It was hard to determine which made Phoenicia’s owner George Dabib happier: the overwhelming support shown by Beacon Hillers for his Lebanese eatery on Cambridge Street or the approval by the Licensing Board for the City of Boston of an all-alcohol license for his establishment.

“I don’t know what to say — I didn’t know we had so such support in the neighborhood,” said Dabib, who was visibly moved by the kudos given to him and his restaurant by 14 residents who came to an informal meeting at the Beacon Hill Civic Association last Tuesday. The gathering was called by Zoning and Licensing Chairman Tom Clemens to discuss Dabib’s application for an all-alcohol license, which due to time restraints could not be acted upon in the procedure usually followed by the association.

Dabib, who has had a beer and wine license for most of the 19 years he has run the establishment, applied for the all-alcohol license upon the request for martinis by his customers and to pick up more business in the evening. He was the first restaurant in Boston to apply for one of the ten new all-alcohol licenses made available last month by a special act of the Massachusetts Legislature.

The ability to transfer such licenses has been the civic association’s biggest bone of contention in the past, because if it approves the granting of a license to a reputable restaurant manager, it has no control over that restaurant selling it to an unknown individual. But the ten special licenses now being offered are not transferable and must be returned to the city.

And that made all the difference in the world. “Non-transferable licenses to an individual or corporation only seems a plus — it’s what we always wanted,” said Bellingham Place resident Peter Thomson, a longtime Zoning and Licensing Committee member. “In the case of Phoenicia, I know the restaurant well. It’s good Middle Eastern food, good people, one of the nicest restaurants in the community.”

And so the praise continued until all 14 present at Tuesday’s meeting had demonstrated their support for the application and sent an emotional Dabib on his way to Wednesday’s licensing board hearing. And there the kudos continued.

Clemens told that body that, while the civic association had not formally acted upon the application, the neighborhood support was positive. Representatives from the offices of the mayor and City Councilor Michael Ross weighed in with a yes vote. The Commission Chairman of the Licensing Board Daniel F. Pokaski himself called Phoenicia’s record in the past “commendable.”

Before awarding all-alcohol licenses, the Licensing Board must determine that a restaurant meets an identified public need, that the location is appropriate and that there is community support for the license. Dabib met those criteria and got the nod.

There was only one caveat: “When you make a martini,” said Commissioner Joseph I. Mulligan, “don’t shake it James Bond-style. Just stir it.”

Beacon Hill’s beloved gas lampposts are keeping the neighborhood shrouded in darkness this winter, causing residents to worry about safety issues. And the blame for why the illumination is so low is being tossed between the city and the gas company.

Complaints about the low lighting have come from all over the neighborhood, although most are from residents on streets such as Chestnut Street where lamps are spaced at greater distances from each other. Similar concerns have been raised on Marlborough Street, Back Bay’s only gas-lit street.

“Plunging older people in darkness is a major public safety issue,” said John Sears of Acorn Street, where at least one lamp is out and the rest are dim. Adjacent Willow Street is without light as well. “It is extremely dangerous. Some elderly person — either me or thee — is going to get hurt or bopped,” he said.

The concern that the poor lighting could increase criminal activity on the Hill and that more people might be subject to muggings or other personal attacks is a worry to Paula O’Keeffe, who handles public safety issues for the Beacon Hill Civic Association. “People are becoming uneasy because it is so dark,” said O’Keeffe. “Light makes people feel secure,” she said.

During the summer and early fall, the Street Lighting Division spent much time on Beacon Hill, replacing the glass and mantles and cleaning the lamps. “It is frustrating that the city was out here just a few months ago and now they seem worse than ever,” said O’Keeffe.

That is particularly frustrating to City Councilor Mike Ross as well. His assistant, Sita Smith, said the office has received many complaints about the low lights, despite the recent efforts to fix them. No one seems to know why they are dimming.

An unidentified employee from the Street Lighting Division told Revere Street resident Bob Matson that he was frustrated about being called back to replace mantles that he had been just a few months ago. The employee told Matson that the reason the lamps were emitting such low light and burning out was because the city had received a faulty batch of mantles, which was soon to be depleted.

But Jennifer Mehigan, spokesman for the Mayor’s office, doesn’t think that’s the case, although she said the city would look into it. She thinks the dim lights are the fault of the gas company. “We do believe it is a gas pressure issue,” she said. “When more gas is being used by residents for heating, it takes gas away from the lamps.”

“Not so,” said Carmen Fields, spokesman for Keyspan. “We checked, and we can’t find anything we’ve done to made the lights dimmer. Nothing is amiss in terms of appropriate pressure and all other measures we observed on the system.” Jokingly she added, “It’s been a warm season. If anything, we would want more gas to be used.”

Residents say they have repeatedly called the city to get the lights fixed and are disappointed with the length of time that passes before the lighting crew arrives. Nevertheless, Mehigan urged residents to report the exact location of problem gas lamps by calling 617-635-7576. “If people don’t call us, the city won’t come out and fix them,” she said.

“No matter what the cause of the problem, let’s just get the crew out and the lamps fixed before a person is hurt,” said an outraged Sears.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Besser
CAPTION:

Paco, a Spanish-speaking puppet, chats with 15-month-old Andrew Bittner at a brand new class for little kids ages 6 months to 4 years old which is held Friday mornings at Hill House. Andrew, who comes to class with his mom, Karen Bittner of Emerson Place, and the other tiny tots learn Spanish words and sing Spanish versions of favorite songs, such as Witzy Witzy Arana (Itsy Bitsy Spider) with instructor Dani Urencio.

Which will come first: hell freezing over or the activation of the traffic signals on Cambridge Street at the Grove and Blossom street intersections? About half the street lights, especially in the median and along the north side of the street, aren’t operating either. Most of these have also been in place since last summer.

The whole traffic signal apparatus — foundations, mast arms and signals whose lights are covered with plastic trash bags — have been in place for months. At this point no one can remember when they were installed, but it was some time last summer.

Before the lights can operate, NStar must come out and do the final hook-up. But NStar has not come, according to John Lepore, who runs the project for Mass Highway.

Once the signals are operating, the old signals can be removed, the bricks can be finished, and the orange barrels and Jersey barriers can be removed, making traffic move more freely, and reducing the visual blight.

Lepore says that NStar came out in October and approved the installation. At that point the contractor submitted a work order. Lepore says it took NStar more than a month to send the request for payment.

In the December 19 issue of The Beacon Hill Times, the Cambridge Street Monitor, a regular feature since last summer in which The Times has followed the progress of this five-year project, reported that NStar had received a check from the contractor and Lepore was told that NStar would appear on Monday or Tuesday of the next week.

That didn’t happen. Caroline Allen, a spokesperson for NStar, told The Times last week that NStar showed up on January 5 and found the control boxes empty.

Lepore says that’s nuts. (Actually, he used a stronger word.) Furthermore, he said the control boxes are not only equipped, but that NStar had approved them in their October visit.

Allen said NStar is sticking by its story and that the right equipment was not in the box.

There may be a resolution this week. Lepore said that last Friday he had a cordial conversation with an NStar official who schedules work and he has high hopes the traffic lights can be installed.

Allen said NStar had received a message from Lepore that everything was now ready for the final hook-up. “This is a priority for us,” she said. “We’ve been doing all we can to make it happen. Now that we know all the equipment is in the box, we’ll go back and hook it up.”

Still, this doesn’t explain the street lights. Allen said NStar said has had no requests for this to be done. Lepore said the city takes care of street lights, and he has been in touch with them. Jennifer Mehigan, a spokesperson in the Mayor’s Press Office, agreed that the city is in charge of street lights, as well as sidewalks and streets, but that they can’t do anything until they accept the project from Mass Highway, which has not yet taken place since the project is not yet done.

You figure it out.

credit: Colleen Walsh
caption: Andrea Gargiulo and her dog Paolo.




On Tuesdays, retired lawyer Andrea Gargiulo of West Cedar Street volunteers at Massachusetts General Hospital, on Thursdays, it is her dog’s turn.

Gargiulo and her trusty companion, a 7 ½-year-old Portuguese water dog named Paolo, are part of the MGH Pet Therapy program. Together they make trips to the hospital each week to visit patients.

“It really does lift the tension in the room,” said Gargiulo, of her frequent visits to see people often waiting for surgery or recovering in the cardiac care unit. “You feel it as soon as you walk in.”

Gargiulo works off a list of patients who have requested visits and makes her rounds each week with Paolo decked out in his aqua hospital scarf, an official photo ID card and nametag also fixed around his neck. After two years of regular visits she said her pet knows his job well.

“He walks in the room and goes right up to [patients] and starts wagging his tail,” she said. “If they are sitting in a chair he will put his head in their lap.”

The project, a collaboration between the hospital’s Department of Nursing and its Volunteer Department, developed out of a seemingly random visit several years ago.

“A nurse had brought one of her dogs in for a holiday party,” said Mandi Coakley, RN/PhD, who helps coordinate the program. “The patients loved seeing the dog so we decided that we really needed to make a program and legitimize it.”
Today 13 dogs participate in the service. Since its inception in 2003 there have been 8200 pet visits at the hospital and a total of 24 dogs involved, ranging in size from a Yorkshire terrier to a St. Bernard. To qualify for the program, pets must pass a certification test proving that they have the correct temperament and that they are able to obey a variety of commands, including gently taking a dog treat from an open hand.

While comforting patients is their main goal, hospital officials and volunteers said there are added benefits of bringing a furry friend into an often-tense environment.

“The pet therapy program is wonderful for the patients but it’s wonderful for everyone, the tension really stops the moment the volunteers walk in the door with their dogs,” said Coakley. “For the visitors, staff, it’s a nice diversion for everyone. It’s a great way of having a much more therapeutic environment here.”

Gargiulo said doctors, nurses and visitors often stop her in the hallway on her way to visit patients so they can pet Paolo.
“They all get excited because it brightens up their day a little.”

Coakley has also initiated a research study to examine the effects of the pet visits, not only patients but also on volunteers and nurses affiliated with it. Periodically all three have their vital signs taken before and after a visit and complete a short questionnaire about what the experience was like. The early results show that the visits have not only helped improve the mood of everyone involved, they’ve also helped decrease the level of pain in patients.

For Gargiulo, the results of her work with her dog are clear.

“I feel like wherever we go,” she said, “people are just more joyful.”

Fill the shops

Four vacancies exist on Charles Street right now — a higher number than we can remember for several years.

There is no need for concern. The spaces are quirky — some up a few steps from the street, some at the basement level — but that is the nature of Charles Street. Three of the business owners who vacated the space claimed they were leaving because of the money — too little business and too much rent to pay. But at least one of the businesses appeared to be thriving and left only because it combined its shops from two neighborhoods into a bigger shop just off Newbury Street. So it is likely that a business of the right type would succeed.

There would be concern if an office were to fill any of the spaces. An office would make the block less attractive to shoppers, since each block needs a critical mass of attractive businesses to draw pedestrians up and down the street.

When the Charles/MGH T station is finished (this spring) and if Cambridge Street ever gets done, Charles Street will feel a little uptick in that it will simply be easier to get to the street.

When the Liberty Hotel opens, the street should enjoy even greater benefits, with hotel guests eager to see what our celebrated neighborhood is really like. That should happen about June.

Shops that open on the street have to satisfy three kinds of customers. One is the neighborhood itself. If a shop reaches out to the neighborhood and offers merchandise its nearest residents want to buy, it has a good chance of success. But it also has to attract residents of nearby neighborhoods and suburban shoppers. Finally, a shop has to delight tourists, who will spend money where they can get a true souvenir of Beacon Hill, whether it be a print of Boston or a shoe from a shop like none they’ve ever seen before.

That’s a big part of Beacon Hill’s appeal — the shops that no one can find anywhere else. Even if Koo de Kir has a web site, it will never be as interesting as its Charles Street store, something a chain store like the Gap can never claim.

The Gap would also be a concern on Charles Street. Luckily, most of the spaces are too small for the chains. The few chains on the street are outnumbered by the one-off retailers and antique shops, many of whom live in the neighborhood. That’s the way we want it.

We could use some new products and services. For example, a kitchenware store is sorely missed. We could use more prepared foods in the style of Formaggio’s in Cambridge. Pasta Pronto, which was here for only a few years, was jammed at all times of the day because of their ready-to-go wares. The take-out shops we have now are good, but we always need a change of pace.

We lost Jari, a shop for women of all ages, which would be nice to replace.

And we’d benefit from a toy store. Red Wagon tries to keep a good stock, but they are limited in space. We’d also benefit from more gift shops. The ones we have are fabulous, but they can’t carry enough merchandise because their spaces are too small.

These are only a few suggestions. We hope, however, that these vacant shops get filled quickly.

We need the stuff.