Applications for the 2008 Boston Dog Licenses began arriving in area homes this week. Under state law, all dogs must be licensed by April 1st of each year.
If your dog is currently licensed in Boston, you should receive the application in the mail. If not, you can obtain a license application at Boston City Hall in room 811. Forms may also be downloaded from the city's website at www.cityofboston.gov/animalcontrol/.
The application package and the web page also include a list of "Boston Neighborhood Licensing and Rabies Clinics." These begin on March 22nd at the Animal Rescue League at 10 Chandler Street in the South End. The clinics offer the opportunity to have a dog vaccinated at a low cost and to pick up a license at the same time. Rabies vaccinations will cost $5.00 with a further discount bringing that price down to $2.00 for seniors. If you bring your current, unexpired rabies certificate, your animal will receive a three year rabies vaccination for the same price. A total of eleven clinics have been announced, ending with one at the Charlestown Community Center at 255 Medford Street on June 4th.
Boston has a three-tiered price structure for dog licenses. It costs $6.00 per year to license a neutered male or spayed female dog. That fee jumps to $17.00 if the animal is intact, and to $50.00 with a special application needed for a Pit Bull.
To pickup a license at City Hall, you should bring both a rabies and a spay/neuter certificate. Many veterinarians include confirmation that the animal is spayed or neutered on their rabies certificates. Then, the one form will serve both purposes. If you’ve lost your original paperwork, your current veterinarian can issue a confirmation that your dog is not intact.
Those who mail their applications should pay careful attention to the instructions. You must include the requested certificates, a check payable to Animal Control - City of Boston, and a stamped self-addressed envelope. That envelope will be used to send your dog’s license and tag to you. Once your dog is registered with the city, the yearly mailing from Animal Control will include a postage-paid, business reply envelope, and you will only have to pay the postage one-way each year.
One reason for licensing is to assist the Animal Control Department in reuniting you with your dog if it should be lost or stolen. Dog guardians can assist in this process by giving detailed information in the spaces where breed, and color/markings are requested.
Mixed breeds should be described with the most recognizable breed first, followed by any other part of the mix that might help identify the dog. Animal Control uses examples like “Shepard/Collie/X” and “Chihuahua/Beagle/X.”
Under the space on the application for color and markings, you might include the placement of any tattoos and the location of a microchip, if your dog has one.
Animal Control’s web page (www.cityofboston.gov/animalcontrol/) also contains links to valuable resources for families with pets. These include a list of low cost animal clinics, city rules and regulations about pets and pet adoption opportunities.
From that site you can also download a brochure on how to protect your pets in case of an emergency. Since many emergency shelters do not allow companion animals, families with pets have to make their own arrangements for somewhere to stay, should it become necessary to evacuate their homes.

David Palmer, one of the world’s greatest squash players and an Australian sports legend, has moved to the Boston area and is training on the courts of the University Club on Stuart Street.
Palmer is currently ranked No. 4 in the world and in October in Manchester, England, he will seek to reclaim the world championship that he won in 2006. The 31-year-old professional athlete relocated to Boston from Belgium in early February.
“Even though I’m from Australia, I had been living in Belgium with my coach and been based in Europe the last eight or nine years, I felt it was getting a bit flat and needed a bit of a change,” said Palmer. One of the reasons I came here is that squash in America is really going ahead in at the moment and half of our professional tournaments in America and half in the Middle East countries so it makes sense to be based out of here.”
Why specifically the Boston area?
“Boston has always been one of my favorite cities and we have a lot of friends here,” said Palmer. “I really like the University Club. I’ve been coming to Boston for 10 years to play in the U.S. Open. I know the head pro, Chris Spahr, very well and if I did come to America, this was the No. 1 spot I wanted to be and I was lucky enough that it all fell into place. Boston is a great city and a great place to raise a family and squash is really booming here.”
Palmer, his wife, Melinda, and their 20-month-old daughter, Kayla, are living in a rented space in Newton and are looking to buy a home in the area.
“It’s been a bit hectic so far with the move and I’ve been playing tournaments, but the next month is a bit quieter so I’ll be able to settle in and get in to a routine of training here at the club,” said Palmer.
Palmer’s mother was a nationally ranked squash player and his father also excelled at the game. After trying soccer, tennis, and golf in a, Palmer, at the age of 15, decided that squash was his favorite sport “and I wanted to try to turn professional if I could.”
He finished high school at 18, made squash his full-time vocation, and soon made his mark on the international squash circuit. He played tournaments in South America and Australia and soon after began working under a full-time coach, Shaun Moxham. Within a year, Palmer ascended to a top 10 ranking in the world and he has been in the top three internationally for the past eight years, winning 24 tournaments including two British Opens and two world championships.
Palmer has a Tom Brady-ish quality to him and probably would be as widely known and admired if squash had the popularity of football in the United States. At 6-feet, 2 inches and 185 pounds, he’s tall, handsome, charismatic, personable and known as one of the sport’s most physically fit players.
One thing holding back Palmer’s international stardom is the fact that squash is not an Olympic sport.
“It’s frustrating, really,” said Palmer. “Squash is a Commonwealth Games and I’ve medaled for Australia three times in the Games. We meet the criteria for an Olympic sport – we have enough countries and we have enough players. We just can’t seem to convince the Olympic Committee that it’s a worthwhile sport to be in the Olympics. I don’t thing the world’s squash federation does such a great job promoting and selling our sport.”
Like Brady, he has commercial endorsements and recently signed as a spokesman with Black Knight, a Canadian company who will sponsor his racquets, high-tech shoes and clothing. He will help promote their racquets in England, Bermuda, Australia, and other countries worldwide. Palmer said the top three or four players in the world earn approximately $150,000 in tournament prize money.
Palmer loves the sport of squash but says it takes a toll on the body. “Squash is one of the hardest, physical sports out there and I think most people understand that,” said Palmer. “We don’t get the financial rewards that other sports get, but it’s good money and a good living and a great lifestyle. We get to travel the world and play in all these great locations around the world.”
In fact, Palmer won his last world championship in Egypt, where officials installed a four-wall glass court amidst the pyramids. He’s also played a match in the middle of Grand Central Station in New York and at Symphony Hall in Boston. “We can take the court to the people and have it indoors or outdoors or even in shopping malls,” said Palmer.
Palmer has made the University Club his home base. He’ll be training, coaching and instructing other players, and helping to promote the club.
“The University Club is a great club,” said Palmer. “There are great facilities here. The club is very child friendly and they have an outstanding kids program.We really feel at home when we come here. I’m a member here and I look forward to coaching and giving lessons. Over the summer, Chris Spahr and I will be holding a youth squash camp at the club and at Milton Academy.”
Palmer is excited about his future in the sport.
“I’d like to play professionally for another few years and continue be one of the top ranked players,” said Palmer. “I still like the training and I love the competition. There are a lot of opportunities in coaching in America and I’d like to be a full-time coach or coach at one of the colleges in the area in the future.”

The changing economy is not only affecting the housing market and the prices at the pump – it’s also taking a bite out of local pizza makers’ profits. The rising costs of two key ingredients in the perfect pie – flour and cheese – have been making pizza joints around the Back Bay take a second look at their production costs and even their pizza prices.
“The costs are just getting crazy,” says Doug Ferriman, who would know as the owner of Crazy Dough’s Pizza at 1124 Boylston Street. “When product prices double, that’s when it gets scary. Our prices will have to go up if this continues.”
In fact, the average U.S. price of wheat has more than doubled in the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In a February USDA report, the price of wheat averaged $10.40 per bushel, up from $7.93 in January and $4.71 in February of 2007. And the news isn’t much better regarding the price of cheese. In a report that tracked prices through Feb. 23, the USDA said the average price of a 40-pound block of cheddar cheese was $75.20, or $1.88 per pound, compared with $52, or $1.30 per pound, a year ago.
Analysts are blaming a number of factors for these huge price hikes, including the increased focus on corn for bio fuels that is limiting the supply of wheat for flour. Others point to lower-than-normal cheese production and higher foreign demand.
Whatever the reasons, the local pizza makers are feeling the effects – especially the mom-and-pop shops or those with just a few locations who may not be able to broker better deals with suppliers.
Ferriman owns two Crazy Dough’s locations – the one on Boylston and one in Harvard Square. He says the situation has been throwing pizza shops and bakeries into a tail spin, and he’s been looking at all aspects of his business to try to cut back where he can without compromising the quality of his product. Crazy Dough’s hasn’t raised prices yet, but Ferriman has been taking informal polls of his lunchtime customers in the past weeks to see how they would react to a modest price increase, explaining the reasons.
“If they’re loyal customers, they’ll realize we’re not trying to price gouge, and that everyone is going to be effected,” he says.
Over at Bostone Pizza at 225 Newbury Street, owner Caryn King says she absorbed the costs of the increases in cheese prices over the past year, but coupled with the increase in flour prices, Bostone will be raising its prices soon. King just had new menus printed to reflect slight price increases.
“Because we’re a new pizzeria, just opening in the past year, I didn’t want to confuse customers with increasing prices any sooner, but we’ve been forced to,” she says. “I still think we are going to be the best deal on Newbury Street. though.”
She says just recently, the price of flour has gone from $37 a bag to $50 a bag, and Bostone goes through at least 20 bags a week. And she says suppliers are telling her this isn’t a reality that will go away any time soon. King will be looking into the factors she can control – such as portion control and labor scheduling – to try to make up for her cost increases without having to raise prices further.
Josh Huggard, owner of the Upper Crust franchise of eight pizza shops including one on Newbury Street, says that being a larger operation has allowed the Upper Crust to not have to raise prices thus far. But they are preparing to deal with the cost increases by stockpiling as much flour as possible and by looking into other ways to cut costs without jeopardizing the brand. He and his business team had a meeting last week to address this very topic.
“It’s a scary thing, but we’re not in a complete panic,” Huggard says. “We’ll definitely feel the effects of this – I think everyone will. But as far as our customers are concerned, we’ve moving forward.”
Huggard says this situation goes beyond lovers of pepperoni and anchovies, though.
"It’s not just affecting pizza places. I think this is a wake-up call for Americans and where we are with the economy,” he says. “People don’t want to believe it’s happening, but it’s out there.”

A management group is proposing rebranding and redesigning the Foggy Goggle bar on Boylston Street, turning the dark, boisterous watering hole into a Red Sox fan’s paradise.
The new establishment, to be called McGreevy’s Third Base, would be a baseball-themed tavern that would feature memorabilia, Sox-themed décor, and numerous televisions for game watching.
“We think it’s going to be a terrific use of the space,” said Dennis Quilty, a lawyer representing the owners.
The tavern will feature items from the private collection of a Red Sox memorabilia collector. The name comes from “Nuff Ced” McGreevy, leader of the Royal Rooters, the original Boston Red Sox fan club from the early 20th century.
The proposed manager, Shawn Donovan, has previous experience managing the downtown nightclubs Revolution and Felt, and he takes over space that has been plagued in the past by violations.
“We’ve had problems with this place in the past,” said licensing chairman Daniel Pokaski, who stressed that a name and management change would not erase the Foggy Goggle’s checkered past. “You drag the history with you,” he said. “This board believes in progressive discipline.”
But the redesign has the strong support of local officials, including councilor Mike Ross. “After hearing the presentation we look forward to the new management team,” said Ross staff member Karen Matheson. “We think the restaurant will be an exciting addition to the neighborhood.”
The plan also has the support of the Mayor’s office, as well as Councilor Sam Yoon.
The NABB’s licensing and building use committee took no position on the matter, as no change is proposed to the current liquor license, though chairman Tom High said he was hopeful that the new management team would “would ensure that these problems [with past violations] would not occur in the future.”
In other licensing news, the licensing and building use committee announced its opposition to a proposal by the Piattini restaurant to open a new location at 303-305 Newbury Street, the current location of a convenience store, on the grounds that the location is not currently zoned as a restaurant space.
“The north side of Newbury Street abuts Commonwealth Avenue, which is entirely residential. Residents already confront serious problems from noise, garbage, deliveries, and cooking odors associated with existing restaurants on this side of Newbury,” said High in a written statement. “303-305 Newbury currently is not allowed to be used for a restaurant, and allowing one there would make the problems for residents worse.”

Windows full of snowflakes, created by neighborhood students, survived the big melt brought on by Tuesday's warm temperatures. The student artists range from tiny tots at the Kingsley Montessori School on Fairfield Street to the more mature residents of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity on Commonwealth Avenue.

The BBAC : saving Back Bay everyday
When you head east in your automobile on Memorial Drive on a bright sunny day, invariably, your gaze finds Boston on the opposite side of the Charles River. The view, which all of us know so well, includes a cluster, a growing one at that, of skyscrapers, the gentle roll of Beacon Hill and the long, straight, brick red ambiance of Back Bay seemingly framed in by everything growing around it.
This grand view of a great city and one of its most compelling neighborhoods, would not be what it is today without the ongoing, uninterrupted, tremendous effort of the Back Bay Architectural Commission.
If the BBAC did not come into being in 1966, you can bet that the Back Bay the way it looks today, would be a memory in the minds of those who recall it before it was ruined by the best intentions of developers who would have made it unrecognizable.
Appearing before the BBAC can be an intimidating experience for the uninitiated. The BBAC is enemy number one for developers and even for some owners who believe what they want to do with their properties is more important than the BBAC’s duty to follow the letter of the law which requires that the highest standard of design and the preservation of the residential portion of the Back Bay be maintained to safeguard the heritage of the City of Boston.
There have been many Back Bay residents who’ve come away from BBAC hearings infuriated by the commission’s exacting attention to detail and its attention to minutia as well. Nothing seems to escape the BBAC’s overview.
As upsetting as the experience can be coming before the BBAC with a design change or alteration to one’s residence in the Back Bay, at least the owner of the property who made the request couldn’t point to another property owner and make the claim that property owner was treated better than he was.
Everyone is treated the same way when coming before the BBAC.
That gorgeous view of the red brick residential part of Back Bay that can bee seen from Memorial Drive would have been as extinct as the dinosaurs if the BBAC didn’t come to the rescue in 1966.
It may not inspire many of those who go away disappointed from BBAC meetings, but the BBAC over the years has conspicuously met its mandate to promote the economic, cultural, educational and general welfare of the public through high standards of design and preservation.
May it never change.

Hillary and Obama
Democrats hungering to get back into the White House have been delighted by the knock down battle being waged by Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Not in years has a nomination battle brought so many millions of democrats out to vote.
This indicates that the Republican nominee Senator John McCain will be hard pressed, in the end, to beat a Democrat this time around.
However, there are no guaranteed positions being given out for president by the voters of this nation – and this is what will make the final outcome so exciting.