01.31.2007 Monthly Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2007, 7:30 p.m. The neighborhood meeting was held at the Susan Bailis Center , Mass Avenue at St. Botolph,   
About 35 people attended this important update to the 99 St. Botolph B&B project and the Safety/Crime information panel presentation.
Vice President Chris Coffin called the meeting to order at 7:40 by thanking the Bailis Center for their gracious room and refreshment hospitality.

Three representatives from the 99 St. Botolph Project made presentations: 
Keith Beardsley of Heath Properties, a Boston-based developer of extended-stay residential hotels.
Fred Schultz, S&E Construction

Patrick Sharkey, Architect
The goal of the project is to restore and complete this historic site at the corner of West Newton Street with a 15-suite complex.  All permits have been obtained and construction, which will be completed in November, has started.  There will be a 10’ landscaped set back that will include new fencing.  The cellar stairs fronting on West Newton will be removed, and a caretaker’s apartment created in the basement with light from window wells. Piles for the filled-in section of the building will be drilled and completed in February.  Monthly rates might be between $2&3K.  Valet, but no on-site, parking will be available.  The name of the residence has not yet been established.

Chris then introduced three Safety Representatives:

• Captain Evans of the Boston Police Department, D-4
• Carolyn MacNeil, Community Services Coordinator, D-4
• Edward Geary, Public Affairs Officer, Suffolk County Sheriff.

All three answered questions about recent car break-ins and other neighborhood crimes, giving the audience a very complete view of the detailed monitoring of the St. Botolph neighborhood, and how it compares to other neighborhoods in the large, D-4 area.  Property crimes here are down 42%, but there has been a wave of car break-ins, considered crimes of opportunity, where the homeless and drug users go after anything visible in cars because there is a useful network of stores that handle stolen ipods and GPS’s.  The urged those attending to leave NOTHING visible in cars as desperate thieves find just about anything worth stealing and fencing. 

Residents of our neighborhood should be assured that the police department is well aware of crime patterns and has a good priority system for responding to crime.  The Symphony Hall stabbing involved members of a gang who had come into the area that evening and was not typical of our neighborhood.  More serious crimes such as robberies and assaults are more prevalent in other areas of D-4.  Problems arise when there is a mix of high-end residences and homeless shelters nearby where residents spill into the streets during the day, looking for fast money.  There is a special way to call 911 from a cell phone: 617-343-49111.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50.
Respectfully Submitted, Helen Powell, Clerk