Get outta town

At the end of August the Back Bay has thinned out. It seems as if everyone is on vacation. Some are on the Cape, others in Maine or New Hampshire or western Massachusetts. Some are closer—Gloucester, perhaps. One family we know in downtown Boston goes to Milton for the summer—go figure.

If you’re still here, you may be feeling a bit down in the dumps. There are a lot of empty parking spaces—relatively speaking—but if you’re one of the thousands of Back Bay residents without a car, you can’t even take advantage of that.
Newspapers are always urging public officials to do this or that, or urging citizens to act in some way. So here is what we recommend: Take the edge off any envy you might have of those who are lounging around on Nantucket right now by planning short trips that will take you out of the humdrum of daily existence. Here are three suggestions that don’t require a car.

• Watch whales. Summer isn’t complete for most New Englanders unless they’ve had at least one opportunity to get onto the ocean in a boat. Whale watching is one way to accomplish that goal, while letting a little awe into your life. These majestic mammals are just as big as you imagine, but they leap and splash with grace and agility. Watching the planes take off from Logan, checking out cruise ships at the Black Falcon Terminal, and viewing downtown Boston add to the appeal of leaving the inner harbor and returning. Pack a picnic lunch, suntan lotion, a sweater for that cold ocean breeze, and your binoculars, and you will have all the ingredients for a transporting long morning or afternoon.
At least five companies take passengers to the whale feeding grounds at Stellwagen Bank for between $30 to $35 for adults. The whole trip takes three to four hours depending on the type of boat. It’s only a 30-minute walk or a short subway ride to Long Wharf, Rowes Wharf, Central Wharf next to the Aquarium and Northern Avenue in the new waterfront area. Google them.

• Get cultured. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is a $3.75 train ride from North Station on the Newburyport/Rockport line. The PEM, as its promoters like to call it, tells the story of New England’s relationship with Asia and the Pacific Islands. Its fine old building and a beautiful new addition designed by Moshe Safdie house paintings, household goods, maritime artifacts and a real traditional-style Chinese house. Its Asian collections are some of the best in the world. The museum has a lovely café and Salem itself has restaurants are perfectly serviceable. Those who like kitsch can immerse themselves in the witch theme that seems to ooze into every part of the town. Those with a more historical bent may want to visit some of the early 19th century houses or simply walk around.


• Go to the beach — Crane Beach, to be specific. The best day would be tomorrow, when the beach features Sandblast, its annual sand sculpture contest. This rather wild, haunting beach/marsh looks fairly tame when a lot of people are there, but its 1,200 acres leaves a lot of room for nature. Trails, sand dunes, unusual plants and many birds and animals add to the appeal of the swimming, which is cold. Perhaps this is where the word “bracing” originated. The parking lot is the only part of the setting that ought to be eliminated, but you don’t have to contribute to the despoiling — you can take the train and a beach shuttle. You’ll spend $5.25 each way to get to Ipswich from North Station on the train going to Newburyport. The beach shuttle, called the Ipswich Essex Explorer, will set you back $1 a ride or $3 for an all-day pass. Beach admission fees are $2 for non-members and $1 for members of the Trustees of Reservations, which owns the beach.

Planning groups are starting to form to look at data and analyze it so that a decision can be made about how to deal with the deteriorating tunnel on Storrow Drive between the Arlington and Clarendon street exits.

The state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation has sent letters to 21 community groups inviting them to submit names of a representative and an alternate to be considered for seats on a traffic advisory committee and a landscaping advisory committee.

“We’re planning to have at least three or four sessions in which we will present the results of the “origination and destination” study and traffic counts, as well as [data collected by] the Central Transportation Planning Staff,” said Nancy Farrell, a consultant with Regina Villa Associates, which has been managing public involvement for DCR. She said these groups would probably begin meeting in September.

Among the groups invited to participate in the traffic advisory committee are the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, the Beacon Hill Civic Association, the Beacon Hill Business Association, the Back Bay Association, the Newbury Street League, Massachusetts General Hospital, Walk Boston, the Boston Transportation Department and the West End Association. Groups from Cambridge, the Longwood Medical Area and regional transportation and planning organizations are also on the list.

Some of these groups will participate on both committees. For the landscaping advisory group, DCR has also invited the Garden Club of the Back Bay, the Esplanade Association and the Beacon Hill Garden Club to participate, as well as Community Boating, and other environmental groups farther up the Charles River.

“By late fall something will emerge from the advisory groups,” she said. DCR hopes for a consensus to emerge from the groups about what makes the best plan for the area. The whole exercise is working toward a draft Environmental Impact Report that is due early in 2007.

Farrell said that participants so far have been open minded about four different options for either replacing the tunnel or reconfiguring the roadway to eliminate the tunnel. These plans were presented last spring, and most people have said they will wait until the data is complete and analyzed before taking a position, Farrell reported.

Pristine. Immaculate. Just plain clean. That is how neighbors this week are describing the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

That’s a big change from a month ago, when the Sun carried a photo Commonwealth Avenue resident Don Schleicher had snapped of a bench surrounded by orange peels and other debris left over from a meal someone had eaten.

“The area is noticeably cleaner,” said Schleicher.

Schleicher said after that picture was published, several people and organizations went into action.

The Pine Street Inn, the shelter that sends a van down the mall at night to offer services, including meals, to homeless men and women that often congregate on the mall benches, has been working with its clientele to bag up leftovers and deposit them in trash barrels.

Also, inn outreach workers have changed the time their van comes to the mall—at least for now. While it used to come somewhere between 9 o’clock and 10:30 in the evening, it is now arriving at another time in the night, according to Aimee Coolidge, the inn’s director of community and government relations. Coolidge said the exact time fluctuates depending on what is happening on the street on any given night.

Some of the people who got meals regularly from the Inn at that time are disappointed with the time change. “If they did come after midnight, I wouldn’t be waiting for them,” said Mary O’Leary. “It is just too late.”

She said she saw the van drive by on Monday night of this week about the same time as usual, but it didn’t stop. “A couple of people were trying to flag it down, but it just kept going,” she said.

Neighbors, especially those on the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s mall committee, have been more vigilant, scrubbing graffiti off the benches and picking up debris. Dog walkers have said they too are picking up more.

And finally, Schleicher himself hired a maintenance man who works at a nearby building to clean up the mall five days a week from Arlington Street down to Dartmouth. Schleicher reported that he was told that others have engaged the man to also clean the next five blocks. Schleicher said he’ll continue to hire the cleaning help through October.

The episode has brought into focus the plight of the homeless men and women who, especially in the summer, spend their nights along the mall.

Schleicher has gotten to know several of the men and women who are on the street. And Officer Richard Litto, the police officer who works out of Area D-4, which covers the Back Bay, has been spurred into action.

He rode in the Pine Street van in plain clothes this week and will do so for the next couple of weeks to try to understand what some of the issues are that he could address. “There’s no quick fix,” he said, “but at least I’ll see what is going on.”

But he points out that the homeless aren’t the only people contributing to a mess on the mall. “It’s not the homeless who are the only ones leaving their coffee cups,” he said. “They’re coming from parties across the street. They sit with a 12-pack of beer in their suits and think that’s acceptable.”

CREDIT: Meredith Meyers




Ward Five Republican Committee members Maureen Rooney of Newbury St., Richard Babson of Beacon St., and Ellen Rooney of Gloucester St. enjoyed good food and conversation with about 40 other people at a summer social at Lir on Wednesday night. The Greater Boston Young Republicans also sponsored the event, which raised some money for the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans.