Civics
Civics
Menino coffee hours starting in May
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Mayor Thomas Menino is hosting coffee hours in May, making his way through the neighborhoods. He'll be in Dorchester on May 10 at the Byrne playground from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
According to a Parks Department release, Dunkin' Donuts will provide the coffee and food. Each family that attends will receive a plant grown in the city's greenhouses and will be eligible to win a raffle prize package including a "Dunkin’ Donuts gift basket, Macy’s gift certificates, Swan Boat rides, and free parking downtown for the day." (Boloco burritos not included.)
The full schedule is included below. Read more
Hearings on BPS budget set for next week
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Boston Public School officials will get the first at-bat next week as the City Council weighs Mayor Thomas Menino's $2.4 billion fiscal 2012 budget.
A Monday hearing on the BPS budget - which comes in at $829 million - starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Iannella Chamber, and is expected to stretch into the afternoon. Mark Ciommo, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, and John Connolly, chair of the Education Committee, will oversee the proceedings.
On Tuesday, at 10 a.m., city budget officials will be up, giving an overview of the budget. Read more
Community gardeners ramping up for a new season
Apr. 21, 2011
April showers bring May flowers but come June, fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers will crop up in community gardens throughout Dorchester. The Boston Natural Areas Network is teaming up with local organizations including the Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition for the Boston Is Growing Gardens Project. In its second year, BIGG encourages residents, with and without experience, to cultivate a better community.
Project manager and BNAN staffer Grantley Payne emphasizes that BIGG will benefit the neighborhood in many different ways. “The message is great things are happening in community gardens. We want more of our residents taking advantage of them,” Payne said. Read more
Food and Fitness Coalition plans events in Mattapan
Apr. 21, 2011
The Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) will be holding two events at the Mattapan Library in upcoming weeks. On Saturday, April 23, the group will unveil a project titled “Healthy on the Block,” a partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission. The project aims to increase access and visibility to healthy food options in Mattapan’s corner stores. Two stores, Mama’s Market and Lily’s Market, both located on Blue Hill Ave, have already started working with consultants from the BPHC under this program. MFFC hopes to expand the project into two more stores in the near future. Read more
Dot Park will shine this season
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Dorchester Park, the 30-acre, Olmsted-designed jewel that anchors our neighborhood to the south, has a magical quality this time of year. The buds are poking out from their winter slumber, the trees are springing back to life and kids are once again swarming the ballfields and playground.
Dot Park has benefited from a tremendous civic lifeline that has grown up around it over the last two decades. The Dorchester Park Association, Inc.— led by the indefatigable Jane Boyer— has helped to program and clean the park each year and is the driving force behind a fantastic line-up of events this season, including Saturday morning’s Easter Egg Hunt (10 a.m. sharp at the tennis courts). Boyer has able and energetic help from a team of park enthusiasts, including Richard O’Mara, the owner of Cedar Grove Gardens, who has been instrumental in organizing fundraisers and helping to coordinate clean-ups and tree plantings. Read more
May 3 meeting to take up Neponset canoe launch plan
Apr. 21, 2011
A discussion about the expansion of the canoe launch dock at Neponset Park for Milton High School’s crew team and the surrounding community will take place at a public meeting at St. Brendan’s Church Hall on Tues., May 3, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Read more
Democratic activist John Doogan dead at 64
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John Doogan, a Savin Hill resident and a fixture in local Democratic politics since the 1960s, died on Friday. Doogan served as the parliamentarian for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and was a longtime member of the party’s state committee. Read more
Tonight: Labor movement topic of Ashmont forum
Apr. 15, 2011
The Dorchester Speaker’s Forum will present a lecture and discussion with UMass Boston Professor and noted Labor Historian James Green on Friday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. at All Saints Church in Ashmont. The free program comes as unions are dominating domestic news.
Green is professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston where he directs the graduate program in public history. He also teaches courses on the history of Boston, working class history and social justice movements and has served as president of the Labor and Working Class History Association and as research director for the PBS series The Great Depression. Read more
Hyde Park's Dorcena launching at-large run
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Hyde Park resident William Dorcena, the owner of a business named CenaMaven and the brother of Dorchester state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, told the Reporter on Monday that he has formed a campaign committee and is jumping into this year's City Council At-Large race.
"I've always thought about public service," Dorcena said, adding that he will focus on public education, public safety and the economy as his top three issues. As the father of a young daughter, a taxpayer and a business owner, he said, he feels "I have to play a more pro-active role." Read more
New Kroc Center hailed, but fee structure remains concern
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Kroc Center: Major William Bode of the Salvation Army, Mayor Tom Menino, John Hamill of Sovereign Bank and Linda Wendfeldt, Joan Kroc’s daughter, enjoy Saturday’s ribbon-cutting of the Kroc Community Center on Dudley Street, Dorchester. Photo courtesy Mayor’s office
The new Kroc Center seems to have it all as it aims to serve local residents and families and more than 19,000 children living within a mile of the facility: The aquatic enter center with a heated indoor water park and a water slide. The gymnasium with two high school regulation courts. And the rock climbing wall, a ropes course, and a performing arts center.
Located in the Uphams Corner section of Dorchester and hailed as a jewel, the $115 million center was formally opened with great fanfare on Saturday.
“The dream has been realized,” Mayor Tom Menino told a crowd assembled for the opening ceremony. Menino played a key role in assembling a fundraising team that raised millions of dollars to help buttress the much larger sum donated by the Kroc family to build the center.
But the Kroc Center remains somewhat of a work-in-progress. Political and community leaders are still working behind-the-scenes with Salvation Army officials, who operate the center, to ensure that local residents and families can afford the membership rates the center is asking— fees that some say are too high. Read more
