View From The Jamaicaway Tower

View From The Jamaicaway Tower/2 September 2022

? I bought my unit at Jamaicaway Tower almost three years ago. One of the bonuses of my unit is that I have a balcony which gives me an opportunity to look out at the city in which I have lived for my entire life and even look upon some real estate I helped get developed, either as a city councillor or as an attorney in private practice?

? I can see the Blue Hills.?Growing up in Dorchester Lower Mills, we thought of the Blue Hills as being like the Himalayas.?We would find our way out to Milton, climb the Blue Dot Trail (or whatever the name of the trail was) and get as close to the summit as possible.?On one occasion, perhaps in violation of some state regulation, I ran from the top all the way down the ski slope (in warm weather, of course).?The Blue Hills are not that big, as I think most of us figured out a long time ago, but every time I look out the window or from my balcony, Big Blue is there, as if in a painting.??

? I can also see the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean my father crossed in a boat, in 1919.?Until the immigration laws were changed and the gates were barred almost 100 years ago, the ocean was the primary route from Europe for immigrants.?The Atlantic has been important to Boston’s economy and Boston‘s position in the world for almost 400 years. It is much cleaner than it was when I was growing up, thanks to Judge David Mazzone and so many others.

? My view includes much of the city, including city streets where I would knock on doors and ask for votes and later take my children trick-or-treating.?

? In a recent Sunday Globe, I saw that 2 three-deckers on Parkton Road - which is adjacent to where I live – were on the market for $1.6 million, $1.7?million, or something like that.?Today, many pay far more for housing than anyone could have imagined 50 years ago.?When I was starting out in politics, I dauntingly looked at all the stairs on that street full of three deckers built on the side of a hill; it did not encourage door-to-door canvassing.?Probably, someone could have bought the whole street for about $2,000,000.?

? Boston is an ever-changing, and I would argue, ever-improving place to live and, notwithstanding occasional blips, we may be the safest major city in America.?We need to figure out how to keep families in the city so that I can continue to see the Emerald Necklace full of people enjoying Olmsted’s legacy.

? As the fall approaches, the fields will be full of little children playing soccer, as my children did 20 or so years ago, their team shirts almost reaching their knees.?May the air be full of laughter and joy!