Bay State Banner 10-22-2015

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Apps give rise to biased crime reporting pg 10

A&E

business news:

ARTIST AND MUSICIAN ARNI CHEATHAM HAS WORK ON DISPLAY AT THE PIANO CRAFT GALLERY pg 16

Panos Panay helps Berklee students examine the business of music pg 11

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Electeds air views on charter cap lift Mayor calls for gradual lift, with additional funding for districts

By YAWU MILLER

BANNER PHOTO

At-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley makes a point during a forum at the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Roxbury as councilors Michael Flaherty and Michelle Wu look on.

Councilors-at-Large: Where do they stand?

Candidates on jobs, policing, schools, housing

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON As the November 3 municipal election approaches, at-large city councilor incumbents Michael Flaherty, Ayanna Pressley and Michelle Wu met Monday for debate at the Boiling Building in Dudley Square. Joining them was sole contending candidate Annissa

Essaibi-George, who received Attorney General Healey’s endorsement that day. Stephen Murphy came to the event early, then left, telling organizers a prior commitment made him unable to attend.

Major topics included employment, policing, school support and affordable housing.

Candidates agreed that Boston needs to prioritize hiring its own

residents for its construction contracts as well as giving residents the jobs in those new buildings. “[New construction] means there’s growth, development. But if we’re not able to hire our people to work those jobs, it’s very limited growth and it only serves the trucks coming in from New Hampshire,

Education activists and elected officials turned out last week for a marathon hearing on proposals to lift the cap on the state’s charter schools, the opening skirmish in one of the nation’s most heated battles over public education funding.

Governor Charlie Baker spoke in support of his proposal that would lift the cap on charter schools’ share of school funding from 18 percent to 23 percent, citing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s contested count of 37,000 students on charter schools waiting lists.

“Today, despite all this positive progress, the difference in overall student achievement in underperforming school districts and the rest of the Commonwealth remains too high, while some 37,000 children sit on waiting lists, trying to get into the Commonwealth’s very successful charter school network,” Baker said.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh also advocated for lifting the cap to 23 percent, but proposed that it be lifted half a percent a year, stretching the lift over the next 10 years.

“I know that many are calling for the cap to be raised even higher, or removed completely,” Walsh said in written testimony.

“I am convinced that such a dramatic change would be reckless under the current funding mechanism, and unwise under any circumstances.”

If Walsh’s testimony set him in opposition to Baker, he wasn’t alone. Elected officials, parent activists and students expressed reservations about the effects of increasing the number of charter schools. Charter schools draw their funding from the local school districts where their students reside, but are not controlled by local government.

They are incorporated by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Competing for funds

For each student enrolled, sending districts are required to pay the charter school an amount equivalent to their average per-pupil spending. While the state is required to partially reimburse districts for the lost funding, as Walsh pointed out, the state never has.

“The public charter tuition

See CHARTERS, page 21

See COUNCILORS, page 8

Black businesses call for fair share City benefits too often skip communities

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON As the city experiences an economic boom, a new initiative seeks to ensure communities of color share equally in the growth. Inspired by the Olympics 2024 bid planning, a group of activists held two invite-only community meetings to assess where and to what

extent inequality of opportunity occurs and to create a unified plan.

On November 4 the group will holds its first public session, titled “Freeze Frame Black Boston 2015: A Case for Inclusion.”

“We want to change the program of how black Americans are treated in this city in terms of access and contracting,” said Louis Elisa, one of the organizers. Elisa is

the executive secretary and director of port development at Seaport Advisory Council.

“Freeze Frame Black Boston is about creating an equal and consistent playing field to grow black businesses and employ black residents in Boston and in urban communities throughout the Commonwealth,” said Glynn Lloyd, managing director at Boston Impact Initiative, an organization

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Gov. Charlie Baker and Education Secretary Jim Peyser testified in favor of raising the cap on charter schools from 18 percent to 23 percent.

The Bay State Banner 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute on November 10, 2015 Visit EventBrite.com — Banner 50th or email sandra@bannerpub.com for ticket information

2 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

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The Bay State Banner

50th Anniversary celebration TUESDAY, NOV. 10TH 6 p.m.–9 p.m.

In recognition of its 50th Anniversary, the Bay State Banner is excited to celebrate the auspicious occasion at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

Over the past 50 years, the Bay State Banner has been engaging citizens in conversations around politics and community issues by reporting stories of critical importance to Boston’s urban community and beyond. As the Banner and Senator Kennedy’s legacy embody a commitment to educating and informing the public on significant issues of the day, we strongly believe that the EMK Institute is the perfect place to hold this anniversary celebration.

The celebration includes the screening of a documentary film about the Banner’s history — produced by award-winning filmmakers Tracy Heather Strain and Randy MacLowry, founders of The Film Posse — and the presentation of the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine with a cover designed by award-winning artist Ekua Holmes.

Tickets General Admission: $100

VIP: $175

Schedule for the evening: 6 p.m.-7 p.m.

VIP Reception and guided tour of the EMK Institute

7 p.m.-8 p.m.

Doors open to general admission ticket holders Light dinner, drinks and self-guided tour of the EMK

8 p.m.-9 p.m.

Remarks, Documentary Film Screening, Dessert Mistress of Ceremonies is Karen Holmes Ward

To attend the event: Tickets available at EventBrite.com – Banner 50th or contact Sandra Casagrand at Sandra@bannerpub.com

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3

City needs sustainable, unified psych trauma response system

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON City Councilor Ayanna Pressley held a hearing last week aimed at establishing a coordinated and sustainable system for psychological trauma response in Boston.

The devastating effects of homicides, shootings, domestic abuse and other traumas last far past the incident and affect more than the immediate victims.

Currently various city agencies and community organizations offer services, but are not knitted together into a collaborative network, so many residents remain unaware of resources available to them.

“It is still not at a point where there is a standard protocol whereby I could provide you with a flowchart for, if someone has experienced or is exposed to trauma, this is who to call,” said Pressley. She said the city needs a unified protocol for service provision that will outlast the individuals currently doing trauma work.

Trauma that continues to wound

More than 150 studies have found that experiencing trauma in childhood increases the likelihood that an individual will later develop health problems and health-adverse behaviors, said Renee Boynton-Jarrett, MD, a primary care pediatrician at Boston Medical Center.

Kaiser Permanente and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Study surveyed more than 13,000 adults on their exposure to parental mental health issues, physical or sexual abuse and other traumatic experiences before age 18. The study concluded that adults with four or more such experiences were four to twelve times more likely to experience alcoholism, depression, drug abuse and suicide attempts. Boynton-Jarrett said that the difference in life expectancy between these individuals and those who did not report adverse childhood experiences was 19 years.

They also carried higher risk of obesity, heart disease and several other conditions. One cause, said Boynton-Jarrett: chronic stress’ effect on the body.

“We know definitively that early childhood experiences have a profound impact not just on your health and wellbeing during childhood but on your long-term health outcomes,” she said.

Trauma also interrupts a child’s individual to perform well in school,

said Karla Estrada, deputy superintendent of student support services for Boston Public Schools.

“It’s not something that gets left behind in order for academic development to move forward,” she said.

Ripple effects

A homicide affects the victim’s entire social web, from immediate loved ones to neighbors or coworkers adjusting to the absence of that person or children adjusting to the reality of death.

“Trauma is not just [affecting] that person,” said Pressley. “It’s the bodega owner that no longer sees that person, it’s the office, it’s the school community, it’s the empty seat at the dinner table.”

One task for trauma workers is to determine the groups impacted. For instance, said Atyia Martin, Boston’s Chief Resilience Officer, if a student moved between schools, outreach to both schools may be needed.

“It’s one of the biggest myths we have about trauma that it is an individual experience. Impact of trauma has ripple effects on the community that are often invisible, silent and unaddressed and unvalidated,” said Boynton-Jarrett.

A treatable crisis

If properly handled, trauma is treatable, said Boynton-Jarrett. This means response within the first 72 hours and continued availability of services, as posttraumatic symptoms may emerge long after the incident or may need many sessions to treat.

“Trauma is not an experience that cannot be recovered from if you are able to reestablish safety, if you are able to re-establish social connections and if you have access to timely, appropriate and sensitive treatment,” she said.

to get them.

“I’m often at a community meeting where someone says, ‘You know what would be great? If we had this.’

And I say ‘Well, great thing is, we do,’” recounted Pressley.

Many spoke on the need for coordination.

Huy Nguyen, interim executive director at the Boston Public Health Commission, said creating a larger network of partners would allow BPHC to connect more individuals with services. Getting this network functional, he said, could take a few years.

Martin works with psychological trauma response protocols based upon the BPHC’s emergency management principles. The protocols include gathering and sharing information between responders, assessing community need, reaching out to the people who may be affected to educate them about the effects of trauma and the resources available and following up to ensure needs are met. Response to the Boston Marathon bombing modeled effective collaboration, and response protocols were updated this summer.

Martin said that she is running a pilot program for integrating individual residents, nonprofits and city agencies into one response network and expects a trauma response system to roll out next year.

Meeting the need where it is

One way to increase awareness of services it to provide them where residents already go.

Hospitals, said Chris Byner,

interim executive director of BCYF, are key sites for placing street workers, as families of victims typically go there after a violent incident.

Assistance for victims and their families often falls to police and teachers, generally the natural points of contact. These professionals may wish to help, but also have other primary responsibilities, which may mean they do not have the time or training to fully meet trauma victims’ needs.

Sergeant Detective Paul Donavan said attending to families of victims, while something the officers care deeply about, can distract from their ability to solve the crime.

“The primary goal of these investigations is to solve a crime that’s been committed. They need to maintain their focus on that. Often they get sidetracked dealing with families of victims of homicide,” he said. “Some of that burden needs to be shifted away from the police department.”

Pressley said that it also is important to not blame teachers if they fail to perform well as social workers.

“Teachers are tasked with teaching not being social workers and therapists. But by default they often end up doing that.”

Courtney Grey, director of trauma services at BPHC, said that BPS and BHA already are connected to thousands of people, making them effective sites for learning about incidents and reaching those in need. Training members of those organizations, he said, would provide quicker response than calling a separate trauma team and waiting for it to arrive.

“If I know CPR, I don’t need to call an EMT,” he said.

BPS provides school-based psychologists, guidance counselors and 14 social workers, said Andria Amador, assistant director of Behavioral Health Services at BPS. BPS

also collaborates with 20 mental health agencies to provide services to schools, she said. Ninety-six schools partnered with school-based behavioral health programs for 2014-2015, according to a BPS and Boston Children’s Hospital report.

Sustainability

Pressley said for a long-term system, the city needs to get beyond its reliance on one person.

“Ninety-five percent of trauma victims I meet only know one name: Courtney Grey. ... It’s not a sustainable model” she said. Grey has no direct staff.

Similarly, Marivelle Crespo, Family Resource Officer for the BPD, is the only liaison between homicide investigators and hundreds of families. She keeps families informed on the case’s development and connects them support resources.

Funding

City health centers providing psychological first aid could benefit from greater resources, said Nguyen, who suggested their services become part of the publicly-funded system. Pressley said funding cuts had resulted in BHA losing 35 youth workers.

“Often those go-to community organizations are the ones who don’t have the time to write grants or go to a fundraising event,” said Councilor Tito Jackson, calling for identifying and funding the most-used organizations.

Both state and federal grants exist for these kinds of programs.

Pressley said next steps will include processing the information received from the hearing and other sources, checking progress toward a shared vision for psychological trauma response standards and ensuring funding is committed to support that vision.

Coordination and collaboration

Currently psychological trauma services are offered by many organizations and individuals that may not use uniform procedures.

These include the Boston Housing Authority, Boston Police Department, BPS, the Department of Public Safety, Boston Health Commission, Boston Centers for Youth and Families and Chief Resiliency Officer Martin as well as hospitals, community organizations and community health centers.

Lack of a coordinated, standardized system for reaching out to victims and communities post-incident means that not all residents may be aware that there are services or how

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EDITORIAL

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Established 1965

Vote Tito Jackson for District 7 Mindful voters elect politicians who will faithfully and effectively represent their interests. Sometimes the duties of elective office are so varied and complex that it is difficult to determine who is the best one to get the job done. Like the current Republican presidential primary, the campaign can degenerate into a bad reality TV show. Fortunately, the race for the Boston City Council in District 7 is straightforward.

Tito Jackson is by far the most qualified to represent the community’s interests in the many substantial real estate projects underway. From his teenage years he assisted his father Herb Jackson, who was an unrelenting

activist, to assure that community residents were employed in Boston projects. Now the Guscott project is underway that will transform Dudley Square, and the P-3 project by Ruggles and Tremont Streets will create a new commercial center for Roxbury. A number of smaller projects also will alter the landscape.

Jackson’s interests extend beyond real estate as chairman of the council’s Education Committee, he understands the importance of maintaining a school system that will produce candidates for the nation’s emerging technology-based industries. Jackson’s reelection is critical for the economic progress of greater Roxbury at this crucial time.

The way to get ahead The secret life of African Americans seems to be emerging with greater frequency. First it was “the talk.” Now the old adage that blacks have to be twice as good in order to succeed has been statistically established to have some validity.

Publicity about police shooting unarmed black men has generated open discussion of “the talk.” For generations fathers have instructed their sons about how to behave when confronted by the police. Even earlier, boys in the South were told how to avoid conflicts with whites during the Jim Crow era. While these were private talks, stories have revealed how customary they were.

Another more subtle instruction at home was that with the playing field being so unlevel, blacks had to be “twice as good” to be competitive. The belief was that this was especially true in the job market. Once racial discrimination became illegal, it became increasingly more difficult to determine whether job decisions were motivated by bias. Bigotry has become extremely sophisticated.

It is relatively easy to determine that an individual’s injuries resulted from police brutality. But how can we know that an individual’s problems in the job market resulted from

a lack of talent or dependability rather than bias? While it might be difficult to come to a conclusion about an individual with certainty, there is a way to establish that blacks as a group have a problem.

Costas Cavounidis and Kevin Lang of Boston University have produced a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research that demonstrates the impact of bias on unemployed blacks. The rate of unemployment for blacks 25 years and older is consistently about twice that of whites. In the third quarter of 2015 (July-September), unemployment for whites was 3.7 percent, compared to 7.5 percent for blacks.

According to a report on the study, researchers were able to acquire data on unemployed workers about their job duration and unemployment duration. From this the researchers were able to speculate on the employer’s process of extra oversight of employees with a spotty work record. This intense monitoring made it more likely that the employer would discover the employee’s errors which again would result in his dismissal — and the cycle continues.

It appears that the “twice as good” adage is more than a platitude.

“I know Tito will keep us on the job!”

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Keep kids on the bus As the school department again considers changing its school assignment policy, it seems they’re laser-focused on getting children to go to which ever school is closest to their homes. Of course, all of us in the black community know well that there are not enough schools in our community to seat all our kids, so walk-to schools are not for us.

Beyond that, though, even for parents whose children live within a mile or two for middle school children, walking is unlikely. Those parents who have cars

are going to drive. We feel the effects of that increased auto traffic every year when kids return to school. Morning and evening commutes become longer. Think of what will happen if even more kids’ parents are driving them.

Then think about the surge of traffic on the first day of elementary school – which this year was the day after Labor Day. As is the case every year, parents wanted to drive their children to the first day of school. Not all of them, just those whose children were starting a new school. Imagine traffic like that

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every day.

I know busing takes up a sizeable chunk of the school department’s budget. But the mayor and city council were serious about cutting costs, they would at least consider ending the practice of paying for busing to private and parochial schools out of the public school budget. I really don’t think we should. We ought to be thinking of school buses as another form of public transportation that relieves congestion.

— Edward Jones Dorchester

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Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 5

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The GOP: The wrecking ball party

What are the most important issues facing the City Council?

By LEE A. DANIELS

In late September, John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, after years of battling Republican extremists in Congress, stunned the political world by announcing he was giving up that position and leaving Congress altogether at the end of October.

A substantial segment of GOP officeholders in Congress and their echo chamber in the conservative movement publicly rejoiced.

Then early this month, Boehner’s deputy, Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Whip who had seemingly been the odds-on favorite to succeed Boehner, suddenly announced — pushed by some conservatives leaking rumors of a longtime affair with a female member of Congress — that he wouldn’t seek the post. Again, a substantial number of conservatives inside and outside the House cheered.

Amid the uproar, the name of Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan floated to the top of candidates for the Speaker’s post as a respected conservative who could end the embarrassing internal disarray. But almost immediately, Republican radicals and the conservative extremist echo chamber began deriding Ryan — the party’s 2012 nominee for vice president — as “too liberal.”

As of this writing, the House Republican majority has yet to choose a candidate for the position that constitutionally stands third in line to the Presidency — even as crises loom over a potential breach of the debt ceiling and the GOP’s threatening another government shutdown.

One question this vicious infighting brings to the forefront is this: In years to come will scholars mark these last few weeks with the equivalent of an historian’s tombstone: “Here lies the Republican Party, 1856 - 2015?”

It’s a fair question given that the holier-than-thou battles within the party about who’s a “real” conservative are being fully reflected out on the GOP’s presidential campaign trail.

The signs indicating the fracturing of the Republican Party have long been evident. In 2012 Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, two veteran scholars of American politics, published a book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” describing how the GOP had adopted the tactic of polarization and Congressional gridlock for its own gain. “The Republican Party,” they wrote, “has become an insurgent outlier — ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the [nation’s] inherited social and economic regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

This month’s intra-party explosion offers more evidence of how “political correctness” really operates. The fact that those dirty words aren’t being applied to GOP internal squabbles, its policy positions and its legislative actions proves they’re just used to bash the progressive movement.

Secondly, it’s also entirely clear that the GOP can neither govern honestly, as we’ve seen in state legislature after state legislature where Republicans are in the majority, or effectively, as we see to a pitiable extent with the Republican majority in the Congress.

There are numerous reasons why the GOP has deliberately fostered a poisonous polarization and political gridlock. But the major cause is race — more specifically the rise of the black vote as a crucial factor in American politics generally and especially in determining the outcome of presidential elections.

We’re a long way from the 2000 Bush-Gore election, whose outcome had some predicting the black vote’s importance at the national level was at an end. Instead, in voting terms, it has come to be the foundation on which the ballot-box edifice of the Democratic Party stands (and the harbinger, too, of the increasing importance of the Hispanic American and Asian-American vote). In 2012 the black voter turnout percentage of 66 percent eclipsed that of whites for the first time in presidential voting. And the GOP well knows that extraordinary performance didn’t simply stem from a desire to save Barack Obama’s presidency. It showed an increasing commitment among blacks to participate in the political process — as well as being a deliberate response to GOP’s continuing campaign to suppress the black vote.

That determination is why the GOP and its operatives on the Supreme Court’s conservative bloc are intent on reconstructing in new ways the old Jim Crow barriers to the ballot box — this time for the entire Democratic Party coalition.

That’s just one of the political challenges that those Americans who don’t support the GOP’s wrecking-ball war must confront with all the political discipline and pragmatism they can muster.

Lee A. Daniels’ new collection of columns, Race Forward: Facing America’s Racial Divide in 2014, is available at www.amazon.com.

The key topics are the issues of development and housing. Roxbury has more vacant land than any other neighborhood.

Victoria Williams

Jobs and housing. Any city job should have a requirement about living in the city.

Dan Janey

Leah Randolph Executive Director Roxbury

Rich Giordano

Retired Roxbury

Community Organizer Mission Hill

Housing is the number one issue.

There are folks being priced out of the city. The council has to come up with a way for people to stay here.

Crime, violence, public safety and the trauma response that should follow; economic development and opportunities for housing.

Retired Roxbury

Housing, education and economic development.

The difficulty in building housing for the actual residents of Boston, improving the Boston schools and figuring out a way to address violence.

Woody Vainqueur Activist Roxbury

Shaikh Hasib

Community Activist Roxbury

IN THE NEWS

MARY MARGARET EARL The Rev. Mary Margaret Earl will be installed as Executive Director and Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry on Nov. 1. She arrived at the UU Urban Ministry in John Eliot Square in Roxbury last December, after spending the previous 10 years at McAuley Ministries, a faithbased nonprofit in Providence, RI that provides food, shelter and clothing to those who were homeless or at risk of becoming so.

“As a UU minister, I am thrilled to be leading the UU Urban Ministry, an organization grounded in UU values and committed to justice,” Earl said. “It is a dream come true.

Since arriving in December, I have listened deeply and learned about our rich history, and the breadth of programs offerend now: our esteemed Renewal House domestic violence shelter; Roxbury Youth Programs, which provide academic support

and enrichment to high school students; the Bethany House subsidized housing program for young women; the weekend Explorers Club exploration and learning program for younger children and Jericho Road Roxbury, which connects highlevel volunteer talent with small nonprofits doing great work in Roxbury.”

Earl is past president of the Board of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, and served on the Pro Bono Advisory Board, which brings together large Providence law firms and underserved communities in need of free legal assistance.

The UU Urban Ministry, whose campus includes First Church Roxbury, unites communities and transforms individuals through education, service, and advocacy. The organization engage communities and congregations in social action and change, with programs that empower youth and adults to

realize their full potential. The organization is committed to standing against racism, building relationships across race, class and faith, and serving the community.

6 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

NEWSBRIEFS VISIT US ONLINE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS: WWW.BAYSTATEBANNER.COM ABCD hosts open house Action for Boston Community Development and the Roxbury/ North Dorchester Advisory Board will host neighbors, community leaders, and local dignitaries at an Open House on Thursday, October 22 to welcome the community to its new state-of-the-art ABCD Roxbury/North Dorchester Neighborhood Opportunity Center.

Located at 565 Warren Street next to the historic Charles Street AME Church, the new center enables ABCD to serve more of our neighbors through expanded and innovative programs including a teaching kitchen focusing on healthy food preparation, environmental awareness classes, and job development and employment search services.

The opening of this facility marks the first phase in the development of a campus that will be a focal point linking the Grove Hall/ Dudley community.

Spacious and welcoming, the newly renovated center will continue vital services previously offered at the ABCD Elm Hill Avenue location including summer and year-round youth employment, heating assistance, electronic SNAP (food stamp) applications, food pantry services, utility bill advocacy, free tax preparation, a senior nutrition program, summer youth enrichment programs, clothing assistance for children, winter coats for both adults and children, free notary services and more.

With the opening of the Roxbury/North Dorchester Neighborhood Opportunity Center, ABCD advances its mission to empower

disadvantaged, income-eligible people by providing them with the tools to overcome poverty, live with dignity and achieve their full potential. Newer programs to enhance community engagement include: n Senior Computer Classes: the tailored curriculum helps older adults build computer literacy skills n Teaching Kitchen: classes teach individuals and families how to prepare healthy food by providing hands on demonstrations n Environmental Awareness Initiative: clients learn the importance of recycling and the positive impact on both our community and the planet n Job Development Opportunities: programming features employment search workshops The Roxbury/North Dorchester Neighborhood Opportunity Center (NOC) has the capacity to serve both Spanish and Haitian-Creole speakers.

The open house will be held Thursday, October 22nd, from 10:00 a.m. to noon at 565 Warren Street.

Sheriff Tompkins, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department bring 35 new officers online Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins and the Suffolk County Sheriff ’s Department recently graduated 35 new recruits from Correction Officer Training Academy Class 15–02 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel in South Boston.

The event was attended by several members of Sheriff Tompkins’ Executive Staff including

Boston Architectural College celebrates Presidential Investiture

ROGER FARRINGTON PHOTO

(l-r) President Glen LeRoy; Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown; Emerson College President Lee Pelton. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the Boston Architectural College (BAC) today celebrated new leadership with the official Presidential Investiture of Glen S. LeRoy, FAIA, FAICP. More than 200 guests came together as a community at the Harvard Club of Boston to celebrate the BAC’s next chapter, which will be led by LeRoy as the College’s seventh president.

Superintendent In-Chief Michael Harris, House of Correction Superintendent Yolanda Smith, Deputy Superintendent of the House of Correction Richard McCarthy, Deputy Superintendent of the Nashua Street Jail Cliff Carney and Assistant Deputy Superintendent and Supervisor of Training Jose Mojica, along with several members of the Training Division and Honor Guard.

In their journey to become members of the department’s custody staff, officer candidates endured a rigorous 12–week training that tested them physically and

mentally as they completed instruction in subjects that included ethics and professionalism, suicide prevention, the use of force continuum, firearm safety and handling, inmate education and programming, contraband control, courtroom testimony, CORI and inmate rights and responsibilities, fire safety, CPR, sexual harassment, cross–gender supervision and report writing, among others.

Before delivering the Correction Officer’s Oath to Correction Officer Training Academy Class 15-02, Sheriff Tompkins instructed the group to rise and recognize the

family members and friends who helped to support them throughout their training, and also spoke to the class about the work ahead.

“You have defied the odds along the way to this moment,” Sheriff Tompkins said. “You were chosen out of literally thousands of applicants to participate in our academy, and you persevered through that process to make it here tonight. I applaud you and I look forward to seeing you at the House of Correction when you report for duty.”

All 35 newly-sworn officers have been stationed at the Suffolk County House of Correction.

Are you A

CleAner?

Treated unfairly at work?

Cleaners have workplace rights!

Come to a workshop in your community!

Not paid for all your hours? Working with bad chemicals? Do you pay for your supplies? Does work hurt your back? Facing sexual harassment at work? You are not alone!

DATE/TIME

Wednesday, October 21 Chelsea

LOCATION

ORGANIZATION

5:30 to 7:30

318 Broadway, Chelsea, MA 02150

Chelsea Collaborative 617-889-6080

Thursday, October 22 6:00 to 8:00

Dorchester, Grove Hall 7 Cheney St, Dorchester, MA, 02121

Black Economic Justice Inst.

617-515-6908

Saturday, October 24 2:00 to 4:00

Downtown Boston 26 West St, Boston MA, 02111

MCTF-NE 617-878-7534

Sunday, October 25 1:30 to 3:00

Everett Immaculate Conception Church 489 Broadway, Everett, MA 02149

La Comunidad, Inc. 617-387-9996

Wednesday, October 28 6:00 to 8:00

Dorchester, Four Corners Erie Ellington Community Center, 31Erie St, Dorchester, MA 02121

Greater Four Corners Action Coalition 617-436-0289

Thursday, October 29 6:30 to 8:30

Roxbury 140 Winthrop St, Roxbury, MA 02119

Boston Workers Alliance 617- 606-3580

Friday, October 30 1:00 to 3:00

Allston Brazilian Immigrant Center 14 Harvard Ave, 2nd Fl, Allston, MA 02134 617-783-8001

Sponsored by the organizations above, Action for Regional Equity and the Maintenance Contractors Trust Fund-NE

For more information, call 617-878-7534 | Check Justice for Cleaners on Facebook

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 7

Freeze Frame

IF YOU GO WHAT: Freeze Frame Black Boston 2015:

continued from page 1

A Case for Inclusion WHERE: Prince Hall Grand Lodge,

that provides loans and grants to support community organizations and businesses.

24 Washington Street, Grove Hall WHEN: 6:00-9:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Taxes but no benefits

Black and Latinos together make up 40.5 percent of the city’s population, according to a Freeze Frame Black Boston report. Despite being such a large tax base, Elisa said, communities of color do not always see the benefit of what they pay.

One particular problem: Some nonprofit universities, such as Northeastern, receive tax-funded services such as police and street cleaners, but then do not return that investment to minority taxpayers by hiring black people, whether as professors, contractors or engineers, said Elisa.

“That’s my [tax] money. I want to see part of it come back to my community,” he said. “We’re subsidizing other people and getting no benefits.”

Elisa said that Boston institutions need to acknowledge the contribution made by communities of color to their economic growth.

Helping the area, not inhabitants

Similarly, Elisa questioned city projects, such as construction or business investment, that aim to develop the economies of Roxbury, Dorchester or Mattapan, but instead of investing project dollars in the residents, bring in outside members to do the work.

“It’s ridiculous to have a conference on unemployment where you’re putting $5 million worth of

BANNER PHOTO

Louis Elisa jobs into the community but not making sure companies coming into communities hire people in those communities,” Elisa said.

The Bolling Building in Dudley Square, he said, was one example: None of the five new businesses sited there are majority African American.

“In the middle of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan we expect more than a token nod to our need to be a part of the process. We can’t be minorities in the middle of Roxbury.”

In FY 2014, just over six percent of the state Supplier Diversity Office’s spending went to minority-owned businesses, says a Freeze Frame Black Boston report. MBEs are more likely to hire minorities, said Lloyd, which spreads prosperity through the community. “[Black businesses] more often than not hire our residents, thereby helping to put a dent in the grotesque unemployment numbers in our communities, which run twice the city and state averages,” he said.

A solution, Lloyd said, is to make minority hiring a stipulation

in the government’s bidding processes. A successful example: When evaluating bids, Massport required — and received — 25 percent minority participation.

“A lot of it starts with a policy and the rules and regulation of who controls the money, frankly,” said Lloyd.

Similarly, Lloyd said the government needs to make conscious efforts to open bids to minorities.

Many companies get their start by fulfilling government contracts and MBEs need to be able to share equally in this to facilitate their growth, he said.

He cited two common stumbling blocks. Often bids continue to be awarded to companies with which the government has past relationships, or the size of the bid makes it challenging for minority owned businesses to fulfill.

Because they traditionally have received fewer resources and opportunities, MBE tend to be smaller and so may have trouble filling large contracts. Breaking a large contract into multiple smaller ones could increase accessibility.

Data-driven change

Freeze Frame Black Boston meetings have emphasized rooting their strategy and demands in hard data.

The past two meetings drew hundreds of members from many sectors, including banking groups,

l RETAIL a n o s a e S Boston Career Link

JOB FAIR

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 3:00-5:00pm at 1010 Harrison Ave, Boston

minority spending, employment and project ownership.

“You can look at projects and look at spending and look at growth of these enterprise and who gets employed, and that all will be measured through the chamber,” said Lloyd.

Its members will also hold government officials accountable for ensuring equity.

Elisa said the group currently is preparing paperwork for the chamber’s creation.

lawyers, community organizations and developers, to provide precise data to make their case, said Elisa.

The attendees offer up details on matters such as who are getting jobs and who are not, where money is being spent and what kinds of resources and opportunities exist in their fields. He added that while the groups have worked separately on the issues before now, Freeze Frame Black Boston represents a new cross-group collaboration.

Equipped with this data, the Freeze Frame Black Boston intends to open a conversation with elected governmental officials and institutions that receive taxpayer money but have not been equally benefitting taxpayers. Lloyd said they aim to bring together city and state government officials, the black business community and community as a whole to develop an economic agenda for the black community.

The organization has been working on unifying the community voice around these issues. The November meeting will be a place for getting community feedback toward developing the next steps the group will take, said Lloyd.

Olympics inspiration

Discussions around the 2024 Olympics bid revealed to insights: One, working together with business organizations, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce was able to raise millions of dollars; two, minority communities were largely excluded from the conversation, according to a Freeze Frame Black Boston report.

“There was very little to no African American involvement in the planning,” Elisa said. “They had these resources and we weren’t seeing any of it. [The bid] gave us a clear understanding of what kind of money is circulating in this society and we’re getting almost nothing.”

Realization of the level of resources available, but not shared, inspired these meetings.

“We hope to open a dialogue and bring people to understand African Americans contribute significant amounts of resources to this society,” said Elisa.

Chamber of Commerce

The previous meetings gave rise to a push to create a black chamber of commerce to support businesses and advocate.

Lloyd said the chamber will continue the collection and data analysis to track issues such as

PUBLIC MEETING

BOSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

PLAN JP/ROX WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4

144 MCBRIDE STREET

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Cafeteria Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Planning continues along the Washington Street and Columbus Avenue Corridors. The next PLAN JP/ROX Community Workshop will discuss important ideas around retaining people and jobs in the study area while envisioning where new residents and jobs might go in the future. Please come as early as 5:30PM. We will be there to network with you before we get started.

Visit our website for materials from past PLAN JP/ROX events at http://bit.ly/PlanJPRox.

Open positions are for all store locations east, west, north, and south of Greater Boston. To Prepare for job fair please complete the retailers’ on-line job application before the 28th!

3 Professional dress required 3 Bring several copies of your resume

3 Faster entry with Career

Center Membership Card

3 Free parking available 3 Event is 16+

o t y a w t a e r This is a g reer in t he a c r u o y t r a t s ! y r t s u d n I l i Reta

mail to:

phone: email:

MARIE MERCURIO

Boston Redevelopment Authority One City Hall Square, 9th Floor Boston, MA 02201 617.918.4352 marie.mercurio@boston.gov

BostonRedevelopmentAuthority.org

@BostonRedevelop

Teresa Polhemus, Executive Director/Secretary

Participating Employers: • Macys • The Home Depot • Goodwill Retail Stores • T.J. Maxx • Old Navy • Target • International Shops

Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries 617-536-1888 www.bostoncareerlink.org

Be sure to check out our website and mobile site www.baystatebanner.com

8 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

councilors

providing social and emotional wellness services as well as nutritional food for students, she said.

Meanwhile, Flaherty’s opinion was that charters generate healthy competition for BPS. Good schools from any sector need to be supported, he said, and called for more assistance to be provided to students who are falling behind.

continued from page 1

the trucks coming from Rhode Island,” Essaibi-George said.

Wu, Flaherty and Pressley added that when the city does business, it must ensure women and people of color have a more equal share in those jobs. And that means minority hiring requirements and transparent monitoring of company compliance with them, said Pressley.

“If people of color aren’t succeeding — aren’t getting employment and contract opportunities — then the city isn’t succeeding,” stated Pressley.

To remedy this: “We need more than good faith efforts. We need collective will and leadership and a mandate. Every law passed is only as good as its enforcement and that has been our struggle as a city,” she said.

Make teaching desirable

Boston lacks a diverse teaching force, especially black men. Councilors offered thoughts on barriers and solutions.

An early impediment: Black children may not seriously consider teaching as a career option, said Wu. “It’s key to connect with children and have them see education as a pathway to economic opportunity,” she said.

Wu said the BPS is working on a pipeline for high school students ultimately to become teachers. High School to Teacher Program is BPS’s seven-year mentoring and training program that starts with grade 9 students and runs through college.

An unwelcoming work environment also discourages interest in the

Affordable housing

BANNER PHOTO

City Council candidate Anissa Easaibi-George speaks during a candidates forum as councilors Michael Flaherty, Ayanna Pressley, Michelle Wu and moderators Gintautas Dumcius and Yawu Miller. teaching, added Pressley.

“Often these environments are not welcoming, are hostile,” she said. She noted that inclusive policies and protocols do not always translate into experienced change.

“It’s one thing to say you’re an environment that’s inclusive, but it’s another thing to make it feel that way.”

Once minorities do enter the job, evaluations can push them out, Essabi-George said.

“The biggest problem with retaining teachers of color is the evaluation system,” she said. Often, these evaluations are conducted by outsiders who may be well-educated but who have no hands-on experience in Boston classrooms, she pointed out.

Police and fire who reflect the city

Many councilors agreed on the value of greater diversity among fire and police forces.

“In terms of public safety, it’s

important for trust to have officers and firefighters who know the neighborhoods and have relationships with them,” said Wu. The recently revived police cadet program, said Wu, is a useful tool for increasing diversity. She also emphasized that minority youth recruitment needs to be ongoing — not just before each new cadet class starts — in order to encourage a view of policing as a viable career option. Flaherty said individuals in these careers who reach out to their community can have powerful impact on recruiting.

Gender diversity matters as well.

Pressley said that the BPD needs to emphasize recruiting women and to reexamine its hiring criteria. The physical test could prevent women entering the force, she said, and the civil service test fails to comprehensively evaluate a person’s potential as an officer. Assessment also needs to consider personality, disposition,

THE BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT IS RECRUITING YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN TO SERVE AS BOSTON POLICE CADETS

become a

C AD E T

cityofboston.gov/jobs to be eligible

y o u must BE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 24 BE A CURRENT RESIDENT OF BOSTON, AND HAVE MAINTAINED BOSTON RESIDENCY FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS BE A CITIZEN OF THE U.S. HAVE A VALID MASSACHUSET TS DRIVERS LICENSE

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F OR M ORE I NF ORMAT I ON

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leadership and languages spoken, Pressley said.

Flaherty emphasized local hiring.

To take the civil service test, applicants must have lived in Boston for one year. Flaherty proposed increasing the residency requirement to three years to prevent suburban youth — who may be able to borrow a relative’s Boston address or move temporarily — from competing with city youth for these jobs.

Improving police relations

Last month, Police Commissioner William Evans announced intentions for a body camera pilot program. In August, Pressley and Wu stated their support for body cameras; at the debate, Wu spoke in favor of policy that outlines privacy protections and rules for data storage. Flaherty opposed body cameras.

To promote empathy for police, Flaherty suggested a program in which civilians follow police about their day and see detainments from an officer’s point of view.

“I would love for folks to do ride-alongs with the police department and walk in their shoes when making a stop or approaching a group of individuals, and see if everyone can learn from each other,” he said.

Policing is not the whole solution to crime, cautioned Pressley and Wu, who pointed to economic security is a major violence deterrent.

“Many of our youths who are gang-involved just need that summer internship or that paid school-time job,” said Wu. More livable wages is a key step, Pressley added, saying that many gang-involved youth are raised by single mothers who struggle to make ends meet. Another economic bolster, Wu said, would be reducing the paperwork and legal fees involved in starting a business, thus opening that option to more people.

Charters vs. BPS

Candidates also took sides on the charter cap controversy, following announcements issued

by Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin Walsh this month in favor of raising it.

Essaibi-George, Pressley and Wu spoke against lifting the cap.

Essaibi-George said the problem with charters is that the city has no authority to affect change in their systems.

“We need to maintain our diligence on the schools that we can improve,” she urged, referring to BPS. Pressley said charters push out students with harder life situations: impoverished living conditions, trauma experiences and/ or pregnancies. To educate these students, BPS needs funding for

Councilors’ foci included homelessness, quality of existing housing stock and senior housing.

Essaibi-George called for providing more transitional housing and general life support to help families in need move from temporary homeless shelters into permanent housing. Wu said she especially is concerned with youth homelessness.

Pressley’s concerns included holding existing housing to safety and quality standards and spreading affordable options through all city neighborhoods.

Flaherty said quality of life in senior housing would be improved by ending the practice of sharing housing between non-elderly adults with disabilities and seniors. The arrangement, he said, was disruptive to seniors having quiet, calm living spaces.

“Seniors are stuck next to loud music, prostitution” Flaherty said. “[They are] literally prisoners in their own homes.”

Various methods were proposed for increasing funds or developer will for creating more affordable housing.

Streamlining the permitting and licensing process, Wu said, would reduce costs, making affordable construction a more attractive venture.

Another current tool supporting affordability is linkage fees, which levy charges on developers of new buildings and use those funds to subsidize or create affordable housing. Flaherty said it is time to increase the fees.

Urban renewal

The Boston Redevelopment Authority seeks reauthorization of this urban renewal powers, set to expire in April. Candidates were largely wary of this request, but most said they did not oppose urban renewal in every case.

Flaherty said that the BRA needs to be restructured so that it no longer handles both planning and economic development. The BRA depends on developers and development projects for financing, creating a conflict of interest, he said. The solution: an independent planning committee.

Wu, Flaherty and Essabi-George said they promoted considering urban renewal on a case-by-case basis for each community, depending on what local residents want. Pressley said she opposed urban renewal powers for the BRA and did not speak on urban renewal decisions for neighborhoods.

Pay raises and pipelines

When it comes to his pay, Flaherty said he supports the mayor’s compromise of a 14 percent raise, which is scheduled to go into effect automatically on Election Day if the council continues its position of non-action.

Meanwhile, Wu and Pressley opposed the increase on grounds that councilors should not have the power to vote on their own raises.

Essabi-George, who left early for another commitment, was not present to answer the question on the pay raise.

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 9

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Eastern Bank honors Stop Handgun Violence founder John E. Rosenthal with the 2015 Wainwright Social Justice Award Eastern also recognizes 162 organizations dedicated to violence prevention with $1.4 million in grants Eastern Bank recently honored John E. Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence, with the 27th annual Wainwright Social Justice Award for his unwavering commitment to violence prevention.

More than 800 people attended the evening reception in downtown Boston, where the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation awarded $1.4 million in grants to 162 Massachusetts and New Hampshire organizations working in the area of violence prevention.

“Eastern Bank is proud to honor John for his courageous advocacy that has resulted in laws that make it more difficult for children, criminals and the mentally ill to gain access to firearms,” said Richard E. Holbrook, Chairman and CEO, Eastern Bank. “We are equally honored to recognize nearly 200 organizations that are working hard to prevent violence through a variety of programs that address anti-bullying, domestic violence, hate crimes, suicide prevention and more.”

“I’m very proud and humbled to receive this year’s Wainwright Social Justice Award,” said Rosenthal.

“If every business prioritized and celebrated social justice like Eastern Bank, we would all be living in a far more fair and just world.”

Rosenthal, President of Meredith Management, is a successful real estate developer and manager who has been nationally recognized for his efforts in balancing corporate and individual responsibility. The Social Justice Award recognizes nonprofits or individuals who have achieved outstanding success in addressing social justice issues.

PHOTOS COURTESY MARILYN HUMPHRIES

Top photo: Guns on display that were taken off the streets; Left photo column (descending): Richard E. Holbrook, Chairman and CEO, Eastern Bank giving award to John E. Rosenthal; Former Governor Dukakis in the audience; guests at the event; (L to R) Richard E. Holbrook, Chairman and CEO, Eastern Bank, John Rosenthal, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Bob Rivers, President and COO, Eastern Bank; Bottom right photo: Guests view guns on display.

10 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

When neighbors turn against neighbors Social media apps give rise to biased crime reporting

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON & YAWU MILLER When Krystal Adams, a sales engineering manager in Joliet, Illinois took her 15-year-old son for his first driving lesson, an undeveloped street in her subdivision seemed like the perfect spot.

But minutes after her son took his first turn behind the wheel, a police cruiser showed up, lights flashing.

The officer said he was called because of suspicious behavior: “Someone was driving too slow behind the subdivision,” Adams recalls.

Adams, who has lived in the predominately white area for eight years, knew it was her neighbors who alerted the police.

The next time Adams took her son out for a driving lesson, she posted a message on Nextdoor, a social media site she and others in her subdivision had been using for the last six months. The site is designed to help neighbors share news and advice, including warnings about anything that seems suspicious or criminal.

“I said ‘I’m teaching my son to drive. Please don’t call the police,’” Adams recalled. “My neighbors said, ‘If you weren’t doing anything illegal, why are you complaining?’”

In the following weeks, Adams says she went back and forth with her neighbors over their postings about blacks walking through the subdivision, a Mexican listening to loud music and other incidents she says said should not have warranted suspicion.

When Adams pushed back, she received a slew of vitriolic responses she likened to cyber bullying. She complained to the site’s moderator, but he told her he didn’t think the responses were racist.

Platforms for racial profiling

Adams’ experiences, and those of her black and Latino neighbors in the Joliet subdivision, are being replicated across the country as sites like Nextdoor are increasing in popularity. Already 78,000 U.S. neighborhoods use the site, says Nextdoor. In neighborhoods like Oakland, California and Georgetown, D.C., many blacks say the websites are platforms that allow their white

“

neighbors to give vent to their racist attitude toward blacks.

In Oakland, California messages

by Nextdoor users have included a posting mistaking a black mail carrier for a burglar and a message calling for a black boy to be arrested for not picking up his dog’s poop, according to the East Bay Express.

In Georgetown, D.C., the social media app sparking controversy is Operation GroupMe — a chat room app connecting businesses, police and residents that was launched by a collaboration between the Georgetown Business Improvement District and Washington, D.C. police. It aims to help businesses send warnings about shoplifters, including messages and photos.

Between January and October 2015, more than 3,000 messages were sent over GroupMe, and of these approximately 70 percent reported blacks, generally accusing them of shoplifting or seeming suspicious, according to a review by the Business Improvement District. Individuals targeted by suspicious store clerks and owners include black shoppers and black store clerks. The accusations were rarely merited — Joe Sternlieb, CEO and president of Georgetown BID told CBS New he estimated less than five percent of African Americans reported on the site get arrested.

understand the nature of racism and white supremacy, you realize no one thing can effect change.”

Mitchell said activists in the Movement For Black Lives have succeeded in raising awareness of the deep-seated biases in US culture and institutions.

“Over the past year, starting with the movement in Ferguson [Missouri], people have been very intentional about shifting the conversation and how we talk about black life.”

Entrenched bias

Validating paranoia

Social networking sites such as Nextdoor are not inherently discriminatory, said Maurice Mitchell, an organizer with Black Bird, an organization that provides support to Black Lives Matter and other groups connected to the national Movement for Black Lives. But the way they are being used demonstrates the intractability of racist attitudes.

“I think they’re exposing the pernicious nature of white supremacy,” he said. “It’s not located in any one institution. It’s baked into the DNA of the country. We need to change the culture. We need to get to the root.”

While activists in Boston and across the country have pursued specific reforms, like body-worn cameras and independent review panels, Mitchell said no one strategy will curtail the excesses of police abuse.

“There’s no magic bullet,” he said. “There’s no one reform. If you

It’s almost like police are saying ‘Anything you are afraid of is valuable information to us.’ Well, we know many people in this society are afraid of other human beings and things that should not provoke fear.”

— Kade Crockford, director of ACLU Massachusetts’ Technology for Liberty program

Pervasive racial biases among civilians have been exposed by offline programs as well.

The Department of Homeland Security’s “See something, say something” campaign encourages U.S. residents to report suspicious behavior by their neighbors or passersby. But in giving few guidelines around what constitutes “suspicious,” law enforcement encourage residents to give voice to anything that alarms them, no matter how small or unsupported, said Kade Crockford, director of the ACLU Massachusetts’ Technology for Liberty program. The result: irrational fears — including racism — seem to be validated.

When public safety programs make a blanket call for residents to report suspicious activity, “It’s almost like police are saying, ‘Anything you are afraid of is valuable information to us,’” said Crockford. “Well, we know many people in this society are afraid of

In some neighborhoods, social media apps like Nextdoor have sparked allegations of racial profiling. other human beings and things that should not provoke fear.”

Crockford said law enforcement officials across the country have complained of being forced to waste time on calls that are based on nothing but racial fears.

“People in law enforcement have been reporting frustration on receiving way too many 911 calls from scared white people about presence of people with darker skin near them,” she said.

Daily detainment

Social media is just another facilitator of profiling practices.

Before the sites existed, some police officers say they struggled with white paranoia.

A Boston Police officer, who recently was assigned to Area E5 in the predominantly white neighborhood of West Roxbury, said he often received calls about suspicious behavior that turned out to be about black people going about their daily lives.

“They would call up and say there’s a black man in the neighborhood,” said the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We would go in and check it out. It ended up being a dragnet approach. Sometimes it was just a kid coming home from school, minding his business.

We would have to go through the whole procedure of a field interrogation.”

Fear spreads

Before Nextdoor, white neighbors communicated their fear of blacks directly to police dispatchers. But with the advent of social media, the crowdsourcing of suspicion has allowed blacks to listen in on the conversations.

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And many are discouraged by what they’re hearing.

In Joliet, Adams said she had cordial relations with her neighbors before they joined the Nextdoor site.

“We always had a sense of community,” she said.

But reading posts has changed Adams’ view of the people in her area and her sense of comradery.

“Know thy neighbor. Nextdoor seems like a site of bullying.

People hide behind the power of the pen instead of really getting to know their neighbors.”

Two weeks ago, Adams left the Joliet Nextdoor group for good.

The cyber bullying stopped, but she said she now fears her neighbors’ suspicions could lead to a deadly police encounter, the kind captured on numerous cellphone videos over the last year.

“My son is a sophomore,” she said. “He wanted to walk three blocks to a friend’s house. I said, “I’ll take you. And call me when you’re coming home. I’ll pick you up.’ He said, ‘It’s only three blocks.’ But I don’t want to deal with the aftermath of what happens.”

ON THE WEB FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, VISIT: EAST BAY EXPRESS: http://m.eastbayex press.com/oakland/racial-profiling-via-next doorcom/Content?oid=4526919 OPERATION GROUPME: http://www. cbsnews.com/news/mobile-app-groupme-usedto-counter-shoplifting-in-georgetown-accused-ofracial-profiling/ WASHINGTON POST: http://tinyurl.com/ ptc54o6

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Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 11

BUSINESSNEWS CHECK OUT MORE BUSINESS NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/NEWS/BUSINESS

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BIZ BITS TIP OF THE WEEK

5 job interview questions you must be prepared to answer It’s a competitive market for all types of jobs, from entry level on up. If you have an interview scheduled, make certain you’re prepared for the questions you’ll be asked.

The first step is to do your homework, which includes researching the company, the industry and the job position you’re applying for, says Jodi Berkshire, assistant director of Career Services at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. No one can be prepared for every question an employer might ask, but you should be prepared with ways to gracefully answer categories of questions. Here are Berkshire’s top five job interview questions to anticipate: 1. “Tell me about yourself.”

Don’t mistake this one for an easy question. If you don’t carefully prepare your answer prior to the interview, it will show. Craft a short response that gives a thumbnail sketch of you professionally. This is a great place to insert some of your sterling qualities and accomplishments, and you should make sure that they dovetail with the requirements of the position for which you are interviewing. Be positive and enthusiastic, and whatever you do, don’t ramble.

2. “What are your strengths?”

“Why should we hire you?” Here’s a simple way to prepare. Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half vertically. On one side list all the specific technical qualities that you possess. Look at the job description and consider each skill that is mentioned. For example, if the job description mentions software skills that are required and you have those skills, go ahead and list them. In the other column, list the personal qualities that you bring to the job. These could be things like punctuality, reliability, enthusiasm, work ethic, professionalism, etc. Again, take another look at the job description and anticipate what qualities that hiring manager would be looking for. Here is your chance to sell yourself. Don’t be afraid to let them know what a great addition you’ll be to their company.

3. “What is your greatest weakness?” “How have you overcome it?” You have two good choices here. You can either choose a weakness that is really a strength to an employer (you become so engrossed in your work that you find it hard to take a break until the project is completed), or choose something that you had to master at the beginning of your career that would be an expected learning curve for any entry-level recent college grad (you didn’t really grasp project management in your first job and you had to make a deliberate effort to learn about time lines and time management). If you choose the second example, make sure that you stress how your performance increased once you mastered the missing skill.

4. “What do you know about our company?” “How did you hear about us?” Or, “Why do you want to work for us?” These are all variations on the same theme. The real question is: Did you do your homework?

Any interviewer will expect that you have researched the company. That means that you should know their website inside and out. Have you Googled See BIZ BITS, page 12

PHOTO COURTESY BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC

Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship founder and managing director Panos Panay.

The business of music

At Berklee’s ICE, music students absorb entrepreneurship

By MARTIN DESMARAIS The Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship at Berklee College of Music is examining the business of music in a way the college hasn’t done before, and pushing its students toward a greater impact on an evolving industry. The effort also is resonating with both U.S. and international students, who hope what they learn can be applied to the music business in their home countries.

Launched in January 2014, the ICE works to develop the entrepreneurial mindset in the school’s music students. The hope is to nourish entrepreneurial careers, not just music careers, as well as to support the creation of products, services and businesses for the music industry.

All of Berklee’s students still play some kind of instrument or perform — as is the school requirement — but some of its ICE students dream not of a chart-topping hit song, but of a startup that will rock the music world.

ICE Managing Director and Founder, Panos Panay, points out that the two goals are not as separate as people might think. While most people associate musicians and artists with creativity, not as many think about creativity as it applies to entrepreneurship.

Panay is trying to show Berklee students that the same creativity

and improvisation that is crucial to being a musician can also lead to success in the startup world.

Entrepreneurs start with an idea for a product or company, but have to evolve or change as they move toward market, just as musicians start with an idea for a song, but have to shift and change to what sounds best before the finished version is ready.

Panay also compares the passion that is necessary to be an entrepreneur and a musician.

“Most successful entrepreneurs don’t start a business just to make a lot of money, just like most [musicians] are not musicians to become famous,” Panay said. “They both want to change something. They want to change the world, affect the world.”

In Panay, Berklee has a great model for a musician-turned-entrepreneur. The 1994 Berklee graduate started Sonicbids, an online platform for bands to book gigs and market themselves, around the turn of the century and led the company as CEO for 13 years, building a subscriber base of half-a-million bands and 35,000 promoters in 100 countries. He sold the company in 2013 for a reported $15 million.

While Panay may not expect every Berklee student that marches through ICE to find the same success, he is not ruling it out, either. The convergence of the Internet, music and technology

has made the music industry one of sweeping change in which startup businesses have created a cacophony of change and disruption to decades-old ways of doing business. To Panay, Berklee is the perfect breeding ground for the next businesses to bring change.

“We think there is a symbiosis that exists between music and technology, which is described as more adversarial than it is. We are trying to bring these worlds together,” Panay said. “The music business used to be about a hipster and a hustler. Today it is a hipster, a hustler and a hacker. We like to demystify the concept of being an entrepreneur and demystify what it means to work in this space.”

While Berklee has long had music business as a major, ICE spans the campus and hopes to touch all students, even those who might never think about the business side of their performing.

The institute’s programs include creative entrepreneurship workshops, sponsored internships, guest lectures, a startup lab and a business incubator.

International flavor

Berklee senior Thomas Chardin has already launched a startup along with fellow Berklee student Alexander Bercow, and credits the support from ICE in making it possible. The company, Bandpass, puts control of lighting and visuals at music shows into the hands

of the audience and helps fans connect with live performances.

Bandpass was run through ICE startup lab and is now being developed further at the college’s incubator.

“The institute gave us the framework to know we can make it from an idea to an actual business,” said Chardin, a percussionist from France. “It gives you this whole methodology on how to take an idea and build it from scratch, which is really valuable.”

Chardin said he was drawn to ICE to supplement his music business management major as well as to fuel his entrepreneurial desires.

His hope is to get his business up and running here in the Boston area, but ultimately return to France and the European market as well.

Fellow Berklee senior Natalie Cotton, who came to the college from Puerto Rico in January 2014, knew she wanted to be a music business major but admitted she wasn’t even sure what being an entrepreneur meant before coming to the school. Now, the vocalist sees a bright future developing music-related businesses.

She is particularly interested in launching a business that can address needs in the music industry in Puerto Rico and is already work on an early-stage startup.

“People think all the jobs in the

See BERKLEE, page 12

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 27

12 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

Berklee

New England Council Breakfast

continued from page 11 music industry are here,” Cotton said. “But I look at Puerto Rico, and where they see there are no jobs, I see a lot of opportunity. I want to be a facilitator and help people — and more importantly, help artists — so the art back home can continue.”

Cotton also has helped fuel the entrepreneurial environment at Berklee. This summer, along with Karin Harvey, she started the Student Entrepreneurship Association of Berklee.

Both say they were impressed at how many students from all different majors at the school have become involved.

“Students want to know how they can develop themselves and how they can work on their

Biz Bits

continued from page 11 MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY ISABEL LEON

Mayor Martin Walsh delivers remarks at the New England Council Breakfast meeting as President and CEO Jim Brett looks on. The Council is a non-partisan alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region.

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the company? Have you read any recent articles about them? If the only information you have to offer is what any person off the street who isn’t applying for the position knows, it shows that you don’t care enough and you’re not very thorough.

5. “What would your past employer tell me about you?”

Again, tread carefully. Do not under any circumstances say anything negative about any past employer. Settle on a few of your strongest qualities and concentrate on those that reflect your strong work ethic and professionalism. Here is another perfect opportunity to sell yourself, but once again, be careful not to ramble.

ideas,” Cotton said. “To have people to believe in your ideas, and that you want to be an entrepreneur and want to start something, that is amazing.”

Both Cotton and Harvey are vocalists, and Harvey is also a music business major.

Harvey, who came to Berklee from Mexico two years ago, continues to juggle it all — she is studying singing and the music business, working at a Boston University-based startup and considering going to Los Angeles to work in artist management — as is quickly becoming typical of a modern music student. “[ICE] has helped students understand the relationship between music and the business side in general,” said Harvey. “I think it is great to balance my musical interests and continue to pursue the business side.”

Once you’ve done your research, practiced answers to commonly asked questions and become comfortable with the idea of selling yourself, remember to smile. In most interview situations, the candidate who appears to be relaxed, confident (not arrogant) and enthusiastic usually has the best chance of being hired.

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COMMENTARY

How Ben Carson would govern

By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON News mogul Rupert Murdoch stirred mild fury when he claimed GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson would be a “real black president.”

Forget the racial insult, the stock rightwing putdown of Obama and the fact that this preposterous dig came from Murdoch. What is more interesting is Murdock’s rationale for calling Carson a “real black president.”

Carson, presumably, would bridge the racial divide, says Murdoch, and that means he’d be the true unifier the country needs. There’s really no need to recite the long and steadily growing litany of Carson’s idiocies on everything from taxes “simply tithe,” to comparing Obamacare to slavery, claiming that arming kindergarten teachers is the way to stop a mass killer, and his equating homosexuality with bestiality. Or even his reach back a millennium to chastise the citizens of Pompeii for not running away from the lava to save their lives when Vesuvius erupted.

Carson is on an incredible roll.

He knows that his nutty quips will be spread eagled over every media outlet and roil legions on Facebook and social media. He’s at or near the top of the heap in some polls as a top GOP presidential candidate and that shows him, even more implausibly, actually beating Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical head to head showdown. But beyond his endless milking of his rags-to-successful-neurosurgeon story and the inane quips about President Obama and Democrats before packs of ultraconservative fawners and groupies, what makes

him real political timber, let alone presidential stuff?

Carson initially got and keeps currency because he’s black and can be relied on to make the most ridiculous, media-grabbing quips on anything that crosses his mind.

But as Murdoch hints in his “real black president” tout of Carson, he can say what GOP ultraconservatives and unreconstructed bigots want to say about Obama, but it just sounds better coming out of Carson’s mouth. The GOP has turned this tactic into a studied art with black conservatives such as Clarence Thomas. But Carson makes far better copy than Thomas, because, unlike Thomas, Carson actually speaks, and when he does, he’ll say something just ludicrous enough to get attention.

In the Obama era the GOP has worked overtime to tout, cultivate, prop up and showcase a motley collection of black GOP candidates for a scattering of offices. The aim is twofold: to find that someone who has just enough luster and media appeal to be a counterbalance to Obama while at the same time allowing the party to thump its chest and claim it’s not racist.

But let’s assume that Carson has a real chance to bag the GOP nomination and even the presidency.

How would this “real black president” actually govern? Carson so far has not put pen to paper and laid out a comprehensive program and position on the budget, government spending, civil rights enforcement, the environment, crime control, the military and foreign policy.

“President” Carson’s positions on the issues must be pieced together from his statements in debates and interviews and speeches.

He will spend big on and radically expand the size of the military. In the process, he will not tie the military’s hands. He backs the use of torture in fighting terrorism He will boost trade and eliminate deficits by imposing “stiff tariffs” on all imported goods. On civil rights and civil liberties, he sees no pattern of racial profiling in the disproportionate number of minority arrests. He touts stand your ground laws. And on his signature worry, gay rights, he will accept gay marriage because it’s the law, but would do nothing to expand protections and rights for gays.

He would covertly spy on

government workers to make sure they are not slacking off. And while he’s at it, he would unilaterally cut the budget by 10 percent for every government agency. Public education would go the same way. He called it a “propaganda system.” He would ignite a stampede by the government to back vouchers, charter schools, and any and every type of private school to take up the slack.

Since he has relentlessly attacked the Affordable Care Act, branding it tantamount to slavery, he would cheer yet another effort to gut, if not outright eliminate, it altogether. The climate change argument will get nowhere with Carson. He has called it “distracting and irrelevant.”

Being the loud outspoken man of the faith he purports to be, he’s

declared creationists, not evolutionists, have “God’s ethics.” He will give a fresh nod to creationism in the schools. Likewise, given his staunch pro-life, anti-abortion view, he will ban all abortions soon after fertilization and absolutely oppose any abortion for “convenience” Carson’s fervent backers see all of this as the prescription for a new type of White House, and better still a change in the substance and style of governance. It will, of course, be nothing short of a colossal disaster and turn government into a laughingstock. But then again that’s how Murdoch’s “real black president” will govern.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst.

Helen Y. Davis

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Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva (in center) plays Bernardo in “West Side Story.”

Q&A

PHOTO COURTESY OF FIDDLEHEAD THEATRE

Photographer and jazz artist strives to give ‘moment of joy’

Artwork by Arni Cheatham on display through Oct. 25

By SANDRA LARSON

Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva returns as Bernardo in

‘West Side Story’

By COLETTE GREENSTEIN

F

or actor and dancer Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, who was born in the town of Manatí on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, the role of Bernardo in the musical “West Side Story” really resonates for a couple of reasons.

First, both the actor and the character are Puerto Rican.

Secondly, Quinones-Villanueva says, “I really love the role, how a person needs to stand out when others are trying to step on them. The weird looks that other people give [them] because they’re not from the United States. I can really identify with that, and the Bernardo role actually always reminds me of my dad as well.”

A veteran of the 2008 Broadway revival of “West Side Story” under the direction of legendary playwright and screenwriter Arthur Laurents, and a member of the international tour, Quinones-Villanueva is starring in the Fiddlehead Theatre Company’s production of the timeless musical at the Strand Theatre, where the final performances are this Friday through Sunday, October 23–25.

Quinones-Villanueva has been dancing since the age of 14, starting with talent shows in Puerto Rico when the government held auditions for a young teenagers’ company.

His folklore teacher took him to the audition, but at the time he actually didn’t know what it was for. He passed the audition, and from that point started training and performing.

The turning point for him in becoming a professional dancer came when he was flown to New York for a show for the company, and saw his first musical there. “It was ‘Cats.’ That changed my life,” he remembers clearly. “How can people do this and live?”

Since then, the dancer, who’s skilled in numerous genres of dance, including contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop, has performed professionally with Ballet Concierto, Ballet San Juan, Ballet Hispanico of New York, Ballet

Teatro Nacional de Puerto Rico and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

A cum laude graduate of the University of Puerto Rico with a bachelor’s degree in Education, Quinones-Villanueva has also appeared in a production of “Man of La Mancha” at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and on the television show “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and has performed with international recording artists Marc Anthony, Olga Tañón, La India, and the late Celia Cruz.

After “West Side Story” wraps, Quinones-Villanueva is on to his next gig, heading to Florida in November to play the older Billy in the play “Billy Elliott.”

As for the best piece of advice he’s received about entering his profession, his response is simply, “Enjoy what you do.”

IF YOU GO Performance tickets for West Side Story are $25-$45

with special discounts available for seniors, students and Dorchester residents. Group discounts for groups of 15 or more are available. To purchase tickets, visit www.fiddleheadtheatre.com or call the box office at 617-229-6494.

“Eyes With Wings,” the title of Arni Cheatham’s photography exhibit at the Piano Craft Gallery, is a metaphor for birds and their superior visual acuity — and also reflects the artist’s approach. Out in nature with a camera, he lets his own eyes “take wing” and then works to share the joyous experience through photographs.

A long-time jazz saxophonist too, Cheatham will be honored Nov. 17 at Hibernian Hall’s “Sparks for Arts” gala with a Community Catalyst Award for his long tenure as a Roxbury-based jazz musician and music educator.

Cheatham spoke with the Banner in the gallery recently about his current exhibit and about life as an artist.

Of all the subjects out there, why do you photograph nature?

Arni Cheatham: I do have other types of images — I do a little street photography, and a little bit of abstract stuff. But when I’m in nature, I’m meditating. I place myself in nature and realize I’m just a small part of the entire world that we live in. It’s good to be in that place. There are a lot of people you run into that are very self-impressed, like, ‘I know it all.’ You get out in nature and hang for a while and realize, no, you don’t know anything!

Do you find nature within the city or do you travel for it?

AC: Well, I don’t have a large budget. The images in this show include a red-tailed hawk in Mount Auburn Cemetery ... a pintail duck right behind Chestnut Hill Mall ... a tulip on Newbury Street. Ninety percent of the time I go out the door, I have a camera with me.

There have been longer journeys.

The puffins were way up in Maine, spitting distance from the Canadian border. There are two here from

See CHEATHAM, page 19

IF YOU GO “Eyes with Wings” runs through Sunday, Oct. 25 at the Piano Craft Gallery, 793

Tremont Street, Boston. Gallery hours: Fri 6–8 p.m., Sat/Sun 12-5 p.m. For more info, call 617.821.7588 or visit http://pianocraftgallery. org. For information on “Sparks for Arts” at Hibernian Hall, see www.madison-park.org or call 617-849-6335.

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 17

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT

Malaysian singer, songwriter Yuna performs at RISE music series

By COLETTE GREENSTEIN Influenced in part by Michael Jackson while growing up in Malaysia, Yuna began singing at the age of seven, and writing poetry at 14 both in Malay and in English.

“I didn’t know those two things could tie in together,” says the singer and songwriter, who’s scheduled to perform at the soldout RISE music series on Thursday at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Calderwood Hall.

She would enter contests, she says, and audition for shows, finally landing a spot on the American Idollike show “One in a Million,” where she was one of the top 40 contestants before being eliminated.

The singer always knew that she could carry a tune. “I wasn’t like a crazy, powerhouse vocalist but I knew I could sing,” she says, but she didn’t yet know her style, how to define her genre or how she should sing. She would often sing Christina Aguilera’s songs but, she says, “I didn’t know how not to do

her style. Those were the things I had to learn very early.”

At 19, she learned how to play the guitar. It was an instant love affair.

“Wow, this is how you write music. This is how you write a song. This is incredible. I’m going to write all my stuff,” the singer/ songwriter recalls thinking. “And that’s how it started.”

A year later, it all came together for Yuna, whose music is a mix of pop, acoustic folk, R&B and hiphop. “It’s really funny,” she says, “how life brings you these kinds of things and you totally don’t realize it.”

Born in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur, Yuna was exposed not only to Malay music but also to American pop, rock, blues, and jazz. Her musical idols also included No Doubt, Nirvana, Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah and Janet Jackson.

After performing in the independent music scene in Malaysia, Yuna decided to head to Los Angeles to break into the music PHOTO: AUTUMN DEWILDE

See YUNA, page 20

Yuna

18 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

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Author Edwidge Danticat to appear at Boston Book Festival

By COLETTE GREENSTEIN “Breath, Eyes, Memory.” “Krik?

Krak!” “The Farming of Bones.”

These are just three of the 11 novels that Edwidge Danticat, who has been writing since age 9, has authored over the past 20 years.

The Haitian-born author came to prominence in 1994 with the mesmerizing “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” about 12 year-old Sophie Caco from the Haitian town of Croix-des-Rosets who is summoned to join her mother Martine in America after knowing her only by a photograph kept on her nightstand.

Danticat, a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, often incorporates stories from her childhood in Haiti as inspiration for her books. She, like her character Sophie, was 12 years old when she was uprooted in 1981 from her native country — where she and her younger brother had been raised by her aunt and uncle — to join her parents in Brooklyn, New York.

“I absolutely draw a lot of it from my own family, from different members of my family, from different generations,” says Danticat in a phone interview.

Danticat’s latest book, “Untwine,” is a return to the young adult genre for the writer.

“It’s really a genre that I love and that I started loving even more when I had my own kid and when my brother’s kids, my nieces and

She started writing for young people at the same time she was writing “Breath, Eyes, Memory.”

She began “Untwine” when she was still in graduate school at Brown University, studying for her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, but put the young adult novel away to concentrate on adult fiction.

Of the connection between the two books, the author says they both draw from different generations of her family. “’Breath, Eyes, Memory,’ these stories would be more aligned with the older generation, with

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nephews, started getting older and becoming teenagers,” says Danticat. “I’ve always been attracted to it and I read a lot of YA books — and now I can read it without hiding it, because I have all these young people in my life.”

Danticat, who will be in town this weekend at the Boston Book Festival, is one of three authors presenting their works at the Emmanuel Sanctuary on Newbury Street at 4 p.m. on Saturday. It’s part of the “YA: Regret and Recovery” session, in which the authors will discuss what it means to forgive or forget the past.

“Untwine” is the author’s third novel for young adults. Her first YA novel, “Behind the Mountains,” was published in 2002, and “Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490” in 2005.

my mother’s generation, with my generation,” she says, “and ‘Untwine’ would be for a second generation of people in my family, who are not like the family in the book. You wouldn’t call the children immigrants. They’re completely assimilated. They have a life here but they have very strong connections to Haiti, to the Haitian-American community and to the kids in Miami.”

Danticat has also written a children’s picture book called “Mama’s Nightingale,” which was published on September 1. It’s a story about a young girl named Saya separated from her mother, who has been sent to an immigration detention center. Through the use of vivid imagery, the book addresses immigration and what happens to families in the process.

As she was writing “Mama’s Nightingale,” Danticat’s children and her nieces and nephews were a great resource for her, she says.

“I ran a couple of concepts by them — what’s possible, what’s not possible. With the picture book, I read it out loud to my niece, my nephew, to my daughter, just to see

See DANTICAT, page 20

ON THE WEB The 7th annual Boston Book Festival features over 175 authors at a variety of locations throughout Boston’s Copley Square October 23-24. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bostonbookfest.org.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHMONT MEDIA

Edwidge Danticat

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 19

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT

Cheatham continued from page 16

Savannah, Georgia. I have a series that I haven’t printed yet from the Pacific Northwest.

Talk about your craft – how do you create these images?

AC: You have to be willing to be patient. Getting that shot [of birds on the beach] at Plum Island took maybe six minutes — but I was out there all day to get that six minutes. Patience is your tool. You have to expect that something good might happen, but even if it doesn’t, just be there.

Birds have a 30-foot fear circle.

You get inside that, they get nervous. First they’ll turn their back to you. And then they’ll fly. But if you get low, you’re less threatening. If you’re very still, they’ll come up to 15 feet from you.

When you lie down on the ground and ‘be the bird,’ it’s a whole different experience — you see the amount of energy it takes them to feed themselves, the running back and forth. A wave comes in, and they run, and the wave goes out, and they go running back and pick up little bits of food.

I’m often asked about camera type, which is 100 percent irrelevant. It’s not about the box, but the person behind the box. What’s more important is my tripod. No matter how stable you think you are, you’re going to [shake]. I embraced digital photography in 2003 or so. For bird photography, you have to shoot a lot of images.

Birds don’t stay still. So economically, I couldn’t do the amount of bird photography I do using film.

When did you take up photography?

How did you learn it?

AC: It was something my father was interested in, when I was growing up in Chicago. He bought me my first camera when I was about 12. He would let me borrow his more advanced cameras, and we’d hang out and look at proof sheets together. And I worked with him in a photo reproduction company for several years. Then I was drafted into the military. A couple of years after I got out, I moved to Boston. When I started doing educational programs here in New England, I needed something dramatic to show kids how a saxophone works, how flutes work, how flutes are made. So I bought some camera gear and made slide shows so I could show them, ‘This is a saxophone. This is a reed. This is how it works.’

All of the sudden I had this gear, and decided to see what else I could shoot. It was kind of what I call the Topsy effect – like, ‘How’d you get so big? I just growed.’ In a formal photography program, after you get past the basics, they’re teaching you to see.

I taught myself how to see. I’m still in the process. And I love it.

You turned 71 recently. How are you a different photographer now than at 25 or 30?

AC: You develop a body of experience that informs what you do next. I have some older work that I may not even show any more. You refine yourself. As time goes by, I’m also taking measure of the fact that it takes more effort and energy to get out in the field than it did 10 years ago, so I have to pick my [photo shoots] more carefully.

How does it feel to put your art on display?

AC: They say the difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is the size of the professional’s wastebasket.

I edit ruthlessly. From the click to the print you see on the wall, I do everything myself. I do my own framing and matting, I do my own printing, and the burning and dodging, cropping, whatever it takes to make an image really sing. When I’m soloing jazz on stage at 50 miles per hour I may make some mistakes, but here I have an opportunity to examine the output first and say, ‘This is as close to perfect as I can get it.’

What do you want viewers to take away?

AC: First and foremost, as I mentioned, being out in the field is an exercise in remaining small in the greater scheme of things.

It’s not about me or my ego. I have a book of musical compositions, and inside it says, ‘The most fun is when I get to hold the horn while God plays.’ That’s where I’m coming from musically — it is a privilege to be up there and be a conduit through which something happens. And hopefully it’ll bring a moment of joy to the audience.

It’s the same thing here. I want to give the audience, whether it’s a musical or visual audience, a moment of joy.

PHOTO: SANDRA LARSON

Roxbury photographer and jazz musician Arni Cheatham. His exhibit “Eyes With Wings” is at Piano Craft Gallery through Oct. 25.

Art is Life itself!

10/22 Spoken Word Artist & Co-Host of “If You Can Speak It” D. Ruff + Open Mic 10/29 Spoken Word Artist Queen Peleiah Auset + StoryTellers Sumner & Linda McLean + Open Mic 10/22 Nov 5 Fulani Haynes Jazz Collaborative + Spoken Word Artist Jha D Williams +Open Mic Program Starts at 7pm - Come early for dinner

Coming to the House Slam!

10/23 Tim “Toaster” Henderson Program starts at 6:30pm

Join us for A Sweeter Life fundraiser on Sunday Nov 8!

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20 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

BRA Board approves Whittier St., Melnea Cass Partners projects BHA redevelopment project, new hotel get green light

By YAWU MILLER In September the Boston Housing Authority narrowly missed approval of its HUD Choice Grant application — which called for a $300 million redevelopment of the Whittier Street public housing development and its surrounding neighborhood.

The BHA application placed sixth in a national competition where only five cities were selected for the grants.

Last week, however, the Boston Redevelopment Authority board gave the BHA the green light to begin phase one of the project — a $44 million tear-down of one of Whittier Street’s eight-story buildings on Cabot Street and the reconstruction of 68 affordable units in two new buildings, to be sited along Melnea Cass Boulevard.

“It’s full steam ahead,” said

BHA Director Bill McGonagle.

“We still have a vision for the Whittier Street community and the Whittier Street community still has a vision for its future.

HUD’s decision certainly makes things more complicated.”

The BHA is teaming up with the Madison Park Development Corporation, which will build the new housing on land along Melnea Cass Boulevard. The buildings will include the 68 affordable units to replace those in the Cabot Street building and 22 additional units of moderate-income and market rate housing.

Madison Park Project Manager Sophia Transtamar said the CDC has not yet determined the exact mix of affordability for the 22 new units. By orienting the new buildings toward Melnea Cass Boulevard, Transtamar said Madison Park hopes to revitalize the long-desolate streetscape.

“We’re hoping that with the

development of these sites, we will make Melnea Cass more inviting at the street level,” she said.

Unfinished project

The BRA cleared 900 units of housing from Melnea Cass Boulevard in 1966 as part of a planned Inner Belt Highway that would have looped from the current Massachusetts Avenue exit on Interstate 93 and cut through the Fenway and Central Square, eventually reconnecting to the interstate in Somerville. While that highway project ultimately was derailed by community protests — along with a planned extension of Interstate 95 through Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury — much of the land that was cleared for the project has remained vacant for the last 50 or so years.

Another project approved at last week’s BRA meeting was Melnea Cass Partners, LLC’s plans for a hotel at the corner

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of the boulevard and Washington Street. The proposed hotel, which would sit directly across Melnea Cass Boulevard from the new Tropical Foods supermarket, will include a 108-room hotel, 50 units of rental housing, and 8,000 square feet of retail space.

The hotel will be a Residence Inn franchise, part of Marriott International’s portfolio of brands.

Yuna

continued from page 17

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PHOTO COURTESY MADISON PARK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The Madison Park Development Corporation is planning to build two affordable apartment buildings on Melnea Cass Boulevard.

industry. It was only a matter of time before she was signed to Fader record label in 2011. The label paired her up with Grammy-winning producer Pharrell Williams, who produced the midtempo groove pop/R&B-flavored song “Live Your Life” for Yuna’s self-titled album in 2012.

Of her experience working with the music superstar, Yuna says, “I’m really grateful that I got the opportunity, and I’m really grateful to him, because he was practically a platform for me, like artists use YouTube. When I put my music out, his fans were probably the first

Danticat

continued from page 18 if it was keeping their attention,” she says. She adds, “I find kids these days are a lot more sophisticated than we give them credit for. Even at the picture book level with some very difficult subjects and even with subjects that might be too much for them, they’re right on. I would read something to my daughter and she would say ‘You know mom, people don’t say that.

Kids don’t say that.’”

Family is key in many, if not

The project hit a road bump earlier this year when community activists raised opposition to the Residence Inn operator’s refusal to allow workers to unionize. The BRA agreed to greenlight the project after the hotel operator agreed to pay workers a minimum of $18 an hour and pay $400,000 into a job training program. fans. It was a very special experience for me.” She adds, “I was in Miami a week to work with him.

He’s a really cool guy. He’s super sweet and super hard-working. I learned a lot from it.”

Up next for Yuna is a new album set for release in January 2016. She says she’s excited about the project, about her maturity as an artist, and about working with Fisticuffs, the production duo behind singers Miguel and Jhene Aiko.

“It’s pop, urban, [with] a little bit of singer/songwriting value to it,” says Yuna. She believes that when the album comes out, it will offer her fans and new audiences a chance to see her as the woman she has become. “Not some kid from Malaysia, but a musician from L.A..” all, of Danticat’s writings. When asked which novel had a special meaning for her, she says her alltime favorite is her memoir called “Brother, I’m Dying,” which won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award.

“I think because it tells the story of my family and their place in Haiti, and a place in my life,” she explains. “I feel like it’s the one book, of all the books that I’ve written, that my grandchildren or great-grandchildren when they sit back and look at themselves, will understand themselves, their lives, or the sense of how we got here.”

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Thursday, Thursday,October October22, 22,2015 2015••BAY BAYSTATE STATEBANNER BANNER••21 21

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charters LEGAL

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continued from page 1

reimbursements required by law are being increasingly under-funded — this year by more than 50 percent.

This ongoing disparity has translated into shortfalls of $12.2 million in FY15 and $18.6 million in FY16, for Boston alone,” Walsh said.

Because charter funding and reimbursements are channeled through the state’s Chapter 70 aid to local school districts, many point to Boston’s diminished share of that revenue.

“Last year the City of Boston received $211 million from the state,” City Councilor Tito Jackson told the Banner. “One hundred and four million dollars went to 8,500 students in charter schools. The other $107 million went to 57,000 students in Boston public schools.

The funding formula is not fair and it leaves the Boston Public Schools with a deficit every year.”

Walsh proposed that the state reimburse local districts sending students to charter schools to the tune of 100 percent of the funds lost to charters in the first year a student attends a charter, 50 percent in the second year and 25 percent in the third year.

“The state must be committed to charter school growth not just in principle, but as a financial priority, in the same way that cities are embracing a changing portfolio of schools,” he testified.

State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry agreed with Walsh’s assessment.

“It’s really important we focus on funding,” she said. “If there are new charters, but no new money being put in the system, it’s going to hurt the district schools.”

The larger battle

Last week’s hearing comes as charter school supporters are collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would eliminate the cap on new charter schools in Massachusetts. The New Yorkbased pro-charter school organization, Families for Excellent

LEGAL

GOVERNOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY JOANNE DECARO

Gov. Charlie Baker announced his legislation to raise the cap on charter schools in front of the Brooke Charter School in Mattapan.

Schools, opened a Massachusetts office in Boston last year and has hired seven staff members.

At the time, the state Senate resisted calls to raise the cap, citing the same lack of funding Walsh referenced in his remarks last week. Rep. Russell Holmes and Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz advanced a compromise bill that would have tied raising the cap to the state fully funding reimbursements to school districts, but that measure met with stiff resistance from charter school supporters, who then vowed to file a ballot petition to lift the cap.

In March this year, three attorneys from prominent Boston law firms filed a lawsuit charging that the current statewide cap on charters violates students’ civil rights by limiting their access to quality education.

The state’s teachers unions and several Boston parent groups entered the fray, organizing opposition to the ballot question. The Massachusetts Teachers Association, which represents teachers in suburban, small town and rural districts, and American Federation of Teachers, which represents Boston teachers and those on other larger cities, are funding community-based organizations to advocate on behalf of school districts.

Boston’s looming battle mirrors similar pushes for more charters in major cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia and Los Angeles — cities where the charters are pushing past 20 percent of school enrollment.

As in other cities, the battle in Boston comes down to funding.

“The underlying issue I have

Bump said at the hearing. “These concerns have been part of the charter school debate for over 20 years, and we hoped that an examination of the data, using government auditing standards, might lead to conclusions that could be accepted and used by all sides in the debate. As the audit indicates, however, we could not answer those questions because we found the data collected and published

by DESE to be unreliable.”

Bump also cautioned lawmakers against relying on Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data, including the 37,000 students said to be on charter school waitlists — she cited a 2014 audit her office conducted, which found that the state agency had not ensured the reliability of data it received from schools.

“More than 20 years after the passage of the law authorizing public funds to be spent on private schools, the debate about charter schools is still largely a philosophical one, and the battles in which the sides engage are still determined almost entirely by political power, not by evidence,” Bump testified. “After two decades and the transfer of millions of public dollars into the hands of private charter schools, there is still little more than anecdotal evidence of outcomes to support the contention that charter schools are better suited to meet the needs of our students and charter schools are still experiments.”

Jackson told the Banner that while charter schools often are cited for yielding higher test scores, by other metrics their outcomes aren’t much different from district schools.

“As many of these schools state, the objective is for kids to end up in college,” he said. “The most recent data shows that Boston Public Schools students enter college at a rate of 51 percent and charter schools at 46 percent.”

Jackson said district school graduates were also more likely to graduate from college than charter school graduates.

about the Legislature raising the cap is that people are advocating for only one group of students to receive more funding,” Jackson said. “It’s like having twins, but only advocating for one of them.”

Questionable outcomes

While charter school advocates in Massachusetts point to higher test scores at charter schools, Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump said a 2014 audit of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education called the state’s data into question.

“We especially wanted to know whether the student bodies of charters shared the demographic characteristics of the sending districts, as the law requires, and whether there were measurable differences in the academic outcomes of the competing systems,”

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY 100 SUMMER ST., SUITE 1200 BOSTON, MA 02110 NOTICE TO BIDDERS Electronic proposals for the following project will be received through the internet using Bid Express until the date and time stated below, and will be posted on www.bidx.com forthwith after the bid submission deadline. No paper copies of bids will be accepted. Bidders must have a valid digital ID issued by the Authority in order to bid on projects. Bidders need to apply for a digital ID with Bid Express at least 14 days prior to a scheduled bid opening date.

Electronic bids for MBTA Contract No. H62CN02: REPAIR/REHABILITATION OF BEVERLY DRAW BRIDGE OVER DANVERS RIVER BEVERLY/SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, CONTRACT No. 2 – SWING SPAN, (CLASS 1A, MARINE GENERAL CONSTRUCTION and CLASS 4C, MOVABLE BRIDGES AND PROJECT VALUE – $16,759,123.18), can be submitted at www.bidx.com until two o’clock (2:00 p.m.) on November 17, 2015. Immediately thereafter, in a designated room, the Bids will be opened and read publicly.

Work consists of the complete superstructure replacement of the existing steel Swing Span with a new steel Swing Span, along with its related mechanical and electrical components. Modifications to the existing center pivot pier to accommodate the new Swing Span superstructure. Partial demolition and reconstruction of the existing pivot pier deck and existing access stairway, along with demolition of existing mechanical and electrical components.

Construction of a new electric room platform and generator support platform a top of the pivot pier deck. Demolition and modification to the existing control house consisting of architectural, electrical and mechanical items.

Dredging for and installation of seven new submersed conduits, along with protective backfill, along the bottom of the Danvers River between the control house and center pivot pier. Miscellaneous repairs and replacements to existing navigation channel timber fender systems and navigation lighting system. Environmental permitting and controls as required to conform with minimum requirements on Federal, State and Local needs. For a more detailed scope of work, see section 01010.

Bidders’ attention is directed to Appendix 1, Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Insure Equal Employment Opportunity; and to Appendix 2, Supplemental Equal Employment Opportunity, Anti- Discrimination, and Affirmative Action Program in the specifications. In addition, pursuant to the requirements of Appendix 3, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Participation Provision, Bidders must submit an assurance with their Bids that they will make sufficient and reasonable efforts to meet the stated DBE goal of seven (7) percent.

Additional information and instructions on how to submit a bid are available at:

LEGAL http://www.mbta.com/business_center/bidding_solicitations/current_solic itations/ On behalf of the MBTA, thank you for your time and interest in responding to this Notice to Bidders Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Francis A. DePaola, P.E. General Manager of the MBTA

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS CLASSIFIED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION OF CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE Sealed proposals submitted on a form furnished by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (DCAMM) and clearly identified as a bid, endorsed with the name and address of the bidder, the project and contract number, will be received at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108, no later than the date and time specified and will forthwith be publicly opened and read aloud.

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Every Filed Sub-Bidder must submit a valid Sub-Bidder Certificate of Eligibility with its bid and must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance in the category of sub-bid work for which they bid.

General Bids at 2:00 PM:

And the following Filed Sub-Bids: Electrical E.C.C: $2,504,092.00 This project is scheduled for 427 calendar days to substantial completion and in general includes: renovation/replacement of main electrical distribution to multiple buildings on the Massachusetts College of Art and Design campus.

A Pre-Bid meeting will be held on Friday, October 30, 2015 at 9:00 AM at MCA Tower Building, Corner of Huntington Avenue and Evans Way.

October 15, 2015

Sub-Bids at 12:00 Noon:

LEGAL

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

Every General Bidder must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance for the category of work and for no less than the bid price plus all add alternates of this project, if applicable.

The Category of Work is:

General Building Construction

Mass. State Project No.

MCA1401 Contract No. HC1

Massachusetts College of Art and Design – Switchgear Replacement Boston, MA

Minimum rates of wages to be paid on the project have been determined by the Commissioner of the Division of Occupational Safety under the provisions of Sections 26 and 27, Chapter 149 of the General Laws. Wage rates are listed in the contract form portion of specification book.

Each general bid and sub-bid proposal must be secured by an accompanying deposit of 5% of the total bid amount, including all alternates, in the form of a bid bond, in cash, a certified, treasurer’s, or cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company made payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The bidding documents may be examined at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance Bid Room, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108 Tel (617) 727-4003. Paper copies may be obtained by depositing a company check, treasurer’s check, cashier’s check, bank check or money order in the sum of $100.00 payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. No personal checks or cash will be accepted as deposits. Refunds will be made to those returning the documents in satisfactory condition on or before DECEMBER 9, 2015 (ten business days after the opening of General Bids) otherwise the deposit shall be the property of the Commonwealth. CDs available for this project at no charge.

WE DO NOT MAIL PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS. Messenger and other type of pick-up and delivery services are the agents of the bidder and the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance assumes no responsibility for delivery or receipt of the documents. Bidders are encouraged to take advantage of a rotating credit plans and specifications deposit program initiated by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance to encourage the easy accessibility of documents to contractors.

Carol W. Gladstone COMMISSIONER

22 • Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS CLASSIFIED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION OF CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE

Sealed proposals submitted on a form furnished by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance (DCAMM) and clearly identified as a bid, endorsed with the name and address of the bidder, the project and contract number, will be received at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108, no later than the date and time specified and will forthwith be publicly opened and read aloud.

Sub-Bids at 12:00 Noon:

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Every Filed Sub-Bidder must submit a valid Sub-Bidder Certificate of Eligibility with its bid and must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance in the category of sub-bid work for which they bid.

General Bids at 2:00 PM:

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Every General Bidder must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance for the category of work and for no less than the bid price plus all add alternates of this project, if applicable.

The Category of Work is:

General Building Construction

Mass. State Project No.

BSB1405 Contract No. HC1

LEGAL Bids will be received until 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 10, 2015. Quotes may be hand delivered or mailed to 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, or emailed to johandley@medfordhousing.org.

THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE: An important court proceeding that may affect your rights has been scheduled. If you do not understand this notice or other court papers, please contact an attorney for legal advice.

Bid documents will be available on October 19, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. to be picked up at 121 Riverside Avenue or can be downloaded from the Medford Housing Authority website at www.medfordhousing.org. NOTE: each bid must acknowledge the number of addenda issued. All Addenda will be posted on the website.

Date: October 9, 2015

A walk-thru will be held Thurs., 10/29/15 @ 10:00 a.m. starting at 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA.

The Medford Housing Authority Board of Commissioners will award the Contract and the MHA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, or parts thereof.

AA/EOE

And the following Filed Sub-Bids: Miscellaneous & Ornamental Iron; Lathing & Plastering; Marble; Elevators; HVAC; Electrical.

This project is scheduled for 870 calendar days to substantial completion and in general includes: the upgrade of fifteen (15) elevators and various elements of their finishes, mechanical rooms, head houses, penthouses and access.

A Pre-Bid meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM at State House, Boston, MA. Meet in Ashburton Park Entrance lobby.

Minimum rates of wages to be paid on the project have been determined by the Commissioner of the Division of Occupational Safety under the provisions of Sections 26 and 27, Chapter 149 of the General Laws. Wage rates are listed in the contract form portion of specification book.

Each general bid and sub-bid proposal must be secured by an accompanying deposit of 5% of the total bid amount, including all alternates, in the form of a bid bond, in cash, a certified, treasurer’s, or cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company made payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The bidding documents may be examined at the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance Bid Room, One Ashburton Place, 1st Floor, Room 107, Boston, MA 02108 Tel (617) 727-4003. Copies may be obtained by depositing a company check, treasurer’s check, cashier’s check, bank check or money order in the sum of $150.00 payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. No personal checks or cash will be accepted as deposits. Refunds will be made to those returning the documents in satisfactory condition on or before DECEMBER 14, 2015 (ten business days after the opening of General Bids) otherwise the deposit shall be the property of the Commonwealth.

WE DO NOT MAIL PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS. Messenger and other type of pick-up and delivery services are the agents of the bidder and the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance assumes no responsibility for delivery or receipt of the documents. Bidders are encouraged to take advantage of a rotating credit plans and specifications deposit program initiated by the Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance to encourage the easy accessibility of documents to contractors.

Carol W. Gladstone COMMISSIONER PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY SOLICITATION FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES MBTA CONTRACT Nos. AMPPS01-02 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is soliciting engineering services via a Request for Qualifications/Proposals (RFQ/P) for Program Support Services related to the Asset Management Program on a task order basis. This contract shall be funded by both Federal and Operating funds to the amount of $10,000,000, with a not to exceed value of $5,000,000 for each of the two contracts, has been budgeted for this project.

Services will include but not be limited to Asset Management, software development and integration, with a focus on infrastructure, consulting and project management support in transit and/or commuter rail facilities and systems, including new, existing and rehabilitated Buildings and Structures, Signals, Communications, Track, Power, Systems Engineering and other disciplines associated with Asset Management, through task order contract services.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES The Brookline Housing Authority is soliciting proposals for the professional services of an engineer for the replacement of boilers at 2 federally assisted developments: Walnut Street Apartments, 22 High Street, Brookline, Massachusetts and Colonel Floyd Apartments, Marion Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.

Services will include design, cost estimates, preparation of bidding/contract documents, assistance in bidding, and contract administration. The construction budget is $285,000. Electronic bidding through BidDocsOnline. com is planned.

Proposals must be received by 4:30 PM, November 16, 2015. A briefing session and site visit is scheduled for November 3, 2015 at 2:30 PM at 22 High Street, Brookline. Attendance is not mandatory. To obtain an application package contact Sharon Cowan, Director of Modernization, preferably by email to scowan@brooklinehousing.org or call 617-731-9551.

MBE/WBE and Section 3 business concerns are encouraged to apply.

SUFFOLK Division

To the named Respondent and all other interested persons, a petition has been filed by James A. Alston of Roxbury, MA in the above captioned matter alleging that Ella Mae Alston is in need of a Guardian and requesting that James A. Alston of Roxbury, MA (or some other suitable person) be appointed as Guardian to serve Without Surety on the bond.

The petition asks the court to determine that the Respondant is incapacitated, that the appointment of a Guardian is necessary, that the proposed Guardian is appropriate. The petition is on file with this court and may contain a request for certain specific authority.

You have the right to object to this proceeding. If you wish to do so, you or your attorney must file a written appearance at this court on or before 10:00 A.M. on the return date of 12/17/2015. This day is NOT a hearing date, but a deadline date by which you have to file the written appearance if you object to the petition. If you fail to file the written appearance by the return date, action may be taken in this matter without further notice to you. In addition to filing the written appearance, you or your attorney must file a written affidavit stating the specific facts and grounds of your objection within 30 days after the return date.

IMPORTANT NOTICE The outcome of this proceeding may limit or completely take away the above-named person’s right to make decisions about personal affairs or financial affairs or both. The above-named person has the right to ask for a lawyer. Anyone may make this request on behalf of the above-named person.

If the above-named person cannot afford a lawyer, one may be appointed at State expense.

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

Date: October 13, 2015 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU15P1861GD

In the interests of Lisandro Rafael Vasquez of Dorchester, MA Minor

This is a request for letters of interest to obtain the request for qualifications and proposals. The MBTA reserves the right to cancel this procurement or to reject any or all Statements of Qualifications and Proposals.

NOTICE AND ORDER: Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor

Francis A. DePaola, P.E. General Manager

INVITATION FOR BIDS MEDFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY

1.

NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Hearing Date/Time: A hearing on a Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor filed on 07/30/2015 by Luz N. Sanchez of Dorchester, MA will be held 11/19/2015 09:00 AM Review Hearing Located at 24 New Chardon Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02114 ~ Probation Depatment.

2.

The Medford Housing Authority (the awarding authority) invites sealed bids for Trash Removal and Recycling at four (4) Medford Housing Authority Developments, 121 Riverside Avenue, 22 Allston Street, 15 Canal Street, and 35 Bradlee Road, all in Medford MA, in accordance with the documents prepared by the Medford Housing Authority.

Response to Petition: You may respond by filing a written response to the Petition or by appearing in person at the hearing. If you choose to file a written response, you need to:

File the original with the Court; and Mail a copy to all interested parties at least five (5) business days before the hearing.

The Project consists of: trash removal and recycling at the above four (4) developments.

3.

Counsel for the Minor: The minor (or an adult on behalf of the minor) has the right to request that counsel be appointed for the minor.

4.

Presence of the Minor at Hearing: A minor over age 14 has the right to be present at any hearing, unless the Court finds that it is not in the minor’s best interests.

Estimated cost: $33,000.00 per year Bids are subject to M.G.L.c30B, and to Wage Determinations under the Service Contract Act, U.S. Department of Labor.

1.

NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Hearing Date/Time: A hearing on a Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor filed on 07/30/2015 by Luz N. Sanchez of Dorchester, MA will be held 11/19/2015 09:00 AM Review Hearing Located at 24 New Chardon Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02114 ~ Probation Department.

2.

Response to Petition: You may respond by filing a written response to the Petition or by appearing in person at the hearing. If you choose to file a written response, you need to:

File the original with the Court; and Mail a copy to all interested parties at least five (5) business days before the hearing.

3.

Counsel for the Minor: The minor (or an adult on behalf of the minor) has the right to request that counsel be appointed for the minor.

4.

Presence of the Minor at Hearing: A minor over age 14 has the right to be present at any hearing, unless the Court finds that it is not in the minor’s best interests.

THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE: An important court proceeding that may affect your rights has been scheduled. If you do not understand this notice or other court papers, please contact an attorney for legal advice.

Date: October 9, 2015

Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU15P1863GD In the interests of Idalys J. Vasquez of Dorchester, MA Minor

NOTICE AND ORDER: Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor 1.

In the matter of Ella Mae Alston Of Roxbury, MA RESPONDENT Alleged Incapacitated Person

The complete request for qualifications and proposals can be found on the MBTA website. Please use the following link:

Stephanie Pollack Mass DOT Secretary & CEO

NOTICE AND ORDER: Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor

Docket No. SU15P2480GD

Citation Giving Notice of Petition for Appointment of Guardian for Incapacitated Person Pursuant to G.L. c. 190B, §5-304

Docket No. SU15P1862GD In the interests of Isaiah Vasquez of Dorchester, MA Minor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department

This contract will be Federally Funded. The DBE Participation Goal for this contract will be 13%.

http://www.mbta.com/business_center/bidding_solicitations/current_solic itations/

SUFFOLK Division

Additional copies of the Specifications and the Conditions of the bid, together with the printed form on which bids must be made, may be downloaded at www.medfordhousing.org under the “Construction” tab.

The work to be performed under this contract is subject to the requirements of Section 3 of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701u). For Section 3 questions only, please contact Barbara Fleming at 781-396-7200 x108.

Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department

For questions (taken until November 5, 2015) call Joan O’Handley at 781396-7200 x114.

State House Upgrade & Replacement of Elevators Boston, MA

E.C.C: $11,186,988.00

LEGAL

NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Hearing Date/Time: A hearing on a Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor filed on 07/30/2015 by Luz N. Sanchez of Dorchester, MA will be held 11/19/2015 09:00 AM Review Hearing Located at 24 New Chardon Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02114 ~ Probation Department.

2.

Response to Petition: You may respond by filing a written response to the Petition or by appearing in person at the hearing. If you choose to file a written response, you need to:

File the original with the Court; and Mail a copy to all interested parties at least five (5) business days before the hearing.

3.

Counsel for the Minor: The minor (or an adult on behalf of the minor) has the right to request that counsel be appointed for the minor.

4.

Presence of the Minor at Hearing: A minor over age 14 has the right to be present at any hearing, unless the Court finds that it is not in the minor’s best interests.

THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE: An important court proceeding that may affect your rights has been scheduled. If you do not understand this notice or other court papers, please contact an attorney for legal advice.

Date: October 9, 2015

Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU96P1925

Citation Giving Notice of Petition for Resignation of a Guardian of an Incapacitated Person In the Interests of Darren Harris Formerly of Dorchester, MA And Now of Mattapan, MA RESPONDENT Incapacitated Person/Protected Person To the named Respondent and all other interested persons, a petition has been filed by Darnell Harris of Mattapan, MA in the above captioned matter requesting that the court: Accept the Resignation of the Guardian of the Respondent.

The petition asks the court to make a determination that the Guardian and/ or Conservator should be allowed to resign; or should be removed for good cause; or that the Guardianship and/or Conservatorship is no longer necessary and therefore should be terminated. The original petition is on file with the court.

You have the right to object to this proceeding. If you wish to do so, you or your attorney must file a written appearance and objection at this Court on or before 10:00 A.M. on the return date of 12/03/2015. This day is NOT a hearing date, but a deadline date by which you have to file the written appearance if you object to the petition. If you fail to file the written appearance by the return date, action may be taken in this matter without further notice to you. In addition to filing the written appearance, you or your attorney must file a written affidavit stating the specific facts and grounds of your objection within 30 days after the return date.

IMPORTANT NOTICE The outcome of this proceeding may limit or completely take away the avoenamed person’s right to make decisions about personal affairs or financial affairs or both. The above-named person has the right to ask for a lawyer.

Anyone may make this request on bhlaf of the above-named person cannot afford a lawyer, one may be appointed at State expense.

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

Date: September 24, 2015 Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

Thursday, October 22, 2015 • BAY STATE BANNER • 23

BANNER CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU15D1917DR

Divorce Summons by Publication and Mailing Handal Saint-Hilaire

vs.

Youseline Saint-Hilaire

To the Defendant: The Plaintiff has filed a Complaint for Divorce requesting that the Court grant a divorce for irretrievable breakdown of the marriage under G.L. c.

208, Section 1 B.

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

Maintenance Technician:

Central Transportation Planning Staff Assistant Editor

Full time. Experienced in two or more phases of building maintenance repairs including boilers, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, plastering, locks; must be dependable and self-motivated with excellent customer service skills. Will be required to provide scheduled nights and weekends coverage. Bilingual is a plus - transportation is a must. Forward resumes to Human Resources Department, United Housing Management LLC, 530 Warren Street, Dorchester, Ma 02121- Fax: 617-442-7231 no later than October 30, 2015 United Housing Management LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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.

You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon: Handal Saint-Hilaire, 55 Deering Rd. #11, Mattapan, MA 02126 your answer, if any, on or before 12/10/2015. 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.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

@baystatebanner

For details about this position, please visit www.bostonmpo.org. Send your resume and cover letter to Recruitment Director, CTPS, 10 Park Plaza, Ste. 2150, Boston, MA 02116, or recruitment@ctps.org. Applicants must have legal status for working in the US. AA/EOE

GET READY FOR

A Great Office Job! Train for Administrative, Financial

Services, Health Insurance Customer Service & Medical Office jobs.

Witness, Hon. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.

Date: Septemer 25, 2015

Felix D. Arroyo Register of Probate

The Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is seeking an Assistant Editor for its busy Editorial Group. This individual will help with all aspects of the editorial group’s functions, with the goal of assuming increased responsibilities over time.

Quinsigamond Community College is extending searches for:

DIRECTOR OF NURSE EDUCATION

Work in hospitals, colleges, insurance agencies, banks, businesses, government offices, health insurance call centers, and more!

YMCA Training, Inc. is recruiting training candidates now!

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.

FULL-TIME FACULTY, NURSING Interested candidates should visit our website www.QCC.edu/human-resources for a complete job description, requirements and application procedures.

Applicants must apply online for consideration.

QCC is an equal opportunity affirmative action college supporting diversity.

Call today to schedule an Information Session: 617-542-1800

www.QCC.edu

REAL ESTATE

Parker Hill Apartments Brand New Renovated Apartment Homes

Waltham Housing Authority

Wollaston Manor

110 23032-6 POND STREET Ad #: WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS Publication: Bay State Banner02451-4505 TEL: (781) 894-3357; TDD: (781) 894-3357; FAX: (781) 894-7595 Run Date: 10/15/15 Section: Educational & an Health The Waltham (MA) Housing Authority seeks experienced and qualified housing administrator for the full time position of Cost: $200.00 +125 internet Executive Director. The Executive Director will be responsible for Size: 2 col x 2.5 inches the administration and operations of several government housing

91 Clay Street Quincy, MA 02170

Senior Living At It’s Best

Stainless Steel Appliances New Kitchen Cabinets Hardwood Floors Updated Bathroom Custom Accent Wall Painting Free Parking Free Wi-Fi in lobby Modern Laundry Facilities

A senior/disabled/ handicapped community

programs including 265 units of Federal Elderly/Disabled Housing; 295 units of State Family Housing; 219 units of State Elderly/Disabled Housing; 2 Barrier-Free Houses; 4 Developmentally Disabled Group Homes; 450 Section 8 vouchers and 35 State rental Vouchers.

0 BR units = $1,027/mo 1 BR units = $1,101/mo All utilities included.

Call Sandy Miller,

Two Bedrooms Starting at $2200

Property Manager

#888-691-4301

888-842-7945

Program Restrictions Apply.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BANNER call (617) 261-4600 • baystatebanner.com

Want to Live in Weston, Watertown, Stoughton and other Metro West CD Communities?

Join Metro West CD’s Ready Renter Program to stay up-to-date about affordable housing opportunities in these, and other Metro West CD communities.

65% AMI

80% AMI

90% AMI

100% AMI

1-Person

$39,650

$48,800

$54,900

$68,950

2-Person

$43,350

$55,800

$62,800

$78,800

3-Person

$51,000

$62,750

$70,600

$88,650

4- Person

$56,650

$69,700

$78,400

$98,500

5-Person

$61,200

$75,300

$84,700

$106,380

6-Person

$65,750

$80,900

$91,000

$114,260

Sample rent for two-bedroom apartment* 65% AMI

80% AMI

90% AMI

100% AMI

$1,275

$1,569

$1,764

$2,216

Are you interested in a

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

Program eligibility includes: • • • • •

Have a high school diploma or equivalent Have a verifiable reference of 1 year from a former employer Pass assessments in reading, language, and computer skills Have CORI clearance Be legally authorized to work in the United States

For more information and to register for the next Open House please visit our website at www.prohope.org/openhouse.htm or call 617-442-1880 ext. 218.

The Executive Director is responsible for providing staff leadership to ensure compliance with Board policy and State and Federal regulations. A bachelor’s degree is required plus a minimum of eight years management experience in public housing, non-profit housing, community development or a closely related field, supervising a staff of ten or more. Working knowledge of housing finance, management practices, maintenance systems of public or private housing and laws regulating State and Federal housing programs is required. Candidates must have strong computer, verbal, writing and problem solving skills and the ability to communicate effectively with the Board of Commissioners, Federal, State and local officials, residents and people of various socio-economic and diverse backgrounds. A PHA or similar certification is preferred but may be obtained within one year of hiring. An advanced degree in a related field may substitute for up to 2 years experience. The successful candidate must pass CORI and a pre-employment physical to determine whether he/she can meet the job responsibilities with or without a reasonable accommodation.

Salary is commensurate with experience and education and subject to DHCD salary guidelines and HUD regulations. This position will remain open until filled.

Please submit a cover letter and resume to ED Search Committee, Waltham Housing Authority, 110 Pond Street, Waltham, MA 02451 or by E-mail to: walhous@tiac.net Waltham Housing Authority is an equal opportunity employer.

*Including utilities or utility allowance; actual rents will vary Applicants will be notified of available units as they come up for lease.

Studio, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom units are available in existing developments and/or projects currently under construction.

General Info. Session: November 4, 2015 at 7:00 pm. Call Robyn for details. For an application and additional information contact Robyn at Metro West CD 617-923-3505 x 5 or visit: www.metrowestcd.org

HELP WANTED

Central Transportation Planning Staff Transportation Planner/Traffic Engineer The Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is seeking a Traffic Engineer. This individual will be involved in a variety of assignments including transportation planning, traffic engineering, and transportation policy evaluation.

For details about this position, please visit www.bostonmpo.org. Send resume and cover letter to Recruitment Director, CTPS, 10 Park Plaza, Ste. 2150, Boston, MA 02116, or recruitment@ctps.org. Applicants must have the legal status for working in the US. AA/EOE

ADVERTISE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS (617) 261- 4600 x 7799

ads@bannerpub.com

FIND RATE INFORMATION AT

www.baystatebanner.com /advertise

Tuesday, Oc TOber 27 10 - 4PM The Colonnade hoTel 120 hunTingTon ave., BosTon, Ma

ParticiPating comPanies Acushnet Company

G-2 Secure Staff

Apollo International

Keolis

Arbour Health System

Kelly Services

Bay Cove Human Services

Massport

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium

Boston VNA

Old Town Trolley Tours of Boston

Partners Healthcare at Home/ Spaulding Rehabilitation Network Riverside Community Care Road Scholar VA Boston Healthcare System Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc.

CityPsych Wellness Inc.

WGBH

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AND MANY, MANY MORE

*There is no cost or obligation to attend. Business attire is requested. The Workplace Diversity Job Fair is conducted in accordance with federal laws advocating employment of all individuals. The Workplace Diversity Job Fair is handicapped accessible. If special arrangements are required, please call (617) 619-6168, no later than 2 days prior to the event.

Freeze Frame Black Boston 2015 “Time for an Inclusive Economy” Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 6:00-9:00pm Prince Hall Grand Lodge 24 Washington Street, Grove Hall

COMMUNITY MEETING AND PRESENTATION Black average assets

$700*

White average assets

$256,000* (*Color of Wealth in Boston, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a joint publication with Duke University and the New School, March 2015)

We do not need reports …we already know! We have not gotten our share of the pie. It is time. Black businesses and residents must be a part of the economic boom. We have a plan! We have tried everything else, let us try unity! We need you with us.

Organized by Terryl Calloway, Kelley Chunn, Cheryl Crawford, Jamarhl Crawford, Louis Elisa, Priscilla Flint, Yvens Germain, Mukiya Baker Gomez, Gail Jackson, Darnell Johnson, Brother Kinney, Leonard Lee, Tracey Litthcutt, Glynn Lloyd, Sister Virginia Morrison, Brandon Ransom, Darryl Settles, Dianne Wilkerson, Teri Williams and many others who care and are committed.