Here is the short version of the news from the December 14th North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC) meeting. Watch for future posts with more detail. Also, meeting minutes are posted on the NEWNC website at www.NEWNCBoston.org.
Councilor Sal LaMattina attended the meeting to update the council on the rodent problem. The City has increased its baiting in the neighborhood.
LaMattina is proposing a 6am–9am window for residents to put out household trash on the street. Currently, household trash is picked up 3x per week and residents can put out their trash from 5pm the night before through 7am on pickup day. This results in 45 hours per week with trash on the streets, attracting rats. This will require a change at City Hall and Public Works to get the contractor to pickup later than the current 7am.
In the Public Safety Committee report, Bob DeCristoforo said there was a serious incident on Sunday night around 7:30pm. Near the underpass between Fulton St. and Commercial St. across from the Golden Goose, two people were walking with a dog and a man asked for their wallet. They ran and the man shot a gun, at the ground.
133 Salem Street, David Crocini is seeking to add 1 story as the 4th floor and change legal occupancy to retail and 4 residential units with roof deck. L’Osterie Family, an abutter present at the meeting, had not been notified of the change. The applicant offered to postpone until next month allowing for neighbor notification and abutter discussion. No vote was taken on this issue.
112 Prince Street, Damian Szary (building owner) is seeking a zoning variance for floor-area ratio from the Board of Appeal to expand the first floor unit into the basement and increase the living space by approximately 300 square feet, as part of ongoing renovation of the building. Owner intends to occupy the top floor unit.
Vote: 8-0, NEWNC supports the application.
115A Salem Street, Giovanni Grimaldi – Has applied to the Licensing Board for a 7-day Malt and Wine License to be exercised at Sapori di Napoli. Closing hour 11pm (Sun-Thurs), midnight (Fri/Sat).
Vote: 7-1, NEWNC supports the application.
I’ve never understood this practice of putting garbage out THE NIGHT BEFORE pickup – and then complaining about rats. Why WOULDN’T this attract rats? I was walking up Salem St. the other day and it was windy – all these bags of trash from the night before blowing around, some open. For a smart city like Boston, this is an incredibly stupid practice.