ack ay ouTh nd - Fenway enmore southwest Corridor Park...

PA G E 1 A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0T H E B O S T O N S U N

PHOTOS BY SETH DANIEL

HIDDEN GARDEN…The Southwest Corridor Park in the South End and Back Bay was named Best Secret Garden by Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston in the most recent issue. For many, it is a secret, but for a lot of residents and park users, it’s the worst kept secret in the neighborhood as the Corridor gets tremendous use and great community care. Here, bees buzz through a large patch of Echinacea flowers. Meanwhile, Tony Velez said the Corridor has been really beautified in the last several years. As a courier who lives in Boston, he bikes on the Corridor daily. “You have to stop now and then and appreciate what you have around you, like the Corridor here. It’s one of the best spots in Boston.”

By Lauren Bennett

Mayor Walsh held a press con-ference on Friday, July 31, where he provided updates on the City’s COVID-19 efforts, as well as invit-ed Boston Public Schools (BPS) Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to speak more about the status of

the BPS reopening plan.

COVID uPDAtEsWalsh said on Friday that the

seven day daily average of new cases remains “very low,” as does the number of COVID patients in hospitals. He said that while there has been a “small uptick” in the

number of cases in the state, it is not currently a cause of concern.

“Compared to the rest of the United States, Boston and the Commonwealth are working extremely hard to make sure we keep these numbers down,” Walsh

By Seth Daniel

After facing sharp criticism from neighbors last week in the Worces-ter Square area on the Mass/Cass 2.0 plan, on Tuesday the City suddenly released a long-delayed online dashboard with statis-tics and benchmarks on things like recovery placements, needle

exchanges and 3-1-1 requests.The dashboard had been a low-

hanging-fruit promise as part of the 2.0 plan last year, and it was expected to be up and running by December or January. How-ever, delays plagued it and then COVID-19 hit and took away the

By Lauren Bennett

The Southwest Corridor Park, known by many as a peaceful escape running through the center of bustling Boston from Jamaica Plan and Roxbury to the South End and Back Bay, was recently chosen as the “Best Secret Gar-den” by Boston Magazine in its 2020 Best of Boston issue.

The magazine admits the park “isn’t exactly a secret,” as it is used by many to commute, play, or just enjoy some fresh air. However, a lot of hard work from volunteers

and organizations goes into keep-ing the park beautiful and enjoy-able for all.

It’s a real team effort and many hands go into helping out with the different sections of the park, but the Sun spoke with Fran-co Campanello, President of the Southwest Corridor Park Conser-vancy (SWCP), as well as Jenni-fer Leonard, Chair of the South-west Corridor Park Management Advisory Council (PMAC). The SWPC looks after the portion of

t H u R s D AY, A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0

Published every Thursday serving back bay - souTh end - Fenway - kenmore

If you are looking to get in contact with our staff or any info related to the Boston Sun please call

781-485-0588 or contact us via email.Email addresses are listed on the editorial page.

STUDENTS HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL GREETED WITH A 5-STAR SURPRISE . . . READ ABOUT IT ON PAGE 10

southwest Corridor Park voted ‘Best of Boston’ 2020

City unveils Mass/Cass 2.0 Dashboard followingsharp criticism from neighbors

(Mass/Cass 2.0 DashboarD, Pg. 3)

(Walsh upDates, Pg. 4)

(southWest CorriDor, Pg. 7)

‘BioBlitz’ aims to identify and record biodiversity in Common, Commonwealth Avenue Mall and Public Garden

Walsh gives COVID-19 updates, Cassellius discusses BPS reopening

The City quite suddenly released the long-awaited Mass/Cass 2.0 Data Dashboard on Tuesday evening after sharp criticisms from those in the WSANA neighborhood and those on the 2.0 Task Force. The Dashboard includes statistics like recovery placements, needle exchange rates and 311 quality of life calls.

By Dan Murphy

The Young Friends of the Public Garden is currently undertaking a “BioBlitz” with the intention of engaging the public to identify and record 2,500 observations of bio-diversity and 400 different living species during a one-month period

in the Boston Common, the Com-monwealth Avenue Mall and the Boston Common.

Dr. Colleen Hitchcock, a profes-sor in the biology department and environmental studies program at Brandeis University, outlined the initiative Tuesday during a virtual instruction session. She said that

1,500 observations of biodiversity and 257 species had already been recorded in the parks since just launching the BioBlitz days before-hand.

Visitors to the three parks can participate using iNaturalist – an

(bio-blitz, Pg. 3)


Guest Op-ed

e d i t o r i a l

THE BOSTON SUNPrESidENT/EdiTOr: Stephen Quigley [email protected]

MarkETiNg dirEcTOr: Debra Digregorio ([email protected])Art Directors: Kane DiMasso-scott, scott Yates

reporters: seth Daniel, [email protected] lauren Bennett, [email protected]

WAITING FOR THE BIG ONEAs we are writing this, we are awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Isaias,

which is the earliest-ever ninth named storm of a hurricane season. Although Isaias was a weak Category 1 hurricane when it made land-

fall in the Carolinas and will be a tropical storm by the time it reaches us, it is forecast to combine with a storm front out of the west by the time it reaches New Jersey, bringing heavy rain to western New England and strong winds to eastern New England, similar to what Hurricane Irene did in late August of 2011.

Irene caused widespread power outages in Eastern Mass. (we recall losing all of the contents of our freezer in the basement) and the same is being forecast for Isaias, so we trust that all of our readers are prepared for some degree of inconvenience in the coming days.

Although Isaias will not cause major damage, the record number of named storms already this season gives us pause. Climate change unde-niably is occurring in ways that are not fully understood, but one thing that is clear is that the number and severity of tropical storms are on the increase.

Climate change is bringing warmer ocean temperatures, which are the jet fuel for tropical storms. And for the record, the ocean temperature in Boston Harbor these past two weeks uncharacteristically has been above 70 degrees, which is wonderful for swimmers, but a harbinger of bad things to come.

The Hurricane of 1938 still stands as the fiercest hurricane ever to strike our part of the country, a once-in-a-hundred years weather event. In terms of the odds alone, we are overdue for another major hurricane. But with the effects of climate change factored into the mix, it is clear that Mother Nature could do some serious damage if another coastal storm makes its way here.

So as with everything else in life, it’s just one day at a time as we await the inevitability of The Big One to strike.

DEATHS ARE ONLY PART OF THE COVID STORY

Whether the subject is drunk driving, gun violence, or COVID-19, the headline that grabs our attention always is the death toll, of which there tragically have been more than 150,000 of our fellow Americans from COVID-19.

However, what often goes unreported are the large numbers of injuries, whether caused by drunken drivers, guns, or the coronavirus, that have life-altering consequences for victims.

Recent studies have shown that even individuals who are totally asymptomatic when they contract COVID-19 still are likely to have long-term, if not permanent, damage to their heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, and other organs.

With respect to the heart, a study revealed that more than 3/4 of a group of 100 relatively young and healthy persons who contracted COVID-19 had some degree of visible heart damage -- 76 had evidence of a biomarker signaling cardiac injury typically found after a heart attack -- two months after the virus had cleared their bodies.

We still are learning about the coronavirus, but as time goes on and as our nation lurches ahead with no strategy to contain the pandemic, thereby endangering the lives and health of all of our citizens, it is becom-ing increasingly clear that COVID-19 is a far more insidious threat than initially had been thought.

And as we learn more and more about how damaging COVID-19 can be to even healthy individuals, it is hard to imagine reopening schools and businesses without a national strategy and adequate funding to ensure the health and safety of our people.

By Linda Champion

Creating drug-free school buffer zones sounds like a good idea. The disparate impacts of these zones led to the mass incarceration of thousands of Black and Brown res-idents. Now, this same failed pol-icy is being used to prevent com-munities of color from opening cannabis retail shops in their own neighborhoods – denying econom-ic opportunities marijuana legal-ization was designed to create.

As a former Suffolk County prosecutor, I know the profoundly disparate human and societal toll of school buffer zones—zones that our communities of color over-whelmingly fall within. In densely populated urban areas, smoking a joint on your “school-zoned” ten-ement led to arrest, conviction and mandatory-minimum sentences. For white suburban kids, it was just “kids being kids.”

Same behavior; disparate impact.

Boston’s school zones have been largely reformed but continue to materially block Black and Brown people from opportunities to cre-ate generational wealth in canna-bis. Boston prohibits even the sub-mission of an adult-use application located within 500 feet of a public or private school serving grades K-12 under the false pretense that the prohibition is a requirement of

state law.Boston does have a choice and

the City Council has an obliga-tion to support communities of color by creating buffers that work for all residents.

State law allows Boston to reduce buffers by ordinance or by-law. The State’s Cannabis Control Commission has itself acknowledged that overly strict zoning rules and large buffer zones sharply limit the number of parcels available to potential operators, favoring large corporations with substantial financial resources while disproportionately harming smaller, local companies. Rein-stating school buffer zones will significantly raise costs (and the stakes) for minority entrepreneurs. Today, liquor stores are often located in “school zones”. Why should cannabis be treated any dif-ferently? The City Council should ensure communities of color have a choice as to which canna-bis companies should operate in our neighborhoods. Communi-ties like Cambridge have already reduced school buffers to 300-feet, recognizing the restorative justice intended by cannabis legalization and how these overly restrictive buffers run counter to those goals.

Like Cambridge, the City Council also has a choice: choose to respect the self-determination of communities of color and rec-

ognize as people of color we are able to advocate and choose for ourselves.

As the Black Lives Matter movement has swelled to become the single largest, organized pro-test in modern history. While pro-tests can inspire, our policy choices make them meaningful. The City Council has the opportunity to do just this; by acknowledging the failure of school buffer zones that shackled our communities.

Opportunities to create gener-ational wealth have eluded com-munities of color. The economic opportunity a vibrant cannabis industry can provide to our Black and Brown residents will not be taken from us this time.

Because of Mayor Walsh and City Council President Janey, we can celebrate locally and nation-ally the symbolism of the canna-bis ordinance’s passage. However, without further urgent action by the City Council, this ordinance will be a symbol of an unfulfilled promise, rather than a symbol of true restorative justice.

Linda Champion is a Black Korean American attorney and former Suffolk County prosecu-tor. She serves as an Advisor to the President of Whittier Street Health Center, Board Vice-Chair to CUE Realty, a wholly owned subsidiary of Urban Edge and an Advisor to Boston Showstoppers.

School buffer zones shackle communities of color from economic freedom

PA G E 3A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0 T H E B O S T O N S U N

Mass/Cass 2.0 DashboarD (from pg. 1)

bio-blitz (from pg. 1)

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City’s ability to focus on anything but keeping those on Mass/Cass healthy. However, as August rolled around, members of the Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Asso-ciation (WSANA) and members of the Mass/Cass 2.0 Task Force began to feel that the plan was flailing and failing.

Task Force member Mike Nel-son said as much last week, saying that the conditions right now on Mass/Cass in the South End were the definition of failure. Others joined him in that summation, and then late on Tuesday, the City released the dashboard.

This week, Nelson said it was a starting point and at least showed some progress on the plan, though late in the game.

“I’m happy to have it up and running,” he said. “Now we have a base line to start measuring against. This is a much needed step in the right direction.”

WSANA Vice President Desi Murphy said he was happy with the unveiling, but said he had hoped to have such data earlier this year.

“It’s a good start for informing residents and providers how the City will measure progress,” he said. “It will be a helpful resource, especially for residents who are currently tracking progress with their eyes rather than with data. I do wish the dashboard had arrived sooner though.”

City Health Chief Marty Mar-tinez said they have been working hard on the plan, including trying to keep people COVID-19 free and to address the issues on the corridor.

“Our City teams have been focused on making the necessary improvements for those who are struggling: those with a substance use disorder, and the residents impacted by the opioid epidemic throughout Boston’s neighbor-hoods,” he said. “At the same time, we have been working together to overcome COVID-19, which has also made us adjust the way we deliver services across the city. The Mass/Cass 2.0 plan contin-ues to serve as a roadmap for City departments and external partners to balance public health, public safety and quality of life issues. We remain committed to doing every-thing we can to improve condi-tions in the area, with our primary focus always being the safety and wellbeing of all people in the City of Boston. The new boston.gov/mass-cass website is one of the action items included in our plan which allows anyone to track met-rics and take a deep dive into the many services that are offered in the area. It further reassures our commitment to transparently com-

municating with our residents on the work we have done and what is ahead of us.”

The dashboard includes month-ly and year-to-date totals for Recovery Treatment Placements – there were 274 in the month of July and 2,603 since Jan. 1. Anoth-er key metric is the number of per-manently housed shelter guests, and there were 16 in July and 146 since Jan. 1. Residents, however, have been most interested in the needle exchange statistics, and the dashboard gives a running total of those numbers.

In July, there were 73,694 syringes taken in, and 59,727 given out at the AHOPE program in the South End. That is a 1.23 return rate for the month. Year to date, there has been an astounding 635,219 syringes taken in, and 409,977 given out – for a year to date return rate of 1.55.

Long-time WSANA resident and data guru Andrew Brand said this is a good first step, but he had some criticisms that were based on his own exhaustive research over the years.

“Boston has taken a good first step with the Data Dashboard,” he said. “It publishes some Quality of Life metrics we’ve been seek-ing, such as EMS calls, which are a good indicator of drug overuse in the area. For example, it shows that in June, opioid overuse was almost 5 times more concentrated in Mass/Cass than it was just .5 miles away. While it is a good start, the Dashboard is incomplete.”

He said he thinks for the Dash-board to be useful for residents to see progress in either direction, and for the Task Force to make informed, evidence based adjust-ments to its efforts, the Dashboard should include the following adjustments.

•Include timelines so that we could see progress or lack thereof over time. Because the impact is seasonal, the timelines should be year over year comparisons.

•Provide data that allows us to compare Mass/Cass to other parts of the city. For example, publish the number of EMS calls for in all of Boston

•Break out the 311 needle pick-up requests, which are a more pre-cise indication of the impact of the opioid problem on residents.

•Break out syringe return rate numbers so that we could know how many needles were brought in by IV users, and how many were discarded in the streets, in the parks, and on private property.

Members of WSANA and the 2.0 Task Force are still awaiting the publication of the six-month report on the 2.0 plan, which was due in March.

app and website (iNaturalist.org) that Dr. Hitchcock said “was con-ceived as a Facebook for natural-ists.”

After participants makes their initial species observation using iNaturalist, they can document it, usually by photographing it, as well as provide information on who they are and where they made the observation. This evidence can

include images of species tracks, feathers or waste, “or any evidence of living creatures,” Dr. Hitchcock said.

The visitors are then asked to name the species to the best of their ability, Dr. Hitchcock said, or get it to the family or genus level using automated recognition tech-nology.

Dr. Hitchcock said the infor-

mation is the disseminated to the Encyclopedia of Life, as well as the Global Diversity Information Facility (GBIF) - a research infra-structure that houses this data.

“The primarily goal is to con-nect people with nature,” Dr. Hitchcock said of the BioBlitz, “and people just need to get out for an hour or two to record these species.”

The Boston Ward 4 Dems August meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 18, at 6 pm vir-tually.

Join fellow Democrats from Back Bay, Fenway, and the South End for a discussion with City Councilors Michelle Wu, Kim

Janey, and Ed Flynn. For Zoom information, please

email [email protected].

Boston Ward 4 Dems to meet virutally Aug. 18

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said. He said that so far, $33 million

has been raised for the Boston Resiliency Fund, and more than $24 million has been distributed to nonprofits and organizations serv-ing youth, families and seniors.

More than 1500 meals a week are being distributed to the City’s seniors, and Lyft drivers have delivered more than 2000 bags of food at no cost to the City, Walsh added, which helps keep these drivers employed. Additionally, 100 food pantries and 18 farmers markets are open in the City.

Other food access measures include working with Project Bread to increase SNAP enroll-ment. “Food access is an equity issue and we’ve been addressing it for a long time,” Walsh said.

He also added that the new

mobile testing team will be in dif-ferent neighborhoods across the city every two weeks, bringing tests to areas that need it the most. “Testing is one of the best tools we have for stopping the spread of the virus,” Walsh said.

The City will also be hosting a series of virtual panels about how the virus has impacted its big-gest sectors, including hospitality, construction, retail, and the IT/tech industry. These forums will be “geared towards” college and job training programs, Walsh said, and experts in the industries will be able to share latest market trends as well as answer questions.

Walsh also spoke about the importance of filling out the Cen-sus so the city is not undercount-ed, as funds are needed to support every Boston resident.

“We need people to fill out the Census,” Walsh said. “Everyone counts equally in our democracy.”

BPs uPsAtEsWalsh announced last week that

BPS was looking at a hybrid model for students in the fall, where they would be split into groups and alternate remote learning and in-person learning. Parents would have the option to have their chil-dren learn entirely remotely.

“Keeping our kids safe is the number one priority,” Walsh said last Friday. “We’re planning for every scenario. We know that we will not start school this year with all in-person learning.”

Walsh made it clear that he does not want to see “an issue” made out of reopening schools. “Let’s think about how we reopen schools safely.” He said if schools can’t be reopened safely at all this fall, they will have to be reopened at some point so the discussion needs to start now about how to do it in the best, safest way.

“We are not these other states where they’re seeing surges,” Walsh said, “and quite honestly, public employees and people are being completely ignored by gov-ernments in these other states. You are not being ignored here in Bos-ton.”

BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said that “it was’t easy pivoting in four short days to ensure food access to our fami-lies, to reinvent a whole new way

of educating children; while also giving them the technology while we were sheltering in so they could continue their learning at home.”

She said that since schools closed in March, more than 32,000 Chromebooks and almost 1.4 mil-lion meals have been distributed to students across the City. She added that more than 14,000 contacts with students have been made to provide support for mental health.

“We learned a lot,” she said of this past spring’s remote learning experience. “We know now that many students struggle in this new way of learning,” and families need more guidance to help their students at home.

“It is clear that the best place for children to learn is at school, in a classroom, with their teacher,” she said. “But…we will only bring them back if it’s safe to do so. Safe-ty is our top priority.”

Cassellius said that BPS has been “planning for months” and gathering data from students, fam-ilies, and staff through surveys, as well as walking through schools, looking at blueprints, and “evalu-ating our spring remote learning.”

She said that facility concerns such as water temperature, bath-rooms, fixing windows, and order-ing HVAC units is something that is being addressed by BPS, as is working on signage.

She said meetings on reopen-ing safely have included voices of families, students, teachers, school leaders, the Nurses Faculty Sen-ate, and other stakeholders. She said they are hard at work on the

hybrid model as well as focusing heavily on the remote learning aspect, as a switch may have to be made to completely remote learn-ing should the virus worsen in the communities.

She said that parents will be able to choose between either the “hybrid or remote model without losing their spot at their school,” and a survey will be released soon asking parents which they prefer for their children.

“Over the last several months, we have witnessed the inequalities that existed in our community, but have become exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Cassellius said. “As we reckon with decades of racial inequality and a systemic oppression and as we ban together in a call to action so our children inherit a better, fairer, and more just society, and as such, we at BPS are keeping equity at the center and are committed to rectifying the barriers and inequalities that exist in our policies, in our prac-tice, and one by one, because our children deserve the opportunity and the access to an excellent and equitable education.”

She said that reinventing edu-cation is something that has to be done, because “we can’t just throw up our hands and do nothing.” She said that “our children don’t get a rewind. There’s no do-over.”

Walsh again asked for the reopening of schools to not be a political issue, and to “keep the kids at the forefront” of the con-versation.

Walsh Updates (from pg. 1)

By Seth Daniel

City officials said this week they had received more than 26,500 applications from registered voters to procure a mail-in ballot for the Sept. 1 Primary Election – which faces a heated race for U.S. Sen-ate race between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy III and a few local races, though many state offices are unopposed in the downtown neighborhoods.

As of Tuesday, the Boston Elec-tion Department had received more than 26,500 ballot applica-tions. That number includes all ballot requests: absentee, online/emailed requests and the new mail-in vote option.

All registered voters have received a vote-by-mail applica-tion in their mail boxes during the week of July 20. The application is in a postcard format. To receive a ballot, voters must first complete, sign and return the prepaid post-card application to the Election Department by August 26 for the

State Primary. Voters may request a ballot using the vote-by-mail application for the September 1, 2020 State Primary, November 3, 2020 State Election or all 2020 elections. Voters may also request ballots in Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Voters may return their ballot by mail using the prepaid envelope, at an early voting location, or using the Election Department drop-box located on the third floor of City Hall. City Hall is currently open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On Wednesday, the City released guidelines and prepara-tions for the upcoming election – which will be like no other.

The Department is reminding residents that Saturday, August 22, at 8 p.m. is the last day to register to vote and Wednesday, August 26, is the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot.

Due to COVID-19, the Election Department will implement health and safety protocols during the

early voting period and on Election Day. All poll workers will receive face shields, face masks, gloves, disinfectant wipes, disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer. Cleaning will take place at each site every two to three hours. Voters waiting in line will be instructed to stand 6 feet away from others and wear a face covering.

Individuals can also decide to vote during the early voting period from Saturday, August 22 through Friday, August 28. Registered vot-ers can vote at any of the early vot-ing sites. No excuse is required to vote early.

Early voting in the downtown will take place at the following places and times:

•Sat., Aug. 22, Copley Square Library McKim Building, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

•Sun., Aug. 23, Copley Square Library McKim Building, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Boston City Hall will be avail-able for early voting too on Aug. 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 at various hours – mostly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Major interest sparked for mail-in ballots early in the Primary Election


*All participants will receive $25 after completion of their visit. To complete the visit, participants must create an account, give consent, agree to share their electronic health records, answer health surveys, and have their measurements taken (height, weight, blood pressure, etc.), and give blood and urine samples, if asked.

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By Seth Daniel

Families with children in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) will be facing a major decision in the coming days and weeks regarding whether they want to choose to participate in a hybrid, in-person learning model for the fall, or to opt-out and have their children learn in a complete remote envi-ronment.

Supt. Brenda Cassellius released a draft plan with Senior Advisor Tammy Pust on Tuesday night, and held a media briefing on Wednes-day prior to the School Commit-tee meeting Wednesday night. The push is on currently as BPS pre-pares to submit its initial plan on Monday, a plan that requires the district to submit three plans - one for all remote, one for a hybrid model and one for all in-person

learning. Now, they are having many different meetings to review the plans and try to get input.

“this is a difficult decision and it has weighed on all of us,” she said. “I understand the concern in the community and under-stand the real complex nature of this decision. I want to assure the community that the mayor, Health Chief Marty Martinez, myself, our teachers and school leaders are putting safety as the number one priority and we are really looking very carefully at the numbers and making sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves…That’s why we have put this plan out there early to discuss it and get input.”

Seemingly, the schools have been planning for the re-opening since June, even before last school year was over. Throughout July,

plans have been presented, and deadlines have been extended. Cassellius and Pust stressed this is just a draft, and they want more information before they make a decision.

“We are just now starting to put the meat on the bones of this plan so we can safely re-open this fall,” said Cassellius.

Added Pust, “It’s not a final draft but a plan. However, this is 60 pages of our besting thinking so far on all the challenges we have and wisdom we have brought to be able to address these challeng-es.”

The submission to the state will really only consider two options, Pust said, as bus transportation makes it impossible under the cur-rent occupancy restrictions to ever transport every student to a build-ing for in-person learning. Bus transportation is a key component in that part of the discussion, as buses will only be able to transport about 50 percent of their normal student capacity.

“That has a lot of ramifica-tions,” she said. “Think of it as dominoes…The in-person plan will be very short because it will say it is not possible. To do that without transportation…To only get half those seats at a particular time means it wouldn’t be logisti-cally possible to get them there.”

So it is, the decision for parents will be to opt-in to the district’s hybrid model – which still is not a done deal – or to opt-out and go fully remote.

“Every family will get the chance to decide if they want to participate in the hybrid model or if they want to opt out and go fully remote,” Pust said. “Every parent has that option…If the science says it’s safe, we will start with the hybrid model.”

That will be a key decision due to transportation and school building space. Once the district knows how many students will not be returning to the building, but will stay home with remote learn-ing, they can begin to plan at each individual school for the space necessary to accommodate in-per-son learning. The hybrid plan has students divided into two groups. Group A would attend school Monday and Tuesday, but learn at home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Group B would learn at home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but learn in school Thursday and Friday. No one would be at the school on Wednes-day, as it would be sanitized and cleaned, as it would also be on the

weekends.That will also make way for a

final group of students who need extra attention and might go in-person up to four days a week. That group hasn’t been defined and is dependent on space, but could include Special Education students, English Learnings and vocational school students.

The physical buildings have been worked on all summer to pre-pare for some return of students in what will be a new and different school world – especially for lit-tle kids. The report indicated that HVAC systems had been upgraded over the summer with better filter systems, and Cassellius said they have identified spaces in buildings that just are not usable – such as classrooms that did not have win-dows or any ventilation.

Meanwhile, she said this entire summer, and right now, they have been doing assessments of building windows and fixed or replaced windows that didn’t open or couldn’t open. That is import-ant, she said, for ventilation. The plan also calls for school commu-nities to utilize outdoor classroom options as much as possible in the warmer days this fall.

Another physical plant aspect will be how far desks are spaced apart, and BPS will stick with the six-foot distance model. However, they won’t remove desks from the classrooms to make that spacing.

Instead, they will use desks alter-nating between groups. That way no student is sharing a desk with another, and the desks remain a safe distance away.

Another key operations for in-person hybrid and all-remote will be attendance and grading policies. Grading won’t change that much from the standard teacher grading systems, with progress reports and an A-F scale. However, attendance will be put on the Aspen system so it is used universally. Last Spring, many were doing it differently and it was confusing. Remote learners will also be monitored using Google Classroom for engagement and using Aspen for attendance.

Finally, Cassellius said they would be measuring student prog-ress and social emotional well-be-ing in the first weeks of school. Academically, they will use the dis-trict’s Illuminate platform to test students to see where they are aca-demically – if they’ve progressed or fallen behind since COVID-19 hit.

“We’re going to need to know how schools are doing,” she said.

The district will be contacting each parent in the coming days and weeks to begin thinking about and making the decision about remote learning or the hybrid model. To comment on the district plan or ask questions, e-mail [email protected].

Families, students have big decision to make on school in coming weeks

JUNES Meetings begin with students, families, staff, district partners, and community members to gather input

JUNE 25 DESE announces guidance for reopening of schools in September

JULY Share reopening options with the community, request feedback

JULY22 School Committee presentation on status of reopening plans

JULY31 Decision is made about remote or hybid model for reopening school

EARLY AUGUST Families select remote schooling, in classroom, or hybrid option

SEPTEMBER 1 Students receive bus route information and/or directions for walking to school

SEPTEMBER 8 Paras & Teachers report for the first day of school

SEPTEMBER 10 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!


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Crite Park designs set to be unveiled in person and online this monthBy Seth Daniel

Allan Rohan Crite Park was no more than a brick wall for decades until recent plans to overhaul it into another gem on Columbus Avenue surfaced last year and have gone into overdrive this spring and summer.

Such a bland tribute to a world-renowned artist who por-trayed life in full color, was hardly acceptable for Southender Cheryl Dickinson, and so she and other neighbors and the Ellis South End Neighborhood Association linked up to bring the area to life.

And judging by the designs of Monique Hall of BFC Group, that is exactly what intends to happen there.

Dickinson said they will have

a reveal meeting in person at the Park on Weds., Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. with a 3-D viewing stations at a social distance and the ability to ask questions about the design. The rain date will be Monday, Aug. 17, and a Zoom online meet-ing will take place on Weds., Aug. 26, at 6 p.m.

She said a survey prior to the conceptual design indicated peo-ple wanted a spot with lots of shade, they wanted a tranquil spot for respite, they wanted to honor Allan Crite’s work, and they want-ed a place for community events.

“We liked the idea of hav-ing an active park, not a passive park,” said Dickinson. “People say not another pretty face; we say not another pretty space…For the emphasis on shade, the whole perimeter will be large trees and

we’ll get as large as we can afford. We are taking down six trees and putting up eight. Four of the exist-ing trees are dead though and all of them haven’t been pruned since 1986.”

Inside, there will be three sepa-rate pergolas to protect people from the sun and to add a “living room” aspect to the space. Some laser cut aluminum placed above will allow the sun to shine through and create patterns on the floor of the park. The pergolas will also solve a prob-lem that has been ongoing with aphids landing on people sitting below the Linden trees.

To honor Crite, the space will feature reproductions of six of his most representative pieces of the

South End in an art walk. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Afri-can American Museum of Arts will provide them.

“These are six pieces that depict the narrative Crite was aiming for in his art – showing African Amer-ican people living in the South End in the 1930s and 1940s,” she said.

To activate the park, they plan to have several events, including an annual blockbuster Storytelling Night. The first Storytelling Night will feature speakers who knew Crite and will talk and tell stories about him.?

The next step will be to apply to the Community Preservation Committee for funding to supple-ment the significant amount they

have already raised. This week, they have been to the South End Landmarks Commission to present the plans and got positive reviews. Now, they just need to see what the community says and find a way to pay for it.

“It’s time for us to start trying to make this park a reality,” she said.

•Crite Park Board Members: Maryellen Hassell, Betsy Hall, Jen-nifer Girvin, Ryan Gossing, Regina Pyle, Paul Wilcox, Linda Esposito, Cheryl Dickinson, president.

•Advisory CouncilFrieda Garcia, Councilor Ed

Flynn, Gary Bailey, Anthony Gordon, Jackie Cox-Crite, Clare Corcoran, and Charlie Rose.

A rendering of what is hoped that the new Allan Rohan Crite Park will look like on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Appleton Street. The Park has been in disrepair for many years, hardly a fitting tribute to a world-famous artist from the South End. A meeting to see the new designs will take place at 6 p.m. at the park on Aug. 12.

By Seth Daniel

Police officers from the D-4 Sta-tion are being credited with poten-tially saving the life of a shooting victim on Mass Ave and Washing-ton Street Aug. 2 when they quick-ly applied a tourniquet to severe wounds he had from the gunshots.

Sgt. John Boyle said officers treated the man on the scene when they found him shot multiple times and lying on the street bleeding badly.

“The officers applied a tourni-quet and it might have been the case that they were able to save him,” said Boyle.

Full notifications for a homicide had gone out upon arrival and seeing the injuries suffered by the man, but upon reevaluation and with the tourniquet applied, he was able to be rushed to a hospital and saved.

Boyle said around 1:12 a.m. on Aug. 2, the ShotSpotter sys-tem recorded gunshots near 1904 Washington St. – which is the cor-ner of Washington and Mass Ave in the South End.

Officers from D-4 responded and, upon arrival, observed the victim bleeding from multiple gun-shot wounds on the ground next to a vehicle.

There have been no arrests made in the case, and social media sites indicated the man had been shot in the leg and the head. Those posts also reported that others were in the car, including children, at the time of the shooting, but Boyle said there didn’t seem to be anything about that in the report.

Boyle also said that applying a tourniquet on scene has become more common than one might expect as police all carry that equipment since the Marathon Bombing incident.

The shooting is still under inves-tigation and the man has survived.

Officers potentially save shooting victim’s life on Mass/Washington


SouthweSt Corridor (from pg. 1)

the corridor from Harcourt St. to Northampton St. in the South End, while PMAC advocates and advis-es all sections of the corridor.

The two organizations “seek to work together seamlessly,” Leon-ard said, to “help channel the energy of users, friends, and vol-unteers into active stewardship,” according to the Southwest Corri-dor Park website.

Campanello said that the SWCP’s portion of the corridor was not always so inviting. When he lived on Holyoke St. “right on the park” in the 1990s, he adopted a plant bed outside the dog park. “I enjoyed making it look pretty good,” he said.

After four years of maintaining his small area, he moved to Cali-fornia. When he returned to Bos-ton and moved near Claremont Park in 2003, he started taking care of the park outside his house.

At that time, he said the corri-dor “looked like an abandoned parking lot” with “invasive trees, dead zones; half the shrubbery had died, and the other half were on the way out. There were grass areas that had lost all living mate-rial. It became a small sand lot,” he said.

He said it took three years just to remove the invasive trees that had grown in the park, with the help of Betsy Johnson, who was on the Prudential Project Advisory Committee, (PruPAC).

“She got on the PruPAC board and arranged for the park to get mitigation funds for the expansion of the Prudential Center,” Cam-panello explained. “That was the original source of revenue.”

Campanello became president of the SWCP in August of 2008. “The first thing I did [was] I real-ized that people were not going to give money to the park to restore it unless they saw that someone cared for it,” he said.

He connected with social ser-vices organization Boston Cares

to set up monthly park restoration projects. The seed money from PruPAC was used to build fencing “at sensitive areas” that allowed the plant materials to grow with-out being “trampled on.”

SWPC had become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which allowed it to raise money. In 2010, Campan-ello was a realtor with Coldwell Baker in the South End, which he said gave him access to everyone who lived and owned property in the South End and St. Botolph area. “We designed a card and sent about 1000 letters out to people asking for money,” he said, and received about $10,000.

“That was absolutely a great surprise to us all,” Campanello said. “We didn’t know there were that many people in the neighbor-hood who cared about the park.” Every year since, SWPC has reached out to the community ask-ing for donations, except this year because of the virus.

“I always thought it was a crime that such good property had gone to waste,” he said of the original state of the park. “There isn’t a lot of green space in the City of Boston,” he added, and here was a “perfectly good green space that was completely neglected.”

So far, 86 trees have been plant-ed and Section One of the park between Camden St. at Northeast-ern University and Harcourt St. at Copley Place, there are 60 differ-ent species of trees, a number of hedges, and more than 400 species of plants, Campanello said.

Campanello, who said he’s “been a gardener as long as I remember,” has taken gardening classes at the Arnold Arboretum, at a community college on Long Island, and various other places. As a former science teacher as well, he said his interest in horticulture really helped him dig into these planting and restoration projects.

He said that more projects are still on the horizon for the cor-

ridor, including the grass strip between the sidewalk and street at Harcourt St “that was just a dead zone—not even grass, just weeds,” he said. “Starting in April, we cut it in half and put a stone path in and started really planting on Memorial Day.” A “wall of flowers” is now planted, including purple and yellow daisies, iron-weed, and Jo-Pye weed. “It’s really quite stunning,” Campanello said. Shrubs, grass, and a mix of annu-als and perennials were also plant-ed to keep it looking great, even in the winter.

Campanello also said that resto-ration of the corner pieces at West Newton St. is also in the works. He said there is a “lot of dead materi-al, open space, and weeds,” and work will continue on that section for the next two years.

“Hopefully there are plans afoot for the Northampton Green,” Campanello added. He said that part of the area is where Martin Luther King resided when he lived in Boston, adding that it is hope-ful that restoration of the park will happen when other construction is done and they can figure out how to get water to the park for the new plantings.

Aside from the active planting, PMAC works alongside SWPC to orchestrate community events in the park as well as rally volunteers to help with the planting and the upkeep. Jennifer Leonard said that PMAC’s mission includes “advis-ing, advocacy, and action,” which includes running youth and family programs every year.

Many would argue that main-tenance and public safety are key factors in the upkeep of a healthy park. Leonard said that the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) provides a “majority of the maintenance,” such as grass cutting, hedge clip-

ping, and snow shoveling. Since the MBTA owns the land, they are responsible for trash pickup and other repairs that may be neces-sary.

Leonard said that while the “network of volunteers who do hands on work falls under [SWPC],” many of those mem-bers are also members of PMAC, which oversees the volunteer work and ensures open communication around issues of maintenance and upkeep.

As far as public safety goes, Leonard said PMAC partners with other groups and agencies, including state and city officials, to ensure that the park remains safe. Volunteer safety is also empha-sized, she said.

“We look at what we can do to advocate for bigger services and solutions around who is doing things around addiction and recovery,” she added.

“Our membership overlaps in terms of conversations,” she said. A conversation may be started at a PMAC meeting, opened up to a broader network of people, and be brought back. As an advisory group, this is the structure that is typically followed by other parks throughout the city, Leonard said.

Some of the community events orchestrated by PMAC include a children’s garden at Jackson Square by the Mildred Hailey

Apartments, which has been going on for several years but is not active this summer due to the virus.

PMAC also runs a mini-grant program in partnership with Northeastern University that sup-ports youth and family program-ming in the Southwest Corridor Park, “nurturing the next genera-tion of park leaders,” she said.

In the South End, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) has organized the painting of a mural by children as well as last year’s round of garbage can and electri-cal box paintings in the park. Unit-ed South End Settlements has also held a paint night for people to come out to the park and paint on canvases, and Boston Explorers, headquartered in Jamaica Plain, has used the park as a place to bike and explore.

Many residents and neighbors have shown interest in contrib-uting to the Southwest Corridor Park in some way over the years, and a large network exists to help ensure it stays welcoming for years to come. From neighbors pitch-ing in, to college and corporate groups coming out for large volun-teer days, those who have gotten involved in the betterment of the park “love our story,” Leonard said.

“I think everybody who touches the park just loves the story.”

Shown above, a biker rides up to Massachusetts Avenue with the Back Bay in the distance. To the right, a Boston rabbit. Rabbits have become a much more common sight on the Corridor lately, which isn’t a good thing for the lettuce farmers.

One of the nice aspects of the Southwest Corridor is the little parks and squares located inviting-ly just off the path, like Braddock Park here with its flowing water fountain on a hot and sunny day.

Linda Seaver waters her garden plot in one of the community gardens near Massachusetts Avenue.


Restoration on shaw 54th Memorial moves forward(BFIT, Pg. 9

By Dan Murphy

As the ongoing restoration of the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial on the Boston Common progresses, the sculpture’s stonework is being disassembled bit by bit before the bronze sculpture can be removed as one piece and taken off site to be refurbished.

“We’re in the process of care-fully removing every stone at the plaza level – railings, urns and other elements - and last week, we took off the top of monument with the capstone,” Ben Rosenberg, a principal at the structural-engi-neering firm Silman Associates’ Boston office, said Friday. “Then we’ll work down, removing stones from the back and the sides.”

The approximately $3 million restoration of the bas-relief monu-ment that pays tribute to the first Northern black volunteer infantry unit enlisted to fight in the Civil War and was created by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens marks a unique partnership between the Friends of the Public Garden, the City of Boston, the Museum of African American His-tory and the National Park Service.

During this phase of the project, supplemental steel will be installed within the monument itself, fol-lowed by the installation of a protection system for the exist-ing beams within the plaza. The monument will also undergo a “cathodic protection run,” Rosen-berg said, during which an electric current will be discharged through its steel beams to prevent addition-al corrosion (although the method can’t remedy existing conditions).

The monument will also be “ret-ro-fitted seismically” to withstand earthquakes, Rosenberg said.

“We think about the project as having interrelated scopes that dance around each other as the

work proceeds,” Rosenberg said. “To date, we’ve really concen-trated on the beginning of stone removal to clean and replace it and the initial stages of bronze resto-ration, such as documenting and photographing [the sculpture] and protecting it in advance of taking it off site to get it restored.”

Once all the bronze work is revealed and accessible, Rosenberg

added, a steel cage will be installed around the sculpture before it can be removed and transported to Skylight Studios in Woburn for refurbishing.

Restoration work on the Shaw 54th Memorial commenced at the end of May after construction restrictions due to the pandemic were lifted, and it’s expected to wrap up around November.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEN ROSENBERG

The Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial on the Boston Common undergoing restoration work.

By Lauren Bennett

The South End Landmark District Commission (SELDC), against their wishes, granted a Cer-

tificate of Exemption on August 4 to raze the former church and par-ish house at 85 West Newton St., home of the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts.

This project has come before the Commission several times, and several community meetings have been held regarding the building. The building is owned by Inquili-

nos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), which provides education, arts programs, affordable housing, and more to the community.

The Commission’s goal (and IBA’s original goal) was to save the building, but IBA has repeat-edly stated that their only option is to demolish it and build anew, and on August 4, the organization formally requested a Certificate of Exemption from the SELDC.

“This has been a long and hard process for all of us,” IBA CEO Vanessa Calderon-Rosado said at the hearing on Tuesday night. She thanked the Commission for their work and engagement during this process.

“The building at 85 West New-ton played a critical role to IBA,” she said, as it was home to many of IBA’s programs and functioned as a community center. Issues with this building have been going on for quite some time, as the histor-ic church was not properly taken care of over the years.

Peter Munkenbeck, IBA’s devel-opment consultant, explained that in 2016, IBA embarked on a mis-sion to restore the historic church and make it safe and usable for years to come. The project was to be done in two phases, beginning with the building envelope.

The SELDC had approved the scope of work for Phase One, and in the fall of 2017, Shawmut Design and Construction was

awarded a nearly $11 million con-tract to carry out the Phase One work, Munkenbeck said.

During the initial weeks of work, it was discovered that the basic structure of the bell tower was not sound, and many other structural issues were discovered, deeming the building unsafe.

The project team has returned

to the SELDC several times with photos and letters from engineers stating the building is unsafe.

In September of last year, the City condemned the building and IBA was told to evacuate the as it was unfit to be occupied.

In December, IBA received a vio-lation notice from the City of Bos-ton Inspectional Services Depart-ment (ISD) stating that IBA’s only two options were to restore the building or to demolish it.

IBA has stood by the position that their only option would be to demolish the building and build a new one, as restoring the exist-ing church would cost double the original budget and there weren’t enough funds to cover the addi-tional costs.

Back in December, the Com-mission had asked the project team to come up with alterna-tives to demolishing the building, as they would rather see it pre-served. While the Commissioners

sELDC grants mandatory Certificate of Exemption to Villa Victoria Center for the Arts

(SELDC, Pg. 9)


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By Seth Daniel

The Mass/Cass area has been hit with two homicides this week, one on Friday near the Southampton Shelter and a second on Tuesday morning in Clifford Park – both hot spots on the corridor that have seen an uptick in violence over the past year in particular.

On Tuesday, a woman who stabbed and killed a 48-year-old Boston man in Clifford Park was arraigned in the Roxbury Divi-sion of Boston Municipal Court on murder charges and ordered held without bail by Judge David Weingarten.

Mary Fox, 38, of Boston, is alleged to have fatally stabbed

Michael Dezrick, in Clifford Play-ground, when she returned to con-front him after having a dispute with Mr. Dezrick earlier in the evening.

“My office will hold those who commit violence and steal lives accountable for their actions,’’ said DA Rachael Rollins. “Mr. Dezrick’s life ended over an insig-nificant argument. His family will never see him again, because of an argument. We must start seeing the humanity in each other and learn-ing to de-escalate and walk away. Instead, these two families like so many others before them, are inex-tricably tied to each other based on a tragedy. None of their lives will

ever be the same.’’Fox also had her bail revoked

on three open cases: two in Bos-ton Municipal Court (receiving a stolen motor vehicle and carrying a dangerous weapon, a knife); and one case in Dedham of carrying a dangerous weapon.

Last Friday morning, July 31, a Chelsea man was charged with the murder of a Boston man outside the Southampton Shelter in the Mass/Cass area.

At about 7:27 a.m., officers assigned to District C-6 (South Bos-ton) responded to a radio call for a person stabbed in the area of 112 Southampton St. On arrival, officers located an adult male victim suffer-

ing from an apparent stab wound. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced deceased. The victim has since been identified as Damien R. Hughes, 27, of Boston.

Following the incident, an inves-tigation culminated in the iden-tification of the suspect as Cesar Valentin, 34, of Chelsea, who was placed under arrest in the area of 39 Boylston St. in Boston at about 11:51 a.m. on Friday, July 31. Val-entin is expected to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court on the charge of Murder.

Worcester Square resident Desi Murphy said he hopes that the recent violence might wake people

up to what’s going on in the neigh-borhood, which has grown quite violent over the past few months.

“From engaging with the peo-ple I see around BMC, I regularly hear horrible stories about group attacks and robberies daily,” he said. “I hope that the two murders are a wake-up call that more has to be done and that we need to con-tinue asking if placing all services into Newmarket makes homeless people safer. I fear is that unless something is caught on camera like the 2019 Correction Officer inci-dent, the homeless people residing within Newmarket and Mass/Cass will remain out of sight and out of mind for Boston residents.”

two homicides on Mass/Cass in one week define recent uptick in violence

expressed their understanding for the budgetary limitations of IBA, an organization that provides so much to the South End communi-ty, they stood firm in their mission to follow the guidelines and make sure the historical district is pre-served.

As the Sun reported in Decem-ber, Commissioner John Amodeo told the team that in order for the Commission to release its purview over a historical building in the district, it needs to be “absolutely sure” that criteria are met to issue the Certificate of Exemption.

At the August 4 hearing, Munkenbeck discussed the most recent notice from ISD which he said stated that there were “no options…other than to demolish” the building.

Amodeo asked why the parish house was included in the ISD letter, as it is not in the same situation as the rest of the building.

Munkenbeck said that ISD “regarded it to be as one build-ing.” He also said that “the massive wall which supports the roof of the church on one side is sort of com-promised,” and “on the other side is a party wall from the parish house.”

Commissioner Catherine Hunt agreed with Amodeo: “the parish house is certainly not in the same dire straits as the rest of the build-ing.

The Commission has gone through several steps to ensure this outcome was the only one available, and had the protocol reviewed. Amodeo said that the City of Bos-ton law department advised the Commission on this issue, and they came to the conclusion that “if the applicant presented a violation from ISD that was certified that demoli-tion was the only alternative, then we are required to provide a Certif-icate of Exemption,” he said. “That is not to say we approve the demo-lition of the building, but they are exempt from our review.”

Commissioner John Freeman clarified that the demolition would be exempt from SELDC review, but any new building proposed for the site would absolutely be sub-ject to review by the Commission.

Amodeo said that the Commis-sion did not feel they had appro-priate documentation at past hearings, because previous ISD notices said that the two choices were to either repair the building or demolish it.

“Staff has determined this cer-tificate meets the requirements of a mandatory certificate of exemp-tion,” said Preservation Planner Mary Cirbus.

“Despite the fact that we seem to have no choice in the matter…this is very disappointing,” Com-missioner Hunt said. “I’m not happy about it at all as a member of this Commission that is here to protect historic structures. I think it’s a darn shame that we got to this point after 40 years that noth-ing was done to maintain that building, and now we are in this situation.”

Other Commissioners agreed, and Commissioner David Shep-perd wondered if any materials from the existing building could be salvaged to use in the new build-ing.

Munkenbeck said things like stained glass, several of the pews, railings, and pallets of blond brick have been saved and they are intending on incorporating them into the new design.

Shepperd also asked why the Commission shouldn’t just vote to demolish the building, because that way, they would have a say in what happens with the demolition.

Freeman responded by saying that the “reasons to not demolish are still in effect.” He said the only thing that has changed from the point of view of the Commission is that “…we have this mandatory exemption.”

Freeman added that he would like to see an inventory of what

has been salvaged from the exist-ing building, and Amodeo suggest-ed some sort of public display for the new building that would pro-vide information on the historic church.

“This building is one of a kind,” Amodeo said. “The documenta-tion and an exhibit utilizing some of the key examples of that docu-mentation would be really import-ant just to inform people of the district.”

While that cannot be made into an official motion because of the request for a Certificate of Exemp-tion, the Commission strongly urged the project team to consid-er something like that, but it will be further discussed once a new building is proposed and brought before the Commission.

Greg Galer, Executive Director of the Boston Preservation Alli-ance, said that it is “unfortunate” that ISD was not at the hearing to address questions and concerns.

He said the situation with this building is “a sign that we need to do a better job of taking care of our historic buildings. This is an important lesson to learn.”

He accused IBA of not having a “desire” to come to a resolution on the restoration and that IBA “waited it out and allowed con-tinued deterioration.” He added

that there is a need to “push hard-er on remedies that don’t require absolute demolition. I think this is terrible precedent and I urge the Commission to keep their hand on the level to drive review of the replacement. Our biggest fear is that other organizations that have challenges with historic buildings” will end up in the same situation, he said.

“This process has been very difficult for us,” Calderon-Rosa-do responded. “We have taken this process with respect and with

the original goal of restoring the building before we found out the conditions of the building.” She added that “we look forward to working with you on the replace-ment of this building,” referring to the Commission.

Cirbus reported that the SELDC received 36 letters of support for IBA, and the Commission unan-imously voted to grant the man-datory Certificate of Exemption, with Hunt responding yes “only because we have no choice.”

SELDC (from pg. 8)

PA G E 1 0 A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0T H E B O S T O N S U N

Dan Murphy, Lauren Bennett

and Seth Daniel

Plans for college and univer-sity students have begun to settle into the neighborhoods this week, surprising some and causing all to pause and think about what such a massive amount of students in hotels, residential apartments and even the Boston Symphony Orchestra building might mean for quality of life – whether good or

bad or both.So far, Emerson College and

Northeastern University have been the most active in Bay Village, St. Botolph, Fenway and the Back Bay – securing a variety of locations for students to live and to take classes.

A representative from Emer-son College told the Sun that for the fall semester, it hopes to house 208 residents and eight resident assistants at the W Boston hotel on Stuart Street in Bay Village “pend-

ing City of Boston approval.” The students will live in rooms on floors five through 14, and other than “Emerson student hotel res-idents,” no other visitors will be permitted on those floors.

“This decision has been made in order to de-densify housing on Emerson’s Boston campus,” the College said. “The College con-sidered a number of options and

The arched windows in the last clue are on 364 Boylston Street. Once, this building was an example of Harold Field Kellogg’s Art Deco design when he remodeled an optician’s store at this address. The Art Deco style remained until anoth-er remodel in the 1970s.

The next clue will be found in the Fenway area.

Do you have a favorite building or detail you would like fea-tured? Send an email to [email protected] with your suggestion.

tHIs WEEK's CLuE

Attention to DetAilBy Penny CheruBino

tHIs WEEK's ANsWER

Real Estate TransfersBUYER 1 SELLER 1 ADDRESS PRICEBACK BAY Zhou, Xu Rodriguez, Edward 261 Beacon St #31 $636,000Meghan C Kelley FT SPK Properties LLC 306 Beacon St #2 $1,200,000Meghan C Kelley FT Stephen P Kaufman T 306 Beacon St #3 $4,150,000Wyllie, Ian Millington Angela S 132 Commonwealth Ave #1 $405,000Zimbel, Benjamin Miller, Katherine 12 Dartmouth Pl #1 $870,000Fortunato, Anthony J Ganea, Andrei L 364 Marlborough St #B2 $360,000

BEACON HILLNordin, Martin Brett Ws Wong RET 31 Bowdoin St #4 $1,775,000White, Pendelton P Rasmussen, Daniel 44 Cedar Lane Way $3,175,000Ledger, Brian Morris, Elizabeth D 88 Mount Vernon St #31 $690,000Kamar Maria Baloul RET Soulafa S Baloul T 45 Province St #2107 $1,100,000David, To C Moskowitz, William 64 W Cedar St #2 $445,000 BAY VILLAGE/SOUTH END/KENMORESchille, Taylor QBW LLC 145 North St #1 $700,500Pellegrino, Jason Patricia E Pellegrino T 14 Cazenove St $2,200,000AP 1 Charles LLC Matthews, William A 1 Charles St S #4G $1,900,000Kumar, Dipak 435 Columbus Ave LLC 435 Columbus Ave #3 $825,000Cook, Bridget R Curtis, Arielle B 20 Fayette St #2 $1,200,000Yuan, Qianyu Cole Family Boston RT 247 W Newton St #247 $864,000Steckel, C Theordore Alice P Moy RET 146 Warren Ave #2 $625,000Chen, Xiaoyne Zollner, Paul 478 Beacon St #6 $650,000Currey, David M Gimpelson, Lester A 7 Byron St #A $900,000NS Apartments LLC Fenway NS Acquisition 607-621 Columbus Ave $20,800,000Quek, Gabriel K Balough, Matthew 15 Concord Sq #2 $1,375,000Englert, Michael Tromp, Steven J 314 Shawmut Ave #5 $917,500Tessimond, Craig E Rosenfield, Joshua M 32 Traveler St #503 $1,030,000Woo, Albert P Guo LLC 32 Traveler St #601 $1,130,000Lockhart, Roy Susan E Yohalem T 675 Tremont St #1 $1,125,00043 Union Park LLC Craig P Baskin 2016 43 Union Park #3 $1,626,800Dolan, James O 96 Waltham Street NT 96 Waltham St #2 $1,597,000Ebner, Scott R Katz, Paul 1180-1200 Washington St #320 $1,100,00050 Clarendon LLC Peralta, Jose 18 Worcester Sq #3 $707,100Caljouw, Ann-Margaret Casadaban, Leigh C 146 Worcester St #2 $1,025,000

WATERFRONT/DOWNTOWNFinley, John H Heines, Deborah M 717 Atlantic Ave #3C $830,000Mcgovern, Matthew E Debenedictis, Danielle E 65 Commercial Wharf #1 $2,565,000Young, Richard A Slauenwhite, Alfred 85 E India Row #6C $1,800,000Young, Richard A Slauenwhite, Alfred 85 E India Row #6D $1,800,000Gibson, Keira F Fitzgerald RET 121 Fulton St #5 $755,000Li, Alice Li, Min 1 Nassau St #1006 $250,000

Back to school…at a five-star hotel? Some colleges surprise residents with hotel plans

(BACk to SChool, Pg. 11)

PA G E 1 1A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0 T H E B O S T O N S U N

ForFor RecordRecordC O R O N A V I R u s

uPDAtE: Due to public health concerns, the hearings

that normally would be held on a week have been postponed or can-celed due to the guidance of Mayor Martin Walsh and the order of Gov. Charlie Baker. Some meetings, how-ever, have been moved to an online or teleconference format under the emergency order on the Open Meet-ing Law issued by Gov. Baker.

CItY COuNCIL COMMIt-tEE ON GOVERNMENt OPER-AtIONs HEARING: The Commit-tee will hold a 10 a.m. online hearing on Aug. 6 for an amendment to the Boston City Charter. The Chair of the Committee and sponsor of the docket is Councilor Lydia Edwards.

From a tree Removal Hearing in Fenway, Aug. 6 (online):

•11 a.m.: The hearing will be held on a request to remove one hedge maple tree measuring 3 inches dbh (diameter at breast height) and one sophora tree measuring 3 inches dbh at 100 Hemenway Street.

•11:30 a.m.: The hearing will be held on a request to remove one honey locust tree measuring 4 inches

dbh (diameter at breast height) at 1340 Boylston Street.

•Noon: The hearing will

be held on a request to remove one little leaf linden tree measuring 3 inches dbh (diameter at breast height) at 465 Huntington Ave.

From an Aug. 6 tree Removal Hearing in Bay Village, 1 p.m., Aug. 6 (online): The request is for the removal of one little leaf linden tree measuring 18 inches dbh (diameter at breast height).

From the Aug. 10, 11 a.m. CItY COuNCIL COMMIttEE ON GOVERNMENt OPERAtIONs HEARING (Online): A hearing regarding an ordinance restricting the use of chemical crowd control agents and kinetic impact projectiles.

From the Aug. 11 Boston Art Commission Meeting, 4 p.m., Online via Zoom:

•Existing Publc Art – Emancipa-tion Group Statue; Online form for the public to share thoughts on the future of Emancipation Group.

From the Aug. 11 Bay Vil-lage Historic District Commis-sion, 4 p.m., Online via Zoom (HTTPS://US02WEB.ZOOM.US/J/84600286206):

DEsIGN REVIEW•6 Melrose St.: At front façade

install sprinkler connection, fire bell and strobe.

•200 Stuart Street: Re-clad store-front and install canopy.

ADMINIstRAtIVE REVIEW/APPROVAL

•95-97 Broadway St.: Create four masonry openings to explore struc-tural issues.

•16 Melrose St.: At front façade re-point and repair masonry

The Aug. 11 Boston Landmarks Commission hearing is cancelled due to no agenda items.

From the Aug. 12, 11 a.m. CItY COuNCIL COMMIttEE ON stRONG WOMEN, FAMILIEs, AND COMMuNItIEs: A hearing regarding the childcare crisis in Bos-ton. The Chair of the Committee is Councilor Breadon and the Sponsors are Councilors Breadon, Wu, and Campbell.

From the Aug. 12, 4 p.m. CItY COuNCIL COMMIttEE ON EDuCAtION HEARING (Online): A hearing regarding BPS preparation and planning in the event of extend-ed COVID-19 social distancing mea-sures.

From the Aug. 12 Back Bay Archi-tectural Commission, 5 p.m., Online via Zoom (HTTPS://US02WEB.ZOOM.US/J/88955732156):

DEsIGN REVIEW•224 Clarendon St.: Refurbish

Clarendon Street entrance.•271 Dartmouth St.: Replace

twenty-four non-historic windows with aluminum clad windows.

•50-52 Commonwealth Ave.: At rear elevation attach air-condition-ing condenser to rear wall.

•132 Commonwealth Ave.: Work: At rear elevation attach air-conditioning condenser to rear wall.

BOstON FIRE DEPARt-MENt uPDAtE ON PERMIts

Due to the harsh economic impact of the COVID-19 pandem-ic on businesses, the Boston Fire Department is extending the expi-ration date on all existing Place of Assembly and Annual Permits from June 30, 2020 to September 30, 2020. Any issued Place of Assembly Permit or Annual Permit stating an expiration date of June 30, 2020 will now automatically be valid in the City of Boston until September 30, 2020. The invoices for renewal will be mailed out in mid-August, and the permitting cycle for both Place of Assembly and Annual Permits will become October 1 to September 30 of the following year from this point forward.

REPORtING WORK-PLACE sAFEtY CON-

CERNs•Workers in any size organiza-

tion have options if they feel they are being pressured into an unsafe situation. Attorney General Maura Healey has created resources for workers to report safety concerns during reopening. They include an online form at the Attorney Gen-eral’s website and a dedicated Fair Labor hotline at 617-727-3465. People can also find those resources by calling 311.

HOW tO REPORt A PROBLEM PROPERtY

Since taking office in 2014, Mayor Walsh has made fixing qual-ity of life issues a priority in his administration. From investing in Public Works to making sure com-munity policing is a staple in every neighborhood, we are making sure every neighborhood is clean, safe and a great place to live and work in. Unfortunately some properties in Boston need more help than others, and that’s why we are here. If you know of a property that fits one of the following criteria: multiple calls to 911, one that’s blighted or just a general concern, we encour-age you to reach out to your neighborhood liaison.

Back to School (from pg. 10)

selected the W Boston hotel for its close proximity to campus, and its ability and readiness to support Emerson students residing there this Fall.”

Northeastern University has announced that rooms at both the Westin Copley Place Hotel and the Midtown Hotel have been reserved for students this coming fall. Additionally, 147 apartments in the Fenway and Roxbury have been leased through the universi-ty’s master-lease program, accord-ing to a letter to the community from John Tobin, Vice President of City and Community Engage-ment at Northeastern University. He also said that the university has made an agreement with the Bos-ton Symphony Orchestra to lease space in the Cohen Wing at Sym-phony Hall for additional student dining space.

“Our students will be expect-ed to adhere to all Northeastern on-campus housing policies, prac-tice social distancing and wear face covering in public places,” Tobin wrote. “The students in both the Westin Hotel and the Midtown Hotel will also be monitored by Northeastern residential staff.”

Tobin also told the Sun that he’d be “happy to set up Zoom calls to talk with neighborhood associations, leaders, and elected officials about what the plans are,” and said that Northeastern had

participated in the City Council’s recent hearing on the reopening of colleges and universities.

Martyn Roetter, chair of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB), sees how housing students from the area’s colleges and universities at hotels could be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“It seems to me in the case of hotels in particular, it’s a win-win, up-the-losses kind of a deal,” Roetter said, and even if the costs for student housing are reduced from regular rates, “Hotels will welcome a guaranteed stream of income for several months, if not the whole school year.”

And some Back Bay businesses could also benefit from the influx of more students into the neigh-borhood because, as Roetter said, “Students contribute in a signifi-cant way to economy and the reve-nue of certain kinds of businesses.”

What concerns Roetter, mem-bers of NABB and Back Bay res-idents most, however, is how stu-dents might behave outside of the hotels they will be living in, as well as how their behavior could result in increased COVID-19 infection rates.

“Our main concern is the actions of the students on the streets and in areas where [the schools] can’t control,” he said. “There are more risky things that

could get out of control or there would be more infections than there would be otherwise.”

Still, Roetter remains confident that “good channels of commu-nications” between colleges and universities, the city and civic organizations like NABB “could help deal with issues when they arise in as cooperative a manner as possible.”

Bethany Patten, president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Asso-ciation, anticipates both risks and advantages – economic, as well as social – of returning college stu-dents living in hotels.

“The economic risks are of course that universities are need-ing to bear the cost of utilizing increased external spaces, which puts a strain on an already strained sector,” Patten wrote. “The eco-nomic benefits are that there is more revenue to the hotels, and area businesses that keeps them viable.”

But Patten doesn’t expect that an influx of students would result in a boon for businesses because she doesn’t think retail will recov-er anytime soon and most schools have required meal plans for stu-dents, which would discourage them from dining out.

Meanwhile, Patten said she hopes that colleges and universi-ties would opt to house their stu-dents at local hotels, rather than at

national chains like the W. “The only benefit to our community when universities go with a mul-tinational chain is the jobs, which of course is both good for unem-ployment, but disproportionately affects underserved and under-represented higher-risk communi-ties,” she wrote.

Patten added that she believes “universities are really trying to be good citizens and contribute to the common good,” and that BVNA leadership is scheduled to meet with representatives from Emerson College soon to learn more about their plans for the fall.

“I can’t imagine that the stu-dents in the hotels will be any more or less supervised than they are in dorms, or are not when they live in private housing,” Patten wrote. “All college campuses have resi-dent assistants that manage under-age parties, and other behaviors. In a pandemic, I can only assume these roles will take on greater behavior monitoring responsibil-ity. I’m not sure why there is an assumption they will be unsuper-vised. In fact, a well supervised group of students in a hotel seems even more safe than individuals in a hotel who can chose how they want to behave regarding health and safety.”

The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) said it had posted guidance on its web-

site about plans for local universi-ties and colleges. The BPDA also said the matter had been discussed by Mayor Martin Walsh in a daily briefing last week.

The BPDA said institutions are required to engage with residents about their plans, protocols and how the housing or hotels would be used.

“Every institution that requests to utilize off-campus spaces for temporary student housing is required to engage nearby resi-dents and civic associations about their plans and address potential concerns,” read a statement from the BPDA. “Institutions must pro-vide a way for residents to reach out directly if an issue arises. The BPDA will be working closely with institutions to ensure that this pro-cess happens prior to any students moving into a temporary off-cam-pus housing site.”

A Zoom call for the St. Boto-lph Neighborhood Association (SBNA) has been set up for next week, Aug. 11, with Northeast-ern’s Tobin. On that call will be State Rep. Jon Santiago and Coun-cilor Ed Flynn. The announcement from SBNA indicated they would talk about use of the Midtown Hotel, and other locations in the area.

PA G E 1 2 A u G u s t 6 , 2 0 2 0T H E B O S T O N S U N

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