Looking back at '17

Part 1

January 5, 2017
Capt. Ivens last Roll Call

Submitted by BPD

On, December 31, 2016 at 4:00 PM, retiring Captain Paul Ivens led the final roll call of his career at District D-4 (South End). In addition to the first half shift officers, also in attendance were Police Commissioner William Evans, Captain Ivens' wife and family, and dozens of officers who had the privilege of working with the Captain over his 37 year career. Among many notable assignments, the Captain spent time in the Explosive Ordinance Unit and was the commander at the Marathon Finish Line in 2013. Yesterday in front of a packed house, he had the honor of calling his daughter's name, as she just graduated with the last class from the Boston Police Academy and is currently assigned at District D-4. To Captain Ivens, we say, "Thank you for your dedicated service to the City of Boston, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement!"

Full story here

CDC Approves BSL-4 Labs at Biolab

Submitted by Community Relations for the BU Medical Campus

On Monday, December 20, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved Boston University's application to operate the Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories at the NEIDL. This approval comes after a rigorous two-year review by the CDC of the University's application, submitted in September 2014, to activate its state-of-the-art BSL-4 research space.

Full story here

January 26, 2017
USES hosts Forum on Race and Education

On Wednesday, January 18, United South End Settlements (USES) hosted the Harriet Tubman Forum on Race and Education with a full-house of over 125 people. The event was moderated by Maicharia Weir Lytle, USES President and CEO, with panelists Marie St. Fleur, Education Leader and Former State Representative, Rahn Dorsey, Chief Education Officer and Education Advisor to Mayor Martin J. Walsh, and Robert Lewis Jr., Founder and CEO of The BASE.

The panelists began the discussion by sharing their personal education experiences and those of their children, noting that added layers of immigrant status, economics, time, and place mean that Black Americans experience the education system in vastly different ways.

The conversation then turned to the issue of urgency, recognizing that in the months that have followed the election, many Americans have experienced a heightened awareness of social justice issues and have felt a strong call to action. Lewis Jr. urged us to remember that the issues we are seeing in a new light have existed for a long time, and that "for people who are struggling every day, they did not feel that shock on the day after the election."

Full story here

February 8, 2017
Considering Matthew Shepard

Berklee hosted the Boston premie of Considering Matthew Shepard at Symphony Hall Sunday afternoon. The three-part fusion oratorio is composer Craig Hella Johnson's musical response to the story of the gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten and left to die in a field beyond campus 19 years ago. Johnson, who wrote the piece, conducted the Austin, Texas, vocal ensemble Conspirare in the performance, as well as choruses from Harvard, the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Berklee. Shepard's mother, Judy, attended, seeing the production for the first time. Berklee President Roger Brown and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh made introductions, welcoming Johnson and Conspirare to Boston.

Full story here

February 23, 2017
Linehan won't seek a sixth term

by Sue O'Connel

Bill Linehan, District 2 City Councillor, announced on February 15 that he will not seek a sixth term.

"I've decided that I'm not going to seek reelection,'' Linehan told The Boston Globe, who served on the council for a decade. "My intention is to finish the term."

Linehan was elected to city council office in 2007 in a special election to fill a vacancy left by James Kelly.

Full story here

March 8, 2017
Family owned Tremont Drug closes its doors

by Michele D. Maniscalco

Snow shovels and fireplace logs stood by the front window of Tremont Drug, 610 Tremont Street, during a visit earlier this week, but perhaps more representative of Gary and Joyce Einsidler's family-owned, independent pharmacy, schoolchildren often stood inside the front window of the pharmacy, taking refuge from the cold as they waited for the bus on many winter mornings.

Above the cash register, trophies from local athletic teams the Einsidlers sponsored lined the wall, and over the pharmacy area was a row of plaques from AIDS Action, IBA and local youth programs honoring the Einsidlers for their support. Sadly, on Wednesday, March 8 at 6:00 PM, Tremont Drug became one of the most recent casualties in a dying breed. On Tuesday afternoon, customers streamed in to get the scoop on the closing while others called in to greet the family who helped them maintain their health for almost 20 years.

Full story here

Jackson tries again to block biolab

By Adam Gaffin, Courtesy www.universalhub.com

Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) last week called on the council to try to prevent Boston University from beginning work on particularly nasty microorganisms at its Albany Street biolab, by amending city ordinances to prohibit such research.

The facility is currently awaiting approval from the Boston Public Health Commission.

Jackson, also running for mayor this year, raised the spectre of deadly germs escaping the facility just a mile from Dudley Square, home to the busiest bus depot in New England-and the impact on neighboring Boston Medical Center should it be forced to treat a biolab researcher infected with a deadly communicable disease.

Jackson, who has tried before to block deadly germs from Boston, asked his fellow councilors to imagine "a UPS truck picking up a package of ebola and delivering it to Albany Street, which is one of the most densely parts of the City of Boston."

Full story here

March 23, 2017
South Ender Chair in Youth in Government

Ryan Ridolfo of the South End, a sophomore at Boston College High School, was one of the twenty-one BC High students who participated at the annual YMCA Youth in Government Conference from March 3 to 5 at the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill. Ridolfo was a Committee Chairman. The young men were delighted that Governor Baker was the keynote speaker and that many state Representatives and Senators joined them at the opening ceremonies.

The BC High team had a most successful year: Stephen DeMatteo 2018 of Scituate, Dan Gordon 2018 of Natick and Matt Brandi 2019 of Quincy all had their bills passed and signed into law.

Full story here

March 30, 2017
BMC Names Botticelli Chair of Grayken Center

On the heels of the $25 million gift from John and Eilene Grayken to intensify Boston Medical Center's fight against the burgeoning opioid epidemic, BMC today named Michael Botticelli the first executive director of the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine.

Botticelli, one of the nation's leading addiction experts, served as the Director of National Drug Control Policy at the White House under President Obama.

Botticelli was the first person to hold the position who was also in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder and who came from a public health background. His predecessors were law enforcement officials, doctors and a military general.

Full story here

April 27, 2017
USES shifts programming focus

by Michele D. Maniscalco

In an e-mail sent to United South End Settlements (USES) supporters on Friday, April 21, president and chief executive officer Maicharia Weir-Lytle announced plans for a major restructuring of the 125 year old non-profit's programming to focus on helping families and children to overcome poverty and improve their prospects for future prosperity and to achieve increased sustainability through refocusing existing programs and eliminating others, notably services to seniors such as senior wellness and fitness classes, affordable home repair referrals, low-cost daily lunches and free, supplemental groceries for low-income seniors.

The announcement results from a strategic planning process called Vison125 that began last fall, with USES staff, board members and consultants meeting among themselves and engaging with community members and leaders, elected officials, funders and others to determine the best way to serve South Enders in the face of changing demographics and to use its assets and facilities more efficiently to serve residents. Weir-Lytle, who took the helm at USES in February of 2015, expressed concern for the financial struggles she found at USES since arriving and stressed the need to revamp the organization's financial model as it realigns its program offerings. Word of possible disncontinuance of senior programs began to spread among participants.

On Friday afternoon, vice president Nikki Stewart responded via e-mail to the South End News's inquiry, writing, "We've always cherished our seniors, and have been grateful for the opportunity to contribute directly to their lives and to enjoy them for many years as a small but treasured group among our participants. Seniors are absolutely a rich part of the fabric of this community and our families. Though our programmatic refocus on families with children will not include our current Senior Services offerings, we do envision our impact will have a positive cumulative effect on every member of participating families, including seniors."

Full story here