Roxbury

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.

Drop this

adamg — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:01:13 -0400

Aaron Donovan photographed Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphys at a recent Longwood Medical Area rally by the SEIU.

Goin' down Dudley

adamg — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:07:01 -0400

Third Decade posts a video of interviews of people who remember when Dudley Square was a "downtown" and when the area had much better public transportation than it does today:

... It would be great if the neighborhoods between Dudley Square and Downtown Boston could coalesce to demand improved public transportation from the MBTA in the same way that Somerville and Medford are doing. ...

3-year old found wandering around Brigham Circle at 3 a.m.

adamg — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:13:36 -0400

Fortunately, a passing motorist spotted the tot, picked him up and dialed 911, Boston Police report.

And what was he doing wandering around by himself then?

Around 4:15am, officers responded to Kempton St. for a report of a missing three-year-old child. There, officers spoke to a mother who reported that she had left her three year old at home with her 18 year old daughter around 11pm and came home around 3am to find her front door open and her three year old missing from his bed. The caller stated that she looked around for her son unsuccessfully and then called the police.

Detectives and DSS are now on the case.

Meanwhile, police report that carousers who party together stay together. Around 2:20 a.m., police told a group of people causing a disturbance at 157 Brighton Ave. in Allston to move along. Apparently, they moved along to the South End, where, around 4:30 a.m., police responded to a report of a fight at 661 Tremont St. They say they found the same group of people:

Officers gave the group numerous orders to disperse, all of which were met with negative results. Officers continued to monitor the group which continued to move along but maintained their disorderly conduct. One particular individual was being louder and causing a scene. This individual was yelling and being confrontational with officers despite their orders for her to be on her way.

And that's how a lass from Lynn got pulled in.

Teens arrested for murder of a 13-year-old in 2007

adamg — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:59:53 -0400

Boston Police report arresting the teens for the fatal Jan. 12, 2007 shooting of Luis Gerena near the Jackson Square T stop.

Nurudeen Alabi, now 19, of Roxbury and Darrell Rodrigues, now 17, of Roxbury, were already in custody on other, unrelated charges, police say.

Police say the two shot Gerena on Horan Way shortly after he got off the Orange Line at Jackson Square. Gerena made it to Parker Street before collapsing. He died at Boston Medical Center.

Boy, 13, was minutes from home when slain.

The Roxbury Tollbooth

adamg — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:01:07 -0400

Miss Von Schtoop reads this Globe story about panhandling at Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard and finds it pretty funny, from the Bulwer-Lytton opening sentence to the lack of any mention of all the Boston Chargers kids who equally annoy motorists:

... They open the article with such a cheeseball line: "The call went out: "Yo, po-po!" and within seconds, the panhandlers who meander with regularity through the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard near Boston Medical Center scattered to parts unknown." Really quite unforgivable writing.

Pretty soon someone there is going to start an article with the line "It was a dark and stormy night.." at which point we can just hire a few wreckers to tear down 135 Morrissey Boulevard because all hope will have been lost. ...

They learn what not to ask police officers

adamg — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:03:22 -0400

Boston Police report arresting two 30something guys (one from Allston, one from Haverhill) for knocking over eight newspaper boxes in a row at Brighton and Harvard avenues early Saturday:

When asked to explain their actions, one of the suspects stated, "Don't you guys have anything better to do?"

The officers agreed with their logic and promptly found something better to do - taking them down to District 14 for some booking.

Meanwhile, police report arresting a Roxbury teen on charges he held a woman up at gunpoint Thursday evening at 48 Edgewood St.

And his brother Pipe was downtown working on that water-main problem

adamg — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:36:38 -0400

The Globe story about those torn-up trees in Roxbury has the following:

... "It's disappointing and frustrating," said city tree inspector Leif Fixen, who returned to the park today to replant the trees in a cold rain. "You try very hard to make a difference in a neighborhood and somebody comes and rips them out." ...