The Bunker Hill housing development is slated for approximately $19 million renovation-project that could be underway by next spring, according to a Boston Housing Authority draft document obtained by the Patriot-Bridge
Pending approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the BHA hopes to secure an $88 million bond by the fall that would earmark $76 million for necessary upgrades and repairs to its properties. The BHA currently only receives $24 million in capital funding each year and has requested this additional funding to help offset the estimated $500 million it needs for property repairs. Besides Bunker Hill, the largest public housing development citywide, the BHA’s two other biggest properties — the Mary Ellen McCormack and Old Colony developments, both in South Boston — would also undergo extensive overhauls if the bond is approved.
A second phase of the project set to start in 2010 proposes to raze the Washington-Beech development in Roslindale and the Orient Heights development in East Boston, replacing them with mixed-income housing complexes. The BHA stated in its draft document that Bunker Hill, Mary Ellen McCormack and Old Colony developments were all considered as potential sites for revitalization, but they were ruled out because “redevelopment at any one of these sites would take years of planning and resource accrual, and require significant policy deliberations due to the magnitude of the project.” The BHA pledged it would continue to explore the possible redevelopment of one or more of these sites in the future, however.
For now, renovations planned for the Bunker Hill housing development include the installation of a security system “that would explore the use of new technology with cameras and surveillance systems that will be placed strategically throughout the property,” said BHA spokesperson Lydia Agro.
Other repairs include the replacement of roofs at eight buildings, the replacement of unit entry doors and upgrades to unit bathrooms.
In addition to these renovations, Bunker Hill is one of 14 BHA properties that will receive upgrades to their energy and water infrastructures. These improvements, which aim to lower utility costs, include the installations of low-flow toilets, weather stripping, lighting and new decentralized heating and hot water systems.
Agro said work has begun on the design phase of the project and the architectural and engineering documents would likely be completed and reviewed in the fall. A Request for Proposals would then be issued, and construction could begin by spring 2008.
“We’re trying to get the work done ASAP, but a project of this magnitude takes considerable planning,” Agro said.
As for the long-term relocation of Bunker Hill tenants during the project, Agro said this wouldn’t happen.
“If we need to use their apartment at all, it will only be for a day or two,” she said. “If people have to leave their units, we would them set up at furnished hotel units at the development where they would stay…while renovations are underway.”
Agro also said renovations wouldn’t result in rent increases, since federal regulations require that BHA residents pay no more than 30 percent of their income towards rent.
Meanwhile, one Bunker Hill resident who wished to remain anonymous isn’t convinced that the renovation project won’t mean rent increases or ultimately displace him from his home.
“To me, it looks like they’re trying to get more money for each unit,” he said. “It has nothing to do with people feeling safer or having better living situations. It’s all about the money.”
Jack Kelly, Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s liaison to Charlestown, said the mayor’s office declined to comment on the matter at this time.

CAPTION 1: Tom Coots is shown during Pathway of the Patriots practice exercises.

CAPTION2: Pictured, left to right, are Militia Co. members Ed Grace Sr. and Tom Coots participating in drills at Memorial Hall. .

Following the announcement earlier this year that the Charlestown Militia Co. would reform after a nearly 20-year lull, the living history group is stepping it into high gear with several upcoming events in anticipation of its appearance at the Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade.
` From 1967 until the outfit disbanded in the late 1980s, the Militia Co. became a fixture at the parade, offering a glimpse into the events of the Revolutionary War and life in 18th century Charlestown via its historical reenactments. Now, under the guidance of Tom Coots, vice president of The Cooperative Bank, the group includes 12 members and is actively drilling every Tuesday night at Green Street-based veterans club Memorial Hall.
This Sunday, the latest incarnation of the Militia Co. makes its public debut as the result of a new partnership between the group and the Woburn Living History Guild, and on June 10, the Woburn group will join the Militia Co. in reenactments at the Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade.
After reading the Patriot-Bridge’s Jan. 11 story about the newly-reformed Militia Co. online, Cary Scarborough, president of the Woburn Historical Society, invited Coots to attend its March 5 planning meeting. Members were eager to share their memories of seeing the Militia Co. at Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade with Coots and soon enlisted his help in organizing their own militia group, the Woburn Living History Guild.
For Coots, this partnership is particularly relevant because Woburn was once part of Charlestown Village, and during the Revolutionary War, both Charlestown and Woburn’s militia companies were part of the Middlesex Militia Co.
Coots accepted an invitation on behalf of the Militia Co. to take part in the Woburn Living History Guild’s inaugural event, Pathway of the Patriots.
Pathway of the Patriots is a guided tour through Woburn’s Old Battle Road — the place where British soldiers and the colonial militia fought on April 19, 1775. The event features four reenactments of events that took place on that day, one of which features Coots as Woburn’s founding father, Samuel Thompson. During this dramatization, Charlestown Militia Co. members will stand alongside the Woburn Living History Guild in a depiction of the colonial soldiers’ march to Lexington on the orders of Major Laommi Baldwin of the 26th Continental Regiment. The reenactment also features Coots’ 12-year-old son, Andrew, who portrays a drummer boy, and his 10-year-old daughter, Victoria, as a camp follower.
As a second-generation Militia Co. member, Rick Young remembers watching his father, Bob Young, take part in the Battle of Bunker Hill Day reenactments as a member of the group and looks forward to preserving its legacy.
“After reading about [Coots’ effort to revive the Militia Co.], I signed on 100 percent,” Rick Young said. “It’s nice to carry on the tradition.”
His 12-year-old daughter Logan will portray a camp follower in the Pathway of the Patriots and Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade exercises, becoming the third generation from her family to take part in the Militia Co.
In May, the Militia Co. plans to invite former members to Memorial Hall, where they will screen footage of the group’s past reenactments set to colonial music.
“I want to honor those who started this in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Coots said. “I want to see what they did so we can do the same thing.”
If anyone has any memorabilia or information pertaining to the Charlestown Militia Co., Tom Coots can be reached at 617-242-0380. He is also accepting monetary donation to defray costs; checks can be made payable to the Charlestown Militia Co. and dropped off at The Cooperative Bank, 201 Main St. For more information on the Pathway of the Patriots event, visit www.woburnhistoricalsociety.com.

Citibank has entered into an agreement to open a full-service branch at 20 City Square before the end of 2007.
“Citibank made a commitment to be a good partner in the community,” said Tim Doherty, project manager for Gateway Developers LLC, the subsidiary of Norwood-based Cornerstone Corporation that manages the property. “We would like it to be done by late fall.”
Citibank, a major international bank based out of New York, would occupy operate a full-service bank with ATMs that would be staffed with 10 employees, all of whom would be new hires, said a Citibank spokesman at last week’s Charlestown Neighborhood Council meeting. The tenant would occupy approximately 4,000 square feet on the Chelsea Street side of the 41,149 square-foot, three-story building and has agreed to a 10-year lease.
Doherty said four parking spaces would be provided to Citibank per City of Boston zoning regulations and the lease agreement. One or two spaces would be on the premises of 20 City Square, while the remaining spaces would be located on the other side of Chelsea Street, he said.
Kevin Joyce, the attorney representing Gateway Developers, said “The mayor is enthusiastic because Citibank has opened several locations in the City of Boston and has proven themselves to be a good neighbor.” Citibank opened its first Boston area location on Boylston Street last fall.
In addition, Doherty said negotiations are underway for a small card and book retailer to move into the remaining space on the ground floor. (Citibank will occupy approximately 65 percent of the street level).
“We’ve tried to put in tenants that are in the best interest of the community,” he said.
Last fall, Cardservice International Inc., which offers credit card payment services to small and mid-sized companies, leased 8,000 square feet on the building’s second floor, becoming the first tenant of 20 City Square since construction was completed more than five years earlier. In 2004, the federal government abandoned plans to convert the building into a Department of Homeland Security facility amid protests from Charlestown residents.

At last week’s Charlestown Neighborhood Council meeting, State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty said he would continue to oppose privatization of the Emmons-Horrigan-O’Neil Ice Rink on Austin Street.
“My only concern is to make sure that kids have affordable access to the rink,” Rep. O’Flaherty said.
Rep. O’Flaherty said that the rink, which is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, had fallen into disrepair into recent year. Since the state budget recently approved by Gov. Deval Patrick didn’t provide for renovations to rink, many were eying relinquishing control of the rink to a private party as a possible solution, he said.
Rep. O’Flaherty pledged that he would oppose privatization until an agreement could be made that assured youth organizations, including Charlestown Youth Hockey, future use of the rink.
He also requested that the CNC hold a public meeting concerning the rink and invite DCR representatives, as well as parties supporting privitization.