The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and we begin to wonder – where has the year gone and my, isn’t it flying by? What has it brought us and do we have anything to give thanks for? For those of you reading this, you should be grateful for having been given another year of...
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Editorials
Joanne Massaro
Charlestown resident Joanne Massaro isn’t just the first women to lead the city of Boston Department of Public Works. She is the first leader of the DPW to bring it more fully into the 21st Century. And she has done this with hard work, intelligence and with the full support of Mayor Thomas Menino...
The Expanded Gambling Bill
The House and the Senate have passed the expanded gambling bill and it will likely be signed into law by the governor later this week. This is the good news. The bad news is that government experts are predicting it could take 3-5 years before we have an operating casino generating tax dollars and...
The Election
The Patriot-Bridge does not endorse candidates for public office. However, that does not stop us from feeling pleased about election results. We are pleased that Council President Steven Murphy kept his seat and that former city councilor and candidate for mayor Michael Flaherty is not going to return. This isn’t about disliking Flaherty who...
Does Weekend Storm Speak Volumes About Winter to Come?
Most of us heard the lament loudly and clearly over the weekend about the snow coming so early, preceding even this week’s Halloween celebration. In more ways than we care to conjure up, snow this early and so plentiful in nearly all of Massachusetts except for Boston and the coastal area, is a bad...
Rutherford Avenue Today; Rutherford Avenue Tomorrow
The remaking of Rutherford Avenue is absolutely essential to the well-being of Charlestown. In its present incarnation, Rutherford Avenue is a disconnected mess of businesses and a learning institution on one side of it and a disconnected grouping of residences, a cemetery, a few commercial interests and some open space on the Charlestown side....
Rutherford Avenue
We tend to agree with the Charlestown Neighborhood Council’s belief that the redesign of Rutherford Avenue proposed by the city will make that entire area more pedestrian friendly and might ultimately re-shape the future of the industrial area on the southern side of the avenue. Opponents have claimed, and with only the best intentions,...
Stopping the Protesters at the Gates to Town
Last weekend, the Dewey Square protesters occupying Boston’s business district packed up their possessions and moved en masse toward the entrance to the Charlestown Bridge but were stopped at the gates to Charlestown on the North End side of the bridge by Boston Police. This time, it was a close call. But what happens...
The Demise of Friendly’s
The Charlestown Friendly’s will be one of 63 being shut down by the company which has filed for bankruptcy. This comes as very troubling news to many in this neighborhood, and to us, as Friendly’s has been a part of the local scene for decades. It would be almost impossible to find a kid...
Walmart in Boston
Mayor Menino does not want Walmart operating in Boston. He believes the retailing giant is just that, a giant whose ability to wipe out smaller store owners far outdoes any good that it does as a provider of jobs and cheaper prices for working people. He has a point. The point is well taken....