The following is some basic information for students moving into the Mission Hill area:
General Boston
Get renter’s insurance. It might seem like an unnecessary expense until you have a break-in, or your upstairs neighbor’s toilet overflows while they’re out of town.
The City of Boston has many services for renters. Learn about and use them at cityofboston.gov/rentalhousing.
The City has a 24/7 hotline for questions or concerns at the phone number, 311, or the Twitter handle, @BOS311. There is also smartphone app called BOS: 311.
Introduce yourself to your neighbors, give them your contact information and get theirs. It’s just as easy and more pleasant to call them than the police.
If you have a dog, clean up after it. It’s courteous and a City ordinance.
Shovel sidewalks abutting your residence in the winter. It is your responsibility, not the City’s, to do so.
Be considerate when throwing parties: let your neighbors know about them and remember, many of them must wake up early, even on Saturdays.
Keep your property tidy.
Mission Hill-specific
Trash and recycling pick-ups are on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The local public library is the Parker Hill Branch Library, at 1497 Tremont St. The number is 617-427-3820.
The Tobin Community Center, at 1481 Tremont St., has gym facilities and classes, depending on age. It also has youth, family, and senior programs. Reach it at tobincommunitycenter.org and 617-635-5216.
Patronize local businesses. They love you.
Get involved in the neighborhood: join cleanups; go to community meetings; voice your opinions. You’re part of the community.
What’s Happening on Main Streets
“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul…” -Peggy Toney Horton
By Courtney Wright
Special to the Gazette
As much as I love the summer, September always feels like an exciting, albeit hectic, month here in Mission Hill. The returning influx of students is always an exciting time for businesses in the district as customers return and begin getting acclimated to the area and everything we have to offer. In an effort to get students into more businesses this fall, Main Streets has been working with our Wentworth work-study student, Elijah Dobson, to design a “passport” on our mobile app that incentivizes students and others alike to visit local establishments and in turn be entered into a drawing for a gift card. We are calling this a Taste of Mission Hill- a nod to Richard Rouse and the event Main Streets used to host during his tenure as Executive Director. Over the next couple of weeks we will be fine tuning the rollout of the program and visiting businesses to deliver QR codes that sync with the Taste of Mission Hill passport program. While we will be giving out post cards to link students to the app through their respective schools, we will also place them around businesses so that everyone can participate, residents and area workers as well.
In addition to school starting and move-ins this September, there are a lot of events happening to keep the excitement going as we ease into the fall season. This Saturday, September 7th, MH Arts Festival will host its final act of the season in the Tobin Backyard. Having spent time and fallen in love with Sicily, I am especially excited for this weekend’s show featuring Sissy Castrogiovanni. “From the blending of her Sicilian and Mediterranean influences, earthy African rhythms, tribal voices, and post-bop Jazz harmonies, she creates soulful and powerful arrangements and compositions.” For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://calendar.artsboston.org/organization/mission-hill-arts-festival/. A huge thank you to Luisa Harris who has worked tirelessly to put this series on for the fourth consecutive summer. We are lucky to have Luisa and her passion that she has been able to share with us all through this event. Congratulations on another successful series!
Also this Saturday at the Tobin, is the Mission Hill Day Basketball Clinic. John Jackson’s excitement is contagious about the opportunity to bring back several famous Mission Hill basketball stars to help with the camp. Wayne Turner, who grew up in Alice Taylor and went on to become a Kentucky Basketball hall of famer will be returning to the Tobin to help inspire the campers (and anyone else lucky enough to meet them) over the course of the day. Also joining will be Tony Lee, Robert Morris, Steve Hailey and Kenneth Jackson- all of whom are from the neighborhood and had incredible college and professional basketball careers. The camp starts at 9:30 a.m. following a breakfast at 8. Needless to say, Saturday looks to be a very fun and inspiring day at the Tobin Community Center.
On September 24th, please join Mission Hill Main Streets for our annual meeting as we hope to capitalize on the energy in the neighborhood this month. The event will take place in the Tobin Backyard beginning at 5:30 p.m. In addition to a few community awards, we would like to use the occasion to celebrate the Weinograds and Mike’s Donuts for their Legacy Business Award. While the city held a ceremony in the South End earlier this summer, we’re excited to celebrate locally in the community that has long coveted this beloved establishment. We will also be honoring Penguin Pizza who turns 20 this September (on the 24th actually). If you have any photos from over the years at both Mike’s and/or Penguin, please email them to me at [email protected] so that we can include them in our programming. We will offer light refreshments at the meeting but will be encouraging everyone to head to the Penguin afterwards for more food and to celebrate with the staff. Please RSVP for the meeting at https://pp.events/mhms.
Finally, on Saturday, September 28th is the annual Mission Hill Road Race! This event is one of, if not the best, community building event of the year here in the neighborhood for the amount and diversity of groups that come together for the day. Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services works hard to keep this annual event running (pun intended) and we are grateful for their efforts to keep the tradition alive. To find out more and register, please visit https://missionhillroadrace.racewire.com/register.php?id=14308.
Please be on the lookout over the next few weeks for our Taste of Mission Hill postcards, we’re excited to finalize and pilot this effort in collaboration with local businesses and the community. As always, if you have any questions about Main Streets, what’s happening, or things you’d like me to include in future months- I’m all ears (and eyes)! I hope everyone has a fabulous September; I look forward to seeing you around!