From cleaner streets to more reliable buses, workers boost Boston

City gives awards to key employees

The letters in support of Joanne Sullivan called her "the hard-working lady," and "the woman that's keeping the neighborhood clean."

To many, she's known as "the woman who's making a difference."

Sullivan, 50, will be honored with a Henry L. Shattuck Public Service Award today for her help in cleaning up the Columbia Road-Savin Hill section of Dorchester, and it's the residents who wrote on her behalf, saying she has helped to unite a neighborhood wanting to better itself.

The schoolchildren will wave to her from a bus, rather than throw paper out the window at times.

The neighborhood's participation in the annual "Boston Shines" cleanup program was at its highest level, and many cite Sullivan as their motivation.

Sullivan herself said she has seen the neighborhood in transition.

"They care," said Sullivan, a laborer with the Boston Department of Public Works. "It's people I see on a daily basis, and they're all good people. They're genuine.

And she knows she has "found the perfect job."

Sullivan is one of eight Boston government employees representing six departments to be honored with the Shattuck award, given each year to "the unsung heroes, the people who really make the city of Boston work," said Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a privately funded government watchdog group that organizes the award nomination process.

The recipients will receive the awards at a ceremony at 6:30 tonight at the World Trade Center amphitheater.

Over the last 23 years, 171 city employees have been honored with the award, named in memory of Shattuck, a lawyer, businessman, and politician who believed government should be held accountable at all levels. He died in 1971.

Besides Sullivan, the other winners are: