Walking winners
- |
In regard to your excellent article about great walks in the Boston area ("Step to It," August 31), maybe instead of the North End Bakery Tour you could have included the paved, well-maintained walkway on Deer Island, just south of Winthrop. You can't find a better view of the skyline of downtown Boston.
KEN WATT
Peabody
A favorite amble of mine during all four seasons is the canal walk at Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park off of Oak Street in Uxbridge. The park hosts Civil War reenactments, winter holiday celebrations, summer concerts, and kayaking.
TOM GAGNON
Uxbridge
Congratulations on selecting East Boston Greenway as one of the top walks in Greater Boston. You, however, missed referencing the Neponset River Greenway, which goes from Port Norfolk in Dorchester along the Neponset River to Central Avenue in Mattapan. It can be accessed from the Ashmont/ Mattapan trolley.
ROBERT N. SCHMALZ
Boston
While it was most gratifying that Dorchester's Ashmont Hill was one of your walks, I am puzzled by the route you recommend. It completely misses Alban Street, one of the most architecturally varied and beautiful streets in the neighborhood.
VICKI RUGO
Dorchester
THE DO-GOODER
It is heartening that people like Wendy Schmidt are taking a civic business initiative ("The Billionaire and the Bookstore," August 31). Similarly, Elizabeth B. Noyce, through her Libra Foundation, revitalized towns in Maine. She used money from her divorce from Robert Noyce, the founder of
GARY P. ZIENTARA
Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Friendship, Maine
While Schmidt's open methods may be new, the actions are not. People in a position to do so have helped others keep their businesses open for years, especially during the Depression. My grandfather was lucky to be able to do this for a family-owned jewelry business operating inside Arlington Town Hall that could not pay the rent, for example. I know of a Providence home that was purchased by several people nearby so it would not be developed into something else. I'm sure there are many more such examples.
IRENE GRAVINA
Bedford
What an unexpected and rewarding subject! Surely Schmidt has thought of matching grants as a way of giving the year-round residents a stake in the preservation and natural development of Nantucket. And would it be possible for contributing nonresidents to have some say about proposals for change? I have not been to Nantucket for years, but I remember that bookstore and the delight of being in town.
DON TRITSCHLER
Marblehead
CAN YOU HEAR ME?
I loved Steve Greenlee's column (Perspective, August 31). I have a cellphone, but I almost always forget to carry it, and in three years, I've never needed it.
SUSAN MAHAN
East Weymouth
Well, finally, the other person in the world who feels as I do. I have a cellphone and only use it for emergencies or if I am traveling. My home phone - plugged into the wall - only fails me when I am talking to someone who is not talking on a wall phone.
I know cellphones are just a symptom of everyone wanting to feel connected, maybe because they really aren't. Do they ever talk face-to-face? My solution to the country's problems is for everyone to have a front stoop (I was raised a city kid in Philadelphia), and we should all know our neighbors and say "Hi" once in a while.
MARIE C. MERSEREAU
Shrewsbury
COMMENTS? Write to magazine@globe.com or The Boston Globe Magazine/Letters, PO Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819. Please include a daytime phone number. Letters are subject to editing; short letters are preferred.
