Monthly Archives: January 2012
Family Resource Center to open
JACKSON SQ.—A new family resource center is readying its doors for a Jan. 20 opening in Jackson Square. The expected opening of the Tree of Life/Arbol de Vida Coalition Family Resource Center (FRC) at the Webb building at Centre Street and Columbus Avenue will help residents address issues of housing, lack of food and...
Fallen Marine’s brother kills self
A brother of the fallen Marine for whom the Jamaica Plain post office was renamed has committed suicide, reportedly due to grief over his sibling’s 2004 death in Iraq. Brian Luis Arredondo, 24, took his own life in Norwood on Dec. 19, according to a statement from his father Carlos and stepmother Melida. Brian...
WRCNA head dies
Bruce A. Wallin, 63, of Jamaica Plain died Dec. 29, 2011. Wallin co-founded the West Roxbury Courthouse Neighborhood Association (WRCNA) and was an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University. He was the author of the books “Taxation: Myths and Realities” and “From Revenue Sharing to Deficit Sharing: General Revenue Sharing and Cities.”...
Condo plan riles neighbors
SOUTH ST.—A plan to replace the law office at 71 South St. with a three-story, five-unit condo building is riling neighbors, who call it too dense. Attorney Peter Fenn was seeking multiple significant zoning variances for the plan at the Dec. 15 meeting of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council’s Zoning Committee. He agreed to...
HOPE goes bankrupt
The Hispanic Office for Planning and Evaluation (HOPE), a major human services organization at 165 Brookside Ave. Ext., declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month. That follows an abrupt closure of its offices in April. “We did consider a number of options and strategies over many meetings before deciding that bankruptcy was our only alternative,”...
Arborway Yard gets cleaned up
FOREST HILLS—Issues at the Arborway Yard that got the MBTA-owned bus facility added to a “problem properties” list were resolved within 48 hours, Inspectional Services Department spokesperson Lisa Timberlake told the Gazette. In an unusual move, the Jamaica Plain Problem Properties Committee—an advisory group that normally identifies private properties for city inspectors to investigate—added...
Editorial: Yes to a casino vote
There is something absurd about holding a vote on whether a legal business can open its doors in Boston. But that is what the law permitting casinos in Massachusetts demands. The only question is whether the vote will be held in just the casino’s neighborhood, or citywide. When a Suffolk Downs casino in Eastie...