At 25, Charlestown native Jack Kelly is the youngest person to ever hold the position of the mayor’s liaison to the neighborhood.
Kelly assumed the role on Nov. 1 and has been at the forefront of Charlestown Connects — a community-wide collaboration between city agencies, non-profits and police — since then. He was previously active in the community through his work with Charlestown Against Drugs and MissionSafe Charlestown, a program for at-risk youth.
While some might question Kelly because of his age, he believes that it allows him to bring something extra to the role.
“I represent a voice that maybe hasn’t been heard in there before,” Kelly said adding that he offers a new perspective and has new ideas for addressing the community’s problems.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino praised Kelly’s work.
“Jack is an asset to my administration and has helped lead the Charlestown Connects initiative that is bringing needed attention to the important issues of the neighborhood,” Menino said. “I hope Jack’s enthusiasm for making Charlestown a better place is catching.”
The mayor was also happy to learn of the honor that the Patriot-Bridge has bestowed upon Kelly. “I am proud that Jack Kelly is being recognized as the ‘Man of the Year’ in his home neighborhood of Charlestown, ” he said.
Kelly is in disbelief when he considers how the events of the last year of his life led to his appointment as the mayor’s neighborhood liaison to Charlestown.
“It’s been such a transformation from where I was a year ago to where I am today,” Kelly said. “To be working for the mayor, to have the opportunities I have now is something I never would believed.”
And, as someone who overcame adversity to reach his present position, Kelly wants others to know anyone can achieve their goals if they try.
“You really can get anywhere you want if you work hard,” Kelly said. “I’m living proof of that for this neighborhood.”

While Melanie Marsden might be best known around Charlestown as one of the owners and founders of A Better Place To Be Day Spa, her greatest achievement in 2007 was, without question, organizing a bone-marrow drive for a 5-year-old boy suffering from leukemia.
At Marsden’s behest, 227 people donated blood and an additional 500 turned to shop their support at the drive in November that benefited Gage Dole of Oregon. (DKMS, the organization that conducted the blood screenings, now believes it has found a match for Gage). After learning of Gage’s condition from a listing on the Craig’s List Web site, Marsden agreed to take the boy and his family into her home for three months in 2005 while he was undergoing treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. Marsden has also created a page for Gage on thee My Space Web site that offers tips for other kids who are afflicted by cancer and leukemia.
Gage’s father, Trux Dole, described Marsden as a consummate community leader who is genuinely interested in doing good.
“Melanie is our Craig’s List angel, and she embodies the spirit of taking it forward,” he said. “She embodies the spirit of Charlestown.”
Meanwhile, Marsden said her act of selflessness was inspired by the overwhelming support that Charlestown residents showed her family after her father succumbed to cancer in 1991.
“I can’t tell you the incredible things that people did for us during that time,” Marsden said, adding that it wasn’t uncommon for neighbors to drop off fully-cooked meals.
Despite what Marsden has done for Gage and his family, she maintains that the bone marrow drive is just another example of Charlestown residents helping others, particularly children.
“People’s hearts go out when they hear about a kid in trouble,” she said. “It’s the beauty of when you live in a one square-mile neighborhood.”

The Boston Police Department reported a 15 percent decrease in violent and property crimes in Charlestown compared with the same period last year, but an alarming trend emerged this year twice as the number rapes and attempted rapes doubled.
As of Dec. 17 of this year, Part 1 crimes, which include violent and property crimes, dropped to 783 from 925 during the same timeframe last year.
No homicides were reported this year, as opposed to four in 2005.
The number of rapes and attempted rapes, meanwhile, jumped to six this year from three the previous year.
Captain O’Rourke of Boston Police Area A-1said that the rapes and attempted rapes that were reported this year involve parties known to each other.
Arrests were made in some cases and court proceedings are underway in others, he said.
O’Rourke also said that the rape statistics don’t factor in other sexual assaults and that the rate of increase from last year is much smaller when these other incidents are considered.
With the exception of the disturbing spike and a 7 percent increase in robberies and attempted robberies this year, other categories of violent and property crimes were down across the board in 2007.
A 28 percent decrease in aggravated assaults and an approximately 30 percent drop in burglaries and attempted burglaries were reported, as well as reductions in larcenies and attempted larcenies and vehicle theft and attempted vehicle theft.
O’Rourke attributed the overall decrease in Part 1 crimes this year to increased staffing, including a 30 percent increase in officers assigned to the neighborhood’s Anti-Crime Unit. He added the recent addition of officers to downtown Boston has not resulted in a decreased police presence in Charlestown.
Recent months have seen an even more dramatic decrease in violent and property crimes.
A 35 percent drop in Part 1 crime was reported between Sept. 1 and Dec. 17, 2006, compared with the same period last year.
This period also saw an approximately 30 percent reduction in robberies and attempted robberies as opposed to the same timeframe last year.
As for the overall reduction in crime this year, O’Rourke said some repeat offenders were recently incarcerated or had moved away. \
He also applauded the work of Neighborhood Watches, which he said have successfully helped to deter crime in 2006.

Imagine a place where all of Charlestown’s youngsters, regardless of their racial, social and economic backgrounds, can together to play and learn. Kelly Pellagrini did, and next Friday, she will see it become a reality when a children’s play space opens at the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club.
Pellagrini, who has a background in early childhood education, first brought her idea of creating an indoor space where children ages 5 and under could play during the winter months to her colleagues at the Charlestown Mothers Association in November. “One issue is that children in the city don’t have room to play,” Pellagrini said.
After 80 CBA members agreed to share the cost of rent, heat and maintenance, a site was secured at the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club on Green Street.
“We are happy to be able to host the CMA play space, said Jenny Atkinson, executive director of the Boys& Girls Club. “It will be a wonderful option for families throughout the town. We also hope that children whose older siblings are in our 6 to 18 year old programs will take advantage of this opportunity provided by the CMA.”
While Pellagrini estimates it would take around $15,000 to open a play space and stock it with toys, the CMA caught a break when the Children’s Museum agreed to donate its puppet theatre and toy trains.
“The idea is to bring something like the Children’s Museum to a neighborhood,” Pellagrini said. “The Children’s Museum has always done this, but people don’t often get there.”
The play space aims to entertain and, more importantly, educate kids who would otherwise likely be watching TV; an infant discovery corner, an art area and a small library are all planned.
Scholarships and passes will be made available to attract – and include- children from all parts of Charlestown.
“Positive relationships involving race, class and culture that are developed early can help when they get older,” Pellagrini said, adding that the children share the same toys to emphasize equality and unity.
Pellagrini believes the play space experience will give kids the social skills that many of their peers lack when starting preschool. “Most kids who enter the nursery school level don’t have experience playing with other kids,” she said.
The CMA is also planning partnerships with the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition, John F. Kennedy Family Services Center, MissionSafe Charlestown, MGH and other organizations to offer various classes and programming for parents and children.
Ultimately, Pellagrini hopes the play space will bring the community closer together by introducing families from all parts of Charlestown who all have young children in common and that it will become a model for neighborhoods across the city and the country.
But even after receiving encouragement from the mayor’s office, the CMA is now scrambling just to fill the play space before it opens.
“The space is now almost empty,” Pellagrini said. “We’re trying as quickly as possible to fill it with toys.”
The play space opens on Friday, Jan. 5, and will run on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon for the following five months. The CMA is seeking community partners to get involved with the play space. If you would like to make a contribution or are interested in scholarship or general information, contact Sara Kinney at 617-242-7568 or playspacedirectors@gmail.com.