seems likethere’s a long road ahead, it’sreally exciting progress that’sbeing looked into right now,”she said.

The Boston Water andSewer Commission sent tworepresentatives to the meeting,

Director of Planning andSustainability Charlie Jewelland Project Manager AmySchofield.

Schofield delivered a de-tailed presentation that inmany ways complementedCooke’s. She concentrated onthe BWSC’s ongoing efforts tofind and fix illicit connectionsbetween sewer drains andstorm drains that, when left un-addressed, pollute the river.

She also spoke of the on-going inspections of the 69 to-tal sub-catchments (a catch ba-sin drainage network) that dis-charge stormwater into theNeponset. Since 2004, inspec-tions for 57 of them are com-plete, with the remaining 12scheduled to be finished by2019. These subsystems, how-ever, are open to re-evaluation.

The question and answersession touched on areas ofeach presentation, with eachspeaker at one point or anotheraddressing an issue presentedby the audience on index cardsread by Muhammad. Manywere directed at the BWSC,with contamination the focalpoint.

In her commentary on thisproblem, Schofield spoke of thedifficulty in finding exactlywhere it comes from, despitethe ability to narrow potentialorigin points down.

Jewell, silent duringSchofield’s presentation, had

more to say about these prob-lems.

“The investigation processrequires certain weather condi-tions,” Jewell said. “Sandbag-ging (a method of determiningillicit runoff in a stormwaterdrain) requires 96 hours of fore-casted dry weather. That’ssometimes very hard to get inBoston.”

He also revisited an ideathat Cooke presented to reducecontamination: “green infra-structure” – specifically, raingardens that would allow stormwater to be absorbed into theground, letting natural pro-cesses treat it before it makesit to the river.

During the Q & A, MarcNascarella, Director of the En-vironmental Toxicology Pro-gram for the Department of Pub-lic Health, encouraged Riverabutting residents to add signagewarning against fishing, whichhe acknowledged as a possibleissue for an immigrant popula-tion.

Following up onNascarella’s comments, Cookeencouraged attendees to markup a huge map of the Neponsetthat had been taped to the wallwith suggested signage points.

The conversation continuedwell after the meeting hadended, with Hyde Park andMattapan residents lingering insmall groups around each otherand different presenters, whileothers marked coordinates on themap, planning further as to theRiver that ran a stone’s throw away.

Community memberCommunity memberCommunity memberCommunity memberCommunity memberthanks E-1thanks E-1thanks E-1thanks E-1thanks E-13 P3 P3 P3 P3 Policeoliceoliceoliceolice

The BPD said the Department is especially proud of District E-13Officers Billy Jones and George Kayes and the community memberwho took the time to write the following: If you live in Jamaica Plainthen you probably recognize these two lovable, affable, congenialfellows. These two police officers serve and protect 02130, and theymaintain order and prevent mayhem. But you'd be mistaken if youthought that was the extent of it. If you think they're just two Bostoncops walking the beat, let me tell you, there is way more more sub-stance to this pair than you can imagine. I give you Community Ser-vice Officers George Kayes and Billy Jones of the BPD and my heart!I first got to know George and Billy while attending JP's weekly Tues-day Hot Dog Night on South Street. Sure, they'd eat a frankfurterwhile attending the event, but deep down in my heart and soul, Iknow that these two came for way more than just the food. Theycame for the kids of the neighborhood who were hungry for somepositive attention and great role models. When George and Billy showup in their cruiser, the kids go crazy! Cheering and yelling that Of-ficer George and Officer Billy have arrived.

COURTESY PHOTO

Volunteers at September’s Hyde Park Neponset River Clean-Up. Thurs-day night’s meeting concentrated more on the extremely harmful chemi-cal and sewage pollution plaguing the River.

PHOTO BY MATT MACDONALD

Vivian Morris marks a map of the Neponset River. Residents of HydePark and Mattapan met last Thursday to hear about and discuss waysto try to reduce pollution in the Neponset River. PHOTO BY MATT MACDONALD


Agreementscontinued from page 1

bring this to the IAG. But whydidn’t [BPDA Director] BrianGolden say this in his letter lastSeptember?”

“ Two floors of corporateleasing,” he said. “Who wasminding the store when thiswas subleased?”

Golden wrote in his replyof Sept. 19 that “The conceptof corporate leasing was neverdiscussed. As a result there isno prohibition regarding short-term corporate rentals in thecooperative agreement.”

Michael Christopher saidthere is no way the BPDA canregulate this.

“Legally we cannot regu-late that,”he said.“We cannotput that [corporate leasing] ina cooperation agreement docu-ment. We cannot legally en-force who it is rented towhether short-term lease orstudent housing.”

“This is no excuse,” saidMoloney. “If this is real whywasn’t it in the directors let-ter?”

JPNC member BruceMarks was incredulous

“ This is hard toimagine,”he said. “We’re tak-ing you at your word here. Youshould have come preparedwith documents to supportthis. We expect you to get backto us with this ruling on shortterm leasing in writing.”

Christopher agreed.“ We will get with the

BPDA counsel in a week foryour answer,” he said.

Halquis, who said he beganduring the Menino administra-tion, explained the back-ground.

“ The time line is impor-tant. I take this criticismpersonally,”he said“There waschaos in the last six months ofthe Menino administration.There were two BRA (sic)meetings a month. A lot wasdone in the waning months thatwere clearly out of order. A lotof mistakes were made. We’redoing everything we can to cor-rect this.”

“The city’s changing,”Halquist said. “The zoning codeneeds to be changed.”

Christopher said the city isworking on a regulatory tool forshort-term leases.

“ Either by executive order orby zoning change, that’s wherewe’re at,” he said. “ Short-termrentals is a hugely growing field.It’s a new ay of using space. Someof what’s driving this is there arenot enough hotel rooms.”

“ Airbnb and short-term cor-porate leasing didn’t exist a fewyears ago. Airbnbs go into a cityand become very successful andthen the city has to catch up andmake policy later,”Christopheradmitted.

“ This is the problem facingthe Walsh administration” he wenton. “Most problems are with 30-day rentals or longer. And enforce-

ment is very difficult. But a lot ofeyes are on this now. If 105 SouthHuntington was in front of us nowit would be looked at differently.”

Tim Davis is BPDA HousingPolicy Manager. He said that theBPDA cant restrict the use of pri-vate units.

“ It [105 South Huntington]doesn’t seem like a hotel,”he said“There’s no concierge or check indesk,” Davis said. “The owner is notcrossing the line- whatever that lineis- for short-term leases.”

The BPDA cant regulate Airbnbor corporate leasing but the commu-nity can.

“ Mission Hill has gotten privateagreements,”said Davis.“That’s a wayforward, but it was between the citi-zens and the developer.”

Neighborhood Council memberBernie Doherty was chair of the zon-ing committee in the 1990’s.

“ The impression I get,” hesaid,“is you go around the com-munity and get your buildingsapproved like the JPRox pro-cess.”

Halquist disagreed.“ The BPDA board ap-

proved all the developments onWashington Street before it hadvoted on the JP Rox Plan,”hesaid. “JP Rox was an eighteenmonth process. Meeting aftermeeting. Non-stop. It was sup-posed to be six months. It wasextended again and again.”

JPNC member Kyle Smithasked about the affordablehousing commitment by Cedar

Valley Holding Company tobuild forty-two off-site units aspart of its 105 South Hunting-ton approval.

“Where does that stand ofthe $6 million to build off siteunits?” he asked. Davis ex-plained the process,

“ The Inclusionary Develop-ment Policy is written by me, “he said.” It’s consistent city -wide. We’re working moreclosely with Fair Housing. Thelottery system is changing.We’ve invigorated that. We’vehad a lot of success. We’ve addedmore staff.”

It has been difficult for CedarValley to comply with its afford-able housing commitment offorty-two units although it’s build-ing is fully leased.

“I’m on the phone with themevery week,”said Davis.” Thereis a timeline. They have an interim

milestone. On Jan. 7 they’ll gettheir full occupancy permit, butthey haven’t found a location yetfor the off site units. It’s been aheadache.”

Davis added that Cedar Val-ley might put its $ 6 million af-fordable commitment with the125 Amory St. development.

Christopher said that CedarValley is in compliance with someof its agreements.

“ Two months ago,” he said”they made their final paymentto the Emerald Necklace Con-servancy. And $200,000 hasbeen committed to a trafficstudy.”

“But we really haven’ttouched on affordablehousing,”he admitted. “Arepeople living in the units incompliance? There’s ton of en-ergy being put into this to getas much together as possible.”

About 150 people took to the streets on Nov. 21 to protest the plannedeviction of two Latino-owned businesses on Washington Street.

COURTESY PHOTO


do this well because we’veseen it done well in other cit-ies and towns. We haveworked closely with ourneighbors, we know what therecipe is and how we can dothis and the benefits cannot bechallenged,” he said. “Let’swrite the Boston‘greenprint.’”

At-Large City CouncilorAyanna Pressley acknowl-edged that the main point ofopposition in the city has beenthat this would impact low-in-come families, who may seea 5 cent increase per grocerybag as a burden.

“Should this ordinancepass, I’d encourage the Cityof Boston to explore ways toease the burden of what willreally require a cultural shiftby providing free, reusabletote bags at accessible andconvenient venues throughoutthe city for our low-incomeresidents and seniors,” shesaid. “This ordinance is acritical step towards a greener,cleaner and more sustainableBoston.”

Matt Seaholm, the execu-tive director of the AmericanProgressive Bag Alliance,said the passage of the ordi-nance was disappointing andbelieves the mayor shouldveto the legislation outright sothat the council will have togo back and rework it.

“It was seemingly abackroom deal that transpiredover the Thanksgiving holi-day weekend,” he said. “Be-fore that point we were underthe impression that there wasopposition in the Mayor’s Of-fice and City Council, but asit turned out there were somevocal members who weremore interested in getting afeel-good ordinance throughand gain political capital thanmake good policy.”

Seaholm said it wasn’t fairto the consumer. The ordi-nance would require busi-nesses to use reusable, thick

Plastic Bags continued from page 1plastic bags instead of thesingle-use bags currently incirculation.

“What it ultimately does ispunish those who can least af-ford it,” he said. “That 5-centfee might not mean a lot tocity council members, but Ican tell you a low incomefamily in Boston who has topay 50 cents every time theydo their weekly grocery shop-ping it adds up, and it’s no-ticeable to those who can leastafford it.”

Bradford Verter, Directorat the Mass Green Network,said that residents are alreadypaying for their single-useplastic bags, though they maynot know it.

“Plastic bags are not freeand we all pay for them. Theycost grocery stores 4 centseach on average and that’sfolded into the overhead andthe price of goods, it’s justbeen a hidden cost and one ofthe things this does is makehidden costs visible,” he said.“When that happens, residentsbring their own reusable plas-tic bags very quickly.”

Seaholm countered thatthe cost of the single-use bagsis nowhere near as high as thethicker counterparts.

“I guarantee they are not asexpensive as 5 cents, many ofthose bags are as cheap as halfa cent. You’re talking abouttaking a penny and increasingit by seven times the thick-ness,” he said. “Typically,those bags for many retailersare going to be more than the5 cents and that will heap ad-ditional cost onto the retailer.”

Verter said that the city iscurrently paying much highercosts for the single-use plas-tic bags in terms of the prob-lems they create when they hitthe recycling stream, whichrecycling facilities are notprepared to deal with.

“The big problem is thatbags gum up the works in recy-cling machinery at these big

sorting machines that are run atrecycling facilities and they justget totally jammed up withplastic bags. They have to hirepeople in eight-hour shifts tocut away the bags with box cut-ters or utility knives and theylose all this time,” he said. “Ifplastic bags get mixed in, thenthat contaminates an entireshipment and they have to hiresomeone to sort it or just dumpit all. It’s a lot of wasted moneyand lost opportunity and thosefunds could go to social pro-grams or to any other thing. Itcosts taxpayers and anythingthat costs taxpayers moneyhurts low-income residents themost.”

Seaholm pointed out thatplastic bags do not make up alarge percentage of the city’swaste, but Verter said that wasteis determined in tonnage.

“It’s certainly not as muchtonnage as refrigerators, I cantell you that,” Verter said.

City Council President andAt-Large City CouncilorMichelle Wu said the ordi-nance, if anything else, is amixed bag.

“So it’s been an incrediblehonor to be part of this processand many others that the coun-cil has been working on to re-ally plan and take actions forour next generations here in thecity,” she said. “This is a hardproblem the city has been fac-ing, representative of the largerproblem of climate change andclimate injustices that our coun-try and the world is facing. Tobe totally clear, our current eco-nomic system, our current wayof life and our society is headedtowards a crisis point in termsof the global impact of a warm-ing planet and changingweather patterns that we aregoing to see directly affectingBoston’s bottom line and ourresidents’ quality of life. Thisplastic bag ordinance is an ex-ample of a small step that iscompletely within the city’scontrol to take.”

it.”Maria Perez and her daugh-

ter, Rianna, came out for oneperson and one person alone.

“My daughter really wantsto see Santa Claus,” she said.“This is our first time and wejust heard about it from a flyerfrom Main Streets.”

Jose Maldonado and hisdaughter, Jaydaliz, said theycame out to sing with the GirlScouts and raise holiday cheer.

“We’re excited,” Jaydalizsaid, her father adding that shehad already asked for too muchfor Christmas. “I asked for morethan 15 things.”

“You asked for about 30,”Maldonado said.

“Yeah, that’s why I saidmore than 15,” she replied.

Gwende Ruano said usuallyshe and her daughter go back toGuatemala for the holidays tosee their family, but she wantedher to experience some localholiday festivities as well.

“My daughter, she lovesChristmas,” she said. “I wanther to see it here too, and she’sexcited she loves Santa.”

State Rep. Kevin Honan saidhe’s come every year in the 31years he’s been in the neighbor-hood.

“I come every year, andpeople love to come out to seeSanta Claus, this is one of those

Lighting continued from page 1

Residents lined up for cookies and cocoa, provided by the Elks andlocal businesses.


very special events in AllstonBrighton, and it’s great thatBrighton Main Streets, the Elks,Rockland Trust all come to-gether to support this wonder-ful event,” he said.

Honan added that he shouldhave remembered to weargloves this year.

“But I have this lovely scarf,so I’ll be warm and okay,” hesaid with a laugh.

Boston Mayor’s Office ofNeighborhood Services AllstonBrighton Representative, War-ren O’Reilly, said he’s amazedat the turnout this year, and thatit has at least doubled in com-munity participation.

“It’s much bigger than lastyear’s, you can really see thework that BMS and variouscommunity leaders, you can re-ally see it working,” he said. “Itjust seems like the work ofBMS is getting out.”

Resident Fernada Campbellsaid she’s happy to do anythingfor her daughter.

“I think it’s something nicefor my kid to see the lights andhanging out with the commu-nity,” she said.

Also, the Rockland TrustBrighton Center Branch will beproviding a donation bin fornew or gently used warm win-ter clothing for children andadults.


HELP WANTEDIndra USA, Inc. seeks Banking Systems Analyst in Boston,

MA. Qualified candidate must have Bachelor’s degree (or equiva-lent degree established through formal credential evaluation basedon combined education and experience) in Computer Science orrelated field; 1 yr experience as banking analyst using SantanderTechnology platform, including remote team coordination andend customer solutions; and demonstrated proficiency with CO-BOL, CICS, JCL, DB2, SQL, and CRM. Please send resumeand cover letter, including salary requirements, to HR Director,Indra USA, Inc., 800 Brickell Ave, Suite 1270, Miami, FL 33131.

CLASSIFIEDS“The Holiday Market cre-

ates a festive atmospherewhere local retailers, artists,restaurants, and neighbors cancome together on a chilly nightand warm up with music andhot cocoa — all while shop-ping locally in the heart ofRoslindale Village,” saidRVMS Executive Director AliaHamada Forrest.

The surrounding shops andaward-winning restaurants willfeature special sales and menusduring the market. Birch StreetHouse & Garden and JoanneRossman offer unique gifts,and the Boston Cheese Cellarwill be serving mulled wineand their famous Swissraclette.

As a special attraction thisyear, owners of the newly-an-nounced brewery, DistractionBrewing, will be at the site oftheir future business at 2Belgrade Ave. for a meet andgreet.

ONE-ON-ONECOMPUTER ASSISTANCE

One-On-One Computer As-sistance are on Wednesdaysfrom 3-4 p.m. Please call 617-325-3147 to reserve a 30-minute informal session with alibrarian. Bring your device oruse a library laptop (librarycard required). Beginners arewelcome. This is a free service.

FREE DROP-INHOMEWORK HELP

Boston Public Library loca-tions offer free after-schoolhomework help andmentorship provided bytrained, high-achieving highschool students. HomeworkHelp is available Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, andThursday afternoons between3:30 and 5:30 p.m., Sept. 18through May 24. Open to stu-dents in grades K-8. No regis-tration is required. Program isnot available on Boston Pub-lic School holidays, early-re-lease days, or long weekends.

Homework Help mentortrainings provided by HarvardUniversity’s Public SchoolPartnerships Team, the devel-opers of SmartTalk, a programthat uses research-based tools,strategies, and resources tosupport students during home-work time. Located at the WestRoxbury Branch of the BostonPublic Library.

SANTA SCAMPER5K ROAD RACE

Race Day Registration andPre/Post Race Festivities Reg-istration and pre/post race fes-tivities at the Irish Social Club,119 Park St. in West Roxbury,just a block from the race start/finish. Our Race Day Logisticspage will keep you up to date!Race Course Start/finish atParkway Community YMCA.Rolling course thru the WestRoxbury neighborhood of Bos-ton. Chip timing

On Dec. 10, 2017 the 5Kwill start at 11 a.m. The KidsRun at 10:15 a.m.

The Parkway Running Club(PRC) of West Roxbury hashosted an annual Santa Scam-per 5k road race since 1994.This race raises money for theBoston Globe Santa Fund, acharity to support children ofneed in Massachusetts.

Calendarcontinued from page 8

Legal Notices

Legal Notices

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.

Commonwealth of MassachusettsThe Trial Court Probate and Family Court

INFORMAL PROBATEPUBLICATION NOTICE DOCKET No.SU16P2643

Estate of: Helen P. Canavan Suffolk DivisionAlso Known As:Date of Death: December 2, 2015

To all persons interested in the above-captioned estate, by Petition ofPetitioner Phyllis A.C. Swett of Abington, MAPhyllis A.C. Swett of Abington, MA

has been informally appointed as the Personal Representative of the estate to servewithout surety on the bond.

The estate is being administered under informal procedure by the PersonalRepresentative under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code without supervisionby the Court. Inventory and accounts are not required to be filed with the Court, butinterested parties are entitled to notice regarding the administration from the PersonalRepresentative and can petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, includingdistribution of assets and expenses of administration. Interested parties are entitled topetition the Court to institute formal proceedings and to obtain orders terminating orrestricting the powers of Personal Representatives appointed under informal procedure.A copy of the Petition and Will, if any, can be obtained from the Petitioner.

Hyde Park Bulletin, 12/07/2017

Commonwealth of MassachusettsThe Trial Court – Probate and Family Court Department

SUFFOLK Division Docket No. SU17C0302CA

NOTICE OF PETITION FOR Suffolk Probate and Family CourtCHANGE OF NAME 24 New Chardon St.

Boston, MA 02114617-788-8300

In the Matter of: Travelle Michael BenjaminOf: Hyde Park, MA.

To all person interested in petition described:A petition has been presented by Tashanna C. Williams requesting that:

Travelle Michael Benjamin be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows:Travelle Michael Williams

IF YOU DESIRE TO OBJECT THERETO, YOU OR YOUR ATTORNEY MUSTFILE A WRITTEN APPEARANCE IN SAID COURT AT: Boston

ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON:01/18/2018WITNESS, Hon. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this CourtDate: November 15, 2017

Felix D. Arroyo, Register of ProbateHyde Park Bulletin, 12/07/2017




Boston, MA 02114617-788-8300

In the Matter of: Christopher FigueroaOf: Boston, MA.

To all person interested in petition described:A petition has been presented by Christopher Figueroa requesting that:

Christopher Figueroa be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows:Christopher Villar Flores


ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON:12/21/2017WITNESS, Hon. Brian J. Dunn, First Justice of this CourtDate: October 25, 2017

Felix D. Arroyo, Register of ProbateBoston Bulletin, 12/07/2017




Boston, MA 02114617-788-8300

In the Matter of: Elizabeth Anna AleksandroffOf:

To all person interested in petition described:A petition has been presented by Elizabeth Anna Aleksandroff requesting that:

Elizabeth Anna Aleksandroff be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows:Skye Eres Davis


ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON:12/28/2017WITNESS, Hon. Brian J. Dunn, First Justice of this CourtDate: November 24, 2017





Boston, MA 02114617-788-8300

In the Matter of: Kathleen Mary LaytonOf: Boston, MA

To all person interested in petition described:A petition has been presented by Kathleen M. Layton requesting that:

Kathleen Mary Layton be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows:Maridelia Onora Rowan


ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON:12/21/2017WITNESS, Hon. Brian J. Dunn, First Justice of this CourtDate: November 20, 2017



SUFFOLK Division Docket No.SU17D2524DRDIVORCE SUMMONS BY PUBLICATION AND MAILING

Jocelyn Santiago Montero vs. Francisco Albert Hilario SanchezSuffolk Probate and Family Court, 24 New Chardon St., Boston, MA 02114

To the Defendant:The Plaintiff has filed a Complaint for Divorce requesting that the Court grant a

divorce for irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.The Complaint is on file at the Court.An Automatic Restraining Order has been entered in this matter preventing you

from taking any action which would negatively impact the current financial status ofeither party. SEE Supplemental Probate Court Rule 411.

You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon: Jocelyn Santiago Montero,8 Buckingham St., Hyde Park, MA 02136 your answer, if any, on or before 01/25/2018. If you fail to do so, the court will proceed to the hearing and adjudication of thisaction. You are also required to file a copy of your answer, if any, in the office of theRegister of this Court.

Witness, Hon. Brian J. Dunn, First Justice of this Court.November 22, 2017

Felix D. Arroyo, Register of Probate CourtHyde Park Bulletin, 12/07/2017

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATIONSTATE OF NORTH CAROLINA – DURHAM COUNTY

IN THE DISTRICT COURT17CVD1032

BETHEA VS. NOTICE-BETHEA

Lorraine Notice-Bethea:Take notice that a pleading seeking a Final Divorce, Equitable Distribution, &

Interim Distribution with attorney’s fees has been filed in the above-entitled action.The nature of the relief being sought is as follows:

That the bonds of matrimony which heretofore existed between the parties bedissolved and that the Plaintiff be granted an absolute divorce from the Defendant.That the Court determine the marital and divisible property of the parties and make anequitable distribution of said property and grant an unequal distribution in favor ofthe Plaintiff pursuant to N.C.G.S. §50-20 et. seq.; That the Court make an interimdistribution that the marital home is Plaintiff’s sole property and that the Defendantbe instructed to take steps necessary to have her name removed from the deed; Thatthe Court order Defendant to pay Plaintiff’s reasonable attorney fees; That the costs ofthis action be taxed to Defendant; That the Court grants such other relief to the Plaintiffas the Court may deem just and proper. You are required to make defense to suchpleading not later than January 14, 2018 and upon failure to do so the party seekingservice against you will apply to the court for the relief sought.

This the 30th day of November, 2017.Nicholas DowgulFelton Banks, PLLC7406 Chapel Hill Rd., Suite HRaleigh, NC 27607

West Roxbury/Roslindale Bulletin,11/30/2017, 12/07/2017, 12/14/2017


Letters continued from page 4

GRATEFUL TOREP. LIZ MALIA

To the Editor:We are grateful to and Rep-

resentative Liz Malia for support-ing the We the People Act(H.1926 and S.379). Not only isRep Malia a co-sponsor but she

also took action this month bysending a joint letter to commit-tee chairs hearing the bill urginga positive report. This bill wouldhave Massachusetts, the cradle ofAmerican Democracy; join theother five states (Vermont, Cali-fornia, Illinois, New Jersey and

Rhode Island) that have alreadyvoted to propose a constitutionalamendment to overturn the Su-preme Court’s disastrous Citi-zens United decision. Until Wethe People, through our electedstate representatives and senators,exercise our constitutional author-

ity to amend the Constitution inthis way, our political landscapewill continue to be dominated bymulti-national corporations, bil-lionaires and other powerful spe-cial interests, and government of,by and for the people will continueto be a mirage. Amending theConstitution is a heavy lift, but ithas been done 27 times before.Without constitutional amend-

ments, former slaves, women, andpeople old enough to serve in themilitary would not have a voicein public affairs. Now it’s our turnto live up to the first three wordsof the Constitution, “We thePeople,” and make our govern-ment responsive to the needs ofall the people, not just the wealthyfew.

Laura GangRoslindale


Documents

Boston Bulletin · O’Malley said the unanimous ... days of the Menino adminis-tration and “a lot of mistakes were made. ... What began as genial intro-