Volume 19, Issue 37 SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 Parkway Basketball’s growth spurts benefiting community Jef Jef Jef Jef Jeff Sulliv f Sulliv f Sulliv f Sulliv f Sullivan an an an an Staff Reporter Bask Bask Bask Bask Basketball tball tball tball tball Continued on page 10 The Parkway Travel Basketball League is starting tryouts in the next few weeks. COURTESY PHOTO LANA LANA LANA LANA LANA Continued on page 6 WRCIA hears second cannabis proposal for same site Amanda W Amanda W Amanda W Amanda W Amanda Webst ebst ebst ebst ebster er er er er Staff Reporter Residents did not seem convinced regarding a newly-proposed recreational adult- use marijuana dispensary on VFW Parkway. PHOTO BY AMANDA WEBSTER LANA hears Gateway update, talks Faulkner Jef Jef Jef Jef Jeff Sulliv f Sulliv f Sulliv f Sulliv f Sullivan an an an an Staff Reporter WalkUP Roslindale presented the progress of the proposed Gateway Path to connect Roslindale Square to Forest Hills. COURTESY PHOTO WR WR WR WR WRCIA CIA CIA CIA CIA Continued on page 8 1524 VFW Parkway appears to be an attractive space for cannabis retailers. Representatives for Finbarr Therapeutics came before the West Roxbury Civic and Im- provement Association Monday night to pitch their proposal for a recreational marijuana dispensary, a proposal that was not unfamiliar to the association. According to Martin Keogh, as- sociation president (and At-Large City Council Candidate), Beacon Compassion Inc. came before the West Roxbury Civic and Improve- ment Association two years ago to propose a medical marijuana dis- pensary for the same location on the VFW Parkway. The association at that time had voted to submit a letter of non-opposition for Beacon The Longfellow Area Neighbor- hood Association (LANA) met on Monday, Sept. 9 and discussed the pro- posed upcoming expansion to the nearby Faulkner Hospital. Resident and former LANA presi- dent Carter Wilkie brought up the is- sue of the Centre Street and Walter Street intersection and how traffic is basically backed up from the Rotary towards Jamaica Plain. He urged resi- dents and the LANA Board to go to the Jamaica Hills Meeting on the issue on The Parkway Travel Basketball League (PTBL) is hosting tryouts start- ing next week for residents of the West Roxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods. The league, according to President Jerry McDermott, has been around for the past 30 years serving elementary and middle schoolers. McDermott said the league started small but was a cata- lyst for a much bigger league down the road. “We started with just a couple of teams out of West Roxbury and Roslindale, and one of the founders of Parkway Basketball, Charlie Hughes, was also one of the founders of Compassion, provided that the dis- pensary would service patients seeking medical marijuana only. At the time, the letter of non-op- position was seen as the lesser of two evils, at least according to as- sociation members. The idea was to put in a dispensary for medical dis- tribution only at that time so that no recreational facility could come into the neighborhood, as all mari- juana dispensaries or cultivation fa- cilities have a zoning code buffer of one-half mile around where no other marijuana facility can go, me- dicinal or otherwise. Progress for Beacon Compas- sion Inc. has been little since that letter of non-opposition was sub- mitted, and the representatives of Finbarr stated that they believe they have the right to apply and go Wednesday, Sept. 11 after the Bulletin’s deadline. He said he hopes the proposed expansion of the hospital will spur the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Recre- ation and Conservation (DCR) into action on a redesign of the intersection. “I can’t imagine the city would al- low this without forcing the state to change that intersection,” he said. “I’m kind of blown away by how choked it’s gotten... It’s getting worse and worse and it’s only going to get much worse the more stuff they put on it.” Metrowest Basketball,” McDermott said. “Metrowest is the premier travel basketball league in Massachusetts with more than 70 towns, providing almost 1,000 teams. Parkway Basket- ball teams all play in the Metrowest League.” McDermott said the program has now grown to include Hyde Park and Jamaica Plain, and has seen steady in- creases in participation from all over the Parkway area. “The program has seen terrific growth in the last several years,” he said. “When I took over in 2012, Park- way had eight teams, with 82 total play- ers in the program. We have seen steady growth every year since then. Fast for-
Transcript
Volume 19, Issue 37 SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
Parkway Basketball’s growthspurts benefiting community
WalkUP Roslindale presented the progress of the proposed Gateway Path to connectRoslindale Square to Forest Hills.
COURTESY PHOTO
WRWRWRWRWRCIACIACIACIACIAContinued on page 8
1524 VFW Parkway appears tobe an attractive space for cannabisretai lers. Representatives forFinbarr Therapeutics came beforethe West Roxbury Civic and Im-provement Association Mondaynight to pitch their proposal for arecreational marijuana dispensary,a proposal that was not unfamiliarto the association.
According to Martin Keogh, as-sociation president (and At-LargeCity Council Candidate), BeaconCompassion Inc. came before theWest Roxbury Civic and Improve-ment Association two years ago topropose a medical marijuana dis-pensary for the same location onthe VFW Parkway. The associationat that time had voted to submit aletter of non-opposition for Beacon
The Longfellow Area Neighbor-hood Association (LANA) met onMonday, Sept. 9 and discussed the pro-posed upcoming expansion to thenearby Faulkner Hospital.
Resident and former LANA presi-dent Carter Wilkie brought up the is-sue of the Centre Street and WalterStreet intersection and how traffic isbasically backed up from the Rotarytowards Jamaica Plain. He urged resi-dents and the LANA Board to go to theJamaica Hills Meeting on the issue on
The Parkway Travel BasketballLeague (PTBL) is hosting tryouts start-ing next week for residents of the WestRoxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park andJamaica Plain neighborhoods.
The league, according to PresidentJerry McDermott, has been around forthe past 30 years serving elementaryand middle schoolers. McDermott saidthe league started small but was a cata-lyst for a much bigger league down theroad.
“We started with just a couple ofteams out of West Roxbury andRoslindale, and one of the founders ofParkway Basketball, Charlie Hughes,was also one of the founders of
Compassion, provided that the dis-pensary would service patientsseeking medical marijuana only.
At the time, the letter of non-op-position was seen as the lesser oftwo evils, at least according to as-sociation members. The idea was toput in a dispensary for medical dis-tribution only at that time so thatno recreational facility could comeinto the neighborhood, as all mari-juana dispensaries or cultivation fa-cilities have a zoning code bufferof one-half mile around where noother marijuana facility can go, me-dicinal or otherwise.
Progress for Beacon Compas-sion Inc. has been little since thatletter of non-opposition was sub-mitted, and the representatives ofFinbarr stated that they believe theyhave the right to apply and go
Wednesday, Sept. 11 after theBulletin’s deadline. He said he hopesthe proposed expansion of the hospitalwill spur the City of Boston and theMassachusetts Department of Recre-ation and Conservation (DCR) intoaction on a redesign of the intersection.
“I can’t imagine the city would al-low this without forcing the state tochange that intersection,” he said. “I’mkind of blown away by how choked it’sgotten... It’s getting worse and worseand it’s only going to get much worsethe more stuff they put on it.”
Metrowest Basketball,” McDermottsaid. “Metrowest is the premier travelbasketball league in Massachusettswith more than 70 towns, providingalmost 1,000 teams. Parkway Basket-ball teams all play in the MetrowestLeague.”
McDermott said the program hasnow grown to include Hyde Park andJamaica Plain, and has seen steady in-creases in participation from all overthe Parkway area.
“The program has seen terrificgrowth in the last several years,” hesaid. “When I took over in 2012, Park-way had eight teams, with 82 total play-ers in the program. We have seen steadygrowth every year since then. Fast for-
About 30 residents came out to discuss ongoing issues around the Dale Street and Sherrin Woods areas inRoslindale and Hyde Park.
PHOTO BY JEFF SULLIVAN
DaleDaleDaleDaleDaleContinued on page 7
Dale Street talks bridge assaults with MBTAJefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter
The Dale Street Crime Watch(DSCW) met on Tuesday, Sept.10 and discussed several inci-dents in the neighborhood, mostnotably two assaults on the Met-ropolitan Avenue Foot Bridge.
The footbridge is under thejurisdiction of the Massachu-setts Bay Transportation Author-ity (MBTA) Transit Police, andthough both assaults werebrought up to members of theBoston Police District E-18, theinvestigation of both incidentswas taken over by the MBTA.
The first incident occurred
when a female resident was as-saulted in July by two men in avehicle, one of whom, accord-ing to Transit Sergeant Ben-jamin Carrasco, has been iden-tified.
“The detectives have identi-fied one of the individuals,” hesaid. “There was the individualwho committed the assault andran to the car, but it is believedthere was a driver. Detectiveshave identified the driver, andare working on identifying theassailant.”
Carrasco said they cannot re-lease any more information atthe time of the meeting.
“It is an active investiga-tion,” he said.
Carrasco said he was un-aware of the second incident,where a young man was beatenand robbed, also around thesame time.
“We had a brief report andthen the T took it over,” saidBPD District 18 Sgt. DanielKeane.
Residents in the past havecalled for the bridge to be re-moved and requested bettercleaning of the bridge of graf-fiti, the thought being that graf-
I want to thank you for giving meThe most wonderful summer of my life
It was so heavenly “Wonderful Summer” sung by Robin Ward
Many songs extol the beauties of summer——from Frank Sinatra’s selections to those byJan and Dean to those by The Beach Boys. Butonly one song comes quickly to mind that praisesthe actual end of summer, that being RobinWard’s haunting offering, “Wonderful Summer.”[Before you mention The Lettermen’s “See Youin September,” remember that that song reallypines for the summer to pass oh-so-quickly.]
Under the name Robin Ward, she was a one-hit wonder with her musical paean to June, July,and August climbing to #14 on the Billboardcharts in 1963, but she recorded under differentnames with additional successes.
Speaking of teenage infatuation, if not loveactually, the song suggests Cape Cod-style ro-mances, in which both parties have to return totheir hometowns or schools in September, andthereby end seeing each other. But the songshould resonate for many of us——regardlessof whether we can recall having had such teen-age romances—who have much to be thankfulfor as regards the summer of 2019. Perhaps itwas landing a job, finding an apartment or ahouse, the addition of a new child, the acquisi-tion of a car, a memorable vacation, a wedding,a special birthday or anniversary, a bank loanthat finally is granted, trips to beaches, recoveryfrom an illness, a reasonable school assignmentfrom Boston Public, getting out of prison, hotdogs at Castle Island, a bad neighbor movingaway, ice cream cones from Ron’s, outdoor con-certs, the absence of depression, the cessation
of bullying,the elimina-tion of angst,the winning ofa law suit,and/or the re-turn of goodhealth. Any ofthese couldhave inspiredus on sunny ornot-so-sunnymornings dur-ing the pasts e v e r a lmonths to en-thusiasticallyproclaim them e m o r a b l eline fromPsalms 118: 24, “This is the day the Lord hasmade; let us be glad in it and rejoice.” [Or as weprayed in Latin, “Haec est dies quam Deus fecit. . .”]
So perhaps this summer went by all tooquickly. But remember those long heat spellshere in Boston when the slow passage of timeand the unforgiving, near triple-digit tempera-tures rivaled those of the Mississippi Delta.
Back to Robin Ward’s song, as it ends plain-tively but upbeat:
I want to thank you for giving meThe most wonderful summer of my life
And though it broke my heartThat day we had to part
I’ll always thank you for giving meThe most wonderful summer of my life
TAKE THE LONGVIEW OF CENTRESTREET CORRIDOR
To the Editor:Before the city approves ex-
pansion at Brigham & Women’sFaulkner Hospital complex, itshould step back and engageresidents to consider the futureof the Centre Street corridorfrom a wider perspective – start-ing from Weld Street in WestRoxbury/Roslindale stretchingto the Arborway in JamaicaPlain.
With institutional expansioncreeping here and there, prettysoon Centre Street will becomethe next Longwood MedicalArea, without adequate trans-portation to support it. Look atthe congested Seaport District tosee how quickly that can hap-pen when the city greenlightstoo many buildings without anadequate transportation plan toserve them.
Or just look at Centre Streetat the multi-story Sophia Snowcomplex, which the city permit-ted a few years ago without anyrequirement to correct the haz-ardous, free-for-all intersectionout front, where Walter Streetmeets Centre Street. Frequent(and preventable) accidents atthis poorly configured roadwaydrive up insurance rates for ev-ery policyholder in the 02131zip code, even when the driversat fault live far away. I’ve seenvehicles leave Sophia Snow’s
parking lot going the wrong wayup Centre Street to cross the in-tersection illegally. The intersec-tion fails state safety standards.City officials should wait forstate agencies to rebuild the in-tersection before inviting anyadditional traffic to another largeparking garage at the Faulkner.
The Bulletin’s headline ofAugust 22 claimed the last timethe Faulkner complex expandedwas in 1976. Not true. In thetime that I have lived nearby, thecomplex has expanded at leasttwice: a multi-story addition infront, facing Centre Street, in1996, and another parking ga-rage added eight years later, in2004. The institution is expand-ing about every 15 years on av-erage. The Faulkner also ownsreal estate down Centre Street,in West Roxbury, across fromthe Hebrew Rehab Center. Theinexorable creep of institutionalexpansion will reach that parceleventually. “Density followsdensity” is a maxim of urbanplanning.
City planners have per-formed comprehensive masterplans for neighborhoods (in-cluding a really good one forRoslindale, adopted in 2007),but this stretch of Centre Streetstraddles West Roxbury,Roslindale and Jamaica Plain.When impacts of proposed de-velopment straddle jurisdic-tional boundaries, growth tendsto get permitted in a piecemeal
fashion, without a comprehen-sive long-term vision of thewhole.
Several years ago, whenHarvard’s Arnold Arboretumsought to install a new institu-tional complex at Centre andWeld Streets (on land that wasnot zoned for institutional uses),Harvard and the city pledged toextend the park like effect of theArborway down Centre Streetby planting oak trees along Cen-tre Street sidewalks fromArborway to Weld Street.Harvard got the zoning waiversit wanted, but neighbors have yetto see the trees. Who at City Hallis responsible for making sureHarvard and the city’s ParksDepartment keep thebargain? Probably the same of-fice that looked the other waywhen the Hebrew Rehab Cen-ter installed offices for countlessHarvard employees at its facil-ity on Centre Street, in violationof a deed restriction that limitsthe premises to a home for se-nior citizens only. (Little knownfact: that restriction was put inplace when the city’s develop-ment agency effectively stolepublic green space at CentreStreet’s Joyce Kilmer Park forthe complex, transformingJoyce Kilmer Park into JoyceKilmer Parking Lot.)
Neighbors have reasons to be
LeLeLeLeLettttttttttererererersssssContinued on page 13
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MaMaMaMaMayyyyyor's Columnor's Columnor's Columnor's Columnor's ColumnContinued on page 14
Not everyone in Bostonfeels resilient. We’re
working to change that
Mayor’s Column
Martin J. Walsh
There is no question thatBoston is a strong city that’sused to banding together. Wecelebrate championship-win-ning sports teams, rememberour importance in the roots ofAmerican history, and cheer onrunners along Boylston Streetevery April. We also stand to-gether during the hard times.
The city’s response follow-ing the Boston Marathon Bomb-ing shed light on ourcommunity’s innate commit-ment to supporting our families,friends, and neighbors who havebeen impacted by violence of allforms. When faced with devas-tation, we remained united, andwe endured.
We recently finished install-ing the Marathon Markers atBoylston Street which representthe victims of the attack at thetwo bombing locations. Thesetwo monuments will light up thearea and serve as a constant re-minder of both what was lost onthat fateful day and the determi-nation and resilience of the sur-vivor community at large.
There are countless survi-vors still reeling from the traumathey endured on April 15, 2013and the days following. Thereare people living with physicalscars, and people living with in-visible injuries. There are alsopeople throughout Boston whohave lived with this kind oftrauma for years, due to otheracts of violence, including gunviolence, gang violence, andother tragic acts that impact en-tire neighborhoods. Not allBostonians feel resilient, andI’m working to change that.
That’s why the Mayor’s Of-fice of Arts and Culture is car-rying out the One Boston Resil-ience Project, an inclusive pro-cess to envision the City’s col-lective strength after violence, asilluminated by the Boston Mara-thon Bombing. This project isintended to help us build con-nectivity and resilience across
the city, through the develop-ment of a citywide memorial.
We’re leading a citywidecommunity engagement processthat allows us to come togetheras a city and reflect on what itmeans for all Bostonians to beresilient in the face of tragedyand trauma. This project willresult in a piece of public art thataims to be reflective of allBostonians, and will help usbuild connectivity and resiliencetogether as one city.
The goal of this communityengagement process is to re-ceive as much feedback fromresidents as possible. We wantyour input. What does resil-ience look like? What featuresshould the memorial have toemphasize the strength of theCity and everyone living here?
Public input will be gath-ered over four months. We wantto reach as many people as pos-sible, so we will use a varietyof platforms to receive feed-back. We will distribute acitywide survey, conduct listen-ing sessions, use digital out-reach, and have creative andparticipatory activities in mul-tiple languages with an empha-sis on multicultural inclusion tomaximize access to participa-
MaMaMaMaMayyyyyor's Columnor's Columnor's Columnor's Columnor's ColumnContinued on page 14
This year, the Celebrate Centre Street celebration will be out at the Hastings Street Parking Lot.COURTESY PHOTO
Centre StreeCentre StreeCentre StreeCentre StreeCentre StreetttttContinued on page 8
Celebrate Centre changing it up in third yearJefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter
This year ’s CelebrateCentre will be taking the cel-ebration outside to theHastings Street Parking loton Sept. 22 from 11 a.m. to 2p.m.
The day will feature livemusic, kids’ activities, cookiedecorating, a tribute to thelate Steve Slyne, andbrambles from the SugarBakery for National BrambleDay. A bramble is a jam-filledcookie, a local favorite.
West Roxbury MainStreets (WRMS) is hostingthe event along with theSugar Bakery. WRMS Presi-dent Victoria Maguire said
the change to an outdoorvenue was just a way theycould provide a different ex-perience for residents.
“Each year the event hasbeen a little different. Welook for fun new ways to en-gage the businesses and resi-dents of West Roxbury in afamily friendly day,” shesaid. “We’re really excited tosee the celebration move tothe Hastings Street lot. We’vehad lively holiday celebra-tions there the last two yearsand we think this year’s Cel-ebrate Centre will be just asfun.”
She added there will stillbe some old standbys at theevent as well.
“This year, as we have inall previous years, we’ll have
excellent live music for theentire event. West Roxburyand the surrounding neigh-borhoods have pretty phe-nomenal local talent and we
McCabe said the city shouldrequire encouraging their staffand patients to take as muchpublic transit, biking or walk-ing options as possible to easecongestion in the area. Shesaid the parking at theFaulkner and the Hebrew LifeRehabilitation Center has im-pacted residents’ access to theArnold Arboretum.
“I really think that’s impor-tant and now might be the timefor them (Faulkner) to deal
with the Centre and Walter in-tersection, because that couldbe a mitigation activity,” shesaid.
Wilkie also said there hasbeen increased use of the He-brew Life Rehab Center be-cause they are now offeringeducation courses, which hesaid goes against the building’sdeed restriction.
“The Boston Planning andDevelopment Agency doesn’tmonitor this stuff,” he said.“All those cars on the street are
there because they’ve ex-panded the place in ways thatare illegal... It’s going to be upto LANA to make sure whathappens there meets the letterof the law because they haveopened their facility for a law-suit.”
Wilkie added that since thedeal was made with the Com-monwealth of Massachusetts,he felt it might be a bit moreserious than if it was struckwith the city.
“They are in violation ofstate law, it’s not somethingsomebody can change at theZoning Board of Appeals witha $50,000 slip of the pocket tosome city official,” he said.“This is the state.”
The LANA Board voted tosend member TimothyMcDonald to the Jamaica Hillsmeeting to represent LANA’sinterests. The issue has beenongoing since 2006, and theintersection has at least had re-design plans since 2015(longfellowarea.com/2015/11/08/walter-bussey-intersection-plans/)
Also at the meeting, WalkUrban Planning Roslindale(WalkUP Roslindale) cofounder Matt Lawlor gave anupdate on the Arboretum Gate-way Path. The entire pathwould connect the currentBlackwell Path at the Arbore-tum to the Roslindale Com-muter Rail Station. This con-nection will in turn give cy-clists and pedestrians access tothe Forest Hills Station fromRoslindale Square.
Lawlor said the project isnow owned by the City of Bos-ton and the Community Pres-ervation Committee, whichdoles out Community Preser-vation Act funds every year,committed to $500,000 for de-sign and construction of thestart of the path, connectingArboretum Road (which runsperpendicular to WashingtonStreet) to the Blackwell Paththrough an arch under theCommuter Rail right-of-way.
“We’ll be continuing tofundraise around the rest of thepath,” he said. “We have abond bill earmarked in the lastbudget cycle and we have totake down those funds to pur-sue the rest of the path. We’vehad great cooperation with theMBTA, and when we’re readyto get whatever rights we needto work along the sides of thetracks, we’ll be able to getthose.”
Lawlor said the work onArboretum Road intoBlackwell will start this spring,according to the city.
“WalkUP is just there tocheerlead, keep things movingand work out issues as theyarise,” he said.
Also during the meetingBoston Food Forest Coalitionmember Orion Kriegmanspoke regarding his group’sefforts to plant and producefood in city plots. He encour-aged LANA members to joinand said Roslindale wouldn’tbe a bad location to start plant-ing. For more information onthe Coalition, go toBostonFoodForest.org.
LANA Member RachelYoung said she is looking forabout five to six volunteers tohelp set up, clean up and oper-ate LANA’s section of theRoslindale Day Parade atFallon Field. Interested resi-dents can contact LANA byheading over toLongfellowarea.com.
The LANA Board alsovoted for new officers atMonday’s meeting. Sue Fortiwill be taking over from MaryFlaherty as President, McCabewill take over from CaterinaToste as vice President,McDonald will take over fromLinda Burnett as Treasurer,and Young will be taking overfrom Mike Fitzgerald as Clerk.
Dale continued from page 3fiti make crimes easier to getaway with, in their opinion.Carrasco said he would look intothe second assault, but pointedout that any maintenance or im-provements to lighting wouldhave to come from the Com-muter Rail Operator, Keolis.
“It’s not MBTA, we respondto the stations,” he said. “I canspeak to our contacts in Keolis,and I can speak with their main-tenance.”
Residents said there arelights there, but either they don’twork or are not bright enough.
“It’s not just the lighting is-sues, the bridge has deterioratedso badly,” said DSCW Co-ChairBeth Columbo.
“Obviously, that is a publicsafety issue, but the mainte-nance is not a police matter andKeolis is in charge,” he said.
Carrasco said he would bedistributing a number to DSCWmembers in the future to reachout to Keolis on these issues.
“That’s what it takes, I meanin Dorchester, we have theAshmont Station, we have theFour Corners Station, and that’sbecause of the community voic-ing complaints,” he said. “I wasjust at the ribbon cutting for theWollaston Station, and that wasmany years in the process to fi-nally get done. There was nodisability access to that stationwhatsoever; they completelytore that station down and rebuiltit from the ground up and thathappened because of commu-
nity involvement. I can call andsay this light is broken or what-ever, sometimes things will hap-pen and sometimes it won’t.”
DSCW Co-Chair KimO’Connell asked what needs tobe done to get more patrols outin the Dale Street area from theMBTA Transit Police, butCarrasco said there is only onecar from Hyde Park down toAttleboro. He said residentsneed to keep calling in to getmore patrols and enforcement inthe area.
“We’re just too short staffedto send people randomly to dif-ferent stations,” he said.
“You had an assault on thatbridge, and we ain’t never seenan MBTA car for that, so that’snot a priority?” askedO’Connell.
“We have incidents every-where, and I understand whatyou’re saying,” Carrasco said.“School just started as well, andthat obviously draws a lot of ourresources. We have eight in theacademy getting ready to comeout, I think, in November. Wehave a high turnover rate; we’realways hiring but we’re alwayslosing people to other depart-ments as well, so it’s hard tokeep up with demand.”
Residents voiced concernsover calling the police specifi-cally for MBTA jurisdictioncrimes, but Carrasco pointedout the MBTA now has an ap-plication for Android oriPhones to discretely report
someone acting criminally orsuspiciously on the MBTA. Formore information on thoseapps, go to mbta.com/transit-police/see-something-say-something.
District E-18 CommunityService Officer Paul Broderickalso read out the recent crimereports for the neighborhood.He said there was an arrest foran assault on Aug. 17 at 371Metropolitan Ave. and at Aug.21 for what turned out to be adomestic dispute. He said rob-beries and larcenies were notreported from the end of Julyto now, however O’Connell re-ported that several local neigh-bors have intimated to her thatpeople are rummaging throughunlocked vehicles in the neigh-borhood and taking valuables.
“Lock your cars,” Keanesaid.
For vandalism reports,Broderick said on Aug. 30 at 371Metropolitan Ave. the Wind-shield of a parked vehicle wasbroken. For drugs, on Aug. 6, onDale and West Street, the drugunit made observations of a drugtransaction within a motor ve-hicle. They stopped the car andmade an arrest and seized 14bags of marijuana and $900 incash.
He added that the drug unitalso made a large bust on Aug.5 at 844 Canterbury St., andseized 200 grams of fentanyl and$3,000 in cash.
WRCIA continued from page 1through that same process. There was not a representativefor Beacon Compassion Inc. at the meeting.
“If this thing is going to come, whether it be Finbarr orBeacon Compassion, I’d like to know what the communityis going to get and what’s the community benefit,” saidKeogh.
“There are going to be 53 of these in the city of Boston sothat means there will be at least one in West Roxbury basedon the math, so I think the choice here really is who do youwant to have as an operator in your neighborhood,” said JayYoumans of Smith, Costello & Crawford Public Policy Lawgroup.
According to Youmans, the shop would employ between18 and 25 employees and about 10 to 12 of those employeeswould be working at the same time during a shift. Youmansstated that the hope would be to employ local residents, pro-vided that applicants pass the extensive background checks.
“Security is a lynchpin for this like it is with a bar, prob-ably even more so. It is finite and it is regulated and we will do itto the letter and above,” said Michael Kineavy, of Finbarr Thera-peutics.
Youmans explained that Finbarr is looking to establish an adultuse location, differing from the medical dispensary only proposedby Beacon Compassion.
Youmans said that the business model for medical marijuanadispensaries is no longer viable now that Massachusetts has le-galized adult recreational use of cannabis. He also suggested thatretailers who are currently selling medical marijuana are seekingto change their business plans to be able to sell adult use can-nabis.
“What we’ve seen in many states, as in the case of Oregonand Washington, within the first two years of legalization a fiftypercent reduction in overall patients,” Youmans said. “We willbe pursuing medical but we want to stand on our own two feet infront of you today and say we believe that the only viable path-way forth for an economic business perspective is an adult usefacility.”
Michael Latulippe, a registered qualified patient adviser tothe cannabis control commission, stated his appreciation for theforthcoming nature of Finbarr’s representors.
“Patients are very, very sick of being used by applicants toessentially move forward adult use. I respect this applicant be-cause they’ve been honest here today. They’ve told us straight upthat they are just doing adult use,” said Latulippe.
Many community members in the crowd voiced their opposi-tion to an adult use cannabis shop in the neighborhood and reiter-ated that they would only favor a medical cannabis facility.
Ultimately, no action was taken on the proposal as the as-sociation felt that the proposal would need to be heard by otherneighborhood groups before a letter of non-opposition couldbe voted on.
love having them play at ourevents. The event locationwas moved to the HastingsStreet lot to bring the activ-ity closer to Centre Street inthe hope that more peoplewill see and hear everythingand bring their family andfriends to join us.”
Maguire said Sugar Bak-ery is not the only businessproviding free food and en-tertainment for residents.
We love partnering with
the businesses along CentreStreet and helping them high-light the great work they doall year long,” she said.“We’re always happy to teamup with any business in theWRMS District on events orpromotions to encouragemore people to shop local.”
Maguire added she andthe WRMS staff are lookingforward to seeing friends andfamily at the celebration.
“We’re looking forward toseeing friends and neighborscome out to enjoy eachother ’s company, listen togreat music and to spend theafternoon exploring whatCentre Street has to offer,”she said. “And of course, wecan’t wait for the freebrambles.”
For more information,head on over to wrms.org/celebratecentre.
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Basketball continued from page 1
Rose’s annual Neighborhood JamRose’s Bounty, West
Roxbury’s community foodpantry, is hosting its 2nd an-nual fundraiser on October 5,from 7 – 11pm at Mosley’s onThe Charles in Dedham. Tick-ets cost $30 per individual,
$225 for a table of 8. Visit:w w w . t i n y u r l . c o m /RosesBounty to purchase tick-ets
Rose’s Bounty Food Pantryis a community-based volun-teer organization that servesover 270 Families/850+ indi-
viduals per month via theirVeterans, Elderly, ElementarySchool Programs and FoodPantry.
Local business owners lendtheir time and support as wellas hundreds of volunteers fromlocal schools, organizations
and residents throughoutgreater West Roxbury. Rose’sBounty is committed to com-passionately serving theirneighbors facing food insecu-rity.
Rose’s Bounty is workinghard to help provide healthyfood to children and families.Rose’s Bounty has experi-enced a 171% increase in thenumber of families served.Rose’s Bounty currently serves850+ people per month includ-ing 300 children, 54 veteranand their families, and 150 se-niors through many programsat Rose’s Bounty.
The fundraiser will includeheavy hors d’oeuvres, live andsilent auctions, live music anddancing. 100% of the profitswill go towards purchasingand transporting food to thepantry and buying equipmentto store and shelve donated sup-plies. There are no administra-tive costs involved as it is acompletely volunteer organiza-tion.
Rose’s Bounty serves onaverage 25,000lbs of food permonth. Committed to servingFresh Fruits, Vegetables, Meat,
and Dairy as well as non-per-ishables, Rose’s Bounty servesall who come through theirdoors. However, they can’tprovide this food without thefinancial support of the com-munity.
Rose’s Bounty is a commu-nity food pantry located atStratford Street United Church,77 Stratford Street, WestRoxbury. The pantry is fullyfunded by individual donationsand support from organizationssuch as the Greater BostonFood Bank. There are no geo-graphical restrictions to thePantry’s clients, who includeindividuals and families facingfood insecurity throughoutGreater Boston. Hours of ser-vice to the public are the 2ndSaturday of the month from 2-4 pm; and the following Tues-day from 11 am – 1 pm. In ad-dition, Roses Bounty sharespackages of food with studentsand the elderly every weekend.The Pantry also provides foodsupplement packages to veter-ans in need via their partnershipwith the V.A.’s Healthcare forHomeless Veterans program.
ward to the 2018 season, Park-way Travel Basketball fielded16 teams with a total of 173players in the program.”
McDermott added that theincreased membership has al-lowed the League to offermore age ranges than before.
“We now have at least twoboys teams for every gradelevel,” he said. “We are alsohappy to say that last year, wefielded our first ever 4th GradeGirls Team.”
McDermott said he hasbeen a coach for Parkway for14 years and president foreight.
“This program will alwayshold a special place in myheart,” he said. “This programwas my daughter’s first travelprogram and it made such adifference in her life. I saw hermake great friends whilewatching her confidence growevery year, but not just in bas-ketball, but life in general. Herlove for basketball grew and itprepared her for her highschool team.”
McDermott said the league
gave him and his family somuch, he felt it was right thathe give something back.
“So this is my opportunityto give back to the communityfor what my daughter got outof it,” he said. “I want everychild in the Parkway commu-nity to have this opportunity.The other thing that is special isthe people that run the program.The majority of people on theBoard of Directors do not havechildren in the program. Theydo it because it feels right andthey love the game and what itgives to the community. Itmakes it special.”
McDermott said that Park-way teams have also had somesuccess on the courts, with eightdivision championships in thelast five years. He said, however,it’s more about teaching the kidsthan it is about winning cham-pionships.
“It’s all about the players,and my personal favorite part ofthe game is watching playersprogress through the program,”he said. “A coach in the Park-way will take over a team at the
youngest grade and then staywith that team until they gradu-ate from the program after their8th grade season. When youstep back and compare the play-ers from when they started andwhen they finished, it can beamazing. You see how they grewas players and people. You seetheir love for the game growwith each year. As a coach, youhope that you were able to con-tribute to that. It’s fun and re-warding at the same time.”
The full schedule is listed be-low. For more information, goto leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=parkwayhoops.
Thursday, 9/19 at 6:00pm4th Grade Boys (3rd grade boysare eligible to tryout), Thursday,9/19 at 7:30pm 7th Grade Boys,Friday, 9/20 at 6:00pm 5thGrade Boys. Friday, 9/20 at7:30pm, 8th Grade Boys, Thurs-day, 9/26 at 6:00pm 4th and 5thGrade Girls, Thursday, 9/26 at7:30pm, 7th Grade Girls, Friday,9/27 at 6:00pm 6th Grade Girls,Friday, 9/27 at 7:30pm 8thGrade Girls, and Monday, 9/30at 6:00pm 6th Grade Boys.
Letter ToThe Editor
Please write to:THE BULLETIN
661 Washington St,Suite 202
Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: (617) 361-8400Fax: (617) 361-1933
LEARN TO SKATE CLASSESOFFERED AT 11 GREATER BOSTON RINKS
The 2019-2020 skating season is about to begin. Bay State Skating Schoolis one of Greater Boston’s most established and popular skating programs. We are celebrating over 50 YEARS of teaching children in the Greater Bos-ton area!
Professional Instructors teach Recreational, Figure and Hockey SkatingSkills to the beginner, intermediate and advanced skaters. Students can weareither figure, recreational or hockey skates. New FALL lessons begin in Sep-tember. Lessons are held at 11 Greater Boston Rink locations including; Brookline-Cleveland Circle, Larz Anderson/Brookline, Cambridge, Medford,Newton-Brighton, Quincy, Somerville, Waltham, West Roxbury, andWeymouth.
Our emphasis is on having fun while learning to skate. Enjoy a fun filledseries of lessons, where children learn the basic skills of ice skating. We havetaught over 90,000 students to ice skate. Come skate and feel great!
For more information and to registration, visitwww.BayStateSkatingSchool.org or call Bay State Skating School (781) 890-8480.
WEST ROXBURY / ROSLINDALE
WEST ROXBURYHISTORICAL SOCIETY TALKS ARCHIVES
Saturday, October 5, at 2:00pm AT THE West Roxbury Branch of theBPL, Marta Crilly, Archivist for the City of Boston, will talk about the facili-ties of the Archives (located in West Roxbury) and what they can do for you!She can help you trace your family and search the past! Come one, Come all! Bring a friend or two. Free and open to the public. Please like us on Facebook: facebook/West Roxbury Historical Society
SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIESLifeworks, Inc. and The Arc of South Norfolk are hosting an Open House
at their new location, 1580 V.F.W. Parkway, West Roxbury, 1-4pm, Stop inand learn about our services for people with disabilities; Lifeworks Employ-ment Services, Connections Adult Day Program, Adult Family Care Program,Harbor Counseling Services. For more information, call Sarah Charbanneauat (617) 469-2986.
CELEBRATE CENTRE 2019SAVE THE DATE for Celebrate Centre 2019 and the first-ever National
Bramble Day!Look forward to: FREE Brambles • Live Music • Cookie Decorating •
Entertainment • A tribute to Steve Slyne at noon and much more!Hastings Street Parking Lot (1891 Centre St, West Roxbury, MA 02132)
Sunday, September 22nd from 11AM - 2PMThis FREE event is fun for the whole family!More info at CelebrateCentre.com
43RD ANNUAL BAZAAR& FOOD FAIR PLANNEDSt. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of Boston is proud to announce
their 43rd Annual Bazaar & Food Fair to be held at their community centerlocated at 55 Emmonsdale Road, West Roxbury, MA, on Friday and Satur-day, October 18th and 19th from 10:00AM to 9:00PM and Sunday, October20th from 12PM – 3:00PM – FREE ADMISSION/WHEELCHAIR AC-CESSIBLE. Full kitchen service and take-out available. Authentic MiddleEastern Cuisine and Pastry, American Foods and Pastry, Country Store, PhotoBooth, White Elephant Table and much more. Do your Christmas shoppinghere at St. George. Purchase Galaxy Raffle tickets to win fabulous prizes!There’s something for everyone at the St. George Church Bazaar! For moreinformation, please call the church at (617)327-6500. Proceeds to benefitchurch projects.
PROGRAM FOR BECOMING CATHOLICSt. John Chrysostom, 4750 Washington St. West Roxbury, a welcoming,
inclusive community of Catholics following Christ, invites adults who areconsidering becoming Catholic to register for our preparation programwhich begins in the Fall. Contact Mary Campion, pastoral associate [email protected] or call 617-323-4410.
KIWANIS TRIVIA NIGHTOn Sept. 12 the West Roxbury Roslindale Kiwanis is hosting Trivia
Night at JJ Brannelly’s in Roslindale at 4432 Washington St. from 7p.m. to 10 p.m. to raise funds for local programs. Tickets for the Triviaare $10 and registration starts at 6:30 p.m.
MAYOR OF ROSLINDALE CONTESTFOR ROSLINDALE DAY PARADE
The 44th Annual Roslindale Day Parade will take place on Sunday,October 6th, 2019, stepping off at 1:00 p.m. from Washington Street inRoslindale Village. The parade will proceed up South Street, to BelgradeAvenue, taking a right at West Roxbury Parkway, through Gottwald Ro-tary, to Centre Street, to South Street, and ending at Fallon Field. Thisyear the Parade will honor as Grand Marshals Stephen Judge andthe Delfino Restaurant Family.
In addition to parade participants, the Committeeis seeking candidates to join in our 21st annual ”Mayorof Roslindale” Contest which will run through the end of September. The winner of the contest will be honored in the Parade on Sunday,October 6th. The deadline for registration for the Mayor of Roslindalecontest is August 31st.
For information about the contest, as well as Parade participationopportunities for your organization or business, please visitwww.roslindaleparade.com, e-mail to [email protected],or call 617-327-4886.
Please join us at
James R. O’Connor Stadium on
FRI, SEPT 13
HA
LF 7
:00
6:4
5
responders and the legacies of those lost on 9/11, including CM alumni Mark Bavis ’88 and John Cahill ’62, during our Friday Night Lights: A Salute to First Responders celebration.
Boston Fire Department bagpipers and
for a rendition of the National Anthem by Boston Bruins singer Todd Angilly
highly-anticipated matchup against Saint John’s High School (Shrewsbury)
First responders in attendance will be recognized, followed by a rendition of God Bless America
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin(Never known to fail!)
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt.Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor ofHeaven, Blessed Mother of the Sonof God, Immaculate Virgin, assist mein this necessity. Oh Star of the Sea,help me and show me herein you aremy mother. Oh Holy Mary, Motherof God, Queen of Heaven and Earth,I humbly beseech thee from thebottom of my heart to succor me inmy necessity (make request). Thereare none that can withstand yourpower. Oh Mary, conceived withoutsin, pray for us who have recourse tothee (three times). Holy Mary, I placethis cause in your hands (threetimes). Say this prayer for threeconsecutive days and then you mustpublish and it will be granted to you.With Gratitude for Prayers Answered.
Shirley Age 90, on September6, 2019. Of West Palm Beach,FL, formerly of Roslindale. Be-loved wife of the late TheodoreBrevich. Devoted mother ofArleen Brevich Pereira, AnitaSherman and her husband Keithand Kenneth Brevich. Lovinggrandmother of Erica Mandelland Rachel Brevich. Dear great-grandmother Harper Mandell.Dear sister of Melvin Foster. Inlieu of flowers, remembrancesmay be made to Dana FarberCancer Institute, P.O. Box849168, Boston, MA 02284..Arrangements byBrezniakfuneraldirectors.com
COLEMANShirley (Baggett) Of Newton,
formerly of Quincy and Brighton,July 27, 2019. Dear and devotedwife of the late Joseph Colemanand the late Frederick Hocker.Mother of Thomas Hocker andhis wife Karen. Grandmother ofRyan and Declan Hocker. Dearfriend of Charles Conti and hiswife Lakshmi Nagarajanm,Theresa and Lisa Glynn, EileenWeinberg, and Phoebe. In lieu offlowers, contributions inShirley’s memory may be madeto the M.S.P.C.A., 350 So. Hun-tington Ave., Boston, MA 02130(mspca.org). Interment will beprivate. Guestbook and other in-formation atwww.KfouryFuneral.com KfouryKeefe Funeral Home WestRoxbury 617-325-3600.
HADAYAGeorge Saliem A proud life-
long resident of Boston’s SouthEnd, September 4, 2019. Georgeserved in the U.S. Navy in WorldWar II. Dear and devoted hus-band of the late Catherine “Kitty”(Baiona) Hadaya. Beloved fatherof Victoria LaFace and her hus-band Salvatore of West Roxbury,George Hadaya and his wifeChristine of Boston’s North End,William Hadaya and his wifeMaureen of Winthrop, andPatricia “Tish” Hadaya ofBoston’s South End. Lovinggrandfather “Gido” of CaesarHadaya and his wife Nicole,Keith LaFace and his wife Jenni-fer, Justin Hadaya and his wifeJacqui, and Nicole Dangelo andher husband Adam. Great-grand-father of Sophia Burke Hadaya,Justin Hadaya Jr. , JacksonHadaya, June LaFace, RobertLaFace, Andrew Dangelo, andAudrey Dangelo. Dear brother ofLouis Hadaya of Walpole,Russell Hadaya of Quincy, andthe late Monsour Hadaya andRegina Dustin. Also survived by
many loving nieces and nephews.Funeral from the Kfoury KeefeFuneral Home, 8 Spring St. (atthe corner of Centre St.), WESTROXBURY. Interment at St. Jo-seph Cemetery, West Roxbury.Guestbook atKfouryFuneral.com KfouryKeefe Funeral Home 8 Spring St.,West Roxbury 617-325-3600.
KEANBarbara J. (Ashe) Beloved
mother and grandmother Age 81,of West Roxbury, on August 29th,died suddenly after a brief illness,surrounded by her loving family.Daughter of the late Alice(McDonough) and Patrick Ashe,she was born in Boston and spenther childhood in Mission Hill.She raised her family inRoslindale, then West Roxbury.She was predeceased by baby sonMichael, husband Robert M.Kean, and by her siblings MaryAnciello, Thomas Ashe, andSally Carey. She is survived byher siblings Patricia Tyner(Melrose) and Jeannette Ashe(Wrentham). She leaves behindher children: Mark Kean(Wrentham) and wife Maureen;Barbara Kean (Manhattan);Patrick Kean (Washington DC)and wife Eliza; and Amy Kean(Manhattan) and husband JohnSchwartz. She is also survived byeight grandchildren: Liam, Noeland Fiona Kean; Avery, Louisaand Lila Kean; Kean and OliverSchwartz; as well as many niecesand nephews. She selflessly de-voted her entire life to her fam-ily, always. Memorial service willbe private.
MAZUREvelyn Beloved Aunt, Friend
and World Traveler Our dearaunt, sister and friend, passedaway peacefully in her sleep onJuly 7, 2019, at age 90, after along illness. Evie was a lifelongBostonian who loved her city andcommunity. She was predeceasedby her parents Michael and MaryMazur, brothers William Mazurand Roger Mazur, and sisterAlice Jardine. She is survived byher brother George Mazur, nieceJill Jardine and nephew RossJardine. Evie spent an idyllicchildhood in Roslindale whereshe was surrounded by lovingfamily, neighbors and friends. Inthe summer, she swam atHoughton’s pond, NantasketBeach and Marshfield. In thewinter, she skied in the BlueHills. Evie had a keen mind,which was evidenced at her firstjob after graduating from BostonUniversity. In her first week, shefound an accounting discrepancy
that recovered thousands of dol-lars for the company, a largeamount in those days. Naturallyathletic, Evie played sports inschool and loved to dance. OnSunday afternoons she wouldturn on the radio and give us alldance lessons. Anyone who knewEvie could tell you about herwicked, wonderful sense of hu-mor and joy in life. In 1953, Eviebegan her career at the AmericanMeteorological Society on Bea-con Hill. She started as a secre-tary at this research organizationand by the time she retired, roseto Assistant Executive Director.Evie was the event planner forscientific conferences all over theUnited States and the world, in-cluding Tasmania, Spain, Brazil,and Africa. In each new city shewould know her way around af-ter only a day or two. She natu-rally connected with all sorts ofpeople, from the hotel conciergeto scientists like Isaac Asimov.The family thanks the angels atCara Care and All About Care fortaking such good care of Evie,and the support that they gave toour family. We miss her kindnessand wit, and will always remem-ber our Evie. Private services.
WALSHPatrick Joseph Age 27, of
Westwood, formerly of WestRoxbury, passed away peacefullyin his sleep on September 1,2019. Devoted son of John B. andthe late Christine E. (Patton)Walsh. Loving brother of ConorJ. Walsh of Quincy, Aidan G.Walsh of Westwood and Maria E.Donohue and her husbandBobby J. of Westwood. Uncleof Lucy J. Walsh, Marion E.Walsh and Christina E. Walsh.Beloved grandson of ElainePatton Caradimos and the lateGeorge Pat ton and GeorgeCaradimos and the late JosephF. and Mary (Lyons) Walsh.Also survived by many aunts,uncles, cousins and friends.Funeral from the William J.Gormley Funeral Home, 2055Cent re St ree t , WESTROXBURY. Interment , Mt.Benedict Cemetery. Patrickwas a 2011 gradua te ofWestwood High School. Hewas attending Boston Collegewhile working at a Biotechnol-ogy Company. In lieu of flow-ers , donat ions in Pat r ick’smemory may be made to theAlzheimer’s Association, 311Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA02472, or at alz.org For direc-tions and guestbook, pleasevisit: gormleyfuneral.com Wil-liam J. Gormley Funeral Ser-vice 617-323-8600.
The Bulletin Newspaperpubl i shes ob i tuar iesfrom information sup-plied by funeral homes.Rela t ives and f r iendsalso may supplement in-formation by e-mailingour off ice a [email protected] Monday a t 1 p .m.Photos also will be ac-cepted.
Letters continued from page 4mistrustful of official neglect ofthis corridor. And city agencieshave a terrible track record ofmonitoring developer compli-ance with public commitmentsafter development is built. Citycouncilors should hold a hear-ing on why City Hall doesn’thave one office (independent ofthe development agency) tomonitor developer compliancewith public commitments.
This is a critical time foreveryone to take the long viewof the Centre Street corridor. Itwill be up to the surroundingneighborhoods and City Coun-cilors Matt O’Malley, of Ja-maica Plain, and Michelle Wu,of Roslindale, to hold the city’sfeet to the fire to make sure thecorridor turns out for the best inthe long run.
Carter WilkiePast President, Longfellow
Area NeighborhoodAssociationRoslindale
LEADERSHIP NEEDSTO FUND FUTURE
To the Editor:Schools resume this week, as
does the Legislature. We’re inthe 2019-20 academic year, yetschools are running on a statefunding formula established in1993 – a 26-year-old fundingformula!
A few sessions ago, the leg-islature established a Commis-sion to determine how to fix theformula; in 2015, the Commis-sion published its findings, in-cluding that the 1993 cost as-sumptions, especially forhealthcare, special education,and education for English lan-guage learners and children wholive in poverty, are outdated.That’s one (not at all surprising)problem. Another problem isthat the state promised to fullyfund charter school reimburse-ments, which they have failed todo – in 2019, for example, thelegislature only funded $90 mil-lion of the $180 million ex-penses (MA Assoc. of SchoolSuperintendents). The first prob-lem affects all public school dis-tricts with higher proportions ofELL students and kids living inpoverty; the latter problem ad-ditionally impacts districts withcharter schools in their midst. InBoston, we’re dealing with both.
In 1999, the state funded31% of the BPS budget; in 2019,the state funds only 4.4% of theBPS budget. State funds forschools in Boston are requiredto pay for charter schools first,with those reimbursements nolonger fully covered, resulting in2019 in $171 million dollars ofstate aid funding 24 charterschools serving about 10,000students, while $49 million dol-lars of state aid funds 125 BPSschools serving about 55,000students. Some municipalitiescould raise taxes to fix the gap,but raising taxes in Bostonwould make our housing prob-
lem even worse than it is.Local legislator Senator
Sonia Chang-Diaz (with Repre-sentatives Keefe and Vega),filed the PROMISE Act, a billthat incorporates theCommission’s findings to fix theformula, based on decades ofschool finance research. AllWest Roxbury and Roslindalelegislators support it – Repre-sentatives Coppinger, Elugardo,Homes, Malia, and Scaccia, andSenators Rush and Collins. Butsupporting isn’t enough rightnow; they need to champion thebill to push it through commit-tees and past Governor Baker’smuch smaller counter-measurebill. Additionally, as residentsand voters, we need to pressureGovernor Baker and ask friendsand relatives in other parts ofMassachusetts to press their leg-islators to champion the PROM-ISE Act.
Public education is a corner-stone of our democracy, of ourcivic life, of our economy. Whenall students across the Common-wealth have access to what theyneed to be successful and thrive,every community and the Com-monwealth as a whole canthrive. Until then, we’re under-mining equity and prosperity inmany cities and towns.
We know the problem, asimilar solution was proposed in2017, yet wasn’t passed in the2017-18 legislature. We have tomake sure our legislators showmore courage and commitmentthis fall as the 2019-20 cycle en-ters its final seasons. We haveto fund our future.
Rachel PolinerWest Roxbury
LAST WEEK’SINACCURATE LETTERREQUIRES RESPONSE
To the Editor: I am writing in response to
the a factually inaccurate Letterto the Editor published in lastweek’s Bulletin, titled, ProfitsDerived at Expense of Kids.
I am a resident of Roslindaleand a 16-year teacher and leaderof Roxbury Prep. Ms. Donlanhas every right to share her opin-ion. We want the Bulletin topublish all voices and ensurethat its reporting continues toaccurately represent statementsto its readers in West Roxburyand Roslindale.
Contrary to Ms. Donlan’sclaims, there is zero profit mak-ing in the new high school at 361Belgrade Avenue. Roxbury PrepHigh School is a public school,and the organization that helpsit run, Uncommon Schools, is anon-profit organization citedpositively for its proven missionof ensuring low income studentsnot only get to college but gradu-ate from college.
The school’s funding fromtaxpayers, via per-pupil state andlocal funding and federal fund-ing, doesn’t change based on its
facility or location. There isnothing new here—this is howcharter schools have beenfunded in Massachusetts forover 20 years. This new build-ing does not represent an in-crease in the number of charterschool seats in Massachusetts;it is simply a new building foran existing, high-achievingschool.
Further, I am so proud ofhow Roxbury Prep has engagedwith the community, offeringcountless opportunities for feed-back, questions and informationsharing. That engagement re-sulted in Roxbury Prep decreas-ing the size of the facility to 562students. It’s no wonder thathundreds of community mem-bers in Roslindale and WestRoxbury have signed letters,emailed their elected officials,added their names to a petitionand come to meetings to voicetheir support of this project.
Anyone following the devel-opments in this process wouldknow that our students willcome primarily by public trans-portation, not overly impactingtraffic. Project planners and Citytransportation staff have hadmultiple conversations with theMBTA service planning staff,and all agree capacity is not ex-pected to be an issue.
With a first graduating classwhere 98% of scholars areheaded to a 4-year college, manyjust this week, Roxbury Prepseeks to serve scholars and closea historical achievement gap thatshould warrant a welcome inRoslindale and West Roxbury.
Our students’ intellect, resil-ience, and incredible hearts arethe foundation of a city that wel-comes all and reminds us thatour history is written by our ac-tions today. We would be wiseto preserve and commit ourlegacy to students who I wouldbe honored and proud to call myneighbors.
Shradha M. PatelRoslindale Resident
Founder, Roxbury PrepHigh School
THIS DIRECT ABUTTERSUPPORTS ROXBURYPREP
To the Editor:I am a direct abutter to the
proposed Belgrade Avenue siteof The Roxbury Prep CharterSchool and I continue to supportthis valiant and necessary effort,as do my fellow direct abutters.
The rumor that the abuttershave abandoned their support isjust that, a rumor.
We ask for more support, es-pecially from our city officials.
The fear and vitriol of thepast few years must change andwe need our city officials to helpwith the healing.
These children are our fu-ture. Denying them a future isdenying one for ourselves.
Ellen AdamsWest Roxbury
CANNIFFMONUMENTS
531 Cummins Highway, Roslindale, MA 02131
SINGLE GRASINGLE GRASINGLE GRASINGLE GRASINGLE GRAVEVEVEVEVEMONUMENTMONUMENTMONUMENTMONUMENTMONUMENT
ready planned. Please join usfor the first round of listen-ing sessions:
* Jamaica Plain: Thurs-day, September 12 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at BCYF HenniganCafeteria, 200 Heath Street
* East Boston: Thursday,September 26 from 5:30-7:30p.m. at Veronica Robles Cul-tural Center, 175 McClellanHighway
* Dorchester: Saturday,September 28 from 2-4 p.m.at Codman Square Branch ofthe Boston Public Library,690 Washington Street
This is a project importantto all Bostonians, and that’swhy I want as much help aspossible. I hope you’ll par-ticipate in the One BostonResilience Project to create amuch deserved memorial tohighlight Boston’s journey tohealing and commitment tosupporting each other. Through it all, we stick to-gether.
Learn more at boston.gov/onebostonresilience
Mayor'sColumn
continued from page 4
Mil-Par SeniorsWe meet every 3rd Thurs-
day of the month at St. Pius XHall, elevator available, lunchand bingo. Located in HydePark off Truman Highway.New members always wel-come.
Classif iedsHELP WANTEDIndra USA, Inc. seeks Banking Systems Analyst in Middleton, MA. Qualified candidates must have Bachelor’s degree (or equivalentthrough formal evaluation) in Computer Science or related field; fiveyears banking systems analyst experience, including developing andtesting functional banking systems, team coordination, and qualityassurance; and demonstrated proficiency with COBOL, Mainframe/CICS, JCLS, DB2, SQL, Santander methodology, Partenon systemarchitecture. Significant travel required within NE region of U.S. Thisis a telecommuting position; remote living benefit. Please send resumeand cover letter, including salary requirements, to HR Director, IndraUSA, Inc., 1101 Brickell Avenue, South Tower, 8th Floor, Miami, FL33131.
Legals
Miracle PrayerDear Heart of Jesus, in the pastI have asked You for manyfavours. This time, I ask youthis very special one (mentionfavour). Take it, dear Heart ofJesus, and place it within Yourown broken heart where YourFather sees it. Then, in Hismerciful eyes, it will becomeYour favour, not mine. Amen.Say for three days, promisepublication and favour will begranted.
Thank you, J.R.G.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin(Never known to fail!)
Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt.Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor ofHeaven, Blessed Mother of the Sonof God, Immaculate Virgin, assist mein this necessity. Oh Star of the Sea,help me and show me herein you aremy mother. Oh Holy Mary, Motherof God, Queen of Heaven and Earth,I humbly beseech thee from thebottom of my heart to succor me inmy necessity (make request). Thereare none that can withstand yourpower. Oh Mary, conceived withoutsin, pray for us who have recourse tothee (three times). Holy Mary, I placethis cause in your hands (threetimes). Say this prayer for threeconsecutive days and then you mustpublish and it will be granted to you.With Gratitude for Prayers Answered.
