When the mayoral candidates, including now-Mayor Marty Walsh, touted the importance of arts during the campaign last fall, the rhetoric was refreshing for people and organizations in Jamaica Plain. Many of our residents work in the arts. The neighborhood is home to myriad musical, literary, visual and other arts events, venues and educational programs....
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JP Observer: Major media’s bad election coverage habits
You can feel them warming up all over the state, as well as here in Jamaica Plain. The creaky gears begin to turn, fuel starts to flow… The political machines are getting ready for the election campaigns that will lead us to fall. If it’s 2014, it must be time for state elections in...
JP Observer: Student playing field funding down to the wire
Parents and students at the Curley K-8 School on Centre Street, as well as friends and interested community members, have been working very hard since last May to raise money for a new schoolyard. They deserve to succeed, and the larger Jamaica Plain community should come forward in the next few weeks to insure...
JP Observer: A New Year’s wish list for the new mayor
Dear Santa: Here’s what I want for Christmas. Er, no… Dear Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh: Here are a few wishes for Jamaica Plain (and environs) in the new year under your new administration. Please: 1. Keep the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and Jullieanne Doherty, its Jamaica Plain Coordinator. They are both unique and...
JP Observer: One small neighborhood, many major issues
Wow! I knew JP’s Stonybrook neighborhood was active, but I was shocked when I moved to this dense, friendly neighborhood between Forest Hills, Franklin Park and Washington Street. I had heard and read about the issues facing my new neighbors, but I didn’t realize how large and complex they are until they were in...
JP Observer: Bikes are nice, but there are limits
I like bicycles. I think it’s great we got a bike-share program in Boston, and bicycle rental stations came to Jamaica Plain last month. I am in favor of the tidy bike lanes and of drivers watching out for riders. But there are limits on what bikes can do for Boston. Bicycle use, at...
JP Observer: Three things to make JP’s great restaurants better
Jamaica Plain’s restaurants and cafes are really something, aren’t they? We have quantity, quality and great variety here. JP’s eateries help make shopping districts and sub-neighborhoods into destinations, so they increase and promote business and lively activity. The number of restaurants seems to be expanding. If you count coffee shops that serve food and...
JP Observer: How JP activists created the Southwest Corridor
No wonder Jamaica Plain residents speak and act as though they can have some control of what happens in the neighborhood. Starting 49 years ago, local people along the Southwest Corridor banded together to stop a highway from splitting the neighborhood. Then they persuaded government to move the elevated Orange Line from over Washington...
JP Observer: The secret of a beautiful parking lot
It took me a while to realize why going to Stop & Shop in Jackson Square put me in a good mood almost every Saturday. Finally, it occurred to me that it’s good to get groceries, but it’s the parking lot the supermarket shares with Martha Eliot Health Center that makes the experience remarkably...
JP Observer: Health policy advocate turns focus to mental illness
Attorney Steve Rosenfeld has had an incredible career spanning decades practicing law; working at the top levels of the executive branch of Massachusetts government; creating and working with ground-breaking nonprofit legal efforts and teaching law. The Massachusetts native and Harvard Law School graduate was chief legal counsel to Gov. Michael Dukakis and his chief...