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Redesign of Dudley Square roadways advances

Details: Written by Patrick D. Rosso, Boston.com

Progress is being made on the redesign of the roadways surrounding Dudley Square in Roxbury.

The Boston Transportation Department has been working since October 2012 to improve flow and access in the square as part of its Complete Streets model, which aims to support safe streets for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and public transit users.

What if Boston Had Pay-By-Phone Parking Meters? Officials Want to Make it Happen

Details: Written by Steve Annear, BostInno.com

Imagine you are in the city, getting a bite to eat on Newbury Street, and waiting for your meal to arrive.

When suddenly, you get that feeling in your gut (no it wasn’t the appetizers) that your meter is about to run out of time.

Massachusetts official challenges Chief Justice Roberts’ claim about voting

Details: Written by Alikah Johnson, The Boston Globe

Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. certainly sounded authoritative when he made a striking, though unflattering, declaration about Massachusetts as the high court heard arguments over the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is designed to assure equal access across races to polling booths.

“Do you know which state has the worst ratio of white voter turnout to African-American voter turnout?” Roberts asked Donald Verrilli Jr., solicitor general for the Department of Justice, during Wednesday’s arguments.

“I do not know that,” Verrilli answered.

“Massachusetts,” Roberts responded, adding that even Mississippi has a narrower gap.

Teacher diversity called an issue

Details: Written by Gintautas Dumcius, Dorchester Reporter

City councillors are pushing the school department to increase the number of teachers of color, citing a federal court order that requires the department to maintain the number of black teachers at 25 percent, at a minimum. “That is not the case today,” District 7 Councillor Tito Jackson said at an Education Committee hearing last week.

“This is not our suggestion; there’s a court order on the books that we as a city – I can’t say we’re ignoring – but we’re definitely not following,” he added.

Panel to delay its plan for schools

Details: Written by By Globe Staff, Boston Globe

A special panel considering changes to the way students are assigned to Boston schools will delay a key vote set for Saturday, after Mayor Thomas M. Menino said parents need more time to learn how the changes might affect their family.

In a letter to the External Advisory Committee Tuesday, Menino urged the panel to put off recommending one of three plans under consideration to the School Committee.

“This would provide more opportunity for community members to provide feedback on the plans, for EAC members to review analysis, and for the public to use the tools we have created to allow them to see their individualized school choice options under the proposals,” Menino said.

But he urged members to complete their work before the end of this month “so that we can move forward in improving school choice for our students.”

Changing the school assignment system is a priority for Menino, who thinks that having more children who live on the same street attending the same schools would improve the fabric of neighborhoods.

His letter follows a meeting Monday night at which parents voiced concern that the three proposals could limit access to a good education. They asked the panel to delay the vote.

In a separate letter to the panel, a group of elected officials from Boston also said that more time is needed to weigh the plans.

“I am pleased with the mayor’s move,” Councilor Tito Jackson, who signed the letter, said Wednesday. “I believe all information must be readily accessible. The community deserves more of a voice, and to move forward we must put in place a quality improvement plan to give every young person in the city of Boston an equal opportunity to a good school.”

It was unclear Wednesday when the vote would take place.

School officials released the three proposals late last month.

One would create 10 assignment zones that divide the city’s approximately 80 elementary and K-8 schools and its early childhood centers, a proposal that would offer between three and 14 school choices.

The two other proposals, created with assistance from an MIT doctoral student and a professor, call for no zones. Instead, a complex algorithm would generate a list of schools that parents can choose from, based on a variety of factors, such as distance from home, school capacity, and MCAS performance.

One of the “no-zone” proposals would guarantee at least six school choices and the other at least nine.

A new student-assignment system is scheduled to take effect in September 2014.

Globe correspondent Haven Orecchio-Egresitz contributed to this report.

Youth CITIES helps kid entrepreneurs find their mission

Details: Written by Cha O'Connor, Boston.com

What does Youth CITIES do?
Youth CITIES (Creating Impact Through Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability) is a nonprofit that focuses on helping middle school and HS students drive change in their community by applying entrepreneurial principles and creative problem-solving skills. We provide a classroom and experiential education, tools, and network to help students succeed.

Our flagship program is our March-to-May Bootcamp, (commended last year by Governor Deval Patrick), which is a 10 week program that is held every Saturday from 9am to noon at Microsoft and Cambridge Innovation Center (both in Kendall Square, and considered to be pillars of the entrepreneurial ecosystem). A different successful entrepreneur teaches every Saturday about a different aspect of entrepreneurship, which leads up to a presentation that every student has to make in front of a panel of judges. The winning student venture receives $1500 to launch their idea, along with a hand-picked advisory board to work with him/her/them.

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