VOL. 113 - NO. 22 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 29, 2009 $.30 A COPY MOUNT HOPE Join Us in Celebration of Memorial Day Services Italian Republic Day — Schedule of Events — FESTA NAZIONALE CONCERTO PER DELLA REPUBBLICA LA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA 63MO The New England ANNIVERSARIO String Ensemble Mu- Sabato, 30 Magio sic Director, Federico 10:00 – 18:00 – Cortese is pleased to Torneo di Bocce – announce the “Con- Langone Park (North certo per la Repub- End) Boston. blica”, A Concert Cel- Saturday, May 30, ebrating the Anniver- 10AM-6PM – Bocce sary of the Birth of Tournament – Langone Park (North End) the Italian Republic sponsored by the Boston. Consulate General of Italy in Boston on “La Piazza” 31 Maggio – May 31 Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 7:30pm at the Domenica, 31 Maggio, 10:00 – 17:00 – New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. ”La Piazza” Una riproduzione di una tipica The program includes: Piazza Italiana • Respighi, Antiche danze ed arie, Suite 3 • Esposizione varie, Gioce per bambini, • Boccherini, Cello Concerto No. 9 in Intrattentimento di Musica Popolare, B-flat Major, G.482 Classica & Moderna, Bar Italiano. • Puccini, I crisantemi Sunday, May 31, 10:00 – 5:00PM – “La • Mascagni, Intermezzo sinfonico from Piazza Exhibit” – A reproduction of a typical Cavalleria Rusticana Italian Piazza. • Rolla, Viola Concerto in E-flat Major, • Various Exhibits, Children’s area, Enter- Op. 3 BI 545 tainment, popular, modern and Classical • Verdi, String Quarter in E minor arranged music. for string orchestra. • Italian Café For tickets please call 781-224-1117. Spe- All above events are free to the Public. cial discount for Italian passport holders. Mayor Menino is pictured with (Seated, left to right) Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Eugene Vaillancourt, Mayor’s Column Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Emeritus Thomas by Thomas M. Menino, Mayor, City of Boston Materazzo and Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey at In these difficult economic times, gets, the burden on families and busi- Mount Hope Cemetery during Memorial Day Services in tough budget decisions are unavoidable, nesses is minimal. You’ll still be able to Mattapan, Massachusetts. but the Senate last week took a posi- enjoy a meal out at a reasonable price. tive first step toward providing munici- In fact, consider this: for a $50 meal, palities with options to help withstand you would only pay an additional $1 on fiscal uncertainty. For years, I have the total bill. News Briefs advocated that cities and towns in Together with a reasonable increase by Sal Giarratani Massachusetts need the ability to gen- in the local option hotel tax and the clos- erate revenue at a local level because ing of the telecom tax loophole, these municipalities are overly dependent on tools would not only provide substantial ‘Xtreme Makeover for Hendry Street property tax revenue and state local aid. revenue for Boston and others cities Hendry Street a short time ago looked like By adopting a local option meals tax, around the Commonwealth they would an episode of the TV show “Tales from the increasing the local option hotel tax, and allow cities to diversify their revenue Crypt” but now a once disturbing area of closing the telecom tax loophole that base. While the economy will eventu- Dorchester and the foreclosure crisis, the prevents poles and wires on the public ally pull out of the current downturn, neighborhood around Hendry Street is looking way from being fairly taxed, the Senate local option revenue streams represent quite promising. On May 11, city officials budget provides the room that local lead- a long-term solution, not just a tempo- marked with joy the rehabbing of two triple ers need to determine the destiny of rary bandage, for municipalities. Over deckers in this once dead-end neighborhood. their cities and towns. the coming weeks, the House of Repre- Two more properties on Hendry Street will be Based on fiscal year 2009 numbers, sentatives and the Senate will hold a fixed later this summer and Boston’s Fore- a 2% local option meals tax would gen- conference committee to resolve the closure Intervention Team which helped erate an estimated $256 million annu- budget, but I’m hopeful that the House secure the properties before selling to ally statewide, if all municipalities will follow the lead of their colleagues in developers has expanded its mission to include adopted the measure. Boston alone the Senate and adopt these sensible both Dacia and Woodbine Streets in Roxbury. would benefit from an additional $47 steps to help municipalities both now and The renovation at Woodbine Street is being million annually. A 2% local option is a in future years. featured on PBS’s “This Old House”. modest increase to the current 5% state- In crafting the budget, the House and Quote to Note wide meals tax, which ranks Boston Senate also took action to prioritize “So this is how the auto bailout will work. Ameri- among the lowest when compared to funding for two critical areas: youth can taxpayers pump tens of billions into rescuing other comparable major cities around employment and public safety. A sum- the country. mer job, often a teen’s first job experi- (Continued on Page 15) While a local option meals tax is an undeniable benefit for municipal bud- (Continued on Page 12) THE POST-GAZETTE SATELLITE OFFICE IS NOW OPEN AT 35 BENNINGTON STREET, EAST BOSTON This office will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PMPM, for the convenience of our East Boston and North Shore clients and contributors Call 617-227-8929 for more information Page 2 POST-GAZETTE, MAY 29, 2009 Stirpe by Prof. Edmund S imple Nostra Turiello TIMES . by Girard A. Plante A weekly column highlighting some of the more interesting aspects of our ancestry...our lineage...our roots. The splendid month of Howe’s activism began participated, and recognizes May brings us many won- with her fierce opposition active duty soldiers as well. HISTORY’S FIRST PANTY RAID drous gifts. April awoke with to slavery. Yet she is best Its origins began in the We have been examining Asia Minor near the shore of spring’s budding flowers, known for writing the Battle summer of 1865 in Waterloo, the stories associated with the Black Sea. They formed plants, bushes, flowers and Hymn of the Republic in New York. Honoring the the fictional strongman their own independent state trees. And May has inher- 1862, which originated as a living veterans of the Civil named Hercules (Heracles which was governed by a ently carried along the bril- poem published in the Atlan- War would arise from an idea in Greek). The selection of queen in the mythical town liance of the colors, sweet tic Monthly. The poem earned by druggist Henry C. Welles Hercules as our anchor man of Themiscyre on the River scent of spring, and full-flung her five dollars. Nearly 150 to his friends during a sum- for this series on mythology Thermadon. This was the foliage. years later, the somber song mer social gathering. is most appropriate because capital from which they made There are no greater gifts, is loved by many Americans, The following spring the he is claimed to be one of the warlike excursions against though, than why and to and loathed by countless idea for a grand national cel- most ancient and most fa- other tribes in Asia Minor. whom we celebrate May. It Southerners. ebration was proposed by mous of all mythological he- In order to please his is worthy to honor Mother’s Of the acclaimed activist Civil War General John B. roes, and his legendary ac- daughter, King Eurystheus, Day, held on the second Sun- causes she took on, and Murray. Committees were complishments are said to author of these labors, re- day. Memorial Day falls on many of the writings she formed, civic societies and be the richest and most com- quired Hercules to fetch the the last Monday of the authored, Mother’s Day is citizens eagerly participated, prehensive of all myths. belt or girdle of Hippolyte, month. And for Catholics perhaps the most important evergreens and mourning I reminded all readers that queen of the Amazons at that everywhere the high honor and emotional cause she black adorned village shops the memory of Hercules is time. Because these women is heaped on the Blessed worked tirelessly to estab- and governmental buildings, not strange to Italy. Renais- were such formidable en- Virgin Mary from the start of lish but never lived to ob- and a huge parade followed sance Rome honored him in emies. Hercules selected a the month until its last day serve. Peace became her while military bands blared many works of art. There is group of sturdy companions for she is the bright beacon greatest goal (equality the militia music as the throng a statue entitled “The to accompany him on this of hope no matter the dark- other) and in 1870, at the marched to Waterloo’s three Farnese Hercules” which is venture. est of situations. start of the Franco-Prussian cemeteries. There wreaths now in the National Mu- After a long and dangerous She is recognized by War, she recruited the aid of and flowers were laid at the seum at Naples, a painting journey, Hercules and his Catholics — and other reli- women the world over who graves honoring Civil War of Hercules killing the Hydra friends finally landed at the gions — as the mother of lost husbands and sons to soldiers. (his second labor) and an- Amazon’s town of The Jesus Christ. She is virgin publicly oppose war in all its Still, though, it is docu- other of Hercules crushing miscyra, where they were of all virgins, mother of all ugliness.