CSHCA Meeting Minutes – February 6, 2023

President: Elizabeth Doyle
Vice President: Eileen Boyle
Minutes: Doreen Miller
Special Guests: Nick Carreira, Walgreens District Manager; Theresa Texeira, BCCE Program Manager
Number in attendance: 47

Police Report (Officer Keamy)

  • 1/12, 6:37 AM, Breaking and Entering at 227 Savin Hill Avenue. 31-year-old black male entered apartment, woke the woman. He apologized for waking her as he just wanted to rob the apartment. He took a knife from the kitchen, stabbed her couch, then fled. He was wearing an orange coat with fur trim and fled on a blue bike. He was caught but not before slashing the tires of a Honda. He was arrested on 2 counts of Breaking and Entering as he has broken into the house next door as well. He was also charged with willful and malicious destruction of property. It is suspected he suffers from mental health issues. One member claims he is the same person who was going door to door over the holidays asking for donations.
  • 1/23, 12:30 PM, 21 Carson Street. Police were called by the landlord to do a wellness check on his tenant, who it turned out was in the hospital. A stranger answered the door. He had 2 warrants out for his arrest in Waltham. Discovered were 2 bags of cocaine, and a bag of 869 pills, along with a firearm. He was allegedly an acquaintance of the tenant. He was arrested.
  • 1/31, 1:30 AM, the corner of Dorchester Ave and Columbia Road. A minivan with a trailer and no plates was pulled over. The woman and her two young daughters had fled an abusive husband in Iowa. The policemen paid for their overnight stay at the Comfort Inn along with a meal until shelters opened.
  • 2/4, 8:12 AM, 110 Savin Hill Avenue. Breaking and Entering at The Daily. The male intruder left a mess! He forced his way through a rear door, ate candy, drank wine, fell asleep, urinated in trash cans, and vomited in several places before leaving.
  • Question from the membership
    • There was a concern about using the blue mailboxes as people have heard that mail carriers have been held up and their box keys stolen. The car used to rob a mail carrier in the suburbs was later found in the Franklin Field projects. It is recommended to take any mail with checks directly to the local post office.

Dorchester Bay City is holding a special meeting via Zoom this Wednesday, 2/8, at 7 PM. The link can be found on the CSHCA Calendar. All questions regarding the project are welcome.  They will be looking for a vote in the near future.

The Situation at Walgreens

  • Dianne Lescinskas, co-chair of the Safety Committee,  gave a brief update on the history of the on-going problems there.
  • Nick Carriera, Walgreens District Manager addressed the issues.
    • He apologized for the lack of response from Walgreens.
    • He claims a 3rd party vendor picks up around the store M-F, and that trash piles up on weekends. He will have the in-store team responsible for picking up on weekends until a secondary vendor is hired to clean on weekends. He also claims that the dumpster is padlocked.
      • A neighbor says that she sees the same trash day after day, and that their vendor is not doing their job.
      • She added that the dumpster was in fact no padlocked, and that sidewalks go unshoveled after snowstorms, creating a dangerous situation for pedestrians.
      • Members would like to see the back lot secured and fenced off. Nick said he would present that idea to management.
    • Nick wants to set up a single point of contact to streamline communications.
      • Heather Harris is willing to be that point person but would like two others to be included on any email communication. Nick said he would send Heather the contact information of the managers there.
      • Others to include on any communications include Julie Ryan from Frank Baker’s office, and possibly one of the chairs from the Safety Committee.
      • It was suggested that ALTO be included, which is possible, but not all issues pertain to them.
    • He hopes to set ups a 3rd party company to act as a liaison, including litigation, with the Boston Police Department. A member pointed out that Walgreens needs to initiate calls to the BPD as they are private property.
    • There is new leadership at the store, and Nick promises to check in there weekly.
    • He said he would attend the next Safety Committee Meeting on Feb. 21 to further address the issues.

Eileen Boyle has coordinated a walking tour meeting with Inspectional Services and Environmental Services to hear our concerns and provide solutions regarding trash and empty buildings on Dorchester Ave. She will push for the addition of more trees along the avenue. The group will gather on Monday, February 13th at 1:00 at the corner of Belfort Street and Dorchester Ave. All are welcome.

Trash on our Streets

  • Kudos to Joanne for cleaning the streets on her own.
  • The city needs to send a message to business owners that they are responsible for cleaning outside their properties.
  • We would like to see Code Enforcement do their jobs in handing out fines. Julie Ryan will check into this.
  • Perhaps the Beautification Committee can host a contest with a prize for the cleanest and most aesthetic business property.

Boston Community Choice Electricity (BCCE) (Theresa Texiera, program manager)

  • Theresa Texiera presented and described the program.
  • The program has been in force for the past 2 years.
  • Boston, the largest in New England having 330,000 accounts, is the middle-man to negotiate lower electric rates.
  • People can join and leave at will with no fees or penalties. Some may have a supplier block on their account, which they need to remove before enrolling.
  • Eversource handles all problems and issues. Bills still come from Eversource with the supplier clearly listed.
  • One slide comparison showed significant savings over the past year although savings are not guaranteed.
  • She says that it is worth it for people who have solar panels to enroll.
  • The current contract with Constellation runs until December 2023. A new round of bidding will commence in the next few months.
  • For more information
    • Schedule a 15-minute Q&A: Calendly.com/bcce for Zoom, google meets or phone.         

The “Cocoa with the Councilor” with at-Large City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune at the Honeycomb Cafe, 107-109 Savin Hill Ave on Tuesday at 9AM has been cancelled due to illness.

Committee Reports

  • Events Committee (Heidi Moesinger)
    • Heidi presented the survey to gather more information about the wishes of the community in planning events.
    •  The link for the survey was put in the chat and will be sent out via the general membership email and posted on the CSHCA website and Facebook site. People can fill it out at their leisure.
    • Please consider joining the committee.
  • Safety Committee (Dianne Lescinskas)
    • The chairs will follow up with Walgreens and invite Nick to the next meeting on 2/21.
    • Dianne gave updates from Rep. Dan Hunt on the bridge work at Savin Hill Station.
      • Two major support beams are compromised and need to be replaced.
      • Work is currently out to bid and should be completed into the spring.
      • A request has been made to open up the barrier across from the station to allow people to cross over directly at the station.
      • Various safety concerns were presented at the January meeting. Rep. Dan Hunt will provide updates as he gets them.
  • Community Benefits Committee (Don Walsh)
    • Don provided the backdrop of all the development slated for our area.
    • We continue to push for comprehensive planning between the city and state.
    • Center Court has promised $750,000 to CSHCA with no strings attached. How do we want to use it?
    • The next meeting is Thursday, 2/16, 7 PM at the Savin Hill Yacht Club on Morrissey. If you cannot attend, you can email ideas and suggestions to Don Walsh. 

Update on Meeting with Arthur Jemison, BPDA director (Bill Walczak)

  • Jemison has been appointed to run and reform the BPDA.
  • He is interested in hearing from community members as well as developers.
  • The CSHCA’s number one concern is the lack of comprehensive planning and the increased density in project proposals.
  • Mayor Wu proposed changes to the BPDA last week to abolish the current BPDA and replace it with a new BPDA with a focus on
    • Climate resiliency
    • Affordability
    • Equity
  • Any changes to the BPDA needs to be
    • Approved by the City Council
    • Voted on by the state legislature
    • Signed by the governor
  • Wu is looking to reform the zoning code to include collaboration with the community because the current code is outdated and results in deals being made at the ZBA. Wu would like to prioritize community engagement in planning to benefit neighborhoods.
  • We need to stand firm in our request for comprehensive planning and create a vision for future development in our neighborhood.
  • As more and more commercial buildings in downtown Boston are being converted to residential housing, will we end up with overdevelopment and empty housing units in our neighborhoods?
  • Mayor Wu would like to increase the population in Boston to 1950 levels, or around 800,000 people. The demographics today, however, are much different with significantly smaller families leading to a need for increased building density. Is such a goal feasible or practical?
  • The state government right now is flush with cash and needs to fund and pay for upgrades to Morrissey Boulevard and K-Circle.

Beautification Committee (Elizabeth Doyle) – no updates

Planning Committee (Kristine Hoag)

  • The agenda for the 2/14 planning committee will be send out shortly
  • Kristine created a spreadsheet to look at consistency in voting between the planning committee members and the general membership. For the most part, it is fairly consistent with a few exceptions. If you wish to see the spreadsheet, contact Kristine.
  • Paula Deveraux and Michael Hoyle gave a brief presentation on the plans for the new BC High Wellness Center. Plans were attached to the agenda that was sent out.
  • In short, the new building will wrap around the current gym. It will include a swimming pool, weight room, and classroom with cooking facilities. Three trees along the border of the Martin Richard Dorchester Field House property need to be taken down as they are not healthy. Trees will be added to the parking area. There will be a total loss of 7 parking spots.
  • Once the programming and scheduling is set, they will entertain the idea of having the new facilities open to the community.
  • The CSHCA membership voted unanimously to support the BC High project as follows:
    • For: 17
    • Opposed: 0

Upcoming CSHCA Elections

  • According to the By-Laws we need to form an elections committee in March. If you are interested in being on this committee, email Elizabeth Doyle.
  • Note that if you are on the elections committee, you cannot run for any office.

Next month’s meeting will be hybrid on Zoom and at the Boston Collegiate: Monday, 3/6/23, 7 PM.

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