With hours to go before the spotlight lands on Mission Hill, workers tended to the nighborhood’s blemishes. Here, William Ritchie painted a rusty sign pole.
(Photos By John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)
On Mission Hill, years of flaws fixed in hours
City rushes to tidy up at funeral site
With hours to go before the spotlight lands on Mission Hill, workers tended to the nighborhood’s blemishes. Here, William Ritchie painted a rusty sign pole.
(Photos By John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)
City workers packed the mulch thick around the newly pruned trees. Another crew rolled fresh coats of paint over graffiti on street poles and utility boxes. Street sweepers, public works trucks, and other city vehicles cruised up and down Tremont Street, the main artery of Mission Hill, scooping up gum wrappers and cigarette butts, patching potholes and sidewalks, erasing eyesores.
From Brigham Circle to Roxbury Crossing, an army descended on the area around the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help yesterday to spruce things up for the parade of dignitaries expected to attend Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s funeral today.
“We were told to come here and make it pretty,’’ said Arthur Davis, who was leading a Department of Public Works crew sweeping a stretch of sidewalk. “If it needs mopping, we’re mopping. If it needs sweeping, we’re sweeping. If a tree needs to be cut or weeds need to be pulled, we’re doing it. We’re on a mission.’’
The city’s sudden splurge of attention to the neighborhood’s smallest blemishes astonished longtime residents, many of whom said they have been seeking such work for years.
“I walked out here and thought, ‘What in the world is happening?’ ’’ said Seth Burns, 47, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and watched in amazement as the street sweepers went up and down Tremont, as if on a conveyor belt. “Never in my life have I seen anything like this here. When you call the city or your landlord, you get nothing. But I guess all it takes is to have the president come to town. Now, they’re doing everything.’’
Burns wasn’t complaining, but others found it curious that the city had the ability to act so quickly in areas they said had been long neglected.
“It’s like putting paint on a house that’s fallen down,’’ said Irving Stallings, 44, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. “It’s actually kind of upsetting, almost like they’re sugarcoating our problems, trying to make it look better than it really is.’’
President Obama and his Cabinet, three former presidents, foreign dignitaries, and dozens of members of Congress are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at the basilica where the senator prayed while his daughter was waging her battle against cancer.
Perhaps the last time the city undertook such a makeover was in 2004, when it was host to the Democratic National Convention. At the time, the city spent months and about $2.7 million on sidewalk repairs and street paving near the convention.
Spiffing up Mission Hill is not expected to cost anywhere near that amount, of course. City officials have not yet tabulated the expense, but said the work - which began just 72 hours before the funeral - is well worth it.
“The eyes of the world are going to be on Mission Hill, so it’s an opportunity to come out and make it look the best we can,’’ said Thomas Tinlin, commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation.
He said the effort, which included the departments of Parks and Recreation, Water and Sewer, and Property and Construction Management, was a “labor of love’’ and would ensure Kennedy “gets the sendoff he deserves.’’
“I don’t think job descriptions have really applied over the last three days,’’ he said. “There hasn’t been one person grousing - it’s been the complete opposite: ‘What can I do to help? Do you need me to stay?’ ’’
Michael Galvin, the city’s chief of public property, tried to downplay the effort, which has included new street signs and the removal of tree limbs. He compared the work to what the city does for Red Sox victory parades or Sail Boston.
“We do it a lot for different events,’’ he insisted.
The refurbishing of Tremont Street went beyond the work sponsored by the city.
At a large apartment building near Brigham Circle, landscapers planted about 200 fresh mums and yards of crisp mulch. A few blocks away, janitors washed the windows of a bar while handymen raked the glass and weeds from the front of a townhouse.
Michael Soltani, a member of the Mission Hill Business Alliance, spent the morning walking down Tremont, handing out scores of American flags and more than a hundred blue and white signs that read in block letters: “Kennedy, Thanks.’’
“We didn’t ask for anyone’s help,’’ said Soltani, who helped fellow business owners hang the flags with wood poles and special brackets he provided. “We just wanted to let the Kennedy family know that we appreciate that. I get goosebumps when I think about the senator.’’
As satellite trucks, bomb squad units, motorcycle officers, and suited Secret Service agents swarmed the area, the Rev. Philip Dabney, associate pastor of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, said he didn’t recognize the neighborhood anymore.
“I drove up this morning and turned to a police officer and asked, ‘Can you tell me where 1545 Tremont Street is?’ ’’ he joked, citing the church’s address. “Everything was so clean. Without the graffiti and holes in the sidewalks, I couldn’t recognize it.’’
Inside the 130-year-old church, there was as much activity as outside. With Secret Service agents keeping a watchful eye on everything, a crew of more than 50 technicians and engineers from ABC News positioned 12 video cameras, more than 20 microphones, and thousands of feet of cable, which they sought to hide discretely.
Nearby, as a volunteer janitor from the church mopped the floor and washed the pews that will seat 1,500 people, members of Kennedy’s staff scrutinized the elaborate seating arrangements. They discussed where the presidents would sit, how close the mayor and governor would be to the front, and whether spouses would be allowed to sit with the state’s congressional delegation.
As a crew tuned the century-old organ at the back of the church, an honor guard that flew in from Washington rehearsed how they would carry the casket to the altar.
“We want to make sure we nail this one right,’’ said First Sergeant Noah Edney, the Army commander overseeing the honor guard, which last came together for President Ford’s state funeral. “We are privileged to play a small role in history.’’
Back outside, as TV crews erected tents,
“If anyone deserves this, it’s the senator,’’ said Hudson, who moved here from Jamaica 30 years ago. “He opened the door to America for so many of us. He did so much for us; this is the least we can do for him.’’
David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
