inside this week
Historic Roxbury clock back in service pg 3
A&E
business news
MASS POETRY INSTALLS LATEST SIDEWALK POEMS pg 19
Roxbury couple launches ‘by local, for local’ marketplace pg 16
plus Roxbury Int’l Film Festival opens June 22 pg 19 International artists create political dialogue pg 20 ‘It Comes at Night’ pg 21 Thursday, June 8, 2017 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
www.baystatebanner.com
Mayor to revamp police bd. COOP board to receive new members, expanded caseload By YAWU MILLER PHOTO: MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY DAN HARNEY
Mayor Martin Walsh cuts the ribbon on the Dorchester Day parade as elected officials look on.
Campaigns in full swing at Dorchester Day parade Pols appeal for votes in city’s biggest neighborhood By YAWU MILLER
For at-large City Councilor Anissa Essaibi George, Dorchester Day has been a part of her life since she first watched the parade from her family home at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Taft Street. Later, she marched in the parade as the member of a color guard squad, spent 20 years on the parade committee, served as a commentator for Boston
Neighborhood News and ran the Little Miss Dot contest. Now, as an elected official, Essaibi-George marches in parades in every neighborhood — First Night, St. Patrick’s Day, Pride, Bunker Hill, the Caribbean Carnival and the Roslindale parade — but Dorchester’s event is still paramount. “Even though I represent the whole city, marching in my neighborhood’s parade is really the best thing,” she said, surrounded by a team of volunteers.
Neighborhood sentiments aside, the parade serves another important function for any candidate who represents the whole city: It’s the unofficial kickoff of the political season. “Papers are in,” Essaibi-George said. “Everyone’s declared.” Of the four candidates declared for mayor, two had the resources to show up with brigades of T-shirt-wearing supporters, signage and swag: Dorchester resident
See DOT DAY, page 8
For the last 27 years, civil rights activists, attorneys and black elected officials have called on city officials to create an independent civilian review board with the power to investigate allegations of police abuse and misconduct. For 22 of those years, the city has instead maintained a Civilian Ombudsman Oversight Panel board, a three-person group charged with reviewing a random sample of the cases handled by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division as well as those referred to it by civilian complainants to assess the fairness and thoroughness of IAD investigations. This week Mayor Martin Walsh announced changes to the COOP board he said would strengthen its ability to monitor Internal Affairs investigations — increasing the number of panel members from three to five and increasing the share of IAD complaints the board handles. Walsh said the changes to the COOP board and a declining number of civilian complaints
mean there’s little need for civilian oversight of police in Boston. “I want to get these cases to zero,” Walsh said of civilian complaints. “That’s our goal. Our goal is to have complete trust and a great working relationship between the community and the officers.” But civil rights attorneys said anything short of an independent civilian review committee with the power to conduct its own investigations means those who suffer from abuse at the hands of police have little chance of obtaining justice. “It sounds like they’re tinkering around the edges,” said attorney Howard Freidman, who often represents clients in police misconduct cases. In 2015, after the mayor pledged to reform the COOP board, the three-member body proposed the creation of an independent civilian body with sufficient staff and resources to investigate allegations of police misconduct. COOP board members envisioned a civilian-run Office of Police Accountability with an executive director,
See COOP BOARD, page 6
State hears justice reform advocates Proposed bills affect sentencing, records By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
State legislators, activists, affected individuals and criminal justice professionals came before the state’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Monday to testify on an array criminal justice reform proposals. Among those giving testimony were Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Rep. Mary Keefe, who called for passage of an omnibus bill whose elements would repeal mandatory minimum sentencing for
nonviolent drug offenses, reduce some felonies to misdemeanors, raise the felony threshold for larceny, create a medical parole pathway for inmates who are terminally ill or dying and implement CORI reforms. Any criminal justice system savings would go into a fund for investment into education and workforce development programs. Chang-Diaz argued that the state has stalled in analysis for several years and said enacting the full reform package is critical to making a real difference.
“Our state is wasting precious resources on a system that isn’t just and doesn’t work,” ChangDiaz said. “We need to stop doing harm to the very communities we say we are trying to protect.”
Mandatory minimums
Supporters of mandatory minimum sentencing repeal say that while such laws may have been intended to prevent inequities in the criminal justice system, they now are creating it. For instance, offenses that carry mandatory minimums
See CRIMINAL JUSTICE, page 24
BANNER PHOTO
Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz gave testimony on criminal justice reforms, accompanied by Rep. Mary Keefe. Ben Forman of MassINC stands in back.
2 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
HEALTH NEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
NOTE TO ADOLESCENTS: DRUGS DON’T MAKE YOU COOL It’s hard to imagine that a 6-foot5-inch high school basketball player is not fully developed. He might even still have an inch or two to go in height, but the maturation of the brain does not keep pace with the spurt in growth. The part of the brain that’s responsible for assessing situations and making sound decisions is not fully developed, and usually does not mature until the mid-20s, according to a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “During this critical window of development, [the brain] is particularly susceptible to addiction,” said Dr. Scott E. Hadland, adolescent and addiction medicine specialist at Boston Medical Center, home to the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine. “Normal development during the teenage and young adult years involves learning impulse control, proper decision-making, coping skills and establishing interpersonal relationships. The fact that this development is not yet complete means youth are at risk for developing addiction, since these developmental processes all protect against risk-taking.” Almost nine percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 admitted using illicit drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin in a 2013 report by
SAMHSA. In addition, more than two percent of adolescents were nonmedical users of psychotherapeutic drugs, such as tranquilizers and sedatives. The vast majority used prescription pain relievers, which they often received from a relative or friend. The reasons an adolescent turns to drugs are varied. Sometimes it is mere curiosity or an attempt to fit in. Peer pressure, physical abuse, exposure to drugs in the home and genetics all play a role. Adolescents suffering from depression and other mental health disorders may use drugs to self-medicate. “For youth, we always consider whether our patients may be experiencing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which can result in some of the impulsiveness or sensation-seeking that we see among youth who use substances, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression,” explained Hadland. “In short, we never examine substance use in isolation. We always want to know what other mental health or psychosocial difficulties our patients may be living with.” It can be a bit tricky to detect the signs of substance use disorder because symptoms differ by the drug used. There are some telltale signs,
PHOTO: COURTESY BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
however, regardless of the drug of choice. Dr. Sarah M. Bagley, director of the CATALYST adolescent substance use disorder clinic at BMC, ticked off a number of symptoms: changes in friends, irritability, being withdrawn, changes in appetite, drop in grades or less interest in activities that used to be really important to the teen. Parents might overlook these symptoms and attribute them to “growing pains” or assume the “not my kid” syndrome. Yet, it is estimated that more than five percent, or 1.3 million individuals aged 12 to 17 have a substance use disorder. The problem extends from the inner city to well-to-do suburbs. Parents should act as soon as they detect some change in behavior that is concerning, advised
Bagley, and take their teen to a professional who can help assess the situation. For successful treatment both parents should be on the same page. “It can be really hard for teens to receive different or mixed messages about their use from their parents,” she said. Chance of recovery is high in adolescents. In fact, early intervention in the development of addiction before it becomes deeply ingrained makes recovery more likely, according to Hadland. “What is critical, however, is to ensure that clinical services for youth are developmentally appropriate and incorporate family members,” he said. BMC started the CATALYST program, which is one of the first comprehensive substance use treatment programs housed within
pediatric primary care in the United States. There, providers offer treatment for addiction just as any other medical complaint that a teen has. It is not uncommon for us to treat teens for their addiction while simultaneously helping them with acne and ensuring their vaccines are up to date so that they can participate in school activities. Through a $25 million gift from the Grayken family, BMC can continue to make headway in the treatment of adolescents suffering from drug use. The donation is the largest in BMC’s history and the largest private gift in the U.S. in the last decade for addiction treatment and medicine. The Grayken Center will be a leader in the treatment, prevention, research and training in addiction medicine.
ICTION D IS AD
HERE SO
IS
. C BM
NT C E
E R
Boston Medical Center is committed to pioneering breakthroughs in substance use disorder treatment, prevention, and recovery. By launching the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine, we take another bold leap forward for everyone touched by this epidemic. Learn more at bmcaddiction.org
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3
BANNER PHOTO
Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry Executive Director Mary Margaret Earl, clock repairman Dave Graf and state Rep. Byron Rushing chat outside the First Church of Roxbury.
Historic 154-year-old clock back in service By YAWU MILLER
The moment when the clock in the First Church of Roxbury stopped working was not marked, but several years ago, it did. The moment when it started, however, was penciled on the interior of the wooden enclosure that houses the 19th century mechanical wonder. “Clock commenced August the 26, 1863,” reads the graffiti. That note was among the many discoveries made by Dave Graf, proprietor of Town Clock Restoration and Repair, one of an array of specialists working on the $3 million renovation of the historic church, built in John Eliot Square in 1804. Drawing from his extensive experience with 19th-century clocks, Graf got the clock running once again. “It was clear that it was mostly all still there and mostly original,” Graf told members of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry and community residents who gathered at the church Saturday to celebrate the clock’s revival. “It’s a tribute to how well it was made that all the parts were in working condition.” The restoration of the clock is the latest milestone in the church restoration project. Earlier in the year, the edifice was stripped and repainted in a historically accurate shade of white. Woodwork was restored, windows replaced and the shutters removed for reconstruction. The church’s organ was partially restored and work has begun in the restoration of the interior. While the clock’s four sides face outward, its 19th century works are tucked away in the heart of the steeple. Inside the enclosure that protects the brass, iron and steel works from wind, rain and pigeons, Graf pointed out the fine workmanship of the clock, built by the Roxbury-based E. Howard & Company. Below, a 70-pound pendulum
“
[Edward Howard of Roxbury] knew his clocks would have to work at 10 degrees and at 100 degrees. He built them to withstand those conditions.” — Dave Graf
hangs at the end of an eight-footlong cherry wood shaft, its backand-forth motion that marks the steady flow of seconds, minutes and hours conveyed via four long shafts to the four faces of the clock. Inside its wooden enclosure, the clock works sit in a cast-iron box. The brass gears show little wear for their 154 years of service. Edward Howard of Roxbury founded his clock company, E. Howard & Co., in 1858. He had apprenticed with Aaron Willard Jr., scion of the famous Roxbury clock-making family. His clocks adorn many Boston-area buildings from the 1800s. “He’s in the tradition of early American clockmakers,” Graf said. “He knew his clocks would have to work at 10 degrees and at 100 degrees. He built them to withstand those conditions.” Most of Howard’s clocks could run for eight days between windings. The clock at First Church, which is wound by raising a wooden box weighted with rocks, is set to run for seven days from a winding. Graf says Howard’s clocks can be accurate to within one minute a month. When the clock was installed in the First Church, it replaced an earlier clock, which Graf says may have been produced by Willard. While restoration work on the clock is nearly completed, work on the church’s interior has just begun. Carpeting and upholstery have been removed. On the exterior, wooden fans that were atop two of the church’s front doors were removed to reveal two federal-style windows. “These windows, I believe, are from the 1804 construction
of the building,” said Andrea Gilmore, a historical restoration specialist who is working on the project pro bono. Gilmore is looking into restoring some of the interior lighting, much of which ran on gas, not electricity. The church itself is the fifth meetinghouse on the site since Puritans first erected a church there in 1632. The fourth meetinghouse, built in 1744, had served as a signal station for the colonists’ army during the 1775 siege of Boston and was damaged by British cannon fire. Although the fourth meetinghouse continued to be used as a church after the war, it remained structurally compromised and was demolished for the construction of the 1804 building. The current building and its clock are relics of the early years of United States history, a fact that’s not lost of Graf. Now the clocks four faces project the correct time to those Roxbury residents who aren’t too busy to look up from their smart phones. A bell forged by the Paul Revere & Sons foundry is located in a belfry above the clock, and tolls on the hour. The arrangement hearkens back to an era before most people owned watches, when meetinghouses played a prominent role in Roxbury’s civic life. Graf, who lives in Maine, won’t benefit from the clock’s accurate timekeeping, but nevertheless, he takes satisfaction in the work he’s done to get it running again. “It’s really great to be associated with a vintage clock like this and to see it still running in the community,” he said.
BANNER PHOTOS
(top) The clock faces broadcast the correct time to the Roxbury community. (middle) The inner workings of the circa 1863 E. Howard & Co. clock. Above are the four shafts turning the hands on the four faces of the clock. (bottom) A bell from the Paul Revere & Son foundry tolls every hour.
4 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
EDITORIAL
SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
By fax: 617-261-2346 From web site: www.baystatebanner.com click “contact us,” then click “letters” By mail: The Boston Banner, 1100 Washington St., Dorchester, MA 02124 Letters must be signed. Names may be withheld upon request.
www.baystatebanner.com
INSIDE: BUSINESS, 16 • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, 19 • CLASSIFIEDS, 25
Established 1965
A more dignified past Once again Donald Trump has embarrassed America. In a remarkable show of international unity, 195 countries have signed the Paris accord to reduce global warming. Each of the concurring nations has agreed to policies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Trump announced that the U.S.A. would no longer participate in the agreement, a decision also taken only by Syria and Nicaragua. Many Americans are tired of bad news from Trump, but other news stories, such as the obituary on the life of Barbara Conrad, give us hope. Despite the erratic conduct and administrative incompetence of the nation’s president, political and business leaders have stepped forward with plans and proposals to continue efforts to curtail human practices that contribute to the warming trend. News reports offer evidence that the character and commitment of many of the American people have contributed substantially to the nation’s good reputation around the world. The country’s racial conflict has provided countless opportunities for individuals, both black and white, to step up. A recent obituary of Barbara Smith Conrad in the New York Times tells a tale of a conflict at the University of Texas in Austin as the college began efforts to desegregate after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Barbara Louise Smith (she later took the surname Conrad to comply with Actors Equity rules) was a talented mezzo-soprano, but talent was not enough to keep her role as Dido in Henry Purcell’s opera, “Dido and Aeneas.” In 1957 in Austin, Texas it was considered to be inappropriate for a black woman to play Dido opposite a white Aeneas, so she was removed from the role. This was not a universal opinion at UT Austin at the time. A young
assistant professor, John Silber, was an outspoken critic of the decision. Silber’s opposition marked him as a liberal in Texas, or at least one who did not support racial discrimination. Silber then found himself constantly at odds with the Texas Board of Regents that ran the college. He finally left to become president of Boston University. Barbara Smith was not without some support. The University of Texas had engaged the services of Almetris Duren, a black professor at nearby Huston-Tillotson, an HBCU, to manage a dormitory for newly-enrolled black female students. In the spring of 1957, Ms. Duren’s nephew from Boston, Jack Miller, came to Austin to compete as a half-miler for Indiana University in the NCAA track meet. She offered to have a barbeque and pool party at her home for the competing runners. This event breached the color barrier, at least temporarily. The presence of several Olympians — Charlie Jenkins, Ron Delaney and Alex Breckenridge — along with Barbara Smith, gave the event celebrity status. Barbara Smith saw herself as a racial trailblazer who refused to back out because of an unjust and unfortunate decision. According to the obituary, she chose to continue her studies at UT Austin rather than accept transfer offers. And Ms. Duren became so effective as the supporter of black students at UT Austin that sometime after she retired in 1981, the school named the dormitory and student center in her honor. And in 1986, the University of Texas named a scholarship in Ms. Conrad’s honor, in recognition of her operatic achievements. With Trump in the White House, headline stories in the news are pretty grim. But sometime there are backstories that can lift the spirit and create the assurance that peace, justice and unity will ultimately win the day.
“Man, Trump is so disturbing I have to look elsewhere for good news.” USPS 045-780 Melvin B. Miller Sandra L. Casagrand John E. Miller Yawu Miller
Publisher/Editor Co-publisher Assoc. Publisher/Treasurer Senior Editor ADVERTISING
Rachel Reardon
Advertising Manager NEWS REPORTING
Karen Miller Sandra Larson Jule Pattison-Gordon
Health Editor Staff Writers
Contributing Writers
Kenneth J. Cooper Karen Morales Anthony W. Neal Marcy Murninghan Brian Wright O’Connor
Staff Photographers
Ernesto Arroyo Don West
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Contributing Writers Colette Greenstein Celina Colby Susan Saccoccia Lloyd Kam Williams PRODUCTION Daniel Goodwin Caleb Olson
Art Director Graphic Designer ADMINISTRATION
Karen Miller
Business Manager
The Boston Banner is published every Thursday. Offices are located at 1100 Washington St., Dorchester, MA 02124. Telephone: 617-261-4600, Fax 617-261-2346 Web site: www.baystatebanner.com Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA. All rights reserved. Copyright 2017. The Banner is certified by the NMSDC, 2016. Circulation of The Bay State and Boston Banner 27,400. Audited by CAC, June 2016. The Banner is printed by: TC Transcontinental Printing 10807, Mirabeau, Anjou (Québec) H1J 1T7 Printed in Canada
INDEX BUSINESS NEWS ………………………………...................... 16 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT …………………...................... 19 FOOD …………………....................................................... 23 CLASSIFIEDS ……………………………………....................... 25
baystatebanner.com
facebook.com/baystatebanner
twitter.com/baystatebanner
ONLINE STATS
» MOST TWEETED
Candidate disputes ‘spoiler’ label
» MOST SHARED ON FACEBOOK
Guscott’s towering aspiration
» MOST COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK
Guscott’s towering aspiration
» MOBILE AUDIENCE
44%
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 5
OPINION THE BANNER WELCOMES YOUR OPINION: EMAIL OP-ED SUBMISSIONS TO YAWU@BANNERPUB.COM • Letters must be signed. Names may be withheld upon request.
OPINION
ROVING CAMERA
Teacher support key to turning around schools
Should Boston have a civilian review board to investigate allegations of police misconduct?
By MATTHEW CLARK Teacher Appreciation Week was bittersweet. There is much to celebrate at our high school. Our faculty currently has the highest amount of National Board Certified teachers in the city of Boston, three Boston Educators of the Year, four teachers who co-authored the city’s English Language Learners’ curriculum, a winner of the prestigious Shattuck Award, and a recent 2018 finalist for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Every day there are several staff members lined up at 6 a.m. waiting for the building to open. Our teachers regularly go beyond their classrooms to organize winter clothing drives for our immigrant students, many of whom do not yet own winter clothing, and create multicultural student groups to celebrate inclusion. Our teachers are heroes. Yet, at the beginning of the school year, my colleagues and I were told that almost all of us were losing our jobs when our school entered turnaround status. Turnaround schools are intended to accelerate school improvement through a menu of strategies. However, our state’s accountability system disproportionately places schools serving high levels of English Language Learners, special needs students, and over-age students in turnaround status. While turnaround status provides schools serving vulnerable populations access to resources, resources typically arrive only after a school underperforms. And even then, this is not always the case, as Brighton High School will actually have their budget cut next year. In addition, the disruptive nature of the turnaround process can further stress schools already struggling to meet students’ needs. For example, at my school, the incoming team of educators will be required to make 70 hiring decisions in a very short period of time, while simultaneously orienting themselves to a new school and community, and creating a strong vision to push ambitious goals for student achievement. This rapid transformation can make it difficult to create a vision that meets the unique needs of the students it serves and to create buy-in within the school community to ensure a smooth and faithful implementation of that vision. Upending a school in this way can be destabilizing for students and the school community, which is why we should think long and hard before reaching the conclusion that a turnaround is the only solution. What if, for example, we provided schools serving vulnerable populations with proactive supports? In the case of my school, this would have allowed us to capitalize on our talented staff and the progress we have made in recent years, rather than potentially squandering our greatest strengths. To prevent turnaround status, the state should provide schools serving high-need populations with intensive academic programs that match their needs. At our school, we have a population that is 41 percent English learners and 25 percent special needs students. These numbers are staggering, especially when compared to other schools within our district. In addition, many of our English learners have recently arrived to the country and have significant gaps in formal education. They are often older than a typical senior in high school, but have the credits of a ninth grade student. While a majority of our students are high needs, the structure of our school is geared primarily toward an average student profile. When schools serve a disproportionately high population of at-risk students, the curriculum must be tailored to help them make needed leaps in academic gains from year to year. Our students are capable of high achievement, but the district must support their teachers in bridging wide achievement gaps. Teachers at our school work tirelessly to compensate for the gaps in resources and structures necessary to meet the needs of our students. Our team is incredibly talented, but we face difficult challenges every day. A system that predictably identifies schools serving vulnerable populations of students is inequitable. Rather, students and teachers working in high-need schools should greater, targeted support. Firing and devaluing teachers who share the goal of student achievement is no path to equitable outcomes for students. The state’s turnaround system must be improved to consider the complex nature of our student populations. Since we can reasonably predict the schools eligible to enter turnaround, it is our responsibility to proactively ensure they are set up to succeed.
“
Yes. The police just protect each other. They’re all cops at the end of the day.
Yes. They can’t investigate themselves. They won’t tell the truth.
Without a doubt. We need a balance of power during these investigations.
Jeavoni Thistle
Claudie
Germain
Student Roxbury
Teacher Milton
Entrepreneur Roxbury
Yes. I don’t really feel the police can be trusted. History has proven it, and it’s still being proven today.
Yes. The law is the law, but I don’t trust them. They stick together, just like people on the streets stick together. Will it ever happen? I doubt it.
Absolutely. They need body cameras, too, so they can protect themselves and citizens.
Roger Wanzo
Amani Perkins
Queen Bee
Student Dorchester
Retired Boston
$10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. “With this very generous grant from Cummings Foundation, we are able to expand our Gaining Independence For Tomorrow (GIFT) program to include girls that have aged out of DCF [Department of Children and Families] care, yet still need their life coach, and to girls referred by Probation, so they can avoid being locked up,” said Alvarado. “We’re incredibly grateful for the Cummings Foundation’s support of our work.” Since 2008, GIFT has served approximately 400 young women that are at high risk or are known victims of commercial sexual exploitation. These girls are between the ages of 11-21 and are involved with the Department of Children and Families. Through intensive individual mentoring, weekly psychosocial support groups, enrichment activities and leadership opportunities, seven
life coaches aid the girls in their recovery from exploitation, or work to prevent them from entering an exploitive relationship. This year’s grant recipients represent a variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention and food insecurity. The complete list of 100 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation. org. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
Our students are capable of high achievement, but the district must support their teachers in bridging wide achievement gaps.”
Matthew Clark is a history teacher at Brighton High School and head coach of the Brighton High School’s wrestling team.
Retired Dorchester
IN THE NEWS
MIA ALVARADO Roxbury Youthworks executive director Mia Alvarado announced the youth development agency will receive a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation. Roxbury Youthworks, Inc. (RYI) is one of 100 local nonprofits to be awarded with the grant, and was chosen from a total of 549 applicants. RYI is a community-based non-profit organization with a mission to help youth caught in cycles of poverty, victimization and violence to transition successfully to adulthood. Founded in 1981 by Judge Julian Houston, RYI first started to help decrease recidivism among young men and women from the Roxbury District Court. Today the organization serves youth up to 22 years of age in Boston’s juvenile justice or child welfare system with innovative supportive programs. Representing RYI, Alvarado will join approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the
6 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
COOP board continued from page 1
a staff of ten and an office as a way to restore public confidence in the Boston Police Department. IAD investigations can often take years to complete and seldom find in favor of civilian complainants. Of the IAD complaints lodged by civilians against officers in 2010, only 13 percent were sustained. In contrast, IAD sustained 84 percent of the Police Department’s misconduct charges against its own officers that year. The long odds that charges will be sustained, the often long waits for cases to work their way through IAD and an often opaque process during which complainants are left in the dark about the status of their complaints have undermined the public’s confidence in the department’s commitment to investigating civilian complaints, according to Friedman. Tweaking the COOP board likely won’t change that. “The fact that the mayor’s proposal is not even what the COOP board said they wanted says a lot,” Friedman said.
Long process
Currently, to initiate a COOP board investigation, complainants must first bring a complaint to IAD. Complainants have two weeks after receiving a finding from IAD to appeal to the COOP board for review. The board can then review the IAD investigation and issue a determination on whether the investigation was sufficiently fair or thorough. If the COOP board finds an IAD investigation was insufficient, it can
send a letter to the police commissioner requesting that he review the case. Civil rights attorneys say the limited power the COOP board has make it almost irrelevant. “The COOP board can write a sternly-worded letter, but they can’t do anything,” said Carlton Williams, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Mattapan station ground-breaking ceremony
Expanded board
Under Walsh’s changes to the COOP board, which are outlined in a new executive order, the board would increase from three to five members and would double the percentage of IAD cases it randomly investigates from 10 to 20. Additionally, the board would automatically investigate certain classes of complaints, according to city attorney Nicole O’Connor. “There’s going to be an automatic referral of any case that’s not sustained, exonerated or unfounded concerning serious bodily injury or death during BPD custody, serious bodily injury during a use-of-force incident, any allegation that a police officer committed perjury, any allegation concerning discrimination as well as any case that the police commissioner or the chief of the bureau of professional standards sees that needs to be referred,” she said. Additionally, civilians will be able to file complaints in person at City Hall. City Hall staff will be trained in how to navigate complainants through the process, Walsh said. Williams noted that people currently can file complaints online, although the system doesn’t
PHOTO: PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF RUSSELL HOLMES
Elected officials and community residents participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Mattapan station on the Fairmount Line commuter rail system.
always work. “I filed two complaints online, then called the department and they said they didn’t receive them,” he said. A deeper problem, Williams said, is a lack of public confidence in the complaint process. “People often say it doesn’t do any good,” he said. “I’d say there’s some truth to that.”
Questioned about the effectiveness of the COOP board investigations, Walsh emphasized that his administration is seeking to reduce incidents of police misconduct before they make it to the board. “We’re always going to work to build community relationships to bring down complaints and to make sure all officers work on a
professional level across the board in the city of Boston,” he said. “This is not just about the expansion of the COOP board. This is also a change of policy in the way we train officers, a change in policy of how the way we do things in the street. The number of complaints going down in the last three years is in a large part due to the way that we’re training our officers.”
$ CASH FRIDAYS $
Real Affordable Dental Care
Exams — *25.00 X-Rays — 75.00 Prophy — 25.00 Deep scaling per quadrant — 75.00 Silver filling only — 75.00 per tooth Simple extraction(s) — 50.00 per tooth Surgical extraction(s) — 75.00 per tooth [except -> impactions or 3rd molars] Alveoloplasty with extractions — 100.00/quadrant Office reline full upper denture — 150.00 Office reline full lower denture — 150.00 Anterior teeth root canal — 425.00 [only non-treated teeth] Prefabricated post & core — 250.00 [only non-treated teeth] Porcelain to metal (base) crowns — 575.00 [non-treated teeth only. 1st & 2nd premolars and molars only. Single teeth no bridge abutments] Full upper denture — 775.00 Full lower denture — 775.00
Academics Arts & Crafts Bible Lessons Computer Lab Field Trips Music Recreation
ENCOURAGE EMBARK ENLIGHTEN EMPOWER
2 Sessions July 5-August 4 $821.56 August 7-August 25 $535.80
For Information 617-442-7855; 617-427-5158 FAX 617-442-8784 EMail - Office@tbcboston.org TWELFTH BAPTIST CHURCH One Sixty Warren Street (2 blocks south of Dudley Square) Roxbury, Massachusetts Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. Senior Pastor
Coach Simpson Program Director
The Practice of Anesthesia & General Dentristry 386 A/B Warren St., Roxbury, MA 02119 800-676-2750 M, TH & FRI 10am-5pm L. Dee Jackson, Jr. DMD, MD *Fees listed are available only on “Cash Fridays” and only as long as appointments — first and third Fridays of each month through Aug. 31, 2017 or until appointments fill up. All procedures performed AWAKE ONLY
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 7
Students decry cuts hitting BPS schools
Ian McSorley told the Banner that he has felt the pain of years of underfunding. “We have to deal with the fact that every year our teachers tell us we just lost this program or cut this class or can’t go on this trip we used to,” he said. During the public testimony, adult allies said they believed the funding could be found, should the city realign budget priorities or tap into the wealth of its millionaires. Kathleen Alvarez, a 15-year-old freshman at the Snowden International School, said her school has only one guidance counselor and relies on teachers using their own money to purchase basic class supplies. Alvarez said that with such resource strain, it is no wonder some schools fail. Other students echoed complaints that they had too few counselors and insufficient supplies, such as paper, desks and books.
funding strains over the years reduced school quality and put Boston students at a disadvantage when competing with suburban students for college acceptance. “BPS students, we have to take those unpaid internships just to make our resumes look just as good or somewhere near close to those of suburban counterparts,” he said. “Why do we have to fight for same rights that people ten miles away from this city get, no questions asked?” Two students said that when they entered college, they found they did not have as robust an educational foundation as their peers. One student received As and Bs in high school, but in college found his math abilities wanting and completing assignments a challenge. BU student and Dorchester Academy graduate Gerali Mateo said she felt her education had been too limited. “I found myself behind other students,” she said. “I had to fill in gaps in my education because people around me learned about things I’d never even heard of before.” Other students said they felt that cuts were demoralizing, and that the difficulty of getting what they regarded as sufficient education funding created the perception that the city does not value their education and makes some students more likely to drop out.
Barriers raised
Tense relations
By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Echoes of last year’s thousands-strong walkouts protesting budget decreases seemed to hang in City Hall last Thursday, as students testified before city councilors that they believe this year’s proposed school budget will harm their education. They expressed irritation that last year’s outcry did not protect them from another round of deficits this year.
Annual fight
Deross Jordan, a 2015 Dorchester Academy graduate, said underfunding — not poor teaching — was the reason he believed his school fell into turnaround. After attending two other schools where he felt his ADHD made educators regard him as a problem, Jordan entered Dorchester Academy, where he connected with a teacher who worked to tailor instruction to his needs. But Jordan said the school also lacked some resources and classes, including Advanced Placement offerings. “My school was severely underfunded, so we didn’t have normal classes like economics or algebra or any AP classes,” Jordan said. “By time we managed to get one AP class it was my senior year, I was graduating.” He told the Banner the latest Boston Public School budget does not allow schools to function normally. McSorley said he felt that
Occurrences before and during the hearing showcased a sense of animosity that some of the students said they perceive from many in local government. It also demonstrated a deep wariness toward students on the part of some in City Hall. When students first sought to enter City Hall to join the public testimony session, security guards blocked them, saying that only four of them would be permitted to enter. (It is a public building; no such rule exists). Students also said they were told they could not protest outside City Hall or use megaphones or signs outside the building, despite having held such rallies in the past. “This is a blatant slap in the face of youth,” Jordan told the Banner. “This is a stance against people trying to voice themselves.” After pushback from students and adult allies, all who wished
University of Massachusetts Boston Community Update on Residence Hall Project Saturday, June 10, 2017, 10 a.m.– noon Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Ballroom A Continental Breakfast Will Be Provided This community meeting will provide an update on the ongoing residence hall project. Join us to learn more about this unique public/private partnership, see the design of the finished residences, and discuss construction progress and impacts. For more information, contact Philip J. Carver at philip.carver@umb.edu.
17.663sw
Parking is available in the Campus Center Garage. Anyone requiring disability-related accommodations, including dietary accommodations, should visit www.ada.umb.edu.
BANNER PHOTO
(above) Boston Public Schools students turned out to a city council budget hearing to protest what they say is a cycle of underfunding that damages their schools and educations. (below) Snowden senior Christopher Garcia, outside Government Center following the hearing. were allowed to enter. High tensions continued. During her testimony about an hour and a half later, Phoenix Printemps, an adult supporter, noted that there were more police officers than city councilors present. “In this chamber we have about four city councilors ... but there are 11 police officers outside. I’m shaking inside of me,” Printemps said. City Councilor Frank Baker had been present for the start of the hearing, but left after the first speaker, saying he was too offended to remain. That speaker had called the councilors “puppets” for what she perceived as lack
of meaningful action to push back against school budget cuts. Councilor Ciommo halted the hearing to reprimand a student for inappropriate language. Elected officials warned against rowdiness, while students said they did not feel listened to by their government. City budget hearings will continue in June. Should councilors reject the fiscal year 2018 budget without prejudice, a budget resubmittal hearing will be held on June 27, and councilors would vote the next day on whether to accept the resubmitted budget or continue with the same budget from fiscal year 2017.
BiggER BettER FastER
BANNER PHOTO
Visit our expanded, renovated Emergency Room with: • 11 private rooms • Comfortable waiting area • The shortest wait time of any ER in the area
Check out the current wait time at carneyhospital.org/emergency Spanish - Español ¿Habla español? Le proporcionaremos un intérprete sin costo alguno para usted. Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt Quý vị nói được tiếng Việt không? Chúng tôi sẽ cung cấp một thông dịch viên miễn phí cho quý vị. Steward Health Care complies with applicable Federal and State civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability or age.
8 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BANNER PHOTOS
(left) District 7 City Councilor Tito Jackson leads volunteers for his mayoral campaign through the Fields Corner section of Dorchester. (right) Mayor Martin Walsh greets supporter Myrtle Huggins.
Dot Day
continued from page 1 Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Tito Jackson. In the at-large council race, it was incumbents Essaibi-George, Dorchester resident Ayanna Pressley, Michael Flaherty and Council President Michelle Wu. As mayor of the city, Walsh had the honor of marching in the lead of the parade, along with Police Commissioner Bill Evans and other officials from his administration. As an incumbent facing a challenge from Councilor Tito Jackson, Walsh was in full campaign mode: jogging in a zig-zag pattern to greet spectators along the three-mile-long route, which stretches from Richmond Street in Lower Mills (a block from his home) to Columbia Road. “There’s going to be a Dot Day party in this house!” he remarked to a group of a dozen spectators in a Lower Mills home with Irish and U.S. flags on display, its front doors open and a multicultural assortment of revelers on the front lawn. Further back in the parade, about 60 supporters marched behind a banner and wore campaign shirts in Walsh’s signature red. Among the throng were many city workers. Campaign spokeswoman Gabrielle Farrell characterized the composition of the Walsh crew as a microcosm of the city’s largest and most populous neighborhood: “This is a cross-section of Dorchester,” she said. “Residents who represent all walks of life. Supporters of Mayor Walsh.”
Further back, Dorchester City Councilor Frank Baker, running unopposed, marched, backed by a modest crew of volunteers and a black Jeep. At-large Councilor Michael Flaherty marched with a handful of volunteers and a black SUV. After the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps from Nashua, New Hampshire came Essaibi-George’s volunteers, donning T-shirts in her campaign’s signature deep pink color. “It’s a strong color,” Essaibi-George said. “It’s not a traditional campaign color, but it’s our tradition. And how great does it look?!” Directly behind marched Dorchester Councilor Andrea Campbell, running unopposed and backed by a dozen volunteers. Despite her lack of opposition, Campbell has been raising money and, with $87,416 in her account as of May 30, says she plans to keep her voters engaged. “We’re running a full campaign,” she said. “We’re going to focus on those who are not super-voters to encourage their engagement.” Behind Campbell, Pressley marched with a crew of volunteers, greeting constituents from her Dorchester home base. In the St. Mark’s Parish area, she paused for photos with the owners of a new restaurant. “We helped them get their liquor license,” she said. Following Pressley, Michelle Wu waved at spectators from the back of an open-top Jeep. Next came a sequence of floats including the Metro Boston Steel Band, Dorchester House, Codman Square Health Center, the Dorchester Food Coop, the
(above) At-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley enjoys a moment with Alaysha Balkishun (2) during the Dorchester Day parade. (below) Members of a steel band play on a float in the parade. Roberto Clemente Dancers, the Ashmont Nursery School. Near, but not at the end, came mayoral challenger Tito Jackson. “We’re at the front of the back of the bus,” he joked. What he lacked in positioning, he made up for with energy, shaking hands and posing for photos with parade participants. Occasionally, onlookers chanted, “Tito, Tito, Tito!”, highlighting the advantage of having a musical name.
now open Join us at our
grand opening celebration weekend
June 10-11
336
wa s h i n g t o n
st.
D O R C H E S T E R
FREE classes & special events all weekend. Meet our team. Enjoy music, chair massage, Yoga, & refreshments.
DEDICATED TO MAKING YOGA + WELLNESS
STOP MCAD
MCAD v. Class Action Lawsuit Have You Filed a Discrimination Lawsuit anywhere? Do feel you got burned by the court? Well come sign up and tell your story at the Community Meeting about MCAD. At the South End Library, 685 Tremont St., Boston on 6/10 and 6/17/2017 @ 11 a.m. AND THEN Go to MCAD for the “GLOVER Hearing” on 6/20/2017 @ 10 a.m. WAKE UP! FOR INFO CALL 617-755-5700
ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE
617.506.0519 info@4cor n er syo gaw elln e s s.com
w w w . 4 C o r n e r s Yo g a W e l l n e s s . c o m
Advertise in
For more information, call 617-261-4600 x7799 or email ads@bannerpub.com
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 9
CAREER NEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY PARTNERS HEALTHCARE
PARTNERS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SUCCESS STORY: JAYNIÈ GREEN, PARTNERS ECARE From being down and out to pursuing training, getting hired, being promoted and receiving a Partners in Excellence Award, Jayniè continues to push herself every step of the way to become the best person she can be in all aspects of her life. Jayniè Green has worked extremely hard to overcome many obstacles and persevere to become a dedicated and successful Project Coordinator in the Partners eCare Project Management Office. She has been recently promoted to Senior Project Coordinator/ Logistics Analyst and is a 2016 individual Partners in Excellence Award recipient. Two weeks after Jayniè returned to work from maternity leave in 2013, she was laid off after working in the finance field for 9 years. She was comfortable but not very happy in this job. “In retrospect, I needed to have the rug pulled out from under me to force me to make changes in my life,” said Jayniè. After months of not being able to secure a job, Jayniè heard about the Partners Career in Workforce Development (PCWD) program at Partners HealthCare. The rigorous PCWD program is a free, full-time, eight-week training program designed for individuals in Partners local communities who are interested in entry-level employment within one of Partners hospitals. The training program includes four weeks of classroom instruction and a four-week internship in a clerical or support staff position. In January 2014, she attended a PCWD information session with her cousin. They both went through the assessment testing, which Jayniè admits that she skimmed through it and didn’t pay too much attention. “Later, when my cousin was accepted into the program, and I was not, I was devastated,” said Jayniè. Jayniè made a pledge to herself that she was going to do whatever she needed to do to get into the next cycle of the PCWD program in six months. She reached out to Project Hope – the organization that runs the assessments for Partners – and she took every online assessment she could find to practice. “This time, I passed with flying colors because I put in so much hard work, time and effort,” beamed Jayniè. “I could immediately see the benefits of the PCWD program. I was all in. I never missed a day, and I was never late. Given a second chance, I was a complete professional, and I was like a sponge – I soaked up everything. The skills I was learning would have an immediate impact in both my professional life and my personal life.” Through the program, Jayniè was placed in an internship in the wellness team of Partners eCare. In this role, she developed a wellness proposal for Partners eCare employees that included a walking group and onsite yoga. Jayniè’s internship was extended beyond
the four-week scheduled timeframe, and she was able to take on a greater role when the Partners eCare administrative team was losing a staff member. She eventually applied for and was offered the full-time admin position. “After spending 18 months as an admin, I interviewed for a Project Analyst position in the Project Management Office,” said Jayniè. “I was promoted to Project Coordinator to start, and was recently promoted to Senior Project Coordinator/Logistics Analyst. It’s a lot of work, and I have put in many, many hours to get the work done.
My manager taught me not to just work hard, but also to work smart and focus on time management, and this was great advice for me.” “I am taking on more and more responsibilities, and I am pushing myself and accepting new challenges to help me learn more and move forward,” said Jayniè. “I even had to deliver a presentation – my first big presentation – on the 11th floor of the Prudential building. It was very scary, but I got through it, and I did a great job.” “I am really proud of everything I have accomplished over the past three years, but I am especially
ON THE WEB
To learn more about PCWD and apply to the September cycle, please visit www.partners.org/pcwd.
PHOTO: COURTESY PARTNERS HEALTHCARE
Jayniè Green
proud of receiving a 2016 individual Partners in Excellence Award for outstanding community contributions,” said Jayniè. She received this honor for her work on the Partners eCare wellness project. As part of her role, Jayniè was the lead facilitator and liaison between Partners eCare and the St. Francis House homeless shelter. She organized
and scheduled Partners eCare employees to help serve meals to the homeless. Still actively involved with the shelter, Jayniè is in the process of becoming an ambassador for St. Francis House so she can share the positive news about the terrific work the shelter does for our local community. As the mother of two young boys, Jayniè is also extremely proud to be a positive role model for her sons. “The PCWD program not only helped me to strive to be the best I can possibly be at work and in my career, but it has also molded me into the best person I can be in my personal life as a wife, mother, friend and community advocate.” Jayniè will begin the Partners HealthCare Online College Preparation Program this summer in anticipation of furthering her education in the fall.
Gain New Skills, Explore New Opportunities, and Launch Your Career with Partners HealthCare! Are you ready and motivated to find a great entry-level job with competitve wages and benefits in a premier health care organization? Do you have a strong desire to help others, a genuine concern for the welfare of patients and clients, and the ability to work with people of diverse backgrounds in challenging situations? Do you need to strengthen your skills?
For Program Start Dates, Please Visit:
Partners HealthCare is an integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of coordinated high-quality care. In addition to its two academic medical centers, Partners includes community and specialty hospitals, health centers, a physician network, home health and long-term care services, and other health-related entities. Our free, full-time, 8-week training and employment program will give the tools you need to become our next: Office Assistant, Unit Coordinator, Patient Service Coordinator, Practice Secretary, Laboratory Aide, Operating Room Assistant, or one of our many other rewarding positions.
www.partners.org/ jobtraining
For more information, please visit www.partners.org/jobtraining • Introduction to the health care environment • Resume preparation • Interviewing skills • Medical terminology • Customer service skills in healthcare • Communication skills in the workplace • Financial literacy education • Professional image development • Internship within participating Partners HealthCare member institution • Job placement assistance • Career counseling and development • Post-placement support and follow-up • Supportive services • Complimentary MBTA subway/bus pass
Applicants must: • Be at least 18 years old with a professional attitude • Have a high school diploma or equivalent • Pass assessments in reading, writing, and Microsoft Word • Successfully complete CORI screening (Criminal Offender Record Investigation) • Provide four references - one of whom must verify at least 12 consecutive months of paid work experience, two references from managers • Excellent written and oral communication skills • Be seeking to work full-time upon graduation • Be able to attend training Monday–Friday, 40 hours per week • Be eligible to work in the United States without restriction
Section 30 Approved: Course ID# 1067203 • www.partners.org/jobtraining • jobtraining@partners.org
10 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
Silver Line pilot aims to show bus rapid transit time savings By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Silver Line buses threw open all their doors during a May 24 to June 6 pilot, allowing riders of the SL4 and SL5 lines to board through any door for free. The two-week long trial, paid for by the Barr Foundation, was intended to demonstrate how much time riders would save if they did not have to line up at one door and pay the fare as they board. Off-board fare collection, along with designated bus-only lanes and traffic signal priority, is a key
element of upgrading a route to bus rapid transit (BRT) Gold Standard levels. Representatives of BostonBRT, a group advocating for BRT and studying implementation of the system in Greater Boston with support from the Barr Foundation, regard faster bus travel as a priority solution to Greater Boston’s transit needs. Changing over to bus rapid transit means prioritizing buses over cars on road space, which is a tradeoff not everyone values. Last week, BostonBRT Advisory Committee members gathered at the Bolling
baystatebanner.com
ON THE WEB BostonBRT http://www.bostonbrt.org Building before boarding the Silver Line at Dudley Station for a demonstration ride to downtown. During the Bolling Building pre-ride meeting, members said that the pilot’s goal was to show the public the benefits BRT promises. They hope to demonstrate that the tradeoff of lessened space for individual cars is worthwhile. Winning people over to BRT also entails dispelling a prevailing view that buses are poorly functioning and are only taken by people without the financial ability to have other options, said Mary Skelton Roberts, the Barr Foundation’s senior program officer for climate. “Part of the effort is for us to stop ignoring buses and put them at the forefront,” Skelton Roberts said. The Silver Line’s Washington Street routes carry about 14,000 riders each week and were selected for the pilot in part because several BRT Gold Standard requirements already are in place: designated bus lanes and traffic signal priority. According to a 2015 report from BostonBRT’s study group, adding offboard fare collection and all-door boarding could trim the travel time between Dudley Square and downtown from about 22.8 minutes down to about 12.5 minutes. The study group found that 66 percent of delays on the Silver Line came from the time it took customers to line up, pay, enter and exit the bus.
Another time around
Be sure to check out
the Banner’s new
Video Streaming sWilliams New angie with N
Produced by
Wes Williams Emmy Award Winning Videographer/Editor
Boston On-Site Video Professional Video/Film Production 607 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116
BostonOnSiteVideo.com
info@BostonOnSiteVideo.com n 617-606-2208 All Work Done On-Location Same Day Fastest Turnaround
FILM IT! EDIT IT! SHARE IT!
This is not the first push for BRT in Boston. A previous effort around the 28X line proposed for Blue Hill Avenue died in December 2009 after facing resident pushback. In part this was because residents wanted a trolley and believed buses were not up to the same standard, said State Rep. Russell Holmes who had been a major advocate for the 28X BRT and a member of BostonBRT’s ten-person Advisory Committee. Another challenge was that the bus route lost some of its rapid transit elements when it hit Grove Hall and narrower streets forced it to return to regular lanes where it shared space with cars and became caught up in traffic, Holmes said. When the bus had to return to regular traffic “that eroded the experience
BANNER PHOTO
Pat Hoey, Boston Transportation Department senior planner, talks with State Rep. Byron Rushing while they ride the Silver Line from Dudley Station to downtown during BostonBRT’s all-door boarding demonstration. As part of improving transit, immediately,” he told the Banner. This time around, Holmes has Boston BRT members are prohopes that things will be different. moting ultimately adding more For one, the pilot aims to buses so that they run every four to demonstrate that buses can be a six minutes without bunching, as respected transit mode. Holmes well as creating new bus stations said he has seen models in Mexico with platforms. The latter would where bus routes carry more facilitate boarding and exiting for people daily than all of Boston’s elderly people or those in wheelchairs, something important for subways combined. As for when roads narrow, routes serving hospitals, noted buses could be diverted instead Stacy Thompson, executive direconto different streets where they tor of the Livable Streets Alliance would not lose BRT-designated and a Boston BRT Advisory Comlanes, Holmes suggested. An alter- mittee member. nate idea came from Michael Kodransky, the director for global and Making it real U.S. initiatives at the Institute for During the demo ride from Transportation and Development Dudley to downtown, BRT AdPolicy, which provides technical visory Committee member state analysis to the BostonBRT study Rep. Byron Rushing pointed out group. Kodransky said in a Banner three school buses parked in the phone interview that another ap- lane designated for Silver Line bus proach is to preserve the bus-only transit on Melnea Cass Boulevard. lane on narrow streets and let cars “This [line] is just going to be be the one to lose a lane. In other as slow as before after the trial,” cities, there are some streets that unless action is taken, Rushing serve only buses, he said. said. Every time the Silver Line The designation and position- was stopped by a vehicle iming of a bus lane also can be han- properly invading its designated dled flexibly and vary by neighbor- lane, “We lost as much time as we hood based on community pref- gained [by BRT]” he said. erences, Kodransky said. For inAccording to Joe Pesaturo, stance, the bus-only lane could run spokesperson for the MBTA, tranalong the curb on some streets but sit police provide support to municshift to the center lane on others, ipal officials in enforcing bus lanes. he said. BRT success relies on political To make a significant difference will to prioritize buses, Rushing and win over the public, Skelton said. Roberts said it is key to have all “The only time the buses get features of BRT implemented. Too improved is when people go crazy,” often, governments take only a few Rushing said. “We need an MBTA of the required steps, and when that is serious about this.” the full benefits are not realized, Transit oversight is split bethe public becomes jaded on the tween the city and the MBTA, idea, she said. One tension, Skel- with the city controlling street ton Roberts said, is that nationally, lanes and traffic signals, while the drivers are a very vocal constitu- MBTA controls drivers, buses and ency and tend to complain to rep- any vehicular improvements. resentatives about loss of parking, Pesaturo said that the MBTA while the voices of bus riders who has interest in pursuing BRT, but received faster, easier commutes noted that the agency does not are less often heard. have exclusive authority to make it happen and must partner with municipalities. “While many of the elements associated with ITDP’s definition of Gold Standard are certainly worth pursuing, the T’s goal is to leverage any opportunities to improve bus service,” he said in a written statement to the Banner. Plans for all-door boarding are underway, with the MBTA currently developing a fare collection system that would replace the CharlieCard and allow for fare validation at each door, according to Pesaturo. As for financing, Kodransky said funding for BRT upgrades does not necessarily depend only on the city and state. In other cities, he said, funding has been cobbled together with contributions from foundations, anchor real estate tenants, regional authorities, redevelopment agencies and other sources.
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 11
Boston Logan’s nonstop flights to Haiti.
Sak Pase!
More nonstops between Boston and Port-au-Prince beginning June 17th. NEW SUMMER SCHEDULE Nonstop to Port-au-Prince @ 8:31 AM
Community is nonstop at
MONTH
DAY
MID JUNE
MON, WED, THUR, SAT
JULY - AUGUST
MON, WED, THUR, SAT
SEPT. - MID OCT.
SAT
12 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
More black and Latino parents see racial inequities in school funding By KHALIL ABDULLAH, NEW AMERICA MEDIA
African American and Latino parents see a lack of funding as the biggest cause of racial disparities in education, according to a newly released poll by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR). While the poll’s findings are not new, they also speak to the high aspirations that black and Latino parents have for their children. The poll, which was commissioned by The Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF), is significant as states have been preparing their education plans to comply with the Every Student Succeeds ACT (ESSA), the successor to the No Child Left Behind Act. Developed through extensive bipartisan efforts during the Obama administration and passed in 2015, ESSA allows states greater flexibility to tailor education delivery strategies to fit their populations’ unique needs. Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the LCCHR and LCEF, concedes that “much of what the poll reveals really isn’t a surprise for us.”
However, Henderson says the poll also reveals the attitudes and aspirations of the parents of black and Latino children, as well as how these parents measure success. Importantly, he notes, these are the parents of the children who, when combined, make up the majority of students in America’s public schools. For Liz King, LCEF’s director of education policy, the poll’s findings are relevant given that under ESSA provisions, states must report on how education money is spent, and on whom, in compliance with federal regulations. Matt Hogan, a partner with Anzalone Liszt Grove Research, which conducted the poll for LCEF, said very few of the parents polled were familiar with ESSA. But he notes that there’s been an increase since last year in the number of black and Latino parents who believe that racism in the education system is affecting their children negatively. The poll also found that black and Latino parents whose children’s teachers are predominantly white are more likely to believe that their schools are “not really trying” to educate students of color.
Student scholarship
PHOTO: MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY JEREMIAH ROBINSON
Mayor Walsh poses for a photo with scholarship winner Gabrielly Hernandez and family members during the Harvard-Kent School’s Annual Scholarship Ceremony. Henderson says that achieving equity in education is still an unrealized goal, despite the recent celebration of the 63rd anniversary of the Brown v. the Board of Education Supreme Court decision that desegregated America’s schools. ESSA is imperfect in Henderson’s view because in giving individual states more control over education, existing discriminatory patterns against black and Latino students could become amplified.
Arts in the Plaza The Gateway Series is back! Bring your appetite and your imagination to kick off the start of summer with unique experiences for the eyes and ears. • Tour of Harmonic Conduit installation • Fine Art Superheroes performances • Live painting • Spoken word and poetry • Poetry and painting workshops Fresh Food Generation will also provide farm-to-plate food and drink.
Thursday, June 15 • 12:30pm-4pm Ruggles Plaza, Roxbury MBTA: Ruggles Station Info: northeastern.edu/crossing
Bay State Banner ad - June 2017 Gateway.indd 1
5/23/17 12:44 PM
Yet, Henderson believes that ESSA offers an opportunity for parents and activists “to organize themselves to have real impact on how the local school system addresses the overall federal obligation to educate every student with meaningful equal educational opportunity.” While emphasizing the need for coalition building to achieve goals in education, Henderson said the poll’s findings will inform the demand for better policies
and more equitable allocation of resources. “We are not going to accept inferior education as the result of changes in the law,” he says. “It doesn’t matter, quite frankly, whether it’s Betsy DeVos in the Secretary of Education’s position, or someone else. The standard of accountability for federal involvement remains the same and we expect this administration to live up to its obligations.”
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 13
14 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
121966_NPA203330-0001 Awesome ad_A1spread_21x15.75.indd 1
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 15
School's out. Summer's in. Let the WiFi fun begin. Get the speed, coverage and control you need throughout your home with XFINITY xFi. XFINITY delivers the best in-home WiFi experience so everyone can stream, surf and game online at the same time. View who’s connected to your home network and pause WiFi for dinnertime, family time, bedtime or any time you choose. Change the way you WiFi.
Get started with XFINITY X1 Triple Play
79
$
99
a month for 24 months with a 2-year agreement
With up to 100 Mbps download speed
Ask how to add X1 DVR service FREE for a year
Call 1-855-504-7136, go to xfinity.com or visit your local XFINITY Store today
Offer ends 6/21/17. Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. New residential customers only. Limited to the X1 Starter XF Triple Play with Digital Starter TV, Performance Pro Internet, and Voice Unlimited services. Early termination fee applies if all XFINITY services are cancelled during the agreement term. Equipment, installation, taxes and fees, including regulatory recovery fees, Broadcast TV Fee (up to $7.00/mo.), Regional Sports Fee (up to $5.00/mo.) and other applicable charges extra, and subject to change during and after the promo. After applicable promo, or if any service is cancelled or downgraded, regular rates apply. Comcast’s service charge for DVR service is $10.00/mo. and for HD Technology Fee is $9.95/mo. (subject to change). Service limited to a single outlet. May not be combined with other offers. TV: Limited Basic service required to receive other services. Internet: WiFi claim based on XFINITY’s fastest available download speed, router coverage and speed on 5 GHz band and xFi features. Actual speeds vary. XFINITY xFi requires subscription to XFINITY Internet customers with compatible XFINITY Gateway. Limited to home WiFi network. Does not apply to XFINITY WiFi hotspots. Voice: $29.95 activation fee applies. If there is a power outage or network issue, calling, including calls to 911, may be unavailable. © 2017 Comcast. All rights reserved. NPA203330-0001 DIV17-2-203-AA-$79TPsale-A1spread
5/22/17 5:55 PM
16 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BUSINESSNEWS A Dudley Sq. marketplace CHECK OUT MORE BUSINESS NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/NEWS/BUSINESS
Roxbury couple launches ‘by local, for local’ marketplace By SANDRA LARSON
Two longtime Roxbury residents aim to inject economic energy into the community with a new collaborative business and event space in Dudley Square. The recently-renovated street-level space at 2136 Washington Street will be the site of regular two-day public market events featuring up to 20 local entrepreneurs selling their products and services. Dubbed Black Market, the venture is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Chris and Kai Grant. The couple has invested personal funds into leasing the 1700-square-foot space and improving it with features such as track lighting and ceiling-mounted projectors to create a versatile venue for art, film and performance events as well as pop-up commerce opportunities. “We are sensitive to the fact that Roxbury has now become a cultural district. So this is a retail space, but it’s also a cultural space,” says Kai Grant, speaking recently with the Banner in the new space. Roxbury received the cultural district designation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council in May. Afternoon sunshine streams in through Black Market’s large front windows, illuminating white brick walls and warm-toned wood flooring. Awaiting the public market’s June 10 grand opening, the high-ceilinged oblong space is empty and quiet — but is expected to be bustling in its first weekend. “We’ve sold out the vendor spaces for our grand opening and we have a wait list,” Grant says. “It’s just incredible how many people have launched businesses and want to really build cash flow, and have no opportunity to do that on a regular basis. Where on a regular basis can you set up shop without incurring large overhead costs?” At Black Market, a $100 vendor fee covers two days of vendor space with a 6-foot table and two chairs included.
www.baystatebanner.com
BIZ BITS TIP OF THE WEEK tips when buying a used car
3
If you’re in the market for a used vehicle, the car-buying process can be both an exciting and daunting experience. Whether you are a first-time buyer or looking for a different model, a car is one of the largest purchases you will ever make. It’s not only important to make sure you have the right car for your lifestyle, but one that makes the most sense for your personal financial situation.
1
Get pre-approved. Similar to buying a house, it’s important to know what you can afford before you start hunting for your dream car. If you will be financing a vehicle, getting pre-approved for a car loan may save you a lot of heartburn during your car search. Interest rates continue to be at historic lows, but it’s important to check in on what rates you may qualify for and how it will affect the price of what you can afford. A good tip to keep in mind is to not let your car payment exceed more than 15 percent of your monthly net income.
2
Know what you can afford. Knowing what you can afford reaches beyond your car loan payment. Although used cars are typically less expensive, they may have more maintenance and ownership costs. Knowing a rough estimate of these expenses will help you stay on budget in the long run.
3
Narrow your choices. With countless choices available, finding the right car for you can be a challenge. Your budget should help narrow some of your choices, but consider your lifestyle as well. Do you have young children or plan to start a family soon? Then you might want to consider the highest IIHS safety ratings. Do you frequently travel for work? In that case, improved gas mileage and reduced emissions are important factors. Remember, all those extra upgrades come with a higher insurance price tag and are depreciating assets once you drive off the lot. — Brandpoint
THE LIST According to Forbes, to world’s top 10 highest-earning soccer players are: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo ($93 million) 2. Lionel Messi ($80 million) 3. Neymar Jr. ($37 million) 4. Gareth Bale ($34 million) 5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($32 million) 6. Wayne Rooney ($23.6 million) 7. Luis Suarez ($23.3 million) 8. Sergio Aguero ($22.6 million) 9. James Rodriguez ($21.9 million) 10. Paul Pogba ($21.2 million)
Variety offerings
Among the wares and services shoppers will find are African artifacts, visual art, shoes, optic wear, graphic T-shirts, culturally designed paper, books by local authors, Afro-Caribbean fashion, vintage vinyl records, jewelry, skin and body care and travel services. Visual artist Cagen Luse of 950Design.com will be one of the opening weekend vendors. He’ll be selling his “Americana Noir” poster prints and notecards with illustrations based on early 1900s photographs of African American subjects, as well as hand-printed T-shirts and books of his LunchTime ComiX series. Having participated in many
NUMBER TO KNOW
$1,000
On May 30, online retail giant Amazon saw its stock break the $1,000 per share barrier for the first time in the company’s history. With that price per stock, Amazon’s market value is $478 billion.
TECH TALK Uber fires head of self-driving car project Uber’s former head of its self-driving car project was fired recently after PHOTO: COURTESY KAI GRANT
See BLACK MARKET, page 18
Chris and Kai Grant in their Dudley Square event space.
See BIZ BITS, page 17
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 17
BUSINESSNEWS CHECK OUT MORE BUSINESS NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/NEWS/BUSINESS
MONEY TALK
bureaus unlike a debit card or some other services out there. Do your research and ask questions. See which card is best suited for your needs. The most important thing is to make sure they report to all 3 credit bureaus to help you establish credit.
Six ways to achieve a better FICO score and meet your financial goals Are you looking to buy a car, house or have other major upcoming expenses in your life? Are you afraid you won’t be able to achieve your goals due to a less than perfect credit score? Don’t stress! We’re going to provide you with 6 easy tips for improving your FICO score and getting on the path to success.
1
Pay down your credit cards to below 40 percent. Ideally 30 percent but let’s start small and work our way up. It can be overwhelming if you have 5 credit cards that are all near their limit. Here are a couple strategies you could employ. A. Pay off/down the highest interest card first. The money you save on interest payments will go toward paying off your next card on the list. B. Pay off/down the credit card with the smallest limit. Paying off something quickly gives you motivation to move on to the next. You feel motivated after paying down a $500 credit card in 2 months compared to paying $500 off a $5,000 credit card because you still see a high balance.
2
Slow down on opening new accounts. Each new account places an inquiry on your credit
report, which decreases your credit score. When creditors see these inquiries, it decreases your chances of being approved. Also, new credit means less credit history, which is frowned upon. Side note: Choose cards with rewards so you earn while you spend.
3
Add someone’s credit history to your profile. If you have a family member that has good credit and good credit history, consider asking them to add you to their oldest credit card and preferably the one with the best credit history attached to it. While you will not adopt their credit score, you will obtain their history, so if they have owned the card for 10 years, you now have that 10-year history on your credit report. We DO NOT recommend you having access to their credit however. No matter how good your intentions, you never want to jeopardize someone’s credit for your own gain. They can give you their history without giving you access to their credit.
4
Get a secured line of credit. If you were unable to add someone’s credit history to your profile, your next best option is to open a
secured line of credit. Essentially, you would put money on a card (like a debit card) and whatever amount you deposit, becomes your new credit limit. For example, you deposit $500 on your secured credit card, you now have a $500 credit limit on your card. If you decide to increase it to $1000, you pay the $1000 upfront and you can borrow against it up to $1000. The benefit is that if you decide to close the account, your money is refunded. Also, secured credit cards report to the credit
Biz Bits
continued from page 16
5
Diversify your credit profile. You do not want all your credit to be of the same type. The goal is to have a diverse portfolio such as credit cards, car loan, mortgage, etc. Creditors want to see that you are responsible over a variety of credit types.
6
Get your credit limit increased with current lenders. I do this every year. If you have a great track record of always paying on time, you can ask your credit card company to increase your
limit. Most allow you to do this on the website and it is instant. This serves 2 purposes: A. It increases your credit iimit and the % of credit owed. For example $400 on a $500 limit is 80% utilization, however, $400 on a $1000 limit is only 40% utilization. Do you see how this can improve your credit score without you doing anything more than making a phone call? This is not something you do monthly but rather on a yearly basis because some companies will pull your credit to make the decision which could hurt you in the short term but will be beneficial in the long. B. It gives you greater access to funds. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you have an extra $1000 of available credit in case of emergencies?
V
being accused of stealing self-driving car secrets from Google. Anthony Levandowski, who had been moved to an operations role in April, had helped Google create its self-driving car project before coming to Uber. Google eventually turned the project into a standalone business called Waymo, which filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Uber, claiming that Levandowski stole about 14,000 documents from Waymo and the information became the technological basis for Uber’s self-driving cars. — More Content Now
Money Talk is written by William Mandrell.
A STEP ABOVE THE REST
FREE! Call to find out how much your property is WORTH! Thinking of buying a home? Call for your FREE BUYERS consultation.
Melvin A Vieira Jr Real Estate Agent RE/MAX Destiny Phone: 617-283-6003
www.PropertiesForSaleInBoston.com MelvinSellsRealEstate@gmail.com
Board of Director of Greater Boston Association of Realtors (GBAR) 2016 - 2018 Board of Director of Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) 2017 - 2019 Established since 1989
18 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BUSINESSNEWS CHECK OUT MORE BUSINESS NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/NEWS/BUSINESS
Black Market continued from page 16
outdoor festivals around the Boston area, Luse is glad for an indoor space and for the chance to show for two days straight without having to load and unload in the same day. But more than that, he is excited about what this venture means for the local community. “Dudley Square is changing, the demographics are changing. We’re losing a lot of spaces as the rents go up,” Luse says. “So it’s great to have a space where artists and entrepreneurs of color can show their work in Dudley.”
Community entrepreneurs
PHOTOS: COURTESY KAI GRANT
Kai and Chris Grant have long shared an entrepreneurial mindset. The two have been selling their Fort Hill Jerk Chicken in the community for several years, and plan to open a neighborhood bistro in John Eliot Square later this year. They expect the bistro will create eight to 10 jobs. In addition, Kai Grant in 2009 started the nonprofit Diamond Girls Boston to work with local teen girls on self-esteem and entrepreneurship, and the organization is transitioning into Diamond Diaspora, an education- and entrepreneurship-based initiative connecting Roxbury women and girls with women and girls around the world. “Chris and I believe in investing in our community,” Grant says, “putting our money where our mouth is.” While the official launch is June
The Black Market has already hosted an art exhibition and a local campaign kick-off. It’s envisioned as a space to help small businesses launch.
PHOTO: SANDRA LARSON
10, the Black Market venue has hosted two community events already: Kim Janey’s city council campaign kickoff on May 16 and a musical performance and visual art event, “From the Inside Out: Reflections After Incarceration,” on May 26. In each case, Grant pointed out, the events have helped keep dollars circulating in the community by giving business to local caterers. She notes they have sought out local suppliers for everything from lighting and security systems to the Black Market storefront sign set to be installed soon. Grant envisions Black Market
IF YOU GO Black Market, 2136 Washington St., Dudley
Square Grand opening: Saturday and Sunday, June
10–11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days For more information: Call 617.293.8609 or
visit: Facebook/Black Market Dudley as a catalyst, helping small vendors build stability and capacity, spurring the development of other collaborative markets and growing into a business she and Chris might pass down to their own sons. She notes that Dudley Square
bid farewell last year to A Nubian Notion, the convenience and African-themed gift store run by the Abdal-Khallaq family for nearly 50 years — leaving a void that Black
Market could begin to fill. “We are leading the charge in hopes that a new crop of black entrepreneurs ... will take up where A Nubian Notion left off,” Grant says.
POST YOUR EVENT ON BAY STATE BANNER DIGITAL PLATFORM! $20 www.baystatebanner.com – Click Submit Your Event
Reach over 100,000 people per month EDUCATION:
INCOME:
OUR READERS INDEX** MUCH HIGHER THAN AVERAGE ON EDUCATION LEVELS. THE BAY STATE BANNER INDEXES AT 217 FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL.
THE BANNER INDEXES AT 149 FOR READERS MAKING $150K+
OF READERS HAVE A
OF USERS ARE MAKING
AGE:
47% 31% 45% 12% 22% 45% COLLEGE DEGREE
HAVE ATTENDED
GRAD SCHOOL
$50K$150K
OF USERS ARE MAKING
OVER $150K
OF WEBSITE USERS ARE
OF WEBSITE USERS ARE
18-24 25-44
WE WILL PROMOTE YOUR EVENT TO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCE AS WELL Facebook Follower – 5,200
Twitter Followers – 5,100
If you are interested in videography for your event please contact Sandra@bannerpub.com for details on costs and setup.
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 19
ARTS& ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT
It’s Raining Metaphors Mass Poetry installs latest sidewalk poems
The Roxbury International Film Festival opens June 22 The 19th annual Roxbury International Film Festival will screen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from June 22-July 1. RoxFilm is the largest New England festival dedicated to celebrating films by and for people of color. The pieces cover a wide range of topics on what it means to be black and how that cultural experience is unique. The festival includes panel discussions, workshops and talkbacks as well as film screenings. Since its inception in 1999, the festival has welcomed over 38,000 attendees, satisfying Boston’s craving for independent films that represent the African American population. Darnell Lamont Walker, director of “Outside the House,” uses his film to address a serious phenomenon. “I wanted to start a conversation about mental health in the black community because it’s such a taboo subject,” he says. “Suicide rates are increasing, especially among young black boys.” The title of the film stems from Walker’s desire to bring mental health issues out of the hush-hush environment of the home and into a helpful, public forum. Walker doesn’t take the statistical, scare tactic documentary approach. “Outside the House” is a series of personal stories shared in the hopes of inspiring others to open up about their experience. The filmmaker recalls an especially powerful moment when he was interviewing a subject in a public park and a crowd gathered around to listen to his story. As the conversation went on the crowd began participating, offering support and sharing their own stories. It was then that Walker realized just how powerful this film could be. “Outside the House” has raised
T
Artists install poetry outside the Dudley Cafe. PHOTO: COURTESY SARA SIEGEL
See POETRY, page 21
A night at the movies
By CELINA COLBY
By CELINA COLBY hey say when it rains it pours, and in Boston it pours poetry. The Mass Poetry Project, a nonprofit fostering poetry writing and appreciation, has installed the 2017 editions of “Raining Poetry” in collaboration with the City of Boston. The art installations feature short poems stenciled into the sidewalk with a biodegradable, water-repellent spray that only shows up in the rain. In locations all over the city, the surprise poems bring light to dreary weather. Boston’s Poet Laureate, Danielle Georges, selects poems from submissions by local writers. They span a range of topics and languages, sometimes relating to the location. Sara Siegel, program director at Mass Poetry, says the city handles the placement of the poems, but they try to pair each piece with matching surroundings, for example water poems near a fountain. Poet Charles Coe has “Mnemonic” featured in the project, at the central branch of the Boston Public Library, and at America’s Food Basket and the Mildred Avenue Community Center in Mattapan. “We need to enliven
www.baystatebanner.com
See ROX FILM, page 22
ON THE WEB For more information and to see the schedule for the festival, visit:
www.roxburyinternationalfilmfestival.com.
20 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT
Artists create political dialogue between Greece, Germany Documenta 14 exhibits ‘Learning from Athens,’ taking place in Athens, Kassel By SUSAN SACCOCCIA
On a hilltop overlooking the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, a tent stands in a clearing among olive trees. Its folds mimic the gentle draping of heavy fabric, and its wide door invites a visitor to enter and enjoy an eye-level view of the Parthenon, the temple built 2,400 years ago to honor the patron of Athens, the goddess
Athena. But this tent is no ordinary traveler’s shelter. Instead of fabric, it is made of the same translucent, streaked marble as the Parthenon. Sculpted by Canadian artist Rebecca Belmore, the marble tent connects the classical past of Greece with the current crisis facing this nation and the world: the millions of people seeking refuge from war-torn homelands. Flanked by the sea, Greece is at
YOUR WORLD ON STAGE MUSIC
BLACK BOX SOUNDS
SAM TRUMP :: SIDEWALK CHALK MARCELA CRUZ :: D. RUFF
JUN 9, 2017
BLACK BOX SOUNDS
SHAKESPEAREAN JAZZ SHOW
JUN 10, 2017
ARE WE SERIOUS THIS TIME?
SHADOWS FALL AWAY: RACIAL HEALING IN NEW ENGLAND
COMMUNITY CURATORS
NEBIP DIALOGUES
the crossroads of this crisis. Along the path to Belmore’s temple, nearby islands are visible along with large ships inching their way into Athens, a Mediterranean metropolis that is a gateway to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. As the capital of Greece, Athens also is on the frontline of this nation’s conflict with Germany over stringent European Union economic measures. Pension cuts now reach low-income people, not just high earners, igniting frequent protest marches in Syntagma Square, in front of the Parliament Building.
Beyond borders
Seizing an opportunity to create dialogue that eludes their politicians, artists are taking the lead in connecting Greece, Germany and the wider world. For the first time since its start in 1955, a decade after the end of World War II, the prestigious German exhibition of contemporary art entitled Documenta, held every five years in its home town, Kassel, is also underway in another city — Athens. Organized by Polish curator Adam Szymczyk, artistic director of Documenta 14, and a multinational team of curators who like him have lived in Greece for years, the exhibition engages 160 artists from more than 50 countries, who, like Rebecca Belmore, show work at both locations. Entitled “Learning from Athens,” the 100-day Athens edition of Documenta 14 continues until August 16. The exhibition opened in Kassel on Saturday and runs until September 17. On April 9, four equestrians departed on horseback from the Acropolis on a 1,850-mile ride to Kassel, a Baroque city rebuilt after World War II and the adopted home of the Brothers Grimm. Currently in Croatia, they expect to reach Kassel in July. A more subtle tribute to the Kassel-Athens partnership also took place on April 9, honoring an iconic project for Documenta 7 by Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), a charismatic artist and former Luftwaffe pilot. In 1982, he planted an oak tree in Kassel, the first of 7,000, to herald environmental and social activism. At the National Technical
PHOTO: FANIS VLASTARAS
Above: Rebecca Belmore, “Biinjiya’iing Onji (From inside),” 2017, marble, Filopappou Hill, Athens, Documenta 14. Below: Mounira Al Solh, “Sperveri,” 2017, installation view, Museum of Islamic Art, Benaki Museum, Athens, documenta 14.
PHOTO: YIANNIS HADJIASLANIS
University of Athens, a center of resistance during Greece’s brutal military dictatorship during the ‘70s, Kosovo artist Sokol Beqiri planted a single oak tree grafted from an oak in Kassel. The refugee crisis looms large among the works on view in Athens. No strangers to the suffering of refugees, Greece ended its war with Turkey over disputed lands with a 1922 treaty that forced the resettlement of more than one million Greek Orthodox Christians and about 500,000 Muslims.
Athenian delights
Inviting reflection and conversation, artists’ installations, performances, public programs and guided walks take place in 47 venues throughout Athens,
JUN 9, 2017 COMING TO HALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉ: Thu Jun 8 - Outside the Box Productions presents LIFTED Open Mic, 7pm
REEL LIFE EXPERIENCE
LOVE JONES
JUN 10, 2017 ARTSEMERSON.ORG / 617.824.8400 INTENTIONALLY DIFFERENT. ENTIRELY ARTSEMERSON.
Fri Jun 9 - The House Slam + LGBTQIA Open Mic, 6:30pm Thu Jun 15 - AiLi! Live (Outdoor) featuring VCR, Nurudafina Pili Abena, Terry Orlando Jones and The Groovalottos, 7pm Haley House Bakery Cafe - 12 Dade Street - Roxbury 617-445-0900 - www.haleyhouse.org/bakery-cafe
including museums, institutions of higher education, pedestrian thoroughfares and hallowed historic sites. In front of the City Hall of Athens, artist Rasheed Araeen and Organization Earth, a Greek nonprofit that advocates sustainable food production, conduct a program entitled “Shamiyaana — Food for Thought: Thought for Change.” Twice a day, the program prepares and serves a free lunch of organic produce to 60 people seated under canopies inspired by Pakistani wedding tents. A short walk from the city’s jam-packed downtown is the Lyceum of Aristotle (384–322 BC), where the philosopher led his students in conversations as they strolled the grounds. The artist collective Postcommodity has erected a sound installation on the site inspired by Aristotle’s practice of “peripatetic learning,” which engages both body and mind. As visitors walk a path encircling the site that is fragrant with lilacs and flowering rosemary, they listen to stories of refugees in multiple languages.
Old and new
Nearby is the Athens Conservatoire, also known as the Odeion. The city’s oldest music school, the Odeion occupies a slapped-together looking building that encloses a formerly open-air amphitheater. Here, Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh has fashioned an elegant installation entitled “The Way Earthly Things Are Going.” As a brightly lit LED display of real-time world stock indexes crawls across a wall, multichannel speakers broadcast
See DOCUMENTA 14, page 22
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 21
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT
poetry
FILM REVIEW
Desperate survivors lead spartan existence in ‘It Comes at Night’ By KAM WILLIAMS
Paul (Joel Edgerton) found a safe refuge for his family far from the rest of humanity in the wake of a deadly plague that’s been decimating the planet. At least that’s what he thought about their remote hideout until his wife’s (Carmen Ejogo) dad somehow caught the disease. After allowing Sarah and their son (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) to say their goodbyes through germ-proof respirators, Paul put a bullet in his ailing fatherin-law’s head before he had a chance to infect one of them, too. While the body was being cremated, traumatized 17-yearold Travis tried to comfort himself as much as his pet dog, saying, “Don’t worry, Stanley, I’m going to take care of you.” But as any movie fan knows, such an assurance is ordinarily an ominous kiss of death in a horror flick. And true to form, Stanley’s the next to go in “It Comes at Night,” a claustrophobic suspense
IMAGE COURTESY A24 FILMS
The poster for Trey Edward Shults’ film “It Comes at Night.” thriller set inside a darkened cabin in the woods. The picture is the sophomore offering from writer/director Trey Edward Shults, who made an impressive debut a couple of years ago with “Krisha.” Here, the emerging wunderkind again makes the most of
See ‘IT COMES,’ page 22
continued from page 19 our city space,” he says. “We need something that appeals to the spirit, not just the pocketbook.” A fan of Etheridge Knight and Robert Frost, Coe often writes about nature in an attempt to draw eyes from the concrete to the foliage. The solution used to stencil the poems into the sidewalk only lasts six to eight weeks, bringing a level of transience to the poetry. Leslie University art students and Black Cat Labs, a Somerville-based design firm, stenciled in the artworks. Though the poems are repeated in different locations, each one is designed in a unique typeset for a different reading experience every time. The seven poems are dispersed throughout the city, including “A Dictionary of Limbo” by Jennifer Militello, at Dudley Café in Roxbury, and Burke School and Flat Black Coffee in Dorchester. For Siegel, the most powerful moment of the Raining Poetry project has been the installation. When installing the 2017 poems, bystanders recognized the project from its first round in 2016. She says it was a great achievement to know that people were watching and appreciating the art project. This, too, satisfies Coe’s desire to bring people into the natural world. He says, “I would like people to put down their phones and think about the nature in front of them.” And it seems,
PHOTO: PHOTO COURTESY SARA SIEGEL
Sidewalk poetry.
ON THE WEB Find a full list of the poem locations at
www.masspoetry.org. at least after the Instagram is posted, that they are. Siegel hopes that the poems inspired readers to look into the other work Mass Poetry does. Beyond that, she sees the importance of bringing artwork into unexpected spaces. She says, “Public art in particular shows that cities don’t just have to be utilitarian. They can be a community.”
“
We need to enliven our city space. We need something that appeals to the spirit, not just the pocketbook.” — Charles Coe
19TH ANNUAL ROXBURY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL • JUNE 22 - JULY 1, 2017 INDIVIDUAL TICKETS AT: http://www.mfa.org/programs/series/the-roxbury-international-film-festival PASSES, DAAM TIX, HIBERNIAN HALL & INFO AT: Roxburyinternationalfilmfestival.com OPENING DAY FILMS! JUNE 22ND On the Line: The story of Metco • Body and Soul: An American Bridge Tear the Roof Off: The Untold story of Parliament Funkadelic
22 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT
Documenta 14 continued from page 20
a female a cappella choir singing a traditional Greek song that laments loss of homeland. Documenta’s largest Athens venue is the new National Museum of Contemporary Art, handsomely converted from a long-vacant brewery. Mingling art and daily life, views through its large windows showcase the neighborhood, where prewar stucco buildings with tile roofs, although dilapidated, are more picturesque than the modern buildings flanking them. By the windows is an installation on the city’s growing stock of abandoned housing, left behind by owners who cannot keep up with taxes.
Multimedia immersion
Video and sound installations dominate Documenta sites. Among the most memorable is “Tripoli Cancelled,” by Naeem Mohaiemen, a fictional film partly based on a real-life ordeal of the artist’s Bangladeshi father, who was once confined at an Athens airport due to missing paperwork. Distinguished actor Vassili Koukalani plays the role of a man stranded in an empty airport for 10 days in the film, which is silent except for musical interludes. The camera dwells on the stylish geometry of the setting — the now-closed Hellenikon Airport in Athens, designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen — between
scenes of its sole character as he tries to maintain daily routines. He shaves, sleeps, eats canned foods and talks silently into the camera. Climbing into an empty plane, he dons a steward’s uniform and mimes the act of welcoming passengers. One’s homeland also can impose a state of confinement, as Palestinian photographer Ahlam Shibli documents in her absorbing series of 32 prints entitled “Occupation.” Each is an intimate view of daily life in al-Khalil/ Hebron, a Palestinian neighborhood under siege by the Israeli military because of its proximity to a Zionist settlement. French filmmaker Michael Auder’s clever “Gulf War TV War” (1991, edited 2017) induces a sense of déjà vu. His film is a montage of video clips he shot of his TV as it played American newscasts leading up to two Gulf wars — George H. W. Bush’s “Operation Desert Storm” in 1990 and his son’s “Operation Iraqi Freedom” in 2003. Reshuffling these once-familiar images, the film suggests that history is repeating itself. Scenes of antiwar demonstrators, interviews with pundits and politicians (including a young Joe Biden), and commercials seem part of a never-ending news cycle.
Displacement as art
In the hangar-sized exhibition hall of the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), one of many curtained viewing rooms shows
“Glimpse,” a searing 20-minute video by Polish filmmaker Artur Zmijewski. Quoted in the Dokumenta 14 Daybook, a collection of essays profiling participating artists, Zmijewski writes, “So when those in power start using an exclusionary rhetoric, averse to immigrants or refugees, the latter start being harassed or attacked in the streets.” “Glimpse” alternates between documentary-style views of a French camp that once held 6,000 refugees — slowly panning on heaps of bedding, rubble, and shacks — and staged close-ups of refugees in camps and on the streets in Berlin and Paris. Standing before a shelter, smiling kids hold new toys. Someone — perhaps the filmmaker — hands new boots to a man who eagerly replaces his frayed sneakers, grinning into the camera. Another dons a new coat, and, as instructed, turns his back to the camera while the man who gave it to him paints a large white X on his back — a jolting image of vulnerability. Tents are evocative images of shelter. At the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Beirut-born Mounira Al Solh’s embroidered tent lets Middle Eastern and North African refugees speak for themselves. Inside the tent is a book of stories drawn from the artist’s interviews with displaced people. They describe their suffering and also their hopes, as they begin the process of becoming citizens in adopted homelands.
Rox Film
continued from page 19 over $25,000 to assist people who can’t afford mental health services. Walker estimates they’ve assisted about 50 people in finding and affording therapists. Interested parties are encouraged to visit outsidethehousedoc.com to learn more and donate. Madeleine Gavin has a similar social activist message in her film “City of Joy.” The film centers on the female leadership center by the same name in the eastern Congo, which empowers women who have been victims of rape and violence to become
‘It Comes’ continued from page 21
a micro-budget, crafting a harrowing tale guaranteed to make your hair stand on end. The plot thickens when another family of refugees, desperate for shelter and sustenance, shows up unannounced. Against his better judgment, Paul invites the strangers to share their already meager rations, provided none of them is infected. Patriarch Will (Christopher Abbott) assures him they’re healthy, but there’s something suspicious about the way that his wife, Kim (Riley Keough), keeps their baby covered up. Anyhow, the six proceed to pass
Martha’s Vineyard Summer Reception Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Reception and Program, 4 – 6 p.m. Private Home, Vineyard Haven, MA (Under the Tent) The Home of Margo and Philip Evans
SPECIAL GUESTS Ronald and Charlayne Hunter-Gault Passages, Wines of South America ENTERTAINMENT Live Jazz by Frank and Cleopatra Wilkins SILENT AUCTION
For more information and ticket purchases, go to UNCF.org/AMIBoston Sponsorship opportunities available. E-mail AMIBOSMV@UNCF.org for more information.
voices of change. Gavin weaves the stories of the programs founders, Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2016 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, women’s rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver and radical feminist Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, with the stories of the women who have found empowerment within. “Our country has turned a blind eye to what has been going on in Africa for far too long,” says Gavin about the mistreatment of women in the war-torn country. “The women in the Congo have never given up, despite all the challenges and roadblocks. And we can’t, either.” a peaceful enough, if spartan, existence until things mysteriously start to go bump in the middle of the night. What did you expect to happen in a scary, spine-tingler with such a big hint in the title?
AT A GLANCE “It Comes at Night” The verdict: Excellent (4 stars) Rated: R for profanity, violence
and disturbing images Running time: 97 minutes Production Studio: Animal Kingdom Distributor: A24
ON THE WEB To see a trailer for “It Comes at Night,” visit: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=sKnigN8OiNc
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 23
FOOD
www.baystatebanner.com
CHECK OUT NUTRITION AND HEALTH NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/HEALTH
TIP OF THE WEEK Pick a winning cantaloupe When picking out cantaloupes, the Wisconsin Farmers Market Association has these tips: n Gauge the weight of the melon. It should have some heft for its size. n The blossom end should have a fragrance and some give when you press on it. n When thumped, it should sound hollow. Avoid melons with dents, cuts and cracks.
EASY RECIPE The perfect sauce recipe for summer Use this tasty sauce from uncorked. com/discovery-whites.html to enhance all your favorite summer recipes.
BIGSTOCK
CITRUS BASIL SAUCE
Makes about ²⁄³ cup n ¼ cup fresh orange juice n 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice n ½ teaspoon grated fresh orange zest (optional) n ½ teaspoon minced garlic n 3 tablespoons olive oil n 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil Place the orange juice, lemon or lime juice, orange zest, if using, garlic, olive oil, and basil in a small bowl or plastic container and mix well.
PET RECIPE Homemade frozen dog treat This summer, whip up a batch of these homemade frozen dog-safe treats, courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States. PEANUT BUTTER PUP-SICLES
n 1 cup peanut butter, preferably unsalted and unsweetened. (Check the label to make sure it doesn’t contain xylitol, which is toxic to dogs.) n Half a ripe banana, mashed In a small mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and mashed banana, adding water if needed. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Spoon the mixture onto the tray just like you would cookie dough. Or, take Kong-style toys and spoon the mixture into the cavities. Freeze the tray or toys for several hours or overnight, then store the individual pucks or toys in a large zip-close freezer bag. — Brandpoint
FOOD MYTHS False: Frozen, canned foods are less nutritious Contrary to popular belief, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are not less nutritious because of the processing of freezing and canning. Although fruits and vegetables are more nutritious when picked fresh, food processors quick-freeze fresh-picked produce, which preserves much of its vitamin and mineral content. — More Content Now
Always in season Carrots, onions and potatoes are staples for a reason By ARI LEVAUX, MORE CONTENT NOW
As a new food season dawns, epicures face wave upon wave of fresh produce over which to obsess. But as we celebrate the evolving cast of seasonal bounty — the strawberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, peaches and other joys of summer — it’s important to remember another subset of crops that often slips through the cracks. Literally and figuratively, carrots, potatoes and onions are always in season. As far as dinner goes, they are immortal, because they are always available locally, all year long. As I made my rounds recently at the farmers market, I admired the displays of new carrots and potatoes, freshly dug and washed and gleaming like polished vegetal jewels. There were also bunches of spring onions and new garlic, and the occasional bunch of chives. These pungent plants are all members of the fragrant lily family, of which the bulbs, leaves, stems and flowers are all edible, at one time of the year or another.
SUDOKU ANSWERS FROM PG 24
Roasting roots
When I got home I set about making a dish that is always in season, despite usually being billed as cold-weather comfort food. A simple pan of roasted roots. Sure, we could puree the whole business into a soup. Perhaps make vichyssoise. But that sounds like a lot of work and cleanup to me. I’m partial to the ol’ slice and cook, with a bit of sprinkle, drizzle and toss. I peeled my honker potatoes, cut them into quarters lengthwise, and cut each resulting wedge crosswise into half-inch slices. I sliced the carrots to about the same thickness, at a slight angle for extra fanciness, and added them to the baking dish. Many people add onions to their roasted roots. Despite growing half-underground, onions are not technically roots. One difference is their water content, which they add to the pan of roots. This results in the carrots and potatoes being steam-fried until the water is gone, at which point they can brown. The roast onions will also be the first to burn. If you go this route, extra care is warranted.
Immortal Potato Salad
Or, for a hearty and zingy alternative, consider Immortal Potato Salad. First, I selected the ugliest onion in my
box of culls, cut off the bad part — which in that case was most of it — and sliced the good part as thinly as I could. I then marinated the slices in a mixture of lime juice and white balsamic vinegar with salt and garlic powder. If you have sweet onions at your disposal they are preferable here. I then proceeded to roast the carrots and potatoes. I drizzled them in olive oil, tossed in a few tablespoons of butter and sprinkled with salt, garlic powder and some kind of seasoning such as thyme, Herbs de Provence or any number of exotic spice mixtures like Ethiopian Berbere, Indian garam masala or Egyptian Dukkha. Or one could simply leave it at salt and garlic powder with a little black pepper as necessary, and maybe some chili powder. One can also skip the carrots and onions and simply make oven fries. And of course, you can choose to carefully roast your onions with the roots. Bake at 400, checking often and stirring occasionally when they start to brown. When they start to look done, taste, season as necessary and continue cooking until done. About an hour.
Ari LeVaux writes Flash in the Pan, a syndicated weekly food column that’s appeared in more than 50 newspapers in 25 states. Ari can be reached at flash@flashinthepan.net.
Look online for
NUTRITION & HEALTH NEWS at www. baystate banner.com/ news/ health A publication of The Bay State Banner
24 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
criminal justice continued from page 1
disproportionately impact black and Latino residents. Chang-Diaz said that while black and Latino people make up half of those incarcerated for drug crimes that do not carry mandatory minimums, they constitute three-quarters of those carrying drug sentences with mandatory minimums. Federal data show racial disparities in the kinds of charges given, with black defendants almost twice as likely as whites who were arrested for the same crime to be charged with a mandatory minimum sentence, said Ben Forman, research director of MassINC. Mandatory sentencing then prevents judges from being able to correct for any potential bias in the charging, he said. Chang-Diaz added that the purpose of having judges is that they are believed to be able to make judgment calls, and so should be permitted to do so. Tough-on-crime policies also can hinder a community’s economic development, in part by depleting the population of working adults and by channeling public money into the criminal justice system over other worthy programs. Forman said over-incarceration in some neighborhoods can result in more crime. “In urban neighborhoods with high levels of incarceration, we’ve reached a tipping point where more incarceration makes less public safety, not more,” Forman added. However, a trio of district attorneys representing Plymouth, Worcester and Norfolk counties pushed back, saying that mandatory minimums were implemented to ensure sentencing uniformity and primarily affect dangerous drug traffickers, while drug users are directed into treatment.
“These aren’t people who need treatment, these are people bringing poison into the neighborhoods and profiting off that,” Joseph Early, Jr. of Worcester said. “Mandatory minimums are critical to protect the public safety of all citizens,” said Tim Cruz of Plymouth. Judiciary Committee member Michael Day said there is an argument that decisions on who should get treatment and who should be sentenced should be left to judges instead of district attorneys, whose decisions may be seen as politically motivated. One district attorney stated that, historically, judges have not always sentenced properly, and defendants often would try to get their cases heard by judges known to be sympathetic.
Criminal records
Among those giving testimony was a woman who has a felony on her record for receiving stolen property worth a little more than $250. Such an offense remains on her record for ten years, and is a major barrier to her life and employment abilities, she said. “I am a nursing assistant by trade, CPR-certified, medically certified, but I cannot get a job in any hospital right now because of my felony [which is not sealable until 2019],” she said, adding that while she is working on her RN qualification at a community college now, her record prevents her from applying to continue the program at another institution. “It is too long of a waiting period. I did my time: I served, I was on probation. However, I am still being punished.” Advocates call for allowing felonies to be sealed after seven years, down from ten years, and misdemeanors to be sealed after three years instead of five years. Many also call for increasing the property
FUN&GAMES SUDOKU: SEE ANSWERS ON PAGE 23
BANNER PHOTO
Idris Adbullah, a Teens Leading the Way member from Dorchester, spoke on the importance of juvenile record expungement so that youth offenders can move on with their lives after serving their time and not face a permanent stigma. Accompanying him are (left) Jefferson Alvarez, UTEC member from Lawrence, and (right) Chaurice McMillan, a Teens Leading the Way member from Mattapan. value level at which a theft is considered a felony from $250, where it was set 30 years ago, to $1,500. Jefferson Alvarez, a 21-year-old member of UTEC, advocated for the ability to expunge juvenile records. He said his life took a wrong turn seven years ago, when he was arrested on the verge of a fight as a high school freshman. Police arrived before the altercation turned physical, he said. He was removed from school and placed into an alternative school, where fights and arrests continued, he said. Now he has learned better and is trying to turn his life around, but his record holds him back, he said. “What if I wanted to be a foster parent or run a day care?” Alvarez said. “Because of one mistake in my life [I can’t].”
Criminal records also can be a barrier to living in public housing, attaining employment and higher education.
Other measures
Members of Jobs Not Jails and other supporters also argued for reducing collateral fees on those released from incarceration, such as the $65 per month probation fee, so that released individuals are not financially burdened as they try to get on their feet again. Activists also called for raising the age at which people are tried as juveniles to age 21 (save for in cases of severe violent crimes), as the brain continues to develop into one’s mid-20s. Lael Chester, a research fellow from Harvard Law School’s criminal justice program,
said as youth mature, many age out of crime by their mid-20s. She noted that allowing young adults into the juvenile system instead of the adult system means they do not lose eligibility to receive Pell Grants for higher education, making it easier to turn their lives around. Sen. Karen Spilka said that when the age at which a person was considered a juvenile was raised from 17 to 18, juvenile crime declined. Others called for changing the bail system so bail is only set for those considered unlikely to show up in court. That would prevent people being locked up while waiting for trial solely because of inability to afford the bail fee. Under the current system, “25 percent of the incarcerated population has not been found guilty,” said Sen. Pat Jehlen.
Free tuition program eases access for some By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
With a pilot program announced last week, dreams of a higher education attainable by anyone with wit and a work ethic, but not necessarily wealth, seemed to come one step closer to realization. Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin Walsh launched The Boston Bridge, a new collaboration intended to expand access in Boston to public higher ed. The program waives tuition and mandatory fees for eligible students. Trinh Nguyen, director of the Office of Workforce Development, told the Banner that the program’s eligibility restrictions are there to target the students who can be most effectively supported toward a bachelor’s degree, although others say it is too limited to make a dent in the level of need. “It’s not just about enrollment, but also about completion,” Nguyen said. “As of now, we want to make sure we are focused enough to be successful.” Representatives of Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) say the initiative serves too restricted a pool of students and imposes timeline requirements that may be challenging. “[The Boston Bridge] makes for a great photo op, but does little to address the crisis of high costs and massive debts facing students and working families at all 29 public colleges and universities in Massachusetts,” states a PHENOM press release. Education is on the radar as Democrats gear up for a 2018 challenge to incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Baker. Democratic gubernatorial challenger Setti Warren has proposed universal free public higher ed (paid for in part by tax hikes) and challenger Jay Gonzalez counts
statewide access to affordable early education as his top priority. Challenger Bob Massie has said student debt is a notable problem and that public education should be expanded.
The Boston Bridge eligibility
Zac Bears, PHENOM executive director, said that publicity around The Boston Bridge gives students the false impression that most of them will be able to get a free path to a higher degree. “In reality, this is a very small program,” Bears said. The Boston Bridge is available to students who live in Boston and are graduating from a Boston district, charter or parochial high school and also qualify for a Pell Grant. Households making up to $50,000 are eligible for the Pell Grant, according to Scholarships.com. Students must then attend a two-year’s associate program (paid for under the city’s current Tuition Free Community College program), complete that degree within 2.5 years, and then transfer to a public college or university. The students then must complete a bachelor’s degree (funded by The Boston Bridge) within two years in their choice of one of the sixteen majors included under the Mass Transfer Associate-to-Bachelor’s pathway program. They must have a 2.0 high school GPA and maintain a 3.0 GPA during their higher education experience. For their major, students currently may choose biology, chemistry, economics, history, political science, psychology, business, communication and media studies, computer science, criminal justice, early childhood education, English, liberal arts, mathematics, sociology or STEM with a focus on natural and physical sciences. There are exceptions at a few institutions. Some of the Roxbury Community College majors not included: paralegal studies, health
careers and engineering. A spokesperson for the state’s Executive Office of Education said there are intentions to expand the majors included under Mass Transfer. “I think most people can find something they’re OK with, but I don’t think it’s the job of the people financing schools to tell students what they should study,” Bears said. In the program’s present form, students who have taken no more than a one-year gap period post-graduation also are eligible, a move intended to put focus on students seen as most committed to degree attainment, Nguyen said. The Office of Education spokesperson’s account clashes with this slightly, as she stated that only 2017 graduates may participate in the first cohort. Regardless, the restriction to recent high school grads disqualifies a swath of community college students. Valerie Roberson, president of Roxbury Community College, said during a January Boston Foundation panel that the average age of an RCC student is 31, and that many are single parents. The Boston Bridge students also are required to study full time, which may be a challenge should any need to work to support their families or themselves. Students also may not need more than three remedial courses, though Nguyen said students are provided with other supports and that, later on, the program could potentially expand to allow up to five remedial courses. “The whole goal is not to be exclusive but to provide the right pathway to young people to enroll and complete post-secondary education. We really want to hone in on what works so we can adopt those practices going forward,” Nguyen said. The Boston Bridge builds on the Commonwealth Commitment, the state’s tuition-and-fees discount program. The Commonwealth
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 25 Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 25
Commitment served 80 of the approximately 190,000 students who attended state public college and universities last year, according to PHENOM. The Boston Bridge also is based on Boston’s tuition-free program, which served 50 students during the same time period. Meanwhile, Bears says that BPS graduates about 10,000 students each year. The Executive Office of Education spokesperson said that the Commonwealth Commitment is a pilot and that state officials intend to expand it. Nguyen said she anticipates The Boston Bridge will serve about 40 students in its first cohort. The pilot will be considered successful enough to offer to a second cohort if half the students graduate, Nguyen said.
Financing
Under The Boston Bridge, students pay their own room and board, while the city and state take on the costs of tuition and mandatory fees left over after Pell Grant awards. Students also receive additional assistance with school-related expenses to the tune of 10 percent of the school’s tuition and mandatory fees cost. The program has no cap on the number of students who may participate or on city spending, Nugyen said. The city’s portion comes from general fund and linkage dollars. Her high estimate of costs is $750,000 to $800,000 to be contributed in combined city and state dollars.
Classifieds 2 pages + jump 10” jump
Other approaches
Bears says that underlying the college affordability struggle are repeated state-level cuts to public higher ed budgets. “The real problem is the state has cut funding by 31 percent per student since 2001,” he said. Should budgeting priorities not be realigned, Bears promotes passage of the Finish Line Grant, 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. Students at any stage of life would be eligible.
Harris Gruman, of SEIU, is among those advocating for the Education Opportunity for All bill to create a fund aimed at supporting access to higher education and early education, which commonly are priced out of residents’ reach, he said. The fund would be supported by a 2.5 percent tax on nonprofit higher education institutions with endowments of $1 billion or more. “We cannot significantly address [Massachusetts’ extreme wealth gap] unless we also tap into our elite nonprofits, who are really our biggest concentration of tax-exempt wealth,” Gruman said. “They’re like our Cayman Islands here. … They’re good institutions but they’ve become islands of privilege removed from the whole community.” Wealthy colleges and universities have the same tax-exempt status of nonprofits with shoestring budgets and typically use interest off of invested endowments to help fund their operations. Gruman said the proposed tax would only cut into the investment. Affected institutions include Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Smith and others. This is not the first time the taxation idea has been explored. In Feb. 2016, the president of Harvard University wrote to the U.S. Congress defending its tax-exempt status as “critical to Harvard’s success and excellence,” and something that encourages philanthropy, provides operational and research funding not fully supplied by other sources and serves as a vehicle for donors to make their wishes known. At the time, Harvard had an endowment of approximately $37.6 billion, while the state’s proposed 2017 budget was only slightly higher, at $39.6 billion. Gruman estimates the tax could generate more than $1 billion annually. The fund’s managing committee would include representatives from government as well as from the affected institutions. Currently the bill is at the State House, and recently was heard by the Joint Committee on Revenue.
ON THE WEB BOSTON BRIDGE
http://bostonpublicschools.org/bostonbridge
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL
LEGAL
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU16D2321DR
Divorce Summons by Publication and Mailing Jean Paul Garcia
vs.
Kit Rita Liverpool
To the Defendant: The Plaintiff has filed a Complaint for Divorce requesting that the Court grant a divorce for irretrievable breakdown. The Complaint is on file at the Court. An Automatic Restraining Order has been entered in this matter preventing you from taking any action which would negatively impact the current financial status of either party. SEE Supplemental Probate Court Rule 411.
The Plaintiff has filed a Complaint for Divorce requesting that the Court grant a divorce for irretrievable breakdown of the marriage pursuant to G.L. c. 208, Section 1 B. The Complaint is on file at the Court. An Automatic Restraining Order has been entered in this matter preventing you from taking any action which would negatively impact the current financial status of either party. SEE Supplemental Probate Court Rule 411.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU16D2317DR
Divorce Summons by Publication and Mailing Carly A Lapierre To the Defendant:
vs.
Lounedelle Lapierre
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 07/6/2017. 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.
You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon: Carly A Lapierre, 7 Rosewood St., Apt 3, Mattapan, MA 02126, your answer, if any, on or before 07/13/2017. If you fail to do so, the court will proceed to the hearing and adjudication of this action. You are also required to file a copy of your answer, if any, in the office of the Register of this Court.
WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: June 5, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
Witness, Hon. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 9, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department
You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon: Mark D Cooper, Esq., 15 Court Square Suite 200, Boston, MA 02108, your answer, if any, on or before 07/06/2017. If you fail to do so, the court will proceed to the hearing and adjudication of this action. You are also required to file a copy of your answer, if any, in the office of the Register of this Court. Witness, Hon. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 25, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
LEGAL
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department Suffolk Probate and Family Court 24 New Chardon Street Boston, MA 02114 (617) 788-8300 SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU16P2534EA
Citation on Petition for Sale of Real Estate by a Personal Representative Estate of Velma Lena Cook Date of Death: 06/27/2016 To all interested persons: A Petition for Sale of Real Estate has been filed by Avery L. Cook of Newton, MA requesting that the Court authorize the Personal Representative to sell the decedent’s real estate at a private sale.
SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU17C0123CA
In the matter of Eniurka Ortiz de Gurman of Boston, MA NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Eniurka Ortiz de Gurman requesting that Eniurka Ortiz de Gurman be allowed to change their name as follows: Eniurka Ortiz 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 06/22/2017. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 22, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate
26 • Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS
LEGAL
LEGAL
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU17C0248CA
In the matter of Fiorella Mia Diaz Adames of Boston, MA NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Samantha Adames requesting that Fiorella Mia Diaz Adames be allowed to change their name as follows: Fiorella Mia Adames 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 06/22/2017. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 22, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU16P2785EA
Citation on Petition for Formal Adjudication Estate of Calvin Earl Brown Date of Death: 04/28/2014 To all interested persons: A Petition for Formal Appointment of Personal Representative has been filed by Kevin Maiden of Nashville, TN requesting that the Court enter a formal Decree and Order and for such other relief as requested in the Petition. The Petitioner requests that Kevin Maiden of Nashville, TN be appointed as Personal Representative(s) of said estate to serve Without Surety on the bond in an unsupervised administration. 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 06/15/2017. 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. 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. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 04, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division
Docket No. SU16P2243EA
Citation on Petition for Formal Adjudication Estate of Myrtle R Ricks Date of Death: 04/25/2016 A Petition for Formal Probate of Will with Appointment of Personal Representative has been filed by Myrtle L. Mines of Mattapan, MA requesting that the Court enter a formal Decree and Order and for such other relief as requested in the Petition. 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 06/28/2017. 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. 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. WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court. Date: May 17, 2017 Terri Klug Cafazzo Register of Probate COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SALE OF REAL ESTATE UNDER M.G.L. c. 183A:6 By virtue of a Judgment and Order of the Suffolk Superior Court (Civil Action No. 14-1059E), in favor of the Trustees of the 17 Fort Avenue Condominium Trust against Tantura, LLC, establishing a lien pursuant to M.G.L. c. 183A:6 on the real estate known as Unit E of the 17 Fort Avenue Condominium with a street address of 17 Fort Avenue, Roxbury, Massachusetts for the purposes of satisfying such lien, the real estate is scheduled for Public Auction commencing on June 30, 2017 at 12:00 NOON at 17 Fort Avenue, Roxbury, Massachusetts. The premises to be sold are more particularly described as follows: DESCRIPTION: Unit: E. Percentage Interest: 7.37 Post Office Address: 17 Fort Avenue, Unit E, Roxbury, Massachusetts 02119. The Unit is located in the 17 Fort Avenue Condominium created by Master Deed dated May 31, 1988 and recorded with Suffolk County Registry of Deeds in Book 14879, Page 117 in accordance with the provisions of G.L. c. 183A, and is shown as Unit E on a plan recorded with the Suffolk County
LEGAL
Registry of Deeds in Book 14893, Page 231, which is a copy of a portion of the plans filed with the Master Deed and to which is affixed a verified statement in the form provided for in G.L. c. 183A, Section 9.
its cover letter that it has the ability to obtain requisite insurance coverage. All members of the project team shall be required to obtain security clearance to work at certain secure facilities at Logan Airport.
The Unit is conveyed together with the listed percentage interest (a) in the common areas and facilities of the Condominium, as described in the Master Deed, and (b) in the 17 Fort Avenue Condominium Trust, recorded with the said Registry of Deeds in Book 14879, Page 133.
This submission shall be addressed to Houssam H. Sleiman, PE, CCM, Director of Capital Programs and Environmental Affairs and received no later than 12:00 Noon on Thursday, July 20, 2017 at the Massachusetts Port Authority, Logan Office Center, One Harborside Drive, Suite 209S, Logan International Airport, East Boston, MA 02128-2909. Any submission which is not received in a timely manner shall be rejected by the Authority as non-responsive. Any information provided to the Authority in any Proposal or other written or oral communication between the Proposer and the Authority will not be, or deemed to have been, proprietary or confidential, although the Authority will use reasonable efforts not to disclose such information to persons who are not employees or consultants retained by the Authority except as may be required by M.G.L. c.66.
The Unit is to be used only as a garage and uses accessory thereto permitted from time to time by the Zoning By-Laws and expressly permitted by the Trustees in accordance with the provisions of the 17 Fort Avenue Condominium Trust. The Unit is subject to the provisions of G.L. c. 183A, the Master Deed and Condominium Trust recorded with said Deeds in Book 14879, Page 133, and any by-Laws and Rules and Regulations from time to time adopted thereunder, all as may be amended of record.
MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY THOMAS P. GLYNN CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
For title see Deed to Tantura, LLC dated December 1, 2003 and recorded with the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds in Book 33397, Page 77. In the event of a typographical error or omission contained in this publication, the description of the premises contained in said Unit Deed shall control. TERMS OF SALE: 1. A non-refundable deposit payable in cash, certified or bank check in the amount of $5,000.00 for the Unit shall be payable at the Auction. 2. The balance of the purchase price is to be paid within thirty (30) days of the auction. 3. An Auctioneer’s Release Deed will be issued to the purchaser, upon payment of the balance of the purchase price, within thirty (30) days of the auction. The Deed shall convey the premises subject to, and with the benefit of, all restrictions, easements, improvements, outstanding tax titles, municipal or other public taxes, assessments, liens, or claims in the nature of liens, and existing encumbrances of record senior to the lien hereby being satisfied, whether or not reference to such restrictions, easements, improvements, outstanding tax titles, municipal or other public taxes, assessments, liens or claims in the nature of liens or encumbrances is made in the deed. 4. Additionally, and not by way of limitation, the sale shall be subject to and with the benefit of any and all tenants, tenancies, and occupants, if any. 5. No representation is or shall be made as to any amount of taxes due and outstanding. 6. The successful bidder shall pay the future condominium common charges commencing with the date of the auction. 7. No representation is or shall be made as to any other mortgages, liens, or encumbrances of record. 8. No representation is or shall be made as to the condition of the Premises or the Condominium. The Premises shall be sold “as is.” 9. Other items, if any, shall be announced at the sale. 10. The sale is subject to and in accordance with the Judgment and Order, a copy of which may be obtained from the seller’s counsel, Attorney Laura White Brandow, Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C., 45 Braintree Hill Park, Suite 107, Braintree, MA 02184, (781) 843-5000. 17 FORT AVENUE CONDOMINIUM TRUST, By its Board of Trustees INVITATION TO BID The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is seeking bids for the following: BID NO. 7151
DESCRIPTION Biosolids Processing Facility Capital Improvements - Sludge Tank and Product Silos Coating Repairs
DATE 06/21/17
TIME 2:00 p.m.
To access and bid please go to the MWRA Supplier Portal at www.mwra.com. PUBLIC NOTICE BOSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY D/B/A BOSTON PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT AGENCY PROPOSED MODIFICATION TO SOUTH END URBAN RENEWAL PLAN, PROJECT NO. MASS. R-56 FOR PARCEL X-32 Public Notice is hereby given that the Boston Redevelopment Authority d/b/a the Boston Planning & Development Agency (“BRA”) will consider at its scheduled meeting on Thursday, June 15, 2017, starting at 3:30 P.M. in the Board Room – Room 900, 9th Floor, Boston City Hall, One City Hall Square a proposed modification to the South End Urban Renewal Plan regarding Parcel X-32. Said modification will facilitate the development of the Melnea Cass Apartments. This Public Notice is being provided in accordance with a certain “Conciliation Agreement” by and among the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the BRA and others, dated as of January 16, 2001. Brain P. Golden, Director LEGAL NOTICE REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
CLASSIFIED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION OF CAPITAL ASSET MANGEMENT & MAINTENANCE Request for Qualifications for Construction Management at Risk Services Mass. State Project No. CHE1604 DC1 Chelsea Soldiers’ Home, Community Living Center Chelsea, MA The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through its Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (DCAMM), requests that qualified and experienced firms submit a Statement of Qualifications and required information to the DCAMM Bid Room no later than 2:00 PM, July 7, 2017. Firms interested in providing Public Construction Manager at Risk Services (“CM” or “CM at Risk”) for the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home Community Living Center are invited to submit a Statement of Qualifications (“SOQ”) to the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (“DCAMM”). This CM at Risk procurement is conducted pursuant to M.G.L. 149A, contained in Chapter 193 of the Acts of 2004. This Request for Qualifications (“RFQ”) is the first phase of a two-phase procurement process as set forth in M.G.L. 149A. DCAMM is prequalifying firms interested in providing public CM at Risk services for the project through the RFQ process. DCAMM will evaluate submitted SOQs based upon the identified evaluation criteria as set forth in the RFQ and will select those respondents it deems qualified. Only those respondents deemed qualified will be invited to submit a proposal in response to a detailed Request for Proposals (“RFP”), which will be issued in the second phase of the procurement process. The project delivery method for construction will be public CM at Risk with a Guaranteed Maximum Price (“GMP”) under M.G.L. 149A. In addition, firms interested in being prequalified must demonstrate that they have had prior experience as a Construction Manager on at least three CM-at-Risk projects and have completed at least one project of a similar cost, complexity, type and size as this project as it is described further below and in the RFQ. The prior CM-at-Risk projects must have been completed within the last ten (10) years. At the time a CM firm submits the Qualifications Statement, it must have a DCAMM Certification in the Contractor Category, “General Building Construction”, with a single limit greater than the Estimated Total Project cost of $170,000,000. See www.mass.gov/dcam/certification for certification forms and the required Update Form. The project involves replacement of the existing 189-bed long-term care facility (the Quigley Building), constructed in 1949, with a new 154-bed, approximately 247,000 gross square feet Community Living Center. The new building, 6 stories tall with basement, to include two housing clusters of 14 residents each per resident floor, will be built in the existing Quigley Building parking lot. The Request for Qualifications may be downloaded from http://www. commbuys.com or DCAMM’s E Bid Room at https://www.bidexpress.com/ businesses/10279/home. Or copies may be obtained by contacting the DCAMM Bid Room, One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108, 617-727-4003, bidroom.dcamm@state.ma.us on or after Wednesday, June 7, 2017 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance Carol W. Gladstone, Commissioner NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS - CLASSIFIED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION OF CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE Electronic Bids submitted in the format furnished by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (DCAMM) and clearly identified as a bid will be received through DCAMM’s E-Bid Room at www.bidexpress.com/ businesses/10279/home no later than the date and time specified and will forthwith be publicly opened. General Bids at 2:00 PM: June 26, 2017 Every General Bidder must be certified by DCAMM for the category of work listed below and for no less than the bid price plus all add alternates of this project, if applicable. The Category of Work is: Demolition
The MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY (Authority) is soliciting consulting services for MPA CONTRACT NO. A366-S3, FY18-20 CONSTRUCTION ESCORT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR BOSTON-LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. The Authority is seeking a qualified Consultant to provide personnel capable of escorting persons and vehicles on to the Non-Movement Areas of the Aircraft Operations Area (AOA) of the Logan Airport. These services are expected to be provided throughout all Logan’s secured facilities. The Consultant must be able to work closely with the Authority and other interested parties in order to provide such services in a timely and effective manner.
Mass. State Project No. DPH1402 Contract No. HC1 Lemuel Shattuck Hospital – Personnel Building Demolition Jamaica Plain, MA
The Authority expects to select two (2) consultants. However, the Authority reserves the right to select a different number if it is deemed in its best interest to do so. Each consultant shall be issued a contract in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000. Such services shall be provided on an on-call, as-needed basis.
A Pre-Bid meeting will be held on June 14, 2017 @ 10:00 AM at the Personnel Building, 170 Morton St., Jamaica Plain.
A Supplemental Information Package will be available, on June 07, 2017, on the Capital Bid Opportunities webpage of Massport http://www.massport. com/doing-business/_layouts/CapitalPrograms/default.aspx as an attachment to the original Legal Notice, and on COMMBUYS (www.commbuys.com) in the listings for this project. If you have problems finding it, please contact Susan Brace at Capital Programs SBrace@massport.com The Supplemental Information Package will provide detailed information about the Scope of Work, Selection Criteria, and Submission Requirements. By responding to this solicitation, consultants agree to accept the terms and conditions of Massport’s standard work order agreement, a copy of the Authority’s standard agreement can be found on the Authority’s web page at www.massport.com. The exception to this standard agreement is the insurance requirements as follows; (1) $10,000,000 of automobile liability and (2) $1,000,000 of commercial general liability. The Consultant shall specify in
E.C.C: $4,050,000 This project is scheduled for 168 calendar days to substantial completion. Scope: Abatement, demolition and backfilling of an eleven-story brick and concrete building. Work will be conducted within an active parking lot of an occupied hospital.
Minimum rates of wages to be paid on the project have been determined by the Commissioner of the Department of Labor Standards. These rates are incorporated into the bid documents. Bid documents for this project may be accessed or downloaded at no cost to potential bidders exclusively through DCAMM’s E-Bid Room https://www. bidexpress.com/businesses/10279/home One hard copy set is also available for viewing in DCAMM’s Bid Room located at One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA during normal business hours. In order to access bid documents and submit bids through DCAMM’s E-Bid Room potential bidders must first be verified by DCAMM’s Bid Room and then register with the E-Bid Room vendor. Instructions on the processes can be found on DCAMM’s website www.mass.gov/dcamm/bids or contact DCAMM’s Bid Room at (617) 727-4003 or bidroom.dcamm@state.ma.us Carol W. Gladstone COMMISSIONER
Thursday, June 8, 2017 • BAY STATE BANNER • 27
BANNER CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE
Affordable Housing for Seniors
REAL ESTATE
Riverpark Lofts
Welcome Home!
60 Howard Street Watertown, MA www.s-e-b.com/lottery
We are currently accepting applications at: Prence Grant ❖ Marshfield, MA ❖ 1&2 bedrooms Meadowbrook ❖ Carver, MA ❖ 1 bedrooms The Woodlands ❖ Plympton, MA ❖1 bedrooms Applications will be accepted upon a continuing basis for all apartments. x304 for The Woodlands x302 for Meadowbrook & Prence Grant
Housing Solutions / HallKeen Management / EHO / ADA
NOTICE MIDDLETON HOUSING AUTHORITY WAITING LIST OPENING OF STATE FAMILY PUBLIC HOUSING — TWO AND THREE BEDROOM On June 15, 2017, the MIDDLETON HOUSING AUTHORITY will begin accepting applications to re-open its STATE-AIDED Chapter 705 FAMILY HOUSING TWO AND THREE BEDROOM WAITING LISTS.
22 Income Restricted Units
4 persons
$82,700
$103,400
5 persons
$89,350
$111,700
6 persons
$95,950
$119,950
Applications and Information also available at the Watertown Public Library on 123 Main Street (Hours: M-Th 9-9, F 9-7, Sat 10-2).
7 $1,498 0 N/A 2 30% 0 N/A
Maximum Income per Household Size at 60% & 30% of Area Gross Median Income (AGMI) HH Size
60% AGMI
30% AGMI
1
43,440
21,700
2
49,680
24,800
3
55,860
27,900
4
62,040
31,000
5
67,020
33,500
6
72,000
36,000
LIHTC Units: one 2 BR fully accessible and sensory adapted; one 3 BR fully accessible; Section 811 (PRA) Units: one 2 BR full y accessible; CBH Units: two 1 BR and one 2 BR - fully accessible and sensory adapted.
Applications available June 1 through June 15, 2017
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Informational Meetings June 5, 2017 at 6:30PM ACDC Community Room 38 Oak Street Boston, MA 02111
June 6, 2017 at 6PM Maria Sanchez House Community Room 30 Gurney Street Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120
All completed applications must be postmarked by June 22, 2017 to be included in the initial lottery and mailed to: One Gurney Street c/o Maloney Properties, Inc. 27 Mica Lane, Wellesley, MA 02481
Banner Connect with the
@baystatebanner
Households may request an application be sent by email or mail from 6/5/17 – 6/15/17 through the following methods: Download: www.OlmstedGreenLottery.com Call: 617-209-5226 Applications will also be available in person on the following dates and times Date
Time
Monday, June 5th 2017
10:00AM - 2:00PM
Tuesday, June 6th 2017
10:00AM - 2:00PM
Wednesday, June 7th 2017
3:00PM - 7:00PM
Thursday, June 8th 2017
10:00AM - 2:00PM
Saturday, June 10th, 2017
10:00AM - 2:00PM
Location: Lena Park Community Development Corporation 150 American Legion Hwy, Dorchester, MA 02124 Informational Meetings will be held on the following dates/times: Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 6:00pm at Boston Public Library, Brighton Branch, 40 Academy Hill Rd, Brighton, MA 02135 Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 6:00pm at Lena Park Community Development Corporation 150 American Legion Hwy, Dorchester, MA 02124 Deadline for completed applications by mail only: Postmarked no later than June 26th, 2017 Maloney Properties, Inc. Attention: Olmsted Green Lottery 27 Mica Lane, Wellesley MA 02481 Must be a 1st Time Homebuyer. Preferences Apply. Preference for household size is based on the Number of Bedrooms Minus One. For more information or reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, Call Maloney Properties, Inc. 781-943-0200 | U.S. Relay 711 or Email: OlmstedGreen@maloneyproperties.com Equal Housing Opportunity
HELP WANTED
Free training
for those that qualify! Train for Administrative, Financial
Services, Health Insurance Customer Service & Medical Office jobs.
Work in hospitals, colleges, insurance agencies, banks, businesses, government offices, health insurance call centers, and more! GET READY FOR A GREAT OFFICE JOB! We will help you apply for free training. Job placement assistance provided. No prior experience necessary, but must have HS diploma or GED. Free YMCA membership for you and your family while enrolled in YMCA Training, Inc.
Call today to schedule an Information Session: 617-542-1800
Selection for apartments will be by lottery October 2017 Occupancy
Reasonable accommodations and free language assistance available. Preference for households requiring mobility features, Boston residents and homeless individuals and families. For assistance, please call (617) 209-5225 | US Relay 711 Proudly Managed by:
Follow us on
Maximum Income Limit by Median Income
$93,100
3 - BR
Saturday, June 3, 2017
100%
$74,450
17 $1,303 1 30% 3 30% 1 30%
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
$267,500
3 persons
2 - BR
Tuesdays
2 BR
$82,750
5 $1,094 2 30% 0 N/A 2 30%
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
11
$72,400
1 - BR
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
80%
$66,200
40 One, Two & Three Bedroom Apartments | Income Restricted Transit Oriented / Non-Smoking / Elevator Building Voucher Holders Encouraged to Apply
30 Gurney Street, Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120
80%
$236,700
$57,900
One, Two and Three Bedroom Apartments 1 Gurney Street, Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120
By calling: (617) 209-5225 Online: www.onegurneystreet.com OR In person on the following dates and times at:
$210,000
3 BR
1 person
One Gurney Street at Roxbury Crossing
Applications may be requested:
2 BR
1
2 persons
Find rate information at www.baystatebanner.com/advertise
Monthly Rent 30% AMI Section 811 Non Elderly Disabled Monthly Rent 30% AMI Homeless Set aside w/ Sec 8 PBV Monthly Rent 30% AMI Community Based Housing (CBH) Monthly Rent
10
$1,451 (for FOUR 1BR units, approx. 820 sqft, first units) $1,612 (for TWO 1BR units, approx. 1,300 sqft) $1,773 (for ONE 3BR unit approx. 1,550 sqft, ready in early 2018) Gas and electricity are NOT included (heat is gas, hot water and cooking is electric) Size of units subject to change during construction
(617) 261-4600 x 7799 • ads@bannerpub.com
60% AMI LIHTC Units
% Income
100% of median income
www.s-e-b.com/lottery/rental
ADVERTISE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS
Price
80% of median income
For Details on Applications, the Lottery and the Apartments, call 617.782.6900 (press 1 for rental and then press x3 for Riverpark Lofts) or go to:
Equal Opportunity Housing
Type
Household Size
Completed Applications and Required Income Documentation must be delivered, not postmarked, by 2 pm on July 17th, 2017. The Watertown Public Library (123 Main St) will be the location for a public Info Session on May 30th, 2017 at 6 pm and the Lottery on August 8th, 2017.
Applications are available at the MHA, Orchard Circle, Middleton, MA 01949 or by calling 978-774-4333. You may also access the universal state application on-line at www.mass.gov/dhcd. Applications will not be sent or accepted by fax. Incomplete applications will not be processed.
# of Units
Maximum Allowable Income Limits: $54,750 (1 person), $62,550 (2 people), $70,350 (3 people), $78,150 (4 people), $84,450 (5 person), $90,700 (6 people)
Units have in unit washer/dryers, wide plank hardwood flooring throughout, stainless steel appliances, designer kitchens and granite counters, and central air. Units are pet friendly (pet restrictions apply). One parking space is included in the rent shown above.
The Chapter 705 Public Housing New Income Limits Are: 2 persons: $58,450 • 3 persons: $65,750 • 4 persons: $73,050 5 persons: $78,900 • 6 persons: $84,750
Olmsted Green Phase II Condominiums West Main Street, Boston, MA 02126 www.OlmstedGreenLottery.com
1BR and 2BR affordable units will be ready for occupancy starting in August/Sept 2017! The 3BR affordable unit will be ready in early 2018. Riverpark Lofts is a 65 unit luxury rental apartment community in Watertown. 7 of these apartments will be rented to households with incomes at or below 80% of the Area Median Income. Riverpark Lofts are smoke free. Pet restrictions apply.
APPLY TODAY: 781-936-8733
Income Restricted Homeownership Opportunity
Like us on facebook
BAY STATE BANNER
www.baystatebanner.com
Many people have great jobs. YOU can get one too! Career Collaborative is a FREE program that helps you: • Find full-time employment with benefits such as vacation days, paid holidays and tuition reimbursement • Create résumés, references and cover letters
• Interview with Boston’s leading employers
You may qualify if you: • Want a full-time job • Are between 25 and 55 • Are legal to work in the U.S.
Information Sessions every Thursday at 1:00 PM. Career Collaborative, 77 Summer Street, 11th Floor Downtown Crossing, between Macy’s and South Station (617) 424-6616 • www.facebook.com/careercollaborative