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East Boston - Chelsea Creek Action Group
Meeting Minutes -- June 12, 2002

Attending: Vinny Ieni, Nancei Radicchi, Maddy McComiskey, Lucy Del Muto, Ralph Agostinelli, Christopher Blackler, Gail Miller, Susan Voloshin, Karyl Stoia (Friends of Belle Isle), Florence D’Avella, Edith DeAngelis, Arthur Cardoza, Francisco Burgos, Stanley Buonagurio, Ana Maria Gomez, Loretta Pardi, Leigh Hall, Helen McCormick, Priya Patel (Boston Parks), Bob Cummings (East Coast Engineering), Michelle Crowley (Hargreaves Associates), Woody Dorsey and B. Amore (Kokoro Carvers), Stacey Chacker (NOAH), Susan Loucks (CCAG).

Updates:

  • The Boston Harbor Association is sponsoring boat tours on the Chelsea Creek, departing from Charlestown. Maddy and Gail will provide information about East Boston on this Saturday’s tour.

  • Members and staff of CCAG met with Coastal Zone Management last week. The Chelsea Creek Planning Process is giving us substance and clout in our discussions with State agencies! CZM is especially interested in knowing about our areas of priority for the shoreline. The discussions will continue once the community plan is finalized. It is especially impressive that we are planning BEFORE another plan has been drawn up, as opposed position for the Comparative Risk Assessment is up and she will be leaving CCAG on 6/21. Members wished her good luck and she returns the sentiments!

  • The Merck Family Fund, one of CCAG’s funders, has provided an opportunity for CCAG members to travel to a conference in the Bronx from July 11-14. Costs will be covered. Those who were interested were encouraged to contact Stacey for more information.
  • The last meeting in the Chelsea Creek planning process will be June 19.

 

  1. Condor Street Urban Wild – Construction Update and Design Issues

    1. Construction: Bob Cummings of East Coast Engineering explained that the Parks Dept. was ready to start breaking ground to create the Urban Wild Park as soon as they had the permits necessary. This is expected to be in July.

    2. Pier: Parks is running into problems permitting the boardwalk and viewing platform in the area where it was originally planned. Permits cannot be issued to grow salt marsh under the platform, and so if the platform was to be built on the left side of the viewing cone, no marsh could be built there, and it would interrupt the view and sense of a continuing line of marsh. For that reason, Bob recommended changing the platform to be on the right side of the viewing cone, where it would be built over rock. This would also be less expensive, and would free up some funds for other parts of the project that are currently under-funded.

      3. Because of the new location, the size of the viewing platform will also need to be reduced. Bob illustrated how large it would be and members felt satisfied it would still be adequate.

      In response to questions, Bob clarified that fishing would still be possible in the new location, and it would not interfere with maritime usage in the new location. All present felt that these changes were acceptable and they should try to get permits as speedily as possible.

    3. Misc: The ground will be sloped up in the front of the Urban Wild, which will help prevent cars from driving up into it.

  1. Public Artist Presentation:

  1. Introduction: Nancei gave a brief update of the artist selection process. The Browne Fund suggested that EB-CCAG meet with Urban Arts. EB-CCAG formed a sub-committee including Nancei, Lucy, Maddy, Roberta, Ana Maria and Vinny to select the artists. Based on a conversation with Stacey regarding what EB-CCAG members were interested in, Urban Artists selected slides of approximately 20 artists to show the sub-committee. The subcommittee identified 6 artists -- four who were interested in interviewing for the job. From the interviews, Kokoro Carvers -- B. Amore and Woody Dorsey (a team) were selected unanimously. B. Amore grew up in East Boston, where her grandfather ran a dry cleaning business on Border Street. She is delighted to bring the stone working skills of her and her fiancée back "home".

  2. The artists, B and Woody presented a slide show giving a general idea of their work. They work with large pieces of stone, generally emphasizing people’s interactions with the landscape, and favor using materials that have a connection with the site ("saving the bones" of a place). Past projects have provided people with places to gather, and places to look out on the scenery from a different or heightened perspective. They also presented a number of slides that showed their exploration of the Urban Wild, and their interest in particular artifacts from the site, which include unusual blocks of stone that were quarried in the 1800’s.

  3. The artists general idea is to create a boat shape out of rock dust on the west side of the viewing cone, and arrange the large rocks in the center, as a place to sit and gather. Each rock will also be a "story stone’, and tell a part of the history of the area. The center stone will have the seal of East Boston engraved on it. At the next meeting, residents should bring their ideas for stories that would be interesting to have on the center rocks. This area will be accessible by wheelchair.

  4. The artists and members also discussed other ideas for art on the site that could happen if additional funding was made available. Members were interested in having a stone on the top of the viewing cone, or to have stones replace benches in that area. Other ideas included an eagle, to represent the U.S. and Eagle Hill, and a flagpole. B. Amore has also done some preliminary investigation into working with a decayed boat hull currently in the water. This boat hull is hidden and revealed as the tide comes in and out, and it gave her the idea for creating a cold-cast bronze boat sculpture that would somehow capture the idea of a timeline revealing itself as the water receded. NOAH has submitted a proposal for additional funds to the Browne Fund.

EB-CCAG 2002 meeting schedule is second Wednesdays throughout the year

Meetings will be at the Harborside Community Center, 312 Border St, unless otherwise noted.

July 10 August 14 September 11

October 9 November 13 December 11th

Minutes submitted by Matt Henzy. Call 569-0059 x14 with corrections or additions.

Source of meeting minutes: Stacey.Chacker@noahcdc.org Contact her for more information.