Fall FoRP Newsletter

Dear Friends of Ringgold Park,

There is a little chill in the air, the kids are back in school, and Halloween is just around the corner! We have some exciting progress to report in our quest to beautify Ringgold Park.

Landscaping and Irrigation:

Our long awaited new landscaping and irrigation will be installed in October! We are working with the City of Boston, reviewing bids and finalizing a schedule for the work. When the work is definitively scheduled, we will be publicizing the anticipated park closure of one week via e-mail and fliers.

Center Circle Fountain Project:

The Friends of Ringgold Park received $40,000 in this year's budget to develop detailed construction plans for the fountain we designed in our community-based process. The Boston Parks Department will be issuing a RFQ and initiating a process to identify a design firm. Most exciting is that we will soon be assigned a designated Project Manager by the city. In the spring we will be applying for additional grants to supplement city funding, as well as organizing some community fundraising to support the final project. One step closer!

Halloween Party on Saturday, 10/31 in Ringgold Park:

We need volunteers to run our annual Halloween event this year! It is a wonderful neighborhood party and a great way to get more involved with the Friends of Ringgold Park. Please note that this event depends on volunteer availability - our all volunteer board is maxed out and if no new faces are willing to take on this event, it will be canceled. Please email us at ringgoldpark@verizon.net if you--or better yet, you and a friend--are willing to take on this fun job!

Bike Racks:

As part of Mayor Menino's efforts to make Boston a world class bicycling city, bike racks are being installed across Boston, and one has been slated for Ringgold Park. The Parks Department has suggested two locations: along Hanson Street bordering the park, OR at the Ringgold Street gate. PLEASE email us with your preference at ringgoldpark@verizon.net within a week, if you have one! We feel that the Ringgold Street gate is a better location because of the wider sidewalk as well as its equidistant location between the two side streets but are happy to hear all opinions on this matter.

Annual Cookout:

We are sad to report that Hope House is unable to help us out this year with what would have been our 5th Annual Family Cookout. With their move to Dorchester and budget cuts from their state and federal grants, Hope House can't afford to do it this year. We hope that next year we will host an additional event during the year as we embark on our fundraising campaign for the Center Circle Fountain.

Other news:

The Friends of Ringgold Park is working with the Boston Park Advocates Network to build capacity and share resources and information among park friends groups. We are also developing a new website that will be a great resource for park users. We are always seeking new volunteers for a variety of roles: events, board membership, fundraising, cleanups, etc. If you can help us out in any way, please be in touch. Thank you as always for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in the park!

Claire Corcoran
President, Friends of Ringgold Park
ringgoldpark@verizon.net

VOTE - Primary Tuesday

OK, last reminder, Today is Tuesday 9/22 and that makes it Primary Day. Go out and cast your vote for Mayor and City Councilor-at-large. Eight Streets votes at Cathedral High School at Washington and Union park. Polls are open 7am-8pm.

Neighborhood security meeting this Wednesday (9/23)

The Old Dover NA is spearheading a community meeting on Savety and Security, which will take place this Wednesdya, Sept 23rd. The complete notice and outline is below.

Crime has been growing in our corner of the south end. Car break-ins. Several hold-ups. More homeless sleeping in the area. And a marked increase in drug use. Several city and social service organizations will be represented at the meeting to both discuss the issues and engage in some problem solving efforts.

I encourage everyone to try to make this meeting. We all want a safe neighborhood, and we can't count on 'other people' to fix everything. If we want the city adn the police to do more, we need to show up and let our government know we are concerned about oure neighborhood and want to work with them to help make the South End a safe place to live and work.

---

The Old Dover Neighborhood Association has been working this year on a safety and security initiative, which will culminate in a neighborhood meeting on safety and security to be held on Wednesday, September 23 from 6:30 - 9:00 pm at the Franklin House (11 E. Newton St.). The purpose of the meeting is to open the lines of communication between neighbors, businesses, organizations, and city officials, particularly the police department, over safety and security issues in our neighborhood.

The Boston Police Department, the Mayor's Office, the Pine Street Inn, Washington Gateway Main Street, and Old Dover have all committed resources to this event. A large part of the agenda, however, is for residents to voice their concerns and offer their solutions. There are placeholders on the agenda for individuals, buildings, businesses, and groups to speak. Be part of the agenda, or part of the audience, but be part of this critical conversation! We expect that the comments and questions during the meeting will indicate interest in follow-up initiatives around specific action items.

Please mark your calendars to attend! Details are below.

Meeting Agenda

1. Prepared Remarks (6:30 - 7:50 pm)
Welcome and Introductions, ODNABoston Police Department, Chief Daniel LinskeyPine Street Inn, Aimee CoolidgeUp to 10 other individuals/representatives from organizations in Old Dover/The South End. Each speaker will be allotted 5 minutes. We would encourage you to organize/volunteer for a speaker slot, and to forward this email to others who may be interested in speaking. To be included on the agenda as a speaker, send an email with your contact information to olddover@gmail.com and ODNA will follow up individually to coordinate the presentations.

2. Short Break (7:50 - 8:00 pm)

3. Question and Answer, with speakers and other community leaders (8:00 - 8:25 pm)

4. Action Items/Next Steps Summary (8:25 - 8:30 pm)

5. Networking, one-on-one discussions with speakers and other community leaders, and refreshments (8:30 - 9:00 pm)

We hope to see you on the 23rd.

Sincerely,
Kris ComeauxPresident, Old Dover Neighborhood Association
mailto:Associationolddover@gmail.com
http://www.olddover.org/

Vote on Tuesday, 9/22

A reminder that the city primary elections will be this Tuesday, 9/22 from 7am to 8pm. Eight Streets residents votes at Cathedral High School at Washington and Union park. You must have already registered to vote to participate in this primary election. You do not have to be enrolled in a political party to participate in this election.


For this primary:

• 4 candidates for Mayor are on the ballot - the two highest vote getters will move on to the final election in November

• 15 candidates for City Councilor-at-Large will be on the ballot. The top 8 vote getters will move to the November election, where 4 will be elected. There are only two incumbent candidates on the ballot.

For a list of candidate names as listed on the ballots, read this PDF. Complete voter information can be found on the City Elections pages. Take this weekend do to some reading on the candidates, and mark up your ballot printouts so you'll know who to vote for come Tuesday.

As you have noticed, the race for Mayor has been heating up. This is our chance to go to the polls and voice our opinion! The South End has notoriously low voter turn-out, so let's use this as an opportunity to show up in droves and let Boston know that the South End cares about the future of our city.

SE Library re-opening

Ann Smart of the South End branch of the BPL tells us that the library will re-open on Monday, September 28th at 10am. The library had been closed since May (ish) so that repairs could be made to the building.

South End Open Studios & other weekend events

A reminder this weekend brings us South End Open Studios. Artists will open their studios throughout the south end to display their works. It's free and a great way to see the Artist community in our neighborhood. As you walk through the South End there will be many other events taking place, so you'll never know what you may run into!!

Goings on this weekend include:

• Open Studios
• Greek Festival at St. John the Baptist
• South End Open market
• "It's a Dogs Life" pet event. Sunday, noon-4 at 1313 Washington st.

Giorgiana's application for liquor sales

Evening everyone,

Just to bring everyone up to date on a local issue. As most of you

know Giorgiana's has applied to add alcohol sales to their current

beer and wine offerings. They have been talking to customers and

gaining support and gathering signatures form those who support the

license. Those who have signed are Giorgiana's customers, and most

of them live in Eight Streets NA or on abutting streets.

Giorgiana's will also be signing an agreement with the neighborhood

to prohibit the sale of nips and singles, and to guarantee that

'convenience store' will remain the core of their business.

Eight Streets sees no reason to oppose the request. Liquor will be

a very small part of their offerings. They will have a limited

selection of high end liquors, most in quart sizes (no pints or

smaller). Beer and wine will still dominate their downstairs liquor

sales. They will be signing the agreement mentioned above. The city

has also asked that the downstairs be staffed, which Giorgiana's has

agreed to. You will find the same great food and supplies upstairs

on the main floor - there will be no change there; they will remain

our local grocery/convenience store.

For those who haven't had a chance to hear the business proposal, we

will have a final meeting on the issue Tuesday, September 15th at 7pm.

We'll meet downstairs in Giorgiana's, so they can show us what their

plans are for re-organizing downstairs to include the liquor sales.

They will also be presenting over 200 signatures in support of their

proposition. (we should have room for everyone down stairs...)

I hope to see some of you tomorrow night. You can also reply with

any comments if you can't make the meeting and haven't written to the

city.

2nd Mayoral Debate

Set your DVRs again. The 2nd mayoral debate will be Tomorrow, Thursday 9/10 at 5pm, broadcast live on Fox/Channel 25. Again, candidates are, in alphabetical order:

Michael Flaherty

Kevin McCrea

Tom Menino

Sam Yoon

Peters Park DRS Event

The peters Park DRS "Pawnic" is happening Saturday, Oct. 3 from noon-2 in the Joe Wex Dog Park in Peters park. (Rain date Oct. 4) More information will soon be on the Peters Park Web Site.

September ESNA Meeting

Hi everyone!!

As if the weather wasn't a reminder, Fall is here, and that means it's time to get the Neighborhood Association back into gear!

This Wednesday brings us back to our regular monthly meeting schedule. I apologize for the late meeting notice, but there were some items that might have been on the agenda, but they are not ready to meet with us yet.

Our September meeting place will be This Wednesday, September 2nd, at the Boston Ballet 5th floor boardroom (Clarendon & Warren)

6:30-7 - Neighborhood networking - come early and mingle with your neighbors!

7-8:30 - Business meeting

This month we'll concentrate on summer updates and planning. Even though we took the summer off, the world around us did not. Get updates on what happened over the pseudo-summer we had, and what's coming up this fall.

And as we start the new season, let's take the opportunity to re-energize ourselves. bring a friend to a NA meeting. Think not only of events the NA can do, but what you want our of your neighborhood association. We also have some officer positions open, so if you'd like to get more involved, this could be your opportunity.

Hope to see everyone Wednesday night!! And don't forget to set your DVR/VCRs before the meeting - the moved Mayoral debates will take place Wednesday from 7-8 on WBZ TV. if you forget, it will be re-broadcast 9/4 at 8pm on channel 38