By Dan Murphy The planned expansion of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) campus remained a controversial topic last week at the second public meeting to vet the proposal. According to hospital officials, the development would consist of three projects, including a new approximately research facility at 325 Cambridge St. to replace of three...
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Neighbors Express Concerns over Garden Garage Proposal
By Dan Murphy Around 40 West End residents met at the Amy Lowell Apartments Wednesday to discuss their concerns with the approximately $300 million proposal to replace the Garden Garage with two residential towers and an underground parking structure. Chicago-based Equity Residential has filed plans with the city to raze the existing five-story, 710-spot...
Arroyo and LaMattina Move to Create Smoke-free Parks
The City Council took the first step towards banning smoking in public parks in the city last week when City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina and City Councilor At-Large Felix G. Arroyo introduced a hearing order to investigate and propose policies to limit or restrict smoking in public parks and greenways. “As a youth baseball coach,...
Reducing the Odds
The lecture given Thursday evening by Sgt. Gary Eblan of the Boston Police Department was extremely well attended and rightly so. Nearly all Beacon Hill residents want to increase the odds when it comes to maintaining their personal safety when walking home, getting into their automobiles, or entering their homes at all times of...
Police Briefs 02-22-2011
Breaking and Entering – No Force 02/12/11 – Joy Street residents reported they left their apartment and returned a short time later to find U.S. currency was missing from the bedroom nightstand. There was no sign of forced entry. Larceny from a Motor Vehicle 02/12/11 – A victim reported that an unknown person threw...
Caswell Gallery: A Family Portrait
By Dan Murphy Caswell Gallery is a family affair in the truest sense. David Caswell and his father bought the full-service frame and print store on Beacon Hill in 1992 before bringingDavid’s brother in to manage the store’s frame workshop in Quincy. Today, even David’s mother is in on the act as an illustrator...
Nichols House Museum Celebrating Its Jubilee Year
2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Nichols House Museum. As a part of this Golden Jubilee Year, the museum will host an array of events, including a Gala Dinner at the Massachusetts State House on Feb. 26; a series of lectures inspired by the interests for Rose Standish Nichols, who...
Banning Smoking in Public Places
Society has come to a place where many of us who might be inclined to light up a cigarette or a cigar in our own homes would be ordered instantly and without regard for protocol, in most instances, to put out the cigarette or the cigar or be asked to leave the house immediately....
Police Briefs 02-15-2011
Breaking and Entering, Non-Residence 02/04/11 – At about 5:10 p.m., a male suspect was arrested after forcing open the basement door to a Bowdoin Street church after he was found in the building’s hallway. Verbal Dispute 02/04/11 – At about 9:02 p.m., officers responded to New Chardon and Cambridge streets for a road-rage incident...
Advent School Leases former Office Building on Charles Circle
School will use new space to expand curriculum The Advent School, now in its 49th year on Brimmer Street, has entered into a multi-year lease for the use of a former office building at 99 West Cedar St., just off Charles Circle at the foot of Beacon Hill. “This is an exciting development for...
John Nucci Receives West End Community Center Partner Award
John Nucci, vice president of External Affairs at Suffolk University, is the recipient of the Outstanding West End Community Center Partner Award for 2010. The West End Community Center is an independent, non-profit community center, serving those people who reside and work in the West End of Boston and nearby neighborhoods. It provides programs...
Course offers Tactics on not Falling Prey to Crime
-By Dan Murphy If there’s one lesson that Sgt. Gary Eblan hopes to instill in people who attend the class he is teaching on street smarts later this month, it’s to follow their gut feelings. “If you don’t trust your instincts, you increase your chance of becoming a victim,” said Eblan, a 22-year veteran...
Snow, Rain, Ice, Disaster
Homeowners and property owners throughout the region are now dealing the very real possibility of roof collapse. The heavy snow, followed by recent rain, and the turning the snow into ice, has created a perfect storm of sorts for roof collapse. Most flat roofs on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay are built...
Egypt’s Democratic Revolution
We are not diplomats and we certainly have no way to tell President Obama what we believe ought to be done except to say that the United States should let the Egyptian people decide exclusively what they want to do with their nation. The protestors in Cairo and in Alexandria have brought life as...
Snow Day
Adam Whitney, 3½, shovels the sidewalk in front of his Phillips Street home Thursday morning.
Landmarks Commission Approves Conceptual Design for the Proposed Esplanade Playspace
-By Dan Murphy The Boston Landmarks Commission approved the conceptual design for the proposed Esplanade Playspace last week. Landmark Commission Executive Director Ellen Lipsey said the general design and the playground site, located a short distance from a short distance from the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge near the Hatch Shell café, were approved, pending a...
The Boston Athenaeum to Reopen Today After Flooding
-By Dan Murphy The Boston Athenaeum is scheduled to reopen today after the private library fell prey to flooding last week. On Jan. 24 at about 3 p.m., the library experienced a water leak on the first floor, damaging several paintings, a few pieces of wooden furniture and five large Oriental rugs. Water also...
The Beauty and the Reality
The incredible amount of snow that has fallen this winter has added a touch of New England beauty to the neighborhood. With more snow predicted for the middle of the week, there is the chance for even more beauty. But the beauty, in reality, is a beast – and the beast has caused business...
Turner Sentenced
Former Boston City Councillor Chuck Turner was sentenced to three years in federal prison last week in Federal District Court. He has received exactly what he deserves – and residents of this city and voters should be pleased with the decision. Our public officials may not be saints but they cannot be allowed to...
Police Briefs 02-01-2011
Breaking and Entering – Residence 01/20/11 – At about 10:32 p.m., a South Russell Street resident reported that the front glass window panel and front door of his home were damaged. Unknown person(s) then gained entry to the residence and removed laptops, TVs and other electronic devices. Vandalism 01/20/11 – At about 8:06 p.m., a...
Hill Businesses Named ‘A-list’ Winners
Two Beacon Hill businesses, Bin 26 Enoteca and Anna’a Taqueria, won “best” in Boston in Cambridge-based CityVoter’s recently completed competition, “The Boston A-List.” The Boston A-List featured more than 2,500 local businesses in over 230 categories, all contending for the title of “best” in Boston as decided by the voting public. Launched in 2005,...
Mass. Eye and Ear Expansion Plans Draw Fiery Response from Neighbors
By Dan Murphy The proposed expansion of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary campus drew a fiery response Wednesday as neighbors asserted that the process lacked sufficient public feedback. “You need the input of the community. Without that, you’ll have a disaster,” Beacon Hill resident Peter Thomson said at the public meeting, sponsored by...
Below Zero and Dropping
As if the inconvenience caused by the recent heavy snowfall isn’t bad enough, now comes the dramatic drop in temperature. Monday’s near to below zero cold was the stinging kind of cold that reminds us more than we need about the perils of New England weather. On the other hand, there are many, many...
Posting of Signs Detracts from the Hill’s Esthetic
As reported last week in the Beacon Hill Times, commercial signage is popping up in windows and on the exterior of buildings throughout the neighborhood. The culprits are real estate companies and construction companies. Obviously, this practice, which is against the law, must come to a complete stop if the Hill is to remain...