Crews work to dismantle former police station on Morton Street
(Patrick D. Rosso/Boston.com/2013)
Crews tore down parts of the building Monday.
Demolition crews are making quick work of the building on Morton Street in Mattapan that once housed the neighborhood’s police station.
Located at 872 Morton St., the structure is being razed to make way for the demolition and reconstruction of the Morton Street Bridge, which carries vehicle traffic over the tracks of the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line.
The demolition is being overseen by the city of Boston and is being conducted by the JR Vinagro Corporation, a Rhode Island based contractor. The project is managed and will eventually be turned back over to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which will lead the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge.
The DOT will use the police station's site to construct the new bridge, which will be slid into place once completed.
Overall the demolition of the two structures, along with the construction of the new bridge, is estimated to cost close to $9.7-million, according to the DOT.
Part of the Commonwealth's Accelerated Bridge Program, the DOT is currently waiting for bids on the bridge portion of the project, which was advertised June 22, 2013 with a 120-day bidding period.
Once a contractor for the job has been chosen, the DOT will hold a meeting with the community to discuss the closure of the structure to traffic while it is being demolished and replaced.
The DOT expects to close the bridge for up to 10-days with the current work timeline calling for its closure from August 8, 2014 to August 18, 2014.
Boston.com got the chance to venture inside the structure before it was demolished. To view the photos, click here.
(Patrick D. Rosso/Boston.com/2013)
Crews tore down parts of the building Monday.
(Patrick D. Rosso/Boston.com/2013)
Crews tore down parts of the building Monday.
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
North End resident Colleen Daly honored for work with homeless children
Spector Photography
From left to right: Asa Fanelli, president and chief executive officer of Horizons for Homeless Children; Hannah Nersasian, Greater Boston playspace director; PAL of the Year Colleen Daly; Rob Stewart, Greater Boston playspace director; and Matt Epstein, chairman of the organization’s board of directors.
Horizons for Homeless Children has named a North End woman its “PAL of the Year” for Greater Boston in recognition of her volunteerism, the organization announced.
For more than a dozen years, Colleen Daly has volunteered as a Playspace Activity Leader, or a PAL, at Margaret’s House, a family shelter in Dorchester. Horizons announced her award recently at its annual awards dinner.
The organization said Daly is not only one of the longest-serving of its more than 1,000 volunteers but also someone who goes to extraordinary lengths to help the organization and her fellow volunteers.
Daly mentors other volunteers, fills in for them when they need to miss a shift, attends extra shifts to welcome new recruits, and organizes community meetings, the group said.
She has also been a speaker at the organization’s Women’s Breakfast, participated in panel discussions a volunteer trainings, helped out at many events for Margaret’s House families, and been an advocate for the group at the State House, it said.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow the North End on Twitter: @YourNorthEnd.
Follow Dorchester on Twitter: @YourDorchester.
Final meeting on Mary Hannon Playground and Park improvements
(Image courtesy Google Maps)
The location of the park.
The third and final community meeting on renovations to the Mary Hannon Playground and Park will be held Monday night at the Project Hope Community Center at 550 Dudley St.
Final designs and proposed improvements for 1.96-acre park at 621 Dudley St. are expected to be presented at the meeting set for July 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Approximately $500,000 worth of improvements and repairs are slated for the park and playground that was last renovated in 1997, according to Boston Parks and Recreation.
In addition to the standard upkeep and necessary repairs rubber safety surfacing, updated equipment, new lighting, and new outdoor furniture is also expected to be added to the site.
Construction is expected to start in April-May of 2014 with work expected to be completed in the fall of 2014, according to Parks.
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
Photo: Area youths take part in Tedy Bruschi Kids Football Clinic
(Image courtesy SBLI)
Row 1: Hector Galarza (Roxbury), Tavaj Cope (Mattapan), Jamarri Cope (Mattapan), Alejandro Castillo (Dorchester) Row 2: Aaron Cooley (Roxbury) Khalifa Jobbie (Boston) Alex Carrington (Dorchester) Myles Jones (Mattapan) Nikko Kelly (Dorchester) Row 3: Jerod Mayo, Chad Smith (Captain), Christopher Pinkerton (SBLI President & CEO), Tedy Bruschi, Paul Lynch (SBLI), Ray Ventrone, Julian Edelman, and Stephen Gostkowski.
Area youths got the chance to share Gillette Stadium’s football field with some of the best in the National Football League, after taking part in the SBLI Tedy Bruschi Kids Football Clinic.
Over 60 youths including those from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan participated in the minicamp that included training sessions with former superstar Tedy Bruschi and current Patriots’ stars including Zoltan Mesko, Jerod Mayo, Julian Edelman, and Stephen Gostkowski.
The students, who were selected based on an essay they wrote, also received a personalized locker, an official Bruschi Patriots jersey, and a "proper" announcement as they ran onto the field.
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
It's always sunny on the MBTA
Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com
Were these Orange Line passengers tweeting positive thoughts about the MBTA? It could happen.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.
Neighbors to spruce up Sharon's Park Saturday
Members of the McCormack Civic Association will be out in Sharon’s Park this Saturday sprucing up the neighborhood green space. They are in search of helping hands.
From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. residents will be weeding, picking up trash, and mulching the various sections of the park, on the corner of Buttonwood Street and Columbia Road in Dorchester.
After the morning clean-up. refreshments will be served.
For more information or to volunteer email the civic association at Civic@McCormackCivic.com
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center names new chief development officer
Angela Johnson, the former associate vice president of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, will join The Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center as its new chief development officer.
She will be tasked with designing and executing a cohesive fund development strategy for the organization, with a concentration on large corporate, individual, and foundation gifts, said a release from the Dorchester-based youth and sports nonprofit.
"We are extremely pleased to have Angela on board at STEC,” Toni Wiley, executive director of Sportsmen’s, said in a statement. “Our next phase of growth requires the full time participation of a well-seasoned development professional. Angela brings the expertise we are seeking, plus a heartfelt commitment to the youth and families we serve.”
Johnson also has experience in fund development from her work at Mount Holyoke College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School.
"I am thrilled to work with an organization that I know plays such a vital role in the lives of children and families in the community,” Johnson, said in a statement. “I accepted the position because I am excited to play a part in developing a fundraising plan that will provide the financial support needed to accomplish the future goals and vision STEC is working to achieve.”
A graduate of Wellesley College, Johnson has lived in the city of Boston for over 20-years and will start her tenure at Sportsmen’s July 1.
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
Several area community development corporations receive tax credits
Twenty-eight organizations including a number in Roxbury and Dorchester, were recently named the recipients of a Community Investment Tax Credit from the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
Totaling $750,000, the credits will be used to support new economic opportunities for low- and middle-income households. For the most part the credits will be split between the groups in $25,000 chunks, according to a release from the Department of Housing and Community Development.
“By partnering with local Community Development Corporations, we hope to create economic opportunity for everyone in Massachusetts,” undersecretary of the Department of Housing and Community Development, Aaron Gornstein, said in a statement. “The Community Investment Tax Credit will lead directly to new ideas and new projects that will revitalize neighborhoods and support growth for low- and moderate-income families who still need help recovering from the recession.”
Viet Aid, a Dorchester nonprofit that focuses on community building in Fields Corner and among the neighborhood’s Vietnamese population, was one of the local groups selected for the credits. The Codman Square Development Corporation and the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, two Dorchester-based development nonprofits, were also selected for the grants.
In Roxbury, a number of nonprofit housing developers were also named including the Madison Park Community Development Corporation, Urban Edge, and Nuestra Comunidad.
Created in 2012 through the Jobs Bill, the program, which helps support CDC programs and development strategies, is slated to expire in 2019.
---
Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.
City launches “City Hall to Go” truck full time
(Photo courtesy City of Boston)
Getting to City Hall might be easier from some Boston residents this summer as the city launches its City Hall on wheels full time.
Starting July 2, the “City Hall to Go” truck will regularly visit neighborhoods on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to provide certain services to residents, and be stationed by request on Fridays and Saturdays at special events, block parties, and street festivals.
The truck will allow residents to pay or dispute parking tickets, request birth, death or marriage certificates, get a dog license, request a residential parking permit, or pay property and excise taxes without travelling to Government Center.
Residents will also be able to sign up for Renew Boston’s home energy audits and weatherization, request raffle applications, and submit claims to the City Clerk.
The city first held a soft launch of the trunk in December.
“The ‘City Hall to Go’ truck makes personal, timely service from the City of Boston possible for a whole new set of constituents,” Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “We are constantly trying to push what appear to be the limits of municipal services. The success of the truck’s earliest visits shows that benefits of City Hall can exist far beyond its walls.”
The repurposed Boston Police Department SWAT vehicle will be open until 7 p.m. on weeknights and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
The truck will also use social media to determine part of its schedule. On the fourth Tuesday of every month residents can tweet @CityHallToGo to tell the city where they want the truck to go that day. The truck will open at the most requested location at 12:30 p.m.
The city provided the following schedule for its mobile City Hall. It is subject to change and residents can follow @CityHalltoGo on Twitter or call 617-635-4500 for updates.
FULL ENTRYMBTA to increase security for July 4
The MBTA will increase security and police patrols around the system on July 4. As in years past, the T will boost subway service and will not charge fares after a certain point at nighttime, officials announced this week.
“We encourage people coming into the city to celebrate to use the MBTA and ask passengers to expect large amounts of people, and as we do every day we ask people to be aware of their surroundings, and if they see something unusual, report it immediately,” said Joseph F. O'Connor, superintendent-in-chief of the Transit Police Department.
He said, that while security is normally heightened on the holiday and for other large public events around Boston, this year there will be even more patrols than on July 4 in years past, including a “significant amount” of both uniformed and plain-clothes officers throughout the public transit system due to the bombing attacks in the city at the Marathon in April.
“We want people to feel safe,” O’Connor said. “We want to reassure the public for people who may be concerned because of the events that happened at the Marathon and in the week after.”
There will be no special restrictions on what items passengers can carry while riding the T, but O’Connor reminded riders that some items will be prohibited within a secure perimeter that will be established around the Esplanade.
He said random bag inspections, which are performed daily at strategically-chosen parts of the T, will be performed on the holiday. O’Connor also encouraged riders to download the agency’s free smartphone application which allows users to report suspicious activity by sending text and photos directly to Transit Police.
He said that Transit Police will, as they do regularly, work closely with federal, state and city law enforcement throughout the holiday.
The T also plans to institute schedule-related changes similar to what the agency has done on Independence Day in years past.
On Thursday, July 4, fares will not be collected after 9:30 p.m., subway service will run at “rush hour levels” after 2 p.m. and the last outbound commuter rail trains scheduled to leave Boston will delay their departure to allow passengers more time to board after the fireworks display at the Esplanade.
“Customers are urged to take public transportation to and from Fourth of July events and advised to check T-Alerts and mbta.com for the most up-to-date service information during the holiday,” the agency said on its website.
Officials also reminded riders that bicycles are not allowed on any subway lines on July 4. Bikes are also not allowed on inbound commuter rail trains from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on outbound trains after 4 p.m.
Buses will operate on a Sunday schedule. Before 2 p.m., the T’s four subway lines – the Red, Blue, Orange and Green – will operate on a Sunday schedule.
The commuter rail will operate on a Saturday schedule, until the day’s final outbound commuter rail trains, all but one of which will delay their departures from Boston until 11:45 p.m. – about 45 minutes after the city’s fireworks display usually ends. The #1173 to Newburyport is scheduled to depart at 11:15 p.m.
Quincy and Hull boats will run on a weekday schedule. Charlestown boats will operate on a Saturday schedule. Hingham boats will not run.
Passengers who use The RIDE service are asked to check directly with their contractors for specific schedule changes.
For more information, visit the T’s website, www.mbta.com.
E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
--
For more news and stories about the MBTA, follow @LifeontheMBTA on Twitter, here.
For the latest updates about your community, follow some of our local neighborhood, city and town Twitter accounts, here.
Dorchester REAL ESTATE
340Homes
for sale144
Rentals available24
Open houses this week3
New listings this week