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PUBLISHED by the Fenway News

BOSTON—Over the next six months, residents and visitors to the Fenway area can expect to see, hear and interact with what project representatives called a "decent-sized" makeover of Fenway Park. The renovation will only be a slight intrusion upon the community, Red Sox spokespeople said.

The project plans were unveiled to a room of about 40 community members at an open meeting held yesterday evening in the Absolut Clubhouse attached to Fenway Park. The discussion was organized to prepare the ballpark's neighbors for disruptions that come with construction, said Fenway Affairs officer Larry Cancro.

"There are inconveniences to this process," Cancro said, "and we always find that it's best to explain...what that's gonna be so we can minimize the impacts."

The project officially began the day after the Red Sox's season closer. A majority of the renovation is scheduled to complete in late March, while other parts may run into early April. The project is being overseen by developer Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse (SBER), who did work on Fenway in 2002.

SBER spokesperson Tom Kugel said he was very confident that he will meet his deadline, saying that he has never missed one yet. The bulk of the project is due on March 27, just ten days before the Red Sox season opener at Fenway, which drew a chuckle out of many of the attendees who are too familiar with the inability of Boston contractors to meet deadline.

Local business owners can expect to see dumpsters and building materials on all sides of the ballpark. Trucks and heavy machinery will be coming in and out, mostly around mid-morning, with the possibility of others later in the afternoon. Bill Olsen of William A. Berry & Son, Inc. (WBS) said they do not plan to work past 4 p.m., however, contractors may decide to turn the ballpark lights on at 6 a.m. once daylight savings begins.

Contractors and ballpark officials repeatedly stated that the construction will not interfere with parking in Fenway. Workers from WBS said they may have 40-50 people working on any given day, which would normally mean more metered spots taken by contractors and pickup trucks. Kugel and Cancro promised that every measure has been taken to locate parking facilities for construction workers.

“We’ve written in every single one of their contracts that they have to provide offsite parking for their employees,” Kugel said. “I think we’ve got it fairly well covered.” He also mentioned that SBER will be circulating information to locals on how to report parking problems to the BTD. Fenway Park security guards will also be monitoring the metered spots in the morning to assure that sub-contractors are not occupying visitor spots, Kugel said.

Bob Richard of SBER mentioned earlier that while plans are in place, infractions could still arise.

“They have to tell us where they’re going to be parked,” Richard said. “So far, we haven’t gotten a whole lot of answers…but we told them ‘No parking around Fenway Park.’” At one point or another, Richard, Kugel and Cancro all reminded attendees that the plan is not perfect.

Janet Marie Smith, a planning executive for both SBER and the Red Sox, said that they’ve done everything they can to behave like good neighbors.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure there’s a minimum of one lane,” Smith said, “and where we can, we’ll put [the dumpsters and raw materials] on our sidewalks.”

Smith said she does not forsee any complaints due to noise and did not receive any during last year’s restoration, which she said was of similar size to this year’s.

“We’ve been blessed that our neighborhood is pretty tolerant. It is one of the virtues of having night clubs as neighbors,” Smith said.
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BOSTON—Massachusetts residents took their transportation complaints 'on the record' at last night's MBTA public hearing. Of the eight citizen speakers, five voiced concerns about poor handicap access.

Like Somerville resident, Tom Gilbert , who spoke about his hazards of waiting at the bus stop. According to Gilbert, the buses in his area are unable to pull up to the curb because illegally parked cars block the bus stop. The cars are seldom penalized, if at all, said Gilbert, and the state has done little to prevent it. These illegally parked cars force Gilbert to stand further into the road in order to flag down bus drivers.

Standing on the street rather than safely on the curb is a different experience for Gilbert because he is legally blind. He said that improving the condition of curbside stops is a small change that can improve the overall rider experience.

"When services get better and better for persons with disabilities," said Gilbert, "it should get better for everybody else too." He went on to list illegally parked cars, deteriorating bus stops and filthy trains as a few of the things that may be making mass transportation unappealing for potential customers.

"More people would get out of their cars and use the buses and trains more often if they knew that they weren't going to get on a train that smelt like urine," said Gilbert.

Another speaker, Roxbury resident Robert Palmer, claimed he represented over 100 other residents from his housing complex at 125 Amory Street. The building is managed by the Boston Housing Authority and rented to “low-and-moderate income elderly and disabled persons,” according to the BHA website.

The 48 bus that stops immediately outside of 125 Amory St. is one of the four routes that are will no longer run during the weekdays due to low ridership. In addition, route 48 is the only one that will also have its Saturday trip cut, thus running only on Sundays.

When Palmer spoke at the podium, he held up a stack of petitions with his left hand and forcefully said that the MBTA would be bombarded with complaint calls by every resident at 125 Amory St. if the 48 bus schedule is appended as planned. Palmer went on to explain that the bus is the main source of transportation for him and his neighbors who need it to go to work and grocery shopping.

Due to the nature of the hearing, neither Gilbert‘s nor Palmer’s issues were formally addressed by the MBTA Service Plan members. Instead, both got a chance to talk with the Service Plan Manager Melissa Dullea, and other MBTA employees after the meeting. In an aside interview, however, Dullea mentioned that the issues brought up in last night's meeting will probably not be added to the list of scheduled changes.
"We'll only withdraw proposals," said Dullea, following the meeting. She went on to explain that the process is only a filtering process that her team uses to retract extremely controversial proposals.

While Dullea said that it was still likely that route 48 would be cut, an example of a saved route – the 8:30 p.m. boat from Boston to Hingham, route F2/F2H – was announced at the beginning of the hearing.

“After the completion of [the Service Plan], we’ll be getting back to our interest groups,” said Dullea. “If we are moving forward with a proposal, we’ll get back to them.”
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BOSTON—The Department of Conservation and Recreation found strong opposition from a small group of environmental activists, who claimed that the DCR is using the restoration of the B.U. Bridge as a guise to intentionally destroy the last sanctuary of the Charles River white geese.

Robert LaTrémouille spearheaded that attack on the DCR at the public hearing held last night at Boston University. The meeting was meant to unveil the DCR's plans for the bridge renovation but more than two hours of the meeting was spent on the question-and-answer period. LaTrémouille was standing by the microphone with a scripted speech even before the DCR spokesman began taking questions.

“In the past five years, the DCR, through its agents, has destroyed every piece of vegetation between the BU Bridge and the BU Boathouse,” LaTrémouille said, “except for the vegetation…which this project proposes to destroy.” He claimed that the DCR’s proposed staging area, just east of the bridge, is a deliberate attempt to exterminate the white geese.

Renovation on the B.U. Bridge sidewalks has already begun, and a staging area for raw materials and equipment is located beneath the Reid Overpass, on Memorial drive. The area has been fenced off and does not interfere with the habitat of the white geese, according to a May press release by the DCR. However, a three-way fork and an intersection divide the staging area from the B.U. Bridge, making it less convenient than the area directly east of the bridge.

“If use of the staging area under Memorial drive delays the project, that is the fault of the DCR,” LaTrémouille said, adding that if the current staging area is good for the sidewalk project, it should be good for the remainder of the restoration.

Lakes and Ponds Coordinator James Straub was at the public meeting and tried to abate LaTrémouille’s concerns but received shouts of “Nonsense! Nonsense!” when he responded that the white geese would endure the DCR’s temporary encroachment.

“I have not encountered this gentleman before,” Straub said in an email, “but [I] can say that there are many people that have similar environmental concerns across the state.”

Straub said that animal inhabitants always return to the site after construction unless the DCR continuously chases them away. Constructing fences or scaring the geese away with trained dogs are the methods used “99 percent of the time,” Straub said. Currently, the DCR does not plan to permanently remove the geese.

“My goal is to try and show them that DCR wants the best for the environment and that we would not harm wildlife that is such a resource to the aesthetics of the area,” Straub said, “[but] there are times when people’s safety has to take priority over other issues.”

"I'm sure we'd all like get home to catch the end of the [Red Sox] game," said Deputy Commissioner Jack Murray after about an hour of questions. "Or at least make use of the lull in traffic."
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BOSTON—Police are cracking down on vandalism in West Roxbury after multiple business owners reported that their property had been egged last week Monday, according to a statement released yesterday by the Boston Police Department.

Police and local business owners are convinced that the egging was a common Halloween prank executed by unruly adolencents. Regardless, store managers like Tom Moynihan were stunned to see it happen so early in the month.

"Basically just around the Halloween there, that Friday" is when the eggings start, said Moynihan. "I usually just pull [the eggs] back and not sell 'em to the kids."

Moynihan is one of the managers at the Roche Bros. supermarket in Roxbury, located about one-fifth of a mile away from the District E-5 Police Station in West Roxbury. Moynihan said that he traditionally cards kids just few days before Halloween, but he has not yet been asked to do so by BPD officers. The statement released yesterday said that grocers in the area had been notified of last Monday's act of vandalism and urged not to sell eggs to minors, but today was the first that Moynihan had heard of either.

Store manager Ahed Rajeh of White Hen Pantry was asked to stop selling eggs to minors by police officers who visited the shop. The store is located immediately next to the the police station in Roxbury.

Although he said that he will comply with the BPD's requests, Rajeh said he fears more restrictions may come soon. Rajeh mentioned that police officers appeared eager to hold him accountable for vandalism if he did not agree to the requests of the officers.
"The accusation they throw at us is not true" said Ahed Rajeh about a comment a police officer made to him that grocers were knowingly selling eggs to kids who could shell out the cash.

The BPD has pledged to arrest and charge anyone caught throwing eggs. Violators who throw eggs at other people will be charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon -- a crime with a maximum penalty of two and a half years in jail or up to $1,000 in fines.
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BOSTON—In March, Webster resident Jennifer Tonelli learned she had a "fifty-fifty" chance of developing Huntington’s disease — a genetic, crippling illness that attacks the brain and nervous system. But instead of waiting in wonder, Tonelli has pooled her resources and raised over $17,000 in the past five months for HD research.

"I wanted to do something immediately positive to get my mind off the challenges," said Tonelli, who was one of over 100 participants in the three mile Walk-a-Thon for Huntington’s Disease held yesterday morning at the Artesani Park in Brighton.

"[The event] has given me hope that I can do something," said Tonelli, "that I am not completely helpless against this disease."

According to an event volunteer, the 35-year-old Tonelli has blown past other participants with her determination. Tonelli has organized silent auctions, sponsorships and her own Heart for Hope benefit, a wine tasting event held on Thursday evening at the DZian Gallery in Worchester.

Tonelli said that the disease was a "brick wall" that changed her perspective on life. Since then, she has been working fervently with Virginia Goolkaian, the regional manager of the Huntington’s disease Society of America in New England. It was Goolkasian who helped Tonelli get involved in the fight against HD.

Goolkaian has organized fund-raising and outreach events throughout the region in the past few years. From hoop-a-thons to golf tournaments, Goolkasian is reaching out to all her resources to get the word out and bring money in. Although she and one other woman are the only HDSA staff, Goolkasian is backed by a growing army of volunteers. These emissaries of HD bring the message to their friends, workplaces and neighborhoods — spreading the word to heighten awareness and support.
"There's [a supporter] who's married to someone in Pearl Jam," said Goolkasian, proudly, "people go to co-workers, families — people they know."

Just recently, Goolkasian has gained support from documentary filmmaker Ted Bogosian, whose newest movie, titled "50/50", directly addresses the hardships of Huntington’s disease. The project was recently endorsed by Danny DeVito, who Goolkasian says she is "working on" recruiting.

But Goolkasian and Tonelli aren't the only ones bringing in money. Lindsey Tanner, one of the seven walk-a-thon committee volunteers, said she raised roughly $1,100 within the past three months. Tanner said that even her mother-in-law has gotten involved by sparking a partnership with Harley Davidson. It is now rumored that the motorcycle magnate will be present at a fundraiser "in the works" near Worcester.

"It's just by word of mouth," began Tanner, "but I think we're doing really well."

Neurologist and HDSA supporter Dr. Jang-Ho Cha has been teaming up with Goolkasian to get closer to a cure. Cha is a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and specializes in neurological diseases like Huntington’s.

Cha said that he was amazed at how much influence fundraisers like the walk-a-thon have done for HD research. According to Cha, about half of his lab's research budget comes from small-town contributions made by people like Goolkasian, Tonelli and Tanner. Because donation money does not have the same spending restrictions that federal grant money requires, Cha said his lab has the freedom to investigate innovative solutions.

"We wouldn't be able to do [experiments] without this type of money," said Cha, "the same old stuff isn't going to get us there."

But even the money that Goolkasian, Tonelli and Tanner have raised is not enough to cure the disease. Cha emphasized that time, money and awareness about the disease are the real secrets to stopping HD. Although Cha said that a solution may not come in the next several years, he is confident that research is moving in the right direction.

"We're clearly not where we need to be," admitted Cha, "[but] it really is true that there's a lot of progress."





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QUINCY, Mass.—Three MBTA boat commuters fought for tradition at this evening's annual service planning meeting held in City Hall.

The graying male trio said they represented a group of over 30 riders who will be affected by the route changes proposed by the service planning team. Though they came separately, all three attendees attacked the proposed elimination of the 8:30 p.m. boat route from the Hingham Shipyard in Hingham to Rowes Wharf in Boston.

"People who take the boat... do it because it's a way of life," was Charles Hayes' statement to the MBTA. Hayes and party had the undivided attention of the MBTA service planning team. In a room with 40 seats and space for 40 more, the small group were the only attendants who were not affiliated with the MBTA, the media or a government agency.

The new Greenbush commuter rail service to South Station, which opened in October of 2007, absorbed many commuter boat patrons, says Hayes. The claim is reminiscent to that of privately owned bus provider JBL, who argued that ridership significantly fell after Greenbush opened in Weymouth, causing them to discontinue service there.

Service plan manager Melissa Dullea was part of the team that extended commuter rail service into Weymouth.

"Ridership on boats, generally, is lower with Greenbush being open," admitted Dullea. However, Dullea said that the lack of customers was what identified the 8:30 p.m. boat as a "low-hanging fruit" subject to cuts.

According to Dullea, the routes targeted in the service plan are those that have a net cost per passenger that is greater than three times the subsidy for that type of transportation. The 8:30 p.m. commuter boat, for instance, costs the MBTA over $27 per passenger. Though the system-wide subsidy for commuter boats was not mentioned at the meeting, the average was 90 cents in 2004. The Service Plan team have yet to respond to questions regarding the subsidies in place.

Dullea and Hayes may cross paths once more at the September 15 meeting in Weymouth, which Hayes says he will likely attend.

"Clearly, [Hayes] knew what was going on," said Dullea, following the meeting.
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BOSTON—Local produce got "picked up" and taken home by campus women for a second week in a row at today's B.U. Farmer's Market. The event, hosted by B.U. Dining Services, takes place in front of the GSU every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. until mid-October.

Although the setup is more like a roadside stand and less like the bustling bazaar of Government Center, the little shop does a good job representing a handful of local farms from Maine to New Jersey. The casual yet classy white tents and covered tables were an attractive detour for customers, like Rebecca Shanker (SAR '09), who curiously wandered in.

"I'm not a big organic person," said Shanker, "but I always like locally grown food." The cheerful senior was on her way to a PDP class and simply stopped by to investigate. She was in and out in roughly 10-15 minutes and walked off with some tomatoes, green beans and an eggplant big enough to prop a fire door.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this, but we'll see!" added Shanker as she boldly approached the register, eggplant in hand.

Strangely, eggplant is one of the more popular items B.U. is selling. Other shopper favorites include ears of corn from Rehobeth, MA ($0.50 ea.), bundled green beans from Hope, RI ($1.50 ea.) and an assortment of peaches, nectarines and apples from South Dartmouth, MA ($0.50 ea.). And perhaps for the fun of contradiction, the "farmer's market" even sells a variety of breads, cookies, cakes and honey to top it off with.

The entire event is something that CAS senior Colleen Ryan sees as a resource for students that B.U. has failed to publicize.

"I don't know if B.U. advertised before," said Ryan, "because this is just something I randomly saw."

For off-campus residents like Ryan, buying groceries is a routine task. And with a college student's budget, buying freshly grown produce from small farms can be an expensive but necessary habit, at least for this Pennslyvannia native.

"It's not a question of if I would want to pay more, because I certainly would if it meant supporting a local cause," explained Ryan.

Despite the poor media attention, the little produce stand is attracting a lot of attention. The little shop, the size of a Warren corner-double, had 9-12 people lined up for the register and enough browsing around to qualify for a housing violation.

And while passerbys were hounded near the area: "free stuff [from SAO] without selling your soul!" a promotion for yo-yos and popsicles; two girls shouting "Wanna get a job supporting Obama?" and then the usual pitch from Bank of America and Citizen's Bank closer to the GSU; right in the crossfire was the B.U. Farmer's Market -- passively offering no shouting; no commitment; no yo-yos.

Unfortunately, B.U. Dining Services has yet to respond to questions regarding the event. Even event coordinator Amy Goodrich, outside in her pink sun-dress and winning grin, could not be swayed to comment on the unanimous success of the grass roots farmer's market.
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