PHOTO 1 CAPTION: Jack Gurnon, owner of Charles Street Supply Company, is seen in front of a store display of Mrs. Meyers Clean Day environmentally friendly cleaning products.

PHOTO 2 CAPTION: Mark Duffield and Jennifer Hill, owners of Blackstone's of Beacon Hill.

At a time when people are becoming more environmentally conscious, Charles Street Supply Company and Blackstone’s of Beacon Hill are among the local businesses now selling green products.
Charles Street Supply Company, the hardware store at 54-56 Charles St., offers a wide selection of environmentally friendly wares, many of which owner Jack Gurnon first heard about from his patrons.
"It's customer driven," Gurnon said. "We'll sell whatever they want to buy."
The store's inventory includes Natura, an odorless line of paints containing fewer total volatile compounds, as well as Holy Cow and Mrs.
Meyers Clean Day, two popular brands of biodegradable cleaning products. In addition to an extensive selection of compact-fluorescent light bulbs that last longer and use less electricity than generally-used bulbs, the store also offers both biodegradable and reusable trash bags.
At Blackstone's of Beacon Hill, the gift store, at 46 Charles St., owners Jennifer Hill and Mark Duffield devoted a store window to environmentally conscious products in honor of Earth Day, April 22. Among the goods featured in the store display were Sea Bags, a line of duffel bags, handbags and tote bags made of recycled sails, and several books on recycling, including "The Little Green Handbook" and "You Can Save the Earth".
In an effort to save fuel and to reduce vehicle emissions, the storeowners also prefer to sell locally made goods, like Wee Forrest Folk, miniature figurines of mice and other critters from Carlisle, Mass. "It's a great way to help the environment, since the goods don't need to be shipped as far," Duffield said, who credited Hill for many of the store’s green initiatives.
Blackstone's also offers for sale what Duffield said is one of the oldest recyclable products - Beacon Hill Bricks, hand-painted bricks taken from the chimney of an approximately 200-year-old house in Center Sandwich, NH.
Linda Cox, co-chair of the Beacon Hill Civic Association Green Committee, applauded the efforts of the two area businesses.
"The Green Committee has been working hard to encourage residents and businesses to be environmentally responsible, so it’s very encouraging to have retail stores like Blackstone’s and Charles Street Supply serve as role models," Cox said. "In the big picture, every action taken to be green is important. One thing builds on another, and it all adds up to make a difference."

The process to designate the Charles River Esplanade as a Boston landmark has taken a giant step forward with a report that will be presented on May 26. In their study report, the staff of the Boston Landmarks Commission has citied the Esplanade “as an example of innovative and outstanding park planning and design” that has achieved significance beyond the local level. This positive recommendation has almost assured that the Esplanade will be listed as an historic landmark and preserved as it exists today.
The process to have the Esplanade placed on the list as a landmark started when the staff of Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) suggested hundreds of trees be removed and the area around the Hatch Shell be paved as part of permanent repairs to the Storrow Drive Tunnel. This shocking solution to repair the tunnel galvanized many local community activists and groups to protect the Esplanade by initiating the process to have it listed as a landmark. Without landmark status, the DCR would maintain and could change the area without any community involvement and as it deemed as necessary. While being considered as a landmark, the DCR is unable to substantially alter the site until the commissioners determine its status.
The 72-page report by the Landmarks staff noted several features of the Esplanade, such as like the vegetation and architectural, sculptural and engineering features and topography that the Commission would take into consideration in deciding to designate the site.
At its May 26 hearing, the Boston Landmarks Commission will present the study report. All interested members of the public are encouraged to speak or submit written comments either in favor or against the possible designation of the Esplanade. The meeting will occur at 5:30 p.m. in Room 900 of Boston City Hall.
After the hearing, the commissioners will then decide the status and will publicly vote at a later date. The fate of the Esplanade could be known as early as June 9, which is the next scheduled meeting of the Landmarks Commission.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Frank Mead

PHOTO CAPTION: The Beacon Hill Village work crew: Frank Mead, Penny Bragonier, Ellie and Herb Weiss, Cassandra Gordon, Ginger Lawrence, Sally Hinkle, Eloise Hodges and Art Hodges (kneeling).

Talking with friends just back from New Orleans who were rebuilding houses devastated by Hurricane Katrina, my husband, Frank Mead, and I saw an opportunity for Beacon Hill Village (BHV) to be useful beyond the confines of its neighborhood.
The Village agreed, and we recruited seven more game volunteers: Art and Eloise Hodges, Herb and Ellie Weiss, Ginger Lawrence, Cassandra Gordon and Sally Hinkle. Frank contacted the Episcopal Diocese of New Orleans, a major force in organizing volunteer workers, and signed us up for a week.
On a Saturday afternoon in February, we arrived at the parish house that was to be our local living quarters. After laying claim to the cots on which we’d rest our weary limbs in the nights to come, we ventured into the French Quarter to kick up our heels while we still could.
We wound up—unwittingly but not altogether unhappily—amid a boisterous crowd watching what we later learned is the city’s most infamous parade (launched by a group that considers Mardi Gras “too family-oriented”). Imagine nine Beacon Hill elders, plastic beer containers clutched in their hands, hooting along with the rest of ‘em as the raunchiest floats ever fabricated by man passed by.
Up the next morning not long after dawn, we made our way to the Diocese’s warehouse where we split into two crews, picked up our project supervisors and construction supplies, and headed off to work.
We were stunned by the desolate emptiness –nearly five years after the hurricane-of the neighborhoods to which we were assigned. Barren lots bore few traces, other than an occasional concrete slab, of the simple houses passed down through generations, without deeds or other legal documentation.
Maybe a third of the original houses remained standing. Still visible were the numbers and letters spray-painted on front doors by rescue teams searching for survivors, coded information signifying the number of bodies found inside, the whereabouts of abandoned pets, and the location to which the family had fled.
Our team’s first project was a New Orleans “shotgun” style house owned by a disabled man waiting in Houston for the day he could move back in. Rebuilt by volunteers and painted red (the owner’s choice), it sparkled in an otherwise bleak neighborhood. Frank and Herb did “men’s work” - building an exterior staircase, finishing off the handicap ramp. Eloise, Ellie and I labored on our hands and knees, painting wood trim with fine brushes and careful strokes to our supervisor’s exacting standards.
Meanwhile, the other BHV team—Art, Sally, Ginger and Cassandra—was engaged in serious men’s work at a newly-framed house in another parish. Donning protective eye-gear, they learned how to install insulation and hang plaster wallboard. In no time, they were wielding their own power tools.
On the third day, the Diocese shifted our crew to Miss Hortense’s house in Jefferson Parish. The elderly Miss Hortense had handed over her entire $60,000 FEMA rebuild allowance to an out-of-state contractor, one of hordes that descended on the city the minute the checks started arriving. After two days’ work, he vanished with every cent.
The Diocese responded to Miss Hortense’s plight with teams of volunteers. The plasterboard walls and ceilings had just been placed when our group joined 10 California college kids to prepare and paint the interior. Boom boxes blaring, we sang from the tops of our ladders and slathered paint onto every bare surface, including ourselves. We moved through the house like a swarm of bees.
We had been warned at our first-day orientation not to count on meeting the owners of our houses. Many, like the disabled owner of our first house, had not yet returned to the city. Others, traumatized by events, might opt to stay out of view.
“But, of course,” said the Diocese representative, “you have come to New Orleans, not for personal gratification, but to do a job and then leave.”
Good intentions aside, we were thrilled on our last day when Miss Hortense, legally blind and unlicensed but driving a friend’s car, delivered a homemade feast of gumbo, rice, and bread pudding. She walked through her house, for the first time in a month, on the arm of Gerard, our young project supervisor.
“Such a happy color,” she repeated, passing wall after wall aglow in her favorite daffodil yellow.
She hugged us all, then allowed Gerard to walk her to her car. Slow to return, he explained, “She couldn’t stop crying.”
On our way back to Boston the next day, we conceded that our hard work had amounted to merely a drop in the bucket, but it was a tangible drop, one that would help Miss Hortense and the others reclaim their lives-- five years after the levees broke.

Members of the Government Center Garage Impact Advisory Group (IAG) met recently to continue the discussion on the proposed development that would include five buildings ranging in height from 60 to 710 feet totaling more than 3.8 million square feet of mixed use of office, hotel, retail and residential. IAG members had letters from individuals and organizations expressing their support or opposition as they continue to wrestle with the scope and impact of this massive project.
“Turn the height liability into a positive by giving people public access to the top floors, like the Federal Reserve Building does by opening up the meeting rooms to the community groups,” suggested IAG member Bob O’Brien.
Another suggestion included the developer constructing five 400-foot towers. “We need to create space more efficiently than anything in town,” developer Ted Raymond said. He added, “ It is hard to sell office space that is all staring at each other.”
During the meeting, several members praised the developers for their continued efforts to go above and beyond to provide information and renderings of the potential impact these buildings may have on surrounding neighborhoods. The renderings still showed the extent of new shadows that will be cast by the proposed two towers of 700 feet and 500 feet.
“Everyone knows how I feel about height,” said IAG member Francine Gannon, “what benefit to the North End, no benefit,” she added.
IAG member Dave Roderick suggested they build the YMCA and then build on top of the structure to gain the added rental square footage needed to make the project financially viable. He reasoned that this move may lower the height of the towers.
The question of whether the project will include the almost one acre of additional Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and city-owned land continues to be a potential issue to IAG members. Currently, the BRA hasn’t decided yet whether to include selling this land to the developers and if the project would then be massed on either the approximately four-acre site or a five-acre site.
“We needed this resolved,” Roderick said.
“We tried as hard as we can to find the answer,” Raymond told IAG members, adding, “We are anxious to deal with certainty on the whole site.”
“We need to talk to other agencies,” Kristin Kara, project member for the BRA, told IAG members.
Roderick replied, “Why not postpone until we know the answer? The garage is horrible, but not as bad if we end up having to put up with a lot more.”
“Our job is minimize the impact and optimize the upside,” O’Brien added at the end of the meeting.
Aaron Michlewitz, a North End resident and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for state representative, said after the meeting, “ I have a strong concern about the height and density and where the project is heading. I fought for open green space, but this project will place a shadow on parts of the North End, and I am concerned about it.”
The next meeting is scheduled for May 27 and will look at the transportation impact that the proposed project would add to the area.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) launched the second phase of its West End Master Plan last week with a public meeting at the Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
At that time, Bob Kroin, BRA chief architect, and Kairos Shen, the agency’s director of planning, sought feedback from West End residents and stakeholders on the BRA’s July 2003 report, “A Framework for Planning & Development of the West End Area” and subsequent development in the neighborhood.
In 2002, the BRA began the public process for future development in the West End and commissioned the West End Area Planning Group, a council of 25 members with various interests in the community. That September, the group participated in a “charrette,” or period of intense design activity, the results of which became the basis for the report.
In late 2004, the BRA approved the West End Residences, a 306-unit, five-building complex that was the first development in the neighborhood in 25 years.
Equity Residential, the Chicago-based company behind the West End Residences, has now expressed interest in redeveloping the Garden Garage, located adjacent to West End Place at 150 Staniford St.
Shen said the second phase of the Master Plan would consider not only Charles River Park in the context of the West End, but would also take into account other planned development in the area, including the Delaware North Companies towers on Nashua and Causeway streets and future Suffolk University and Massachusetts General Hospital projects.
Those in attendance at the meeting cited the height of proposed buildings and the loss of views, sunlight and open space as among their top concerns regarding future development in the neighborhood.
State Rep. Marty Walz advised that the latest phase of the Master Plan should take into account the traffic impact from the nearby Northpoint development in Cambridge; advocated for more family housing in the West End (i.e. units with three bedrooms or more); and she requested that the BRA provide at the next meeting a map of the neighborhood indicating who owns each developable parcel.
As for the next step, Shen suggested that those who attend the next meeting could break into smaller groups and meet with the development team to share their ideas.

“All politics are local,” Tip O’Neil said.
Indeed. All politics are local in the Third Suffolk special election race, which is coming down to the wire, and all questions are about the neighborhoods.
The four Democratic candidates for the Third Suffolk District met again in a discussion that was sponsored by the League of Women Voters and North End/Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA) last Thursday night at the Marriot Long Wharf Hotel. The nominees seek to fill the seat that was left vacant by the resignation of Rep. Sal. DiMasi. The special primary election will be held next Tuesday.
More than 150 people attended the three-hour forum, where the candidates debated state and city issues. Moderator Mary Tamer of the League of Women Voters asked each candidate prepared questions and gave them each 1-1/2 minutes to respond.
The debate opened with the question of why they are qualified for the seat.
“Nobody knows the issues of this district better,” replied Aaron Michlewitz, former director of constituent’s services for Rep. Sal. DiMasi. “My work went well beyond the North End,” he added.
“Education is my biggest passion,” said Susan Passoni. “I have over 20 years of experience in finance, and I seek to keep the state affordable.”
“I have a proven track record of community work,” Lucy Rivera said, referring to her qualifications. A lawyer and a two-term member of the Democratic State Committee, Rivera added, “I see the end result of the lack of education.”
“My job will be to create jobs,” Brian Ross said. “I have business experience in both the private and public sectors.”
On the issue of taxes, “Michlewitz said,” Before we talk about adding more revenue, we have to build back trust. We need ethics and pension reform.”
“I will go line by line to find where we are spending every dime, “Passoni pledged.
Rivera said, “This is not the best time to raise the sales tax. We need to encourage growth,” while Ross replied, “It is insane to keep raising taxes.”
The question of new taxes to benefit Boston drew varying views from the candidates.
Passoni called for renegotiation with all tax-exempt organizations that currently own more than half the land in Boston but pay only 1 percent of the revenues. Rivera called for people coming into the city who use those services to pay something. Ross called for the need to create jobs. Michlewitz said he would support the meal tax and end the telecommunications loophole.
On representing what the candidates term the most diverse districts in the state and being effective in addressing the issues, they offered the following views.
Ross said he works with large and small businesses and would set up Town Hall style meetings for the nine neighborhoods. Michlewitz noted the reality that what is good for one neighborhood may not be good for another, but said he will find the common ground. Passoni said it is the diversity that makes the seat so attractive and that common issues like groundwater unite the district. Rivera added there are common problems like public safety that affects residents, especially women.
On the issue of groundwater, Michlewitz pointed to his three years as president of the North End Waterfront Neighborhood Council and his appointment by Mayor Thomas Menino to the groundwater trust. “This issue will be an important priority of mine,” Michlewitz added, saying he will make sure there is funding in place.
“Water must go back and we must maintain the infrastructure as the new projects come on line,” Passoni said. “The worst location in the South End is where I live.”
“Everyone blames everyone,” Ross said. “We must do more.”
Rivera added her commitment to keep this problem in the forefront.
On other issues, such as absentee landlords and the green ticket bill, all candidates were on the same page - to have the neighborhoods cleaner. Rivera favored the green ticket bill, claiming it would help keep the neighborhoods clean. Passoni said that absentee landlords should give something back to the neighborhood. Michlewitz said he supports the green ticket bill as a way to keep trash picked up, and Ross added his support to the bill.
The candidates also were asked about the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and its future role. “The BRA has problems,” Michlewitz said. “Rezoning is it biggest problem. A lot of projects lack enough affordable housing,” he added.
“The BRA is structured as a conflict of interest, with the dual roles of planning and development. This is the only agency in the country that has this authority,” said Passoni.
This is a great time to reorganize the BRA,” Ross added.
“Development in the city and state needs to be smart. There are examples of where projects did not get finished,” Rivera added.

Get out and vote

On Tuesday, May 19, voters in the Beacon Hill neighborhood will go to the polls and choose who they believe will best lead the Third Suffolk District in a special election being held to fill the seat vacated by former Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi.
We urge you to get out and vote.
Your vote means everything to the process by which we run ourselves.
In Beacon Hill, we believe voters have an important decision to make.
The choice is between Aaron Michlewitz, Susan Passoni, Brian Ross and Lucy Rivera.
The Third Suffolk District needs a continuation of the best of what DiMasi brought to the neighborhood and the state.
A smaller portion of Beacon Hill is included in the Third Suffolk District but nevertheless, it remains an important part of the broader representation picture for this neighborhood.
Because of his leadership, and because of the staff- his staff- who helped to push his liberal agenda, Beacon Hill’s representative in the Third Suffolk seat has become something very special.
So when you go out to vote on Tuesday, May19, think about what came before. Think about those who are best qualified to serve this neighborhood and advocate for its needs.
Think about everything you want this neighborhood to be, then read the names on the ballot: Aaron Michlewitz, Susan Passoni, Brian Ross and Lucy Rivera.
Then do the right thing for Beacon Hill and for the rest of sprawling district.
Get out and vote.

No cell phones on T trains

The horrifying crash underground in the subway system over the weekend is a harsh reminder to everyone who uses public transport how our lives are held virtually in the hands of others.
When others driving T trains are sending text messages on their handheld cell phones, many, many lives are put in danger, as was proven with this recent crash.
Dozens were injured and taken to the hospital.
The cost for this pileup is $10 million, according to T officials.
As a result of this recent accident, the T has banned cell phone use by all of its train operators, a move that has been a long time coming.
It was a stroke of luck that no one died in this costly accident.
The driver should be fired instantly.
His was a very costly text message.