St. Mark’s Area Civic Association
Minutes of the February 27, 2018 Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM. There were 49 souls present.
Officer Mike Keaney gave his police report. There have been a series of robberies at the Mass Market A kid was busted on drug charges and it was he who was responsible for 6 of the known incidents.
Sgt. Dunford spoke about a string of robberies mostly along Dorchester Avenue in the last two months. About 12 cases were closed, caused mostly by the same person.
Supt. Richard Sullivan from the MBTA came to give an update on the T. Shawmut station had 14 incidents for the last year, which is low for the system – it’s not in the top 20. There were 6 robberies, 7 larcenies, and 1 aggravated assault. Fields Corner has had 10 so far this year, all by the same 17 year-old kid who was caught on video. Ashmont has had a problem with youth violence, mostly 14-16 year old kids. A 55 year-old man was assaulted by a 15 year old kid there. Supt. Sullivan mentioned that someone is dedicated to the Shawmut station during rush hour. He stressed the importance of not sitting in a “hot seat” when you’re on the train. A hot seat is the seat next to the door. If you’re in a hot seat with an electronic device, it’s easy for a perp to grab our appliance and run out the door when it’s open in a station. Supt. Sullivan talked about the “See Say” app for suspicious activity, which has been around since 2011. Also, on an Apple phone, hit the “Find my Phone” app if it’s been stolen I order to make it easier to find it.
Board of Director member Jacquie Bishop spoke about the survey she and Rachel Fagen conducted last fall. Fifty-six people responded and forty-eight completed all of the items on the survey. The average responder attends 8 meetings. Jacquie said that the responses will soon be made available electronically and posted on the website.
Travis Lee of TLee Development presented his request to for a variance to erect a new mixed use building with ten (10) residential units with ground floor local retail space and three (3) off-street parking on existing vacant lot at 1837 Dorchester Ave. After a question and answer period a vote was taken. The vote was evenly split 10 yes and 10 no; so the association did not take a stand of the variance request.
President Doug Hurley and members made a number of announcement including the “Love Your Block”, formerly Boston Shines is on Saturday, May 5th this year. A forum for the Senate seat will be held at First Parish Church on Monday, March 19th at 6:00.
The meeting ended at 8:40.
Respectfully submitted,
Douglas Shaheen
Secretary, SMACA
