CAPTION: Peter Looney and Kathy Giordano, co-hosts of “Charlestown Live.”

“Charlestown Live” — a half-hour television program devoted exclusively to the neighborhood that premiered May 3 — aims to bring good news in the community to residents and the rest of the city.
“We want to be more like ‘Chronicle’ than the evening news,” said Kathy Giordano, one of the program’s co-hosts, in reference to the news magazine that documents New England and airs weeknights on Boston’s WCVB-TV. “It’s like a friendly magazine between people in the neighborhood.”
Giordano, who previously appeared on a cable news segment devoted to Charlestown, and her co-host Peter Looney appear on the program, which airs live from the State Transportation Building in Park Plaza. “Charlestown Live” airs locally on all but the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. on the Boston Neighborhood Network, Comcast Channel 9. (The show is also rerun three times during the week following its original airdate).
Besides taking live calls from viewers — the station’s phone number appears on the screen during broadcasts — Giordano and Looney will also interview guests who represent various local organizations.
“What we hope to accomplish is to have as many organizations throughout the town on to talk about what they do and to promote the town and educate people about all the things going on here,” Looney said.
On May 17, George Morton, co-chair of the Bunker Hill Derby Association, is scheduled to appear to talk about his organization and the soapbox derby it will sponsor at Sheepfold Park in Stoneham on June 3. Also scheduled to appear that night is Sean Hennessey, public affairs officer for the National Park Service, who will discuss the rededication of the Monument and the opening of the newly-renovated Bunker Hill Museum.
The following week’s program will spotlight the Bunker Hill Associates, an organization dedicated to raising funds for the town’s youth organizations, and feature its president, Marty O’Brien Jr., and treasurer, Ronan Fitzpatrick, as guests.
On May 31, Arthur Hurley, coordinator of the Battle of Bunker Hill Day Parade, and this year’s Chief Marshall, Al Gallarelli, are tentatively scheduled to appear in anticipation of the June 10 parade.
Looney said other future guests might include Tom Coots, who heads the Charlestown Militia Co., and representatives from MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center, who will discuss the town’s emergency preparedness plan that was launched last summer.
“Everybody we’ve approached is looking forward to it,” Looney said.
Giordano is quick to point out that “Charlestown Live” aims to feature all segments of the community, including newcomers. “It’s not to promote the Townies in Charlestown; it’s to promote the town,” she said.
In the future, Giordano and Looney hope to expand the program to include other segments, such as Restaurant of the Week and Good Neighbor, which would feature residents who have made a positive impact on the community.
Looney said he hopes to keep the tone of the program light, but it would also likely include discussion of major local issues, like those on the Charlestown Neighborhood Council’s agenda.
While “Charlestown Live” has only aired once to date, the origins of the show date back several years. Looney was originally approached with the idea of launching a program about Charlestown more than three years ago, but those plans were derailed after he faced a bout with lung cancer. Giordano proposed the idea to Looney again in recent months, but he had one stipulation: “She had to come with me,” Looney said.
For now, the biggest challenge facing Giordano and Looney is finding local organizations to underwrite the $50 cost of airing each episode.
“We don’t get paid for this, so we have to find sponsors,” Giordano said.
If you represent a local organization that is interested in sponsoring “Charlestown Live,” call Peter Looney at 617-699-3501.

Following a recent announcement that the Boston Housing Authority planned to invest $37 million in capital funding for improvements to the Bunker Hill housing development, many were left wondering what this would ultimately mean for the development — and why a more thorough overhaul of the site wasn’t planned.
“It would cost approximately $360 million just for redevelopment of the Charlestown site, and that doesn’t include the soft costs, such as the relocation of residents and architectural planning,” said BHA Administrator Sandra B. Henriquez during an exclusive interview with the Patriot-Bridge last week. “For us to do [the Bunker Hill housing development] isn’t feasible now because we don’t know how to make the resources available.”
According to “An Approach to Preservation: Repositioning Boston’s Public Housing for the Future,” a draft report released by the BHA on March 29, the agency requested an $88 million bond that would specifically earmark $20 million for improvements to the Bunker Hill housing development. Renovations to Bunker Hill would include the replacement of roofs in eight buildings, the replacement of unit entry doors and upgrades to unit bathrooms, as well as the installation of a state-of-the-art security system.
Henriquez said this bond proposal is presently under review by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., and if approved, planning for the project could begin by the fall and construction by early 2008.
In an effort to lower inflated utility costs, the BHA is also seeking to make an additional $45 million to $50 million investment in energy improvements to its properties, $17 million of which would be designated for the Bunker Hill housing development. Per an agreement, the BHA and HUD would agree to make fixed payment to the contractors that finance the renovations based on current utility costs. This would provide for the installation of low-flow toilets, weather stripping, lighting and new decentralized heating and hot water systems.
The second phase of the project outlined in the draft report aims to raze the Washington-Beech housing development in Roslindale and the Orient Heights housing development in East Boston, replacing them both with mixed-income housing complexes. This phase of the project could begin as early as 2010, but Henriquez pointed out that there is no assurance that this part of the plan would ever be realized because the funding has yet to be identified for it.
But even if the necessary funding is secured, there is no assurance that enough money would ever be available for a thorough overhaul of a development the size of Bunker Hill, the BHA’s largest property.
“If you were to go forward with the redevelopment of Charlestown, there is no guarantee that if you were able to get money for the first phase of project that you would be able to get money for the subsequent phases needed to finish the project,” said Henriquez,
Instead, she said the March 29 plan ensures that a significant amount of money is designated for improvements to the Bunker Hill housing development’s infrastructure.
While she doesn’t rule out the possibility of ever replacing the Bunker Hill housing development with a mixed-used housing complex, Henriquez said the scope and magnitude of a project that would raze the 1,100-unit development and temporarily displace its residents isn’t feasible at this time.
“Even if we had a plan today, it would take 10 to 20 years to see it through to completion,” she said.

The Autoport on Medford Street is now one of two sites nationwide being considered as the future home to a facility for the testing of wind-turbine blades, according to Greg Watson, senior advisor for Clean Energy for Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
The proposed facility is described as a 300-foot long, four-story, enclosed building where the blades would be tested horizontally for strength and rigidity. A Dec. 13 Boston Globe story initially described the facility for renewable-energy testing as boasting a 450-foot tall windmill that would have dwarfed the Bunker Hill Monument and the Tobin Bridge, but those reports were discredited by the Globe the following day.
On Monday, representatives from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory visited the Autoport to determine its feasibility using the site. The following day, representatives were scheduled to tour the other potential site in Corpus Christi, Texas. A final decision on the site selected could come down from the U.S. Department of Energy as early as the first week of June, according to Watson.
While the state had previously considered recommending another site in New Bedford, Watson said a transportation study determined that it wasn’t feasible because transporting the blades — some of which reach 250 feet in length — to site would require the removal of buildings.
The Auoport, on the other hand, would require no site preparation and could open immediately, Watson said. He added that the Autoport was already equipped with a bulkhead and that blades could be transported to the site by rail, water or existing roadways.

PHOTO 1 CAPTION: President of MSSI, Lt. Col. John Yates.

PHOTO 2 CAPTION: Cdr. Robert Gillen presents an award to Sandra Winkler for the National Guard's Operation Home Front. Also pictured, left to right, are Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Sellars and Lt. Col. John Gates.

PHOTO 3 CAPTION: MSSI director Jack French presents an award to Brig. Gen. Dressler of the Dave Powers Foundation. Also pictured is Lt. Col. John Yates.

On May 4, Military Services Support, Inc. awarded $200,000 to New England military and military-related organizations for the continued support of those on active duty and their families during a ceremony at Nurses’ Hall at the State House.
These grant funds remain from efforts of the former Massachusetts Trustees for Armed Services Work, Inc., which operated the U.S. Armed Services YMCA of Charlestown since 1917. In the 1980s, the “Y” building was demolished to make way for changes to the City Square area, and the AS/YMCA operated out of a temporary facility in South Boston. Despite a number of hardships and cramped facilities, it continued to serve military needs in the region. Later, a new AS/YMCA facility opened in the Navy Yard. In recent years, the YMCA terminated this affiliation, and the Constitution Inn took over these duties. Service to members of the Armed Forces continued to be the primary mission of the trustees in operating the Constitution Inn.
In December 2006, the trustees of the Constitution Inn voted to reestablish its ties to the YMCA movement in the form of a merger, in which the existing facility would become a branch of the YMCA of Greater Boston. Under this agreement, the YMCA took possession of the TCI/Armed Services facility and the responsibility of the day-to-day operations. As an important part of the merger agreement, however, the trustees received the clear commitment that, while no longer an Armed Services YMCA, members of the Armed Services would still receive special discounts and services in keeping with the long tradition of the Charlestown AS/YMCA.
As part of this agreement certain funds were transferred to a new non-profit charitable organization, Military Services Support Inc. Directors of this new entity have agreed the best use of these remaining funds, all of which were raised within the New England area, would be to provide special financial support to members of the military services and their families, particularly in New England, who are serving on active duty. To this end, service organizations, all of which have agreed to accept the funding under terms we have identified, received grants at this ceremony.
The event was hosted by President John R. Yates, Jr. USMC (Ret.), with individual presentations by fellow Trustees; Capt. Irving X, Gorman, U.S. Naval Reserve (Ret.), Cdr. Robert Gillen, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Capt. Harold Learson, U.S. Naval Reserve (Ret.), Col. Arthur Marcotti, U.S. Air Force Reserve (Ret.), Master Sgt. Peter Colerico, U.S. Air Force Reserve (Ret.) and John W. French, American Institute of Architects.
The award recipients include: U.S. Navy & Marine Corps Relief Society, U.S. National Grants Management Association Operations Home Front, U.S. Coast Guard Boston Chapter of Chief Petty Officers Association, U.S. Air Force Project Concern, United Services Organization of New England and the Dave Powers Foundation.