Nonprofit steers students to JP apprenticeships
When Helen Russell asks eighth-graders what they want to do for a living as adults, they usually respond about working at a video game or sneaker store. Russell, who heads the Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit Apprentice Learning, runs a program that she said prepares students for a vocation with more of a career arc. It...
JP Agenda, Nov. 22, 2013
The deadline for listings is noon, Tues., Dec. 3 for the Dec. 6 issue. Send listings to reporter@jamaicaplaingazette.com. Note: 617 should be dialed before numbers below, unless another area code is given. Meetings Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, monthly meeting, agenda to include reports from committees & vacancies, Nov. 26, 7pm, First Baptist Church, 633...
On the Police Beat, Nov. 3-11, 2013
The following police incident reports are public records provided by the Community Service Office of the District E-13 Police Station, which is solely responsible for their content. All suspects are innocent unless proven guilty in court. Nov. 11: Assault and battery with dangerous weapon (knife), Minden St.; Class B drug possession, 3082 Washington St.;...
JP workshop offers artists space, classes
BROOKSIDE—The Stonybrook Fine Arts (SFA) workshop is a resource to learn and develop skills in metalwork, sculpting and jewelry-making. The small workshop tucked next to the Samuel Adams brewery at 24 Porter St. in Jamaica Plain provides classes, workshops, commissions and open studios, among other services. “Our mission is to expose people to the...
Editorial: The nonprofit move-outs
ESAC’s move out of Jamaica Plain apparently will not undermine its key organizing role in Egleston Square. But when the annual “Taste of JP” event will now be staged by a Dorchester-based organization, it’s time to take stock of where JP’s nonprofit sector is headed. Boston’s gentrification crisis in residential housing was finally, and...
Editorial: Good luck to Main Streets head
In another big change for Egleston Square, JP resident Betsy Cowan is leaving her job as director of the area’s Main Streets nonprofit to take a City business development position. Cowan has been an extraordinarily productive leader for a sub-neighborhood that needs strong support. Her business boosterism was made credible by her honesty about...
Editorial: Giving thanks
This is the time of year to count blessings. Ours is the privilege of serving the great residents of a great neighborhood in a great city. The Gazette works not only for JP, but with JP. Many of our stories happen because of readers who love the neighborhood and contribute mightily to this paper...
Letter: Thanks for Connolly Library Halloween support
The 6th annual Halloween Party and Parade at the Connolly Branch Library and Hyde Square community was a spectacular success! Over 250 children and adults enjoyed a costume party with food, face-painting and pumpkin-decorating at the library before parading through Hyde Square. Led by drummers of the Heartbeat Collective, our little ghouls and goblins...
JP resident pens ‘ethical traveling’ book
Alden Jones, a Jamaica Plain resident and Emerson College writing teacher, spent her early twenties roaming the world. Now she has penned a book about ethical dilemmas in travel and tourism titled “The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia.” One of her adventures took her to a year-long teaching assignment...
Tree-lightings, Trolley Tour coming
Three holiday events will take place in Jamaica Plain on Dec. 7, according to a City document. Egleston Square will host a tree-lighting event from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., while the Mayor’s Trolley Tour will stop at Monument Square and Hyde Square at 2 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., respectively. Previous years’ Trolley Tours...
JP students earn school honors
Seven Jamaica Plain students at Brookline’s Dexter Southfield School earned academic honors distinctions for the first marking period this fall. Tenth-graders Nicole Iannella and Louisa Vincent earned High Honors, meaning an average grade of A-minus or above. Earning Honors, meaning an average of a high B grade, were: Alexander Baker (grade 9), Wilder Huckleberry...
Parklet partner Tacos El Charro closed
Tacos El Charro, a Mexican restaurant at 349 Centre St. and a maintaining partner of the parklet at that address, has closed. It was sold this summer. The new owners plan to re-open the space as “Old Havana” restaurant “soon,” Hyde/Jackson Square Main Streets Executive Director Gerald Robbins told the Gazette. They have also...
ESAC moves out of JP
The Ecumenical Social Action Committee (ESAC), long based out of 3313 Washington St., is moving its offices to Dorchester today. Its offices were closed today to allow for the move. The relocation was announced in an email to its mailing list. ESAC’s new address will be 214 Harvard St. in Dorchester. It is unclear...
Shattuck Partners aims to raise $50K for local hospital
A friends group aims to raise $50,000 to improve patients’ experience at the local Lemuel Shattuck Hospital with a Nov. 14 fundraiser. Shattuck Partners is a volunteer-run nonprofit that provides service the state hospital’s budget does not, ranging from art therapy to ethnic foods to TVs. “All hospitals have televisions,” said Frieda Cohen, chairperson...
Walsh wins Mayor’s Office
Riding the support of labor unions and endorsements from key elected officials, state Rep. Marty Walsh narrowly defeated At-Large City Councilor John Connolly on Nov. 5 to become the next mayor of Boston. Mayor Thomas Menino is stepping down after 20 years in office. Walsh, a labor leader who received an endorsement from Jamaica...
JPNC votes to settle S. Huntington lawsuit
By Emily Resnevic and John Ruch/Gazette Staff The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) voted to settle its controversial lawsuit against the 161 S. Huntington Ave. redevelopment at its Oct. 29 meeting. The vote, conducted privately in an executive session, was unanimous, according to JPNC chair Benjamin Day, the lawsuit’s plaintiff. The JPNC voted “to...
JP authors write Orange Line history book
The MBTA’s Orange Line, one of Jamaica Plain’s defining features and the product of its early political activism, is the subject of a new book by JP residents Jeremy Fox and Andrew Elder. Their “Images of Rail: Boston’s Orange Line” is a photojournalism history of what is now a subway and light rail line....
Venta de Blessed Sacrament Church extendida
Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) y Church Square Partners decidieron extender la fecha para finalizar la venta del antiguo edificio de Blessed Sacrament Church en 365 Centre St, según el portavoz de HSTF Pat Gray. “Todo está progresando según los planes. Tenemos ganas de comprar la iglesia dentro de unos meses,” dijo Gray en...
JP Reads announces short fiction contest winner
JP Reads has announced Jamaica Plain resident Rachel Bergquist as the winner of its first annual Flash Fiction Contest. JP Reads is an organization that encourages JP residents to read a selected book and then holds an annual series of events around it. This year’s book was Junot Díaz’s “Drown.” Díaz visited spoke to...