IN ARTS & MORE aCommunity Newspaper Company B www.townonline.com/allstonbrighton SEPTEMBER 21 - 27, 1999 Vol. 4, No. 23 80 Pages • Two Sections 50¢ Taxpayers fund e-mail defense Murphy sends letters to constituents at a cost of $4,380 By Linda Rosencrcmce TAB Staff Writer t-Large City Councilor Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Stephen Murphy recently A spent $4,380 of taxpayers· celebrates 25 years of miracles money to inform Boston residents that he will not release copies of his Ry Debra Goldstein More than a dozen other prema­ e-mail correspondence to the public. !'AB Staff H'riter ture and at-risk babies lay in their as reqmred by law. cah Bemis went home own bac;smets nearby. Heart, res­ This month, Murphy sent out with her motht.:r. former piratory and oxygen monitors 14,600 letters, at a cost of 30 cents Brighton resident Jody, linked their tiny bodies to glowing each, to Boston residents detailing Land her father. Jell. last green lines undulating on comput­ his "feud" with the TAB newspapers week for the first time. Light as a er monitors above their heads. over the release of his e-mail. fca\her in her mother's am1s, Leah Some of the infants had feeding Murphy contends that going pubh\; weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces. She tubes attached to them with e-mail correspondence is an was 7 weeks old and thriving. The Neonatal Int1:ns1ve Care invasion of privacy. When she was born on Aug. 1 Unit at St. Margaret's Center. a The letters were written on City at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, part of St. Elizabeth's Medical Council stationery Leah weighed 2 pounds, 13 Center, is a testament to life in the "It's a judgment call whether this ounces. Her mother had gone into face of imminent death. Doctors ?u was campaign-related or constituent labor in her 29th week of preg­ estimate more than 12,000 babies a: ~ communication, but it doesn't seem nancy. A full-term pregnancy is 40 have been cared for at the St. like a legitimate use of taxpayer weeks; Leah was born almost Margaret's NICU since it opened ~ funds," said Samuel Tyler, president three months premature. in 1974 to care for at-risk and pre­ L-~~~~~~~~~~~~~--:;._..--.--~~~~-' ~ of the Boston Municipal Research After the birth, Jody and Jeff mature babies. The facility has Bureau, a fiscal watchdog agency. touched Leail's face and looked at about 330 admissions a year. Jody Bemis roe~ and soothes her seven-week old daughter, Leah, in the Neonatal Inte~ive Care Unit at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. Robin Bavaro, a spokeswoman for their baby in the nurse's amlS. "We're now seeing the survival Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said her They could not hold her, though. of these babies down to 24 weeks percent at 25 weeks. "It wasn't until 25 or 30 years ago office had no comment because the The nurse carried Leai1 away from of gestation," said Dr. Ronald Pye, "By the time you get to 27 that technicians understood what it issue involved "council business." her parents, upstairs to the chairman of the Department of weeks, 90 percent of these babies was that these babies needed," In a telephone interview last week, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Pediatrics and chief of the now survive," said Pye. ''Ten said Pye. Once technicians began Murphy told the TAB he sent out the There, she was set in a plastic Division of Neonatology at St. years ago, 90 percent of these to understand that underdeveloped letter because he had no other means warming table and attached to a Elizabeth's. "We're now seeing babies died." lungs were a major problem for of communicating with his con­ tiny respirator. For the first day, upwards of25 percent surviving Prior to 30 years ago, neonatal premature babies, they began stituents. Leah did not breathe on her own. at 24 weeks, and upwards of 50 intensive care units did not exist. BIRTHS, page 38 E-MAIL, page 37 Is Michael Capuano leaning left? strong and voting him into the Eighth plish is stop bad things from happening. I Congressman stakes out a Congressional District seat, an office made don't mind it temporarily." liberal claim, but it may historic by Capuano's predecessors, among Key word: temporarily. Naturally, Capuano them John F. Kennedy, Thomas ''Tip" wants a Democratic majority - and plans to z not be enough to ward off O'Neill and Joe Kennedy. stick around to see it happen. ~ a re-election challenge Living up to the standards of the past, how­ But a year after beating nine other candi­ ~ ever, is a challenge, to say the least. A fresh­ dates in the Democratic primary, Capuano is z~ man Democrat in a Republican-controlled still trying to distinguish himself among 435 ~ By Ken Maguire House gets about as much accomplished as representatives in the House. So far, it's been ~ o TAB Staff Writer an eager new alderman in a city with an ide­ an adjustment switching from powerful ~ Mayor Mike Capuano got things done. alistically opposed, control-freak mayor. So mayor to anxious student. ::: Congressman Mike Capuano wants nothing what's a guy to do? "It's been frustrating because I am used to .,~ done. "Make sure Congress does nothing," getting things done, or close to done, quick­ It's an odd paradox for a man who has Capuano said of the Republican majority. "If ly," said Capuano, 47. 'The first six months, been credited with putting Somerville on the they do anything, it's going to be bad - so at it was frustrating. I still feel like I'm on a map. The city rewarded him by coming out least stop it. The best I can hope to accom- CAPUANO, page 38 Fall is for fixer-uppers Reservoir h~llside safe from development see page 28 see page 3 Page 2 The Allston-Brighton ,TAB, September 21 - 27, 1999 www.townonline.com/allstonbrighton . ' - i • TIRED OF LONG WAITSi FOR YOUR PRESCRIPTION? Visit Your Stop & Shop Pharmacy and Receive the Service You Deserve At Great Prices. low prescription prices, no long waits, the convenience of one stop shopping . • • It's that simple™ . FREE Cigarette Lighter Adapter Be Leather Case with any Sprint PCS phone purchase No Annual Contracts • It's Clearer. 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The MBTA plans to add additional trolley cars to those lines during to be inundated by peak morning and afternoon hours. On the Green Line, additional cars are planned for thousands heading for the Cleveland Circle, C branch, but not the D Brookline golf course branch. During peak hours, up to 80 MBTA buses By Debra Goldstein an hour will be driving a loop from Forest TAB Staff Writer Hill to The Country Club to Cleveland Circle. hile golfers take their first Support staff will have permits to park on swings on the Ryder Cup green Cassidy Field in Cleveland Circle and Lars W today at The Country Club of Anderson Park, Putterham Meadows Golf Brookline, spectators are pouring through Course and Allendale Farm in Brookline. Cleveland Circle and Forest Hill. Since non­ Cassidy Field will have about 630 vehicles residents of the neighborhood are not allowed parked on it, said Boston District-14 Police to drive within a one-mile radius of the event Capt. William Evans. If the weather is too itself, city officials and Ryder Cup organizers wet, though, all of those cars will be redirect­ have chosen the two urban centers as the ed to park in other satellite lots farther away. main transit points from which Massachusetts In exchange for access to parking on Bay Transportation Authority buses will shut­ Cassidy Field, the PGA Tournament tle spectators to the gala event. Association will pay to install three new Seventeen city agencies and the state police baseball diamonds in the park and repair Thousands or Ryder Cup fam will pass through Cleveland Circle this week.