Time: 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
Number of attendees: 42
Dorchester Heights National Historical Register
Nomination – The process by which the Dorchester
Heights area will be placed on the National Historic
Register is proceeding very nicely. The NHR Committee has
met for a second time with folks from the Boston Landmarks
Commission who are heading up this process. During the
meeting we discussed the ideas that were provided to the
committee by the membership during our last DHA meeting. An
important item we all agreed on is the need for a history of
Dorchester Heights in the Booklet that will be distributed
to all homeowners within the Historic District. The layout
of the book will be very similar to the book for Eagle Hill.
This book will be available to look at during all DHA
meetings until we have a Dorchester Heights book. This is a
very important undertaking for our neighborhood. This
designation has value to our community and has none of the
restrictions that other designations carry with them. Being
on the National Historic Register does not restrict
homeowners from altering or changing their property in any
way so long as no State or Federal money is involved in the
process. If you choose to paint your house pink with green
polka dots then go ahead. The only people you will probably
have to face is your next door neighbor if you can get them
to stop laughing long enough.
Come to the next DHA meeting and
learn more about this Historic Designation.
National Parks Service – The NPS reported that dog
messes are become a problem again. Marc Vagos is looking for
a more volunteers to help keep the Mutt Mitt containers
filled. Please call Marc at 617-242-5631 if you have
questions or would like to volunteer. We as an organization
will be writing a letter to the National Director of the
National Parks Service Mr. Robert Stanton to request the
funding be increased locally to allow for more Park Ranger
presence up on Dorchester Heights. We are going to send a
copy of this letter to all of our elected officials
requesting any help they can provide in getting this
additional funding for our area.
During the March 9th DHA meeting John Manson
and Ruth Rafael will do a slide presentation on the history
of Dorchester Heights. The railings for the slope at the
front of the park should be installed by the end of January.
South Boston High School – Walter Wood addressed
the membership and informed us the school had 4 false alarms
during the month of December 1999. Two of the alarms did not
require evacuation of the students. On December 17th
a student lit off a small smoke bomb that required the
building to be evacuated for 10 minutes. A wastebasket was
set on fire accounting for the second evacuation. The school
staff is now positioned at the gates to keep the students
from leaving the schoolyard during evacuations unless the
fire department requires the students to leave the yard.
Walter also told us that the arson squad conducts interviews
after every alarm at the school. The dumpster issue
continues, the membership is again asking to have the
dumpsters moved to behind the school and also to keep the
access gate locked.
Bus Stop Issue – The word on the street is the Bus
Stop will be moved back to its original location. This could
not be confirmed. We will keep you posted.
DHA Annual Reports – Annual Reports will be
delivered at the February 10th Meeting.
