In the aftermath of two brutal attacks in the vicinity of Eden Street Park allegedly committed by local teens, police and more than 130 members of the community met last week to discuss the incidents and how to best prevent youth violence and other crime in the neighborhood.
“This is a great community, and we’re letting a few individuals ruin it for everybody,” Captain Bernie O’Rourke said, adding that Charlestown has seen a 50-percent reduction in violent crime year to date, compared with the same time last year.
On April 24 at approximately 1 a.m., two victims told police that while walking on Main Street near Eden Street Park, three suspects approached them and struck the victims in the face with bricks before fleeing in an unknown direction. The victims were treated for facial injuries. One victim was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he spent two days with serious injuries, O’Rourke said.
The following night, two adult males told police they were walking down Main Street near the park when two white males, approximately 17 year olds, began taunting them with homosexual slurs. One of the victims, who told police he had faced similar harassment there in the past, stopped to confront the suspects. The suspects then allegedly assaulted both victims with their fists, and one victim sustained a cut over his eye during the attack. The suspects were seen fleeing in the direction of the Mishawum Park Apartments. Both victims were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, O’Rourke said.
On May 2 at approximately 6 p.m., police arrested two juveniles for underage drinking at John Harvard Mall who were later identified by victims as suspects in the first attack. The suspects appeared in court early last week and were released on bail, O’Rourke said.
Regarding the second incident, O’Rourke said, “The investigation is continuing, and we’re working closely with the victim to make an identification [of the suspects].”
If convicted, the suspects could face civil rights and other charges, resulting in prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to $10,000, according to Lt. Detective David Aldrich of the Boston Police Community Disorders Unit. Convictions on these charges could also preclude the suspects from receiving federal loans, jobs and housing.
O’Rourke said that the incidents will also lead to a more vigilant police presence in the neighborhood.
“As a result of incidents of this nature, it changes everything,” O’Rourke said. “We are going to see a lot more police activity with zero tolerance.”
In addition to the nightly walking police beat that was added on Main Street last month prior to the incidents, O’Rourke said an additional Area A-1 “gang” car would be added to patrol the neighborhood’s parks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
O’Rourke also urged those in attendance to call police when they witness crimes, including teen drinking, drug dealing and other infractions
After some at the meeting made claims of slow police response times, O’Rourke countered that at six minutes, Charlestown had the quickest response time of any Area A-1 neighborhood. This also compared with the citywide rate of seven minutes for police response time, O’Rourke said.
Charlestown Against Drugs Chairman Peter Looney, who chaired the meeting with police, emphasized that these recent incidents shouldn’t be viewed as a reflection on Charlestown or its youth.
“Nobody should have to worry about race, color, creed or lifestyle when they walk the streets of Charlestown,” Looney said. “There are a lot of good kids in Charlestown. There are also a few bad ones, too. Let’s not lump them together.”
Meanwhile, one mother expressed frustration that she wasn’t informed after her teenaged son had run-ins with police, while another parent said the real key to keeping kids safe was better communication between parents.
Councilor Sal LaMattina, also in attendance, commented on the neighborhood’s strong sense of community, which he said was evident from the positive outcome of the meeting.
Besides CHAD, representatives from local organizations offered their assistance in engaging the town’s youth and addressing other community issues including: Charlestown Community Centers, Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, Charlestown Mothers Association, Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition, Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, Charlestown Youth Sports Collaborative, Charlestown MissionSAFE, Charlestown Recovery House, Friends of Eden Street Park, North End Against Drugs and the Charlestown Neighborhood Watch Coalition, among other groups.
Despite the recent incidents, O’Rourke credited the help of the community for the serious reduction in overdoses and an overall drop in crime over the last two years.
“We can only do it with the help of people from the neighborhood,” he said.

City Councilor Sal LaMattina sent the following letter to the Patriot-Bridge after he attended the May 7 meeting at the Clarence R. Edwards Middle School regarding two assaults that took place near Eden Street Park last month:

Last week, I attended a community meeting in Charlestown with more than 130 residents. The group included lifetime Townies, as well as recent arrivals, and they all showed up to voice their concern and outrage over the recent acts of violence by local teenagers in two separate incidents.
My job as city councilor includes attending numerous meetings in the neighborhood, but I was a bit concerned about this particular one. Many people warned me that this could be a difficult meeting, that people there would be angry and that it might get ugly.
I went to the meeting, found a seat in the audience, sat back and listened. I listened to Peter Looney, who chaired the meeting, and told the audience how outraged he was to have this happen in his community. He talked about respecting people whether they are old-time Charlestown residents or newcomers to the neighborhood, and regardless of their race, creed or sexual preference.
Boston Police Captain Bernard O’Rourke told the audience that there would be no tolerance for this type of crime in Charlestown. He talked about how much progress has been made and how crime in the neighborhood is at its lowest in many years. He assured residents that there would be more community policing in the neighborhood, with officers walking beats and increased communication between the police and citizens.
Then local residents spoke about their concerns, and the discussion turned to teenagers drinking in the park and the lack of resources for young people in the community. A mother talked about taking responsibility as parents when teens get involved in illegal or inappropriate activities.
What was so impressive to me was the support that people gave to each other. It was moving. Residents spoke passionately and honestly about what they could do to make the neighborhood a safer and better place to live.
I told those gathered at the meeting about the first big event I attended in Charlestown. It was a Charlestown Crime Watch rally on a cold and rainy Saturday morning, and 200 residents showed up. I was so impressed then, and I continue to be impressed by the people of this community.
There is so much going on in Charlestown, programs and activities that one doesn’t see in other neighborhoods. Among the community groups represented at last week’s meeting were Charlestown Against Drugs, the Charlestown Community Center, Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, the Neighborhood Response Team, Charlestown Connects, the Charlestown Mothers Association, the Charlestown Neighborhood Watch Coalition and the Charlestown Neighborhood Council.
The residents of Charlestown are proud people, and they are willing to work with one another and to work hard. They understand that to keep the neighborhood strong we all need to work together. As Peter Looney said, it doesn’t matter if you’ve lived in Charlestown all your life or if you’ve been here for two months. We are all part of the neighborhood now.
I am proud to be the city councilor for Charlestown.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s decision to relocate MBTA water shuttle service from Pier 4 to Pier 3 in the Navy Yard was met with overwhelming opposition at the May 7 Charlestown Neighborhood Council meeting as representatives and residents argued that the move would cause hardship for some and that it was undertaken without sufficient community input.
“This is just another thing that the BRA has done in the Navy Yard that we heard about afterwards,” said Jim Conway of the CNC. “I want the communication back to the BRA to be: ‘We’re sick and tired and we’re not going to take it anymore.’”
According to the plan that BRA Project Manger Geoff Lewis outlined at the Knights of Columbus Hall last week, the water shuttle relocation will take part in four phases, the first of which is already underway. The first phase includes relocation of the existing MBTA water dock at Pier 4 to Pier 3, the addition of a bow-loading facility and site improvements, including paving, fencing and new benches and trash receptacles. In the second and third phases, wharf and pier improvements would be completed to make way for a “roll-on-roll-off” facility for the transportation of goods, services and personnel to the outer island and other harbor destinations. In the fourth and final phase, additional floating docks would be installed for layover berthing and public landings; a removable footbridge would tentatively be constructed over Drydock #2 ; and new public restrooms, a cul-de-sac and ticket and waiting areas would be created.
“The main reason [for the project] is it allows us to accommodate different kind of vessels and more vessels at once,” Lewis said. “We want to expand the level of water service in and out of the Charlestown Navy Yard.”
Lewis further stated that the new location would improve water shuttle service and access for many residents.
“People are going to see more frequent service and better service,” Lewis said. “It will be more convenient to the people of Charlestown proper and closer to the Nautica and Building 33, as well as for visitors to the USS Constitution.”
One disabled Flagship Wharf resident, who moved to Constellation Wharf last year to have better access to the water shuttle, didn’t see the new location making her commute any easier, however.
“We haven’t seen or heard enough to justify moving the commuter boat, which inconveniences everybody and me in particular,” she said while displaying a state-issued ID card that denoted her as legally disabled. “We will isolate the rest of the community more than it already is. It really is a hardship.”
Other residents speculated that the move would be detrimental to businesses located near the current ferry stop.
Lewis, meanwhile, dispelled rumors that the decision to relocate water shuttle service was made to free up Pier 4 for development.
Though Lewis maintains that the relocation plan was referenced in the BRA’s Water Dependent Use Management Plan of May 2007 and later presented at two public hearings in 2006 and 2007, Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard Chairman Michael Parker believes the community wasn’t adequately informed until after the project got underway.
“I think it’s clear that this is the first time I’ve seen these plans, and I don’t think it’s right,” Parker said. “I understand it was laid out in the Municipal Harbor Plan a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t thoroughly vetted. We’re not understanding why the ferry stop has to be moved all the way to Pier 3.”
Lewis said he would report comments from the meeting back to the BRA for consideration.

Boston-based Kenney Development Co. presented plans to the community last week to build a four-story, residential development on First Avenue in the Navy Yard, although some were quick to point out that the nature of the project had changed drastically from what the Charlestown Neighborhood Council originally had approved for the site in 2001.
According to the developer, the 44,381 square-foot building, situated on Lot 39A adjacent to the Constitution Inn YMCA, would contain 49 units, 18 of which would be designated as affordable housing per city ordinances. Thirty-four parking spaces would be located beneath the building and an additional 30 spaces would be master leased from nearby Building 199. Boston-based William Rawn Associates is designing the project, which has an estimated cost of $22,000,000. The projected construction time is 19 months, pending city and CNC approval, the developer said.
Robert E. Kenney Sr., president of Kenney Development Co., said while the project usage had changed from commercial to residential, the building footprint, which adheres to National Park Service regulations, had not.
“[The Request for Proposals] specified that the primary goal was to build a building that complies with historical guidelines, and that’s what we did,” Kenney said.
Kenney added that the developer began exploring residential uses for the building in 2004 after the commercial market fell into decline.
Meanwhile, CNC Chairman Tom Cunha expressed concern that the Kenney Development Co. still held the development rights for the site despite the project change and that the community would be bound to a single proposal.
“My concern is that we had several developers at one time. Now, we have one with one presentation,” Cunha said. “There should be more than one developer looking at the [site].”
Cunha referred the matter to the CNC Development Committee, which has scheduled a public meeting regarding the project at the Constitution Inn YMCA, 150 Second Ave. in the Navy Yard, on Wednesday, June 18, at 7 p.m.

CREDIT: D. Harney

CAPTION: Winners of $1,000 Harvard-Kent Leadership and Scholarship Partnership awards include (left to right) Anthony Veras, Joseph Medrano, Carly Cahill, Liang Deng, Breiyah Smalls and Anna Chan. Looking on are Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers’ Union; Tom Birmingham, keynote speaker and past president of the Massachusetts State Senate; Mayor Thomas M. Menino; Dr. Carol Johnson, superintendent of Boston Public Schools; Richard Martin, Harvard-Kent School principal; and Petie Hilsinger, co-founder of the Harvard-Kent Leadership and Scholarship Partnership.

Six outstanding young students from the Harvard-Kent Elementary School were awarded college scholarships by the Harvard-Kent Leadership and Scholarship Partnership at a gala assembly at the school on Thursday, May 8.
Winners of the $1,000 scholarships were announced by Harvard-Kent Principal Richard Martin and presented by Partnership founders Petie Hilsinger and Jane Philippi, with proud friends and family members looking on.
Third-grade winners were Anna Chan, daughter of Mei Yu, and Breiyah Smalls, daughter of Cindy and Phil Smalls.
Fourth-grade recipients were Anthony Veras, son of Fanny Lopez, and Carly Cahill, daughter of Dave and Sharlene Cahill. Carly’s sister Colby is a former Harvard-Kent Scholarship winner.
Fifth-grade winners were Liang Deng, son of Jie Xiong, and Joseph Medrano, son of Santa Medrano Lopez.
Special guests at the ceremony included Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, past President of the Massachusetts State Senate Thomas Birmingham, Superintendent of Schools and Charlestown resident Dr. Carol Johnson and Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers’ Union.
The assembly also recognized previous Harvard-Kent scholarship winners Leslie Centeno, McKenzie Dollosa, Libin Huang, Octavia Jones, Sophia Liu and Sabrina Mohamed.
This is the third year for the scholarship program, which has now awarded $18,000 in college scholarships to Harvard-Kent leader/scholars, who are recommended by their teachers and chosen by a special scholarship committee on the basis of their leadership and commitment to learning and hard work.
The Partnership was founded in 2005 to enhance educational opportunities for the children of Harvard-Kent and encourage students at the culturally diverse school to aspire to college.
In addition to the $1,000 scholarships, which are held in trust for the winners until they enter college, winners and their families participate in field trips and a special Leadership Club at the school.
After the presentation, scholarship recipients and their families were honored at a reception in the school library, with refreshments made possible by the generosity of Johnnie’s Foodmaster and Sorelle Bakery and Cafe.