While many in attendance at last week’s public hearing on the Municipal Harbor Plan Amendment applauded it as a step in the right direction, they said the Boston Redevelopment Authority has a way to go before it adequately addresses — and safeguards against — the impact of future development in the Navy Yard.
More than 60 Charlestown residents attended the June 27 meeting at Boston City Hall to voice their concerns about the amendment, which includes the Waterfront Activation Plan and a Water-Dependent Management Plan for the Navy Yard. The amendment marks the first significant changes proposed to the BRA’s 1991 Municipal Harbor Plan that put in place new regulations for waterfront development in the city. Rich McGuiness, senior waterfront planner for the BRA, and Bruce Carlisle, the acting director of the Massachusetts Office of Costal Zone Management, presided over the meeting. Carlisle said he would make a recommendation to Ian Bowles, secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Environmental Affairs, that would inform Bowle’s decision on the matter, which would come as early as mid- to late-October.
During the BRA’s presentation, Susan Silberberg, senior vice president of Community Partners Consultants, Inc., described one new initiative proposed by the amendment that would employ five “story loops” to provide a narrative focusing on different sections of the Navy Yard. These pedestrian routes would each explore a different aspect of the Navy Yard’s history, including commerce and trade, the Navy Yard as a national historical site, seamanship, maritime technology and science and the environment and the harbor.
“The story loops will help to create an identity for the Navy Yard and create interest for different audiences,” Silberberg said, adding that they would also serve to enhance visitors’ experience along the section of the HarborWalk in the Navy Yard. (The HarborWalk is a BRA-led initiative to revitalize the waterfront via a 47-mile-long network of walkways around Boston Harbor).
The amendment also would loosen restrictions on developers that aim to mitigate possible conflicts with water-dependent use and reduces waterfront space designated as special public destination facilities (SPDF) from 34,000 square feet to 15,500 square feet.
Michael Parker, chairman of the Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard, said that in addition to drastically decreasing public space, the amendment also proposes relocating the SPDF from prime waterfront locations to the less desirable Ropewalk and Chain Forge buildings.
“These buildings are in tough shape,” Parker said. “I would almost consider them un-developable.”
Parker also expressed concern that a development proposed by Martin Oliner of New York-based LDA Acquisitions LLC that would site 170,000 square-feet of retail and residential space on Pier 5 would increase traffic in the Navy Yard and subsequently severe a section of the HarborWalk.
Navy Yard resident Sherrie Cutler also asserted that the Pier 5 development would pose a direct conflict to the water-dependent use because its construction would alter wind patterns, making it nearly impossible to dock boats at Courageous Sailing Center’s site at the adjacent Pier 4.
Vivian Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association, said that while the amendment sought to make the Navy Yard a cohesive whole, it doesn’t include nearby Montego Bay (a.k.a. Little Mystic Channel), the Community Gardens and the Bunker Hill housing development.
“The waterfront is not only for those who live and play there,” Li said. “It’s for everyone.”
Li also advised the BRA to include the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in the planning process and to take its needs into consideration when considering plans for public space in the Navy Yard. “Spaulding is a major player, but they’re not engaged,” she said.
Meanwhile, Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard board member Peter Borré urged all those with a stake in amending the Municipal Harbor Plan to work together to address development issues and implement a revised plan for the Navy Yard in a timely manner.
“Let’s launch forward on this planning process,” Borré said, “but, for heaven’s sake, let’s make it happen.”
The Massachusetts Office of Environmental Affairs has extended its public comment period on the Municipal Harbor Plan Amendment to Aug. 10. All correspondence should be sent to: CZM, 251 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02114-2136, Attn: Charlestown Navy Yard.

CAPTION: Marie Davis is seen walking Oscar, a pug/beagle mix, on Warren Street.

Most in attendance at last week’s Charlestown Neighborhood Council Basic Services Meeting could agree on one thing: Charlestown needs a dog park. But the best location for it wasn’t as easily agreed upon.
More than 60 people came to the meeting at Knights of Columbus Hall, which Precinct 3 CNC representative Bill Galvin called after a May 3 meeting regarding the Charlestown Preservation Society’s effort to secure grant money for improvements to the Training Field in Winthrop Square quickly turned into a discussion about the need for a designated dog park in the neighborhood.
State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty proposed using undeveloped land at Paul Revere Park for this purpose. This land, located beneath Leonard P. Zakin Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, is now under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority but will soon be transferred to the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“This is state-owned property that DCR will be getting,” O’Flaherty said. “We have a great opportunity here.”
O’Flaherty said he “would work the DCR to explore the possibility of this” when he meets with department representatives to discuss the future of the Emmons-Horrigan-O’Neil Memorial Skating Rink on July 18.
Ken Stone, governor of the Friends of City Square Park and a former member of the North End Task Force, said he supported the proposal to site a dog park in Paul Revere Park, especially since the park is scheduled for completion in the fall. A dog owner himself, Stone presented a petition with approximately 400 signatures in favor of this plan.
Rosemary Kverek, who doesn’t own a dog, also recommended Paul Revere Park as the site for a dog park, but only if adequate parking was available nearby.
Some residents said while they supported the idea of a dog park, it should be established in a more centralized location. Others said the intersection at Rutherford Avenue that leads to Paul Revere Park could be perilous to cross.
In response to the concern about pedestrian safety, Stone suggested building a cross walk to improve access to the park as part of the Rutherford Avenue Corridor Study. “That can be made a crossable street,” he said.
Regardless of what the best location for a dog park is, the demand for it is undeniable. As one dog owner said: “You’re not going to stop dogs from living in the city, so it would nice if you could provide a good place for dogs.”

CAPTION: Pictured, left to right, are Wendi Roseluk, children’s librarian of the Charlestown Branch Library, and Bob Cutler, executive director of the Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center.

Over the past several years, the Charlestown Branch Library has had one of the lowest levels of participation in summer reading programs in the city. Now, the library and Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center are partnering to take steps to end this alarming trend.
Among the new initiatives, Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center is offering reading groups for third and fourth grade girls and boys that feature student-athletes from Northeastern University as guest readers. The library, meanwhile, has launched its Catch the Beat @ Your Library summer reading program, which offers young readers a chance to win a variety of prizes. And Bob Cutler, Executive Director of Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, and Wendi Rosulek, Children’s Librarian for the Charlestown Branch Library, have compiled recommended summer reading lists for kindergarten-age kids through seniors in high school.
And while most kids are free from school during the summer, evidence suggest that neglecting their summer reading can put them at a disadvantage academically. According to a recent study by Harris Cooper, professor of psychological studies at the University Missouri, neglecting summer reading can result in the loss of one month on a grade-level equivalent scale. Similarly, the Hayes Study, a two-year study of school-age children and their reading habits, states that the number of books a child reads during the summer is consistently linked to academic gains.
Rosulek realizes that many Charlestown youth are involved in other programs during the summer, but she hopes that they will visit the library and participate in its diverse summer offerings for all age groups.
“I think [Charlestown kids] have a lot going on,” she said. “I’d like to believe they’re reading. They’re just not coming into the library to take advantage of the programs we offer.”
One incentive that the Boston Public Library is giving kids for coming into the library is its “Read Your Way to Fenway” program. Through this program, kids ages 5 to 17 are encouraged to read at least three books and submit a story about their favorite one by July 31. Participants will then have their stories entered into a contest with a grand prize of three Red Sox tickets going to a handful of lucky winners.
The library is also offering an online service that helps them track their summer reading, which is available at www.readsinma.org/boston or at www.pbl.org when you click on the Catch the Beat icon. Since this program is computer based, children can keep track of their summer reading whereever the Internet is available.
As for Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, Cutler hopes the books he and Rosulek have chosen for the reading groups will appeal to young readers. Starting Monday, July 9, Ashley Reeves of Northeastern women’s volleyball team will lead a special Harry Potter Reading Group, and on Saturday July 21, each participating student will receive a free copy of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows.”
Cutler and Rosulek have also selected historical fiction and sports titles that he hopes will appeal to the boys reading groups, while the girls will read selections from Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series.
“We’re trying to pick books that capture the imagination and interest of the readers,” Cutler said, adding that he also hopes to encourage parents to read with their children.
Meanwhile, Cutler point out that summer reading only serves to help kids in the long run, although its benefits might not be immediately apparent.
“It might not be something tangible,” he said. “Instead, it could help readers prepare for the school year or even spark their imaginations.”
For more information about summer reading options in Charlestown, call Bob Cutler at 617-242-1813 or Wendi Rosulek at 617-242-1248.

Advocacy groups are stepping up the pressure on public officials to build three pedestrian bridges that were promised as part of mitigation measures related to the Big Dig.
On June 19, representatives of 11 organizations including the Charlestown Waterfront Coalition, the Conservation Law Foundation, the West End Council and the Charles River Conservancy hurled a salvo at five state officials, suggesting in a letter that state officials delay the landscaping of several parks and spend the money instead on the pedestrian bridges that will connect the parks.
“There is no point in doing the work on these parks if they don’t have the bridges to get to the parks,” said Ivey St. John, a member of the Charlestown Waterfront Coalition.
Without these connections the parks will remain empty and will ultimately be neglected, she said.
One bridge, which has already been designed but not funded, is intended to connect Paul Revere Park in Charlestown to the North Point Parks in Cambridge. A second bridge crosses the river from the North Point Parks near the railroad bridge serving North Station. The third bridge is supposed to cross the railroad tracks themselves on the south bank of the river, allowing Esplanade users to walk through what is known as Nashua Street Park directly to the Harborwalk.
At this point, Nashua Street Park is usually unoccupied except by a few users from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, for which the park is the only nearby green space. The parks on the north side of the river are also unoccupied.
“We believe that parks that are inaccessible are of little use to the public, and those who construct them can be criticized for the expenditure of funds for such limited purposes,” the letter stated.
But the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has no intention of building the bridges before the parks, said Pike spokesman Jon Carlisle.
“The North Bank Bridge will be built in conjunction with the park over there,” he said.
But the MTA is not going to change the order of plans that were decided over many years. “We’ve already had an open public process with lots of discussion,” he said.
He said the turnpike authority is counting on Partners and Massachusetts General Hospital to build the other pedestrian bridges after they move the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center to Charlestown and rebuild on the site. MGH spokespersons say they do not know what the site will be used for or when they will rebuild. Jean Elrick, M.D., senior vice president for administration at MGH, said in May it is premature to speculate whether such bridges would be incorporated into their plans.
“Without the bridges, it will be difficult for Charlestown residents to get to downtown or Beacon Hill by foot,” said St. John. “We want to impress [turnpike officials] with what the community wants. I question how many of these decision-makers live in the city and use these parks.”

It’s been a good two years for Michael Kelleher of Mystic Street, but he says now is time to move on.
Kelleher, 31, a health policy analyst for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a Charlestown resident for four years, has spent the last year and a half as part of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s ONEin3 council, a which he established to give him advice and insight into the age group from 20 to 34 years of age. This group comprises one-third of the population of Boston, and the mayor wants to keep them in the city for the rest of their lives.
Kelleher heard about the group from his sister, a professor in the Women in Politics department at UMass Boston. As shown by his sister’s profession, his family has always been interested in civic matters. His mother is Ann Kelleher, who owns the Joy of Old on Warren Street. Kelleher’s gift shop is one of the meeting centers of Charlestown, and Michael says his mother always knows what’s going on in the town.
He applied to the council and was selected in October of 2005. Kelleher said serving on the 30-member council has been exciting and worthwhile.
“The reason it is so successful is that people from the mayor on down provide energy and an influx of enthusiasm,” he said. “When we meet with the mayor, he really wants to know what we’re thinking. He doesn’t tell us why the city is so great. He sits and listens.”
Council members meet with the mayor twice a year, have close contact with the director, Devin Cole, serve on one subcommittee and meet as a group bi-monthly.
Kelleher’s subcommittee, which deals with young adults’ social and cultural life, has been one of the best, he thinks. It was from this committee that the idea for a Jumbotron arose last year during the World Cup. Soccer fans on this committee suggested that the city get a direct feed from Germany and display the games on City Hall Plaza. They intended it to be a good chance for young people in the city to enjoy an event together. The mayor’s office made it happen, and, as luck would have it, Italy made it to the finals and won, which was a boon for a city with a large Italian population.
“The spark of an idea snowballed, and it went to the Office of Cultural Affairs, and they said, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” he said. “The next thing you know is that we had corporate sponsors, a Jumbotron and 3,000 people show up getting a live feed, the same as in Rome and Paris. The mayor was there all da,y and everyone went to the North End afterwards.”
Kelleher said there were no problems with the crowd the whole day.
The council doesn’t just do events. It has told the mayor about the need for dog parks, retooled the Boston Public School Web site, discussed how those who live in Allston-Brighton can deal with the petty crime and theft that neighborhood has sometimes faced and gotten to know various city officials.
Kelleher is excited about an idea this year for a whiffle ball tournament. It is working its way through the city’s approval process. “This age group don’t have the means to get away for the weekends,” he observed. “It’s fun to bring everyone together.”
Kelleher will get married in August, and will leave the council in October. He believes he will stay in Boston for now, even though he thinks there is a chance that future jobs could take him to other American cities.
He marvels at the way people move around the country. While he said it is easy for young people to move out of Boston to another city, the nation’s transient nature also makes it easy for those from other cities to move into Boston.
With the council paying attention to the lives the younger adults lead, Boston ought to be a good place to come to.