Bigger Better, One Step At A Time

Sean Paul Curry, an intern from the Wider Horizons program via the Irish International Immigrant Center in Boston produced this video about the programs at our Castle Square Tenants Organization.

A Great Movie Night

On Friday, August 3rd, the Castle Square Community Center hosted its first ever “Movie Night” on the outdoor terrace, under the stars. The first film was the acclaimed French short: “The Red Balloon,” followed by the PBS special “The City Dark” which is about light pollution. Jared Katsiane, Video and Multimedia Instructor, and Grey Lee, Sustainability Manager, have organized a series of great alternative films for residents of Castle Square to enjoy, for free!

For the first episode, we had a great turnout, especially considering how humid it was and it being a new activity. Annie Wu, Teen Programs Coordinator, set up a sign in table and we had at least 53 people. Teens 18+ and adults also signed the city of Boston redistricting petition we are participating in. The audience was a mix of children and parents, many teens (some brought friends who hadn’t been here before), and Board member Mary Goon came too.

The teenagers who regularly attend social events and community center programs helped make it all come together. Connie made and served popcorn; Charles, Dajuan, and Jonathan served pizza and drinks. David, another regular teen participant and up-and-coming leader, translated the introductions that Grey and Jared gave to the films. Other teens (Cecilia, Renee and others) helped set up chairs and snacks, and helped manage the children running around, etc.

The children liked The Red Balloon but were mostly bored with The City Dark, which was aimed more at teens and adults. But the kids still had a great time playing hide ‘n seek on the terrace while the movie was playing since it was dark.

Overall  it was a great success.  The teens really helped make it happen, helping with set up and clean up and there wasn’t much trash. The security guards came around at least twice to check on us. It was wonderful to see the community center full of activity and neighbors catching up and having a good time. We look forward to the next few events: Thursday 8/16 and 8/30. Stay tuned!

Cookie Time!

The Teen Program at the Castle Square Community Center has an entrepreneurship course. There is a group that is building a small enterprise around baking cookies!

I was very happy to be a guinea pig to sample their cookies. I also somehow scored the “super cookie challenge” – thanks for this mega-chocolate chip bounty!

Good luck with the sales. The cookies taste great so I’m pretty confident this is going to be a profitable venture!

 

Old Colony Green Neighborhood Re-development

 

The management staff of the Castle Square Tenants Organization took a tour of the recently renovated Old Colony housing community in South Boston. Neil Angus, of the US Green Building Council, Massachusetts Chapter, had organized the tour. Presenting was Lauren Bauman and Shiva Prakash of New Ecology, Inc. Old Colony has a rich and colorful past, the renovations are a fresh start in a lot of ways.

The tour included an overview of the various features of the project at the community’s new 10,000sf LEED-Gold community center. One of the great features is a ground-source heat pump system powered by roof-mounted photovoltaic panels. The electricity from the building thus enables the heating and cooling to come from right on the site. They also have solar hot water. The presentation was in a multi-purpose room on the ground floor, a great feature. Organizational office space and educational space was on upper floors.

The lobby was very welcoming and full of community-oriented art and information.

The original Old Colony community had approximately 845 units, and this project was approximately 1/5th of the total. Phase two is already vacated and ready for demolition in two weeks. In the photo above, Lauren Bauman from New Ecology speaks about re-integrating the community with the surrounding urban fabric. The new design has more streets that connect to other parts of Southie, so there is less isolation and distance for the residents. A major push was to re-connect the community to the nearby Andrew T station commercial area.

In this photo you can see the old-style of the architecture on the left and the new townhouses on the right. These, with the clapboard exterior, echo more of the wood buildings and homes in other parts of South Boston and are of course fresh and more visually interesting and attractive.

It was a good tour for CSTO staff – we gleaned some new ideas about how we can present to our residents the many advantages of our green retrofit. One advantage we have at Castle Square is an on-staff Sustainability Manager. Old Colony does not have any capacity in the “green” area, but hopefully their standard management and facility staff can embrace sustainability to ensure the fullest extent of the benefits of the renovations. Good luck Old Colony!

Harvest Time!

We have found some squashes in our Garden Project! There are more coming! Thanks to all the helpers who have been watering our little green friends