By Eric Eisenberg
ALLSTON-BRIGHTON – Chemical companies in the neighborhood have begun to reduce pollutants, according to EPA reports.
“We know what is going on with global warming and that sort of thing,” said Joseph Lima, the technical and operations vice president for the Houghton Chemical Corporation on Cambridge Street in Allston. “We’re interested in the community. We’re here too.”
The Houghton Chemical Corporation produced 5,252 pounds of pollution in 2006, according to Toxic Release Inventory data, which measures chemical emissions and waste management. In 2002, when ranked against 19 other pollution-producing companies in Suffolk County, Houghton ranked 10th. Barry Controls, previously located in Brighton and now in Hopkinton, ranked 2nd. Mystic Station of Charlestown produced the most pollution, with 64,404 pounds in 2002.
A representative from Barry Controls was unavailable for comment.
Houghton Chemical, which manufactures and distributes automotive fluids as well as water treatment and industrial chemicals, has attempted to reduce its pollutants by adding conservation venting on to chemical storage tanks, which are set to open at levels of over-pressure or under-pressure within in the tanks during filling and emptying and prevent evaporation from repetitive exposure.
“During the daytime, with the sun shining on them, or at night, when they are cooling down, they’re not constantly evaporating liquid,” Lima said.
As well as stopping pollutants from entering the air, the conservation vents are also an economic strategy for Houghton Chemical. Citing the rising costs of chemicals that the company handles, Lima said the vents allow the company to prevent valuable materials from simply disappearing into the air.
“We try and cut our losses of product any way we can because they are expensive,” Lima said. “It prevents waste, and it prevents loss to a large extent... It was more an economic factor initially.”
In addition to searching for articles about developing technologies, the company communicates with its suppliers, takes part in organizations with other chemical distributors and belongs to the American Chemical Council, which works with the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies to improve the quality of the industry, Lima said.
“I don’t really see anything coming that we can adapt to, but we are always looking for things,” Lima said.
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
Reconnecting to a Turkish Home
By Eric Eisenberg
ALLSTON – Walking through the aisles of Turkuaz, the Turkish and Mediterranean market on Brighton Avenue, the average American consumer would be surprised. Various jars of molasses, Mediterranean spices, Turkish pasta, and spiced yogurts are not products normally found in a neighborhood supermarket.
Arif Yilmaz, the owner of Turkuaz, says the idea of a Turkish market came to him after opening his first store in Allston, a dollar store on the same block. After discovering a challenge in finding Turkish products locally, and seeing their availability in the New York/New Jersey area, Yilmaz decided to open the store three years ago.
“I saw many Turkish grocery stores down there, so I thought it was worth a shot,” Yilmaz said.
Turkuaz is a small market. A deli containing Turkish meats, including dry sausages and Turkish meatballs, stands next to the register in the front and two aisles are stocked with stuffed cabbage leaves, bulgar wheat, Turkish teas and coffee, black olives for breakfast and Turkish soap made with black olive oil. In the front, there is a stand with Turkish jewelry and artifacts.
Most of the products come from suppliers in New York and New Jersey, but some are from Turkey.
The store, on Packard’s corner, is beside the B train on the Green line, and in the vicinity of Boston University and Boston College-which both have large Turkish populations, Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz and Torgay Kaya, the manager, say that between 70 and 80 percent of sales are to Turkish and Mediterranean immigrants.
Yilmaz says Allston’s immigrant population and immigrant-owned stores are important because it allows people to understand other aspects of the world.
“It can tell you that people can live together,” Yilmaz said. “They can think differently, they can view things differently.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
ALLSTON – Walking through the aisles of Turkuaz, the Turkish and Mediterranean market on Brighton Avenue, the average American consumer would be surprised. Various jars of molasses, Mediterranean spices, Turkish pasta, and spiced yogurts are not products normally found in a neighborhood supermarket.
Arif Yilmaz, the owner of Turkuaz, says the idea of a Turkish market came to him after opening his first store in Allston, a dollar store on the same block. After discovering a challenge in finding Turkish products locally, and seeing their availability in the New York/New Jersey area, Yilmaz decided to open the store three years ago.
“I saw many Turkish grocery stores down there, so I thought it was worth a shot,” Yilmaz said.
Turkuaz is a small market. A deli containing Turkish meats, including dry sausages and Turkish meatballs, stands next to the register in the front and two aisles are stocked with stuffed cabbage leaves, bulgar wheat, Turkish teas and coffee, black olives for breakfast and Turkish soap made with black olive oil. In the front, there is a stand with Turkish jewelry and artifacts.
Most of the products come from suppliers in New York and New Jersey, but some are from Turkey.
The store, on Packard’s corner, is beside the B train on the Green line, and in the vicinity of Boston University and Boston College-which both have large Turkish populations, Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz and Torgay Kaya, the manager, say that between 70 and 80 percent of sales are to Turkish and Mediterranean immigrants.
Yilmaz says Allston’s immigrant population and immigrant-owned stores are important because it allows people to understand other aspects of the world.
“It can tell you that people can live together,” Yilmaz said. “They can think differently, they can view things differently.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
As Storefronts Change, So Does Community
By Eric Eisenberg
ALLSTON – Bob Webber stood in front of his store on Harvard Avenue and looked across the street at a property he had purchased that was falling into disrepair. A heavy billboard on the roof weighed down the building and the wood had begun to rot.
“If you had seen the building prior to the construction, it was pretty seedy looking,” Webber said.
With the assistance of Allston Main Streets, one of 19 Main Street businesses in the Boston area, Webber received money 5 years ago to refurbish the building’s storefront, allowing him to sell the property to Scissor Sound, a hair salon.
Over the last 13 years, Allston Main Streets has assisted about 40 businesses in the neighborhood renovate their storefronts by providing companies with up to $5,000 toward façade improvements.
An independent non-profit organization, Allston Main Streets receives money from the city of Boston, a percentage of which is used to assist business owners who are interested in both improving the aesthetics of the store and attracting customers.
“It’s just much more inviting and a large part of our marketing is our attractive storefront,” said Doug Bacon, owner of the White Horse Tavern on Brighton Avenue, which underwent construction in 1998.
Businesses apply for financial assistance through Main Streets, which then seeks the city’s approval. While most store owners hire their own architects, Main Streets provides business owners with access to the city’s on-staff architects.
“[The service] can be very beneficial for some businesses that don’t really have an idea of what they want or don’t have the expertise to come up with something,” said Katie Reed, the executive director of Allston Main Streets.
Main Streets encourages businesses to pursue storefront reconstruction it also maintains rules from the federal government, because of the money’s origin as a community development grant, and to improve the neighborhood’s overall appearance. This includes the elimination of plastic “light-box” signs and solid metal security gates.
“Solid roll-down grates are pretty unattractive and they make the street feel isolated from the businesses,” Reed said. “It makes [the neighborhood] feel unsafe.”
The fund can be used for simple projects such as adding a sign or an awning Webber and Farhad Fakhroldini, the owner of the Second Cup Café on Brighton Avenue, which underwent construction in 2007, completely change the front of their businesses, constructing windows and moving the door to the right side of the building to allow customers to have better access to the shop.
Many businesses initiate the process by turning in applications, but they – to the chagrin of Reed and Allston Main Streets – often don’t follow through on their plans.
“I think a lot of times it doesn’t go through because the businesses just don’t finish following up,” Reed said. “It is a shame, because we do have funding available and it is a really fantastic resource.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
ALLSTON – Bob Webber stood in front of his store on Harvard Avenue and looked across the street at a property he had purchased that was falling into disrepair. A heavy billboard on the roof weighed down the building and the wood had begun to rot.
“If you had seen the building prior to the construction, it was pretty seedy looking,” Webber said.
With the assistance of Allston Main Streets, one of 19 Main Street businesses in the Boston area, Webber received money 5 years ago to refurbish the building’s storefront, allowing him to sell the property to Scissor Sound, a hair salon.
Over the last 13 years, Allston Main Streets has assisted about 40 businesses in the neighborhood renovate their storefronts by providing companies with up to $5,000 toward façade improvements.
An independent non-profit organization, Allston Main Streets receives money from the city of Boston, a percentage of which is used to assist business owners who are interested in both improving the aesthetics of the store and attracting customers.
“It’s just much more inviting and a large part of our marketing is our attractive storefront,” said Doug Bacon, owner of the White Horse Tavern on Brighton Avenue, which underwent construction in 1998.
Businesses apply for financial assistance through Main Streets, which then seeks the city’s approval. While most store owners hire their own architects, Main Streets provides business owners with access to the city’s on-staff architects.
“[The service] can be very beneficial for some businesses that don’t really have an idea of what they want or don’t have the expertise to come up with something,” said Katie Reed, the executive director of Allston Main Streets.
Main Streets encourages businesses to pursue storefront reconstruction it also maintains rules from the federal government, because of the money’s origin as a community development grant, and to improve the neighborhood’s overall appearance. This includes the elimination of plastic “light-box” signs and solid metal security gates.
“Solid roll-down grates are pretty unattractive and they make the street feel isolated from the businesses,” Reed said. “It makes [the neighborhood] feel unsafe.”
The fund can be used for simple projects such as adding a sign or an awning Webber and Farhad Fakhroldini, the owner of the Second Cup Café on Brighton Avenue, which underwent construction in 2007, completely change the front of their businesses, constructing windows and moving the door to the right side of the building to allow customers to have better access to the shop.
Many businesses initiate the process by turning in applications, but they – to the chagrin of Reed and Allston Main Streets – often don’t follow through on their plans.
“I think a lot of times it doesn’t go through because the businesses just don’t finish following up,” Reed said. “It is a shame, because we do have funding available and it is a really fantastic resource.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
Allston MCAS Scores Begin to Draw Question
By Eric Eisenberg
ALLSTON – Jackson Mann Elementary School and Thomas Gardner Elementary School have shown signs of struggle with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, the standards-based test for students in grades three through eight.
“Our scores are based on the population that we are servicing,” said Dr. Joanne Collins Russell, the principal at Jackson Mann. “Our kids are learning, maybe not to the line that they are learning in a Brookline or a Harvard, but they are learning.”
Students in Allston elementary schools are performing below state averages in English, math and science, according to the Massachusetts Department of Education. In grades three through six, at Thomas Gardner Elementary, only 30 percent of students performed at or above proficient, compared to the state average of 60 percent. Jackson Mann Elementary had 40 percent of students perform at the same level.
While there is no district wide test-taking class in Boston schools, Jackson Mann Elementary offers a tutoring program for test-taking and students receive strategies in class relevant to subjects they are learning.
“Children receive test-taking practice in school consistent with what they are doing in curriculum,” Russell said. “It is using the curriculum to advance their test-taking strategies.”
Principal Erica Herman of Thomas Gardner Elementary School was unable to be reached before deadline.
Test scores determine the quality of education that students are receiving in their schools. Russell says the comparison of test results should only concern Allston schools when comparing them to other urban areas, but Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for Boston Public Schools, says the MCAS is used primarily to provide educators with student data that they can use to track educational progress of individual students, not to compare schools.
“The purpose of MCAS is not to compare school A to school B or school district A to school district B, because there is not a lot of power in ‘my kids did better than your kids,’” Palumbo said. “The purpose is to drive instruction to improve teaching and ensure that students are getting the education they deserve.”
Using the test, which is released in its entirety by the state each year, teachers can look at students’ answers to questions and identify areas where students may need additional help.
“[The MCAS] gives feedback directly to the teachers so that they can do two things: get the kids extra help and figure out if there is something they can do with their lesson planning that could realize some improvement,” Palumbo said.
For better results in future testing, Allston educators say extended preparation for testing, such as a good night’s sleep and a large breakfast, as well as expanded knowledge of the test is of the utmost importance.
“I think that children have to have a range of experiences and a body of world knowledge that will equip them to do an effective job,” Russell said.
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
ALLSTON – Jackson Mann Elementary School and Thomas Gardner Elementary School have shown signs of struggle with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, the standards-based test for students in grades three through eight.
“Our scores are based on the population that we are servicing,” said Dr. Joanne Collins Russell, the principal at Jackson Mann. “Our kids are learning, maybe not to the line that they are learning in a Brookline or a Harvard, but they are learning.”
Students in Allston elementary schools are performing below state averages in English, math and science, according to the Massachusetts Department of Education. In grades three through six, at Thomas Gardner Elementary, only 30 percent of students performed at or above proficient, compared to the state average of 60 percent. Jackson Mann Elementary had 40 percent of students perform at the same level.
While there is no district wide test-taking class in Boston schools, Jackson Mann Elementary offers a tutoring program for test-taking and students receive strategies in class relevant to subjects they are learning.
“Children receive test-taking practice in school consistent with what they are doing in curriculum,” Russell said. “It is using the curriculum to advance their test-taking strategies.”
Principal Erica Herman of Thomas Gardner Elementary School was unable to be reached before deadline.
Test scores determine the quality of education that students are receiving in their schools. Russell says the comparison of test results should only concern Allston schools when comparing them to other urban areas, but Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for Boston Public Schools, says the MCAS is used primarily to provide educators with student data that they can use to track educational progress of individual students, not to compare schools.
“The purpose of MCAS is not to compare school A to school B or school district A to school district B, because there is not a lot of power in ‘my kids did better than your kids,’” Palumbo said. “The purpose is to drive instruction to improve teaching and ensure that students are getting the education they deserve.”
Using the test, which is released in its entirety by the state each year, teachers can look at students’ answers to questions and identify areas where students may need additional help.
“[The MCAS] gives feedback directly to the teachers so that they can do two things: get the kids extra help and figure out if there is something they can do with their lesson planning that could realize some improvement,” Palumbo said.
For better results in future testing, Allston educators say extended preparation for testing, such as a good night’s sleep and a large breakfast, as well as expanded knowledge of the test is of the utmost importance.
“I think that children have to have a range of experiences and a body of world knowledge that will equip them to do an effective job,” Russell said.
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
Off-Campus Students Upset by No More Than Four Law
By Eric Eisenberg
ALLSTON – In January, with their landlord pressuring them to sign a lease for their house on Glenville Street, Phil Moss and his four roommates met in the living room of their house to discuss their housing plans for next year. Unable to decide, the landlord signed someone else to the lease, and facing the housemates searching for a place to live.
"We all wanted to stay in the beginning," said Moss, 21, who has lived off campus for two years. "Our landlord signed with someone else before all of us had agreed to do it."
On Mar 11, the Boston Zoning Commission voted unanimously to pass a law banning more than four college-aged students from living together.
The law has sparked opposition from students who live in Allston. A Facebook group titled “Boston Students in protest of no more than 4 law” now has about 1,000 members.
“They shouldn’t discriminate,” said Eli Wisnievitz, 20, a student at Boston University who has been living off campus for the past year in the house on Glenville. “Just because people are college students, they can’t assume that they are bad, or they are going to misbehave or throw a lot of parties. They should only be able to do that on actual evidence.”
The law was created to reduce the number of parties and noise in neighborhoods with large student populations, the housemates say the number of housemates does not correlate with the frequency of parties.
“Not having more than four people live in a house is not going to stop partying,” said Jeff Neidorf, 20, a student at Boston University who has been living off campus for the past year. “It’s not going to stop people from coming. It is just unfairly taking away our rights.”
Another concern of off-campus students is the price of housing. Students generally split the rent proportionally with housemates, as that number decreases, students fear that living off-campus will become a financial burden as landlords raise rents to cover losses.
Some have suggested students move back on campus and into dormitories or apartment-style residences, but the Boston University students in the house on Glenville Street moved off-because the small dorm rooms felt like jail cells. Moss didn’t like the university’s guest policy, which prohibits guests after 2 a.m. and require all guests to present identification.
“I think it is good that they protect the students, but it is too intervening in student’s lives,” Moss said.
His housemates have since found off-campus housing elsewhere around campus, only two out of the five are still living together.
“Living in a five person house means that I am with four of my friends, which means I never have to call somebody if I want to do something that’s fun,” said Doug Geron, 20, who has lived off-campus for two years. “The reason we wanted to live together in the first place was because we all had similar interests.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
ALLSTON – In January, with their landlord pressuring them to sign a lease for their house on Glenville Street, Phil Moss and his four roommates met in the living room of their house to discuss their housing plans for next year. Unable to decide, the landlord signed someone else to the lease, and facing the housemates searching for a place to live.
"We all wanted to stay in the beginning," said Moss, 21, who has lived off campus for two years. "Our landlord signed with someone else before all of us had agreed to do it."
On Mar 11, the Boston Zoning Commission voted unanimously to pass a law banning more than four college-aged students from living together.
The law has sparked opposition from students who live in Allston. A Facebook group titled “Boston Students in protest of no more than 4 law” now has about 1,000 members.
“They shouldn’t discriminate,” said Eli Wisnievitz, 20, a student at Boston University who has been living off campus for the past year in the house on Glenville. “Just because people are college students, they can’t assume that they are bad, or they are going to misbehave or throw a lot of parties. They should only be able to do that on actual evidence.”
The law was created to reduce the number of parties and noise in neighborhoods with large student populations, the housemates say the number of housemates does not correlate with the frequency of parties.
“Not having more than four people live in a house is not going to stop partying,” said Jeff Neidorf, 20, a student at Boston University who has been living off campus for the past year. “It’s not going to stop people from coming. It is just unfairly taking away our rights.”
Another concern of off-campus students is the price of housing. Students generally split the rent proportionally with housemates, as that number decreases, students fear that living off-campus will become a financial burden as landlords raise rents to cover losses.
Some have suggested students move back on campus and into dormitories or apartment-style residences, but the Boston University students in the house on Glenville Street moved off-because the small dorm rooms felt like jail cells. Moss didn’t like the university’s guest policy, which prohibits guests after 2 a.m. and require all guests to present identification.
“I think it is good that they protect the students, but it is too intervening in student’s lives,” Moss said.
His housemates have since found off-campus housing elsewhere around campus, only two out of the five are still living together.
“Living in a five person house means that I am with four of my friends, which means I never have to call somebody if I want to do something that’s fun,” said Doug Geron, 20, who has lived off-campus for two years. “The reason we wanted to live together in the first place was because we all had similar interests.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
Residents Upset About Road Conditions in Brighton
By Eric Eisenberg
BRIGHTON – As traffic moved quickly on a recent Tuesday evening, a taxi sped down the portion of Commonwealth Avenue that runs through the neighborhood of Brighton with a stack of papers sitting in the front passenger seat. As the car went, audible sounds of the paper shifting and jumping could be heard in the back seat as the car went over numerous elevated tar patches and large potholes that shook the entire car. The driver, reaching over to reset the papers after each bump, grumbled in frustration as a large pothole caused the papers to fall into the passenger footwell.
“There are a lot of streets that have potholes,” said Wendy Juarez, a resident of Brighton who drives to work everyday. “A lot of them are in desperate need of repavement.”
Many Brighton residents are displeased by the conditions of their roads. Much of the damage can be attributed to weather and usage. Said Michael Hooper, a resident of Brighton whose street was left damaged by construction, some of the work is a result of street work left unfixed.
“[KeySpan Energy] did some work on my street and did some digging,” Hooper said. “They paved some of it over, but they never finished filling some of the holes.”
The poor conditions come after a winter wrought with frost, ice and heavy snowfalls, all of which contribute directly to deteriorating asphalt. Juarez said the Public Works Department did a good job. Others disapproved with the infrequency of plowing and, when it was performed, the care taken by the snow plow drivers.
“I think it was a disaster,” said Ashleigh McElrath, a resident of Brighton. “I think they didn’t plow them, and when they did plow they hit my car.”
The Boston Public Works Department was unavailable for comment through the press office.
The roads of Brighton are noticeably bumpier, cracked and, as Sean Walsh, a resident of Brighton who occasionally rents a car for transportation around the city said, “potholey” in comparison to other sections of Boston and neighboring towns such as Brookline and Newton.
“When you cross into Newton it’s completely different,” Hooper said.
Some residents, including Hooper and Walsh, see a link between the higher income areas of the city in relation to street maintenance.
“I think [the street conditions] are absolutely worse than other areas like Brookline, which of course is another town with a higher tax bracket,” Walsh said. “The South End is also much better.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
BRIGHTON – As traffic moved quickly on a recent Tuesday evening, a taxi sped down the portion of Commonwealth Avenue that runs through the neighborhood of Brighton with a stack of papers sitting in the front passenger seat. As the car went, audible sounds of the paper shifting and jumping could be heard in the back seat as the car went over numerous elevated tar patches and large potholes that shook the entire car. The driver, reaching over to reset the papers after each bump, grumbled in frustration as a large pothole caused the papers to fall into the passenger footwell.
“There are a lot of streets that have potholes,” said Wendy Juarez, a resident of Brighton who drives to work everyday. “A lot of them are in desperate need of repavement.”
Many Brighton residents are displeased by the conditions of their roads. Much of the damage can be attributed to weather and usage. Said Michael Hooper, a resident of Brighton whose street was left damaged by construction, some of the work is a result of street work left unfixed.
“[KeySpan Energy] did some work on my street and did some digging,” Hooper said. “They paved some of it over, but they never finished filling some of the holes.”
The poor conditions come after a winter wrought with frost, ice and heavy snowfalls, all of which contribute directly to deteriorating asphalt. Juarez said the Public Works Department did a good job. Others disapproved with the infrequency of plowing and, when it was performed, the care taken by the snow plow drivers.
“I think it was a disaster,” said Ashleigh McElrath, a resident of Brighton. “I think they didn’t plow them, and when they did plow they hit my car.”
The Boston Public Works Department was unavailable for comment through the press office.
The roads of Brighton are noticeably bumpier, cracked and, as Sean Walsh, a resident of Brighton who occasionally rents a car for transportation around the city said, “potholey” in comparison to other sections of Boston and neighboring towns such as Brookline and Newton.
“When you cross into Newton it’s completely different,” Hooper said.
Some residents, including Hooper and Walsh, see a link between the higher income areas of the city in relation to street maintenance.
“I think [the street conditions] are absolutely worse than other areas like Brookline, which of course is another town with a higher tax bracket,” Walsh said. “The South End is also much better.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
Burglaries Down in Allston-Brighton
By Eric Eisenberg
BRIGHTON –Police report a sharp decrease in burglaries in the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton in the early months of 2008.
A police report on March 4 listed 35 burglaries or attempted burglaries in the two neighborhoods for the first two months of the year, a 67 percent drop from the same period last year.
In 2007, there were 40 percent fewer burglaries than in 2006, when there were 697 reported cases. Only three percent fewer burglaries were committed between 2006 and 2005, police said.
Sgt. William Fogerty, of the D-14 community service desk, said the crime drop can be attributed to the number of burglars arrested in 2007.
“You take them off the street… the court holds them on a high bail, and they don’t go to trial for two to three months,” Fogerty said. “You’re talking 30, 40, maybe 60 burglaries that don’t take place.”
The increased number of arrests can be attributed to changing police strategies such as greater alertness concerning people who have been previously convicted. Photos of people who have been released from prison are distributed to officers patrolling the area.
The police department has also begun interrogating people they find to be suspicious and ask for identification, said Officer Frank Hughes.
There is also is the large student population of Allston. After a large spike in burglaries around the holidays in 2005 and 2006, Fogerty said, police have begun to concentrate in those areas, such as Linden St., Pratt St. and Brighton Ave., just to prevent them.
“The people that break into houses, they know the schedule of the students,” Fogerty said. “BC’s out this week so we have extra unmarked anti-crime units in the area, and we’ll do the same thing next week when BU students go.”
Police say the trend can change quickly.
“It’s a cyclical thing in my opinion,” Fogerty said. “It’s like the weather: it changes on a regular basis. What works, what doesn’t work, it’s why we’re always changing strategies to address the concerns. It’s just one of those things that happens.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
BRIGHTON –Police report a sharp decrease in burglaries in the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton in the early months of 2008.
A police report on March 4 listed 35 burglaries or attempted burglaries in the two neighborhoods for the first two months of the year, a 67 percent drop from the same period last year.
In 2007, there were 40 percent fewer burglaries than in 2006, when there were 697 reported cases. Only three percent fewer burglaries were committed between 2006 and 2005, police said.
Sgt. William Fogerty, of the D-14 community service desk, said the crime drop can be attributed to the number of burglars arrested in 2007.
“You take them off the street… the court holds them on a high bail, and they don’t go to trial for two to three months,” Fogerty said. “You’re talking 30, 40, maybe 60 burglaries that don’t take place.”
The increased number of arrests can be attributed to changing police strategies such as greater alertness concerning people who have been previously convicted. Photos of people who have been released from prison are distributed to officers patrolling the area.
The police department has also begun interrogating people they find to be suspicious and ask for identification, said Officer Frank Hughes.
There is also is the large student population of Allston. After a large spike in burglaries around the holidays in 2005 and 2006, Fogerty said, police have begun to concentrate in those areas, such as Linden St., Pratt St. and Brighton Ave., just to prevent them.
“The people that break into houses, they know the schedule of the students,” Fogerty said. “BC’s out this week so we have extra unmarked anti-crime units in the area, and we’ll do the same thing next week when BU students go.”
Police say the trend can change quickly.
“It’s a cyclical thing in my opinion,” Fogerty said. “It’s like the weather: it changes on a regular basis. What works, what doesn’t work, it’s why we’re always changing strategies to address the concerns. It’s just one of those things that happens.”
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved
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