BHCA Community Corner

Clothing Drive to benefit Center Club

The Beacon Hill Civic Association is sponsoring a clothing drive to benefit our neighbors at Center Club, a program of Bay Cove Human Services. Center Club (www.centerclubboston.org) is a clubhouse for adults with psychiatric disabilities, located behind the District A-1 Police Station at 31 Bowker Street.

Since 1959 the Club has been dedicated to the principles of self-help, peer support and empowerment. A safe and supported environment is offered there where members of the program can work towards building meaningful lives – connecting to the larger community, assuming valued roles in their community of choice, and ultimately live as independently as possible. The Center offers employment, educational and housing support, socialization opportunities, health and wellness services, and life skills training, all within a diverse and affirming environment.

Please join us in helping our neighbors by donating clean (new or used), comfortable clothing (jeans, sweatpants, sweatshirts and anything fleece) and footwear.

The BHCA at 74 Joy Street will be accepting your bagged donations until Thanksgiving. For more information, please call the BHCA at 617-227-1922.

Garlands and Greens tomorrow evening

BHCA’s much anticipated Garlands & Greens party will take place at the Hampshire House tomorrow, November 16th, from 6 to 9 p.m. This is the 21st year that the community has come together to raise funds for purchasing garlands and red bows to decorate all 1100 lampposts on Beacon Hill.

Once again, there will be chances to win exciting and valuable packages including:

An overnight stay at the Beacon XV Hotel, including breakfast at Mooo…

A ‘beauty bash’ at Benefit for fifteen people

An overnight stay at the Liberty Hotel including dinner for two

A family membership to the Boston Athenaeum

An overnight stay at the Lenox Hotel

Valuable coupons from Savenor’s and Fastachi

Holiday window boxes by Wisteria & Rose

A portrait from Infinity Portrait Design

This event is sure to sell out so purchase your tickets in advance at www.bhcivic.org or call the BHCA at 617-227-1922.

A Piece of the Past

Mothers Against Storrow Drive

As the BHCA president rightly predicted in 1932, the already troublesome traffic and parking problems on Beacon Hill and elsewhere in Boston continued to worsen. By the late 1940s, nearly half of all city streets were blocked by parked cars and traffic jams. This, some thought, negatively impacted the economic vitality of the region’s businesses.

To alleviate such traffic problems, the Metropolitan District Commission proposed to route traffic west of the city by building a six-lane parkway from Charles Street through the Storrow Memorial Embankment to Soldiers Field Road. This would require stripping 70 feet of land from the embankment, including one of the two million square feet in the Esplanade.

Opposition to this proposal mounted in residents of Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the West End, who had grown to love the beauty and walkways of the Esplanade. One such passionate group were mothers who daily pushed their babies in carriages along the restful riverside. These ‘Mothers against Storrow Drive’ organized hundreds of women and children who converged on the State House to protest the multi-million-dollar highway bill.

The tug of war between the government and the coalitions like these mothers opposing the parkway ended in a compromise. An equivalent portion of the basin was filled in, recreational areas restored and the parkway depressed to four lanes with built overpasses for pedestrians.

[Source: Beacon Hill: The Life & Times of a Neighborhood]

Get involved

Beacon Hill Civic Association committees and special events comprise volunteers working together from all over the neighborhood to assure a good quality of life here. All residents are welcome to jump aboard.

Meetings

Green Committee

Tuesday, November 15, 6 p.m. at 74 Joy Street

Traffic & Parking Committee

Thursday, November 17, 6 p.m. at 74 Joy Street

Upcoming Special Events

Garlands & Greens: A Holiday Gathering

Wednesday, November 16. 6-9p.m.

The Hampshire House

Holiday Decorating Days

Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4

Throughout the neighborhood

Holiday Undecorating Day

Saturday, January 7 and Sunday, January 8.

Sunday Brunch at Hampshire House for volunteers

45th annual Winter Gala

Saturday, February 4.

Dinner & Dancing at the Four Seasons

Visit the Beacon Hill Civic Association website bhcivic.org and/or call the office (617-227-1922) for more information on how to get involved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.