WHAT’S A TOWNIE TO SAY?
Once about a couple years back, a female friend asked me how she looked. I answered non-commitably, “How do you think you look? Knowing I had worked for the Department of Mental Health for decades, she told me, “Keep all that psychobabble for someone who cares” OUCH!
Recenty, an old friend of mine from Charlestown told me the best way to stay out of trouble with a woman’s looks is to say, “You look just beautiful for a woman in your shape.”
A true Townie›s best defense is to say something that doesn›t mean anything but do it with a smile
JUST THINKING ABOUT BUNKER HILL MALL
I can not tell you how many times I have shopped at the Bunker Hill Mall. I remember when they were digging up the big hole for it back in 1977-78. For years since the two First National Stores closed in Charlestown, folks had to trek over to the Winter Hill Star Market or the Wellington Circle Stop & Shop. I remember when my parents would go down to Thompson Square Saturday mornings to take those little brown buses over to Winter Hill.
Then, the mall opened with its anchor shop, the A & P Supermarket. .No more travelling to Somerville or Medford, Townies had their own supermarket again.
I have to tell you I expected it to look better. I pictured the mall facing Charlestown on Main Street with shops lining the block from New School to Austin streets. However, it was not to be. Charlestown got the rear end of the mall. The other day while walking on Main Street after stopping by the Bunker Hill Florist to check on Joe›s condition, I was struck by the ugliness of this view of the mall.
How much more beautiful would the Thompson Square area would be with the Bunker Hill Mall a part of it. Too late to do anything now but sometimes it is good to look back and wonder how much better the mall would have been for Charlestown without facing its rear end on a daily basis.
GROWTH SURROUNDING SULLIVAN SQUARE
I stopped to take a photo last week by the Austin Street Underpass looking down toward Sullivan Square and I noticed the high-rise just beyond it. At first I was confused and then remembered all the new buildings going up over at Assembly Row just after the East Somerville – Charlestown line where Main Street turns into Mystic Avenue.
When this new structure is finished how many residential units will it contain and how many more cars are put into play circumventing Sullivan Square. With the Wynn Casino planned for just across the Alford Street Bridge at the Everett-Charlestown line on Route 99, how much traffic will be generated in this area?
I certainly hope that Steve Wynn will have\ to come up with more than volunteer painters getting their photo in the paper. I also hope state planners re-think the idea of tearing up both the Austin Street and Sullivan Square underpasses. How more insane can this whole area get for motorists and remember every accident in the Sullivan Square area impacts only Boston drivers with higher insurance rates.
Any thoughts out there on what can be done?