JUNE 4, 2020 PUBLISHED EVERY OTHER THURSDAY TT HEHE NN OROR TT HH EE NN DD EMAIL: [email protected] WWW.NORTHENDREGIONALREVIEW.COM [email protected] RR EGIOEGIO NN AA LL RR EVIEWEVIEW Baker recently tours MBTA Blue Line work North End restaurant owners By John Lynds await city guidance for reopening Last week Governor Charlie By John Lynds Baker used the Maverick MBTA Dozens of restaurants line the station as the backdrop to his dai- North End’s Hanover Street and ly Covid-19 press briefing and to many are tucked down the neigh- highlight the accelerated infra- borhood’s side streets and survive structure work on the Blue Line on the bustling foot traffic as that wrapped up Sunday. tourists descend on Boston in the Baker was joined by Transpor- summer months. tation Secretary and CEO Steph- As the state released its Phase II anie Pollack, General Manager guidelines for restaurants to start Steve Poftak, and other officials reopening on May 29, owners Photo courtesy of Depasquale Ventures and toured the Blue Line work. of restaurants here are anxiously Frank Depasquale, president of The project began on May 18 awaiting further instructions from Depasquale Ventures. and the MBTA fully closed down Gov. Charlie Baker, joined by Sen. Joseph Boncore, City Councilor Lydia Edwards and Speaker Robert DeLeo, talks with MBTA workers. the City of Boston on how they the Blue Line from Airport to can safely reopen. staffers, Walsh is still ironing out Bowdoin stations for 14 days and Because Boston has been a how to safely implement any ran shuttle busses instead of train ing over 400 cars across the Red end diversions later this year, and COVID-19 hotspot, Mayor restaurant reopenings in places service until Sunday. and Orange Lines, modernizing doing the work now allows its Martin Walsh has been cautious like the North End and further The goal was to allow for ac- stations, and upgrading track, completion at a time when both in applying the state’s phased guidelines should arrive by Friday. celerated track and infrastructure signal, and other key infrastruc- transit ridership and traffic on reopening plans to the city. For Walsh is trying to strike a bal- work to take place while rider- ture across the system,” said the roadways that shuttle buses example, during Phase I Walsh ance between the need for restau- ship and traffic is at an all time Governor Baker. “These infra- will use is much lower than it is waited until June 1 to start allow- rateurs to start earning a living low due to the COVID-19 pan- structure upgrades on the Blue likely to be by the fall due to the ing some offices and businesses to again while avoiding a resurgence demic. The work was originally Line, including important flood COVID-19 pandemic. reopen at limited capacities. or ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 in going to be spread out over a resilience work within the harbor “This core infrastructure Blue According to administration (REStaURANTS Pg. 8) longer period of time and only on tunnel, will provide faster, more Line work is part of the Bak- weekends. reliable service for travelers and er-Polito Administration’s $8 bil- “This Blue Line work is part commuters.” lion plan to repair, upgrade, and Lack of candidates of our administration’s plan to This Blue Line work was pre- modernize the MBTA system, to invest $8 billion in a safer and viously scheduled to be accom- ensure safe and reliable service,” more reliable MBTA by replac- plished through a series of week- (MBTA Pg. 6) cancel NEWNC election By Phil Orlandella “NEWNC waited as long as possible before canceling the elec- North End/West End City Liaison hired It didn’t come as a surprise tion,” President Brett Roman stat- that there wouldn’t be enough (7) ed. By Phil Orlandella University of Massachusetts Lowell with a Bachelor’s Degree candidates to make a competi- NEWNC apparently did every- Former North End resident (BA) and Mathematics and Higher tive contest for the yearly North thing possible to conduct a public John Romano appears to have all Education Administration gradu- End/Waterfront Neighborhood community election to no avail. the tools and energy to become an ate and in 2016 and 2018. Council (NEWNC) election. Another obstacle was the avail- asset to the 3 neighborhoods he The 25-year-old told the For the past three years the ability of the Nazzaro Community will represent as the new liaison Review he is, “Passionate about same situation has occurred and Center, NEWNC’s usual polling for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. community engagement and can’t every candidate that filed nomi- site, is closed and there was no John’s turf will cover the North wait to attend neighborhood nation papers with 40 signatures word from the city when and if End, Waterfront and West End meetings to introduce himself and from Ward III, Precincts 1, 2, 3 it would be open in time for a replacing Maria Lanza. work with residents, organizations and 4 were automatically placed September 19 election. If the name sounds for me year, and the business community once on the Council for two-year terms. The candidates that did take the it should, he is the son of com- things begin to reopen.” One reason for the lack of time to secure the necessary signa- munity activist John and Patricia John Romano. Currently, John is sending out candidates was attempting to get tures to become Council members Romano who are very active emails on the status of the virus as the signatures during the stay by default are: Marie Simboli, Joel and NEAD, NEAA, Nazzaro when he was younger, volunteer- it affects the neighborhood in gen- home suggestions and the closure Faller, Rory Harrington, Kevin Community Center and other ing with North End Against Drugs eral, as well as general community of many neighborhood organiza- Drew and Kevin Fleming. organization. (NEAD) of which his father is news. tions, making it a real challenge to NEWNC has elected officers The new liaison has been President. John can be reached at 617- secure the proper signatures. and committee chair. extremely active in the community He is a graduate of the 635-4987. Visit www.northendregional.com Email [email protected] or [email protected] or call 781-485-0588 for your Regional Review information 2 PAGE 2 REGIONAL REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 ‘Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’ BILL OF RIGHTS, Amendment I MOST OF THE PROTESTERSForum ARE NOT LOOTERS Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The vast majority of Americans have been sickened by the horrific video of a white Minneapolis police officer slowly and agonizingly chok- ing to death a 46 year-old African-American man, George Floyd. Mr. Floyd had not committed any act of violence prior to being arrested and was lying prone on his stomach, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, as the officer applied pressure with his knee and the full force of his body weight to Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 53 seconds. The murder of Mr. Floyd while in police custody was the culmination of a series of high-profile, race-related incidents in recent weeks that have highlighted the racism that is inherent in our society and that have spurred the protests for the past week in major cities across the country. What has been striking about the protest movement is that the protesters in every city have been representative of all races and nation- alities, similar to the peaceful protest marches and the Freedom Rider movement in the 1960s that were led by Dr. Martin Luther King and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement at that time. Unfortunately, there always are a few people who will seek to profit GUEST OP-ED from any situation. Those who have been vandalizing property and who have been ransacking high-end retailers, as occurred Sunday night along Newbury St. and in downtown Boston, are professional criminals with lengthy records who have jumped on the protest bandwagon, so The May 31 protests in the City of Boston to speak, solely in order to take advantage of the diversion of the police Medical Services, and other first and as neighbors, we must choose created by the peaceful and legitimate protesters. By Councilor Michael Flaherty responders who worked hard all how we move forward. The path However, the criminal behavior by a small minority of professional On Monday morning night to protect our City and it’s forward may not be clear yet, but criminals amidst the protesters should not be a basis, either for aver- Bostonians woke up to a City residents. I pray for anyone injured I do know that we need to walk age Americans or for our political leaders, to fail to acknowledge two destroyed by the actions of those last night protecting our City. it together. As an elected official, important aspects of the current protest movement: who took over and desecrated an To the thousands who partici- I am committed to bringing gov- First, that every American has a right of free assembly and second, otherwise peaceful and meaning- pated in the initial peaceful march ernment, community, law enforce- that our nation must address the rampant racism that exists at every ful protest with acts of violence honoring the legacy of Mr.