This meeting which was held at 70 St Botolph St on Wednesday October 23 2024.

Introduction
Joan thanked 70 St Botolph for donating the room. She thanked the elected officials and public servants who gave of their time and their commitment to work on neighborhood issues: Attending the meeting were Deputy Chief of Streets Julia Cambell and Transportation Planner Daniel Milbrandt, Liaison Maccon Bonner from the ONS, Assistant Commissioner Environmental Services John Ulrich and Boston Police D4

W Newton/St Botolph Intersection - Pedestrian and Traffic Safety
Deputy Chief of Streets Julia Campbell and Transportation Planner Daniel Milbrandt took questions and listened to concerns about traffic, pedestrian safety and future plans for the main intersection of the neighborhood.
A follow-up meeting will be scheduled in the spring to present plans and solutions. There continues to be utility work on Huntington, but by spring that should be concluded and plans to repave West Newton and update the crosswalks is already planned - it is hoped is that there will be plans to included improvements to the intersection before the re-paving happens. Joan promised to keep neighbors informed via the website and newsletter.

Dealing with Rodent Problems
The ever-present issue of rats is an ongoing problem and John Ulrich, Assistant Commissioner of Environmental Services for the City of Boston, talked about the importance of education and enforcement about how to reduce the rat population and steps that can be taken to make a difference:

Neighbors were urged to read up on best trash practices and sign up for a free composting bin from the city. When the regular trash is not smelling with food waste, it doesn’t attract the rats!
Rat informational meetings with neighbors was encouraged. The SBNA will help residents coordinate. Neighbors along West Newton and St Botolph who share the alley off of Follen St. already have one planned and SBNA and John Ulrich’s team have been invited to talk about specific needs.

General Safety in the Neighborhood
The police listened to oncoming concerns about activity on the corridor- specifically drug use, camping out and other complaints about a specific location. D-4 continues to work with state officials to monitor the corridor and show up when there is a problem, but neighbors were urged to  remain attentive. SBNA are working on a follow-up meeting and will keep you posted. In the meantime, neighbors were urged to please call 911 if you see suspicious or blatantly illegal behavior - and call 311 if you come across needles, drug items, or if there is a cleanup needed. Please remember how important it is to make those calls and reports - the BPD needs to know how often this is happening and need data to track incidents - it helps us all in the future when we document the present.

The annual community meeting was held on Wednesday April 17, 2024 at the
Colonnade Hotel.

SBNA board for 2024 - 2026

The SBNA board, as voted on by SBNA members for the next 2 years was confirmed:
President- Joan Carragher
Vice President -Arber Skendaj
Treasurer -Lorraine Steele
Clerk -Kathie Enright
Board Directors -Claire Dargan, Adel Labib, Jo-Ann Suna, Janie Wallace

Introduction
Joan thanked the Colonnade Hotel Management for donating the room and refreshments. She thanked the elected officials and public servants who gave of their time and their commitment to work on neighborhood issues: Attending the meeting were Councilors Tania Anderson and Ed Flynn, State Rep John Moran, State Sen Collins’ Legislative Director Riley Nichols, Chief Brianna Millor and Liaison Maccon Bonner from the ONS, and Officer Pagan from BPD D4.

Joan confirmed that the Midtown project is on hold indefinitely and that Northeastern University will continue to lease the building as a dorm.
It was confirmed that the renovation project at 70 St Botolph St Apartments is under way.
SBNA participated in the Boston Strong Daffodil program for the Boston Marathon as part of the Copley House’s annual beautification gift to the SBNA.

Panel of Speakers
The panel of Speakers each gave a two minute presentation on their role and aims

Tania Fernandes Anderson, City Councilor, District 7
Of note to attendees - Tania’s office has created an app for district 7 which can be downloaded. Tania urged residents to start dialogues with the at large councilors on the city council.

Ed Flynn, City Councilor, District 2 
Of note to attendees - Ed is committed to quality of life issues including rats, constituent services and the nuts and bolts of city services.

John Moran State Representative for 9th Suffolk District
Of note to Attendees - John is focused on ensuring protective reproductive Justice and LGBTQ , combating the humanitarian crisis facing neighbors suffering drug addiction and homelessness by focusing on ensuring adequate budgeting is passed.

Riley Nichols Legislative Director Office of Nick Collins
Of note to Attendees - Nick’s priorities include  Public Health and safety including supporting the recent bill to have all pharmacies stock Narcan.

Maccon Bonner Office of Neighborhood Service Ward 4
Brianna Millor Chief of Community Engagement
Of note to Attendees - To eliminate silos between residents and city hall. Brianna overseas various Community Engagement departments at City Hall including 311, the Office of Civic Organizing, (ONS) SPARK Boston - (empowering 20 -35 to play a greater role in planning for the City’s future) and more…..

Sgt Pagan from Boston Police District 4  (was standing in for our new liaison officer, Sgt Joseph Narduzzo as our former liaison officer, Sgt. Matthew Hogardt, has been promoted to Lt.)
Of note to Attendees - District 4 assigns community liaison officers to neighborhoods. They act as liaison between the police and the community - the liaison officer will take  community information to District 4 personnel for action. Contact information on the safety page .

RE: Trash and Rodents within the neighborhood
The SBNA continues to encourage residents to use responsible and appropriate trash disposal practices! During the meeting there was a lively discussion about some of the worst culprits: residents who are either ignorant of or disregard rules, and management companies and absent landlords who do not provide proper bins. Many attendees encouraged our city councilors to work for a budget that includes a commitment to a dedicated department for dealing with this.
The SBNA will continue to encourage management companies to provide buildings with the appropriate bins for trash, recycling and food waste program.  The city was encouraged to make it easier for residents to avail of city programs such as the recycling program and the food waste program.

RE: Situation at 231 W Newton:
It was good to know that the city, the DA, the state (due to proximity of Southwest Corridor Park), and Boston Police Department are all focused on this property. Joan has been invited to the ongoing discussion group led by Bob Barney of the Claremont Neighborhood Association and will continue to support and validate the residents of the building and neighbors who are dealing with this. 

RE: Intersection of W Newton & St B concerns:

• Listening Session for W. Newton/St Botolph Intersection w/ John Moran - the feedback from two previous meetings SBNA had with city engineers and the chief of streets is that a traffic light at this intersection was not viable given that there is one at the Huntington entrance, as well as the Columbus Ave entrance.
• The ONS (through our liaison Maccon Bonner and Chief Brianna Millor) have committed to arranging this listening session/special meeting 
• There was a lot of discussion about possible solutions to the various issues
  • Should we have speed humps installed?
  • How to discourage cut-through truck traffic
  • Raised crosswalks? 
  • Could the sidewalk corners be bumped in/enlarged to narrow the roadway?
  • Traffic light?

SBNA will continue to lobby a productive meeting with the appropiate experts in attendance who have the authority to take action.
SBNA's President Joan has been added by John Moran to an ongoing discussion about street improvements.

RE: Parking
ONS committed to reviewing parking enforcement and ratios of metered/resident spaces.

RE:  Widett Circle Homeless shelter proposal
ONS and Councilors promised to get back to us with the status of this.

RE: Street Cleaning
ONS and Councilors promised to look into extending street cleaning Mar-Dec and supporting the efforts with towing cars that do not move for street cleaning.

What an interesting and fun evening! Our fabulous president, Joan had a packed agenda but still managed to squeeze in some fun trivia questions about the neighborhood. Here are the minutes of the meeting
Meanwhile, do you want to try your hand at some of the trivia questions?(Answers can be found on this website!)