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Citizen complaint of the day: Sticky stinky berries

Somebody pleads with the city to clean up the sticky stinky berries on Morton Street in the North End before the next snow.

Ed. note: Oh, who am I kidding? I just like saying "sticky stinky berries" over and over again. Yes, my middle name is Zippy.

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Comments

Wow. Yet more evidence of this winter's freaky weather, when somebody is making a complaint about stinky ginkgo nuts in January...

(Looky that - "stinky ginkgo nuts" is just as much fun to say over and over again as "sticky stinky berries"!)

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Tell some Chinese folks, they love those for New Year Soup

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Chinese people don't eat stinky Gingko fruits, they eat the nuts inside, which aren't at all stinky (and not particularly flavorful either). Trust me, Chinese people also think Gingko fruits smell awful.

Unfortunately Gingko trees can produce fruits with no nuts (likely because those flowers went un-pollinated). Those "empty" fruits tend to hang onto the trees longer, then drop in huge smelly piles in the winter, unlike those with nuts which drop piecemeal earlier in the fall.

Nurseries sell vegetatively-propagated male Gingkos at a premium because they don't produce fruit. You can go cheap and get a seed-propagated one but you'll have a 50/50 chance of finding out in a few years that you've got a female and a lot of stinky fruit.

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That was my original Citizen's Connect complaint. I feel so honored ;)
There are a few things:
1) They don't smell so much out there (any more - there were a few weeks we couldn't even go to that park!), but my dog walks all over them and then comes home and his paws stink! And then I have to walk on them to pick up his poo. It's just icky.
2) People are out there collecting the berries when they first fall...but many get left behind!
3) The city did clean on my first complaint - but then when the rest of them fell a week later, they've just been closing the complains without cleaning them.
4) They came by and picked up the christmas trees (part of this complaint), but not the nuts. Yuck.

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My North End compaint of the day is the Knights of Columbus on N Margin Street. Not only is it terribly ugly and should be condenmed, I have never seen it used aside from St. Anthony's Feast and it has massive amounts of private parking.

Most importantly, the gate to get in was sounding a loud and obnoxious alarm last night from 11pm through 1am.

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Excuse me Sir or Madam; Obviously you are NOT from the N.E. or you would remember where your Momma took you for your first P.E., 'baby shots & vaccinations'. Let's not forget the first 'Salk vac.' The White Building was built as a neighborhood "Health Clinic". It served all North End families for many years. Me & mine for one! As to the 'noise level'; when you live in a neighborhood such as the N.E. one of the 'trade offs' is the noise level. You will hear your neighbors fighting, garbage pickups, car horns, motorcycles, parades, firecrackers,and the list goes on! You are NOT living in a bubble here. As to the Knights, check in on one of their meetings sometime & ask questions! There is much more I could say but I think you get my message! GET A LIFE!

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Madam,

You are right, I am NOT from the North End but I do live there. Unfortunately I could care less where you got your baby shots or your polio vaccine back in the 50s. I am pretty sure the City of Boston doesn't care about that either. Which is why decrepit buildings built in the 1920s either get renovated or torn down, not left to sit empty and rot.

Regarding the noise, I understand walls are thin, buildings are poorly insulated and not kept up - especially in the North End. I live with the noise just fine. But when a building that sits empty 300+ days a year is the cause of it... it is a nuisance. Because there was no one there to fix it, it went on for hours.

So, my only point is that maybe YOU should get a life. Stop thinking back to the good old days, urban development is here to make our lives more convenient, healthier, and safer. I suggest that you take a picture of that building soon because in a few years it will look a lot different.

Pleas note, I have nothing against the KofC. I know its a strong national organization providing services for those in need and as a catholic, I respect their values.

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