CAPTION: The State House, which is currently undergoing roof repairs.

A $20.5 million restoration to the State House roof has resulted in the loss of several parking spaces that Beacon Hill residents use for overnight parking, but State Rep. Marty Walz is doing her part to assure that the project has a minimal impact on the neighborhood.
Walz first learned of the renovation after constituents complained of noise and parking issues associated with the project, and on August 3, she set up a meeting between Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) President Ania Camargo and Executive Director Suzanne Besser and representatives of the Bureau of State Office Buildings and the Department of Capital Assets Management – the state agencies that are overseeing the project.
“Prior to the start of the State House roof project, the state agency responsible for the project failed to work with me, the Beacon Hill Civic Association, or those who live near the building to address the impact of the project on local neighbors,” Walz said. “Following a meeting I convened in my office, the state is now being responsive to our concerns, and a process has been put in place so that any problems will be promptly addressed.”
As a result of the meeting, residents can use two parking spaces on Hancock Street that were used for construction vehicles from 6 p.m. on Fridays to 8 p.m. on Sundays, on a trial basis. Two additional parking spots on Hancock Street are being used to store a dumpster for the duration of the project, which is scheduled for completion in October 2011. All parking spaces on upper Hancock Street are reserved for use by the General Court during the day but revert to resident parking evenings.
“DCR has been instructed to tag and tow any vehicle parking in those two spaces after 8 p.m. on Sunday evenings,” Tammy Kraus, director of State House operations, wrote. “[The contractor] JK Scanlan has been instructed to position the European fencing tight to the dumpster at the close of construction each Friday and at 8 p.m. each Sunday. The [state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)] will then block the spaces with the European fencing to ensure that the space remains available for the project, to begin promptly on Monday morning.”
Kraus added, “The House and Senate have approved the use of four or five legislative parking spaces on Derne Street to be utilized from Tuesday, September 15, through Friday, October 9, during construction hours, while Greenwood Roofing/JK Scanlan are working on Portico # 3 (Library). Resident parking will be impacted by the loss of only two spaces during this time period. Each night, the contractor will move the aerial lift and crane up close to one another to free up the other two or three spaces for residents to utilize. The only change for residents utilizing these two or three spaces will be the hours that the spaces are available. Vehicles must vacate the spaces by 7 a.m., as opposed to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. This change in hours will be posted by DCR.”
The roof restoration project includes the replacement of the copper roofing system on the Brigham Annex; repair and replacement of skylights; upgrading of the snow melt and heat tracing system, the roof drainage system, and the lightning protection system; and the installation of photovoltaic glass in certain skylights.
Meanwhile, Walz said there is asbestos in some roofing paper and in some window caulking. State officials said when the paper and caulking are removed, it will be done in accordance with applicable regulations. Walz added she was informed by state officials that the asbestos is not “friable,” meaning it won’t become airborne.

CAPTION: A vandalized flower box on West Cedar Street, near the corner of Acorn Street.

A rash of vandalism struck West Cedar Street between Pinckney and Chestnut streets last week, leaving behind damaged flower boxes and plant debris.
According to Boston Police, several incidents of vandalism to flower boxes and plants pulled from their boxes on West Cedar and Mount Vernon streets were reported on Wednesday.
A worker at Rouvalis Flowers also said two potted trees outside the business at 40 West Cedar St. were found upturned, and one of the pots was smashed before the Wednesday workday began.
Sandra Ilgen of Mount Vernon Street awoke Wednesday morning to find her flower box sitting on the ground after being ripped from the masonry. She believes the vandals would have smashed the flower box, if it weren’t so heavy.
“This sort of thing didn’t happen at all during the spring and the summer,” Ilgen said. “It’s just senseless destruction, that’s all.”
Captain Bernard O’Rourke of Boston Police Area A-1 noted that many students returned to area colleges last weekend, which was marked by a number of noise complaints in the North End.
“My best guess is that it was students or people visiting them,” O’Rourke said of the vandalism spree.
O’Rourke said increased patrols would be added to Beacon Hill to handle the returning students.
“I would love to see someone caught in the act for this particular infraction and prosecuted,” O’Rourke said. “It’s inexcusable behavior.”

CAPTION: The ‘pink palace,’ a long vacated structure on the Boston Common that could become home to a future restaurant.

Despite the recent closing of an outdoor restaurant - BiNa on the Common - after less than two months in business, members of the Special Committee on the Boston Common remain committed to finding a new use for the abandoned building at the park known as the “pink palace”.
“I would like to see the space reclaimed and used as a dog park, a coffee shop, a coffee shop, a restaurant or a home for a nonprofit,” said City Council Mike Ross, who chairs the committee that also includes city councilors Sal LaMattina and Bill Linehan. “It’s a sad part of the Common calling out for activity and life.”
Last month, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department issued a formal Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the pink place, a 660-square-foot, octagonal-shaped building located between the Common’s athletic courts, tennis courts and the Parkman Bandstand. The total cost of renovations to the building, which was built in the 1920s and served as a “men’s comfort station” until the 1970s, is estimated at approximately $1 million.
“I think if you put a nice outdoor restaurant in there, it would work,” LaMattin said. “I envision a place like the Franklin Café in South Boston.”
LaMattina added the Parks Department could better accommodate would-be tenants by allowing them to serve beer and wine and by loosening lease restrictions that mandate the use of certain umbrellas and pushcart tops, leaving them largely indistinguishable from other vendors on the Common.
BiNA on the Common proprietor Babek Bina echoed LaMattina’s sentiments, citing the lack of beer and wine and lease restrictions as among the reasons the business ultimately closed, along with a late start in the season.
“There’s certainly a lot of potential for extended food service on the Common,” Bina said. “I think a greater discussion that considers allowing beer and wine licensing to help offset costs, providing businesses with permanent structures to work out of… and giving vendors the liberty to market and promote their brand (i.e. logo, color scheme, etc,) will lend itself to more sustainable retail service on the Common.”
In July, Bina and his sister, Azita Bina-Seibel, owners of the Boston restaurants Lala Rokh, Bin 26 Enoteca and BiNa Osteria and gourmet food shop BiNa Alimentari, opened BiNa on the Common, across from the AMC Loews movie theater at the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets. The café served a full breakfast menu, including baked goods, granola and yogurt, juices and coffee, as well as lunch items, such as made-to-order hamburgers, grilled panini sandwiches, Italian specialties and non-alcoholic cocktails.
Bina told the Sun during BiNa on the Common’s opening that the restaurant would remain open into the fall, but he didn’t rule out another venture on the Common. “The Parks Department was great to work with, and we would certainly consider partnering together again in the future,” Bina said.
And in spite of its closing, Ross said BiNa on the Common demonstrated there is interest in bringing an outdoor café and other new activity to the park.
“I credit Bina for his innovation and willingness to move the Common forward,” Ross said. “We learned there is an appetite for that, but more is required to bring a first-class dining experience to the Common.”

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 Sept. 8 edition shows a line for employment opportunities prior to the opening of Quincy Market.

One year after the fall

It was one year ago this week that Lehman Brothers closed it doors, leading to the near collapse of the United States financial marketplace.
In the weeks that followed, Wall Street tanked, losing about $15 trillion in equities largely held in personal retirement accounts and stock portfolios.
Then came the collapse of AIG, of the housing market place and then the automobile industry. The rest is history.
President George W. Bush’s final legacy to the American people is the mess we’re trying to get out of one year later.
But Bush is largely forgotten and forgiven, to a large extent, because Americans have such short memories.
Now, it is President Barack Obama who is bearing the brunt of the bad economy as though it were his doing – as though his efforts to remake the US economy are misguided and the government contributions that have been made are wasteful or non-essential.
The stimulus saved what remained of the underpinnings of the economy. It stopped the kind of disruption that would have gone from bad to worse.
The stimulus also forced many richer nations of the world to offer stimuli of their own, lest the international economy face a total breakdown.
One year has passed.
Only the very well–to-do can secure loans from banks. Business loans to smaller companies are almost non-existent, and there is no job growth. And the housing market is operating, but at levels that existed more than eight years ago.
Here in Boston, we appear to have survived the worst of the economic collapse.
Many of our children graduating from college this year won’t find jobs, and many of us who have worked a lifetime will lose our jobs.
For many Bostonians, our job is the last thing we have.
Exit strategies are out the window.
It is a tough time, one year after the fall.