Dorchester

Going dotty over new cafe

adamg — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:37:49 -0400

Chris and Erin are loving the new Dot-2-Dot Cafe at 1739 Dot. Ave.

... The cafe is clean and friendly, displays works by local artists on its walls, and has free wifi... a wonderful addition to Dorchester Ave. ...

Tenants would get to stay in foreclosed units under city-council measure

adamg — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:08:26 -0400

Councilor Mike Ross reports the council passed a home-rule petition yesterday:

... When a foreclosure occurs on a rental property, this bill gives the renter the right to stay in their home, so long as they continue to pay the rent they were paying prior to foreclosure, and assuming they remain a tenant in good standing. This situation remains until one of two things happen:

1. The lender sells the foreclosed property to a new landlord or owner, who has the right to select their own tenants if they so choose; or

2. The lender still owns the property upon arrival of the law's sunset clause, which is two years from passage (with the possibility of a third year extension if approved by the council and mayor).

The lender is required to notify the tenants of the foreclosure, so the tenant doesn't continue to pay rent to the old owner - something which we have seen happen quite frequently. ...

The proposal needs approval of the state Legislature and the governor to become law. Ross says some 2,000 apartments in Boston have been affected by foreclosure over the past year and that he expects that number to rise, with Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester and Hyde Park being hit hardest.

The anti-violence march and the pirate radio station

adamg — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:04:12 -0400

This Sunday, there's going to be a "Man Up for Liquarry Jefferson Accountability March" from Grove Hall to City Hall, to try to get black men to take more responsibility for stopping violence in inner-city Boston (starts at 11 a.m.; it's named for the little boy shot by a cousin with an illegal gun a family member left lying around).

I didn't read about it in the Globe or the Herald, of course. Instead, I heard about it this morning on Touch FM, the pirate radio station a toothless FCC can't seem to shut down.

But maybe it's not such a bad thing the FCC can't figure out how to dismantle an antenna. For the 20 minutes or so I listened to the station in the car (came in very well in Roslindale, slowly faded out as I got toward Rte. 9 in Newton), I listened to callers discussing what "brothas can do" to change the 'hood - and which song they'd pick as a theme for the march or which best reminds them of somebody they'd lost to violence. The DJ recited names of young victims of violence and reminded listeners that the mainstream media only seem to care about the inner city when somebody gets gunned down - where are the stories about good things in the non-white areas of Boston?

The answer to that one is easy, of course: If you look at today's Globe, you'll notice the paper assigned two metro reporters to the Patriots/Herald story (and another to cover a mock hurricane evacuation on the Cape).

Looking for Peace One Block at a Time

adamg — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:37:56 -0400

Promo for a documentary by the Hyde Square Task Force's Health Career Ambassadors on youth violence in Boston:

Info on the documentary's premiere, May 29 at the John D. O'Bryant African-American Institute, Northeastern University.

Memo to landlords: If you pull a gun on a tenant, you're the one who's going to get in trouble

adamg — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:46:33 -0400

Even if you are in the process of evicting the tenant and you think he's mouthing off too much.

Mother's Walk for Peace

adamg — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:51:24 -0400

NECN reports on the 11th annual march through Dorchester.

When it comes to college admissions, Weston High may not be quite all that

adamg — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:01:08 -0400

Larry Davidson, who lives in Dorchester and teaches at Weston High, takes a look at where kids in the Crimson Summer Academy, an intensive summer-school program for Boston and Cambridge public-school students, have been getting in:

... Harvard admitted 3. That's 10% of the class — can’t beat that at Weston. ...

Kicking and screaming in and around South Boston

adamg — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:04:17 -0400

A Boston Police report describes three incidents of people getting knocked to the ground:

On May 1, a woman on Sleeper Street was knocked to the ground and robbed of $100.
On May 2, a man with a number of drinks under his belt was kicked to the ground at K and E. 6th streets and robbed of $50 worth of Chinese money from his wallet.
On May 6, a woman was punched and kicked repeatedly at the Hess station at Dorchester Avenue and Columbia Road.

Oh, and on May 6, a man was stabbed in the leg during a dispute over a parking spot at 121 Mercer St. However, the victim didn't much feel like helping the police out.

Avast! Feds fine Dorchester radio pirate

adamg — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:44:02 -0400

The FCC has ordered a local man to pay a $17,000 fine for running an unlicensed radio station on Blue Hill Avenue.

The FCC says Charles Clemons continued to run Touch FM at 106.1 FM even after FCC field investigators - acting on a complaint from engineers at licensed stations - told him to knock it off.

When confronted with the station's operation, Clemons did not deny operating the station. The agents advised Clemons that he must discontinue the unlicensed operation immediately and outlined the possible penalties for continued operation of an unlicensed station. When the agents asked to conduct an inspection of the station, Clemons refused. When questioned, he stated that the studio was at a different location, but refused to provide the address.

The order is dated Feb. 29, but the FCC ruled this week that Clemons was now a deadbeat because he had failed to pay the fine.

As of this morning, at least, the station was not streaming on its Web site. UPDATE, 3:20 p.m.: It's back, at least on the Web.

Via BostonRadio.org

Man shot repeatedly in Uphams Corner

adamg — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:23:46 -0400

Around 8 a.m. on Humphreys Street.

Ed. clueless note: Is this Dorchester or Roxbury?