CAPTION: Sgt. Tom Lema of Boston Police Area A-1, Jack Fitzgerald, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Captain Bernard O’Rourke of Boston Police.

Beacon Hill resident Jack Fitzgerald received a Boston Police National Night Out Community Service Award from Mayor Thomas. M. Menino during a ceremony last Tuesday, August 4, at Paul Revere Mall in the North End.
“I appreciate this honor and also recognize the hard work of city councilors Ross and LaMattina and their staffs and Captain O’Rourke and Sgt. Lema and the other employees of Boston Police Area A-1, which clearly reflects the city’s commitment to addressing quality of life issues,” Fitzgerald told the Times.
A member of the Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) since 2001, Fitzgerald was a longtime participant in its Clean Beacon Hill Committee. Today, he continues to take steps to keep the neighborhood clean, checking area buildings for graffiti and recently leading a trash pickup on Irving Street with his wife, Mary.
Fitzgerald has served on the Boston Police District A-1 Advisory Board for several years, bringing his insight from working in the Financial District.
“He offers a fresh perspective of a businessman, family man and committed neighborhood constituent,” said a Boston Police spokesperson. “John has been a reliable member who speaks his opinion on crime-related and quality of life issues and offers suggestions as to how the police and community can work together and solve community problems.”
For the past two years, Fitzgerald has also served on the North End/Beacon Hill Problem Property Task Force, a committee led by City Council President Mike Ross and City Councilor Sal LaMattina that brings together elected officials, police, neighbors and representatives from Suffolk University and Emerson College to discuss quality of life issues in the two neighborhoods.
Fitzgerald also attended the Boston Police/Emergency Shelter Commission Community Task Force on Homelessness and has worked with state and city agencies to tackle this issue.

CAPTION: Marlborough Street resident Andrew Abbott, walking his dog Brutus on the Boston Common.

Boston DOG (Dog Owners Group) held a public meeting at 74 Joy St. last week to raise awareness of its goal of bringing a designated dog park to the Boston Common.
Back Bay resident J. Alain Ferry, who founded Boston DOG in 2006, outlined a proposal that the group filed with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department on December 31, 2008, seeking a year-round enclosed, off-leash Dog Recreation Space (DRS) adjacent to the baseball fields and three additional temporary spaces for dogs on the Common. Because of the small size of the permanent site, the temporary spaces would allow for an overflow of dogs at the park and rotate every six months to promote grass growth and ground rehabilitation.
The plan would be implemented in four phases, the last of which includes renovation of the “Pink Palace,” a vacant cement building near the park’s tennis courts, into a permanent structure for dog owners.
“The Parks Department still isn’t taking us as seriously as we should be taken,” Ferry said, although he added the proposal was filed without two critical documents - a letter of non-opposition from the Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) and a financial plan for the proposed dog park.
Ferry indicated that Boston DOG planned to file a revised dog park plan with the city in the near future, including the proper supporting documents.
City Council President Mike Ross told the Times he was committed to bringing a dog park to the Common and assisting Boston DOG in achieving this goal.
“I’ve seen parks in New York City that have had great success with proper dog parks,” said Ross, chairman of the City Council’s Special Committee on the Boston Common. “I’m absolutely engaged in helping [Boston DOG] build a dog park.”
Ross said he would work with abutters and Antonia Pollak, commissioner of the Parks and Recreation Department, to promote a Common dog park and to help Boston DOG grow as an organization.
In addition, Ross said he would be willing to amend city dog park legislature he wrote in 2005 to make the application process easier for Boston DOG. The legislation originally met with resistance, Ross said, before helping to pave the way for Carlton Court Dog Park in the South End. “In the end, the dog parks proved to be very successful, as I knew they would be,” he added.
As for the future of Boston DOG, Ferry said the group has taken steps towards becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, granting it exemption from some federal taxes.
Boston DOG will hold monthly meetings soon and aims to increase its membership and bolster fundraising efforts, Ferry said.
To learn more about Boston DOG, visit www.bostondog.org.

The image above shows a city locale that has undergone a drastic transformation in recent years. To find out where it was shot, read the Times next week.
The photo that appeared in the Aug. 4 edition was shot on Boylston Street, across from the Public Garden, where the Four Seasons Hotel stands today.

CAPTION: Dr. Carolyn Kloek.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary ophthalmologist and Beacon Hill resident Carolyn Kloek, M.D., has been presented with the Eleanor and Miles Shore 50th Anniversary Fellowship for Scholars in Medicine from Harvard Medical School. She is one of 13 recipients who have been honored with this award. The award will assist Dr. Kloek in advancing her academic career.
Dr. Kloek plans to use her fellowship to aid in the further development of a virtual cataract surgery simulator to teach the cognitive skills linked to success in cataract surgery. Dr. John Loewenstein, director of Mass. Eye and Ear’s residency program, and Dr. Bonnie Henderson, former Mass. Eye and Ear director of Comprehensive Ophthalmology, developed the concept and initial prototype for this simulator. This teaching tool will better prepare trainees for cataract surgery, with the goal of decreasing the rate of intra-operative complications and improving visual outcomes in cataract surgery.
The Eleanor and Miles Shore 50th Anniversary Fellowships for Scholars in Medicine was established in 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to Harvard Medical School and to acknowledge the important contributions of women to the school. The fellowship program was established to help junior faculty at the point in their careers when they must teach, do research, compete for grants, publish, or practice (if a clinical faculty member) at the same time they may be assuming increased family or other responsibilities.
“We are pleased that the importance of Dr. Kloek’s research has been recognized and will receive support from this generous fellowship,” said Joan W. Miller, M.D., Chief of Ophthalmology at Mass. Eye and Ear and Chair of the Ophthalmology Department at Harvard Medical School. “She is a well-deserved recipient of this fellowship. Her work will contribute to our mission of academic excellence in training future specialists.”
Founded in 1824, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary is an independent specialty hospital providing patient care for disorders of the eye, ear, nose, throat, head and neck. Mass. Eye and Ear is an international leader in Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology research and a teaching partner of Harvard Medical School. For more information, call 617-523-7900 or visit http://www.masseyeandear.org/.

Raising fares only a drop in a leaky bucket

The T must raise fares in order to meet its unsustainable obligations.
This comes as no surprise. In fact, it is a depressing fact of life for those held hostage by public transportation.
Hearings on Beacon Hill begin this week so that lawmakers can hear from the public regarding the proposed rate hike – which is near 20 percent.
According to the T, if this raise is granted, there will be no further hikes for two years.
How the T will continue to meet its obligations without further fare hikes in the next two years is the stuff of speculation.
Fare hikes affect everyone in Greater Boston as the T moves more people every day in and out of the city than any other combination of transportation venues.
More people using the T means more money spent in Boston and at retail outlets along the T routes and throughout the downtown area and in the neighborhoods.
Fewer people are using the T than this time last year. The recession has caused a decline in ridership. Numbers using the T have also been affected by a decline in the price per gallon for gasoline which was $1 per gallon higher this time last year.
The recent spate of high profile T accidents and disruptions, and especially those on the Green Line, have caused many riders and transportation experts to question the safety of the entire operation.
There is the palpable feeling among riders and those of us who pay close attention to the condition of the T infrastructure that all is not well.
Even inspectors from the National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) harshly criticized the T for substandard warning systems on the Green Line.
The T responded by claiming its safety standards were adequate and that putting in place what the NTSB wants to see on the Green Line would reduce T train traffic on that line by 25 percent.
The repeated problems with T train operators and bus drivers using cell phones while driving prompted public outrage.
The recent firing of T boss Daniel Grabauskas isn’t going to change the culture at the T.
Grabauskas is a very smart guy, but the T got the best of him.
It might get the best of anyone except for a spit and polish reformer who can change the course of history at the T.
The T needs reform and oversight worse than the nation needs health care reform.
T pensions remain outrageous and unsustainable – and the fact that future T pension requirements and payouts have been changed cannot alleviate the pension requirements, which are currently burying the T financially.
The T needs a new leader – and as for the fare hike the agency is seeking, if granted, it’s like throwing money out the window if the culture of the T isn’t radically altered.