Bay State Banner 3-2-17

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Gov. appoints members of Black Advisory Commission pg 2

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PAST AND PRESENT FIGHT FOR CONTROL IN BOSTON BALLET’S ‘ARTIFACT’ pg 14

La Fábrica brings the Spanish Caribbean to Cambridge pg 10

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Budgets shrink at 48 schools

Many struggling schools hit, recovery plans may feel effect

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON

Boston’s struggling Brighton High School will lose about $1 million under the latest Boston Public Schools budget proposal, according to school department data. Brighton is far from alone: 48 other schools also face funding declines of varying amounts.

“I’m terrified as to what these cuts are going to do to my school,” said Hibo Moallim, a Brighton High senior and member of the Boston Student Advisory Council, in a Banner phone interview.

While her school has yet to announce how it will try to absorb the loss, she said already there are too few teachers and resources.

“It seems a little bizarre that [budget cuts] are an every-year thing,” Moallim said. “This is not what we deserve.”

Moallim said Advanced Placement classes are packed, with too few teachers; computers need improvements; some classes lack textbooks; and that reduced funding threatens closure of the library

ON THE WEB BPS data. See page 34 for school-level budget comparisons: http://tinyurl.com/htcagv4

or reduced support for English as a Second Language students.

The Brighton school also is slated to lose most of its teaching staff, as part of BPS’ plan to reverse its Level 4 “underperforming” status. Many, however, say that money needs to be put in, not taken out.

“How can a school be expected to improve, when they are being given less resources to do it?” wrote Kristin Johnson, member of the Citywide Parent Council, on her blog, Boston Political Education.

Brighton’s percentage of English Language Learners and students on independent education plans is among the highest in the state, and the school’s homeless student population is among the highest in Boston, states Kristen Leathers, an ESL 3 teacher, in a guest post on education activist Jennifer’ Berkshires’ “Have You Heard” blog.

See BPS BUDGET, page 7

BANNER PHOTO

John Santiago, a resident physician in emergency medicine at Boston Medical Center, makes the case against congressional Republicans’ plans to convert Medicaid funding to block grants, a move critics say would lead to decreased health care spending.

Doctors protest Trump’s planned ACA repeal Cite harm to indigent patients if Medicaid is cut

By YAWU MILLER

More than 200 medical professionals pledged to work together to fight against efforts by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and reduce Medicaid funding during a demonstration Saturday in front of the State House.

The spectacle of doctors — many of whom took time off from

weekend shifts — nurses and hospital administrators singing civil rights-era songs and pledging support for immigrants and the Black Lives Matter movement underscores the depth and breadth of concerns Massachusetts residents are voicing about a Republican agenda many see as antithetical to the basic functions of government.

“There’s an intersection between what we want for health care, for immigrants, for women, for Muslims, for the Black Lives

Matter movement,” said Joia Mukherjee, an associate professor with the Division of Global Health Equity at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“We have to work together.”

The Mass Healthcare Professionals Protest, as the event was billed, comes as House Republicans and Trump’s Secretary of

See HEALTH CARE, page 9

Bowdoin-Geneva’s land use, future Development choices can shape area

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON

BANNER PHOTO

Boston Latin Academy is slated to receive about $151,750 less under next year’s Boston Public Schools budget.

Several large development projects in Dorchester’s Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood could play a significant role in shaping the neighborhood’s future, including who will live there and how they will live. Community members are keeping an eye on what is getting built and how.

Changes already are present,

with a triple-decker on Fox Street selling for approximately $726,000 about a year ago, said Davida Andelman, a long-time resident active in the community.

“Gentrification — it’s coming to this neighborhood,” she said.

“It is already here. If you’re lucky enough to own your own house in Bowdoin-Geneva, you’re sitting on a gold mine.”

Andelman and Anh Nguyen, director of Bowdoin-Geneva

Main Streets, said in separate phone interviews that the neighborhood most needs low-income housing, especially that targeted at families and seniors, as well as developments that promote local economic development.

Affordable housing is in the pipeline. Current development projects in the area include 191-195 Bowdoin Street, where developers propose to turn two vacant lots into a four-story mixed retail and affordable housing development;

See BOWDOIN, page 6

2 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

Gov. appoints members of Black Advisory Commission Members represent diverse nationalities, different regions of Massachusetts

By YAWU MILLER

Governor Charlie Baker last week announced appointments to a new Black Advisory Commission, a group of people of African descent charged with weighing in on matters of concern to black communities across Massachusetts.

“We take this whole notion as an administration of ‘E pluribus unum’ — Out of many, one — extremely seriously,” Baker said. “For us to succeed as a commonwealth, it’s important that all voices believe they have a chance to be heard.”

Baker made the announcement during a State House press conference along with black officials from his administration who will serve on the commission and several members of the Massachusetts Legislative Black and Latino Caucus.

Geographic diversity

The commission, which will meet with Baker quarterly, so far includes 23 men and women from across the state working in the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors. Baker said the group likely would settle on two or three issues a year on which to work.

“The administration recognizes that statewide collaboration with black leaders, experts and other community stakeholders will help produce solutions to many challenges, and, accordingly, will advance the interests of all members

of the commonwealth,” said Anthony Richards, the newly-appointed director of community affairs for the Governor’s Office.

Baker gave no specific examples of issues on which the group would work. However, among the goals listed in his 2014 campaign Urban Agenda are alternative sentencing, more affordable higher education, an increase in the minimum wage and increased access to state contracts for minority businesses among its goals.

While the Baker administration, two years into his term, has made limited progress on these agenda items, his supporters tout his successes. Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ron Walker cited a halving of the unemployment rate for blacks in Massachusetts from 12 percent to 6 percent as the state’s economy continues to grow.

“That’s in the context of over 100,000 new jobs in the commonwealth,” Walker said.

Advisory commission Chairwoman Deborah Enos praised the Baker administration for its work highlighting the challenges blacks face in Massachusetts.

“We can’t begin to fix the issues we don’t acknowledge,” she said.

State Rep. Russell Holmes said the commission’s work could complement the work of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.

“I feel like I have a new family,” he joked.

BANNER PHOTO

Gov. Charlie Baker signs an authorization creating a Black Advisory Commission.

Whether or not the elected officials’ interests coincide with the commission’s remains to be seen.

This year, the Black and Latino Caucus has prioritized criminal justice reforms, including ending mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, reforming bail laws to keep people not yet convicted of crimes out of jail and the reduction of fees that, if not paid, can land ex-offenders in jail without trial or legal representation.

Baker’s Urban Agenda also calls for reforms, including a reduction in the number of people incarcerated, job skills training and education for offenders and drug treatment.

State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, who also attended the press conference, said the commission

represents an opportunity for collaboration.

“We do see this group as an additional benefit to black communities in Massachusetts,” she said.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to tackle key issues.”

In addition to Enos, an executive consultant, appointees announced last week include Bithiah Carter, President of New England Blacks in Philanthropy; Darla DeGrace, director of National Diversity Recruitment and Strategic Partnerships, City Year, and president, Boston Chapter of the National Black MBA Association; Licy DoCanto, Founder and President, the DoCanto Group; Paul Francisco, managing director and head of Diversity Consulting, State Street Corporation; Keith Greenaway, managing

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director, Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council; Elisabeth Jackson, executive director, Bridge Over Troubled Waters; Imari Paris Jefferies, nonprofit consultant; Karen Johnson, managing director of product sales, The Debt Exchange; Robert Johnson, President, Becker College; Rachel Kemp, registered representative, Pickwick Capital Partners; Robert Lewis Jr, president and founder, The BASE; Chiderah Okoye, industrial sales manager, Northeast Electrical Distributors, and president, Boston Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers; Jacques Parent, deputy director of Military Family Programs, Army National Guard; Sharon Scott-Chandler, chief operating officer and executive vice president, Action for Boston Community Development; Azanda Seymour, director of the Urban Education Program, Westfield State University; Cheryl Stanley, dean of education, Westfield State University; Ronia Stewart, president & CEO, Garden of Eden & Associates, Inc; Tanisha Sullivan, senior corporate counsel, Sanofi, and president, Boston Chapter NAACP; Kirk Sykes, senior vice president, New Boston Real Estate Investment Funds; Macken Toussaint, associate, Riemer & Braunstein Law, and president, Boston Women in Finance; Victor Woolridge, vice president of Debt Placement & Syndications, Barings Real Estate Advisers; and Abdi Yusuf, executive director, Somali Development Center.

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Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3

Panel convenes on criminal justice reform bill, report and next steps State legislative, judiciary members talk fees, mandatory minimums, race data

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON

The day after Governor Charlie Baker filed a bill taking up the Council of State Governments’ recommendations on curbing recidivism, the Boston Bar Association gathered a panel of state judicial and legislative members to discuss the CSG report, what’s missing from Baker’s bill and where to go next.

Moderated by Dean Andrew Mazzone from the state attorney general’s office, the panel included Sen. William Brownsberger; state Rep. John Fernandes; Paula Carey, chief justice of the state Trial Court; Randy Gioia, deputy chief counsel of the public defender division of the state’s Committee for Public Counsel Services; Jack Lu, Massachusetts Superior Court associate justice and Sentencing Commission chair; Michael O’Keefe, Cape and Island district attorney; and Lon Povich, the governor’s chief legal counsel.

Baker’s bill

The governor’s bill seeks to encourage participation in programs aimed at preparing incarcerated or recently released individuals for reentry into society. The bill would allow those on parole to earn time off of their supervision and for those incarcerated under certain mandatory minimum sentences to earn “good time” (e.g., time deducted from a prisoner’s sentence for good behavior). The bill also permits good time to be earned from programs with shorter durations.

Missing pieces

Many activists have raised alarm over the CSG’s failure to address racial disparities or the sources of initial incarceration. Several panelists said a wider scope would have been too unwieldy but that now is the time for filing bills that follow up where the CSG report and governor’s bill left off.

Among items legislators have proposed: ending mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses, expunging juvenile criminal records, allowing one to be considered “juvenile” until age 21 and setting bail based on the accused’s flight risk and level of public safety threat, not financial ability.

Several panelists spoke of modernizing the state’s sentencing guidelines, which were published first in the 1990s. For instance, Gioia said, best practices research since then reveals that shorter probation periods can be equally effective.

Brownsberger and Povich said collateral consequences on incarceration, such as fines, fees and lingering public criminal records, create burdens and barriers to successful reentry and need to be addressed legislatively.

Calvin Feliciano, a criminal justice reform activist who was incarcerated in his youth, recalled during a Banner phone interview that he once turned to selling drugs post-release in order to afford probation fees and court fees. If he missed payment, he could have been returned to jail.

Returning to the workforce after years of absence is hard enough, without fees and trips to probation

officer meetings placing an additional burden, Feliciano said. Job placement and training programs can help, he said, as can reforming the fines system.

Feliciano also said that he knows others who have participated in a “fine time” program in which they voluntarily incarcerate themselves in order to earn daily credit toward fees. In 2016, The Boston Globe reported a sampling of statewide cases revealed more than 100 instances of fine time jailing, under which participants earned $30 per day.

“I’ve seen people do as much as 80 days they didn’t have to in order to pay fines,” Feliciano said.

The state then shoulders both the cost of incarceration and per diem payment, which eventually are paid by taxpayers.

Feliciano is among those advocating for felonies to be expunged from criminal records after seven years, not ten, and misdemeanors to be removed after three years, not five. He also says the felony threshold should be raised from $250.

A member from the advocacy group the Coalition for Effective Public Safety attended the event, and spoke from the audience about her coalition’s January letter calling for reforms. These included presumptive parole, diversion programs, bail reform and other measures.

Mandatory minimums

Panelists were split over mandatory minimum policy. Gioia noted that as the number of offenses triggering mandatory minimums proliferated from one to hundreds between 1978 and today, incarceration rates rose by four to five percent, suggesting reforms could have a significant impact on reducing prison populations. As of Jan. 1, 2017, those held on mandatory minimum sentences comprised 10 percent of those in the state’s prisons, according to O’Keefe.

Lu proposed updating sentencing guidelines to include more safety valve measures.

In response to a Banner question, Gioia said that the incarceration numbers show only a portion of the impact of mandatory minimum sentences. In his experience, prosecutors, whenever possible, use the prospect of such a charge to coerce defendants into pleading guilty to a lesser offense.

“In my years of practicing, I don’t think I ever saw a prosecutor who didn’t initially charge somebody with a mandatory minimum when they had the opportunity to do it,” Gioia said. “For a person who is initially charged with a mandatory minimum, the options become very, very limited: Go to trial, you’re found guilty, you end up with two, three, five years, or plead guilty to a crime that’s not a mandatory minimum and you’re on one to two years probation. It has a very coercive effect — that’s one of the major problems with mandatory minimums.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley told the Banner that he believes defendants only plead guilty out of a desire to own up, not out of fear of a mandatory sentence.

“This is not a compulsion — most of these pleas are done because the defendant asks for

ON THE WEB CSG report: https://csgjusticecenter.org/jr/ massachusetts/publications/justice-reinvest ment-in-massachusetts-policy-framework/ Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Policy Program: http://cjpp.law.harvard.edu/ leniency,” Conley said.

O’Keefe told the Banner he disputes the concept that there are mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses, saying that any such offense that gets passed onto a court where it would trigger a mandatory minimum is severe enough to represent a public safety threat.

Racial data lacking

Speaking from the audience, Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said that he is concerned about the governor filing and preparing to invest heavily in a criminal justice reform bill that does not touch on the racial disparities inherent in the system.

The CSG report states that insufficiencies in the data collection prevented the team from identifying root causes of racial disparities, only that they exist, and recommends remedial action. Brownsberger said a House bill including mandated racial data collection has languished for years after passing because the executive branch did not act on it.

As such, initiating the data collection would not require any new bill filing, just implementing what’s already on the books, Fernandes said.

BANNER PHOTO

Sen. William Brownsberger (far right), Chief Justice of the Trial Court Paula Carey and state Superior Court Associate Judge look on as Public Counsel Service’s deputy chief counsel Randy Gioia (far left) speaks during a criminal justice panel at the Boston Bar Association.

O’Keefe, however, said there are practical tangles first to unwind, such as how data should be collected. For instance, he said, if police ask those they stop to self-identify their race, that could alarm people.

Harvard Law School, in partnership with the state court system, is expected to study criminal justice system racial disparities and fill in some of pieces missing from the CSG report.

Investment needed

While original plans called for garnering savings from CSG recommendation measures and reinvesting them, panelists said it has become clear that change requires a cash infusion.

The CSG report asks for $3.5 million in the first year to provide for things such as more beds in longterm substance abuse treatment programs, anti-recidivism strategy training for post-release supervision personnel and more programming for prisoners. Panelists said

the money has been set aside in this year’s budget. Over six years, the total cost will come to $34.5 million.

Reducing incarceration — unless it is by a level substantial enough to allow a prison wing or facility to be closed — does not translate directly into substantial savings, Brownsberger said. Part of the reason is safety: It can be difficult to close a wing because members of different gangs need to be physically distanced, and inmates need different security levels, he said. As such, overhead and unionized personnel costs may remain about the same. In Fiscal Year 2015, the daily cost of food, clothing, medical care and other necessities amounted $9.95 per prisoner, according to the CSG. Instead of budget easements, a prison population decline more likely will produce better quality operations — such as fewer prisoners per cell and reduced probation caseloads — and better public safety, Brownsberger said.

4 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

EDITORIAL

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Established 1965

The battle for voting rights continues As the annual Black History Month draws to a close, it is well to remember George Santayana’s aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” After Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency, there is a strong desire to conclude that a non-racial America has evolved.

Indeed, the great legacy of black achievements for the benefit of the nation warrants the status of equality for black citizens. Every February African Americans note their contributions, but it is painful to recollect in detail the infliction suffered in generations of racial abuse.

It is interesting to note that Barack Obama was able to tally 39 percent of the white vote in 2012, while Hillary Clinton received only 37 percent of that vote in 2016.

Perhaps that’s progress, but Donald Trump still won. The Republican strategy was to diminish the size of the black vote by gerrymandering districts and limiting the number of polling places and the number of days for early voting.

That is an old strategy. Powerful whites in the former Southern Confederacy moved aggressively to ban blacks from the voting booths.

Ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 made slavery illegal, but it did not grant any special rights to former slaves. Until passage of the 14th Amendment 2.5 years later, blacks still lacked the federal right of citizenship. It still took another year and a half, until Feb. 8, 1870, for the 15th Amendment to provide blacks the right to vote that can be enforced

by Congress.

One of the primary objectives of the Jim Crow era in the South was to terrorize blacks to prevent them from even thinking about the ballot. The war on disenfranchisement did not begin until the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed, primarily to wage a campaign to provide voting rights to blacks in the South.

That act created the Civil Rights

Division within the U.S. Department of Justice. Retired local judge Gordon A. Martin wrote a fascinating book entitled “Count Them One By One” about his involvement in the battle for voting rights for blacks in Mississippi.

That is the history that Santayana advises us not to forget. The nation is once again involved in a major campaign to diminish the impact of the black vote. With 13 percent of the electorate, a strong turnout for one candidate can influence the final result. In 2012, Obama got 93 percent of the black vote, and in 2016 Clinton tallied only 88 percent, but that is still a big number.

The current conservative strategy is two-pronged. One is similar to the objectives of the Jim Crow days — diminish the black vote by making it too difficult to vote. You do this by having registration at inconvenient times or places, or you require identification documentation that is difficult to obtain. A reduction in the number of polling places and voting days will also reduce the turnout for the elderly or working class voters.

Then a campaign of lies and dissembling will confuse citizens about the truth of political situations. For example, for years the conservatives have publicized a campaign against Obamacare. People believed it. But now that there is talk of rescinding the Affordable Care Act, people are up in arms.

So the battle never ends. African Americans must remain politically active to continue to thwart efforts to eliminate black progress and equality. If the vote for Clinton in Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina had been the same as the vote for Obama in 2012, America would now have its first woman president.

Trump’s vote in those states was essentially the same as Mitt Romney’s in 2012.

Blacks and liberals have to remain vigilant.

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OPINION

Civil engagement with Trump supporters

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What are you hopeful for in 2017?

By HASAN ZILLUR RAHIM, NEW AMERICA MEDIA Like millions of Americans, I was devastated when Hillary Clinton lost the presidential race despite winning the popular vote by 2.8 million.

But as days went by and reckless words from President Trump’s uncensored mind began rattling the world, I longed to engage with one or two Trump supporters to see if there was any common ground from which to look at our country as Americans and not as partisans.

The fact that I was a Muslim-American complicated the matter, given the bigoted rhetoric from the White House. Still, I kept hoping.

The opportunity came during a gathering of a group of amateur photographers in the foothills of San Jose, California where I live. While discussing finer points of the decisive moment, my curiosity was piqued by a fellow American whom I will call John. John is white, in his mid-sixties and retired. He made his money in real estate and now spends much of his time playing golf and pursuing his passion for photography. He is also a vigorous Trump supporter.

Although nervous to discuss politics, I told myself that the worst that could happen would be for John to ask me to get lost. I could live with that.

Here is a summary of our conversation.

“Do you think Trump’s policies of deporting immigrants, banning Muslims, and calling media the enemy of the people are good for our country?”

“Well,” he said, looking at me curiously, “Trump is just keeping his word. I admire him for that, don’t you? How many politicians do you know who keep their promises? And what’s wrong with deporting illegals? Isn’t it wrong for them take up jobs meant for the legals?”

Statistics prove otherwise, I told him. Besides, many immigrants do menial jobs that make life easier for Americans like him. “Look at who are serving us here! Hispanics.”

“I am sure they are legal. I have no problem with them,” John replied.

“Do you know any illegals?” I asked.

“I personally don’t know any,” allowed John, “but trust me, they are around.”

It went back and forth like this. John did not budge and neither did I. I raised the Muslim ban issue, reminding him that no one from the banned Islamic countries had committed terrorist acts in America. John was unimpressed.

“We can never be too safe,” he said. “It is right to err on the side of caution.”

“Even if it goes against our values?”

“I don’t think it does. In any case, the president is responsible for keeping us safe by any means necessary.” As he said this, I became aware that John was looking at me with more interest. Next instant, I knew why.

“Are you a Muslim?”

Here it comes, I thought, the moment of truth! For a fleeting second, I recalled what Patrick Stein, one of the conspirators said about the Muslims he was planning to massacre in Garden City, Kansas, in July 2016, fortunately foiled by the FBI: “The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.”

“Yes,” I replied.

A pause. Then: “Well, you seem like a decent fella!” said John with a smile.

I cringed inside but outwardly I matched his grin. “Thank you,” I said with relief. I told John that most Americans who hold negative views of Muslims have never met a Muslim in their life. “You are the first Muslim I had a conversation with,” agreed John.

While I cannot say with certainty that we parted as friends, I am also certain that John and I did not part as enemies.

What my brief encounter with a Trump supporter taught me was that we should use civility not as a weapon to win arguments but because it is the right thing to do, a tough test for summoning the better angels of our nature.

This in no way diminishes the urgency to save our country from Trump’s un-American policies, the gerrymandering, the willful policy of suppressing voter rights and registration, banning immigrants on the basis of religion, depriving women of their reproductive options, treating media as the enemy of the people (about which Republican senator John McCain said, “That’s how dictators get started”), rising anti-Semitism and hate crimes and such. We must sustain the 21st-century version of the movement launched by abolitionist Harriet Tubman, suffragist Susan Anthony and freedom rider John Lewis.

But our fight to win our country back from a would-be dictator will stand a greater chance of success if we use civility for its own sake and as its own reward while interacting with our fellow Americans who voted Trump to power.

Hasan Zillur Rahim is a professor of mathematics at San Jose City College and the Outreach Director of the Evergreen Islamic Center (www.eicsanjose.org) in San Jose.

When you look and see that people did revolutionary things and changed things, it makes me hopeful that we can make the world a better place.

My daughters. All I want from them is love, respect and good grades.

Tai Allah

Tyriana

Trainer Roxbury

Student Dorchester

That all people of color can unite in the face of adversity.

The smile in my fiancé’s face.

Curt

Myles Carter

Bookkeeper Boston

Artist Dorchester

My faith that people are nicer than people think they are.

William DeLove Student Cambridge

Life has ups and downs. If you are having a bad year, you know it will be better the next.

Jadon Smith Student Roxbury

IN THE NEWS

KERMIT CRAWFORD Kermit Anthony Crawford, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, has been selected to serve on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Crawford is one of 18 members on the Board who will provide advice to the secretary of HHS, the director of the CDC and the director of the NCIPC, regarding surveillance, basic epidemiological research, intervention research and implementation, dissemination and evaluation of promising and evidence based strategies for the prevention and control of injury and violence. In addition, he will help make recommendations regarding policies, strategies, objectives and priorities and review progress toward injury and violence prevention and control.

In addition to serving as clinical psychologist at Boston Medical Center, Crawford also is executive director of the Massachusetts Marathon Bombing Victims/Survivors Resiliency Center and director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health. He has facilitated and provided disaster behavioral health response training across the nation on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to health responders in Mississippi as well as to responders during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Haiti Earthquake and the Tohoku region tsunami, earthquake and nuclear plant explosion.

Crawford has expertise in mental health, trauma, psychology training, substance abuse and workforce development and extensive experience in disas-

ter behavioral health, mental health policy and mental health training. He has been principal investigator for several state and federal research and training grants. He has authored numerous publications, including a book chapter on the culturally competent practice of disaster behavioral health services.

6 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

Bowdoin continued from page 1

16 Ronald Street, a Boston Planning and Development Agency-approved four-story development that would include two studio units and 52 one-bedroom affordable senior housing units; and 121-123 Hamilton Street, a BPDA-approved project by the Pine Street Inn that would transform a vacant lot into 52 units of senior housing designated for chronically or formerly homeless individuals moved in from other Pine Street Inn sites that do not meet their needs.

Senior housing

With the baby boomer population aging, Andelman said senior housing is a pressing need in Bowdoin-Geneva and the city as a whole.

The neighborhood is younger than much of Boston, making it especially important to ensure senior residents can remain to present a stabilizing influence, she said.

The 16 Ronald Street development speaks to this need, with 52 units for those age 62 and older.

According to a letter filed with the BPDA by developer Hearth, Inc, a portion of units would be designated for those making up to 30 percent of Area Median Income ($29,450 for a family of four, according to Affordable Housing Online). Other units would be for those making 50 to 60 percent AMI (for a family of four, $49,050 and $58,900, respectively, according to the BPDA).

While the Pine Street Inn housing on Hamilton Street targets seniors, it is expected to serve new residents moving permanently into the neighborhood. Speaking generally, Nguyen questioned the

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The Viet Aid community development corporation is building 35 affordable units and 3,000 square feet of retail space in its Upper Washington/Four Corners development on Washington Street. merit of any projects that are not aimed at serving local residents, but Andelman says the Pine Street development is valuable for reducing overall city need for senior housing and will bring in more patrons for local businesses.

Family housing and income

Another major need: family housing. A 2014 study of those living within a half-mile radius of the heart of Bowdoin-Geneva Main Streets found that there are approximately 6,160 households in the area, of which 47 percent have children. In comparison, only 23 percent of households citywide had children in 2014. Speaking about the neighborhood today, Nguyen said many households also are headed by single mothers.

The Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (Viet-AID) last year released a call for applications for one-, two- and three-bedroom units available

in its completed housing development at 331-337 Washington Street and 322-336 Washington Street. Viet-AID’s now-under-review proposal for 191-195 Bowdoin Street also would include units sized for families: two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, in addition to one-bedrooms. Eleven units would be for those making up to 30 percent AMI and the rest for those making up to 60 percent AMI. However, area median incomes are not tailored to individual neighborhoods and 60 percent AMI is out of reach for many residents, Nguyen said. While this bracket targets those earning up to $58,900 for a family of four, the 2014 Main Streets District study found the median household income in the immediate Main Street district area was $41,600.

Several local store owners assessed that they earn about $500 per month, Nguyen said. In contrast, a 60 percent AMI unit caps monthly

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rent at $1,065 for a one-bedroom, $1,216 for a two-bedroom and $1,369 for a three-bedroom. Additionally, the unemployment rate in the area is over 20 percent, according to Nguyen.

What would be ideal would be offerings with deeper levels of affordability and with affordable homeownership opportunities, Nguyen said.

“To come out of poverty, you really need to build assets,” Nguyen said. “Displacement will happen when people aren’t able to build roots. Being so impoverished, there’s a high likelihood that a lot of people in this neighborhood who’ve been here a long time are going to be displaced.”

Andelman also said there is need for more moderate and workforce housing, along with more affordable.

Awareness

Tackling another part of the pipeline, Nguyen said communication improvements are needed to ensure that local residents get a shot at affordable housing coming online in the area. Many people in the neighborhood speak non-English languages and so preparing a housing packet in English may be a challenge. Additionally, many do not have access to computers and so would miss online advertisements.

She said that resources should be provided in languages such as Cape Verdean Creole, Spanish, French and Vietnamese and distributed in print.

Jobs and business

The other prong to reducing housing costs is bolstering economic development so residents can afford higher rents. Developers

whose projects include commercial space should put out a call to local residents see if any would like to open a business there, Nguyen said. Small businesses tend to hire locally and Bowdoin-Geneva owners may be less likely to require English language fluency from their employees than other businesses, she said.

Andelman spoke of the need for a greater variety of businesses to draw more people to an area already saturated with nail and hair salons, cell phone stores and bodegas. Nguyen, in a separate interview, said cafes and restaurants in particular present a powerful opportunity: there is little formal education required to establish such a business, they do not face competition from online retailers and they can be an economic catalyst by drawing visitors from outside the area.

“We need more ground floor retail that can accommodate things like restaurants,” Nguyen said. “You can get everything on Amazon except culture. People still go out to restaurants for food.”

More cafés also would improve resident’s lives, Andelman said.

There is a café in the area — Ashley’s, now called One Family Diner — but it closes in the afternoon and is busy on weekends. There is strong interest in establishing a café in some of the commercial space at 191-195 Bowdoin, where it could sell pastries, bread products, and a variety of coffees along with a community gathering space, she said.

The Dorchester Food Coop, which previously sold food products on one of the vacant lots developed into 191-195 Bowdoin Street, also has proposed becoming an occupant of some of the ground floor retail space.

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BPS budget continued from page 1

For many schools, this is a budget contraction following upon years of shortfalls. Individual school budgets are constructed based on the number of students enrolled and the need category they fall into, such as special education or low-income status. Last fiscal year, the city reduced per pupil funding allotments for children with autism and socioemotional needs. Johnson attributes this year’s budget reductions for some schools to their declining enrollments.

Moallim said her school’s low test scores reflect not lack of teaching skill but mismatched expectations and the challenges of serving students with complex needs.

Teachers are expected to, within one year, prepare students who lack literacy in their home languages to get high scores on standardized tests, she said.

“Firing teachers because they are quote, unquote not ‘performing well’ and not teaching us — how are they supposed to teach us if we’re down on teachers, down on staff, if we don’t have enough opportunities and resources that other schools may have?” Moallim said. “All these budget cuts, us losing our teachers, what’s the district’s agenda? What do they want with us? Are they trying to shut down our schools?”

Schools face reductions

The budget decreases vary by school, ranging from a 1 percent reduction over last year’s budget (at several schools to a nearly 21 percent reduction (more than $1 million) at the McCormack,

according to BPS data. In sheer dollar amounts, Jackson Mann, McCormack and Madison Park lose the most, with reductions of more than $1 million each. (Brighton is losing $994,817, according to BPS).

According to CPC member Johnson, the Burke High School, which pulled out of Level 4 status in 2014, is expected to lose a librarian, English teacher, math teacher and para-professional. She states that Excel High, labeled Level 4 in 2016, will lose its librarian, as will Brighton High, McCormack Middle School and Charleston High. Last year, Charlestown was slated to lose its celebrated Diploma Plus program designed to get struggling teens back on track, until Liberty Mutual stepped forward with private funding.

The Dever, a bilingual school in Dorchester and one of Boston’s two Level 5 schools, will lose about $650,000 in its next budget, according to BPS. The Dever’s student population was about 88 percent low-income in school year 2014-2015.

Turnaround spiral

Out of Boston’s eight Level 4 schools, six face funding reductions: Madison Park, Channing, Winthrop, Dorchester Academy, Brighton and Grew. Level 4 schools are required to undertake significant redesign plans; if they fail to improve performance after three years, they may be taken over by the state.

Kristin Leathers writes that money should be consciously funneled into such schools.

“The system is broken. It is structured so that the most vulnerable students with the highest needs are funneled into schools

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with dwindling resources. Then, when these students struggle, the schools are taken over,” she writes.

In some cases, a painful cycle occurs. Parents are less likely to select underperforming schools for their children, so unless the city can turn those schools around, their enrollment declines. With the enrollment drop off, funding declines as well, preventing the school from investing in extra initiatives or supply new resources that could help improve their status and stem enrollment declines Pointing to this problem, Kristin Johnson suggests the need for focused infusion on turnaround schools.

“Because these cuts are related to decline in enrollment in a choice-based system, a correlation must be drawn between a school’s DESE level and their desirability to BPS families,” Johnson writes.

“We must consider supplemental funding interventions for schools in which higher DESE levels have a detrimental impact on funding as a result.”

BPS at large

As 49 schools face reductions, some other BPS schools are slated for budget boosts. Among the highest-dollar recipients are Henderson Elementary (gaining more than $1 million), Boston Arts Academy (gaining about $669,000) and Kennedy Health Careers (gaining about $540,000). In terms of percent budget growth, Shaw Elementary tops the list with a 22 percent budget increase, according to BPS data.

City Councilor and mayoral challenger Tito Jackson says the BPS budget — $20 million in general budget and another $20 million for collective bargaining with

the Boston Teachers Union, with any use of any remainder to be determined by the city council — is too low to meet inflation and rising union personnel costs in the overall system.

“The budget as a whole does not meet the inflationary costs that are already built in,” he told the Banner.

Weighing protests

Moallim noted that outcry has been muted this year, compared to last year’s headline-grabbing walkouts. In part, she said, it could be due to lessened publication on the situation and to the distraction of national politics.

Recently, Mayor Martin Walsh

asked BSAC to create a ten-member student advisory group to make suggestions on the budget, in order to prevent another walkout, Moallim said. BSAC members met with Walsh two weeks ago about forming the group.

“His whole point was he didn’t want us to walk out again,” Moallim said.

While she hopes the group will be listened to, Moallim said it seems redundant to the Mayor’s Youth Council.

“He has a group of different students who represent different parts of the neighborhood, so we were shocked when he asked us,” she said. “Whatever he’s asking us, that’s basically their job.”

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Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 9

BANNER PHOTOS

(left) James McKenzie and Swathi Damodaran, doctors at Cambridge Health Alliance, were among the crowd of approximately 200 who turned out to protest Republican plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and reduce Medicaid spending. (Right) Demonstrators staged a die-in as Joia Mukherjee, an associate professor with the Division of Global Health Equity at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, speaks on a megaphone.

health care continued from page 1

Health and Human Services Tom Price are floating draft legislation that would convert Medicaid funding to block grants — a scheme that would turn control over funding to states and cap the total amount each state receives. Because Medicaid currently is administered as an entitlement, anyone who is entitled to receive coverage does, while states and the federal government together cover program costs. Because the ACA extended Medicaid coverage to low-income Americans who otherwise might

not have been able to afford health insurance, activists say the Republican plan would effectively put health care out of reach for millions of U.S. residents.

Doctors who spoke at Saturday’s rally said the Republican plans could deprive as many as 480,000 low-income Massachusetts residents their health insurance.

“That has real consequences in terms of people remaining sick without health care and the number of deaths that could occur,” said Swathi Domodaran, a doctor with the Cambridge Health Alliance. “I think health care is a human right”

Like Domodaran, many of the doctors present at Saturday’s rally work in hospitals that treat indigent patients, many of whom are able to obtain coverage through the ACA. “Being on the front line of health care, I’m proud to say I’m saving people’s lives,” said Yuviram Reddy, a doctor at Boston Medical Center who shared the story of a patient who had lost her health insurance and was in danger of dying from high blood pressure.

“She is an example of what would happen if we lose MassHealth,” he said. “She wanted me to speak here on her behalf.”

Other doctors shared similar

stories of patients very nearly falling through the cracks in the state’s health care delivery system.

Gary Gottlieb, CEO of Partners in Health, called the Affordable Care Act the “first piece of rational health care policy that has ever existed” in the United States.

“The people in this country who don’t have health care have the same outcomes as people in deeply impoverished nations,” he said.

“We must stand strong and insist that the Affordable Care Act not only persists, but is made stronger in the future.”

The rally organizers asked participants to sign petitions, write letters and call members of

TOPICS COVERED:

Congress to voice their opposition to changes that would cut funding for the ACA. In the last week, polls have shown increased public support for the ACA, with reports indicating that House Republicans lack the votes needed for its repeal, noted Brian Rossman, director of policy and government relations for Health Care for All. “Here’s what is happening – rallies like ours today, these rallies are working,” he said. “We are scaring the opposition. They are afraid of the town halls. They are afraid of the rallies. They are afraid of the letters and the calls and the petitions and everything that we’re doing.”

10 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

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Authentic ingredients

La Fábrica brings the Spanish Caribbean to Cambridge

By SANDRA LARSON

The logo of La Fábrica Central, the new Spanish Caribbean restaurant and live music spot in Cambridge’s Central Square, features a trapiche, the type of wheel that grinds sugar cane into molasses.

La Fábrica means “the factory,” and the symbolic logo, along with an actual 400-pound steel trapiche shipped from the Dominican Republic to Cambridge to adorn La Fábrica’s dining room wall, pay homage to the workers who toil in the Caribbean islands to produce sugar, molasses and rum.

“That wheel serves as a reminder that everything we consume, from food to liquor, takes work,” says co-owner Dennis Benzan recently on an off-hours tour of the restaurant, which opened quietly in mid-February.

“We wanted to honor the laborers. We wanted to tell a story,” explains Benzan, an attorney and former Cambridge vice mayor whose parents migrated from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in the 1960s.

The new restaurant is a stone’s throw away from where he grew up, in a Latino community in the Cambridge neighborhood long-known humbly as “Area 4” but recently redubbed The Port in a renaming effort championed by Benzan.

He co-created La Fábrica Central with business partners Hector and Nivia Piña, the Dominican and Puerto Rican husband-andwife team known for their Boston restaurants Merengue, Vejigantes and Doña Habana.

The new restaurant’s executive chef, Giovanna Huyke, is famous in her native Puerto Rico as a TV cooking show personality, cookbook author and restaurant owner, and has done executive chef stints at U.S. restaurants as well.

While her menu is still being tweaked, it so far includes tapas and side dishes priced $4 to $13 and pricier entrees from whole red snapper with tomato coconut sauce and papaya avocado mojo to braised short ribs with red wine reduction and guava sauce.

Huyke applies classical culinary training to the foods of her homeland and other Caribbean islands, she says, remaking many traditional favorites in a way that is familiar yet modernized — and in many cases, more true to the cooking of generations past.

“We’re doing everything from scratch, without Adobo or Sazón,” she says. “Our grandparents, they did it from scratch. We are trying to show that our food can be done without processed additions.”

Besides the bar and small stage for music near the front window, there is a dining room, chef ’s table, “cold bar” and a large function hall for events and late-night dancing.

The long interior space has capacity for 480 people in total, with

PHOTO: SANDRA LARSON

La Fábrica Central co-owner Dennis Benzan and Executive Chef Giovanna Huyke in front of the 400-pound steel trapiche shipped from a Dominican Republic sugar factory. Below, one of the restaurant’s wall murals depicting sugar cane workers in the field.

ON THE WEB La Fábrica Central is at 450 Massachusetts

Ave., Cambridge. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/LaFabricaCentral

PHOTO: HECTOR PIÑA/COURTESY LA FÁBRICA CENTRAL

265 seats for dining. In summer, courtyard and sidewalk tables will allow outdoor dining.

Standing out in a crowd

Getting started, it has been a benefit to have trained staff from the Piñas’ other restaurants, Benzan says, but La Fábrica Central will have 35 to 40 employees. Some of them are local hires who previously struggled with homelessness, addiction or court involvement.

“That’s part of our model — giving second chances,” he says.

“All three of us are sensitive to those issues, because they’re very common in our community. We believe in providing not only initial employment, but working with individuals around skill development, preparing them for

managerial and other positions.”

As for the competition, Benzan is confident La Fábrica will complement the neighborhood’s dense mix of eateries and music venues.

First off, he notes that La Fábrica Central will be one of only two Latino-owned Latin Caribbean food establishments in Cambridge.

(The other notable is Izzy’s, a longstanding eatery serving American and Puerto Rican fare out of a tiny corner location in The Port.)

“Central Square has a strong history of bringing people from all over the world together in music and culture – but absent from that has been the Spanish Caribbean experience,” Benzan says. Having Huyke in the kitchen is “huge” for the fledgling restaurant, he adds.

Second, while the nearby

Middle East is known for rock and the newer Thelonious Monkfish features jazz acts, La Fábrica will bring a distinct focus on Latin jazz.

Finally, Benzan envisions La Fábrica attracting an extraordinarily diverse crowd. Customers so far has included MIT professors, local civil rights leaders, scientists from nearby biotech firms, a local high school sports coach and a few suburban visitors coming for the jazz. He and the chefs say they’re seeing secondand third-generation Latinos and mixed families, and also Asian and African American customers.

“Walking in here on a Friday or Saturday gives you a sense of what the world looks like,” Benzan says.

He thinks back on his roots as a child in the local Latino community.

“This is the legacy our community could leave,” he says. “There’s a sense of pride in the Latino community, walking in here. I think that’s what this is all about.”

BIZ BITS TIP OF THE WEEK Talking about money can enhance a relationship Thinking about combining finances with your significant other? Whether you’re getting married or just thinking about getting serious, talking about money can help couples understand each other and avoid unhappy surprises down the road.

Here are five reasons why talking about money can enhance a relationship. n It makes couples happier.

Talking about things like spending, saving and debt may sound business-like and unromantic, but financial experts agree that money is a frequent topic of arguments in many relationships. In fact, according to a survey by the American Psychological Association, almost a third of adults with partners reported that money is a major source of conflict in their relationship. n It helps couples connect by understanding what’s going on. Couples should discuss pros and cons of combining finances versus keeping finances separate. According to research by Wells Fargo & Company, about half of couples choose to combine accounts, while the other half prefers separate accounts. Regardless of where you and your significant other fall in this spectrum, both people in a relationship should understand how their financial habits impact — positively or negatively — the life they are building together. n It helps couples track their short- and long-term financial goals. Be open with your significant other about your full financial picture.

Questions that can help open the door to meaningful conversations include: 1. Are we paying ourselves first?

2. Do we have a safety net?

3. Are we paying all our bills on time, every time?

4. Have we reviewed our insurance needs in the last year?

5. Do we track our spending to know where our money is going every month?

6. Are we paying down high-interestrate debt first?

7. Do we know where our credit stands?

8. Are we saving for retirement? n It helps couples afford the “extras” that make life fun.

Building a solid financial future shouldn’t mean forsaking enjoying life. When couples have a common understanding of how they’ll prioritize and manage their day-to-day finances like housing costs, grocery and utility bills, it’s easier to figure out where splurges fit in. n It helps avoid financial surprises. Hearing your friends shout, “happy birthday” is a welcome surprise. What’s not welcome is suddenly discovering you can’t afford to pay this month’s bills or that retirement is farther away than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Being up front about money issues and sharing complete financial information with your significant other helps avoid financial surprises that can add unnecessary stress to a relationship.

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Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 11

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Shut-off swindle making rounds in New England

By MIKE CLIFFORD

It’s called the “Shut-off Swindle” and consumer advocates say the scam has reached record levels this winter, in part by preying on utility customers in New England.

The scam, like many, has several variations, according to Stephanye Schuyler, a volunteer fraud fighter with AARP New Hampshire. She said the most common is a phone call that claims your utility service is in immediate danger of being shut off.

“The person on the phone will push for immediate payment or else your account will be shut off,” Schuyler explained. “Sometimes those phone calls are robo-calls and they give you a phone number to call back, and sometimes it’s a bogus email.”

Schuyler said the number one way to avoid falling prey to this scam is to hang up the phone and call your utility company directly and ask them if your bill is up to date. She also recommended calling before clicking on any emails, because fraudsters commonly use malware that can harm your

computer to gain access to personal information.

Consumers can also get a callblocker to head off robo-calls.

Schuyler said the main thing to remember is that utility companies will provide plenty of advance notice if your bill is delinquent.

“These are not things that just come out of the blue. Utilities are required to follow a multi-step process with the customer and it includes written notification,” she said. “So a phone call that’s a surprise really indicates something might be wrong.”

Schuyler also warned of another variation of this scam making the rounds — it involves your utility meter.

“They might claim that the meters need to be repaired or replaced and they immediately need cash or a credit card to take care of these services,” she said.

The reality is that utility companies schedule these kinds of repairs in advance, and Schuyler said if there are costs associated with the repair, that would be added to your regular utility bill.

Commonwealth News Service

Biz Bits

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Town hall meeting

PHOTO: MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY DON HARNEY

Chief of Civic Engagement Jerome Smith, Alejandra St. Guillen, director of the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement and Mayor Martin Walsh address concerns and answer questions at the Islamic Center of Boston during a town hall-style meeting focusing on issues facing the immigrant community of Boston.

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BATTLE OF THE BALLET PAST AND PRESENT FIGHT FOR CONTROL IN ‘ARTIFACT’

By CELINA COLBY

P

laying through March 5, the Boston Ballet’s “Artifact” portrays a startling battle between past and present for control of the collective consciousness.

The first show of a five-year collaboration with star choreographer William Forsythe, “Artifact” delivers a chilling and refreshingly contemporary performance.

The piece originally debuted in 1984 at Ballet Frankfurt, though Forsythe made significant changes for its North American debut at Boston Ballet, adding a whole new act just days before the show opened. Three characters work amid the corps de ballet during the show: The Woman in Historical Costume played by Forsythe’s wife, Dana Caspersen; The Woman in Gray played by Caralin Curcio; and The Man with a Megaphone played by Nicholas Champion. Both Caspersen and Champion performed in the original premiere of the show 33 years ago. Champion even wears the same pants worn in the original production.

Despite the well-made trousers, much has changed since then. The Woman in Historical Costume and The Man with a Megaphone walk about the dancers and interact with them, all the while speaking quick, convoluted gibberish sentences. “They stepped outside. I see. They know what you said. They see what you think. The rocks. The dust. The dust.

They stepped outside,” The Woman in Historical Dress sing-speaks. Language becomes meaningless in this rhythmic drivel. The vernacular bears striking resemblance to Orwell’s doublespeak in “1984.”

This brainwashing sentiment also appears in the corps. Apart from two couples, the corps operates by imitating The Woman in Gray. In the second act, though she is set to a musical tempo, Curcio is improvising and the corps must move with her in time without knowing what she might be doing.

Not only does this show the exemplary skill of the cast, who are able to make Curcio’s movements look seamlessly choreographed, it speaks to a culture of mindlessly following a leader.

ON THE WEB William Forsythe’s “Artifact 2017” will be on

stage through March 5. For more information, visit: www.bostonballet.org/artifact The Woman in Historical Costume and The Man with a Megaphone are at odds. Champion’s character wants to move logically and geometrically forward, while Caspersen’s seeks creative freedom. In the third act the two characters sit in chairs across from each other, having a meaningless debate with the rhythm of a rap battle. Each has a group of dancers behind them, stomping, clapping and singing, waiting for the victor to direct them.

In the fourth act the two characters face the line of dancers. “All that’s left is the how,” says Champion. “Step.”

Caspersen claps. The dancers move and the lights flick off.

Ultimately, it takes both the rigidity of the establishment and the creativity of the artists to make the dancers move.

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Q&A

David Oyelowo stars in ‘A United Kingdom’

By KAM WILLIAMS

David Oyelowo is a multiple Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated actor and producer who has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents.

Later this year he’ll be seen in the third film from the Cloverfield horror franchise and as the lead in an as-yet untitled Nash Edgerton film co-starring Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Thandie Newton and Amanda Seyfried.

Oyelowo gained international acclaim in 2014 starring as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s “Selma.” For his performance, he nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.

Most recently, he starred opposite Lupita Nyong’o in Mira Nair’s “Queen of Katwe,” earning a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. His many additional film credits include “Interstellar,” “A Most Violent Year,” “Captive,” “The Butler,” “Lincoln,” “Middle of Nowhere,” “Jack Reacher,” “The Paperboy,” “Red Tails,” “The Help” and “The Last King of Scotland.”

On the small screen, Oyelowo starred in the HBO film “Nightingale” and has collaborated with HBO on several other occasions, including a starring role in Kenneth Branagh’s 2006 production of “As You Like It,” playing Orlando opposite Bryce Dallas Howard, and a lead role in the mini-series “Five Days,” for which he won a Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television.

In 2008, he starred in the critically-acclaimed “The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency,” directed by the late Anthony Minghella, and appeared in ABC’s 2008 Golden Globe-nominated production of “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sanaa Lathan, Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad.

A classically-trained actor, Oyelowo recently appeared as the title character in the New York

See OYELOWO, page 17 Boston Ballet in William Forsythe’s “Artifact 2017.”

PHOTO: ROSALIE O’CONNOR/ COURTESY OF BOSTON BALLET

ON THE WEB To see a trailer for “A United Kingdom,” visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

pX5vI4osR50

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‘Night of the Iguana’ American Rep’s star-studded cast ruminates on life, atonement ON THE WEB

By CELINA COLBY

Tennessee Williams’ “Night of the Iguana” hosts all the components of a successful joke. A raunchy widow, ex-preacher, con artist (literally) and blind man walk into a Mexican hotel. But the American Repertory Theater’s star-studded rendition — featuring Bill Heck, Amanda Plummer, Dana Delany, Elizabeth Ashley and James Earl Jones — is light on laughs and heavy on theatric power and existential dread.

The show follows Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon (Heck), an ex-preacher with a history of sexual misdemeanors and a lousy career as a low-end tour guide.

He stops by the Mexican hotel of friend and recent widow Maxine Faulk (Delany), who’s desperate for his companionship. While he’s there he develops a close bond with a traveling, struggling artist and spinster Hannah Jelkes (Plummer) who is there on credit with her 97-year-old poet father Nonno (James Earl Jones).

“The development of the script is unique to this production,” says Heck. “We came into rehearsal and

For more on the ART production of “Night of the Iguana,” visit: https://ticket.

americanrepertorytheater.org/single/PSDetail. aspx?psn=1141 collectively put together a draft.”

Williams is famous for not finishing his plays, and though all of the words in the show are his, the cast assembled them to connect more powerfully with the contemporary world. The themes of searching for human connection and personal identity are evergreen, but Heck points to the inclusion of the Nazi family, also visiting the hotel, as a nod to the political climate.

Shannon’s life is haunted throughout the play by a “spook,” a symbol of fear, failure, and loss. He speaks often of repenting for his crimes by “swimming to China,” or effectively killing himself. Jelkes, who provides the voice of levity and reason in the play, scoffs at these ideas. “Isn’t that a kind of comfortable crucifixion,” she says. Isn’t dying the easy way out?

Jelkes provides a refreshing break from Williams’ tradition female mold. Though she

PHOTO: GRETJEN HELENE PHOTOGRAPHY

(from left) Amanda Plummer, Bill Heck and Dana Delany star in the American Repertory Theatre production of Tennessee Williams’ play ‘Night of the Iguana.” maintains all of the grace and refinement of his Southern belles, this Nantucket spinster’s hallmark is her inner strength. Her fortitude and optimism in the face of misfortune were denied to Williams’ Blanche DuBois and Alma Winemiller. In one conversation with Shannon he asks her how she was able to beat her “spook.”

She replies, “By showing that I could endure him.”

In keeping with Williams’ style, the heavy symbolism of the

iguana, tied to the back porch and desperate to break free, weighs over the show. When Shannon finds the strength to free the iguana, and himself, it’s significantly less powerful than his scenes of struggle. What shapes Shannon, and all of us, isn’t the moment of overcoming a problem, but the road leading up to it.

Heck says, “It’s an extraordinary battle about what it means to live in the world, in all of the world.”

This message about the

underlying difficulty of life proves more salient than the emotional connection between Shannon and Jelkes, which is effective as a plot device but not especially moving.

All the characters have had difficult paths and face loneliness and strife on the road ahead. There is no shortcut to making amends for past wrongs, not even in suicide. “Night of the Iguana” presents the scariest of all truths: that the most atonement, the most suffering, comes not from death, but from life.

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COMMENTARY

Black actors can flourish in films that aren’t about race

By WILL HAMPTON

Sunday night’s Academy Award winners for Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) and Best Supporting Actress Actress (Viola Davis) both starred in roles in which their race played a key factor. In fact, every black actor and actress nominated for an Oscar

this year starred in films about being black. “Fences,” “Loving,” “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures” all contained racial themes to one degree or another.

This is nothing new for the Academy Awards. When black actors are nominated, race is almost always a theme of their performance. In fact every single black winner for best actor, actress, supporting actor or

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Maguire” included multiple, often irrelevant references to his race, including the beautiful moment when his character’s wife tells him, “You’re a fine, proud, surviving, splendid black man,” leaving many to wonder if black spouses actually feel the need to constantly remind each other of their race or if this was a white writer’s creative fantasy.

Similarly, in “Million Dollar Baby,” Morgan Freeman is randomly and irrelevantly called a nigger, as a joke. Like any respectable black man would be expected to, his character finds the joke hilarious.

In “Ghost,” for which Whoopi Goldberg received a Best Supporting Actress award and which should have had absolutely nothing to do with race, somebody in the film inevitably mentions that she’s black. In fact the script for “Ghost” specifically called for a black woman to play the character of the psychic. (Notably absent: a race specification for the main characters, who are assumed to be white).

Since Hattie McDaniel’s 1939 Best Supporting Actress win for playing Mammy in “Gone with the Wind,” films starring black Outsiders Oscar winners have always conDr. Derrick Lanois, an expert tained racial content or themes. in African American media studThis year’s nominated films all ies, believes the latter example contain variants of the n-word. perfectly illustrates how black So do most other films in which actors are selected for roles in a black actor has won an acadHollywood. Goldberg’s role in emy award. Race is always an “Ghost” was specifically and element. needlessly written for a black In addition to the cavalcade woman and her selection had evof films with a primary theme of erything to do with being a black racism, slavery or bigotry, those actress. She has this in common films that are not overtly about with every other black Academy these subjects always manage Award winner since the beginto find a way to work the charning of time. acter’s race into the story when “It authenticates that there the actor playing them is black. is something different about Cuba Gooding Jr.’s role in “Jerry 4:38 the black experience,” said Dr. Mary Wilson BSB_Layout 1 2/14/17 PM Page 1

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supporting actress won for a film in which their race was at least alluded to. These actors don’t win for playing people, they win for playing black people.

With regard to white Oscar winners, mentions of their race are almost unheard of. In “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks is admonished by a Black Panther sympathizer to get his “white ass” away from a window. “The Blind Side” includes the line “White people are crazy,” and “Django Unchained” includes gleeful references to killing white folk. There are also films like “Ben Hur,” “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Godfather,” in which the character’s ethnicity, not race, is alluded to in some fashion. However, apart from these isolated examples, white Oscar winners almost never star in roles in which their race is a theme or issue or is even mentioned.

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Lanois. “Something exotic.

Something not representative of the general human experience.”

Dr. Lanois describes a Hollywood that is mired in bigotry and insists on casting black actors in stereotypical roles that set them apart as different, eccentric, and disconnected from the general human experience.

These characters are absorbed by general audiences as exotic outsiders.

“Even these white liberal progressives still have implicit biases in them that work themselves out in multiple ways,” Dr Lanois said, referring to the legendary uber-liberal and predominantly white Academy voters. “Even for them, whiteness is not seen as a race. Whiteness is seen as the norm. When it’s a white actor it’s the story of everyone.”

Whatever the reason, the Academy continues to celebrate black actors for playing black people facing black problems, while white people are celebrated for playing roles meant to make general statements about the problems shared by all of humanity.

Transcending color

One notable deviation to this pattern was Morgan Freeman’s Best Actor nomination for 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption,” in which race is never mentioned, a surprising and refreshing choice for a film set in a 1950s-era prison. Freeman’s performance and narration elevated this film to the level of high art.

The film’s excellence is due in no small part to director Frank Darabont’s insistence on casting Freeman in the role of Red, a character described as Irish in the source novel by Stephen King. Executives were pushing hard for Harrison Ford to play this role but Darabont knew that Freeman was the right guy for the job, the same way he knew to cast an English soap opera star as the redneck cop in “The Walking Dead.” The guy has a sixth sense for casting.

Moreover, this “Shawshank” example demonstrates how black actors can be inserted into serious, high-quality productions as simply people. They don’t have to be black people all the time. They don’t have to stare proudly at the camera while somebody calls them the n-word in order to issue a serious performance. Freeman’s role was representative of every man, and he played a character that every viewer sympathized with deeply. His performance was the emotional core of a film meant to comment on the general human condition.

Hollywood might do well to remember that lesson. Black actors can flourish in films that have nothing to do with race, in roles that represent the entire human condition and not just the black experience.

Unless they want to actually win an Academy Award. In that case, they’d better make sure the script is about being black.

Will Hampton is a freelance journalist.

Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 17

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Oyelowo

film. Speaking of avoiding being typecast, I really want to try my hand at some different genres.

Action is something I love to watch, and I’ve had fun whenever it’s come my way. I did an action-thriller [“Jack Reacher”]. I really enjoyed that experience, and would love to do something like that again. Comedy is something else I enjoy watching, and would love to do. So, the idea is to just keep mixing it up.

continued from page 14 Theatre Workshop’s Off-Broadway production of “Othello.” He got his start on stage in 1999 with The Royal Shakespeare Company, and was the first black actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare, as King Henry VI in RSC’s 2001 production. That performance won Oyelowo the 2001 Ian Charleson Award, presented in recognition of the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under 30.

Here, he talks about his latest outing, playing opposite Rosamund Pike as an African king who falls for a British commoner in “A United Kingdom.”

What interested you in “A United Kingdom”?

David Oyelowo: The fact that it was a story I felt I should know but I didn’t know. And as I dug deeper, I appreciated the enduring love that Seretse and Ruth had for each other. After I watched the film, I went home and looked up their story as well as the history of Botswana, since I’d known nothing about either. One of the amazing things about this experience for me has been the Google trail.

There’s so much to learn about them and African history.

Did you speak to Ruth and Seretse’s descendants in preparation for the role?

DO: Yes, and we even shot on location in Botswana.

Unlike many other actors, you have managed to avoid being typecast.

What is your secret?

DO: Becoming typecast is something that can happen very easily, if you are not paying attention. Look, the fact of the matter is that Seretse and Dr. Martin Luther King [in “Selma”] makes it twice in a row now that I’ve played historical, political figures. I’ve got to be mindful of that going forward, despite how much I admire both of these men.

You’ve got change it up to have a long career — so I won’t be playing that sort of role in the near future.

You also have “God Particle” coming up with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris O’Dowd. What’s that about?

DO: It’s a sci-fi [piece] that J.J.

When I sent Rosamund pictures of Seretse and Ruth, she had such an emotional and visceral reaction to them, it really gave me a lot of confidence that we would be bringing everything we could to the work. And I think that passion for the project led to the chemistry you see onscreen.

This year, the Academy nominated seven actors of color for Oscars after not nominating any the previous two years. But that must be little consolation to you, since your terrific performance in “Selma” was snubbed.

DO: Well, thank you, but films are for life. Even with what happened with “Selma,” everywhere I go, people have seen that film. And at the end of the day, that’s why you do it. With the passage of time,

DO: I always think it’s a bad idea remaking classics. I’m of the mind that it’s best to leave them alone unless you have a very, very fresh point-of-view which is almost never the case.

What excites you at this point in your career? I see you have an untitled project with Nash Edgerton coming up.

DO: Yeah, that’s an action-comedy, which is a very different speed for me. I really loved doing that

FREE CONCERT Saturday, March 11, 7:00 – 9:30 pm

THE MAKANDA PROJECT with special guest RICKY FORD

Kurtis Rivers, Arni Cheatham, Sean Berry, Ricky Ford, Charlie Kohlhase – saxophones Jerry Sabatini, Dan Rosenthal – trumpets Bill Lowe, Sarah Politz, Alfred Patterson – trombones John Kordalewski – piano John Lockwood – bass Yoron Israel – drums

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DO: I’d love to have Sidney Poitier, Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn over.

With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you’d like to star in?

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Let’s say you’re throwing your dream dinner party — who’s invited?

no one really remembers who was nominated or who won, it’s the film that has to stand on its own two legs. I’m very proud to say that I feel we achieved that with Selma.

Performing compositions by Makanda Ken McIntyre, Ricky Ford, and Ndikho Xaba

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DO: When I’m at home with my wife and kids, slumped on the couch, watching a movie or laughing together.

David Oyelowo as Seretse Khama and Rosamund Pike as Ruth Williams in the film “A United Kingdom.”

DO: I had been working on the film for a long time, and it was important to find an actress who shared my passion for the project.

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When do you feel the most content?

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How was it working opposite Rosamund Pike? How do you explain the great chemistry the two of you generated on screen?

Stay connected to the Banner

Abrams is producing and a wonderful, young director named Julius Onah is directing. As I’m sure you know, because it’s a J.J. Abrams project, if I reveal any more, I’ll be shot in the kneecaps. [chuckles]

Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture

Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library 65 Warren Street ~ 617.442.6186

Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund The Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund was established on February 1, 1974, by a vote of the Library Trustees. The income is to be used for “literary instructive purposes at its Dudley Branch Library.”

SPRING 2017 Programs: The following programs have been funded by The Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund of the Boston Public Library. All programs are free and will take place at the Dudley Branch at 65 Warren Street.

(Note that listed dates/times may change & that pre-registration is recommended.)

For more info: check the Dudley library’s calendar: bpl.org/branches/ Dudley the Dudley Branch’s Facebook page, or email: fellowestrust@yahoo.com.

For Families: Makanda Project Jazz Concert featuring saxophonist, Oliver Lake, and sparc! the ArtMobile Saturday, May 20 (7:00pm)

Take Back the Kitchen Classes (Haley House) — Families will learn to prepare food from around the world.

TBD (April) Piano Class Recital (taught by Carlos Vargas & students from Boston Conservatory) TBD (May)

For Teens: ArtsEmerson’s Play Reading Book Club – April week-long teen intensive studying play, Mr. Joy by Daniel Beaty.

A Harlem community is shaken when Mr. Joy, a Chinese immigrant whose

shoe repair shop has been a neighborhood pillar for decades, is the victim of an attack.

April 18-22 Workshop April 20, 11:00am Teens attend performance

For Adults: ArtsEmerson’s Play Reading Book Club – Participants will study & attend Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, a concert performance by Toshi Reagon & Bernice Johnson Reagon. Program runs March 11, March 18 (12-3); March 23 (5:30-9:30 concert & reception); March 30 (5:30-7:30); April 11 (12-3 Staged Reading by participants) The Collective Works of Beresford St. C Corbin (Tessil Collins) – Photo Exhibit of selected works by this photographer, firefighter & neighbor who documented the history of the South End & Washington Street.

Exhibit: March 17-31, auditorium Reception: March 16 (6:00-7:45 pm)

Enriched Language Arts & Math Program (W.A.I.T.T. House) Fridays, March 3 – June 23 (11:00-1:00pm) Makanda Project Jazz Concert featuring saxophonist, Oliver Lake and sparc! the ArtMobile Saturday, May 20 (7:00pm) Smart Phones Workshop (Joel Mackall, Reidren Business Group) A “no pressure” workshop on setting up & using a smart phone for seniors and beginners.

Wednesdays, March 1-29 (10:30-12:00) Take Back the Kitchen Classes for Seniors (Haley House) – Explore culinary traditions from around the world. TBD (April)

18 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

FOOD

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Cocoa pronto FLASH IN THE PAN

LATE-NIGHT SWEET TOOTH LEADS TO CHOCOLATE HACK

By ARI LEVAUX, MORE CONTENT NOW

T

his is the time of year when we eat more chocolate than usual. The winter season sets the tone for hot cocoa consumption, and Americans consume 58 million pounds of bittersweet darkness on and around Valentine’s Day — about 5 percent of U.S. annual chocolate consumption.

Today, many enthusiasts consider eating chocolates a superior form of chocolate to drinkable cocoa. Chocolatier Jason Willenbrock of Posh Chocolat in Missoula, Montana, is one.

Eating chocolate (especially his), is the highest known use of the cacao bean, in his unbiased estimation. Willenbrock’s artisan truffles are, admittedly, magnificent, with flavors ranging from traditional, like dark or mocha, to the whimsical, like coconut curry, lavender honeycomb, aged balsamic and strawberry. I’m normally the kind of guy who doesn’t want nuts in my chocolate, much less fruit or spices. But Willenbrock’s combinations certainly work, and he obviously has talent, which is why I sought him out.

I was exploring the creation of homemade chocolate paste, the easier, cheaper and less fancy the better. And I sought to do this with cocoa powder, no less. I was aiming more toward the lowest possible use of the cacao bean, rather than the highest, because if the ingredients are good, even the simplest of recipes can be very satisfying.

Especially if they contain chocolate.

Immediate chocolate

My journey of chocolate hacking discovery began with a late-night need for edible chocolate. Having neither Kisses, bars, ice cream nor candy made of chocolate, I

invented smearable chocolate paste, a magical substance that turns things into chocolate.

This paste is made of three ingredients: cocoa powder, sweetener and heavy cream.

First, mix the cocoa and sweetener at three units to one chocolate to sweet, which ideally would be sugar syrup or agave syrup, or brown or powdered sugar. Table sugar will stay crunchy and not dissolve.

If you dump a bunch of cream on top of the cocoa, or vice-versa, it will result in a lumpy mess that will not be stirred together. So pour in the cream a little at a time, stirring until it becomes a smooth, glistening brown paste that’s almost as stiff as creamy peanut butter.

If it isn’t sweet enough, add more sweet. If it isn’t creamy enough or too stiff, add more cream (but not so much that it gets soggy). If you want more chocolate, add it.

Chocolate paste is simple, cheap and immediate, and will hit the chocolate button squarely in your mouth and heart. You can eat it with a spoon or smear it on bread. And it’s infinitely customizable. A few drops of vanilla, a teaspoon of powdered milk or coconut flour, a substitution of coconut cream for heavy cream.

secret ingredient

“It isn’t chocolate without cocoa butter,” Willenbrock proclaimed, with mellow defiance, as we munched on crispy sheets of byproduct from the rendering of bacon grease for his popular bacon caramel.

I begged to differ with his assessment, and made some paste.

“It tastes like extra-thick drinking chocolate,” he said with a shrug.

COMING TO HALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉ: Thu Mar 2 - Fulani Haynes Jazz Collaborative presents Jazz By Any Means Necessary, 7pm.

Thu Mar 9 - LIFTED Presents “Give Her A Mic”with special Guests Shea Rose, Azaglo, Stacey Wade + Open Mic, 7pm Thu Mar 16 - Art is Life itself! featuring Andre “Mr. Noteworthy” Sparrow - melodic poet, journalist, spoken word artist + Open Mic, 7pm

PHOTO: ARI LEVAUX

Chocolate paste is simple, cheap and immediate, and will hit the chocolate button squarely in your mouth and heart. You can eat it with a spoon or smear it on bread.

Whether or not I had his respect, I knew that Willenbrock would have some pointers in my pursuit of chocolate hackiness.

He did not disappoint.

After thinking for a moment, he uttered three words: Sweetened. Condensed. Milk.

Beyond using it for my paste, Willenbrock mused there might be opportunity to use that trick where you boil or pressure-cook a can of sweetened condensed milk until it turns into the caramel-like dulce de leche.

He also suggested playing around with baking chocolate in my hacks. It would have cocoa butter, which would by definition make it better. And he encouraged even more creativity than I’d advocated. Some garam masala spice mix, perhaps, or the tiniest drop of lavender oil.

But really, he had me at sweetened condensed milk. I brought a few cans home, took out my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker and continued my research, invigorated. The path wasn’t straight.

There were dead ends. But I ended up in a very good place. Here is how to get there. n Take one can of sweetened condensed milk. Pour it into two Mason-style 8-ounce jars. n For the cocoa version, stir in two heaping tablespoons

of powder until it’s basically a two-ingredient paste. Fill the jar the rest of the way with (drinkable) coffee. Secure lids. n Or, if you want to take a more Willenbrock-esque path, mince two squares of baking chocolate.

Stir in the pieces, and fill the jar the rest of the way with coffee. n Pressure-cook jars for 30 minutes, or simmer them for 2 to 3 hours. Put a rag on the bottom of the pot so the glass jars don’t rattle and break.

The version with cocoa powder, coffee and condensed milk turned into something of a two-layered pot-de-crème. The top layer was cheesecake brownie, thick and moist. Below, dulce de leche.

When I removed the jar with baking chocolate from the hot water, I noticed that it had failed to stay mixed. So, using oven pads on the still-hot jar, I unscrewed the lid and gave it a good stir. The result: dulce de leche, with floating confetti-sized bits of un-mixed chocolate that you can’t in the least bit tell are not sweetened.

Both versions: mind-bogglingly awesome, and extra decadent.

Ari LeVaux writes Flash in the Pan, a syndicated weekly food column that’s appeared in more than 50 newspapers in 25 states. Ari lives can be reached at flash@flashinthepan.net.

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NUTRITION & HEALTH NEWS at www. baystate banner.com/ news/ health

Fri Apr 7 - Dinner & A Movie, 6pm Haley House Bakery Cafe - 12 Dade Street - Roxbury 617-445-0900 - www.haleyhouse.org/bakery-cafe

A publication of The Bay State Banner

TIP OF THE WEEK Meal prep is easy with canned foods The key to mealtime success is being prepared and having the right ingredients on hand. With a pantry full of canned foods, like protein-packed garbanzo beans and nutrient-rich carrots, you always have the makings of a healthy homemade meal. Just like home canning, cans seal in foods’ nutrition, freshness and flavor, and are there for you when you’re ready.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate nutrition guidelines, half of your plate should consist of fruits and vegetables. With canned foods in your pantry, you can make eating healthy easy.

— Family Features/ Can Manufacturers Institute

EASY RECIPE Artichoke Hummus Servings: 4 n 1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained n 1 can (15 ounces) chick peas, drained and rinsed n ¼ cup canned vegetable broth n ¼ cup tahini paste n 2 tablespoons lemon juice n 1 clove garlic, crushed n 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley, plus more for garnish n 1 teaspoon kosher salt n ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper n ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for garnish n Olive oil In food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until smooth.

Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.

Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with drizzle of olive oil, fresh parsley and dash of cumin.

Serving suggestions: Serve with toasted French bread slices, cut veggies or pita chips.

— Family Features

NUMBER TO KNOW

94

years: A can of food left

by Sir John Franklin in the Arctic was found to still be edible 94 years later, in 1939.

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Ninety-six recipes contain the most potent foods proven to help you look younger, increase energy and mental focus, and lower the risk of ailments such as heart disease, strokes, cancer and diabetes. Weekly meal plans even include special menus for anyone on gluten-free, low-carb or vegetarian diets.

— Hearst

Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 19 Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 19

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

Immigrant, minority youth rally together as Trump menaces LEGAL LEGAL LEGAL

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON

Following President Donald Trump’s latest actions on immigration, reports poured out nationwide of immigrants afraid to leave their homes for school or medical aid, lest they be stopped and deported. Against this backdrop, local minority and immigrant youth gathered at Jamaica Plain’s First Baptist Church on Saturday to rally in support, share stories and identify resources.

“I’m a Muslim girl and black.

I feel targeted twice,” said Saiida Farah, a sophomore at Edward M. Kennedy school, speaking to the Banner while organizers readied for the event. Since Trump’s rise, she increasingly has been targeted and is often confronted by people who see only her headscarf, forgetting about the individual underneath, she said.

During the event, a father of three who came to Boston in 1981 fleeing the Somali civil war spoke on the impact Trump’s actions are having on his community. In one case, a family was afraid to use tickets they had purchased to visit their home country for fear that they would not be allowed to return.

“The fear and anxiety in our community is very much,” he said.

“A family of seven, they booked their tickets, paid the cash, everything. Now this executive order created doubts that they could come back here [if they leave].”

“Everything Martin Luther King changed is being undone,” Abdiaziz Adullahi, a freshmen at Boston Community Leadership Academy, told the Banner.

He said he has been subjected to racist comments since Trump’s election. The purpose of the event, he said, was to remind that “we’re human beings.”

The First Baptist Church speakout event was organized by African Community and Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE), the Center to Support Immigrant Organizing (CSIO) and Margarita Muñiz Academy.

Trump’s orders

The rally took place several days after Trump issued memos permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pick up and deport unauthorized immigrants with deportation orders against them if they are convicted or charged with any level of criminal

ON THE WEB BPS Immigrant resources: https://sites.google.com/bostonpublicschools. org/bpswedreamtogether BSCA student rights information: http://www.bostonstudentrights.org/ Immigration legal services resources: https://www.muslimjusticeleague.org/ immigration-resources/ offense. This is a departure from Obama-era policy which focused ICE on deporting individuals considered to represent significant security threats.

Trump also activated a policy known as “expedited removal” that allows the government to rapidly deport recently arrived unauthorized immigrants without a legal hearing. Due to uncertainty around its constitutionality, the law rarely has been invoked, and since 2002 only has been used to remove immigrants stopped within 100 miles of the U.S. border who had been in the country for less than two weeks. Trump aims to apply it to anyone who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. for two years.

Under further measures, parents could be charged with human trafficking if they pay smugglers to help their children enter the country. Trump also created a department to aid those who allege they are victims of a crime committed by an undocumented immigrant.

Any resources currently going to assisting immigrant advocacy would be stripped and redirected to this office.

In Boston, local authorities have stepped up. Boston Public Schools launched a website to inform immigrants of their rights, Mayor Martin Walsh has stated support of immigrants and the Boston City Council is considering establishing an Immigrant Legal Defense Fund, proposed by Councilor Tito Jackson.

Speak-out

On Saturday, between spoken word, music and other performances, immigrants, minorities and activists shared their stories.

Speakers told of confronting daily prejudices and of struggles for a good life against the hurdles of an undocumented status and, now, Trump’s policies.

A 19-year-old woman, Valeria Do Vale, secretly crossed into the U.S. when she was seven years old. She teared up as she recalled how her mom sat her down after

BANNER PHOTO

A member of African Community and Economic Development of New England involved the audience during an immigrant youth speak-out at Jamaica Plain’s First Baptist Church on Saturday. the crossing and told her that she was undocumented and could never tell anyone, but that if she worked hard at school, she would have a good life.

“We’re in this time right now, and it just gets harder,” Do Vale said. “We’re trying to get documentation and that has been a really tough process for my family and I. Not only that, but now we risk the possible case of being deported.”

Among those who turned out to show solidarity were members of The Chinese Progressive Association. They linked Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric to historic attacks on other minority groups by the federal government, such as Japanese internment and the Chinese Exclusion.

“This ban against Muslims is a declaration of war on all minorities,” one CPA member said. “Minorities cannot be split. They may come for Muslims, but who’s to say they won’t come for us next?”

Rights and resources

Do Vale’s story also was one of the power of activism and knowledge to change lives. At first, Do Vale thought she would be unable to afford college, with

in-state tuition and federal aid unavailable to unauthorized immigrants. She frequently turned down other educational opportunities as well.

“A teacher of mine had constantly asked me, ‘Why don’t you do this science program and that program, and go do this trip in this other country?’ and I kept saying, ‘I can’t.’ Finally, I told him, ‘I’m undocumented,’” Do Vale said.

But when she admitted her status to the grade 9 teacher, he connected her with an immigration group that explained how to gain access to college funding. Now Do Vale is a full-scholarship student at Northeastern University.

Immigrant support groups also gave Do Vale greater safety, by letting her know her rights and protections. When a pastor molested her, she was afraid she could not report the abuse without risk to herself and her family.

“We thought we couldn’t say anything,” Do Vale said. “If we had known that we could have, we would. It would’ve helped a lot of people.”

In this time of Trump, many groups are emphasizing outreach.

The Chelsea Collaborative will

hold a doorknocking and flyering campaign in Chelsea on March 18, during which they will inform residents of their rights in case of a raid or round up. COSECHA plans to hold a Day Without Immigrants on May 1, in which they ask immigrants to stay home from school and work to demonstrate the impact of their absence, and plan to build up to a seven-day demonstration later.

Shannon Erwin, co-founder and executive director of the Muslim Justice League, told the gathered crowd that advice to immigrants with uncertain statuses, plans to travel or other concerns is not one-size fits all, and said her organization’s website features links to free or lowcost services.

Several BPS students said their schools also had made announcements against Trump’s actions and one noted that while students were not permitted to walk out last year to protest budget cuts, when Trump was inaugurated, the school threw the doors open for any wishing to protest. Saiida Farah pointed to the national pushback on Trump’s travel ban order as evidence that activism can get results.

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT The Brookline Housing Authority, the Awarding Authority, invites electronic bids (e-bids) from electrical contractors for the Fire Alarm System Upgrade at the Kickham Apartments and Generator Replacement at the Sussman House for the Brookline Housing Authority in Brookline, Massachusetts, in accordance with the documents prepared by Nangle Engineering Incorporated.

This project is being electronically bid. Hard copy bids will not be accepted.

The Project consists of in general but is not limited to: Replacement of the Fire Alarm System at Kickham Apartments with a new addressable system, and replacement of the aged, interior engine-generator at Sussman House with an exterior mounted unit.

The Contractor’s work is estimated to cost approximately $230,000 including all alternates.

General bidders must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) in the category of Electrical. Bidders must include a current DCAM Certificate of Eligibility and a signed DCAM Update Statement.

General E-Bids will be received until 2:00 PM on Thursday, March 16, 2017 at www.Biddocsonline.com and publicly opened, online forthwith.

General E-bids shall be accompanied by a negotiable bid guarantee which shall not be less than five (5%) of the amount of the bid, considering all alter-

LEGAL nates. Bid deposit should be made payable to Brookline Housing Authority.

Refer to Instruction to Bidders.

Bid Forms and Contract Documents will be available for pick-up on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at www.biddocsonline.com (may be viewed electronically and hardcopy requested) or at Nashoba Blue, Inc. at 433 Main Street, Hudson, MA 01749 (978-568-1167).

There is a plan deposit of $25.00 per set (maximum of 2 sets) payable to Biddocs Online.

Deposits may be electronically paid or must be a certified or cashier’s check.

This deposit will be refunded for up to two sets for general bidders and for one set for sub-bidders upon return of the sets in good condition within thirty days of receipt of general bids. Otherwise the deposit shall be the property of the Awarding Authority.

Additional sets may be purchased for $25.00.

Bidders requesting Contract Documents to be mailed to them shall include a separate check for $40.00 per set for UPS Ground (or $65.00 per set for UPS overnight), payable to BidDocs ONLINE, Inc., to cover mail handling costs.

A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 10:30 AM at Kickham Apartments at 190 Harvard St. Brookline on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Immediately following the Pre-Bid Conference, there will be a tour of the two sites starting at Kickham Apartments and continuing to Sussman House at 50 Pleasant

LEGAL Street. Any questions should be submitted in writing at that time, or be submitted to the Engineer via e-mail (gpnangle@nangleengineering.com) prior to 5:00 PM on March 10, 2017. Questions received after that time may not be acknowledged.

The Contract Documents may be seen by electronic media at: Project Dog - www.projectdog.com; Joseph Merritt & Co www.merrittgraphics.com; and CMD (formerly Reed Construction Data) www.cmdgroup.com/Home Bids and the Contract are subject to: M.G.L. c.149 §44A-J and to minimum wage rates as required by M.G.L. c.l49 §§26 to 27H inclusive, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, Equal Opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246, Non-Discrimination provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Labor Standards of the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts and Contract Work Hours Standard Act, and prevailing wage determinations as issued by the U.S. Secretary of Labor. This project is covered by Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968.

The Brookline Housing Authority reserves the right to waive any informalities in or to reject any and all bids, or to waive any informalities in the bidding.

No bid shall be withdrawn for a period of thirty (30) days, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, after approval of the award by the Brookline Housing Authority without written consent of the Brookline Housing Authority.

Sharon Cowan, Director of Modernization Brookline Housing Authority March 1, 2017

20 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL

LEGAL

INVITATION TO BID The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is seeking bids for the following: BID NO.

DESCRIPTION

DATE

TIME

*OP-345

Electrical Testing and Technical Services Metropolitan Boston

03/15/17

11:00 a.m.

**7540

FRFQ/P Water Sections 50/57 & Sewer Connections 19/20/21 Medford Rehabilitation Design, CA/REI Services

04/05/17

11:00 a.m.

*To access and bid on Event(s) please go to the MWRA Supplier Portal at www.mwra.com. **To obtain the bid documents MWRADocumentDistribution@mwra.com.

please

email

request

to:

MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY

(a) T he Contractor has not submitted a complete compliance report within twelve (12) months preceding the date of award, and

request for LOI will receive future notifications of the RFQ’s availability and its amendments.

he Contractor is within the definition of “employer” in Paragraph (b) T 2c(3) of the instructions included in SF100.

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goal is 7%.

Design Build Entities shall affirmatively ensure that in regard to any contract entered into pursuant to this solicitation, minority and female construction contractors will be afforded full opportunity to submit proposals and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, age or national origin in consideration for award. Design Build Entities will also be required to comply with FTA Civil Rights Provisions including EEO, DBE, Labor Work Force and Title VI. Because the MBTA reserves the right to use federal funding, respondents should assume that FTA requirements for federally funded projects will apply.

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

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS Sealed General Bids for MPA Contract No. M524-C1, BERTH 12 FENDER SYSTEM REPLACEMENT, CONLEY TERMINAL, SOUTH BOSTON, MASSASHUSETTS, 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, MARCH 22, 2017, immediately after which, in a designated room, the proposal will be opened and read publicly.

NOTE: PRE BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT THE LARGE ADMIN CONFERENCE ROOM OF CONLEY CONTAINER TERMINAL, 940 E 1ST ST, BOSTON, MA 02127, ON THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 AT 11:00 AM LOCAL TIME. ALL ATTENDEES MUST BRING A VALID DRIVER’S LICENSE, US PASSPORT, OR TWIC TO OBTAIN ENTRY TO CONLEY TERMINAL. PLEASE ARRIVE AT LEAST 1/2 HOUR EARLY TO OBTAIN SECURITY CLEARANCE PRIOR TO ENTRY. THE WORK OF THE PROJECT INCLUDES DEMOLITION OF ALL PIER EDGE BEAM FACE MOUNTED FIXTURES INCLUDING EXISTING MARINE FENDERS, MOUNTING BRACKETS, FENDER CHAINS, ANCHOR PLATES, AND STEEL BEAMS; CUTTING OF ALL EXISTING ANCHORS FLUSH WITH THE PIER FACE; INSTALLATION OF EPOXY ANCHORS INCLUDING DRILLING OF HOLES INTO THE EXISTING CONCRETE PIER FOR THE INSTALLATION OF EPOXY ANCHORS; FABRICATION OF 20 NEW MARINE FENDER UNITS USING DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED COMPONENTS, INCLUDING RUBBER FENDERS, STEEL FENDER PANELS WITH UHMW FACING, CHAIN ANCHOR PLATES, AND CHAIN ASSEMBLIES; COATING OF ALL STEEL FABRICATIONS AS REQUIRED; AND INSTALLATION OF MARINE FENDERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONTRACT DOCUMENTS. Bid documents will be made available beginning WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017.

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 TWO MILLION DOLLARS ($2,000,000).

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.

LEGAL

Submittal: One electronic copy of an LOI from Design Build Entities or firms interested in receiving a notice of the availability of the RFQ should be received by the MBTA at 2:00pm on March 23, 2017. All responses must be submitted via email to RLOLSignalsDB@mbta.com with the subject line labeled “Letter of Interest – RL/OL Signals Systems Upgrade Project”.

Project documentation and instructions for submitting a Letter of Interest are available on the MBTA website. http://www.mbta.com/business_center/ bidding_solicitations/current_solicitations/ Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Stephanie Pollack MassDOT Secretary and Chief Executive Officer

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department

LEGAL NOTICE MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY 10 PARK PLAZA BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02116 Public Announcement of Request for Letters of Interest for Design Build Services for the Red Line and Orange Line Signals Systems Upgrades Project Contract No. Q09CN01 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the “MBTA”) hereby solicits Letters of Interest (LOI) from firms or teams (the “Design Build Entities”) interested in providing Design Build (DB) services for the Red Line and Orange Line Signals Systems Upgrades Project (the “Project”) in Boston, Massachusetts under MBTA Contract No. Q09CN01 The Project is being procured using a two-phase best-value DB procurement process pursuant to M.G.L. c. 149A, s. 14, et seq. and consistent with the MBTA’s Design Build Procurement Procedures.

The MBTA intends to enter into a DB contract with the best-value Design Build Entity identified through a two-phase selection process including a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) with a subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFQ will be utilized to identify qualified Design Build Entities to submit a proposal pursuant to Section 19 of M.G.L. c. 149A. The best-value selection criteria detail will be provided in the RFP. Respondents to this

REAL ESTATE

Brian A. Shortsleeve Acting MBTA General Manager

Docket No. SU17C0034CA

SUFFOLK Division

In the matter of Yodalis Lisbeth Carbuccia Andujar of Roxbury, MA NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Loida Andujar requesting that Yodalis Lisbeth Carbuccia Andujar be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows: Yodalis Lisbeth Andujar 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 03/09/2017.

WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.

Date: February 3, 2017 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

REAL ESTATE

Bidders must submit a Buy American Certificate with all bids or offers on AIP funded projects. Bids that are not accompanied by a completed Buy American Certificate must be rejected as nonresponsive.

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 THREE AND FOUR TENTHS PERCENT (3.4%) 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.

The Recipient, in accordance with the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 252, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-4) and the Regulations, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that for any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full and fair opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in consideration for an award.

This Contract is also subject to Affirmative Action requirements of the Massachusetts Port Authority contained in Article 84 of the 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 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:

(617) 261-4600 x 7799

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Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 21

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REAL ESTATE

Affordable Living in Luxury Accommodations Currently accepting applications for affordable 1-BR apartments-$1,149 per month; 2-BR apartments-$1,376; & 3-BR apartments-$1,581 For additional information and toschedule a tour please call 508.279.2947 or email: agoncalves@claremontcorp.com *Income Restrictions Apply* 1 Person Maximum Income $46,100 2 Person Maximum Income $52,650 3 Person Maximum Income $59,250 4 Person Maximum Income $65,800 www.axisatlakeshore.com

REAL ESTATE

REAL ESTATE

BURLINGTON RENTAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING One 3 Bedroom Apartment - $1,544/mo.

Utilities are NOT included THE TREMONT 32 Second Ave., Burlington, MA Public Information Meeting 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Burlington Town Hall Annex 25 Center St—Annex Rm B Application Deadline April 21, 2017 Unit Smoke Free. Pets Allowed.

Unit by lottery.

MAX ALLOWABLE INCOME 1 person: 2 person: 3 person: 4 person: 5 person: 6 person:

$51,150 $58,450 $65,750 $73,050 $78,900 $84,750

Reasonable Accommodations Available for persons with disabilities

Language/translation assistance available, at no charge, upon request.

For Info and Application Availability: Pick Up: Burlington Town Hall, - Selectmen’s Ofc, Public Library & Leasing Office Phone: (978) 456-8388 Email: lotteryinfo@mcohousingservices.com TTY: 711, when asked 978-456-8388 Applications must be submitted or postmarked on or before the application deadline. Applications can be returned by mail. The Application includes all submission information.

Application available online at: www.mcohousingservices.com

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22 • Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER

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HELP WANTED

Manager of Human Resources The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for metropolitan Boston, seeks candidates with comprehensive human resources management experience. The Manager of Human Resources (HR Manager) serves as a consultant and coach in all HR areas including recruitment, onboarding and retention, employee relations, benefits and compensation administration, HRIS, professional development and training, and employee engagement.

We are seeking an experienced HR professional with excellent interpersonal skills, strong project management and supervisory skills, and an ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion. Reporting to the Deputy Director and supervising a staff of two, the HR Manager plays an integral role in defining and supporting MAPC’s HR priorities and policies. The HR Manager is a hands-on manager of HR programs, policies, and systems ensuring that MAPC and its affiliated entities recruit, support and retain an engaged workforce, and are compliant with relevant laws and regulations.

Duties include: Guide and oversee decisions made in the “lifecycle” of an employee, from recruitment, hiring and orientation to performance management, professional development and advancement, and through the conclusion of employment at MAPC; build strong relationships with agency leadership and employees through a collaborative and problem-solving approach, positioning human resources as a trusted division within the organization; develop and execute new and existing HR processes ensuring that they are aligned with MAPC goals and values, as well as federal and state law; provide informed advice and coaching on a broad range of matters from leaves of absence to employee relations and career development. Ensure a fair, legal and inclusive hiring and evaluation process; provide assistance and advice on all aspects from outreach strategies, resume screening, interview guides, offer and onboarding.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field with minimum of five years of senior human resources experience with increasing responsibility and accountability. Non-profit or public agency experience and SHRM certificate is highly desirable; ability to assess and build a proactive human resources program and to manage and develop a service-oriented team; experience effectively administering health/wellness benefits and personnel policies, including leave policies in a family friendly work environment.

Compensation and Benefits: The starting salary ranges from $70,000 to $80,000, depending on qualifications and experience.

This is a full-time exempt position. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits as well as a flexible, supportive, and family-friendly work environment and a commitment to continued professional development. Apply: PLEASE SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Please attach a cover letter and a resume. A review of applications will begin immediately. The position is open until filled. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/ AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2-21-17.

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HELP WANTED

Senior Grants and Contracts Accountant

IT Helpdesk Support Specialist

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) seeks candidates for the position of Senior Grants and Contracts Accountant (Senior Accountant). This new position will report to the Controller and work closely with directors, department managers, and MAPC project managers. The Senior Accountant is responsible for the financial reporting, accounting and other financial activity for a diverse portfolio of federal, state and town contracts and foundation grants. Other areas of focus are budgeting, compliance, and variance analysis of grants/projects’ costs. Duties include: Perform post award functions for grants and contracts; perform general accounting related to grants and contracts ensuring compliance with GAAP, MAPC’s policies and procedures, grantor requirements and Federal and State regulations; provide budgetary control of grant billings, expense analysis, reconciling and monitoring receivables.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency for metropolitan Boston, seeks an IT Helpdesk Support Specialist to provide information technology support to staff in an innovative and growing public agency. Principal responsibilities will include providing customer service support to our internal staff by responding to all inbound IT help desk requests and other support as needed. Other duties will include remote support, troubleshooting desktops, notebooks, printers, VOIP phone systems, and other hardware devices within a structured IT enterprise environment. The ideal candidate will be positive, detail-oriented, and committed to a more sustainable and equitable region. Responsibilities include: Provide first-line IT support to MAPC staff both on- and off-site; log incoming help requests from end users via telephone, ticket system, in person and email in a courteous and timely manner; prioritize and schedule problems and escalate problems when required to the appropriately experienced team member.

Qualifications: Candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting plus five years of progressive responsibility in general accounting, grant accounting, and compliance. Candidates must also demonstrate the following: Knowledge of Federal grant regulations and compliance in accordance with the applicable CFRs; demonstrated ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative information, and to teach others; knowledge of integrated project management and accounting systems.

Compensation and Benefits: This is a full time position. The starting salary ranges from $65,000 - $70,000 annually depending on qualifications and experience. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits. MAPC’s workplace and our benefits are designed to provide a sustainable, healthy relationship with your work, including flexible time, remote working policy, and a family-friendly environment. How to apply: The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Please attach cover letter and resume. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Operations Manager.

Posted 2/21/17.

Clean Energy Coordinator/Planner The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for metropolitan Boston, seeks candidates for the position of Clean Energy Coordinator/Planner who will work on a wide variety of projects in our region, including undertaking comprehensive local energy and climate planning, energy-related technical assistance, and regional energy procurement; supporting procurement activities in LED lighting and other fields, including interviewing vendors, designing specs and scopes, conducting product and market research, convening municipalities, issuing bids, collecting and managing data, tracking project progress, and troubleshooting problems; developing and analyzing energy use baselines and inventories; facilitating the drafting and adoption of supportive bylaws, ordinances, permitting procedures, and design guidelines; managing programs, budgets, and stakeholder relationships; designing and evaluating policies, strategies, toolkits, and reports on energy-related topics; and evaluating and recommending improvements to laws, regulations, policies, and programs to encourage clean energy and regional collaboration, and presenting on topics to diverse audiences.

Duties include: Help cities and towns to develop plans, policies, and programs to promote energy efficiency, to advance renewable energy, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the residential, commercial and municipal sectors; Design and run regional energy projects, e.g., procuring energy-efficient equipment or services, or planning energy initiatives among neighboring municipalities; Conduct outreach calls to municipalities for program recruitment, evaluation, or education.

Qualifications: BA/ BS degree plus a minimum of three years of professional experience working directly with energy issues in a public or private sector setting or a MA degree in planning, public policy, engineering, or public or business administration, with training in energy systems, climate, or related disciplines and a minimum of one year of professional experience working directly with energy issues in a public or private sector setting.

Compensation and Benefits: This is a full time position. The starting salary ranges from $50,000 to $60,000 annually depending on qualifications and experience. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits. MAPC’s workplace and our benefits are designed to provide a sustainable, healthy relationship with your work, including flexible time, remote working policy, and a family-friendly environment.

The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Please attach cover letter, resume and writing sample. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Operations Manager. Posted 2/21/17.

Qualifications include: 2 years of prior desktop support experience; strong technical troubleshooting and support skills with a focus around Microsoft technologies and MS Office Products; basic understanding of TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS; working knowledge of using remote desktop software. Citrix XenApp and Citrix technologies are preferred. Compensation: This is a full time position. The starting salary ranges from $50,000 to $60,000 annually depending on qualifications and experience. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits as well as a flexible, supportive, and family-friendly work environment.

How to apply: The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume. Those who are interviewed will be asked to submit three (3) references and a relevant work product. PLEASE SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. A review of applications will begin immediately. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2/21/17.

Regional Land Use Planner I/ II The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for metropolitan Boston, seeks candidates for the position of Regional Land Use Planner I or II within the agency’s Land Use Department. In conjunction with other MAPC staff, the Planner will work on a wide variety of projects with local communities with a particular focus on housing, open space, sustainable economic development, and zoning. In addition to local and regional planning work, the Planner will assist in evaluating and improving state laws, regulations, policies, and programs to encourage smart growth, sustainable development, and regional collaboration. The Planner will work closely with state agencies, local officials, community groups, businesses, and institutions.

Duties include: Assist municipalities to develop and implement plans and strategies, including local visions, master plans; housing, economic development, and open space plans; zoning, permitting procedures, and design guidelines; and a wide array of other plans in areas such as Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), Complete Streets, Fair Housing, Cluster Zoning, and Low-Impact Development (LID); Research and prepare reports, studies, testimony, and presentations; Advise various levels of government on policies and best practices; Organize workshops and educational events for the public; make public presentations and facilitate public discussions.

Qualifications: Candidates for this position must have either a Bachelor’s degree with a major in planning, public policy/management, urban design/architecture, economic development or a closely related field and at least 3 years of relevant job experience; or a Master’s degree in one of these fields plus at least 1 year of relevant professional experience. Master’s Degree, AICP Certification, and/or significant additional experience required for Planner II position.

Compensation and Benefits: The starting salary ranges from $50,000 to $65,000, depending on qualifications and experience.

Master’s Degree, AICP Certification, and additional experience a plus for higher range Planner II position. This is a full time exempt position. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits as well as a flexible, supportive, and family friendly work environment and a commitment to ongoing professional development.

How to apply: The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc. org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2/21/17.

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Thursday, March 2, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 23

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

HELP WANTED Are you interested in a

Healthcare CAREER? Project Hope, in partnership with Partners HealthCare and Boston Medical Center, is currently accepting applications for a FREE entry level healthcare employment training program.

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. 234.

Front End Web Developer The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for Boston, seeks a Front End Web Developer to join the Digital Services Group, housed within the Data Services Department, a team of 12+ planners, analysts, researchers, programmers, and IT professionals dedicated to using data and technology to support informed decision-making. The Front End Web Developer will support the Digital Services Group in front end design and web development of open-source, public sector web applications related to regional planning, municipal operations, and civic engagement.

MAPC’s Data Services Department has a long history of using technology to drive informed decisions across the region. If selected for the position you will work in a collaborative, respectful environment using modern web technologies and frameworks, and leading user-centered design processes. As part of a small, interdisciplinary group, you will be involved in all aspects of the product delivery cycle.

As MAPC’s Front End Developer, you will contribute frontend design and development to a growing portfolio of web applications that streamline municipal operations, make complex data visual and easy to interpret, and support informed decision-making at the policy and individual level across many topic areas (housing, transportation, clean energy, open data policy, economic development).

Our ongoing work can be viewed at http://data.mapc.org or at https://github.com/mapc.

Duties include: Design and build data-driven web services within a multidisciplinary teamCollaborate with government staff and municipal planning professionals to invent, implement and deploy systems and improvements to existing technology. Drive ideas from concept to production: from sketches and wireframing to implementation and launch to production. Work with a multidisciplinary team to design and implement clear, accessible (A11Y) user interfaces for web applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Qualifications include: Experience designing consumer-facing web services for use by diverse audiences; Proficiency in JavaScript and CSS; Some experience with any front-end framework such as Angular, React, Backbone, or Ember; Deep understanding of web and mobile user interface design and best practices. Prefered: Proficiency in Javascript Data Visualization libraries (d3.js, 3.js); Experience with Cartographic Design Principles. Bachelor’s Degree in Technology, Interactive Design, Human Computer Interaction, Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Studies or a related field strongly preferred.

Compensation and Benefits: This is a full time position (37.5 hours/week). The starting salary ranges from $60,000 to $70,000 annually depending on qualifications and experience. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits. MAPC’s workplace and our benefits are designed to provide a sustainable, healthy relationship with your work, including flexible time, remote working policy, and a family-friendly environment.

How to apply: The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume. Those who are interviewed will be asked to submit three (3) references plus a writing sample or other relevant work product. SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY ON LINE AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Please attach a link to a personal project or a group project you’ve contributed to along with attached source code you’ve worked on or the GitHub repo. Additionally, you may include links to your GitHub account and a design portfolio. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region. MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2-21-17.

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HELP WANTED

Assistant Property Manager Seeking an enthusiastic assistant property manager, in the management of a Section 8 development. Responsibilities include the full range of property management functions, but not limited to recertification, and tenant relations - COS certification and Tax Credit experience are required. Must have the ability to establish and maintain effective communication both oral and written with employees and clients alike - bilingual English/Spanish is a plus. Transportation is a must.

Forward resumes, no later than March 10, 2017, to United Housing Management LLC, 530 Warren Street, Dorchester, MA 02121 – Fax: 617-442-7231.

United Housing Management LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer

HELP WANTED

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Research Manager

Socioeconomic Analyst

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Metro Boston’s regional planning agency, seeks an experienced researcher interested in applying quantitative analysis to pressing public policy issues related to transportation, land use, housing, health, and social equity. The Research Manager will oversee statistical analysis and modeling, the preparation of data-driven policy publications, the creation and analysis of new data resources, and stewardship of our Regional Indicators program. We seek an individual who is experienced, innovative, and committed to a more sustainable and equitable region. This is a new position in MAPC’s Data Services Department with direct management of two or more analysts. The mission of the Research team is to create new insight into the past, present, and future of Metro Boston. This takes many forms: creation of new data resources from governmental and non-traditional sources; analysis of data to answer key questions about the region; creation of reports and recommendations to inform ongoing policy discussions; and maintenance of a Regional Indicators program to track progress toward the goals of our regional plan, MetroFuture: Making a Greater Boston Region. The Data Services Department is a team of twelve planners, analysts, and web developers dedicated to using data and technology to support informed decision-making. For more information about MAPC and the Data Services Department, visit www.mapc.org and data.mapc.org.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for metropolitan Boston, seeks a Socioeconomic Analyst to monitor and forecast population, housing, and economic trends in Metro Boston. This position, within the agency’s Data Services Department, will support an ongoing program of regional population and housing demand projections and the application of these projections to a variety of planning, regulatory, and policy activities. The analyst will also study current trends and produce narrative, visual, or digital products that help communicate key findings to stakeholders. This is an opportunity to apply advanced modeling tools and analytical methods to real-world applications in a large metro region with a variety of social, environmental, and transportation challenges. We seek an individual who is innovative, mission-driven, and committed to a more sustainable and equitable region.

Duties of the position include: In partnership with the Data Services Director, Executive Director, Deputy Director, and other staff, design and implement a research agenda to guide data development and analysis of key issues facing the region. Topics for this research agenda will span MAPC’s portfolio of interests, with a focus on sustainable transportation, housing and economic development, land use, demographics, neighborhood change, and equity. Analyze both traditional and non-traditional data sources to inform policy discussions about critical issues facing the region. Use advanced quantitative methods, statistical modeling, and compelling data visualizations to generate information and insight relevant to public policy decisions. Produce accessible, policy-oriented reports or digital products that communicate findings to a broad audience.

Manage two or more analysts in the Research team and draw on the expertise of other Data Services and MAPC staff as necessary.

Qualifications: Demonstrated proficiency with quantitative research methods and statistical modeling, and experience applying these methods to regional planning policy problems.

Proficiency with R, Python, PostgresSQL, STATA, or other statistical and data management tools; at least five years of work experience (post-doctoral work eligible) related to research and publication, with at least three years of experience in a managerial role.

Demonstrated ability to manage a team, to work in a collaborative setting, and to supervise the work of others in a supportive and engaging manner. Advanced degree in planning, transportation, economics, public policy, public health, or related field required; Masters’ degree required; PhD preferred.

Compensation and Benefits: This is a full time position. The starting salary ranges from $72,000 to $82,000, depending on qualifications and experience. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits as well as a flexible, supportive, and family-friendly work environment. How to Apply: PLEASE SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. A review of applications will begin immediately; the position is open until filled. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume. Those who are interviewed will be asked to submit three (3) references plus a writing sample or other relevant work product. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region.

MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2/21/17.

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Duties include: Improvement, maintenance, and operation of socioeconomic models, and production of on-demand forecast scenarios based on input assumptions. The analyst will also interpret the results and prepare materials communicating key findings to support local and regional planning initiatives. In addition to forecasting activities, the analyst will conduct research activities related to demographic, housing, land use, economic, and development patterns in the region, including development and analysis of new datasets.

This position offers opportunities to build relationships with public and private sector collaborators throughout Massachusetts, and to build new connections and cultivate new partnerships. MAPC supports staff participation in professional development opportunities, including trainings, classes, and conferences. In addition: Operate and improve MAPC’s population and housing demand modeling tools. Collaborate with academic partners, experts, and partner agencies on model improvement. Continue the migration to a more reproducible and code-based model. Integrate new variables and new data sources into the model to improve its utility. Conceptualize alternative scenarios and implement those scenarios using the model.

Summarize results and communicate key features of each scenario to various audiences in narrative, visual, and digital formats. Conduct research and analysis related to socioeconomics and the built environment, including transportation. Identify, evaluate, and acquire data with a particular focus on novel, nontraditional, and “big” sources such as mobile devices, social media, administrative records, and innovative surveys. Define and implement research plans that include multivariate and spatial statistics methods. Document methods and prepare results for publication.

Qualifications: Candidates for this position must have a Master’s degree (or higher) in planning, economics, statistics, transportation, sociology, or a related field with at least 2 years of experience in a related field, with progressively increasing responsibilities. Candidates must demonstrate the following: Experience in population forecasting, statistical data analysis, interpretation, report preparation, and presentations; proficiency with R, Python, PostgresSQL or other statistical and data management tools. Familiarity with the principles and practice of scenario planning is preferred. A high proficiency with managing, analyzing and visualizing both spatial and tabular data, specifically large datasets. Proficiency with diverse data sets from federal, state, and local agencies including the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Bureau of Labor statistics, and Census Transportation Planning Package Experience with the planning and policy context of Metro Boston or elsewhere in Massachusetts is preferred.

Compensation and Benefits: The starting salary ranges from $50,000 to $65,000, depending on qualifications and experience.

This is a full time exempt position. MAPC offers excellent Massachusetts state employee benefits as well as a flexible, supportive, and family friendly work environment and a commitment to ongoing professional development.

How to apply: The position is open until filled, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume. Those who are interviewed will be asked to submit three (3) references plus a writing sample or other relevant work product. PLEASE SEE COMPLETE JOB AD AT: www.mapc.org (Jobs at MAPC) AND APPLY AT LINK SHOWN THERE. Please attach a cover letter, resume, and writing sample. A review of applications will begin immediately. Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the USA and a valid driver’s license and/or the ability to arrange transportation to meetings in different parts of the region.

MAPC is an EOE/AA employer. MAPC takes pride in the diversity of its workforce and encourages all qualified persons to apply. Thomas E. Hauenstein, Manager of Operations. Posted 2/21/17.

Official Court-Approved Legal Notice

Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche 3.0-Liter Diesel Emissions Settlements Settlements with VW/Audi/Porsche Diesel Vehicle Owners/Lessees, the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, California Attorney General, and Federal Trade Commission Cash Payments, Vehicle Buybacks, Early Lease Terminations, Potential Emissions Modifications & Extended Vehicle Warranties, Environmental Remediation, Promotion of Zero Emissions Vehicle Technology

Vehicle

Model Years

Benefits

Volkswagen Touareg

2009-2012

Audi Q7

2009-2012

BUYBACK Buyback of your vehicle or early lease termination and cash.

OR

TRADE-IN CREDIT Trade your car for a credit (equal to the buyback and cash payment) toward a replacement vehicle Former Owners/Lessees may also be eligibleamount to receive cash. at a participating Volkswagen or Audi dealer.

OR EMISSIONS MODIFICATION Receive a modification to reduce vehicle emissions and a comprehensive extended emissions warranty and cash. Modifications require approval from the EPA and CARB. Volkswagen Touareg

2013-2016

Audi Q7

2013-2015

Audi A6, A7, A8, A8L, Q5

2014-2016

Porsche Cayenne

2013-2016

EMISSIONS COMPLIANT REPAIR* To comply with emissions standards and a comprehensive extended emissions warranty and cash. *You will have other options if an Emissions Compliant Repair is not approved for your vehicle by the Settlement deadline.

Former Owners and Former Lessees who sold their vehicles or ended a lease after September 18, 2015 may also be eligible to receive cash payments.

How It Works

www

Visit www.VWCourtSettlement.com for Information and Registration.

$ File Claim & Schedule Remedy.

www.VWCourtSettlement.com

At scheduled time, your Settlement transaction will be completed at an authorized dealership.

1-844-98-CLAIM