MAY 2012 FREE

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serving the Fenway, Kenmore square, upper BacK Bay, prudential, longwood area and mission hill since 1974 volume 38, numBer 5 april 26-June 1, 2012

he massive Muddy River restoration project creeps in this petty pace from the details of contracting request for proposals (RFP), proposers questions on the RFP, clarifications of those pointsto essential administrative approvals, but shovels are now in sight for the summer of 2012. A group of citizens met April 2 at Simmons College to hear a detailed update on progress toward initiation of the $90 million Muddy River Flood Control and Restoration Project. Margaret Dyson, Director of Historic Parks at Bostons Parks and Recreation Department, led the session. Representatives from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, including Julie Crawford, president, and Jeannie Knox, director of external affairs, participated as well. Crawford offered an overview and then invited Dyson to do the detail. The latter emphasized a core theme of the project: it is a large-scale cooperative effort among four major governmental units: the City of Boston and the Town of Brookline through their parks departments, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the US Army Corps of Engineers, which bears overall management responsibility for the activity. The first phase of the project is complicated by works urban setting adjacent to the Longwood Medical Area which, after the Financial District, is the second largest economic engine in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A population of 92,000 lives within a mile of the center line of the Emerald Necklace parks, generating heavy traffic in the medical and Landmark Center areas. Choreographing a complicated construction project with on-going daily traffic flows as commuters and emergency vehicles move through the area will pose a real challenge. The project is organized into two phases, each of which is scheduled to run three years. The project should be completed in less than six years, however, because the two phases, operating in different parts of the Muddy River Valley, can overlap in time. The first phase will concentrate on day-lighting sections of the Muddy River that were buried after World War II to create space for a parking lot near the Landmark Center (then a regional distribution center for Sears) and to improve traffic in the area. The second phase involves dredging the river bed to remove accumulated silt and widen

By Jamie Thomson and sTan evereTT

the watercourse to its former dimensions. These actions will improve water flow, lay the groundwork for ongoing maintenance of the river, thus improve the aquatic environment, and help to restore the historic vision of the parks designer, Frederick Law Olmsted. The post-war burying of the river magnified flood threats in the broader Fenway valley by constricting water flows at the intakes of the culverts designed to move the water underground. The culverts measure only six feet in diameter, and debris washed downstream by storms in 1996 and 1998 created impromptu dams at the conduit mouths. Those dams blocked river flow, inundating major portions of the Fenway, including the grounds of Northeastern University, Simmons and Wheelock colleges, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In addition, flood waters invaded Kenmore Station and disrupted MBTA traffic for more than a week, wreaking havoc with commuting patterns. Costs of the 1996 flood alone were estimated at $96 million. While a 20-year storm (the largest storm projected over any 20-year period) caused the 1996 flood, the culvert blockages gave rise, artificially, to a 100-year flood (the largest flood projected over any 100-year period). Widespread recognition of the need for flood control improvements forged a consensus among the two municipalities and the state. Together, they sought federal funding to match local and state contributions allocated to mitigate the flood threat. With the municipal parks departments and the state DCR playing lead roles, restoration project goals encompassed as well water-quality improvements, reestablishment of aquatic habitats, restoration of landscape and historic resourcesthe Olmsted parks of Bostons Emerald Necklaceand application of best management practices. The project envisages action on two frontsday-lighting the Muddys buried sections and enlarging the remaining conduits under the Riverway/Park Drive, and Brookline Avenue, on the one hand, and dredging to improve flows within the overall river on the other. The point is to ensure that during floods storm water flows reliably down the Muddy into the Charles River rather than fully inundating the valley. From a flood control perspective, entirely eliminating flooding in the Muddy Valley is judged unrealistic. Instead, the aim is to reduce the height of maximum flood waters

by four to five feet, which will considerably reduce the flooded areas within the confines of the very flat valley floor. It will also speed the recovery of park lands by hastening evacuation of flood waters. While the first phase will lead inevitably to traffic disruption near the Landmark Center, once completed the new roadway arrangements will improve traffic. In addition, the traffic plan calls for creation of joint pedestrian and bike pathways along the day-lighted stretches of the river to improve connections among the elements of the Emerald Necklace system. Highly synchronized traffic lights will facilitate pedestrian and cyclist, as well as vehicle traffic through the new intersections. New plantings will stabilize the restored river banks of those sections. Marion Pressley, a landscape historian specializing in Olmsteds parks, has been commissioned to draw up planting designs for these areas to ensure that they respect Olmsteds vision for the Riverway Park. The first phase, with an estimated value of $20-$50 million, is currently in the contracting process; the Army Corps has received 120 questions on the RFP and will soon issue an addendum to clarify those points. In addition, Dyson noted that 74 submittals have to occur before a shovel can touch ground. She anticipates that construction could begin as early as June. As soon as that occurs, contracting for the second phase will begin. The second phase involves dredging the river and restoration of some 40 acres of scarred aquatic habitat. If successful, this phase will re-create water quality sufficient to restore spawning runs in the Muddy of anadromous fish (such as shad and salmon that live in salt water, but spawn in fresh water). The federal government has a policy interest in fostering such initiatives. The physical problem that this phase addresses starts with the Muddys river profile. From its start in Jamaica Pond the river drops 40 feet to Leverett Pond. There the valley flattens precipitously, dropping only a single foot more along the entire stretch f to the Charles. The river gradient in that section on the Muddy is so slight that silt dislodged upstream continuously precipitates along the stretch, raising the river bed. This both heightens the danger of flooding and undermines the aquatic habitat. The second-stage remediation strategy envisages dredging the accumulated silt and then gouging a deeper channel down the river

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, fans toured the venerable ball park on Thursday, April 19. The day-long open house set the stage for the centenary of the first professional game played on April 20, 1912. The wall, otherwise known as the Green Monster, proved very popular as this photo shows. valley. Along the river course in the lower valley, dredging will as well create a series of deeper kettles in the river bottom at regular intervals to serve as silt traps. Once the project is completed, these kettles will be dredged on a 20-year cycle as part of a program of regular maintenance to consolidate and maintain restoration of the aquatic environment. Jamie Thompson and Stan Everett both live in the West Fens; Everett is a volunteer with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy.

FCDC SnagS Warren For annual Meeting

U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren will deliver the keynote address at the Fenway Community Development Corps annual meeting on May 11. The meeting begins at 6pm at the Huntington Avenue YMCA. In addition to Warrens speech, the CDC will honor people and organizations that have made notable contributions to the community and elect Elizabeth Warren new board members. A light supper will also be available. Because of space limitations, the group requests that you reserve a seat by contacting Sarah Horsley, Civic Engagement Coordinator, at shorsley@fenwaycdc.org or 617-267-4627.
photo: Wikimedia Commons

ProPoSeD : talleSt-ever WeSt FenS BuilDing

The West Fens construction boom got a bit more explosive last month when Samuels & Associates told the Audubon Circle Neighborhood Assn. it plans to build a 23-story apartment building on the site of the DAngelos sub shop at the intersection of Brookline Ave. and Boylston Street. Samuels has already given the West Fens a dramatic new skyline with the 15-story Trilogy complex (immediately east of the site) and the 17-story 1330 Boylston. The BRA has greenlighted two other Samuels proposals on the other side of the Trilogy, which would include housing, offices, and a rumored Target. According to The Boston Business Journal, Samuels proposes to include 200 apartments and 50 condos in 21 stories above ground-level stores on two levels. The buildings height seems likely to raise more than a few neighborhood eyebrows.

from the city on a deadline to move the project forward. Mammoth Tremont Crossing would include 500,000 sq. ft. of big-box retailers; 200,000 sq. ft of office space; 240 apartments; parking for more than 1,700 cars; and a 58,000-square-foot home for the National Center for AfroAmerican Artists, which would move from its Walnut Street home near Jackson Square. If the project wins BRA approval, construction would start in late 2013.

PruPaC taPS loCal ProjeCtS For FunDing

Under an agreement that dates back to the Ray Flynn administration, a citizen advisory group that monitors expansion of the Prudential Center distributes money to groups in impacted neighborhoods when the Back Bay mini-city adds new projects. At a lightly-attended April meeting, PruPAC approved recommendations from a subcommittee for distributing nearly $480,000 to 20 area applicants, including four from the Fenway. The biggest neighborhood winner was the Friends of Symphony Park, which received $50,000 to draw up plans for renovating the small park in front of Morville House. Smaller grants went to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Fenway CDC, and the National Braille Press, located on St. Stephen St.

target on BoylSton, Big BoxeS in roxBury?

After years of delays, buildings may finally replace weeds on Roxburys Parcel 3, across Columbus Ave. from Boston Police headquarters. A Connecticut developer joined a local investor group that had received multiple extensions

photo: patriCk oConnor

Inching Toward June Start, Muddy River Restoration Could Deliver Big Benefits for Everything from Fish to LMA Traffic

Still Spry at 100

2 | FENWAY NEWS | MAY 2012

treatments or medications. The focus of the Victory his Earth Day the Garden hives, he went on, will be Fenway Victory rearing queens. Gardens were Its the perfect place for it, buzzing with workshop attendees agreed. activity. Not only were the There are three main over 70 volunteers from the components to a system Fenway Garden Society of sustainable beekeeping: and friends from Simmons Environment, nutrition, and College working hard on genetics, beautification projects all Laurie added. The Victory over the gardens, but the Gardens provide for long and Fenways first Teaching overlapping blooms for the bees Apiary, a partnership in the heart of Boston. between the Fenway Garden Bees are generalists when it Society and Golden Rule comes to their diet and although Honey, was finally formally they eat only the pollen and inaugurated. The apiary is nectar of flowers, they thrive part of the Fenway Teaching with such a diversity of forage. Garden, a common space Bees need ready access to water, within the Victory Gardens and they seem to prefer mineral equipped with raised beds rich waterwere sure theyll for demonstrations and appreciate waterfront property on knowledge-sharing, open the Muddy River! to the entire community Is it dangerous? comes (see fenwayvictorygardens. Apiarist Dean Stigliz helped Fenway Garden Society members welcome the inevitable question, as Dean com/teaching.html for more four new hives (and their residents) to the Victory Gardens on April 21. blows smoke into one of the information). had lived for many years in the Fenway and hives, inhibiting the bees alarm Last year the board of had an established relationship with the pheromone, pulling out a frame covered with the Fenway Victory Gardens, prompted by Gardens: they were a natural choice! Four drones from one of the unassuming boxes the gardening communitys interest in the hives were installed in April, and the girls sitting atop cinder blocks about a foot and a worldwide phenomenon of colony collapse, are already enjoying their new home. half off the ground. began discussing the possibility of hosting Our focus is the management and It is the responsibility of urban an apiary, tended by professional beekeepers, breeding of honeybees that are sustainable, beekeepers to be better informed and on top who would offer informational and of colonies within their charge than those instructional workshops over the course of the Dean told over 20 attendees gathered around the new hives in the drizzling rain at the Earth in less sparsely inhabited areas, comes the growing season. Golden Rule Honeys Laurie Day workshop. Bees that can survive and be answer. Start out right, and learn what to do, Herboldsheimer and Dean Stigliz, authors of productive without artificial feeds, chemicals, and more importantly, what NOT to do with The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeping,
photo: t. Charles eriCkson

abuzz, Fgs welcomes Bees into victory gardens

By mike mennonno

that hive on your roof, fire escape, yard, empty lot or friends house in order to be a good neighborhood beekeeper. All agree: education is key. While the Fenway Victory Gardens does not allow amateur beekeepers to house unsupervised hives on the grounds, the FGS encourages those interested in beekeeping to attend any of Laurie and Deans workshops. Check out fenwayvictorygardens.org and ABeeGrowsInBoston.com for information, dates and times. West Fens resident Mike Mennonno is president of the Fenway Garden Society.

street Cleaning times

the city cleans Fenway residential streets between 12 and 4pm on the first and third Wednesdays of the month (odd-numbered side) and the second and fourth Wednesdays (evennumbered sides). Get more info at 617-635-4900 or www.cityofboston. gov/publicworks/sweeping. The state cleans streets that border the Fens on this schedule: seCond thursday The Riverway, 12:003:00pm
Second Friday

the Fenway (includes inside lane), charlesgate extension, and Forsyth Way, 8:00am12:00pm 8 to 54 the Fenway (includes inside lane), Charlesgate Extension, 12:00 3:00pm

Second Friday

Farmers Markets
The return of the farmers markets is a welcome sign of spring. Well add other Fenway-adjacent markets as they open for the season, but here are the early bloomers. Copley square | Begins may 15 tuesday and Friday 11:00 a.m.6:00 p.m. prudential Center: 800 Boylston | Begins may 17 thursday south end: 540 harrison avenue sunday 11:00 a.m.6:00 p.m. | Begins may 6 10:00 a.m.4:00 p.m.

Therapists! Painters! Plumbers! Cleaners!

Turn your neighbors into new clients with a Fenway News ad! Email ads@fenwaynews.org for more info.

> Park Drive (includes inside lane), upper Boylston Street, 8:00am 12:00pm > Park Drive, from Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral to Kilmarnock Street and from the Riverside Line overpass to Beacon Street, 12:003:00pm www.mass.gov/dcr/sweep.htm has a complete schedule and maps.

Third TueSday

Tues., May 1 Wed., May 2 Fri., May 4 Sat., May 5 Sun., May 6 Thur., May 10 Fri., May 11 Sat., May 12 Sun., May 13

7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 1:10 p.m. 1:35 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 1:35 p.m.

Mon., May 14 Tue., May 15 Fri., May 25 Sat., May 26 Sun., May 27 Mon., May 28 Tue., May 29 Wed., May 30 Thu., May 31

7:10 p.m. 4:05 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:15 p.m. 1:35 p.m. 1:35 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m.

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opinion: culture in the fenway

FENWAY NEWS | MAY 2012 | 3

Neighborhoods Traditional Diversity Points the Way to an Authentic Culture

groups. The admirable John Selover, who presided over the top leadership of the Church, n the Fenway, large institutions, each lived in the neighborhood, and you could talk carving out their place in the sun, have to him on the street about grass-roots issues. been free to take up the neighborhood Diggory Venn, an official of the Museum oxygen. They are unintentionally of Fine Arts, spoke at neighborhood seminars, smothering a dynamic neighborhood and Ken Ryder, president of Northeastern, that is comparable to the Quartier Latin in explained the universitys plans to local Paris, Greenwich Village in New York, or organizations. This personal diplomacy faded Trastevere in Rome. Simply put, what is in as the inner gentrification of the institutions danger of being lost is irreplaceable. themselves grew. The neighbors didnt always Cultural and educational and church agree with these leaders, but their outreach institutions, large and small, have contributed instincts had integrity and the dialogue was to making the Fenway the principal repository genuine. The same could not be said about the of culture in the Commonwealth. But there Boston Redevelopment Authority. is a downside: the unchecked growth of large Ive never met Shirley Kressel, but private institutions spells the end of a public her detailed critique of the BRA and the philosophy and a community of human scale. contradictions of its identity as both a planner The flowing river of the Fenway community of development and an enforcer of zoning has been squeezed and clogged by the growth rules is right on target. It couldnt be as bad of islands, large private institutions which can as she makes it out to be, you say. But, as see only as far as their own interests. Harry Truman offered: They say I am giving These islands bring gentrification to those the other party hell. Thats not accurate: I just parts of the residential neighborhood that tell the truth, and it sounds like hell! remain. The process is abetted and accelerated by the nonprofit status of the schools and Fenway history: the new citizen museums and churches, enabling them to Activism amass tax-free dollars and build empires that n the Fenway in the 1970s, an unusual crowd out neighborhood life and refashion the ferment of activism bubbled up, building locale in their own image. on the cultural depth and unique qualities In this environment, landlords like the of the neighborhood. An unusual blending Kargmans can move for expiring use on of longtime residents with new arrivals who subsidized housing with a straight face. This relished living in such a dynamic and diverse process has the potential to be magnified environment resulted in a heady mix. still further by the designation of the The Fenways brand of activism was Fenway as a Cultural District. The Mass somehow larger than life and highly inventive. Cultural Councils cultural districts came Where else would you find a march of 150 out of an economic stimulus bill passed by senior citizens (protesting the unaffordability the legislature in 2010 with much broader of Church Park) or a mock funeral for the purposes for communities than the Fenway neighborhood which saw a coffin carried to Alliance seems to be pursuing. the door of the Christian Science Church? The Cultural districts are chosen, in part, activism was widespread: almost every citizen in order to help communities attract artists and small business owner could explain the and cultural enterprises, encourage business Fenway story and the issues at stake in detail. and job growth preserve and reuse historic The people who came forward on buildings. These purposes do not seem behalf of the Fenway constituted as diverse to be anywhere in sight. What the cultural a community as one could find. Many were designation aims to achieve in fact seems to especially gifted, and many were ordinary be to continue to gentrify (enrich) the private good people who rose to the challenge institutions through tourism, and bolster the of social justice. Some were very young cachet of the local colleges, which translates and some were elders. Two became city into applications from afar from students who councilors. can afford ever-growing tuition. Helen Cox brought a broad and Sadly, the overarching agents in this unfaltering involvement and an attention process have been governmental agencies, to detail that reached everywhere. Merna which are supposed to protect the citizenry. Brostoff fought for affordable housing. Rosaria Chief among these agencies is the Boston Salerno and David Scondras were ingenious Redevelopment Authority. There are fine creators of civic invention. Betty Gillis and people to be met within these agencies, to be Richard Pendleton wrote the story. John sure, but at the official level, the approach with Newby made a film about the downside of residents has been anything but helpful. urban renewal in the Fenway while a student at B.U. Fenway History: The Fading Of Sajed and Rosie Kamal used art and institutional outreach thoughtfulness and ecology. Just to mention n an earlier day, even into the 1970s, the names of a few others is to evoke the Fenway institutions were in some way a possibilities anew: Steve Brophy; Theresa part of the community, largely because Tobin; seniors Gladys Ryder, Hazel Danahy of the personal presence of institutional and Anna Fay; Mary and Joe Cochrane; representatives. There was a time when the Lisa Fay, Helen Singleton, Mat Thall, Nikki institutions had a face to match the faces of Flionis, Peter Kwass, Morna Crawford, John the neighborhood. Erwin Canham, legendary Blanchon, Karla Rideout and kids Brian and editor-in- chief of The Christian Science Renee, Virginia Hurley, Galen Gilbert, Ben Monitor, would discuss development plans Adams, Neil McGhee, Jack Mills and Ellen of the Christian Science Church with citizen Carraciolo, Valarie Seabrook, Jeanne Tibbs,
By BoB Case (ParT 3 of 3)

smothered By institutions

Evelyn Randall, Arlene Ash, Anne Tobin...the list goes on. The late Joyce Ellis epitomized the Fenway. She was a lifelong resident radiating a no-nonsense warmth that melted every barrier and prejudice erected by society. Another person sorely missed is Sandra Brant, who combined theory and action to help produce the vision of a different city than that provided by the moguls of the day. Both Joyce Ellis and Sandra Brant were gifted with a wry sense of humor that could level official hypocrisy in an instant. One resident in particular played a towering role. Much of the action that transpired relied on the research done by Randy Fadem. Though quiet and unassuming, Randys sharp analysis laid out the fraudulence of urban renewal in the Fenway in detail. This work became important in the neighborhoods federal law suit which halted the BRAs activities in the Fenway: Jones vs Romney (Mitt Romneys dad was at the time the director of HUD!). Randy also was the principal advocate for a crucial entity that would be central in the communitys rebuilding: a community development corporation.

his history is important because the BRA is back in green-light mode. The institutions, especially the Christian Science Church and the East Fens colleges, are gearing up to expand, and have in fact begun that expansion. In this environment, there are three lines of action for the community to consider:
1. Band together to protest the present policies.

in Paris to City Lights bookstore in San Francisco to Wallys on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, people have been able to make deep community and cultural values persist across the decades only because they owned or controlled their property.

countering the new threats

n American expatriate, George Whitman, opened the Englishlanguage bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, on the Left Bank of Paris in the 1950s. He had an old third-story building close to the Seine, in which he had taken over Sylvia Beachs title and as well as her salon legacy. Much more than a bookstore, Shakespeare and Company was a hub of grassroots culture. George offered would-be and struggling writers a place to work at their craft. They would crash in the upper floors of the building, utilizing a simple and effective barter systemhelping out in the bookstore in exchange for housing. Hundreds of literary pilgrims passed through over the decades. Lawrence Durrell, for example, held the biggest book-signing Paris had ever seen at Shakespeare and Company when The Alexandria Quartet was published. George Whitman died only a few months ago. It is impossible to measure the breadth and depth of his influence, and that of his old building in the heart of Paris. There are a couple of fundamental truths here for the Fenway. One is that the Left Bank of Paris was able to be saved (and incidentally become the most tourist-visited neighborhood in the world) because the construction of highrises in Paris was kept out of the neighborhood by an enlightened urban policy that confined that kind of development to the outskirts of the city, in a district called La Defense. Secondand very cruciallyGeorge Whitman was only able to do what he did because he controlled the building personally. Otherwise, the economic bulldozer of rising rents would have long ago made his business unaffordable and would have silenced his invaluable and unique voice of culture. We need to remember that in neighborhood after neighborhood, from George Whitmans

Saving Paris: The Example Of George whitman

Though voices have been raised, too many of us have gone along for too long. The political speeches have all been for Jane Jacobs vision of urban values, but all the actual votes by politicians and appointees, unfortunately, have been cast for approval of homogeneous gentrification. 2. Work for policy changes. We need a policy of development that is organic and neighborhood-based. The BRA must not continue to be both planner and regulator: this is a contradiction. Plans for demolition and new construction must be truly rational. Additionally, the notax status of the institutions needs to be addressed consistently by policy. We will then get a more level playing field with the community.
3. Promote local control of property by the people who live and work here. Property

control was the reason George Whitman was able to create an incubator of genuine culture in Paris. Lets build on whats already been done by the CDC and others, so that cooperatives and revolving loan funds and ownership by residents will be central in the neighborhood real estate structure. From the beginning, the Fenway has had a rich history with many levels of contrast. Isabella Stewart Gardner once appeared at Symphony Hall wearing a headband that read Oh, you Red Sox! The big and the small, the straightlaced and the Bohemian, the young and the old, people of every economic level and every kind of diversity have called the Fenway home. This ferment has nurtured a wide spectrum of culture and creativity and community. May it always be so. But this will not happen unless we all come together to nurture the historic neighborhood that surrounds the park that is Olmsteds far-sighted creation and legacy. We would never say that Olmsteds park has seen its day and should be allowed to decay. We are compelled to make at least as strong an assertion about the neighborhood and its people. Thankfully, there is every reason to believe that there is a new community of citizens emerging, a community which will guide this unique and diverse that neighborhood into a new day and into a future that grows out of its storied past. Bob Case is a longtime resident of the Fenway and, in 1973, became one of the founding members of the Fenway Community Development Corporation.

Proud to announce the universitys inclusion on the

Community Service Honor Roll

for the second year in a row!

U.S. Presidents Higher Education

Thank you to all our students, staff and community partners

Office of City and Community Affairs, (617) 373-8265

4 | FENWAY NEWS | MAY 2012

As youth community organizers, we are always in the community and working for change on education reform, school lunch reform, s youth community organizers in the Sociedad Latina and other campaigns. Other youth at Sociedad Latina work as health youth development organization, we believe youth jobs like our own are critically important to our community, educators on a community health initiative or in our Music Clubhouse creating positive music as youth music ambassadors. and we are alarmed about proposals In our jobs we are constantly surrounded by to cut jobs funding from the state important people such as City Councilors Mike Ross budget. Eliminating youth jobs denies thousands of and Felix Arroyo, and Rep. Jeffrey Snchez. These ambitious young people learning experiences key to are inspirational figures who are concerned with the their future success. Jobs give youth exposure to a community, share the experiences and challenges working environment, allow us to learn new skills that our community faces, and motivate us to grow outside of the classroom, and teach the importance up and be influential and successful as well. And of professionalism and responsibility. There are Sociedad Latina is also like another home to youth. more than 250 eager applicants on our organizations Its a place where youth can talk to adults that you waiting list alone, clear proof of how much a can trust, and a place we know will help us with any meaningful job means. problems we have in school or in life. A 2011 Harvard Graduate School of Education report surveyed hundreds of employers and found he main priority for many people in our coma concerning trend: too many young people are Kimberly Roman and Vickie munity is to provide for our families. Our unprepared to be successful in todays workforce and Miranda demonstrate for more families work really hard, yet it is sometimes lack skill in oral and written communication, critical jobs for Boston youth. difficult to pay rent, utilities, and even have enough to thinking, and professionalism. Through programs put food on the table. Many of us use our paychecks like Sociedad Latinas Health Careers for Youth, where youth get to help and need the money for basic necessities. The families of Latino the chance to work in hospitals such as Brigham and Womens, and African-American youth like us are struggling the most, but low-inDana-Farber, and Childrens Hospital, were learning organization, come youth of color are almost five times more likely to be unemployed computer, communications, and other skills that can reverse this in Massachusetts than upper-middle-income white teens. We believe trend. These skills are necessary the state should increase funding for youth jobs and that in the real world and will help us private employers should step up and hire more teens. succeed in college and future jobs. Please contact your local representative and ask While you work at Sociedad Latina you learn to become more them to support youth jobs. We need these opportunities for our responsible and professional, and our jobs teach us about dress codes, families and for our futures. working in an office setting, and time management. We learn skills Vickie Miranda and Amira Patterson are high school students for life, such as how to open and maintain bank accounts and manage who live on Mission Hill. At press time the Massachusetts House of money, and were exploring careers and thinking about college Representatives was considering a budget that cuts millions in youth options. Other youth have boring jobs or no jobs at all, but we are employment funding and could eliminate 1,200 youth jobs. preparing for future success.
By viCkie miranda and amira PaTTerson

iF the state cuts youth-JoBs Funds, Kids and Families suFFer

Serving the Fenway, Kenmore Square, Audubon Circle, upper Back Bay, lower Roxbury, Prudential, Mission Hill, and Longwood since 1974

Steve Chase Helen Cox Tracey Cusick Joyce Foster, president Steven Harnish Barbara Brooks Simons Steve Wolf, treasurer Editor: Stephen Brophy wEB tEAM: Nicole Aubourg, stephen

FENwAY NEws AssociAtioN BoArd oF dirEctors

guest opinion

Brophy, Mandy Kapica, Steven Kapica, Valarie Seabrook ProdUctioN dEsigNEr: Steve Wolf writErs: Jon Ball, alison Barnet, Liz Burg, Bob Case, Conrad Ciszek, Helen Cox, Tracey Cusick, Rachel DiBella, Margot Edwards, John Engstrom, Lisa Fay, Lori A. Frankian, Joyce Foster, Marie Fukuda, Steve Gallanter, Galen Gilbert, Elizabeth Gillis, Katherine Greenough, Sam Harnish, Steve Harnish, Duke Harten, Sarah Horsley, Rosie Kamal, Mandy Kapica, Steven Kapica, Sajed Kamal, Shirley Kressel, Mike Mennonno, Letta Neely, Catherine Pedemonti, Richard Pendleton, Bill Richardson, Karla Rideout, Mike Ross, Barbara Brooks Simons, Matti Kniva Spencer, Anne M. Tobin, Fredericka Veikley, Chris Viveiros, Derrick Warren PhotogrAPhErs: Steve Chase, Lois Johnston, Mike Mennonno, Patrick OConnor, Valarie Seabrook, Matti Kniva Spencer, Ginny Such, Steve Wolf cALENdAr: Penina Adelman, Helen Cox, Ruth Khowais, Steve Wolf, ProoFrEAdEr: Tracey Cusick BUsiNEss MANAgEr: Mandy Kapica distriBUtioN: Della Gelzer, Aqilla Manna, Lauren Dewey Platt, Reggie Wynn
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Letters

not permit you access to a rooftop or deck, please respect this limitation. It is in place The Northeastern administration recently because those areas are not deemed safe for sent this advice to its students. occupancy. With the warm weather coming back, If you have questions regarding a roofwe are seeing more students on rooftops and top or deck access, please consult with your decks off-campus. landlord and/or property manager. You may Every year, there are deck collapses and falls from rooftops in Boston, most with also contact City of Boston Inspectional Services (ISD) at 617-635-5300. serious injuries. Some of these accidents have occurred because individuals The Park is a Mess! dear kevin oGrady eT al. have not followed rules, overloaded spaces My name is Don Hamel and I live in beyond permitted levels, or simply been Boston and work at Harvard, in the Fenway/ careless. At other times, it is because the space is not physically safe or does not meet Longwood area. Id be very happy to help with the code for occupancy. If your apartment and/or building gives Annual Muddy River Cleanup Day and hope that you are planning on working on you access to a rooftop or deck, it is very a specific area that I find to be a real mess, important that you: 1. Verify that your lease permits you access which I walk through every daythe park section bound by The Fenway, Park Drive, to this space Brookline Ave down to Ave Louis Pasteur. 2. Understand its limitations (i.e., weight I have noticed that most surrounding limits, access guidelines) areas of the Emerald Necklace parklands 3. Ensure this space is safe (sound construction, solid, no rot or loose boards, are very well maintained with proper landscaping, gravel/paved paths, and nice etc.) benches. This stretch of park is frankly 4. Obey all rules regarding the space If your apartment and/or building does mostly rocky and uneven dirt paths, tree

Good Advice for Everybody

stumps and trash. I would like to help clean up this area, and hope that a few improvements, such as better paths, may soon be installed in this area (even perhaps a few benches?). This is an area people walk through on a daily basis, and it needs some help. Is there anyone in particular I should contact to move this proposal forward?
BesT reGards, don hamel and riCh kendall

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Fenway News Association Sets Annual Meeting for Sunday, June 24

he Fenway News Association will hold its 2012 annual meeting on Sunday, June 24, in the Fensgate Community Room at 73 Hemenway St. The meeting will begin at 4:00 p.m. Elections to the board of directors and votes on any amendments to the bylaws and articles of incorporation will be held. Any resident of the neighborhoods we serve may vote on June 24 by mailing a notice expressing interest in joining to Fenway News Association, P.O. Box 230277, Boston, MA 02123. You may also e-mail notice of interest to editor@fenwaynews.org. Since our bylaws require members to join at least 14 days before the meeting date if they wish to vote, we must receive notice of interest by Sunday, June 10. A list of current members appears at right. For information about the meeting or about joining the association, please contact The Fenway News at 617-266-8790 or at editor@ fenwaynews.org.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE ASSOCIATION AT PUBLICATION DATE: Penina Adelman, Daniel Alfaro, Iory Allison, Delia Alvarez, Arlene Ash, Nicole Auberg, Mwagale Babumba, Jonathan Ball, Alison Barnet, Richard Barry, Stephen Brophy, Will Brownsberger, Liz Burg, Bob Case, Steve Chase, Conrad Ciszek, Brian Clague, Suzanne Comtois, Helen Cox, Eleanor Cummings, Tracey Cusick, Rachel DiBella, Bennie diNardo, Dharmena Downey, Richard Dunshee, Margot Edwards, Johnette Ellis, John Engstrom, Lisa Fay, Mary Finn, Peter Flannery, Nikki Flionis, Michael Foley, Joyce Foster, Lori Frankian, Marie Fukuda, Steve Gallanter, Slim Gelzer, Galen Gilbert, Elizabeth Gillis, Brett Greene, Kathy Greenough, Phyllis Hanes, Sam Harnish, Steven Harnish, Duke Harten, Mary Ellen Hendrickson, Tim Horn, Sarah Horsley, Tito Jackson, Cathy Jacobowitz, Lois Johnston, Rosie Kamal, Sajed Kamal, Mandy Kapica, Steven Kapica, Kyle Katz, John Kelly, Joseph Kenyon, Ruth Khowais, Rudy Kikel, Jonathan Kim, Shirley Kressel, Marc Laderman, Nasreen Latif, Nate Lescovic, Gil Loo, Aqilla Manna, Erica Mattison, Joan McGaw, Mike Mennonno, Joan Murphy, Patrick OConnor, Richard Orareo, Catherine Pedemonti, richard pendleton, Jana peretz, camille platt, gloria platt, lauren dewey platt, alison pultinas, michelle Reinstein, Bill Richardson, Karla Rideout, Mike Ross, Rosaria Salerno, Valarie Seabrook, Helaine Simmonds, Barbara Brooks Simons, Matti Kniva Spencer, Ginny Such, Mat Thall, Jamie Thomson, Eric Tingdahl, Anne Tobin, Theresa Tobin, Bob Tomposki, Chuck Turner, Fredericka Veikley, Chris Viveiros, Margaret Witham, Steve Wolf