Main Streets to Host Fall Networking Breakfast on October 14

On Thursday October 14, 2010 East Boston Main Streets will hold its Fall Networking Breakfast

East Boston, MA. 20-September-2010 East Boston Main Streets will host a networking breakfast on Thursday October 14, 2010, from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM at Spinelli’s in Day Square. Guest speaker is Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis. This event is sponsored by the East Boston Savings Bank. Tickets are $20.00 each or a table of 10 for $175.00.

This event usually sells out quickly. For tickets call 617.561.1044 or email us at ebmainstreets@verizon.net. For more information about our organization visit www.ebmainstreets.com

City responds to issues around former Hess site on Condor Street

Ernani DeAraujo of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services responds to a recent article in the Boston Globe detailing a dust-up between City Hall and local residents over the Hess oil farm site on Condor Street.

The recent stories in the Globe and East Boston Times about the former Hess site owned by the BRA were incomplete. I hope the following gives a clearer picture of the issues:

The Boston Redevelopment Authority (“BRA”) applied for funds to transform parts of Chelsea Creek into saltwater wetlands. The funds, derived from a legal settlement over oil spilled in the Chelsea Creek by ExxonMobil, are managed under the North American Wildlife Conservation Act (“NAWCA”). The BRA hired a grant writer to apply for the NAWCA funds and hopes to be awarded money to transform 5 acres of City of Boston land along the Creek. The City has experience in saltwater wetland creation from its work at Belle Isle Marsh. Contrary to the concerns of some, wetlands will NOT cause flooding on Condor Street. In fact, they could help water management.

As for the former Hess site, which used to house oil tanks, that parcel is slated for the creation of green technology jobs along with a direct public connection to the waterfront. The BRA originally purchased the site to prevent a heavy industrial, polluting company from buying the land. In January, the Eagle Hill Civic Association will help determine the design and usage of the site.

The BRA is optimistic about attracting a green jobs tenant, as Boston has been nationally recognized for its work on Climate Change and the development of “Clean technology” jobs. A green jobs company will help create new, good paying jobs for East Boston and the City will be able to take advantage of the multi-billion dollar investments of the Green Jobs Act of 2007 and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to create green jobs.

Finally, Eagle Hill residents have clamored to reduce or remove truck traffic and create more pedestrian friendly areas on the hill. Earlier in the year, at the request of residents, the City unanimously rejected a zoning board proposal by a developer seeking to create a new towing company on Condor Street.

Condor street’s future is bright as it was fully repaved this year; is awaiting the implementation of traffic calming measures; and will experience relief from truck traffic once the multi-million dollar Chelsea Street bridge is completed next year.

How East Boston voted on major races - September 2010 Primary

Eastboston.com has the latest results for the competitive Governor's Council, Auditor and Treasurer races. Find out how East Boston voted at the neighborhood's best web site.

James O. Taylor, MD of EBNHC to receive Samuel U. Rogers Achievement Award

An honor well-deserved for one of the "tireless footsoldiers in the Community Health Center Movement," East Boston's Dr. James Taylor. 

Food and Fitness Fun: EBNHC Kicks off East Boston Bike Week with the First Annual Bike to the Farmers Market Event

East Boston, September 13, 2010—Cyclists and locavores, rejoice! The East Boston Farmers Market’s first annual Bike to the Farmers Market is bridging the worlds of local food and active transport in this unique event to take place on the afternoon of Thursday, September 16th.

The farmers market, sponsored by the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center’s Let’s Get Movin’ program, runs from 3:00 to 6:30pm and will feature special bicycle-friendly activities this week. 

Kathy Field, Director of Let’s Get Movin,’ sees this event as a way to highlight the many sides of being healthy and to empower even more East Bostonians to eat well and keep moving.  “This is a great opportunity to get the community involved in the development of a healthier lifestyle through staying physically active and eating healthy,” she says.  “These messages are exactly what Let’s Get Movin’ promotes.”

At the market this Thursday, the Boston Cyclists Union (BCU) will be providing free bike tune-ups and repairs in their third visit to the market this season, and the Boston Public Health Commission and EBNHC are sponsoring a helmet giveaway. Chef Kirk Conrad from Project Bread and the Umana Middle School Academy will also be at the market sampling some of the tasty homemade dishes that he prepares for the East Boston public middle school students.

To add to the festivities, there will be a group bike ride to the market, which will leave from the East Boston YMCA at 4pm (Note: this time has changed; the ride was previously advertised with a 3pm start time). Those who do not own a bicycle may rent one free of charge from Boston Bikes, who will be stationed at the YMCA starting at 3:30. Helmets will be included in the rental. The ride will head down the East Boston Greenway, turn up Sumner Street to Border Street, and will end at the farmers market. There will be a bike corral at the market so that cyclists have a safe place to leave their bikes while they shop.

Everyone who arrives at the market on bike will receive a free $5.00 coupon towards any farmers market items to be purchased that day. In addition, each bicyclist will receive a sticker, which can be presented at participating local restaurants for a discount during “East Boston Bike Week,” a week of restaurant discounts for bicycle riders. East Boston Bike Week runs from Friday, September 17th to Thursday, September 23rd. Participating restaurants include 303 Café, Café Gigú, El Jardín, Meridian Market, Montecristo, Rosticería Cancún, and Sonny Noto’s.

Contact: Alison Smizer, Community Initiatives Coordinator, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, (617) 568-4783, smizera@ebnhc.org

East Boston Main Streets Announces Historic Walking Tour

On Saturday September 25, 2010 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, East Boston Main Streets and the Boston Preservation Alliance will host an interactive walking tour of Maverick and Central Squares with Support from Historic Boston Incorporated and the National Trust for Historic preservation.

Participants will share stories of how East Bostonians have built, worked and played in, preserved and given new life to the neighborhood’s special buildings and places – from the 9 Chelsea Street Sidewalk Clock to the Piers, from Engine 40 Firehouse to the Barnes School. Refreshments will be served. To join the walk, meet at ZUMIX, 260 Sumner Street (Engine 40 Firehouse) 


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This event is FREE, but space is limited. Please contact Clark Moulaison at EB Main Streets to RSVP: 617-561-1044, ebmainstreets@verizon.net

This project is one part of an exciting new historic preservation outreach initiative in Allston and other parts of the city: the Neighborhood Preservation Partnership of Boston. With funding and support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation Partners in the Field Program, two local historic preservation organizations, Historic Boston Incorporated and the Boston Preservation Alliance, are using this initiative to extend historic preservation field services to Boston neighborhoods through workshops, priority planning and one-on-one assistance to property owners, residents, Boston Main Street districts, and community-based organizations.

East Boston Columbus Day Parade Committee Jail Day 2010

On Friday September 17, 2010 volunteers from East Boston will hold a Jail Day fundraiser.

(East Boston, MA.- September 5, 2010) Volunteers from the East Boston Columbus Day Parade Committee along with officers from the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department and Boston Police will round up local residents and merchants to raise funds for this years’ Columbus Day Parade.

Offenders caught smiling; cleaning up the streets or being good neighbors can be detained at the Central Square Jail on Friday September 17th between 11 am and 3 pm. To obtain a warrant and have someone arrested contact Clark Moulaison at 617.561.1044 or email at ebmainstreets@verizon.net. Warrants are $20.00 made payable to Columbus Day Parade.

This year's Columbus Day Parade will step off from Orient Heights at 1 PM travel down Bennington Street to Chelsea Street to Maverick Square and turn down Meridian Street into Central Square.

Marching bands from all over New England, Military and Civic groups will make this years parade special. Chief Marshall John Cotter along with Civic Chairman Joe Ruggeiro, Parade Chairman Buddy Mangini and Producer Joe Kehone is asking for your help. If you would like to donate to the parade or attend one of the pre-parade events contact Joe Ruggeiro at 617.590.3035.

Other Columbus Day Parade events are here.

Hitchens, religion and the public square: Not a good mix

HITCHENS:

Those who wish that there would be no mosques in America have already lost the argument: Globalization, no less than the promise of American liberty, mandates that the United States will have a Muslim population of some size. The only question, then, is what kind, or rather kinds, of Islam it will follow. There's an excellent chance of a healthy pluralist outcome, but it's very unlikely that this can happen unless, as with their predecessors on these shores, Muslims are compelled to abandon certain presumptions that are exclusive to themselves. The taming and domestication of religion is one of the unceasing chores of civilization. Those who pretend that we can skip this stage in the present case are deluding themselves and asking for trouble not just in the future but in the immediate present.

617 Taxi Company Community Meeting

Proposal by 617 Taxi Company, McClellan Highway Monday, August 30 at 5:30PM. There will be a community meeting for 617 Taxi at 175 McClellan Highway (next to the Chamber of Commerce).

September 11 is Salvation Army Awareness Day

The Salvation Army Chelsea/Revere/East Boston Corps is holding a Salvation Army Awareness Day at the Chelsea Market Basket parking lot on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Area families are invited to attend this free event and learn more about the Salvation Army’s services. Families can also view the Salvation Army’s emergency disaster services canteen, a Cataldo ambulance, and more. Give-aways will be available. More on eastboston.com

From the war against gangs, some good news

This is good news. Technically it is illegal to be illegal when you commit crimes on American soil. 

Federal immigration officials say a three-month operation in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island has led to the arrest 47 of people suspected of being gang members or having ties to gangs.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Harold Ort said on Friday that many of the suspects had histories of violent crimes including attempted murder, car jacking, assault and battery with dangerous weapons, assault to rape and possession of firearms.

Needless to say not all immigrants are not criminals nor gangbangers but the few that are cause a lot of havoc in places like East Boston.

What the moonbats and Deval have wraught: The death of dog racing

The Massachusetts elite has always proven not to be a friend of the working man and woman in Massachusetts. Sure the Governor is always about bring jobs to the elite like those subsidies for biotech that are dubious to begin with. He and the moonbats who abolished dog racing could care less about the livelihood of hundreds of working class folks in East Boston and Revere who showed up to toil at Wonderland. Gambling is fool's gold as its the pursuit of family style resort oriented casinos but House Speaker DeLeo had a point about saving the tracks in his backyard. It was he who was willing to compromise.  Only the deluded can call Patrick's stand principled. Wonderland is now legend. It was here now it's not. 

he track posted signs on its front doors this morning announcing the track has closed and that tickets and couchers may be redeemed starting next Monday.

Leslie DeLand, a track worker of 15 years, peered through the windows of the track's main building at 9:50 a.m.

"I just want to thank the governor for helping us lose our jobs," she said, placing blame on the failure to pass an expended gambling bill on Governor Deval Patrick.

Wonderland faces no future

When the Governor and the legislature talk beyond each other nothing that matters to working people really matter.

Like the state’s three other tracks, Wonderland Park, the former greyhound racing facility, is facing an uphill climb in the weeks after expanded gambling talks faltered on Beacon Hill.
The Revere track, a simulcast wagering parlor since a voter-approved dog racing ban took effect Jan. 1, 2010, was a loser in last month’s gambling bill drama, missing out on a chance to bid for a slot machine license or a chance to partner with nearby Suffolk Downs in an effort to launch a casino.

Gov. Deval Patrick has blamed lawmakers for sending him a gambling bill he had indicated he would not support and urged the Legislature to reconvene and pass casino-only legislation. Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein (D-Revere), a former Wonderland employee, said that in Revere, residents are still shocked that Patrick didn’t go along with legislation allowing two of the four racetracks to add slot machines.

“Around here, people here they just can’t believe that the governor did it,” she said. “He’s playing a game with all these peoples’ lives. It’s very sad. It’s disappointing. These are real people.”

Richard Fields' big gamble

Banking on the Massachusetts state legislature is a risky bet.

The move to pare back the season’s total purse to $8 million – the minimum that Suffolk is required by the state to offer – from $9.8 million in 2009 is a sign that co-owner Richard Fields may be looking to cut his losses. Fields, as you may remember, placed a big bet on Suffolk – and on the future of the casino industry in the state – when he made a huge investment in Suffolk in 2007. He doubled down with his partners at the track when the ownership team obtained a right to acquire the nearby Wonderland dog track in Revere and a mortgage on that track’s property.

The big question will be: When will Richard Fields be ready to fold his hand?

East Boston fuel storage victimized by scam

If gasoline in 55 gallon barrels can be transported this easily by a regular run-of-the-mill van and transported through the Sumner Tunnel, then we are really in for big trouble.

Douglas Noble and his wife, Amy, are accused of a scam in which Douglas allegedly stole gasoline from an East Boston fuel storage depot where he worked and the couple sold it from their home on Beaver Street. A joint state and local investigation broke up the operation.


According to police, one of the Nobles’ customers was Dana Olson, a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Department of Public Works, according to the town website. Police said that she and another woman, Ann Goodreau of Brockton, were seen on video buying fuel in the Nobles’ driveway, and they have been charged with receiving stolen property.

Eastie Pride Day 2010 is Saturday, August 21

Mark the date: Saturday, August 21 is Eastie Pride Day.

GOP Senate Candidate Frank Addivinola Blasts "National Popular Vote" Move

GOP State Senate candidate Frank Addivinola criticizes the legislature's approval of the so-called "National Popular Vote" Measure Intended to run around the Electoral College.

Beacon Hill lawmakers that supported this new bill suggest that this system is fairer than the current Electoral College system and would ensure that each individual vote across the country will be of equal importance. In fact, this law tells Massachusetts voters that regardless of which candidate the majority of the state supports, all electoral votes of this state will go to the candidate that had the most support in other states. This means that if Massachusetts citizens vote differently than the rest of the country, this law literally nullifies our votes.

The myth of the "Battle of Chelsea Creek"

That battle everyone keeps referring to as "The Battle of Chelsea Creek" actually should be known as an the "The Battle of Noddle's Island, Winnisimmit and Rumney Marsh"

In an exclusive for eastboston.com, local historian local historian Michael Laurano writes:

To misplace by misnaming an important American Revolutionary War historical event simply to feed local vanities constitutes historical revisionism and is plainly wrong.

Mark the date: July 29, East Boston Main Streets' Fitness Walk

It's time, as always to get in shape.

East Boston Farmer's Market to Open Thursday, July 15!

Bigger and Better: East Boston Farmers Market Begins 2010 Season
East Boston, July 12, 2010—The East Boston Farmers Market returns to Central Square in East Boston on Thursday, July 15. Sponsored by the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC), the market will provide fresh, locally grown produce every Thursday from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. through October 7.

Alison Smizer, Community Initiatives Coordinator at EBNHC, has led the effort to establish the market in East Boston over the past three years. “We began with just two vendors in 2008,” she says. “In 2010, thanks to the efforts of Eleanor Chandler, market manager, the market will triple in size to six vendors. Families in East Boston will find even more of their favorite fruit, vegetables, and herbs at the market this year.”

The East Boston Farmers Market began when organizers at the health center’s Let’s Get Movin’ program asked, “How can we help families in our community increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diets?” The market brings produce picked that day at Massachusetts farms to East Boston. The selection changes throughout the season, from lettuce and greens in early summer to apples and squashes in the fall.

At the East Boston Farmers Market, vendors feature produce important to the many cultures represented by the community. Dave Dumanesq, also known as Farmer Dave and one of the original vendors at the market, tailors his offerings to the requests of his customers. “We bring chiplin to East Boston because it is an important flavoring in many Salvadorean and other South American dishes. We also sell a lot of yierba mora, cranberry beans, and papalo. Whenever I have jilo, a kind of eggplant, my Brazilian customers often say they haven’t seen it since they left Brazil.” With the arrival of new farmers to the market, including Pamuzinda Farm of Littleton, vegetables and herbs of Southeast Asia and Africa will be offered, including amaranth and collard greens. As the harvest continues, customers will also find tomatoes, corn, peppers, peaches, apples, cilantro, and basil, among other familiar crops.

Shopping at the Farmers Market is affordable. Families that qualify can use a range of vouchers and coupons to make fresh fruits and vegetables even easier to purchase. SNAP/EBT participants can use their cards at the market and receive 50% off purchases up to $20, thanks to the Boston Bounty Bucks program sponsored by the Food Project and the City of Boston. WIC participants can save in two ways with the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program and with WIC Fruit & Vegetable vouchers. The East Boston Farmers Market is the only market in the city of Boston participating in this new nutrition voucher program.

The East Boston Farmers Market is more than a source for healthy food. It is also a gathering place for the East Boston community. Many residents come to shop but also to see neighbors and friends. Musical and educational events planned for the market this summer will attract more people from a wider area, and will be listed on the East Boston Farmers Market web page (www.ebnhc.org/FarmersMarket.php), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/EBNHC) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/EBNHC). 
 
The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center has been a vital part of the East Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Winthrop, and Revere communities for 40 years. EBNHC provides easily accessible, high-quality health care to all who live and work in East Boston and the surrounding communities, without regard to age, income, insurance status, language, culture, or social circumstances. For more information contact: Eleanor Chandler, Market Manager, chandlee@ebnhc.org
(617) 568-4028