Meetinghouse Hill
Meetinghouse Hill
Census count confirms Mass. to lose House seat
Dec. 21, 2010
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 21, 2010…. As widely predicted, Massachusetts will lose at least one of its 10 seats in Congress during the 2012 election cycle based on population counts collected during the 2010 Census, according to data released from the U.S. Census Bureau.
During a conference call with reporters, Census Bureau officials confirmed Tuesday morning that Massachusetts is among ten states to be losing at least one U.S. House seat. Read more
Silver cache may hold key to landmark’s salvation
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The First Parish Church steeple came down in 2006. Bill Forry photo
First Parish Church, which dates back to Dorchester’s original settlement in 1630, plans to auction off most of its historic silver collection to help pay for a $5 million restoration project that is desperately needed to save the historic church atop Meetinghouse Hill.
The parish congregation hopes that the sale of the silver, which has been on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for the last century, will fetch a large sum — perhaps in the millions—when it goes to auction in New York City in January 2012.
The funds cannot come fast enough. The existing church building, which was built to replace an earlier structure that burned in 1896, is in dire need of repairs that have reached a critical stage. The church’s steeple— which had begun to tilt ominously in recent years— was removed in 2006 amid fears that it would topple at any time. The wedding-cake-like steeple structure still sits on the same spot where a crane lowered it four years ago – right across the street from the church. Peeling paint, crumbling chimneys, loose shingles and old, sieve-like windows are ganging up on the once-grand symbol of olde Dorchester. And windstorms last spring sent water flowing into the sanctuary, damaging the church’s historic organ. Read more
Spike in shootings prompts renewed quest for solutions
Dec. 16, 2010
Tina Chery: A pioneer in citywide efforts to curb violence, Chery's son Louis was killed in a December 1993 shooting, not far from her current office in Fields Corner..
The numbers are deeply disturbing: Nearly eighty percent of the shootings in Boston in 2010 have taken place in the three police districts that cover Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan.
Last year, 223 people were killed or wounded by gunfire in Boston, and 174, or 78 percent, of the shootings took place in districts B-2, B-3 and C-11. This year, with several weeks to go, the number of shootings in the city has increased to 258, and, again, 78 percent of them were in these three districts.
The Search for Solutions
BPD Commissioner Ed Davis: Extra pressure on gang members
Rev. Eugene Rivers: Pastor convenes stakeholders, stresses "realism"
George Chip GreenidgeGeorge "Chip" Greenidge: Violent year spurs new calls for answers
Celeste Allan: Murder victim's mom finds community's embrace
Marivelle Crespo and Gina Patterson: BPD team aids families, heads off trouble
Tina Chery: Peace Pioneer seeks to improve coordination of services
Emmet Folgert: On alert for alternativesEmmett Folgert: Veteran youth worker connects teens with jobs
These stark numbers only convey part of the story. The real story, those on the front lines of the battle tell the Dorchester Reporter, is the impact this violence is having on those who live and work in these neighborhoods – and whether they will assert strongly to families, friends, and acquaintances that they will not tolerate the continued presence of guns or further criminal activity in the homes and on the streets of their neighborhoods. And, too, there is the overarching question of the role of the rest of Boston in this enterprise: Will they join Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan – or abandon them – in taking on the challenge of saving the streets. Read more
Charter school proponents look to expand in Dorchester, Mattapan
Dec. 8, 2010
Fourteen would-be charter schools have applied to the State Department of Education to be granted charters to start up new schools in Boston out of 23 across the state. Representatives from several of the applicant schools appeared before a panel of state education officials in Boston City Hall on Tuesday to press their case.
Though plans for the schools are still in the preliminary stages and locations for school facilities are not definite, some of the proponents for the proposals heard Tuesday vowed to serve underprivileged students from Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. Read more
Vote on closing schools delayed; parents still on high alert
Nov. 4, 2010
Superintendent Carol Johnson is delaying a vote on plans to close schools, giving parents opposed to the closures a month to regroup. Dorchester schools on the chopping block include Roger Clap Elementary and the East Zone Early Learning Center. School officials had also been pushing to merge the Lee Academy Pilot School and the Lee Elementary School.
“Overall, I’m optimistic that we have the extra month or so to get them to change their minds, and hopefully this opens up more of a debate,” said Kenny Jervis, one of the parents leading the charge to keep Clap Elementary open. “We’re happy we got the extra time but it’s nowhere near a victory yet.” Read more
Conference to help city churches make sorely needed renovations
Nov. 4, 2010
Dorchester’s spiritual community has borne firsthand witness to the community’s history, which stretches back nearly four centuries. It was members of a church community, the First Parish Church, that founded this city within a city. After decades of service to their neighborhoods, many of Dorchester’s church buildings are daue for a much needed facelift, and their congregations are turning to the city’s historical organizations for aid. Read more
(UPDATED) Watchdog group: Boston ended FY 2010 with $9.1m surplus, but...
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Boston's coffers ended fiscal year 2010 with a $9.1 million surplus, a fiscal watchdog group reports.
The Boston Municipal Research Bureau said Monday that the $9.1 million represents represents 0.4 percent of that fiscal year's $2.3 billion in spending.
But let's not start jumping around and compiling a list of programs to restore to full funding just yet.
Sam Tyler, head of the BMRB, notes, "This is money that has to be reserved for fiscal 2012." Read more
Dorchester YMCA Fall Programs
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It's time to get healthy. Visit the Dorchester YMCA for special membership offers as well as programs for families and youth. Visit us on the web at www.ymcaboston.org/dorchester. Call 617.436.7750, or just come visit the branch at 776 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA 02124. Free parking, directly on bus Rt #26 and a short walk from the Ashmont T.
Former Rep. Golar Richie takes job at YouthBuild USA
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Former state Rep. Charlotte Golar Richie is taking a top job at an organization that sponsors programs providing job skills to underemployed youth.
YouthBuild USA on Tuesday announced that Richie, a veteran of both the State House and City Hall, is joining the Somerville-based organization as its senior vice president for public policy, advocacy and government relations.
A Dorchester Democrat, she served in the Massachusetts House from 1995 to 2000, representing the Fifth Suffolk District. Read more
Become a Basic Literacy or ESOL Tutor
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Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts invites prospective volunteers to one of our informational orientations held August 16 and September 9 from 6-8 in downtown Boston. Volunteer tutors work one-to-one with students from communities throughout the Greater Boston area, including Dorchester and Mattapan, for 2-hours per week for a minimum of 9 to 12 months at mutually convenient times in public places. LVM trains volunteers to tutor adult learners in either Basic Literacy or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Read more
