MEPA/EEA Secretary's Response to 1170 Soldiers Field Rd ENF

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act/Energy and Environmental Affairs (MEPA/EEA)  response to the 1170 Soldiers Field Rd Environmental Notification Form (ENF) can be found at this link: http://users.neo.registeredsite.com/5/4/8/20264845/assets/MEPA-EEA_Secretary_Response_1170_Soldiers_Field_Rd_ENF.pdf 

The Secretary has determined that the proponents will have to file a mandatory Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).

For those who appreciate a deeper understanding of the project's impact, I would suggest page 15 which is an index of the comment letters submitted by various stakeholders followed by the actual letters.

At the city of Boston level, comments are due by November 4, 2021 to the proponent's latest filings with the BPDA (Project Notification Form (PNF).

For those writing comment letters, the comment letters submitted as part of the Commonwealth's process can be extremely helpful in framing your thoughts.

http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/1170-soldiers-field-road

Tony

[Eva Webster]

Many thanks to Tony for forwarding information about upcoming MEPA review of the 1179 SFR project. It’s much appreciated. It’s encouraging that the state is stepping in to evaluate environmental impacts. I hope it has some teeth.

 

During the presentation last night, I was surprised (since I hadn’t paid enough attention to this project before) that nearly the entire 6+ acre development site will be excavated for an underground garage.

 

(By the way, this is exactly what this developer, National Development, did when they built their large development in Cleveland Circle, where Cleveland Circle Cinema and Applebee’s used to be.  The interior courtyard -- the space between the new buildings -- sits on top of the garage and it is just a paved area. The windows of one building look directly into the windows of the other – not a tree between them. The project has not contributed any green space to the neighborhood – though it made a donation to Cassidy Park improvement. I would have preferred if it did both.)

 

So what are the consequences when an entire site that is going to have multiple buildings gets excavated for underground parking?  It means there is not enough permeable ground left that can absorb water from rain and melting snow, and naturally support urban trees.

 

The BPDA has no problem with such projects because they don’t really care about creating conditions for healthy, lasting trees (or they care in principle, but definitely not in practice). They are happy with development plans showing what are essentially large containers/planting beds that are sufficient for shrubs and grasses – but that is not real green open space that large projects should provide.

 

Projects with no permeable surfaces also greatly reduce (and sometimes completely stop) water reaching green spaces on adjacent or nearby private and public properties (including sidewalk areas that are supposed to have sidewalk trees).

 

And that is how little by little large parts of A-B (and Boston) are becoming devoid of much needed tree canopy.  Candidates for elected offices in Boston talk about the need for trees, and pledge that more trees will be planted – but if trees have no access to water, you can plant them all you want, and they will not thrive.  Just look what happened to many trees along the New Balance development on Guest Street.

 

Large projects are developed by wealthy players who should be contributing to the tree canopy in the area.  Right now, they largely make themselves exempt from that responsibility.

 

And our planning and zoning initiatives should not be just about FAR/height/uses, but also about protecting the amount of permeable surfaces – since that is key to having a healthy, green, and environmentally responsible neighborhood.

 

Eva

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act/Energy and Environmental Affairs (MEPA/EEA)  response to the 60 Guest St Notice of Project Change (NPC) can be found at this link: http://users.neo.registeredsite.com/5/4/8/20264845/assets/MEPA-EEA_Secretary_Response_60_Guest_St.pdf 

The Secretary has determined that the project change does not require a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Comment letters submitted by various stakeholders begin on page 9.

At the city of Boston level, the comment period ended on September 10, 2021 to the proponent's latest filings with the BPDA (Notice of Project Change (NPC)).

http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/boston-landing

Tony

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Harvard Must Abolish Legacy Admissions (Tarun Timalsina, The Harvard Crimson Op Ed: October 26, 2021) 

Amherst College’s recent decision to abolish its legacy admissions has justifiably been met with cheerful enthusiasm. The college’s president finally admitted that the long-standing practice of giving preference to children of alumni in admissions “limits educational opportunity,” even as the dean of admissions declared that the college wanted to be a leader “in policies and programs that support access and equality.”

Amherst’s decision puts it on a small but growing list of elite private colleges (MIT, Caltech, Pomona, and Johns Hopkins also no longer have legacy preference in admissions) that do not give children of alumni an unfair leg up during the admissions process. In light of this, we are all perhaps thinking about the same perennial question: How long before Harvard decides to do the same? 

Amherst’s move is a welcome step toward making higher education more accessible at a time when inequality has been rising for over three decades. Private colleges continue to remain the prerogative of the rich in the US — 38 colleges, including Yale and Princeton, admit more students from the top one percent than the entire bottom 60 percent of America’s income distribution. Harvard economist Raj Chetty has found that children whose parents are in the top one percent of income distribution are 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League college compared to those whose parents are in the bottom quintile. 

Legacy admissions is a big part of this inequality problem. A study of 30 elite US colleges from 2011 found that students whose parents graduated from the college were 45 percent more likely to be admitted compared to students without a legacy background. At Harvard, the acceptance rate for legacy students was 33 percent between 2014 and 2019 even though the overall acceptance rate during the same period was less than 6 percent. Most legacy students tend to be white and come from very privileged backgrounds — let’s face it, these students do not need any additional advantage in the admissions process. 

Colleges usually make the argument that legacy admissions help in securing crucial donations from alumni, which can then be used to fund financial aid initiatives for low-income students. But empirical studies have shown that there is no meaningful correlation between legacy preference in admissions and alumni giving at top schools in the country.

Some have also argued that legacy admissions is important to maintain a sense of community within the institution. Lawrence H. Summers, a former Harvard president, has called legacy admissions “integral ​​to the kind of community that any private educational institution is.” But this kind of talk carries little weight, and in any case, does not justify unfairly privileging legacy students over deserving students from other backgrounds. 

This year, Harvard’s endowment soared to $53.2 billion in the midst of a devastating pandemic. The University also ran a budget surplus of $283 million in the last fiscal year that ended in June 2021. No other higher education institution in the world comes even close to matching the vast amount of financial resources Harvard has at its disposal. As such, it is unreasonable for Harvard to continue to privilege legacy students in its admissions process. Giving advantage to children of alumni goes against the meritocratic spirit and impedes social mobility. Instead of entrenching already existing inequality, an institution like Harvard should commit more resources to promoting equity and democratizing higher education.

Harvard alumni can play an important role in ensuring that Harvard adopts a fairer admissions system. All Harvard alumni should have an interest in seeing a more just admissions process, and as such, they need to put pressure on Harvard to end its legacy admissions. This could be accomplished through efforts like “Leave Your Legacy,” a national campaign that aims to bring alumni together to pledge against donating to universities with legacy admissions. The alumni should take a decisive stand against the unethical practice of legacy preference that mostly harms first-generation, low-income, and nonwhite students. If Harvard alumni collectively decide to withhold donations to the university until the abolition of legacy admissions, the university will have little choice but to end the unfair admissions policy.

Private universities like Harvard continue to remain the bastions of elitism in a world that celebrates meritocracy and upward social mobility. There is a long way to go before we can make higher education truly accessible, but ending legacy preferences in admissions is a good step in that direction. Harvard should therefore follow Amherst’s lead and abolish its legacy admissions or it will soon find itself on the wrong side of history. 

Tarun Timalsina ’22 is an Economics concentrator in Pforzheimer House.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Pharmacies

CVS (Beacon Street) 

1927 Beacon Street, Brighton, MA 02135 

All eligible priority groups can get the vaccine. Walk-ins welcome. Schedule an appointment at CVS. 

Daily

 

CVS (Market Street) 

207 Market Street, Brighton, MA 02135 

All eligible priority groups can get the vaccine. Walk-ins welcome! Schedule an appointment at CVS. 

Daily 

CVS (Washington Street) 

427 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135 

All eligible priority groups can get the vaccine. Walk-ins welcome! Schedule an appointment at CVS. 

Daily 

Osco (Western Avenue) 

370 Western Avenue, Brighton, MA 02135 

Schedule an Osco appointment online! 

Daily 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Despite the weather this week we will be open today for our last Brighton Farmers Market of the season until next year! (2:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Brighton Common, 30 Chestnut Hill Ave, Brighton) We’re going to celebrate the last day with a Halloween theme market, a concert series so long as weather holds, and great vendors to join in the fun! We hope you will come down and support us. Remember to wear your costume! 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

30 Leo M. Birmingham Parkway Virtual Public Meeting 

Boston Planning & Development Agency 

Wednesday, October 27, 2021, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm 

The BPDA is hosting a Virtual Public Meeting for the 30 Leo M. Birmingham Parkway Residential project located in Brighton. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Request for Project Notification Form (PNF)'s recent filing.  The meeting will include a presentation followed by comments from the general public.
The Proposed Project consists of a new five-story, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use building with 99 rental apartment units, approximately 8,900 square feet of shared amenity space, and approximately 5,800 square feet of ground-floor retail, service, and accessory space. The project's unit mix consists of approximately 12 two-bedroom units, 16 one-bedroom units, 25 one-bedroom units with a den, 38 junior one-bedroom units, and 8 studio units planned. Amenities will include screened, covered ground-level parking for 48 vehicles tucked beneath the building. There also will be protected storage for 102 residential and employee bicycles, 23 spaces for visitor bicycles, and space for a 19 dock bike share station.
Please register for the meeting using the following Zoom link: https://bit.ly/2ZZX7I8 

Webinar ID: 161 153 7183
Toll-Free Call-in Number: 833.568.8864   

Email Contact: Lance.C...@Boston.Gov 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

'Appalled and outraged': Harvard graduate students plan to strike during parents weekend (Julia Carlin, Boston Globe: October 27, 2021)

‘Appalled and outraged’: Harvard graduate students plan to strike during parents weekend - The Boston Globe

A heated union strike looms over Harvard’s upcoming freshman parents’ weekend as the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers plan to picket for three days in an attempt to press the university to meet their contract demands. 

The union announced its plans on Sept. 30, after more than 90 percent of members voted in favor of a strike. 

Nearly seven months into negotiations, the two parties have failed to come to a compromise regarding increased compensation, amendments to the Title IX process, and recognizing a union shop clause, a provision that would require all undergraduate workers to belong to or pay dues to the union as a condition of retaining employment. 

The strike, which will be the union’s second in two years, comes as Harvard’s endowment, already the largest college fund in the world, grew to over $53 billion during the pandemic and as the university reported a surplus operating budget of $283 million. 

“Harvard continues to boast about their endowment growth while also denying us key amendments in our contract,” union president Brandon Mancilla said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I don’t see logic anymore between [Harvard] not only having all this money and resources but being very proud and flaunting it. And at the same time, saying it wouldn’t be financially prudent to pay anyone a living wage.” 

Harvard declined to speak with the Globe Tuesday. 

Following a meeting with the union’s bargaining committee and university officials, Provost Alan M. Garber sent a campus-wide e-mail proclaiming the university’s commitment to “good faith” negotiations and outlined the university’s updated position on the union’s striking points. 

“We have made progress toward an agreement, but we are also mindful of HGSU-UAW’s current plans to strike beginning tomorrow,” Garber said in the statement. “The Provost’s Office will continue to work with School leadership to ensure that the academic progress of our students can continue if a strike occurs.” 

The two parties will continue to deliberate throughout the strike, which will occur from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, coinciding with plans for the annual freshman parents’ weekend festivities. 

According to Garber’s e-mail, the university’s most recent proposal includes a 3 percent increase plus a 0.5 percent one-time adjustment to base salaries. 

Mancilla said anything below the union’s proposed 5.75 percent increase is “essentially a pay cut” given the increase in annual inflation, rise in Cambridge’s cost of living, and the increased workload many student employees took on during the pandemic. 

“It is ridiculous that the university has asked us to sacrifice so much,” Mancilla said, adding that during the pandemic the college has made budget cuts that “dramatically” affected students. “Now, it’s time for them to pay their fair share to their workers. We all deserve a bigger piece of this pie.” 

Kai De Leon DeJesus is a sophomore at Harvard and organizer with the Student Labor Action Movement, an undergraduate-led coalition of workers and students. She said the role of graduate students in the academic setting cannot be understated. 

“If you take a reasonable look at this university you see that what truly runs it are the workers. On the educational side, it’s the graduate students,” said DeJesus, who said some of her classes are run entirely by graduate students. “When you look at a university that has profited so much even in the face of a pandemic… It’s embarrassing and disgusting that grad students continue to have to seek second jobs and are constantly worrying about minuscule expenses.” 

For months, the union was also fighting for an amendment to the Harvard Title IX process that would include an independent, third-party grievance procedure. Last week, it conceded on that specific point in an effort to push negotiations forward, according to Margaret Czerwienski, a union member and PhD student studying social anthropology. 

Czerwienski and DeJesus, who both went through the Title XI process at Harvard, said the union’s compromise was disappointing but tactical and necessary. 

Now, the contract demands the university provide financial assistance to student workers who go through the Title IX process so they can cover legal fees and requests that independent experts sit on hearing boards during legal examinations. 

The university’s recent proposal includes “a legal expense fund” to provide financial assistance to student workers when retaining attorneys to assist or advise them on workplace issues. It also provides arbitration as an option for non-Title IX cases of alleged discrimination in which the union believes bias or conflict of interest has affected the outcome of the internal process. 

“I’ve seen how unfair the university’s system is,” Czerwienski said of Harvard’s handling of cases of harassment and discrimination. “I’m appalled and outraged. I cannot sit by and let another person go through the process the way it currently is.” 

The last main striking point is recognition of union shop, which Mancilla, the union president, said is “essential to any sustainable union.” He emphasized that Massachusetts is not a right-to-work state and said the university has reached similar agreements with other unions on campus. 

The university’s recent proposal did not address the union shop clause. 

Junior and undergraduate student union organizer Will Sutton expressed solidarity to the cause of graduate students and all other unions across campus who are striking for their own contracts. 

“This weekend, parents will see they are paying quite a bit of money to a university that’s underpaying and exploiting their workers,” Sutton said. “It’s going to be really hard to look at this situation and be on the university’s side because it’s clear the grad students are willing to come to the bargaining table in good faith. But parents will see that school is more interested in holding onto a handful of pennies than giving basic protections.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

ACA considers recreational cannabis, 40 Soldiers Field Place (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: October 28, 2021) 

The Allston Civic Association (ACA) heard project proposals from a development at 40 Soldiers Field Place, off of Soldiers Field Road near the Leo Birmingham Parkway. 

The building will be sited in between 1550 Soldiers Field Rd. and 44-46 Soldiers Field Place, which are under construction and approved, respectively. 

“We’re looking at 40 Soldier’s Field Place as a continuation of that conversation for the opportunity of transforming this particular section at the outskirts of North Brighton,” said development attorney representing the project Joseph Hanley. “To kind of help heal from the 1960s sprawling single-story commercial uses to a more contributing healthy use. We want to make it more sustainable and residential to create more pathways and connections and open space in an area that currently has none.” 

Right now, the project is proposing 67,835 square feet, with 61 units and 44 parking garage spaces. Hanley said they have been having pre-file meetings with the ACA and the Brighton Allston Improvement Association (BAIA) to reduce and reform the project with neighborhood input before they start the Article 80 Large Project Review process. Hanley added this project will have to form an Impact Advisory Group (IAG) made up of community members. 

He said the unit mix will have five three-bedroom units, 36 two-bedroom units, 15 one-bedroom units and five studio units. 

“We think we’re enhancing the residential ecosystem there,” he said. 

Hanley said the area is “still evolving” and has a parking space-to-unit ratio of .71, but he said they’ve heard from residents that they want more parking spaces, which he said the developer is considering. The project is in a community commercial zone, and will need zoning relief for being a multifamily use, having 3.55 floor area ratio (FAR) when the required is 1 FAR, front yard and rear yard setbacks and having a building height of 69 feet when the limit is 35. 

Hanley also said they will have the project’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) affordable units on site, but the number and nature of those units is still up in the air. 

The ACA also heard from Eric Lawrence and Maya Gaul for a cannabis recreational dispensary from Marijuana United for Social Equity (MUSE) at 116 Harvard Ave. in Allston. Lawrence said the location is one of six shuttered buildings at the block. 

“We are proposing to revitalize this location and do some work to the facade and obviously to the inside with a complete renovation,” he said. 

Lawrence said they have 2,000 square feet of street-level retail space and 2,000 square feet of basement space. 

“Back in July we entered into a 10-year lease agreement on this building with two five-year options,” he said. “The area is commercially-zoned, we are not abutting any schools or any residents and so we feel we have an appropriate area for adult-use recreational marijuana dispensary.” 

Gaul said the community benefits for the site include 3 percent of gross profit tax goes to the City of Boston, increased patronage to neighboring businesses, investment into the building facade, support for local initiatives including the Harvard Avenue Community Clean Up, a promise to work with other businesses to combat graffiti and joining the Allston Village Main Streets and the ACA to participate in monthly meetings.

“Having a positive impact is super important to us,” she said. 

Gaul also said that the store will work to provide product tracking to reduce diversion into the black market. She said customers must have acceptable ID to enter and they can bar any customer from coming in at any time for any reason. Gaul added that they will only participate in state-approved marketing initiatives and use only audience appropriate packaging and labeling. 

Lawrence said they have to present to the Boston Cannabis Board, create a host community agreement and will have more community meetings before the final anticipated approval and license granting in December of 2022. 

Construction is anticipated to go from July 2022 to December 2022. ACA member Bob Pessek asked about a potential decrease in customer demand when or if the city builds all 54 of its allowable dispensaries by state law. “It’s done based on the number of liquor stores, and it’s one cannabis shop for every four liquor stores,” he said. “I think Allston, Brighton and Brookline have been attractive locations because of the establishments and demographics and densities of these areas. We do feel there’s enough to go around. To speak to that point also, gone are the days where there’s only one game in town and there’s a lot of problems, nuisances and lines and so forth. We’re trying to look at cannabis now as more normalized as any other business. Yes, there’s pro formas that need to be done, they’re based on demographics, based on how many people we think we can get through the door and yes it has to be sustainable. So there’s all kinds of studies we’ve done. We have been in Allston for the last week doing community outreach. The foot traffic is phenomenal, and we have more than 700 signatures of residents and people who work there on Harvard Avenue who support the project. We feel there’s a good indication that we can have a viable business there.” 

The ACA is scheduled to meet again for its monthly meeting on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m 

 

BPDA approves Nexus development in Lower Allston (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: October 28, 2021) 

The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) voted unanimously during a public hearing at the group’s regular Board Meeting this month to approve the Nexus Development at 250 to 280 and 305 Western Ave. in Lower Allston. 

The three-building project will include 35 residential units, a total of 514,900 square feet of office and research life sciences space, 21,900 square feet of ground-floor commercial and restaurant space, and 2,500 square feet of civic public open space. 

BPDA Project Manager Nicholas Carter said the buildings will also create around 1,500 permanent jobs while they are in operation and fully occupied. He said the project is designed to replace several vacant buildings, including an auto body shop and several parking lots, at the three addresses. Carter said there will be nine income-restricted Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) units, with incomes limited to 60 percent to 90 percent area median incomes (AMI). 

“The proposed project also includes an 11,000-square-f capable of supplying 128 megawatt hours annually,” he said. 

Carter added that while the project was originally proposed before the Western Avenue Corridor Study, the developer has been watching its proceedings closely, and has promised that it will abide by the study, and has changed setbacks on the site to con[1]form with what’s been discussed so far. 

King Street Properties representative Mike Dominico reviewed the public benefits package for the project. He said the 1.1-acre of public green space will be split up between Artists’ Way (between 250 and 280 Western Avenue) and the Westford Green (a path from 280 Western to Westford Street south of the 250 Western). 

“Artist Way is the heart of the project,” he said. “This space is used for a dual purpose, most of the day it is a pedestrian-only zone. There’s flexible hardscape so there can be food truck festivals and other events for the community. We really want to activate this space. And there’s a civic space that opens up on to it and restaurant and retail space on the sides.” 

Dominico said for peak hours, the Artists’ Way will be used for exiting the garage so that traffic flow will not clog up the surrounding residential streets. He said there will be physical barriers up when the area is a pedestrian way. 

“So vehicles cannot drive down the walkway,” he said. “During festivals and use of the space during the day, it will be safe for pedestrians to use the entire space.” 

For Westford Green, Dominico said the public park will be maintained by the owner of the building. 

“It’s a way for the neighborhood along Westford Street to connect up north to the side, but really it’s a tranquil pocket park with a lawn and seating,” he said. “We want to provide a mix of spaces that can be used for the community.” 

The developer is also boasting a $5 million community linkage payment to the City of Boston and will provide a learning lab for Boston Public School District students of Boston and workforce development. 

Project Impact Advisory Group (IAG) member Troy Brogan said the developer has responded to most if not all of the IAG’s and community’s concerns. 

“The proponents have really worked hard to try to modify the project in accordance with our requests,” he said. “Increasing the affordable unit number from 13 percent, for example.” 

Resident Sara Brazzillo said she’s a direct abutter and said she is in full support of the project. 

“It will be a great addition to the neighborhood,” she said. 

Resident and Boston Plumbers Union Business Agent Barry Keady said his union has submitted 120 letters of support to the project.

“We fully support this project and we ask the Board to move it forward,” he said. 

No residents spoke in opposition, but Carter read an email from Max Rome, who commented that there is too much parking on the site and building more infrastructure for cars will only invite more cars and congestion to the area.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Play Reading Book Club: Iphigenia 

ArtsEmerson, BCYF/Jackson Mann Community Center 

Enhance your experience! 

Expand your theater experience through group dialogue and behind the scenes access to this brand new opera from GRAMMY award winning musician esperanza spalding and jazz legend Wayne Shorter. Over the course of three weeks we will read the Euripides version of this myth, discuss the text, and see the world premiere of this intervention to opera as we know it, and be treated to a private reception with the artists. 

ArtsEmerson’s Play Reading Book Club (PRBC) is a dynamic theatre literacy and community education program that provides unique and radical access to scripts, artists, and conversations within the theatre. Learn more. 

About Iphigenia: https://artsemerson.org/events/iphigenia/ 

Registration to the program is FREE. 

Tickets to the play must be purchased separately.  

PLAY READING BOOK CLUB LOCATION 

 

BCYF/ Jackson Mann Community Center 

500 Cambridge St, Allston, MA 02134 

Sessions: 

Wednesday 11/03 from 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM 

Friday 11/10 from 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM 

Saturday, 11/13 from 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM (PRBC Night at The Theatre) 

Wednesday 11/17 from 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM 

Face masks are required for all BCYF visitors regardless of vaccine status. Visitors may not eat or drink in the community center. 

Regsiter: https://tickets.artsemerson.org/online/seatSelect.asp?createBO::WSmap=1&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable::performance_ids=316DDDAF-8B7D-4631-9092-B175E5CE5120 

Play Reading Book Clubs are made possible with support from the Mabel Louise Riley Foundation and individual donors. To learn more about how you can help support the PRBC and other ArtsEmerson programs, please contact Shannon Worthington by email or at 617-824-3017. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

There are questions to be asked, especially when lab/office projects abut existing residential neighborhoods.

Tony

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As labs replace offices across Greater Boston, pushback is mounting from wary neighbors (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: October 26, 2021

Building conversions often require hefty new HVAC systems on the roofs  

As labs replace offices across Greater Boston, pushback is mounting from wary neighbors - The Boston Globe

The rapid growth of biotech labs in Greater Boston might end up saving the region’s commercial real estate market, if not its entire economy, from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean everyone wants one next door. 

A common complaint revolves around the hefty HVAC systems that lab buildings need. They can be noisy and tall, sometimes 30 feet or more on a rooftop, an intrusive change for some neighbors. Some critics say they worry about safety in spaces where potentially hazardous materials are handled. Others dislike the labs’ round-the-clock operations, with foot traffic and lights at all hours. 

This blowback has begun amid the early stages of a massive wave of renovations and retrofits, with 10 million square feet of office and industrial space in Greater Boston being converted for use by the booming life sciences industry. As lab developers migrate from Kendall Square and the office parks along Route 128 to the dense blocks of Somerville and tree-lined cul-de-sacs of Newton, they’re coming into conflict with wary neighbors and city officials. 

Some of these conflicts may get resolved in the courts. In one of the first legal disputes, the owner of a five-story building in South Boston sued the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal over the denial of a lab conversion nearly three weeks ago. 

“Clearly, the ramp-up over the last five years here in our neighborhood has just been crazy,” said Tom Ready, referring to Fort Point and the Seaport area. “That’s rather eye-opening for us.” 

Boston may be feeling the brunt of this trend, with many offices emptying out amid a widespread shift to remote and hybrid work brought about by the pandemic. But conversions are popping up in other communities, too. Aaron Jodka, research director at real estate brokerage Colliers, counts 10 million square feet of office and industrial space in Greater Boston that’s being converted to labs, and roughly half of those projects don’t even have a tenant lined up right now. That’s the equivalent of roughly five John Hancock towers, and doesn’t even count lab space that’s being planned for buildings that haven’t gone up yet. 

And with investors pouring money into local biotech companies, demand is insatiable; Jodka estimates lab vacancy rates of zero percent in Boston and Cambridge, and 2 percent in the suburbs. 

Commercial real estate firm JLL tracks more than 80 lab conversions planned or underway in the region, and managing director Bob Coughlin says that is nowhere near enough. He worries state or local officials might put the brakes on some projects unnecessarily. He’s even more concerned that biotech firms will expand elsewhere if they can’t find the space they need in Greater Boston. 

“If it means you have to come up with a creative way to deal with a more robust HVAC system on the roof of a building, you’ve got to figure that out,” said Coughlin, who previously led the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. “The lack of life science space infrastructure is a huge bottleneck in our ability to grow.” 

And unlike more traditional office space, lab work usually needs to happen in person, notes Tim Schoen, chief executive at life sciences developer BioMed Realty. 

“You can’t do science in your living room or your kitchen,” said Schoen, whose company bought the former Seaport headquarters of life insurer John Hancock, and is now converting it to lab space. “We should be embracing the ability to have more lab buildings . . . Think about a building being vacant versus life sciences, with discoveries of new medicines. That’s an easy trade.” 

But conversion of existing buildings in parts of Boston often requires relatively little formal approval. When work began to turn 51 Sleeper St. in Fort Point into labs, Ready said, residents only learned about it when they heard the construction noise. 

The apparent ease of switching uses prompted him to speak up at a virtual hearing that Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty held in July to scrutinize the flood of lab conversions. The Fort Point Neighborhood Association has been talking with Flynn about the need to improve Boston Public Health Commission staffing levels and to provide enhanced emergency services to the waterfront area, Ready said, because of the use of chemicals and biohazards among the city’s growing number of labs. 

Flynn and Flaherty said they recognize the outsize role that biotech companies are playing in helping Boston’s economy weather the pandemic. But they also want to listen to their constituents in South Boston, where new lab projects pop up seemingly every week. 

Flynn said it’s important to ensure a fire station gets built in the traffic-choked Seaport, in part because so many labs are being built there. And Flaherty said developers should give up some of the leasable areas in their buildings to accommodate these mechanical systems, a trade-off to keep height and noise in check. BioMed agreed to do exactly that, by filling the top floor of the former Hancock building with mechanical systems, cutting into the amount of lab space that could be built there. 

“There has to be a better way to incorporate these mechanicals in the building, even if it means giving up some square footage . . . to make sure we’re protecting the residents,” Flaherty said. 

There’s been little action in Boston since the hearing. But in Somerville, city officials have been considering a proposal to limit the height of rooftop systems on smaller and midsized buildings. 

City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen filed the measure earlier this year after developer Rafi Properties proposed a three-story lab at the site of the shuttered La Ronga bakery on Somerville Avenue. His concern: mechanicals that would essentially add another story or two to the building’s height, beyond what’s allowed in existing zoning rules. He has also asked city staff to analyze whether Somerville should enact its own, stricter safety rules than what’s currently required under state and federal standards. 

“We don’t want to outlaw lab buildings,” Ewen-Campen said. “There are plenty of appropriate places. But I think the public has an understandable expectation that if an area is zoned for three stories, the building would be around three stories. This is basically closing a huge loophole. It’s not trying to stop commercial development.” 

The conversion craze is also reaching Newton. There, the City Council recently approved developer Robert Korff’s plans to replace a proposed office building and hotel at the Riverside T station with labs. Now, the council is weighing an office-lab conversion request on Grove Street, on the other side of the T stop. 

Developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities would like room for another nearly 16 feet, or roughly an additional floor’s worth of height, on top of the four-story building and its existing mechanical systems at 275 Grove St., to accommodate mechanicals, according to Stephen Buchbinder, an attorney for the firm. Alexandria is seeking a “blanket-use” permit to put labs in the entire building, so it doesn’t need to get approval on a tenant-by-tenant basis. Neighbors, meanwhile, worry that Alexandria — one of the nation’s largest life sciences developers — eventually plans to do the same thing in an adjacent office building, where a portion has already been converted to labs, that abuts a cluster of single-family homes; Buchbinder said a number of office tenants in that building still have several years left on their leases. Supporters hope to resolve the issue by the end of the year before the current City Council turns over. 

Greater Boston’s life sciences sector could add up to 40,000 jobs through 2024 to staff the extra 20 million square feet of new lab and biomanufacturing construction and conversions planned over that time, driven by medical breakthroughs and a surge of investment, said Joe Boncore, the new chief executive of MassBio. 

“The development is going to have to happen outside of the traditional biotech hubs,” Boncore said. “It’s inevitable that these clusters are going to expand outside of Boston and Cambridge.” 

That growth could lead to more potential conflicts with neighborhood groups, said Chris Froeb, a real estate lawyer with Nixon Peabody. But Froeb said he doubts local officials will want to risk losing high-paying jobs to other parts of the country. 

“You can listen to neighborhood concerns, work with developers and . . . mitigate some of the concerns,” Froeb said. “It’s just like anything. I think you can be reasonable and still welcome the business.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

PLEASE NOTE: The hours, times, and processes vary by site. Some sites require you to call ahead for pre-screening and to schedule an appointment. You should contact your health insurance provider with insurance coverage questions, and to determine any potential uncovered costs. 

Charles River Community Health

495 Western Ave, Brighton, MA 02135

Call 617-870-7299 to make an appointment

Testing Tuesdays, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

CVS (Market Street Drive-Thru) 

207 Market Street, Brighton, MA 02135 

To get tested, register in advance online with CVS. 

CVS (Brighton Avenue Drive-Thru) 

181 Brighton Avenue, Allston, MA 02134 

To get tested, register in advance online with CVS. 

West End House Boys and Girls Club 

105 Allston Street, Allston, MA 02134

Walk-in testing, no appointment needed!

Saturdays & Sundays, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

We believe that you're never too old to trick or treating..just for different things, right? We have fun for the whole family on Saturday, October 30th from 3-9 pm. The Speedway vendors will be on-site handing out candy for the kids starting at 3pm, then some treats for the adults including @thekojiclub pouring sake ALL day, @super.bien with tasty treats, costume contests for kids AND adults, and a special appearance from @sweetridecandy. Link in bio for more info + costume contest registration!

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Will Boston’s next mayor push hospitals and universities to kick more into city budget? (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: October 29, 2021)

Both Essaibi George and Wu support efforts to get Boston’s big nonprofits to contribute more to city coffers 

Will Boston’s next mayor push hospitals and universities to kick more into city budget? - The Boston Globe 

Regardless of who wins the mayor’s race on Tuesday, one thing is all but certain: Boston’s system for collecting payments in lieu of taxes from large nonprofit institutions is bound to change. 

The city’s system for PILOTs, as these payments are known, ropes in at least $34 million in cash a year, and even more in community benefits. But city councilors — including the two mayoral candidates, Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu — have long found flaws with it. And critics say the nonprofits, particularly several big universities, should do more to help the city they call home. 

Both Essaibi George and Wu are now vowing to revamp the voluntary program, which has not seen any major changes since Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration. Acting Mayor Kim Janey in June said she would assemble a new PILOT task force, to revisit standards established a decade ago. With Janey losing out in the preliminary election, it will now be up to a new mayor to get the task force started; both Essaibi George and Wu say they intend to do so. In particular, they want to focus on how universities and other nonprofits tally up community benefits — which count toward their PILOT contributions — and how city leaders and the people they represent might have more input in that process. 

Expect extra focus to be placed on the city’s four wealthiest universities: Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern. None of them typically contribute the full amount that the city requests. And at least three saw their endowments soar last year: Harvard’s grew by $11 billion, while BC and BU each added about $1 billion to their coffers. 

“These are some of the richest institutions in the world. Harvard’s endowment just skyrocketed,” said Enid Eckstien, a convener of the PILOT Action Group, a grass-roots advocacy organization pushing for reforms to the system. “These institutions can all afford to pay.” 

Yes, the “eds and meds” economy has buoyed Boston, in good times and in bad. No one wants to jeopardize that. Many cities grapple with this issue, and Boston’s PILOT program is considered among the successful in the country. On the other hand, Boston’s budget relies heavily on property taxes — and roughly half of the property in the city is tax-exempt, a figure that includes government-owned land. No other city in Massachusetts comes close. 

The current PILOT system was started in 2012 to set a consistent framework for how the bigger nonprofits could contribute. Nearly 50 hospitals, schools, and cultural institutions — institutions with at least $15 million in tax-exempt real estate — are asked to kick in 25 percent of what their property tax bill would be. They can contribute half of that amount in cash and the rest through community benefits (scholarships, free events, and the like). In recent years, the city’s request has climbed 2.5 percent each year; critics say this has not kept pace with rising property values in the city. 

That will likely change after the city’s assessing department completes new property valuations — work that’s long been urged by the City Council — used to calculate PILOT requests. City officials say the numbers should be out in January, to update the decade-old valuations. 

The city’s medical facilities collectively met 89 percent of their requested contributions in fiscal 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Hospitals have a particular incentive: Their community contributions are also overseen by the state attorney general’s office and the IRS. 

Meanwhile, universities only contributed, on average, about 70 percent in 2020, with nearly all of the schools falling short on cash contributions. BU, Boston’s biggest school by land value, paid 87 percent of what the city requested, including credit for community benefits. Harvard was at 78 percent, and Northeastern, 68 percent. BC largely declines to participate, paying $365,000 for fire service in 2020; otherwise the college maintains, as a Catholic school, that it does not want to risk its tax-exempt status and prefers to contribute to the city in other ways. 

Essaibi George said she would prod these institutions to kick in more money, through a “combination of carrots and sticks.” She declined to specify what those sticks might be, other than “there are levers we can pull at the city level.” She has made it clear that she wants all these large institutions to contribute fairly to what she calls “equitable growth” in the city. 

In particular, she wants the nonprofits to report how many people they employ in the city annually, and to seek more input on the kind of community benefits they provide. 

“I want to see community benefits that are reflective of the community need,” Essaibi George said. “It starts with an open conversation about the work we need to do together.” 

Like Essaibi George, Wu said she wants to work with the tax-exempt institutions — which are among Boston’s biggest employers — to connect city residents with jobs, and to better tailor the community benefits they offer with community needs. 

Wu also said there’s more to be done on persuading these organizations to procure more goods and services with entrepreneurs of color. 

“Boston has so much land that is tax-exempt,” Wu said. “This is about having clear expectations and alignment [and] our anchor institutions being good neighbors and partners.” 

Wu also said she supports removing cultural institutions — the museums, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, WGBH — from the PILOT program. Combined, these organizations contributed less than $500,000 in cash in 2020. 

Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science, remains hopeful that museums can be removed from the mix — especially when he can point to other cities that actually contribute money to these institutions. 

“Cultural institutions were added at the very last minute to the PILOT program [in Boston],” Ritchie said. “It was very much an afterthought. ... The community benefits that we extend far exceed what we should be paying in contributions. I think cultural institutions should not only be excluded, but we should be seen as the public benefit that we are.” 

The city’s hospitals and universities, meanwhile, helped design the current system back in the Menino years. Leaders of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts and the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals said they’re eager to engage with a new administration to hash out any potential changes. 

They have many reasons to do so, not the least of which is maintaining a good relationship with City Hall. There’s no question these nonprofits rely on city services, just like everyone else in Boston. The question a new mayor will need to answer: What’s the best way to pay for that? 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

It's amazing, they don't build enough affordable on campus student housing which adversely impacts outr community, and when it comes to fraternities, likewise, let the Allston community deal with it.

Tony

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BU Suspends Kappa Sigma Fraternity Chapter (Amy Laskowski & Sara Rimer, BU Today: October 27, 2021) 

Student organizations had urged administrators to take action against BU’s largest frat for allegations of sexual misconduct 

Content warning: This story discusses sexual assault. 

Five days after imposing a moratorium on all activities at the Kappa Sigma Fraternity chapter at Boston University while an investigation into allegations of sexual assault got underway, the Dean of Students (DOS) Office announced on Wednesday that it has suspended the local chapter. 

“Effective immediately and until further notice, your organization, the Mu Psi Chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, is suspended from official recognition by Boston University,” wrote John Battaglino, assistant dean of students and director of student activities, in a letter to the organization’s chapter president, Albert Kelleher (CGS’20, Questrom’22). Battaglino said in the letter that he had notified the fraternity on October 22 that its members would be individually meeting with Kenneth Elmore (Wheelock’87), associate provost and dean of students, to discuss allegations, and in the meantime, all meetings, social events, and other activities had to be approved by the Student Activities Office (SAO).  

But Kappa Sigma hosted a social gathering on October 22 and a chapter meeting on October 25, two moves that led to the suspension. “Until further notice, you may not continue operations as an affiliate of or as a student organization recognized by Boston University,” Battaligno said. (The letter does not specifically mention sexual assault allegations; rather, the fraternity is suspended because it met after it was explicitly told not to.) 

In an interview with BU Today, Elmore says Kappa Sigma was told by the DOS that his office needed to meet with each member during the investigations into anonymous reports of sexual assault. “I told them that before they did any more programming they would need to get my approval,” Elmore says. “They did not do that, so we moved to suspend them.”  

BU’s action comes amid a national reckoning on Greek life nationwide. Both the New York Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education have written about a national movement against historically white fraternities on college campuses across the country in the wake of reports of dangerous hazing, binge drinking, and sexual assault at some chapters. Some of the backlash comes from within fraternities, with members themselves questioning Greek life. 

Since the start of the fall semester, students at nearly 20 colleges across the country have been protesting against what they describe as a culture of sexual assault and drug abuse at fraternity parties, according to a Chronicle article in early October. Some demonstrations have drawn hundreds of students, some in response to a single allegation of sexual assault. Students are not merely asking for reforms of Greek life, but they want fraternities to be shut down, the Times reported. The University of Missouri recently suspended all fraternities while it reviews the Greek life system, and the University of Southern California took similar action because of repeated allegations of sexual assault. 

Student Government calls for “suspending, removing, and disbanding” offenders 

At BU, SAO’s action came in the wake of student-led protests focused on alleged sexual misconduct on the part of members of the local Kappa Sigma chapter at a Family & Friends Weekend event and at the house in Allston where a number of Kappa Sigma members live and where the fraternity’s parties, events, and other activities are held. (Unlike at many other colleges and universities, there are no University-sanctioned sorority and fraternity houses on campus, and members typically live together off campus). 

On Monday, Student Government introduced a bill calling for the removal of Kappa Sig as a BU organization and asked the University to commit to “suspending, removing, and disbanding organizations that have a history of sexual misconduct.” The topic has been extensively covered by the Daily Free Press, including in an editorial on Monday headlined “Kappa Sigma’s Student Activities Office-affiliation should be removed.” 

In response to a request for comment from BU Today, Mitchell Wilson, executive director of the Kappa Sigma national organization, said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the organization was “aware that our Mu-Psi Chapter of Kappa Sigma suspended two members of the Chapter for alleged violations of the fraternity’s Code of Conduct,” which forbids assault “in any form or fashion.” And, according to the statement, the national chapter reported the allegations to BU’s Student Activities office.  

Further, the statement said the fraternity “encourages any person who has been assaulted to go to the police or local authorities and file charges against the perpetrator immediately.”  

Kelleher, BU Kappa Sigma president, has declined to comment on the allegations or the investigation, instead referring questions to Wilson. 

Toxic behavior 

Prisha Sujin Kumar (CAS’22), a Student Government senator and cofounder of Campus Survivors, a student group dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual assault and working to erase the stigma that many survivors feel in talking about being sexually assaulted, published two open letters to University administrators last winter. In them, she criticized BU leadership for what she described as a lack of empathy and their “indifference” when punishing organizations that have had repeated accusations of assault and harassment. She specifically called out the toxic behavior of Kappa Sigma, which she called a “repeat offender,” although she did not give details about specific cases of assaults. “They have countless stories of assault and harassment, and their executive board is silent,” she wrote. “They are harboring abusers instead of expelling them, and because of this, they are playing a role in the ongoing rape culture at Boston University… It is terrifying to see how this institution has not publicly taken any action against them, and it is time we change that.”  

Shortly after, Kappa Sigma released a statement on Instagram promising change and a renewed commitment to combating harassment and sexual assault. That letter cannot be posted as Kappa Sigma’s Instagram page is now set to private, and its Facebook page has been deleted. 

Other student groups demanding action from the University include the College of Arts & Science Student Government, the BU chapter of It’s On Us, the BU Mental Health Committee, and 16K Strong. 

Carrie Preston, Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Professor and Kilachand Honors College director and a College of Arts & Sciences professor of English and of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, commends students for speaking out. “I am very happy that the students are protesting and continuing to call attention to sexual misconduct on BU’s campus and elsewhere,” she says. “I absolutely believe that sexual misconduct on University campuses is rampant, including at BU.” 

She says that while she couldn’t comment on the allegations against Kappa Sigma, she is glad the University was investigating them. “I believe that the University takes these allegations very seriously,” Preston says. “That is not to say that I don’t think the University could be doing more. I think that all of us are part of a culture that enables sexual misconduct—that glorifies it to one extreme and brushes it under the table to the other extreme. And students—and faculty, administrators, the entire community—need to be part of changing this culture.”  

Not the first time 

This isn’t the first time Kappa Sig has landed in hot water. In 2015, BU withdrew its recognition of the fraternity following its cosponsorship of a so-called “University Blackout” party, promoted with sexually suggestive, misogynist videos and photos. Among other restrictions, de-recognition means that the frat may no longer recruit members, sponsor events and activities, or use University rooms. They were recently allowed back in good standing after a series of conversations with the Dean of Students Office, and in light of the fact that the fraternity has a new cohort of students.  

According to the fraternity’s information page on the Student Activities website, Kappa Sigma’s Mu Psi chapter is the largest, most diverse fraternity on campus and is “values-based,” dedicated to its four pillars of fellowship, leadership, scholarship, and service. Kappa Sigma’s BU chapter was founded in 1987. 

“I think this is part of a growing movement of people around the country questioning fraternities around all kinds of things—sexual violence, drinking, race,” says John Hechinger, a senior editor at Bloomberg News and author of True Gentlemen—The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities (Public Affairs, 2017), an examination of fraternity culture that focused on Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the nation’s largest and most prominent fraternities. “They’re [the fraternities] colliding with the wave of outrage over how women are treated. It’s becoming harder for them to justify their behavior.”  

Citing a National Institute of Justice study on campus sexual assault, Hechinger writes in his book that female college students who go to frat parties are one and a half times more likely than women who don’t join the parties to become victims of what researchers call “incapacitated sexual assault.”  

This is not the first time students on college campuses have demonstrated against Greek life or that universities have shut down fraternities, or imposed moratoriums, he says, adding that those actions have generally been reversed in a few weeks or months, or within a year or so. 

“It’s a very tough moment for Greek life,” Hechinger says, referring to the ongoing nationwide protests. “But one thing is clear—fraternities are unbelievably powerful and resilient and they bounce back. Alumni are very powerful. Students like to join sororities and fraternities. It’s a real challenge for universities.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

A stubborn slice of old Boston in Allston/Brighton, amid an influx of young newcomers (Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: October 30, 2021) 

In this particular pub, in this particular neighborhood, Boston’s well-worn provincialism is alive and well. 

Some voters might balk at admitting they care where a mayoral candidate was born and raised. Not the boomer-aged white men who gathered one recent afternoon at Corrib Pub Restaurant, a decades-old Brighton Center staple. Huge developments have transformed swaths of the neighborhood outside — a familiar tale in Boston — but inside, a stubborn slice of old Boston remains. 

A man at the corner of the bar doing a crossword and nursing a Coors Light said he likes that Essaibi George grew up in the city, and the fact that Wu did not is a strike against her in his eyes. He declined to be named. 

“I’m going with the Dorchester girl,” he said. 

Another patron said Wu is “too far left for me.” The man seated across from him said he likes Essaibi George because she “gets along with the cops.” 

Jutting out on the city’s western edge, this neighborhood is more politically complex than you’d imagine listening to those holding forth here over burgers and beer. If September’s preliminary results are any indication, they are in the minority in Allston-Brighton nowadays; Wu won every precinct here, which is home to about 77,000 residents and is geographically isolated from the rest of the city, flanked by the Charles River to the north, Brookline to the south, and Newton to the west. 

The neighborhood was once a bastion of traditionalist power in politics. This is Bill Galvin territory. It’s the City Council district Mark Ciommo represented for more than a decade. Ciommo was known as someone who leaned relatively conservative, at least for some city political circles, and leveraged his tenure as the head of a Brighton senior center to ballot box success. 

Now, Liz Breadon, an immigrant from Northern Ireland who is the first openly gay woman to serve on the council, represents this part of the city, known for housing hordes of college students and young professionals. Breadon agrees with the sentiment that the district is in some ways more progressive than it was during Ciommo’s tenure, while adding that she thinks the neighborhood has had a progressive streak for some time. 

It also boasts a very young populace. A higher percentage of 20- to 34-year-olds (67 percent) live in Allston than in any other Boston neighborhood, according to city data. In Brighton, that cohort makes up 52 percent of the population. The vast majority of residents in both Brighton and Allston are renters, leaving the neighborhood in a constant state of flux. 

A short walk away from the Corrib, Wu support flourishes inside Matt’s Barber Shop. 

Electric clipper in hand, shop owner Matt Charette, a 37-year-old who grew up on Cape Cod but moved to Brighton in 2003, said Wu seemed “pretty likable, politics aside.” 

“Hopefully she’ll have a better plan for development in the city moving forward,” he said. “Under [former mayor Martin] Walsh, it was just open season for big money developers in the city.” 

Another barber, 31-year-old Mackenzie Murray, supports Wu’s housing policies, including the fact that she is open to rent controls. She likes that Wu doesn’t seem interested in “giving cops more money.” 

Allston Brighton neighborhoods by age group 

Allston 

20-34 years: 68% (1^st in the city) 

0-9 years: 2% (Lowest in the city) 

10-17 years: 2 % (2^nd lowest in the city) 

18-19 years: 12% 

35-59 years: 12 % (2^nd lowest in the city) 

60 and over: 4 % (2^nd lowest in the city) 

Brighton 

20-34 years: 53% (4^th in the city)  

0-9 years: 6 % 

10-17 years: 4% 

18-19 years: 3% (2^nd lowest in the city) 

35-59 years: 21% 

60 and over: 14%

 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2015-2019 American Community Survey, BPDA Research Division Analysis  

VINCE DIXON/GLOBE STAFF 

[tahir h]

Mark Ciommo was NOT a conservative. I love this revisionist history of the district 9 seat. Mark was a very good councilor who knew how to work with people of different political views. He had the absolute best interest at heart for Allston and Brighton. We’ve only had one hard right conservative hold the D9 seat and that was republican Jerry McDermott who beat Mark in the special election of 2002. 

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[Eva Webster]

Mark was conservative on some issues, but not on others.  Since the current City Council is grossly out of balance, it would not hurt to have some conservative-leaning members among councilors are large.  Unfortunately, there are slim pickings in that regard on the ballot. You know Tahir, “conservatives” are not enemies of the people. The entire human civilization is based on conservative thought. But progressives want to dismantle all of that.  Good luck.

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Harvard-Allston Task Force Raises Concerns over Enterprise Research Campus Development (James R. Jolin, The Harvard Crimson: November 1, 2021) 

The Harvard-Allston Task Force filed a 25-page comment letter with the Boston Planning Development Agency last week raising concerns over the University’s development of its Enterprise Research Campus project in Allston. 

In the letter, dated Oct. 25, the task force — an advisory group for the BPDA focused on Harvard's development in Allston — wrote that it was unsatisfied with Harvard and developer Tishman Speyer’s engagement with Allston residents, affordable housing plan, and public transportation proposal. 

Eleven of the 15 members of the task force penned the letter in response to Draft Project Impact Report filed July 28 by Tishman Speyer, the firm the University tapped to develop the ERC — a development located on Harvard property next to the new Science and Engineering Complex that will seek to promote academic research and invigorate the neighborhood.

In its DPIR filing, Tishman Speyer upped the proportion of units the development will devote to affordable housing and detailed its diversity and sustainability goals. 

The task force wrote last week that Tishman Speyer’s report was insufficient in scope, given that it only concerned “Phase A” of the ERC — an area the task force noted only represents 20 percent of the project’s total acreage. 

The letter also identified resident outreach as a primary concern, alleging that the developer and Harvard “are not always listening” to the needs of “vulnerable populations.” 

Signatories reiterated the task force’s request that Harvard and Tishman Speyer recruit an “independent facilitator” to conduct a comprehensive neighborhood “needs assessment.” 

Calling high housing costs an “all-hands-on-deck crisis,” the letter also asked developers and Harvard to “play a prominent role” in improving local affordability. 

Signatories wrote that they support dedicating 33 percent of the ERC’s units to Boston’s inclusionary development program — an increase from the 17 percent developers pledged would be in “Phase A.” 

The signatories also want the residents living in the affordable units to have an average income of 60 percent or less than the area median income. 

The letter also called on Harvard to dedicate additional landholdings to affordable and homeownership units. 

“While we appreciate the offer of the Harvard property on Seattle Street for the construction of affordable housing, we would like to see a more comprehensive assessment of Harvard’s properties and possibilities for affordable housing partnerships, rather than offering up one parcel at a time with no larger vision,” signatories added. 

Signatories also seek more information about how the developer will respond to recent increases in local transit ridership and traffic. 

Without “clear commitments,” the letter added, it “is difficult to support Phase A of this project, and impossible to support further development of the ERC.” 

Task force member and president of the Allston Civic Association Anthony P. “Tony” D’Isidoro said in an interview he is “proud” of his fellow signatories and called on Harvard to respond. 

“We stand ready to, at some point, if it happens, be there in support of this endeavor,” he said. “But we can get there fairly quick, if we just get the dialogue going at a much higher level and they take some of our requests serious.” 

University spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke wrote in an email that Harvard thanks the task force for its input. 

“Harvard appreciates the thorough work by the Harvard Allston Task Force in creating such a detailed evaluation of Tishman Speyer’s DPIR,” she wrote. “We look forward to reviewing the feedback provided, and to our continued collaboration with the Task Force.” 

[tahir h]

Good points. I feel the author of the article didn’t research very well before writing it and probably never even knew Mark let alone attempt to talk with him before publication.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CE73F9E4-DE72-40DF-B7B6-79F6B373C789%40comcast.net.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hi Farah,

I don't believe the project has progressed enough where there has been any serious discussion of prospective tenants and the type of research that will be conducted at the ERC.

Given this emerging industry for Allston and Brighton, I thought I would share with everyone a quick summary of biosafety and biosafety levels.

Biosafety and Biosafety Levels 

What is Biosafety?

Biosafety is the application of safety precautions that reduce a laboratorian’s risk of exposure to a potentially infectious microbe and limit contamination of the work environment and, ultimately, the community. 

What are Biosafety Levels (BSLs)?

There are four biosafety levels. Each level has specific controls for containment of microbes and biological agents. The primary risks that determine levels of containment are infectivity, severity of disease, transmissibility, and the nature of the work conducted. Origin of the microbe, or the agent in question, and the route of exposure are also important. 

Each biosafety level has its own specific containment controls that are required for the following: 

• Laboratory practices 

• Safety equipment 

• Facility construction 

If you work in a lab that is designated a BSL-1, the microbes there are not known to consistently cause disease in healthy adults and present minimal potential hazard to laboratorians and the environment. An example of a microbe that is typically worked with at a BSL-1 is a nonpathogenic strain of E. coli. 

BSL-2 builds upon BSL-1. If you work in a lab that is designated a BSL-2, the microbes there pose moderate hazards to laboratorians and the environment. The microbes are typically indigenous and associated with diseases of varying severity. An example of a microbe that is typically worked with at a BSL-2 laboratory is Staphylococcus aureus. 

BSL-3 builds upon the containment requirements of BSL-2. If you work in a lab that is designated BSL-3, the microbes there can be either indigenous or exotic, and they can cause serious or potentially lethal disease through respiratory transmission. Respiratory transmission is the inhalation route of exposure. One example of a microbe that is typically worked with in a BSL-3 laboratory is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. 

BSL-4 builds upon the containment requirements of BSL-3 and is the highest level of biological safety. There are a small number of BSL-4 labs in the United States and around the world. The microbes in a BSL-4 lab are dangerous and exotic, posing a high risk of aerosol-transmitted infections. Infections caused by these microbes are frequently fatal and without treatment or vaccines. Two examples of microbes worked with in a BSL-4 laboratory include Ebola and Marburg viruses. 

If you remember, in a highly controversial project with strong community opposition, Boston University constructed The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), a Biosafety Level 2, 3 and 4 facility in the South End of Boston. 

I've heard that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, NEIDL's BSL-4 research on ebola was paused to allow for experiments on the COVID-19 infectious disease.

 

All such facilities must go through a federal, state and city regulatory approval process as well as BPDA Article 80 Project Review. 

 

Tony  

---

From: Farah Cole
Sent: Monday, November 1, 2021 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: Potential Lab Use Enterprise Research Campus

 

Sorry for being a bit late to this conversation.  Does anyone know what research Harvarad is planning to conduct within their "Enterprise Research" campus in Allston for the next 25 years? What Kind of research will they be conducting?  Nuclear, biological, microbial, etc???? Would there be any possible hazards to the community as a result of any possible leaks, etc? 

Farah 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone, 

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the following proposal. 

 

I want to take a minute to review the community review process. 

 

On October 1, 2019, the proponent presented to the Brighton Allston Improvement Association (BAIA) and received their approval. 

 

On June 14, 2021 the proponent presented at a public meeting.  Here is the link of the presentation: 

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2021/05/CastleLeaf%20Abutters%20Meeting%20Presentation%20FINAL%205-20-2021%20Stamp_1.pdf  

 

On September 15, 2021 the proponent presented to the Boston Cannabis Board and received their approval. 

Video: Boston Cannabis Board Transactional Hearing 9-15-2021 - YouTube                          

Slide the time bar to 1:20:05                                   

Outcome: Taken under advisement 

Video: Boston Cannabis Board Voting Hearing - September 22, 2021 - Virtual - YouTube                           

Slide the time bar to 16:25                                    

Outcome: Conditionally grant pending a ZBA variance of the buffer zone     

 

Immediately after the BAIA vote, the Allston Civic Association (ACA) made it known that it expected the proponents to present to the ACA given the location was in our service area, that a number of our members are direct abutters of the site and recently there has been considerable changes planned for the neighborhood since the original BAIA approval in 2019 that were not accounted for. 

 

When COVID-19 arrived in mid-March 2020 and the community review process went dark, we continued to inquire about the project status. 

 

We were encouraged when at the public meeting the proponent referenced by name that they were working with the ACA although they never did. 

 

On July 12, 2021, we finally received a contact email address for the proponent and initiated a more formal outreach attempt. 

Eventually the proponent responded and committed to appearing before the ACA Executive Board and membership in October.  

 

On October 9, 2021, three days before the Executive Board meeting, the proponent informed the ACA they overlooked two conflicts for both dates and withdrew and offered to appear at the November meetings. 

 

Given the November meetings will occur in the evening on November 9 and November 17 respectively, after the ZBA hearing, one can only conclude there is a deliberate effort underway to avoid the ACA until after the ZBA hearing. 

 

Unless the proponent requests a deferral, per our bylaws, the ACA must oppose the project and express the concerns of the members who are direct abutters who were deprived of their right to be heard. 

 

Finally, whether you support the proposal or not, if you plan to write a letter or testify in person, it’s important you disclose your address especially if you are a direct abutter.  The ZBA normally assigns more weight to those public comments. 

 

Tony

P.S. I understand the buffer zone issue is with the cannabis proposal for 204 N Beacon St (former Papa Gino site) which was approved by the Boston Cannabis Board on September 16, 2020 but rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeal on November 17, 2020.  The matter is now in court litigation. 

Video: Zoning Board of Appeal Hearing 11-17-20 (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube                           

Slide the time bar to 51:40                                    

Outcome: Denied 

Zoning Board of Appeal Hearing           

Inspectional Services Department           

Tuesday, November 9, 2021 
          

The November 9, 2021, hearing will be held virtually via video teleconference and telephone via the WebEx event platform.     

                             

Interested persons can participate in the hearing REMOTELY by going to http://bit.ly/November9zbaHearing or by calling 1-617-315-0704 and entering access code 2338 205 3605.          

                              

If you wish to offer testimony on an appeal, please click: http://bit.ly/zbaNovember9Comment to sign up. Please provide your name, address, the address and/or BOA number of the appeal on which you wish to speak, and if you wish to speak in support of or opposition to the project.            

 

Hearings: 9:30 am  

  

Case: BOA-1039521 Address: 100 Leo M Birmingham Parkway Ward 22 Applicant: John Pulgini  

Article(s): Article 51, Section 16 Use Regulations - Marijuana Retailer (Cannabis Establishment) Use: Conditional Article 51, Section 16 Use Regulations - Marijuana Product Manufacturer Use Forbidden Article 51, Section 16 Use Regulations - Cannabis establishment shall be sited at least one half mile or 2,640 feet from another existing cannabis establishment  

Purpose: Change of Occupancy from Offices to Marijuana Retailer and Marijuana Product Manufacturer. 

 

Email Contact: Stephani...@Boston.Gov         

The hearing can also be viewed via live-stream on the City’s website. Closed captioning is available.  

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Pushback on Leo Birmingham plan (Taylor Driscoll, The Bulletin: November 4, 2021)

The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) hosted a virtual meeting with both developers and the general public to discuss updates on 30 Leo M. Birmingham Parkway, a proposed five-story mixed-use building in Brighton. 

The discussion began with a presentation to update the public on the recent filing request for Project Notification Form (PNF), which is the second document filed describing the features of the proposed project. 

“We just want to see if that can become a reality. And we will have an opportunity to kind of have an update on the legal Birmingham Parkway study and how this project will relate to the Allston-Brighton mobility study and we want to make sure that we capture everything,” said Lance Campbell, project manager for the proposal at the BPDA. “It’s been a while since the Leo Birmingham Parkway study and there have been a lot of moving parts. We just want to show everybody we really have been in this neighborhood for 24 years and really working to help alleviate some of the things that are going on here.” 

After the presentation, some residents had concerns about the effect of yet another big mixed-use space on the overall atmosphere of the community. Resident Paul Adams, who lives on Lothrop Street near the proposed site, said he was concerned with the rise in rodent pollution, traffic and noise due to construction. 

“We’ve been dealing with this construction all the time,” said Adams. “We’re trying to live here. We’ve been living here our entire lives and you’re just trying to make a buck.” 

Some residents said they were disappointed with the level of affordability in the 99- rental units proposed. Currently, 13 percent of the units are designated affordable, as required by the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP). But Mount Vernon Company Founder Bruce Percelay said that he would be willing to move it up to 15 percent down the line. 

“We need to be at 18 to 20 percent. There’s so much that is coming into this neighborhood and we need to have some more levels of affordability,” said resident Joanne Barber. “I would really appreciate you looking to try to get that number higher and looking at a spread of affordability as well.” 

Most of the pushback from residents centered on the overdevelopment in the area. Pereclay’s other development, 530 Western Avenue or Radius Condominiums went up in 2019, and the recent developments with 50 Leo Birmingham Pkwy have left residents wanting a slowdown. 

“It’s just strangling the life out of the neighborhood and the only reason people think you want to do this is so that you can line your pockets with more money. Don’t you have enough money as it is?” asked Brighton resident Paula Alexander. “I think it would be really easy for you to give something back to the neighborhood.” 

Parking was also discussed. Many residents said that they were worried about the lack of on-street parking due to prospective tenants using those spaces instead of renting parking at the complex. 

“The traffic counts and the parking is really essential to the area here, not only for this project but for the rest of the projects going forward,” said John Bruno, another resident. “We know we have a finite number of parking spots. We really should be able to put this argument to rest by doing the analytics that are necessary to come up with logical conclusions and mitigate these concerns.” 

As for next steps, the period in which you can comment on the PNF will end on Nov. 12 and the form to submit a comment can be found on the BPDA website. 

“We’ve got a lot of feedback and our team is going to reconnect and figure out how to ad[1]dress these things and make this work for all who are concerned,” said Percelay. “I know this is your neighborhood and these are real concerns … and I think it is our job to respond."

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone, 

Not sure yet what all this means for 259 Cambridge St, Allston. 

After receiving approval from the Boston Cannabis Board and the Zoning Board of Appeal, they were in the process of applying to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission for their license. 

If you remember the out-front people in the Allston project for Union Twist were a highly politically connected group.

I would assume the Commonwealth as part of the licensing process conducts its due diligence regarding business ownership and organization. 

Tony

 

Marie St. Fleur and former prosecutor sue pot company, claiming nonpayment of wages (Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: November 3, 2021) 

A Boston-area pot company that with much aplomb hired former state Rep. Marie St. Fleur and onetime Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Amy McNamee to run its operation apparently has had a spectacular falling out with the pair, who are now suing on allegations that the weed investors didn’t pay them.

St. Fleur, who represented portions of Dorchester and Roxbury for years, and McNamee, the former prosecutor, each claim that company Union Twist owes them more than $242,000 in a combination of lost wages and the interest on them, per a suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court earlier this week.

Union Twist made splashy headlines a few years ago when it announced various Boston muckety-mucks, including that pair, would be behind an effort to start selling recreational pot in Allston. 

In the 24-page suit, McNamee and St. Fleur detail how they were approached by the pot investors behind what would become Union Twist, and offered the positions of CEO and COO, respectively, which they took in 2018. 

Per the suit, trouble began in 2019, when they claim the investors began to take steps to “dilute” their shares in the business, which they say they had written agreements wouldn’t happen. The pair began to lawyer up, which led to an “adversarial” relationship with the investors.

And trouble continued, particularly for McNamee, later that year, as the company tried to open up a pot shop in Newton. The investors allegedly told McNamee not to go to a zoning board meeting because it would interfere with a different shop one of them had an interest in, but she did so, as, per the suit, she thought the shop would get shot down otherwise.

McNamee claims she was then forced out as CEO, and signed an agreement to be a senior adviser for less money and equity. At that point, St. Fleur became CEO.

And that’s when the payments stopped, the two women claim in the suit. The investors said they needed to tighten their belts, so over the summer, they started paying less, and then by September 2019, the pot company wasn’t paying them any green at all, per the lawsuit, even though they worked at the company through Oct. 28 of this year. 

They took their case to the Attorney General’s office this past August, and the AG does have a record of a “nonpayment of wage” complaint against that company from that time.

The lawyer listed for St. Fleur and McNamee in the lawsuit didn’t respond to a request for comment. The suit alleges counts of breach of contract and nonpayment of wages.

Mike Ross, the former city councilor turned busy pot-shop attorney, is listed as the counsel for Union Twist on previous documentation, and told the Herald he doesn’t comment on client matters. A representative for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

Talk about a road trip (75 miles west to Palmer, MA)

Let's shock the world!!

Go Bengals!!

Tony

2021 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Football Tournament 

Division 8 

Friday, November 5, 2021 @ 7:00 pm 

Palmer Panthers (3) vs Brighton Bengals (14) 

Legion Field 

Palmer, MA 

Tickets to MIAA Tournament Events must be purchased at GoFan

 

[Eva Webster]

Ooh-ooh. Need to change the name of the team. Definitely a racist cultural appropriation.

 

On 11/5/21, 12:58 PM, "Elizabeth Sullivan" <cleveland-cir...@googlegroups.com on behalf of elizabeth....@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Thanks Tony I posted it on Twitter! GO BENGALS!

 

 

 

 

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Can Progress on Diversity Be Union-Made? (Eduardo Porter, The New York Times: November 6, 2021)

In Boston, setting a goal for a racially diverse construction work force is one thing. Meeting it has proved more difficult.

Staring at the wall of glass clawing its way up the unfinished facade of the Winthrop Center in downtown Boston — 53 floors of commercial and residential space soaring 690 feet — Travis Watson isn’t interested in the grandeur of the thing. He wants to know who’s working on it. 

“It doesn’t pass the eye test,” he scoffs: In a city whose non-Hispanic white population has dwindled to 45 percent, it’s hard to see Black and brown faces on the site. 

He has more than his eyesight to go by. In 2018, Mayor Martin J. Walsh — now President Biden's labor secretary — appointed Mr. Watson to lead the Boston Employment Commission, the body created to monitor compliance with the Boston Residents Jobs Policy. The policy mandates giving a minimum share of work to city residents, women and people of color on large private construction projects and those that are publicly funded. 

The latest version of the ordinance, from 2017, requires that Asian, Black and Latino workers get at least 40 percent of the work hours on sanctioned projects to better reflect the city’s demographics. (It also mandates that 51 percent of the hours go to city residents and 12 percent to women.) Mr. Watson complains that while many projects fail to meet the benchmarks, nobody is penalized. 

When the commission reviewed the Winthrop Center project in mid-September, when it was roughly halfway done, only 32 percent of the hours worked had gone to people of color. Other downtown projects have similar shortfalls. In September, even a project to renovate City Hall — the building where the targets were written and the Employment Commission meets — was shy of the mark.

“We should be going higher,” Mr. Watson said. “This is a floor.” 

Boston is one of the nation’s most solidly Democratic cities. It just elected Michelle Wu, an outspoken progressive, as mayor by a resounding margin. She campaigned heavily on a promise to expand opportunities for minority businesses and to empower workers and communities of color with the sort of policy proposals that led to the creation of the Employment Commission — proposals aimed at ensuring that lucrative opportunities are fairly distributed. But the projects underway in Boston show how much harder it is to deliver on goals of racial equity than to set them.

In Boston and beyond, building is one of the last American industries offering good jobs to workers without a college degree. The prospect of trillions of dollars of new federal funding for infrastructure projects under Mr. Biden’s Build Back Better program is raising hopes that roads, bridges, railways, wind farms, electric grids and water mains could provide millions of good construction jobs for a generation or more. 

What infuriates Mr. Watson is that, as he views it, unions for the building trades are the main impediment keeping people of color from building sites. He recalls one of his appearances before Boston’s City Council: “A councilor got up to say this is a union city,” he said. “For me, he was saying this is a white city, a city for white workers.”

This tension has opened an uncomfortable rift between elements of the nation’s traditional Democratic coalition. Prominent advocates of racial equity push for Black and Hispanic contractors, whose operations are often small and nonunion but hire a lot of workers of color. 

Unions push back against the charges, sometimes forcefully, arguing that the growing number of apprentices of color indicates an embrace of diversity. In the first three months of this year, for example, nearly 30 percent of apprentices across the building trades in Massachusetts were nonwhite, up from 24 percent six years earlier. 

The unions also contend that nonunion contractors and their allies are cynically using a discussion of racial diversity to exploit workers. 

“The most vocal critics of our vigorous, intentional and ongoing efforts to improve our diversity, equity, and inclusion practices are often directly employed, funded, or formally aligned with nonunion special interest groups,” Renee Dozier, business agent of a Boston area local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said in a statement. Many critics, she added, “have a direct profit motive to see wage and safety conditions watered down in one of America’s most dangerous industries, construction.” 

Mr. Watson shrugs off such criticism.

The 38-year-old son of a white mother and a Black father, a graduate of Brandeis University with a major in African and African American studies, Mr. Watson is a former community organizer in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Roxbury and North Dorchester, south of downtown. 

He is employed as a director of racial equity and community engagement at the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, a nonprofit group that offers financing for affordable housing and other community projects. 

He is deeply frustrated by what he views as the naked discrimination barring Black and Latino workers from the high-paying construction jobs that offer a path into the middle class. He is exasperated that unions generally won’t disclose the racial and ethnic mix of the workers in their halls — aside from apprentices, which they are obliged to report — and suggests that it is because the numbers would show their lack of diversity. 

He also grew frustrated by the inability of the Employment Commission to do anything about all this. As the law stands, he noted, contractors must only go through the motions to prove they are making an honest effort to comply. 

By last month, he had had enough. He resigned. 

The Pipeline Issue 

Unions for the building trades — laborers and electricians, plumbers and metalworkers — are largely to thank for ensuring that construction work is a middle-class job. The unions have bargained successfully for decent wages, and for health and pension benefits. They train workers and monitor safety conditions on building sites. 

Gatekeeping is also one of their functions, particularly in a union-friendly city like Boston. Unions run apprenticeships, which confer and certify the requisite skills, controlling the pipeline of workers into the profession. 

Who gets a job at downtown projects like the Winthrop Center or the City Hall renovation, where large unionized contractors and subcontractors do a vast majority of the work, is often decided in the union hall, which handles calls from contractors and makes assignments from a list of out-of-work journeymen and women.

City data suggests that workers of color got 38 percent of the hours on projects subject to the ordinance last year. This year, between April and September, the share actually hit the target of 40 percent, it said. But there’s a stark difference in the jobs that whites and nonwhites get: Minority workers in 2020 did 76 percent of the work removing asbestos, where the mandated base wage set for projects like the City Hall renovation is usually around $40 an hour. By contrast, they got only 22 percent of the plumber hours, which pay around $60. 

“The pipeline issue is a real one, and I do think there’s a lack of diversity in the pipeline,” said Celina Barrios-Millner, the chief of equity and inclusion in Boston’s departing city government. “Any time you see outcomes that are so skewed, you have to understand there is discrimination somewhere down the line.” 

Some union officials acknowledge the issue. When the City Hall project came up for discussion at the Boston Employment Commission in May, Commissioner Charles Cofield, an organizer for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, which covers New York and New England, argued that “the main part of the pressure needs to go to the people supplying the manpower.” That means the business agents at the union locals. 

Elmer Castillo, an immigrant from Honduras who rose to be vice president of Local 723 of the carpenters’ union for a couple of years, has long experience with the ways of the building trades unions. “Unions are good if you know how to work with them,” he said. But equality of opportunity between white and minority workers? Mr. Castillo says, “That doesn’t exist.” 

Workers are supposed to be selected for a job based largely on how long they’ve been unemployed. But nepotism rules in the union hall, Mr. Castillo contends. Business agents trade favors with contractors. They will place their sons, cousins and nephews in the good jobs, and they will make sure that those sons, cousins and nephews follow them up the union ranks. 

“This builds a chain that never ends, a chain of whites,” Mr. Castillo said. “One will never have the opportunity to achieve what they achieve.” 

Craig Ransom, now the business manager at Local 346 of the carpenters’ union, offers his career as an example of the glass ceiling Black workers face. After rising to business manager at Local 723, he got stuck — blocked from what he says would be his natural progression to regional manager. “Unions are good for people that look like me,” Mr. Ransom said. “But at the very top level, there is no one that looks like me.” 

The conflict between white insiders and Black or Hispanic outsiders clamoring for an opportunity has bedeviled unions since the dawn of the labor movement. Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended officially sanctioned discrimination, race often trumped class solidarity. Many unions discriminated against workers of color, and many employers turned to workers of color to cross union picket lines. 

A few years later, President Richard M. Nixon leaned into the conflict between unions and African Americans, embracing the so-called Philadelphia Plan, which required federal contractors to prove they were hiring minority workers to match the ethnic composition of the area where work was being done. It would create “a political dilemma for the labor union leaders and civil rights groups,” said John Ehrlichman, a Nixon adviser, driving a wedge between two pillars of Democratic politics. 

Labor unions have come a long way since then. One reason is that far more workers of color are in the labor force, and many unions want to organize them, including the Service Employees International Union and UNITE HERE, which covers leisure and hospitality workers. 

The other reason is that organized labor doesn’t have the clout it once had. “The old bastions of exclusion with strong seniority systems that favored white workers have been decimated,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, a historian of labor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported fewer than 100 racial-discrimination complaints against unions, about one-third the number brought a decade before. “They don’t have the power they used to have in being involved in hiring,” said Gwendolyn Young Reams, the commission’s acting general counsel. 

Unions in the building trades remain something of an exception. They are strong, compared with other unions, and retain control over training and hiring, especially in public projects and the large, more heavily regulated construction in union-friendly urban areas. Nearly 13 percent of construction workers are unionized, about double the overall rate across private industries. 

‘Driving the Ship’

Maven Construction is not a union contractor. It is an open shop, meaning it has not signed a deal to employ only union workers. Its founder and chief executive, JocCole Burton, a Black woman, knows that limits the kind of work she can do. But she also understands the cost of signing up with the unions.

“Every single college or university in the region, every hospital and all public work requires union labor,” said Ms. Burton, who founded Maven in Atlanta and moved it to Boston four years ago. “Anything that is downtown and most work in the Boston metro is going to require union labor.” 

The exception is affordable-housing projects, which bring in nonunion contractors to keep costs down, Ms. Burton said. Still, 

open-shop contractors are mostly limited to smaller projects. “The largest project we’ve done is $35 million,” she said, with jobs worth $5 million to $10 million more typical. 

She is seeking to make Maven a “signatory” contractor, to have a shot at more lucrative work. But the arrangement is expensive: The benefits and other obligations add up, and they are hard to afford if you don’t have a steady stream of big projects.

More problematic for Ms. Burton is that she expects unions to provide few workers of color. “The unions are in the business of making sure that the union halls get all the work, but they don’t have enough Black and brown bodies in their halls,” she said.

Ms. Burton says she is shocked by what she sees as overt discrimination in such a liberal city. “The racism experienced 50 years ago in Atlanta is the same we see in Boston today,” she said. “It’s subtle — not as overt — but it is the same.” A crucial problem, she argues, “is the unions are driving the ship when it comes to equity.” 

Union officials contend that much of the criticism is unfair. A report from Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers noted that while people of color made up only 4 percent of retired electricians drawing a pension in the last five years, they accounted for almost 30 percent of their apprentices, a testament to how much it has evolved. 

“There is no denying that unions in many industries, including construction, just like corporations in many industries, have a troubling past when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Ms. Dozier, the business agent for Local 103. “But we are doing more every day to increase the diversity of our membership than almost any other industry — and frankly, it is unethical of the nonunion lobbyists and their mouthpieces to try and turn that important work into an excuse to further their own exploitative practices.”

 

Mark Erlich, who retired in 2017 as executive secretary-treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters and is now a research fellow with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, argues that construction unions have become more welcoming to nonwhites in the last few decades. 

Mr. Erlich is one of the authors of a book addressing the history of racial exclusion in the building trades. He notes that the original Boston Residents Jobs Policy in 1983 came out of the fight by Black workers for jobs on building sites. But it had to include residents and women to gain white political support and overcome the opposition of union leadership.

“There is a legacy of racism, which by no means has been eliminated,” Mr. Erlich said. “I respect folks in the community that complain that things are not changing fast enough. And they are not changing fast enough.” Still, he argues, unions realize that “they need to become less homogeneous and reflect the demographics of the city.”

And he warns that the nonunion contractors that will hire workers of color do not generally provide training or a career path, as 

unions do. The work is often more dangerous, he says, and it pays nothing like the wages in union shops. 

The Limits of Patience 

Workers of color who make it into the unions acknowledge the opportunities that membership provides. On a sunny October afternoon in Dorchester, a roomful of apprentices and journeymen and women, assembled by Local 103 to talk to a reporter, lauded the union’s efforts to broaden its ranks and called for patience. 

“Diversity doesn’t happen overnight,” said Sam Quaratiello, a recent graduate of the apprenticeship program who is of Asian descent. Walter Cowhan, a Black journeyman, argued that the union had become far more diverse in his 20 years of experience. Still, he said, if workers of color are to become more prominent on job sites, training is essential. “If you don’t prepare the work force, directly bringing in Black and brown workers could undermine the whole process,” he said. 

But among some of those pushing for racial equity, patience is wearing thin. Mr. Watson offered the words of the Black author and activist James Baldwin: “You’ve always told me it takes time,” Mr. Baldwin said in the 1989 documentary “The Price of a Ticket.” “How much time do you want, for your progress?” 

The building unions are “huge obstacles” to that progress, said Angela Williams-Mitchell, who heads the Boston Jobs Coalition, a community organization dedicated to increasing opportunities for people of color. “They do not open their doors to create access for communities that have historically been excluded.” 

If they are so committed to diversity, she says, why do unions refuse to provide data on the share of minority journeymen and women, even as they disclose the racial and ethnic breakdown of apprentices? “Break it down for us so we know what needs to be done,” she urges. 

Unions remain essential to maintain construction’s track record of lifting workers up, Mr. Erlich says. He recalls one of Mr. Watson’s heroes, the late Chuck Turner, a community activist who fought to increase Black employment in the building trades. “He was the ultimate radical — his attitude was, let’s drive the unions into the sea,” Mr. Erlich said. “But he came around to the position that without unions, construction would become a low-wage job.” 

Mr. Watson, in fact, agrees. “Unions are great,” he said. “But they have to give us an opportunity.”

[Eva Webster]

Quotes from the NYTimes article Tony has just sent (pasted below):

 

“It doesn’t pass the eye test,” he [Travis Watson of the Boston Employment Commission] scoffs: In a city whose non-Hispanic white population has dwindled to 45 percent, it’s hard to see Black and brown faces on the site.” 

 

“The latest version of the ordinance, from 2017, requires that Asian, Black and Latino workers get at least 40 percent of the work hours on sanctioned projects to better reflect the city’s demographics. (It also mandates that 51 percent of the hours go to city residents and 12 percent to women.)”

 

And this:

 

“When the commission reviewed the Winthrop Center project in mid-September, when it was roughly halfway done, only 32 percent of the hours worked had gone to people of color. Other downtown projects have similar shortfalls.”

 

Hello?!?!  And this is wrong because?

 

People who work on big construction jobs in Boston do not, and cannot reflect Boston’s demographics -- because construction is a regional industry, not a Boston industry!

 

Massachusetts demographics is as follows:

• White: 78.07%
• Black or African American: 7.63%
• Asian: 6.60%
• Other race: 4.18%
• Two or more races: 3.26%
• Native American: 0.22%
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.04%

Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/massachusetts-population

 

So you can see that having about 20% of people of color working construction jobs would be perfectly in line with the state’s demographics.

 

Alas, mindless racialism is getting out of control in the partisan mainstream media and democratic political circles – and it’s too bad that so many people uncritically lap it up, even though this ideology is pretty dumb and short-sighted at its core.

 

Thanks to the unions, construction workers are paid well enough that they can choose where they want to live. If they don’t like living in Boston – because it’s hard for working class people to afford family-size homes – you cannot blame them for not living in Boston, and you cannot do anything about their choices.  They live where it makes sense for them to live.

 

Even if they were all people of color, once they have good well-paying jobs, they tend to migrate to the suburbs, where they have more room and better lives. (Most of those people do not want to live in apartments – they have their trucks and other vehicles, lots of mechanical tools, shops, etc. that cannot be easily accommodated in crowded Boston neighborhoods.)

 

As a result -- as the city becomes mostly white-collar (plus people working service jobs), Boston does not have, and will never have enough well-trained construction workers who live in the city.

 

And now, because many construction union members don’t live in Boston, the racialists (including our dear Tony) argue that they should not be working in Boston – that people of different skin color must replace them, because construction sites in Boston must reflect the racial make-up of Boston.  Good luck with that.

 

The Globe recently had a piece complaining that too many teachers in Boston schools are white.  So who has been stopping people of color from becoming teachers? And why is anyone’s skin color a qualifying factor for any job/profession to begin with?  If that were the case, maybe it’s time for Tony, a white man, to be replaced by a someone of a different race as the head of ACA, since Allston has become very racially diverse.

 

This race-based approach to everyone is getting old. It is highly unpopular outside major blue-run cities, and that will soon (next year) have some pretty momentous political consequences.  Sorry, but judging every problem/issue via the prism of race is for simpletons. Just ridiculous. Period.

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[Paul Creighton]

People:

n

Does the above theory take into account the US Immigration Department's so-called E b 5 Visa program?

This allows certain monied foreigners to get a visa by making certain investments here, including real estate.

" Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ......."

How about bringing in your money washers, your pursuers of filthy lucre, disciples of Mammon, "oligarchs" who betray their own and now come to our shores. " Communist" China or Russia are so distant from communist economic practice as to be history's quintessential, flim-flam artists.

 

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On Tue, Nov 9, 2021 at 3:33 PM partslargerworld via Homeowners Union of Allston-Brighton <homeowners-union-o...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

For those who haven't been paying attention, the "Reset" is an attempt by the Democrats to install a socialist/communist/progressive based system in the USA. Race is only used as a weapon the way smokescreens are used to redirect attention during a battle.

The most important step for a socialist/communist/progressive system to take hold is to control and then eliminate the middle class regardless of their race, creed or color. This is done by race baiting, fear mongering, inflation, large government spending and the elimination of small property ownership & businesses. Once the middle class is gone there will be the oligarchs and the government dependents.

The oligarchs are buying up city and rural land at an accelerated pace. This allows the rich to control your choice of home and your supply of food. Communist China has been on the rampage for decades buying up America and stealing intellectual property. It is Communist Chinese companies who swoop in first on Boston's investment properties. China is buying up Boston without the middle class knowing it. All of this is being done in front of our eyes but for some reason you fail to believe it. 

If you are a socialist/communist/progressive it is understandable for you to support the current Biden administration and the Wu agenda in Boston. For those who still are naive or blind to what is happening, maybe you have been living in the belly of the beast for way too long.

Michael dePierro 

-----Original Message-----
From: PJ Szufnarowski <p...@artontour.net>
To: AllstonBrighton2006 <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com>; Anthony D'Isidoro <anthony...@msn.com>; cleveland-cir...@googlegroups.com <Cleveland-Cir...@googlegroups.com>; Homeowners Union of Allston-Brighton <homeowners-union-o...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Michelle Wu <Miche...@boston.gov>; Michael Flaherty <Michael.F...@boston.gov>; JULIA...@BOSTON.GOV <JULIA...@boston.gov>
Sent: Tue, Nov 9, 2021 7:44 am
Subject: [HUAB] Re: [AB2006] Can Progress on Diversity Be Union-Made?

I didn't realize that Massachusetts was over 78% white.  Although I could have guessed it was in that range, anecdotally.

Do you think that whites are now in the minority in Boston, per the "Globe", because of all the "affordable" housing projects??  It seems the elected officials have many more plans for a myriad of affordable type housing projects (just scanning the ongoing chatter from candidates including our now mayor elect Wu).  But there is very little talk, and even less real investment (proportionately) in regards to supporting full homeownership opportunities, both physically (in appealing and well-appointed construction that includes driveways and yards) and also in actual financial aid.  To people of any skin color.

 My personal observation is that Boston has lost its traditionally white European multigenerational base (the majority group that actually built this city) because it's simply unaffordable to purchase a decent middle-class home here.

My other personal observation is that non-white people are also struggling with the same issues.  Those that start their own businesses, including but not limited to the trades, have also fled in masse to the suburbs, because they want the same quality of life whites want.  But of course.  We are all equal that way, and want the same.  Prosperity, personal autonomy, and opportunity. 

I think the biggest consistent overlook here, by our elected officials, continues to be the middle class.  And it's no secret (but not well reported) that foreign investment has been a major factor in driving up the cost of all real estate assets in this city, which continues to drive the middle class out.  I would like to hear the elected officials discuss that.  But they won't.  Because legacy media never asks them to.  

The media is certainly a huge part of the problem.  They call the shots in many ways. And they are hardly objective.  Many are now just an arm of the elites.  Because that's who subsidizes them.

PJ

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Harvard's Tug of War in Allston (Shanivi Srikonda, The Harvard Crimson Opinion Writer: November 10, 2021) 

Harvard’s new Science and Engineering Complex is an expansive, beautifully constructed building. From the useful makerspaces to the new furniture and appliances, the building is a testament to the innovation and ingenuity that engineering can accomplish. Situated in Allston — a Boston neighborhood located a 20 or so minute walk from Harvard’s River Houses — the SEC represents a visual symbol of Harvard’s expansion into Allston, complete with the near-constant commute of Harvard shuttle buses. This project has been decades in the making, and Harvard has had a long, sometimes contentious, history of expanding its presence in Allston. 

Originally the home of the Massachusett people, the land that is now Allston was soon colonized and called “Little Cambridge” until 1807, and in 1868, Allston was divided from Brighton and given its current name. 

In 1997, it was announced that Harvard University had been quietly acquiring 52.6 acres of land in Allston, and in 2000, the University acquired another 48-acre parcel of land from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. In 2003, Harvard further extended its reach, buying an adjacent land parcel of 91 acres for $75 million, bringing the total area of land the University owned in Allston to 341 acres, significantly more than the 219 acres it owned in Cambridge at the time. 

In addition to just acquiring land, Harvard has also acted as a landlord to different businesses and organizations in Allston, with one of the most notable being WGBH, a public radio station in Boston. Though WGBH had a lease until 2044, it opted to move out of Allston as Harvard was eyeing the neighborhood for further expansion in the early 2000s; the area that WGBH previously occupied is now where the SEC’s campus sits. 

Many are concerned about the University contributing to gentrification in Allston, worried that Harvard’s expansion into the neighborhood may hurt local residents who now find themselves amidst a busy satellite campus for one of the most prestigious universities in the world. For Meredith Zielonka ’25, Harvard’s expansion into Allston is more personal. “My parents used to work at the old location of WGBH,” Zielonka said in an interview. “I have very specific memories located with that neighborhood, what it used to look like, and now there’s this giant building there.” 

Harvard’s expansion into Allston with the SEC represents not only a tug of war between the University and the community it is building into, but also between the historic engineering buildings near Oxford Street and the new SEC. Built in 1901, Pierce Hall is one of the oldest buildings in the historic complex in Cambridge, and it has been a home to many a Nobel Laureate, such as Nicolaas Bloembergen, who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in laser spectroscopy and nonlinear optics. A University task force announced in June that it planned to vacate Pierce Hall. 

Thus, many began to contemplate the contrast between the historic engineering campus in Cambridge and the sparkling SEC in Allston. As Rachel Zhou ’24 put it in an interview, “It’s really strange to see how these buildings have been almost just abandoned, even though they’re still usable.” 

Pierce Hall’s buildings are now emptier than usual, but still usable and full of historic charm, which seems at odds with expanding into a neighborhood that the University historically has not been very connected to. This begs the question: Although students and Harvard affiliates are benefitting from the University’s Allston expansion, how can the University work to make sure that Allston’s residents themselves are also seeing benefits? What is the need for such expansion when there are already buildings to be used? If there must be expansion, how can the University be a good steward unto its new communities and ensure the livelihood of those communities’ residents? 

Most importantly, whose comfort are we prioritizing? Is our comfort, of having beautiful new spaces, more important than the comfort of Allston’s residents, many of whom may have lived in the neighborhood for generations? In prioritizing one group’s comfort over another, what does that say about us, when we want to break down the stereotype that the University is simply just an ivory tower. 

It is hard to reconcile how the University’s developments threaten to gentrify Allston, while historic brick buildings sit empty in Cambridge. In this tug of war, we’re at a standstill, with the new SEC now bustling and the old SEAS complex being slowly emptied. The University must engineer better solutions to amend this paradox and become a more positive influence on the Allston community it has expanded into. 

Shanivi Srikonda ’24, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Quincy House. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

New development can build on Boston’s ‘Massport Model’ to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion (Stephen P. Crosby, Jason Desrosier, and Richard Taylor, Opinion-Boston Globe: November 11, 2021) 

There is an urgent need to tackle the structural inequities that threaten our future neighborhoods. 

New development can build on Boston’s ‘Massport Model’ to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion - The Boston Globe

While the Seaport District is a success in many ways, like so much in American life, that success is almost exclusively for people of certain racial and socioeconomic backgrounds — with some communities of color and lesser economic means almost totally excluded. Although steps have been taken to mitigate this failure of planning and execution, no systemic solution has ever been proposed. And as the Globe observed in a 2017 article, the problem is systemic: “The Seaport’s whiteness is not the result of overt prejudice … but rather a symptom that indicates Boston has not addressed systemic issues involving race.” 

The Civic Action Project resolved to try to address this issue at the structural level, promising “to develop policy initiatives that will seek to remedy the lack of diversity and racial equity in the Seaport District, and serve as a development template that assures our future neighborhoods — Suffolk Downs, Fort Point Channel, Midtown, Allston — meet our highest aspirations for diverse companies, employees and cultural activities, and share the economic value of the development equitably with people of all races and backgrounds.” 

The CAP team recruited 19 institutional partners, including developers, major corporate employers, community development corporations, and nonprofits, and studied similar initiatives across the country as well as successful diversity strategies already in place in Massachusetts. 

From this work, one thing became clear: Only strong, decisive public action could create the pressure to break the systemic impediments to diversity and equity, and to manage the inherent tension between the highest and best use of land for social good and the highest and best economic use that drives developers. It also became clear that our recommendations had to be simple, big, and doable. Convoluted, multidimensional solutions would probably lead only to more debate and dithering. And the simplest big solution was right in front of us: the “Massport Model”— in which Massport includes a 25 percent diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria in government development requests for proposals (RFPs), specifying that the diversity efforts should include equity participation; workplace and supplier diversity; wrap-around services to enhance the effectiveness of workforce and supplier diversity efforts; and/or other strategies as the bidder chooses; and a strong performance metrics and accountability system. This model was used with remarkable success in the development of the new Omni Hotel in the Seaport. 

To their great credit, Massport and the Boston Planning and Development Agency have decided to include the 25 percent diversity provision in all of the development RFPs they issue. 

This requirement should be included in every state and municipal development RFP. With this simple change — which doesn’t require legislation, regulatory approval, public hearings (though they may be a good idea), or any other process — Massachusetts could ensure diversity in our neighborhoods and begin to build generational wealth across communities from development investment. 

But this solution reaches only public development projects in Boston. The same DEI principles from the Massport Model should be embedded in the private development process. This is more challenging than changing the RFP process, but it can be done. 

At this point, the BPDA’s Article 80 review process controls virtually all private development in Boston by establishing review and approval standards for transportation, environmental protection, urban design, historic resources, and green building. From our research, the Article 80 process — and similar processes at state and other municipal agencies — could be amended to include review criteria for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Harvard’s recent success winning DEI commitments from Tishman Speyer for its development in Allston demonstrates that this can work in private development as well as public. 

We are aware that there are now few people of color who are employed as contractors, architects, and laborers or who own such businesses. Yet, over time, demand will increase supply. In the meantime, we urge policy makers to design tools to build the pipeline to enable developers, operating in good faith, to satisfy these requirements. These changes need to be implemented in a way that makes them a means of more inclusive growth — not an impediment to that growth. 

In the near term, the principal impact of these initiatives will be on parties involved in the development process rather than on subsequent businesses and residences. But rising minority wealth will affect these metrics as well. Furthermore, both the RFP and Article 80-type criteria will encourage developers to be creative to demonstrate their commitment to DEI — including strategies like reserving small low-rent space for diverse retail; including neighborhood amenities like grocery stores and day care; or keeping linkage investments for housing near the new development. 

These simple solutions represent an assertion of our community values — just like mass transit, sustainability, design, and financial feasibility — that put our regulatory and procurement muscle where previously our mouths have mostly been. Taken together across the Commonwealth, they will assure diversity in our development and our neighborhoods, and that the economic benefits will be shared equitably across all communities. If we are truly serious about addressing structural and systemic inequities, this sweeping statewide approach to development is urgently required. 

Stephen P. Crosby, former Massachusetts secretary of administration and finance and founding dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston, is cofounder of the Civic Action Project. Jason Desrosier is manager of Community Action at Allston Brighton CDC. Richard Taylor, former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, is director of the Center for Real Estate at Suffolk University. 

 

Michelle Wu’s grass-roots campaign holds promise for similarly far-reaching mayoral term (Siobhan McHugh, Letter – Boston Globe: November 11, 2021)

Michelle Wu’s grass-roots campaign holds promise for similarly far-reaching mayoral term - The Boston Globe

 

As an Allston-Brighton volunteer for Michelle Wu, I confirm Mary Lou Akai-Ferguson’s statement that the campaign granted neighborhood volunteers considerable autonomy in organizing their local communities (“Political newcomer helped run ‘Wu train,’ ” Metro, Nov. 8). 

Mayor-elect Wu and her campaign manager, Akai-Ferguson, along with the campaign’s paid staff, recognized and respected the local knowledge of neighborhood activists and volunteers. Sadly, this recognition and respect was lacking in many of the Boston political campaigns on which I have worked as a volunteer. 

While many progressive campaigns claim to be a movement, the Wu campaign transformed that claim into a reality. I have confidence that as mayor, Wu will take a similar grass-roots approach to governance, an approach that will empower Boston residents to create a more equitable and inclusive city. 

Siobhan McHugh 

Brighton 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello everyone,

Thank you to the City of Boston for pursuing a project to update information on all the Hero Squares in Boston.

They have made a lot of progress since I last checked.

I thought given the time of year, I would share with you (below) what the city currently has for the Allston Brighton Hero Squares.

Tony

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Alozian Aldonis
Lake St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Alozian A. Aldonis United States Army 15 April 1919 – 2 March 1945 Alozian A. Aldonis was born to John and Rose Aldonis on April 15, 1919 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The Aldonis family moved to Boston and Alozian attended Brighton High School, graduating in 1940. Alozian enlisted in the United States Army at the Induction Center in Brighton, MA on September of 1942. Private (Pvt.) Aldonis served our country with the Co H 502nd Parachute Infantry. Pvt. Aldonis was killed in service when a demolition charge detonated while he was serving in France on March 2, 1945. Alozian was survived by his parents’ residents of Brighton. 

 

Oliver Jr. Ames
Charlesgate East And West, Commonwealth Av, Allston/Brighton 

Oliver Ames, Jr. United States Army 8 April 1895 – 28 July 1918 Oliver Ames, Jr. was born to Oliver and Elsie Alger Ames on April 8, 1895 to in Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1917. Oliver showed his devotion to our country when he entered the Officers' Training Camp in Plattsburg, NY in May 1917. Second Lieutenant (2Lt.) Ames proudly served in the 165th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Division, also known as the Rainbow Division. 2Lt. Ames was the 1st Battalion adjutant under Major "Wild Bill" Donovan. He fought gallantly during the fighting at Meurcy Farm. On July 28, 1918, while voluntarily going through machine-gun fire to assist his battalion commander, 2Lt. Ames was shot and killed by a sniper hiding behind a dead horse. For his extraordinary heroism in action 2Lt. Ames was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His body is buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in Fere-en-Tardenois, France. Oliver was survived by his parents. 

Leo Birmingham
Birmingham Phwy, Market St, Allston/Brighton 

Representative Leo Birmingham was honored with a Square in 1936 for his service to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Hugh C. Blanchard
Chestnut Hill Av, South St, Allston/Brighton 

Hugh C. Blanchard United States Army 9 May 1886 – 18 July 1918 Hugh Charles Blanchard was born on May 9, 1886 to John Henry and Mary Ann Blanchard. After graduating from Roxbury Latin School, he went on to become a member of the Harvard College Class of 1909. Hugh displayed his devotion to our country when he enlisted in the United States Army on February 21, 1910. First Lieutenant (1Lt.) Blanchard proudly served in the 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Division. He was killed in action on July 18, 1918 during the Second Battle of the Marne. Blanchard is buried at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. Hugh was survived by his parents and his wife, Mignon Von Der Luft. 

Edward A. Bluestone
Chiswick Rd, Commonwealth Av, Allston/Brighton 

Edward A. Bluestone United States Army 13 July 1942 – 13 August 1944 Edward A. Bluestone was born in Watertown on February 5, 1912. He grew up in Boston attending English High School, graduating in 1929. Edward showed his devotion for our country when he enlisted in the United States Army on July 13, 1942 in New York City. Sergeant (Sgt.) Bluestone proudly served with the 444th Troop Carrier Technical Group until he was reported missing in action in the European area on August 13, 1944 and subsequently reported killed in action. Sgt. Bluestone was awarded The Purple Heart for the heroism he demonstrated in his service to our country. Edward was survived by Mrs. Gertrude Pakulski of Allston. 

John Patrick Bonner
Coolidge Rd, Royal St, Allston/Brighton 

John Patrick Bonner United States Navy 6 May 1920 – 1 August 1946 John Patrick Bonner was born on May 6, 1920 to Phillip and Mary Bonner. He resided on Royal Street in Allston, and graduated from Brighton High School in 1938. John demonstrated his love for our country when he enlisted in the United States Navy on December 14, 1941. Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class (AMM 1/C) Bonner proudly served in Fleet Air Wing 14 Headquarters Squadron (HEDRON) 14-2. On August 1, 1946 he died in service in a plane crash in San Diego. AMM 1/C Bonner was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. His body is buried at the Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, MA. John was survived by his parents and his wife, Ann D. Bonner a resident of Allston. 

William E. Boyden
Commonwealth Av, Lake St, Allston/Brighton 

United States Army 27 February 1943 – 8 December 1944 William Edward Boyden, Jr. was born in Cambridge, MA on January 13, 1923. Edward grew up in Boston attending English High School, graduating in 1941. On February 27, 1943 he showed his devotion for our country when enlisting in the United States Army in Boston, MA. He was assigned to The Ninth Air Corp 354th Fighter Group 355 Fighting Squadron. Lt. Boyden was killed in action on December 8, 1944 while proudly serving our country. Lt. Boyden was awarded The Air Medal. He was survived by his parents Mr. William Boyden and Marie Boyden of Brighton, Ma. 

Michael Burns
Commonwealth Ave / Fidelis Way, 

PFC MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BURNS was born on November 2,1950 to Mrs. Mary Burns of Brighton MA. He enlisted in the Marines on July 31,1968 in Boston MA. PFC MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BURNS died on February 25,1969 as a result of wounds to the body from hostile rocket fire in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam. The City of Boston bestows the title of hero upon PFC MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BURNS for his bravery and ultimate sacrifice while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States of America. MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BURNS is honored on Panel 31W, Row 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 

Elmer N. Buswell
Beacon St, Park Drive (Auduborn Circle), Allston/Brighton 

Elmer N. Buswell United States Army 28 January 1895 – 31 July 1918 Elmer N. Buswell was born on January 28, 1895 to Arthur T. and Elizabeth Buswell. He attended Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA and graduated from Amherst Agricultural College. He was called “Buzzie” and was known as being stocky and enthusiastic. Elmer showed his love for his country when he enlisted with the United States Army. Corporal (Cpl.) Buswell proudly served in Company D, 101st Engineer Battalion, 26th Infantry Division. In July 1918, Cpl. Buswell was wounded in the leg by German forces and was captured at Belleau, France. As his brother, Private Arthur Buswell, ran to get a first aid kit, Cpl. Buswell was captured. Cpl. Buswell died of his injuries on July 31, 1918 in a German prison camp. His body is buried at Groton Cemetery in Groton, MA. Elmer was survived by his parents. 

Dimitri M. Cahaly
Adamson St, Franklin St, Allston/Brighton 

Dimitri M. Cahaly United States Air Force 16 December 1922 – 26 March 1944 Dimitri M. Cahaly was born on December 16, 1922 to Michael and Anna Cahaly. He resided on Adamson St in Allston, MA and was a member of the Northeastern University College of Engineering Class of 1946. Dimitri showed his love for our country when he left his studies to enlist in the United States Air Force on March 21, 1943. Aviation Cadet (Avn. Cadet) Cahaly was a proud member of the 666th Navigational Training Squadron, 41st Navigational Training Group. On March 26, 1944, he was scheduled to go on a night-time navigation training mission from English Field in Amarillo, TX to Monroe, LA and back. Shortly after takeoff the Lockheed C-60A Lodestar lost control and slammed into the ground. The crew of seven, including Avn. Cadet Cahaly, were killed. He is memorialized on the Northeastern Veterans Memorial, and his body is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park, MA. Dimitri was survived by his parents. 

Sumner J. Calish
Chestnut Hill Av, Commonwealth Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Rev. Philip J. Carrington
Faneuil, Tremont, Washington Sts, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Walter F. Cassidy
Cleveland Circle, Allston/Brighton 

United States Army 14 February 1942 – 31 January 1945 Walter F. Cassidy was born to Margaret and John Cassidy on December 28, 1919 in Brighton, MA. Walter grew up in Brighton and attended Brighton High School. Walter was inducted into the United States Army on February 14, 1942 in Boston, MA. Technical Sergeant (T/Sgt.) Cassidy was assigned to the 314th Infantry Company B. He was proudly serving our county when he was killed in action in France on January 31, 1945. T/Sgt. Cassidy was awarded the Silver Star for the heroism he demonstrated in his service to our country. He was survived by his parents,Margaret and John Cassidy of Brighton, MA. 

Victor J. L. Centola
Centola St, Market St, Allston/Brighton 

United States Navy 12 February 1940 – 24 October 1944 Victor J. L. Centola was born in Brighton, MA on November 11, 1918. Victor was raised in Brighton, attended Brighton High School graduating in 1936. On February 12, 1940 Victor showed his devotion for our country by enlisting in the United States Navy. He proudly served as Chief Store Keeper (CSK) aboard the USS Johnston. CSK Centola was killed while at sea in the Pacific area on October 25, 1944. Victor was survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Peter Centola of Brighton, MA and his wife Martha Centola also of Brighton, MA. 

Lawrence C. Chisholm
Commonwealth Av, Warren St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Thomas E. Church
Cummings Rd, Egremont St, Allston/Brighton 

United States Marine Corps 8 January 1942 – 10 August 1942 Thomas Edward Church was born on February 18, 1920 in Nova Scotia. Thomas moved to the United States and attended Brookline High School, graduating in 1938. He showed his devotion for our country when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on January 8, 1942. Private Church proudly served in the 1st Raider Battalion Co. B. He was killed in action while proudly serving our country in Tulagi, near the Solomon Isles on August 10, 1942 while protecting our freedom. Private Church was awarded The 1st Marine Division Unit Citation and The Purple Heart for the heroism he demonstrated in his service to our country. He was survived by his parents Edward and Edna Church of Brookline, Ma. 

Anthony L. Cocuzzo
Shannon St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

United States Army 13 August 1942 – 17 December 1944 Anthony Louis Cocuzzo was born on May 10, 1920 in Brighton, MA to Donato and Lucia Cocuzzo. Anthony attending Brighton High School graduating in 1938. He was inducted into the United States Army at Fort Devens, MA on August 13, 1942. Technical Sergeant Cocuzzo was assigned to the 233rd Combat Engineer Battalion, in the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines Anthony was killed in action on December 17, 1944. Anthony Cocuzzo was awarded the Purple Heart for the heroism he demonstrated in his service to our country. He was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs.Lucia and Donato Cocuzzo, of Brighton, MA. 

James E. Coggins
Brainerd Rd, Harvard Av, Allston/Brighton 

James Everett Coggins United States Air Force 18 September 1934 – 18 March 1953 James Everett Coggins was born on September 18, 1934 in Boston. Showing his love for our country James joined the United States Air Force and began active duty on September 18, 1934. Airman Third Class Coggins was an Air Passenger Specialist with the 52nd Air Rescue Squadron, 6th Air Base Group at Harmond Air Force Base, Stephenville, Newfoundland. On March 18, 1953, his aircraft, a SB-29 was on a search mission for a downed RB-36. On its return flight, it crashed killing all 10 men aboard. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, James was awarded the Korean Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Korea War Service Medal, and the United Nation Service Medal. James was survived by his mother Elizabeth Coggins a resident of Boston. 

James F. Collins
Fern St, Franklin St, Allston/Brighton 

James Finbar Collins United States Army 12 October 1925 – 23 May 1945 James Finbar Collins was born to Bridget and James Collins on October 12, 1925 in Allston. James attended Boston College High School, graduating in 1943. He showed is love for our country when he enlisted in the United States Army on January 11, 1944. Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt.) Collins proudly served with the 72nd Squadron 5th Group until he was killed in action over the China Seas on May 23, 1945. S/Sgt. Collins was awarded the Air Medal for the heroism and devotion he showed in his service to our country. James was survived by his parents, residents of Allston 

John H. Coyle
Market St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Joseph Coyne
Beacon St, Market St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Leblanc Cripps
Appian Way, Franklin St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Edward M. Cunningham
Murdock St, Sparhawk St, Allston/Brighton 

Edward M. Cunningham United States Army 23 December 1941 – 26 August 1967 Edward M. Cunningham was born on December 23, 1941 in Fall River. He resided on 497 Old Country Rd, Westport, MA. Edward showed his love for our country when he was inducted into the United States Army on December 15, 1965. He proudly ranked as Specialist 4 and served in the 20th Military Police Co APO San Francisco. Edward was killed in action on August 26, 1967 by multiple injuries secondary to high speed collision. He was killed instantly. Edward is buried at the Beech Grove Cemetery, Westport. He was survived by his wife Janith H. 

Cunningham Park
Cambridge St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Paul Curran
Market St, Sparhawk St, Allston/Brighton 

Paul Francis Curran United States Army 1 January, 1924 – 10 January, 1944 Paul Francis Curran was born on January 1, 1924 in Cambridge. He resided on Elmira Street in Brighton and graduated from the St. Columbkilles School in 1941. Paul enlisted in the United States Army on April 28, 1943. Paul served as a Private (Pvt.) in the Det. 14th Signal Service. Pvt. Curran died in service on January 10, 1944 in Adak, Alaska. Paul was survived by his parents Leo and Claire, residents of Brighton. 

John J. Devlin
Parsons St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Harry Fenwick Ditmars
Commonwealth Av, Harvard Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

 

Samuel A. Donisi
Monastery Rd, Union St, Allston/Brighton 

Samuel Anthony Donisi United States Army 4 March 1919 – 11 January 1945 Samuel Anthony Donisi was born on March 4, 1919 in Boston. Showing his love for our country Samuel inducted into the United States Army on February 3, 1942 and began active duty that same day. Samuel served as Sergeant, He was KIA in France on January 11, 1945. Samuel was survived by his mother Catherine Donisi a resident of Boston. 

Pamela Donovan
Washington St, Roadway Leading To St Gabriel Monas, Allston/Brighton 

Pamela Dorothy Donovan United States Army 25 March 1942- 8 July 1968 One of the few women who died while serving in Vietnam, Pamela Dorothy Donovan was born in Wirral, Merseyside, UK to Irish parents on March 25, 1942. She later resided in Brighton, MA. She became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at the age of 26. Pamela was survived by her parents and siblings of Allston, MA. 

Giosue J. Fiorentino
Franklin St, North Harvard St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

George Franklin
Brighton & Harvard Ave., Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

James F. Gillis
Everett St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

George S. Gilloly
Cambridge St, Denby St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Joseph Golden
Union Sq., Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Grand Army Of Republic
Evergreen Cemetery, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Paul A. Gunn
Spurr St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Paul Albert Gunn United States Army 16 June 1924 – 11 February 1945 Paul Albert Gunn was born on June 16, 1924 in Boston. Showing his love for our country Paul inducted into the United States Army on April 28, 1943 and began active duty that same day. Paul served as Private First Class with the 36th Infantry Division, and the 142nd Infantry Regiment. On February 11, 1945, Paul was declared missing and presumed dead over the the European Regions. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Paul was awarded the Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman Badge, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. Paul was survived by his mother Mrs. Mary Gunn and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in the Epinal American Cemetery in Epinal, France. 

Kevin B. Hardiman
Faneuil St, Oak Sq, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Harvey Putnam Hedden
Brookes St, Riverview St., Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Robert H. & John J. Higgins
Brighton Av, Higgins St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Edward J. Hogan
Breck Av, So. Crescent Circuit, Allston/Brighton 

Edward J. Hogan United States Army 15 June 1917 - 21 October 1943 1LT Edward J Hogan, US Army of Brighton served with the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II in North Africa and Sicily. On October 21, 1943, 1LT Hogan attempted to disarm an enemy bomb and was killed instantly in the blast in Sicily, Italy. He left behind a wife and child. He grew up nearby on Nonantum Street and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia." 

Philip C. Hughes
Farrington Av, Linden St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Walter Imrie
Cambridge St, Imrie Rd, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Richard Kane
Harriet And South Hobart, Allston/Brighton 

Richard L. Kane United States Army 22 June 1915 – 13 July 1944 Richard L. Kane was born and raised in Brighton. After serving as a stock clerk, he joined the Army at the age of 27 on July 31, 1942. Private First Class Kane served with the 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. Kane was part of the D-Day invasion and died honorably on July 13, 1944 in France. He is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery and received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for his service and valor. Richard was survived by his father Mr. Richard L. Kane and sister Mary Clarke of Brighton. 

John H. Kannaly
Glenville Av, Greylock Rd, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Stanley Kaplan
Commonwealth Av, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Stanley Norman Kaplan United States Army 31 July 1925 – 11 October 1944 Stanley Norman Kaplan was born to Max and Fannie Kaplan on July 31, 1925 in Boston. As an English High Graduate, Stanley did not wait to be drafted but, joined the United States Army on August 13, 1943. Private First Class (PFC) Kaplan served with the 26th Division, Company E, 104th Infantry until he was killed in action on October 11, 1944, in France. PFC Kaplan was awarded The Gunnery Badge Medal, The Good Conduct Medal and The Purple Heart. Stanley was survived by his parents who are residents of Brighton. 

Thomas C. Keefe
Faneuil St, Parsons St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Frederick Kelley
Allston St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Joseph J. Kilgariff
Bostonia Av, Breck Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Korean, Vietnam Monument
Brighton Center At Police Station, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Raymond J. Lalime
Brooks St, Nonantum Rd, Allston/Brighton 

Raymond John Lalime United States Naval Reserve 24 June, 1925 – 5 April, 1943 Raymond John Lalime was born on June 24, 1925 in Lowell, and later moved to Allston. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on April 5, 1943 and was deployed to Europe on April 20, 1943 aboard the SS Timothy Bloodsworth as Gunners Mate 3rd Class. While serving in Antwerp, Belgium on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944, Lalime was killed in action. For his heroism in his service to our country Lalime was awarded the Purple Heart. Raymond was survived by his parents, Allen and Susan Lalime residents of Allston. 

William J. Lally
Cambridge St, Franklin St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Joseph H. Legee
Mackin St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Joseph H. Legee United States Army 1 January 1932 – 13 April 1952 John H. Legee was born on January 1, 1932 in Boston. As a resident of Brighton MA; Joseph served as Private First Class and was a member of the 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division in the Army as a Heavy Weapons Infantryman. He was killed in action in Korea on April 13, 1952. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Joseph was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Korea War Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Purple Heart. Joseph was survived by his father James Legee a resident of Brighton. 

Robert E. Lynch
Adamson St, Everett St, Allston/Brighton 

Robert Edmund Lynch United States Navy 26 October 1926 – 25 May 1945 Robert Edmund Lynch was born on October 26, 1926 in Boston. Showing his love for our country Robert enlisted into the United States Navy on April 14, 1944 and began active duty that same day. Robert served as Seaman First Class for the United States Navy. On May 25, 1945, Robert was declared missing and presumed dead over Asiatic. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Robert was awarded the Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon. Robert was survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Daniel T. Lynch and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

William Macdonald
Faneuil St, Market St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Harold S. Jr. Macfarland
Cambridge St, Gordon St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Cesidio Magnarelli
Washington St / Wirt St, 

United States Army 30 March 1912 – 1 January 1945 Cesidio Magnarelli, born in Quincy, was a resident of 21 Winship Street in Brighton. Magnarelli worked as a brick and stone mason before joining the Army on December 8, 1942 at the age of 30. Serving under the 20th Armored Division Infantry Company, Private First Class Magnarelli died in service from wounds received in action on January 1, 1945 in the Ardennes, commonly referred to as the Battle of the Bulge. For this, he received the Purple Heart. He was survived by his wife Mrs. Dorothy A. Magnarelli and his father Loroto Magnarelli. 

Charles F. Maguire
Everett St, Holton St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John Henry S/Sgt Mccarthy
Colborne Rd, Commonwealth Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John A. Mccormack
Appian Way And Prescott Pl., Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Peter J. Mchugh
Market St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Mckinney Playground
Faneuil St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Roderick J. Mclean
Cambridge St, Warren St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

James G. Mcmahon
Foster St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John Morgan
Washington St, Winship St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Philip H. Mulcahy
Nonantum Rd, North Beacon St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Oak Square
Oak Square - Brighton, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John L. O'brien
Cambridge St, North Harvard St, Allston/Brighton 

John Lane O’Brien United States Army 22 June 1918 – 24 March 1945 John Lane O’Brien was born on June 22, 1918 in Boston. As a resident of Allston MA, John was inducted into the United States Army on March 20, 1941 and began active duty that same day. John served as 2nd Lieutenant in Germany and was killed on March 24, 1945. John was survived by his wife Cecilia O’Brien a resident of Boston,and his only child, Gerald O'Brien, who was an infant at the time of his death. John and his wife are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. 

John S. O'brien
Arlington St, Faneuil St, Allston/Brighton 

John S. O’Brien United States Army 25 April 1924 – 3 October 1944 John S. O’Brien was born on April 25, 1924 in Boston. He resided on 39 Newcastle Rd, Brighton with the occupation of a welder and flame cutter. O’Brien was inducted into the Army of the United States on May 5, 1943 in Brighton. He served as private and private first class (pvt - pfc.) O’Brien died in service on October 3, 1944 in Holland. He was survived by his mother, Sarah. 

William J. O'connor
Brighton Av, Chester St, Allston/Brighton 

William J. O’Connor United States Army 20 September, 1928 – 6 October, 1951 William J. O’Connor was born on September 20, 1928 in Swampscott, MA. As a Brighton resident and a Clarence Edwards High School Graduate, William was inducted into the United States Army on February 12, 1951. While in the Army, he served as a Private First Class (PFC) with Company I, 3rd Infantry Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On October 6, 1951, while serving in Korea during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, PFC O’Connor was killed in action. For his sacrifice in the line of duty, O’Connor was awarded the Purple Heart. William was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William O’Connor residents of Brighton.

 

James C. Jr. O'reilly
Commonwealth Av, Fidelis Way, Allston/Brighton 

James C. O’Reilly, Jr. United States Naval Reserves 20 June, 1948 – 13 September, 1967 James Cornelius O’Reilly Jr. was born on June 20, 1948 in Boston. A resident of Brighton, he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserves on July 15, 1966 and began active duty that same day. While in the Navy, he became a member of the Fleet Marine Force – Navy personnel who are able to serve with the Marines. He served with the Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division as a Hospital Corpsman, informally referred to as “Doc” by those around him. On September 13, 1967, while fighting during Operation SWIFT in Quang Tin, Vietnam, Hospital Corpsman O’Reilly was killed by enemy fire. He was survived by his mother Olive O’Reilly a resident of Brighton. His name is memorialized on Panel 25E, Row 107 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

Felix M. Oliva
Brook St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending

 

Ernest W. Prussman
Goodenough St, Faneuil St, Allston/Brighton 

Ernest W. Prussman United States Army 15 September, 1921 – 8 September, 1944 Ernest W. Prussman was born on September 15, 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland. After moving to Brighton, he was inducted into the United States Army on October 27, 1942 and began active duty that same day. In the Army, he served as a Private First Class with the 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. On September 8, 1944, while serving near Loscoat, France in the Battle for Brest, Private First Class Prussman’s battalion, along with one other, were halted by heavy enemy fire. Leading his squad against enemy fortifications, he succeeded in singlehandedly capturing several enemy soldiers and taking out a machinegun nest. Again leading the charge against enemy troops, he was shot and killed by an enemy rifleman, but not before throwing a hand grenade as he fell, killing his opponent. His actions helped demoralize the enemy troops and allowed the two battalions to continue their advance. For his sacrifice, b 

Thomas Redgate
Mapleton St / Market St, 

Thomas J. Redgate United States Army 13 April 1926 – 31 December 1953 Thomas Justin Redgate was born on April 13, 1926, resided in Brighton Massachusetts. First Lieutenant Redgate attended Brighton High School. At the age of 18, in February 1944 Thomas left high school and volunteered for the Army Air Force.In 1947, Thomas entered Boston College for two years, and then re-enlisted in the Army. Thomas was ranked as First Lieutenant and served in World War II and the Korean War. He re-enlisting in the United States Army on November 26, 1948. Redgate was reported Missing in Action on December 11,1950 in North Korea.The war Department issued First Lieutenant Redgate a presumptive finding of death on December 31, 1953. Thomas J. Redgate is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and remembered at the Korean War Veteran Memorial in Washington, D.C.First Lieutenant’s remains were positively identified in April 2020 and will be interred in the Bourne National Cemetery 

William A. Reilly
Cambridge St, Soldiers Field Rd, Allston/Brighton 

William Arthur Reilly United States Army 28 November 1918 – 16 February 1945 William Arthur Reilly was born on November 28, 1918 in Boston. As a resident of Cambridge MA he showed his love for this country when he inducted into the United States Army on January 21, 1944 and began active duty a month later on February 11, 1944. William served as Private First Class in the 63rd Infantry Division, and the 225th Infantry Regiment. He was KIA in France on February 16, 1945. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, William was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. William was survived by his wife Lillian Reilly a resident of Cambridge. 

Stanley Ringer
Allston St, Griggs Pl, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Richard T. Ritchie
Brighton Av, Commonwealth Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending

 

Walter F. Rooney
Bennett St, Brock St, Oakland St, Allston/Brighton 

Walter F. Rooney United States Army 1 March 1924 – 22 January 1944 Walter F. Rooney was born on March 1, 1924 in Brighton MA. Showing his love for our country Walter inducted into the United States Army on March 26, 1943 and began active duty that same day. Walter served as Private First Class in the 3rd Infantry Division and the 7th Infantry Regiment. He was KIA in Italy on January 22, 1944. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Walter was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. Walter was survived by his parents Martin and Elizabeth Rooney residents of Brighton. 

Idolo Sacchetti
Turner St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Idolo Sacchetti United States Army 28 October 1921- 26 May 1944 Idolo Sacchetti was born in Chester, MA on October 28, 1921. He had only finished grade school before becoming a tailor. Idolo joined the United States Army on September 26, 1942 in Boston. Private (PVT.) Sacchetti served with the General Officers Branch until Private Sacchetti was in hostile territory in Italy when he was severely wounded on May 16, 1944; he succumbed to the injuries the same day. Idolo was survived by his mother, Donata Sacchetti of Brighton. 

Walter A. Schroeder
Aldie St, Everett St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Francis Arthur Searle
Brentwood St, Everett St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Henry Servant
Goodenough St, North Beacon St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Edward J. Shanley
Shanley St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Peter Simpson
542 Cambridge St, 

Peter Anthony Simpson was born on June 18, 1921 in Boston. As a resident of Allston, Peter enlisted into the United States Army on January 20, 1941 and began active duty that same month. Peter served as Private with the 27th Bomber Group, Light, and the Headquarters Squadron. In May of 1942 Peter was captured by Japanese Armed Forces while serving in the Philippine Islands. Peters capture was first reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross on May 7, 1942 and the last report was made on May 28, 1942. Based on these two reports, Peter was imprisoned for at least 21 days. Ultimately, Peter died as a Prisoner of War. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, peter was awarded the Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, World war II Victory Medal, and the Prisoner of War Medal. Peter was survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Peter Simpson who are residents of Boston.

 

William I. Small
Brighton Av, Harvard Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

William F. Smith
North Harvard St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

WILLIAM FRANCIS SMITH, Pvt. United States Marines, gave up his life in the service of the United States of America in the World War (WW1). This North Brighton playground was dedicated in the memory of WILLIAM FRANCIS SMITH 

Spanish War Veterans
Cambridge St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

George F. Spinney
Falkland St, Hobart St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Francis G. Stevens
Montfern Av, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Francis G. Stevens United States Army 18 June 1945 – 29 June 1966 Francis G. Stevens was born to Mr. and Mrs. Clifford H. Stevens on June 18, 1945 in Ellsworth, Maine. Francis enlisted in the United States Army on April 4,1966; Private First Class (PFC) Stevens served with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Regiment (Airborne). Stevens served our country proudly during the Vietnam War while operating in South Vietnam Stevens was killed in action on June 29, 1966. PFC Stevens was awarded the Purple Heart for the heroism displayed in his service to our country. Francis was survived by his mother, Mrs. Clifford H. Stevens a resident of Brighton. 

John F. Sullivan
Monastery Rd, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Joseph F. Sullivan
Blenford Rd, Nottinghill Rd, Allston/Brighton 

Joseph F. Sullivan was approved for a Square by the City Council in 1933. He was the Secretary of the City Street Laying-Out Department. 

Leo Swan
North Beacon St, Vineland St, Allston/Brighton 

Leo E. Swan, Jr. United States Marine Corp 29 September 1949 – 20 April 1968 Leo E. Swan, Jr. was born to Leo and Anne Swan on September 29, 1949 in Brookline. Leo showed his loyalty and allegiance to the United States by enlisting into the United States Marine Corps. Lance Corporal (L.Cpl.) Swan was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Leo served our country proudly in Vietnam until he was injured in the Quang Nam Province due to fragments from a hostile explosive device while on an operation on March 26, 1968 L.Cpl. Swan later died on April 20, 1968 due to his wounds. Swan was honored and awarded with the Purple Heart. Leo was survived by his parents. 

John J. Templeton
Antwerp St, Holton St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Anthony J. Vaccaro
North Harvard St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Benedetto Viola
Union St, Winship St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Paul E. Walsh
Brighton Av, Linden St, Allston/Brighton 

Paul Evans Walsh United States Army 18 June 1916 – 3 April 1942 Paul Evans walsh was born on June 18, 1916 in Boston. Showing his love for our country Paul enlisted into the United States Army on May 8, 1941 and began active duty that same day. Paul served as Private with the 31st Infantry Regiment and Company B. On April 3, 1942 Paul was KIA from wounds received in action in the Philippines. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Paul was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. Paul was survived by his mother Mrs. Catherine E. Walsh a resident of Boston. 

Peter J. Webber
Richardson St, Western Av, Allston/Brighton 

Peter John Webber United States Army 11 January 1918 – 4 January 1945 Peter John Webber was born on January 11, 1918 in Boston. Showing his love for our country Peter inducted in the United States Army on April 29, 1942 and began active duty that same day. Peter served as Staff Sergeant with the 832nd Engineer Battalion, and the Aviation. He was KIA in France on January 4, 1945 due to an accident in a weapons carrier. For the heroism displayed in his service to our country, Peter was awarded the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. Peter was survived by his father John, a resident of Boston. 

Felix J. Jr. Wencis
Lincoln St, Market St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John E. Pfc White
Cambridge St, Saunders St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Frederick S. Wilson
Dunboy St, Perthshire Rd, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

WW I (Boulder)
Cambridge St, Henshaw St, Washington St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

World War I Memorial
Cambridge St, Henshaw St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

WW II (Boulder)
Chestnut Hill Av, Union St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

World War II Memorial
Oak Square, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Gerald F. Young
Easton St, North Harvard St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

Thomas Young
Easton St, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

John Zelinsky
Lincoln St, Portsmouth, Allston/Brighton 

Sorry, this dedication is pending 

[tahir h]

This is absolutely awesome. Where is it located?

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

The city of Boston is exploring new initiatives to help millennial home buyers (Cameron Sperance, Boston.com: November 10, 2021)

Trying to buy a home in the city of Boston can feel like trying to paddle across Boston Harbor in a nor’easter — excruciating with all of the elements working against you. 

Many of Boston’s leading employers are in the high-paying technology, life science, and financial sectors. That means all-cash bids and offers over the asking price can wash away younger bidders without much of a nest egg, even if they take advantage of the city’s first-time home buyer programs. 

The easy answer to a housing shortage crisis like Boston’s is to ramp up the supply, which should bring prices down. But housing costs haven’t dropped amid an ongoing city initiative to create 69,000 new housing units by 2030. 

Boston leaders point to a variety of programs to provide younger people with a clearer path to homeownership at a time when the housing market is brutally competitive. 

“We all know we’re dealing with a high-cost city,’’ said Maureen Flynn, deputy director of Boston Home Center, the city program that “helps Boston residents buy, improve, and keep their homes.’’ “We’re constantly working on increasing supply so that the prices go down, but our division is trying to figure out how we help the individual. So, we’ve got folks working on the supply side, and we’re working on the demand side.’’ 

Boston ranks 80th out of the 100 largest US metropolitan areas for homeownership rates for individuals between the ages of 25 and 40, according to a Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies tabulation of census data. It’s not hard to figure out what’s driving the city’s poor standing. 

While the pandemic may have driven many people out of the city in search of more space in the suburbs, Boston’s notoriously high cost of living didn’t budge. An October report from Zumper showed Boston was the third-most expensive city for renters, behind New York City and San Francisco, respectively. 

Astronomical rent payments don’t leave much room for younger people to save. 

“There’s a large segment of folks that don’t have the incomes to afford a down payment to get through the current seller’s market,’’ said Raheem Hanifa, research analyst at Harvard’s Joint Center. 

Boston’s median sale price for a single-family home was $727,500, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. The median condo sale price clocked in at $725,000. The soaring costs are a headwind for millennial buyers, as the standard 20 percent down payment means buyers would need to put down roughly $145,000 for a single-family home or a condo. 

“When you have high student loan debt, you can’t save that much for a down payment,’’ Flynn acknowledged. “I was 40 before I bought my first house because I was paying off my student loans.’’ 

A majority of millennials are doing just that — trying to pay off school debt while trying to live in a high-cost city like Boston. 

The city has other options for prospective homeowners at certain income levels, but like affordable homes in Boston, patience can be in short supply. 

“Realistically, I would not have been able to buy a house for probably another 10 years or until I was married and had a dual-income family,’’ said Abigail Peterson, a 32-year-old art director who qualified for and purchased a one-bedroom condo in the West End through the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s income-restricted housing lottery. 

The city touts its Inclusionary Development Policy as a vital vehicle to providing affordable housing in Boston for “households earning too much for a housing subsidy but not enough to secure housing they can afford on the open market through use of private funds,’’ according to the city’s most recent annual report on the program. The IDP homeownership platform is available for those with a household income that is less than 80 percent to 100 percent of the Area Median Income. 

Twenty-two percent of the 3,238 units of housing created through IDP are condos that go into the housing lottery for qualified buyers, according to the report. But 700-plus condos aren’t going to make much of an impact in boosting Boston’s millennial homeownership rate. 

Peterson was in the lottery for two years before her name was drawn. While it was an incredible opportunity to become a homeowner earlier than she had anticipated, she had to scramble to come up with all the necessary financing in a quick timeframe. 

“It was the most stressful thing that I’ve ever done,’’ she said. “They basically give you two weeks to decide if you want to buy the place and then secure financing. I don’t think anyone who doesn’t have the support system that I do could possibly even contend with something like this.’’ 

Had it not been for supportive parents to help navigate the process, as well as an ability to tap into retirement savings at her job, Peterson said, it would have been impossible to move forward — and this is in a program aimed at making the home-buying process more accessible to a larger swath of Bostonians.

 

The city appears to recognize where it is falling short in efforts to provide homeownership opportunities to more segments of the population, especially people of color. 

A working group comprised of real estate agents, lenders, advocacy groups, and grass-roots organizers has assisted the Boston Home Center’s push to help individual buyers while other city departments work on the supply side of the equation, Flynn said. 

Some of the group’s work resulted in low-interest loans through the city’s One Mortgage and One+ Boston programs, which can offer interest rates that are 0.5 percent to sometimes as high as roughly 1.5 percent lower than a conventional mortgage for qualified first-time buyers below certain income thresholds. Applicants also have to put down 1.5 percent of the purchase price from their own savings, take part in a first-time home buyer class, hold less than $75,000 in total household assets, and have a credit score of at least 640 if they are planning on buying a single-family home or a condo. They also must live in the property as their primary residence. 

Acting Mayor Kim Janey this summer signed off on a major boost to the city’s first-time home-buyer assistance program for those who qualify. Individuals can now get as much as $40,000 to put toward a down payment and closing costs compared with the $10,000 previously offered. 

The city also is exploring ways to persuade prospective buyers to improve their credit scores to the 660 minimum some lenders require for a mortgage. While the program is in its planning stage, Flynn said, the city is looking at providing grants. 

Other initiatives underway include finding ways to help potential buyers who are burdened with student loan debt. People of color tend to graduate with more student loan debt than their white classmates, according to the Brookings Institution, and Boston leaders note this has a long-term impact on housing opportunities. 

One of the city’s initiatives includes outreach and advocacy work with lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to view student loan debt differently when they assess risk profiles for potential buyers. 

“We know that buyers can handle high rent payments. They’re making those rent payments at the same time they’re paying their student debt,’’ Flynn said. “Sometimes when they buy a home, their mortgage payments are going to be less than their rent payments.’’ 

City leaders are even considering ways to provide income-restricted buyers with a leg up in the general home buyer pool instead of just relying on the housing lottery. That means going head to head with cash buyers. 

“One solution may be that some third-party nonprofit or something makes that cash offer on behalf of the home buyer,’’ Flynn said. “We’re not exactly sure how that would work. But we are … trying to figure that out with our partners.’’ 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

‘Deeply Disappointed’: Harvard-Allston Task Force Calls on Bacow to Increase Collaboration (Maribel Cervantes & James R. Jolin, The Harvard Crimson: November 15, 2021) 

The Harvard-Allston task force penned a letter Wednesday to University President Lawrence S. Bacow calling for greater “accountability” and outreach around Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus development, two weeks after submitting a comment letter to Boston City Hall raising concerns about the project. 

The Nov. 10 letter, which was signed by 13 of the task force’s 15 members, praised the University’s long history of leadership but wrote the task force is “deeply disappointed” by an alleged lack of collaboration between Harvard and Allston residents. 

In the letter, the signatories asked to meet with Harvard planners and administrators — including newly-appointed University Planning and Design director Purnima Kapur — to learn from their “extensive experience” and convey to them residents’ concerns. 

Task force members also called on Harvard to “take the lead” in combating climate change’s impact on the Allston-Brighton neighborhood by instituting a “greenspace planning initiative” reflective of Harvard’s previous work in climate change, public health, and equity. 

“We join the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission in calling on Harvard to plan greenspace first, so that development weaves around a green resilient network, rather than buildings coming first, forcing greenspace to go into ‘pocket parks’ and ‘sidewalk rooms’ as the current framework plan suggests,” the letter reads. 

More housing is needed, per the letter, but task force members wrote they have seen “no proposals” that meet the neighborhood’s needs. 

“The current process in Allston of ground leasing parcels one by one to private developers leaves no room for such innovations as community land trusts, cooperative housing, and other approaches to social housing,” the signatories added. 

Task force members wrote they desire more comprehensive “workforce development” and training initiatives in Allston, spearheaded by Harvard, instead of by individual developers. Harvard development, according to the signatories, will create a need for jobs, including jobs in land development, building management, and retail. 

The members also wrote that they were concerned with what they view as a piecemeal transit plan by Harvard and its associated developers. 

“Harvard’s partners have offered vague and unenforceable suggestions for adding to public transit service or reducing vehicular share, but in the absence of a holistic analysis of regional traffic volumes and patterns, the essential issue of transportation cannot be properly addressed,” they wrote. 

University spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke wrote in an emailed statement that the University and local residents share similar goals in Allston development. 

“President Bacow and Harvard appreciate the thorough feedback from members of the Harvard Allston Task Force, and look forward to the continued collaboration as we work to advance our shared goals of creating a vibrant, equitable and welcoming district that compliments and enriches the existing Allston-Brighton neighborhood,” she wrote. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Just a friendly reminder if you have any questions about your insurance.  Please drop by the Veronica Smith Senior Center today from 11-2pm

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

With Wu’s Inauguration, Allston Residents Look to the Future of the Neighborhood (Maribel Cervantes, James R. Jolin & Brandon L. Kingdollar, The Harvard Crimson: November 17, 2021) 

With the inauguration of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 on Tuesday, Allston residents said they are optimistic her plans to reconfigure urban development and city planning in Boston will positively benefit the neighborhood as it handles an influx of Harvard development projects. 

Wu, the first woman and person of color elected to the mayorship in Boston, assumed office on Tuesday. 

According to her campaign website, Wu plans to “abolish” the Boston Planning and Development Agency, a body she charges with having exacerbated Boston’s “structural inequality” and with displacing residents of color in recent decades. Her administration also plans to prioritize more environmentally-conscious development, according to her campaign’s website. 

Legally, the City of Boston cannot dissolve the BPDA without state approval. Wu plans to cut the organization’s operating budget and strip its authority over zoning and development in order to functionally “dismantle” the organization, per the campaign. 

Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, a city councilor for Allston-Brighton, wrote in an email that she was “delighted” by Wu’s historic election. 

Breadon wrote she anticipates Wu will be attentive to the interests of residents of the neighborhood. She added she anticipates Wu will support a more “integrated” development approach by the Harvard-Allston Land Company in lieu of the firm’s past approach of pursuing individual development projects in Allston. 

State Representative Michael J. Moran said he hopes Wu will take the time to appoint staff to help her “implement her vision” for city development. 

Moran said one reason he supported Wu was because they agree that the government can affect “people’s lives in a positive way.” Like Breadon, he said he hopes for a more cohesive, long-term strategy of urban development.  

“I’m hopeful that in projects that are coming forward, that we see greater affordable housing numbers, we see better sustainability and more of a long term planning as opposed to a piecemeal type of planning,” Moran said. 

Moran said he hopes to see greener projects and more open spaces in future Allston projects. 

Jane McHale, an Allston resident and Wu supporter, said she is in favor of making the BPDA a “separate entity” from City Hall but is hesitant to support “abolishing” the agency. 

McHale, who has also been involved in local development review processes, said the BPDA must be a “better facilitator.” She cited recruiting liaisons between residents and developers who can address questions and feedback on city planning as an example. 

Harvard’s present affordable housing commitments, according to McHale, are “not enough,” and argued the city should make additional investments to address the housing crisis. 

“The government has gotten out of the housing business many years ago, and it sort of leaves it up to cities and developers, and with the cost of building dramatically increasing through Covid, that margin has gotten much more narrow for developers,” she added. 

Allstonian Daniel J. Navarro, who did not vote in the mayoral election and does not consider himself a supporter of Wu, said he feels that the “tight-knit” developments Harvard has created in the city “can be exclusionary” to the surrounding population in Allston. 

In September, Harvard opened its $1 billion Science and Engineering Complex in Allston, which garnered mixed reactions from local residents. 

Campbell Forbes, another Allston resident, alleged Harvard development in Allston has also led to a proliferation of rats in the neighborhood. He urged the city to address the issue. 

“[The city administration] need to be responsible for exterminating little critters and not just let the little critters wander into the neighborhood,” Forbes added. 

University spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke wrote in an emailed statement that Harvard is eager to collaborate with the Wu administration on Harvard initiatives. 

“We look forward to working with Mayor-elect Wu, her administration, and the Allston-Brighton Community as the University continues to advance innovative projects and offer exciting and responsive programs and initiatives across the City of Boston,” she wrote. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

The virtual Allston-Brighton Winter Market is now open! Shop early and choose "local pickup" at checkout from select vendors until December 3. You'll pickup your item at the Ed Portal on December 9 or 11 and enjoy free donuts, hot beverages, local music, and a special gift! 

https://edportal.harvard.edu/virtual-winter-market 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

An epic failure on Beacon Hill (The Editorial Board, Boston Globe: November 19, 2021) 

Lawmakers dawdled over ARPA funds, delaying economic relief to millions of their constituents. 

An epic failure on Beacon Hill - The Boston Globe

When Massachusetts lawmakers wrested control over a $5 billion pot of federal money from the governor last summer, they also accepted the responsibility for getting that money out of state coffers and into programs, projects, and communities where it was intended to do good — and to do so reasonably quickly. 

This week they failed to live up to that responsibility. 

Negotiators appointed to reconcile House and Senate versions of spending packages that neared $4 billion — using a combination of federal American Rescue Plan Act money and surplus state revenues — couldn’t reach agreement by their own self-imposed Nov. 17 deadline set for the end of formal legislative sessions. 

Well, no surprise there. Legislators have dawdled for nearly six months. Sure, some of that time was devoted to six public hearings, but most of it was spent behind closed doors as House and Senate committees met to each come up with their separate bills. The House bill didn’t emerge until Oct. 25; the Senate passed its bill just last week. 

The pattern is not uncommon on Beacon Hill. The annual state budget, which goes through a similar negotiating process, nearly always goes beyond the July 1 deadline for passage. But this pandemic-related spending — clearly deemed essential by federal lawmakers to recovery efforts at the state and local level — is evidence of a new level of dysfunction by legislative leaders. 

And as if to prove that point to an already skeptical public, before going home for the year, Senate lawmakers once again extended their own rules to allow remote voting and participation until March 31. Meanwhile, the House didn’t pass a permanent voting reform bill and neither branch extended the existing emergency law allowing no-excuses mail-in voting beyond the Dec. 15 deadline. One rule for lawmakers, another for their constituents. 

Under the rules in place for the next seven weeks of this legislative recess, should an agreement finally be reached in committee on the massive federal-funds bill, approval could still be halted on the floor by any single lawmaker. 

There is also the possibility that, if the bill doesn’t pass before the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 5, lawmakers would have to start all over again. Under a 1995 rule, unlike policy-oriented bills, which get carried over to the second year of the two-year session, appropriation bills not enacted during the first year die. 

So Thursday, after several months of little more than gentle prodding, Governor Charlie Baker, who never wanted to give up control over the money in the first place, put out an official I-told-you-so. 

“The Baker-Polito Administration believes the Legislature’s original decision six months ago to freeze these funds and subject them to the legislative process created a massive delay in putting these taxpayer dollars to work,” said Terry MacCormack, a Baker spokesman. 

“Massachusetts was already behind most of the country in utilizing these funds before the latest setback, and further delay will only continue to leave residents, small businesses, and hundreds of organizations frozen out from the support the rest of the country is now tapping into to recover from this brutal pandemic,” he added. 

And, according to a database kept by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Baker administration is right. Legislatures in states from Maine to Florida began pushing money out into their communities in dozens of different ways beginning in June — long about the time legislators here were still planning those hearings. Baker did manage, with the consent of lawmakers, to use $200 million for economically distressed hospitals and for workforce development. Another $109 million went to four communities short-changed under the federal COVID relief package. 

There is, of course, still some hope that the lawmakers negotiating a final compromise bill could reach agreement, and that the rank-and-file membership will fall in line — which they have a way of doing when large sums of money are at stake for their communities and the people and businesses in those communities. Along with substantial expenditures for essentials like housing assistance, job training, environmental infrastructure, education, and health care, both bills are chock-full of earmarks. According to an analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the House bill contains 411 such earmarks, totaling $154.4 million; the Senate version has 415 earmarks, totaling $122.9 million. 

They include such items as $5 million for the cleanup of King’s Beach in Lynn, $5 million for a food distribution center in Chicopee, millions for tourism, tree planting, and agricultural supports. Love ’em or hate ’em, earmarks are the grease that often makes the wheels of government turn. And so it might in this case. 

But inter-branch rivalries and an appalling lack of urgency have now turned this abundance of riches into a source of embarrassment — that is, assuming the lawmakers in question are capable of being embarrassed. This was no time for business as usual. Apparently, that message never made it to Beacon Hill. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

The Boston Ward 22 Democratic Committee will be meeting on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 2:00 pm at the Presentation School Foundation, 640 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135. 

The Ward 22 Democratic Committee represents 13 precincts in Allston Brighton and is open to all registered Democrats from Ward 22 who are interested in furthering Democratic principles and politics. 

Email Contact: Bernadette Lally (ward22c...@gmail.com) 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

449 Cambridge back in meetings (Greta Gaffin, The Bulletin: November 18, 2021)

On November 15, 2021, the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) hosted an online meeting about the 449 Cambridge St. project in Allston. 

The proposal is for an apartment building on 449 Cambridge Street and an apartment building on 2 Emery St. This project is being reviewed under Article 80, Large Project Review process of the BPDA. The proponents for the project, Anchor Line Partners, first submitted their letter of intent in 2019, and it was approved by the BPDA in 2020. The meeting was led by BPDA Project Manager Caitlin Coppinger. 

David Wamester, Executive Director at Anchor Line Partners spoke at the meeting. He said after “well over a dozen public hearings,” they went to the BPDA board in August of 2020. 

“[We] were approved for a project that contained over 166 apartment units,” he said. He said they went to the Zoning Board of Appeals in February of 2021. “We did not receive approval for the project. It was voted on, and it was a 3-3 tie.” 

After making some changes, they received approval in July of 2021. In October, the BPDA asked them to file a Notice of Project Change and host more public outreach. 

Anchor Line reduced the number of units from 166 to 152, and eliminated all compact units. In Boston, a compact unit is an apartment under 450 square feet. In the current project there will be 79 studio units (average of 475 square feet), 46 one-bedroom units (average of 916 square feet), and 26 two-bedroom units (average of 916 square feet). Two of the two-bedroom units will be priced at 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) as per the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP). 

There will continue to be two three-bedroom units (average of 1,445 square feet). Twenty-six units total will be affordable under IDP regulations, of which eight will be set aside for artists. The artists’ units will have better ventilation and large amounts of natural sunlight. A total of 118 units will be on Cambridge Street and 34 on Emery. Both buildings will be seven stories tall. 

Andrew Grote, from architecture firm Perkins and Will went over more details of the project. The total square footage will be 166,400. There will be 1,890 square feet for retail, 5,204 square feet of common open space, and 3,223 square feet of private open space. There are 80 parking spaces, which is the same as in the original plan, and 160 bicycle storage spaces. The Emery Street building will not have onsite parking. There will be a community room and artist spaces as well as a working space, a media space, and a playground, and a roof deck. The roof deck will be 2091 square feet. They are hoping to have a display area for artists’ work at the front. 

Resident Anna Leslie, who is on the Impact Advisory Group (IAG), voiced some concerns. 

“There have been no IAG meetings,” she said. “We have not been consulted about these changes.” 

She also asked why the amount of parking has remained the same even though unit numbers went down, to which Wamester said was because they just decided not to change it. 

Eva Webster, a local resident, was upset about the lack of green space. 

“Public trees are not a part of your green space,” she said, adding that it was disingenuous to include them on the building plans. She also thought it was good to have the same amount of parking, which she said she feels will increase tenant stability, but was worried the number of studio apartments will cause the building to be “transient housing”. 

Resident Eileen Houben said that “the whole footprint of the area needs to be shrunk,” so that more green space can be added. She said she was also unhappy that the building does not meet zoning requirements and wondered why Boston even has zoning if it will continually be ignored. 

The project will be giving $1 million to the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation to aid in the group’s mission to provide affordable housing to Allston Brighton residents. They also hope to work with the Boston Transportation Department to improve pedestrian access in coordination with other local projects. Wamester also said he felt the project itself will improve the area for pedestrians, as part of the lot is currently occupied by a towing facility. He added that "we'd like to start construction in the spring, if everything goes well."

Alex Camarena from Rep. Kevin Honan (D-17th Suffolk)'s office was there, as was Moira McCrave from City Councilor Liz Breadon (District 9).

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Boston Volvo Thanksgiving Day 5K 2021 

National Multiple Sclerosis Society 

Thursday, November 25, 2021 @ 7:30 am 

The Boston Volvo Thanksgiving Day 5K presented locally by Boston Volvo Village is a 5K run for everyone! Come be a part of this awesome event and help change the world for people with MS. 

The event includes a tee shirt for the first 700 runners to register, prizes for the top run finishes, fundraising prizes, and is a chip-timed, USATF-certified course. 

See you at the start line! 

Tickets: www.ntlms.org/BostonVolvoThanksgiving21   

61 N Beacon St, Allston, MA 02134 

[Paul Creighton]

Anthony:

Any Allston and Brighton targeted earmarks included in the eight hundred plus pieces of largesse?

Do the earmarks show the sponsoring members or are they opaque?

Thanks

Paul     

Virus-free. www.avast.com

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Yale commits to additional payments in lieu of taxes to city of New Haven. University will increase commitment to city by $52 million in coming years. (Seamus McAvoy, Hartford Courant: November 17, 2021) 

Yale University and the city of New Haven on Wednesday announced a new agreement that will raise the university’s financial commitment to the city by $52 million over the next six years. 

The deal increases payments in lieu of taxes by Yale to New Haven over the next six years, and includes a plan for additional voluntary payments to help the city recoup losses in tax revenue on properties acquired by the university. 

Yale will pay an extra $10 million to the city annually over the next five years and an extra $2 million in the sixth year, on top of its usual payments in lieu of taxes. For example, Yale will pay $23 million next year: $13 million in previously agreed payments, plus the $10 million increase. 

Combined with existing payments to the city, Yale will give about $135 million over the next six years — more than Yale has paid New Haven in the last 20 years combined, Mayor Justin Elicker said. 

“Yale and New Haven have a bond that has been tested by time and strengthened by shared purpose,” Yale President Peter Salovey said in a statement. “As a New Haven anchor institution and the city’s largest employer, the university is proud to do its part in building a community that creates sustained inclusive growth across every neighborhood in the city. New Haven is poised for accelerated growth with increased funding from the federal government, the state, and the university. New Haven’s growing population and its support for innovation, as evidenced by new developments such as 101 College and burgeoning residential, commercial, and research space, will continue to position the city for a bright future.” 

About 60% of New Haven’s property is tax-exempt, and about half is owned by Yale University and the Yale New Haven Hospital. The land value of those properties is estimated to be worth a combined $4.7 billion. 

New Haven generates approximately $30 million in annual property taxes for every $1 billion of taxable land, meaning the city misses out on about $141 million in tax dollars each year from Yale properties. 

Yale already pays annual voluntary payments to the city, in part to accommodate for this loss. The $13 million in voluntary payment to the city in the 2021 fiscal year was the highest from a university to a host city anywhere in the country, the university has said. 

Yale spends over $700 million on New Haven between those annual payments, compensation to city residents who work at Yale and other community programs, according to the university. Yale is also the city’s largest employer. 

Still, the “town and gown” dynamic in the Elm City has not always been harmonious. New Haven Rising, a local economic, racial, and social justice group, has in the past organized around demands for the university and hospital to “contribute their fair share” to the city. 

COVID-related shutdowns and subsequent recovery exposed or worsened the economic inequality already in place in New Haven and in cities across the state. Meanwhile, Yale announced this summer that its endowment value grew to $42.3 billion thanks to a 40.2% investment return during the 2021 fiscal year. 

In addition to the increase in voluntary payments, Yale also committed to additional payments to cover revenue lost by the city when the university purchases additional property. 

Yale will pay 100% of the amount lost in taxes to the city for the first three years after taking over taxable property. That amount will decrease by 10% each subsequent year until the total reaches zero. 

Any property that is converted from taxable to nontaxable by the university in the next six years will be covered under the commitment. 

“This means that the city will not be as significantly impacted when Yale grows … because we’ll be effectually compensated for that loss,” Elicker said. “It also means that, because we’re not hurt by Yale’s growth, Yale and the city are more aligned with supporting the university’s success and growth.” 

Between the significant increases in payments made by Yale and upgrades to the state’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, Elicker said the city now has greater flexibility to use incoming American Rescue Plan dollars to support economic recovery and workforce development programs. 

The commitment announced Wednesday also includes plans for Yale and New Haven to partner in founding a “Center for Inclusive Growth,” which will focus on implementing programs that support building wealth among historically marginalized communities. 

The center will be housed at the Yale School of Management. Kerwin K. Charles, dean of the management school, will lead the center’s coordination efforts. 

“[Charles] has an expertise in wealth inequality, race and gender market discrimination, and intergenerational transmission of economic status,” Elicker said. “Not only is he the dean of the Yale School of Management, but he brings just the type of expertise that will ensure the center’s success.” 

Yale will contribute $5 million in funding for the center over the next six years. 

New Haven will also convert a block of High Street into a pedestrian and bicycle promenade as part of the commitment. The block in question, between Chapel and Elm Streets, runs through the heart of Yale’s downtown campus and is heavily trafficked by students. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Brighton 28, TechBoston 8 — Sahmir Morales ran for one touchdown and threw for another, a 41-yard pass to Yariel Ortiz, in the first half of the City League win for the Bengals (6-4). 

Jathan Greene and Time Leviner added second half rushing touchdowns to help the hosts pull away from the visiting Bears (3-6). 

---

From: Anthony D'Isidoro <anthony...@msn.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 10:29 AM
To: Anthony D'Isidoro <anthony...@msn.com>
Subject: Today!! Brighton High School Varsity Football

 

[tahir h]

Congrats to the Brighton High football team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Also, everyone please have a happy Thanksgiving!

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

“There are tremendous opportunities for people to shop local, to eat local, to dine local, to buy local, and to recognize and understand that when you shop, eat, dine local, you’re supporting your neighbors, your colleagues, and your friends and folks who are a part of the communities that you live and you work in.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

ACA hears St. E’s master plan (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: November 25, 2021) 

Representatives from Steward Medical Group came to the Allston Civic Association (ACA) on Nov. 14 to discuss the institutional master plan (IMP) and parking lot proposal at the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton. 

The overall goal of the IMP, according to Hospital President James Terwillger, is to improve access for patients, expand patient care programs and improve open space throughout the campus. He said the hospital has already worked to help the community, most recently by conducting 7,740 COVID-19 tests and vaccinating more than 3,100 Allston and Brighton residents. 

“Over the last 10 or 12-plus years, over $100 million has gone into the community,” he said. “I guess what I want you to take away from this is we just don’t want to be in the community, we want to be of the community.” 

According to Fort Point Associates Katie Moniz, the plan is to take down the current parking garage on the northeast side of the complex (accessible from Warren Street) and build a larger structure on Washington Street where there is currently a lawn area and a parking lot. The garage to be demolished would be replaced with a landscaped area and more trees would be added to the Center for Biomedical Research and the area around the new parking garage. Trees would also be added to the area where the Quinn Pavilion currently sits, as that is set to be demolished. 

Moni said the reasoning behind the demolition of the parking garage in the first place is that it’s reaching the end of its useful life for the hospital and it sits right in front of the hospital’s main entryway. 

“There are some opportunities here to really relook at this campus to take down facilities like the Quinn Pavilion that are no longer serving the needs of the community,” she said. “We’re really looking to invest here for a new experience for the staff, the patients and the community.” 

The plan for the newly-landscaped entryway, where the parking garage currently sits, would be for a tree-lined courtyard with pedestrian walkways meandering to the hospital entrance. The entrance would also be enhanced with landscaping and a traffic circle for easy pick up and drop off. Moniz said the Center for Biomedical Research is also planning for a facelift, with new exteriors for the building in a more modern style and an update to its aging internal systems. 

“It’s where all those critical blood banks and laboratories are located,” she said. “It was built in 1966, and in order to make sure it’s still serving the needs of the community it really does need investment internally and externally; and really thinking about new mechanical systems and (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) HVAC.” 

Landscape Architect Deb Myers detailed the new pedestrian access the site will see. The area allows for pedestrians to go completely through Nevins Street (the entrance on Warren Street) to an exit on Washington Street. There are also several pedestrian access points on Washington Street to the entire campus. 

Myers also detailed several public realm improvements the master plan is looking to provide. She said they are widening the Washington street sidewalk, planting shade trees and provide an amenity space on the west side of the building that includes shade trees, stadium seating/stairs and a bocce court. 

Architect John Harding said the new parking garage will have six levels of parking with 610 parking spaces. There will be vehicle entries at the campus (level four of the garage) and Washington Street (level 1) and it will provide a rooftop solar panel array. 

Hospital representative Kelly Katapodis added that the hospital will support the Brighton Main Streets, the Brighton Board of Trade, support community health organizations and community health programs. She said they are committed to contributing $539,568 to community organizations as community benefits for this project. 

A Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) Task Force has been formed on this project and it will be meeting Dec. 2 in a virtual format. For more information on this project and to stay up to date with upcoming meetings, go to https://www.bit.ly/3cAmDqx. 

In other news, the ACA heard from former City Councilor Mike Ross representing Dr. Greenthumb for a recreational cannabis dispensary at 144 Harvard St. 

Ross said the facility would have all the required security and safety protocols that every other cannabis dispensary is required to have, and he headed off several questions from residents concerning the half-mile buffer zone. According to the current regulations, a medical dispensary cannot be within a mile of another medical dispensary and a recreational dispensary also cannot be within half a mile of another recreational dispensary. 

“We should think about cannabis a little bit less like a liquor store where you go in and you find every possible brand,” he said. “It’s more akin to a coffee shop, where the only brand they sell is what they sell, like Dunkin’, Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee. This is a very particular industry and it’s very segmented by the marketplace and by consumers. Consumers are extremely curious and active when it comes to this product. What we have here is there’s only so many consumers and you only have so much demand and that demand is going to be split up between the type of store.” 

Ross said Greenthumb has already built a reputation on the West Coast and is looking to come out to Boston. Though he did not explain how exactly they would get around the half-mile buffer near Mayflower. 

“I just want to let everybody know this is the way the ACA is going to approach this. We’re not going to support whoever gets to the Cannabis Board first,” said ACA President Tony D’Isidoro. “We will simply, when the time is appropriate, we will take a vote on the merits of the project, and the merits could be some people might not want to see the half-mile buffer violated, but others may. We will evaluate each project on its merits and leave it up to the Zoning Board of Appeals to decide if the information and demographics and everything are there to justify additional cannabis dispensaries within the buffer zone.” 

The ACA meets every third Wednesday. For more information on the association, go to http://www.allstoncivicassociation.org. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Use the attached flyer to mail in for a purchase 

Daniels's Bakery in Brighton Center will be selling the calendar $10.00 each 

Loyal BAHS folks will be selling the calendar in front of the Post Office in Brighton Center on four Saturday mornings from 11:00 to NOON on November 27 and December 4, 11 and 18 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Grand Chanukah Hummer Parade 

Shaloh House 

29 Chestnut Hill Ave, Brighton 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Boston Landing shrinks hotel proposal, last on site (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: December 2, 2021) 

Proponents from NB Development met with the Allston and Brighton communities on Nov. 29 for a notice of project change meeting held in conjunction with the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). 

NB Development Group Director Keith Craig outlined the scope reduction of the project at the beginning of the meeting, and said this would be the last project to be developed at the site on Guest Street. 

“We hope we’re designing a building that really completes the vision of the campus,” he said. “The primary change that you’re going to see is that the original design of the hotel was approximately 205 feet tall and the current version of the hotel design is 120 feet, so a substantial difference in height downward.” 

Architect and Principal at GroupOne Partners Harry Wheeler said the reduction was to bring the hotel in line with the rest of Boston Landing. 

“We thought this was important to reduce the height of the building for a variety of reasons, one in order to make it an affordable and cost-effective hotel project, two, is it brings this density down to a pedestrian level,” he said. “None of the projects at Boston Landing have this towering or imposing presence on Guest Street. They’re not blocking the sun that much and they’re creating this pedestrian-type scale, even at 100 feet. So we wanted to do the same thing with this building and not have an imposing structure on this corner. Just something solid and identified with great architectural treatments.” 

The new design would still have 175 hotel rooms. Wheeler said that when considering the design, they looked at other buildings around the area to make sure the building fit in with the neighborhood. 

“We have some great architecture here around us that we’re being inspired from and we want to connect with,” he said. “You can see that a lot of the projects around here utilize glass and metal panels, and these are all signature buildings that have their own personality. And also we are kind of connecting to the right side of the Allston Yards development which has significant height, mass and density. It’s a little bit larger in scale than Boston Landing.” 

Resident Eileen Houben pointed out that the site on which the hotel will be located is currently greenspace with several trees planted. Craig said the area has always been a temporary greenspace. He pointed out that the total greenspace for the project, minus the site of the hotel, is 1.6 acres. 

“Which makes up about 10 percent of the buildable land area at Boston Landing,” he said. 

“But most of it is not visible to pedestrians?” Houben asked. “Aside from the part that’s about to disappear and become a hotel, most of it is not visible to those walking or driving on Guest Street, is that correct?” 

Craig said much of the greenspace or hardscape open space will be at-grade or on a terrace. 

“A terrace achieved through stairs or interior elevators within the buildings,” he said. 

Representative of the Sheetmetal Workers Union Local 17 Rick Keogh asked if the project was going to use union labor. Craig said it’s still too early to commit to anything yet on that, but added that they’ve done all the other projects in the development with union labor. Keogh said he agreed and that it’s been a good project for the workers and residents so far. 

“I do like this project; I would like a higher project, but I do like this project,” he said. 

Wheeler added that his father was a sheet metal union member and that he felt they have done a great job with Boston Landing so far. 

“Thank you guys for all your help,” he said 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

December 1, 2021 

A national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that a majority of young Americans believe that our democracy is “in trouble” or “failing.” While most young Biden voters are satisfied with their vote, President Biden’s job approval (46%) has dropped 13 percentage points among young Americans since the IOP’s Spring 2021 Poll, including a 10-point drop among young Democrats and 14-point drop among Independents. 

For over twenty years, the Harvard Public Opinion Project has provided the most comprehensive look at the political opinions, voting trends, and views on public service held by young Americans. The Fall 2021 survey of 2,109 young Americans between 18- and 29-years-old, conducted between October 26 and November 8, includes young Americans’ concerns on their mental health, COVID-19, climate change, and foreign policy.

https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/fall-2021-harvard-youth-poll 

[Eva Webster]

On 12/2/21, 3:34 PM, "Anthony D'Isidoro" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of anthony...@msn.com> wrote:

 

A national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that a majority of young Americans believe that our democracy is “in trouble” or “failing.” While most young Biden voters are satisfied with their vote, President Biden’s job approval (46%) has dropped 13 percentage points among young Americans since the IOP’s Spring 2021 Poll, including a 10-point drop among young Democrats and 14-point drop among Independents. 

 

 

Thanks for posting this info, though I suspect that most people (adults in all age groups) don’t need a poll from Harvard’s Kennedy School (not a paragon of objectivity by any stretch of imagination) to know that Biden’s presidency is a runaway train wreck, and that across the country the Democratic Party’s post-Trump honeymoon with voters is pretty much over (sorry if I’m hurting anybody’s feelings).

 

That familiar (from Obama years) “hope and change” feeling that many people felt when Biden was inaugurated is not going to come back. The downward trends that are disappointing to people will continue.  Needless to say, I’m not rejoicing in that (I voted for Obama twice! – juvenile and naïve as I was back then).  I just feel sadness -- because a lot of time is still left in Biden’s presidency, and by the time it comes to an end, the damage on many critically important fronts will be very difficult, it not impossible to contain/reverse -- even if the next president is intellectually on a higher level and certain ideologues in Congress who are currently harming the country with their half-baked ideas and “progressive” demagoguery get replaced, or at least outnumbered, in midterm or subsequent elections (though that certainly wouldn’t hurt).  No doubt some purple and red states will ensure that.

 

The huge rise in political activism that has taken place in recent years was needed and inevitable, because regular people of all backgrounds want the country to work better for them and their fellow citizens -- but the tragedy is that all that well-meant and sincere surge in civic energy was cynically manipulated by corporate media (on directions of their uber-wealthy owners and underwriters who are watching after their own interests), and channeled in a totally wrong, destructive, dead-end direction of identity politics and racial divisions.

 

You can’t help but wonder if that manipulation was actually concocted intentionally by high level political strategists/consultants, in order to distract from larger and highly sensitive problems -- such as the entrenched legalized corruption in politics that the donor class wants to maintain indefinitely; or the total economic dependence of US on China (which makes some intermediaries too wealthy to ever want to give it up); or the monopolistic control and blatantly one-sided interference in politics by dominant media outlets – and many other things that are harmful to Americans regardless of their skin color.

 

When the young people who now vote for democrats in droves get older, and with that become more experienced, introspect and analytical, most of them will gradually realize that the globalist and ultra “progressive” policies are ruining their lives and prospects for happy and prosperous lives.  Looking back, they will see how they were getting constantly manipulated and exploited because of their youthful idealism.

 

Young idealists, always convinced that everything is “unfair” and needs to change drastically, are the easiest folks to fool with unrealistic/false promises.  That’s why that age group is so heavily targeted by well-funded efforts to channel their discontent into support for certain policies (policies whose outcomes and impacts many young people don’t fully understand). 

 

Bernie Sander, a champion of a socialist order, would never be able to fill a stadium with middle-ages and older folks – but could do so easily with young people. However, young people become middle-aged soon enough; they live, observe and learn from their daily experiences in the real world, and their naïve, youthful thinking usually changes.

 

When they finally have an epiphany that if they push for a radical revolution they’re likely to become unfortunate casualties themselves, and it won’t be pretty, they do what all thinking, rational people do sooner or later – they reject leftist (or in some cases far right) extremism, including drummed up racial divisions.

 

They recognize the value of time-tested old-fashioned family values, and the great importance of Free Speech and individual and property rights, which no government stooges have a right to suspend/abolish. They come to understand that the US needs to be governed by disciplined economic policies that should be putting the interests of American citizens first, and focus on balancing budgets and controlling debt.

 

They will also realize that people cannot have a good life in a country that ignores its immigration laws and otherwise foolishly undermines law and order.

 

It will happen – the pendulum will swing -- though we may not see it for several years.

 

Eva

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[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Christmas at Saint Cols, Annual Lighting and Blessing of the Christmas Tree, Friday, December 3, 2021 @ 6:00 pm (Outside) 

Join Father Fitzgerald and his Elves as we light our Christmas Tree. Bring the whole family at 6 p.m. to sing Christmas Carols. 

25 Arlington St, Brighton 

https://www.stcps.org/apps/news/article/1532087

  

Christmas at Saint Cols, Saturday, December 4, 2021, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm (Outside) 

Join the whole school community for a fun morning celebrating Christmas. Have your family picture with Santa, purchase delicious homemade baked goods at Santa’s Bakeshop, play games in Santa’s backyard, and vote for your favorite cookie in our Cookie Contest.  The winner will receive a beautiful Saint Cols cookie platter and wooden spoon. We will also be raffling off Mrs. Claus’ baskets, called our cup raffles, so plan on purchasing a few tickets. Saint Cols gifts, as well as Mrs. Claus’ wreaths, will be available for pickup and if inventory allows will be available to purchase.  Santa’s elves tell us his sleigh should touch down at 9:30 a.m. and will be back up in the air at 11:45 a.m. so plan accordingly. 

25 Arlington St, Brighton 

https://www.stcps.org/apps/news/article/1532087  

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Oak Square Holiday Tree Lighting 

Saturday, December 4, 2021, 6:45 pm – 7:45 pm 

Please join us for Mayor Wu's Enchanted Trolley Tour. Enjoy arts, entertainment, and meet Santa Claus and his holiday helpers! Refreshments will be provided. 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

In win for residents with disabilities, Boston must upgrade curb ramps across the city (Rupa Shenoy, WBUR: November 24, 2021) 

A long-running civil rights movement has won a huge but quiet victory in Boston. It’ll mean millions of dollars in spending, and construction projects across the city — including in Jamaica Plain, where Michael Muehe has lived for 20 years. 

“Many of the curb ramps along here, many of the intersections have curb ramps that are insufficient or are nonexistent,” said Muehe, while guiding his wheelchair down Jamaicaway. 

If a “curb ramp” doesn’t slope gradually, with a specific height, and overall shape, a tiny curb can become a formidable wall. There’s one such curb at the intersection with Moraine Street. 

“I'm going to show you what happens if I try to go up here — it’s not going to let me tip over backward, but it's not going to let me go forward either because it's just too steep," Muehe demonstrated. "That 2 inch curb is enough to stop me from going forward."

 

When he can’t get his wheelchair up on the sidewalk, he has to stay on the road. 

“So when I'm going up the street, people have to slow down and they pull a little bit closer to the opposite curb,” Muehe said. “It's Boston drivers, too. So, people honk and people look angry — ‘What are you doing holding up traffic?’ and stuff.” 

And Muehe’s wheelchair is motorized. Fellow JP resident Colleen Flanagan uses a manual wheelchair. She can start up the ramp, but she doesn’t get far. 

“That's why I'm holding my wheels like I'm about to fall — because the slope is not even,” she said. “So if you’re in a manual wheelchair, you can slide down and fall.” 

Years ago, Flanagan tipped over at a curb and broke her arm. It happened again earlier this month. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. 

“You somehow get a stranger to help you get your butt back in the wheelchair and you keep on going,” Flanagan said. “But the fear of what could have happened and the anger of like — it’s 31 years after the American with Disabilities Act, and the public sidewalk really almost just ruined my life ... It makes it seem like you're not wanted in that neighborhood.” 

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 lays out how curb ramps should be built. Yet, a 2018 survey by the Disability Law Center in Northampton showed that less than half of the city’s 23,000 curb ramps met ADA specifications. 

Michael Muehe and Colleen Flanagan sit at the edge of a sidewalk with no 

curb ramp on the corner of Boylston Street and Belmore Terrace in Jamaica 

Plain. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

“There's no ADA police,” said Tom Murphy, a supervising attorney at the law center, an independent nonprofit. He said the Justice Department has the authority to enforce the ADA, but for the most part, improvements have been driven by residents. In recent years, many across the country have successfully won suits over curb ramps. 

Murphy represented a group including Flanagan and Muehe when they approached the city of Boston in 2018. 

“We give the other side an opportunity to really work with us in a collaborative way,” he said. “And to Boston's credit, they agreed to do that.” 

Murphy’s clients and the city worked out a settlement — and a federal judge approved it last month. The consent decree requires Boston to install or upgrade an average of 1,630 curb ramps per year until all of them meet ADA standards. They’ll be prioritized based on how heavily they’re trafficked, and if they’re near public transportation or other key areas. The city allocated an extra $25 million to do the work in fiscal 2022. Officials hope to complete the project by the end of 2030, when Boston celebrates its 400th birthday. 

“It will make the entire city fully accessible for the first time ever,” Murphy said. 

But of course, there will be challenges. 

“I always say, we're a very old city, we're a winter city, we’re a vertical city and we're a very densely packed city,” said Kristen McCosh, disability commissioner and ADA coordinator for the City of Boston. “So right off the bat, we have a lot of challenges.” 

McCosh knows the challenges firsthand — she uses a wheelchair. One is figuring out a way for snow plows to clear curb ramps rather than cover them. Another is the hodge-podge of state and private entities that own different curb ramps. The city can’t do work on property it doesn’t own. McCosh said figuring out who’s responsible for a curb ramp is a process in and of itself. 

“One example I like to give is if you're on City Hall Plaza starting at Cambridge Street and you try to cross the plaza to get to Haymarket Station, you have four different property owners,” she said. 

Boston is home to 22,300 adults with ambulatory disabilities. Back in Jamaica Plain, Colleen Flanagan said any improvements will make a big difference in their lives. 

“Disability itself isn't a problem,” she said. “It's the systems like sidewalks and other things that are a problem when they're not accepting disability as a common, natural life occurrence that it is.” 

But Flanagan and Michael Muehe say this is just one step in a long fight. Up next: state legislation that would close a loophole allowing some housing and places of employment to not be accessible.

[Bosteye]

Eva, thank you for your candor in sharing your thoughts about your vote for past presidential elections. 

I was surprised that you considered yourself to be "juvenile and naïve” when you voted for Obama twice. 

Hmm. I know that you’ve mentioned in a previous post that you voted for Trump. Did you feel more mature when you voted for Trump? What do you feel about his presidency and its aftermath that continues to reverberate even now. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/FF00FD32-2A96-4724-BE0B-11559F2AAA50%40comcast.net.

[Eva Webster]

On 12/4/21, 9:42 AM, "Bosteye" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of bos...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

I was surprised that you considered yourself to be "juvenile and naïve” when you voted for Obama twice. 

Hmm. I know that you’ve mentioned in a previous post that you voted for Trump. Did you feel more mature when you voted for Trump?

 

Would you please stop spreading “fake news”, Myrtle.  I have never written on this forum or anywhere else that I voted for Trump.  You just extrapolated that from my frequently expressed disapproval of the current democratic party politics – and then you proceed to present your assumption/opinion about my voting choices as fact.

 

Perhaps it’s the influence of the main stream “fake news” media, which no longer report objectively on anything concerning electoral politics, the economy, the virus, immigration, crime, race – you name it. They just decide what the narrative should be, and they “report” in ways that support it, while distorting, omitting, or ignoring anything that doesn’t fit that narrative. (I’m just so sick of it.)

 

If a person is disappointed with one party or their candidate (and I became deeply disenchanted with democrats during Obama’s second term, after decades of being a dyed-in-the-wool democrat who never voted republican), it doesn’t automatically mean that you fall head-over-heels in love with the candidate of the other party. 

 

My family and I vote religiously in every single election, but when there are no choices on the ballot that we like, we sometimes cast blanks. (With Trump, the choice was particularly difficult, at least for me, because I liked his patriotism and populism, and his sincere focus on protecting America’s jobs and interests vis-à-vis China and the rest of the world. But I didn’t like his demeanor, his way of speaking, and his constant and needless tweets that were giving fodder to his globalist, Marxist and socialist enemies. It annoyed me that he was giving them ammunition with which they were able to shoot him.)

 

In Massachusetts, anyone voting for Trump was an exercise in futility anyway -- since our state is predominantly blue. In general, I do believe it would be much better if Massachusetts was “purple” – because you need competition between different goals/ideas/philosophies that a two-party (at least) system makes possible. A one-party system is an invitation to authoritarianism, corruption, abuse -- and it ensures there is no accountability when politicians make choices that are detrimental to their constituents, or the state as a whole.

 

Maybe at some point people will get smart, and understand that it’s not about cheering and favoring the “blue team”, or the “red team” – it’s about ensuring that we have proper balance, both in the state and in the country (and that we actually have a functioning country that has a future), so we don’t go off the cliff – on the right, or on the left.  Right now, it’s the democrats that are more crazy in my opinion (but if and when the other side gets too crazy, I would turn my back on them too).

 

You seem to be perplexed that I consider myself being “juvenile and naïve” when I voted for Obama.  Let me explain why.

 

In the months leading to his first election, I donated to his campaign and canvassed for him in New Hampshire.  When he won, I cried hot, most sincere tears of joy (the only time I cried in response to an election) – because I thought he would unite the country and make us truly color-blind (as MLK wanted us to be, and as we should be) – and by doing so, he would strengthen America, and allow us to remain strong.  But that’s not what he did.

 

He, a bi-racial man who was raised by a white mother and white grandparents, let himself be kidnapped by black nationalists, who convinced him that only his black heritage and skin color mattered.  Those sharp racial divisions we have right now started during his presidency.  Perhaps you remember the incident with Henry Louis Gates Jr.  He (Gates) somehow locked himself out of his house in Cambridge, and instead of calling a locksmith, he decided to break into the house.  A well-intentioned neighbor or passer-by saw it, and called the police, saying they witnessed a break-in. The police promptly showed up (bless their hearts), and convinced they were dealing with a burglary in progress, grabbed Gates, and put handcuffs on him.  (Which is exactly what I would like the police to do if someone was breaking into my house – even if it ended up being a misunderstanding. I would thank the cops nevertheless.)

 

But that whole thing was not treated as a mistake/misunderstanding that it was. It was drummed up in the media as evidence of racism – and the police were vilified just for doing their job.  Then Obama let himself become a stooge in that whole brouhaha by inviting Gates and the policeman to the White House, and playing a “moderator”.  But when he was contacted about this matter, why couldn’t he just tell Gates, “Sorry you had this experience, but it was a mistake, the police have a hard job; we should not be making a federal case of it”.  Instead, he did make a “federal case” of it – and it was the beginning of what we have now.

 

We now have a whole generation of black and brown children and young people convinced that all police and all whites are racist – and that to succeed in life, they have defy the police, and hate and malign white people.  There are some POC newspaper writes and anchors on TV who are allowed to talk about white people in a way that would be characterized as “hate speech” if it was done in reverse (by white people referring to other races) – and nobody holds them accountable for that.

 

Obama just couldn’t bring himself to be impartial and say the truth “We have a disproportionate crime problem in many urban/minority neighborhoods across the country, which leads to a disproportionate number of people of color getting arrested and jailed.  How do we reduce those numbers, how do we dissuade people from breaking the law, how do we make anti-social people into better citizens -- without blaming the cops for doing their jobs?”

 

There were also other disappointments I had with Obama. He ran on instituting a single payer universal healthcare, but once in office, he folded on that. He and Hillary Clinton, his Secretary of State, badly mishandled some key foreign policy issues, for example, Syria and Libya. The Syrian conflict in particular was an unmitigated disaster that led to so much death and launched massive illegal migration to Europe, where Europeans are paying for it dearly to this day.

 

Obama turned out to be a dyed in the wool globalist who doesn’t believe that white people have a right to their majority-white countries and cultures, while he also believes that they should be paying any and all costs for programs and policies leading to their own economic and cultural disenfranchisement. This is a road to nowhere, and is fundamentally unfair.  You cannot build a peaceful society on that.   

 

Going back to Trump – maybe you can tell me, Myrtle, in what ways were you personally negatively affected by Trump’s policies when things were normal prior to the pandemic? Just skip whatever the media were telling you, and don’t try to shift the blame to Trump for the 2020 riots (since they were not his fault, but the result of an unprecedented media campaign that was designed to foment unrest).

 

Instead, please quote specific examples of how you were harmed by Trump’s presidency. And in what ways are you better off under Biden.  Just curious.

 

Eva

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CAAFBET%2Bk2uu2b0hzfZDeqbbTPJ4W6Pe9PEM7qOW5rh-ScaU0qw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Bosteye]

Eva, I apologize for stating that you voted for Trump. I recall a post early in the Spring of last year when the pandemic was initially  discovered here. If I remember correctly your post might have been titled something like "I have to get this off my chest" where you went on to defend Trump's handling of the pandemic. And since then I recall you consistently defend his policies and so I incorrectly concluded that you voted for Trump. I'm sorry for making that assumption.

How have I been hurt by Trump's policies? I've been hurt by his actions and by his principles as leader of this country that I love. He mishandled the pandemic and undermined what scientists had to say. He and his family refused to wear masks. He referred to the pandemic as the China virus despite the harm that it was causing and the attacks made on the Asian community. 

He wanted to reverse all the policies that Obama had in place. He hated that Obama was loved by the American people and world leaders.

He was corrupt like his father. Both unprincipled. I could go on Eva, but I did want to get this message to you soon apologizing for misstating that you had voted for Trump when you didn't because I'd wrongly interpreted that post of yours from last year.

Myrtle

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/114EC256-BD90-4440-8B34-894865757126%40comcast.net.

[David Strati]

Jan 6 th. Enough said

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 4, 2021, at 6:23 PM, Bosteye <bos...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CAAFBETJH%3DudVTxZFkh9U1%3D%2BUsca8ybYZKoo1Nm9fcJTtU6Txpw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Eva Webster]

On 12/4/21, 8:49 PM, "David Strati" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of da...@uniformsforamerica.com> wrote:

 

Jan 6 th. Enough said

Maybe not enough said, Dave. Maybe you’re a bit selective in your recollection of things (perhaps you only watch CNN and MSNBC and absorb their selective spin).

In several major cities (though thankfully not as much in Boston), the whole summer and most of fall 2020 (and in Portland OR continuing way into this year) there was extensive rioting, looting, arson, destruction of public and private property, and attacks on the police -- including a siege and severe vandalism of a federal court building, a complete destruction of some police precincts and many, many businesses (how would you feel if your livelihood was destroyed?), not to mention numerous attacks on people -- far more numerous than what happened on January 6.

Add to that a huge increase in crime since then, especially murders and violent crime, and recently, organized flash mob “smash and grab” incidents. These are NOT “white supremacists” who are doing that.  Just by comparing crime rates under Trump and under Biden, it’s not surprising that some people in crime-ridden cities wish Trump was still in the White House.  Of course, Biden single-handedly has not caused it – it’s the soft-on-crime policies in most democrat-controlled cities and states that are at the root of that (because the idea that giving people all kinds of handouts will make them into model citizens is completely stupid).

Normal people in some of those places are so frustrated that they’re circulating petitions to recall their elected officials who have been allowing this to happen. (Fingers crossed Boston is not going to reach that level of dysfunction.)

So predictably, nobody has been held accountable for all that lawlessness that happened last year -- while Jan. 6 rioters, are being given multi-year sentences and have been kept in horrible conditions and solitary confinement.  Now -- enough said.

One more thing: Nancy Pelosi and other top congressional democrats knew very well there was going to be a major protest at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and that it could get out of hand – and yet, they did not arrange for any special police reinforcements to ensure that those protesters/rioters would not be able to get into the building.  Hmm...  It was very expedient politically to have allowed that to happen, no?  You can then label tens of millions of people who comprise your political opposition as domestic terrorists, plus scare everyone out of their minds with a virus that on average is no more deadly than a bad flu – and based on that, give yourself special powers, and try to stay in power indefinitely (kind of like our blue team in Massachusetts).  Will it work? We’ll see next year.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/C964B23B-A71A-4217-BD4E-7926A7802EB7%40uniformsforamerica.com.

[David Strati]

I look at all points of view. And I still say January 6 is enough said when it comes to trump

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 4, 2021, at 10:24 PM, Eva Webster <evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:



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[Bosteye]

Eva, I’d have included Jan 6^th but omitted it because I’d already referenced it in a previous post along with Trump’s duplicitous actions, where he spoke out against undocumented immigrants while hiring them at Mar-a-lago and then penalizing companies for not manufacturing their merchandise in the US while Ivanka’s clothing line made their clothes in China.

Like Dave, I felt Jan 6^th was inexcusable. Even Chris Wallace, from Sunday Morning News on Fox said he was “sickened” by what he saw January 6^th and held Trump and his supporters responsible.

Eva, some of my family and I came to this country in the late 1960s and welcomed the opportunity to live in a free democratic society and we were shocked and disgusted by what happened on January 6^th. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live.

There’s not much more I can say. I rest my case.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/0005BFA7-297F-4CC2-A5FE-4713300487AC%40uniformsforamerica.com.

[David Strati]

I might add that now because of Trump Republicans look at elections two ways. A. They won.B. The Democrats stole the election. What a great president. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2021, at 8:19 AM, Bosteye <bos...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CAAFBETLM5GZxnszZ1UNRUgM_k9NW4SfmExxvJZmiPTcBNHR7iw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Eva Webster]

On 12/5/21, 2:46 PM, "David Strati" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of da...@uniformsforamerica.com> wrote:

 

I might add that now because of Trump Republicans look at elections two ways. A. They won. B. The Democrats stole the election. What a great president. 

Sent from my iPhone

 

Dave, nearly a year into Biden’s presidency, you and Myrtle are fixated on and get bogged down in issues such as Trump’s personality/likability, or some of his strategic missteps borne out of desperation after the election, that have nothing to do with the larger matters that impact the future of the country for decades and centuries to come.

 

This is not about what Trump did or didn’t do a year ago, or whether you find him likable, or how his father handled his tenants, or what you think about the Jan. 6 events – it’s about what kind of country we need to have to survive as a superpower that can ensure global stability, and guarantee safety and prosperity of its citizens.

 

The way you think about politics is exactly how the manipulative MSMs want you to think – focus a disproportionate amount of your attention on some passing events/faults/mistakes/mishaps that are blown out of proportion (in order to bring as many viewers to the evening news as possible) – and then people bicker about those subjects with their fellow citizens while the constitutional, economic, and societal foundations of our country are being quietly dismantled behind the scenes by intellectually impaired leftist ideologues who are now in alliance with corporate moguls (the latter much smarter than the former).

 

By the time people will wake up to the fact they are being played like violins, it will be too late. You’ll have a country of the poor and very rich only – no strong middle class.  And then the poor will start eating the rich – and things will implode.  Wake up!

 

[David Strati]

So people believing the big lie about Trump losing the election has nothing to do with the future. WOW. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2021, at 3:53 PM, Eva Webster <evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:



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[David Strati]

You could be right Eva. And science fiction writers sometimes predict things that actually happen. Let’s not pretend you know the future. Trump and his cronies are the ones to be afraid of. They are the wealthy that are trying to steal the country

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2021, at 4:26 PM, David Strati <da...@uniformsforamerica.com> wrote:

So people believing the big lie about Trump losing the election has nothing to do with the future. WOW. 

[Eva Webster]

“Trump and his cronies are the ones to be afraid of. They are the wealthy that are trying to steal the country”

So you’re being told. You know, Dave – most manipulated folks don’t know they’re manipulated (that’s the purpose of manipulation).  Someone tells them something, or they hear it on the news multiple times, day after day after day, and they just believe it – because they don’t know the full picture.

 

Hasn’t it occurred to you that if the wealthy elites were behind Trump, he would have had the support of the media, and with their help gotten elected?  Instead, they were beating up on him, deservedly or not, 24/7 for 4 years. That cost a LOT OF MONEY. Who do you think orchestrated and paid for it?  The poor or the BLM?

 

You are convinced that Trump was the agent of the wealthy, but he wasn’t friends with the media moguls that helped spread the “Russian collusion” BS (and in many other ways ensured Biden’s election), or with the high-tech royalty and mega-corporations that get filthy rich on one-sided imports/trade with China – while America’s strength as a country is syphoned away.

 

Trump wanted to make us independent of China, bring the jobs back, rebuild middle America, and arrest China’s rapid ascent to being the No.1 superpower (they’re practically there already, and under Biden will be securely ensconced in that position — while they’re still asking for “poor country” accommodations in various international treaties). Trump could see through all of that – he stood up to this whole system that is dragging America down, but enriching globalist elites -- so he had to be destroyed.

 

The dubious “beauty” of the MSMs acting as propaganda machines for the democratic party is that regular people like you who are exposed to those outlets have no way of knowing who the wealthy backers of Biden are, and what quid-pro-quos were arranged to ensure his election. You will be kept in the dark on that.

 

I’m beginning to understand why some people never vote, even, or especially in national elections.  Most of us don’t have time/ability to think deeply and astutely about politics.  We are just puppets.  Puppets that pay the price when things go to hell.  I hate to say it, because I don’t want it to be true – but we’re moving in that direction every day. (Need to stop. I don’t enjoy telling people truths that they don’t want to know. What will be will be. Let’s enjoy the holiday season.)

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[David Strati]

I have the feeling that I’m not the one being manipulated.

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2021, at 5:34 PM, Eva Webster <evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:



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Help us enlarge HUAB's membership. Let your Allston-Brighton neighbors know about our group. Anyone who supports homeownership in Allston-Brighton can request to become a member.

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[David Strati]

Seems to me in places where the far left or the far right are in control don’t work well for very long. Need something in the middle

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2021, at 6:06 PM, David Strati <da...@uniformsforamerica.com> wrote:

I have the feeling that I’m not the one being manipulated.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Community Meeting for Proposed Allston Cannabis Establishment 

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 @ 6:00 pm 

Join virtually at the WebEx Event link below. This is NOT an in-person meeting: 

Join the Online Event: https://bit.ly/116Harvard  

Event password: FhNAuAGZ872 

Dial-in Number: +1-408-418-9388 

Access Code: 2331 747 0802 

1. Agenda 

Application Name: Mass Greenwoods LLC 

Application Address: 116 Harvard Avenue, Allston 

License Type: Retail Recreational Cannabis Dispensary 

Proposal: This is an application by Mass Greenwoods LLC for a retail recreational cannabis dispensary to be operated at the address of 116 Harvard Avenue. 

Hosted online per the Cannabis Control Commission April 27, 2020, administrative order 

There will be an opportunity for the public to raise comments, questions, and concerns. 

 

Email Contact: Conor....@Boston.Gov 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Boston Civic Design Commission Meeting  

Boston Planning & Development Agency  

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 

Register in advance for this Zoom meeting: www.bit.ly/BCDCDec7   

Or join by calling 669 254 5252 with Meeting ID: 160 106 5765 

 

5:40 – 6:05 Allston Yards, 400 Guest Street, Building B, Allston  

Lab building in the Allston Master Plan Yards PDA 

 

Addresses December 2019 BCDC Comments:

• Achieve same inventiveness in massing at Boston Landing
• Show common elements in massing
• Show elements that differentiate themselves from each other
• Open views perpendicular to the Pike
• Maintain view corridor parallel to Pike  

Plus Refined December 2021 Design:

• 40' reduction in building height
• Parking located below grade - Improved public realm on Guest St
• Improved public realm at Everett Street
• Modularization of larger floor plates into different forms
• Breakdown of tower massing compatible with residential massing

Email Contact: Elizabeth...@Boston.Gov 

[Chris Gonzales]

Hi everyone, I’m relatively new to the list and try to stay out of this sort of discussion, but is everyone just going to let it slide that Eva just said

white people have a right to their majority-white countries and cultures

I thought it was bad enough when right before the election she disapprovingly said

With just a couple of exceptions, it looks like all the District Councilors that will be elected will be POC 

But that’s a dog whistle compared to this straight-up white supremacy 

Again, I had hoped for a more positive first email to the list, but this was so far beyond the pale that I thought someone needed to acknowledge it. 

-Chris

On Dec 4, 2021, at 5:22 PM, Eva Webster <evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/114EC256-BD90-4440-8B34-894865757126%40comcast.net.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello Everyone, 

I would like to share with you a couple of recent letters regarding the Harvard-Tishman Speyer Enterprise Research Campus Project. 

 

Recently, I shared with you three letters issued by the Harvard Allston Task Force (HATF): 

On October 26, 2021, comments regarding the Draft Project Impact Report (DPIR) 

On November 3, 2021, a community benefit proposal 

On November 11, 2021, outreach to Harvard President Lawrence Bacow 

The first letter attached is a response from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow. 

Although we appreciate the tone set by the letter, and the good wishes expressed, we are equally eager to engage Purnima Kapur, Harvard’s chief of university planning and design along with the University’s planning and public affairs teams.  Time is of the essence in initiating such dialogue and we hope the university shares the same urgency as the HATF. 

 

The second letter attached is from Councilor Liz Breadon and Representatives Mike Moran and Kevin Honan.

 

Tony

[tahir h]

I agree with you Chris. Thank you for your courage. I too have felt really uncomfortable for many years having experienced racism. What is especially hurtful is when my own neighbors and people that call me their friend are silent.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/417923F4-842A-4EDB-A546-F65669F94748%40gmail.com.

[Katherine von Stackelberg]

I typically do not read the often lengthy posts from that particular poster because I always find myself growing increasingly furious. There have been times when I have replied to her directly but not the group as a whole so as not to bog everyone down. But agreed, those are both egregious statements, and while I would normally roll my eyes and tell myself “who cares,” the fact is that a lot of people do care, and maybe this is a good time NOT to be silent.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CAH3m2ROf5jvu1TK_ixKqMfCZZSMFrh5_YAa3VxCzHoDjjbt1BA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Lexie Gross]

BRAVA!!!! 

Lexie Gross

Tel: +1 (617) 861-7700

Le...@laex.net

On Dec 7, 2021, at 4:30 PM, Katherine von Stackelberg <kv...@igc.org> wrote:

I typically do not read the often lengthy posts from that particular poster because I always find myself growing increasingly furious. There have been times when I have replied to her directly but not the group as a whole so as not to bog everyone down. But agreed, those are both egregious statements, and while I would normally roll my eyes and tell myself “who cares,” the fact is that a lot of people do care, and maybe this is a good time NOT to be silent.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/306E10ED-349C-41A7-BD36-D2F72C8CA9FE%40igc.org.

[David Strati]

I think you might already know how I feel. And there is no place for this. It doesn’t help anything and it hurts a lot

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 7, 2021, at 5:15 PM, Lexie Gross <le...@laex.net> wrote:

BRAVA!!!! 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/6E4C2DAD-E6E3-4D52-8E3D-1D1F13883B0E%40laex.net.

[Justin Brown]

Adding another thank you, Chris!

It seems simple to me: is this a forum that invites engagement and inclusion, or one that tolerates divisive, hateful, targeted, and racist speech?  And if you find yourself tolerating or ignoring this kind of language, ask yourself: How am I able to do that?  Usually it's due to access to one kind of privilege or another.  Let's make sure we're standing up for all: no tolerance.  Language like that used by Eva should mean being removed as a member of the Google Group.

Justin 

Aberdeen  

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/62BD0ECC-C89E-44DB-A32F-527452752812%40uniformsforamerica.com.

[JOHN SPRITZLER]

I haven't checked to make sure it's true, but just for the sake of argument let's assume Eva really did write:

"white people have a right to their majority-white countries and cultures."

Before advocating that Eva be expelled from this Google group on the grounds that she expressed hate speech, wouldn't it make sense to first ask Eva what exactly she had in mind by these words?

For example, there are places around Boston where the City pus up Christmas (or "Holiday" if you will) lights during the time of year close to Christmas and Hanukkah but not during the time of year close to Islamic or some East Asian religions' holidays. This happens because a majority of the people in these Boston areas celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah; it's their culture--the majority culture. Do such people have a right to their majority culture?

I'm not sure what exactly Eva meant by saying "white people have a right to their majority-white countries." There are white people who live in countries that are majority white. Do they have a right to their country or do they not have a right to their country? That's a pretty ambiguous question, needing a bit of clarification I would think before expelling somebody for merely answering it with an affirmative, don't you think?

Just for the record, I am no fan of Eva's because she consistently opposes my egalitarian views. But I think Eva deserves to say what she means by her very ambiguous quoted words before being expelled from this Google group on the grounds that she meant hate.

John Spritzler

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/CABRhE86%3DVESFDbBZ1SDTh9Dq1rPz6rkMpJAET%2BXaXPeamOYZyw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Boston Cannabis Board Public Meeting  

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 @ 1:00 pm  

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82305286419?pwd=K0RTeE5tcXlDOG5jZTl1eEVGSVJuUT09   

Meeting ID: 823 0528 6419 Passcode: 240625 Dial In Number: (646) 876-9923  

Members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend. The BCB will accept testimony regarding each agenda item. Testimony will be limited to two (2) minutes and any additional testimony may be submitted in writing to cannab...@boston.gov. If you wish to testify, please sign up online. 

 

7. Applicant: Natural Oasis, LLC   

Proposed Licensed Premise: 345A-359 Washington Street, Brighton   

License Type: Recreational Cannabis Dispensary License   

Proposed Hours of Operation: Monday through Saturday 9:00am –10:00pm Sunday 10:00am -9:00pm  

Equity Status: Non-Equity Applicant   

Date of Initial Application: September 9, 2021   

Date of Filing with Inspectional Services Department: November 1, 2020   

Date of Community Meeting: February 25, 2021 

  

THERE IS A BUFFER ZONE CONFLICT  

 

Email Contact: Cannab...@Boston.Gov  

[Eva Webster]

On 12/7/21, 9:09 PM, "JOHN SPRITZLER" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of spri...@comcast.net> wrote:

 

I'm not sure what exactly Eva meant by saying "white people have a right to their majority-white countries." There are white people who live in countries that are majority white. Do they have a right to their country or do they not have a right to their country? That's a pretty ambiguous question, needing a bit of clarification I would think before expelling somebody for merely answering it with an affirmative, don't you think?

 

John – thanks for being a lone voice of reason during yesterday’s brouhaha.  It’s nice that you stood up to Justin Brown’s call to cancel me. After being an active part of A-B’s civic life for over 25 years, I found it hilarious coming from him -- a relatively new person in the neighborhood.

 

We read and hear about various, mostly ridiculous instances of cancel culture in some other places – and now, hurrah! - we also have a cancel culture proponent in our Allston-Brighton neighborhood of all places. It’s the kind of thing that makes you unsure if you should laugh or cry.

 

While you, John, are an egalitarian, and I’m not (I’m a realist who believes that egalitarianism is a lofty goal that can never be achieved in its pure form, which you expect and require) – I really appreciate you for being someone who takes time to think about issues more deeply. And while your conclusions/beliefs are usually different from mine (though we have sometimes agreed too), I always consider you a worthy opponent. Every now and then, you show me a new/different way of looking at things which is interesting.

 

Below, is my response to Chris Gonzales.  I drafted it yesterday, before I penned the long posting I sent this morning – and given the effort I put in it, I just don’t want it to “go to waste”.  (K. von Stackelberg – please don’t waste your precious time reading this, you have suffered enough.)

----------------------------------------------

 

 

Hi Chris – I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.  We can only form opinions about each other based on incomplete information that we derive from seeing each other’s postings. You formed an opinion about me – accusing me of “white supremacy”, which I think is simplistic and deeply unfair.

 

Based on that single message that you posted – all of it just judging me, and no useful comments on the issues -- I also formed an opinion about you, but more neutral.  I’m not inclined to put critical labels on you. I might do that if I felt anger, but I don’t.

 

I suspect you’re young -- nothing wrong with that. I probably could be your parent or grandparent. I’m certain that we are products of different cultures, different times, different places -- which, as you know, is very common in America.  We simply cannot think alike because we have completely different life experiences, different beliefs, and different reservoirs of knowledge on certain larger issues/matters. 

 

Still, I would like to find common ground with you – or at least reach a point where we can “agree to disagree” without besmirching each other (as you have done, by implying that I must be a racist, etc.)  I don’t care very much what you think about me – it doesn’t matter one bit, does it? – but I welcome this opportunity to elaborate on this issue.

 

I grew up in a country that was very homogenous racially and culturally. It is less so now, but it continues to be predominantly white, like the rest of Europe – which should not be any more surprising than the fact that Africa is home to Africans, and Asia to Asians, or that the Middle East is a home to people of Middle Eastern descent.

 

Should we be trying to dismantle those traditionally ethno-centric and mostly conservative societies that are stubbornly holding on to their cultures? Your answer may be “yes”, mine is “no”.

 

I think it would be a tremendous loss to human civilization if those original regional cultures got all mixed up and disappear. And they are in great danger of that because of all kinds of pressures (internet, air travel, economic globalization, migrations, some climate-related issues).  And some people are just simple-minded, and they don’t see or appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of those cultures – which can only survive if they are protected by borders and some degree of isolation. So those who are calling for a world without borders (mostly young people) don’t understand the consequences of that - and I see them as dangerous simpletons that should not be allowed anywhere near the seats of power.

 

I also believe that America would be a better place if it gave itself a chance to form its own unique American culture. That process was well underway for most of the 20^th century, I think –  but then, in the last two decades or so, it just collapsed.  I can’t help but think that this is linked to excessive immigration (just too much too fast) that started in the 1970s, and accelerated in the decades since then. It was a result of some major changes to the immigration laws that were championed by Ted Kennedy and prominent Congress people in the 1960s.

 

Everybody can see it with their own eyes that America is in big trouble right now -- the kind of troubles that are mostly uncommon, or entirely absent in countries that are more homogenous than we are.  I’m not saying that all countries should be highly homogenous – variety is the spice of life, as they say.  But it’s a fact that countries that have strong dominant cultures, but still honor, respect and otherwise treat their minorities well, tend to have less internal/domestic conflicts than those where big and strong minority groups start competing with each other, vying for control in the political and public life.

 

We’re beginning to see such struggle here – ever since the media announced that white Americans are destined to become a minority (though I’ve read somewhere recently that it has not yet happened, and is unlikely in the foreseeable future). But people in America internalized that news very deeply.  

 

The US is a young country; its history not as long and rich as the much older cultures/civilizations on other continents. Still, America as a country has been in existence long enough to have become a distinct nation in its own right by now -- one with its own traditions (Thanksgiving, the Fourth), dominant language, respected heroes, and highly cherished and remembered historical events.  It goes without saying that most Americans certainly do not want this country to fall apart.

 

I don’t know about you, but I fear for America’s future – and in all honesty, it’s mostly because of folks like you who throw around harsh, divisive and simplistic terms such as “white supremacy” – when what we need is to be united as Americans.   

 

Even though I hail from a homogenous European country, nearly my whole adult life (4 decades) I have been immersed -- as my own choice -- in multi-racial and multi-cultural environments (not just in Boston, but also in other cities, states and countries - including New York City and London, the most cosmopolitan places on Earth).

 

During those years I worked for at least 10 different companies – large, medium and small.  I’ve had many co-workers, friends, incl. boyfriends, and neighbors of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.  Never ever did I pre-judge anyone, or favor or disfavor anyone, based on the color of their skin or ethnic origin. I see people as individuals – most of us do.  I know there are good, and not so good folks within each and every racial and ethnic group.  We all have all met some fabulous folks who didn’t look like us, with whom we were nevertheless able to hit it off.  Isn’t that a proof that the claim of racism in our society is overblown (not that it doesn’t exist, but that it’s currently grossly overblown).

 

How can any rational person dislike a whole other race/ethnic group? We can only like/dislike people based on their individual positive or negative traits. Some cultural issues may be getting in the way when people of different backgrounds work or live in close proximity – but that is not the same as hating someone for their skin color (the latter is very rare, and I would argue only when someone has a serious mental dysfunction).

 

So I’m sorry if this is going to boggle anybody’s mind -- but in my observations during my 40 years in America, this is NOT a racist country.  And I do not believe there is systemic racism, except for some unfortunate stupid leftist policies – such as those that prevent school choice, encourage single motherhood, pay some able-bodied people for doing nothing, or concentrate poor people (and sometimes dysfunctional individuals) in inner cities.

 

Concentrating disadvantaged people, or just those who refuse to be a part of productive society, in urban neighborhoods drags those places, and people who live in them, down. It’s especially bad for young people. But it is not easy to convince other, more affluent/successful classes of people to live in those places, or accept those folks in their neighborhoods – because cultural and economic issues involved in mixing of classes lead to conflicts. 

 

It takes hard work (and intelligent choices in the halls of power) to fix those problems.  White people on average are highly motivated to help solve those issues – but it takes more than “white guilt” to fix them. Communities succeed or fail based on what is happening at home, in family life.  So that work has to be done within those communities, by those who live there.

 

You and others may disagree with my assessment of America, but I’m being true to my personal experiences.  I’ve never seen anyone being mistreated just for the color of their skin – though I realize that it may be happening in some places occasionally, because some people may have conscious or unconscious racial/ethnic prejudices and act on them (and they may feel justified in that based on their own life experiences).

 

But on average, Americans and those who choose America as their home are not racist. Otherwise living here in relative peace and prosperity (so far) would not have been possible.

 

So why can’t folks like you focus on that – on this amazing, mostly successful experiment/phenomenon of a multi-racial and multi-cultural country that somehow manages to survive, though it has never been easy?  If your generation continues to see only bad things about America, you will lose your country -- which would be a tragedy whose negative impact on your lives you can’t even fathom.

 

As for all the painful things in America’s history, slavery in particular... 

 

People forget that throughout human history, slavery was common on every continent – and both slaves and slave owners could be, and were, of any race/color/ethnicity.  In fact, you can be sure that almost all people, including most white people, had slaves/serfs in their long-ago ancestry.

 

I have researched my ancestry back to the 1500s and 1600s, and found some indication of slavery in some of my lineage too.  Even more recently, there was persecution, enslavement, and murder that was inflicted on some members of my family and so many millions of other people only about 80 years ago.  I think that individuals with those more recent tragic histories in their families are just as much victims as any black descendant of slavery in North America – but most of us understand that we cannot blame the descendants or the countrymen of those who persecuted and harmed our parents/grandparents - because the people who are alive now are not those who committed those crimes.

 

Why can’t the people who are now so critical of America focus on the fact that slavery here was eliminated because hundreds of thousands of white Americans fought and died for abolition of slavery in the Civil War?  And ever since, countless white Americans have been strongly supporting and advancing racial equality (hand in hand with the leaders of the Civil Rights movement) – which is why our current laws unequivocally ensure racial equality.

 

There is always room for improving and finetuning our laws – but instead of going in that direction, we seem to be regressing, because there are people who argue for solutions and policies that amount to unequal and even discriminatory treatment – as some kind of compensation for wrongs that took place a very long time ago. You can’t build a healthy society on that. 

 

That’s why I find current claims of pervasive racism that I hear and see so frequently in the media in the last few, or several years to be totally blown out of proportion. It perplexes and saddens me that there is so much divisive rhetoric, and that it has now become main stream. When racial groups are pitted against each other, we’re regressing, not progressing. This is clearly politically motivated, and skillfully used to manipulate public opinion – because divided people are easily controlled and bamboozled in ways that benefit powerful elites -- but most people don’t see it.

 

We have many poor and struggling people (the reasons for that are numerous and complex; I cannot cover them in this posting – and it all cannot be possibly blamed on racism), and the folks who are economically disadvantaged and lacking any good prospects for the future are not just black and brown; lots of them are white.

 

Just visit some poor towns in Maine or rural areas in some other states, and you will see that poverty, lack of hope and direction, and disintegration of families, are not limited to communities of color.  In fact, there are more white people living in poverty in America than black.  Is that also due to “white supremacy”?  Or maybe there are other reasons – and “white supremacy” is just a dog whistle to those who

 

Eva

 

 

 

On 12/7/21, 9:09 PM, "JOHN SPRITZLER" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of spri...@comcast.net> wrote:

 

I haven't checked to make sure it's true, but just for the sake of argument let's assume Eva really did write:

 

"white people have a right to their majority-white countries and cultures."

 

Before advocating that Eva be expelled from this Google group on the grounds that she expressed hate speech, wouldn't it make sense to first ask Eva what exactly she had in mind by these words?

 

For example, there are places around Boston where the City pus up Christmas (or "Holiday" if you will) lights during the time of year close to Christmas and Hanukkah but not during the time of year close to Islamic or some East Asian religions' holidays. This happens because a majority of the people in these Boston areas celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah; it's their culture--the majority culture. Do such people have a right to their majority culture?

 

I'm not sure what exactly Eva meant by saying "white people have a right to their majority-white countries." There are white people who live in countries that are majority white. Do they have a right to their country or do they not have a right to their country? That's a pretty ambiguous question, needing a bit of clarification I would think before expelling somebody for merely answering it with an affirmative, don't you think?

 

Just for the record, I am no fan of Eva's because she consistently opposes my egalitarian views. But I think Eva deserves to say what she means by her very ambiguous quoted words before being expelled from this Google group on the grounds that she meant hate.

 

John Spritzler

 

On 12/07/2021 8:47 PM Justin Brown <justinl...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

 

Adding another thank you, Chris!

 

It seems simple to me: is this a forum that invites engagement and inclusion, or one that tolerates divisive, hateful, targeted, and racist speech?  And if you find yourself tolerating or ignoring this kind of language, ask yourself: How am I able to do that?  Usually it's due to access to one kind of privilege or another.  Let's make sure we're standing up for all: no tolerance.  Language like that used by Eva should mean being removed as a member of the Google Group.

 

Justin 

Aberdeen  

 

 

On Tue, Dec 7, 2021 at 10:44 AM Chris Gonzales <cgon...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Katherine von Stackelberg]

Oh please just STOP already. Nobody is canceling anybody. But there most certainly are voices trying to be the loudest voices in the room.

Is living here a competition? I’ve been living in Allston since 1991 — looks like that might be 30 years. Did I beat you?

On Dec 8, 2021, at 10:40 AM, Eva Webster <evawe...@comcast.net> wrote:

On 12/7/21, 9:09 PM, "JOHN SPRITZLER" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.comon behalf of spri...@comcast.net> wrote:

 

I'm not sure what exactly Eva meant by saying "white people have a right to their majority-white countries." There are white people who live in countries that are majority white. Do they have a right to their country or do they not have a right to their country? That's a pretty ambiguous question, needing a bit of clarification I would think before expelling somebody for merely answering it with an affirmative, don't you think? 

 

John – thanks for being a lone voice of reason during yesterday’s brouhaha.  It’s nice that you stood up to Justin Brown’s call to cancel me. After being an active part of A-B’s civic life for over 25 years, I found it hilarious coming from him -- a relatively new person in the neighborhood.

 

We read and hear about various, mostly ridiculous instances of cancel culture in some other places – and now, hurrah! - we also have a cancel culture proponent in our Allston-Brighton neighborhood of all places. It’s the kind of thing that makes you unsure if you should laugh or cry.

 

While you, John, are an egalitarian, and I’m not (I’m a realist who believes that egalitarianism is a lofty goal that can never be achieved in its pure form, which you expect and require) – I really appreciate you for being someone who takes time to think about issues more deeply. And while your conclusions/beliefs are usually different from mine (though we have sometimes agreed too), I always consider you a worthy opponent. Every now and then, you show me a new/different way of looking at things which is interesting.

 

Below, is my response to Chris Gonzales.  I drafted it yesterday, before I penned the long posting I sent this morning – and given the effort I put in it, I just don’t want it to “go to waste”.  (K. von Stackelberg – please don’t waste your precious time reading this, you have suffered enough.) 

---------------------------------------------- 

 

 

Hi Chris – I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.  We can only form opinions about each other based on incomplete information that we derive from seeing each other’s postings. You formed an opinion about me – accusing me of “white supremacy”, which I think is simplistic and deeply unfair.

 

Based on that single message that you posted – all of it just judging me, and no useful comments on the issues -- I also formed an opinion about you, but more neutral.  I’m not inclined to put critical labels on you. I might do that if I felt anger, but I don’t.

 

I suspect you’re young -- nothing wrong with that. I probably could be your parent or grandparent. I’m certain that we are products of different cultures, different times, different places -- which, as you know, is very common in America.  We simply cannot think alike because we have completely different life experiences, different beliefs, and different reservoirs of knowledge on certain larger issues/matters.  

 

Still, I would like to find common ground with you – or at least reach a point where we can “agree to disagree” without besmirching each other (as you have done, by implying that I must be a racist, etc.)  I don’t care very much what you think about me – it doesn’t matter one bit, does it? – but I welcome this opportunity to elaborate on this issue.

 

I grew up in a country that was very homogenous racially and culturally. It is less so now, but it continues to be predominantly white, like the rest of Europe – which should not be any more surprising than the fact that Africa is home to Africans, and Asia to Asians, or that the Middle East is a home to people of Middle Eastern descent.

 

Should we be trying to dismantle those traditionally ethno-centric and mostly conservative societies that are stubbornly holding on to their cultures? Your answer may be “yes”, mine is “no”.

 

I think it would be a tremendous loss to human civilization if those original regional cultures got all mixed up and disappear. And they are in great danger of that because of all kinds of pressures (internet, air travel, economic globalization, migrations, some climate-related issues).  And some people are just simple-minded, and they don’t see or appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of those cultures – which can only survive if they are protected by borders and some degree of isolation. So those who are calling for a world without borders (mostly young people) don’t understand the consequences of that - and I see them as dangerous simpletons that should not be allowed anywhere near the seats of power.

 

I also believe that America would be a better place if it gave itself a chance to form its own unique American culture. That process was well underway for most of the 20^thcentury, I think –  but then, in the last two decades or so, it just collapsed.  I can’t help but think that this is linked to excessive immigration (just too much too fast) that started in the 1970s, and accelerated in the decades since then. It was a result of some major changes to the immigration laws that were championed by Ted Kennedy and prominent Congress people in the 1960s.

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[JOHN SPRITZLER]

Hi Eva,

Thank you for your "thank you" message to me; much appreciated.

Since this thread has raised several social/political issues, I'd like to express my views on them briefly, with links to articles of mine that provide factual sources for them.

1. Illegal Immigration

First, the issue is not properly whether we should allow people to illegally immigrate. The issue is whether we should allow the U.S. ruling class to do things in Central and South America, as it (both Democratic and Republican administrations) has been doing for decades, to FORCE huge numbers of poor people there to have to illegally immigrate into the United States to survive. (For details, see  https://www.pdrboston.org/illegal-immigration-what-should-we- )

Second, it is clearly detrimental to many ordinary working class Americans for there to be huge numbers of illegal immigrants who, because they are illegal, are forced to work for lower pay than citizens; and it is also detrimental for ordinary Americans (instead of just the very rich) to have to pay for the increased public services that are required when there is a large influx of illegal immigrants. The ruling class counts on these facts for its strategy of using illegal immigration to divide-and-rule us, as I discuss (with a focus on Muslim immigrants) at https://www.pdrboston.org/muslim-mass-immigration .

2. Israel

You mentioned Israel having a right to limit immigration. That is a misleading example to use. Here's why. The overwhelmingly main thing about Israel and "immigration" is that Israel (to be a supposedly Jewish state) REMOVED (violently) most of the non-Jews (indigenous people!) from the 78% of Palestine that is today called Israel and refuses to let them RETURN. This is not remotely about "controlling immigration." Furthermore, this mistreatment of the indigenous people (the Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from Israel) was and is done not for the purpose of making ordinary Jews safe (as Zionists claim) but rather for the purpose of creating a bogeyman enemy (the Palestinians) that the billionaire rulers of Israel pretend to protect Israeli Jews from while using that bogeyman enemy to make working class Israeli Jews submit to the billionaire Israeli upper class that oppresses them economically horribly, as I discuss in great detail at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-s-government-attacks-jews-to in which I also include much evidence that the Israeli government funds HAMAS and works to keep it in power in Gaza to ensure that Israeli Jews remain fearful of the bogeyman enemy.

3. Systemic Racial Discrimination

There does in fact remain today systemic racial discrimination, and it harms not only the non-whites but ALSO white working class people. I discuss this in great detail about the contemporary scene at http://newdemocracyworld.org/culture/race2.pdf and I discuss the ORIGIN of systemic racial discrimination as a strategy of the (British Colonial) upper class to control and dominate working class people of ALL races in great detail at https://www.pdrboston.org/what-crt-censors . The ruling class concocts phony "anti-racism" schemes not to address the problem of systemic racial discrimination but to divide-and-rule us, as I show in the case of Affirmative Action at https://www.pdrboston.org/affirmative-action-a-trap .

4. Reparations for Slavery

The ruling class will use this issue for divide-and-rule. Read how reparations for slavery should be done the GOOD way, a way that would unite the vast majority of Americans behind it, at https://www.pdrboston.org/reparations .

My 2 ¢ .

John Spritzler

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[Paul Creighton]

Citizens:

The standard for free speech in the land of the free and the home of the brave has been, roughly, that you can't yell fire in a crowded theater.

We are all safe, closeted from physical harm by the Internet, so, if you don't like what Eva has to say, engage, tolerate or, at your own risk, disregard her. 

However, Eva is thoughtful and passionate and certainly presents her opinions in an literate manner.  Sticks and stones might break your bones but names will never kill you

I think Eva has made a fair share of contribution to community life.

More significantly, I haven't heard anyone suggest that she has sold out the town for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver like so many others

Free Eva.

Paul

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/allstonbrighton2006/32B15089-624F-49E9-8F5D-DEDFF8D30083%40igc.org.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center Task Force Meeting 

Boston Planning & Development Agency 

Thursday, December 9, 2021, 5:00 pm – 6:20 pm 

The BPDA is hosting a Task Force Meeting for the St Elizabeth's Medical Center Institutional Master Plan (IMP) and Draft Project Impact Report (DPIR) for the proposed Parking Garage project located in Brighton. The St Elizabeth's Task Force serves as the Impact Advisory Group (IAG) for this project.

The IMP filed by Stewards/St Elizabeth's Medical Center includes five Proposed Institutional Projects, construction of an approximately 203,000 square-foot parking garage; demolition of Garage A; demolition of the Quinn Building; upgrades to the Center for Biomedical Research Building (“CBR”); and improvements to the Nevins Street entryway to the SEMC campus.

The DPIR described the Proponent's proposal to redevelop the Project Site at 253 Washington Street, Brighton into an approximately 203,000 square feet (sf) parking garage, accommodating 610 parking spaces, a 64-space secure bike room, and a rooftop solar array.

The meeting will include a 30-minute presentation followed by a discussion of the IAG members. If time allows, we will also take Q&A and comments from the public.
 

Please register for the meeting using the following Zoom link: https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_-rYmTYAdRcmZvJsqNYYPPw

Webinar ID: 161 948 2614
Toll-Free Call-in Number: 833.568.8864

Please note that the purpose of this meeting is different from that of a traditional community meeting. As part of the development review process, Impact Advisory Group (IAG) members work closely with BPDA staff to identify the impacts of a project and recommend appropriate community benefits to offset those impacts. IAG meetings prioritize discussion between the project proponent (i.e. the developer) and IAG members. 

Email Contact: Nupoor...@Boston.Gov 

 

St Elizabeth’s Medical Center Public Meeting 

Boston Planning & Development Agency 

Thursday, December 9, 2021, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

 

The BPDA is hosting a Public Meeting for the St Elizabeth's Medical Center Institutional Master Plan (IMP) and Draft Project Impact Report (DPIR) for the proposed Parking Garage project located in Brighton.

The IMP filed by Stewards/St Elizabeth's Medical Center includes five Proposed Institutional Projects, construction of an approximately 203,000 square-foot parking garage; demolition of Garage A; demolition of the Quinn Building; upgrades to the Center for Biomedical Research Building (“CBR”); and improvements to the Nevins Street entryway to the SEMC campus.

The DPIR described the Proponent's proposal to redevelop the Project Site at 253 Washington Street, Brighton into an approximately 203,000 square feet (sf) parking garage, accommodating 610 parking spaces, a 64-space secure bike room, and a rooftop solar array.

The meeting will include a 30-minute presentation followed by Q&A and comments from the public.
 

Please register for the meeting using the following Zoom link:

https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItcu-uqzMvHH7zLxAI8y-c7FXU2Dqr63E
Webinar ID: 160 566 5856
Toll-Free Call-in Number: 833.568.8864 

Email Contact: Nupoor...@Boston.Gov 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Toy Drive Drop Boxes

In case you can’t make the event on Sunday, Dec 19th at the Corrib, you can drop off a new, unwrapped toy while you are out and about in the neighborhood!

Toy Drive: https://facebook.com/events/s/annual-allston-brighton-holida/463369275211379/ 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Allston-Brighton politicians ‘unable to support’ big Harvard project (Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: December 7, 2021) 

A cadre of politicians representing Allston-Brighton wrote in a letter that they’re “unable to support” the proposed Harvard project that’s due to go up for approval soon. 

City Councilor Liz Breadon and state Reps. Mike Moran and Kevin Honan, who all represent the neighborhoods, dated the letter Monday as they continue to go back and forth with the esteemed university over the Enterprise Research Campus and other development planned for Allston. 

“We, the undersigned elected representatives of Allston-Brighton, are unable to support the proposed project at this time,” the trio wrote in the letter. 

Harvard is in the midst of a multi-part proposed development of Lower Allston, with the Cantabrigian university looking to further expand its footprint on the Boston side of the river. This will go along with the upcoming straightening of the Mass Pike through the neighborhood, freeing up a large and currently mostly unused area cut off by the big bend in the Pike — to be developed by Harvard and, potentially, others. 

The Pike land, though, is still years away from availability. But plans to potentially rezone Western Avenue and build what’s called the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus there are coming up sooner. “Phase A,” including the ERC, which is a multi-building proposal including offices, labs, a hotel, residential areas and over 900,000 square feet at 100 Western Ave., could be up for approval in a matter of months. 

The three Allston-Brighton officials signed a letter this summer seeking a pause on the permitting process until after the election. That didn’t generate much of a response — aside from some pushback from Harvard over criticisms over the level of community input sought — but nothing was approved, either. That leads to this latest letter, which comes the day after the community task force for this project met. 

“The Harvard Enterprise Research Campus project sets a precedent for all future development constructed via ground lease agreements on Harvard-owned land in Allston and Brighton,” the electeds wrote. “Harvard University continually seeks to separate itself from its ground lease projects, placing total responsibility, including related community outreach, mitigation, and community benefits, associated with these ground lease projects on its developer partners. 

“Though we support the ultimate redevelopment of underutilized land in this area, we wish to make clear to Harvard and the Harvard Allston Land Company (HALC) that we cannot support this project until Harvard and HALC take appropriate, legally-binding responsibility for all development constructed on Harvard-owned land in Allston and Brighton,” the letter reads. 

Asked for comment, the university touted its developer Tishman Speyer’s “public process over the course of the past calendar year, sharing an overall planning context in a framework plan for the entire Enterprise Research Campus district in which phase A will sit. Working with the community, and in response to expressed areas of interest, Harvard has also extended additional benefits to create new homeownership, affordable housing, and open space opportunities.” 

Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for new Mayor Michelle Wu — who received support on her campaign from Breadon and Moran, who’s the assistant majority leader — said, “The mayor will remain in communication with all stakeholders to ensure community voices are heard.” 

Tony D’Isidoro of the Allston Civic Association said the college has “lacked specifics” with its plans, and that the neighborhood wants to see a whole plan for the entire big redevelopment, plus more affordable housing. 

“That is a need that Harvard just basically continues to ignore,” he said. “We have a dire need for more affordable homeownership possibilities.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

Hello Everyone, 

No wonder Harvard refused to disclose the terms of their Request for Proposal (RFP) for the first fourteen acres of the Enterprise Research Campus and 176 Lincoln St as well as terms of the ground lease for 180 Western Ave. 

You see the article below illustrates if the land owner wants to pursue aggressive affordable housing goals, that vision is disclosed upfront and terms of the ground lease are structured in a way that enables the development partner to achieve those policy objectives. 

Congratulations to Massport for helping to address a serious need for more affordable housing. 

Tony 

---

Affordable housing in the Seaport? That’s the goal for latest Massport parcel to hit the market (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: December 9, 2021) 

After helping drive the boom in luxury housing on the South Boston Waterfront, Massport is taking a different tack with this project on D Street. 

Affordable housing in the Seaport? That’s the goal for latest Massport parcel to hit the market - The Boston Globe

The Seaport often gets knocked for its lack of affordable housing, no surprise considering the forest of shiny glass towers that have sprung up there in the past two decades. But the Massachusetts Port Authority is hoping to buck this trend, by recruiting developers to build a mixed-income apartment tower on a sliver of land that it owns along D Street. 

Massport is issuing a request for qualifications on Thursday to start the development process for this 27,000-square-foot parcel, now primarily used as a parking deck for an adjacent garage. Officials with the port authority said it could hold a tower with as many as 18 stories and 200 apartments. 

Several higher-end apartment complexes have been built on Massport land on the South Boston waterfront over the years: Park Lane, Waterside Place, Ora Seaport, and Gables Seaport. Together, they amount to nearly 1,300 units but fewer than 100 are set at income-restricted rents. 

Massport chief executive Lisa Wieland said she hopes to see a significantly different ratio take shape at the D Street parcel. Rather than reaping a profit for Massport, Wieland said the driving force behind this project is to build affordable housing. 

“We hope to play a role in helping to address the critical need for housing, especially for affordable housing, that we’ve heard Governor [Charlie] Baker and Mayor [Michelle] Wu identify as vital for the economic advancement of the Commonwealth and the city of Boston,” Wieland said. “When we started to think about this really critical need for housing and affordable housing, we started to take a look at this site. ... Our goal is to have as many affordable units as possible.” 

To pull that off, Massport is altering its usual criteria for evaluating bids for a long-term development lease. Typically, the potential financial return to the port authority represents 25 percent of the scoring. Instead, in this case, the promised level of affordability will count for 25 percent. Other criteria — the developer’s ability to complete the project, its design and potential public realm improvements, and the diversity of the project team — will remain the same. 

“Think about the growth of industries in the South Boston Waterfront,” Wieland said. “With this project, we’re hoping it provides some opportunity for people who couldn’t otherwise afford to live in the area.” 

This property has long been considered part of Massport’s “air rights garage” parcel. But after the port authority finally built a 1,500-car garage there in 2018, there was some room left over to accommodate this housing development. (It is deemed an air rights parcel because it sits atop a highway tunnel.) 

Developers won’t need to include parking in their proposals, said Massport chief development officer Andrew Hargens, because the D Street site can be connected to the garage, removing one potential expense from the mix. The property also is essentially next door to the World Trade Center station on the Silver Line. 

Boston’s development rules typically require 13 percent of units in larger residential projects be set aside at affordable prices, or that developers help fund affordable housing elsewhere. But Massport officials hope to far exceed that number and offer deed-restricted affordable housing for a range of incomes — everything from 30 percent to 120 percent of area median income (almost $145,000 for a family of four). The city has only a few other recent examples of income-restricted housing with a middle-income tier, including the 145-unit Mosaic on the Riverway in the Longwood Medical Area and the 239-unit Beverly in the Bulfinch Triangle, near the TD Garden. Developers often rely on tax credits to help defray the costs of building these kinds of projects. 

This first stage of the development process on D Street involves identifying qualified development teams. Massport’s goal is to start accepting bids in the spring and to pick a winner later in 2022. 

State Senator Nick Collins said he and other elected officials have pushed Massport to build more affordable housing in the Seaport. He said that while linkage funds from Massport’s upscale apartment projects have supported affordable housing construction in other parts of the city, only a minimal number of income-restricted units have been built in the Seaport so far. 

“Too many families are priced out of the city of Boston,” said Collins, a South Boston Democrat. “This is a distinct effort by Massport to try to contribute some badly needed affordable units [in the Seaport]. The location is perfect for connecting people to jobs.” 

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

GET VACCINATED AT WEST END HOUSE 

DECEMBER 11 @ 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM 

Hello West End House community, 

We are writing to let you know of our upcoming vaccine clinics at West End House. We are excited to offer this service for free to anyone who is age-eligible. 

Recent Updates 

We now offer the Pfizer vaccine to anyone 5 years and older. (We still offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for anyone 18 years and older.) 

We also now offer boosters (Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson) to anyone 18 years or older. Please consult the CDC website to check your booster availability. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html 

Vaccine Clinic Location and Time: 

Saturday, December 11^th 2021 @2:00-6:00PM
West End House – 105 Allston St. Allston, MA 02134 

  

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine: Visit the city of Boston’s vaccine website: https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-health-commission/covid-19-vaccine-boston 

Things to know: 

The vaccine is FREE 

NO ID or US citizenship required 

NO health insurance required 

NO registration or appointment Walk-ins are welcome 

Translation services are provided for those who speak Arabic, Haitian/Creole, Mandarin, Portuguese, or Spanish 

Free $25 Shaw’s gift card provided by Cataldo 

Those who receive the vaccination will be entered into a raffle to win a new XBOX! Two Xboxes will be raffled off at each clinic! 

 Questions? Please email our West End House Community Health Coordinator Fady Shanow fsh...@westendhouse.org 

 

We look forward to seeing you here,

West End House