New street sweeping delayed

The new street sweeping schedules, which were to start tomorrow, have been postponed because of potential snowfall.  The next scheduled street cleaning for Eight Streets is next Thursday, March 8th.

South End patch related article

Find us on Facebook

Speaking of Facebook, if you're a FB user, don't forget to "like" the Eight Streets Facebook Page.   Make our FB page a great place to connect with neighbors and share your ESNA experiences.   Feel free to post stories and share neighborhood photos and make our FB page a fun place to visit.

Firefighters Exam

Is firefighting in your future?   The city's firefighting exam is coming up in April.  For more information, see this city flier (pdf) on the exam.   And/or follow the Boston Fire Recruit page on Facebook.   Applicants must be between the ages of 19 and 31, and have lived in Boston for at least 1 year.

Waltham/UP Alley Gate Repairs

Union Park NA is spearheading an effort to fix and maintain the gates on the walkable-only alley that runs between Waltham Street and Union Park.  If you would like to help contribute, or want more information ont he project, please take a look at the attached flier.    (View)    (Download)

B/FNA Fundraiser Notice

From the B/FNA:

Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association is having its annual silent-auction fundraiser, next Thursday February 23.

The scholarship is available for South End high school seniors to be used to books, computer and other supplies. Last year we gave out eight $1,000 scholarships. This year the silent auction has an amazing range of items: restaurant gift certificates, framing, hair cuts, manicures and coffee.

The event is from 6 to 8 pm at Estragon, 700 Harrison Avenue, South End. Tickets are $25/advance, $30/door. For more information, tickets and a scholarship application, go to http://blackstonefranklin.org.

Thanks! Hope to see you there.

Andrew Parthum
President, B/FSNA
617 834 2696

"Ink Block" BRA Hearings

Notice from the BRA on a public hearing for development on the Boston Herald site - named by the developers as the Ink Block.  The project overview can be found in these Boston.com and Boston Herald articles

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Project Name: Ink Block (Herald Site)

Project Proponent: National Development

Project Description: National Development (the “Proponent”) is proposing to redevelop the underutilized and soon to be vacant site located at 300 Harrison Avenue in the South End (the “Project”). The Project includes the construction of three new buildings and adaptive reuse of the existing Boston Herald industrial building creating a mix of uses that include new residential and retail activity, and provide public realm improvements. The approximately 548,900 square foot Project in four buildings will create approximately 471 new residential units and a total of approximately 85,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store and multiple smaller scale ground floor retail and/or restaurant spaces, The Project is served by a parking supply of approximately 411 spaces, the majority of which will be in the form of structured parking.
Meeting Date/ Place: 6:00 PM, Thursday, February 23, 2012 at Project Place, 1145 Washington Street Boston, MA 02118.

Close of Comment Period: Friday, March 2, 2012

MAIL TO:                             ERICO LOPEZ
BOSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
ONE CITY HALL SQUARE, 9TH FLOOR
BOSTON, MA 02201
FAX TO:                                617-742-7783
PHONE:                                617-918-4429
EMAILTO:                            erico.lopez.bra@cityofboston.gov


Erico J. Lopez
Project Assistant
Boston Redevelopment Authority
One City Hall Square
Boston, MA 02201
(p) 617-918-4429
(f)  617-742-7783
Erico.Lopez.BRA@cityofboston.gov

City hearing on Commercial trash pick-up times

A Hearing notice from Councilor Arroyo's office regarding commercial trash pickup times:

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We have heard from constituents throughout the City who are awoken at 2, 3, or 4 in the morning by the sounds of garbage trucks in their neighborhood.  Under current state law, the City of Boston can regulate the times for residential trash pick up, but CANNOT regulate the times for commercial trash pick up. To remedy this, I have filed a Home Rule Petition, co-sponsored by Councilor Mike Ross that would allow the City of Boston to regulate commercial trash pick up times.  

On February 27, 2012, beginning at 5:30 PM, there will be a Boston City Council hearing on this matter. I hope that you will be able to attend the hearing to support our legislation.  The details are below and if you have any questions, please contact Joy DePina at 617-635-4205 or at joy.depina@cityofboston.gov.

What:    Commercial Trash Pick Up Hearing
When:   Monday, February 27th at 5:30PM 

Where:  Boston City Hall

5th Floor, Iannella Chamber 

Sincerely,

Felix G. Arroyo
Boston City Councilor At-Large
One City Hall Square, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02201
617-635-4205Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov

Deadline to register for primaries

A reminder that Feb 15th is the last day to register to vote if you would like to take part in the March 6th presidential primaries.   For more information, see http://www.cityofboston.gov/elections/

New Rendering for The Chevron

For those who were at this past Wednesday's ESNA meeting.   The developers of the new building at the corner of Dwight and Tremont have issued a new building rendering, showing a limestone color warmer than shown on some of the renderings presented at the meeting

The new picture can be found on this Boston Globe article.

Street Cleaning - Continuing updates

Hi everyone.   2012 is flying by, and March 1 will be here before you know it, bringing with it street cleaning changes.   As a reminder:

• Street cleaning now runs March 1 - December 31
• Towing begins March 1 this year - no 'grace period'
• Street cleaning is postponed if there is snow on the ground, or torrential rain
• The city's No-Tow web site will list when street cleaning is suspended, as well as let you look up sweeping for particular locations (and register for alerts)

The city should be delivering a generic 'street sweeping changes' flier to everyone's door around mid-February.  They will also be putting a paid advertisement in the South End news, and putting fliers on all cars at the end of February.

The city gave me some street-specific fliers.   If anyone would like to door-to-door flier a single ESNA street, please contact me and I'll get you the fliers.

I've also updated the Eight Streets Street Sweeping page with the new dates and times.  Please note there are a few hiccups.   Bond and PA705 were missing form the city's list, so I'm making sure they are updated.   They city also posted the wrong Shawmut street dates, so I'm waiting for an update on that as well.  Tremont and Washington st will not be changing sweeping dates or times.

Neighborhood Restaurant News

South End patch points us to the bosguy blog, with some local restaurant news/rumors...