THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021 FREE charlestown PATRIOT-BRIDGE ST. FRANCIS CHURCH CONFIRMATION Bunker Hill or Bust! With no Parade or Bunker Hill activities again, time to improvise By Seth Daniel all such activities have unthinkably been cancelled because of COVID- A large group of volunteers and 19. neighborhood leaders have mobi- A number of community lead- lized to put together an impro- ers reported they are in the process vised celebration for the Battle of of planning a fun day of events on Bunker Hill Day and the normal the Training Field and a large car celebrations that lead up to that parade through the Town as well sacred day on the Charlestown – a way of marking the occasion calendar – as for the second year (BUNKER HILL Pg. 7) Unexpected Memorial Day wreaths find a place in remembering By Seth Daniel COVID restrictions, the beginning of summer and the entry of much Sean Boyle said he just wanted better weather. to do something to help remem- After a call to the Charlestown bering fallen soldiers amidst all the celebration of the lifting of (WREATHS Pg. 3) Photo by Rob Marcella Aidan Boucher and family with Fr. Brian McHugh during the May 23 Sacrament of Confirmation given at St. Francis Church to Parish 10th and 11th grade students. Father Daniel Mahoney and Father Philip Parent celebrated the Mass for 19 young people who received the Sacrament of Confirmation. See Pages 8 and 9 for more photos. CNC backs Preservation Society’s work with Charlestown Working Theatre By Seth Daniel money for community projects up so we make sure money comes came to Charlestown. At that back to Charlestown. We’re offer- The Charlestown Neigh- point, CPS and other partners ing our full services to commu- borhood Council (CNC) backed began working together to coor- nity organizations. If anyone can a plan by the Charlestown dinate and line-up projects so they think of a project that could use Preservation Society (CPS) to work were ready and able to get grant help, let us know, even if it’s just exclusively with the Charlestown money – with about $28 million with seed money or consulting. Working Theatre to try to secure available citywide each year. We are already working with the a Community Preservation Act In helping to consult and pro- Charlestown Working Theatre for (CPA) grant for the theatre’s vide seed money, the CPS has next year’s round.” Bunker Hill Street building. been able to help Memorial Hall, The Working Theatre has The CNC met Tuesday night in the Peace Park and the Kennedy focused heavily on programming an online and in-person meeting Center in recent rounds to get for adults and children for 40 and heard a presentation from the substantial funding for their com- years, and have been able to make CPS about their recent activities. munity projects. improvements to the inside per- One of the most pressing issues Zettel said they have formu- forming spaces at the building. was getting support for an effort lated a strategy to back one large However, Zettel said the the- to work with the theatre on get- project to make sure Charlestown atre needs help working on the ting a CPA grant to rehabilitate gets its share of the funding, and outside of the building. She said the exterior of their building. has good projects with community the brickwork needs repointing CPS President Amanda Zettel support in the pipeline for every and the masonry is crumbling said the CPA has been a little bit CPA funding round. – as well as invasive vegetation Sean Boyle, of Baby Boyle Bouquets, partnered with the Veterans of an unknown for Charlestown, “Overall we’ve probably that is ingrained in the façade. groups in the Town to augment their pole decorating efforts by as the first year of the process received $1.6 million in total,” Meanwhile, the roof also needs placing traditional Memorial Day wreaths at all the monuments in there were no applications from Zettel said. “It’s very important Charlestown. It was a quiet effort, but one that has gotten a lot of loud the Town and, thus, none of the for us to have these projects lined (CNC Pg. 7) applause in the days after Memorial Day. PAGE 2 THE CHARLESTOWN PATRIOT-BRIDGE JUNE 3, 2021 editorial LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2021 THANK YOU, OLD have showers. As a solution, we offerings. CHARLESTOWN designed a fixture easily installed COVID has made us acutely Graduation Day is one of the few occasions that brings a smile to in tub corners — filling this need aware of the need for recreational the faces of everyone in a community, regardless of whether they have a SCHOOLBOYS was greatly appreciated by the resi- open space. High levels of asthma personal connection to a graduate. It is an occasion when all of us share To the Editor, dents who called it “Shower Tower in Charlestown residents makes Power” (in true 60s style)! in the joy -- and pride -- that graduation day marks in the lives of our I would like to thank the us value the greenspace to breathe Another Housing need was, and young people. For older folks, graduation day recalls a time when we Old Charlestown Schoolboys clean air. Numerous studies prove still is, recreation and open space. inadequate greenspace is a social too, were young and our entire future lay in front of us. Association for selecting me as the recipient of The Robert Flynn and Some of the Boston housing proj- and environmental injustice that Graduation day marks a bittersweet moment for parents, friends, The Majestic Knights Scholarships. ects had some open space, some burdens affordable housing resi- family, and teachers, as well for the grads themselves. As befits every I will be entering Bridgewater State even had trees. When surveying dents. turning point in our lives, it is a time of mixed emotions of joy, sadness, University in the Fall and this Bunker Hill Housing, I remem- In Boston, 20% of all housing and reflection. Although the graduates and those close to them are look- award will assist in my education ber the sense that the sea was units are income-restricted. The ing forward to the exciting future that lies before them, they also will be toward a Criminal Justice degree. so near by, but the U. S. Navy Report from the City of Boston on looking back on the passing of their carefree youth and the experiences With much gratitude, Yard waterfront was not available Income-Restricted Housing (2019) that have shaped their lives to this point. Eoin G. Donovan to the public in the early 1970s. shows that of Housing Units that The young women and men who will be receiving their diplomas no Today, there is still the need for are Income-restricted, the neigh- open space, but TODAY there is a longer are considered “youths” in the eyes of the world. They are full- THANK YOU, OLD borhoods with the highest percent- fledged adults who have been deemed ready to assume all of the rights unique opportunity for all the pub- age include Charlestown at 3rd -- and responsibilities -- that adulthood implies. CHARLESTOWN lic to have real open space access to highest with 25% (and growing The graduates, most of whom have turned 18, can vote, run for SCHOOLBOYS the Charlestown Waterfront at the exponentially). Of Rental Only Head of the Boston Harbor- Pier 5. public office, enter into contracts, be tried fully as adults in the criminal To the Editor, Properties, where Boston has 27% The recent Superior Court justice system, and fight and die for their country. I would like to express my appre- of all rental units being income-re- decision on the Conservation For the parents of the grads, watching their “little boy or girl” pro- ciation to the Old Charlestown stricted, Charlestown has 42% Law Foundation (CLF) lawsuit Schoolboys Association income restricted. That includes ceed to the podium to receive his or her diploma will be a poignant has brought to light how ille- Scholarship Committee and Bunker Hill Housing where the moment. No doubt every parent will be thinking of the sentiments gal approvals of the Municipal Members for awarding me the BPDA is now trying to remove 340 expressed in the song, Sunrise, Sunset, from Fiddler On The Roof: Harbor Plan (MHP) process (and Joseph Gill Scholarship. As I beautiful mature trees from their in Charlestown the manipulation begin my studies at Connecticut open space. Charlestown, per- Is this the little girl I carried? of an obsolete and expired Navy College this Fall, I will always haps more than any other Boston Is this the little boy at play? Yard MHP) was used by the BRA/ remember my “Townie” roots and Harbor area, needs and deserves I don’t remember growing older BPDA to block the promise of appreciate your generous support the Public Asset that is Waterfront When - did - they? Chapter 91 and the Big Dig to of my educational pursuits. Access. “provide public access to the sea”. When did she get to be a beauty? Edward Pistorino We also need Climate Justice With public access blocked, When did he grow to be so tall? with responsible solutions to these improper BRA/BPDA plan- Wasn’t it yesterday when they - were - small? achieve resilient open space, envi- WATERFRONT ACCESS ning techniques were then used ronmental education and the to give that waterfront access, Although economists these days tell us that the value of a high school AS A PUBLIC ASSET chance to enjoy the Harbor now instead, to powerful developers for diploma is not what it was a generation or more ago, the graduates = SOCIAL JUSTICE access to only a very few residents.