Bridge to Somewhere

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The stimulus begins. Work has already begun on replacement of the 73-year-old Chelsea Street Bridge, which connects East Boston and Chelsea. That is, when it isn't closed because a barge has slammed into its narrow opening. That will expand from 100 to 200 feet, an overdue improvement that local and state officials hailed this week as they kicked off Gov. Deval Patrick's Massachusetts Recovery Plan, and a total of some $10 billion in road and bridge improvements. ... Also, the Bertmans, a new Washington Beech, Boston's Restaurant Week ... and why you haven't been getting our emails ...

Note to Journal readers: Thank you for letting us know that email notices of new postings of Tom Palmer's Journal have been, well, somehow missing in cyberspace. Since late February, the emails have fallen victim to some internal glitch, even though the Journals have appeared. You may check the Journal Index at mcdermottventures.com and look for any of interest that you may have missed. They include Good Greenway News, Making Lemonade, and Danger: Stormwater. Again, thanks for reading. Now back to Chelsea Street...

Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi emceed the proceedings Monday on a bank of Chelsea Creek on the Chelsea side, with the old bascule bridge as a backdrop. The $125 million replacement is scheduled to open in 2012, and there will be some traffic restrictions and limited closures, Aloisi said, but no extended out-of service periods, as there have been as the result of some of the 133 incidents just since 1972 when the bridge was damaged by vessels.

Aloisi recalled going across the bridge with his father to shop at Bradlees. They lived in Eastie right on Chelsea Street, and in fact Jim Aloisi pere and his wife, Rose were in the front row at the "groundbreaking" on Monday.

"The bridge was in need of repair then," Aloisi said. "Our transportation system is broken," suffering from "staggering debt and years of neglect."

With almost $10 billion in transportation recovery bonds, the state's accelerated bridge repair program, and lots of money in federal stimulus, it should make a big dent in the problem. Of course, Patrick has proposed raising the state's gasoline tax 19 cents to help cover some of these costs. The business group A Better City has suggested 25 cents.

Gov. Patrick commended highway commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky but said she doesn't have enough people. "We gather in a time of economic crisis," he said, but he was also upbeat. "All economies are cyclical," he said. "We will cycle out of this downturn."

His Economic Recovery Plan is designed both to put people to work now and to prepare for better times, "to create economic growth in the long run."

The Chelsea Bridge announcement was the first project out of the box and will employ 150 people, he said.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino name-checked Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash, because local officials often get left out, he said. And the bridge was "neglected for so many years," he recalled, that Joe Cazazza, who served as Boston's public works commissioner for 37 years, "started working on this bridge in 1992." The former commissioner showed up for the event looking like he was still in charge.

State Rep. Anthony Petruccelli recalled there had been a plan to moved the bridge to a different location in about 1997. "This bridge was closed for probably a two-year time frame," he said, and anybody who uses it knows there aren't a lot of good options. "Growth of the airport overlay district has made this an absolute necessity," he said.

There were a few laughs on this cold, windy day when the mic kept going dead for legislators, including Sen. Anthony Galluccio and Rep. Gene O'Flaherty. "Sorry about that, Senator," said Aloisi, adding, "He was very eloquent, by the way."

Said O'Flaherty: "I lost the microphone too. That's because I'm not for the gas tax either."

A bascule bridge is one that lifts up with the aid of a counterweight. A similar bridge spanned the Fort Point Channel until it was removed during the Big Dig, and a portion of it remains as a piece of commemorative art.

A horizontal section of the new Chelsea Street Bridge will be raised for vessels. The bridge will carry four lanes of traffic, and the street on both ends will be reconfigured to accommodate them. The bridge also will have two sidewalks.

The whole bridge now spans 450 feet of water, and when replaced it will have 175 feet of vertical clearance when raised. A state press release said that in June 2000 a tanker collision resulted in 5,000 gallons of fuel oil being spilled, as well as a three-day delay in aviation fuel deliveries.

The contractor is J.F. White Contracting Co. For more see mass.gov/recovery and mass.gov/youmovemassachusetts .

A third purpose of the Massachusetts Recovery Plan, which Patrick didn't emphasize in his remarks but was outlined in the release, was to "Reform state government by eliminating the pension and ethics loopholes that discredit the work of government and revitalize the transporation networks that have suffered from decades of neglect and inaction."

Massachusetts' recovery plan is expected to get between $6 billion and $9 billion over two years through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for transportation, education, health care, housing, public safety, and other areas.

State officials said the federal government has granted Massachusetts authority to spend $437.9 million over the last two weeks, with $153.2 million going to so-called shovel-ready projects.

Patrick recently gave the go-ahead to the first eight projects, worth $30 million statewide.



The old bridge...


The new bridge...


The speeches...


The governor greets transportation secretary Jim Aloisi's parents.


Bertman and Bertman

Noted local architect Richard Bertman of CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares, Inc. and his artist daughter Louisa are displaying a delightful and whimsical show of their respective works at The University Place Gallery, 124 Mt. Auburn St., near Harvard Square in Cambridge.

On view till April 10, it features Louisa's drawings and paintings, colors and shapes with attitude, and Richard's work too. No, not building models -- his are intricate and creative contraptions. They move and they amuse, and a few of them come with a message. You have to see them to understand, but it's worth a stop. Congratulations to both Bertmans.

If you're intrigued, check out rbertman.com and louisabertman.com .







Flower Boxes

Mayor Tom Menino recalled that when he was younger there were flower boxes along Washington Street in Roslindale, decorating the windows of the Washington Beech public housing complex. They may be back.

Menino announced last week that the Boston Housing Authority has won $33 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment funds through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The money will be used to upgrade heating and other systems in housing citywide, but Washington Beech is one of the first to start in the country under the program.

Washington Beech as it's been known will disappear. On Washington Street halfway up a hill to West Roxbury Parkway, where there's one of the best views of the downtown skyline for inbound commuters, Washington Beech's 266 units in dreary, uniform brick buildings are slated to be torn down and replaced with more than 300 new homes.

Some will be for sale, but most will be for rent, and at affordable rates. "Public housing this time was really recognized," said housing authority administrator Sandra B. Henriquez. "We will spend it well."

Menino "understands what public housing is, that it needs to be preserved," she said.

Henriquez said the BHA bonded $78 million for capital work last year, and got an additional $24 million from the federal government. But the need for all of Boston's public housing is 2-3 times greater than what it has now, she said.

Trinity Financial is partners with the housing authority in development of the new housing. One of the Winn companies, experienced in affordable housing, will manage.

"This is a very special time," said Menino, who represented Washington Beech when he was a city councilor. He said this is the second phase of funding. The first he got from President George Bush during a St. Patrick's Day visit to the White House last year. Boston was one of five locations that received the money, known as Hope 6.

"The American recovery act is being kicked off right here at Washington Beech," Menino said. Most of the $33 million will go for capital expenditures, some for maintenance. It will create an estimated 700 jobs.

Boston also got $39 million for road improvements in the city, he said.

The building trade unions were out in force to applaud the plan, led by James Coyle, who recommended looking up the good works the Ironworkers have been doing in Longwood in particular. See Boston Globe, or the Ironworkers' web site.

The new design will reduce density, making it more like the surrounding neighborhood. Unit types will include small, garden apartments, duplexes over flats, townhouses, and some in a low-rise building with an elevator.

Besides Washington Beech, the money will go for citywide housing energy improvements, plumbing upgrades at three of the oldest family developments, completion of boiler replacements and upgrades at six housing developments, preparations for security cameras in elevators at 29 developments, and roof replacements for 17 buildings at the Lenox Street and Charlestown developments.

One resident said she looked forward to flowers returning. "We can't wait to see the new Washington Beech."



Good news at Washington Beech ...


Doug Proia, a member of Local 103, the electricians' union, and his son, Jake, 3, attended the upbeat announcement at Washington Beech.


Eat Out

KISS 108's Billy Costa, NECN's TV Diner, got stuck in traffic and missed the presentation, but Boston's Restaurant Week kicked off again. Restaurant "week" runs March 15-20 and 22-27, and about half of the 224 restaurants participating are not exempting Saturday from their tempting prices this year. That's how much they want to encourage people to get out.

There's a difference of opinion on whether people will come out, because it's been a long winter with a lot of bad news, or whether they'll stay hunkered down even with the bargains being offered. We've heard some restaurants surprised at how busy it has remained -- and others clearly hurting.

Mayor Tom Menino said the prices of participating establishments (see bostonusa.com/restaurantweek ) are $20.09 for a three-course lunch, $33.09 for a three-course dinner, and -- new this year -- $15.09 for a two-course lunch.

At the launch event last week at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, primary sponsors -- American Express and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau -- were optimistic.

The hotel's Oak Room chef Stefan Jarausch prepared samples of Georges Bank Licorice Dusted Grey Sole with Roasted Tomato Relish. Upstairs on the Square's chef Susan Regis provided the salad course, and Top of the Hub executive chef Mark Porcaro topped it off with dessert, Espresso Pot de Creme, Amaretto Whipped Cream.

Sponsors this year will donate 25 cents for every transaction made on an American Express card, up to $5,000, to Southie-based Community Servings, the area's only meals program for the homebound critically ill.

Almost Spring


A BLOOMS! display in the lobby of the InterContinental Boston hotel. For more on the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's spring celebration at several locations in Boston and Newton, see BLOOMS!