GreenDorchester (Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition)

Here’s an update to our 5/3/2010 posting: the latest new station to start taking shape on the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line (also called the Indigo Line) is now under construction on Talbot Avenue – see this recent Dorchester Reporter article.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed to improve the Fairmount Line as part of a legally binding commitment in 2005 to mitigate increased air pollution from the Big Dig. Improvements also include Continue Reading »

Lead poisoning prevention advocates, policy makers, community members and other interested parties are invited to – A Celebration of Lead Poisoning Prevention in Boston.
Join the Lead Action Collaborative and its partners to celebrate our accomplishments in working towards eliminating lead poisoning in Boston!
Featuring Dr. Bruce Lanphear as the keynote speaker.
October 28, 2010 from 9AM to 2 PM
at the New England Regional Council of Carpenters Training Center in Dorchester.
Pre-registration is required.
Contact Elizabeth Tanefis for more information, 617.279.2240, ext 530.
RSVP for the event – http://LACcelebration2010.eventbrite.com/.  Please see flyer here.

Talbot-Norfolk Triangle Park Patrol is another great program at Elmhurst Park this summer, co-sponsored by DEHC.  The Park Patrol has two divisions: Junior Park Patrol for ages 12-14, and Park Patrol for ages 14-17.

Park Patrol employs 20+ youth to:

• Volunteer at the Nightingale community garden (to prepare for the 106 Norfolk garden)
• Learn how to champion green spaces
• Mentor youth and promote community greening

Junior Park Patrol employs 6+ youth to:

• Learn how to plant up to 20 spring-flowering trees to provide color along Norfolk Street from Codman Square to New England Ave.  Trees are flowering and pink themed, provided by Urban Ecology Institute’s CityRoots program.

The Park Patrol youth will hold a free workshop on tree planting, open to the community, this fall, date TBA.

Over 100 residents of Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Milton attended a public meeting in May to hear about alternatives for linking the Neponset Greenway where it now ends at Central Avenue in Milton to Mattapan Square and upriver trails in Hyde Park and beyond.  The planned extension to Blue Hill Avenue will open about 7 miles of trail along the Neponset River, connecting Pope John Paul II Park in Dorchester to the Neponset Valley Parkway in Hyde Park, providing a regionally linked recreational amenity and bike commuting option. Joe Orfant, Chief of the Bureau of Planning and Resource Protection at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), presented an update on the Neponset River Trail Extension Project, including several different route options. 

Two site walks have been scheduled by DCR on July 22 and 26, 6:30-8:30 PM, and the public comment period has been extended to August 14, 2010.  In early fall, DCR will hold a second public meeting to present the recommended alternative.

Dorchester Avenue Air Quality Project:  The Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition (DEHC) is conducting an Air Quality Project, starting this month through July 2010, to collect preliminary air quality data (ultrafine particles) at selected locations along the Dorchester Avenue corridor.  There are several objectives for this project:

·         To initiate a before-and-after study of the effects of the Dorchester Avenue Transportation Improvement Project  on air quality affecting travellers and residents on and near the Avenue

·         To give DEHC an idea of enduring pollution hotspots that might warrant more investigation or possibly remediation

·         To encourage researchers to develop more studies of Dorchester’s local air quality

·         To help DEHC advocate for specific air quality remediation actions – both temporarily during construction and afterwards

·         To help guide other similar large-scale construction projects that may have air quality impacts, in Boston neighborhoods and regionally

·         To interest funders in supporting DEHC’s air quality work into the future

DEHC is working with consultant Tim McAuley of Consulting for Health, Air, Nature & Greener Environment (CHANGE) - he is providing the equipment and training for a team of volunteers who will systematically test air quality at locations along Dorchester Avenue.  After the raw data is collected Mr. McAuley will analyze it and produce a report for DEHC to disseminate to the community. Please take a look at the volunteer opportunity here if you are interested in volunteering. 

As DEHC reported in Nov 2009, the CAFEH Study is gathering data about air pollution and its effects on residents’ health in three communities.  CAFEH is a community based participatory study conducted through Tufts University School of Medicine and four community partners, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, Committee for Boston Public Housing, Inc., Chinatown Resident Association and Chinese Progressive Association.

Scientific research on air pollution from motor vehicle exhaust has shown that residents living close to heavily traveled highways may have increased rates of heart disease, asthma, and lung cancer because of their exposure to the nearby highway pollutants.  Residents living in Somerville, South Boston, Dorchester and Chinatown along I-93 and the Mass Pike have high exposure to traffic on these highways.  Activists in these communities Continue Reading »

The Fairmount Line opened in 1855 and was one of Boston’s first commuter railroads, running approximately 9 miles between South Station and Hyde Park.   After long years of declining ridership, the line was closed down in 1944 – it was reopened by the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1979, but without any Dorchester or Mattapan stations.  In 1987, two new stations opened in Mattapan (Morton Street) and Uphams Corner due to community pressure.  Carrying about 2,000 riders daily, it is the smallest commuter line in the MBTA system and the only one entirely contained in Boston, MA.  Currently there are four stations – Uphams Corner, Morton Street, Fairmount and Readville – and the line runs through communities (Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park) that constitute more than 30% of Boston’s population.

Over the years, the Fairmount Corridor Collaborative (FCC), a group of local housing and economic development agencies, realized the commuter line was travelling through rather than serving the transit needs of the neighborhoods. Dorchester and Mattapan communities are served mostly by bus Continue Reading »