Mission Hill

Council approves school-relocation plan, but warns BPS: No more

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:32:25 +0000

Ross: "Irresponsible" to make kids pay for superintendent's mistakes.

A divided City Council today approved a plan that moves seven schools around and creates two new schools, but even councilors who voted in favor told School Superintendent Carol Johnson and School Committee Chairman Gregory Groover they're skating on thin ice.

Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) said the $20-million plan, which will mean 1,400 new seats in what BPS says are high-performing schools, forced her to vote for a plan that moves the Mission Hill K-8 School to Jamaica Plain. But she said she will never again vote for a BPS capital request unless officials pair it with a comprehensive five or ten-year plan. The council has final say over borrowing for large-scale capital projects.

Councilor: BPS could build a brand-new school with all the money it wants to spend to move several schools around

adamg — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:19:06 +0000

Jackson: Not happyA skeptical group of city councilors urged school officials today to reconsider a school-moving plan that would send a Mission Hill elementary school to Jamaica Plain. The full council could vote on the issue at its regular meeting next week.

At a hearing on the proposal today, City Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) said the $19 million school BPS wants the city council to approve for loans - down from an earlier $21-million estimate - could be used to leverage additional state school construction money to simply build a brand-new school, reducing the number of students in 19th and early 20th-century buildings. State officials are currently sitting on payments for the renovation of Hyde Park High School, because BPS shut the school not long after renovating it.

"It really makes me angry that we've been given miserable choices amongst horrible options," Jackson said of the plan, in which Fenway High School would move to the Mission Hill K-8 building, the Boston Arts Academy would take over the Ipswich Street space it now shares with Fenway, the New Mission High School and Boston Community Leadership Academy would move to Hyde Park and a new Margarita Muniz Academy would move into the Agassiz School in JP along with Mission Hill.

Councilors, school officials to consider educational musical chairs on Thursday

adamg — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:23:20 +0000

Mission Hill teddy bear explains the problems with moving Mission Hill K-8.

BPS officials are scheduled to explain a proposed $21-million school relocation plan to a skeptical City Council committee at a hearing that starts at 11 a.m. in the council's fifth-floor chambers in City Hall.

Under the proposal, two high schools, including New Mission High School, would be moved to the closed Hyde Park High School - for which state officials are now withholding renovation funds because the money was supposed to be spent only for schools that are open and Fenway High School would be moved into the building that now houses New Mission and the Mission Hill K-8 School, which would be moved into the mold-infested Agassiz School, along with a new high school BPS is opening in the fall.

Going online to save the Mission Hill School

adamg — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:57:08 +0000

Petition to Mayor Menino and Superintendent Johnson asking they keep the Mission Hill K-8 School where it is rather than moving it to the old Agassiz School in Jamaica Plain.

Woman convicted of stabbing neighbor in winter parking beef

adamg — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:15:56 +0000

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted Carmen Andino of Mission Hill for stabbing a neighbor in a dispute over a parking space the neighbor had shoveled out but Andino then claimed, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Andino, 40, will be sentenced on May 9, the DA's office reports. Andino's daughter was acquitted of charges she helped her mother in the attack.

Prosecutors convinced the jury that Andino went into a rage when the neighbor returned from a trip after a snowstorm, found two children's play tables Andino had put in the McGreevey Way space and moved them for her car:

DA: Billerica man chauffeured his crack dealer to Northeastern student's murder

adamg — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:11:30 +0000

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today set bail at $100,000 for a Billerica truck driver and real-estate broker who allegedly hung around outside the Parker Hill Avenue apartment where, police say, his dealer murdered a Northeastern student.

Michael Balba, 55, was a frequent customer of crack dealer Cornell Smith, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says. Smith was indicted Friday for the murder of Rebecca Payne, a woman prosecutors say had no connection at all with Smith, except for living in the same building as the woman Smith really wanted to kill. Balba was indicted for perjury for allegedly lying at least four times to that grand jury.

Two-bit Roxbury coke dealer was out on bail on a drug charge when he allegedly gunned down a Northeastern student

adamg — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:41:14 +0000

The justice system gave Cornell Smith a second chance. And a third. And a fourth. And now he stands accused of murdering an innocent Northeastern student in a case of mistaken identity.

A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Smith on Friday on charges he murdered Rebecca Payne in her Parker Hill Avenue apartment in 2008 by shooting her in the knees and the chest. The Suffolk County District Attorney's office says Payne, a New Milford, CT resident who had a job at Legal Seafood did not know Smith. Channel 7 reports police think Smith got Payne confused with another resident of the building, who looked like her - but who had some sort of gang affiliation.

Carnage along the E line: Councilor wants to mount cameras on trolleys to catch motorists who don't stop for riders

adamg — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:23:29 +0000

City Councilor Mike Ross says riders on the E line between Brigham Circle and Heath Street shouldn't have to worry about getting flattened by crazed Massholes who ignore the "STOP" painted on the sides of open trolley doors.

Ross, who lives on Mission Hill, is seeking legislation to let the T install cameras on trolleys that share the road with motorists in that stretch to catch and ticket drivers ignoring stopped trolleys.

Under Ross's proposal (see attached), images from the cameras, along with date stamps and locations, would be forwarded to an MBTA police officer trained in traffic enforcement, who would then write out tickets.

The proposal gets a hearing before the council's Committee on Government Operations at 10 a.m. on May 29 at City Hall. If the committee and then the full council approve, the measure would then go to the state Legislature as a home-rule petition.

Mother, daughter go on trial for allegedly stabbing neighbor in dispute over Mission Hill parking space

adamg — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:51:24 +0000

Trial began today for Carmen Andino, 40, and her daughter Shey Carrasquillo, 19, on charges they stabbed a neighbor on McGreevey Way on Jan. 11, 2010 in a dispute over, among other things, the table they allegedly used to save a parking space after a snowstorm, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Innocent, etc.

City councilors balk at BPS school-move plan; want to look at moving Fenway High to JP, not Mission Hill

adamg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:00:59 +0000

Four city councilors told Boston school officials today they're not liking plans to spend $12 million to move Fenway High School to the building that now houses the Mission Hill K-8 School and New Mission High School - and another $3.5 million to get the moldy, shuttered Agassiz School in Jamaica Plain ready for the K-8 School and a brand-new high school.

Instead, Councilors Mike Ross, Steve Murphy, Mark Ciommo and Charles Yancey said, they want BPS officials to report back on the challenges of leaving the Mission Hill school where it is and moving Fenway to the Agassiz.

Police ID imprisoned man as 2010 Mission Hill murderer

adamg — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:27:47 +0000

BPD: Video shows murderer fleeing scene.

Boston Police report charging Keith Hobbs, 26, with killing Demetrius Blocker, 21, on Horadan Way on Dec. 16, 2010, thanks to tips from community members.

Hobbs is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow in Roxbury District Court.

The initial investigation revealed that Mr. Blocker was in the rear parking area of 48 Horadan Way while waiting for a relative. As he waited by a green jeep that was parked in the area, an unknown Black or Hispanic male approached Mr. Blocker and fired several shots which struck and killed him. Detectives soon learned that the suspect then fled out onto Horadan Way. He ran though the passage ways between buildings out onto McGreevey Way across Saint Alphonsus Street to Longwood Avenue to Huntington Avenue.

Innocent, etc.

Convenience-store clerk robbed at knifepoint, then jumps in his car to pursue his attackers

adamg — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:47:28 +0000

Boston Police report a super vigilant store employee helped them capture two knife-wielding robbers and their getaway driver after a robbery last night.

According to police, two guys dressed in black and with black ski masks over their faces entered South Huntington Convenience, 12 S. Huntington Ave. around 9:30 p.m. yesterday and demanded money:

Shuttered Mission Hill eatery could become edgy sushi place

adamg — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:17:02 +0000

The owners of the Ginger Exchange in Inman Square go before the Boston Licensing Board on Wednesday for permission to buy the Savant Project's beer and wine license from the bank that now owns it and turn the 1625 Tremont St. location into a sushi joint that promises to "inject a not-so-subtle element of fun and interest in the pure enjoyment of good food."

Mystery pops puzzle people across area

adamg — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:23:00 +0000

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: Still popping in the Fenway.

From Brighton to Brookline to Mission Hill, people are reporting popping sounds that have been going off for several hours.

BPS had millions of reasons to move something into the old Hyde Park High School

adamg — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:09:48 +0000

36 million, to be exact. Seems the city won a large grant from the state to renovate the school - scheduled to be paid out through 2019 - and the state doesn't like having its money wasted for repairs to buildings that get shut down. Take a look at this letter from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson back in June, which mentions several schools, but singles out the building last known as the Hyde Park Education Complex:

In 1999, the City received approval for a grant for a renovation project at Hyde Park School. To date, the MSBA has paid $23,383,012 to the City for the Hyde Park High School and there is a total of $12,664,978 remaining in grant payments which the MSBA is scheduled to pay in annual installments through fiscal year 2019. Due to the closure of this facility, however, the MSBA may consider putting a hold on the remaining payments for this project and recouping a portion of funds that have already been paid to the City for this project, pending the City's future plans for the facility.