Ristorante Toscano will have a new owner come February, and he is no stranger to the city or to Beacon Hill.
Part-time River Street resident David D’Alessandro has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Vinicio Paoli, Toscano’s owner. D’Alessandro will appear before the Beacon Hill Civic Association’s zoning and licensing committee at its January meeting to ask for committee members’ vote of non-opposition to a transfer of the licenses.
If the name D’Alessandro sounds familiar, it should. After holding various positions of leadership at John Hancock for about 20 years, D’Alessandro retired as the company’s CEO in 2005. He has been active in many Boston institutions — as an owner of the Red Sox, chairman of the board of the Wang Center, the vice-chair of Boston University and a trustee of Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
He is also the author of two best-selling books on business, Brand Warfare and Career Warfare.
D’Alessandro said that patrons will notice few changes in the restaurant in the beginning. “We’re applying for the same license, the same hours and there will be no change in the number of seats in either the bar or in the restaurant or in the menu,” he said.
He has hired a general manager who will also be a partner in the restaurant. His name will be announced soon. D’Alessandro’s 24-year-old son, Andrew, a Boston College graduate and a Back Bay resident, will also be one of the managers.
D’Alessandro anticipates that he will eventually renovate the restaurant, but not until his staff has met all the customers and heard what they have to say. “Our feeling is that it’s a 25-year tradition and we don’t start ripping up traditions,” said D’Alessandro.
Vinicio Paoli, the long-time owner of the restaurant, wants to return to Italy on a part-time basis. But he said that he will continue to be involved in the restaurant, do some consulting and also write cook-books. “After 52 years in the business, you’d think I might know something,” he said.
Revamped Phillips Street park upsets dog owners by Jaclyn Trop
credit: Jaclyn Trop
caption: The park on Phillips Street no longer has gates at the entrance.
As the city prepares to refurbish Phillips Street park, dog owners who bring their dogs to the park to run around leash-less are irate over the removal of the park’s gates.
“There’s no real need for the gates,” said Mary Hines, spokesperson for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. “Dogs are not allowed off-leash in the park and apparently that is happening.” She said Commissioner Antonia Pollak’s decision to remove the gates as part of a “trial period” was prompted by complaints from neighbors about the odor and noise the dogs cause.
Although the department and City Councilor Michael Ross’ office have received phone calls this week from dog owners upset by their inability to let their dogs run loose in the park, Hines said it is not legal to release dogs from their leashes on public property.
The debate may well come to a head in the next few weeks, as the process begins for improvements to the property.
Money has been set aside in the capital budget, said Sita Smith of Councilor Ross’ office for renovations to the Phillips Street park. She said the Parks Department is in the process of choosing a designer and the first public meeting will most likely be held in January. “That’s the wish-list meeting,” said Smith. Residents will be able to express what their dreams for the park might be. At a subsequent meeting the designer will present options that incorporate their wishes, she said. “It’s up to the neighbors to decide how best to use that money.”
Beacon Hill Civic Association board member Rob Whitney said that the association has not held any meetings to discuss the refurbishment. “The issue has been to figure out the best use of the park for the community,” he said. “Legally, it’s too small to be an [off-leash] dog park.”
As an abutter, Whitney said the park’s furniture is rusted, the fencing is too short, and the park lacks handicapped accessibility. As for complaints from dog owners, he said he ‘hasn’t heard a peep.’ “I wouldn’t be surprised if they started removing the fencing, too,” he said.
Equity Residential and Turner Construction recently celebrated the topping off of the first building of The Equity Residential Development at Emerson Place. The five-building project includes 310 new residential units and is the first addition of new housing to the West End neighborhood in 20
years. At the ceremony, the final steel beam was signed by ironworkers and representatives of Turner Construction and Equity Residential and hoisted 14-stories into the air to be placed on top of the building.
Talent and cheer were both present at Park Street Kids and Park Street School’s Christmas pageant on Monday, December 18. Klara Kuemmerle, Beacon Street, performed “O Christmas Tree,” with her classmates.
A mounted officer caught one-half of a shoplifting duo on Charles Street last Tuesday afternoon after the couple took $1,500 worth of merchandise from The Ruby Door.
The man, 41, had several shoplifting warrants outstanding and was carrying a knife, which he used in a prior shoplifting incident on Newbury Street, as well as a ring he had taken from a Newbury Street shop. The woman is still at large.
“The police presence has been so helpful,” said Tracey Weiss, owner of The Ruby Door. “I was thrilled with the result, even if I didn’t get my stuff back.”
Weiss said she was behind the register Tuesday afternoon when a middle-aged black couple entered the store and asked to look at merchandise catalogues. “Maybe [the request] struck me as a bit odd, but I’m really busy this time of year, so I said, ‘No, we don’t have catalogues. What you see in the store is all we have.’”
When the couple left, Weiss noticed that merchandise was missing, and she called Rebecca Pimentel, owner of The Beauty Mark, to alert her as part of the Charles Street merchants’ security chain. “She immediately knew who I was talking about,” Weiss said. “They had just left her shop.”
Weiss then ran outside and told the officer on duty, Gerard Boyce, about the incident. Minutes later, she noticed the couple walk past her store again. “I confronted them and said I saw them on my security camera, but they said, ‘No, you don’t have nothing. We didn’t steal nothing,’” Weiss said.
The man then said he had to meet someone in the park and began to run towards the Common, according to Weiss. Boyce, who had watched the incident, followed on horseback and caught the man.
The Christmas tree at the Charles Street Meeting House sparkles with holiday lights. The shop windows on our commercial streets glitter with silver and gold. Christmas trees shine out from windows. A menorah glows gently in front of the State House.
It grows dark by 4 p.m. but the holiday lights symbolize the season. Commercialism is in high gear. Party invitations swirl. People exchange presents. Pageants are presented. Cards are sent. Songs are sung. Roast beef, turkey, fish and latkes are prepared. Santas listen patiently to children. Families get together. People serve meals and give presents to the elderly, the indigent and the lonely. Tots get toys distributed by the Marines. Midnight services are observed.
This is the season of peace and good will — a sentiment that appears to be shared by all, no matter whether they celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, the New Year or on December 31, Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast commemorating the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca and of Ibraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, which is also a Christian and Judaic story.
Then why is there so much complaining from some quarters over the December holidays? We have heard, but we can’t verify, that the meanness began last year with one of the radio talk show haters. He complained that politically correct standards were forcing everyone to be generic during the holiday season. He was the one who started complaining that some dark force — he probably mentioned liberals, especially those from Massachusetts — was taking the Christ out of Christmas. Never mind that there seems to be plenty of Christ in Christmas among the Christians we know. In any case, his complaints apparently got the dander up in some Christians who were just aching for something to complain about — a stance that doesn’t seem particularly Christian to us.
These December holidays involve food, fun, friends and family. They are the best, so we propose we take another tack.
Instead of saying no, why can’t we say yes to every celebration? Let’s celebrate our own holiday with gusto. And let’s enjoy celebrating with our friends all of theirs. Any holiday that requires one to bring a live tree into a house and decorate it has to be a good one. And a holiday that encourages a family to light candles and be grateful for a miracle has to have something going for it. Instead of forbidding crèches or menorahs in schools, why don’t we say, “Bring them all on.”
These holidays form a season of peace and miracles. What a miracle it would be that this December we would glow in the realization that, despite the haters in the airwaves, the rest of us usually live together in harmony no matter what God we worship or don’t worship or what stories we believe in.
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