A City Council hearing on the proposed new school at 585 Commercial St. has been scheduled for Monday at 10:00 am at City Hall. NOW is the time show your support!
Think about what being able to go to a good neighborhood school means to each family. Think about friends and neighbors you know personally, and what this could mean to any one of them. And then multiply that by 44 children, every year. Before long, that’s hundreds and hundreds of neighborhood families whose lives will be changed.
1) Please email Mark Ciommo, Chair, Committee on Ways and Means at ccc.wm@cityofboston.gov, with a copy to your City Councilor:
Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov – District 1 – the North End, Charlestown and East Boston
Michael.Ross@cityofboston.gov – District 8 – West End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay
Bill.Linehan@cityofboston.gov – District 2 – Downtown Boston
2) The City Council needs to hear from you. If you are able to attend the meeting, that will be very helpful! You are welcome and encouraged to bring children.
3) Please spread the word in any way you can!
The text of the hearing notice and the Mayor’s proposal are below:
March 27,2013
The Boston City Council’s Committee on Ways & Means will hold a public hearing on Mon., April 1, 2013 at 10:00 am in the Christopher A. Iannella Chamber, Boston City Hall, 5th floor.
The subject of the hearing is:
Docket #0497 – Message and order approving an appropriation of Fifteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($15,800,000) from the Surplus Property Disposition Fund, credited to the Capital Fund for the purchase and renovation of 585 Commercial Street, for the purpose of establishing a Boston Public School in downtown Boston.
This matter was sponsored by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and referred to the committee on March 27, 2013.
Members of the public are cordially invited to attend and testify. If you have not testified at a Council hearing before, please arrive (5) minutes before the call of the hearing to sign up and become familiar with the hearing format, testimony locations, and sound system. Please bring fifteen (15) copies of any written documentation you wish to present at the hearing. If you know of others who may be interested in this hearing, kindly notify them.
Written comments may be made part of the record and available to all Councilors by sending them by email, fax, or mail to arrive before the hearing, please use the information below.
Mail Address: Boston City Council, Boston City Hall 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02201
Telephone: 617-635-4644 or 1273 e-Fax: 617-635-4203 Attn: Kate Sullivan or Betty Chin
Liaison/Committee Email: ccc.wm@cityofboston.gov
TO THE CITY COUNCIL
Dear Councilors:
I transmit herewith for your approval an appropriation order in the amount of $15,800,000 from the Surplus Property Disposition Fund, credited to the Capital Fund for the purchase of 585 Commercial Street, Boston, MA for the purpose of establishing a Boston Public School in downtown Boston.
Over the past ten years, the number of families in our downtown neighborhoods with school-age children has increased dramatically. The proposed location will serve this growing population, and when fully completed, accommodate about 500 students in kindergarten through Grade 8. This appropriation order covers the Commercial Street purchase price as well as an allowance for the temporary use of the location as swing space while the Eliot School undergoes its expansion plan.
Along with the School Committee’s support, your approval of this order will be another step forward as we work together to improve the entire Boston Public School system – a school system more parents are choosing to send their children to every year. I urge your Honorable Body to pass this order.
Sincerely,
Thomas M. Menino
Mayor of Boston
