inside this week
Communities rally to save Civil War coat pg 2
A&E
business news
TAMYRA GRAY ON STAGE AT BOSTON OPERA HOUSE IN ‘IF/THEN’ pg 10
Lisa Martin runs a business out of her home specializing in custom embroidery pg 8
plus Hip-hop pop-up event at the Sinclair pg 10 Mixed-media artist Nalini Malani at the ICA pg 11 Thursday, July 7, 2016 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
City Council OK’s Walsh’s new budget
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Activists protest Trump rally
BPS and operating budgets pass with 9-4, 12-1 votes By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
The city council voted last Wednesday to pass the $2.98 billion revised budget proposed by Mayor Martin Walsh. The July 1 fiscal year deadline, then only two days away, loomed over the vote. The council voted on the budget in separate parts. The most contentious of the votes involved the Boston Public Schools budget and followed upon months of high-profile advocacy by parents, students and teachers. While many councilors expressed disappointment and frustration with the BPS budget, it passed in a nine to four vote. Only Councilors Tito Jackson, Ayanna Pressley, Annissa Essaibi-George and Andrea Campbell opposed it, saying the cuts would harm
children. Other councilors argued that there might be no better option, given limited revenue. The general operating budget passed in a vote of twelve to one, with Jackson as the sole opposition. Among his critiques: the omission of a housing voucher program. Councilor Bill Linehan said the city’s budget is unsustainably reliant on property taxes and that new revenue sources must be found or the following years’ budgets will bring more service cuts. Across the commonwealth, many municipalities increasingly are turning to the property tax — long a primary generator of revenue — to make their budgets as they experience a decline in state aid.
See BUDGET, page 13
BANNER PHOTO
Darren Howell and Monica Cannon lead protesters in a demonstration against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who held a fundraiser at the Langham Hotel in Post Office Square.
Hopes pinned on fed grant for Whittier Choice plans Fully realizing project may rest on HUD funds By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
The future of long-neglected corner of Lower Roxbury soon could be decided by a panel of federal officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Two weeks ago, the Boston Housing Authority, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. and Madison Park Development Corporation submitted an application for a $30 million federal
grant. If awarded, it will allow the team to make real their planned development project in Roxbury, which includes commercial space and mixed-income housing, Kate Bennett, deputy administrator of Planning and Stability for the BHA, told the Banner.
The mixed-use plan
The BHA, POAH and Madison Park propose to redevelop the current 200-unit Whittier Street public housing site on Cabot Street and bring more housing
and commercial space to the neighborhood. Under their plan, the development team would raze the existing housing project, constructing 427 affordable, middle-income and market rate units on the site and on nearby properties, Bennett said. Of these, 210 will be deeply subsidized, 99 designated for those making up to 60 percent of Area Median Income, 82 for those with moderate-incomes of 60-80 percent AMI and
See WHITTIER, page 6
Charter advertising war ramps up Ballot question proponents, foes to spend millions By YAWU MILLER
BANNER PHOTO
Josh Zakim said the budget was reasonable but contained disappointments.
Come November 1, Massachusetts voters will decide whether to lift the state’s current cap on the number of charter schools operating here by voting up or down on a ballot question backed by a record-breaking $18 million in contributions. With Massachusetts teachers unions pledging another $12 million to defeat the question, the race will draw significantly more resources than
any race in Massachusetts history. The group Public Charter Schools for MA already has ponied up $6.5 million of their $18 million to reserve time for television ads in the seven weeks leading up to the vote, but that ad buy isn’t the opening salvo in the media theatre. For months, the charter group and groups backed by Massachusetts Teachers Association funding have been posting videos on social media that give a preview of the coming advertising blitz. The media war is off to an
uneven start. Pro-charter expansion groups benefit from a well-funded nationwide network of foundations and advocacy groups. In 2013, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools contracted with the Glover Park Group and The Word Doctors to develop messaging points for charter proponents to use in press releases, speeches and media interviews. “The results are clear,” reads the report. “When we use words that work, people like what they
See CHARTERS, page 13
2 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
Communities rallied to save Civil War coat, now asked to vote By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Community members in Gloucester, Boston and other locales came together to rescue a dilapidated Civil War era coat. A call to action and crowdfunding campaign launched in the fall of 2015 by 11-year-old brothers George and Charles King has brought in more than $4,000 in donations to repair the garment and increasingly has been drawing attention. Now, with the relic sent out for restoration, the King brothers are calling again upon these communities to decide how the coat should be displayed. “We really want to hear what people want. We’re not just going to make the decision,” the brothers told the Banner in a phone interview. For many years, the coat hung, forgotten, in a trophy case in Gloucester High School. But it took a long path to get there, with its known history stretching back to a slave family in Civil War-era Virginia, who gave it to a Union soldier.
Viewing the past
In 1864, Albert Bacheler, who would later become principal and teacher at Gloucester High, was a Union soldier on the run. He had escaped from the Confederacy’s infamous Libby Prison and fled north. Along his trek, southern slaves sheltered him and one slave family gave Bacheler the coat to hide his Union uniform. He managed to reach safety, discovered by an all-black Union
ON THE WEB TO VOTE: Email gloucestercoatkids@gmail.com or take an online poll at http://tinyurl.com/hna9lx3
TO DONATE: Donate at https://www.youcaring.com/the-
gloucester-fund-467104
unit. Throughout his years at Gloucester High, Bacheler would bring out the coat to show students as he recounted stories from the war. The King brothers said they expect restoration will be complete by late summer and want to be sure the coat is displayed in a way that lets people see its front and back. To achieve this, they present three ideas and ask that readers vote. So far, all fundraising was directed to restoration costs, but some display options would require further financial support. The first, and cheapest, is to feature the coat in a large case already present in Gloucester High. The boys said they would add a mirror so that the back of the garment is visible and may need to change the light bulbs for ones that will not cause fading. With funds raised so far, they have about enough to afford it, they said. That case also has the ultraviolet filtration that is critical to preservation, said Camille Myers Breeze of Museum Textiles Services, who is conducting the restoration. The second and third options call for placing the coat in a free-standing display case on a pedestal, which allows people to
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GEORGE AND CHARLES KING
Gloucester brothers George and Charles King’s crowdfunding campaign raised enough money to restore the coat. walk around and view the garment from all sides. They estimate the costs for each type of case are $2,000 and $5,100, respectively. The more expensive option has thicker plexiglass, a door and a micro-climate control. The coat has garnered excitement from local historians, including a group of local history buffs who donated $1,000, and a genealogist who dug up more information on Bacheler. The King brothers say they hope to hear of other coats like this one.
DRAWING: COURTESY OF GEORGE AND CHARLES KING
Cambridge College is a proud Institute Partner for the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows
Under option 1, the coat will be featured in the existing display case at Gloucester High, with some improvements.
Are You an Older Adult? Volunteer with Jumpstart! • Read, write, sing and play with 3-5 year old children • Serve on a team in a preschool classroom in Roxbury or Mattapan • Receive training and a transportation stipend Interested? Call Jessie at 857.413.4630
Looking for an affordable college? frugaldad.com can help. Go to frugaldad.com/cheap-colleges and use the cheap college finder to find the school to fit your budget.
frugaldad.com common sense for college The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is a program of the U.S. government and is supported in its implementation by IREX. Cambridge College is a sub-grantee of IREX and is supporting the U.S.-based academic program of the Fellowship.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3
Four innovative strategies to house low-income families are honored By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Several nonprofits recently received a financial boost for innovative ideas that could shield some of the city’s poorest families from homelessness. The Home Funders, a collaborative focused on addressing housing needs of families with very low incomes — zero to 30 percent of the area median — debuted its Innovation Competition to honor “innovative, feasible and sustainable,” scalable solutions to provide or retain housing for extremely-low income families. The competition is a first-of-its kind for the Home Funders, which presented Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., the Coalition for Occupied Homes in Foreclosure, Inc. and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association with monetary prizes and the affordable housing fellows at Kuehn Foundation with an honorable mention. The money is secondary to the official recognition, Sonia Gupta, executive director of Home Funders, said. The prizes were awarded without stipulating timeline requirements, a deliberate incentive to encourage submission of creative ideas that may only be in their early stages, Gupta said. Even though it is not obligatory, Home Funders hopes the innovative ideas will be implemented. “Part of the reason we conceived of giving out prizes instead of implementation grants is we wanted people to come forward with ideas that may not be actual projects yet, but are conceptual,” Gupta told the Banner. “To advance thinking, so people would feel confident coming forward with ideas that are really in early stages, but still hold some promise.” The competition launched in November 2015 and prizewinners were celebrated last month.
POAH’s Donation Tax Credit
POAH received $20,000 for its proposal to develop a new state tax credit. The credit would be offered as an incentive for property owners to donate existing housing to nonprofits for development. An eligible nonprofit would create a financial plan that included the cost of purchasing the property. Then, the nonprofit would use the cost savings of donated land and buildings to underwrite the creation of more long-term housing units or deepen the affordability of existing units, Andrew Spofford, POAH’s chief of staff, said. POAH estimates that, with the so-called Donation Tax Credit in place, nonprofits could afford to make 15 percent to 30 percent of the units extremely-low-income-affordable without having to seek other operating subsidies, according to the project description posted on the Home Funders’ site. Implementing this tax credit hinges on winning over members of the legislature and getting it passed as part of a bill. While such work does not require money, Spofford said, the Home Funders prize has boosted POAH’s cause by bringing greater awareness to it and certifying that others involved in the housing world endorse it as a worthy idea. “It’s useful to be able to say to legislators that not only are we saying this is a good idea and the other folks
that we’re working with on it [saying it’s a good idea] ... but that it has the blessing of this competition. That helps people to take a hard look at it,” he told the Banner. POAH hopes to get the tax credit introduced as an amendment in the next few days, Spofford said last Thursday. But POAH also recognizes that legislative action could be a slow process. In the meantime, the organization is directing the prize money to support its housing residents with stabilization and eviction prevention services.
COHIF’s housing rescue
COHFI, which received $15,000, focuses on protecting families in Dorchester’s Greater Four Corners area from losing their housing to foreclosure. The organization has piloted a strategy that involves purchasing occupied properties in which residents are at risk of being displaced and then transferring ownership to community land trusts. That helps retain long-term affordability, enabling residents to remain, and creates stability. Now COHIF looks to expand its aid to those at risk of losing housing to reasons beyond foreclosure, such as tenants facing eviction when the owner sells. COHIF also aims to help others replicate its model. The next phase of its pilot involves providing technical assistance to those seeking to adopt similar practices. Groups from cities such as Rochester, NY and Detroit have expressed interest, Executive Director Maureen Flynn said. The prize signals a strong vote of confidence in the pilot project and eased the way for some discussions, Flynn told the Banner. “[The prize] is extremely significant. It gives our model a lot of credibility and says to us that the board and the members of the Home Funders group recognize that the pilot is extremely innovative and that the model can work and be replicated,” Flynn said. “Recently we went to talk to a state representative about COHIF and thought we’d have to explain everything from the beginning. He said, ‘Oh no, I know about you because you won one of the Home Funder prizes.’”
CHAPA’s health fund
CHAPA plans to target health issues exacerbated by unstable or inadequate housing and use its $10,000 prize to kick off the project. The organization aims to create a funding pool that can be tapped to assist families who may be living in rooms with mold or lead, afflicted with health problems from living on the streets or experiencing related problems. Housing status often entwines with health status. As Ann Verrilli, Director of Research noted to the Banner, “If someone’s couch surfing, it’s hard to be medically compliant.” “We know housing is a basic thing everyone needs in order to be healthy and successful in their life,” CHAPA Executive Director Brenda Clements told the Banner. Under CHAPA’s proposal, the organization would solicit funding from groups such as hospitals and combine the contributions into one pool. That pool then could be utilized to fund solutions such as rental assistance or treating housing for mold. CHAPA is in the early stages of its plan. Among the organization’s next steps are recruiting donors
and identifying the most effective strategies to fund. Organization members currently are initiating conversations and will use the award money to explore potential joint projects as they move toward creating working models, Clements and Verrilli said. Clements said she expected hospitals would contribute funding as part of their work to advance preventative care solutions, an acknowledgment
ON THE WEB PROJECT description: http://homefunders.
org/innovation-competition/ that providing adequate housing can mean major savings for the health care system. “Most hospitals and others are looking at housing as a critical determinant of health and health outcomes,” she said.
Kuehn Foundation’s housing vouchers
Fellows from the Kuehn Charitable Foundation received honorable mention for their proposal to change public housing authority
policy and use the National Housing Trust Fund to improve access to housing for extremely-low income families. If the prize and honorable mention winners’ initiatives bear fruit they will represent advances toward meeting a critical need. Home Funders’ Gupta noted that while the average yearly rent in Boston is $24,000, more than half of Boston families earn less than $35,000 annually. “The numbers just don’t compute,” she said. And for the lowest earners, of course, the impact of this hits hardest. “The need at the lowest income is the highest because the impact is the greatest,” she said.
20th annual Boston Main Streets awards ceremony thanks volunteers
PHOTO: MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY DON HARNEY
City staff, members of Boston Main Streets and community members celebrate the Boston Main Streets volunteers and businesses of the year at the 20th annual Boston Main Streets awards ceremony.
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4 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
EDITORIAL
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Established 1965
Trump’s defiance of American tradition Contacts with strangers were much more formal in past generations than they are today. It would have once been a serious breach of etiquette to address adults by their first names or to make an insulting personal reference. Trump’s disdain for such formalities indicate that if elected president, his anticipated violations of protocol would alienate many international alliances. During the primary campaign, Trump’s opponents became the targets of his slurs and insults. He said of Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the Republican primary, “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?” Trump branded Jeb Bush as a “lightweight,” and continually referred to him as the “low-energy” candidate. Trump has built much of his support on trash-talking rather than proposing real solutions to the nation’s problems. While many of his comments are rude and defamatory under American jurisprudence, freedom of speech is at its most extensive in political contests. However, that is not the case in many other countries. Laws in France, Spain and Turkey restrict the freedom of the press to insult public officials. An insult to France’s president could result in a fine of €45,000. The calumny laws in Spain can result in fines for the defamation of public officials or members of the royal family. In Turkey, a person convicted of defaming the president can be imprisoned for a term of one to four years. The penalties in the Middle East and Asia are even more severe. Insulting any government leader in Iran can result in a sentence of up to two years in prison or a flogging plus a fine. In Thailand an insult of the king can earn the perpetrator up to 15 years in jail. In China, anyone found guilty of subversion of the government by defaming public officials becomes liable for a prison term of up to five years. While many of his supporters treat
Trump’s calumny as mere outspoken candor, people in other cultures around the world have a more serious attitude toward personal slander. In fact, Americans in other circumstances do not always respond well to defamatory remarks. Many violent barroom fights have been precipitated by an insult. Americans should be unwilling to assume the risk of electing a president who has already shown a disposition to be indecorous. Insults by foreign nations against the U.S. president can also have political consequences. The 1991 U.S.-led Desert Storm in Iraq demolished the Iraqi military in only a bit more than a month, much to the humiliation of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led allied forces did not occupy Iraq at that time. As an insult to President George H.W. Bush, the Iraqis painted his portrait on a well-used walkway so that the drubbing of countless Iraqi feet could deliver a constant insult to the U.S. president. A major Arab insult is to point the soles of one’s feet at an individual or his image. Hussein had shown profound disrespect for the American president. On May 19, 2003, President George W. Bush, the son of the perennially maligned president, launched the “shock and awe” attack against Baghdad to initiate a war whose aftermath still continues. That is not to assert that the insult was the reason for the war, but it likely created a sense of hostility that may have influenced judgment. The courtesy and civility that was normal decades ago is now repudiated as commitment to political correctness, especially when African American issues are involved. American voters should not allow themselves to become victimized by the bad manners of a racially insensitive bully. The nation needs a leader who is imbued with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” From this should come a profound sense of respect for all humanity.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Opposes felony rap Governor Charlie Baker’s legislative scheme to elevate assault and battery on a police officer to a felony illustrates just how out of touch he and the state’s elected leadership is on what police work really looks like. Any lawyer who regularly defends people charged with A&B on a police officer knows well that the charges
are a common cover-up the cops use when they have beaten a suspect. If there’s bruising or lacerations, the suspect – even if it’s a 98-pound teenage girl, is going to be facing assault and battery charges. That Baker doesn’t seem to understand this is not surprising. While black folk have long been well-acquainted with the excesses of abusive
INDEX NEWS BRIEFS ……………………………………........................ 7 BUSINESS NEWS ………………………………...................... 8 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT …………………...................... 10 CLASSIFIEDS ……………………………………....................... 14
police officers, white America seems satisfied with the sanitized view of policing Hollywood has sold us – this imaginary world where officers address people as “sir” and “ma’am” and don’t call them out of their name. Let’s hope the Legislature rejects this foolishness.
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Brexit and the worldwide ‘integration’ movement
What do you think it will take to end gun violence in the United States?
By LEE A. DANIELS It might at first seem impossible to logically connect — with a single word, no less — three striking political developments that occurred on the same day in the U.S. and Great Britain two weeks ago. The two developments in the U.S. are the Supreme Court’s 5-to-3 ruling of June 23 upholding the use of affirmative action in college admissions, on the one hand; and a second ruling which resulted in a 4-4 tie, and thus let stand a lower federal court ruling striking down President Obama’s executive order that would have protected as many as five million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allowed them to legally work in the U.S. Of course, what happened in Great Britain was the electorate’s stunning vote that very day to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union. The so-called Brexit (British Exit) vote immediately plunged the country into an unprecedented political and economic turmoil. Albeit the innumerable complexities that separately make each issue so contentious, one word that sums up the root issue connecting them. That word is: integration. Yes, that “old” word that had such explosive power in America for most of the twentieth century, when it stood for the effort of black Americans’ struggle to destroy the racist laws, policies and customs that made them second-class citizens. The word still retains its enormous power. For example, the continuing resistance of some to affirmative action is — no matter how much it’s cloaked in glib rhetoric about “color-blindness” and “fairness” — really just opposition to advancing racial integration beyond token numbers. But the crisis of undocumented immigration that’s been boiling here for nearly a decade and the immigration crisis that’s exploded in recent years in Britain and other Western European countries have raised a stark question that harks back to America’s black-and-white racial crisis: Can the majority-white democracies of the West fully practice the tolerance the very idea of democracy preaches? In fact, the controversy about “integration” now roiling America and Europe has a far broader context than did the twentieth-century American civil rights struggle — precisely because it’s provoked by a powerful worldwide integration movement. That worldwide movement today is usually called by another name: globalization. And it’s overwhelmingly discussed as an economic force having to do with trade among nations, multinational companies’ business dealings in all corners of the globe and the movement of money on the world’s financial markets. But the “integration” economists, politicians and pundits speak of when they refer to the world’s “integrated markets” is not just a matter of jobs and consumer and industrial goods and playing the money market. It also involves a world’s worth of individuals and peoples, too, whose ability and desire and, for millions, dire need — provoked by the fact or the threat of war or terroristic violence — to leave their native country is also a product of the push and pull of globalization. In other words, just as the American Civil Rights Movement produced a more inclusive society, so globalization has led to both a far greater freedom of movement and forced movement among the world’s peoples than ever before. For example, the creation of the European Union a half-century ago made it easier (and more profitable) for its member countries’ businesses to reach across national boundaries — and gave those countries’ citizens the freedom to move and work in another member country without restriction. Globalization has unquestionably been both unavoidable and a success by any measure. But it also has levied certain political, social and economic costs as the world transits from the old order to the new. Three of those costs are a ferocious income inequality that has made the term “the 1 percent” a political epithet; the destruction of “old” jobs in many blue-collar and some white-collar fields; and an increased competition for jobs and a sense of economic and social instability among millions of people. Those three factors have made it easy for charlatans and power-hungry politicians — such as Donald Trump in the U.S and some of the pro-Brexit politicians in Britain — to use the universal language of bigotry to persuade voters to give in to their worst impulses. They’ve fooled some into thinking that if they can just get rid of immigrants, put the “colored” in their place and impose the old whites-come-first regime on their corner of the world, they’ll be okay. That’s a fool’s errand. But, unfortunately, you can fool some of the people all of the time.
Lee A. Daniels, a longtime journalist, is a keynote speaker and author. He is writing a book on the Obama years and the 2016 election. He can be reached at leedanielsjournalist@ gmail.com.
I think it begins with educating kids in elementary school about gun violence and its effect on our community.
It’s going to take politicians working together on the same page along with citizens. It could happen.
Stephen Hendrix
Sheila Graham
Retired Chef Roxbury
Stricter gun control. Better background checks. No guns for people who have been to prison.
Thomas Dotson Unemployed Dorchester
Police have to get the guns off the streets. I’ve got two nephews who carry guns. They need to take them away.
Top Cat
Teacher South End
Unemployed Boston
Stricter gun control laws. Take the guns off the street. Keep them out of the hands of teenagers.
I don’t know. It’s part of American culture. There’s a fear of others and a history of violence in America.
Rosetha Washington
Omo Moses
Retired Canton
Writer Jamaica Plain
President Therese Murray. At each stop, Morel worked to hone her political savvy by immersing herself in a multitude of tasks ranging from sign assignments, dressing and staffing polls, managing wards, organizing stand-outs and events, door knocking, election day reporting, phone banking and a host of other duties through which she achieved a deeper knowledge of the political process from the inside-out. Eventually landing at MLM Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in Massachusetts local and statewide political fundraising, compliance, marketing and government work, Morel participated as a fellow for a candidate for Boston City Council At-Large and also organized several fundraising events before being introduced to Sheriff Tompkins during his 2014 campaign. For Morel, it was Sheriff Tompkins’ focus on positive change through programming designed to not only prevent the men and women incarcerated in his facili-
ties from returning once they are released back into the community, but to make them better able to care for themselves and their families with employable skills that attracted her to the campaign.
IN THE NEWS
MELISSA MOREL Melissa Morel has been appointed campaign manager for Sheriff Steve Tompkins’ re-election campaign. Born and raised in Santiago De Los Caballeros of the Dominican Republic, Morel traveled to the United States and attended high school in Weston, Florida where she was just one of five students chosen to work with the municipal government in the local city hall on such issues as law enforcement, parks and recreation, city planning and more. Morel enrolled at Boston University where she received her Bachelors and a masters degree in political science, graduating magna cum laude. Working with several campaigns and elected officials along the way, Morel has served in various capacities with the Democratic National Committee, including positions with Democratic National Committee Chair and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, and former Massachusetts Senate
6 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
Whittier
IF YOU GO
continued from page 1 81 offered at market rate. The current Whittier site has 200 units with 72 parking spaces. New plans will bring that to 130 parking spaces for 316 units, raising the unit to parking space ratio. The team also would create 14,225 square feet commercial space for local small businesses. Madison Park is working to identify how to set up the space to meet business needs best, Bennett said. Offerings to the neighborhood at large include public art and public safety improvements such as better lighting around Dudley Square, she added. Services provided under the project include early education, after school, tutoring and career pathway programming for children.
The price tag
The total project cost is pegged at more than $1 billion, according to Bennett. To help pay for it, the development team submitted an application for a competitive national grant that awards up to $30 million each for four projects. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhood grant is awarded to support locally-driven efforts to “address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing” that involve a holistic strategy to both transform the housing and the surrounding neighborhood, according to HUD’s website. The Choice Neighborhood program focuses on plans that provide mixed-income housing, services to improve youth educational
WHITTIER CELEBRATES UNITY DAY When: Noon – 4:00 p.m., Saturday, July 9 Where: 160 Ruggles Street, Rear, Roxbury
outcomes and amenities that will encourage investment in neighborhoods generating commercial activity and higher levels of safety.
The prospects
Bennett said that HUD is expected to receive two to three dozen applicants for its Choice Neighborhoods grant. By October, the Whittier Choice team should find out if they are among the group of finalists selected, she said. The Whittier project could begin September 2017 and be completed by June 2020 if HUD approvals and funding come through, according to Madison Park DC’s online description of the project. But the grant is no sure thing. The development team applied for it last year, and although they made it to the final round, they were one rank too low to receive funding. Out of thirty-four applicants, Whittier Choice placed sixth. Only the top five entries received grants. Still, the project received positive feedback and HUD encouraged them to apply again, Bennett said. Bennett said that failing to get HUD funding would not necessarily sound a death knell on the project. There is hope that it still could progress, but in a scaled-back form and on a slower schedule. “If we don’t get the grant, we’ll try very hard to still move forward with the initial phase of the project, but we won’t have the funding to do the public infrastructure or the community services piece of it, and we won’t have funding for the other phases
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Renderings show the proposed Whittier Street site. of the project,” Bennett told the Banner. “If we don’t get the grant at this point, it’s just not a certain path.” Since the previous year’s disappointment, the development team has revised their vision and application. “We particularly improved the neighborhood’s plan in terms of focusing on public infrastructure and amenities that could be really transformative around the neighborhood strong housing plan,” Bennett said. The construction is less dense under the new vision, with more open green space and through streets, and smaller blocks of housing that better align with the rest of the neighborhood, she said.
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No Points Portfolio lender Stable rate adjustment every 5 Years 40-Year Term In-house servicing on all loans We also offer Commercial Real Estate Loans
Please join us for a Free Networking Reception on July 11, 2016. Place: Hilton Boston Airport Hotel 1 Hotel Drive, Boston, MA 02128
617.221.7770 540 Tremont Street Boston MA 02116 hinghamsavings.com
Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Date: July 11, 2016
Please RVSP to:
Jeniece McClary Director of Business Alliances jjackson@hudsongroup.com 201.528.2549
Courtney Thornton VP Partner Relations and Business Diversity cthornton@hudsongroup.com 504.346.1566
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Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 7
NEWSBRIEFS VISIT US ONLINE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS: WWW.BAYSTATEBANNER.COM Chinatown community members walk out of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation public meeting on the sale and redevelopment of Parcels 25 and 26 Last week MassDOT, along with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, held its fifth and final public meeting at the State Transportation building, where it unveiled the final guidelines and Invitation to Bid on Parcels 25 and 26. The Chinatown community has dedicated countless hours attending all five meetings and submitting oral and written comments during and after each meeting. The Chinatown community has patiently followed along with MassDOT’s public process, repeating the community’s needs time and time again. MassDOT has failed to respond in good faith and as a result the Chinatown community felt it had exhausted its options and was compelled to walk out en masse. Parcels 25 and 26 are a 5.5 acre site located in the Chinatown Gateway and New Economy Development areas, nestled between the Chinatown and Leather District neighborhoods. It is one of the last remaining pieces of large, publicly-owned land located, in part, in the Chinatown neighborhood. The Interstate-93 is located on it, as well as the beloved Reggie Wong Park, an anchor of the Chinatown community used by generations of volleyball players and one of only two park spaces in all of Chinatown. In the latest of four letters to MassDOT, crafted and signed by over twenty Chinatown organizations and individuals and submitted on June 17, the community called for affordable housing units that are truly affordable for Chinatown residents. The average household earns less than $20,000, less than 30% of area median income (AMI) in the greater Boston area. The community also called for expansion of the Reggie Wong Park to accommodate more basketball/ volleyball courts, greater protections for community access on the to-be-privately-owned site, and a temporary replacement during construction. The final ITB indicates that 20 percent of all units should be affordable. But to the Chinatown community’s disappointment, 13 percent will be affordable to households earnings 70 percent AMI, in accordance with the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) and out of reach for Chinatown incomes. The remaining 7 percent will have affordability ranging from 50 percent to 120 percent AMI. The average AMI of all affordable units will be 90 percent, meaning nearly all non-inclusionary units will also be out of reach for Chinatown incomes. As for Reggie Wong Park, although the final ITB allows for retention on-site at the same size, it did not meaningfully attempt to address our concerns regarding expansion and access.
Mayor signs $2.98B Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Mayor Martin Walsh signed a $2.98 billion Fiscal Year 2017
(FY17) city budget [see page 1 story] that achieves savings through data-oriented management; tackles structural challenges identified through operational reviews and planning; and makes targeted investments ranging from access to quality early childhood education, to addressing chronic and veteran homelessness, to reducing Emergency Medical Services response time. Based on recommendations from operational reviews and a data-driven approach to managing government, the FY17 Budget includes several reforms, including: n Boston Public Schools will deploy a new transportation tap card system to gain data to run a more efficient student transportation system, which will save $10 million in FY17. Through data about ridership, BPS will work to improve bus routing to reduce the number of trips. The system will also provide real-time information to parents about their students’ bus ride. n City departments have eliminated over 100 long-term vacant positions saving $4.7 million in FY17 without impacting service levels. n Building on work over the last two years to assess and inventory the Library’s print collection, in FY17 Boston Public Library is refocusing Special Collection’s work to improve inventory management, a key recommendation of their 2015 operational review. n Evaluation of Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) programing found that the department could more effectively meet youth, families’ and seniors’ need for longer evening and weekend community center hours and a dedicated senior center by redeploying existing resources. With this reform, BCYF will make cost-neutral changes to dedicate the Grove Hall Community Center as a senior center, expand operating hours at all stand-alone sites, expand Saturday evening
n Use $1 million in Boston housing for the homeless. hours, enable five centers to opRedevelopment Authority public n Launch Parks First, a comerate seven days per week, and prehensive initiative ensuring that benefit funds to better serve and allow 17 centers to operate six support the artists of Boston. Boston’s open spaces are among days per week. In addition to taking immedithe Nation’s most accessible and n The budget allows for reate steps in FY17 to improve City equitable. alignment of several City departoperations and meet demands for n Support the opening of nine ments including Department of programs and services, the Walsh Early Voting sites, one in each of Neighborhood Development, Administration continues work to Economic Development, Property the city’s nine council districts, to tackle long-standing challenges Management and Public Facilities increase voting opportunities for all qualified voters for the Novem- and future unknown cost drivers. to more efficiently and effectively The City is actively working to neber 2016 election. meet their core missions. gotiate affordable collective barn Allow Boston 311 call takers n Based on the Fire Departgaining agreements with almost to have the ability to interact with ment’s operational review, the all of its unions - salary increases residents through interpreters, FY17 budget allows for improved in these agreements will have a and allow the City to be able to Fire fleet maintenance and dedirect impact on dollars available translate more newsletters, press ploys a new apparatus replacereleases, and other notices in a va- in FY17 and in the coming years. ment plan to promote firefighter The Boston Public School’s Longsafety and improve the state of fire riety of languages. Term Financial Planning Comn Streamline access to small engines and ladders. mittee is working on a long-term business resources through a The much needed reform plan for the District’s solvency measures being implemented in single point of contact and provide small businesses with techni- with recommendations that will FY17 make possible increased address cost-drivers and revenue cal assistance to help businesses investments across City governopportunities. Given stagnant ment. Walsh’s FY17 Budget main- improve their marketing, access state revenue, the City will expand capital markets, enhance strategy tains high levels of funding in its efforts and also focus on maxand operations and gain human Boston Public Schools at $1.032 imizing local receipt collection. resources training. billion and public safety at $578 Finally, the Walsh Administration n Reduce EMS response times million and uses savings to make will continue to advocate for reby adding additional EMTs and targeted investments in a thrivforms to charter school finance new ambulances. ing, health and innovative City. that protect Boston taxpayers n Allow individuals seeking Through these investments the while allowing for moderate information about, or access to, City will: growth in the charter school cap. addiction treatment services to n Increase access to quality The FY17 Budget builds on the reach the PAATHS (Providing early childhood education by exWalsh Administration’s record of Access to Addictions Treatment, panding Boston Public Schools’ fiscal responsibility, commitment Hope and Support) program K1 programming by another 200 to addressing its long-term liabilthrough Boston’s 311 service. seats, building on the 200 seats ities and strong data-driven mann Modernize public safety added over the last two years. agement. The City’s success in by supporting the Police body n Launch the Superintenthese areas was validated in 2016 camera pilot, revitalizing Police dent’s new Excellence for All pilot by the affirmation of Boston’s radios, and upgrading Boston’s program, which will offer fourth triple A bond rating. graders in 13 schools access to rig- E-9-1-1 system. orous and enriched experiences, bringing the benefits of the Advanced Work Classes to a more BOSTON diverse set of students and equipREDEVELOPMENT ping them with new skills such as AUTHORITY foreign languages and robotics. n Support the Homeless Partners Human Research Committee Action Plan to End Chronic and APPROVAL Effective Date Veteran Homelessness, by providing front door triage staff at 8/11/2015 Pine Street Inn, rapid re-housing rental assistance, additional emergency shelter to families and low barrier permanent supportive
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
PLAN: DUDLEY SQUARE MONDAY, JULY 18
2300 WASHINGTON STREET
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Second Floor School Committee Room Roxbury, MA 02119
Help Us Learn More About Sleep! If you are: 55-70 years old Non smoker Healthy and taking no medication
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: On July 18th we will continue the work and discussion from the June 20th workshop. The focus will be to: engage stakeholders in small group discussion around economic development priorities; review data and updated information requested on the June 20th Workshop; and meet the consultant team of Next Street Financial and have introductory overview on the principles of economic development feasibility.
You may be eligible for a 37-day sleep research study at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. There will be a 4-6 week screening period. Must be willing to spend 37 consecutive days and nights in our facility. Receive up to $10,125
PLAN: Dudley Square is an initiative to think strategically about the types of uses and the scale of development best suited for the future of Dudley Square and Roxbury. The goals of this study are to provide an inclusive community engagement process, create an updated vision with the community, and establish an implementation plan that will lead to the issuance of Requests for Proposals “RFPs” for publicly-owned and vacant privately-owned parcels in Dudley Square. We look forward to having you join us at the workshop. For more information please visit: http://bit.ly/PlanDudley
mail to:
Call 617-525-8719 or email sleepstudy@partners.org
phone: email:
LILLIAN MENSAH
Boston Redevelopment Authority One City Hall Square, 9th Floor Boston, MA 02201 617.918.4338 Lillian.Mensah@Boston.gov
BostonRedevelopmentAuthority.org
@BostonRedevelop
Teresa Polhemus, Executive Director/Secretary
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BIZ BITS TIP OF THE WEEK
The right technology services are the key to killer customer service Think sales numbers trump customer service? Think again. Research shows companies focused on providing a superior experience across the customer journey realized a 20 percent increase in customer satisfaction and 10-15 percent increase in revenue. Furthermore, 45 percent of people will abandon an online transaction if their questions or concerns are not addressed quickly. And perhaps the most shocking of all: It costs six to seven times more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing customer. Given these factors many companies are taking a closer look at their customer retention rates and evaluating the customer experiences they provide. To meet customers on their terms and facilitate employee productivity, it’s critical to invest in new technology. However, not all businesses have the internal IT resources or expertise to efficiently implement technology and effectively manage it on a continuous basis. For these businesses, working with a trusted technology partner provides an easier route to weather the changes and delight customers. Numerous companies have worked with Dell to ensure they don’t have to worry about downtime or system failure. Dell ProSupport Plus, for instance, provides these companies with the highest level of hardware and software support so they can deliver the best experience to their customers. Powered by Dell’s SupportAssist technology, this support program not only helps resolve issues quickly and proactively, but can also prevent issues before they happen through predictive capabilities. This means less effort by IT staff and more peace-of-mind for both the company and their customers. For example, Dell ProSupport Plus with SupportAssist users are able to spend up to 91 percent less time on resolution. Imagine what an IT staff could do when they’re able to shift that time away from maintenance. Another time when a technology provider’s services become critical is when businesses implement new solutions. The continual evolution of technology such as cloud, converged data centers and big data presents a world of new opportunities - and new challenges. Not only do businesses need to contemplate how to get their new technology up and running quickly, they also need to be able to maintain, refresh and address any issues that arise. To sail over the many potential hurdles, the Dell ProDeploy Enterprise Suite is helping IT managers and business leaders navigate the growing complexity of multiple platforms and risk of transitioning to new technologies while minimizing any downtime, all within the confines of limited resources and budgets. Businesses can rely on Dell experts and partners to lead deployments from basic hardware installation through planning, configuration and complex integrations. Companies using Dell deployment services can reduce IT effort by 91 percent and deploy systems 39 percent faster. With new technology solutions up and running, businesses should be positioned to provide the best customer service possible. However, without a properly trained crew there will be no one to sail the ship or right it when needed. In addition to investing in technology, See BIZ BITS, page 9
BANNER PHOTO
Surrounded by spools of colorful thread, Lisa Martin runs a business out of her Roxbury home, specializing in custom embroidery.
Growing a home business Roxbury woman launches custom embroidery venture By YAWU MILLER
Lisa Martin had been operating an embroidery business as a sideline for six years, working out of the kitchen of her Roxbury condo to produce customized baseball caps, jackets and other items. Then, last year when she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant at a local nonprofit, Martin went all in. She purchased an engraving machine and began marketing her skills to wedding planners, funeral homes, sports teams — anyone who needs a custom touch. Martin had worked as a seamstress, but found the work long and involving with little payout. Then she began to notice how many people were wearing custom-embroidered hats. “I noticed a lot of people wearing the hats,” she said. “I asked one man how much he paid. He said $75. It was from Lids. I started asking people what they would wear, what they liked.” She purchased a $30,000 embroidery machine, obtaining financing from the manufacturer after asking acquaintances about their customized baseball caps.
The ten-needle machine, with its rows of colored thread and LED control panel, now occupies a corner of Martin’s kitchen. Originally, she saw the machine as a way to supplement her income. “At first my goal was that it didn’t have to make me wealthy,” she said. “I wanted it to pay for itself. But I did make extra money with it.” Now Martin moves seamlessly from one contract to the next. High school sports teams send her jackets and other apparel. She loads the spools of thread into her machine and, with focus, can turn out more than 100 items a day. Local hospitals have been a good source of revenue. Last year, one sent her an order for 133 jackets. Martin embroidered the hospital’s logo, along with the names of the 133 residents. The job took three days to complete. Martin has relied on wordof-mouth marketing. But clients come from everywhere, including Google searches. “A lot of this stuff is kind of weird,” Martin said. “This girl from a sorority at MIT came to me because she wanted embroidered hair bands. She came by here in an
Uber, dropped them off and picked them up a couple days later.” One approach that thus far has not paid off has been government contracts. Martin registered as a minority business enterprise with the state, but garnered little business. She said she’s often approached by larger contractors looking to increase their chances of winning a bid by including a disadvantaged business. “Often times they’re desperate,” she said. “The first contract I got used my information, but never gave me any work.” Martin says city and state contracts make up a small fraction of her overall business.
From cloth to metal
Getting established in the embroidery business has been relatively easy. Martin says she relied upon word-of-mouth to drum up contracts, talking to people at church, at her daughter’s school and obtaining referrals from past clients. She recently purchased an 11-blade, $11,000 engraving machine, obtaining a microloan from the nonprofit lender Accion. Now her business includes brass memorial plates, etched glass and other engraving jobs.
Martin says she did not need a business plan. “When I started this business, it was already six years old,” she says. But a business plan may soon be necessary, with the engraving machine and raw materials taking up parts of her living room and her kitchen almost entirely occupied by the embroidering machine and its supplies. Martin is looking at her options for opening a brick-andmortar location in the Roxbury area. While competing businesses, such as the custom sportswear chain store Lids, charge as much as $75 for a custom-embroidered baseball cap, Martin can turn a cap around for a third as much and still earn a decent profit. And while local youths favor the customized hats Lids sells, they have to travel downtown or to a shopping mall to obtain them. “Nothing like what I’m doing exists in this area,” Martin said. Ideally, Martin says, she would like to team up with a silk screener to open a full-service clothing customization business. With a physical location, Martin could sell both the embroidering service and the hats, jackets and tee shirts that clients want to have customized, thus earning more profits.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 9
BUSINESSNEWS
Thursday, June 30, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 25
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Biz Bits
Reception for The BASE at Fenway Park
continued from page 8 organizations need to give their IT team the right training and tools to do their job well. Dell has addressed this critical need by introducing training and certification that gives a company’s IT staff access to the same resources as Dell engineers. If the technology powering the business is running smoothly, it’s reflected in effortless and memorable interactions with customers that inspire loyalty and build revenue. Customer service IT services and customer support will continue to evolve as new technologies are developed and customer expectations will continue to rise. By being proactive and partnering with a technology vendor who is intent on staying ahead of the curve, companies can gain an edge against the competition while building an unbreakable brand reputation. — Brandpoint
TECH TALK PHOTO: LEO GOZBEKIAN
From left, Red Sox President Sam Kennedy; BASE President Robert Lewis, Jr. and Governor Charlie Baker. Sam Kennedy and Boston Red Sox executives graciously hosted a fundraising reception on June 27 for The BASE that was attended by more than 50 prominent business leaders and philanthropists. Founded three years ago to shift the national mindset about what it takes for black and Latino youth in Boston and across the country to establish pathways to success, The BASE has a unique methodology that engages urban youth in baseball and academics in the context of a distinctive, high expectations culture. Governor Charlie Baker attended the reception with his wife Lauren. Kennedy, Governor Baker and Paul Marcus of Marcus Partners each shared personal stories about the impact The BASE is making, not only in the lives of the student athletes it serves, but how The BASE has changed their own minds about what’s possible for our urban youth. Also in attendance: Matt LeBretton, New Balance; Al Minahan, Preti Strategies; and BASE Board members John Cook, UBS; Paul Francisco, State Street; and Nimit Patel, Sony Corporation of America.
A recently launched Kickstarter project aims to create a line of “smart clothing”
that can wirelessly charge cell phones and other devices. The washable apparel has copper wire built in and room for a wallet-sized battery bank that is recharged via a special charging pad. A list of the various pants, jackets and accessories can be found at baubax.com/calculator.
THE LIST According to Forbes, the 10 best states in which to make a living are: 1. Wyoming 2. Washington 3. Virginia 4. North Dakota 5. Texas 6. Ohio 7. Michigan 8. Colorado 9. Illinois 10. Minnesota
NUMBER TO KNOW
71
percent: According to a new poll by Marketplace and Edison Research, 71 percent of Americans think the U.S. economic system is “rigged” in favor of certain groups. — More Content Now
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AUTOMOTIVE HICKS AUTO BODY, INC 10 Talbot Ave, Dorchester, MA 02124 Repair, refinish damaged vehicles. Complete interior and exterior recondition/detail. 24 Hour Towing. (617) 825-1545; fax (617) 825-8495; www.hicksautobodyinc.com
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CONSTRUCTION KERRY CONSTRUCTION, INC 22 Sylvester Rd, Dorchester. Interior & Exterior Painting; Replacement Windows & Doors; Carpentry; Roofing; Gutters; Masonry; Kitchens; Bathrooms; Vinyl Siding. Free Estimates. Licensed & Insured. Call James O’Sullivan (617) 825-0592
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MUTARE HYPNOSIS LLC Live a Fuller Life Professional Hypnotists for weight loss, tobacco, stress, fears, chronic pain and illness, dental concerns, self-esteem, salesmanship, sports, leadership, test jitters. Downtown Boston or by Skype. (617) 266-3057; www.MutareHypnosis.com.
LAWYERS LAW OFFICE OF VESPER GIBBS BARNES & ASSOCIATES 10 Malcolm X Blvd, Boston, MA 02119; (617) 989-8800; Fax: (617) 989-8846. Attorneys Vesper Gibbs Barnes and Felicia E. Higginbottom, practicing in the areas of Real Estate (Buyer/Seller), Landlord/Tenant, Probate, Family Law (Divorce/Child Custody and Support), and Personal Injury. Open M-F, 9 am-5 pm.
DAILY GENERAL COUNSEL, PLLC Finally, small businesses can get help from a smart and experienced business lawyer at an affordable price, on a One Day and Done™ basis. n Business Formations n Contracts n Customer/Vendor Disputes n Employee Issues n Employment Manuals www.DailyGeneralCounsel.com; Email: info@dailygc.com; Phone & Fax (800) 296-7681
LAW OFFICE JAY U. ODUNUKWE & ASSOCIATES 170 Milk Street, 4th floor Downtown - Boston, MA 02109 Phone: (617) 367-4500; Fax: (617) 275-8000 Email: Harvcom@prodigy.net Creative Solutions Always Delivers The Best!!! Criminal: Drug Offenses, Drunk Driving/OUI, Assault/Probation Surrenders, Sealing Records/ Domestic Violence Civil: Personal Injury/Automobile Accidents, Landlord/Tenant Immigration: Deportation/Removal Proceedings, Green Card/Citizenship Sports/Entertainment: Soccer/FIFA Player Agent
MENTAL / BEHAVIORAL HEALTH DR. BERNARD SCOTT, LICSW, PSY.D 70 Warren Street, Suite 4 Roxbury, MA 02119 (857) 362-7028 Fax: (617) 652-8796 Email: dr.bernardscottpsyD@yahoo.com Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, Bipolar, ADHD, Personality Disorders, etc.
OPHTHALMOLOGISTS URBAN EYE MD ASSOCIATES. P.C. 183 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02115 720 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118 (617) 262-6300; (617) 638-8119; www.urbaneyemd.com. Benjamin Andrè Quamina, M.D.; Lawrence I. Rand, M.D.; Clifford Michaelson, M.D.; Chukwuemeka Nwanze, M.D.; Purvi Patel, O.D. Treating: Glaucoma, Cataracts, Diabetes, Ocular Plastic/Cosmetic Surgery and other vision threatening conditions and diseases. Offering: Routine Eye and Contact Lens Exams
REALTOR BERNICE OSBORNE, SRES, REALTOR PROFESSIONAL REAL ESTATE SERVICES Residential, Commercial, Land, Estate sales and short sales, 14+ years of experience. Serving Greater Boston and surrounding areas. SRES® Seniors Real Estate Specialist specializes in working with seniors (persons 50+) and their caregivers. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Direct: (617) 804-5789 Office: (617) 696-4430 Email: Bernice.Osborne@nemoves.com, Web: www.nemoves.com/Bernice.Osborne
REMOVAL SERVICES FREE TREE WOOD REMOVAL Good hardwood only. Call Akee Roofing (781) 483-8291
ROOFING AKEE ROOF REPAIRS Roof Leaks repaired, Gutters repaired, cleaned, and replaced, Flatroofs replaced. Free estimates. Call (781) 483-8291
SKILLED NURSING FACILITY SKILLED NURSING & REHAB CENTER Proudly serving the Community since 1927
BENJAMIN HEALTHCARE CENTER 120 Fisher Ave, Boston, MA 02120. www.benjaminhealthcare.com; Tel: (617) 738-1500; Fax: (617) 738-6560. Short-term, Long-term, Respite, Hospice & Rehabilitation. Tony Francis, President & CEO, Notary Public
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10 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
ARTS& ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT
Tamyra Gray talks about music and her
role in the musical ‘If/Then’ By COLETTE GREENSTEIN
I
t’s been more than a decade since singer and songwriter Tamyra Gray made her first television appearance on FOXTV’s “American Idol” in 2002. Post-“Idol,” she released an album titled “The Dreamer,” debuted on Broadway in the Bollywood-themed musical “Bombay Dreams” in 2004 and wrote the songs “I Believe” and “You Thought Wrong” for fellow “Idol” alums Fantasia Barrino and Kelly Clarkson. She also guest-starred on the TV series “Boston Public” and appeared opposite Anne Hathaway in the indie film “Rachel Getting Married” in 2008. Gray is currently starring in the national tour of the musical “If/Then” playing at the Boston Opera House now through July 17. She stars as Kate, an elementary school teacher who befriends Elizabeth (played by Broadway actress Jackie Burns), a city planner who moves back to New York to restart her life post-divorce, only to discover that the best laid plans are often subject to the whims of chance and fate. The multi-talented Gray spoke to the Banner about her role in the musical, being on “American Idol,” and how discovering Prince helped her growing up.
Auditory learning Art and hip-hop come together in Cambridge pop-up By CELINA COLBY
Last week, quiet Cambridge came alive on a Thursday night for an underground evening of hip-hop beats and alternative artwork. Artist John L. Griffin, who works at The Sinclair to supplement his artistic pursuits, noticed that the popular music venue rarely showed hip-hop artists. In an effort to highlight urban artists, he organized “Audiovisual: An Art and Hip-Hop Night,” a free event featuring music by local DJ Rilla Force and visual artwork by Griffin, Jousef Massif and Caitlin Rose Morrison-Dyke. One of Griffin’s works features a profile pen drawing on wood of a black man in a Native American headdress. The burnt orange, painted background gives the piece an earthy tone. Griffin says this is his spiritual alter ego, The Chieftain. Painting this alter ego allows Griffin to connect with a more peaceful side of himself. Griffin’s woodwork pieces are his best. Tucked in a back corner hung several stunning works in gradations of cut wood. Simple figures in neutral tones were made striking and intricate by the textural component.
Metaphysical
Massif ’s work has a spiritual component as well. Two of his portraits framed The Cheiftain, both subjects portrayed with multiple heads, as though different facets of them were sprouting up in a dreamlike fashion. The female portrait, painted on canvas in rich greens, shows three faces clouded in a puff of cigarette smoke. The subject doesn’t engage with the viewer, but appears to be having a quiet moment with herself. Her red necklace blows to the side of the frame in a whimsical gesture, bringing a positive sensibility to a reflective painting. Community was the hallmark of the evening. The hip-hop world of Boston is small enough for everyone to know each other. Force excitedly greeted guests all night, keeping one hand on his music and the other on his buddies. The venue and music were as much a part of the experience as the artwork. Hosted in The Sinclair’s Kitchen, the space was intimate and rugged, with exposed brick, dim lighting and industrial décor. “I think art and music go well
Tell me about your character Kate and how she relates to Liz? Tamyra Gray: Liz meets Kate when she moves back to New York after divorcing her husband of 11 years. Kate is the kind of person who kind of takes life by the reins and lets go. She convinces Liz that just because her marriage didn’t work out that she shouldn’t give up on love and that there’s someone for everybody out there, as long as you’re
See GRAY, page 12
ON THE WEB Broadway In Boston presents “If/Then”
now through July 17 at the Boston Opera House located at 539 Washington Street in Boston. To purchase tickets, call Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787 or order online at www.BroadwayInBoston.com.
www.baystatebanner.com
PHOTO: COURTESY BROADWAY IN BOSTON
Tamyra Gray
See HIP-HOP, page 12
Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 11
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‘In Search of Vanished Blood’
Artist Nalini Malani confronts her war-torn past in mixed-media exhibit at ICA through Oct. 16 By CELINA COLBY
World-renowned media artist Nalini Malani never got a childhood. At just a few years old she was ripped from her home in Karachi, now Pakistan, and forced into the difficult life of a refugee, without ever knowing the home she left behind. Her exhibit “In Search of Vanished Blood,” showing at the ICA through October 16, reflects her experience of female suffering during the Partition of India, which divided the British Indian Empire into Pakistan and India. The exhibit opens up with two walls of mixed-media collages. In each piece there is a background photograph of a female face. In some cases the face is completely covered by fabric with a world map printed on it. In other cases, minimal covering allows us to see the pained, wild eyes of the woman behind the headdress. In one, more explicit piece, one man holds another at gunpoint while a woman watches from the sidelines. A plane explodes in the background. Despite its name, the Partition
of India was not a comfortable experience, and neither is Malani’s work. Between 200,000 and two million people were killed in retributive religious genocides during the transition, and another 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced. Malani’s work is a stark, violent depiction of the female experience during the largest mass migration in human history. In another media piece, two women stand beside the drawn outline of a brain. They use long sticks to poke at two bulbous cellshaped organisms floating in the brain. Perhaps they are attempting to recover some of their stifled personalities, lost within themselves. In many of the works, the drawn and cutout women are expressionless despite the violence around them. They have become immune to the destruction. Standing there, absent-mindedly watching executions and explosions, they beg the question, “In a world like this, is it better to live or to die?” The centerpiece of the exhibit is a large room featuring an immersive media installation. All four walls feature projection, while
five cylinders covered in mythological drawings hang from the ceiling and spin. Malani was one of the first artists of her kind to incorporate video into her work. Caged as she was in her cultural position, she searched desperately for freedom in her art. In this video piece, women’s faces flash across the walls, covered by another projection layer of blood. A voice says, “I reject all the sperm I have received. I take back the world I gave birth to.” The fantastical creatures painted on the spinning cylinders reflect onto the walls at varying times. The result is entrancing visual storytelling, making a tragic narrative beautiful. Malani’s work references a very specific experience. Her images of Indian culture clash explode on the temperate Boston art scene like the bombs in her film stills. “In Search of Vanished Blood” is informative, estranged and deeply personal. After a 50-year career, Malani is well-versed in reaching an audience who may not have been through what she has. Her media is aesthetically intricate and,= most of all, touches the lonely, frightened bit of humanity in all of us that longs for a home.
PHOTO: COURTESY ICA
Artist Nalini Malani’s installations at the Institute for Contemporary Art.
NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHTS
Join us for a free celebration of art and community, with activities for visitors of all ages. Enjoy live music, art-making, horticulture projects and much more.
SELECT THURSDAYS THIS SUMMER, 5–8 PM
JULY 14 / JULY 28 / AUGUST 11 TICKETS ARE FREE BUT LIMITED TO MUSEUM CAPACIT Y AND CAN BE PICKED UP AT THE DOOR EACH FREE EVENING. Studio activities are generously supported by Linda N. Cabot and Ed Anderson. Education and community programs are supported by Pamela and Robert Adams, the Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation, Janet Burke Mann Foundation, Lenoir Charitable Trust, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Mabel Louise Riley Foundation, Moorhead Foundation, New Balance Foundation, Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust, Rowland Foundation, Succop Family Foundation, and Yawkey Foundation. The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This program also is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.
12 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
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hip-hop
continued from page 10 together,” Griffin said. “I wanted to produce something that highlighted both.” Griffin is a Massachusetts College of Art alumnus and knows how difficult it can be for young artist to show their work. In addition to supporting
emerging talent, the event appealed to a young African American community that isn’t always targeted in Cambridge nightlife. For those looking to experience the artwork, Rilla Force’s work can be found on Spotify and Sound Cloud. John L. Griffin, Jousef Massif and Caitlin Rose Morrison-Dyke’s work can be found on Facebook.
DCBK VISITING CHEF EVENT: JULY 12, 13 & 14, 2016
ON COLUMBUS Welcome Chef Clyde Williams, Jr. Also known as “Uncle Clyde,” Chef Williams hails from San Antonio, Texas, where he is known for his Creole culinary skills. He currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana where he continues to grace the city with his culinary talents. He has conducted several Mardi Gras Cuisine presentations at Williams Sonoma and has been a featured chef on San Antonio’s “Kens 5 Morning News.” As a Creole cuisine expert, Chef Williams’ motto in the kitchen is “I ain’t new to it, I’m true to it”!
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ur Make Yons Now! tio Reserva s: $55 4 Course ,
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Gray
continued from page 10 willing to be open. She kind of helps Liz through this journey of allowing life to happen to you. She’s kind of Liz’s love guru in a sense. She has to find someone. She’s not going to let her give up.
Was it a dream of yours to sing and act professionally when you were growing up? TG: It was always a dream to sing. I didn’t quite understand what the acting part meant but I discovered that that was something that I was blessed to be able to do naturally because I loved to internalize songs. When I’m singing them — whether it’s for a musical or just a performance in general — I always internalize the lyrics as if it’s happening to me right at this moment. These are my thoughts, this is how I feel, and this is my escape. I didn’t discover my love of acting until after I would say doing “Boston Public,” after “American Idol.” I remember when I had a meeting with Mr. David E. Kelley, I asked him, “You’ve never seen me act. Why are we having this meeting?” Not because I was doubtful, but I was curious. I’m a very curious person. He said, “From your performances I can see that you can act.” It’s been a blessing to have stumbled upon this talent, this gift that I wasn’t aware of as a kid.
And so what inspires you to keep going? The industry that you’re in can
be really challenging and difficult. Where do you find your inspiration? TG: I love it. When I was younger I looked at the industry, and how tough and how demanding and all that stuff, and what it began to do was take away my actual joy and love of what it is that I’m doing. It’s not about the industry. It’s about the song; it’s about the message; it’s about the healing. It’s about helping others to live in this other reality that doesn’t exist in their day-to-day lives like that. You never know what you’re giving to another person when you are on stage. You never know what that person is looking for. You could be the answer to a prayer that they’ve been praying about just in that performance. You give a piece of your heart and soul every single time you’re singing because it comes from within. I think that that’s what keeps me going, is that this is my soul. This is a part of my soul. I sing all the time whether it’s lyrics or a script or whatever in front of me. I make up songs all day long to where my kids are like, “Oh, my God. Please stop.” This is how I keep going. It’s what I love to do.
Stepping into this role of Kate, how do you go about making it your own since it wasn’t a role you originated? TG: Kate lives inside of me. It’s very funny because my stepmother came to see the show in Durham a couple of weeks ago and she came outside and she ran to me and she was cracking up laughing and she was like, “You’re not acting. That’s just you on stage.” It took a lot of courage,
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I have to say, because Kate is such a part of my personality that only my closest friends who are with me on a day-to-day basis see that crazy, goofy, silly side of me, because I was scared to show it. This is just how I am. But when I finally said “Okay, I’m going to give this a shot. I’m going to try and put forth more of myself into this role and add the little silly things that I do on a daily basis and risk looking stupid and be okay with that.” And, so that’s what I did. I took the script. I did my research on just a few things and I worked with it every single day. I still work with it every day. She’s just such a fun character. She does not make apologies for herself and that’s something that I could learn for myself — not to apologize for who I am.
This past April was the series finale of “American Idol.” What was one of your fondest memories of being on the show? TG: One of my fondest memories of being on the show? I’m going to start with being part of the first season and getting to be a part of the final episode of it. It was just a great, great blessing. One of my fondest memories would be writing Fantasia’s single, the winning single, and being able to give back in that sense.
I noticed on your Twitter page that you mentioned that Prince was the reason you discovered music. Can you elaborate on that? TG: The first time I saw him, I was in love. I liked everything about him. I was like, “I want to be him when I grow up.” I appreciated someone who went for it. I was curious about his sexuality. Let’s just be honest, a man with butt cheeks cut out of his pants, I’d never seen that before. Anybody that can do that is amazing. And, then when I listened to his lyrics and the poetry in his lyrics and the fact that he played every single instrument and he produced it and the music just poured from him. He was a vessel for music. And, music was my escape as a kid. There was a lot of abuse of alcohol. Music was where I turned to, is what I turned to when I needed to escape from my home life, and most of the time it was Prince that I listened to. I had all of his songs. I had a purple guitar. I wanted to take it all the way there. I was learning how to play the piano. I wanted to do and understand what was flowing through him.
What do you hope that audiences take away from seeing the musical? TG: I hope that audiences take away the fact that they have done everything right in their life, and there’s no amount of mistakes for anything that could be perceived as a failure that would be true. Everything is a lesson. Everything is a step towards the next thing that you are trying to do for yourself and it’s all on the path. And that’s what this show, I feel, lets you know. There’s a song at the end that’s called “Am I Always Starting Over” every brand new morning? And the truth is “Yes, you are always starting over every morning,” but guess what? Something happened yesterday that will bring you into today, that will change the direction of how the day flows, if you’re open to your life.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 13
budget
continued from page 1
BPS budget
Walsh’s resubmitted budget directed $4.7 million of additional funding into new projects and planning for BPS. However it still included reductions in the allocations to students with social emotional needs and autism, and it did not fully restore cuts to early learning and early education centers. Several opposing councilors said the benefits of the increases did not outweigh the detriments of the accompanying cuts. Schools will be left without nurses and librarians, and children with trauma and special needs may not be adequately served, they said. “What we have before us is a budget that expands the achievement gap,” Jackson, chair of the Committee on Education, said. “I believe it is unconscionable to support the school budget that will hurt and harm the Boston Public Schools yet again, year after year.” Those who voted “yes” on the BPS budget cited concerns that there may not be more money available to add and no better budget forthcoming. Some advised focusing on identifying more effective spending strategies. Councilor Josh Zakim said the mayor’s budgets presented reflected the reality of revenue limitations. “[This is] a reasonable budget that makes use of our limited resources,” he said. “Unfortunately, we cannot write a blank check.”
Special ed and trauma
Funding for autistic students will drop by eight percent and for students with trauma by 21 percent under the budget proposal, Jackson said. Campbell cited the change to
charters
continued from page 1 hear — and that means more support for charter schools.” The document counsels charter proponents to de-emphasize the corporate nature of charters, charter management and education management organizations, advising use of the word “network” instead. Under the heading “Say this, not this,” the document advises proponents to use the word “schools” rather than “businesses” or “companies;” “student share,” rather than “market share” and “families” rather than “consumers.” According to The Word Doctors website, the group has an established track record of changing the terms of public debate. “We have counseled Presidents and Prime Ministers, Fortune 100 CEOs and Hollywood creative teams in harnessing the power of language and visuals to change hearts, change minds and change behaviors,” the group’s LinkedIn page reads. Word Doctors CEO, veteran Republican strategist Frank Luntz, “is known for helping change the public vocabulary — he transformed the ‘estate tax’ into ‘the death tax,’ moved the public debate from ‘school vouchers’ to ‘opportunity scholarships,’ and re-cast ‘drilling for oil’ as ‘exploring for energy.’” Luntz also claims credit for persuading journalists and policymakers to swap global warming out in favor of “climate change.” To win in November, Great Schools Massachusetts will have to persuade voters to vote “yes” on
per pupil allocations as one of the main reasons she opposed it, and several Councilors Michael Flaherty and Sal LaMattina, who voted for the budget, said it was a serious concern as well. The budget also means that not every school will be supplied with a nurse, Pressley said. This deficiency is a critical problem she said, arguing that children cannot learn effectively when they are struggling to cope with unaddressed needs such as hunger and emotional trauma, be that trauma from a tragedy such as the shooting at the Burke or a life disruption such as a divorce in the family. Flaherty said he was pleased by the $4.7 million added to BPS in Walsh’ revised budget but that he recognized it was not enough.
Small cost fixes?
While Jackson said public schools face a $22 million to $28 million shortfall, Essaibi-George and Pressley said even small investments could be deeply impactful. “For $600,000 we could have saved all the librarians being cut. For $300,000 we could put reading specialists in all the schools losing reading recovery programs” Essaibi-George said. “For $2.2 million, we could give all of those schools the support they need.” She said political battles between elected officials had interrupted collaboration and distracted from finding practical solutions to the needs of the city’s children. Sound bites and grandstanding got in the way of productive discussions,” she said. Pressley said meeting the needs of trauma-impacted students is within the city’s reach. “I’ve been asking for 20 more nurses, just 20 more nurses. I don’t think that’s a lot,” she said. “All the autonomy and fancy investments
ON THE WEB Great Schools Massachusetts website videos: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HTFY-
qzowqo Save Our Public Schools website videos:
http://saveourpublicschoolsma.com a ballot question that many voters don’t fully understand. Following the advice of The Word Doctors, Great Schools Massachusetts will need to steer clear of talk of school closures and keep the focus on the children. So far, they appear to have succeeded. Their 2015 lobbying events at the State House, staged by a professional production company, featured parents and students in the front row.
Messaging in action
In videos posted on the Great Schools Massachusetts website, parents and students are featured prominently. A former high school dropout speaks about how Chelsea’s Phoenix Academy changed her life. With the exception of Gov. Charlie Baker, all of the speakers and most of those appearing in the video are black and Latino women. In a video posted on the Save Our Public Schools website, the lower production value is immediately evident. “Shouldn’t we improve schools for all children instead of taking away even more money from them to give to charters?” the narrator asks, rhetorically. The animated video plays up the $400 million that charters divert from district schools, showing resources like computers, books and science equipment disappearing from a
and rigor in the world are not going to improve outcomes if our students are not whole.”
Is there money?
Ciommo and Wu called the budget “fiscally responsible,” and Linehan said that the school budget has been rising at a rate that is untenable. Individual schools’ budgets are derived based on projected enrollment numbers and presumptions of how much it costs to meet needs, such as providing special education services. The current school budget provides an average of $20,000 per pupil, Linehan said. “If every parent has $20,000 to educate their kid, they could do one hell of a job if they spent their money on education,” he said. Baker agreed that this seemed sufficient. Linehan said he made his calculation by dividing the overall school budget by the number of students enrolled. This does not reflect that more funding is allocated to educate students with more intensive needs than for a student with standard needs. For instance, in the 2013-14 school year, BPS spent $21,140 more per pupil for a student with special education needs served in a substantially separate classroom than it did for a student with standard needs, according to information published by the BPS Communications Office. Jackson argued that schools are facing cuts at a time when Boston’s economy is strong. Funds could be freed up from projects, he said, such as a proposed $15 million investment in the Northern Avenue Bridge and directed to BPS or other programs for youth and the homeless. (The Northern Avenue Bridge spending proposal passed later that meeting in a ten
to three vote). Meanwhile, Wu and Flaherty called for spending reforms. “There are deep structural issues in Boston public schools that we need to address and need to reform,” Wu said. Ineffective programs should be identified and their funding redirected into more impactful programs, Flaherty advised. If the council did not reach a budget agreement by July 1, the city would enter fiscal year 2017 with the FY 16 budget provided in monthly installments. O’Malley said voting “no” would mean the FY 16 budget went forth, “which would be catastrophic.”
Unclear strategy
Campbell and Pressley said they wanted greater clarity about the logic that guided the school department’s budgeting plans. While the mayor’s budget provides for valuable initiatives such as expanding advanced work classes to more fourth grade students and providing more K1 seats, these come at too high a cost, Campbell said. “No teacher, principal or parent I spoke to said, ‘Bring about these programs but cut programs we know work,” she told the Banner. “My question to BPS is, ‘Where did this strategy come from?’ ” Pressley said that while BPS needs more funding, it also needs a cohesive view of its values and prioritizes to guide how the money is spent. “The investments that are being made are very challenging to be celebrating because we are pairing those investments with divestments in other areas where we still need to improve,” she said. Linehan, Frank Baker and Tim McCarthy framed their approval of the budget as indicators of support for Superintendent Tommy
classroom. As the narrator continues, windows go missing from the façade of a school building, dramatizing the loss of public school resources to charters. Another video produced by the same group features five adults speaking about how charter school expansion affects local districts.
are featured. The sole white person with a speaking role is the Governor. While the animated video produced by Save Our Public Schools features a few black and brown-looking animated characters, the entire video is voiced over by a white-sounding narrator.
Analysis
On the anti-charter cap lift side, the Mass Teachers Association-funded Save Our Public Schools campaign got off to a somewhat uninspired start with an April campaign launch event that featured union officials, teachers, community activists and no students (footage from this event appears in a video on the group’s website). That approach runs counter to the Charter School Messaging Notebook, which adheres to the widely-held notion that children are the most compelling messengers. “People want to hear from students themselves,” the group advises. “Testimonials of children telling their own stories move people more than any other communications.” Parents are the second most effective advocates, the group finds, followed by teachers. To their credit, the Save Our Public Schools website exploits many of the very fears The Word Doctors flagged as damaging to pro-charter messaging, opening its webpage with a large $400 million figure the group says charters are draining away from district schools. “Our public schools cannot afford to lose vital funding while we see programs cut and activities reduced,” the website informs readers. The charter school messaging
While the Great Schools Massachusetts videos rely largely on emotive testimony from parents of charter school students who urge voters to lift the cap, the Save Our Public Schools video relies more on facts and figures. The narrator cites a $1 billion shortfall in state funding for k-12 education and points out that charter schools receive taxpayer dollars but are run without public oversight. The divergent paths taken by the competing campaigns in their videos underscore several key differences in their media strategies thus far. Great Schools Massachusetts, which launched in January, has spent more money on video production, utilizing footage from a series of rallies the group staged and interviews with charter school students and parents. The videos are professionally produced and include inspiring music and cutaway shots showing children’s faces. The single animated video produced by Save Our Public Schools looks as if it were produced for a fraction of the cost. Great Schools Massachusetts is relying more heavily on black and Latino students and parents. No white teachers or administrators
Slow start
Chang and a way of giving him a chance to prove himself. Wu also told councilors that passing a budget does not mean an end to work to improve schools.
Housing and health
The absence of a housing voucher program in the budget was raised as a concern by Zakim, chair of the Committee on Housing and Community Development, Jackson and Councilor Matt O’Malley. “This [voucher program] is thoughtful, innovative and inexpensive when you think about the benefits,” O’Malley said. Zakim said he was disappointed and asserted that the solution to the homelessness crisis rests in providing homes. Ultimately, though, he concluded that mayor and his team had done a “reasonable job” with the resources at hand. Several councilors — Essaibi-George, Mark Ciommo and Michelle Wu — also praised the homelessness efforts that were funded, and Essaibi-George said going forward she will keep a focus on student and family homelessness. Pressley continued to protest the cut to community health center funding, saying that they provide vital assistance in addressing racial health disparities.
Parks and EMTs
Investments in parks and in reductions in response times of emergency medical technicians received praise from many councilors. Campbell also highlighted the capping of police and fire overtime. Wu celebrated greater support for translation services and a $300,000 addition to the budget that will go toward establishing an office to assist with individuals’ reentry to society post-incarceration.
notebook claims that voters “have a strong attachment to the idea of traditional public schools,” and are, therefore, put off by the idea of school closures. Education management organizations, usually the corporations that own charter networks, often depend on school closures for expansion into urban school districts. And as charters expand in many districts across the country, their larger share of public funding often forces districts to close schools. The Save Our Public Schools website lists among its aims “Increasing funding to provide high-quality public schools for all children,” and “Protecting local control over schools.” The latter point underscores a potential vulnerability in the charter movement that local activists seem eager to exploit: the opacity of privately-run charter organizations, few of which have parents or local community members on their oversight boards. With $18 million pledged to its campaign — much of it coming from the well-financed New York-based Families for Excellent Schools — Great Schools Massachusetts seems poised to do well in television advertising during this year’s charter cap battle. Save Our Schools, which is expected to spend $12 million — most of which will come from the Mass. Teachers Association — seems to have gotten off to a slow start. Voters can expect to see television advertisements airing after this year’s September 8 primary, as voters turn their attention to the November ballot.
14 • Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department Docket No. SU16P0973
SUFFOLK Division
contract commencement, be required to develop a written affirmative action compliance program for each of its establishments. Compliance Reports - Within thirty (30) days of the award of this Contract the Contractor shall file a compliance report (Standard Form [SF 100]) if:
Estate of Bernice L. Warrick Date of Death February 27, 2016
(a) The Contractor has not submitted a complete compliance report within twelve (12) months preceding the date of award, and
INFORMAL PROBATE PUBLICATION NOTICE
(b) The Contractor is within the definition of “employer” in Paragraph 2c(3) of the instructions included in SF100.
To all persons interested in the above captioned estate, by Petition of Petitioner Charlyn H. Warrick of Dorchester, MA a Will has been admitted to informal probate. Charlyn H. Warrick of Dorchester, MA has been informally appointed as the Personal Representative of the estate to serve without surety on the bond. The estate is being administered under informal procedure by the Personal Representative under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code without supervision by the Court. Inventory and accounts are not required to be filed with the Court, but interested parties are entitled to notice regarding the administration from the Personal Representative and can petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, including distribution of assets and expenses of administration. Interested parties are entitled to petition the Court to institute formal proceedings and to obtain orders terminating or restricting the powers of Personal Representatives appointed under informal procedure. A copy of the Petition and Will, if any, can be obtained from the Petitioner.
The contractor shall require the subcontractor on any first tier subcontracts, irrespective of the dollar amount, to file SF 100 within thirty (30) days after the award of the subcontracts, if the above two conditions apply. SF 100 will be furnished upon request. SF 100 is normally furnished Contractors annually, based on a mailing list currently maintained by the Joint Reporting Committee. In the event a contractor has not received the form, he may obtain it by writing to the following address: Joint Reporting Committee 1800 G Street Washington, DC 20506 Complete information and authorization to view the site may be obtained from the Capital Programs Department Office at the Massachusetts Port Authority. The right is reserved to waive any informality in or reject any or all proposals. MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY THOMAS P. GLYNN CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department
MEDFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY
Docket No. SU16C0076CA
SUFFOLK Division
In the matter of Jeffson Styfleur Vilno of Mattapan, MA NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Jennika Brice requesting that Jeffson Styfleur Vilno be allowed to change his name as follows: Jayson Bradley Luc IF YOU DESIRE TO OBJECT THERETO, YOU OR YOUR ATTORNEY MUST FILE A WRITTEN APPEARANCE IN SAID COURT AT BOSTON ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON 08/18/2016. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: June 10, 2016 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate
INVITATION FOR BIDS LEASE OF ROOFTOP SPACE FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICES
REAL ESTATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITY
REOPENING WAIT LIST
Mishawum Park Apartments will be accepting applications for multiple affordable housing programs such as but not limited to Section 236, HOME, (HSF) and (HIF) 1, 2, and 3 bedroom family housing. Eligible applicants will be placed on an existing waiting list by lottery, not by the order in which the completed application is received. There are no units available at this time. Interested persons may apply in person on-site located at: Mishawum Park Apartments, 95 Dunstable St., Charlestown, MA or by downloading the application at PeabodyProperties.com or by phone 617.242.4016 (TTY 711) or 1.800.439.2370 Deliver in person, the completed application to the same address in accordance with these time frames: Applications will be accepted Monday, July 11 and Tuesday, July 12 at 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. and ending Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 7 p.m. NOTE: Applications will not be sent or received by fax or e-mail. Please note that office hours for Mishawum Park Apartments are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The lottery selection will be held on Wednesday, August 15, 2016 at Noon; you do not need to be in attendance for the selection process since you will be notified of your position on the waiting list.
Invitation for Bids (IFB) are available free of charge for pickup on or after Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at the authority’s office. The Authority will also e-mail the IFB upon request.
All applicants must be determined eligible in accordance with the Department of HUD and DHCD regulations. Applicants must meet the family size requirements for a designated bedroom size unit and the income of all family members must be greater than 30% of AMI but less than the established Income Limits (as of 3/28/16)*: income limits for 50% HH# Greater than 30% AMI Less than 50% AMI of AMI. All utilities are included in the rent 1 $20,650 $34,350 2 $23,600 $39,250 and voucher holders 3 $26,550 $44,150 are welcome to apply. 4 $29,450 $49,050 5 $31,850 $53,000 6 $34,200 $56,900
Questions can be directed to John Coddington, tel. 781-396-7200 Ext. 106, fax: 781-393-9223, or e-mail to jcoddington@medfordhousing.org.
*Median income levels, rents & utility allowances are subject to change based on HUD guidelines (HUD.gov). Please inquire in advance for reasonable accommodation. Info contained herein subject to change w/o notice.
The Medford Housing Authority (the “Authority”) is soliciting sealed bids for the lease and use of rooftop and penthouse space on a (12) story building at 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA. The space is available for the installation and operation of radio communications facilities. These facilities can include, but are not limited to cellular telephone, personal communications systems, paging and land mobile radio. The lease and use of this space will be on a non-exclusive basis. Sealed bids will be received until 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 8, 2016, at the Medford Housing Authority office, 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, at such time, the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.
MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS Sealed General Bids for MPA Contract No. M520-C1(R), BERTH 12 BACKFLOW PREVENTER, CONLEY TERMINAL, SOUTH BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, will be received by the Massachusetts Port Authority at the Capital Programs Department Office, Suite 209S, Logan Office Center, One Harborside Drive, East Boston, Massachusetts 02128-2909, until 11:00 A.M. local time on WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016, immediately after which, in a designated room, the bids will be opened and read publicly.
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NOTE: PRE BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT CONLEY TERMINAL ADMIN SMALL CONFERENCE ROOM 2ND FLOOR, FARRAGUT ROAD AND EAST FIRST STREET, SOUTH BOSTON AT 10:00 A.M. LOCAL TIME ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016. THE WORK INCLUDES, BUT NOT LIMITED TO INSTALLATION OF BACKFLOW PREVENTER, INCLUDING: WATER METER, HEATED ALUMINUM ENCLOSURE CABINET, UNDERGROUND AND ABOVE GROUND WATER PIPE, GATE VALVES, ALUMINUM ACCESS HATCHES, ELECTRICAL, EARTHWORK AND PAVING. Bid documents will be made available beginning THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016. Bid Documents in electronic format may be obtained free of charge at the Authority’s Capital Programs Department Office, together with any addenda or amendments, which the Authority may issue and a printed copy of the Proposal form. The estimated contract cost is FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($530,000.00) A proposal guaranty shall be submitted with each General Bid consisting of a bid deposit for five (5) percent of the value of the bid; when sub bids are required, each must be accompanied by a deposit equal to five (5) percent of the sub bid amount, in the form of a bid bond, or cash, or a certified check, or a treasurer’s or a cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company, payable to the Massachusetts Port Authority in the name of which the Contract for the work is to be executed. The bid deposit shall be (a) in a form satisfactory to the Authority, (b) with a surety company qualified to do business in the Commonwealth and satisfactory to the Authority, and (c) conditioned upon the faithful performance by the principal of the agreements contained in the bid. The successful Bidder will be required to furnish a performance bond and a labor and materials payment bond, each in an amount equal to 100% of the Contract price. The surety shall be a surety company or securities satisfactory to the Authority. Attention is called to the minimum rate of wages to be paid on the work as determined under the provisions of Chapter 149, Massachusetts General Laws, Section 26 to 27G, inclusive, as amended. The Contractor will be required to pay minimum wages in accordance with the schedules listed in Division II, Special Provisions of the Specifications, which wage rates have been predetermined by the U. S. Secretary of Labor and / or the Commissioner of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts, whichever is greater.
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The successful Bidder will be required to purchase and maintain Bodily Injury Liability Insurance and Property Damage Liability Insurance for a combined single limit of $1,000,000. Said policy shall be on an occurrence basis and the Authority shall be included as an Additional Insured. See the insurance sections of Division I, General Requirements and Division II, Special Provisions for complete details. This contract is subject to a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation provision requiring that not less than SIX PERCENT (6.0%) of the Contract be performed by disadvantaged business enterprise contractors. With respect to this provision, bidders are urged to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the Bidding Documents. Strict compliance with the pertinent procedures will be required for a bidder to be deemed responsive and eligible. This Contract is also subject to Affirmative Action requirements of the Massachusetts Port Authority contained in the Non Discrimination and Affirmative Action article of Division I, General Requirements and Covenants, and to the Secretary of Labor’s Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Opportunity and the Standard Federal Equal Opportunity Construction Contract Specifications (Executive Order 11246). The General Contractor is required to submit a Certification of Non Segregated Facilities prior to award of the Contract, and to notify prospective subcontractors of the requirement for such certification where the subcontract exceeds $10,000. A Contractor having fifty (50) or more employees and his subcontractors having fifty (50) or more employees who may be awarded a subcontract of $50,000 or more will, within one hundred twenty (120) days from the
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Thursday, July 7, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 15
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE
Parker Hill Apartments Brand New Renovated Apartment Homes Stainless Steel Appliances New Kitchen Cabinets Hardwood Floors Updated Bathroom Custom Accent Wall Painting Free Parking Free Wi-Fi in lobby Modern Laundry Facilities
Two Bedrooms Starting at $2200 888-842-7945
Wollaston Manor 91 Clay Street Quincy, MA 02170
Senior Living At It’s Best
HELP WANTED
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A senior/disabled/ handicapped community
is working in Dorchester. We are looking for employment applications from individuals in the construction trades who would like to work in this area.
0 BR units = $1,027/mo 1 BR units = $1,101/mo All utilities included.
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Fax your resume to 781-821-4201 or email it to ncc@ northerncontractingcorp.com.
HELP WANTED
ASSISTANT PROPERTY MANAGER Growing real estate management-company, is seeking to hire experienced assistant property manager for a rental cooperative in Boston, MA. This excellent opportunity is for an optimistic individual with one to three years of experience working in the property management or real estate field. Overall, this full-time position is responsible for providing fundamental support to the Property Manager for this community helping to maintain superior resident relations and successful operations. Candidates must be highly motivated and well versed in low income tax credits, federal, State and local housing laws, experienced in recertification, processing applications, rent collections, and apartment inspections. This professional has excellent interpersonal, customer service and organizational skills, works well as part of a team, and in conducting interviews and completing paperwork with residents. The candidate selected is available to work flexible hours. Proficiency and solid experience in Microsoft Excel, MS Word, required. Experience with Yardi property management software a plus. Must have a valid driver’s license and own transportation. Candidates with 2-year Associates Degree and/or professional training encouraged to apply. Offering competitive salary, commensurate with experience; attractive benefits package. Interested parties send cover-letter and resume to: propmgmtprofessional@gmail.com
Codman Square NDC Real Estate Project Manager The Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. (CSNDC) seeks an experienced and energetic Real Estate Project Manager to oversee development and construction of two or more multi-family and/or homeownership projects, as well as pre-development activities for future pipeline residential and commercial projects.
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Qualifications include: At least 3-5 years’ experience in real estate development or related fields; management, organizational, technical and teamwork skills; strong spreadsheet/ Excel skills, excellent verbal and written communication skills, relevant bachelor’s or master’s degree. Spanish or Haitian Creole language skills a plus.
Are you a “people person?” Do you like to help others? Full-time, 12-week training plus internship. Job placement assistance provided. FREE TRAINING FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY! HS diploma or GED required. Free YMCA membership for you and your family while enrolled in YMCA Training, Inc. Call 617-542-1800 and refer to Health Insurance Training when you call
Competitive salary, plus benefits, depending on qualifications. Please send cover letter and resume, before July 29, 2016, to: K. Beth O’Donnell, CSNDC, 587 Washington St., Dorchester MA 02124, or email: beth@csndc.com or via mail to: K. Beth O’Donnell, Director of Real Estate Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. 587 Washington St. Dorchester, MA 02124
Are you interested in a
Healthcare CAREER? Project Hope, in partnership with Partners HealthCare is currently accepting applications for a FREE entry level healthcare employment training program.
Administrative Assistant Pleasant Hill Baptist Church
Program eligibility includes: • • • • •
Have a high school diploma or equivalent Have a verifiable reference of 1 year from a former employer Pass assessments in reading, language, and computer skills Have CORI clearance Be legally authorized to work in the United States
For more information and to register for the next Open House please visit our website at www.prohope.org/openhouse.htm or call 617-442-1880 ext. 218.
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER MBL HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT MBL Housing and Development (MBL) is an established real estate development consulting firm located in Amherst, MA. We seek a skilled project manager, with a commitment to affordable housing, community development and Western Massachusetts, to join our team. Our ideal candidate is an affordable housing developer with at least five years of experience in real estate development, who has an interest in and aptitude for: growing in an entrepreneurial business; building strong client relationships; and collaborating with a team. S/he will be motivated to strengthen the real estate development infrastructure in Western Massachusetts. See www.mbldevelopment.com for a full position profile. Submit a resume and a cover letter to: MBL Senior Project Manager Search, c/o Ann L Silverman Consulting, MBLSeniorProjectManager2016@gmail.com. MBL is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We encourage applications from candidates from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
The Pleasant Hill Baptist Church of Dorchester, Massachusetts is seeking an Administrative Assistant. The Administrative Assistant responsibilities are as follows: n Monitors the overall operations of the church’s day-today operations. n Work closely with the pastor, trustees, church staff and other ministries to ensure that all facets of the church’s needs and requirements are being adequately addressed. n Will follow established procedures for ensuring that all administrative functions are operating in an efficient and effective manner. n Will work with the Board of Trustees to institute procurement, personnel, payment and contracting policies are followed in order to enable the church to meet all obligations and responsibilities promptly. n The Administrative Assistant is directly responsible to the Pastor. Requirements: n The ability to communicate clearly, courteously and effectively. n The demonstrated ability to communicate orally and in writing. n Interpersonal and organizational skills. n The ability to effectively manage/coordinate simultaneous projects, and successfully prioritize multiple tasks with good judgment. Please mail your résumé to: Pleasant Hill Baptist Church P.O. Box 155, Dorchester, MA 02121
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