Remember Street Sweeping?
Is now the time? Well, is it? Is it really?
Remember Street Sweeping? That's where the City to whom we pay such high property taxes condescends to sweep an entire winter's worth of debris off of our streets. It last happened in our neighborhood, District 3, about 9 months ago. Not bad for a major East coast city, huh!
Of course this blog first reported the street sweeping schedule when we were scheduled for April 19, 20, 21, but then that sechedule was mysteriously removed from the DPW webpage and replaced with a "completed" designation. After much back and forth with the City, they told me were scheduled for May 29, and June 2nd & 3rd.
Now I'm getting smart, (I think. . .?): I copied the schedule right from the DPW webpage. Here it is:
District 3 June 2,5,6 On Schedule
By my calculations that means this comming Thrusday, Friday and Monday, but then again, who knows, the only thing for sure in this life, they say, is death and taxes, and we know all about taxes, don't we; what we don't know much about in Mt. Hope is street sweeping. You see, we haven't experienced it in so long, it's become just a vague memory.
Look out for your street, your neighborhood!
Clean streets are not mean streets!
John Twomey
Posted at 11:52 AM | Issues | Comments (5)
Car Break-ins Continue . . .
Do you think they are even trying . . .?
It looks like there was another car break-in, this time in the parking lot of the Evergreen Apartments on Camp Street. Do you think they are even trying to catch the people responsible for these petty crimes?
Anonymous
Posted at 11:50 AM | Issues | Comments (4)
Miami, Florida to Lewiston, Maine, with Muhammad Ali
Forty years ago, May 25th, Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston for the second time, in of all places, Lewiston, Maine, to cement his self-proclaimed status as "The Greatest".
Today's Boston Globe featured a piece written by Bud Collins, one of my favorite journalists. Throughout his exceptional, long, and illustrious career, Bud has been primarily a sports writer, finally becomming the pre-emminent sports writer on tennis in the English language. But Bud is a writer's writer and is also widely known as a travel writer and a memorist: his celebrity eclipses some of the stars of whom he has written.
In the Globe piece, Busload of memories from Ali-Liston II, By Bud Collins, Globe Correspondent, May 29, 2005, Collins recounts the trip he took from Miami, where Ali lived in a cinder block house, to Chicopee, Ma. for fight training, and on to the unlikely town of Lewiston, Maine for the big, championship fight. Ali, always an eccentric, even at 23, wouldn't fly and insisted he drive the bus to Maine, but not on the highways, only along the back roads, stopping in all the little towns along the way to sign autoraphs for his fans. Of course his whole crew proved to be as eccentric as Ali. It was some trip, and it is a good read, full of the history of the times, from one hell of a virtuosic raconteur.
The Liston - Ali fight in Lewiston produced one of the most famous boxing photos of all time. Ali standing over and taunting, a knocked out flat, Liston, to get up and fight.
Get up and fight you Big Ugly Bear!
Posted at 06:45 PM | The Arts | Comments (1)
Traveling Art Show
Graffiti on Sidetracked Boxcars & Railcars along Route 95
Did you ever notice the railcars parked on the sidetracks, lit by the morning sun, as you drive along Rt. 95 between Branch Avenue and Mineral Springs Avenue?
Graffiti Train
I did. And I finally found a free hour this long Memorial Day weekend to find a way over there with my camera and document some of this traveling art show.
BGA # 29
Since the very first graffiti artist pulled a burnt stick out of a stone-age fire and drew the charcoaled end across a cave wall graffiti has been part of our artistic culture. It was there during the high culture of the Greeks and the Romans, and it is of course still with us today.
BGA # 64
BGA # 51
I like to look at and examine the details of the graffiti as much as I like to consider the entire composition.
BGA # 27
I find many fascinating elements in the details that remind me of certain characteristics of modern art since 1900 as developed by artists from Braque and Picasso, through Pollack and Rothko, and on through Rauschenberg, Johns, and DeKooning.
BGA # 49
BGA # 19
But regardless of any art historical connotations, the pictures are simply fun to look at. Enjoy the Traveling Art Show.
BGA # 9
BGA # 17
BGA # 23
BGA # 56
BGA # 58
BGA # 99
BGA # 16
BGA # 50
John Twomey
Posted at 08:46 PM | The Arts | Comments (0)
Good Fencing News!
The Broken Fence on Cypress Street
I opened an e-mail this morning from David P. of the ONS, the Director's right-hand man, and he informed me that he had spoken with Sal Solomon, Superintendent of Highways, DPW, about the fence in question. Mr. Solomon told David that he would have a crew on it next week. David also wrote that he would keep me updated.
Keep an eye towards the fence and towards this space for future up-dates.
No news is good news until the bird in the bush is in the hand.
It is fair to make up your own proverbs, right?
John Twomey
Posted at 11:41 AM | Issues | Comments (5)
How to Use the Blog, #1
One way I envisioned the blog helping people help the community is to have blog entries serve as prompts, leading to blog readers taking action based on the prompt in the entry.
A means to action that requires little effort.
In other words, you could be active and effective in your community without leaving your chair, if you read the blog and follow the prompts.
For instance I posted an entry in February about the pothole situation. No one responded except Roy.
That was a prompt, and if blog readers had responded to that prompt we might have had all our potholes in Mt. Hope fixed by now.
I should have explained this concept at the outset of the blog, and I meant to include it in the FAQ, but there are only so many hours in the day. Sorry.
Anyway, we can try it again, we still have the potholes, and we can begin by listing potholes and the actions we took in the comments box to this post.
Identify a pothole's exact location, call it in, log in the information in the comments box of this entry. Then we monitor the data and the progress of our efforts by the ongoing comments to this entry. Fun. Fun. Fun.
Link to DPW: DPW phone to report potholes 467-7950
Thanks. Here is the original February 26th, Entry.
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Name That Pothole! Fix 'em!
Tired of your car incurring damage from potholes the City of Providence has failed to fix in a timely manner? So is City Council President John J. Lombardi, and he has asked the Department of Public Works (DPW) to deal with the “plague of potholes” as he is quoted in ProJo’s Feb. 23rd , Metro Edition.
Click on our Media Websites for ProJo.com or Government Website. for the City of Providence and the DPW.
Let’s list the all the worse potholes in Mt. Hope and get the DPW to fix them before anymore of our front end tie-rods and tires are damaged.
Click on the comments tab below this entry, or use the entry box on the right side of the Mt. Hope Blog/Forum to create a new entry, and we will compile a list of potholes needing the city’s attention.
You can also contact the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services by clicking the link on our Home/Navigation page.
Or you can e-mail or call Ward 3 City Councilor Kevin Jackson: click on Vital City Links then click on Kevin Jackson.
John Twomey
Posted at 11:40 AM | Website | Comments (1)
Politics & Action
The Politics of Nuance and of Competing Constituencies
If the above title sounds like political double-speak to you, then you have a lot to learn.
There exists in circulation an old expression: You get more with sugar than you do with salt. And like all such proverbs and aphorisms, there probably exists one that expresses an equal and opposite wisdom. But one that comes to my mind at this time is of Irish origin: Don’t say everything you want to say, lest you hear something you don’t want to hear.
I applaud the activism evident in our community and in our organization as evident in the discussion on this website about getting a more appropriate mural in Billy Taylor Park, one that reflects more truly the rich diversity of our neighborhood and one that also reflects more positive family values. This activism brings to my mind the expression, Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it!
There are many ways of asking for what one wants. You can demand, you can beg, you can ask politely, you can give ultimatums. Considering your position is crucial in deciding how to ask for what you want. Your position will determine the effectiveness of your means of negotiating.
I counsel nuance and political savvy in asking the City for better services, in helping us improve the quality of life for all Mt. Hopeans. We should feel no rush. We have all the time in the world to iron out the intricacies of how, why, and when.
I also counsel against any and all forms of vigilantism. I believe it would serve no purpose but to give our organization a bad name, and it will preclude any cooperation from City Hall. I counsel against any one painting over the mural without City permission. I think it would set our cause back.
I have long counseled new members and new residents to learn as much as they can about the history of Mt. Hope and the history of GCCC and to ask the deep questions about why things are the way they are in Mt. Hope and to seek a deep understanding of each issue: for instance, Who was Billy Taylor, and why was a park named after him; who painted that mural and why, what does it mean?
Of course I’m just a lonely voice crying out of the wilderness, albeit, a voice of 8 years experience doing community action in Mt. Hope.
I know many of our members and residents feel fed up with the way things are in Mt. Hope. It can be an emotional roller-coaster between negative and positive feelings depending on the level of crime and vandalism and nuisances in and around you at any given time. But change takes time and is a gradual thing. We have the time.
I’m impressed and thrilled that members are stepping up and taking initiative to ask the City for change. But let’s get all on the same page, dot all of our i’s, cross all of our t’s, and look for the political nuances and think of the competing constituencies at work in Mt. Hope. Let us form a plan of action and then forge ahead. Cohesively.
John Twomey
Posted at 10:11 PM | Politics | Comments (2)
Communication Solutions
Greetings everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Is there a spot on the website with contact info for every department, official, etc. for us to call when we see an infrastructure or criminal problem? If not could we start a list and maybe print it up for everyone to put on their refigerator? At the meeting I was psyched to hear all these names of people with the answers and I look forward to contacting them.
I saw something about M.O.N.S. but there was no contact info on it. There were also links to gvt. websites.
Also, I strolled the neighborhood the other day taking notes of fences, lots, and sidewalk problems. Is there a spot to log these into the website?
That mural has got to go. It's so ridiculous I can't even believe it was put there in the first place. Question: Why can't we just get some paint, sand it down and do it ourselves? Do we need permission and how do we get it? This is definitely a quick solution for our 2005 summer.
EVERYONE GO TO THE TRASH PICK UP ON JULY 18th!!!!
Kev
Posted at 09:42 AM | Community | Comments (5)
Hope for Merrier Murals
Mt. Hope must have Merrier Murals
As a follow up to the GCCC meeting on Wednesday, I sent the following e-mail and snail mail letter to the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services. I will continue to follow up with phone calls and letters.
Thanks to all for a good meeting.
Nadezhda
Not So Merry Drug Based Mural
Dear Ms. Murphy:
I am writing on behalf of Greater Camp Street Concerned Citizens. For quite some time, we have been requesting city cooperation with the following two problems:
First: We are seeking permission to paint over the mural at Billy Taylor Park. This mural is an ominous representation of darker times and is not conducive to the positive, constructive spirit emergent in the Mt. Hope neighborhood. The GCCC has the paint. We have volunteer muralists and neighborhood participants who are ready, willing, and anxious to repaint this wall at Billy Taylor Park. We are seeking permission from the City to do so.
I have contacted the parks department and left a message concerning this matter with Beth Charlevoix. I am awaiting a response.
Please advise on how we should proceed. We are ready to tackle the project now and would like to see it finished before the heat of the summer sets in.
Second: The GCCC has been trying to get the metal fence under the Cypress Street overpass repaired. The City claims it is not its responsibility. Then whose responsibility is it? Again, we are ready to move forward with repair and clean up of the underpass. We are requesting that the city either facilitate this repair or identify the person(s) responsible for this clean up and maintenance.
I appreciate your cooperation and look forward to a speedy response on these issues.
The Fence in Question: Who is responsible?
Posted by Nadezhda
Posted at 04:58 PM | Community | Comments (5)
GCCC Meeting Rocked!
Thanks and Special Thanks
Thanks to all who attended last night's meeting. A number of new members attended, and we offer a special thanks to you.
Going into last night's meeting we counted 52 members, but with last night's new members and the the checks that came in today's mail, in all, GCCC now boasts 57 paid members. Last night's attendance numbered 25.
Last night we formed a Crime Watch Committee to help Ellen and Roy, our Crime Watch co-chairs, formulate a workable action plan for street by street coverage of crime watch recruiting. Six members signed on, and we wish to hold our first meeting next week.
We touched upon the 2005 GCCC Agenda, which consists of two parts: the ambitious and demanding project, the Community Wide Mt. Hope Crime Watch, and The Mt. Hope Beautification and Infrastructure Improvement Project.
We wish to begin immediately on parts of the Beautification & Infrastrusture project: the cleanup of vacant lots and land by the parties legally responsible for the property and identifing all potholes and road repairs within Mt. Hope that need the DPW's attention.
We must first identify and chart all vacant lots and land in Mt. Hope, then determine who is responsible for their maintenance. We must also identify and chart all potholes and neglected road repairs before presenting the list to the DPW and the City.
We will need logistical help for these projects, like assembling an alphabetical list of Mt. Hope Street names, color coded maps of Mt. Hope, we will need a War Room.
We need members with vigilant eyes to spot and report vacant lots and road locations.
This is where the Mt. Hope Weblog will come in handy.
We welcome your creative suggestions as to how we should proceed.
Our next meeting will be a big one, June 22. We will begin preparing a list of guests to invite, from City Departments, related to our ongoing projects.
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Call for a person to fill the GCCC officer position of Member's Secertary.
Our current MS cannot continue in the position due to the demands of his new business start-up, but Sam will continue to help with research and data mining.
We need a person who is personable, a quick study, and willing to do a certian amount of leg work recruiting members and Corporate Members. Irene will provide training in recruiting techniques to the new Officer.
Interested members, please conatct me at john@mthope-east-side.org or call me @ 640-8077.
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In the comming days I will be posting more about how members can contribute using this weblog.
Thank you to the members who have been contributing to the blog. More people still use the blog than contribute to it. We all need to step up a bit more and get over our hangups and shyness and whatever holds us back.
I think you all have been doing some good work.
John Twomey
Posted at 01:09 PM | GCCC | Comments (0)
What's up with Metts?
Unbelieveable gerrymandering: Guns for felons -- no marriage for gays?
I've had it. After some unbelieveable gerrymandering last year we've got Metts as our state senator, and there's never a time I read about something he's doing that doesn't horrify me. For months he's been on a crusade to have people's criminal records wiped clean after five years (does this mean they can buy guns legally after that??) but then in today's paper he speaks out against gay rights, saying a comparison to the civil rights movement is unfounded because Martin Luther King Jr. would never have married a gay couple.
So, it's wrong to hold felons accountable for their actions but it's ok to stomp on the rights of law-abiding cititzens based on their sexual orientation? Give me a break.
Posted by Katie
Read about it in Projo.com .
Posted at 09:55 AM | Politics | Comments (2)
I Love Mt. Hope . . .
I love Mount Hope because...
From Mt. Hope Easter Egg Hunt -- JMT
While informative and absolutely essential, I often find it so depressing to read about the constant criminal activity in my neighborhood that I thought it might be nice to share what we like about Mount Hope.
I am originally from RI, but haven't lived here for over 20 years. I just recently moved to Mount Hope and it is my first time living in a city. I'm discovering more and more everyday that I love living in this neighborhood.
1. I have some wonderful neighbors! I didn't expect a city block to be such a welcoming place and I have been lucky to be surrounded by a great bunch of people.
2. I love the diversity in the neighborhood. Often when I am riding my bike with my daughter or gardening outside I meet new people that have the most amazing stories about this neighborhood or their lives. I am rewarded just by listening.
3. I love the proximity to Hope Street. I can walk, run, rollerblade, or drive to an amazing array of great places: the library, cafes, restaurants, and funky shops. It's also a quick bike ride to Thayer Street and Whole Foods...saves you trying to wrestle a parking spot!
4. I have an ice cream truck on my street every day! It's the simple joys in life...
Many of you have lived here far longer than I have; I would love to hear what you have to add.
Jen
Posted at 10:26 PM | Community | Comments (1)
Crime Busters!
Crime Watch: Don't Let the Deal Go Down
I would like to remain anonymous out of concern for the safety of myself, and my property, and having spoken to the Mt. hope Crime Watch already regarding this, I do not have anything to hide from any other GCCC members, but you never know who may be reading this Blog.
Anyway, today I witnessed a drug deal, around noon, on the corner of Camp and Locust street. By the time I had called information, and gotten transfered around to different departments within the police department, the men were gone, but I thought I could at least post a description so that others can be on the lookout: It was 2 African-American Men, mid-twenties. One was on foot, and I didn't get that good a look at him, but the other was riding a red bicycle, and had a shaved head. They seemed to be exchanging money, and some small bags of white substance.
I now have the direct line to the Mount Hope Police Sub-Station programmed into my cell phone, so that if it happens again, I will be prepared to act more quickly! Constant Vigilance!!! (Any other Harry Potter fans out there will understand the referance)
Posted at 04:59 PM | Issues | Comments (2)
Problems on Evergreen?
No Cutting!
Thanks, John, for keeping the Weblog. It provides a great forum and is an indespensible tool for disseminating information (no trespassing by elephants who can't spell.)
I recently heard some disturbing news from a new resident on Evergreen. Something about "Youth" cutting through to Evergreen from Grand View and breaking down fences in the process.
Apparently, when the owner of one of the effected lots replaced the fencing, he was threatened with arson if he did not leave an egress in the fencing for the escaping? sight seeing ? trespassing? youth.
Has anyone else had these kinds of problems? I find the threatening, menacing nature of these young people rather disturbing.
Posted by Nadezhda
Posted at 10:20 AM | Issues | Comments (1)
Tree Trimming City
Need help with the City
Now that Spring has arrived, I have noticed the tree in front of our house has a dead limb on it.
Dead Branches for the City
Has anyone had success with the city getting it to trim trees? If so who did you talk to and do you know their phone number?
Ellen Baver
Posted at 06:19 PM | Issues | Comments (3)
Holy Cow & Wow!!!
How About That Camp Street?
182/184 Camp Street -- 5 Unit Building
What about 182/184 Camp St. selling for $850,000. Holy cow. More condos? It's a beautiful building. I hope it's taken care of.
Posted by Katie Laferte
Posted at 11:43 AM | Community | Comments (15)
It's Great
Its Great to See It Back.
I missed it so much. One does not know what one has until it is gone. Thanks for keeping it up.
Posted by Uri
Posted at 11:13 PM | Website | Comments (0)
Open for Business
We are still open for business.
The site remains up and the blog/forum is waiting for your entry.
Roy, Irene, and myself will not be posting anything for a while to give members a chance to get accustomed to fully participating in the blog, if they so desire.
Do not try to use this blog/forum to pick a fight, criticize our organization, or attack any of our officers or members. Anyone who has a bone to pick with me, or with GCCC, can simply give me a call at 640-8077 or e-mail me. Please, be a big boy or girl and use your real name. But do not use this blog/forum for that purpose. I think we've all seen and heard enough from the anonymous cowards who like to lurk in cyberspace.
I would prefer that, at this point, people posting use their real names. If you are not comfortable using your real name, then you probably should not be posting that material. Be sure to read the disclaimer beneath the entry box.
If you have digital pictures you'd like to post, attach them in an e-mail to me at john@mthope-eastside.org, and I will try to get them posted after photo-shopping them. Patience, please, with the pics.
You may also submit your entries through e-mail or through the entry box. I do suggest you use MS Word or some other word-processor to type your entry, using the Verdana font, spell-check it, then copy and paste it into the entry box or e-mail. That has proven to be the most efficient way to post for me. I find that I often make horrenedous spelling errors and typos whenever I type directly into an entry box, and of course, they have no spell-check. I remain a terrible speller.
If you are unsure of your writing (or simply in a rush) and wish me to edit and spell-check your entry for you, advise me of that, and I will do that for you, though it will take a bit longer to appear on the blog.
Anyone who has any unique excuses for not participating in the blog let me know what they are, and I will try to address those as well.
As long as we have a forum, let's all use the opportunity. Use it or lose it.
John Twomey
Posted at 05:00 PM | Website | Comments (4)
Lack of Participation
Due to lack of community participation this weblog has been canceled and all posts have been deleted. The Mt. Hope Community Website will be going off-line shortly.
John Twomey
GCCCC
Posted at 12:10 AM | Community | Comments (8)
