Eight Streets Meeting Minutes

March 3, 1999 - 7:00 - 8:30 - Boston Ballet 5th floor Boardroom

Agenda

Attendance

Voting resident members present - 11

Non Voting members - 2

Associate members - 0

Update on Action items from Previous Meetings

Open Action items from Previous meetings -

Parcel RC6 (Corner Shawmut and Dwight) - Update on response to our letter

Based on last months meeting the Eight Streets Association wrote a letter to the BRA expressing the concerns brought up in the discussion that followed last months presentation. Copies of this letter where distributed. MD Properties have sent a response to our letter. They dispute our points and they are very upset with me (Ken). The Executive Committee will meet to work out a response.

The BRA has granted MD Properties a 6-month extension.

Action:

Executive committee to write and send a response to MD Properties and BRA.

Update on Acorn Lights

Several Eight Street Representatives attended a meeting of the South End Landmark District Commission on Tuesday, March 2, 1999. On the agenda was a vote on the City of Boston's public works dept application to install the Acorn lights on the following streets:

Dwight, Milford, Hanson, Ringgold, Waltham, Taylor, Bond, Cazenove, St. Charles, Clarendon, Montgomery, and Warren.

There were a number of representatives from different neighborhood groups. Mike Kelly was there as well. The vote was approved and work should start as soon as April.

The lights have been updated so they are 13.5 ft high, with a lower watt bulb and reflectors to limit light pollution given off by the original lights.

As a side note, James Kane came to request changes to the renovation at 293 Shawmut Ave. He was requesting to extend the side oriel down to the ground level to allow for a window in the lower level bedroom. The Commission denied his request. They would entertain having windows at that level, but not extending the oriel.

Update on City's Transportation Workgroup

Peter Chin gave us an update on the City's transportation workgroup. This group has come out of the millenium project. The city set up the group among others to look at traffic around the city, specifically traffic moving from the Seaport district to the hotels of the Back Bay.

The group may allow the South End groups to unite around a common issue. Peter had attended a previous meeting and was one of a few people from the South End. The South End is not well represented and was even skipped over during a discussion of troubled traffic spots.

There is the potential that this group could lobby to have a ramp built to the pike to move traffic without cutting through the South End.

Action:

Please attend a meeting on Monday March 8th at the Tent City Meeting room across from the Back Bay Station (Corner of Dartmouth/Columbus).

Update on Parcel 8 (empty lot next to Cyclorama)

Will Woodruff the Druker community liaison has sent out the first Parcel 8 newsletter. I will see if I can get an electronic copy for distribution. The next step should be some public meetings to review the updated plans.

Action:

Get electronic copy of Parcel 8 and distribute

 

 

Open Forum

Can we get Public Works to do something about the sidewalks on Dwight Street? Ken will follow-up with the City to see what the process is for this.

Ken has submitted the trees that need to be replaced. I will follow-up with the city.

Marcia will submit the existing handicap spots to Area D to see if they are still required.

If you have graffiti that you would like to have removed, please contact Area D. They have a form to fill out, come and take pictures (for future tracking) and remove the graffiti.

Reminder, street cleaning starts on April 1, 1999.

We agreed that it would be great to have a brochure with describing the Eight Streets, what we do, who we are, when we meet, important neighborhood phone numbers, etc. Bill, Doug, Sharon, Claudia, and John M have agreed to be on this committee. Claudia agreed to chair the committee.

We passed out the how, what, when and don't of recycling. If you have questions on recycling or need more info call Boston Recycling Department 635-4959.

We passed out the latest crime statistics for the Eight Streets. Crime seems to be down. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, would like to point out trouble spots, or if you would like to tell D-4 what a great job they are doing, please call the D-4 Community Service Office (343-4457 or email at D4CSO@aol.com). To report suspected Drug dealings call the D-4 Drug hotline at 343-4822

John McLachlan has created the first Eight Streets Neighborhood Association web site. The page is hosted by Tripod System. They give us 5MB of free web space and the web page itself is hosted for FREE (you will get an ad window open when you go into the page). In addition the Eight Streets mailing list has been hosted on "onelist". This is another free system that lets people sign up for any mailing list they want. Please visit the web page, if you have suggestions on the page, please email us.

The URL is http://members.tripod.com/eightstreets

The Eight Streets mailing list is eightstreets@onelist.com

Ed provided an update on the Water and Sewer commission's meeting on Feb 23, 1999. The SE is very vocal and well represented in these meetings. There will be new meters installed to allow the city to monitor both volume and flow in the sewers. They will be cleaning catch basins if people call and complain. Once they have been cleaned, they will set up monitoring to see how long they take to fill back up. To determine a schedule of preventative maintenance.

If you are affected by flooding and would like to represent your street, please call 635-4217 to have your name added to the list. It is very important that we are well represented.