JACKSON SQ.—Responding to community concerns about 12 reported assaults on the Southwest Corridor near Jackson Square T Station this summer, the MBTA plans to install security cameras around the T station. State Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez announced the security camera plans in a July 15 public letter. Sánchez told the Gazette he requested that the...
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Man charged with indecent assault following incident at MBTA station
A man was charged with indecent assault and battery for allegedly grabbing a woman’s buttocks at the Forest Hills MBTA Station July 2. Gary Maggiacomo, 46, of 170 Morton St., was arrested after the alleged victim pointed him out across the street from the station. Maggiacomo had turned his shirt inside out, but the...
Reagan Youth brings punk to Obama era
By Benjamin Colb, Special to the Gazette Reagan Youth, one of the pioneering hardcore punk bands of the East Coast in the 1980s, will be playing a show at the Midway Café on July 24. Lead guitarist Paul Bakija, aka Paul Cripple, regrouped the band in 2006 after a 17-year hiatus. He spoke...
Mount Pleasant gets state-of-the-art rehab
After over a decade of planning and construction residents at Mount Pleasant Home, an elder housing facility at 301 S. Huntington Ave. last month stepped out the 1920s-era facility’s former back door and into the twenty-first century. One of the new addition’s most striking architectural features of the buildings new 30,390-square-foot, four-story addition is...
Missing woman found in Mexico
A Jamaica Plain woman who disappeared on June 21 has been found in Mexico, according to the Boston Police Department (BPD). Amber DeVoe, 28, was the subject of a citywide search, with her face appearing on flyers around JP. DeVoe was found on July 12 in Mexico City, BPD said in a brief press...
75 years of ‘wash and set’ for salon regulars
Every Saturday morning, Laura Dembski and her employees know to have Miss Laura’s at Cla-Mar Beauty Culture open and ready by 8:30. The regulars start showing up about then. Anne Puleo, 81, is the first. She gets her hair washed and set and is usually on her way out the door by 9:30, just...
Peace Drums unite teens and elders
By Rishi Sidhu, Special to the Gazette The Peace Drum Project began in 2000 when Susan Porter’s 85-year-old mother-in-law commented on the baggy jeans and brazen attitudes of teenagers she observed on the bus. Porter, a JP resident and senior program developer at JP-based Cooperative Artists Institute, says she realized that her mother-in-law wasn’t...
Mentalist to take over Doyle’s
Christopher Bolter is more Sherlock Holmes than Miss Cleo. He’s also heard “‘Number 23’ meets ‘Rain Man.” The magician and mentalist—“not psychic,” he is quick to clarify—performs sleight of hand and card tricks. But he is most impressive when applying the latter half of his skills, as he will be at Doyle’s Café on...
IdeAZ: Y usted, ¿qué dice?
La llegada de Whole Foods sigue siendo el asunto más controversial para Jamaica Plain y vecindarios cercanos. Tras una cantidad de reuniones, promesas y hasta escaramusas de enfrentamiento, hay gran expectativa por saber cómo se desarrollará una reunión comunitaria que ha sido convocada por el Consejo del Vecindario para el martes 26, de la...
Music fest line-up announced
PONDSIDE—The preliminary line-up for the first annual JP Music Festival has been set. Bands slated to perform at the Aug. 20 fest at Jamaica Pond Park all feature at least one Jamaica Plain resident. They include: the Angelic Slugs (rock), Coyote Kolb (blues rock), the Delta Swingers (Delta blues), Lenny Lashley (acoustic rock), the...
Editorial: The BRA gets census data right
Jamaica Plain’s police station is finally in JP. So are the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and last week’s Lantern Festival. Weren’t they always, you ask? Not according to U.S. Census data as reported by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and used by all city agencies. Not until this year, after 40 years of...
Op-Ed: Harry Potter story isn’t over
By Alicia Perez, Special to the Gazette For months, Warner Brothers has been promoting the final Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2,” as the official end to the Harry Potter franchise, the end of a generation. The media, of course, has been eating it all up. News organizations and magazines...
Letter: Overpass process seems anti-bridge
The following letter was sent to Paul King, the state Department of Transportation co-project manager on the Casey Overpass replacement project: I am writing with concerns about the Casey Overpass process. Procedurally, the project discussion seems to be skewed in favor of the at-grade concept. The number of proffered schematic designs about the at-grade...
Letter: Whole Foods debate should not be silenced
Heartfelt thanks to the editor of the JP Gazette for the editorial in the June 10 issue (“Whole Foods arrests a bad sign of the times”). We attended the June 2 Whole Foods meeting and were immediately surprised at the heavy police presence. We watched as the Whole Foods management team put on their slick...
Kids christen new Jamaica Pond fleet
Built their own boats with JP group PONDSIDE—Swimzilla, Piranha, The Rider, The Great Ebony Blanca Shark—those are the names emblazoned on the backs of four rowboats that were christened with Poland Springs sparkling water and launched on Jamaica Pond June 15 by about 40 fifth-graders. The students, from the Haley Pilot School in Roslindale,...
Bromley-Heath history film re-released
JACKSON SQ.—A 1978 documentary named after Mission Hill, but with a large focus of the Bromley-Heath Housing development and Jackson Square neighborhood, was recently re-released on DVD by the Watertown-based non-profit Documentary Educational Resources. The film “Mission Hill and the Miracle of Boston,” looks at changes in the area between the 1940s and the...
Flaherty eager for another term
Two years after challenging Mayor Thomas Menino in one of the closest races the mayor has ever faced, former At-Large City Councilor Michael Flaherty wants his old job back. “It was never an option for me to take my ball and go home. I am not interested in sitting in the bleachers,” Flaherty said...
Muddy River rehab to roll this year
After years of delays, an Army Corps of Engineers-led project aimed at rehabilitating the Muddy River is getting started this fall, city and federal officials told the Gazette this month. For Jamaica Plain, that means the final engineering designs for dredging the river—which flows from Jamaica Pond through Ward’s, Willow and Leverett ponds along...
Invitación, 7/22
Vacaciones Comida. Free Summer Meals for Children, es el nombre del programa de la ciudad de Boston y Mass Department of Education. Funciona entre junio 29 y Sept. 2, para brindar alimentos a los niños que están de vacaciones. No exigen registro ni ID. Info/Locations: 800-645-8333. Verano. El ciclo de Summer Nights Out, de ...
Agenda, 7/22
The final, last-minute deadline for JP Agenda listings is noon, Aug. 9 for the Aug. 12 issue. Send listings to news@jamaicaplaingazette.com. Listings with no end date will be run for 3 months, space permitting. Note: 617 should be dialed before numbers below, unless another area code is given. Meetings JPNC Special Meeting, Tues., July...
Happenings, 7/22
The final, last-minute deadline for Happenings listings is noon, Aug. 9 for the Aug. 12 issue. Send arts and entertainment listings to reporter@jamaicaplaingazette.com. Listings with no end date will be run for 3 months, space permitting. Note: 617 should be dialed before numbers below, unless another area code is given. Special Events The Grill...