DOT BY THE DAY Sept. 13 – 20, 2014

Saturday (13th) – Annual Harvest Festival & Perennial Divide, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Natives, 30 Edgewater Dr., Mattapan. Free event hosted by Boston Natural Areas Network. Festival includes games for young and
seasoned gardeners as well as the traditional skill-building workshops,including urban beekeeping, making your own herbal teas, and a Kraut mob where you’ll learn how to ferment your fresh produce. For more information contact BNAN at
617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org.

• Dorchester’s Paula Guerard will be at the Adams St. Branch Library on at 2 p.m. to read from her new children’s book, Marylou Found A Really Big Shoe.

• VietAID celebrates its 20th anniversary with a gala event tonight from 6-midnight at IBEW Hall, 256 Freeport St. The organization will honor former Mayor Ray Flynn, VietAID founders Quynh Dang & Long Nguyen, James Collins, and Charlotte Golar Richie. Admission is $100; or $25 to an after-party from 10-midnight. Call Michelle Hu at michelle@vietaid.org or 617-822-3717 x15.

Saturday (20th) – Greater Boston Sickle Cell Disease Association hosts “Sickle Cellebration in the Park”, a free family event in Franklin Park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration for the 5K walk/run, which loops around scenic Franklin Park, begins at 9 a.m. across from Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, off Circuit Drive next to the tennis courts. An estimated 100,000 people in the U.S, and approximately 1,000 children and adults in the Boston area live with Sickle Cell Disease, a hereditary and often painful disease that afflicts many people in communities of color. To volunteer, sign up for the walk or make a donation visit gbscdawalk.kintera.org, call the office at 617-825-4595 or email info@gbscda.org.

City Hall taking to streets to gauge community issues
In an effort by the Walsh administration to better learn what Boston residents are concerned about, representatives from the Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS) will begin walking and talking and looking along all 850 miles of city streets next week, the mayor’s office has announced.

“This is the first step in revitalizing our work with Neighborhood Services,” said Walsh. “Our ONS reps are outstanding, but I want them to know every inch of the area that they represent and the best way to do that is to get on the ground and in the weeds. By combining technology and grassroots engagement, we can – for the first time in our history – truly assess every piece of this city, to better serve the people in our neighborhoods.”

The findings will be shared in a “forward-facing story map,” according to the mayor’s office. The audit is expected to finish by the end of the year, when neighborhood-specific maps will be generated to outline ONS rep findings. They will be available to the public and presented to neighborhood organizations.

– LAUREN DEZENSKI


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