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...
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Opinion
Editorial: Awaiting an answer on mail delivery problems
JP deserves a full explanation about the reasons behind the U.S. Postal Service’s recent delivery problems, and the specifics of a plan to halt them. Considering the large volume of mail and USPS’s endless budget problems, mail delivery in general is quite good. But the recent problems documented by the Gazette over large sections...
Editorial: A boon to LGBTQ youths
Congratulations to JP’s Katy Erker on her appointment to the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. It is great to see representation on the commission from Jamaica Plain, whose organizations are well-known for its effective LGBTQ activism, particularly on marriage equality and transgender rights. It is even better to see someone of Erker’s background on...
Letter: Failed logic in T’s rejection of bus yard move
As a 1,000-hour survivor of the Community Planning Committee for the Arborway Yard process, plus a year of Facility Design Review meetings, I believe Ms. Oliveira’s latest article allowed a glimpse at the biggest reason for our frustrations and disappointments of the past 15 years. (“Support grows for new T bus yard,” Feb. 14.)...
Editorial: Saving the Shattuck’s child care
What’s really going on with the state and the Shattuck Child Care Center it is giving the boot? It’s hard to tell. But when two of our most respected elected officials make extraordinary criticism of the move, it’s time to pay attention. In their op-ed in this week’s Gazette, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz and...
Editorial: The State of JP
The annual State of Our Neighborhood forum convenes on Feb. 27, co-sponsored by the Gazette, offers Jamaica Plain a chance to take stock. “Ain’t No One Can Afford This” is this year’s provocative theme, one that notes a turning point in the neighborhood’s history. Of course, many people can afford JP—if only just barely....
Op-Ed: The State of JP: No one can afford this
By Orion Kriegman, Juan Gonzalez, Abigail Ortiz, Carlos Espinoza-Toro, Greg Buckland and Tracy Bindel/Special to the Gazette “Ain’t No One Can Afford This,” reads an anonymous note to the world scrawled on the map of the Orange Line near the JP Monument. These six silent words speak volumes about the state of our neighborhood....
Op-Ed: Gov. Patrick offers only lip service on threatened child care center
By Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz and Rep. Liz Malia/Special to the Gazette Gov. Deval Patrick has repeatedly made early education his number one priority, and this laudable goal was reinforced in his recent State of the Commonwealth address. Unfortunately, his administration is currently ignoring an opportunity to preserve dozens of high-quality seats at the Shattuck...
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...
Editorial: Un-ruin the Bear Dens
The Gazette’s further revelations this week about the decaying Bear Dens in Franklin Park underscore the need for action. The lack of historic protection and ownership confusions place the charming structure in danger. But the many good ideas already collected from the public in prior decades point the way to its future. The Bear...