Start training your taste buds now, because Beacon Hill’s best night of noshing and socializing is right around the corner. The Beacon Hill Business Association’s 8th Annual Taste of Beacon Hill is being held Tuesday, May 20, from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. at the Liberty Hotel. An after party will be held at Alibi in the hotel.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at the BHBA or Cambridge Trust Bank for $65 ($60 for members) or at the door for $85. Those who buy five tickets receive one free. Proceeds go toward the Taste of Beacon Hill Scholarship and other BHBS programs and events.
“Hopefully this will be the best event yet,” says event Chair Michael Conlon of The Paramount and the 21st Amendment. “People are excited about the new venue, and it should be a great party.”
This is the first year that the event is being held at the new Liberty Hotel, and 26 restaurants have signed up to participate, the most ever. A DJ will provide entertainment. And, for the first time, local “celebrities” will be serving food at each restaurant station.
“All of the restaurants are different – there are the high-end, the middle-end, the sushi,” Conlon says. “Each restaurant is preparing their specialties and putting their best foot forward.”
BHBA Executive Director Ellen Rooney says this event is always one of the most anticipated of the year.
“It’s a nice neighborhood event,” she says. “We always have neighbors and even people from other neighborhoods attend. It’s one of those things people look forward to.”
The event also raises money specifically for the Taste of Beacon Hill Scholarship, which this year is supported by lead sponsor Boston Duck Tours. The recipient is a qualified student pursuing a career in the culinary fields.
Helping others while helping yourself to great food is a great reason to attend the event, says Rooney. And with so many restaurants participating this year, it’s an easy way to try something new.
“It’s a great way to sample restaurants – without reservations!” she says.

Think of it as the largest Town Hall meeting in New England history.
A citywide summit, the brainchild of Council President Maureen Feeney, is scheduled for Saturday at the South Boston Convention Center, and residents and local officials are gearing up for the event, which some hope can spur the city in a productive direction.
The Boston Civic Summit will bring together residents and officials from all of the city’s different neighborhoods in an attempt to bring fresh perspectives, sometimes compartmentalized into more local dialogues, into collaboration.
The summit will feature workshops designed to inform residents about civic engagement and public process, including such complex things as zoning regulations and building permits.
Feeney said she hopes the summit will encourage the previously uninvolved to take a more direct role in the life of the city and their own neighborhoods.
“We need people who recognize their role in making our city a better place and people who are ready to do something about it. This summit will be about solutions, not problems,” Feeney wrote in a letter to the public. “We want people who are already involved in civic associations and in neighborhood watches, people who are engaged in friends of groups for our schools, libraries and parks, as well as other people who care passionately about our city. This event is most surely not about me or any politician - it is about the people we represent.”
Councilor Mike Ross said he is excited about the event, and encourages his constituents to attend. “I think it’s a chance to bring the city together to get perspectives from different neighborhoods,” said Ross. “One of Boston’s biggest pastimes is civic engagement. I commend Council President Feeney on putting this together.”
Although Boston Mayor Tom Menino wasn’t involved in the formation or planning of the summit, he will attend and make comments, despite his comments indicating some early skepticism about its potential, according to the Boston Globe. The summit is an unusually independent move for a City Council often regarded as highly subservient to the city’s executive branch.
The summit will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the convention center. John F. Kennedy School of Government Director Tom Sander will deliver a keynote address on civic engagement. Registration forms can be found online at http://www.bostoncivicsummit.org, along with a schedule of events.

Traffic boxes
Are really big

The Beacon Hill Civic Association Architectural Committee got to view a mock-up of the proposed traffic box for the new lights on Charles Street. Boy, is it big, compared to the old boxes – and the old boxes were too big to begin with. At the hearing of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, the engineers were talking about how they were able to make the boxes smaller than the standard traffic boxes currently in use throughout the city – about three inches less in height and an inch narrower in width. The color black might have a slimming effect for some people, but not for these boxes. Considering that there would be up to three of these boxes on Charles Street, to paraphrase local architect Patrick Hickox, these would not be in the DNA of Charles Street.

What about us?

Coming out of the new Charles-MGH T stop, a sign hanging above MBTA riders greets all visitors. The sign directs all tourists visiting Beacon Hill go to the left, but that sign doesn’t tell the whole story. What about Charles Street and the flat of the Hill, such as Brimmer Street, which is one of the prettiest streets on the Hill? Maybe an arrow pointing straight ahead or a sign for Charles Street is in order. This street helps give the charm to Beacon Hill.


Fundraiser for
The Esplanade

The Boston Design Center (BDC) is teaming up with the Esplanade Association to raise funds for the local parkland. The BDC Dream Home is launching Dream Home Gala Celebration Night festivities on Thursday, May 1, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Boston Design Center in South Boston. The BDC program opens to the public on May 2 and runs through July 31 and will feature plenty of creative ideas for interior spaces. For information and tickets for this night’s festivities, please call Lauren Young at 617-338-5072.

Spring is
Definitely here

The last couple of days of warm and sunny temperatures have sent thousands of people outdoors and into the parks. And what a sight the outdoors is after all these months of winter. Everything that grows is coming out of the ground or is at the first stages of budding on trees. The mall on Cambridge Street is starting to come into bloom, and the tulips that members of the Esplanade Association planted on front of the Hatch Shell are reminiscent of what you see in Holland, so get outdoors and enjoy the sights. Before too long, summer in the city will be here.

Phillips Street Park

An unprecedented fifth public meeting will be held by the Department of Parks and Recreation in the next few weeks to decide the final use for the Phillips Street Park. Some residents want the park to service children ages 5-12, while others want it to be used as a meditative place and still others want it for their dogs. A compromise will be made among all three groups. The park is about 4,000 square feet, and the city has committed $400,000 to rehab it.



1)\\

Beacon Hill residents Matthew Silverstein and Lauren Weinstein give the street a good sweep.

2
Colleen Ryan of Grove Street, with Bailey, as she helps in the Boston Shines Cleanup on Saturday.


3)
Heading out to clean up the lower end of Cambridge Street are Jenna Voss (left) and Dana Snyder of Lindall Place.

4)

Helping make Revere Street shine are, from left, Dee Ortner, Tom Fletcher and Heather Campbell.

The American Cancer Society hosted its 3rd annual Key Gala, "Open the Door to Hope" on April 12th in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. Special guests included emcee Gail Huff of WCVB-TV/DT Channel 5 and Chris Lemmon, son of the late Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon. Presented by Cushman and Wakefield, the gala raised over $500,000 for the American Cancer Society's largest project to date, the AstraZeneca Hope Lodge Center located at 125 South Huntington Avenue. When Hope Lodge opens its doors this fall, it will annually provide free lodging and support services to more than 1,500 cancer outpatients and caregivers who must travel far from home for treatment in Boston.
Pictured are Brimmer Street's Kaitlyn Farley with Stephen Woelfel