The Boston City Council was slated to decide the fate of the controversial Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) $19 million school-move plan this week. Councilor Mike Ross, who represents Hyde Square, is calling it a “bad plan,” while At-Large Councilor Felix Arroyo is battling an internal conflict on how to vote. “I’m still deliberating within...
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Salon opens, plans seniors-only spinoff
JACKSON SQ.—Xposure by Noel is open in its new space at 15 Lamartine St. and has expanded from a salon to a full-service spa. “It’s beautiful here,” said owner Noel Negron, whose business moved from central JP into a new building created by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC). Negron is also planning...
Hyde/Jackson Main Street missing annual report
Hyde/Jackson Square Main Street (HJSMS) is six months late in filing a mandatory annual report with the state Attorney General’s Office. The annual report is required of all nonprofits and includes details of that organization’s assets and officers. “We know we’re required to file and we will,” HJSMS President of the Board...
Chuck Turner appeal starts
Former City Councilor Chuck Turner, whose district included Egleston Square in Jamaica Plain, began the appeal of his 2010 conviction on charges of public corruption earlier this month. Oral arguments for the federal case were heard on May 9 in district court. “Given the quality of the brief prepared by I think...
Church getting repaired stone by stone
SUMNER HILL—The historic St. John’s Episcopal Church is undergoing major repairs for “incredible damage” caused by water in its stone walls, according to the chair of the church’s capital campaign. Some exterior walls on the 1880s church at Roanoke Avenue and Revere Street are being taken down stone by stone for repair. The stones...
JP residents help urban gardens grow
Urban agriculture is blooming in Boston, from backyard vegetable patches to community gardens to for-profit urban farms, and Jamaica Plain residents are involved in nearly all aspects of the boom. From the Mayor’s Urban Agriculture Working Group (UAWG), to Boston’s “Food Czar,” to business owners and backyard beekeepers, JP residents are not afraid to...
Disney casting director moves to JP
Leaving her job casting actors for Disney has worked out well for recent Jamaica Plain transplant Brittany Shapiro. After years in Los Angeles, she has just been made director of the Media Performance Institute (MPI) at Boston Casting. “L.A. is such a tough city. There’s a very warm feeling in JP,” Shapiro said in...
‘Eldercare block’ celebrates unity
The Goddard House, the Sherrill House and the Mount Pleasant Home—three elder care organizations on S. Huntington Avenue—gathered May 14 to celebrate National Nursing Home week. The event, which started at the Goddard House with refreshments and speeches and then went on to tour the other two facilities, was billed as the “JP Eldercare...