Special to the Gazette
The Board of Directors of the Jamaica Pond Association (JPA) held its regular monthly meeting on, December 2, via Zoom. Chair Kay Mathew presided over the session that included fellow members of the board as well as interested members of the community.
Police Officer Patricia Darosa, Sgt. Ryan Cunningham, and Rita Alphonso Colon from the Parking and Traffic Dept., all from Boston Police District E-13, were on hand for the meeting.
Darosa presented the Community Safety Report. Although she said there was nothing to report in the immediate JPA neighborhood. Darosa did mention that there has been an uptick in drug use in the Forest Hills neighborhood and the police have been addressing that problem.
“The Drug Control Unit did an extraordinary job there in the past few months, but the number of reported incidents of drug use seem to have dropped off recently,” said JPA member Michael Reiskind, who also noted that a Forest Hills Neighborhood Assoc. has been addressing that issue.
Darosa then explained that six officers who have been assigned to Egleston Sq. and other high-crime areas also have been patrolling in Forest Hills, which might explain the drop-off in reported incidents.
Sgt. Ryan Cunningham from District E-13 informed the group that a pilot program called the Community Interaction Team is engaging with JP residents to address citizens’ complaints and quality-of-life concerns. He said the Police Dept. is looking to expand the program to other neighborhoods in the city.
District 6 City Councilor Ben Weber briefly told the group of the efforts he is making to address the problem of long-term vacant retail spaces in the outlying neighborhoods of the city, including Jamaica Plain.
“We’re trying to compile a database to identify those empty storefront spaces and then get in touch with the landlords in order to get them to fill the spaces,” said Weber, adding that a “vacancy tax” could be one tool to spur landlords to rent the storefronts. He noted that other big cities, including San Francisco, have been able to address this issue successfully.
Weber also expressed his goal of providing a full-time maintenance person from the city’s Parks Dept. for Jamaica Pond. However, he noted that the Parks Dept. has had difficulty hiring new employees similar to other city departments because of low pay.
JPA member Franklyn Salimbene mentioned that there are still three locations near Perkins St. that need painted logos to designate the paths for bicycles and pedestrians and Weber said he will try to have that issue addressed.
Caroline Peters, the liaison for Jamaica Plain from Mayor Wu’s office, also was on hand for the meeting. Peters told the group of the city-wide trolley tour with Santa and Mayor Wu that will make stops on Saturday in Hyde Square at 2:00 and at the monument at 3:00.
Josh Ageloff from Senator Mike Rush’s office also was on hand for the meeting.
The guest speaker for the evening was Lisa Kumpf, the River Science Program Manager for the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA), who had been invited to the meeting by Tony Dreyfus, who is the chair of the JPA’s Parks, Parkways and Open Spaces Committee.
Kumpf presented the CRWA’s Muddy River Vision Plan. She noted that the Muddy River (whose watershed includes Jamaica, Wards, Willow, and Leverett ponds) is the most polluted tributary of the Charles River watershed, which comprises 300 sq. miles and encompasses 35 cities and towns. The Muddy, which comprises six square miles, mostly in Brookline, flows into the Charles River at its basin.
“Our goal is to develop a community-driven process,” said Kumpf, who noted that the CRWA is working with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and the Consensus Building Institute, as well as with a number of other partners (one of which is the JPA) to develop an overall plan to improve water quality.
She noted that the Muddy River historically was a tidal channel, but when the Back Bay was filled in, the Muddy essentially was used as a conduit for disposing of sewage. The Army Corps of Engineers successfully has undertaken projects recently to reduce damage from flooding, improve aquatic habitat, and rehabilitate historic landscape. However, the efforts have fallen short in achieving the goals of improving water quality and implementing best management practices.
Kumpf said that stormwater runoff from streets and roadways is a significant contributor to the Muddy’s pollution problem, but there also is so-called “dry weather” pollution emanating from a combination of aging and leaking wastewater pipes and illegal direct connections from homes and businesses.
Kumpf briefly discussed the various solutions being considered to address these problems and pointed out that the water quality of the Charles River Basin went from a D to an A- over a 25-year period, an outcome that the CRWA is hopeful can be achieved for the Muddy.
Kumpf then took questions from those in attendance, one of which elicited the fact that about 50% of the pollution in the Muddy is attributable to the Village Brook, an underground waterway that begins in Newton and traverses through Brookline before discharging into the Muddy.
Dreyfus also briefly spoke of a meeting he attended with city officials to discuss possible improvements to Jamaica Pond by encouraging the Boston Parks Dept. to develop a plan for maintenance. However, he said there presently are two problems facing the Parks Dept.: There are 40 vacant positions out of 180 total positions in the Parks Dept. (an issue that Councillor Weber had noted) and the city presently is cash-strapped because of the steep decline since COVID in commercial property tax revenue.
Dreyfus suggested that in view of the city’s shortcomings, perhaps private fundraising can be undertaken to pay for maintenance and capital projects.
Reiskind presented the reports from the JP Neighborhood Council (JPNC) and the JP Business and Professional Association (JPBPA).
He said that the JPBPA voiced its approval for a beer and wine license for the new bb.q Chicken restaurant that is planning to move into the space of the former Cafe Beirut (which closed last January) at 654 Centre Street. The JP location for bb.q Chicken, which features Korean barbecued chicken, will join other outlets of the chain in downtown Boston, Allston, Kenmore Square, Cambridge’s Central Square, Lowell, and Quincy.
Reiskind also noted that this Saturday (December 7) at 4:30, there will be the debut of a new holiday light show at the Baptist Church. The next meeting of the JPA is set for January 6, 2025.