By Courtney Wright
Happy Women’s History Month! Don’t forget that this Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day.
As the weather starts to warm up, we have several community clean-up days in the works to help prepare the neighborhood for Spring. MHMS is working with Northeastern to plan a service day along the Tremont/Huntington corridor in early April leading up to the City’s annual neighborhood cleanup. April 25th is the City’s annual Love Your Block neighborhood clean-up day for Mission Hill. MH Main Streets will be one of the registered sites so if you would like to join our Board and other volunteers to participate in a clean-up during Love Your Block or earlier in April with our Northeastern group, please reach out to me at missionhillmainstreetsboston@gmail.com.
On Saturday, March 14th the Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipes and Drum Band will be doing their annual pub crawl across the City in the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day and for the second year, Mission Hill Main Streets was able to get Brigham Circle added to their stops for the evening! Thank you to our Board members, Pam Carthy and Carmelo Medina, and -Harry Walsh for her help in pulling this off- namely for showing the Band such a great time last year that they were excited to not only come back- but to end the crawl in Mission Hill so they can hang out afterwards. While times are not definite due to the nature of the crawl, we expect the Pipes and Drum Band to be in Brigham Circle at around 7:00 p.m. on Saturday the 14th, where they will play for about 15-20 minutes at Penguin Pizza and then walk over and play at the Mission Bar and Grill. Both restaurants will have Irish specials featured as well. If you want to come dressed in the spirit of the holiday, check out the sweatshirts and T-shirts currently for sale until they run out at Penguin Pizza. Green, St. Patty’s day themed hoodies and T’s are available for $55 and $30 respectively. If you want to purchase one, please email pamela@thepenguinpizza.com or message them on Instagram. Everyone who attends will be entered to win a gift basket sponsored by Guinness! We are excited to bring the Pipes and Drum Band through Mission Hill this year and hope that many of you will join us for a fun and festive evening!
We have some good news coming from the City as it pertains to the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and a new ONS person for Mission Hill- though not entirely new as Sam previously worked for our District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan. Samantha Courage (right) was born and raised in South Boston, where early experiences sparked her commitment to community engagement and public service. She brings nearly a decade of experience across multiple City of Boston departments. She spent significant time in the Zoning Board of Appeal’s Legal Division, building expertise in zoning, land use policy, and the regulatory processes that shape Boston’s neighborhoods. Most recently, Courage served in the Boston City Council District 8 Office, leading neighborhood engagement, coordinating with city agencies, and working closely with residents, small businesses, and community organizations on quality-of-life and development matters.
“I’m most excited to serve as a steady, accessible point of contact for residents and to bridge the connection between the Mayor and the community to promote meaningful change. I value working where policy and lived experience meet,” said Samantha Courage, Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Kenmore, and Mission Hill Liaison. “I love how distinct yet interconnected Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway, Kenmore, and Mission Hill are. Each neighborhood has its own character, history, and civic pride, yet all share a strong sense of community. Residents care deeply about their blocks, parks, small businesses, and future.”
Sam started in this role on February 23rd and has already gotten down to business- if you see her around, be sure to say hello! She can be reached at: Samantha.courage@boston.gov.
Finally, on a less exciting note, if you’ve braved all the snow in the last two weeks to be out and about, you may have noticed that the TGIFriday’s in Brigham Circle has closed. It has been a year of disruption and change in our business district beginning with the closing of JP Licks, Yellow Door and now Friday’s. The change reflects the challenges of running a business in a City like Boston, where rents have outpaced the foot traffic changes that have persisted since the pandemic and caused a strain on local business. The issues of high rent, vacancies and changing patron volume due to remote work has presented a cadre of challenges to many Main Street districts and are the topics that dominate a lot of our conversations with the City’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion and elected officials. I’m not saying this to suggest I have a solution, but rather to acknowledge the changes and challenges being faced in this moment, and that efforts are ongoing to find ways to make the climate easier and more conducive to small business.
As always if I missed anything or you would like something included, please feel free to get in touch at missionhillmainstreetsboston@gmail.com