News
Meatloaf Dinner and other signs of Spring
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“Sometimes sunshine, sometimes showers
Bathe and nuture budding flowers
As April sings a song of spring
And dances of a bluebird’s wing.”
“A Song of Spring” by Nora Bozeman
Hubby and I are amazed at our flowering plants. There are more purple crocus but still very few yellow ones. There is one orange crocus that is positively gorgeous. There are quite a few daffodil leaves in the yard but only one daffodil flower. There were daffodils blooming last weekend outside the Bayside Office Center where our office is located. The building gets sun most of the day.
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Inside a tented shop, First Parish Church steeple work nearing the top-off
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Steeple chase: Former interim First Parish minister and board member Richard Kellaway, board chairperson Julie Simmons, Rev. Art Lavoie and Rich Friberg, project manager and instructor for the North Bennet Street School are shown inside the temporary workshop on Parish Street, where restoration carpentry students are working to finish the two lantern sections of the historic church’s steeple. Photo by Bill Forry
A team of advanced carpentry students under the direction of teachers from the North Bennet Street School is making steady progress in its painstaking effort to restore the top two sections of the First Parish Church steeple. The historic church’s tower was removed in 2006 amid fears that it could collapse after years of water and wind damage— and deferred maintenance.
Now, the reworked and rebuilt steeple sections are finally nearing completion— one part of an ambitious $5 million restoration job that will restore the colonial revival landmark to its original glory atop Meetinghouse Hill. Read more
One eve of season, Savin Hill Little League 'wiped out' by thieves
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The Savin Hill Little League trailer at McConnell Park was broken into over the weekend. Thieves made off with "thousands of dollars" worth of little league equipment. Photo by Bill Forry
Just days before the first pitch of the season, Savin Hill Little League has been dealt a tough blow by thieves who pillaged their equipment locker at McConnell Park. The weekend incident left the up-and-coming youth sports league without helmets, bats, bases and balls— a loss of "thousands of dollars," according to Mike Christopher, one of the volunteers who runs the league. Read more
After Menino: Successor pool getting crowded
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A city councillor at-large and the former chief executive of a Dorchester hospital entered the Boston mayoral sweepstakes over the last week, bringing to eight the number of candidates who have said they hope to succeed Thomas Menino.
Savin Hill’s Bill Walczak, who founded the Codman Square Health Center and briefly ran Carney Hospital, and Jamaica Plain’s Felix Arroyo, who was elected to the City Council in 2009, announced their candidacies, taking their names off the list of potential candidates and placing them in the burgeoning field of contenders. Read more
Tax bill clears House 97-55, shifting debate over transportation revenue to Senate
Apr. 9, 2013
Taking the first major step toward a significant tax hike this year, the House on Monday night approved $500 million in new revenue from increases in the state's gas, cigarette and business taxes in an attempt to solidify the finances of the state's transportation system and invest in local road repair projects. Read more
Uphams Corner bar has two weeks to come up with plan to keep violent people out
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Dublin House/ Yaz's Place on Stoughton Street
A city licensing official on Monday warned the Dublin House, 7 Stoughton St., that it faces a possible suspension of its license because of a stabbing last month - which follows a shooting outside the bar last year. Read more
As transit advocates shut down Beacon Street, tax bill debate stirs
Apr. 8, 2013
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 8, 2013…..As frustrated taxi drivers and weary tourists looked on, public transit activists blocked Beacon Street for about 15 minutes Monday, making the case for more funding to avert future fare increases on senior citizens and disabled riders. Four activists were arrested.
Inside the State House, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey launched floor debate on a $500 million tax plan, calling the economic recovery "one of the weakest" and saying slow growth makes it difficult to support all of the spending priorities outlined by Gov. Deval Patrick in his $34.8 billion fiscal 2014 budget, which relies on $1.9 billion in new taxes. Read more
Mattahunt and Mildred Ave. join forces for College & Career event
Apr. 5, 2013
The Mattahunt Wheelock Community Center will join forces with the BCYF Mildred Ave. Community Center to offer high school juniors and seniors a College & Career Engagement event on Thurs., April 18. Read more
Gov. Patrick threatens veto of trans-tax bill, calls it a 'fiscal shell game'
Apr. 4, 2013
Adding a major new dimension to what's turning into a full-fledged tax fight with the Legislature, Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday he would veto a $500 million tax plan unveiled earlier this week by legislative leaders.
Patrick is seeking new taxes to pay for $1 billion in transportation system investments, but House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray this week said their $500 million plan is more considerate to taxpayers given the current state of the economy and addresses the state's most pressing transportation needs. Read more
Three candidates for state Senate offer their views
Apr. 4, 2013
Three of the four candidates hoping to fill South Boston’s Jack Hart’s First Suffolk Senate District seat have offered their views on taxes, the city’s school assignment policy, and dormitories at UMass Boston in responses to a questionnaire put together by the Reporter.
Two Democrats – state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry of Dorchester and Maureen Dahill of South Boston – and Dorchester Republican Joseph Ureneck responded to the questionnaire. The campaign of State Rep. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat, did not send in a response to the survey before the Reporter went to press on Wednesday morning, despite multiple requests from the newspaper.
The questionnaires are available in full below. Read more
Big Apple Circus reaches way back for magic of horse-and-buggy era
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From Argentina, Elayne Kramer astounds with a backbone as flexible as an archer’s bow! Photo by Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus
Audiences at the Big Apple Circus (BAC) may arrive at City Hall Plaza by newfangled contraptions like automobiles and the subway, but inside the sawdust-strewn ring the thrills and chuckles are strictly from the horse-and-buggy era.
“Legendarium,” a sonorous made-up word, is the title of the BAC’s 35th anniversary edition, which whisks spectators back to the earliest days of the circus in America.
Rosy-cheeked, bewhiskered John Kennedy Kane is the old-school ringmaster with a booming voice, proclaiming, “There is no smoking under the Big Top, but you are allowed to laugh, cheer and have a great time!” Between routines, Kane shares fascinating bits of circus lore like the story about New Yorkers who were hesitant to cross the newly built Brooklyn Bridge for fear it would collapse till a circus marched all 21 of its elephants across it with no problem.
After the charming opening charivari, (about which all we can say is you’ll have a cow when you see it), all eyes swivel aloft as the live band plays “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” while Andrey Mantchev, a Bulgarian aerialist, clad in All-American red, white, and blue, gets the proceedings off to a heart-pounding start. Read more
Reporter's Notebook: Wu’s at-large bid kickoff draws impressive crowd
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Michelle Wu’s kick-off of her City Council At-Large bid drew a who’s who of Boston politicos to the South End on Tuesday night. She was introduced by her former law professor, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who called Wu a “young woman who is the future.” Read more
Boxing takes hold at St. Peter’s: Former pros, cops teach kids the ropes
Apr. 4, 2013
St. Peter's Boxing duo: Boxing coach and former DEA agent Paul Doyle, right, with 15 year-old Jose Pires. Photo by Eoin Cannon After almost disappearing from the youth sports landscape, boxing has made something of a comeback in Dorchester. More gyms are opening their doors to young people, whether they are looking for serious competition or just the skills boxing teaches: discipline, composure, self-defense.
In places where the youth need those skills the most, though, instead of commercial gyms it sometimes takes the old, familiar networks of priests, police, youth workers, and ex-fighters and the commitment they make to passing those values on.
Paul Doyle knows both the before and the after phases of this phenomenon. Read more
Dan Larner, steady hand in St. Mark’s Area, to move on
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St. Mark's Area Main Street's mainstay to step down: Dan Larner, left, is shown with Mayor Tom Menino at the Dorchester Board of Trade luncheon on Tuesday. Photo courtesy Don Harney/Mayor’s Office
One of the city’s longest-serving Main Streets directors will leave his post this summer after a high-successful run in the St. Mark’s Area. Dan Larner, who has served as the district’s director since 2000, will leave to seek a new career opportunity in government/public affairs sector. He has set June 30 as his last day in the St. Mark’s Area Main Street (SMAMS) office. Read more
Field of mayoral candidates takes shape, slowly
Apr. 3, 2013
Boston Mayoral Field Expands from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.
As the songs played on and the crowd thinned out, the Suffolk County district attorney and two city councillors stuck around. The television cameras, with reporters in tow, had arrived late at Villa Victoria on Tuesday night to them as they appeared at a fundraiser and kick-off for Michelle Wu’s City Council At-Large bid.
Daniel Conley, the district attorney and a former city councillor, said he planned to make his mayoral bid “official in the next day” or two, adding, “it’s a wonderful opportunity to continue my service to the public.” Read more
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
