credit: Jacqueline G. Freeman
caption: William St. George and Marianne Leva tended to the winning garden.




William St. George, owner of the St. George Gallery on Newbury Street, has won first place in the Storefront Garden category of Mayor Menino’s 2006 Garden Contest. This is St. George’s fourth first-place win. Last year he won third place.

St. George’s garden is filled with both annuals and perennials, including brightly colored zinnias, geraniums, petunias, impatiens and lilies. A delicate mini-Blackeyed Susan vine has found a home at the front of the garden. St. George also has two butterfly bushes that he said attract butterflies “even in the city heat.”

The five-time winner swears by a simple mix of Miracle Grow and water.

The Boston Parks and Recreation Department sponsors the contest presented in partnership with sponsors Comcast and the Boston Herald.

Launched ten years ago as part of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s citywide beautification initiative, the contest recognizes gardeners who have landscaped, planted flowers, trees, and shrubs, and, in the process, beautified their own small piece of Boston.

St. George will receive coveted first-place “Golden Trowel” at an awards ceremony being held on August 23 at 5:30 p.m. in The Public Garden. HGTV will provide winners with gardener’s gift bags and the American Horticultural Society will give them one-year memberships.

News analysis



Some say that politics makes the best theater. If that is so, Back Bay voters have a front row seat in a drama William Shakespeare might have wanted to write.

The characters are three smart, strategic and beautiful women: Sonia Chang-Diaz, Samiyah Diaz and Dianne Wilkerson.

The story line is simple: These women are fighting over the chance to be the Democratic candidate in November in the Second Suffolk Senate district, which includes parts of the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, South End, Roxbury, Mattapan and Mission Hill. Who will it be?

The characters could become as confusing as those in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” You probably have noticed that there are two Diazes, and their first names are uncommon and begin with “S.” Some say they suspect that Chang-Diaz, the last one to enter the race, did so to confuse potential Diaz voters and give Wilkerson a better chance. Chang-Diaz says the suspicion is false.

Adding to the intrigue is that one of the characters has what passes in this day and age as an elite heritage: Chang-Diaz, 28, is the daughter of a NASA astronaut.

But Wilkerson, 51, has her own dramatic credentials: She was the first and only African American woman to win a seat in the state Senate. She is admired for her skill at running a hearing. Observers agree that she is articulate, hard working and has championed many causes Democrats hold dear. She garnered 16 out of 21 votes, which earned her the Ward 5 Democratic Committee’s endorsement, and she has also been endorsed by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and other grateful organizations.

Any good play has a character whose troubles are brought on by his or her own flaws. Wilkerson is a star in this regard, with financial and ethical problems reaching back several years.
She has failed to file federal income tax returns. She has been fined for improperly using campaign funds, among other transgressions.

Most recently, through neglect, arrogance, inattention or a simple mistake, Wilkerson turned in fewer than the 300 valid signatures required to get on the ballot.

So Wilkerson now has to run a cumbersome write-in campaign, which is best done with stickers. This misstep was the last straw for Chang-Diaz. “My frustration and disappointment [with Wilkerson] has been a gradual process,” she said. “The latest glitch with the signatures was the tipping point. I had helped gather signatures. I know how much work it is. It felt like a disrespect to the voters.”

So Chang-Diaz, who has been an aide to former Senator Cheryl Jacques and affiliated with many Democratic organizations, is running a write-in/sticker campaign too.

But before Chang-Diaz decided to run, a crafty character had entered on stage right. Law student Samiyah Diaz, 28, the Republican candidate who duly collected her signatures for that primary ballot, has declared that she will also run a sticker campaign on the Democratic side. She said she is doing it because she did not want to automatically hand Wilkerson the nomination, and that she feels she can work across party lines.

With no Republican opposition, Diaz will automatically appear on the November general election ballot. Diaz said she, like the district, is liberal on social issues. She believes, however, that she is more fiscally conservative than the other candidates and that makes her a better Republican than a Democrat.

“I would take the office as a Republican should I win in November,” she said. “But it is really important for Democrats to know that I’m on their side.”

Local Republicans have little problem with Diaz’s decision to run the write-in campaign as a Democrat. “In this district, to get elected you have to reach out to the Democrats and Independents,” said Ellen Rooney of Gloucester Street, who is chair of the Ward 5 Republican Committee. “From that point of view she’s doing the right thing.”

Democrats are puzzled. “It’s deceptive,” said Robert Whitney of Beacon Hill, who is the Ward 5 Democratic Committee chair. “It’s actually very disingenuous. By appearing in the primary, it appears that she’s supporting the Democratic platform and the other candidates.”

Whitney said he would have trouble trusting that she will remain liberal on social issues. “She might change her mind like Mitt Romney has done for other offices she might want to seek.”

In a dramatic device worthy of the close-knit or closely related characters in “Hamlet,” Diaz and Wilkerson are close, at least geographically. They were neighbors for a time, and Wilkerson’s spokespeople say that Dianne’s campaign office is on the ground floor of the Douglass Park building in which Diaz lives. Perhaps this proves, like Northern Ireland and Ireland, or the Shiites and the Sunnis, that those who are closest to one another fight the bloodiest battles.

And Wilkerson claims it is getting bloody. She says her opponents are accusing her of having the wrong values, and she admits to her wrongdoings. But she says voters have been able to balance those flaws with her record of achievement and support for real values such as bringing justice and fairness to people in all walks of life.

One wonders what will actually happen on September 19, when voters go to the polls for the primary election.

Will Wilkerson—or for that matter, the other two candidates—be able to follow the fairly straightforward rules for preparing stickers? Wilkerson said the victor will be the candidate who is the most organized, and she is that candidate.

Will the other two candidates be able to muster enough volunteers to pass out the stickers to likely supporters as they enter the polls? If voters choose to write in the candidates, will they spell the names accurately enough for election officials to determine their intent, which is the standard the courts have set for such cases? If the race is a close one, how long will the lawsuits last until every voter’s intent has been determined?

And finally, will the drama turn out to be a comedy or a tragedy or something in between?

A planned demonstration in front of the Shaw’s supermarket near the Prudential Center was foiled, not by police but by a bad case of food poisoning.

The demonstrators, from an environmental group called Oceana, were set to picket outside the Shaw’s at 53 Huntington Avenue last Monday morning. Instead, the group of activists spent the morning recuperating from food poisoning. The core group of picketers, as it turns out, had eaten at a Boston restaurant the night before and fallen ill.

Katie Burnham, media advisor and communications manager for Oceana’s toxic pollution campaign, did not know how many protestors had become ill or at which restaurant they had eaten. She expected the demonstration to be rescheduled once the group had recovered.

Ironically the group was protesting high levels of mercury found in Shaw’s swordfish and tuna, levels that could lead to food poisoning and other health hazards. Oceana had previously asked the supermarket to post a Food and Drug Administration warning in the store but, according to Burnham, representatives for Shaw’s refused. Aside from picketing, the group planned to speak to customers as they entered the store and also use a 15-foot long tuna prop to attract attention.

“This is a summer-long citizen drive,” Burnham said. “Oceana’s goal is to stop mercury pollution by making a tour of supermarkets.”

Besides protesting against Shaw’s, the group has also turned its attention to Shaw’s parent company Albertson’s, in hopes it will post FDA advisories in all of its stores. Burnham said it is often difficult to track where seafood originates, especially when it is caught in non-U.S. waters. Thus, activist groups like Oceana are forced to deal with supermarket chains that distribute seafood Oceana believes to be contaminated.

caption: Kevin Kish owns The Closet on Newbury Street.
credit: Jaclyn Trop





On Newbury Street, bemoaned by old timers and celebrated by newcomers for its constant flux, some stores have withstood the changing tide.

Take, for example, Vose Galleries at 238 Newbury Street. Vose, which has claimed title as America’s oldest family-owned art gallery and the oldest business in the Back Bay, has been run by the Vose family for six generations – and shows no signs of slowing down.

While other retailers dart in and out of Newbury Street, Vose “has been within one mile of the present location for 110 years,” according to Bill Vose, who is co-president of Vose Galleries alongside his twin brother Terry. Running a family business requires “a lot more give and take,” he said. “Families think through issues thoroughly before making decisions. We have discussions, not pronouncements.”

Bill and Terry, the fifth generation of Voses to run the gallery, never intended to join the family business. The twins’ father, Robert C. Vose, Jr., left Harvard as a sophomore in 1932 to rescue the gallery from the throes of the Great Depression and encouraged his sons to tread a different path.

“My father told us in college, ‘There’s no question that you’re not coming into the business,’” Bill said. Yet, Bill and Terry have been in charge of the gallery for more than three decades and are now preparing to make way for Bill’s daughters Elizabeth and Carey, the sixth generation to run Vose Galleries and the first comprised of women.

Founded by Joseph Vose (1793-1873) in Providence, RI in 1841, Vose Galleries began as a small artist supply store selling brushes, frames, hooks and, occasionally, paintings. After taking over the store in 1850, Joseph’s son, Seth, brought the store to near financial ruin when an attempt to deal in French Barbizon School imports did not prove lucrative. As legend goes, Seth saved the store by bringing it to Boston, where he opened a Tremont Street showroom in 1880 to take advantage of the age’s prosperity and the city’s art-hungry patrons.

From Tremont Street, Seth’s son, Robert C. Vose, moved the gallery to Copley Square in 1924. Robert C. Vose, Jr. moved the gallery again in 1962 to its present Newbury Street location, where Vose Galleries has become New England’s largest retailer of American realist paintings. Other Newbury Street galleries have not fared so well, Bill said, with more than 250 leaving the street over the past 38 years.

Young by comparison, Winston Flowers, at 131 Newbury Street, has continued through three generations of family-owned flower sales. The business, which sprung 60 years ago from a pushcart peddling flowers in front of a Boston hotel, has grown into a 250-person company with seven stores in the Boston area.

“It’s not everyday that a business lasts 60 years and grows through generations. The Winstons have been lucky, but they must be doing something right,” said Maggie Battista, manager at Winston Flowers’s Newbury Street location, where Winston Flowers founder Robert Winston first set up shop 50 years ago. “There’s an honor that goes along with working here. It’s a business that not only has a legacy but has stood the test of time.”

Robert left the business to his son Maynard, who in turn gave the store to its present owners, his sons Ted, Michael and David. The brothers have several children and bring them to the store frequently, Battista said. “All of the clients know the brothers and ask about them, which is kind of sweet,” she said.

These caring clients are at the core of the business’ longevity, Battista said, with some Back Bay residents returning to Winston Flowers for 20 or 30 years to commemorate births, weddings and passings.

“Everyone who’s worked here sees the store change,” Battista said. “It’s been fun to see how one of the poshest streets in Boston shifts and changes over time.”

Meanwhile, the success of The Closet at 175 Newbury Street has shown that bloodlines are not the only lines that can birth strong businesses.

Kevin Kish, owner of The Closet at 175 Newbury Street, inherited the upscale consignment shop 11 years ago from his life partner Gregory Evans, who died in 1995 after battling AIDS for three years. Evans had inherited the store from his life partner, Closet founder Stephen Orrell, who died of AIDS in 1988. Although Kish never met Orrell, he said that he takes his responsibility as custodian of the 28-year-old store seriously.

A former motivational speaker, Kish began taking over the store as Evans’s illness progressed. Kish has a passion for clothes and The Closet, which sells shoes, bags and clothes for men and women from retailers ranging from Chanel to Banana Republic. “You’d never know you’re in a consignment shop. I try to get that slice of the pie that is higher than Marshalls — a good deal,” he said.

He beamed as he read from a store review he keeps framed by the entrance. It called The Closet “as entertaining as shopping gets.”

“I was so flattered,” Kish said, teary-eyed. “It’s hard for me to have people come in and think I’m The Closet and don’t know Stephen and Greg. [Greg] loved, loved, loved to sell clothes. I know that he would be so proud that we’re still here,” he said.

But sometimes, employees stand in for family.

Leslee Korff, a former employee of the high-end clothing boutique Serenella at 134 Newbury Street, took over the store from its original owner, Ines Capelli, three years ago.

“She was always my mentor. I think I was the logical successor,” said Korff, who has a passion for fashion and deals in the likes of luxury retailers Bottega Veneta, Versace and Narciso Rodriguez.

Korff said that she “always loved” the store Capelli started 27 years ago. “When the opportunity came about for me to take over, I jumped,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to own one of the best stores in Boston?”

August thoughts

With each week, August gets deader. By the last week, you wonder if any resident who isn’t a student or who isn’t moving on September 1 is left in town.

So newspaper editors don’t think about problems in the neighborhood or issues that at any other time of the year would be hot and heavy.

Instead, even enquiring minds wander. For example, we’re remembering when the Mass Pike’s signs featured a Pilgrim’s hat with an arrow poking through it. Maybe it was the 1960s or ‘70s. At some point the pike must have realized that some people—Wampanoags? Pilgrim descendents?—could find the signs offensive, or at the least, weird, and did away with them. The Pike is mum on the subject at this point. Now the pike’s signs feature a restrained Pilgrim hat, sans arrow.

The Public Garden is such a pleasure in the summer. It’s well kept and even in its tranquility is exciting, with all the children playing on the ducklings and riding the swan boats. The harbor is also a pleasure, although getting to it and walking along it is still a challenge because of Big Dig and Harborwalk construction.

The Public Garden is a reminder of Boston’s symbols from the animal world —swans, insects (the grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall) and fish (the sacred cod). Is there something odd about a locale that doesn’t have a lion, a bear or an eagle, the fauna symbols that most government entities adopt? But then we remember that France has a rooster, so perhaps it is okay.

The daily newspapers have a lot of reports about luxury boxes at Fenway or at the Gaaahden. It’s understandable that the owners want to sell luxury seats—with them they eke as much money as possible out of patrons trying to show their financial or social status. Those patrons are fair game.

But at least some of the luxury boxes change the nature of the experience. Part of the fun of a Red Sox or a Celtics game is the crowd—that heady mix of Bostonians whooping it up, yelling, and being fans. Jack Nicholson used to sit down in one of the front rows at the old Gaaahden whenever the Lakers were in town. Everyone knew where he was, but he was also one of us.

At a Red Sox game one will still often see Governor Romney or some other celebrity sitting down with everyone else. These celebs usually have good seats, but at least they are mucking it up with the crowd.

In a nation where the haves and the have-nots occupy spaces further and further apart, it’s probably unstoppable. But at least at sporting events, the luxury quarters seem to isolate the patrons from the action and diminish the experience.

August has always been a time of guns and this year is no different. The nation is at war, although it is a peculiar one. This editorial space rejected the war before it started, not believing even then that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, a term we hear little about these days. We didn’t believe they had anything to do with the 9/11 terrorists either. So what if we were right? It hasn’t helped in any way.

But now there is a lot of talk among Democrats about getting out of Iraq. Joe Lieberman was defeated in the primary this week in Connecticut because of a lot of reasons, one of which was that he wants to stay in Iraq.

But there is a problem that the Democrats must work through more wisely than they have so far. Of course this war was a sham, a grave error, a foolish step to take. But since America brought it on, America needs to solve the problems it has created for the Iraqis. How can we leave them at this point? Their difficulties—most caused by us—in their economy, physical infrastructure, safety and governance seem almost insurmountable. They would likely descend into civil war, with a leader as ruthless as Saddam emerging from the chaos.

This column does not have an answer to this terrible problem. But our hearts go out to the Iraqis for what we have brought on to them. Democratic leaders must have a more reasoned approach to the problem than leaving them to a violent fate.