credit: Jaclyn Trop
caption:Miles Marden and one of his posters.




When you’re a fifth-grader with charitable instincts in the post-Katrina age, philanthropic opportunities abound. But if your namesake happens to be jazz legend Miles Davis, choosing a cause is simple. Such is the story of West Hill Place resident Miles Marden, who decided over Christmas vacation to aid New Orleans’ distressed jazz musicians and took the idea to Harry Connick, Jr.

“I saw on the news that there were cars in houses [in New Orleans]. Everything was all over the place. I just wanted to help by doing whatever I could,” said Miles, now a Fessenden School sixth-grader.

Miles decided that he would raise money for the Musician’s Village, a Habitat for Humanity-sponsored charity providing affordable housing for New Orleans’ Ninth Ward musicians. He wrote to Connick, who teamed with Habitat and musician Branford Marsalis to help build a music-centric neighborhood.

When his parents deemed his first idea – to create T-shirts – unfeasible, Miles’ concept took shape in a poster, with help from his godfather Ron Lawner, vice chairman and global chief creative officer of advertising giant Arnold Worldwide. The resulting creation – a purple, yellow and orange cartoon-like depiction of a jazz ensemble – was the result of a “big collaboration” among artists at Arnold, where Miles’ mother Suzy works as a senior business affairs manager.

The poster went through two drafts, the final version only altered with the addition of a bearded trombone player because the first looked “too heterogeneous,” Suzy said. Miles printed 200 copies and hit the Christmas party circuit with his product at $10 a pop.

Soon after, Miles received a reply from Connick, who agreed to sign five of Miles’ posters. Autographs from R& B artist John Legend and several Newport Jazz Festival artists – Dave Brubeck, Dr. John, Chris Botti, Arturo Sandoval, and Al Jarreau – followed. Suddenly, the posters’ value increased 30-fold.

“It’s an amazing keepsake. It represents a devastating time in our history and how a kid from Boston wanted to help,” Suzy said.

Miles has collected close to $1,000 and hopes to at least double the sum before he flies to New Orleans this winter to present the check to Connick. A formal check-giving ceremony has not yet been arranged. “Maybe we could make it a big deal, but it’s not about me. It’s just about helping people,” he said.

Even after the posters are sold, Miles’ philanthropic spirit will endure through the association he has initiated, The Kids Can Network, to inspire and advise other kids who are struggling with their own charitable endeavors. “For the kid that raises the most money for an event, we could give him an award…” he said. “And maybe a lot of things in the world would change. Or just a few things.”

“Kids sometimes don’t think they have a voice with adults. But what Miles found is that everyone wanted to help,” Suzy said. “Things can happen if kids empower themselves.”

Of Miles’ 200 posters, two with Connick signatures, two with Legend signatures, two featuring Connick’s signature with the Newport Jazz Festival artists, 18 with Newport Jazz ensemble signatures and 120 unsigned, remain. Those interested in purchasing a poster or donating to the cause may contact Miles at miles@kidscannetwork.com.

As the city’s new preservation planner for Beacon Hill, Aberdeen and Mission Hill, Kate Neuner will help ensure that development does not endanger historic structures within her districts. She has replaced Colleen Meagher, who is now preservation planner for the South End.

Neuner, an Amherst, Mass. native, graduated from Tulane Law School in New Orleans last spring. Although she began studying historic preservation prior to Hurricane Katrina, the disaster amplified her interest in conservation issues, she said.

“After the hurricane, [preservation] was such an important part of [New Orleans]. It helped in recognizing the importance of neighborhoods and buildings,” she said.

Neuner spent her post-Katrina semester at Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Mass. and said that she is happy to return to Massachusetts.

“Every building in Boston has such a great history. I’m really looking forward to getting started and seeing what comes across my plate,” she said.

Bryan Glascock, director of the Environment Department, said that the city is lucky to have on staff someone of Neuner’s caliber. “We’re just thrilled to have Kate join our staff. She rounds out the skill set we have in the office,” he said.

Credit: Courtesy photo




To celebrate the beginning of fall, thousands gathered at the Weeks Footbridge to sing across the water and ring their bells. This is the third year that Revels and the Charles River Conservancy organized this celebration, which also brings a new permanent bridge illumination each year. At the dinner reception at the Weld Boathouse that followed, the guests included Harvard University marshal Jackie O'Neill and, from left to right, Thomas Adams, Candace Roosevelt, Acorn Street, and Brigid Williams, Cedar Lane Way.

Neighbors are skeptical about plans to add an estimated 272 square feet to De Luca’s Market

“[The request] raises a lot of the usual concerns and more,” said Tom Clemens, chair of the Beacon Hill Civic Association’s Zoning and Licensing Committee. “I’m open-minded but somewhat skeptical.”

Virgil Aiello, owner of De Luca’s Market, will appear before the committee tomorrow night to discuss his plans to extend the store at the rear of 17 Charles Street along Branch Street. The market currently occupies parts of the street and basement levels at 7,9,11 and 13-15 Charles Street.

Aiello said that he is seeking a renovation to “modernize the space and make it more useable.” “The building is old and needs work so this is an effort to do some maintenance work,” he said. “We’re not going to change the way we do business.”

The project would “basically add a full story to the ell on Branch Street,” according to Clemens. An ell is an extension, usually at right angles, to one end of a building. The plans would increase the ell’s aboveground height by 7 feet and involve digging additional cellar space for an overall height of 22 feet.

The increase in space could also lead to problems if the building ever assumed a different function, such as a nightclub or a large chain store, according to Clemens. “It’s a lot of space if the building’s use were to change. Charles Street has small buildings that are not acceptable for large chain stores,” he said.

The proposed changes to the store’s space would require a variance. The committee, which will hear Aiello’s preliminary plans, will not take a formal vote tomorrow.

Aiello said that he had not decided whether the extra space would be used for storage or as part of the market’s display. Neighbors are concerned that Aiello might use the space for cooking, such as a deli or baking area, Clemens said. Branch Street neighbors and abutters had endured construction hardships with the renovation of the Beacon Hill Bistro, which had agreed to implement a ventilation system to mitigate the effects of its food preparation.

Neighbors also have concerns over De Luca’s management practices, such as trash disposal and alleyway rats, Clemens said.

Clemens said he was not sure if the committee would support Aiello’s plans but that modernizing the building “doesn’t cut it” as a plausible reason to expand the store. “That’s like letting your building fall into disarray and then saying that, in order to replace your shutters, you need to add another floor,” he said.

De Luca’s floor-area ratio already exceeds, as do many of Beacon Hill’s buildings, the neighborhood’s 2.0 limit. “De Luca’s has a nebulous reason for needing [the increase]. Normally, you’d need a specific reason.”

Keep the Citgo sign

Remember the Boston City Council 10 or 20 years ago — councilors complaining about new immigrants or trying to get the council to vote on matters of national interest that had nothing to do with the city council’s mission.

We hope the councilors don’t return to those embarrassing days. But we’re a little concerned, because there recently has been a nutty suggestion coming from one quarter.

Councilor Jerry McDermott wants to take down the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square and replace it with an American flag because Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insulted George W. Bush, calling him a devil.

It is possible that it takes one to know one.

And McDermott should remember that most Bostonians, including his constituents, are not fond of Bush. It is easy to imagine that many of McDermott’s constituents for the first time probably agreed with something Chavez said, given that this Bush takes money from the poor and gives to the rich through his tax policies, allows his friends in corporate power centers to ruin the earth, rejects scientific findings in medicine and the environment, fraudulently leads us into a war that brings greater tragedy to a nation already hammered by decades of cruel dictatorship, gets Congress to let him torture suspected terrorists, gets rid of habeas corpus, and finally, by this war, creates an environment where terrorism flourishes. (We didn’t need a leaked report to tell us this.)

What name would McDermott call a person who engaged in such behavior?

Chavez wasn’t talking about McDermott or Americans. He was talking about a man who is not admired even by most Americans, if the approval ratings are to be believed. McDermott does not have to get his back up over an insignificant remark.

But Bush is beside the point in all of this.

The Citgo sign has nothing to do with Venezuela or oil companies or Chavez or Bush. The Citgo sign has to do only with Boston. Whether one likes it or not, it is a piece of Boston’s history. It adds levity to a city that can sometimes be too serious about its Revolutionary War past. It looms over Fenway Park for Red Sox fans to enjoy.

The City Council has come a long way since some councilors made it a laughing stock. McDermott and his colleagues have plenty to do in a city that needs better schools, better maintenance and more housing and more successful businesses. He should focus on those problems.