In a bid to keep Boston at the forefront of the urban green movement, Boston City Councilor Michael Ross proposed a series of five environmentally friendly measures aimed at conserving energy and boosting recycling at a City Council meeting on Wednesday.

The measures form what Ross calls his “green agenda,” which comes on the heels of similar movements being undertaken in cities across the country.

“We have always been the innovation capital, “ said Ross. “When you look at what other cities are starting to do, this is an important issue for Boston to take the lead on.”

The agenda is made up of five separate measures, all of which will be considered and voted on individually by the City Council. They include: requiring all new taxis to be hybrid vehicles; placing wind turbines for energy collection on public and private land; strengthening vehicle anti-idling laws; implementing mandatory restaurant recycling; and including automatic on/off power switches in all new dorm and hotel construction.

The conversion of all taxis to hybrid vehicles is a process already underway in New York, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pushed for the conversion of all of the city’s 13,000 taxicabs to more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. Currently New York has about 400 hybrid cabs.

The conversion process could be less of a Herculean task in Boston, with far fewer cabs on the road. And while cab owners would have to pay a premium to replace older Crown Victorias with the relatively expensive hybrids, they would see an immediate saving in their fuel costs. Boston already has a few of the hybrid cabs on the road, according to Ross, with the first being put into service back in 2006. “It’s proven that this can work, “ said Ross.

The implementation of mandatory recycling for restaurants is a measure that already has the approval of some restaurateurs, said Ross. The idea itself was the brainchild of Silvertone owner Josh Childs. “He came to me and basically said ‘I want to do this, how can we get this going?’” Ross added that the proposal also has the support of the Back Bay Restaurant Group, one of the largest restaurant conglomerates in the city, owners of Back Bay staples such as Bouchée, Joe’s American Bar and Grill, Abe and Louie’s, and Charley’s, among others.

As with the taxi conversion, mandatory recycling for restaurants has been shown to be feasible in other cities; New York has had a mandatory recycling law in place since 1993.

The idea for the increased placement of wind turbines in the city came to Ross during a recent trip to Buffalo, where he was struck by the number of wind turbines he saw from the plane while landing.

“We think nothing about having huge, ugly oil tankers on public land on our shoreline in Dorchester,” said Ross. “The concept of doing the exact same thing with wind turbines would have a much more positive impact on the environment.”

Wind turbines could not only be placed by the city on public lands, but could also be made an increased presence in future private development through zoning regulations and the permitting process, Ross added.

The proposed strengthening of the anti-idling law would include an increase in the idling fine, along with a decrease in the permitted idling time from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. However, Ross was quick to point out that the first step to tightening the restriction on idling is stricter enforcement of whatever laws are on the books.

As part of the legislative process, each item will be referred to a committee for discussion. Ross said he intends to hold hearings on each of the items as he seeks its passage.

Credit: Courtesy photo


Bright Horizons Family Solutions celebrated the opening of its new facility at 100 Cambridge Street last week with a ribbon cutting. The state-of-the-art child care center can accommodate 120 children.

CAPTION: Caroline and Mario Ratzki will sell their rugs online and close their Charles Street shop.




In a summer of Charles Street shop closings, there is a third to add to the list.

Mario and Caroline Ratzki will close Mario Ratzki Oriental Rugs, which they opened 11 years ago, by the end of 2007. But they emphasize that they are not going out of business.

“We’re going to move from bricks and mortar to online presence,” said Caroline.

They own both the shop and the building behind it, where they live on the upper floors. They plan to stay in their living quarters, where they’ve lived since 2005. “It’s the best move we’ve ever made,” she said.

She said closing the shop will give them more time to travel to find the really special rugs they enjoy looking for. They will work for individual clients and designers who are looking for an exact rug to fill a pre-determined space. Without the overhead of shop expenses, they can price the rugs better. “It will be leaner. It’s a good move,” Caroline said.

Other shop owners have gradually learned about the Ratzkis’ plans. “They are going to be missed,” said Jennifer Hill of Blackstone’s, a nearby neighbor. “They have been a nice complement to the other businesses on the street. They have unique treasures and added a neat flavor.”

Joe Govern of River Street, who is a real estate broker at Street & Co., said he and his wife have bought rugs from the Ratzkis and have become friends. “They add another unique element to the street,” he said. “I hope something similar or something the street doesn’t have comes in.”

The Ratzkis have been in the rug business since their honeymoon in the Andes 25 years ago. The couple went to the University of California at Berkeley, where Caroline, now 52, was immersed in Slavic languages and literature, and Mario, now 55, was studying politics. They met at International House, where Caroline was living and Mario was working.

In South America, they fell in love with antique Andean weaving and textiles. They bought rugs of good quality in the Cuzco and LaPaz markets, took them back to their small apartment in Berkeley and sold them.

That led, said Caroline, to Middle Eastern flat weaves, which led them to oriental rugs. They eventually moved east, opening a rug store in Harvard Square, then going back to the West Coast for a year, and returning to Huron Avenue in Cambridge before settling on Charles Street.

With their daughter, Philippa, age 23, and son Pierre, age 20, all grown up and working and in college, it seemed a good time to make a change. They hope to spend several months traveling, both for work and pleasure, once the shop is closed. The couple still have family ties in Europe.

But they will be back. “It’s a good thing we now live on the Hill,” said Caroline. “We’ll be able to keep up the friendships.”


They also want to get involved more in volunteer activities with Beacon Hill Village and the Boston Athenaeum.

“We’re very excited,” said Caroline.

Meanwhile, they will be selling their inventory at good prices so they can clear out the store for a new occupant, which has yet to be identified. They’ve just had the outside painted, so it looks fresh and welcoming.

The Beacon Hill Times follows the progress, or lack thereof, on Cambridge Street through direct observation and interviews with the project’s supervisor John Lepore.

Progress during the week of Aug. 27 - 31

Traffic signals: No progress. Still working on controller programming at Grove Street.

Street paving: Still needs to be completed between Staniford and New Chardon Streets.

Street lights: Still not working properly.

Patricia Marks-Martinovich was minding her own business at Bump on River Street last Tuesday when a man walked in, grabbed a red dress, and ran off with it.

Marks-Martinovich ran after him, shouting and screaming. About a dozen people came out to see what was happening. Three men who were painting trim on the top of an ell connected to a Beacon Street house saw the fracas, jumped down their ladder and tackled the shoplifter.

The shoplifter got away, but the painters saved the red dress. Marks-Martinovich called them her heroes. With Marks-Martinovich from the left are Jairo Mariano, Paulo Santos and Oscar Brandelli, all of Brockton.

Marks-Martinovich was grateful to the guys and puzzled at why the shoplifter would want a maternity dress. “Just for the record,” she said, “red wasn’t his color.”

Suffolk University is considering a range of possible options for the use of the recently purchased 20 Somerset building, but no one use plan has been agreed upon yet, said university representatives at a meeting of the Suffolk University Task force on Tuesday.

One possible use for the building, which has been vacant since 2005, is as a new home for Suffolk’s New England School of Art and Design, said Alex Krieger of Architecture and Urban Design firm Chan Krieger Steniewicz, who is heading the planning project.

NESAD, which has about 300 students, is currently located away from Suffolk’s main campus on Arlington Street. Moving the art school to 20 Somerset would mean more students taking classes on Beacon Hill, but would not have a huge impact on the overall distribution of the student population.

“The students [at NESAD] already attend other classes at the main campus and downtown,” said Krieger.

Another option for the building, although it would require significantly more alteration and renovation of the existing structure, is to use it to house athletic facilities: specifically, a full size gymnasium with space for about 400 spectators.

The building of a modern gymnasium that accommodates spectators for Suffolk’s Division III athletic programs is a key bullet point in the university’s master plan, which calls for about 40,000 square feet in new athletic and fitness space overall. 20 Somerset is just one of several possibilities for the location of the gymnasium.

However, one obstacle to putting the gym at 20 Somerset is the building’s current width, which is insufficient for the space needed.

The base of the building could be lengthened to accommodate a regulation-length gymnasium, but doing so would bring the structure much closer to the threshold of the adjacent Garden of Peace — something residents have expressed resistance to in the past. The plan would also require much more physical work on the building itself, which could be costly to the university.

Under either scenario, the university may also look into using the site to house new “quality of life” facilities, such as those found in the typical student center of a more centralized college campus. Such facilities might include student activities offices, lounges, dining facilities, and computer labs.

Suffolk University purchased the 20 Somerset building with the intention of using it for dorm space. However, Mayor Thomas Menino nixed the idea earlier this year, saying he would not support additional residential facilities on Beacon Hill. The Suffolk Task force will meet again Wednesday, September 19, at 6 p.m., at 73 Tremont Street.

Crime zone

A shooting and a curfew on the Boston Common, a bullet hole through a State House window, five men arrested at Charles Circle with guns and a criminal caught on Chestnut Street. This is Beacon Hill?

Our generally low-crime neighborhood has endured several incidents in the past few weeks. They have gone beyond the more common shoplifting, in which the thieves are sometimes caught. It’s both frightening and random. None of the perpetrators were connected to the neighborhood. They just happened to be here.

Although all the facts are not yet known, the shooting appears to have stemmed either from a previous confrontation or the shooter was mentally ill. The five men with guns were coming from a Caribbean festival in Cambridge, high on marijuana, and chose to drive through a red light at Charles Circle where a state policeman was watching. The man on Chestnut Street was caught under a car and booked on drug charges.

These incidents remind us that although some neighborhoods in Boston suffer from cruelty because some of the perpetrators live there, all neighborhoods in the city are affected by lawlessness. Neighborhoods are porous. The gun-toting potheads were just passing through.

The police force seems rejuvenated since the new commissioner, Ed Davis, came on board. Since last spring, we have had more police officers on patrol in many neighborhoods. Beacon Hill residents are pretty good at spotting suspicious activity — over the years we have covered some dramatic scenes of residents, business owners and workmen chasing down a thief and catching him. (See the article on page ???)

Many readers have complained to us about the illegal activity they’ve observed on the Common. They complain about the lack of a police presence.

It’s always tricky in a country that is not a police state. You want enough police around to make you feel safe. But you want few enough so that it doesn’t feel as if the police are running the place.

Right now we’re feeling vulnerable.

12 years

This week The Beacon Hill Times turns 12 years old. As we start our 13th year, we have the same feeling we have always had: This is a great neighborhood to cover.

It is the neighborliness that makes all the difference. All the activities that go on, the children at the playground, the shopkeepers and business owners who live in the neighborhood as well as work here. The business owners who don’t live in the neighborhood, but who are just as loyal to the place as if they did live here.

We have to confess we even like the problems. We must like dirty streets, problems with parking and potholes and tussles with officials and neighbors if we continue to believe this is the best place to live that we’ve ever encountered.

You’ve read this before if you’ve been following this column closely. Our daughter came home from college in California several years back and quizzed us: “Do you know what you have here? Do you know what you have here?” she kept asking. California had opened her mind in a way we hadn’t foreseen.

We assured her we did. We know we can do all our errands and find everything for our health and homes within walking distance. We have one-off shops where we know the owners and the staff. We have parks to play in. We can see friends and neighbors and be entertained by the street life at any time we want to walk out the door. We enjoy a “green” lifestyle, mainly because we don’t need cars and we share side walls, without even trying.

It’s a privilege to live here, work here and tell your stories. Keep them coming.