inside this week
BPDA Board gives green light to Tremont Crossing project pg 2
A&E
business news
PHOTOGRAPHER LINDA NIEVES-POWELL PORTRAYS AFROLATINA LEGENDS pg 15
Female entrepreneurs find woman-to-woman support pg 10
plus ‘Grand Concourse’ on stage through April 1 at Calderwood Pavilion pg 16 DeCunto exhibit celebrates black tenacity pg 17 Thursday, March 9, 2017 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
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Ken Guscott, 91, left legacy in Hub Made his mark in real estate development, civil rights issues By YAWU MILLER
One of Boston’s most prominent black developers, Kenneth Guscott, died early Monday morning in a fire in his Milton home. He was 91. In 1972, along with brothers Cecil and George, Guscott founded Long Bay Management, a business that included property management, development and construction. By 2000, the firm owned or managed 3,000 units, primarily in the greater Roxbury area. The genesis of Long Bay, Guscott told the Banner in a 1993 interview, was an influx of tax breaks and other incentives that brought white developers into the predominantly black Roxbury community in the late 1960s and early ’70s. While buildings like the Area B Boston Police substation and Roxbury District Court were built, few blacks received contracts or jobs. “We didn’t care if we made money,” Guscott told the Banner. “We just wanted to help rebuild our community.” The brothers started with a 17-unit apartment building and expanded from there, employing 63 people and contracting with dozens of minority-owned firms. Over the years, Guscott developed a reputation for supporting other minority-owned businesses. “You knew that if he had work, there would be an economic benefit to people of color,” said John B. Cruz III, president and CEO of The Cruz Companies. “He
BANNER FILE PHOTO
Kenneth Guscott definitely understood that for black people, the way out of their problems was through empowerment and building wealth.”
Self-reliance
Guscott often credited his mother, Rubina Guscott, with instilling in him an ethic of black self-reliance. He named the Grove Hall building housing Long Bay’s main office after her. “He had the most minority hires, not only with construction workers, but also in terms of subcontractors, architects, suppliers and other professionals,” said Dudley Square Main Streets Director Joyce Stanley, a former city Public Facilities Department staffer. “His projects were always at least 80 percent minority workers and services. He didn’t just talk about minority hiring. He made it happen.” Guscott was widely credited with spearheading the One
See GUSCOTT, page 22
BANNER PHOTO
BPS Managing Director and Senior Advisor of External Affairs Makeeba McCreary speaks while Deputy Chief Financial Officer Nathan Kuder and Chief Financial Officer Eleanor Laurans look on at the Lilla Frederick school.
BPS staff, advocates debate funding, cuts Cuts to 49 schools spark calls for budget increase By YAWU MILLER
While Boston Public School officials touted a $40 million increase in school funding for 2018, School Committee members last week had pointed questions about how 49 schools are receiving cuts of up to $1 million while other schools are slated to receive increases in funding.
Those concerns boiled over during a public hearing at the Lilla G. Frederick School in Dorchester, where deep budget cuts at low-performing schools and the school department’s weighted student funding system came under scrutiny. “Does weighted student funding actually work?” asked School Committee member Jeri Robinson. “Does it give enough dollars to do what we need it to do with
Level 4 schools?” Brighton High School, a Level 4 school – at risk of state takeover – is due to receive a cut of $1,007,459 in the proposed fiscal year 2018 budget. The Jackson/Mann K-8 school, a Level 3 school, is dealt a cut of $1,006,769. Those schools are at the top of a list that also includes cuts of $751,748 at the Level
See BPS BUDGET, page 20
Plan JP/Rox passes after protests Activists say plan will bring displacement By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
BANNER PHOTO
Activists ejected from a BPDA board protest the agency’s JP housing plan.
The city’s Plan JP/Rox proposal passed last week, despite bitter controversy and well-publicized protests by resident groups who said it puts at risk their ability to stay in Boston. Activists demanding greater housing affordability held a three-day rally at City Hall, with some members sleeping overnight during the days leading up
to the vote. Last Thursday, the Boston Planning and Development Agency board gathered to evaluate the plan in a meeting that had no public comment period but was frequently interrupted by protestors who shared personal stories of struggling to remain in the neighborhood and called for the plan to provide a greater amount and depth of affordable housing in order to stem what they fear will be mass displacement. At times, demonstrators’ chanting drowned
out speakers’ presentations. As demonstrators expelled from the meeting and others who were unable to enter the packed room chanted in protest outside, BPDA officials took their vote. Board members approved the city’s JP/Rox plan which will guide the next 15 years of development in a triangular area bounded by Jackson Square to the north, Egleston Square to the east and Forest Hills to the south. Several activists told the Banner they regarded the days and hours before the vote as their last chance
See JP/ROX, page 8
2 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BPDA Board gives green light to Tremont Crossing project Supporters, opponents call for more affordability in 718-unit, mixed-use Lower Rox development By YAWU MILLER
The dust had hardly settled on demonstrations against the Boston Planning and Development Authority’s Plan JP/Rox initiative (see page 1) when supporters and opponents of the Tremont Crossing project crowded into the board room on the 9th floor of City Hall for a vote of approval on the 728-unit, mixed-use development. The BPDA Board hearing on the project, which will include a 30,000 square-foot new space for the Museum of the National Center for Afro American Artists, brought out the support of artists, abutters and building trades workers, while affordable housing activists and Roxbury residents spoke against it. State Rep. Byron Rushing invoked the museum’s founder, Elma Lewis, speaking in support of the project. “One of the amazing things about this project is that this was her dream,” he said. “She wasn’t sure where it would be, but she knew it would be in Roxbury.” Rushing suggested that disagreements over affordability could be worked out before the BPDA gives a final sign-off on the project. Speaking in advance of the Tremont Crossing meeting, City Councilor Tito Jackson asked that the BPDA delay approval of
the project for another 120 days, citing a lack of affordable units and what he said were irregularities in the approval process that circumvented community process. “It is unacceptable how this has been railroaded through our community,” he said. “I am disappointed by the lack of affordability and insufficient approval process.” In addition to housing units and the museum, the project also is slated to include 405,000 square feet of retail space, with the wholesaler BJ’s as an anchor tenant, 108,000 square feet of office space and 1,371 parking spaces. Many who spoke in support cited the museum as a key feature of the development. “Tremont Crossing will be an important economic engine and will give the museum its home,” said Candelaria Silva. “It’s recognized nationally, but it’s never had a home.” Dudley Square Main Streets Director Joyce Stanley said the project would be an “economic engine” of the Lower Roxbury neighborhood. Like opponents, several supporters of the project called for increased affordability, including BPDA Deputy Director Dana Whiteside, who suggested that the agency could leverage the developers’ lease on the land to increase the percentage of affordable units in the project. “Given that it is public land
BANNER PHOTO
Mimi Jones speaks in support of the Tremont Crossing project during the BPDA Board meeting. owned by the BPDA, we have the opportunity to leverage our land for affordability,” he said. One man who spoke in support of the project said, “The only problem I have with the beautiful buildings that are going up is that we won’t have a chance to live in them. Not at $3,000 a month.” Those who spoke against the project criticized the percentage of affordable units as well as the level
of affordability proposed by the development team, which includes representatives of the Museum and Feldco Development. The proposal calls for the majority of its affordable units to be priced between 60 and 80 percent of the HUD-defined area median income. An individual earning 60 percent of AMI would earn $41,000 a year. At 80 percent, an individual would earn $51,000.
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Jackson noted that the median income in Roxbury is closer to $30,000 a year. “In a half-mile radius, according to information in BPDA planning study, 75.5 percent of people in that area make $50,000 or less,” he said. “The units that are ‘affordable’ would be used to gentrify the residents out of their own neighborhood on public land.”
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Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3
Brookline seeks to fire black cops who complained of racism, unsafety Town claims insubordination after cops refuse to return to allegedly unsafe work environment By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
In a hearing held last Friday, the town of Brookline argued that it has the right to fire two black police officers who have refused to return to work until the department resolves what the officers say is a level of racism in the department that makes the work environment unsafe for them. The officers, Prentice Pilot and Estifanos Zerai-Misgun, have been on unpaid leave since December 2015, as they and the police leadership and town clash over what — if any — redress still is required. While the dispute originally was sparked by several allegedly racist actions by other officers and a superior officer, the town and police chief ’s handling of the situation since has caused some to question not just the conduct of the accused officers but also that of the town and police leadership. Attorney Hillary Schwab of Fair Work, P.C., representing the officers, stated that the town violated its own policy by failing to properly investigate complaints, “and by doing so has sent a message that the town doesn’t really care about these issues.” Schwab and Oren Sellstrom of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, who also is representing the officers, say the police department and town have made only nominal efforts to address the officers’ concerns for their personal safety, while dismissing the severity of the alleged incidents and belittling the officers for their concerns. Meanwhile, the town asserts that it has acted appropriately and that the officers’ prolonged absence and unwillingness to return by a February 2017 date, when ordered by the police commissioner, represents insubordination and neglect of duty. As such, their attorney says, it is grounds for dismissal. “The fact that on February 8, 2017 the officers did not return to work is a violation of the chief ’s direct order,” said Joseph Padolsky, town attorney, “The town has an obligation to its citizens. … We ask …that they [the officers] be discharged from their employment.” Schwab countered, stating, “It is not neglect of duty for these officers to protect their personal safety when the town refuses to do it for them. The town has never taken the officers’ safety seriously.” Schwab said that despite Zarai-Misgun’s statement to Brookline Police Chief Dan O’Leary that he feared retaliation if it emerged that he had filed complaint, O’Leary identified him to all of the police supervisors as the source of complaint. Racism and retaliation especially are threatening in police work, Schwab added, given that officers must be able to rely on each other to have their back in dangerous circumstances.
Allegations
In late 2014, three black Brookline police officers — Pilot, Zarai-Misgun, and a third officer — spoke to the police chief about racially discriminatory comments
from others in the department. There are only six black officers on the 130-strong force, Schwab says. A year later, Pilot and Zerai-Misgun brought further charges of discriminatory treatment. Their allegations included being targeted by racial slurs, suggestions that their race impedes their capability at their jobs and other demeaning comments. Zerai-Misgun said in one instance, an officer told him, “I almost ran you over — I can’t see you when it’s dark unless your eyes are open.” In a later incident, a supervisor allegedly told Pilot to “do some n----r jumping jacks” and he would put in a good word for him.
Investigations
In response to the officers’ complaints, the town counsel ordered an investigation, conducted by Reginald Nunnally, former executive director of the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office. When report was released in June 2016, Town Counsel Joslin Murphy told the Brookline TAB that the investigation found probable cause for one of Zerai-Misgun’s accusations but did not support the rest, and were inconclusive on Pilot’s allegations of racial discrimination. In one instance, Nunnally found probable cause of sexual — not racial — harassment. This derived from a sergeant’s claim that he did not tell Pilot to perform “n-----r jumping jacks” but rather “nude jumping jacks.” It has become a case of one person’s word against the other. Regardless, the town and police did not take action against the supervisor for either kind of harassment, Sellstrom said. The police had commissioned their own investigation — a diversity climate report on the department, conducted by Gerard Cox, an external management consultant who had formerly worked with the Brookline police. In June 2016, the police released the report and issued a statement that “the reports find that no hostile racial climate or culture of racism exists in the Brookline Police Department,” but nonetheless steps would be taken to enhance cohesion in the work environment. Sellstrom questions the validity of the investigations, noting that during the five months of investigation, the head of Human Resources was not interviewed but allowed to submit written testimony, which he believes was carefully scrutinized and prepared by others. “We believe it [the investigation] was essentially a sham designed to come to the conclusion it did,” he told the Banner. He noted as well that the report found evidence of an “old boy Irish network” and racial bantering.
Town, police response
Following its investigation, the police department said it would take actions including “teaching officers to communicate effectively with each other without offensive banter, executive coaching
to senior officers, making a point to display pictures of officers of color and women throughout the station, making criteria for special unit selections public, creating a forum for officers to learn about cultures of diverse populations that make up the force, and providing leadership and multicultural training for supervisors and developing a strategy to maintain a diverse workforce,” according to information obtained by the Brookline Tab. Town attorney Padolsky said that police department responses have included advisement to staff to avoid racial joking, agreement to develop a training program, statements of support for the officers and offers to work with them to find a way that they can return. Schwab and Sellstrom say that the officers have been open to mediation but that the town’s initial approach easily could be construed as intimidation, because it entailed sending armed officers unannounced to the officers’ homes to deliver letters, in violation of the lawyers’ requests that communications go through them. Officers and their attorneys argue that the town and police department’s response efforts, such as diversity classes, do not go far enough and that various statements downplay threats to officers’ safety as mere “banter.” “They put their heads in the sand and say nothing is wrong,” Pilot told the Banner. “If you fail to acknowledge why I say I feel
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Attorneys Oren Sellstrom (left) and Hillary Schwab (right) represented Prentice Pilot (center) and Estifanos Zerai-Misgun in a hearing last week. unsafe and then begin to belittle what I say is going on…” Sellstrom said they continually presented the town with proposals they believed would resolve the problem and allow for the officers’ return, but that instead of taking these up, the town sought to punish Pilot and Zerai-Misgun. Pilot has served for 18 years on the force. One resident who turned out to the hearing in solidarity said his daughter attended a DARE program run by Pilot at the Runkle School and described him as “a gem.” “My fear for my safety is not from the public, it is from within the department,” Pilot said.
Moving forward
Last week, hearing officer James Lampke said that, at an unspecified point, he will provide written findings and recommendations to the town board of selectmen, a group that has the authority to fire police officers. Meanwhile, the officers also have a pending lawsuit against the town. Last week, a judge rejected the town’s request to dismiss the case, stating that “contrary to defendants’ counsel’s assertion, this appears to be a quintessential continuing violation case.” The suit is scheduled to go to trial in summer 2018 at the Norfolk Superior Court.
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4 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
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Established 1965
An undemocratic procedure To hold public office as the result of a democratic election is normally considered to be sacrosanct. But maybe that is not the situation in Massachusetts. In 2014, Carlos T. Henriquez, who was a duly-elected representative from the 5th Suffolk District, was expelled from office after being found guilty of a misdemeanor that was totally unrelated to his governmental duties. Now Felix Arroyo, the first person of color elected to be register of the Suffolk Probate Court, has been suspended from office, pending an investigation of the dysfunctional operation of the office. Both official actions are highly unusual. Henriquez had a personal altercation with a woman who had been an intimate friend and she charged him with assault. Some assert that her claim was questionable, but the judge found against Henriquez. Although there are no rules of the general court which permit them to do so, the state representatives voted to oust Henriquez. Many observers believe that this decision was a gesture to win the political support of ardent feminists. Arroyo has not yet, like Henriquez, been officially expelled from elective office. So far he has been suspended with pay pending an investigation. However, there has been no official explanation of the reason for such an extreme action. Citizens have been left to wonder what the official complaint might be. Ordinarily, the Register of Probate does not attract much political attention. The office serves the public and the courts in matters involving divorces, adoptions, paternity cases and name changes. The work requires the meticulous maintenance of documents and files as well as the accurate recording of fees paid by those seeking judicial resolution of delicate personal matters.
Mismanagement of the office would be frustrating to the public and the courts. According to reports, decay in the efficiency of the office had begun under the prior register, Patricia Campatelli. Her inappropriate conduct induced a number of candidates to oppose her re-election in 2014. In addition to Arroyo, her opponents included Richard J. Joyce, a probation officer; two attorneys, David T. Keenan and Martin J. Keogh; and East Boston community activist John Sepulveda. The Boston Globe published an editorial on Sep. 6, 2014 in opposition to Campatelli’s candidacy. Arroyo tallied 53 percent of the vote in Boston, compared with only 12 percent for Campatelli. This victory was attributed to Arroyo’s name recognition as well as his sound reputation. The conduct of the court system in summarily removing Arroyo from office has sullied his reputation. Management of the registry has not been as easy as Arroyo’s political victory. His ascendancy marked a significant ethnic shift in Boston politics. The ethnic tribes are very serious about defending their turf against the growing black and Latino population. According to Arroyo, some employees were insulting to non-white residents seeking assistance, especially those who had not mastered English. Other staff had intentionally sabotaged smooth operations. If this is true, the solution is not to suspend Arroyo and create the illusion that those opposed to racial progress have won. There is an effort to diminish the black and Latino vote in a number of states. Massachusetts should oppose any policy that creates an aura of victory for those who oppose a valid election. So far the state does not have a good record on that score, first with Henriquez and now with Arroyo.
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“Man, if you can suspend somebody even though they’ve been elected, we ought to do that to Trump.” USPS 045-780 Melvin B. Miller Sandra L. Casagrand John E. Miller Yawu Miller
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Correction: Last week’s article “Bud- Correction: Last week’s article gets shrink at 49 Boston public schools” cited a statement that McCormack school will lose its librarian. A source at the school corrects this: McCormack lost its librarian prior to these cuts.
“Panel convenes on criminal justice reform bill, report and next steps” understated the impact of mandatory minimum sentences when quoting Deputy Chief Counsel
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Randy Gioia. Gioia stated that as the number of offenses triggering mandatory minimum sentences increased since 1978, incarceration rates rose 4 to 5 times, not 4 to 5 percent.
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OPINION
What’s really behind Sessions’ phony war on violent crime
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By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON In a speech on July 11, 2016, Trump drug out his favorite whipping boy, the murder surge in Chicago, to claim that there’s an unparalleled reign of violent lawlessness in American cites. Trump doubled down on that wild claim in an interview with Fox News the next day, when he again said murders were now the rage everywhere in America. It’s true, the murder count in Chicago has made news, both for sensationalism and Trump’s purposes, because it does appear that the city has lost control in the war on violent crime. But Trump’s claim was, and is, like everything else out of his mouth, a gross exaggeration. Chicago had 850 homicides in 1990; in 2015, the number was 473. The city ranks in the mid-range of big cities in the overall homicide rate. The murders in Chicago are a source of pain and anguish for the victim’s families and the neighborhoods in which they occur. Yet, countless studies and surveys of violent crime patterns repeatedly debunk the conservatives’ favorite and never-ending talking point that murderers are running wild in America’s streets, especially streets in poor black communities. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had barely taken his seat at the Justice Department before he pounced on this myth and declared that the feds would make war on violent crime in the nation. What flew way under the media and public radar scope was Sessions’ cavalier dismissal of the Justice Department’s own report and recommendations on cleaning up the brutal, racist and blatant law breaking practices of the Chicago Police Department. The lengthy probe of the department was initiated and pursued by former Attorney Generals Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Sessions simply echoed his boss’s pledge that the police must be defended, protected, and insulated from those pesky abuse lawsuits and, even worse, probes and consent decrees from the Justice Department that supposedly do nothing but tie up cop’s hands. The new line from both is that police now are so terrified of being sued or investigated or punished if they make a street stop that they are virtually letting violent criminals run amok. This is a lie, but it’s so self-serving that it’s just too irresistible not to repeat and turn it into the new mantra for Sessions, Trump, conservatives and many in law enforcement. Sessions has several goals in spewing this line. One is that it gives license for the Justice Department to scrap the modest reforms that former President Obama and AG Holder put in place to probe, investigate and, where needed, broker consent decrees to reduce police abuse in Ferguson, Chicago, Baltimore and a handful of other cities. The decrees weren’t just arbitrarily imposed on these cities, as Sessions loves to imply, but came after exhaustive and lengthy studies that proved there was an outrageous pattern and practice of abuse by these departments. Another reason is that harping on violent crime as if it’s the norm in the country gives perfect cover for Sessions’ aim of getting the Justice Department and the feds totally out of the business of enforcing civil rights protections whether it be curbing police abuse, voting rights protections, racial disparities in sentencing and other criminal justice reform issues. Sessions and Trump have made it abundantly clear that if they have their way, police will have virtual carte blanche to be judge, jury and executioner when it comes to dealing with those they deem violent criminals. There will be minimal to no safeguards imposed by the Justice Department on any department that blatantly engages in abuse and misconduct. The historic role and mandate of the Justice Department to be the backstop insuring that local police do not operate as a lawless gang will be scrubbed. It’s a cold, calculated and cynical agenda that will usher in a new era of wild spending on and expansion of jails and prisons. It will spur a massive ramp up in spending on more police, judges and probation and parole officers. The movement toward more humane and cost effective measures for dealing with crime has always been fragile. It still turns on public perceptions about crime, especially black crime. This tracks directly back to how the media plays up, or rather sensationalizes, violent crime. When that happens, it simply deepens public belief and fears, that inner city neighborhoods are lawless, violent, out of control killing zones that must be dealt with as if they were ISIS-controlled rebel territory. This ploy has always had a hard political agenda behind it. It only takes one well-placed and prolonged panic story on the alleged new murder wave in America to reignite it as the issue of national concern. Sessions’ phony war on violent crime fits the tee for that perfectly.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst.
You spend so much time making rent, you don’t have time to spend with family.
It’s unaffordable. I live in Jamaica Plain. All the new homes there are at least $800,000.
Robert Caldwell
Millie Santana
Student Roxbury
They never should have got rid of rent control. I know a lot of people who are overcrowded or can’t afford to live here.
Disabled Jamaica Plain
It’s too much. I’d move to the suburbs, but there’s no transportation
As a senior, it doesn’t affect me much. I don’t pay market value — thank God.
Walter Clark Artist Roxbury
It’s too high. Most people don’t make enough to afford market rents.
Ana Lowe
Anthony Roberts
highlighted achievements and advancements in planning and design for communities of color. The BPDA is the urban planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. The BPDA plays a far reaching role in shaping the city. Its staff of 200 professionals serve the city in a variety of ways — from architects who review the smallest details of a historic building in Roxbury to project managers who host a community meeting for a new affordable housing project in Dorchester. It works hand-inhand with other city departments and community groups to make the city better. The agency is charged with growing the tax base, cultivating the private jobs market, training the workforce, encouraging new business to locate in Boston and existing businesses to expand, planning the future of neighborhoods with the community, identifying height and density limits,
charting the course for sustainable development and resilient building construction, advocating for multimodal transportation, responding to the city’s changing population, producing insightful research on the city and ensuring Boston retains its distinctive character.
Jeff Wright
Entrepreneur Boston
Construction Roxbury
Cook Dorchester
IN THE NEWS
COURTNEY SHARPE Courtney Sharpe is the new Boston Planning and Development Agency senior planner for Roxbury and Mattapan. Prior to joining the BPDA she has supported immigrant rights, food access and social justice as both neighborhood advocate and public servant. Sharpe attended Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, where she received degrees in Asian American Studies, Religion and International Studies. Following college she served in Morocco as a Youth Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps and afterward returned to Chicago as an AmeriCorps fellow. She is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she received master’s in urban planning. While there she worked with the city of Lawrence to coordinate blight reduction strategies for residential properties and co-chaired the inaugural Black in Design Conference which
6 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
City releases 15 year transportation planning report, ideas By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
The city on Tuesday released its Go Boston 2030 plan to guide the city’s transportation goals and planning. During a meeting with reporters on Monday, city spokespeople said the plan’s main goals are to create transportation links that will boost economic mobility, bring greater equity and respond to climate challenges. Residents engaged in the planning process largely said they wanted transit to be safer and public transportation options to be more accessible, predictable and convenient.
Links to jobs
A 2011 study cited in the city’s Go Boston 2030 report states that median incomes in Boston range widely, from $182,000 in Back Bay to $32,000 in Roxbury, and that households without cars are more likely to have lower incomes, making them especially dependent on biking, walking or public transit. One method the city proposes for boosting incomes is by prioritizing the creation of better transit links between low-income communities and sites of high job concentration such as the Longwood Medical Area, Logan Airport and South Boston Waterfront. Recommendations include creating safer biking connections as well as more direct transit routes connecting Dudley Square, Uphams Corner, Cleary Square and Widett Circle to the Seaport or LMA.
Transit cost and time burdens
The report also states that the city expects that providing more direct rapid transit options and
ON THE WEB Read the report: www.boston.gov/goboston-2030
alternatives to owning personal vehicles will reduce the high share of income that households in some neighborhoods spend on transportation, as well as cut down on lengthy commute times. A household earning the median income, on citywide average, spends about 13 percent of its income on transportation. Neighborhood by neighborhood, the average share of income going to transportation drops as low as 6.6 percent for those living on the South Boston waterfront and rises as high as 16.4 percent in Hyde Park and 16.5 percent in West Roxbury. In Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury, the average budget share going to transit are 14.3 percent, 12.5 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively, although cost burdens rise to as much as 33 percent of household income in some low-income sections of these neighborhoods, states the report. Additionally, at 34 minutes, Mattapan residents experience the longest average commute in the city, with the citywide average at 29 minutes. In Roxbury, the average commute is nearly 28 minutes and in Dorchester about 32 minutes. Those who undertake commutes longer than an hour disproportionately are concentrated in several neighborhoods, with the highest levels in Mattapan, East Boston, Dorchester and Hyde Park.
BANNER PHOTO
Mayor Martin Walsh spoke to reporters about Go Boston 2030.
Better buses
Currently, communities of color are especially reliant on buses and tend to experience longer bus commutes than whites, the report states. In contrast, communities in close proximity to rail stations are predominately white. City officials agreed on the need to improve speed and reliability of public transit as well as crosstown connections. Plans include connecting Mattapan to the Longwood Medical Area via rapid bus transit, which could feature exclusive bus lanes designated on some streets, signal priority and all-door boarding. The design and vehicle construction costs are pegged at $55 million. Execution will require MBTA participation and could take
5 to 15 years, the report states. The city controls streets and officials said implementation of rapid bus transit may include reallocating street space for bus lanes or adjust curb lines to provide bus stops. A Mattapan-LMA rapid bus route and similar projects will need collaboration with the MBTA, which controls the vehicles. Proposals also include transforming Dudley Square’s bus hub into an indoor facility, with electronic schedule information and retail. Costs are pegged at $15 million, the timeline at 5 to 15 years. Other ideas put forth: improvements to the Washington Street section of the Silver Line to provide quicker transport into and out of Roxbury, and extension of
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Acknowledging that infrequent service and poor pedestrian access limit usefulness of what could be a main T route in an area with few transit opens, the city plan calls for trains that would arrive every 15 to 20 minutes (a change from the current 45 to 60 minutes), better walking and biking access to each station and fares payable with a Charlie card so that link passes and free transfers apply. Next steps for the Fairmount Line include completing the Blue Hill Ave. station by 2021, with new higher-speed rail cars to come at a later date. Like many public transit changes, this requires the MBTA for implementation, and city officials say they are in early conversations with the state on this.
Seeing it through
Mayor Martin Walsh said that with the Fairmount Line and other transit projects, he will be making the case to the state that the improvements are critical to the region’s economic vitality and state’s tax base. The state’s revenue heavily relies on income tax and so the state is only able to grow as jobs do, Walsh said. Providing better transit within Boston and between Boston and the surrounding region will be necessary to allow continued local job and population growth, he said. “If we don’t have reliable transit, we’re going to be full [as population grows in the years to come]. People who want to be in Boston are going to make decision based on ‘it’s impossible get into Boston,’” because major arteries are backed up, Walsh said. The Go Boston 2030 report will be an important tool in advocating to the state for funding, a city official said. When asked how to ensure its recommendations get enacted should there be a mayoral changeup, one official said the public engagement that went into the report represents that the people will push for it to happen. Officials also said this transportation plan ties into the larger Imagine Boston 2030 planning, making it integrated into longterm approaches. Officials were unable to say how much it would cost to enact all of their proposals but said that there is $700 million in capital funds this year for transportation projects and a five-year funding plan for future transit undertakings.
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JP/Rox
continued from page 1 to bring more affordability into the plan. They said the plan’s definition of affordable did not match what most local residents earn. “We’ve been pushing for the plan to have more affordability for well over a year,” said Danielle Sommer, member of Keep It 100 for Real Affordable Housing and Racial Justice, during last week’s protests. “[The BPDA vote] really shuts down any ability to add more affordability into the plan.” At the BPDA meeting, a 24-year-old Mattapan renter said he had been priced out both of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. Other activists attested that the tide of displacement is tugging at the neighborhood. “All of my neighbors are leaving and I’m getting new neighbors who don’t talk to me,” Lisa Profumo, who has owned a home in Egleston Square for 40 years, told the Banner during sit-in protests. Meanwhile city officials said financial realities tie their hands. Sheila Dillon, director of the Department of Neighborhood Development, said that the city is reliant on private developers for funding much of its affordable housing, and so must be careful not to deter their interest, while also preserving affordability and protecting populations. Activists’ three stated goals for the plan were to deepen the affordability level on designated affordable housing units so that they are attainable by households making less than $35,000 per year; increase goals for the portion of new housing that’s designated as affordable from 36 percent to
55 percent; and require the conversion of 250 market-rate units into affordable units. They say the 64 percent of new units offered at market-rate under this plan will be unaffordable to anyone making below $75,000 — that is, 70 percent of the area’s residents. Now that the vote has passed, activists are regrouping and evaluating possible next steps, Sommer said. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Keep It 100 said the BPDA had approved a plan that “will exacerbate the housing and displacement crisis and fuel the increasing wealth divide.”
Affordability levels and amounts
Sommer and other activists say that in an area where the average household income is $35,000, many designated affordable units are out of reach and only 5 percent of the new housing under the city’s plan is attainable by these income earners. City Councilor Tito Jackson said the city should be well aware of this problem. “What ends up happening is you say it’s an ‘affordable’ unit, but you know based on your own numbers that people in that community cannot afford to live in those units,” he told the BPDA. During the first night of sit-ins, March 28, activists spoke with John Barros, city chief of economic development. According to Corey McMillan, a JP resident with Keep It 100, Barros told protestors he agreed that affordability definitions — which are federally set — do not match neighborhood realities. But Barros and other city officials said their ability to demand more from private developers is limited. The revised JP/Rox plan would
require 36 percent of new housing be affordable (40 percent if projects currently in permitting are included), whereas activist sought 55 percent. “We’ve really pushed developers to do more [affordable housing] than they wanted to do,” Dillon said at the BPDA meeting. “36 percent affordability rate is higher than any neighborhood in city of Boston.” Original plans called for 30 percent of new housing stock to be affordable, but was increased by 6 percent in response to pushback and feasibility analysis from community members. Marie Mercurio, BPDA senior planner, said the city believes the solution to housing needs is to build enough units — including market-rate ones — to slacken housing demand and normalize rents.
Density bonuses
Another aspect of the plan is density bonus units — the additional affordable units that developers construct in exchange for permission to increase the building’s height above limits imposed by zoning. Tim Davis, the city’s housing policy manager, said that here, the city is taking a risk by demanding such a high affordability level that it could scare off developers. “We took a leap of faith,” Davis told the Banner. The number of assumptions involved in the city’s calculations make it difficult to determine exactly how many affordable units can be demanded without chilling the market, Davis said, but due to resident pressure, the city erred on the high side. “We’ve already stretched the boundaries [of what developers will accept].” Under the draft Plan JP/Rox released in October 2016, developers are required to make 13 percent of
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their units affordable and those developers accessing the density bonus to create extra units must make an additional 4 percent of them affordable. Both a study by a consultant and one using more localized neighborhood data said this 13 percent plus 4 percent of extra, “density” units figure was the maximum feasible, Davis said. After being presented with different numbers and alternative assumptions, the city was persuaded to take a chance on requiring a higher percent of units be affordable, Davis said. Under the new policy, developers still have to designate 13 percent of units in a normal-sized construction as affordable, but provide a greater percentage of the density bonus units as affordable, with exact amounts depending on the square footage count of the density construction. For example, if developers double the original construction’s size, then 30 percent of density units built in the second half must be affordable. Activists, however, take issue with the level of affordability of these units, saying they remain out of reach to local residents. The units are designated for those earning up to 50 percent of Area Median Income, or $49,000 for a family of four, while activists says a more realistic measure would be 40 percent AMI.
Conversion
The activists also aimed to secure a concrete commitment from the BPDA to convert a number of existing market rate units into affordable designation — something they said the BPDA agreed to but has yet to provide details on. Activists proposed 250
converted units but said lesser numbers still would be impactful.
Data divide
The dispute in part is a clash of numbers, with city assessments and activists’ analyses deviating on crucial conclusions. Sommer says her group’s research suggests there are ways to make 40 percent AMI affordability economically viable. The group performed its own analysis of the data, and met with private developers, nonprofits, and land analysts to assess alternative plans, some of which she said do require creative approaches. She expressed doubt that the city has a complete perspective. For instance, in its plan, the city presumes that residents currently living in deed-restricted affordable housing are safe from displacement, but in a number of cases, the long-term affordability designations are set to expire soon, Sommer says. Additionally, she said her group previously had to correct the Plan JP/ Rox team’s analysis when an earlier model mistakenly regarded nonprofits as if they were private developments, altering affordable housing stock assessments.
Next steps
Davis said Plan JP/Rox is a living document and that after providing at least a year for its effects to emerge it will be revisted and re-evaluated for effectiveness. Sommer said she believed community members’ voices were not heard and responded to in this planning process and said it sets a bad precedent for other neighborhood-focused plans. “Plan JP/Rox feels like the canary in the coal mine,” she said.
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Advocates call for more affordable public higher education By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Amy Blanchette was scraping by, relying on soup kitchens and a $9 per hour wage from a curtain store to keep her and her son going. She had escaped an abusive marriage and weathered a period of homelessness, and now struggled to get out of bare-survival mode. Wanting a better life for her son and to end their reliance on public services, she applied to Bristol Community College. Now she’s slated to transfer to University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and intends to continue on to a Ph.D., with the goal of teaching English at a community college. She’s hoping she can afford it. Blanchette was one of many lifted up by public higher education and weighed down by the price tag that comes with it who shared stories during Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts’s (PHENOM) annual advocacy day at the State House last week. “Education…was everything. It felt like I was given a second chance to succeed at life,” Blanchette said. “When you’re living in poverty — you’re just surviving, that’s it. There isn’t hope or room for much else. All you need is someone who believes in you, and, to be honest, some financial aid.” While public institutions are intended to make degrees accessible to those without the means to spend tens of thousands in private school tuition, current and former students, economic analysts and education activists say that Massachusetts’ public institutions are increasingly unaffordable. Since 2001, the state has cut financial support for its higher ed institutions. At the same time, enrollment has been growing, exacerbating the per-student reduction. The impact is that per-student funds are slashed by 31 percent, or about $3,000 per student, according to PHENOM. Many institutions have passed some of the costs onto students. As such, many students leave burdened by five-figure debt and/or work multiple jobs while enrolled to make ends meet. A MassBudget report found that the number of students taking out loans in order to attend fouryear public college in the state increased by 39 percent since 2001 and their cumulative amount of debt was 55 percent higher. For Blanchette, affording college means working four jobs — three at Bristol and one as a research analyst for MIT and YMCA Southcoast. Because she cannot afford a babysitter, her twelve-year-old son hangs out at college clubs or classes after school and during school vacations. Some days she leaves home at 7:30 a.m. and does not return until 9 p.m., she said. It became clear from stories shared at PHENOM’s advocacy event that she was far from alone. Among the speakers was Erika Civitarese, a senior communications student at U-Mass Amherst. Civitarese said she has worked 25 hours per week since she was 15, received scholarships, work-study and Pell grants, yet still expects to graduate with $30,000 in student loan debt. Civitarese says she does not know how her family will be able to pay
BANNER PHOTOS
Amy Blanchette (left photo) speaks to an audience gathered at the State House for PHENOM’s advocacy day. it off or afford her younger sister’s education. State Rep. Natalie Higgins, who attended graduate school at a private instituion after attending UMass, spoke of how her own student debt shapes her life choices. “I have over $100,000 in debt. That makes every decision that I make a little bit —or a lot — harder,” Higgins said. “I have to think how that $450 [per month] I’m paying on my student loans is impacting everything else that I’m doing.” PHENOM is calling for the state to fully satisfy the budget requests from its public universities, state colleges and UMass system, as well as fully fund its collective bargaining agreements and fund more tuition grants and scholarships.
such as via restaurant and store patronage, home purchases or other transactions, he said. Zac Bears, executive director of PHENOM, said civic engagement also is impacted by the time-cost of being economically burdened. Those who have to work multiple jobs or longer workweeks have little time available to be civically involved or advocate for themselves, he said. “If people can’t are working three to four jobs, they can’t afford to go out to their city council meeting, their school committee meeting,” Bears said.
Legislative action
To fully meet the budget requests and its share of collective bargaining agreement costs for its public higher ed institutions, the
state would have distribute a total of roughtly $270 million to its nine universities; $555 million in total for its five UMass campuses and about $290 million in total for its 15 community colleges, according to PHENOM. Advocates also call for more funding to the state’s primary need-based financial aid program, MASSGrant, more scholarships and passage of a Finish Line Grant bill, which would provide one year free of tuition and fees at any state university, UMass campus or community college. To be eligible, a student would have to have completed their first year, attained a 2.0 or higher GPA and have a family income below $135,692. Other bills would require in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrant students and require more
equitable pay for adjunct professors and access to the same retirement and health care benefits as full-time faculty. During the advocacy day, Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teacher Association, and Joseph Ramsey, PHENOM organizer at UMass Boston, rejected the narrative that there is a need for public education austerity and efficiency finding, stating that the state is sufficiently wealthy but that it does not tap into its resources. “We have great plenty that is in the hands of way too few,” Ramsey said. “By the last statistics we have, Massachusetts ranked 45th in the nation when you take the percent of the total commonwealth dedicated to public education. That’s a shameful number.”
Why non-students should care
The problem of public education debt is not just one for students but affects the wider Massachusetts economy. Advocates say state public institutions largely educate state residents, who then become more likely to stay, work and live locally. This means Massachusetts keeps its investment and gains a more educated workforce. According to information distributed by PHENOM, more than 90 percent of state university students are from Massachusetts and more than 85 percent of state university graduates stay in the state to work and raise a family. Matt Patton of Fair Shot For All said that in total, Massachusetts residents pay about $234 million each month in student loan debt — representing a major draining of spending money that could better stimulate the economy if distributed among more sectors,
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Women working together
Female entrepreneurs find woman-to-woman support By SANDRA LARSON
March is Women’s History Month, as fitting a time as any to consider the existence, impact and unique needs of women business owners. In Boston, 18,709 woman-owned businesses employ 26,209 people, account for more than $4 billion in sales and provide more than $208 million in tax revenue, according to Women Entrepreneurs Boston (WE BOS). Yet by many accounts, women face greater challenges in raising capital and attracting investment for their businesses and in finding mentors and supportive networks. A program of the city of Boston’s Office of Small Business and Office of Women’s Advancement, WE BOS was launched in 2015 to help convene and support women entrepreneurs. “Women are the majority in our city, and they are drivers of economy,” says Megan Costello, executive director of the Office of Women’s Advancement, “but they face barriers in access to funding and investment.” Costello’s office is honoring Women’s History Month with a social media campaign highlighting women heroes. Ongoing services offered by the city for women in business include salary negotiation and other workshops and support of policy research on topics such as the gender wage gap. Costello says she has heard from women entrepreneurs who went to make their pitch and were asked about whether they were planning to start a family, or other questions men are not typically asked. “So, unconscious bias exists. Investors may not realize some of the biases they have,” she says.
Blazing a trail
When Jeanne Dasaro, founder of Wonder Women of Boston, started her first business, a media startup focused on economic and social justice, she felt skepticism as she sought the necessary legal, web development and design services. “Often when I would talk about the idea or the concept or launching the business, men and women perceived me differently,” Dasaro says. “Men seemed to think it was more of a hobby or side business.” Now, Dasaro works to convene women-focused workshops and events, including small “sip and share” gatherings in Boston area neighborhoods, a “strength and courage” speaker series and large networking events at which some 150 people, primarily women, mingle and make connections. About 30 percent of Wonder Women’s 3,600 members are small business owners, Dasaro says. She is pleased that Boston
PHOTO: SANDRA LARSON
Dr. Lesa Dennis-Mahamed, owner of Gallery Eyecare, will participate in this year’s Women-Owned Business Networking Breakfast, organized by Dudley Square Main Streets.
IF YOU GO This year’s Women-Owned Business Networking Breakfast will be on Tuesday, March
14 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building. The event is free. For more information and to RSVP, visit: www.eventbrite.com/e/dudley-square-5th- annual-womenowned-business-networking-breakfast-tickets-31741280023
ON THE WEB n Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement: www.boston.gov/departments/womens-advancement n WE BOS: we-bos.com n D udley Square Main Streets: www.dudleysquare.org nW omen-Owned Business Networking Breakfast: http://bit.ly/2lyf1N8 nW onder Women of Boston: http://wonderwomenboston.com
has developed a strong climate of support for new businesses. “Ten years ago, Boston was a very different ecosystem,” she says. “Now there’s a lot more happening — incubators, co-working spaces, groups focused on women, technology. Almost any night of the week, you have different events or workshops to choose from about starting a business or networking with other business owners. That’s been very cool to see.”
Business breakfast
In Roxbury, Dudley Square Main Streets hosts a large gathering for women entrepreneurs each spring. Its fifth annual Women-Owned
Business Networking Breakfast, co-sponsored by Boston Private Community Investment, Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, Boston Main Streets and WE BOS, will be held March 14 in the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building. Joyce Stanley, executive director of Dudley Square Main Streets, says she first devised the networking event as a way to honor Women’s History Month, and it has grown over the years to 100 or more attendees. Past event themes have included leadership and crowd-funding. This year, three local business owners will speak about how they moved from start-up to growth. “A lot of businesses never get to
growth,” Stanley says. The event attracts a wide range of business types. “You’d be surprised,” Stanley says, ticking off diverse examples: contractors, architects, engineers, artists, investment brokers, marketing consultants, actors, comics, bloggers, lawyers, cake bakers, jewelry makers, realtors. The featured entrepreneur speakers this year are Dr. Lesa Dennis-Mahamed, owner of Gallery Eye Care in Dudley Square; Faithlyn Scarlett, owner of Faith’s Naturals in Jamaica Plain; and Ana Maria Timas Fidalgo, owner of Davey’s Market and Nos Casa Cafe and a well-known figure in the local Cape Verdean community. Costello of the Women’s Advancement Office attends each year and says the well-attended breakfast event is a good model for how to support women’s networking. “I think it’s important to acknowledge that we have to be intentional about the challenges women face. This [networking] space allows people to share best practices.”
BIZ BITS TIP OF THE WEEK Data analytics turns big data into career opportunities Career opportunities in technology continue to expand exponentially: The computer and information technology field is expected to grow 12 percent, adding nearly half a million new jobs by 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. What’s more, the median wage for people in the field is nearly $50,000 higher than the median for all occupations. If you’re considering a career in IT, but aren’t sure common jobs like coding or systems maintenance are for you, data analytics is a growth niche that may be worth a look, industry watchers say. n What is data analytics? You’ve probably heard the term “big data” — it’s the next big thing in IT. From social media and public records, to mobile phone apps that track spending habits, companies have more sources of consumer information than ever before. The sheer volume of information constitutes “big data,” and in the competitive business world, companies can gain an edge by using that information to better market their products to consumers. Data analytics helps companies manage big data and analyze it, so they can better target different audiences, differentiate their messages and product offerings, calibrate their market, and formulate sales and financial strategies. Companies that don’t know how to analyze their data risk losing valuable time, money, market share, and customer loyalty. n Opportunities in data analytics: Because big data has become so pervasive, virtually every company needs a data analyst, from retail stores to the service industry, heavy industry to finance. A professional with a data analyst degree might work on marketing strategy, marketing management, financial analysis, digital marketing, SEO management, customer experience management, marketing automation, web analytics management, capital and asset planning, property management, and human resources strategy and analysis. n Becoming a data analyst: If you already have an interest in information technology, a career in data analytics may be for you if you also: » Enjoy problem-solving. Data analysis is like solving a complex puzzle you create yourself from the pieces provided by a number of different sources. » Thrive on challenge. » Excel at understanding both macro and micro patterns. » Have good math skills. “Crunching numbers” is very much a part of the data analyst’s job, and strong math skills can help you better manage and understand the volumes of data you’ll deal with every day. » Have strong communication skills. As a data analyst, you’ll need to be able to effectively explain complex concepts and data-derived insights in layman’s terms to executives with varying levels of technical knowledge. — Brandpoint/Western Governors University
THE LIST Job search engines have made finding a new job or career easier than ever, but with so many sites dedicated to general job searches, it can be hard to narrow down the best company for you. Niche See BIZ BITS, page 11
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 11
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Report charts persistent inequities in Greater Boston ON THE WEB
By SANDRA LARSON
While the Greater Boston area has grown more diverse over the past five years, the region remains racially and economically segregated, a new report shows, with the average income 18 times higher for the highest-earning fifth of households than for the lowest fifth, and widening income and wealth gaps disproportionately affecting blacks and Latinos. The “State of Equity 2017 Update,” released Feb. 28 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, shows that black and Latino household median incomes in the region are less than half those of white and Asian households. What’s more, even as the Massachusetts economy has improved overall, unemployment rates are significantly higher for blacks and Latinos as well as for people with disabilities. Home ownership remains low for blacks and Latinos and their home mortgage applications are denied at a higher rate even when they have high incomes. The new report is a five-year update to a 2011 report examining inequity — lack of full and equal access to opportunity — in such indicators as economy, education, housing, public health and transportation. A regional planning agency, MAPC covers 101 cities and towns in the wider Boston metropolitan area. The report does reveal some heartening trends. For instance, MCAS scores and graduation rates have increased across all race/ethnicity groups. In the public health category, childhood lead poisoning has decreased and the rate of low birth weight babies has dropped for women in nearly every race and education category. In the justice category, the number of inmates in the Department of Corrections has dropped by 12 percent and race disparities in incarceration rates have declined slowly. Even with these positive changes, however, black and Latino students still show lower education outcomes than whites and Asians, black women still have the highest rate of low birth weight babies of all race/ethnicity groups, and blacks and Latinos continue to be severely overrepresented in the prison system. MAPC Executive Director Marc Draisen said the agency will now formulate over the next few months an updated policy agenda based on the Equity Update findings. He encouraged attendees to keep in touch with MAPC and offer ideas and suggestions.
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State of Equity report:
www.regionalindicators.org/topic_areas/7 MAPC: www.mapc.org
PHOTO: SANDRA LARSON
(l-r) Marc Draisen, executive director of MAPC and panel discussion moderator; Jeanette Huezo, executive director of United for a Fair Economy; Kim Janey, senior project director for Massachusetts Advocates for Children; and Sanouri Ursprung, acting director of the Office of Statistics and Evaluation at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Kim Janey, senior project director for Massachusetts Advocates for Children, spoke on a panel moderated by Draisen at the report release event in Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall. She said any discussion of solutions must take into account historical discrimination and structural racism. “That’s something we cannot ignore if we’re serious about addressing these issues,” Janey said. “Even if we have laws on the books, and wonderful policies on the books, how are we prioritizing? Are we using an equitable lens when we implement them?” With the Trump administration ready to undo many pro-equity policies put in place over the past 50 years, there is heightened urgency for other levels of government to address disparities. “If indeed the federal government withdraws from its commitment to advancing equity,” the report states, “the responsibility may fall to local and state leaders
to demonstrate that fairness and inclusion are the surest pathways to a bright future and a strong economy.” Some suggestions were offered by panelists and attendees at last week’s event. Panelist Jeanette Huezo, executive director of United for a Fair Economy and co-author of a recent report on race-based economic inequalities, recommends changes to Massachusetts business and income tax structure, including raising corporate taxes and passing the Fair Share Amendment to add a tax surcharge on incomes over $1 million that would go a long way toward funding remedies. “They say there is no money. But the tax structure in our state is wrong,” said Huezo. “The money is there. We can fund programs. It’s time to make public servants accountable.” As immediate actions, Huezo urged attendees and officials to support sanctuary cities for the
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delays, Dot is ready to roll out its braille smartwatch. The Dot smartwatch is the first assistive smartwatch to display braille messages on its screen. The watch displays six cells of six balls each, and allows users to send back replies by using two buttons on the side. Dot recently announced it is ready to ship 100,000 of the smartwatches to backers, including musician Stevie Wonder.
continued from page 10 job sites can be be a way to find job openings that are not always available on general job search sites. According to TheBalance. com, here are the top 10 niche job sites. 1. CollegeRecruiter.com 2. CoolWorks.com 3. Craigslis.com 4. Dice.com 5. efinancialcareers.com 6. Elance.com 7. FlexJobs.com 8. GoodFooJobs.com 9. HealthcareJobsite.com 10. Idealist.com
TECH TALK Despite experiencing nearly 3 years of
protection and well-being of immigrants and to support the Jim Brooks Community Stabilization Act, a tenant protection measure proposed by Mayor Martin Walsh that will need state lawmaker approval after passage by the city council. Sanouri Ursprung, acting director of the Office of Statistics and Evaluation at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and also on the panel, cited the past campaign to reduce tobacco use as a model for improving public health. “With tobacco, we galvanized
several generations [to take action],” she said. “But that took years of culture change.” Today’s pressing public health issues include obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Tackling them will require not only motivating people to make individual choices, Ursprung said, but also scrutinizing the policy decisions that now contribute to poor health, such as food subsidies that make unhealthy food cheaper and policies that allow ‘food deserts’ or lack of access to safe outdoor activity to persist. Trina Jackson, community engagement practice leader at Third Sector New England, suggested stronger efforts to support problem-solving and leadership by those directly impacted by the inequities revealed in the report. She cited land trusts and worker-owned cooperatives as valuable community-led solutions. “People do have a lot of thoughts about what the solutions are,” she said during the discussion period, “but we don’t engage them enough. We tend to see them as passively dealing with issues and not having the knowledge and wisdom to help change things.”
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Boston chapter of Links Inc. celebrates Mardi Gras with a grand Carnaval to benefit the Martin Luther King K-8 School The Boston Chapter of Links, Incorporated (The Links) held a grand event on March 4, 2017. Carnaval: A Masquerade Ball featured a night of dancing, food and fun to benefit Dorchester’s Martin Luther King K-8 School. Over 400 people attended the event held at the UMASS Club in downtown Boston. Attendees dressed in festival attire, dawned masks or had their faces painted by a professional make-up artist. With the money raised, the Boston Chapter of Links will continue its commitment to the Martin Luther King Jr. K-8 school in Dorchester, MA by providing fitness and monthly programs for the students involving arts, health and educational opportunities for students and families of the King School. “What an amazing evening. We are so excited about the work we will be able to continue at the King School,” said Minnie Baylor-Henry, President of the Boston Chapter of Links, Inc.
PHOTOS: MARK SIJKA
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 15
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BLACK POWER
PHOTOGRAPHER LINDA NIEVES-POWELL PORTRAYS AFRO-LATINA LEGENDS By CELINA COLBY
N
ew York-based photographer Linda Nieves-Powell grew tired of being wedged into Puerto Rican stereotypes during her childhood in white, suburban New Jersey. Years later, she turned her frustration into images. Inspired by a 1954 Life magazine cover photo of Rita Moreno, Nieves-Powell began recreating iconic images of Afro-Latina trailblazers, and debuted the series in honor of 2017 Black History Month. “One of the things I’ve always done in my work is highlight the Latina American community, and the diversity in it,” says Nieves-Powell. For the artist, diversity doesn’t just mean race, but spirit, strength and personality. As she began the series, she found that the musicians she’d selected had a more shared sense of style and attitude than the actresses. She began to focus on talents like bassist Esperanza Spalding, singer-songwriter Irene Cara and contemporary musician Amara Le Negra. “What I love about Amara is that she embraces her black roots unapologetically,” says Nieves-Powell. Indeed, the photo of Inés de la Cruz as La Negra is one of the most striking of the series. Cropped from the waist up, she has one hand in her afro, the other holding a scarf against her printed top. She looks directly to the viewer with a cocked head and a fierce but disinterested stare. She’s at once a warrior and not in the mood for foolish pigeonholing. In the studio, both the photographer and model channel the life of the artist they’re depicting. When Desi Sanchez came in to depict Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, she had done research. She’d read up on Lopes, she’d dug through her own wardrobe and found similar pieces, and she’d studied the movements and mannerisms of the TLC singer. Nieves-Powell encourages her models to think about what was going on in the musician’s life and react to what she may have been feeling. Although the project initially was inspired by famous images of icons, Nieves-Powell doesn’t see it as a re-creation project. In fact, she wants to expand it in a very different direction. “I want to play with the meaning of ‘iconic,’” she says. The photographer wants to portray Afro-Latina single mothers dressed as lavish, regal queens. Though they may not be famous, these figures have incredible fortitude to raise children alone in a world so skeptical of their worth. For Nieves-Powell, the project is a matter of representation. While she was being teased in school all those years ago, the photographer wasn’t seeing many Afro-Latina icons on television or in the media. This made her think she should aim to be lighter, that she should distance herself from her heritage as much as possible. Now she wants to highlight the success, talent and heroism of Afro-Latina performers for the next generation. “Because we have a new administration that’s doing their darnedest to make people of the color the enemy, now more than ever we artists need to take control of our projects.”
PHOTOS: COURTESY LINDA NIEVES-POWELL
Photographer Linda Nieves-Powell uses models to portray Latina musicians: singer La India (top), bassist Esperanza Spalding (center), and singer La Lupe (bottom).
ON THE WEB For more information on Linda Nieves-Powell’s Afro-Latina Icons series, visit: www.latinaicons.com/
16 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
YOUR WORLD ON STAGE
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CHAPTER AND VERSE
DIRECTED BY JAMAL JOSEPH
STARRING DANIEL BEATY, OMARI HARDWICK, LORETTA DEVINE AND SELENIS LEYVA FILM
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PHOTO: GLENN PERRY PHOTOGRAPHY
(l-r) Alejandro Simoes as Oscar, Thomas Derrah as Frog and Melinda Lopez as Shelley in a scene from the SpeakEasy Stage Company production of “Grand Concourse.”
‘Grand Concourse’ characters embody the human condition By SUSAN SACCOCCIA
MAR 23 - 26
FROM NYC
A poignant story of class, race and learning to dream again.
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THE NEIGHBORHOOD TOUR WRITTEN BY DANIEL BEATY DIRECTED BY DAVID DOWER PERFORMED BY ADOBUERE EBIAMA HYDE PARK :: ALLSTON :: EAST BOSTON :: DORCHESTER
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Although modest in its setting, a Catholic soup kitchen in the Bronx, Heidi Schreck’s 2014 play “Grand Concourse” is, as its title suggests, grand in subject: what it takes to lead a good life. Will its four characters make it? The play draws its name from the Grand Boulevard and Concourse, the main road running through the South Bronx, the poorest urban county in the nation. The word “concourse” also has another meaning, says Schreck, “a coming together of people. … a sort of grand meeting.” The soup kitchen in her play brings together a quartet of characters who are easy to identify with even if they are not all easy to like: Shelley, a nun who has managed the kitchen for 15 years; Oscar, a security guard from the Dominican Republic; Frog, a homeless bohemian; and newcomer Emma, a 19-year-old college dropout. Brooklyn-based Schreck, an award-winning playwright, actor and screenwriter, once worked at a Catholic soup kitchen in the Bronx. She saw that like the people who came for food, the men and women in the kitchen often were seeking help, too. And like her character Shelley, Schreck found inspiration in Dorothy Day (1897-1980), who devoted her life to serving the urban poor and famously wrote, “The Gospel has taken away our right forever to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving.” In the daily regimen of a soup kitchen, even with its hallowed mission, neither forgiveness nor goodness comes easy. Schreck’s four characters test, tempt and care for each other. Shelley, in her late 30s, and Frog, in his 60s, are further along in their life journeys, and, in very different ways, each is an old soul. Their younger companions, Oscar and Emma,
ON THE WEB For more information about “Grand Concourse,” visit: www.speakeasystage.
com/grand-concourse are vulnerable to rash behavior and bouts of remorse. Now through April 1, the Speakeasy Stage Company is presenting the New England premiere of “Grand Concourse” at the Calderwood Pavilion of the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End. Staging and acting work in seamless harmony in this fine production, directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary, assistant artistic director of New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, with sets by Jenna McFarland Lord; costumes by Chelsea Kerl; lighting by Karen Perlow; and sound design by Lee Schuna.
Dark wisdom
Running for an hour and 40 minutes without intermission, the play unfolds as a series of 17 scenes. Its gentle pace is marked by the daily routines of chopping vegetables and lugging pots from counter to stove. Yet here in the kitchen, Shelley, Oscar, Frog and Emma each change one other, mainly for the better. Wooden arches and worn stained glass windows evoke the kitchen’s setting, a church basement. The fully equipped industrial kitchen is crowded with shelves, and standing among the pots and pans on one shelf is a small crucifix. Here, Shelley begins her day with a moment of prayer, set to a microwave oven timer. Karen Perlow bathes Shelley’s profile in warm light as if she were a figure in a Renaissance devotional painting. Shelley utters a line or two on behalf of victims of famine and war in between long silences, and occasionally lets slip that she’d like her ailing father “to hurry up and die.”
Each character is burdened with a dilemma and each speaks of unseen characters — for Shelley, they include God, her adored cat Pumpkin, the stone-hurling kids outside her door, the young nuns in habits who play basketball nearby (she was a star point guard in high school) and the guests who line up each day for soup. Melinda Lopez renders the sturdy kindness and weariness of Shelley, who wears street clothing rather than a habit and conducts her kitchen ministry with devotion and cheerless efficiency. Her faith waivers, particularly her faith in her vocation. Alejandro Simoes is utterly natural and endearing as Oscar, Shelley’s exuberant and charming antidote. Back in the Dominican Republic, Oscar studied dentistry. Here he is a security guard, working his way through community college. He speaks of his intended wife, Rosa, who makes him his favorite lunch, roast beef sandwiches, and aspires to a better job so he can propose to her. Frog advises Oscar not to wait because, “in the 21st century, men and women they support each other.” As Frog, Thomas Derrah mines the heft and street-worn radiance of his character, a man who camps outside the church and peddles his booklets of unfunny jokes. When he is not suffering psychotic delusions, Frog speaks with dark wisdom. Reflecting on a planet in which “everything is alive,” Frog says, “You can either decide that you are a predator…or you can starve to death.” When Frog applies for a job as a receptionist at a shelter for the mentally ill — wryly noting his sound qualifications for the role — Chelsea Kerl’s costumes deftly accent his transition. At first clad in a soiled rugby shirt and camouflage pants, a freshly showered Frog reappears in job-ready attire, including a camel-colored cardigan and
See “CONCOURSE,” page 17
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 17
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Star-studded: ‘Family’ exhibit celebrates black tenacity ON THE WEB
By CELINA COLBY
Giovanni DeCunto’s exhibit “Family”
building in Lawrence, and dropped out of the Art Institute of Boston. His career is built on the same networking and relentless work ethic that Jay Z used in his early days as a “hype man.” It’s interesting that DeCunto
PHOTO: COURTESY GIOVANNI DECUNTO
Painter Giovanni DeCunto, a Lawrence native, poses with a portrait. from Jay Z. The two artists share a similar story. Born in a housing project in Brooklyn, the famous rapper, now one of the best-selling musicians of all time, built his career on tenacity and creativity. DeCunto spent much of his childhood living in an abandoned
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tie. He credits his change in luck to Emma, who found him the job as well as a bed in the shelter. As Emma, Ally Dawson embodies her complicated character, who is a bit icky from the start. She arrives with an elaborate backstory and hints of an abusive mother, and, when Shelley leaves, shows off her arsenal of Sephora cosmetics to the susceptible Oscar. After entangling him, she confesses, “Everything feels so out of my control…I’m sort of following my impulses.” Emma helps Frog, works hard in the kitchen and upgrades the house porridge with the flavors of eggplants and fennel. With equal energy, she earns and betrays the trust of others. With its flawed, aspiring characters, the soup kitchen crew is a convincing stand-in for humankind. Shelley prevails, fulfilling her ministry as it takes an unexpected turn and showing us how, as flawed as we are, we can be instruments of grace for one another.
BU
continued from page 16
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Giovanni DeCunto’s exhibit “Family” debuted at the W Hotel Gallery and is on view through May, when it will continue on its series of exhibits through the country. DeCunto has made himself an integral part of Boston’s high-society art world, with portraits in the collections of Mayor Thomas Menino, Ted Cutler and Tony Bennett, among others. But DeCunto’s work doesn’t sacrifice the avant-garde in favor of sales. In fact, his paintings thrive on it. “Family” features a few abstract images in the artist’s signature impasto style, evoking Pollack-style paint splatters. But the real highlights of the exhibit are DeCunto’s portraits. Featured prominently when you walk into the room are paintings of Jay Z, Beyoncé and Tupac. DeCunto has a particular interest in black talent, with more than half of his “Legends” series comprising African American icons including President Barack Obama. DeCunto’s portrait style is a fascinating blend of techniques. From afar, the pieces take on a mosaic look, while up close, they’re completely unidentifiable, with thick smears of paint and thin acrylic drippings dominating the canvas. That DeCunto is able to achieve a mosaic effect with an impasto technique is testimony to the artist’s unique ability to focus at once on individual spots of the canvas and at the same time on the larger image. Georges Seurat is applauding in his tortured grave. The artist chose these specific icons for the “Family” exhibit for a few reasons. He admires Tupac’s multilayered personality. His hard exterior melts into the sensitive interior of a poet, much like a parent may put on gloves to fight off the world, but be tender with the child they protect. Beyoncé and Jay Z are presented for their savvy business sense. It takes more than just talent to
is on display at the W Hotel Art Gallery at 100 Stuart St., Boston, through May. For more information about DeCunto, visit:
titles this exhibit of famous portraits, “Family.” Perhaps he sees the performers and himself as all cut from the same cloth, all artists with a fierce desire to create work and make change in a world driven by money and power. DeCunto also could be pointing to the humble origins of the stars on the W walls. Once just brothers and sisters in struggling homes, both DeCunto and the stars he depicts have risen to a success and artistic prowess about which their family members never could have dreamed.
18 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
FOOD
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UN-PHO-GETTABLE PERFECTING THE VIETNAMESE COMFORT FOOD By ARI LEVAUX, MORE CONTENT NOW
I
f you’ve been living under a rock at the bottom of the ocean for the last decade, you might – might – have missed the ascendency of pho, Vietnam’s internationally beloved comfort food. The steaming meal is both soup and salad in the same bowl, a fragrant beef broth in which delicate rice noodles and meat parts comingle with fresh herbs and sprouts, amid a customized mixture of condiments. In summer, pho heats you up and makes you sweat, breaking the seasonal fever. In winter, pho will warm your bones and melt away your congestion. It’s equally nourishing and satisfying in spring and fall, morning and night. I tend to do my cooking by improvisation, but that doesn’t work with pho, despite its apparent simplicity. The broth is elusive, even if you know what the ingredients are. Inevitably, one or more of the spices will come on too strong, resulting in more of a cacophony than the understated symphony that has conquered the slurping masses. My numerous failures left me discouraged, with no other choice than to head for my local pho shop to get my fix. But this drought ended when Andrea Nguyen, the undisputed authority on Vietnamese food in America, was kind enough to email me the keys to the kingdom. I found myself on a list of recipe testers for Nguyen’s masterful new “The Pho Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press, 2017). My main assignment was to help replicate and troubleshoot the recipe for pressure cooker pho, a method that expedites the usual hours-long simmering of bones behind your typical pho broth. Other than the wholly unexpected addition of a quartered apple – Nguyen’s substitute for Vietnamese rock sugar – there weren’t any surprises in the ingredient list. I’d used them all before in my previous failed attempts. With Nguyen’s permission I share the recipe that I helped test. Being a lover of pho and my Instant Pot, this recipe has worn a very soft spot in my heart and belly.
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.
TIP OF THE WEEK
PRESSURE COOKER BEEF PHO For the broth: n 3 pounds beef bones n 1 pound beef brisket, unsliced n 2½ star anise pods (20 robust points, total) n 1 3-inch piece of cinnamon n 3 whole cloves n Chubby, 2-inch section of ginger, peeled, thickly sliced, bruised n 1 large yellow onion, halved and thickly sliced n 1 small Fuji apple, peeled, cored and cut into thumbnail-size chunks n 2¼ teaspoons fine sea salt n 2 tablespoons fish sauce n 1 teaspoon sugar For the bowls: n 10 ounces dried, narrow rice noodles n Cooked beef from the broth, sliced thin n 4-5 ounces thinly sliced raw beef steak n½ small red or yellow onion, thinly sliced against the grain and soaked in water for 10 minutes n 2 thinly sliced green onions, green parts only n ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro n Black pepper, to taste n Optional: bean sprouts, chile slices, mint, Thai basil, lime wedges, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce
HALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉ: Thu Mar 9 - LIFTED Presents “Give Her A Mic”with special Guests Shea Rose, Azaglo, Stacey Wade + Open Mic, 7pm Fri Mar 10 - The House Slam, featuring Amin “Drew” Law, 6:30pm Thu Mar 16 - Art is Life itself! featuring Andre “Mr. Noteworthy” Sparrow melodic poet, journalist, spoken word artist + Open Mic, 7pm Thu Mar 23 - Artist’s Reception for Franklin Marval’s “More Love is OK,” 5:30-7pm Thu Mar 23 - Boston Day & Evening Academy presents Lyricist’s Lounge, 7pm Fri Mar 24 - The House Slam, 6:30pm Haley House Bakery Cafe - 12 Dade Street - Roxbury 617-445-0900 - www.haleyhouse.org/bakery-cafe
A new entertaining trend is elevating events and tantalizing taste buds: Cheese boards. Create one for your next party with these tips: Select varieties. Consider three to 10 based on your party size. A mild, buttery Creamy Havarti pairs beautifully with the salty, tangy Traditional Danish Blue and slightly crunchy Aged Havarti. Find festive pairings. Consider four types: Bread, charcuterie (prepared meats), something sweet and something savory or salty. Uncover inspiration. Consult the Castello Cheese Board Builder at Castello CheeseUSA.com for custom recommendations. PHOTO: JOHN LEE
Pressure Cooker Beef Pho.
1. Rinse bones. 2. Toast the spices on medium heat in the pressure cooker for a few minutes, shaking or stirring, until fragrant. Add ginger and onion; stir until aromatic and slightly charred.
COMING TO
Create an amazing cheese board
3. Add four cups water to stop the cooking process. Add the bones, brisket, apple, salt and five more cups of water. Lock the lid and pressure-cook for 20 minutes at 15 psi or higher. 4. Remove from heat. Allow pressure to go down to the point where you can open the pressure cooker. Season with fish sauce, salt and sugar. Remove the meat, soak in water for 10 minutes to prevent drying, and set aside until serving time. Refrigerate the
broth to make it easy to skim fat, if desired. 5. While broth is cooking, soak the noodles in hot water until pliable and opaque. Drain and rinse and drain again. Divide among four bowls. At serving time, dunk each portion of noodles in boiling water, then replace in the bowls. Top with the brisket, steak, onion, green onion, cilantro and pepper. Heat the broth to a boil and ladle into the bowls. Dive in and add condiments to tweak flavor.
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CHEESE TRIVIA Test your cheese IQ with fun facts Whether your favorite cheese is cheddar, Swiss or Parmesan, here are some interesting facts from the International Dairy Foods Association: n The making of cheese dates back more than 4,000 years. n More than one-third of all milk produced each year in the U.S. is used to manufacture cheese. n Americans consume mostly Italian-style cheeses, followed by American-style cheeses. — Brandpoint
FOOD SAFETY Safe food techniques Good hosts offer tasty treats, not the risk of food poisoning due to unsafe food handling. Take the following precautions to minimize that risk: n Before prep time, wash your hands and all work surfaces, cutting boards, tools and containers in hot soapy water. n Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water before using, and scrub firm-skinned varieties with a clean brush. Blot them dry with paper towels. n Safely defrost meats in the refrigerator, microwave or submerged in cold water. For more tips, visit StoryofYourDinner.org, from the Partnership for Food Safety Education.
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 19
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SATURDAY PLAY READING BOOK CLUB READS OCTAVIA BUTLER’S PARABLE OF THE SOWER (Developed and sponsored by ArtsEmerson with funding by the Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund of the Boston Public Library.) Gain unique and radical access to plays, artists, and conversations at Arts Emerson with the Play Reading Book Club at the Dudley Branch of the BPL. In free* weekly sessions at the library participants will read script, discuss artistic and production values, attend a performance, and put on a showcase for family and friends. No prior knowledge or reading of the plays is necessary. *Pre-registration is required. March 11-April 1. Go to: http://bit. ly/DUDLEYPRBC1617. For more info, contact Akiba Abaka at Akiba_abaka@ emerson.edu or 617-824-3071. To learn more about the play, visit our website at www.artsemerson.org. Dudley Branch Library, 65 Warren Street, Roxbury.
TUESDAY SCARLET THREAD Simmons College presents a solo exhibition: Scarlet Thread, a feminist alphabet in mixed media by Lauren Gillette from March 14-April 13 at the Trustman Art Gallery, located on the fourth floor, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway in Boston. A reception will be held on Thursday, March 16 from 5-7pm, with a snow date of March 23. Lauren Gillette has fashioned an alphabet with multi-media narrative quilted panels of an alternate “herstory”. Women of doubtful reputation, such as Eva Peron’s or Helen of Troy’s biographies are upended from their traditional telling. The irreverence and seriousness of Gillette’s recasting of our collective mythological, fictional and lived history is her way of bearing witness to “the Hester Prynne drumbeat going on around me.” As a conceptual artist, Gillette chooses fabric for her support of the text and drawings to solicit our desire to touch, while her notorious subjects and with their non-normative sexual antics and correspondent public shaming are anything but cozy quilts. The Scarlet Thread project was supported by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Artist Advancement Grant. Trustman Gallery hours are 10am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. The gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. For more information, contact Marcia Lomedico at 617-521-2268, or visit the Trustman Art Gallery website at www.simmons.edu/ trustman and visit us on Facebook.
WEDNESDAY FIGHTING TO END YOUTH CRIMINALIZATION IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS Criminal justice reform is a hotly debated issue on Beacon Hill, but the effects of a broken system are felt in our neighborhoods, with a particular impact on our youth. For the second installment of the DotThought™ program series, Dorchester Bay EDC will host a panel discussion on criminal
justice reform in Massachusetts and the fight to end youth criminalization. Fighting to End Youth Criminalization in Our Neighborhoods will be held on Wednesday, March 15 from 5:3-7:30pm at the Strand Theater in Uphams Corner. The discussion will be led by youth activists from the Dorchester Bay Youth Force team, with Hannah Ledgerton of Citizens for Juvenile Justice. The event is open to the public. To register, visit http://bit. ly/dotthought2. For more information, contact Kimberly R. Lyle at klyle@ dbedc.org.
UPCOMING EVACUATION DAY CELEBRATION State Representatives Evandro Carvalho, Nick Collins, Chynah Tyler and the Evacuation Day Heritage Committee cordially invite you to the celebration of Evacuation Day, Friday, March 17. The annual Historical Exercises will begin at 10am at Thomas Park, South Boston’s Dorchester Heights, featuring the Lexington Minutemen, the South Boston Educational Complex Junior ROTC, the South Boston Citizens Association, the Allied War Veterans, and the Colonel Henry Knox Color Guard of the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution. State Representative Chynah Tyler will host the Historical Exercises at Fort Hill, in Highland Park, Roxbury, beginning at 11am, with ceremonies by the Minutemen and local elected officials. This fortification, designed by Henry Knox, prevented the British from breaking out of Boston during the siege. Washington was so impressed with Knox’s ability at designing and constructing this fort, he put Knox in charge of American artillery. These two fortifications, at Roxbury and South Boston, were crucial to the first American victory in the War for Independence. State Representative Evandro Carvalho will host a complimentary luncheon at the Shirley Eustis House, 33 Shirley St., Roxbury, following the Historical Exercises at Fort Hill. Transportation to the Shirley-Eustis House can be boarded at 11:45am with a return trip leaving the house at 2pm. The Lexington Minutemen and the Henry Knox Color Guard will fire a salute, and Major General Knox himself will make an appearance. Thanks to the Mass Bay Credit Union and Yankee Bus for their support of these historical exercises. For more information, please contact the Shirley-Eustis House at 617-442-2275 or email governorshirley@ gmail.com.
DCR BLUE HILLS RESERVATION MAPLE SUGAR DAYS March 18-19 from 12-4pm. It’s sugarin’ time in the Blue Hills! Join us as we make maple syrup in the traditional way at beautiful DCR Brookwood Farm in Milton. Put on your boots and flannel shirt and join the fun! Ride the free shuttle ride aboard the Maple Express Trolley. Smell the wood smoke as you watch clouds of steam rise from the bubbling sap. Savor the taste of real maple syrup. Discover
SATURDAY, MARCH 11
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE “OPENS THE OLMSTED VAULT”
On Saturday afternoon, March 11 from 12-3pm, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site invites the public for its third annual winter afternoon open house. This year’s program focus is on the Trustees of Reservations landscapes. Using displayed materials from the Olmsted Archives, the event highlights the Olmsted firm’s work designing and advocating for Trustees properties such as World’s End. Visitors will get to see original photos, plans, and drawings related to the Trustees of Reservations and have opportunities to speak with Olmsted experts, a National Park Service archivist, and staff from the World’s End Reservation. Visitors will be able to walk through the firm’s historic design office, where rarely-shown original archives will be on display. This free event takes place at Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site at 99 Warren Street in Brookline, and no advance registration is required. For further information, please call Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site at 617-566-1689, Monday through Friday. During the winter season, Olmsted NHS is closed to the public with the exception of special events. The site reopens for the spring season on Friday, April 7 with public hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30am - 4pm. For further information on Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site and its spring public hours and tours, please visit www.nps.gov/frla after March 21 or call 617566-1689 Monday through Friday.
maple sugaring through time. Activities for all ages. Program admission: Adults $10, Children (ages 3-12) $5, Ages 2 and under free. Maple Sugar Days is a joint program of the DCR and Mass. Audubon Trailside Museum. Proceeds benefit the Trailside Museum. For more info, please call 617-333-0690.
TAI CHI CLASSES FOR SENIORS This evidence-based workshop focuses on preventing falls and improving balance through the regular practice of Tai Chi. Participants will learn 8 single forms, derived from the traditional, well known, 24-form Yang Style Tai Chi. The forms are tailored to older adults who wish to improve balance and mobility, and consequently, reduce the risk of falling. Class is offered at no charge and meets twice a week for 12 weeks. It is designed for beginners. Location: Julia Martin House, 90 Bickford Street in Jamaica Plain. Day and Time: Mondays and Thursdays from 3-4pm. Start Date: March 20. For more information or to register for this workshop contact Ann Glora at 617-4776616 or aglora@ethocare.org.
EASY AS LYING: THE MUSIC OF SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE Seven Times Salts marks Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary year with this spirited musical celebration presented as part of the Boston Public Library’s exhibit “All the City’s a Stage.” You’ll hear songs the Bard mentions by name, works by his talented musical contemporaries including Morley, Dowland, and Robert Johnson, interspersed with short readings from the plays. Karen Burciaga, renaissance violin; Daniel Meyers, recorders, flute, percussion; Josh Schreiber Shalem, bass viol; Matthew Wright, lute; with Julia Cavallaro, mezzo-soprano, and Matthew Leese, baritone. Sunday, March 26 at 2:30pm. FREE and open to the public. Boston Public Library, McKim Building (Rabb Lecture Hall), 700 Boylston St., Boston. http://www.bpl. org/shakespeare/.
Bruce Graham March 31-April 15 at First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough Street in Boston’s Back Bay. Does a horrible childhood excuse a heinous deed? Inspired by actual events, Coyote on a Fence tells the story of two men living on death row under vastly different circumstances. Young Bobby Reyburn is a likable, illiterate member of the Aryan Brotherhood who committed a horrific crime. John Brennan is an educated, arrogant writer whose crime may actually be deemed a favor to society. Who deserves to die? With language both powerful and precise this timely and provocative play raises the question whether one can be sentenced to death but worthy of life. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 5pm. All performances are Pay-What-You-Can. For tickets and information visit www. hubtheatreboston.org.
ONGOING THE COOPER GALLERY 2017 SPRING EXHIBITION Diago: The Pasts of This Afro-Cuban Present on view: Through May 5. Opening Reception: February 1, 6pm. Visit coopergalleryhc.org/upcoming-exhibition for more information. Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Hutchins Center, 102 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge. Open Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am - 5pm. Closed: Sunday, Monday, and on official Harvard University holidays.
PUBLIC OPEN NIGHT AT THE OBSERVATORY The Public Open Night at the Observatory is a chance for people to come observe the night sky through telescopes and binoculars and see things they otherwise might not get to see, and learn some astronomy as well. The Open Nights are held most Wednesday evenings throughout the year, weather permitting. The program starts promptly at 7:30pm during the fall and winter months, and 8:30pm during the spring and summer months. Please arrive early as there is no admittance once the program begins. We start admitting ticketed guests 10 minutes before the program begins. Right before the program starts and after all the ticketed guests that are present are admitted, we will admit any non-ticketed guests until we reach capacity. Public Open Nights are open to everyone, however space is limited. To reserve a free ticket for admission visit: http://bit.ly/28QbEHr. The Public Open Night is held at the Coit Observatory at Boston University. We are located at 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, above the Astronomy Department. The stairwell up to the Observatory is on the fifth floor just to the left of room 520. Unfortunately, there is no disabled access to the Observatory. For information about Open Night, please call 617-353-2630, or check our Twitter feed (twitter.com/ buobservatory).
SUDOKU ANSWERS FROM PG 20
COYOTE ON A FENCE Hub Theatre Company of Boston will kick off its highly anticipated fifth season with the riveting drama Coyote on a Fence by
The Community Calendar has been established to list community events at no cost. The admission cost of events must not exceed $10. Church services and recruitment requests will not be published. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF PUBLICATION. To guarantee publication with a paid advertisement please call advertising at (617) 261-4600 ext. 7799 or email ads@bannerpub.com. NO LISTINGS ARE ACCEPTED BY TELEPHONE, FAX OR MAIL. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Deadline for all listings is Friday at noon for publication the following week. E-MAIL your information to: calendar@bannerpub.com. To list your event online please go to www.baystatebanner.com/events and list your event directly. Events listed in print are not added to the online events page by Banner staff members. There are no ticket cost restrictions for the online postings.
20 • Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BPS budget continued from page 1
4 Dever School and $190,769 at Boston Latin Academy. Under the student weighted funding system, funds are allocated to schools in accordance with the number of students enrolled. If students leave a school, the funds walk with them. School Committee Chairman Michael O’Neill noted that the weighted student funding formula was put in place to create greater equity in a school budgeting system that previously allocated monies based in part on political connections. “ The number one thing weighted student funding does not do is it doesn’t allow the district to play favorites,” he said. O’Neill said funding schools by the number of students has shifted debate away from whether individual schools are getting their fair share and toward concerns about whether populations like English language learners and students with disabilities are funded at appropriate levels. “I think it has allowed us to be much fairer and more transparent,” he added.
Equity vs. quality
Further debate is expected at the Wednesday, March 15 budget hearing at Roxbury’s Bolling Building. During the Dorchester meeting, BPS Chief Financial Officer Eleanor Laurans argued that the weighted funding system helps give parents greater choice in which schools their children attend. “The consequence of having that value is that we believe in choice. We believe in innovation,”
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John W. McCormack Middle School teacher Meliza Prieto speaks during a budget hearing held at English High School in Jamaica Plain. she said. “It means that in some places we have growth, in others we have schools that are shrinking.” Robinson’s question of whether struggling Level 4 schools are well-served by million-dollar budget cuts has come to the fore in this year’s school budget process. The cuts to Level 4 schools come in stark contrast to previous turnaround efforts, such as at the much-lauded Orchard Gardens K-8 school, which received an extra $1.3 million a year as it pulled out of Level 4 status. Robinson urged the committee and school officials to discuss the budget itself, rather than the funding formula. “Equity isn’t giving us quality,” she said. “We don’t have enough money in the pot.” While BPS officials tout a $40 million increase in funding for fiscal year 2018, District 7 City Councilor Tito Jackson faulted the department for including in that
FUN&GAMES SUDOKU: SEE ANSWERS ON PAGE 19
figure the $20 million designated for collective bargaining — money that by law must be set aside for possible pay and benefit increases for BPS employees in advance of union negotiations. It is unprecedented to list collective bargaining monies as part of the school budget, Jackson noted. The remaining $20 million increase will be added to school budgets, with $14 million slated to fund 40 minutes of extended learning time at 39 schools. That school budget increase is too small to keep pace with inflation, argued Jackson. “It’s not about how you allocate it,” Jackson said during the hearing. “It’s what you actually have to allocate. Again, this budget is a dereliction of duty by the mayor of Boston. He is not funding the schools at the level that they should be funded and not valuing our young people.” Jackson, who is challenging Mayor Martin Walsh in the 2017
municipal election, questioned the city’s support for General Electric’s new Fort Point Channel headquarters. His critique echoed themes student activists sounded last year when the BPS proposed a $13.5 million, 1.3 percent, increase to the school budget while other city departments saw 3 percent increases. After a picket line at the 2016 State of the City address and three student walk-outs, Walsh announced an additional $6 million increase to the budget. This year’s increase of $20 million – excluding collective bargaining funds – is not much larger than last year’s budget increase, yet so far has garnered no protests. Jackson urged the school committee to reject the budget, which they are scheduled to vote on March 22. “This budget before you is anemic,” he said. “This is the richest time in the city of Boston and we should be investing in our public schools and not shortchanging our young people and shortchanging the future of the city of Boston.” In addition to the $14 million for extended learning time, the budget includes $1.1 million for services for homeless students; $2 million for the Excellence for All program, which helps prepare students for entrance to exam schools; $1.3 million for expansion of vocational education; and $600 million to set up infrastructure for universal pre-kindergarten in Boston.
Complaints aired at Monday meeting
During a Monday School Committee meeting at English High School in Jamaica Plain, students, parents and school staff spoke out against cuts at BPS schools. “As if being a Level 4 school isn’t
enough, my school is facing a million dollars in budget cuts,” said Brighton High School student Hibo Moallim. “I find it ironic that more money is going to the Opportunity and Achievement Gap Office,” she added, suggesting that the money would be better spent improving academic outcomes at Level 4 schools. BPS parent Kristin Johnson cited a 12-fold increase in fundraising at BPS schools on the Donors Choose website between 2012 and 2016. Teachers seeking classroom supplies received $40,000 in fiscal year 2012 and $500,000 in fiscal year 2016. But teachers in high income neighborhoods like Back Bay and the South End were more likely to receive supplies. At the Quincy School in Chinatown, teachers received $93,000. At the Tobin School in Mission Hill, they received nothing. Johnson, who referred to the funding inequities as a “philanthropic Hunger Games,” questioned why schools should have to rely heavily on donations for basic supplies like paper and pencils. “When we rely so heavily on crowd-sourced funding, there’s no way to ensure equity,” she said. Annie Spitz, a parent at Boston Latin Academy, questioned why the exam school is projected to lose 38 students – and $190,000 – despite having students on a waiting list to get in. She noted that her daughter is using a 24-year-old textbook. Joel Thompson, a parent of a Boston Teachers Union Pilot School student, decried what he characterized as a “normalization” of budget cuts. “We’ve got to find a way out of this annual churn from weighted school funding,” he said.
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 21
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22 •• Thursday, Thursday, March March 9, 9, 2017 2017 •• BAY BAY STATE STATE BANNER BANNER 22
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS Guscott continued from page 1 LEGAL
Lincoln building, a financial district skyscraper built by a team of black, Chinese and Latino developers. The team completed the building in 2003 and sold it to State Street Bank. That same year, Guscott sold off a portion of Long Bay’s portfolio to a team of black entrepreneurs and property management professionals who formed United Housing Management. Guscott’s most recent project, a planned 25-story residential and office tower on property he owned in Dudley Square, is still in the works.
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“Ken Guscott was a shining prince of Roxbury,” said City Councilor Tito Jackson. “He showed us all how to be proud, how to lead and how to pay it forward. He is the most significant figure in the development of the community in my lifetime.”
Roxbury boy
The descendant of Jamaican immigrants, Guscott was raised on Shawmut Avenue in Roxbury. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II before attending the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, where he earned a degree in marine engineering. Upon returning to Boston, Guscott became involved in the
city’s civic life. He served as president of the board of Action for Boston Community Development, was a president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP, served as a Class C Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a vice president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and was a former director of both the Provident institution for Savings in the Town of Boston and Unity Bank and Trust Company. “I am shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of Ken Guscott,” said Mayor Martin Walsh in a press statement. “Ken served Boston and its people in so many ways — as a veteran, an
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advocate and a lifelong builder of a better city. His vision for Dudley Square and the transformation of Roxbury was bright and vibrant, and he pushed every day to create jobs, support business development and bring greater opportunity to the neighborhood. Boston has lost a true leader, and we will continue to work together to bring progress to all our neighborhoods in his memory.” He is survived by his wife Valerie, brother Cecil, four daughters — including Lisa Guscott, who heads Long Bay Management’s commercial division — and a son. Also killed in the fire was Guscott’s father-in-law, Leroy Whitmore, 87.
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Kenneth Guscott served as president of the NAACP Boston Branch.
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL BROOKLINE HOUSING AUTHORITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS IT SUPPORT SERVICES The Brookline Housing Authority (BHA) seeks a provider of ongoing Information Technology (IT) Support Services. An electronic copy of the RFP is available on the BHA website at http://brooklinehousing.org/ Business&EmploymentOpportunities.html. Inquiries or requests for modifications regarding this RFP will be accepted in writing until March 31, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. The proposal deadline is April 14, 2017 by 2:00 p.m. Proposers responding to this RFP must submit the service proposal and fee proposal in separate sealed envelopes to Desiree Ladd, Executive Assistant, Brookline Housing Authority, 90 Longwood Ave, Suite 1, Brookline, MA 02446. Send comment or questions to: dladd@brooklinehousing.org INVITATION FOR BIDS The Brookline Housing Authority (BHA) is seeking sealed bids for Integrated Pest Management at State and Federal Subsidized Housing. The contract sum is estimated to be $35,000 per year. The initial contract term shall be one (1) year. BHA shall have up to three (3) options to extend the contract for an additional one (1) year period for a maximum total contract period of four (4) years. The option to extend the contract shall be at the sole discretion of the BHA. The BHA Board of Commissioners reserves the right to reject any and all bids. The work to be performed under this contract is subject to the requirements of Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968. Bids are subject to M.G.L. c. 30B sec. 5. Sealed Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m., March 22, 2017. Bids shall be mailed or hand delivered to Brookline Housing Authority, 90 Longwood Avenue, Suite 1, Brookline, MA 02446 and received no later than the date and time specified above. Contract Documents will be available starting March 6, 2017. Interested contractors please contact George Lalli, Director of Maintenance, at 617-2772022 x312 or glalli@brooklinehousing.org for a set of Contract Documents. The Project sites will be available for inspection on March 15, 2017. Bidders interested in visiting the sites shall meet at 90 Longwood Avenue, Brookline, MA 02446 at 10:30 a.m. MBE/WBE and Section 3 business concerns are encouraged to bid. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY SOLICITATION FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES FEDERALLY-FUNDED PROJECTS The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is soliciting Engineering and Technical Support Consultancy Services for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation. The amount of $3,000,000, with $1,000,000 available for each of the three consultants selected, has been budgeted for this project. The Department of Energy and Environment is in need of on-call, task orderbased climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation services. Through task order contracts, services may include advice to and consultation with, the MBTA’s Director of Energy and Environment and Climate Change Resiliency Specialist on (1) a system-wide vulnerability assessment; (2) multidiscipline engineering services (i.e. mechanical, electrical, energy, civil, etc.) to design (and potentially construct) climate change resiliency measures for physical infrastructure, (3) policy and planning support for improving resiliency of the MBTA’s policies and administrative processes, (4) climate change risk and resiliency communications for both internal and external audiences, and (5) other activities that may assist the MBTA in building internal capacity to minimize climate change risk. This contract will be Federally Funded. The DBE Participation Goal for this contract will be 1.0%. The complete request for qualifications can be found on the MBTA website. Please use the following link: http://www.mbta.com/business_center/bidding_solicitations/current_ solicitations/ This is not a request for proposal. The MBTA reserves the right to cancel this procurement or to reject any or all Statements of Qualifications. Stephanie Pollack Mass DOT Secretary & CEO Brian Shortsleeve Chief Administrator and Acting General Manager INVITATION FOR BIDS The Medford Housing Authority, the Awarding Authority, invites sealed bids from Contractors for the Special Needs 689.1 Development for the Medford
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Housing Authority, 71 Foster Court, in Medford Massachusetts, in accordance with the documents prepared by Antonio Gomes Architect. The Project consists of: Renovation of kitchen, replacement of flooring tile and wainscoting at unit 71A. Renovation of one entry door system, full and half baths at unit 71A and 71B, Foster Court, Medford. Bids are subject to M.G.L.c.149 §44A-J and to minimum wage rates as required by M.G.L.c.149 §§26 to 27H inclusive. General bidders must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) in the category of General Bidding Construction. The work is estimated to cost $147,000 (Base Bid $135,000 + Alternates $12,000). • General Bids will be received until 10:00 am, Thursday, March 30, 2017 and publicly opened online, forthwith. This project is being Electronically Bid (E-Bid). All bids shall be submitted online at www.Projectdog.com. Hard copy bids will not be accepted by the Awarding Authority. E-Bid tutorials and instructions are available within the specifications and online at www.Projectdog.com. For assistance, call Projectdog, Inc at (978)499-9014, M-F 8:30AM-5PM.
General Bids at 2:00 PM:
April 13, 2017
Every Filed Sub-Bidder and General Bidder must submit a valid Certificate of Eligibility with its bid and must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance in the category for which they bid and for no less than the bid price plus all add alternates of this project, if applicable. The Category of Work is:
GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
Mass. State Project No.
DMH1301 Contract No. DC1
Exterior Envelope Repair, Elevator and Generator Replacement Boston, MA And the following Filed Sub-Bids: Waterproofing, Dampproofing and Caulking; Metal Windows; Painting; Elevators; HVAC; Electrical E.C.C: $9,165,310 This project is scheduled for 579 calendar days to substantial completion. Scope: Concrete exterior envelope repairs, existing window repairs and exterior sealant scope throughout; replacement (in phases) of the existing elevators with new elevators; replacement of the existing emergency generator with a new emergency generator.
General bids shall be accompanied by a bid deposit that is not less than five (5%) of the greatest possible bid amount (considering all alternates), and made payable to the Medford Housing Authority.
Pre-Bid/Site Visit Information: Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 10:00 AM. Meet at 85 East Newton St., Boston, MA, in the lobby.
Bid forms and contract documents will be available at www.Projectdog.com or for pick-up at: Projectdog, Inc, 18 Graf Road, Suite 8 Newburyport, MA 978-499-9014 (M - F 8:30AM - 5PM).
Minimum rates of wages to be paid on the project have been determined by the Commissioner of the Department of Labor Standards under the provisions of Sections 26 and 27, Chapter 149 of the General Laws. Wage rates are listed in the contract form portion of specification book.
Go to www.Projectdog.com and login with an existing account or click Sign Up to register for free. Enter Project Code 817750 in the project locator box. Select “Acquire Documents” to download documents, review a hard copy at Projectdog’s physical location, or request a free project CD. Bidders may obtain one full paper bid set from Projectdog for a refundable deposit of $50.00 made payable to Projectdog in the form of certified check or money order. The full amount of the deposit will be refunded to all responsive bidders returning the Contract Documents in good condition within ten (10) days after date of general bid opening. Otherwise, the deposit will become the property of Projectdog, Inc. Bidders requesting their refundable paper set to be mailed must supply a non-refundable shipping and handling fee of $25.00 payable to Projectdog. General bidders must agree to contract with minority and women business enterprises as certified by the Supplier Diversity Office (SDO), formerly known as SOMWBA. The combined participation goal reserved for such enterprises shall not be less than 10.4% of the final contract price including accepted alternates. See Contract Documents - Article 10 of the Instructions to Bidders.
Each general bid and sub-bid proposal must be secured by an accompanying deposit of 5% of the total bid amount, including all alternates, in the form of a bid bond, in cash, a certified, treasurer’s, or cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company made payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Plans & specifications may be downloaded from DCAMM’s E-Bid Room https://www.bidexpress.com/businesses/10279/home. The bidding documents may be examined at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance Bid Room, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108 Tel (617) 727-4003, bidroom.dcamm@state.ma.us. Carol W. Gladstone COMMISSIONER Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
The job site and/or existing building will be available for inspection at 10 a.m. on Monday, March 20, 2017. For an appointment call Joan O’Handley at Medford Housing Authority (781) 396-7200 x114.
Docket No. SU17C0080CA In the matter of Robert Edward Gaul of Roxbury, MA
NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME INVITATION TO BID
To all persons interested in a petition described:
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is seeking bids for the following: BID NO.
DESCRIPTION
DATE
TIME
*WRA-4353
Supply and Delivery of Sodium Hydroxide to the Deer Island Treatment Plant
03/20/17
2:00 p.m.
*WRA-4350
Removal of PCB Contaminated 03/22/17 Concrete from Transformer Pad at the Oakdale Power Station
2:00 p.m.
*OP-346
Oakdale Hydro Generator 03/22/17 Inspection, Cleaning and Repair
2:00 p.m.
**6739
RFQ/P Wastewater Metering 04/14/17 System Replacement Evaluation, Planning Design and RE/I Services for Installation of Metering Equipment
11:00 a.m.
please
Robert Edward Booker 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 03/30/2017. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: February 21, 2017 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department
*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.
A petition has been presented by Robert E. Gaul requesting that Robert Edward Gaul be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows:
request
SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU17C0054CA In the matter of Leyanna Isabel Martinez of Boston, MA
to:
NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS CLASSIFIED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION OF CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE Sealed proposals submitted on a form furnished by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (DCAMM) and clearly identified as a bid, endorsed with the name and address of the bidder, the project and contract number, will be received at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108, no later than the date and time specified and will forthwith be publicly opened and read aloud. Sub-Bids at 12:00 Noon:
March 30, 2017
To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Samantha M De Los Santos requesting that Leyanna Isabel Martinez be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows: Leyanna Santos 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 03/30/2017. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: February 21, 2017 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate
Thursday, March 9, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 23
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL
REAL ESTATE
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department
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.
Citation on Petition for Formal Adjudication Estate of Maxine Colmes Wiley Date of Death: 08/30/2012 To all interested persons: A Petition for Late and Limited Formal Testacy and/or Appointment has been filed by David B. Wiley of Mattapan, MA requesting that the Court enter a formal Decree and Order and for such other relief as requested in the Petition. The Petitioner requests that David B. Wiley of Mattapan, MA be appointed as Personal Representative(s) of said estate to serve Without Surety on the bond in an unsupervised administration.
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
IMPORTANT NOTICE You have the right to obtain a copy of the Petition from the Petitioner or at the Court. You have a right to object to this proceeding. To do so, you or your attorney must file a written appearance and objection at this Court before 10:00 a.m. on the return day of 04/06/2017. This is NOT a hearing date, but a deadline by which you must file a written appearance and objection if you object to this proceeding. If you fail to file a timely written appearance and objection followed by an Affidavit of Objections within thirty (30) days of the return day, action may be taken without further notice to you.
Free training
for those that qualify!
UNSUPERVISED ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE MASSACHUSETTS UNIFORM PROBATE CODE (MUPC) A Personal Representative appointed under the MUPC in an unsupervised administration is not required to file an inventory or annual accounts with the Court. Persons interested in the estate are entitled to notice regarding the administration directly from the Personal Representative and may petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, including distribution of assets and expenses of administration.
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WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: February 24, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
Call today to schedule an Information Session: 617-542-1800
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department Docket No. SU17C0039CA
SUFFOLK Division
Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc. is a growing, mid-size national consulting engineering firm with offices in the Northeast and Florida. We have following opportunities in Vermont:
In the matter of Elnor Denise Williams of Mattapan, MA NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Elnor D. Williams requesting that Elnor Denise Williams be allowed to change his/her/their name as follows: Yahnissi Ndukwe Stoler 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 03/30/2017. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: February 28, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
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HELP WANTED
REAL ESTATE
ADVERTISE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS
First units will be ready in late Fall of 2017. This is a lottery for the 9 affordable Condominiums which will be sold at affordable prices to households with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Affordable units will have GE stainless steel kitchen appliances, ceasarstone countertops, tiled bath floors, oak floors in living/dining & kitchen, carpet in bedrooms, recessed lighting in kitchen/dining/bathrooms. Bike storage, one parking spot, elevator building. 77 Court Street is 0.2 miles from the Newtonville MBTA Commuter rail stop and 0.3 miles from Newtonville Center.
FIND RATE INFORMATION AT
www.baystatebanner.com /advertise
For more information on the Development, the Units or the Lottery and Application Process, or for reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, please visit: www.s-e-b.com/lottery or call 617.782.6900 (x2 and then x1) Applications and Required Income Documentation must be delivered, not postmarked, by 2 pm on May 2nd, 2017. A Public Info Session will be on March 28th, 2017 at 6 pm in the Newton Free Library (330 Homer Street). The lottery will be on May 23rd, 2017 at the same location. Applications and Information available at the Newton Free Library (open M-Th 9am-9pm, F 9-6, Sat 9-5, Sun 1-5)
Send cover letter and resume citing career code to: jhann@hoyletanner.com or visit www.hoyletanner.com for more. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Brookline Housing Authority
Part Time Special Projects Coordinator This is an excellent part-time opportunity for a motivated, experienced, person with strong computer and interpersonal skills to work in a high-impact, family-friendly agency serving low income households in Brookline.
Job Duties
LEASED HOUSING COORDINATOR Full-time coordinator needed for busy Section 8 Dept. Knowledge of and experience in Section 8 Voucher Program required. Excellent communication and analytical skills, ability to work independently and experience with a variety of populations essential. Related college degree desirable. Contact bvivian@medfordhousing.org for a complete job description. Forward resume, cover letter and salary history to Medford Housing Authority, 121 Riverside Ave., Medford, MA, 02155, or by e-mail as noted above, by March 23, 2017. AA/EOE, Section 3 Employer.
n Produce reports to regulatory agencies, database extracts, form letters, mail merge documents, etc. n Coordinate mailings to resident and applicant groups n Prepare materials for monthly Board of Commissioners meetings n Provide occasional reception desk coverage
Qualifications and Skills
n High school diploma or the equivalent, post-secondary degree preferred n Proficiency in MS Office, graphics, and database programs essential n Excellent communication skills; ability to work well with individuals from all socioeconomic backgrounds n Ability to multitask, prioritize, and meet deadlines with accuracy n Familiarity with affordable housing programs helpful
Hours and Benefits Are you interested in a
The Maximum Income Limits for Households are: $51,150 (1 person), $58,450 (2 people), $65,750 (3 people), $73,050 (4 people), $78,900 (5 people), $84,750 (6 people) Households cannot have more than $75,000 in assets.
We are currently seeking a Resident Engineer to provide on-site construction observation and resident engineering services on stormwater management and sidewalk construction projects in Vermont. Requires at least 10 – 12 years of significant related construction experience. Career Code MVS10217
(617) 261- 4600 x 7799
77 Court Street Newton Affordable Housing www.s-e-b.com One 3BR Condo $223,900 Six 2BR Condos $201,300 Two 1BR Condos $178,600
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEER I: We are currently seeking a team oriented and self-starting candidate with 0 to 4 years of engineering experience to join our Transportation Services Group in our Burlington, VT office. This position primarily involves performing roadway and traffic engineering tasks on many different types of projects. Career Code TMC30217 SENIOR RESIDENT PROJECT REPRESENTATIVE:
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HELP WANTED
Assistant Property Manager
Docket No. SU17P0171EA
SUFFOLK Division
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.
Fifteen-18 hours per week. Attractive hourly rate. Since this is a parttime position there are no health insurance or retirement benefits.
How to Apply Submit cover letter and resume to jobs@brooklinehousing.org. No phone calls. Deadline: Tuesday April 11, 4:00 p.m. Interviews commencing immediately. BHA reserves the right to extend deadline. Full job description at www.brooklinehousing.org. Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Sec. 3 Employer