2008 Presidents' Messages
January 2008
Dear Neighbors,
Thank you to all of our Merchants, and members who donated raffle items and baked goods to our Holiday Party, especially Larry Baker at Priority Parking who donated the Patriots Tickets. Congratulations to Lauren Smyth, who was our lucky winner!
In order to continue the discussion on the UMass Master Plan that began at last month’s meetings, representatives from UMass Boston present the Master Plan and address questions at the January meeting.
Corcoran Jennison Companies as responded to our appeal for help in printing our newsletter. Thank you very much to the Corcoran Jennison, especially Catherine O’Neill our neighbor and member who made this possible.
I hope that all had a very merry and restorative holiday, and I wish you a very healthy and Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing all of you on the 7th at 7pm!
~ Deirdre Habershaw
February 2008
Dear Neighbors,
At this month’s meeting we will be doing something a little bit different. We do not have any specific planning items to address this month, so we will be having an open discussion on the Master Plan for Columbia Point that will be going on for the next several months. We are fortunate to have a number of representatives from our community appointed to the Master Plan Task Force, including Bill Cotter, Matt Gordy, Paul Nutting, and Don Walsh. This discussion will serve as an information gathering session for our representatives so that once the task force meets they have some reference point for how our membership feels the master plan should come together. Please come to the meeting prepared with, not only your concerns for how the proposed development could negatively effect our community, but also aspects of the point that you hope will be preserved, and desires that you may have for development that could benefit our community.
As I am sure you have unfortunately heard, there was a fatal stabbing in an apartment on Tuttle Street in January. My deepest sympathy’s go out to the victim’s family, as well as the resident of the apartment, and the property owner. I would like to say, especially to those of you that may be new to the area, that this is not a frequent occurrence, and is quite out of the ordinary. A crime of this kind can happen anywhere. It just so happens that this time it tragically occurred in one of our homes. All we can hope is that the Boston Police will find the criminal and that something like this will never happen in our neighborhood again. If you are interested in joining or starting a crime watch in our area, please contact the
Neighborhood
Crime Watch Unit of the Boston Police Department at 617-343-4345.
I look forward to seeing all of you on the 4th at 7 PM at the Little House!
~ Deirdre Habershaw
March 2008
Dear Neighbors,
I hope that everyone had a nice month of February. Fortunately, the last month has been relatively quiet, and frankly I don't have much in the way of an update on issues. So I would like to take this opportunity to recognize two people who are very helpful to me and to the association.
George Jenkins and Jim Castiola keep our web site updated, and send emails to member when we are trying to get information out quickly. I just wanted to let everyone know just how much I appreciate their work. Often I am sending one of them an announcement that is time sensitive and they are both very generous in taking time from their lives to send it out quickly. I couldn't do it without either of them.
At this month's meeting we will be forming a nomnations committee which will oversee the nominations and election of officers. Please consider being a member of this committee. Furthermore, we will be taking nomnations for officers at the April meeting. At this time we anticipate having two vacancies. Nora McDonnell has decided not to seek re-election (Treasurer), and the Corresponding Secretary position has been vacant for some time. If you think you may be interested inone of these positions, but have questions; please don't hesitate to ask Nora or another officer for details on the various responsibilities.
I look forward to seeing all of you on March 3rd at 7 PM.
~ Deirdre Habershaw
May 2008
Dear Neighbors,
I hope that everyone was able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather we had during
the month of April. It was nice to see so many people out and about enjoying our fabulous
neighborhood. Thank you so much to all of the volunteers that devoted their Saturday to
beautifying our neighborhood for Boston Shines. Unfortunately, I was not able to
participate this year, but I heard from Lauren Smyth that the turnout in Savin Hill was
phenomenal. I am grateful to Anne Riley, Bill Walczak, Chris O’Neil, Joe Chaisson, Paul
Nutting, and Michael Christopher for organizing all of the volunteers throughout the
neighborhood. Hopefully the great weather will continue into the month of May because we
have a lot of great outdoor events coming up this month including the revival of the
Neighborhood Yard Sale and the Plant and Bake Sale.
This month we will have our election of officers. We are still accepting nominations, and
will continue to do so up until voting at the meeting. At this time we do not have a
candidate to take over the treasurer responsibilities from Nora. I would strongly urge you
to consider the position. Nora has been doing a fabulous job keeping our finances and
membership info in order, which is a very important component of keeping the association
going. Being an officer is a great way of staying informed on what is going on in the area
and allows you the opportunity to participate shaping the organization and prioritizing
our objectives. If these are things you are interested in, I encourage you to nominate
yourself for treasurer or consider joining the Executive Board, which is also accepting new
members. I can ensure you that there will be plenty of help from the other officers and
Executive Board members in getting you started in either of these roles if you chose to
accept one.
I look forward to seeing all of you on Monday, May 5th @ 7:00 PM at the Little House.
~ Deirdre Habershaw
