A Good Time was Had by All…
Thanks to our members, friends and neighbors who attended our virtual Holiday Celebration last Saturday evening. Over 130 people joined, and were welcomed by the BHCA, Tom Kershaw and Ivy Turner for a new take on our annual Decorating Days. We enjoyed Beacon Hill Christmas history, bell ringing by the Back Bay Bell Ringers and inspiring cocktail and cooking demonstrations from our friends at 75 Chestnut and Hampshire House. We are also grateful to Rouvalis Flowers who provided us with a how-to video for holiday centerpieces. A good time was had by all as we stay connected during the holiday season!
Contractor Parking Problems
In response to many neighbors’ concerns, we are working on ways to limit the amount of resident parking that is routinely taken over – in many cases inappropriately – by contractors doing work on Beacon Hill. One such approach that we have undertaken is to deal with contractors misusing parking space permits directly on a case by case basis and we are visiting problem areas to speak with the owners or their contractors to limit such misuse of our precious resident parking resources. Such misuse includes contractor employees parking their personal vehicles in posted parking permit spots, which is not allowed, and contractors taking over resident spaces without any parking permits whatsoever. As always, we depend on you to inform us of any misuse of parking permits by contractors that you are seeing so that we can resolve it.
Have you tried BOS:311?
The City of Boston has an important and useful resource for all Boston residents. 311 is an easy to remember telephone number that will connect you with the City’s Constituent Service Center. The center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.
311 provides access to all non-emergency City services. You can call 311 from any telephone, or you can call directly to 617-635-4500. You can also connect with 311 by downloading the mobile app, or by submitting a request or concern online at https://www.cityofboston.gov/311/. The mobile app allows you to easily send a photo of the problem you are reporting. You can even Tweet @BOS311.
There are hundreds of topics that can be addressed by the 311 center, and these can be found on the 311 website. Some of the issues you can report to 311 include potholes, sidewalk problems, streets or sidewalks that need to be cleaned, how to get rid of a big item like furniture or appliances, broken street signs, broken traffic signals and broken gas lamps. The service will confirm your submittal and they will send you an email when the problem has been resolved.
We recommend that our neighbors use this service whenever they have a question or concern to which the City can respond. Please let us at the BHCA also know of any issues in the neighborhood that you think need attention. We can help follow up with the City.
Join us!
If you haven’t yet become a member of the BHCA, we invite you to join. Your input in quality of life issues on the Hill is important to us, and we rely on you our neighbors to bring your comments and concerns to our attention. By joining our membership, you strengthen our numbers and add credibility to our purpose as advocates for Beacon Hill. Please call our office at 617-227-1922 or email the BHCA Executive Director at [email protected] with any questions, comments or concerns, or to become a member.
We are also always looking for persons who might be interested in joining one or more of our many standing committees that are involved in the issues that concern us all on the Hill – such as our Traffic and Parking Committee, our Streets and Sidewalks Committee, or our Architecture Committee to name just a few. Check out our website – bhcivic.org – for a list of our committees and what they do. In addition, if you are interested in potentially joining our Board of Directors, please reach out and let us know. We’d be happy to talk to you about what our Board does and what the process is for joining.
Upcoming BHCA Virtual Events
Beacon Hill Meet & Greet – Monday, January 4th *
Zoning & Licensing – Wednesday, January 6th *
*Visit the Beacon Hill Civic Association website www.bhcivic.org or call the office (617-227-1922) for more information on any of these events.