Beacon Hill
Hearing On Senator Tarr's Immigration Bill Postponed
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- Last month, state lawmakers postponed a hearing on an immigration bill that would create a 24-hour hotline to report unlawful employment of illegal immigrants and violations of state fair wage laws.
The Act to Promote Fair Employment and Security would also penalize the use of false identification to obtain employment. Violators of this clause would be subject to a $5,000 fine and up to five years imprisonment. Sen. Bruce E. Tarr (R-Gloucester) is the bill's lead sponsor.
Officials at the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Coalition opposed the bill, calling it anti-immigrant.
"We are not supportive of Senate bill 1010, because we think it will have a negative effect on the immigrant community," said Carly Burton, a spokeswoman for the coalition. "It will also undermine public safety, hurt workers and lead to discrimination and racial profiling."
Co-sponsored by Senators Richard R. Tisei (R-Wakefield), Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield) and Robert L. Hedlund (R-Weymouth), the bill would also increase penalties for people who mass produce fake identification cards or documents and would require contractors to verify the Social Security numbers of their employees.
A similar bill was filed late in 2006. In 2007, Tarr sponsored an amendment to the budget that would have established the 24-hour hotline.
Tarr's amendment to the 2007 budget and his bill includes a clause that authorizes and directs the Attorney General to collaborate with the US Attorney General to enforce federal immigration laws.
"This would significantly hurt the Attorney General's credibility in immigrant communities and would strongly deter all immigrant workers, including those with legal work authorization, from filing complaints - taking the heat off employers engaged in criminal violations of the commonwealth's wage and hour laws," the coalition said in a fact sheet for the 2007 budget amendment.
The coalition also said the bill would undermine the Attorney General's ability to enforce wage and hour laws, create an easily abused system, expose employers to negative publicity and open the hotline to anonymous and unsubstantiated calls.
"My bill would level the playing field and make things fair for every employee and employer who follows the rules," Tarr said.
BEACON HILL -- Last month, state lawmakers postponed a hearing on an immigration bill that would create a 24-hour hotline to report unlawful employment of illegal immigrants and violations of state fair wage laws.
The Act to Promote Fair Employment and Security would also penalize the use of false identification to obtain employment. Violators of this clause would be subject to a $5,000 fine and up to five years imprisonment. Sen. Bruce E. Tarr (R-Gloucester) is the bill's lead sponsor.
Officials at the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Coalition opposed the bill, calling it anti-immigrant.
"We are not supportive of Senate bill 1010, because we think it will have a negative effect on the immigrant community," said Carly Burton, a spokeswoman for the coalition. "It will also undermine public safety, hurt workers and lead to discrimination and racial profiling."
Co-sponsored by Senators Richard R. Tisei (R-Wakefield), Michael R. Knapik (R-Westfield) and Robert L. Hedlund (R-Weymouth), the bill would also increase penalties for people who mass produce fake identification cards or documents and would require contractors to verify the Social Security numbers of their employees.
A similar bill was filed late in 2006. In 2007, Tarr sponsored an amendment to the budget that would have established the 24-hour hotline.
Tarr's amendment to the 2007 budget and his bill includes a clause that authorizes and directs the Attorney General to collaborate with the US Attorney General to enforce federal immigration laws.
"This would significantly hurt the Attorney General's credibility in immigrant communities and would strongly deter all immigrant workers, including those with legal work authorization, from filing complaints - taking the heat off employers engaged in criminal violations of the commonwealth's wage and hour laws," the coalition said in a fact sheet for the 2007 budget amendment.
The coalition also said the bill would undermine the Attorney General's ability to enforce wage and hour laws, create an easily abused system, expose employers to negative publicity and open the hotline to anonymous and unsubstantiated calls.
"My bill would level the playing field and make things fair for every employee and employer who follows the rules," Tarr said.
Beacon Hill Businesses Struck by Rash of Shoplifters
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- As Rebecca Penner was closing Crush Boutique on Charles Street one Saturday evening last month, a chatty woman who exhibited strange behavior entered the boutique. Although Penner had her suspicions about the woman, she stayed in the front of the store to finish shutting down for the night. Suddenly, Penner heard a loud bang from the corner and the customer immediately stood up and walked away with her large Victoria's Secret tote bag.
Pursuing the woman, Penner glimpsed a navy sweatshirt in the bag. When Penner asked to look inside the bag, the woman refused. Penner threatened to call the police, so the woman reluctantly returned the sweatshirt.
After the customer had left, Penner, who is in the store everyday and has a good grasp of inventory, noticed three other items were missing; the woman had snuck out with clothes under her puffy, down coat. Later that week, shoplifters robbed Crush twice more.
"It's disconcerting because you think of Beacon Hill as a pretty safe area," Penner said. "We are hands-on with our customers, so it should be hard for them to get away with shoplifting."
Since Feb. 29, there have been eight reported incidents of shoplifting on Beacon Hill, the majority of which have been on one end of Charles Street. In one weekend, Red Wagon/Pixie Stix lost more than $3,300.
"As you can imagine, these small shops cannot stay in business long with those kinds of losses," said Donna Petro, president of the Beacon Hill Business Association. "Even worse, they often have just one or two young ladies working in the store, and they are concerned for their safety."
Last week, members of the association met with District A-1 Police Captain Bernard O'Rourke to discuss the rash of shoplifting and how the business community can combat the crime.
The association's initial reaction was to request additional police presence, Petro said. Despite the problems in the neighborhood, however, O'Rourke said police could not divert officers from Downtown Crossing and other areas in the district, where crime is higher and sometimes violent.
"So we turned our attention to how we can protect ourselves better," Petro said. "Captain O'Rourke rearranged his schedule and spent the whole hour with us at our meeting last week, answering our questions and providing valuable information on what we can do to help ourselves."
First, O'Rourke recommended that stores install visible surveillance cameras, saying shoplifters are less likely to steal if they know they are being watched. He also said engaging customers in conversation makes them aware of the merchant's presence and hesitant to shoplift.
How stores decorate their windows and the area surrounding their front door can deter shoplifters as well, O'Rourke said. Signs or items in the windows can obstruct the line of sight into and out of the store. Knowing people can see into the store can discourage shoplifters.
Raising community awareness through programs such as CitizenObservor and Crime Watch also helps prevent shoplifting. CitizenObservor is an online mailing list that emails subscribers each time an incident is reported. For Crime Watch, the business association sends an email to all businesses when a known or suspected shoplifter has been seen in the area. It only operates during the week, so the association is constructing a phone tree for the weekends.
Finally, O'Rourke and Petro stressed the importance of filing a report with police whenever an incident occurs. It helps police attain as much information as possible and compile accurate statistics that proivde them with the tools they need to help.
Petro said the businesses that came to the meeting felt good about what they learned. One merchant even told her they felt empowered.
"We've instituted some new tactics of our own," Penner said. "We are constantly circulating our store now, keeping an eye on our customers. We have to find a balance between not overwhelming them though, and protecting our store."
Boston Redevelopment Authority Reviewing Proposed Art School
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- As music blares, drunken college students stumble out of keg parties. During the day, students flood the streets, going to classes, yakking on cellphones, jaywalking through the neighborhood.
On Beacon Hill, tensions are high between residents and students, making Suffolk University's proposed master plan for campus development a controversial issue.
As part of their master plan, Suffolk University is planning to raze the current structure at 20 Somerset St. and replace it with a facility to house the university's New England School of Art and Design. the project is under review by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
University officials expect student presence on Beacon Hill to decrease, because the new building will allow the university to close classrooms on Temple and Derne streets, said Gordon B. King, Suffolk University's senior director of facilities planning and management. University officials estimate an average decrease of 786 students per day in the area and predict 364 fewer class meeting hours per week.
In February, the Beacon Hill Civic association voted to oppose the project, because of doubts that the project will have minimal, if any, effect on student presence.
When the classrooms in the Fenton Building on Derne Street close, the university plans to convert the old classrooms into faculty offices and space for other non-classroom uses.
Gerald Autler, senior project manager for the authority, said the authority reviews the institution's master plan, then the structure and design of the building, only after the master plan is approved. The project is at the stage when the authority reviews the master plan.
"What we are looking for is how this project will enhance the area around it," Autler said. "It has to be a balancing act between helping an institution [Suffolk University], who is an important source of vitality, and recognizing the impact the building's presence will have on surrounding areas.
Suffolk University officials would not say the project will decrease the overall student presence on Beacon Hill; instead, they said student presence would decrease only in specific areas such as Temple Street. Temple Street is small, narrow and residential, so diverting students to Somerset Street may change the appearance of the student presence in residential areas, Autler said.
Without a natural, continuous campus to expand onto and no land of its own, the university is limited when it comes to campus development. It owns many of its own buildings, but the buildings are part of an established neighborhood, giving the community a large stake in whether the authority approves the art school.
The project remains in a public comment period. Among letters from the public received by the authority, Autler said, is a letter of opposition from the Beacon Hill Civic Association and letters of support from businesses such as Capitol Coffee House on Bowdoin Street.
Amendment Limiting Student Occupancy Approved
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- When Alison Gilchrist, a 21-year-old Suffolk University junior and Grove Street resident, began her housing search for next school year, she sought an apartment for her and four friends. After choosing a real estate agent, debating roommates about which apartment to choose and negotiating with their parents over the phone, the five girls found an apartment on Temple Street to lease, unaware that they would be breaking the law.
On March 12, The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved an amendment that limits the number of unrelated students living together to only four, forcing Gilchrist and her friends to find a new living arrangement for next semester.
While city officials said the amendment is necessary to preserve neighborhoods, Gilchrist and other students said it places an unfair burden on them. The Small Property Owner's Association, the largest rental property owner association in Massachusetts, opposes the amendment, calling it rent control.
Prior to 2003, the city had an enforceable zoning code statute that said no more than four persons related by the second degree of kinship - brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents and children only - could live together in one unit. In the 2003 court case Sang Vo v. City of Boston, the zoning code statute was invalidated and made unenforceable by the Boston Inspectional Services Department.
Michelle Snyder, an aide to City Councilor Michael Ross (who is Beacon Hill's representative on the council), said since the 2003 court case, the city has intended to amend the language of the zoning code so the statute could be enforced again.
Ross, who proposed the amendment, said it combats the deterioration of the quality of life in neighborhoods where students predominate.
"Since the statute was invalidated in 2003, the door has effectively been open for speculative landlords to buy properties and convert spaces into bedrooms in order to put more students into units and charge higher levels of rent that are unaffordable for families or long-term residents," Snyder said.
Because property tax rates in Boston are based on the most recent sale of surrounding property, residents who bought their homes many years ago, when housing prices were less expensive, and live near a home that recently sold for about $1 million are assessed at the higher value, Snyder said.
"The effect that this has had on neighborhoods has been traumatic," Snyder said. "In the last year alone, Mission Hill has lost approximately 50 families and long-term residents who could no longer afford to live there. Our language change to the zoning code was one way to address this issue, one tool if you will, in order to preserve neighborhoods."
Other cities such as Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco have zoning codes that limit residency within apartments. In Newark, Del., Bowling Green, Ohio, and Bloomsburg, Penn., student-specific language is incorporated in their occupancy statutes.
BEACON HILL -- When Alison Gilchrist, a 21-year-old Suffolk University junior and Grove Street resident, began her housing search for next school year, she sought an apartment for her and four friends. After choosing a real estate agent, debating roommates about which apartment to choose and negotiating with their parents over the phone, the five girls found an apartment on Temple Street to lease, unaware that they would be breaking the law.
On March 12, The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved an amendment that limits the number of unrelated students living together to only four, forcing Gilchrist and her friends to find a new living arrangement for next semester.
While city officials said the amendment is necessary to preserve neighborhoods, Gilchrist and other students said it places an unfair burden on them. The Small Property Owner's Association, the largest rental property owner association in Massachusetts, opposes the amendment, calling it rent control.
Prior to 2003, the city had an enforceable zoning code statute that said no more than four persons related by the second degree of kinship - brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents and children only - could live together in one unit. In the 2003 court case Sang Vo v. City of Boston, the zoning code statute was invalidated and made unenforceable by the Boston Inspectional Services Department.
Michelle Snyder, an aide to City Councilor Michael Ross (who is Beacon Hill's representative on the council), said since the 2003 court case, the city has intended to amend the language of the zoning code so the statute could be enforced again.
Ross, who proposed the amendment, said it combats the deterioration of the quality of life in neighborhoods where students predominate.
"Since the statute was invalidated in 2003, the door has effectively been open for speculative landlords to buy properties and convert spaces into bedrooms in order to put more students into units and charge higher levels of rent that are unaffordable for families or long-term residents," Snyder said.
Because property tax rates in Boston are based on the most recent sale of surrounding property, residents who bought their homes many years ago, when housing prices were less expensive, and live near a home that recently sold for about $1 million are assessed at the higher value, Snyder said.
"The effect that this has had on neighborhoods has been traumatic," Snyder said. "In the last year alone, Mission Hill has lost approximately 50 families and long-term residents who could no longer afford to live there. Our language change to the zoning code was one way to address this issue, one tool if you will, in order to preserve neighborhoods."
Other cities such as Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco have zoning codes that limit residency within apartments. In Newark, Del., Bowling Green, Ohio, and Bloomsburg, Penn., student-specific language is incorporated in their occupancy statutes.
Year-Round Street Sweeping on Beacon Hill?
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- Last summer, the dirt began to clear. Thanks in large part to the Public Works Department's increased efforts to tow illegally parked cars, street-sweeping machines known as the Green Machine could reach the curb, sweeping more trash and debris.
Because street sweeping has improved, the Beacon Hill Civic Association has proposed a year-round street-sweeping program for all its streets.
"The Beacon Hill Civic Association is encouraging the city to investigate the possibility of year-round street sweeping on Beacon Hill," said Ross Levanto, a 32-year-old Myrtle Street resident who is also the association's vice president of neighborhood affairs.
The street-sweeping schedule varies throughout Boston. On Beacon Hill, Beacon and Charles streets are cleaned every night, all year long. Interior streets such as Chestnut, Phillips and Revere are cleaned every other week, from 8 a.m. until noon on different days, and are only cleaned from April 1 through the end of November.
Levanto, also the former chair of the association's Clean Beacon Hill Committee, said the Green Machine is as effective as 10 people and consistently reached the curb this summer because cars were not in the way as often. Trash and debris have become more apparent on the streets this winter, making year-round street sweeping more desired.
Year-round street sweeping would also help with snow removal in the winter, because snow plows will have easier access if cars are moved in compliance with street-sweeping signs, Levanto said.
Will Onuoha, City Hall's neighborhood liaison for Beacon Hill, said the Public Works Department lacks the manpower to implement year-round street sweeping, because the same people who drive the Green Machine drive snow plows and fix potholes.
"Which would take priority?" Onuoha asked. "We could hire more people, but then we would have to increase the budget, which poses the question, who would pay for it?"
The Green Machine is also ineffective in the snow, Levanto said. The Public Works Department would have to decide whether to cancel street sweeping if it snows and how it would notify residents of the cancellation.
"I want to live somewhere that has clean streets," said Andrew Birosak, a 26-year-old Myrtle Street resident. "But not being able to park where I want is a nuisance. Unless the sweeping times are convenient for us residents to find alternative parking, year-round street sweeping might be more trouble than its worth."
Policing the Boston Common Leads to Reduction in District A-1 Crime Rate
By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- During the 1630s, the Boston Common was used as a cow pasture. Today, another farm animal - horses - grazes near the Boston Common, up and down Charles Street. The horses aren't mere farm animals though; ridden by police officers, they are members of the Boston Police Department.
Many of the crimes committed in district A-1, which includes Downtown, Beacon Hill, Chinatown and Charlestown, stem from drug dealing around the Boston Common, making drug arrests a priority for police, said Sgt. Tom Lema of the Boston Police Department.
In 2007, the crime rate in District A-1 fell 9.2 percent from 2006, according to police. In Beacon Hill, crime dropped 22.8 percent, police said.
Paula O'Keeffe, chairwoman of the Beacon Hill Civic Association's safety committee, attributes the drop in crime to more police presence and increased awareness of how to prevent crime by the members of the community. Police have deployed more officers on horseback on Charles Street, cutting crime around the Common, O'Keeffe said.
"We have put up signs warning people not to leave anything in their cars," O'Keeffe said. "We have also put ads in the newspapers and have encouraged our store owners to be more aware."
A reduction in crimes such as larceny, robbery and assault reflects the decrease in the overall crime rate on Beacon Hill. The burglary rate, however, is increasing.
"On Beacon Hill, we probably have seven or eight burglaries a month," O'Keeffe said. "It just proves we can never have too many police here."
Burglaries tend to occur when students move to Beacon Hill in the fall, O'Keeffe said. They often leave their doors unlocked or unknowingly buzz criminals into their buildings, making burglary harder to prevent.
"Beacon Hill is not a violent area and crime is not very high to begin with," O'Keeffe said. "We don't expect to have a lot of crime here."
BEACON HILL -- During the 1630s, the Boston Common was used as a cow pasture. Today, another farm animal - horses - grazes near the Boston Common, up and down Charles Street. The horses aren't mere farm animals though; ridden by police officers, they are members of the Boston Police Department.
Many of the crimes committed in district A-1, which includes Downtown, Beacon Hill, Chinatown and Charlestown, stem from drug dealing around the Boston Common, making drug arrests a priority for police, said Sgt. Tom Lema of the Boston Police Department.
In 2007, the crime rate in District A-1 fell 9.2 percent from 2006, according to police. In Beacon Hill, crime dropped 22.8 percent, police said.
Paula O'Keeffe, chairwoman of the Beacon Hill Civic Association's safety committee, attributes the drop in crime to more police presence and increased awareness of how to prevent crime by the members of the community. Police have deployed more officers on horseback on Charles Street, cutting crime around the Common, O'Keeffe said.
"We have put up signs warning people not to leave anything in their cars," O'Keeffe said. "We have also put ads in the newspapers and have encouraged our store owners to be more aware."
A reduction in crimes such as larceny, robbery and assault reflects the decrease in the overall crime rate on Beacon Hill. The burglary rate, however, is increasing.
"On Beacon Hill, we probably have seven or eight burglaries a month," O'Keeffe said. "It just proves we can never have too many police here."
Burglaries tend to occur when students move to Beacon Hill in the fall, O'Keeffe said. They often leave their doors unlocked or unknowingly buzz criminals into their buildings, making burglary harder to prevent.
"Beacon Hill is not a violent area and crime is not very high to begin with," O'Keeffe said. "We don't expect to have a lot of crime here."
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