The Board of Directors of the Jamaica Pond Association (JPA) held its regular monthly meeting last Monday, June 1. On hand for the session were treasurer Michael Reiskind, Mark Zanger, Jerry Wright, Tony Dreyfus, Kevin Moloney, Michael Frank, Peter Elmuts, Peter Steiger, Eryn-Ashlei Barry, Annie McHugh, and Rosemary Jones.
Also in attendance were Michael Munchbach, the Chief of Staff from Senator Mike Rush’s office, and Boston Police Officer Patrica Darosa, who is a Community Service Officer for BPD District E-13.
After Reiskind reported that the JPA has $2833.62 in its account, reflecting that five new members have paid their dues, Officer Darosa presented the Community Safety Report. She said that there were five incidents in the past month in the Jamaica Pond neighborhood, all of which were larcenies of property: a bicycle theft; two motor vehicle break-ins; and two shoplifting incidents on Centre St.
“Always double-check that the doors on your cars are locked,” said Darosa, who noted that most of the perpetrators who break into vehicles check to see if the doors are unlocked and if so, then will enter a vehicle to steal loose change and other items.
Steiger, who chaired the meeting in the absence of chair Kay Mathew, said that the JPA’s annual meeting is set for Monday, June 22, at the James Michael Curley House starting at 6:00. Food will be served during a reception until 6:45. At 6:50 the guest speaker, Emily Norton, the Executive Director of the Charles River Watershed Assoc., will make a presentation.
The annual business meeting will follow at 7:20 to conduct the election of the slate of officers for the coming year. Steiger said that all are welcome to attend the meeting and to join the JPA.
Moloney, the chair of the Zoning Committee, briefly discussed the ongoing issue of the electric signage of the Warrandale Appliance store at 781 Centre St. The JPA sent a letter in March to the Boston Zoning Board of Appeals about the issue. Moloney said that the ISD has come out to inspect the sign, but the issue has not been resolved.
However, Darosa suggested that the store is in compliance with the city’s zoning laws and she offered to contact ISD to help address the issue.
In another zoning-related matter, Steiger noted that the JPA will have to find a replacement for Moloney, a long-time resident who is moving from the neighborhood.
Frank initially presented the report of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee and discussed the ongoing issues with Daisy Field and the adjacent softball field involving the runoff that flows from those fields into the pond.
“There is interest in cleaning up the water that flows from the field into the pond, which then flows into the Muddy River, and then eventually into the Charles River,” said Frank.
Deyfus, the chair of the committee, noted that many of the recently-planted trees along the Jamaicaway that died during the harsh winter will be replaced per the city’s contract with the company that planted them. He added that Senator Mike Rush placed a $100,000 earmark into the state budget for planting trees and removing invasive species from around the pond.
Dreyfus also mentioned that Parks Comm. members met for two hours with Paul Sutton, who is with the Urban Wilds Program of the Boston Parks Dept., a meeting that Dreyfus described as “a breakthrough and a real step forward in our relations with the city.”
The Urban Wilds Program is an initiative by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department that manages and protects around 30,000 acres of natural, undeveloped green spaces across Boston.
Reiskind, who is a member of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) and is the head of the JP Professional and Business Association, presented updates of the recent meetings of those organizations.
He informed the group that the JPNC has restarted its Arborway Garage sub-Committee in light of the allocation by the MBTA of $373 million for construction of a new garage that will be capable of housing 200 of the electric buses that have been mandated by the state legislature.
Reiskind said that the JPNC has focused on the eight acres of land that has been set aside for community development on the garage site. Moloney noted that the proposal to include the community development land that became a part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) among the city, the T, and the JP community (which was signed by then-mayor Tom Menino in 1999) originated in his living room in 1998.
The replacement of the garage had been anticipated in the 2000s, but was postponed indefinitely because of a lack of available funding. The new garage, which had reached its initial design phase in 2023 before a lack of state funding once again delayed the process, is expected to be completed in 2031.
The meeting concluded with the members agreeing to hold their next two board meetings (after the annual meeting in June) on Monday, August 3, and Monday, September 14.