Credit: Penny Cherubino



The Commercial Vehicles Enforcement unit of the Boston Police Department has been busy in the Back Bay for the past few weeks. They have been stopping commercial vehicles on Commonwealth Avenue for violating the posted signs saying "Trucks and Buses Excluded." They have also stopped and carefully inspected some vehicles like this dump truck on Massachusetts Avenue.

Amid the glitz and the bling of Newbury Street’s big-name jewelry shops, you may pass by the little store called Lalo Treasures, located between Fairfield and Gloucester, one step down from the street level. But walk inside, and the brightly colored jewelry and home accessories make a memorable impression.

Every piece in the store is handmade of resin, a moldable and colorable material that can be translucent or opaque, but invites people to touch and admire. Bright green, flower-shaped earrings with pink beads; deep turquoise starfish-shaped pendants; and intricate necklaces of brown- and tan-patterned discs and baubles are only a few of the pieces on display.

Orna Lalo, the Israeli artist who creates these pieces, designs her art in her home studio in the mid-south of Israel, and they are shipped all over the world. The Newbury Street boutique is one of only two in the United States.

Lalo, who studied at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Israel, lives in a small rural town, unreachable by email and other quick forms of communication. Through her world-wide distributor, Michael Walt, she talks about her art.

“She says her inspiration comes from her imagination, the flowers and trees and that surround her, and music and people,” Walt said. “She found out about the versatility of resin and that encouraged her to use it as a medium to create products.”

She lives with her husband and two daughters, where she enjoys her quiet home life. Lalo’s ancestry has ties to Bulgaria, and she visits there a few times a month to actually make her products. She said the bright colors of Bulgaria inspire her artwork today.

Lalo’s latest collection, which just reached the Newbury Street boutique, is called “Sisters,” and was inspired by the Cinderella fairytale. “Stepmother” earrings, “Glass and Coal” key chains and “Once Upon a Time” hair décor are part of the collection.

Walt said Lalo was artistic even as a child, making jewelry even when she was very young. Her interests revolve around creativity and design, and she is satisfied that her work gives her an outlook for her energies. She hopes to continue making her unique art and jewelry pieces for years to come.

“Orna did not imagine her creations being sold around the world as they are. She is very pleased that they bring smiles and happiness to so many people,” Walt said.

Sita Smith, chief of staff to city councilor Mike Ross, announced she is leaving his office this week.

Smith, who has worked for Ross for the past five years, has held every position in the city councilor’s
office from intern to chief of staff, which she has been for the majority of this past year.

“Sita is a gifted, smart, kind person,” said Ross. “She’s the right kind of person to be in government.”

“Working in Ross’ office has been a wonderful learning experience,” said Smith, who is leaving after the election on November 6. Smith said everybody should work in government to gain an inside perspective and see how the city works.

Smith said she wasn’t looking to leave the government world, but a great opportunity at Louisburg Gardens presented itself that she couldn’t pass up.

Although she’s leaving Ross’ payroll, Smith will still be involved with the city councilor’s campaign committee on a voluntary basis. She is looking forward to assisting Ross‚ treasurer and campaign manager with various events and fundraisers, which she didn’t get to do as chief of staff.

According to Ross, Karin Mathiesen has taken over part of Smith’s job, representing the Back Bay, West End and Beacon Hill, but the position for chief of staff is still open.

A group of Back Bay and Beacon Hill residents are collecting signatures for a petition to designate the Esplanade as a Boston Landmark.

Fran Duffly of Marlborough Street said she has already collected more than 90 signatures and still hasn’t collected all the petitions from the people who are helping her.

When she asks people to sign, there are no hesitations. “They’re just all for it,” she said.

Linda Cox of Beacon Hill is also collecting signatures, as are Esplanade advocates in other neighborhoods. “We need only ten signatures but we hope to get 1,000,” she said. “We want to send a strong message.”

The message is directed at the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, the owner of the Esplanade, and Richard K. Sullivan, the DCR commissioner. It is intended to provide one more layer of protection for the park. Storrow Drive, also owned by DCR, was built in the early 1950s on Esplanade land. When it became obvious that the Storrow Drive tunnel between Arlington and Clarendon streets was crumbing, DCR put together a task force to advise them on how to reconstruct the area. At the end of the task force’s long process, Sullivan declared he would consider laying a temporary road through the Esplanade while tunnel construction was going on.

The task force strongly objected.

In their investigations to see how they could better protect the Esplanade, advocates realized with surprise that the riverside park was not landmarked, said Susan Park, president of the Boston Preservation Alliance, which has been following the Storrow Drive tunnel matter. They set the petition in motion.

Park said the portion of the Charles River parklands that will be put forward for landmarks designation would begin at the Charles River Dam and extend upriver to the Boston University railroad bridge. In width it would extend from the riverbank to Back Street in the Back Bay. She said the exact boundaries would have to be worked out.

Park said the alliance has already received almost 300 signatures in support of the petition, and there were many other petitions to come in. It is not only Bostonians in the Back Bay and on Beacon Hill that want the extra protection for the park. “There are petitions in every area of the city,” she said.

Ellen Lipsey, executive director of the Boston Landmarks Commission, said other parks have been designated Boston Landmarks, including the Boston Common, the Boston Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

She also said the state statute that established the Landmarks Commission says the commission can designate properties as landmarks no matter who owns them, including those owned by the state.

She said she has not seen the petition yet.

That should come soon, said Cox. The plan is to submit the signatures to the Boston Preservation Alliance by November 1 and to file it with the commission by November 13.

“This is an oversight that needs to be corrected regardless of what happens to Storrow Drive,” said Linda Cox.

With one of the highest mortgage foreclosure rates in history sweeping through Massachusetts and New England — and the rest of the country — it was only a matter of time before residences in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill would be affected.

However, a quick look at some of the latest statistics being kept on foreclosures and home sales in these two neighborhoods indicates that while some residences have been affected by market fluctuations, most of the news pertaining to real estate in Boston’s best neighborhoods remains good.

According to a new website from the owners of Banker & Tradesman, warrengroupforeclosures.com, in the last four months there have been a total of 19 foreclosures reported in the Boston neighborhoods comprising the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, Government Center, Chinatown and the South End. Nine of those properties are located in the Back Bay and on Beacon Hill.

Meanwhile, foreclosures in other parts of the city are far outpacing so-called downtown Boston neighborhoods.

Dorchester, for instance, has seen an astonishing 449 foreclosures over the same period. Mattapan has recorded 95, Roxbury 91, Hyde Park 73, Jamaica Plain and Roslindale 45 each and East Boston had 62.

Five other sections of Boston had 30 or fewer foreclosures since June 1, 2007, including South Boston with 30, West Roxbury with 14, Charlestown with 13 and Allston and Brighton with 12 apiece.

Strictly speaking the foreclosure numbers do not come as a surprise, since the news of the foreclosure epidemic has consistently focused on the fact that middle- and low-income communities and neighborhoods have born the brunt of the mortgage failures in the current market.

The fact that so few foreclosures have been reported in the Back and Beacon Hill, relatively speaking, gives further evidence to the fact that residents in wealthier neighborhoods are in a better position to survive the current real estate market troubles.

However, there is another component to the low foreclosures numbers that should be considered as well.

While home prices have fallen dramatically in those neighborhoods like Dorchester and Mattapan, where the foreclosures rates have skyrocketed, it is also worth noting that home prices in neighborhoods like the Back Bay and Beacon Hill have remained steady or even risen during the current housing market — that news extends to the waterfront, the South End and other highly desirable places to live in Boston as well and may help explain why foreclosures remain relatively low in these neighborhoods, while other parts of the city are struggling.

As a result, homeowners in neighborhoods like the Back Bay and Beacon Hill who do suddenly find themselves making higher and higher mortgage payments because of adjustable rate mortgages, can sell or refinance their properties more easily than those in depressed neighborhoods.

In fact according to preliminary data from the Multiple Listing Service, sales of properties in the Back Bay over the previous quarter are up nearly seven percent over the same period last year, indicating that the housing market in the Back Bay and on Beacon Hill area is still quite strong.

Bad judgment from firefighters

The two Boston firefighters who died in the line of duty last month at a fire in West Roxbury aren’t coming back. They made the ultimate sacrifice while on duty. For their families, their friends and their colleagues, they are gone forever.

Although the firefighters aren’t coming back, information regarding results from their autopsies released last week by a curious media that just won’t let go points to the fact that both men were carrying drug and alcohol traces in their blood systems when they met their end.

In addition, one of the two had enough alcohol in his blood to be considered legally intoxicated in the State of Massachusetts. This information is disconcerting, considering how close we are to the tragedy itself. During times like these, one hopes and prays families who’ve lost their loved ones are given a chance to mourn and to recover from the shock.

Adding a great deal of distraction to these revelations was the shocking and absurd statement issued by the head of the Boston Firefighters Union declaring that the union was asking for an investigation – not about why two of their colleagues might have been drunk or stoned when called into service – rather, the union chiefs wanted to know who gave up the information from the autopsy.

Never in recent history have union heads who ought to know better shown such a high level of unreality about an important issue that came before them. Why aren’t they concerned about the possible effect of such substance abuse on other members of the team? Firefighters should be looking out for one another, not becoming so drunk or high as to put other firefighters in jeopardy.

To his credit, Mayor Thomas Menino has called for the city to look into the fire department’s need for blood testing its employees to insure that such a scenario will not occur again.

The harsh reality of drunken or stoned firefighters suiting up, getting behind the wheel and racing to a fire is not a pretty one. That one of the two firefighters who lost his life in West Roxbury had lost his license following a drunken driving conviction doesn’t help. That he went to work, apparently driving to work after losing his license, is another black mark against him and his commanding officers, and the department itself.

The modern vision of firefighters as heroes is real. Many of us have personally been the beneficiaries of a quick and professional response. By and large, it is a reputation untarnished, except for situations like the one the Boston Fire Department is dealing with right now. We hope the fire commissioner will treat this incident with something more than unreality.

If he doesn’t, then we all lose and we are left to wonder, who will be harmed next? It could be the firefighters who accompany such a disabled team mate to a fire.