On Monday the city’s “Graffiti Busters” will start a five-day clean-up of the public alleys in the Back Bay, said Karin Mathiesen, director of constituent services for City Councilor Mike Ross.

Two alleys were cleaned last year and this year they hope to get through four or five, starting with Public Alley #440, which runs from Boylston to Newbury streets between Dartmouth and Exeter. “We hope to make this an on-going initiative,” she said. The process is slow-going because before the Busters can clean a building, they must have permission from the building’s owner or property manager. Mathiesen said Anne Swanson of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay has been instrumental in securing permissions and that they have seven alleys that are ready to be cleaned.

Ross’s office is also coordinating with Public Works to have the green machine give the alleys a sweep once they are graffiti-free, and Mathiesen is contacting the different waste companies to ask them to clean and repair the dumpsters along the specified alleys at the same time. Finally, Inspectional Services and rodent control will do a run-through, to “clean the alleys up and start fresh,” said Mathiesen.

Once Alley 440 is finished, which should take about two days, the Busters will clean #439, #437, #436 and #435.

It’s hard to believe that just about two years ago, there was no such thing as YouTube. The Web site where anyone and everyone can upload a video of anything and everything for the whole world to see is a bonafide cultural phenomenon. Presidential candidates are already honing their YouTube strategies, a banned Venezuelan television station recently began broadcasting on YouTube after it was silenced, and Justin Timberlake has even signed a YouTube artist to his record label. In the past two weeks, a video of a confused Miss Teen USA contestant blundering a pageant question has been viewed more than 12 million times.

You can do a search for just about any subject on YouTube and come up with a variety of results — and the Back Bay is no exception. There are more than 75 videos currently showcasing life in the Back Bay on YouTube, and although none of them seem to be as popular as the Miss Teen USA clip, many are have made a small mark on the Webosphere.

Last Christmas, Michelle, a Somerville YouTuber who goes by the screen name divaM17 and would like her last name to remain unknown, wanted to make a unique holiday card for family and friends. She brainstormed with her boyfriend and decided that a video would make a lasting impression. Using leftover green shoes from a Halloween costume, she dressed like an elf and shimmied around the Back Bay to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” The video was a big hit among family and friends, and since it was posted to YouTube, it has been viewed almost 100 times.

“YouTube is very empowering. The average person can publish [a video] themselves, attract viewers, and even become famous,” Michelle says. “YouTube cuts out the middleman and puts you in control of your own creative product.”

That’s the reason Dave Alpert, a Boston-based singer/songwriter and writer who lives in the East Fenway, began posting his own videos to YouTube. He’s been on YouTube for about a year and a half.

“I started blogging, videoblogging and putting live videos online to bring more attention to my music, band and my writing. No matter what the medium, self-publishing is a valuable and effective tool to get your name out there — more fans, better search engine ranking and more networking,” Alpert says.

About a year ago, Alpert was sitting at Espresso Royale on Newbury Street when he saw a man dressed as Sammy Davis Jr. set up on the corner in front of him and begin putting on a show. Alpert pulled out a digital camera, shot the performance, and conducted an on-the-spot interview with the performer who calls himself “The Showman.”

“Within a few minutes, I learned he was a security guard doing this on the side and that he had aspirations of going to perform in Las Vegas. I thought that his story was priceless,” Alpert says. “It always strikes me when real life is more fascinating that any story you could write or stage on your own.”

Alpert edited and uploaded the video to YouTube that day on his laptop. As with most of his other videos, his original music provides background. The “Sammy Davis Jr. Is Alive and Well and Living in Beacon Hill” video has been viewed more than 1,000 times.

Alpert says he’s gotten positive feedback on this video from YouTube viewers and those who read his blog.

“Feedback is interesting. Sometimes you post an essay or video and receive a ton of comments. Other times you write something you think will garner a lot of attention and receives none. It doesn’t mean that people aren’t reading though; my blog logs an average of over 300 unique IP addresses per day,” Alpert says.

A dancing elf and a Rat Pack impersonator are just a few of the Back Bay-centered videos on YouTube. Others include a video of window washers, tips on hair design from a Back Bay salon, wintry scenes set to classical music and even a ride on an MBTA bus.

YouTube user MBTAGuy, a Cambridge resident who wishes to remain nameless, has posted videos of various Boston public transportation methods, including a ride on a Neoplan AN460LF through the Back Bay. MBTAGuy says he posted the video — which has been viewed more than 2,400 times in seven months — because this bus is the only kind of articulated — or “bendy” — bus the T owns that runs on numbered bus routes.

“I've received comments mainly from transit or bus enthusiasts. They all comment on the way the drive train sounds or share their experiences on the bus or bus route,” MBTAGuy says.

He plans next to film and post a video of a ride on the new Blue Line cars once they start service this winter.

Other Back Bay video stars plan to keep uploading videos to YouTube as well.

“In this day and age, you have to use any method possible to get your art and message out — even being interviewed about a videoblog you posted on YouTube! Word-of-mouth can often start online and not just out on the street,” Alpert says. “As long as I am publishing creative content, videoblogging is going to be one of the methods I use to engage the public.”

A gift of faith
CAPTION: Boston Jewish Spirit congregation President Dan Lissner, at left, inspects the torah scroll presented to the Back Bay-based congregation with Rabbi Berman.

CREDIT: Dan Salerno





In Jewish tradition, charity, called tzedakah, is an obligation for all. It is one of the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, by which Jews fulfill their spiritual and social responsibilities. Tzedakah itself serves a larger purpose: tikkun o'lam, the healing or perfection of the world, the constant struggle to spread wholeness, happiness, and peace.

It is in that spirit of tikkun o'lam that Temple Sinai of New Orleans is donating a torah scroll to Boston Jewish Spirit, the Back Bay's only Jewish congregation. The torah scroll will be the first torah for BJS.

The acquisition of the torah is of huge significance for the three-year-old congregation, according to Rabbi Howard Berman, BJS's founder and rabbi.

“To have our own scroll for public use is a major coming of age for us as a new congregation,” said Rabbi Berman. The torah, which will be officially dedicated at this year's Rosh Hashanah service, will be used for traditional Shabbat parsha (scripture) readings at the congregation's monthly Friday evening service, as well as for all High Holy Day services.

Until the acquisition of the torah — a traditional, hand-written, 19th-century scroll of German origin — the congregation used a miniature, printed armed services scroll for its Shabbat reading and High Holy Day services, according to Rabbi Berman. Along with the torah, BJS will also be receiving all the traditional ceremonial vestments, and an ark (the traditional vessel used to house the scroll when it is not in use).

BJS does not have a building of its own, holding all of its services and events at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Newbury Street. BJS and Emmanuel Church have enjoyed a close partnership since the BJS took up residence at the church in 2005. The two congregations arrange joint events, partner in charity and community service projects, and hold interfaith discussion groups.

Now, most dramatically, the ark housing the torah will be kept in the sanctuary at the church, making the ark a visible presence during Emmanuel's regular church services.

The juxtaposition is not one that bothers Reverend Dr. Maureen Dallison Kemeza, the priest-in-charge at Emmanuel Church.

“As a theologian and a Christian, I think that it’s totally appropriate,” said Reverend Kemeza of the ark’s presence in the church.

“Without the language of the Hebrew scriptures and the basic theological commitments that Judaism made, Christianity would have no language for God and no real orientation to a monotheistic god who makes moral and ethical demands on us. The presence of the ark here is a visual reminder of our roots in a more ancient tradition.”

The donating synagogue, Temple Sinai in New Orleans, is one of the oldest and most historic Reform synagogues in the United States. The donation came to fruition based in part on the long friendship between Rabbi Berman and Rabbi Edward Cohn, the head rabbi of Temple Sinai, who attended rabbinical seminary together in Cincinnati.

And while it may seem surprising that a synagogue in Boston would benefit from the generosity of a synagogue in New Orleans, a city still rebuilding from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Temple Sinai itself suffered damage only to its auxiliary buildings, not its main sanctuary, where the torahs are kept.

According to Rabbi Cohn of Temple Sinai, the New Orleans synagogue received such an outpouring of support and assistance in the wake of Katrina that they were more than happy to pass along the generosity in any way they could.

“[Rabbi Berman] and I were catching up one day and he mentioned that the congregation was in need of a torah, and I thought ‘my goodness, we've got nine of them,’” said Rabbi Cohn. “We have been the beneficiaries of so many acts of friendship since Katrina from congregations all over the country, we thought this would be a way to give back.”

Temple Sinai also donated a torah scroll to a synagogue on the north shore of Louisiana that had been extensively damaged, said Cohn.

Boston Jewish Spirit was founded in 2004 by Rabbi Berman along with Rabbi Devon Lerner, who both recognized the need for a progressive, inclusive Jewish congregation in the heart of Boston. The congregation takes special care in reaching out to interfaith families, multicultural families, and the gay and lesbian Jewish community.

A South End real estate brokerage company is expanding its work force, picking up high-end brokers and going city-wide, Its goal is to become one of the top — if not the top — player in the Back Bay.

“We want to be number one, even if it sounds hokey,” said Larry Rideout, who, along with Michael Hansen, owner of the mortgage company East Coast Financial, and former Century 21 executive Paul McGann, bought Gibson Domain Domain, last fall. Rideout is the company’s CEO. He said they have achieved the goals of their five-year plan in only 10 months. The company has closed as many sales as of August 31 as it did in all of 2006, said Rideout.

The partners’ strategy was first to acquire a solid company as a nucleus, he said. Tremont Street-based Gibson, started by Betty Gibson, has specialized in the South End since the 1960s when that neighborhood was considered a frontier for middle-class buyers. That purchase was complete on November 1, 2006.

Next, they acquired the Sotheby’s International franchise on December 1. “At the high end, Sotheby’s has caché,” said Rideout. The firm is now known as Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty.

The international affiliation expands the number of buyers in a high-end market, a factor Rideout learned was important as he worked as senior vice president for business development at Realogy Corporation, the nation’s largest real estate franchiser.

“Boston is an international city, and we are the only true international brand,” he said. Sotheby’s provides marketing to international buyers. Without that affiliation, marketing would be too expensive for a local real estate firm, he said.

Rideout’s next goal was to bring together a team of high-powered brokers who specialized in high-end properties. Beth Dickerson, who fits that description, went with Rideout in May. She has focused on the Back Bay, with some action on Beacon Hill. Chris Tuite joined Gibson from the Waterfront.

Now Rideout has brought on Lois Kunian, another high-end Back Bay broker, who has run her own real estate company for 26 years from her Marlborough Street home. Kunian said she was attracted to the firm partly by its support staff who will free up her time to concentrate on sales rather than administrative matters. “There will be a successful operation behind me that everybody knows,” she said.

Rideout said he is now talking with a high-end Beacon Hill broker, whom expects to join his company shortly.

Other long-time Back Bay brokers — Bill Gehan, Susie Schoellkopf and Natalie Bassil, for example — are also part of the team.

To bolster his move into the Back Bay market, Rideout has renovated an office at 69 Newbury Street, with a reception to mark its opening scheduled for September 19. The Gibson office at 227 Newbury Street will remain open as a rental agency. The South End office will remain on Tremont Street.

Meanwhile, Rideout was upgrading office systems and expanding his pool of rental and sales agents, which has grown from 75 to 100 since last winter.

Other real estate brokers say that Rideout’s plan follows a trend in the industry, but might see success not because of a plan, but because Boston’s residential real estate market is so healthy, contrary to the situation in most of the rest of the country.

“Consolidation is going on in the brokerage business,” observed Kevin Ahearn, owner of Otis & Ahearn, one of the top residential real estate firms in downtown Boston. He points to Coldwell Banker, which gradually bought up the Hunneman and Itzkan & Marchiel names. “Stronger firms, including ours, are getting an increased market share.”

He said the smaller firms have trouble finding the resources to market some of the large, new condominium complexes, the sales of which contribute a healthy portion of profit to Otis & Ahearn’s bottom line.

With downtown Boston’s thriving residential real estate market, Ahearn said most brokers are finding it a good year. He expects Otis to do more than $460 million in sales this year. The number of transactions is 36 percent above that in 2006.

He is skeptical of the value of the Sotheby’s franchise. “We were the original affiliate of Sotheby’s, and to be honest, we didn’t generate enough activity from that association,” Ahearn said.

The affiliation was expensive, and they dropped it in the late 1990s. When Otis & Ahearn was approached last year by Sotheby’s, they rejected it. But Ahearn is philosophical about the opportunity Gibson might have. “Maybe they are doing things differently and the world is a smaller place,” he said.

Credit: Courtesy photo



While the Back Bay Architectural Commission mulls over an appropriate sign for Vlora Restaurant, a new Mediterranean eatery located at 545 Boylston Street, owners Aldo Velaj and Cindy Tsai came up with a creative way to let passersby know they are open for business.

A “live” sign — models wearing letters that spell out the name of the restaurant — will welcome patrons during the restaurant’s opening week, through September 7.

Good job

Members of Boston’s Department of Public Works and other city departments deserve praise for their heroic efforts in keeping the mess in check during the September 1 move-out and in. Their efforts paid off in cleaner sidewalks and less chaos than in past years.

It is curious how long it has taken for city government to realize how thousands of students (and others) moving in and out affect the lives of those staying-put folk who live nearby.

This column has been critical from time to time of the city’s efforts to keep Boston clean. But city government has become more responsive recently in recognizing conditions we live with and doing something about them.

It’s a good thing too. With the high cost of living in downtown Boston, there have to be consolations. Clean streets and sidewalks are two of them.

The last of the produce

Boston’s farmers markets are still going strong with some of the best fruits and vegetables of the season. They won’t close until just before Thanksgiving. For many years they were the only sources for old-fashioned produce such as quinces and lemon verbena.

They are the front line of the “buy local” movement, which, if everyone did, would save energy while contributing to the local economy. The best reason to buy local, however, is to take advantage of freshly picked produce, so much better tasting and more nutritious than the three-week old broccoli shipped from Chile or California.

Some grocery stores have finally figured out that consumers enjoy fresh produce with taste. But to get the best taste and the most interesting products, whether produce or not, the farmers markets still rule.

The Boston Foundation counts 126 farmers markets throughout the state, and the one at Copley Square is a good one, with about 15 reliable vendors and a loyal following. Dewey Square finally has one. City Hall’s market is disappointing. Although long established, it simply doesn’t have enough vendors.

New York farmers markets, especially that in Union Square Park, illustrate how successful these markets can be. The Union Square Park market fills the park open all year four days a week, with dozens of reliable vendors.

The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets is working to improve and expand farmers markets all over the city. You can donate to them at www.massfarmersmarkets.org. But the best way to support this growing (pardon the pun) movement is to go over to Copley Square twice a week and stock up.