星期五, 1月 15, 2016

夏日星辰野生動物保護園逢初雪見足跡









On yesterday Thursday afternoon, in the temperature around 28 degrees, Dan Stimson, Sudbury Valley Trustees Assistant Director of Stewardship, and I walked the Summer Star trail loop to see the brook and to review the trail condition. You would be pleased to hear this news: since the land was covered with snow from Tuesday, amazingly, we saw so many animal tracks—pretty much covered the whole loop. Tracks on the fluffy snow included those from fox, coyote, deer, fisher, mice.. The sun was setting, the light was bright shining on the tracks. We even found a place on a higher small hill where the snow showed those spots that five deer used to lay there to sleep among the young trees. It is very peaceful out there.   (Attached is a  New Year scenery at Summer Star. Picture taken last week by Liam Hart)

夏日星辰野生動物保護園園主劉沙林和瑟德百利谷(Sudbury Valley)信託會助理監管主任Dan Stimson,在(14日),氣溫華氏28度時,聯袂視察夏星步道及小溪狀況,欣見地面覆蓋薄雪,處處動物足跡,包括狐狸,狼,鹿等等,不一而足。夏星步道在落日餘暉映照中,顯得格外寧靜祥和。

昆市中國超市爭開張權 歷七年土地法庭判勝訴

昆士市愛國者報(The Patriot Ledger 112日刊出報導,指土地法庭法官Keith Long下令,要昆士市議會發特別許可給“中國超市(C-Mart)“。
“中國超市(C-Mart)“曾兩度申請,在北昆士市海華街(Hayward)10號開張一家新的“中國超市”,包括佔地 23,000平方呎的亞洲超市,以及佔地約9,000到11,000平方呎的美食廣場,遭市議會否
土地法庭法官Keith Long上週公佈長達52頁的判決書,指昆市議會拒絕發特別許可給方妙昆(Miao Kun “Michael” Fang)的在原波士頓齒輪廠(Boston Gear Works)大樓,開張一家新“中國超市(C-Mart)“計畫時,未應用適當規範和標準。

昆士市議會在2009年,以及2013年,因地方交通可能大受影響,兩次拒絕了該一計畫。

BRA board approvals pave the way for $732.5 million in new projects at first meeting of 2016

BRA board approvals pave the way for $732.5 million in new projects at first meeting of 2016
Residential and office towers will reshape downtown skyline, as first phase of Government Center Garage redevelopment moves ahead

BOSTON – The Board of Directors for the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) met last night for the first time this year, approving six development projects that represent a combined investment of $732.5 million in Boston’s economy. The most significant approvals set the stage for striking new residential and office towers downtown, as part of the first phase of the Government Center Garage redevelopment project, and a new 697-bed dormitory on the campus of Emmanuel College in Fenway.
The board also approved residential projects in West Roxbury, an expansion of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Dorchester, and an office addition to the Stillings Street Garage in Fort Point.
The approved projects are expected to create a total of 582 units of new housing, including 74 affordable units, once complete. An estimated 1,650 construction jobs will be created as a result of the two million square feet of new development.
One project under consideration, the proposed Garden Garage redevelopment, was the topic of heated debate for the first several hours of last night’s meeting. The project, different iterations of which had been under review by the BRA for multiple years, received a public hearing before the board that lasted over three hours, as sixty community members provided testimony. After a lengthy period of deliberation, the board ultimately decided to table the matter for a vote at a future meeting.
Director Brian Golden explained, “Our Board of Directors heard three hours of public testimony about the Garden Garage project at last night’s meeting. We appreciate that so many community members came out on a cold evening to express their opinion about this project, which clearly has passionate voices on both sides. Given the significant objections that were presented by residents of the West End, the board deferred a vote on the proposal. It is our hope that substantive communication occurs in the near term between the developer and residents to address ongoing concerns."
Below is a summary of the new development projects that were approved last night.

Residential and office components of massive Government Center Garage redevelopment set to move forward

Total Project Cost: $209,000,000 for residential tower; $327,000,000 for office tower
Total SF: 547,940 square feet for residential tower; 1,012,000 square feet for office tower
Construction Jobs: 524 for residential tower; 736 for office tower
The hulking concrete garage that spans over Congress Street near busy Haymarket Station will soon take on new life, as the first two phases of a nearly three million square foot redevelopment plan were approved last night. Government Center Garage, which was completed in 1972 as part of an urban renewal plan, will undergo a wholesale transformation over the next several years. The two buildings set to move forward include a 486-unit, 480-foot tall residential building designed by CBT Architects and a one million square foot, 528-foot tall office building designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. In accordance with Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy, 64 units in the residential building will be designated as affordable.
The approved residential and office buildings, the first of six new buildings planned for the site’s redevelopment, will be constructed around and above a portion of the existing garage. The residential tower will include approximately 1,300 square feet of ground floor retail on New Sudbury Street. A mixture of glass and metal panels in varying shades of gray will enhance the building’s massing, giving the tower a contemporary façade. Pelli Clarke Pelli, meanwhile, designed a slender office tower with two flowing curved edges that help to soften the building’s height and create a sense of openness with the surrounding neighborhood. The developer, HYM Investment Group, hopes to attract tenants in the creative, technology, lifestyle, and health care sectors with a Class A building that will also contain 10,800 square feet of retail space.
By the time the office tower is complete, the portion of the garage that extends over Congress Street will be demolished to introduce daylight to an area that is currently shaded year-round. Together, the new buildings will dramatically reshape the downtown skyline.
All told, the eventual six-building development will include 812 housing units, nearly 200 hotel rooms, over a million square feet of office space, and 82,500 square feet of retail. Approximately 1,100 of the existing 2,300 parking spaces will be retained.

Emmanuel College will build new residence hall to house more students on campus

Total Project Cost: $125,000,000
Total SF: 267,000
Construction Jobs: 226
Emmanuel College received approval to construct New Julie Hall, a dormitory project that was envisioned in the school’s 2012 Institutional Master Plan and will replace the existing 220-bed Julie Hall. Once complete, the 19-story building will contain a total of 691 beds, a café serving prepared foods, and ground floor space for a variety of student life and academic uses. Function space will be available on the top floor. There will also be 102 covered bicycle spaces and 15 underground parking spaces.
With 29 fewer beds and approximately 7,550 less square feet, the project is slightly smaller than what was conceived in Emmanuel’s Institutional Master Plan. And while it is taller in height, it will occupy a smaller footprint. Emmanuel currently houses 73 percent of its students on campus, and New Julie Hall is expected to boost that capacity to 84 percent of students. A portion of the building will be rented to a third party institutional tenant.
The building was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects.

Old IHOP site on VFW Parkway will be redeveloped with 80 apartments

Total Project Cost: $23,000,000
Total SF: 104,588
Construction Jobs: 79
A long vacant site off of VFW Parkway in West Roxbury that was most recently an International House of Pancakes will be revitalized with dozens of new apartment homes. SOVAD LLC, a development entity run by Peter V. Davos and his family, received approval to develop an 80-unit multi-family residential complex at 1235 VFW Parkway with community meeting rooms, tenant storage areas, outdoor terraces, and vehicle and bicycle parking. Ten of the units will be designated as affordable in keeping with the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy.
Kahlsa Design worked with the developer and the community to create “brother and sister” buildings that take architectural cues from the scale of the surrounding neighborhood. The four-story building is designed to appear as two distinct buildings with a transparent bridge connection for residents. Trees, widened sidewalks, and other streetscape amenities will improve the experience for pedestrians in the neighborhood. The project will have 131 parking spaces, with 73 in an underground garage and 58 surface parking spots.
To help reduce traffic on VFW Parkway, the developer will provide shuttle service on weekday mornings and evenings to local MBTA Commuter Rail stops.

60-room addition approved for Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Dorchester

Total Project Cost: $12,000,000
Total SF: 37,325
Construction Jobs: 29
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites near Dorchester’s South Bay shopping center will expand with a five-story addition that will increase the number of guestrooms from 114 to 174. The approved expansion will more than double the hotel’s meeting space to a total of nearly 3,700 square feet, and over 2,700 square feet of additional breakfast and lounge space will be constructed. An added benefit of the expansion is the 15 to 20 new hotel jobs created by the project.
The developer plans to begin construction this year.

Housing slated for former West Roxbury Motors dealership and service station

Total Project Cost: $6,500,000
Total SF: 23,331
Construction Jobs: 17
The former West Roxbury Motors car dealership and service station will be demolished to make way for a 16-unit housing development at 1789 Centre Street. The project will include 12 two-bedroom flats and four two-bedroom duplexes, with on-site parking for 29 vehicles. A modest 1,000 square foot ground floor retail space will help to further reactivate the now vacant site in West Roxbury’s commercial district.
Residents of the new building will be well situated to take advantage of the area’s access to public transit, which includes three bus routes and two nearby commuter rail stations that connect to downtown Boston.

Stillings Street Garage to be expanded with two floors of office space and ground floor retail

Total Project Cost: $30,000,000
Total SF: 59,000
Construction Jobs: 42
Berkley Investments, owners of the Stillings Street Garage at 22 Boston Wharf Road, will construct a two-story addition to the existing garage for a total of 56,000 square feet of new office space. Ground floor space that is currently used for a management office and parking will be converted to 3,000 square feet of retail. The project, which the developer expects to get underway by summer 2016 should be completed in approximately one year.
TRO Jung|Brannen served as architect. Berkley Investments has committed $25,000 towards activating the wall of the garage that faces Q Park with a public art installation. Local neighborhood groups will work collaboratively with the garage owner and the owner of the park to develop the art project.

AAPI鼓勵亞裔在1/31前登記加入醫療保險市場

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Community Groups Urge AAPIs to Enroll in Health Insurance by January 31

白宮亞裔美人及太平洋島民計畫(AAPI’s)和健康正義行動(Action for Health Justice)合作,將推出第三屆AAPI可負擔醫療保險法行動週,以鼓勵AAPI2016131日前,登記加入醫療保險市場(Health Insurance Marketplace)。
有意登記的個人,可訪問網站HealthCare.gov或打電話到24 小時服務,可說250種語言的客戶援助熱線1-800-318-2596,也可到LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov尋求當地的面對面個別協助。
20155月由奧巴馬總統指派為白宮AAPI計畫共同主席的美國衛生總監(U.S. Surgeon GeneralVivek H. Murthy表示,自從2013年首度公開登記以來,將近1800萬名美國人,包括許多亞裔美人及太平洋島民,獲得了可拯救生命的有品質,可負擔醫療保險。但是他們的工作還沒做完,仍然有大靴20萬名AAPI人沒有醫療保險可帶來的安全感。
Vivek H. Murthy將於119日美國東部時間的下午3點至3點半,接受叩應電話,特別嘉賓George Takeic和“憤怒亞裔“的Phil Yu將於120日美國東部時間的下午3點至4點,在推特 #AAPIhealth上與民眾互動。

WASHINGTON, DC – Beginning Tuesday, January 19, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), in collaboration with the Action for Health Justice, will launch the third annual AAPI Affordable Care Act Week of Action, a public awareness drive to encourage AAPIs to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace by January 31, 2016. To enroll, individuals can visit HealthCare.govor call 1-800-318-2596 for 24-hour customer assistance in nearly 250 languages. Individuals can also find local in-person assistance atLocalHelp.HealthCare.gov.

“Since the first open enrollment period in 2013, nearly 18 million Americans, including many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, have gotten life-saving, quality and affordable health coverage,” says U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy. “But our work is not done. There are still more than 200,000 AAPI community members who don't have the safety, security and peace of mind that comes with having health coverage. We must close that gap because health equity is a civil rights issue, and it's an AAPI community value." In May 2015, Dr. Murthy was appointed by President Obama to serve as Co-Chair of the White House Initiative on AAPIs.

Week of Action activities consist of a stakeholder call with Dr. Murthy on Tuesday, January 19 from 3-3:30pm ET and an #AAPIhealthTwitterstorm with special guests George Takei and Angry Asian Man’s Phil Yu on Wednesday, January 20 from 3-4 pm ET.

In addition, profiles of the in-person assisters—trained community members who help individuals through the enrollment process—and stories about enrollment experiences will be featured throughout the week.

One in three AAPIs is limited English proficient, and one in four AAPIs has not seen a doctor in the past year. “Affordable healthcare has been a crucial need within our diverse AAPI populations,” says Doua Thor, Executive Director of the Initiative. “Trained experts, known as in-person assisters, speak more than 50 languages and are helping people in AAPI communities throughout the nation enroll in health insurance. We also have many translated materials to help guide the process.”

For updates on the Week of Action activities and Affordable Care Act resources, visit here.

波市推出“城市分數”追蹤市府部門為市民提供服務表現

MAYOR WALSH LAUNCHES CITYSCORE, A NEW INITIATIVE THAT USES DATA TO TRACK DELIVERY OF CITY SERVICES
First of Its Kind Data Platform Highlights Administration's Commitment to Transparency and Excellent City Services
波士頓市長馬丁華殊(Martin Walsh)今(15)日宣佈推出“城市分數(CityScore)”,將以沒有其他城市曾經做過的方法來使用數據,實現市府為民眾提供透明,極佳市府服務的承諾。
該辦法將以綜觀市府指標方式,來促使政府部門立即採取改善服務行動,讓波士頓市更安全,智慧。
城市分“的設計是要提供透明平台,容許人們幾乎實時的看到市府表現。藉著使用對市府總體健康很重要的指標,把數據捲成一個人們容易理解的單一分數。這些底層指標也會展現出來以容許人們很快辨識出驅動分數變化的因素。
為了能在一段時間之後辨識出趨勢,”城市分數“的追蹤數據會分成特定某天,週,月,或季等類別。今日推出的是第一個版本,將來會陸續擴大,改動。
協助制定“城市分數”的波士頓街道長(Chief of Streets)奧斯古(Chris Osgood)表示,該小組的目標是提供全國最好的基本城市服務。該作法有助於追蹤進展,並已成功的協助該組為居民提供更好的服務。

BOSTON - Friday, January 15, 2016 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced the launch of CityScore, a new initiative that compiles key performance metrics from city departments every day to provide an at-a-glance view of the City's overall performance. The CityScore dashboard can be viewed at www.cityofboston.gov/cityscore.

"The City of Boston is using data in a way that no city has ever done before," said Mayor Walsh. "I am proud to launch this data platform that recommits us to our pledge of transparency and delivery of excellent city services. This overview of city metrics allows us to take immediate action within our departments to improve city services to make our city safer and smarter."

CityScore is designed to provide a transparent platform that allows people to see a nearly real-time indication of the city's performance. Using metrics that are critical to the overall health of the City, the data is rolled up into a single score that is easy to comprehend. The underlying metrics are also displayed to quickly identify drivers of the score.

In an effort to identify trends over time, CityScore is broken down to track data over a given day, week, month and quarter. Todays launch serves as the first iteration of a platform that will grow, change and expand over time.

"Our team's goal is to provide the best basic city services in the nation," said Chief of Streets Chris Osgood, who helped develop CityScore. "CityScore helps us track our progress and has already been successful in helping us deliver better services to residents. This will be a great tool for us moving forward."

This data allows people to monitor the delivery of city services, and it creates the opportunity to identify areas where the city is excelling and areas in need of improvement.  Scores are determined by comparing current performance to either a target set by the city or a historical performance average.  Scores at or above one indicate the City is surpassing or meeting specified targets or historical averages, scores below one are not.

CityScore currently tracks measures in the following areas: public safety, economic development, education, innovation and technology, health and human services, basic city services and constituent satisfaction.

Using tools that already existed in the Department of Innovation and Technology, the Citywide Analytics Team built CityScore using data generated by the city's departments.

About the City of Boston's Analytics Team
The Citywide Analytics Team's mission is to use data to improve quality of life and to enhance government operations in the City of Boston. By combining modern data analysis and visualizations with a deeply engaged approach to performance improvement and change management, the team works with departments across the City to solve challenging problems, build a more effective government, and deliver better outcomes for people who live and work in Boston.  

Get Konnected 邀吳弭 1/26 與民同慶猴年新春


MAYOR WALSH JOINS BOSTON COLLEGE TO GIVE NEARLY $450,000 TO HELP ENHANCE PARKS, SERVICES AND SAFETY IN BRIGHTON

MAYOR WALSH JOINS BOSTON COLLEGE TO GIVE NEARLY $450,000 TO HELP ENHANCE PARKS, SERVICES AND SAFETY IN BRIGHTON
BOSTON - Friday, January 15, 2016 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joins Boston College President William Leahy, S.J. at a ceremony on the University's Chestnut Hill campus to award Neighborhood Improvement Fund Grant checks to six organizations. It's part of the schools's support for physical improvements that are available to the residents of Allston-Brighton. The $2.5 million Fund was established as part of the community benefits package under the University's Institutional Master Plan. It targets projects where public sources of funding may be unavailable or inadequate. 
A Medal of Honor monument, bike share stations, and improvements to parks are just some of the enhancements on the way for the Allston-Brighton residents thanks to neighborhood grants being given today by Boston College and the City of Boston totaling almost $450,000