Bay State Banner July 7th

BPS and operating budgetspass with 9-4, 12-1 votes

Come November 1, Massachu-setts voters will decide whether to lift the state’s current cap on the number of charter schools oper-ating here by voting up or down on a ballot question backed by a record-breaking $18 million in contributions. With Massachu-setts teachers unions pledging another $12 million to defeat the question, the race will draw sig-nificantly more resources than

any race in Massachusetts history.The group Public Charter

Schools for MA already has ponied up $6.5 million of their $18 mil-lion to reserve time for television ads in the seven weeks leading up to the vote, but that ad buy isn’t the opening salvo in the media theatre. For months, the charter group and groups backed by Mas-sachusetts Teachers Association funding have been posting videos on social media that give a preview of the coming advertising blitz.

The media war is off to an

uneven start. Pro-charter ex-pansion groups benefit from a well-funded nationwide network of foundations and advocacy groups. In 2013, the National Al-liance of Public Charter Schools contracted with the Glover Park Group and The Word Doctors to develop messaging points for charter proponents to use in press releases, speeches and media interviews.

“The results are clear,” reads the report. “When we use words that work, people like what they

By YAWU MILLER

Charter advertising war ramps up

The future of long-neglected corner of Lower Roxbury soon could be decided by a panel of federal officials at the Depart-ment of Housing and Urban Development.

Two weeks ago, the Boston Housing Authority, Preserva-tion of Affordable Housing, Inc. and Madison Park Development Corporation submitted an appli-cation for a $30 million federal

grant. If awarded, it will allow the team to make real their planned development project in Roxbury, which includes commercial space and mixed-income housing, Kate Bennett, deputy administrator of Planning and Stability for the BHA, told the Banner.

The mixed-use planThe BHA, POAH and Madi-

son Park propose to redevelop the current 200-unit Whittier Street public housing site on Cabot Street and bring more housing

and commercial space to the neighborhood. Under their plan, the development team would raze the existing housing project, constructing 427 affordable, mid-dle-income and market rate units on the site and on nearby proper-ties, Bennett said. Of these, 210 will be deeply subsidized, 99 des-ignated for those making up to 60 percent of Area Median Income, 82 for those with moderate-in-comes of 60-80 percent AMI and

The city council voted last Wednesday to pass the $2.98 bil-lion revised budget proposed by Mayor Martin Walsh. The July 1 fiscal year deadline, then only two days away, loomed over the vote.

The council voted on the budget in separate parts. The most con-tentious of the votes involved the Boston Public Schools budget and followed upon months of high-pro-file advocacy by parents, students and teachers. While many council-ors expressed disappointment and frustration with the BPS budget, it passed in a nine to four vote. Only Councilors Tito Jackson, Ayanna Pressley, Annissa Essaibi-George and Andrea Campbell opposed it, saying the cuts would harm

children. Other councilors argued that there might be no better option, given limited revenue.

The general operating budget passed in a vote of twelve to one, with Jackson as the sole oppo-sition. Among his critiques: the omission of a housing voucher program.

Councilor Bill Linehan said the city’s budget is unsustainably reli-ant on property taxes and that new revenue sources must be found or the following years’ budgets will bring more service cuts. Across the commonwealth, many munic-ipalities increasingly are turning to the property tax — long a primary generator of revenue — to make their budgets as they experience a decline in state aid.

By JULE PATTISON-GORDON


City CouncilOK’s Walsh’snew budget

Hopes pinned on fed grantfor Whittier Choice plans

Ballot question proponents, foes to spend millions

Fully realizing project may rest on HUD funds

BANNER PHOTO

Darren Howell and Monica Cannon lead protesters in a demonstration against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who held a fundraiser at the Langham Hotel in Post Office Square.

Activists protest Trump rally

BANNER PHOTO

Josh Zakim said the budget was reasonable but contained disappointments.

See BUDGET, page 13

See CHARTERS, page 13

See WHITTIER, page 6

www.baystatebanner.comThursday, July 7, 2016 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS

A&ETAMYRA GRAY ON STAGE AT BOSTON OPERA HOUSE IN ‘IF/THEN’ pg 10

inside this week Communities rally to save Civil War coat pg 2

business news Lisa Martin runs a business out of her home specializing in custom embroidery pg 8

plusHip-hop pop-up event at the Sinclair pg 10

Mixed-media artist Nalini Malani at the ICA pg 11

Community members in Gloucester, Boston and other lo-cales came together to rescue a dilapidated Civil War era coat. A call to action and crowdfund-ing campaign launched in the fall of 2015 by 11-year-old broth-ers George and Charles King has brought in more than $4,000 in donations to repair the garment and increasingly has been draw-ing attention. Now, with the relic sent out for restoration, the King brothers are calling again upon these communities to decide how the coat should be displayed.

“We really want to hear what people want. We’re not just going to make the decision,” the broth-ers told the Banner in a phone interview.

For many years, the coat hung, forgotten, in a trophy case in Gloucester High School. But it took a long path to get there, with its known history stretch-ing back to a slave family in Civil War-era Virginia, who gave it to a Union soldier.

Viewing the pastIn 1864, Albert Bacheler, who

would later become principal and teacher at Gloucester High, was a Union soldier on the run. He had escaped from the Confeder-acy’s infamous Libby Prison and fled north. Along his trek, south-ern slaves sheltered him and one slave family gave Bacheler the coat to hide his Union uniform. He managed to reach safety, dis-covered by an all-black Union

unit. Throughout his years at Gloucester High, Bacheler would bring out the coat to show stu-dents as he recounted stories from the war.

The King brothers said they expect restoration will be com-plete by late summer and want to be sure the coat is displayed in a way that lets people see its front and back. To achieve this, they present three ideas and ask that readers vote. So far, all fundraising was directed to restoration costs, but some display options would require further financial support.

The first, and cheapest, is to fea-ture the coat in a large case already present in Gloucester High. The boys said they would add a mirror so that the back of the garment is visible and may need to change the light bulbs for ones that will not cause fading. With funds raised so far, they have about enough to afford it, they said. That case also has the ultraviolet filtration that is critical to preservation, said Ca-mille Myers Breeze of Museum Textiles Services, who is conduct-ing the restoration.

The second and third op-tions call for placing the coat in a free-standing display case on a pedestal, which allows people to

walk around and view the gar-ment from all sides. They esti-mate the costs for each type of case are $2,000 and $5,100, re-spectively. The more expensive option has thicker plexiglass, a door and a micro-climate control.

The coat has garnered excite-ment from local historians, in-cluding a group of local history buffs who donated $1,000, and a genealogist who dug up more in-formation on Bacheler. The King brothers say they hope to hear of other coats like this one.


PHOTO: COURTESY OF GEORGE AND CHARLES KING

Gloucester brothers George and Charles King’s crowdfunding campaign raised enough money to restore the coat.

ON THE WEBTO VOTE:Email [email protected] or take an online poll at http://tinyurl.com/hna9lx3

TO DONATE:Donate at https://www.youcaring.com/the-gloucester-fund-467104

DRAWING: COURTESY OF GEORGE AND CHARLES KING

Under option 1, the coat will be featured in the existing display case at Gloucester High, with some improvements.

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Several nonprofits recently re-ceived a financial boost for inno-vative ideas that could shield some of the city’s poorest families from homelessness.

The Home Funders, a collabo-rative focused on addressing hous-ing needs of families with very low incomes — zero to 30 percent of the area median — debuted its Innovation Competition to honor “innovative, feasible and sustain-able,” scalable solutions to provide or retain housing for extreme-ly-low income families.

The competition is a first-of-its kind for the Home Funders, which presented Preservation of Afford-able Housing, Inc., the Coalition for Occupied Homes in Foreclosure, Inc. and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association with mone-tary prizes and the affordable hous-ing fellows at Kuehn Foundation with an honorable mention.

The money is secondary to the of-ficial recognition, Sonia Gupta, exec-utive director of Home Funders, said. The prizes were awarded without stipulating timeline requirements, a deliberate incentive to encourage submission of creative ideas that may only be in their early stages, Gupta said. Even though it is not obligatory, Home Funders hopes the innovative ideas will be implemented.

“Part of the reason we conceived of giving out prizes instead of im-plementation grants is we wanted people to come forward with ideas that may not be actual projects yet, but are conceptual,” Gupta told the Banner. “To advance think-ing, so people would feel confident coming forward with ideas that are really in early stages, but still hold some promise.”

The competition launched in November 2015 and prizewinners were celebrated last month.

POAH’s Donation Tax CreditPOAH received $20,000 for its

proposal to develop a new state tax credit. The credit would be offered as an incentive for property owners to donate existing housing to non-profits for development.

An eligible nonprofit would create a financial plan that included the cost of purchasing the property. Then, the nonprofit would use the cost savings of donated land and buildings to underwrite the cre-ation of more long-term housing units or deepen the affordability of existing units, Andrew Spofford, POAH’s chief of staff, said. POAH estimates that, with the so-called Donation Tax Credit in place, non-profits could afford to make 15 percent to 30 percent of the units extremely-low-income-affordable without having to seek other op-erating subsidies, according to the project description posted on the Home Funders’ site.

Implementing this tax credit hinges on winning over members of the legislature and getting it passed as part of a bill. While such work does not require money, Spofford said, the Home Funders prize has boosted POAH’s cause by bringing greater awareness to it and certifying that others involved in the housing world endorse it as a worthy idea.

“It’s useful to be able to say to leg-islators that not only are we saying this is a good idea and the other folks

that we’re working with on it [saying it’s a good idea] ... but that it has the blessing of this competition. That helps people to take a hard look at it,” he told the Banner.

POAH hopes to get the tax credit introduced as an amendment in the next few days, Spofford said last Thursday. But POAH also recog-nizes that legislative action could be a slow process. In the meantime, the organization is directing the prize money to support its housing resi-dents with stabilization and eviction prevention services.

COHIF’s housing rescueCOHFI, which received $15,000,

focuses on protecting families in Dorchester’s Greater Four Cor-ners area from losing their housing to foreclosure. The organization has piloted a strategy that involves purchasing occupied properties in which residents are at risk of being displaced and then transfer-ring ownership to community land trusts. That helps retain long-term affordability, enabling residents to remain, and creates stability.

Now COHIF looks to expand its aid to those at risk of losing housing to reasons beyond foreclosure, such as tenants facing eviction when the owner sells. COHIF also aims to help others replicate its model. The next phase of its pilot involves pro-viding technical assistance to those seeking to adopt similar practices. Groups from cities such as Roches-ter, NY and Detroit have expressed interest, Executive Director Mau-reen Flynn said.

The prize signals a strong vote of confidence in the pilot project and eased the way for some discussions, Flynn told the Banner.

“[The prize] is extremely signifi-cant. It gives our model a lot of cred-ibility and says to us that the board and the members of the Home Funders group recognize that the pilot is extremely innovative and that the model can work and be rep-licated,” Flynn said. “Recently we went to talk to a state representa-tive about COHIF and thought we’d have to explain everything from the beginning. He said, ‘Oh no, I know about you because you won one of the Home Funder prizes.’”

CHAPA’s health fundCHAPA plans to target health

issues exacerbated by unstable or inadequate housing and use its $10,000 prize to kick off the proj-ect. The organization aims to create a funding pool that can be tapped to assist families who may be living in rooms with mold or lead, af-flicted with health problems from living on the streets or experiencing related problems.

Housing status often entwines with health status. As Ann Verrilli, Director of Research noted to the Banner, “If someone’s couch surfing, it’s hard to be medically compliant.”

“We know housing is a basic thing everyone needs in order to be healthy and successful in their life,” CHAPA Executive Director Brenda Clements told the Banner.

Under CHAPA’s proposal, the organization would solicit funding from groups such as hospitals and combine the contributions into one pool. That pool then could be utilized to fund solutions such as rental assis-tance or treating housing for mold.

CHAPA is in the early stages of its plan. Among the organization’s next steps are recruiting donors

and identifying the most effective strategies to fund.

Organization members currently are initiating conversations and will use the award money to explore po-tential joint projects as they move toward creating working models, Clements and Verrilli said.

Clements said she expected hospi-tals would contribute funding as part of their work to advance preventative care solutions, an acknowledgment

that providing adequate housing can mean major savings for the health care system.

“Most hospitals and others are looking at housing as a critical de-terminant of health and health out-comes,” she said.

Kuehn Foundation’s housing vouchers

Fellows from the Kuehn Chari-table Foundation received honor-able mention for their proposal to change public housing authority

policy and use the National Hous-ing Trust Fund to improve access to housing for extremely-low income families.

If the prize and honorable mention winners’ initiatives bear fruit they will represent advances toward meeting a critical need. Home Funders’ Gupta noted that while the average yearly rent in Boston is $24,000, more than half of Boston families earn less than $35,000 annually.

“The numbers just don’t com-pute,” she said. And for the lowest earners, of course, the impact of this hits hardest. “The need at the lowest income is the highest because the impact is the greatest,” she said.


ON THE WEBPROJECT description: http://homefunders.org/innovation-competition/

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Four innovative strategies to houselow-income families are honored

PHOTO: MAYOR’S OFFICE PHOTO BY DON HARNEY

City staff, members of Boston Main Streets and community members celebrate the Boston Main Streets volunteers and businesses of the year at the 20th annual Boston Main Streets awards ceremony.

20th annual Boston Main Streets awards ceremony thanks volunteers


“Man, I don’t know whether that’s the sound of fireworks or someone exercising their

2nd Amendment rights.”

Contacts with strangers were much more formal in past generations than they are today. It would have once been a serious breach of etiquette to address adults by their first names or to make an insulting personal reference. Trump’s disdain for such formal-ities indicate that if elected president, his anticipated violations of protocol would alienate many international alliances.

During the primary campaign, Trump’s opponents became the targets of his slurs and insults. He said of Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the Republican primary, “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?” Trump branded Jeb Bush as a “lightweight,” and continually referred to him as the “low-energy” candidate.

Trump has built much of his support on trash-talking rather than proposing real solutions to the nation’s problems. While many of his comments are rude and defama-tory under American jurisprudence, freedom of speech is at its most extensive in political contests. However, that is not the case in many other countries.

Laws in France, Spain and Turkey restrict the freedom of the press to insult public officials. An insult to France’s president could result in a fine of €45,000. The calumny laws in Spain can result in fines for the defama-tion of public officials or members of the royal family. In Turkey, a person convicted of defaming the president can be imprisoned for a term of one to four years.

The penalties in the Middle East and Asia are even more severe. Insulting any govern-ment leader in Iran can result in a sentence of up to two years in prison or a flogging plus a fine. In Thailand an insult of the king can earn the perpetrator up to 15 years in jail. In China, anyone found guilty of subversion of the gov-ernment by defaming public officials becomes liable for a prison term of up to five years.

While many of his supporters treat

Trump’s calumny as mere outspoken candor, people in other cultures around the world have a more serious attitude toward per-sonal slander. In fact, Americans in other circumstances do not always respond well to defamatory remarks. Many violent barroom fights have been precipitated by an insult. Americans should be unwilling to assume the risk of electing a president who has already shown a disposition to be indecorous.

Insults by foreign nations against the U.S. president can also have political consequences. The 1991 U.S.-led Desert Storm in Iraq demol-ished the Iraqi military in only a bit more than a month, much to the humiliation of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led allied forces did not occupy Iraq at that time. As an insult to Pres-ident George H.W. Bush, the Iraqis painted his portrait on a well-used walkway so that the drubbing of countless Iraqi feet could deliver a constant insult to the U.S. president. A major Arab insult is to point the soles of one’s feet at an individual or his image.

Hussein had shown profound disrespect for the American president. On May 19, 2003, President George W. Bush, the son of the perennially maligned president, launched the “shock and awe” attack against Baghdad to initiate a war whose aftermath still continues. That is not to assert that the insult was the rea-son for the war, but it likely created a sense of hostility that may have influenced judgment.

The courtesy and civility that was normal decades ago is now repudiated as commit-ment to political correctness, especially when African American issues are involved. Amer-ican voters should not allow themselves to become victimized by the bad manners of a racially insensitive bully. The nation needs a leader who is imbued with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” From this should come a profound sense of respect for all humanity.

Established 1965

Trump’s defiance of American tradition

Opposes felony rapGovernor Charlie Baker’s legis-

lative scheme to elevate assault and battery on a police officer to a felony illustrates just how out of touch he and the state’s elected leadership is on what police work really looks like. Any lawyer who regularly defends people charged with A&B on a police officer knows well that the charges

are a common cover-up the cops use when they have beaten a suspect. If there’s bruising or lacerations, the suspect – even if it’s a 98-pound teen-age girl, is going to be facing assault and battery charges.

That Baker doesn’t seem to under-stand this is not surprising. While black folk have long been well-ac-quainted with the excesses of abusive

police officers, white America seems satisfied with the sanitized view of policing Hollywood has sold us – this imaginary world where officers address people as “sir” and “ma’am” and don’t call them out of their name.

Let’s hope the Legislature rejects this foolishness.

— S. Thompson

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It might at first seem impossible to logically connect — with a single word, no less — three striking political developments that occurred on the same day in the U.S. and Great Britain two weeks ago.

The two developments in the U.S. are the Supreme Court’s 5-to-3 ruling of June 23 upholding the use of affirmative action in college admissions, on the one hand; and a second ruling which resulted in a 4-4 tie, and thus let stand a lower federal court ruling striking down President Obama’s executive order that would have protected as many as five million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allowed them to legally work in the U.S.

Of course, what happened in Great Britain was the electorate’s stun-ning vote that very day to withdraw the United Kingdom from the Euro-pean Union. The so-called Brexit (British Exit) vote immediately plunged the country into an unprecedented political and economic turmoil.

Albeit the innumerable complexities that separately make each issue so contentious, one word that sums up the root issue connecting them. That word is: integration.

Yes, that “old” word that had such explosive power in America for most of the twentieth century, when it stood for the effort of black Americans’ struggle to destroy the racist laws, policies and customs that made them second-class citizens.

The word still retains its enormous power. For example, the continu-ing resistance of some to affirmative action is — no matter how much it’s cloaked in glib rhetoric about “color-blindness” and “fairness” — really just opposition to advancing racial integration beyond token numbers.

But the crisis of undocumented immigration that’s been boiling here for nearly a decade and the immigration crisis that’s exploded in recent years in Britain and other Western European countries have raised a stark question that harks back to America’s black-and-white racial cri-sis: Can the majority-white democracies of the West fully practice the tolerance the very idea of democracy preaches?

In fact, the controversy about “integration” now roiling America and Europe has a far broader context than did the twentieth-century Amer-ican civil rights struggle — precisely because it’s provoked by a powerful worldwide integration movement.

That worldwide movement today is usually called by another name: globalization. And it’s overwhelmingly discussed as an economic force having to do with trade among nations, multinational companies’ busi-ness dealings in all corners of the globe and the movement of money on the world’s financial markets.

But the “integration” economists, politicians and pundits speak of when they refer to the world’s “integrated markets” is not just a matter of jobs and consumer and industrial goods and playing the money market. It also involves a world’s worth of individuals and peoples, too, whose ability and desire and, for millions, dire need — provoked by the fact or the threat of war or terroristic violence — to leave their native country is also a product of the push and pull of globalization.

In other words, just as the American Civil Rights Movement pro-duced a more inclusive society, so globalization has led to both a far greater freedom of movement and forced movement among the world’s peoples than ever before.

For example, the creation of the European Union a half-century ago made it easier (and more profitable) for its member countries’ businesses to reach across national boundaries — and gave those countries’ citizens the freedom to move and work in another member country without restriction.

Globalization has unquestionably been both unavoidable and a suc-cess by any measure. But it also has levied certain political, social and economic costs as the world transits from the old order to the new.

Three of those costs are a ferocious income inequality that has made the term “the 1 percent” a political epithet; the destruction of “old” jobs in many blue-collar and some white-collar fields; and an increased competition for jobs and a sense of economic and social instability among millions of people.

Those three factors have made it easy for charlatans and power-hun-gry politicians — such as Donald Trump in the U.S and some of the pro-Brexit politicians in Britain — to use the universal language of big-otry to persuade voters to give in to their worst impulses. They’ve fooled some into thinking that if they can just get rid of immigrants, put the “colored” in their place and impose the old whites-come-first regime on their corner of the world, they’ll be okay.

That’s a fool’s errand. But, unfortunately, you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Lee A. Daniels, a longtime journalist, is a keynote speaker and author. He is writing a book on the Obama years and the 2016 election. He can be reached at [email protected].

Melissa Morel has been appointed campaign manager for Sheriff Steve Tompkins’ re-elec-tion campaign.

Born and raised in Santiago De Los Caballeros of the Dominican Republic, Morel traveled to the United States and attended high school in Weston, Florida where she was just one of five students chosen to work with the munic-ipal government in the local city hall on such issues as law enforce-ment, parks and recreation, city planning and more.

Morel enrolled at Boston Univer-sity where she received her Bache-lors and a masters degree in political science, graduating magna cum laude. Working with several cam-paigns and elected officials along the way, Morel has served in various capacities with the Democratic National Committee, including positions with Democratic National Committee Chair and Congress-woman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, and former Massachusetts Senate

President Therese Murray. At each stop, Morel worked to hone her political savvy by immersing her-self in a multitude of tasks ranging from sign assignments, dressing and staffing polls, managing wards, organizing stand-outs and events, door knocking, election day report-ing, phone banking and a host of other duties through which she achieved a deeper knowledge of the political process from the inside-out.

Eventually landing at MLM Strategies, a consulting firm spe-cializing in Massachusetts local and statewide political fundraising, compliance, marketing and gov-ernment work, Morel participated as a fellow for a candidate for Boston City Council At-Large and also organized several fundraising events before being introduced to Sheriff Tompkins during his 2014 campaign. For Morel, it was Sheriff Tompkins’ focus on positive change through programming designed to not only prevent the men and women incarcerated in his facili-

ties from returning once they are released back into the community, but to make them better able to care for themselves and their families with employable skills that attracted her to the campaign.

MELISSA MOREL

By LEE A. DANIELS

What do you think it will take to end gun violence in the United States?

I think it begins with educating kids in elementary school about gun violence and its effect on our com-munity.

Stephen HendrixRetired Chef

Roxbury

It’s going to take politicians working together on the same page along with citizens. It could happen.

Sheila GrahamTeacher

South End

I don’t know. It’s part of American culture. There’s a fear of others and a history of violence in America.

Omo MosesWriter

Jamaica Plain

Stricter gun control. Better back-ground checks. No guns for people who have been to prison.

Thomas DotsonUnemployedDorchester

Stricter gun control laws. Take the guns off the street. Keep them out of the hands of teenagers.

Rosetha WashingtonRetiredCanton

Police have to get the guns off the streets. I’ve got two nephews who carry guns. They need to take them away.

Top CatUnemployed

Boston

IN THE NEWS

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Brexit and the worldwide ‘integration’ movement

81 offered at market rate. The current Whittier site has

200 units with 72 parking spaces. New plans will bring that to 130 parking spaces for 316 units, rais-ing the unit to parking space ratio.

The team also would create 14,225 square feet commercial space for local small businesses. Madison Park is working to iden-tify how to set up the space to meet business needs best, Bennett said. Offerings to the neighborhood at large include public art and public safety improvements such as better lighting around Dudley Square, she added. Services pro-vided under the project include early education, after school, tu-toring and career pathway pro-gramming for children.

The price tagThe total project cost is pegged

at more than $1 billion, according to Bennett.

To help pay for it, the develop-ment team submitted an appli-cation for a competitive national grant that awards up to $30 mil-lion each for four projects.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhood grant is awarded to support locally-driven efforts to “address struggling neigh-borhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing” that involve a holistic strategy to both transform the housing and the surrounding neighborhood, according to HUD’s website. The Choice Neighborhood program focuses on plans that pro-vide mixed-income housing, ser-vices to improve youth educational

outcomes and amenities that will encourage investment in neighbor-hoods generating commercial activ-ity and higher levels of safety.

The prospectsBennett said that HUD is ex-

pected to receive two to three dozen applicants for its Choice Neighborhoods grant. By October, the Whittier Choice team should find out if they are among the group of finalists selected, she said.

The Whittier project could begin September 2017 and be completed by June 2020 if HUD approvals and funding come through, accord-ing to Madison Park DC’s online description of the project.

But the grant is no sure thing. The development team applied for it last year, and although they made it to the final round, they were one rank too low to receive fund-ing. Out of thirty-four applicants, Whittier Choice placed sixth. Only the top five entries received grants. Still, the project received positive feedback and HUD encouraged them to apply again, Bennett said.

Bennett said that failing to get HUD funding would not necessar-ily sound a death knell on the proj-ect. There is hope that it still could progress, but in a scaled-back form and on a slower schedule.

“If we don’t get the grant, we’ll try very hard to still move forward with the initial phase of the project, but we won’t have the funding to do the public infrastructure or the commu-nity services piece of it, and we won’t have funding for the other phases

of the project,” Bennett told the Banner. “If we don’t get the grant at this point, it’s just not a certain path.”

Since the previous year’s dis-appointment, the development team has revised their vision and application.

“We particularly improved the neighborhood’s plan in terms of focusing on public infrastructure and amenities that could be really transformative around the neigh-borhood strong housing plan,” Bennett said.

The construction is less dense under the new vision, with more open green space and through streets, and smaller blocks of housing that better align with the rest of the neighborhood, she said.

Whittiercontinued from page 1

PHOTOS: COURTESY IMAGE COURTESY OF PRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING INC

Renderings show the proposed Whittier Street site.

IF YOU GOWHITTIER CELEBRATES UNITY DAYWhen: Noon – 4:00 p.m., Saturday, July 9Where: 160 Ruggles Street, Rear, Roxbury


Hudson Group is The Traveler’s Best Friend. We would like the opportunity to meet you, learn about your interest in Airport Concessions, and discuss the potential of this exciting business opportunity.

We Would Love To Have You On Our Team!

will shortly issue aRequest For Proposals (RFP) to operate retail concessions.

BOS INT’L AIRPORT

Please join us for a Free Networking Reception on July 11, 2016.

Place: Hilton Boston Airport Hotel 1 Hotel Drive, Boston, MA 02128

Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Date: July 11, 2016

Please RVSP to:

Jeniece McClary

Director of Business Alliances

[email protected]

201.528.2549

Courtney Thornton

VP Partner Relations and Business Diversity

[email protected]

504.346.1566

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Chinatown community members walk out of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation public meeting on the sale and redevelopment of Parcels 25 and 26

Last week MassDOT, along with the Boston Redevelop-ment Authority, held its fifth and final public meeting at the State Transportation building, where it unveiled the final guidelines and Invitation to Bid on Parcels 25 and 26. The Chinatown com-munity has dedicated countless hours attending all five meetings and submitting oral and written comments during and after each meeting. The Chinatown commu-nity has patiently followed along with MassDOT’s public process, repeating the community’s needs time and time again. MassDOT has failed to respond in good faith and as a result the Chinatown community felt it had exhausted its options and was compelled to walk out en masse.

Parcels 25 and 26 are a 5.5 acre site located in the Chinatown Gateway and New Economy De-velopment areas, nestled between the Chinatown and Leather Dis-trict neighborhoods. It is one of the last remaining pieces of large, publicly-owned land located, in part, in the Chinatown neighbor-hood. The Interstate-93 is located on it, as well as the beloved Reggie Wong Park, an anchor of the Chi-natown community used by gen-erations of volleyball players and one of only two park spaces in all of Chinatown.

In the latest of four letters to MassDOT, crafted and signed by over twenty Chinatown organi-zations and individuals and sub-mitted on June 17, the community called for affordable housing units that are truly affordable for China-town residents. The average house-hold earns less than $20,000, less than 30% of area median income (AMI) in the greater Boston area. The community also called for ex-pansion of the Reggie Wong Park to accommodate more basketball/volleyball courts, greater protec-tions for community access on the to-be-privately-owned site, and a temporary replacement during construction.

The final ITB indicates that 20 percent of all units should be affordable. But to the Chinatown community’s disappointment, 13 percent will be affordable to households earnings 70 percent AMI, in accordance with the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) and out of reach for Chi-natown incomes. The remaining 7 percent will have affordability ranging from 50 percent to 120 percent AMI. The average AMI of all affordable units will be 90 per-cent, meaning nearly all non-in-clusionary units will also be out of reach for Chinatown incomes. As for Reggie Wong Park, although the final ITB allows for retention on-site at the same size, it did not meaningfully attempt to address our concerns regarding expansion and access.

Mayor signs $2.98B Fiscal Year 2017 Budget

Mayor Martin Walsh signed a $2.98 billion Fiscal Year 2017

(FY17) city budget [see page 1 story] that achieves savings through data-oriented manage-ment; tackles structural chal-lenges identified through opera-tional reviews and planning; and makes targeted investments rang-ing from access to quality early childhood education, to address-ing chronic and veteran home-lessness, to reducing Emergency Medical Services response time.

Based on recommendations from operational reviews and a data-driven approach to man-aging government, the FY17 Budget includes several re-forms, including:n Boston Public Schools will

deploy a new transportation tap card system to gain data to run a more efficient student transpor-tation system, which will save $10 million in FY17. Through data about ridership, BPS will work to improve bus routing to reduce the number of trips. The system will also provide real-time infor-mation to parents about their stu-dents’ bus ride.n City departments have elim-

inated over 100 long-term vacant positions saving $4.7 million in FY17 without impacting service levels.n Building on work over the

last two years to assess and inven-tory the Library’s print collection, in FY17 Boston Public Library is refocusing Special Collection’s work to improve inventory man-agement, a key recommendation of their 2015 operational review.n Evaluation of Boston Centers

for Youth and Families (BCYF) programing found that the de-partment could more effectively meet youth, families’ and seniors’ need for longer evening and weekend community center hours and a dedicated senior center by redeploying existing resources. With this reform, BCYF will make cost-neutral changes to dedi-cate the Grove Hall Community Center as a senior center, expand operating hours at all stand-alone sites, expand Saturday evening

hours, enable five centers to op-erate seven days per week, and allow 17 centers to operate six days per week.n The budget allows for re-

alignment of several City depart-ments including Department of Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Property Management and Public Facilities to more efficiently and effectively meet their core missions.n Based on the Fire Depart-

ment’s operational review, the FY17 budget allows for improved Fire fleet maintenance and de-ploys a new apparatus replace-ment plan to promote firefighter safety and improve the state of fire engines and ladders.

The much needed reform measures being implemented in FY17 make possible increased investments across City govern-ment. Walsh’s FY17 Budget main-tains high levels of funding in Boston Public Schools at $1.032 billion and public safety at $578 million and uses savings to make targeted investments in a thriv-ing, health and innovative City. Through these investments the City will:n Increase access to quality

early childhood education by ex-panding Boston Public Schools’ K1 programming by another 200 seats, building on the 200 seats added over the last two years.n Launch the Superinten-

dent’s new Excellence for All pilot program, which will offer fourth graders in 13 schools access to rig-orous and enriched experiences, bringing the benefits of the Ad-vanced Work Classes to a more diverse set of students and equip-ping them with new skills such as foreign languages and robotics.n Support the Homeless

Action Plan to End Chronic and Veteran Homelessness, by pro-viding front door triage staff at Pine Street Inn, rapid re-hous-ing rental assistance, additional emergency shelter to families and low barrier permanent supportive

housing for the homeless.n Launch Parks First, a com-

prehensive initiative ensuring that Boston’s open spaces are among the Nation’s most accessible and equitable. n Support the opening of nine

Early Voting sites, one in each of the city’s nine council districts, to increase voting opportunities for all qualified voters for the Novem-ber 2016 election. n Allow Boston 311 call takers

to have the ability to interact with residents through interpreters, and allow the City to be able to translate more newsletters, press releases, and other notices in a va-riety of languages.n Streamline access to small

business resources through a single point of contact and pro-vide small businesses with techni-cal assistance to help businesses improve their marketing, access capital markets, enhance strategy and operations and gain human resources training.n Reduce EMS response times

by adding additional EMTs and new ambulances.n Allow individuals seeking

information about, or access to, addiction treatment services to reach the PAATHS (Providing Access to Addictions Treatment, Hope and Support) program through Boston’s 311 service.n Modernize public safety

by supporting the Police body camera pilot, revitalizing Police radios, and upgrading Boston’s E-9-1-1 system.

n Use $1 million in Boston Redevelopment Authority public benefit funds to better serve and support the artists of Boston.

In addition to taking immedi-ate steps in FY17 to improve City operations and meet demands for programs and services, the Walsh Administration continues work to tackle long-standing challenges and future unknown cost drivers. The City is actively working to ne-gotiate affordable collective bar-gaining agreements with almost all of its unions - salary increases in these agreements will have a direct impact on dollars available in FY17 and in the coming years. The Boston Public School’s Long-Term Financial Planning Com-mittee is working on a long-term plan for the District’s solvency with recommendations that will address cost-drivers and revenue opportunities. Given stagnant state revenue, the City will expand its efforts and also focus on max-imizing local receipt collection. Finally, the Walsh Administration will continue to advocate for re-forms to charter school finance that protect Boston taxpayers while allowing for moderate growth in the charter school cap.

The FY17 Budget builds on the Walsh Administration’s record of fiscal responsibility, commitment to addressing its long-term liabil-ities and strong data-driven man-agement. The City’s success in these areas was validated in 2016 by the affirmation of Boston’s triple A bond rating.


Help Us Learn More About Sleep! If you are: 55-70 years old Non smoker Healthy and taking no medication

You may be eligible for a 37-day sleep research study at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. There will be a 4-6 week screening period. Must be willing to spend 37 consecutive days and nights in our facility. Receive up to $10,125

Call 617-525-8719 or email [email protected]

Partners Human Research CommitteeAPPROVAL Effective Date

8/11/2015

BOSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

@BostonRedevelopBostonRedevelopmentAuthority.org

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP

Teresa Polhemus, Executive Director/Secretary

2300 WASHINGTON STREETBruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Second Floor School Committee RoomRoxbury, MA 02119

MONDAY, JULY 185:30 PM - 8:00 PM

PLAN: DUDLEY SQUARE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

On July 18th we will continue the work and discussion from the June 20th workshop. The focus will be to: engage stakeholders in small group discussion around economic development priorities; review data and updated information requested on the June 20th Workshop; and meet the consultant team of Next Street Financial and have introductory overview on the principles of economic development feasibility.

PLAN: Dudley Square is an initiative to think strategically about the types of uses and the scale of development best suited for the future of Dudley Square and Roxbury. The goals of this study are to provide an inclusive community engagement process, create an updated vision with the community, and establish an implementation plan that will lead to the issuance of Requests for Proposals “RFPs” for publicly-owned and vacant privately-owned parcels in Dudley Square.

We look forward to having you join us at the workshop.

For more information please visit: http://bit.ly/PlanDudley

mail to: LILLIAN MENSAH Boston Redevelopment Authority One City Hall Square, 9th Floor Boston, MA 02201phone: 617.918.4338email: [email protected]

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Lisa Martin had been operating an embroidery business as a side-line for six years, working out of the kitchen of her Roxbury condo to produce customized baseball caps, jackets and other items. Then, last year when she was laid off from her job as an administra-tive assistant at a local nonprofit, Martin went all in.

She purchased an engraving machine and began marketing her skills to wedding planners, funeral homes, sports teams — anyone who needs a custom touch.

Martin had worked as a seam-stress, but found the work long and involving with little payout.

Then she began to notice how many people were wearing cus-tom-embroidered hats.

“I noticed a lot of people wear-ing the hats,” she said. “I asked one man how much he paid. He said $75. It was from Lids. I started asking people what they would wear, what they liked.”

She purchased a $30,000 em-broidery machine, obtaining fi-nancing from the manufacturer after asking acquaintances about their customized baseball caps.

The ten-needle machine, with its rows of colored thread and LED control panel, now occupies a corner of Martin’s kitchen.

Originally, she saw the ma-chine as a way to supplement her income.

“At first my goal was that it didn’t have to make me wealthy,” she said. “I wanted it to pay for itself. But I did make extra money with it.”

Now Martin moves seamlessly from one contract to the next. High school sports teams send her jack-ets and other apparel. She loads the spools of thread into her machine and, with focus, can turn out more than 100 items a day.

Local hospitals have been a good source of revenue. Last year, one sent her an order for 133 jack-ets. Martin embroidered the hos-pital’s logo, along with the names of the 133 residents. The job took three days to complete.

Martin has relied on word-of-mouth marketing. But clients come from everywhere, including Google searches.

“A lot of this stuff is kind of weird,” Martin said. “This girl from a sorority at MIT came to me be-cause she wanted embroidered hair bands. She came by here in an

Uber, dropped them off and picked them up a couple days later.”

One approach that thus far has not paid off has been govern-ment contracts. Martin registered as a minority business enterprise with the state, but garnered little business. She said she’s often ap-proached by larger contractors looking to increase their chances of winning a bid by including a disadvantaged business.

“Often times they’re desperate,” she said. “The first contract I got used my information, but never gave me any work.”

Martin says city and state con-tracts make up a small fraction of her overall business.

From cloth to metalGetting established in the em-

broidery business has been rela-tively easy. Martin says she relied upon word-of-mouth to drum up contracts, talking to people at church, at her daughter’s school and obtaining referrals from past clients. She recently purchased an 11-blade, $11,000 engraving ma-chine, obtaining a microloan from the nonprofit lender Accion.

Now her business includes brass memorial plates, etched glass and other engraving jobs.

Martin says she did not need a business plan.

“When I started this business, it was already six years old,” she says.

But a business plan may soon be necessary, with the engraving machine and raw materials taking up parts of her living room and her kitchen almost entirely occupied by the embroidering machine and its supplies. Martin is looking at her options for opening a brick-and-mortar location in the Roxbury area.

While competing businesses, such as the custom sportswear chain store Lids, charge as much as $75 for a custom-embroidered baseball cap, Martin can turn a cap around for a third as much and still earn a decent profit. And while local youths favor the customized hats Lids sells, they have to travel downtown or to a shopping mall to obtain them.

“Nothing like what I’m doing exists in this area,” Martin said.

Ideally, Martin says, she would like to team up with a silk screener to open a full-service clothing cus-tomization business. With a physi-cal location, Martin could sell both the embroidering service and the hats, jackets and tee shirts that cli-ents want to have customized, thus earning more profits.

Growing a home businessRoxbury woman launches custom embroidery venture

TIP OF THE WEEKThe right technology services are the key to killer customer serviceThink sales numbers trump customer service? Think again. Research shows companies focused on providing a superi-or experience across the customer journey realized a 20 percent increase in customer satisfaction and 10-15 percent increase in revenue. Furthermore, 45 percent of people will abandon an online transaction if their questions or concerns are not addressed quickly. And perhaps the most shocking of all: It costs six to seven times more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing customer.

Given these factors many companies are taking a closer look at their customer retention rates and evaluating the cus-tomer experiences they provide. To meet customers on their terms and facilitate employee productivity, it’s critical to invest in new technology. However, not all businesses have the internal IT resources or expertise to efficiently implement technology and effectively manage it on a continuous basis.

For these businesses, working with a trusted technology partner provides an easier route to weather the changes and delight customers. Numerous companies have worked with Dell to ensure they don’t have to worry about downtime or system failure. Dell ProSupport Plus, for instance, provides these companies with the highest level of hardware and software support so they can deliver the best experience to their customers. Powered by Dell’s SupportAssist technol-ogy, this support program not only helps resolve issues quickly and proactively, but can also prevent issues before they happen through predictive capabilities. This means less effort by IT staff and more peace-of-mind for both the com-pany and their customers. For example, Dell ProSupport Plus with SupportAssist users are able to spend up to 91 percent less time on resolution. Imagine what an IT staff could do when they’re able to shift that time away from maintenance.

Another time when a technology pro-vider’s services become critical is when businesses implement new solutions. The continual evolution of technology such as cloud, converged data centers and big data presents a world of new opportunities - and new challenges. Not only do businesses need to contemplate how to get their new technology up and running quickly, they also need to be able to maintain, refresh and address any issues that arise.

To sail over the many potential hur-dles, the Dell ProDeploy Enterprise Suite is helping IT managers and business leaders navigate the growing complexity of multiple platforms and risk of transi-tioning to new technologies while mini-mizing any downtime, all within the con-fines of limited resources and budgets. Businesses can rely on Dell experts and partners to lead deployments from basic hardware installation through planning, configuration and complex integrations. Companies using Dell deployment ser-vices can reduce IT effort by 91 percent and deploy systems 39 percent faster.

With new technology solutions up and running, businesses should be posi-tioned to provide the best customer ser-vice possible. However, without a prop-erly trained crew there will be no one to sail the ship or right it when needed. In addition to investing in technology,

See BIZ BITS, page 9

By YAWU MILLER

BANNER PHOTO

Surrounded by spools of colorful thread, Lisa Martin runs a business out of her Roxbury home, specializing in custom embroidery.



BUSINESSNEWSCHECK OUT MORE BUSINESS NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/NEWS/BUSINESS

BIZ BITS

organizations need to give their IT team the right training and tools to do their job well. Dell has addressed this critical need by introducing training and certification that gives a company’s IT staff access to the same resources as Dell engineers.

If the technology powering the busi-ness is running smoothly, it’s reflected in effortless and memorable interactions with customers that inspire loyalty and build revenue.

Customer service IT services and customer support will continue to evolve as new technologies are developed and customer expectations will continue to rise. By being proactive and partnering with a technology vendor who is intent on staying ahead of the curve, companies can gain an edge against the competition while building an unbreakable brand reputation.

— Brandpoint

TECH TALKA recently launched Kickstarter project aims to create a line of “smart clothing”

that can wirelessly charge cell phones and other devices. The washable apparel has copper wire built in and room for a wallet-sized battery bank that is recharged via a special charging pad. A list of the various pants, jackets and accessories can be found at baubax.com/calculator.

THE LISTAccording to Forbes, the 10 best states in which to make a living are:

1. Wyoming2. Washington3. Virginia4. North Dakota5. Texas6. Ohio7. Michigan8. Colorado9. Illinois10. Minnesota

NUMBER TO KNOW

71 percent: According to a new poll by Marketplace and Edison

Research, 71 percent of Americans think the U.S. economic system is “rigged” in favor of certain groups.

— More Content Now

Biz Bitscontinued from page 8

PHOTO: LEO GOZBEKIAN

From left, Red Sox President Sam Kennedy; BASE President Robert Lewis, Jr. and Governor Charlie Baker.Sam Kennedy and Boston Red Sox executives graciously hosted a fundraising reception on June 27 for The BASE that was attended by more than 50 prominent business leaders and philanthropists. Founded three years ago to shift the national mindset about what it takes for black and Latino youth in Boston and across the country to establish pathways to success, The BASE has a unique methodology that engages urban youth in baseball and academics in the context of a distinctive, high expectations culture. Governor Charlie Baker attended the reception with his wife Lauren. Kennedy, Governor Baker and Paul Marcus of Marcus Partners each shared personal stories about the impact The BASE is making, not only in the lives of the student athletes it serves, but how The BASE has changed their own minds about what’s possible for our urban youth. Also in attendance: Matt LeBretton, New Balance; Al Minahan, Preti Strategies; and BASE Board members John Cook, UBS; Paul Francisco, State Street; and Nimit Patel, Sony Corporation of America.

Reception for The BASE at Fenway Park

ADVERTISE IN THE BANNER

CALL 617-261-4600 x7799


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Thursday, June 30, 2016 • BAY STATE BANNER • 25

ACCOUNTANTACCOUNTING SERVICESFocusing on small businesses. I can assist you with the following services: Daily, weekly, or monthly bookkeeping. Accounts receivable and accounts payable, financial statements. Call Irving Randolph (978) 454-4397

AUTOMOTIVEHICKS AUTO BODY, INC10 Talbot Ave, Dorchester, MA 02124 Repair, refinish damaged vehicles. Complete interior and exterior recondition/detail. 24 Hour Towing. (617) 825-1545; fax (617) 825-8495; www.hicksautobodyinc.com

CATERINGHALEY HOUSE BAKERY CAFÉBreakfast Specials, Signature Muffins and Scones, À la Carte Breakfast, Lunch Package Deals, Wrap and Sandwich Platters, Steamin’ Hot Entrees, Soup and Salads, Pizza, Side Dishes, Appetizers, Des-serts, Beverages and more. To place an order call catering line Monday through Friday 8 am–4 pm at (617) 939-6837

CONSTRUCTIONKERRY CONSTRUCTION, INC 22 Sylvester Rd, Dorchester. Interior & Exterior Painting; Replacement Windows & Doors; Carpen-try; Roofing; Gutters; Masonry; Kitchens; Bath-rooms; Vinyl Siding. Free Estimates. Licensed & Insured. Call James O’Sullivan (617) 825-0592

FINANCIAL PLANNING & INVESTMENTSLURIE DAVIS WEALTH MANAGEMENTLurie Davis, Registered Investment Adviser Investments, Financial Planning, Mutual Funds, Debt Management, Roth IRA, 529 College Savings Plans and Life Insurance (781)595-0396, [email protected] 40 Baltimore Street, Lynn MA 01902

FIRE EXTINGUISHERSFIRECODE DESIGN LLC.195 Dudley StreetRoxbury, MA 02119617-442-CODE(2633)Roxbury’s #1 Fire Extinguisher & Fire Sprinkler CompanyInspections, Maintenance, Sales, InstallationFREE Workplace Fire Extinguisher Training(some restrictions apply)

HYPNOSISMUTARE HYPNOSIS LLCLive a Fuller LifeProfessional Hypnotists for weight loss, tobacco, stress, fears, chronic pain and illness, dental concerns, self-esteem, salesmanship, sports, lead-ership, test jitters. Downtown Boston or by Skype. (617) 266-3057; www.MutareHypnosis.com.

LAWYERSLAW OFFICE OF VESPER GIBBS BARNES & ASSOCIATES10 Malcolm X Blvd, Boston, MA 02119; (617) 989-8800; Fax: (617) 989-8846. Attorneys Vesper Gibbs Barnes and Felicia E. Higginbot-tom, practicing in the areas of Real Estate (Buyer/Seller), Landlord/Tenant, Probate, Family Law (Divorce/Child Custody and Support), and Personal Injury. Open M-F, 9 am-5 pm.

DAILY GENERAL COUNSEL, PLLCFinally, small businesses can get help from a smart and experienced business lawyer at an affordable price, on a One Day and Done™ basis.n Business Formations n Contracts n Customer/Vendor Disputes n Employee Issues n Employment Manuals www.DailyGeneralCounsel.com; Email: [email protected]; Phone & Fax (800) 296-7681

LAW OFFICE JAY U. ODUNUKWE & ASSOCIATES170 Milk Street, 4th floorDowntown - Boston, MA 02109Phone: (617) 367-4500; Fax: (617) 275-8000Email: [email protected] Solutions Always Delivers The Best!!!Criminal: Drug Offenses, Drunk Driving/OUI, Assault/Probation Surrenders, Sealing Records/Domestic ViolenceCivil: Personal Injury/Automobile Accidents, Land-lord/TenantImmigration: Deportation/Removal Proceedings, Green Card/CitizenshipSports/Entertainment: Soccer/FIFA Player Agent

MENTAL / BEHAVIORAL HEALTHDR. BERNARD SCOTT, LICSW, PSY.D70 Warren Street, Suite 4Roxbury, MA 02119(857) 362-7028 Fax: (617) 652-8796Email: [email protected], Anxiety, PTSD, Bipolar, ADHD,Personality Disorders, etc.

OPHTHALMOLOGISTSURBAN EYE MD ASSOCIATES. P.C.183 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02115720 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118(617) 262-6300; (617) 638-8119; www.urbaneyemd.com. Benjamin Andrè Quamina, M.D.; Lawrence I. Rand, M.D.; Clifford Michaelson, M.D.; Chukwuemeka Nwanze, M.D.; Purvi Patel, O.D.Treating: Glaucoma, Cataracts, Diabetes, Ocular Plastic/Cosmetic Surgery and other vision threaten-ing conditions and diseases. Offering: Routine Eye and Contact Lens Exams

REALTORBERNICE OSBORNE, SRES, REALTORPROFESSIONAL REAL ESTATE SERVICESResidential, Commercial, Land, Estate sales and short sales, 14+ years of experience.Serving Greater Boston and surrounding areas. SRES® Seniors Real Estate Specialist specializes in working with seniors (persons 50+) and their caregivers. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Direct: (617) 804-5789 Office: (617) 696-4430Email: [email protected], Web: www.nemoves.com/Bernice.Osborne

REMOVAL SERVICESFREE TREE WOOD REMOVALGood hardwood only.Call Akee Roofing (781) 483-8291

ROOFINGAKEE ROOF REPAIRSRoof Leaks repaired, Gutters repaired, cleaned, and replaced, Flatroofs replaced. Free estimates. Call (781) 483-8291

SKILLED NURSING FACILITYSKILLED NURSING & REHAB CENTERProudly serving the Community since 1927

BENJAMIN HEALTHCARE CENTER120 Fisher Ave, Boston, MA 02120. www.benjaminhealthcare.com; Tel: (617) 738-1500; Fax: (617) 738-6560. Short-term, Long-term, Respite, Hospice & Rehabilitation. Tony Francis, President & CEO, Notary Public

SNOW REMOVALKERRY CONSTRUCTION INCSnowplowing / sanding / saltingdriveway’s and parking lotsbobcat and loader servicesroof shoveling, fully insured(617) 825-0592

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It’s been more than a decade since singer and songwriter Tamyra Gray made her first

television appearance on FOX-TV’s “American Idol” in 2002.

Post-“Idol,” she released an album titled “The Dreamer,” de-buted on Broadway in the Bolly-wood-themed musical “Bombay Dreams” in 2004 and wrote the songs “I Believe” and “You Thought Wrong” for fellow “Idol” alums Fantasia Barrino and Kelly Clarkson. She also guest-starred on the TV series “Boston Public” and appeared opposite Anne Ha-thaway in the indie film “Rachel Getting Married” in 2008.

Gray is currently starring in the national tour of the musical “If/Then” playing at the Boston Opera House now through July 17. She stars as Kate, an elemen-tary school teacher who befriends Elizabeth (played by Broadway actress Jackie Burns), a city plan-ner who moves back to New York to restart her life post-divorce, only to discover that the best laid plans are often subject to the whims of chance and fate.

The multi-talented Gray spoke to the Banner about her role in the musical, being on “American Idol,” and how discovering Prince helped her growing up.

Tell me about your character Kate and how she relates to Liz?

Tamyra Gray: Liz meets Kate when she moves back to New York after divorcing her husband of 11 years. Kate is the kind of person who kind of takes life by the reins and lets go. She con-vinces Liz that just because her marriage didn’t work out that she shouldn’t give up on love and that there’s someone for every-body out there, as long as you’re

Last week, quiet Cambridge came alive on a Thursday night for an underground evening of hip-hop beats and alternative art-work. Artist John L. Griffin, who works at The Sinclair to supple-ment his artistic pursuits, noticed that the popular music venue rarely showed hip-hop artists. In an effort to highlight urban art-ists, he organized “Audiovisual: An Art and Hip-Hop Night,” a free event featuring music by local DJ Rilla Force and visual artwork by Griffin, Jousef Massif and Cait-lin Rose Morrison-Dyke.

One of Griffin’s works features a profile pen drawing on wood of a black man in a Native Ameri-can headdress. The burnt orange, painted background gives the piece an earthy tone. Griffin says this is his spiritual alter ego, The Chieftain. Painting this alter ego allows Griffin to connect with a more peaceful side of himself. Griffin’s woodwork pieces are his best. Tucked in a back corner hung several stunning works in gradations of cut wood. Simple figures in neutral tones were made striking and intricate by the textural component.

MetaphysicalMassif ’s work has a spiritual

component as well. Two of his portraits framed The Cheiftain, both subjects portrayed with multiple heads, as though differ-ent facets of them were sprout-ing up in a dreamlike fashion. The female portrait, painted on canvas in rich greens, shows three faces clouded in a puff of cigarette smoke. The subject doesn’t engage with the viewer, but appears to be having a quiet moment with herself. Her red necklace blows to the side of the frame in a whimsical gesture, bringing a positive sensibility to a reflective painting.

Community was the hallmark of the evening. The hip-hop world of Boston is small enough for ev-eryone to know each other. Force excitedly greeted guests all night, keeping one hand on his music and the other on his buddies. The venue and music were as much a part of the experience as the artwork. Hosted in The Sinclair’s Kitchen, the space was intimate and rugged, with exposed brick, dim lighting and industrial décor.

“I think art and music go well PHOTO: COURTESY BROADWAY IN BOSTON

Tamyra Gray

Tamyra Gray talks about music and her role in the musical ‘If/Then’

By COLETTE GREENSTEIN

ON THE WEBBroadway In Boston presents “If/Then” now through July 17 at the Boston Opera House located at 539 Washington Street in Boston. To purchase tickets, call Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787 or order online at www.BroadwayInBoston.com.

See GRAY, page 12

Auditory learningArt and hip-hop come together in Cambridge pop-up

By CELINA COLBY

See HIP-HOP, page 12



ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

CHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT

World-renowned media artist Nalini Malani never got a child-hood. At just a few years old she was ripped from her home in Ka-rachi, now Pakistan, and forced into the difficult life of a refugee, without ever knowing the home she left behind. Her exhibit “In Search of Vanished Blood,” show-ing at the ICA through October 16, reflects her experience of female suffering during the Par-tition of India, which divided the British Indian Empire into Paki-stan and India.

The exhibit opens up with two walls of mixed-media collages. In each piece there is a background photograph of a female face. In some cases the face is completely covered by fabric with a world map printed on it. In other cases, minimal covering allows us to see the pained, wild eyes of the woman behind the headdress. In one, more explicit piece, one man holds another at gunpoint while a woman watches from the sidelines. A plane explodes in the background.

Despite its name, the Partition

of India was not a comfortable experience, and neither is Mala-ni’s work. Between 200,000 and two million people were killed in retributive religious genocides during the transition, and another 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced. Malani’s work is a stark, violent depiction of the female experience during the largest mass migration in human history.

In another media piece, two women stand beside the drawn outline of a brain. They use long sticks to poke at two bulbous cell-shaped organisms floating in the brain. Perhaps they are attempt-ing to recover some of their stifled personalities, lost within them-selves. In many of the works, the drawn and cutout women are ex-pressionless despite the violence around them. They have become immune to the destruction. Standing there, absent-mindedly watching executions and explo-sions, they beg the question, “In a world like this, is it better to live or to die?”

The centerpiece of the exhibit is a large room featuring an im-mersive media installation. All four walls feature projection, while

five cylinders covered in mytho-logical drawings hang from the ceiling and spin. Malani was one of the first artists of her kind to incorporate video into her work. Caged as she was in her cultural position, she searched desperately for freedom in her art. In this video piece, women’s faces flash across the walls, covered by another pro-jection layer of blood. A voice says, “I reject all the sperm I have re-ceived. I take back the world I gave birth to.” The fantastical creatures painted on the spinning cylinders reflect onto the walls at varying times. The result is entrancing visual storytelling, making a tragic narrative beautiful.

Malani’s work references a very specific experience. Her images of Indian culture clash explode on the temperate Boston art scene like the bombs in her film stills. “In Search of Vanished Blood” is informative, estranged and deeply personal. After a 50-year career, Malani is well-versed in reaching an audience who may not have been through what she has. Her media is aesthetically intricate and,= most of all, touches the lonely, frightened bit of humanity in all of us that longs for a home.

‘In Search of Vanished Blood’Artist Nalini Malani confronts her war-torn past in mixed-media exhibit at ICA through Oct. 16

By CELINA COLBY

PHOTO: COURTESY ICA

Artist Nalini Malani’s installations at the Institute for Contemporary Art.


ARTS&ENTERTAINMENTCHECK OUT MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS ONLINE: BAYSTATEBANNER.COM/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT

Studio activities are generously supported by Linda N. Cabot and Ed Anderson. Education and community programs are supported by Pamela and Robert Adams, the Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation, Janet Burke Mann Foundation, Lenoir Charitable Trust, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Mabel Louise Riley Foundation, Moorhead Foundation, New Balance Foundation, Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust, Rowland Foundation, Succop Family Foundation, and Yawkey Foundation. The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This program also is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.

Join us for a free celebration of art and community, with activities for visitors of all ages. Enjoy live music, art-making, horticulture projects and much more.

JULY 14 / JULY 28 / AUGUST 11SELECT THURSDAYS THIS SUMMER, 5–8 PM

TICKETS ARE FREE BUT LIMITED TO MUSEUM CAPACITYAND CAN BE PICKED UP AT THE DOOR EACH FREE EVENING.

NEIGHBORHOODNIGHTS

willing to be open. She kind of helps Liz through this journey of allowing life to happen to you. She’s kind of Liz’s love guru in a sense. She has to find someone. She’s not going to let her give up.

Was it a dream of yours to sing and act professionally when you were growing up?

TG: It was always a dream to sing. I didn’t quite understand what the acting part meant but I discovered that that was some-thing that I was blessed to be able to do naturally because I loved to internalize songs. When I’m singing them — whether it’s for a musical or just a performance in general — I always internalize the lyrics as if it’s happening to me right at this moment. These are my thoughts, this is how I feel, and this is my escape. I didn’t dis-cover my love of acting until after I would say doing “Boston Public,” after “American Idol.” I remem-ber when I had a meeting with Mr. David E. Kelley, I asked him, “You’ve never seen me act. Why are we having this meeting?” Not because I was doubtful, but I was curious. I’m a very curious person. He said, “From your performances I can see that you can act.” It’s been a blessing to have stumbled upon this talent, this gift that I wasn’t aware of as a kid.

And so what inspires you to keep going? The industry that you’re in can

be really challenging and difficult. Where do you find your inspiration?

TG: I love it. When I was younger I looked at the industry, and how tough and how demand-ing and all that stuff, and what it began to do was take away my actual joy and love of what it is that I’m doing. It’s not about the indus-try. It’s about the song; it’s about the message; it’s about the healing. It’s about helping others to live in this other reality that doesn’t exist in their day-to-day lives like that. You never know what you’re giving to another person when you are on stage. You never know what that person is looking for. You could be the answer to a prayer that they’ve been praying about just in that per-formance. You give a piece of your heart and soul every single time you’re singing because it comes from within. I think that that’s what keeps me going, is that this is my soul. This is a part of my soul. I sing all the time whether it’s lyrics or a script or whatever in front of me. I make up songs all day long to where my kids are like, “Oh, my God. Please stop.” This is how I keep going. It’s what I love to do.

Stepping into this role of Kate, how do you go about making it your own since it wasn’t a role you originated?

TG: Kate lives inside of me. It’s very funny because my step-mother came to see the show in Durham a couple of weeks ago and she came outside and she ran to me and she was cracking up laughing and she was like, “You’re not acting. That’s just you on stage.” It took a lot of courage,

I have to say, because Kate is such a part of my personality that only my closest friends who are with me on a day-to-day basis see that crazy, goofy, silly side of me, be-cause I was scared to show it. This is just how I am. But when I fi-nally said “Okay, I’m going to give this a shot. I’m going to try and put forth more of myself into this role and add the little silly things that I do on a daily basis and risk looking stupid and be okay with that.” And, so that’s what I did. I took the script. I did my research on just a few things and I worked with it every single day. I still work with it every day. She’s just such a fun character. She does not make apologies for herself and that’s something that I could learn for myself — not to apologize for who I am.

This past April was the series finale of “American Idol.” What was one of your fondest memories of being on the show?

TG: One of my fondest mem-ories of being on the show? I’m going to start with being part of the first season and getting to be a part of the final episode of it. It was just a great, great blessing. One of my fondest memories would be writing Fantasia’s single, the winning single, and being able to give back in that sense.

I noticed on your Twitter page that you mentioned that Prince was the reason you discovered music. Can you elaborate on that?

TG: The first time I saw him, I was in love. I liked everything about him. I was like, “I want to be him when I grow up.” I appre-ciated someone who went for it. I was curious about his sexuality. Let’s just be honest, a man with butt cheeks cut out of his pants, I’d never seen that before. Any-body that can do that is amaz-ing. And, then when I listened to his lyrics and the poetry in his lyrics and the fact that he played every single instrument and he produced it and the music just poured from him. He was a vessel for music. And, music was my escape as a kid. There was a lot of abuse of alcohol. Music was where I turned to, is what I turned to when I needed to escape from my home life, and most of the time it was Prince that I listened to. I had all of his songs. I had a purple guitar. I wanted to take it all the way there. I was learning how to play the piano. I wanted to do and understand what was flowing through him.

What do you hope that audiences take away from seeing the musical?

TG: I hope that audiences take away the fact that they have done everything right in their life, and there’s no amount of mistakes for anything that could be perceived as a failure that would be true. Ev-erything is a lesson. Everything is a step towards the next thing that you are trying to do for yourself and it’s all on the path. And that’s what this show, I feel, lets you know. There’s a song at the end that’s called “Am I Always Starting Over” every brand new morn-ing? And the truth is “Yes, you are always starting over every morn-ing,” but guess what? Something happened yesterday that will bring you into today, that will change the direction of how the day flows, if you’re open to your life.

Graycontinued from page 10

together,” Griffin said. “I wanted to produce something that high-lighted both.”

Griffin is a Massachusetts College of Art alumnus and knows how difficult it can be for young artist to show their work. In addition to supporting

emerging talent, the event appealed to a young African American community that isn’t always targeted in Cambridge nightlife.

For those looking to experi-ence the artwork, Rilla Force’s work can be found on Spotify and Sound Cloud. John L. Grif-fin, Jousef Massif and Caitlin Rose Morrison-Dyke’s work can be found on Facebook.

hip-hopcontinued from page 10


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Thu Jul 14: 7 PM, Cafe Cipher Featuring Natural Bliss

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BPS budgetWalsh’s resubmitted budget di-

rected $4.7 million of additional funding into new projects and planning for BPS. However it still included reductions in the alloca-tions to students with social emo-tional needs and autism, and it did not fully restore cuts to early learn-ing and early education centers. Several opposing councilors said the benefits of the increases did not outweigh the detriments of the accompanying cuts. Schools will be left without nurses and librar-ians, and children with trauma and special needs may not be ad-equately served, they said.

“What we have before us is a budget that expands the achieve-ment gap,” Jackson, chair of the Committee on Education, said. “I believe it is unconscionable to support the school budget that will hurt and harm the Boston Public Schools yet again, year after year.”

Those who voted “yes” on the BPS budget cited concerns that there may not be more money available to add and no better budget forthcoming. Some ad-vised focusing on identifying more effective spending strategies.

Councilor Josh Zakim said the mayor’s budgets presented reflected the reality of revenue limitations.

“[This is] a reasonable budget that makes use of our limited re-sources,” he said. “Unfortunately, we cannot write a blank check.”

Special ed and traumaFunding for autistic students

will drop by eight percent and for students with trauma by 21 percent under the budget proposal, Jackson said. Campbell cited the change to

per pupil allocations as one of the main reasons she opposed it, and several Councilors Michael Fla-herty and Sal LaMattina, who voted for the budget, said it was a serious concern as well.

The budget also means that not every school will be supplied with a nurse, Pressley said. This deficiency is a critical problem she said, arguing that children cannot learn effectively when they are struggling to cope with unad-dressed needs such as hunger and emotional trauma, be that trauma from a tragedy such as the shoot-ing at the Burke or a life disruption such as a divorce in the family.

Flaherty said he was pleased by the $4.7 million added to BPS in Walsh’ revised budget but that he recognized it was not enough.

Small cost fixes?While Jackson said public

schools face a $22 million to $28 million shortfall, Essaibi-George and Pressley said even small investments could be deeply impactful.

“For $600,000 we could have saved all the librarians being cut. For $300,000 we could put read-ing specialists in all the schools losing reading recovery programs” Essaibi-George said. “For $2.2 million, we could give all of those schools the support they need.”

She said political battles be-tween elected officials had inter-rupted collaboration and distracted from finding practical solutions to the needs of the city’s children.

Sound bites and grandstanding got in the way of productive dis-cussions,” she said.

Pressley said meeting the needs of trauma-impacted students is within the city’s reach.

“I’ve been asking for 20 more nurses, just 20 more nurses. I don’t think that’s a lot,” she said. “All the autonomy and fancy investments

and rigor in the world are not going to improve outcomes if our students are not whole.”

Is there money?Ciommo and Wu called the

budget “fiscally responsible,” and Linehan said that the school budget has been rising at a rate that is untenable.

Individual schools’ budgets are derived based on projected en-rollment numbers and presump-tions of how much it costs to meet needs, such as providing special education services.

The current school budget pro-vides an average of $20,000 per pupil, Linehan said.

“If every parent has $20,000 to educate their kid, they could do one hell of a job if they spent their money on education,” he said. Baker agreed that this seemed sufficient.

Linehan said he made his cal-culation by dividing the overall school budget by the number of students enrolled. This does not reflect that more funding is al-located to educate students with more intensive needs than for a student with standard needs. For instance, in the 2013-14 school year, BPS spent $21,140 more per pupil for a student with special education needs served in a sub-stantially separate classroom than it did for a student with standard needs, according to information published by the BPS Communi-cations Office.

Jackson argued that schools are facing cuts at a time when Boston’s economy is strong. Funds could be freed up from projects, he said, such as a proposed $15 million investment in the North-ern Avenue Bridge and directed to BPS or other programs for youth and the homeless. (The Northern Avenue Bridge spending proposal passed later that meeting in a ten

to three vote).Meanwhile, Wu and Flaherty

called for spending reforms.“There are deep structural

issues in Boston public schools that we need to address and need to reform,” Wu said.

Ineffective programs should be identified and their funding redi-rected into more impactful pro-grams, Flaherty advised.

If the council did not reach a budget agreement by July 1, the city would enter fiscal year 2017 with the FY 16 budget provided in monthly installments.

O’Malley said voting “no” would mean the FY 16 budget went forth, “which would be catastrophic.”

Unclear strategyCampbell and Pressley said

they wanted greater clarity about the logic that guided the school de-partment’s budgeting plans.

While the mayor’s budget pro-vides for valuable initiatives such as expanding advanced work classes to more fourth grade stu-dents and providing more K1 seats, these come at too high a cost, Campbell said.

“No teacher, principal or parent I spoke to said, ‘Bring about these programs but cut programs we know work,” she told the Banner. “My question to BPS is, ‘Where did this strategy come from?’ ”

Pressley said that while BPS needs more funding, it also needs a cohesive view of its values and prioritizes to guide how the money is spent.

“The investments that are being made are very challenging to be celebrating because we are pair-ing those investments with divest-ments in other areas where we still need to improve,” she said.

Linehan, Frank Baker and Tim McCarthy framed their approval of the budget as indicators of sup-port for Superintendent Tommy

Chang and a way of giving him a chance to prove himself.

Wu also told councilors that passing a budget does not mean an end to work to improve schools.

Housing and healthThe absence of a housing

voucher program in the budget was raised as a concern by Zakim, chair of the Committee on Hous-ing and Community Develop-ment, Jackson and Councilor Matt O’Malley.

“This [voucher program] is thoughtful, innovative and inex-pensive when you think about the benefits,” O’Malley said.

Zakim said he was disappointed and asserted that the solution to the homelessness crisis rests in provid-ing homes. Ultimately, though, he concluded that mayor and his team had done a “reasonable job” with the resources at hand.

Several councilors — Es-saibi-George, Mark Ciommo and Michelle Wu — also praised the homelessness efforts that were funded, and Essaibi-George said going forward she will keep a focus on student and family homelessness.

Pressley continued to pro-test the cut to community health center funding, saying that they provide vital assistance in address-ing racial health disparities.

Parks and EMTsInvestments in parks and in

reductions in response times of emergency medical technicians received praise from many coun-cilors. Campbell also highlighted the capping of police and fire overtime. Wu celebrated greater support for translation services and a $300,000 addition to the budget that will go toward es-tablishing an office to assist with individuals’ reentry to society post-incarceration.

hear — and that means more sup-port for charter schools.”

The document counsels char-ter proponents to de-emphasize the corporate nature of charters, charter management and educa-tion management organizations, advising use of the word “network” instead. Under the heading “Say this, not this,” the document ad-vises proponents to use the word “schools” rather than “businesses” or “companies;” “student share,” rather than “market share” and “families” rather than “consumers.”

According to The Word Doctors website, the group has an estab-lished track record of changing the terms of public debate.

“We have counseled Presidents and Prime Ministers, Fortune 100 CEOs and Hollywood creative teams in harnessing the power of language and visuals to change hearts, change minds and change behaviors,” the group’s LinkedIn page reads. Word Doctors CEO, veteran Republican strategist Frank Luntz, “is known for helping change the public vocabulary — he transformed the ‘estate tax’ into ‘the death tax,’ moved the public debate from ‘school vouchers’ to ‘opportu-nity scholarships,’ and re-cast ‘drill-ing for oil’ as ‘exploring for energy.’” Luntz also claims credit for per-suading journalists and policymak-ers to swap global warming out in favor of “climate change.”

To win in November, Great Schools Massachusetts will have to persuade voters to vote “yes” on

a ballot question that many voters don’t fully understand. Following the advice of The Word Doctors, Great Schools Massachusetts will need to steer clear of talk of school closures and keep the focus on the children. So far, they appear to have succeeded. Their 2015 lob-bying events at the State House, staged by a professional produc-tion company, featured parents and students in the front row.

Messaging in actionIn videos posted on the Great

Schools Massachusetts website, parents and students are featured prominently. A former high school dropout speaks about how Chel-sea’s Phoenix Academy changed her life. With the exception of Gov. Charlie Baker, all of the speakers and most of those appearing in the video are black and Latino women.

In a video posted on the Save Our Public Schools website, the lower production value is immedi-ately evident.

“Shouldn’t we improve schools for all children instead of taking away even more money from them to give to charters?” the narrator asks, rhetorically. The animated video plays up the $400 million that charters divert from district schools, showing resources like computers, books and science equipment disappearing from a

classroom. As the narrator contin-ues, windows go missing from the façade of a school building, dra-matizing the loss of public school resources to charters.

Another video produced by the same group features five adults speaking about how charter school expansion affects local districts.

AnalysisWhile the Great Schools Mas-

sachusetts videos rely largely on emotive testimony from parents of charter school students who urge voters to lift the cap, the Save Our Public Schools video relies more on facts and figures. The narrator cites a $1 billion shortfall in state funding for k-12 education and points out that charter schools re-ceive taxpayer dollars but are run without public oversight.

The divergent paths taken by the competing campaigns in their videos underscore several key dif-ferences in their media strategies thus far.

Great Schools Massachusetts, which launched in January, has spent more money on video pro-duction, utilizing footage from a series of rallies the group staged and interviews with charter school students and parents. The videos are professionally produced and include inspiring music and cut-away shots showing children’s faces. The single animated video produced by Save Our Public Schools looks as if it were pro-duced for a fraction of the cost.

Great Schools Massachusetts is relying more heavily on black and Latino students and parents. No white teachers or administrators

are featured. The sole white person with a speaking role is the Gover-nor. While the animated video produced by Save Our Public Schools features a few black and brown-looking animated charac-ters, the entire video is voiced over by a white-sounding narrator.

Slow startOn the anti-charter cap lift

side, the Mass Teachers Associ-ation-funded Save Our Public Schools campaign got off to a somewhat uninspired start with an April campaign launch event that featured union officials, teachers, community activists and no stu-dents (footage from this event ap-pears in a video on the group’s web-site). That approach runs counter to the Charter School Messaging Notebook, which adheres to the widely-held notion that children are the most compelling messen-gers. “People want to hear from students themselves,” the group ad-vises. “Testimonials of children tell-ing their own stories move people more than any other communica-tions.” Parents are the second most effective advocates, the group finds, followed by teachers.

To their credit, the Save Our Public Schools website exploits many of the very fears The Word Doctors flagged as damaging to pro-charter messaging, opening its webpage with a large $400 million figure the group says charters are draining away from district schools. “Our public schools cannot afford to lose vital funding while we see pro-grams cut and activities reduced,” the website informs readers.

The charter school messaging

notebook claims that voters “have a strong attachment to the idea of traditional public schools,” and are, therefore, put off by the idea of school closures. Education man-agement organizations, usually the corporations that own charter networks, often depend on school closures for expansion into urban school districts. And as charters expand in many districts across the country, their larger share of public funding often forces dis-tricts to close schools.

The Save Our Public Schools website lists among its aims “In-creasing funding to provide high-quality public schools for all children,” and “Protecting local control over schools.” The latter point underscores a potential vul-nerability in the charter move-ment that local activists seem eager to exploit: the opacity of pri-vately-run charter organizations, few of which have parents or local community members on their oversight boards.

With $18 million pledged to its campaign — much of it coming from the well-financed New York-based Families for Excellent Schools — Great Schools Massa-chusetts seems poised to do well in television advertising during this year’s charter cap battle. Save Our Schools, which is expected to spend $12 million — most of which will come from the Mass. Teachers Association — seems to have gotten off to a slow start.

Voters can expect to see televi-sion advertisements airing after this year’s September 8 primary, as voters turn their attention to the November ballot.

budgetcontinued from page 1

charterscontinued from page 1

ON THE WEBGreat Schools Massachusetts website videos: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HTFY-qzowqoSave Our Public Schools website videos: http://saveourpublicschoolsma.com



BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

Mishawum Park Apartments will be accepting applications for multiple affordable housing programs such as but not

limited to Section 236, HOME, (HSF) and (HIF) 1, 2, and 3 bedroom family housing. Eligible applicants will be placed on an existing waiting list by lottery, not by the order in which the completed application is received. There are no units available at this time.

Interested persons may apply in person on-site located at:Mishawum Park Apartments, 95 Dunstable St., Charlestown, MAor by downloading the application at PeabodyProperties.com or by phone 617.242.4016 (TTY 711) or 1.800.439.2370

Deliver in person, the completed application to the same address in accordance with these time frames: Applications will be accepted Monday, July 11 and Tuesday, July 12 at 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. and ending Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 7 p.m. NOTE: Applications will not be sent or received by fax or e-mail. Please note that office hours for Mishawum Park Apartments are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The lottery selection will be held on Wednesday, August 15, 2016 at Noon; you do not need to be in attendance for the selection process since you will be notified of your position on the waiting list.

All applicants must be determined eligible in accordance with the Department of HUD and DHCD regulations. Applicants must meet the family size requirements for a designated bedroom size unit and the income of all family members must be greater than 30% of AMI but less

than the established income limits for 50% of AMI. All utilities are included in the rent and voucher holders are welcome to apply.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITY REOPENING WAIT LIST

*Median income levels, rents & utility allowances are subject to change based on HUD guidelines (HUD.gov). Please inquire in advance for reasonable accommodation. Info contained herein subject to change w/o notice.

Income Limits (as of 3/28/16)*:Less than 50% AMI

$34,350$39,250$44,150$49,050$53,000$56,900

HH# 123456

Greater than 30% AMI$20,650$23,600$26,550$29,450$31,850$34,200

REAL ESTATE

REAL ESTATECommonwealth of Massachusetts

The Trial CourtProbate and Family Court Department

SUFFOLK Division Docket No. SU16P0973

Estate of Bernice L. WarrickDate of Death February 27, 2016

INFORMAL PROBATE PUBLICATION NOTICE

To all persons interested in the above captioned estate, by Petition of Petitioner Charlyn H. Warrick of Dorchester, MA a Will has been admitted to informal probate.

Charlyn H. Warrick of Dorchester, MA has been informally appointed as the Personal Representative of the estate to serve without surety on the bond.

The estate is being administered under informal procedure by the Personal Representative under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code without supervision by the Court. Inventory and accounts are not required to be filed with the Court, but interested parties are entitled to notice regarding the administration from the Personal Representative and can petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, including distribution of assets and expenses of administration. Interested parties are entitled to petition the Court to institute formal proceedings and to obtain orders terminating or restricting the powers of Personal Representatives appointed under informal procedure. A copy of the Petition and Will, if any, can be obtained from the Petitioner.

Commonwealth of MassachusettsThe Trial Court

Probate and Family Court Department

SUFFOLK Division Docket No. SU16C0076CA

In the matter of Jeffson Styfleur Vilnoof Mattapan, MA

NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME

To all persons interested in a petition described:

A petition has been presented by Jennika Brice requesting that Jeffson Styfleur Vilno be allowed to change his name as follows:

Jayson Bradley Luc

IF YOU DESIRE TO OBJECT THERETO, YOU OR YOUR ATTORNEY MUST FILE A WRITTEN APPEARANCE IN SAID COURT AT BOSTON ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON 08/18/2016.

WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.Date: June 10, 2016

Felix D. ArroyoRegister of Probate

MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed General Bids for MPA Contract No. M520-C1(R), BERTH 12 BACKFLOW PREVENTER, CONLEY TERMINAL, SOUTH BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, will be received by the Massachusetts Port Authority at the Capital Programs Department Office, Suite 209S, Logan Office Center, One Harborside Drive, East Boston, Massachusetts 02128-2909, until 11:00 A.M. local time on WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016, immediately after which, in a designated room, the bids will be opened and read publicly.

NOTE: PRE BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT CONLEY TERMINAL ADMIN SMALL CONFERENCE ROOM 2ND FLOOR, FARRAGUT ROAD AND EAST FIRST STREET, SOUTH BOSTON AT 10:00 A.M. LOCAL TIME ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016.

THE WORK INCLUDES, BUT NOT LIMITED TO INSTALLATION OF BACKFLOW PREVENTER, INCLUDING: WATER METER, HEATED ALUMINUM ENCLOSURE CABINET, UNDERGROUND AND ABOVE GROUND WATER PIPE, GATE VALVES, ALUMINUM ACCESS HATCHES, ELECTRICAL, EARTHWORK AND PAVING.

Bid documents will be made available beginning THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016.

Bid Documents in electronic format may be obtained free of charge at the Authority’s Capital Programs Department Office, together with any addenda or amendments, which the Authority may issue and a printed copy of the Proposal form.

The estimated contract cost is FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($530,000.00)

A proposal guaranty shall be submitted with each General Bid consisting of a bid deposit for five (5) percent of the value of the bid; when sub bids are required, each must be accompanied by a deposit equal to five (5) percent of the sub bid amount, in the form of a bid bond, or cash, or a certified check, or a treasurer’s or a cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company, payable to the Massachusetts Port Authority in the name of which the Contract for the work is to be executed. The bid deposit shall be (a) in a form satisfactory to the Authority, (b) with a surety company qualified to do business in the Commonwealth and satisfactory to the Authority, and (c) conditioned upon the faithful performance by the principal of the agreements contained in the bid.

The successful Bidder will be required to furnish a performance bond and a labor and materials payment bond, each in an amount equal to 100% of the Contract price. The surety shall be a surety company or securities sat-isfactory to the Authority. Attention is called to the minimum rate of wages to be paid on the work as determined under the provisions of Chapter 149, Massachusetts General Laws, Section 26 to 27G, inclusive, as amended. The Contractor will be required to pay minimum wages in accordance with the schedules listed in Division II, Special Provisions of the Specifications, which wage rates have been predetermined by the U. S. Secretary of Labor and /or the Commissioner of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts, whichever is greater.

The successful Bidder will be required to purchase and maintain Bodily Injury Liability Insurance and Property Damage Liability Insurance for a combined single limit of $1,000,000. Said policy shall be on an occurrence basis and the Authority shall be included as an Additional Insured. See the insur-ance sections of Division I, General Requirements and Division II, Special Provisions for complete details.

This contract is subject to a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation provision requiring that not less than SIX PERCENT (6.0%) of the Contract be performed by disadvantaged business enterprise contractors. With respect to this provision, bidders are urged to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the Bidding Documents. Strict compliance with the pertinent procedures will be required for a bidder to be deemed responsive and eligible.

This Contract is also subject to Affirmative Action requirements of the Massachusetts Port Authority contained in the Non Discrimination and Affirmative Action article of Division I, General Requirements and Covenants, and to the Secretary of Labor’s Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Opportunity and the Standard Federal Equal Opportunity Construction Contract Specifications (Executive Order 11246).

The General Contractor is required to submit a Certification of Non Segregated Facilities prior to award of the Contract, and to notify prospec-tive subcontractors of the requirement for such certification where the subcontract exceeds $10,000.

A Contractor having fifty (50) or more employees and his subcontractors having fifty (50) or more employees who may be awarded a subcontract of $50,000 or more will, within one hundred twenty (120) days from the

contract commencement, be required to develop a written affirmative action compliance program for each of its establishments.

Compliance Reports - Within thirty (30) days of the award of this Contract the Contractor shall file a compliance report (Standard Form [SF 100]) if:

(a) The Contractor has not submitted a complete compliance report within twelve (12) months preceding the date of award, and

(b) The Contractor is within the definition of “employer” in Paragraph 2c(3) of the instructions included in SF100.

The contractor shall require the subcontractor on any first tier subcontracts, irrespective of the dollar amount, to file SF 100 within thirty (30) days after the award of the subcontracts, if the above two conditions apply. SF 100 will be furnished upon request. SF 100 is normally furnished Contractors annually, based on a mailing list currently maintained by the Joint Reporting Committee. In the event a contractor has not received the form, he may obtain it by writing to the following address:

Joint Reporting Committee 1800 G Street Washington, DC 20506

Complete information and authorization to view the site may be obtained from the Capital Programs Department Office at the Massachusetts Port Authority. The right is reserved to waive any informality in or reject any or all proposals.

MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITYTHOMAS P. GLYNN

CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MEDFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY

INVITATION FOR BIDS

LEASE OF ROOFTOP SPACE FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICES

The Medford Housing Authority (the “Authority”) is soliciting sealed bids for the lease and use of rooftop and penthouse space on a (12) story building at 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA. The space is available for the instal-lation and operation of radio communications facilities. These facilities can include, but are not limited to cellular telephone, personal communications systems, paging and land mobile radio. The lease and use of this space will be on a non-exclusive basis.

Sealed bids will be received until 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 8, 2016, at the Medford Housing Authority office, 121 Riverside Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, at such time, the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

Invitation for Bids (IFB) are available free of charge for pickup on or after Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at the authority’s office. The Authority will also e-mail the IFB upon request.

Questions can be directed to John Coddington, tel. 781-396-7200 Ext. 106, fax: 781-393-9223, or e-mail to [email protected].

LEGAL LEGAL

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ADVERTISE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS(617) 261-4600 x 7799 • [email protected]

Find rate information at www.baystatebanner.com/advertise


BANNER CLASSIFIEDS

Administrative AssistantPleasant Hill Baptist Church

The Pleasant Hill Baptist Church of Dorchester, Massachusetts

is seeking an Administrative Assistant.

The Administrative Assistant responsibilities are as follows:n Monitors the overall operations of the church’s day-to-

day operations.n Work closely with the pastor, trustees, church staff and

other ministries to ensure that all facets of the church’s needs and requirements are being adequately addressed.

n Will follow established procedures for ensuring that all administrative functions are operating in an efficient and effective manner.

n Will work with the Board of Trustees to institute procure-ment, personnel, payment and contracting policies are followed in order to enable the church to meet all obliga-tions and responsibilities promptly.

n The Administrative Assistant is directly responsible to the Pastor.

Requirements:n The ability to communicate clearly, courteously and effectively.n The demonstrated ability to communicate orally and in writing. n Interpersonal and organizational skills.n The ability to effectively manage/coordinate simultaneous

projects, and successfully prioritize multiple tasks with good judgment.

Please mail your résumé to: Pleasant Hill Baptist Church

P.O. Box 155, Dorchester, MA 02121

Codman Square NDC Real Estate Project Manager

The Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. (CSNDC) seeks an experienced and energetic Real Estate Project Manager to oversee development and construction of two or more multi-family and/or homeownership projects, as well as pre-development activities for future pipeline residential and commercial projects.

Qualifications include: At least 3-5 years’ experience in real estate development or related fields; management, organi-zational, technical and teamwork skills; strong spreadsheet/Excel skills, excellent verbal and written communication skills, relevant bachelor’s or master’s degree. Spanish or Haitian Creole language skills a plus.

Competitive salary, plus benefits, depending on qualifications.

Please send cover letter and resume, before July 29, 2016, to: K. Beth O’Donnell, CSNDC, 587 Washington St., Dorchester MA 02124, or email: [email protected] or via mail to:

K. Beth O’Donnell, Director of Real EstateCodman Square Neighborhood Development Corp.

587 Washington St.Dorchester, MA 02124

ASSISTANT PROPERTY MANAGERGrowing real estate management-company, is seeking to hire experienced assistant property manager for a rental cooperative in Boston, MA.

This excellent opportunity is for an optimistic individual with one to three years of experience working in the property management or real estate field. Overall, this full-time position is responsible for providing fundamen-tal support to the Property Manager for this community helping to maintain superior resident relations and successful operations. Candidates must be highly motivated and well versed in low income tax credits, federal, State and local housing laws, experienced in recertification, processing applications, rent collections, and apartment inspections. This professional has excellent interpersonal, customer service and organizational skills, works well as part of a team, and in conducting interviews and completing paperwork with residents. The candidate selected is available to work flexible hours. Proficiency and solid experience in Microsoft Excel, MS Word, required. Experience with Yardi property management software a plus. Must have a valid driver’s license and own transportation.

Candidates with 2-year Associates Degree and/or professional training encouraged to apply.

Offering competitive salary, commensurate with experience; attractive benefits package.

Interested parties send cover-letter and resume to:[email protected]

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

MBL HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT

MBL Housing and Development (MBL) is an established real estate development consulting firm located in Amherst, MA. We seek a skilled project manager, with a commitment to affordable housing, community development and Western Massachusetts, to join our team. Our ideal candidate is an affordable housing developer with at least five years of experience in real estate development, who has an interest in and aptitude for: growing in an entrepreneurial business; building strong client relation-ships; and collaborating with a team. S/he will be motivated to strengthen the real estate development infrastructure in Western Massachusetts. See www.mbldevelopment.com for a full position profile. Submit a resume and a cover letter to: MBL Senior Project Manager Search, c/o Ann L Silverman Consulting, [email protected]. MBL is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We encourage applications from candidates from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Are you interested in a Healthcare CAREER?

Project Hope, in partnership with Partners HealthCare is currently accepting applications for a FREE entry level healthcare employment training program.

Program eligibility includes:• Have a high school diploma or equivalent • Have a verifiable reference of 1 year from a former employer • Pass assessments in reading, language, and computer skills• Have CORI clearance• Be legally authorized to work in the United States

For more information and to register for the next Open House please visit our website at

www.prohope.org/openhouse.htm or call 617-442-1880 ext. 218.

New Jobs In Fast-Growing HEALTH INSURANCE FIELD!

Companies Now Hiring MEMBER SERVICE CALL CENTER REPS

Rapid career growth potential

Are you a “people person?” Do you like to help others?

Full-time, 12-week training plus internship. Job placement assistance provided.

FREE TRAINING FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY!

HS diploma or GED required.Free YMCA membership for you and your

family while enrolled in YMCA Training, Inc.

Call 617-542-1800 and refer to Health Insurance Training when you call

NorthernContracting

Corp.is working in Dorchester.

We are looking for employment applications

from individuals in the construction trades who

would like to work in this area.

Fax your resume to 781-821-4201

or email it to [email protected].

A senior/disabled/handicapped community

0 BR units = $1,027/mo1 BR units = $1,101/moAll utilities included.

Call Sandy Miller, Property Manager

#888-691-4301Program Restrictions Apply.

WollASton MAnor91 Clay Street

Quincy, MA 02170

Senior living At It’s BestStainless Steel Appliances

New Kitchen CabinetsHardwood Floors

Updated BathroomCustom Accent Wall Painting

Free Parking Free Wi-Fi in lobby

Modern Laundry Facilities

888-842-7945

Parker HillApartmentsBrand New Renovated

Apartment Homes

Two Bedrooms Starting at $2200

REAL ESTATE HELP WANTED HELP WANTED

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Bay State Banner July 7th

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