September 2004

Items that missed the printed issue:

"Drive Carefully, School's Open!"


Water Works
One of my last projects as President of CSHCA was to represent us by conveying our concerns about the MWRA storm drain project at Savin Hill Cove to MEPA (a State environmental review process). You may remember that we had Scott Darling from the Conservation Law Foundation and a couple of the big-wigs from MWRA at our spring meetings to inform us of the project, which would essentially make South Boston Beaches, including Carson, virtually pollution free. One consequence of the larger $300 million project is that storm water collected in the storm drains of our neighborhood in an area roughly bounded by Pleasant Street, Taft/Belfort Streets, Sydney Street, and Columbia Road that currently discharges behind Bayside Expo Center, will be redirected during heavy storm events via an enlarged storm drain into Savin Hill Cove, near the entrance to UMass. My comments to MEPA were given strong consideration in the final determination allowing the project to go forward. In fact, fellow DOTite and director of MEPA, Jim Hunt telephoned me the day he wrote the decision to apprise me and thank me for our comments. The primary benefit to us is that during every storm, the storm water collected during the first few minutes (which is the most contaminated because it is washing off dirty streets, sidewalks and lots), will be redirected to Deer Island for treatment. It is very important that we are conscious of our own actions and how they affect the water quality of the harbor. PLEASE fix any fluid leaks on your vehicles, pick up after your pets, and don't throw anything into storm drains or the street gutter because all this stuff will eventually find their way to the harbor and beaches.
~ Paul Nutting


Did You Know??
Presidential Election
NOVEMBER 2, 2004
To vote in the Presidential Election, Massachusetts' residents must register to vote by October 13,2004

Is your voter information up to date?
If you "think so" but you are not sure: Call the City of Boston Elections department @ 617-635-4635, to re-confirm that your information is correct and if your polling location has changed.

If you know your voter registration status is up-to-date:
Find out where your poll location at www.cityofboston.gov/whoami
Make arrangement for childcare, transportation, and time off, etc. and commit to bring at least one friend to the polls!

If you are not registered to vote in Boston:
Obtain a new voter registration form from your post office, City Hall, Codman Square Health Center or Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, or print one on-line from http://www.workingforchange.com/vote/vote_center.cfm?itemid=15945&ms=LWV001 and re-register to vote.
Call the City Hall Election Department at 617-635-4635 and update your information.

SOURCE: www.massvote.org
HELPFUL LINKS:
To Register to Vote: http://www.massvote.net/site/PageServer
Who are my election officials? http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php
For poll location: www.cityofboston.gov/whoami
City Hall Election Department 617-635-4635


Click here for CSHCA Beautification Committee Updates


Dorchester Recycling Coalition:
To receive your FREE blue recycling bin or for more info about how to recycle call (617) 635-4959.
Pitch in and put litter in its proper place.


Support Our Local Businesses who Support the CSHCA!

Below is a list of the Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association's Merchant Members. The folks who run these businesses support us and have invested in our community. Please extend the same support to them by shopping in their stores, eating in their restaurants, and seeking their services.
A Hohmann Oil Co. Inc. 1146 Dorchester Avenue
Anna's Bakery, Inc. 1035 Dorchester Avenue
At Home Real Estate Group 109 Savin Hill Avenue
Avenue Auto Wholesales, Inc.  1121 Dorchester Avenue
The Banshee Pub 934 Dorchester Avenue
Bayside Exposition Center 200 Mt. Vernon Street
Best Liquors 1088 Dorchester Avenue
The Boston Globe 135 Morrissey Blvd.
C.F. Donovan's Restaurant 120 Savin Hill Avenue
Coleen’s Flower Shop 912 Dorchester Avenue
Corcoran Jennison Mgmt 150 Mt. Vernon Street
Creative Wrappings 22 Carson Street  
Dorchester Avenue Auto Repair  887 Dorchester Avenue
Dorchester Tire Service, Inc. 1160 Dorchester Avenue
Dorchester Market 951 Dorchester Avenue
Gately Insurance Co. 983A Dorchester Avenue
Lee Myles Transmission 1110 Dorchester Avenue
Lee's Store & Bakery 982 Dorchester Avenue
McKenna’s Café 113 Savin Hill Avenue
Murphy Funeral Home 1020 Dorchester Avenue
Nash’s Pub 1154 Dorchester Avenue
NEALCO Environmental Svcs. 5 Caspian Way
Old Towne Real Estate 651 Gallivan Blvd.
P. Gioioso & Sons Construction 50 Sprague Street, Hyde Park (BWS project)
Pat Jay’s Pharmacy 940 Dorchester Avenue
Restaurante Laura 688 Columbia Road
Savin Hill Variety 110 Savin Hill Avenue
Shanti Restaurant 1111 Dorchester Avenue
SPIRE Printing 65 Bay Street
Sports Lab 1152 Dorchester Avenue
Venice Pizza 39 Savin Hill Avenue
Vina Realty/MSC Travel 988 Dorchester Avenue

Merchant Memberships are $25.00 a year. Please note that this is a non-voting membership. If interested in becoming a Merchant Member please print out and complete the membership form at the bottom of this online newsletter and forward with your check in the amount of $25.00 made payable to the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association. We will list all Merchant Members each month in our newsletter. Funds will be used towards neighborhood improvement projects/activities.


E-Lert: Thoughts on a Month of Looking at the Data
For those of you who don't know about E-Lert, it's a system to alert Columbia-Savin Hill residents of property crime that is happening in our neighborhood within a few days of it happening. The idea was cooked up by Bill Forry of the Dorchester Reporter and me, supported by DotWell/Health Services Partnership, a collaboration of Dorchester House and Codman Square Health Centers. It is based on my experiences of listening to the crime reports at civic meetings, and realizing that property crime sometimes occurs to numerous places in the same area over a short period of time. Thus, if you want to prevent crime, you tell people about it when it's happening and remind them of what they can do to avoid being a victim. Hopefully, people getting the information tell their neighbors. Or at least that's the theory.

In any case, with the support of Boston Police Area C-11 Captain Lee and UMass Boston's Emerging Leaders Program, we set out in July to create a system to alert Columbia-Savin Hill residents of property crime by e-mail. A list of crimes goes out about twice a week categorized by auto crime and house crime, followed by a tip on how to avoid being a victim, and information on how to find out more about dealing with crime, along with helpful web sites. The plan is to do this until the end of December and then ask those participating if it was helpful. If so, we would urge the Boston Police to do this for all of Boston. About 80 people are currently on the list.

At this writing, I've been going through the data for about six weeks. Although it's perhaps too short a time to come to any conclusions, I can say a few things about what I've noticed. The first thing is that crime in our neighborhood is low in comparison with many other districts, and that it tends to be house breaks and auto breaks or thefts. There are a few assaults but they tend to be related to family problems. Crime also tends to occur in a few specific areas rather than being evenly distributed. Sometimes, it is clear that there is a pattern of crime; other times, it appears to be random. None of this is a big surprise. The only surprise to me thus far has been the number of hit and run crimes. It averages almost one per day in our neighborhood during some weeks.

If you want to join, just send an e-mail to E-Lert@hspnetwork.org, and give your name and home address. Your address will not be shared with anyone.
~Bill Walczak


Crimewatch Information:
For info on starting a crime watch in your neighborhood or to find out about an existing crime watch group in your area call the Boston Police Crime watch Unit at (617) 343-4345.

Congratulations go out to the Victoria Street Crime watch who was named as being one of this year's Top Ten Crime watch groups in our city!
~Molly Dunford
Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services


Election Officers Wanted:
The Boston Election Department is recruiting Election Officers for the next 2 Elections. For more information (including an application in PDF format) Click Here.


CSHCA Meeting Childcare Reminder
At our general meetings we offer free childcare for our membership. Please bring along any personal items that your child may need during the course of the evening. Make sure you arrive on the early side to give your child some time to adjust and settle in.

Join us as we welcome Sylvi Nacci as our new childcare attendant!


Little House Food Pantry
The CSHCA collects nonperishable food, toiletries and household cleaning items at our monthly meetings to donate to The Little House Food Pantry. We have our collection basket located at the sign in desk . Thanks so much !!!


50/50 Raffle
The CSHCA runs a 50/50 raffle at each of our general monthly meetings. Please participate. Tickets are only $1 each and three for $2 and can be purchased at the front desk when checking in. The winning ticket will be drawn at the conclusion of each meeting.


Remember your CSHCA dues must be paid for a minimum of thirty days prior to our monthly general meetings in order to be a voting member in good standing.



CSHCA Membership Renewal/Application for Membership
Please keep current with your annual membership dues if you wish to remain a voting member in good standing and continue to receive a copy of the newsletter, "The Neighbors". NOTE: Check address label for your membership expiration date. It would be greatly appreciated if your memberships were renewed early.

CSHCA Annual Memberships are only $5 per person ($25 Merchant Sponsor - non-voting member) Checks can be made payable to: CSHCA

Simply print out the form below and give with payment to our Treasurer, Nora McDonnell at our next meeting or mail to:

CSHCA Membership
c/o Ms. Nora McDonnell, CSHCA Treas.
7 Buttonwood Court
Dorchester, MA 02125

Individual membership(s) ____
Merchant Sponsor _____


Name(s): ____________________________________________

Street: _____________________________ Apt: __________

City/Town: ___________________________ State: _____

Postal Code: ____________

Phone: ______________________________

Email: ______________________________

Merchant Sponsor Name: _____________________________

Newsletter Submissions
Do you have you something that you'd like to share in "The Neighbors"?
We welcome all appropriate submissions. Letters to the Editor, write-ups about a neighborhood event, local announcements, committee reports...etc. Please keep your written text on the shorter side (several paragraphs in length) and single spaced. We reserve the right to edit all submissions for clarity and or due to space constraints.

Call (617) 282-1277 or email janderson@uusc.org
Our deadline for the October newsletter is tentatively set for September 21st.


Homeland Security Information
Preparing makes sense. Get ready Now. For the most current information and recommendations, go to www.ready.gov for updates or call 1-800-BE-READY (1-800-237-3239) for a free brochure.


**Many Thanks to SPIRE and UMass for their copying and mailing assistance!!!






© 2004 Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association