Boston has long had a reputation for being among the nation’s most livable cities. The big question, faced by officials and residents is how to keep it that way.
On Monday night, at a meeting held at Curtis Hall in Jamaica Plain, City Councilor John Connolly held a public meeting to address how to best improve upon the quality of life in neighborhoods and keep residents from deciding to live elsewhere. The work stems from a newly formed council committee tasked with delving into those issues.
The meeting began with the audience of nearly 40 people dividing into smaller groups.
Judy Jose-Roddy, a West Roxbury resident and manager of Sophia Snow Place, a retirement community in Roslindale, spoke of the need to assist residents with knowing what opportunities – both social and service-wise are available to them.
“We have access to so much in Boston, but we don’t necessarily have the resources to get all residents to be able to enjoy them,” she said.
She also spoke of the need for neighborhoods, in particular West Roxbury, to find more success building their business base.
“It is sad,” she said. “We have lost a lot of businesses. Roslindale is doing so great, but West Roxbury is having a hard time.”
Jeremy Alliger, executive produces of Alliger Arts in Jamaica Plain and the founder of Dance Umbrella, lamented the loss of many events and festivals, as well as an overall decrease in support of the arts.
“We need to provide citizens with the ability to hope, dream, celebrate and create. That is where the arts come in,” he said.
Attorney Robert Ricles, a Jamaica Plain resident, said that “a reason people are leaving the city is the schools.”
“We need to fix the schools,” he said. “But don’t ask me how.”
His wife, Gloria, defended the Boston Public Schools, saying that the size and diversity of the student population presents a great challenge.
“You can’t compare an urban city to a suburb,” she said. “People have to stop thinking that way. I’m so tired of hearing that the City of Boston?s public schools are not doing a good job. They are doing a great job considering [what they deal with].”
Richard Curran, a resident of Mission Hill, offered the perspective of a young Bostonian trying to make a home in the city for his family. He worried that housing prices have reached unattainable levels and, in addition to that, hospitals and universities are engaging in a modern day land grab.
“I just feel like I am almost being run out,” he said. “I can’t afford to buy a three-family, million dollar home. It just stinks. It is like you don’t have a choice not to move.”
As for institutional expansion, “every little bit of green space we had growing up is being built upon,” he said.
Julie Crawford, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, spoke of the need for improved recycling that goes beyond what is offered for homes and apartments.
“I think it is great that we are going to have single stream recycling,” she said. “But the amount of litter would be greatly reduced if we had public recycling. We are doing it now in the Arboretum, but there is no recycling in any of our city parks aside from the Arboretum. It is something we promote but so far it hasn’t been able to get done.”
Roslindale activist Dennis Kirkpatrick saw Connolly’s effort as similar to last year’s Boston Civic Summit, an even organized by City Councilor Maureen Feeney to bring community and business leaders together to address a variety of Boston’s needs.
“About 400 people came from all over the city to address many of these same issues,” Kirkpatrick said. “I am hearing many of the same issues being echoed here tonight, among these are education, crime and safety issues. One interesting issue was summer jobs, which there are a lack of because of the economy and funding.”
Kirkpatrick said that a committee was formed following last year’s summit and that the coalition of neighborhood representatives has been meeting regularly. It recently created a Web site, www.Bostoncivicexchange.org to present an overview of community efforts and illustrate “how those success stories can be replicated throughout the city.”
Helen Dajer, a member of the Boston School Committee, tackled the hot-button issue of the city’s dog owners.
She decried those owners who let their pets roam free in public places.
“You should have heard the horrible things that come from peoples mouths when I asked them to leash their dogs, things my children should never have heard,” she said. “When you have a child who is afraid of dogs, you are confined to your home and you are terrified. The kids can’t play baseball because there is dog poop all over the field. I think there is a lack of respect. If you keep your dog on a leash and pick up the poop – problem solved. We should have dog parks and places where they can take their dogs safely. These things are all enforceable. Part of my concern where is the enforcement? We all want this. There are laws. There are rules. But there really is no enforcement. My request is that the little things start happening.”
Jose-Roddy spoke from her knowledge of issues facing seniors.
“I see a big need for more transportation, so that folks like senior citizens or those dealing with handicaps have more access to all the resources in the City of Boston,” she said. “I know that we have a lot of transportation available, but it is simply not enough. There are people in their homes either by choice, because they choose not to move into senior housing, or there is simply not enough senior housing available to them. What they need to make that a livable place for them is to have more transportation, so they can access the services they need in the community.”
City councilors John Tobin and Sam Yoon attended the meeting.
Yoon praised Connolly for his efforts.
“This has never been done before,” he said. “What I appreciate is not being limited to the way things have always been done… bringing it out to the neighborhood and encouraging us to talk to each other, not just making it a two-way dialogue between us in office and those of you in the community. This is what we really need and the approach we need.”
Connolly said the next step is to form a steering committee that will dig deeper into the topics discussed.
“We reached out to an initial group of people asking them to be on the steering committee, but it is open to all and we hope you spread the word,” he said. “What are we asking of committee members? As much, or as little, as you are willing to do. I recognize everybody is busy and has their priorities in life. All we ask is that is for you to share your ideas on how to make Boston more livable and spread the word to other Bostonians to share their ideas.”
Connolly said a series of meetings will be held in neighborhoods across the city and that a new Web site will be launched as an interactive tool for residents.
