News
Neighbors rally to help residents displaced in six-alarm fire
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Neighbors in and around Bowdoin-Geneva are rallying to help neighbors who were displaced by a fast-moving fire that impacted three homes on Meetinghouse Hill last week.
Three homes in a densely-packed Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood were badly damaged last Wednesday evening as Boston firefighters scrambled to contain the dangerous six-alarm blaze near Ronan Park. No one was injured in the blaze, which Boston Fire official later said was caused by the careless disposal of a cigarette on the third floor porch of a three-decker at 10 Fox Street. Read more
Teen charged in brazen knife attack on Savin Hill Ave.
Apr. 2, 2013
A 17 year-old Dorchester woman was formally charged with armed assault with intent to murder this week after she allegedly stabbed a rival during a vicious sidewalk attack in Savin Hill on Monday afternoon. The victim was attacked as she pushed her 8-month-old baby in a stroller near 15 Midland Street. Prosecutors say that the teenage victim was lured to the scene by her baby’s father, who allegedly held down the victim while the suspect, Samia Jones, stabbed her repeatedly with a butcher knife in her back, leg, face, and torso. Read more
Two charged for hammer attack that sent one to the hospital
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Officers on routine patrol on Dorchester Avenue early this morning watched as a man wandered into the middle of the street, then collapsed, blood pouring out of the back of his head, the Boston Police Department reports.
Police say the victim was attacked by two men in the parking lot of the 1221 Cafe, 1221 Dorchester Ave. shortly before 1 a.m. According to a police account: Read more
Radio reunion at Morrissey Boulevard’s 96.9FM
Mar. 29, 2013
Baltazar and Pebbles— two of Boston’s most well known on-air personalities — have been reunited on Morrissey Boulevard after 12 long years apart, teaming up to host a radio morning show on HOT 96.9 FM. Read more
Arts Academy students lament conditions, seek redress from city
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Earlier this week students attending Boston Arts Academy (BAA) from Dorchester and from across the rest of the city, with support from their parents, seized “a learning and leadership opportunity” when they personally pleaded with city officials to correct the long-standing deplorable conditions at their high school. Read more
Menino isn’t reticent about his latest initiatives
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A push for 30,000 new housing units by 2020. $11 million for an overhaul of a park in his rival’s neighborhood. Some 10,000 mobile devices in Boston Public Schools over the next two years in a bid to promote “electronic learning.”
Mayor Thomas Menino, who has not yet publicly said whether or not he will be running for another term, laid out those initiatives this week at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau before an audience of business leaders and potential contenders for his seat Read more
Dot woman heads up vet’s post on Woodrow Avenue
Mar. 29, 2013
Joy Cumming
Joy Cumming, the commander of the Ramsay/Toy #8772, a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post on Woodrow Ave., says she is used to breaking the mold. The Four Corners resident is focusing her career and her volunteer time on helping fellow veterans find a warm welcome and much-needed services close to home.
Cumming, 42, served in the US Army for three years in the 1990s— including a stint in Korea.
Today, she is the the Women’s Committee Chairman for the state’s Department of Massachusetts and works as an administrator at the committee’s State House office. She is currently in her third year as a member of the VFW’s National Women’s Veterans Committee.
Originally from Maine, Cumming moved to Dorchester four years ago. She says she made the move after spending ten years in Lynn because she was so active in the post and wanted to be closer. Read more
Collins and Dorcena Forry hail their endorsements
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With less than five weeks left before the primary, the two frontrunners in the First Suffolk District race to replace former state Sen. Jack Hart accepted additional endorsements this week while ramping up their retail politicking to point out their supporters and win over voters.
Democratic State Reps. Nick Collins of South Boston and Linda Dorcena Forry of Dorchester crisscrossed the First Suffolk Senate District touting advantages they hope will provide the help needed to come out on top in the April 30 primary. Read more
Mrs. Massachusetts: Dot’s Janelle Woods-McNish
Mar. 29, 2013
There she is:: Dorchester’s Janelle Woods-McNish, right, was crowned Mrs. Massachusetts during a pageant on March 19 at the Boston Marriott-Newton. Photo courtesy Mrs. Massachusetts
The mother of 4-year-old twins girls, Janelle Woods-McNish, 31, was crowned Mrs. Massachusetts on March 19. The Neponset area resident said that, even though she has previous pageant experience, it was a “complete surprise” to hear her name called. Dot Day season kicks off: With chili cook-off, and meatloaf dinner
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The Ashmont Grill booth at Sunday’s Dot Day Chili Cook-off was built and painted in cooperation with DotArt. Pictured from left: Millie Rooney, Chris Douglass and Nuno Alves. Photo by Ed Geary
The year’s celebration of Dorchester Days got underway in the past week, with two festive events to mark the occasion.
Last Thursday night, March 21 organizers gathered at First Parish Church on Meetinghouse Hill for a traditional meatloaf dinner, prepared by the chefs at Gerard’s Adams Corner restaurant. The catered “Kick-Off’ meal has been served by Gerard Adomunes and his staff in the early spring every year for more than two decades.
The event finds roots in the gastronomical choice of the late John Harold, who helped found the modern era of the Dorchester Day celebrations, and served as parade chief marshal a half century ago. The evening was hosted by Dot Day parade president Marty Hogan, vice president Joe Zinck and parade adjutant Ed Geary, Jr.
On Sunday afternoon, March 24 several hundred came together at IBEW Hall in Clam Point for the seventh annual Dorchester Chili Cook-off, an event organized by members of the Ashmont Adams civic association and its president, Pat O’Neill. Featured were a variety of chili, deserts and other treats prepared by local restaurants and sponsored by a variety of local groups and politicians. All proceeds from both the events benefit the 2013 Dorchester Day parade. Read more
Mayor Menino makes it official in emotion-packed Faneuil Hall speech
Mar. 28, 2013
Mayor Menino Announces Decision Not to Run from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.
Thomas Menino made it official on Thursday: At a Faneuil Hall speech, filled with local elected officials, Menino administration officials and neighborhood activists, the mayor said he will not be running for a sixth term.
“I’m back to a mayor schedule, but not a Menino schedule,” Menino said, in a reference to his recovery from a list of ailments that cut short a vacation with his wife last year and put him in the hospital for two months at the end of last year. “And I miss that.”
He wistfully recalled past visits Bowdoin Geneva every Christmas Eve, promising and delivering on a supermarket and shopping mall in Grove Hall, and reading to children in new libraries in Mattapan and Brighton.
Menino, who has served as mayor since 1993, said he had “no plans” to pick a successor. “I just ask that you choose someone who loves this city as much as I have,” he said. Read more
Reporter News Editor discusses Mayor Menino's decision not to run
Mar. 28, 2013
Reporter's Notebook: Lynch gets a shout-out from Sheriff Tompkins
Mar. 28, 2013
It looks like Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins is backing Congressman Stephen Lynch in his bid for the US Senate seat vacated by US Secretary of State John Kerry. Read more
Marshall School conversion proving a lure
Mar. 28, 2013
Ninety-one percent of students at the Marshall Elementary School plan to stick around for the coming school year as it edges closer to its conversion into an in-district charter school, school officials said this week.
The 600-student school has had among the “highest mobility rates of any elementary school” in the system, according to Boston Public Schools, and in a normal year, 17 percent of the students often leave the school and head to another. Read more
Quincy Street corridor revamp now on track for public review
Mar. 28, 2013
City officials are asking residents to weigh in on a multi-agency effort to improve the Quincy Street corridor. Potential improvements include crosswalks at intersections, better street lighting, highly visible signs, and bike lanes.
Jeremy Rosenberger, a senior planner with the Boston Redevelopment Authority whose agency hopes to “soften the image of the corridor,” said the layout is a “bit hostile for pedestrians. “There’s a lot of congestion, a lot of dangerous pedestrian connections out there,” he said. Read more
Mayor Menino will not seek re-election
Mar. 27, 2013
Mayor Tom Menino: Will not seek re-election this year. Photo by Bill Forry Mayor Thomas Menino will announce tomorrow he is not running for a sixth term, sources told the Reporter on Wednesday night.
The move ends a 20-year hold on the only job he has said he’s ever wanted, sets up an epic rumble for the first open mayoral seat in 30 years, and comes after a prolonged bout of speculation about whether he’d make another bid.
Menino’s expected announcement was first reported by David Bernstein, the former political reporter for the Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly that folded earlier this month. Menino will make the announcement at 4 p.m. in Faneuil Hall.
Multiple calls to Dot Joyce, Menino’s press secretary, were not returned on Wednesday night. Read more
Six-alarm fire on Meetinghouse Hill impacts several three-deckers
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(Updated- 8 p.m.) Three multiple-family homes in a densely-packed Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood caught fire on Wednesday night as Boston firefighters scrambled to contain the blaze near Ronan Park. Boston Fire official struck a sixth alarm around 7 p.m. and several ladder trucks were called to the scene.
Reports from Boston Fire officials on the scene indicate that the fire has been knocked down and that no injuries have been reported at this hour. Nine apartments were involved, according to Boston Fire.
"Two 3-deckers at 10 and 12 Fox St.faced a 3 decker at 8 Julette St. Heavy fire where all met," reported the official Twitter account for the department, @BostonFire.
Four-alarm fire damages Harvard Street stores
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The scene at 125 Harvard St. Photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department reports a short circuit in the basement of the Real Deal Jamaican Restaurant started a four-alarm fire around 11:25 a.m. Tuesday that ended up doing an estimated $500,000 in damage to the restaurant and neighboring stores.
One firefighter suffered neck and back injuries; nobody in the stores was injured.
Cops: Scam-artists posed as utility-men to rob home
Mar. 25, 2013
Boston Police are warning neighbors to use caution after two men posing as water utility workers allegedly robbed a home on Huron Circle last Thursday evening. An elderly homeowner was targeted in the incident, which began around 6:30 p.m. when a white male posing as a Water and Sewer employee rang the doorbell. Read more
Woman's night at the movies ends with her head grazed by a bullet
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The Boston Police Department reports a woman coming home from a movie with her son and nephew had just gotten off the bus at Bowdoin and Norton streets around 8:30p.m., Saturday, when the area erupted in gunfire and one of the bullets grazed her head.
Police say the woman was taken to Boston Medical Center in good condition.
Police say officers on routine patrol in the Bowdoin/Geneva heard several shots.
At downtown rally, Connolly broadens City Hall critique beyond schools
Mar. 21, 2013
Attendees of a Wednesday night rally for City Councillor At-Large John Connolly’s mayoral bid were served a blistering critique of the Menino administration with a side of Bad Rabbits. About 400 people, some of them spilling out into the Omni Parker House Hotel’s second floor hallway, crowded the small Press Room for the rally and a performance put on by the Boston-based band. Read more
City officials seeking public comment on Quincy St. improvements
Mar. 20, 2013
Residents will get a chance to weigh in on a multi-agency effort to improve the Quincy St. corridor. The public meeting, scheduled to go from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on March 20, is set for the Haynes Early Education Center on Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury.
Potential improvements could include crosswalks at intersections, better street lighting, highly visible signs and bike lanes.
Residents have registered complaints with the city, calling the current set up of streets unsafe for pedestrians. Read more
Dot author brings children’s book to life
Mar. 20, 2013
A former toddler teacher, Abbie Wanamaker began writing children’s books after being inspired by a child in her classroom. Wanamaker, 37, has just finished her second book, Jack & Olive, and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to print the copies of the book.
“When I was at Dorchester Open Studios, the woman next to me – her name is Margery Buckingham, she’s on the Dorchester Art Collaborative – she immediately told me, ‘You should try Kickstarter,’” Wanamaker said. “I’m honestly the worst at putting myself out there, and having someone mentor me – she sat down with me and gave me deadlines – and she had used them before, so I decided to go with them.” Read more
‘Kreyol’-flavored bazaar takes root at Erick Jean Center in Four Corners
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“I am Kreyol” organizer Joëlle Jean-Fontaine
March is Women’s History Month, and two local women are showing their leadership skills in arts promotion and sales. This Saturday, March 23 from at 4-8p.m., former Mattapan resident Joëlle Jean-Fontaine is heading up the first of what she hopes will become a monthly event, the “I AM KRÉYOL” Bazaar. She bills it as “a monthly arts’ market showcasing a variety of creative disciplines, including but not limited to fashion, visual art, music, culinary, and film.”
This 32-year-old designer and entrepeneuse is experienced at organizing free arts afternoons to attract customers to her fashion shows and displays. For example, she held one such event at the Great Hall in Codman Square during the 2011 Dorchester Open Studios. Read more
A passion for helping youth at risk drives ‘JP kid’ O’Neill
Mar. 20, 2013
School Committee chair Michael O’Neill has a passion for helping youth at risk.
Michael Delaney O’Neill, a big Irish name for a gangly boy, spent his early years in the shadow of James Michael Curley. To be precise, O’Neill, now chairperson of the Boston School Committee and senior vice president of marketing and distribution for Savings Bank Life Insurance of Massachusetts – the “no-nonsense” guys – grew up in a house just behind the Curley home in Jamaica Plain famed for its shamrock-laden shutters.
Clearly the politics and street sense of Hizzoner have rubbed off on O’Neill. “I’m a JP kid,” he boasts, “and proud of it!” Read more
