Feb. 20 -25, 2020 9:40 P.M
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Dorchester Reporter “The News and Values Around the Neighborhood” Volume 37 Issue 8 Thursday, February 20, 2020 50¢ Judge strikes down verdicts against two former Walsh aides No quid pro quo, he says BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER ASSOCIATED PRESS A federal judge last week tossed aside the convic- tions of two former aides of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh who were charged with bullying music festival organizers into hiring union workers. Kenneth Brissette, the city’s former director of tourism, and Timothy Sullivan, who was chief of intergovernmental affairs, were convicted in fed- eral court last in August of conspiring to extort the organizers of the Boston Calling music festival by withholding city permits. US District Judge Leo Sorokin said that he was overturning the jury’s guilty verdict because the government failed to prove the existence of a quid pro quo. “Neither Brissette nor Sullivan received a personal payoff or any other cognizable benefit in connection with the charged conduct,” Sorokin wrote in his ruling. Lawyers for the men applauded the decision and said their clients are “extremely gratified to have SMILES ALL AROUND FOR TET been acquitted.” US Senator Edward Markey and Mayor Martin Walsh were among those entertained by a traditional “Today’s ruling is consistent with our arguments dragon dance on Sunday during the annual Tet in Boston Lunar New Year celebration at Boston College that the evidence in this case did not support the High School on Morrissey Boulevard. Photo by Jeremiah Robinson/Mayor Walsh’s office charges brought against them. Simply stated, Mr. Brissette and Mr. Sullivan did nothing that was wrongful,” Bill Kettlewell and Sara Silva, who rep- Is a booming economy making our city resented Brissette, said in a statement. (Continued on page 16) better, or worse? Truth lies in between Cannabis test lab BY ANDREA CAMPBELL owning our home, but it When I was growing up in the South End and would also prevent us Roxbury in the 1990s, my family (and most of the from being displaced by backers eye edging families around us) lived in affordable housing run rising rents, as so many by the Tenants’ Develop- of our neighbors were. Commentary As I got older and out ‘black market’ ment Corporation — first “There have already entered high school, BY KATIE TROJANO behind Rosie’s Place, then been four deaths in Mas- across from the Piano Craft Building on Tremont I came to understand REPORTER STAFF Safety is the priority sachusetts alone due to Street. Our neighborhood was almost exclusively a different side of my for the proponents of a vaping of THC [the main black, and almost exclusively low-income. neighborhood’s chang- cannabis testing lab that psychoactive compound The South End back then was segregated by block; ing demographics. I could occupy the top floor in marijuana] products, as you walked toward downtown, black faces were often went to a local cafe of a three-story building and those are things replaced by Latino faces, and then Asian faces. These after school to do my at Freeport St., the chief that could have easily groups largely didn’t engage with one another. homework. I would sit executive of the company been mitigated through Change came to the South End slowly at first, for hours on end observ- told members of the Co- several testing prac- then accelerated over time. As wealthier residents ing the melting pot that Councillor Campbell lumbia-Savin Hill Civic tices,” said Dimitrios began to buy the brownstones around us, my twin my neighborhood had Association’s Planning Pelekoud, the CEO and brother and I suddenly had more customers for our become. Lebanese families sat next to young gay Committee last Tuesday co-founder of Assured fledgling dog-walking and snow-shoveling busi- couples, drinking coffee. A group of Latino young while noting that he and Testing Laboratories. nesses. At home, we heard our dad talk about how men from Villa Victoria waited in line in front of a his backers want to get “Those were products much he wished he could buy our house. Eventually, couple of white empty-nesters. All were sharing the harmful cannabis prod- that went untested and I realized what he meant: not only would it mean (Continued on page 9) ucts off the street. (Continued on page 16) Ruby Chan’s FreshZen pesto making a mark BY DANIEL SHEEHAN struggled to find work popular ginger scallion didn’t have that vision REPORTER STAFF without American de- sauce was available for to be able to scale some- Growing up in New grees, so they opened up purchase. Sensing an op- thing to that size,” she ex- York City’s Chinatown, a Chinese restaurant. portunity, she urged her plained in an interview Ruby Chan experienced As a kid, she would father to start building with the Reporter. “All a childhood similar help out at the restau- his own business around he knew was putting his to that of many first- rant, sweeping floors and the product, an idea he head down and working All contents Ruby Chan grew her washing dishes. Often, dismissed without much hard and being able to © 2020 pesto business out of generation immigrants. Her parents, who had customers would come thought. pay the next day’s bills.” Boston Neighborhood Dot’s Commonwealth News, Inc. Kitchen. been engineers in China, in and ask if her father’s “As an immigrant, he (Continued on page 15) 1100 Washington Street Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare - Dorchester Dorchester, MA Now Accepting New Patients Deviney Chaponis, MD Ronald Gomes, MD Appointments 617-696-3800 bidmc.org/pcpdorchester Family Practice Internal Medicine Page 2 THE REPORTER February 20, 2020 dotnews.com DOT BY THE DAY Police & Courts ID sought – Around Feb. 20 -25, 2020 9:40 p.m. on Saturday, a A snapshot look at key upcoming events in and man was found lying in around the neighborhood for your weekly planner. the middle of the road outside 12 Colorado St. in Thursday (20th) – Children’s Winter Festival on Mattapan with a gunshot Boston Common from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored wound, according to Bos- by Mayor Walsh and the Highland Foundation. ton Police. He was taken Attractions will include the 45-foot-long Toboggan to a local hospital, where Tunnel mountainous adventure with twin roller he was pronounced dead. lanes, the Snow Mazing maze, the Snowzilla Jr. Anybody with informa- inflatable winter-themed slide, a ride on the three- tion can contact homicide car Trackless Train, and hands-on games including detectives at 617-343- Giant Connect4, Baggo, Giant Horseshoes, Inflatable 4470 or the anonymous Skee Ball, and much more. In addition, Disney is tip line by calling 800- celebrating the release of FROZEN 2 available on 494-TIPS or by texting Digital February 11 and Blu-ray™ February 25 with An architectural rendering of the River Street apartments. TIP to CRIME (27463). free giveaways and a chance to win a copy of the J. Garland Enterprises drawing ••• movie For more information, please call the Boston The 21-year-old man Parks and Recreation Department at 617-635-4505 Senior housing complex on who was shot to death or visit cityofboston.gov/parks. on Feb. 5 on Magnolia Friday (21st) – Neighborhood Children’s Theatre Street has been identi- presents “The Sound of Music” at 1p.m. and 7 p.m. River Street wins BPDA OK fied as Admilson Ribiero at St. John Paul II Catholic Academy, 239 Neponset A proposal for a new single and two-person garden, along with 12 of Dorchester. He was Ave., Dorchester All tickets: $5. 3-story, 30-unit apart- elderly households ages on-site parking spaces for found near 149 Magnolia Saturday (22nd) – Join storyteller Valerie Ste- ment building on River 62 and older, according to residents, visitors, and St. around 6:30 p.m. that phens for a special Black History Month program Street won approval from the BPDA, which hailed management staff. day suffering from gun- featuring cross-cultural folk tales at the Fields Corner the Boston Planning and the project as “consistent The proponents of the shot wounds. No arrests BPL branch, 1520 Dorchester Ave., 10 a.m. Development Agency last with the goals outlined project are the Planning have been reported and • Franklin Park Winter Festival will be held from Thursday. The income- in PLAN: Mattapan, Office for Urban Af- police have asked any- 10:30a.m. - 1:30p.m. at the Franklin Park Clubhouse, restricted rental units including supporting fairs— an affiliate of the one with information to 1 Circuit Dr., Dorchester. Enjoy a cozy day of games, for senior citizens will inclusive and equitable archdiocese of Boston— contact detectives. crafts, nature walks, hot cocoa, and more. If snow is be built on what is now development with an and Mattapan-based ••• on the ground, get ready for sledding and snowman vacant, city-owned land emphasis on affordable Caribbean Integration Boston Police have building. This is a free family event open to the public. at 150 River St, which housing opportunities.” Community Develop- named the man shot All ages are welcome. has been empty since The 42,140-square foot ment. The estimated cost and wounded by a BPD Monday (24th) – Early voting for the state’s the demolition of a closed building will also feature of the new construction is officer last week in Fields presidential primary begins today at Boston City nursing home in 2013. a community room and a $12.4 million. Corner during an alter- Hall and continues through Feb. 28 at City Hall and The units are sized for publicly accessible shade – BILL FORRY cation in which another select locations.