PONDSIDE—A helicopter landed at Daisy Field and hauled equipment to the roof of the 30-story Jamaicaway Tower on April 22, drawing curious bystanders and blocking Jamaicaway traffic. The $100,000 helicopter ride was the only way to get a new air conditioning device and related gear to the roof of the 111 Perkins St. residential...
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and nine other mayors from across the country visited the Brewery complex at 284 Amory St. as part of a conference to discuss urban food policy on April 19. The conference discussed policies that impact access to healthy food in urban areas. It was chaired by Menino and Baltimore Mayor...
The affordable housing stock of Jamaica Plain is another diverse element of the neighborhood that is home to a well-known mix of races, ethnic groups and income levels. When the words “affordable housing” are used in JP, no specific picture should come to mind, because the housing is so varied. Also, thanks to the...
S. HUNTINGTON—Community members said they would like two apartment projects proposed for S. Huntington Avenue to be reviewed together at a Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA)-organized meeting on April 11. The developers presented various demolition alternatives for the Home for Little Wanderers site as required by the Boston Landmarks Commission’s (BLC) process. About a dozen...
JACKSON SQ.—Angel Lopez has been named the manager of the Bromley-Heath public housing development by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA). Lopez is Bromley-Heath’s first manager since the BHA’s still-unexplained takeover from the resident-run Tenant Management Corporation last month. Lopez is an experienced BHA manager who himself grew up in Mission Hill’s public housing, according...
EGLESTON SQ.—JP residents and local activists picketed outside a Mendell Way home in a City Life/Vida Urbana-organized eviction blockade on April 20. The homeowner facing eviction, Heather Gordon, was granted a 30-day eviction delay by a bankruptcy court later the same morning. “This has been the fight of my life, to keep this roof...
PONDSIDE—The Newsome Park Times, written and published by 9-year-old Alexa Wang, is the definition of hyperlocal: the newspaper is targeted to the fewer than 10 houses that comprise Newsome Park. The two-month-old paper includes the street’s news and weather and anything else Wang wants to write about. “I started doing the newspaper in my...
JAMAICA HILLS—Arc-En-Ciel, a bilingual French day care and Montessori School on Rockwood Street, is set to mark 10 years in existence during the first week of May. “We want to express how blessed we have been the last 10 years with being in such a wonderful, diverse community,” said founder Linda Chery-Valentin during a...
Jamaica Plain teens are getting politically active in hopes of not having a jobless summer. Funding for city youth summer jobs programs has been radically slashed in recent years—and is under threat of further cuts. The City’s youth summer jobs program is funded with cash from the city, state and federal governments as well...
