Dot Boston » Dorchester

Ashmont Moves to North Dorchester

Adam — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:11:08 +0000

While Milton was preparing for an invasion from Mattapan, looks like we should’ve taken a closer look inside Dorchester as Ashmont recently got up and moved itself to North Dorchester. At least according to Google Maps, which places Ashmont right between Upham’s Corner & Savin Hill:

So, is ‘Old Ashmont’ up for grabs now?

Five Things I Adore about Dorchester

Adam — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:59:34 +0000

Today is ADORE-Chester! day, a celebration of Dorchester, my home neighborhood where I was born, raised, and live in today. There’s many great things about Dorchester, but for today’s article we’ll talk about five of them. For more great points of Dorchester, check out the other blogs participating in ADORE-Chester! Day.

Dorchester’s History

Dorchester is an old place, founded before the City of Boston, filled with historical nuggets and firsts. For instance, did you know Dorchester once literally sprawled over and beyond Greater Boston, coming within just feet of the Rhode Island border?

As noted in my Dorchester Day article for The Dorchester Reporter, Dorchester has staken a claim as the

home of the first free public school in the USA, the first community health center, the first settlement in Suffolk County, and the first government run by town hall meetings

Dorchester’s Architecture

Modern and centuries old structures populate Dorchester’s landscape. The William Clapp house was built in 1806, the James Blake house is even older built in 1650. And modern buildings are being built as we speak, with the most recent in progress development being the the new Carpenters Center on Dorchester Avenue overlooking I-93. A much needed modern building in a location that makes for a much more inviting welcome into Dorchester coming into the neighborhood from the city.

Dorchester’s Diversity

Young and old, rich and poor, people of nearly all nationalities fill the streets of Dorchester. Our diversity is one of our strongest strengths, and creates a populace that learns from and leans on each other, rather than viewing people as different.

The Polish Triangle

Well, I am a Polish-American (born in the U.S.A., by two Polish-born parents), so how could I not list The Polish Triangle, an officially recognized area of Boston that is filled with Polish culture and history. We’ve got great restaurants, friendly neighbors, and a giant pear. A win for all.

Dot Bike

As a Boston bicyclist, I love that the Dorchester bicycle community is strong and big. Walking, biking, or driving around Dorchester you can spot bicyclists all over the place. The simple bicycle is a great example of how Dorchester is an economical, efficient, and self-powered place where independence is valued and pride in oneself and one’s area is strong.

Leonard Nimoy

A bonus point! At the behest of my step-brother, I must add the bonus point that Leonard Nimoy was born in Dorchester. The definitive star trekker began his star tripping in the best neighborhood in Boston, Dot.

These Blogs Adore Dorchester too:

A New Name for an Old Blog

Adam — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:30:07 +0000

If you look closely, you’ll spot that I’ve retitled this blog. It’s the third title in the history of this site and in my opinion the best one yet. What once was Adam Pieniazek, and then was Prose of a Pol, is now:

Dot Boston

Prose of a Pol was always a bit clunky. Sure I’m Polish and proud of it, but don’t write enough about Poland here to warrant the title. Plus, prose has a negative connotation. Apple dictionary defines prose as:

written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure : a short story in prose | [as adj. ] a prose passage.
• figurative plain or dull writing, discourse, or expression : medical and scientific prose.

Not quite the brand I’m going for here!

The name is also an ode to my home city and my home neighborhood, Boston and Dorchester, respectively. It was inspired by an upcoming event I’m partaking in called ADORE-chester!, which aims to celebrate the good about Dorchester, rather than the negative that is often portrayed in the mainstream media. Since I also write a good amount about web technologies, the dot is a play on the period used in all web addresses. In my opinion, it’s a win all around.

What do you think of the new name?

Dot Day 2009

Adam — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:04:09 +0000

The 2009 Dorchester Day Parade was one of the better ones in recent memory. The sun shined the whole day with temperatures rising above 80 degrees. It was a gorgeous day for the onlookers, but probably a tad too hot for all the parade marchers. Keep in mind, the Dot Day parade starts in Lower Mills and ends at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Columbia Road, right at the edge of the Polish Triangle.

Dot Celebrities

Unlike many other politicians the Mayor of Dot, Steve Bickerton, chose to ride

For those not from the area, that’s a 3.5 mile trip down Dot Ave. Might not seem like that long of a trip, but many marchers were carrying signs or were dressed up (shirts, ties and not wearing sneakers makes for a bit of an arduous journey). Meanwhile, my shorts, sandals and t-shirt combination kept me cool but forgetting to put on sunscreen left me with some nice lobster red arms that I could cook on egg on.

Still, it was all worth it to get a chance to see local celebrities from Dorchester, like the honorary Mayor of Dot, Mr. Steve Bickerton Jr. and the classiest gal in town, Little Miss Dorchester, Aisling Mannion. The Whalehead King also noticed people swooning over Dot celebrities.

There she goes, Little Miss Dorchester

Show of force

Throughout the parade we saw many servicemen and women. From police in cars, motorcycles and bicycles, firetrucks, all the way to some heavy duty trucks from the Dorchester Armory. They all received some cheers but the Dot Armory convoy received possibly the loudest cheer of the day, with plenty of thank yous too.

The Dot Armory convoy got a lot of cheers

Loved this guy’s sword. He was leading a group of Vietnamese soldiers. Wanted to ask him if I could hold it but honestly was a bit scared he’d chop me right in half to please the blood thirsty crowd.

Don't touch my sword cameraman.

Dot Diversity
My favorite part about the Dorchester Day parade is the display of diversity. We really have people from all walks of life marching here. The racial, cultural, and professional diversity that is evident every day is on full display during Dorchester Day. As Ed Forry wrote in a recent editorial about Dot Day:

As we have said for years, Dorchester begins with a Capitol D — and that stands for Diversity — and that’s Dot’s biggest strength.

It really is. As you look at the marchers and watchers, no one is excluded. No matter the color of your skin, political alignment, sexual preference, profession, or socio-economic background, you’re welcome here in Dorchester. I love it, I really do. There’s no other place I’d rather have grown up in and the main reason is the diverse populace.

So to wrap up this post, here’s the Dot Day 2009 parade video playlist (also embedded below). You’ll get to see the Dot diversity in motion. More videos to come as the day goes. Also, there are nearly 200 photos in my 2009 Dorchester Day flickr set. Adam Gaffin from Universal Hub brings us more photos and videos from the Dot Day parade. The Dottie Hottie brings us a few pics from Dot Day 2009.

Where you at Dot Day 2009? What did you think of it? Where did you watch it from?

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City of Dorchester? Nay. City of Boston? Yeah!

Adam — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:06:39 +0000

Two weeks ago, I had a call out to my readers who reside in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston to partake in a survey for an article I was writing for The Dorchester Reporter. Well, the article is out in the latest edition of the Dot Reporter, on newsstands now.

Before I dive into this post, I want to thank everyone who responded to my survey and the people on the streets and in local businesses who took time out of their busy days to talk with me. Thank you. Your passionate thoughts on the subject helped fuel this article and it’s really about you, the residents of Dorchester. As promised in the comments of my survey post, I’ll deliver my opinion on if Dorchester should secede from Boston and if it would succeed further down in this post.

Dorchester Day

The article, titled No going back: Dot’s right at home in city limits, is on the Dotnews web-site (that’s the link to the piece) but I highly, highly advise everyone in the Dorchester area to pick up the actual print edition. This Dorchester Day edition of the paper is jam packed with great articles spread over a whopping 44 pages.

This year, the Reporter ran a Greening of Dot feature that contains articles about the receding shoreline of Columbia Point, new recycling efforts in the neighborhood (and city), the growth of neighborhood farming, views from readers on how Dorchester will look like in 2050, and much more. They also have an absolutely hysterical interview with the Mayor of Dorchester. It’s a fascinating collection of articles and is only $.50.

The fact that I’m encouraging you to pick up the print edition of a newspaper should be enough validation that it’s good, considering how rarely I purchase a print newspaper. Obviously I’m biased but truly do believe you won’t be disappointed. The Reporter always delivers quality hyper local journalism, but with this Dot Day edition they’ve really outdone themselves.

Should Dorchester secede from the City of Boston?

Simply, no. Another Dorchester resident, Andrew Binns, put it best when he said:

I love being from Dorchester, but I also love being from Boston.

It’s a perfect description of my sentiment. When I was growing up and heard the news that there was a secession movement that would include a part of Dorchester with it, I immediately hoped it would fail. I did not want to lose my association with Boston. Later on I learned that the secession movement would not include my section of Dorchester, but my reasoning still holds true today. I love being from Dorchester, Boston, Massachussetts. I have Dot pride and I have Boston pride.

In this regard, I agree with many of the people quoted in my article and the many people whom I spoke with who I didn’t quote who thought that being part of Boston was in the best interests of Dorchester. At this point, the majority of Dorchester residents consider themselves true Bostonians and would be against seceding because of their love of Boston.

Would a City of Dorchester succeed?

Though the City of Boston does not release revenue and costs by neighborhood, it’s highly likely Dorchester receives more than it gives. As it should. It’s the largest part of Boston in terms of population and land mass and requires a great deal of resources to maintain. It also has a high percentage of lower income families who need help and don’t make enough to be taxed. I should know, my family used to fall precisely into that bracket. Considering how many Bostonians live in the Dorchester neighborhood, I’d say it doesn’t get enough attention and resources from the city government.

If Dorchester were to secede from the City of Boston, chances are it would face a near immediate budget crisis. It would not be easy establishing a City of Dorchester. It would not be an overnight secession success story.

But, I think it would succeed. Dorchester residents are filled with pride. Sure, not every resident has pride in the neighborhood, but from talking to residents I found that the vast majority of them have an abundance of Dot Pride. As many people said, pride alone doesn’t build a city, but I think the sheer pride of Dot people would greatly aid in making a City of Dorchester viable.

It would require a ton of volunteer work from a lot of residents. Everyone would have to tug on their bootstraps even more so than they already do. We would need a massive loan to subsidize new businesses and public works, but over time I think Dorchester residents could create a city that could stand on its own two feet. Having said that, I hope we never have to put Dot Pride to that ultimate test and instead continue to be Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. Let’s keep Boston together and make all of it better.

If you’ve read all the way down here and haven’t yet clicked through to my article in the Dorchester Reporter, please do.

Calling all Dorchester Residents (Current & Former)

Adam — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:20:20 +0000

As some of my readers already know, I’m a resident of the Dorchester neighborhood of the City of Boston. On June 7, 2009, Dorchester will be celebrating Dorchester Day, an annual celebration to commemorate the founding of Dorchester.

Dorchester Day

Originally, Dorchester was a separate city from the City of Boston and was much larger than it is today. I’ll be writing an article for The Dorchester Reporter about the history of Dorchester, including its origins as a separate entity from Boston and an attempt by some of its residents to secede part of Dorchester from Boston during the 80′s to create a new city called Mandela. The initiative obviously failed but is an interesting point from Dorchester’s rich history.

For the article, I’d love to hear from the opinion of current and former residents of Dorchester on the neighborhood and the secession attempts. If you live in Dorchester currently or are originally from Dorchester, please take a few minutes and fill out the below form and you might be mentioned in the Dorchester Day edition of The Dorchester Reporter.

Thank you!

[contact-form]

My First Newspaper Article

Adam — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:00:04 +0000

As mentioned in a post last week, I’ve been very busy lately writing articles for a variety of publications. One of the articles was published last week and is the first newspaper article I’ve ever written. It’s a profile piece for the Dorchester Reporter about Dr. William Henderson, the principal at the full inclusion Patrick O’Hearn Elementary school on Dorchester Avenue.

In brief, the article is about Dr. Henderson and his work to integrate full inclusion, a program where disabled and non-disabled students learn together, into the O’Hearn school and ensure that every student at the O’Hearn receives a quality education. My personal opinion is he’s achieved a great success in his work and the people I interviewed agreed. As Dr. Henderson is retiring at the end of this school year it was a perfect time to profile him and his achievements.

If you have a few minutes and want to read about a great educational leader, check out O’Hearn’s ‘heart and soul’ prepares to move on at DotNews.com. If you enjoy the piece I would love it if you shared it on your favorite social networks. As always, any critiques are very welcome but please do so here. Any comments relevant to the content of the piece please post at DotNews.com but any feedback for me please keep on this blog.

Blighted Edward Everett Square Building Set for Renovation

Adam — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:00:27 +0000

As a longtime resident of the Edward Everett Square/Polish Triangle area of Dorchester, there has been one building which has been a blight on my neighborhood as far back as I can remember. The building is the NE Brake Building located at 1299 Massachusetts Avenue. Well, according to The Dorchester Reporter, this building is (finally) being renovated!

Pete Stidman of the The Dorchester Reporter writes that the new owner, Steven Turner,

…is sprucing up the building’s curved storefront and installing a small fruit and vegetable market to complement the giant Clapp’s pear across the street.

“This is an interim solution,” said Steven Turner, the owner. “I’m in the process of marketing the building but I don’t have ink on paper yet. Ultimately what would I like to see? What I would prefer to see is some kind of restaurant, bank or retailer that was fitting and appropriate to the community.”

Turner is in the midst of replacing the first story doors and windows on the building, and said the plan is to open the market, maybe under the name New Market Farm Stand, by April 15. A man named Sam Fremi, who has had a booth in the Chelsea Produce Market and the Haymarket is set to run the place.

Fresh wooden boards!

Sounds great! Heck, they could literally open anything in the new building and it would be an immense improvement over the existing structure. However, a fresh produce stand will be a great addition to our neighborhood and fit in with the decor of the Pear statue perfectly. I can’t wait to review the stand and share it with all of you on April 15!

You can read the entire article, along with plenty of other Dorchester related news, in the latest edition of The Dorchester Reporter (link is to .pdf download of the newspaper). Special thanks to Bill Forry and Pete Stidman of The Dorchester Reporter for the news and allowing me to share the article content with you.

Dorchester Boston Apartment for Rent – $1600 – 3 bedrooms

Adam — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:00:42 +0000

Not sure how this post will do but figured it’s worth a shot. The third floor of the triple decker house I live in in Dorchester, MA is up for rent. It’s a nice 3-4 bedroom 1250 square foot apartment in a really nice neighborhood and is for rent at a relatively cheap price. For the sake of my regular readers who don’t live in the area/ don’t care, this post will be brief. You can check out the full description at the craigslist or facebook listings.

The Living Room...bigger than it appears in this photo

The house is located on Roseclair Street in the Edward Everett Square / Polish Triangle section of Dorchester, and is within walking distance of the JKF/Umass Red Line T stop, a 24 hour Stop & Shop, and many other shops. There’s three elementary schools within 2-3 streets of the house, and it’s within walking distance of Umass-Boston, the JFK Library, and the beach. The apartment itself has hookups for a washer and dryer, a huge porch overlooking a nice yard, and is occupied by the owner. We’re cool with cats and dogs!

View Larger Map

Honestly, the building and the neighborhood are great places to live. Plus you get to live in the same building as your favorite blogger!

Overall, considering the great shape of the apartment and building and the great location it’s tough to beat this deal. Check out the craigslist or facebook ads for more details. To my regular readers, we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

Web Quotes and Counterpoints VIII – The Summer Cleaning [toblog] Edition

Adam — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:00:01 +0000

A while back I started a huge digital cleaning session. My e-mail inbox was well into the thousands, so I started archiving older messages. It’s unbelievable how many random web sites, mostly social network betas, I signed up for that I only used once or twice. The worst is ones where they constantly e-mail you asking you to log in since it’s been a few months. It makes the site seem desperate and sad and bugs the heck out of the user. Anyway, now my inbox routinely stays under 100 messages.

My RSS feed reader was also well over a hundred feeds and quickly kept multiplying how many unread posts it contained (well into the thousands). RSS technology is great because it’s so simple, easy, and quick to sign up for site updates but also dangerous because it’s just as simple, easy, and quick to get overloaded with information! My feed reader now sits at 17 feeds (not counting a 404 report for this site and three delicious tag feeds) with only 51 unread posts (all of which are three delicious tag feeds).

Speaking of those tags, a while back I blogged about del.ico.us tags [yes, I know they dropped the dots but I haven't!] and how they’re useful to setup a system of tasks, such as toread, toblog, tobuy etc.

Well, I realized I’ve rarely blogged about the items in my toblog tag so to solve this issue here’s a nice quick list of six things I was gonna blog about but didn’t for some lame reason(s) but now that I’m motivated we’ll bounce through them quickly and painlessly. I have a total of 54 toblog stories saved, so watch out for a few more quick post n run style articles!

Ron Paul hoped to make an impact in New Hampshire primary

On the surface, New Hampshire seems like the ideal place for Ron Paul’s libertarian platform, the state motto is, after all, “Live Free or Die”. The results show Ron only scored 7.7 % of the state’s votes, which makes me skeptical of something; either New Hampshire does not care about living free anymore or the vote was rigged or voters don’t vote well (methinks it’s a combination of all three).

Cream of Boston

Are you a young sexy Bostonian? If so, Cream of Boston wants you to sign up for their exclusive dating site for hot people only! I’m not sure quite how I feel about this site yet. Perhaps after I apply and get rejected I’ll form a stronger opinion. As for now, it is what it is. Alternatively, if you’re a smart and hot girl living in the Boston area you can join a much more exclusive club by simply dropping me an e-mail for more, ahem, details!

The Gentrification of my neighborhood continues?

When I was younger I really hated the influx of richer, more “sophisticated” people into my neighborhood. All of a sudden BMW’s, cafes, and other signs of the yuppy started showing up in my beloved ghetto fabulous hood. Well, now that I’m older and umm, more “sophisticated”, I welcome the newbies to my hood! Our neighborhood has changed a whole lot over the past ten years, and reflecting back it has certainly changed for the better. There’s a bunch of awesome new restaurants and other businesses (The Avenue Grille, Real Tacos, Astra Salon, Sugar Bowl Cafe), a lot more students from UMASS Boston and a whole ton of renovated triple deckers acting as condominiums.

Well, the trend continues with a proposed new development at the Bayside Expo Center, with a bunch of new shops and office buildings, and I welcome the proposals and new developments. The Bayside Expo Center is quickly turning into an eyesore in an otherwise great area. If you haven’t been to the Dorchester waterfront behind the Bayside Expo Center go soon! It’s now a part of the Boston Harborwalk and is a very nice place to go for a stroll.

Dorchester, the most up and coming neighborhood!

As a Dot rat born and raised, at first I was skeptical of all the praise my grimey neighborhood was getting but now love it! In March of last year Business Week named Dorchester as Boston’s most up and coming neighborhood. It’s always been the biggest and most populated part of Boston but perhaps soon it’ll also be one of the nicest places to live. Even now it’s diversity and sheer size makes it a wicked exciting place to live. Rock on Dot!

Rock The Earth

Honestly not sure why I bookmarked this site but it’s a non-profit that helps the music industry and its fans act more sustain-ably. I find this a bit ironic as the giant worldwide tours big musicians go on create such a large amount of pollution that it’s a bit hypocritical to ask their fans to cut back. It’s a bit like Al Gore preaching the green lifestyle while he jet-sets around the world. PUHLEEEZE!

Massachussets woman commits suicide because of home foreclosure.

So big bad corporations get bailed out when they frack up but honest working class people are criminals who don’t pay their bills?!?!

Here’s a plan, the U.S. government bails out the people with a mortgage instead of the rich corporation. Call it trickle up economics. The poor and middle class people get mortgage only money to pay for their homes, thus keeping their homes and keeping the mortgage companies afloat.

It’s a win-win situation except for the smart and humble Americans who paid for their homes. People like my mom who slowly but surely paid for a house she could (barely) afford.

What a mess. People are dying and becoming homeless while corporations get bailed out by the taxpayers. It’s not government, it’s a racket!

Socialism for the rich, welfare for the poor and capitalism for the rest of us!

OK, now that I’m all outraged and angry let’s end this edition of Webquotes and Counterpoints so I can cool off a bit!

That’s six toblog stories down, 48 more to go.

Dot Boston » Dorchester

Ashmont Moves to North Dorchester

Related Posts:

Five Things I Adore about Dorchester

Dorchester’s History

Dorchester’s Architecture

Dorchester’s Diversity

The Polish Triangle

Dot Bike

Leonard Nimoy

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A New Name for an Old Blog

Dot Boston

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Dot Day 2009

Dot Celebrities

Show of force

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City of Dorchester? Nay. City of Boston? Yeah!

Dorchester Day

Should Dorchester secede from the City of Boston?

Would a City of Dorchester succeed?

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Calling all Dorchester Residents (Current & Former)

Dorchester Day

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My First Newspaper Article

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Dorchester Boston Apartment for Rent – $1600 – 3 bedrooms

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Web Quotes and Counterpoints VIII – The Summer Cleaning [toblog] Edition

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