Host David Halbert interviews guests Fatima Ali-Salaam (Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council) & Karen Payne (Co-Chair, Ward 19 Democratic Committee)!
WBCA Podcasts
Talk Of The Neighborhoods
Good evening. I'm Dave Halbert in for Joe Heisler. Tonight on Talk of the Neighborhoods, a jam-packed show. We're going to have a conversation with Greater Matipan Neighborhood Council Chair Fatima Ali Salaam. Then following that, state representative Russell Holmes will be joining us to talk about the frantic race towards the end of the legislative session. And finally, we'll be speaking with Rosendale resident and Massachusetts Democratic National Committeewoman Karen Payne. We're going to have one heck of a conversation tonight here on Talk of the Neighborhoods. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good evening, and we are back. Civic engagement takes many forms here in the city of Boston, but we pride ourselves on having deeply entrenched community groups that are engaged in conversations that dictate everything from how tall buildings are to the streetscape design to the schools that our children go to. And those conversations are informed by so many different community groups in every corner of the city. We're blessed to be joined this evening by the Chair of the Greater Matipan Neighborhood Council, Ms. Fatima Ali Salaam, who is a longtime city resident who raised her family here in the city, although she's speaking with us this evening from Florida, where she's visiting some of that family plus extended family. So Fatima, thank you for joining us here on Talk of the Neighborhoods. Thank you, David. I'm glad to be here. Wonderful, wonderful. Well, for Tim, for those who may not be familiar with you, although your name is known in many corners all across the city around different kinds of civic engagement, can you tell us a little bit about your Boston story? My family came to Boston in the early 1970s. I was born in Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. proper. And when my father and mother first came here myself with my younger sister, the Boston, of course, was a very different landscape. And our first home was actually at the Franklinville Public Housing Apartments. And from there, we moved on to some years later to, of course, owning our own renting and then owning our own home in the city of Boston. A story that's much like many others who first come to Boston. It was a different pop time, different population. A lot of different things were going on. When my family first came to Matipan, it was mostly Jewish. Through when they had the riots and redlining, of course, they ended up where the community, majority community was African-American and then Caribbean-American, which it is currently today. I'm one of eight, the oldest. And I think that's also, most of my siblings have attended Boston Public Schools. So that's a married two children, grandmother of one, soon to be two. But I'd say that my story is much like, again, many of the other people who are fortunate to call Matipan home. Absolutely. And congratulations on the impending arrival, the addition to the family. That's always a wonderful, wonderful thing. And so, for you, I know your personal history a little bit, but if you could go into it a little bit deeper, that civic engagement, being involved and connected to the city, it's really a kind of a family business in some ways. Your father, Hamad Ali Salam, was known through his work with the BRA and then the PPDA as one of the architects in many ways, of the modern city of Boston. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about his impact both on the city, but also on how you view civic engagement. Thank you for the question. For me, my father, I remember when he was first hired by Stephen Coyle, the then head for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. And when he came in as a planner, it was a very different time in Boston. Lots of things were beginning. There were not many people of color who actually were hired as planners in the city of Boston. I think my father's first office literally was a closet that he shared with one other person, a senior person actually, who's right now is with the city's planning department. No windows, which is why we call it the closet. They, moving forward, my dad became a very well respected member within the Boston community, particularly within Roxbury, Dorchester Matapan. Civic engagement, what I learned from him, had to be something to which everyone was responsible for doing and that wherever you lived, it was your responsibility to learn about your neighbors, how your city actually works, and that everyone has a responsibility to vote. Those were things that were ingrained for the time. I was very small. So yeah, I'd say that was my first introduction to civics. No standing on the sidelines. Well, it sounds like a pretty powerful one. And I know when your late father, when we recently passed, remembering seeing just the outpouring of love and affection for him from so many corners across the city and people talking about how he touched their lives, and particularly his impact on the development of the ISBCC, the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center at Roxbury at Crossing. What did that mean, not just for him, but really for your family and for the broader Muslim community here in Greater Boston? For, I think not only for my family, but for the larger Muslim community, is that it was a dream that got real. It took over 20 years for that to come together. And it was through a lot of patience and dealing with people directly and showing that, you know, Boston is a multicultural city and that just as we have beautiful churches, synagogues, etc., that Boston skyline needed to also have a building that emulates another large part of the population of the city which are Muslims. And, but not to be simply a place where you would be, you would not be able to culturally be able to celebrate everyday happenings, everything from births. My father's funeral was there, excite everyday things, schools, etc., that could happen at a cultural center. And that's what it literally means. And that would be a beautiful building. Beauty was very important to visual beauty with something that was very important. My father believed, as I do, to a city skyline, an area to uplift people, which is the purpose of good design. Well, it's an absolutely striking building. I see it often on my way towards many other parts of the city. And as you're just so widely spoke, you know, there are so many things that are happening there in addition to Friday prayers and the services, people being outside celebrating something. So it's wonderful that he was able to contribute what really is a part of the heartbeat of the city right next to the heart of the city in Roxbury and in Nubian Square. But transitioning a little bit and actually moving down the road there, Nubian Square and a little bit further, you know, the Boston branch of the NAACP has had a long time presence there. You've been a long time member and leader and activist within the NAACP. What brought you into that work with the local chapter and what are you engaged with with the NAACP now? Thank you for the question. The NAACP, I've been involved now going on five years. And what brought me in was actually its current president, Tanisha Sullivan. I had asked her to come and speak at a monthly meeting for the Greater Mattapan neighborhood council. I had told her that I was interested in learning more about specifically a program called ACSO, to which the NAACP runs nationally, as well as locally. And she asked me shortly thereafter, would I be interested in leading the program, chairing it, and then shortly thereafter COVID happened, which of course was my first introduction happened to be virtual. So we had, I believe, two or three virtual exos. And then the first one that actually was in person, I would have gone to Atlantic City. I missed that one. And then we had last year, in Boston was actually my big introduction in person. And of course it happens to be a national conference. But Boston is still considered the Boston National Convention was still considered one of the best. And in fact, I just got back this past Sunday, Monday, rather, from the Las Vegas National Convention. It just so happens to Boston branch students, one medals in the national competition for ACSO. That's wonderful. And for those who may not be familiar with what ACSO focuses on what it is, could you explain that just a bit? Sure. ACSO is an academic Olympics. It was started in the 1970s by Vernon Jarrett. It goes everything from the arts to the sciences. Arts being all the performing arts, so dances, music, voice, as well as instruments. The science is everything from chemistry, microbiology, et cetera, mathematics, the humanities, writing, poetry, or original essay, oratory, you name it. That is what happens there. There were 33 different competitions. And what students do is that they win locally and whoever wins gold medals go on to the national. So ACSO actually stands for Afro-academic cultural, technological, and scientific Olympics hence ACSO. So it's from visual arts and business to performing in culinary arts. And the students work for work all year long in order to reach the national levels. And that's why it's such a huge effort. It takes a lot. So it sounds it. It's a pretty comprehensive there and it's wonderful to see that some of our young people are continuing to shine at the highest levels. So thank you for your support of those folks and thank them for their continued hard work. So as you mentioned, President Sullivan was a guest at the Greater Matipan Neighborhood Council and would love for you to talk a little bit more about Greater Matipan Neighborhood Council, why it got started and what its role is in the life of Greater Matipan. Thank you. The Neighborhood Council or the GMNC, as we call it, got started out of conversations that have been going on for some time within the larger community of whether or not we wanted to have a neighborhood council or not. If neighborhood councils differ from neighborhood associations in that it is more broad and comprehensive, they also, board members are also elected, which is very different from neighborhood associations. As you know, as a board member, the board strives to be represent a large swath across whatever communities definitions and boundaries are. So one of the other reasons that we wanted to do the Neighborhood Council is that we wanted to have improvement in public services that we would have in the standard of living, no matter what your economic status is within our community. We believe that there is a standard that everyone, no matter where you live in the city of Boston, we should be able to expect certain basic services. So that's how we first started. We also wanted to get greater representation when zoning happened in the building of developments and what they would look like because we weren't being asked really what could be built here. And so that is where it really started from. And that happened five years ago. So it's kind of hard to think, but yeah, five years ago I'd say. Time does fly. And so for folks who might be thinking about this, you know, many folks know Matapan, Matapan Square, up and down Blue Hill Avenue is kind of the main thorough fair, main spine of the community. But as you said, it's actually greater Matapan, which includes other portions of other neighborhoods that are part of this larger catchment area where they're while they're not technically part of Matapan, they're deeply connected to and impacted by what happens in Matapan. I was wondering if you could speak to a little bit about the contours of the community as it's defined. Thank you. Greater Matapan actually refers to zoning boundaries. They are not unlike neighborhood boundaries, which are actually politically drawn. They're not necessarily representative of land use. So the boundaries we chose to go much like, for example, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council or Charlestown Neighborhood Council or even Copping Square Neighborhood Council, you're adhering to neighborhood zoning boundaries. And so for Greater Matapan, it goes from Matapan Square to the left, to the right if you're going looking at it from facing forward, going down to Lower Mills, and then going all the way up and including all of Franklin Park. And that is why, which includes parts of Lower Dorchester, but also what would be considered part of Roxbury. And that is how the boundaries are drawn. We don't, for very clear reasons, we don't have any political affiliations. We don't make political comments about candidates, although we do have town halls so that anyone who is running for an elected seat has an opportunity, of course, to speak to the larger community. And so one of the things that folks who do know you and see you in the community, and they see you often and in many, many corners, know about you is your legendary walks, that you take walks starting in Matapan Square up the entire length of Blue Hill Avenue and back, making notes, commenting on things. I'm wondering, when did that start and why did you start making this walk? Was it just you wanted to go out and stretch your legs a little bit or something or? More than stretching my legs though, that was a nice start. The main reason that I started was because I wanted to see for myself when you're walking what is going on. Because when you're walking, unlike when you're driving or even riding a bike or a motorcycle, you have to, you're slowly seeing things, you're progressing, you're noticing the details. When you're driving or even riding a bike, you're paying attention mainly to traveling safely, riding, you know, a moving vehicle or a moving object. And it had to do more with that. I noticed that over time, I noticed things from how the amount of time that was on a crosswalk. You know, I was surprised to learn that there were some crosswalks we had that of less than 10 seconds, nowhere to cross the street. I found out then how bad certain parts of sidewalks and how hard it is for some people to cross the street just watching. The other part that I learned is the amazing elevations that you have on Blue Hill Avenue. There are parts of Blue Hill Avenue to where when you're driving and when you're a pedestrian crossing, you don't see each other. And that's how it goes from a low of 38 feet and Madeline Square to a high at one point of 98 feet up. So if you can imagine, there are different blind spots to which either the driver or the pedestrian just simply don't see each other. Absolutely. Well, safety is paramount. To that point, as you said, you've been doing these walks and about how long have you been engaged in these? Five years. So five years you've walked up and down the link to Blue Hill Avenue have seen, I'm sure, a lot of change in the landscape and the businesses and the buildings. What seems to be kind of the dominant theme of change that's really not just unique to Blue Hill Avenue, but this happening all over the city? Part of it, it's very uneven, the changes right now, Blue Hill Avenue. And say that there are, you can see some changes that have to do with the Blue Hill Avenue parcels that the city had put up for, I think there were 30, had put up for public RFP to be put out for housing and other types of development. We're fortunate in Greater Madepan, I believe, to have four parcels that are being developed right now. There are things such as some types of housing that you see being redeveloped, that is good to see, you see activity of different types of businesses. But you, unfortunately, also see some businesses closing. Some people not, there's very some things that are going on are not done legally. You do see also the triple parking, which has become a real problem, Blue Hill Avenue. Yeah, definitely. Well, as you said, there's been a lot of change and there is an unevenness, but to go back to something you were talking about earlier in terms of your family's story in the community, as you mentioned, when you all first came to the neighborhood, it was a very different demographic community. As you said, largely Jewish community, still many of the remnants of the Jewish community in the architecture, in buildings that are there, and has changed over time. I'm wondering what has been the any theme or thematic element that you've seen in that change, and where do you see the change continuing to go, directionally, for Greater Matipan? For Greater Matipan, my hope is that with the change in the between the squares and streets, and in some of the parts of the zoning code in order to allow such things as additional dwelling units, that people will be able to first and foremost improve the quality of where they live. So bringing a lot of their homes up to date, we have a lot of housing that goes as far back as 1900s, some earlier. And some of the plumbing hasn't changed literally from like 1920s. And that type of infrastructure is very important to get updated. We unfortunately have had our fair share of fires, which gets back into a lot of electric systems have not been updated. And you know, fires start on walls, etc. But we're hopeful that with people taking advantage of state programs, federal programs, through math, save, etc, that they will be able to update those programs. And where people need help in actually gaining access to those programs, being pointed in the right direction, that we can help our neighbors to reach out to the program, whoever's running them, to help them take advantage. Incredibly important in terms of development. One of the conversations that's happening specific to development up along the Blue Avenue corridor is the redesign of Blue Hill Avenue itself. The proposal to change it to make it similar to other thoroughfares in the city with dedicated bus and emergency vehicle lanes, reducing some of the driving lanes, adding more space for protected bike lanes. Obviously this has been an ongoing, but has been a somewhat contentious conversation. And I'm wondering both as a resident and in your role with GMNC, what are your thoughts and observations on that? My biggest thoughts are actually have to do with making sure that we're taking advantage of the elevations and making the elevations that go along Blue Hill app, which are extremely important. As I said earlier, when you begin in the square, you're at 38 feet above sea level. And as you move along, let's say going only up to where Morton and Blue Hill meet, you rise up to 98 feet. And there are certain points where you don't see the Blue Hills at all, because Blue Hill Avenue is actually named after the Blue Hills. So when you turn around, you should see the Blue Hills. If you're at Franklin Park, you can see the Blue Hills. The importance though is to make sure that as you're moving block by block, not only that they were helping with lessening traffic congestion, but also that we're beautifying the area through bias wells to help prevent the heat islands in the city. It is very important, and there is a huge connection, as we know, between making sure that we're providing in areas that actually can take in the pollution that we have along the corridor. Matapan has last couple of years, it has the highest rate of asthma in children under the age of 18 that end up at hospitalizations within the city of Boston. So we should be doing things to lessen that particular in order to improve the health and well-being of our children. Absolutely. As a parent, myself, obviously wanting and living near the Blue Avenue corridor, wanting to make sure that all kids, including my own, have that. So I think that's well taken in my many corners. There have been some of the conversations relative to this particular project concerns about displacement and gentrification and the acceleration of that. What do you say to those who are concerned that this design, as many have said, isn't for the people that are currently in the community, is in fact potentially pushing them out? I think that one of the first things is that those of us who own our own homes to make sure that we're fighting to stay in our homes, that we're not the first ones to go and sell to those, you know, that's the first line of defense. The second line of defense is actually to promote housing, housing types that actually brings in families of different sizes and where people can stay generationally. You don't want to go and create housing that promotes people to be their temporarily. You want to promote housing that actually encourages people to be their generationally and to take care of each other. Then you would want to be there. That is the key, I believe, in order to have people's remaining area long term. You don't want to create an area that visually and spiritually, quite frankly, makes, drains you. You want it to be a place that is visually beautiful. Nobody wants to feel trauma every day they walk out their door. They want to feel safe, safe from harm, but they also want to feel very calm in being pleased with their general surroundings. That's all possible. It is completely possible, as well as investing in our schools, because without the investment in our schools, we really are not growing going to be able to grow properly as a city. Absolutely. Your children were possibly the schools students correct. Is that correct? My younger daughter attended from 5th grade onward to embossing public schools. My older daughter, she did not. We tried to, but that's a different story. Well, one of the other pieces of, as you were saying, people feeling enliven, people feeling safe and cared for in the communities is making sure that they have the ability to not just recreate, but also to have commercial activity in their communities. There's been a lot of conversation about, you know, how we can reinvigorate persons of Greater Matapan, particularly Matapan Square. And we have a few minutes left. Just wondering if you have any thoughts I know that the city chief of economic development in Italy has made that a priority for he and his department, and have they worked in partnership with Greater Matapan and other groups? And if so, what are those conversations looking like? I think the conversations are very preliminary. There, you know, there is an existing Matapan Square main streets, which I know is going through a great change. The issues for Matapan Square are very, are conversations more that have to do with people making a decision about not only what goes on there, but where will it go? Matapan Square, unlike a lot of other main street districts, is mainly not the buildings themselves are not mainly owned by people who actually even live in the city of Boston. They may not even actually live in the state. There, you know, they range from New Hampshire, you know, outside. There are some who are people who live in the city, but, you know, so much of it is not. Those that, there, there has to be a change where you're, you're actually having more of a diversity of different types of businesses. So we're looking, we would hope, because what we've seen through surveys that we've done, people are interested in businesses that actually can focus on teen entertainment, because we have one of the largest populations of teens. There are no, there are no places that actually outside of like the Matapan teen center, or going up to George White building up toward Harabi Park. There are actually places for businesses for teenagers to go to for entertainment. There are no sit-down restaurants that are a variety of different types of menus. If you don't, you should be able to have whatever types of menus that are not fast food, but are actually sit down of different types, the crop that you would find. But you also want to make sure that economic development is money that is kept within the community, because that's what economic development is. Unfortunately, in our community, I believe on average, they say the dollars stay here about six hours. Whereas if you went to someplace in Little Saigon area, a door chaser, it'll stay there for a month. If you go into the circulation of dollars, if you go into someplace like Brookline, it's a little bit about the same. Those are the things to which we're most concerned about, because if the money is not circulating within the community, that is a problem. It's one thing to make the money, but it also means you have to keep the money otherwise. You don't generate wealth. Right. What does it say? It's not the money you make. It's the money you save. Yes. Well, it are our final few moments here. One last question, you know, wondering what do you feel are or hidden gems of the city and particularly a greater Matapan, things that you as a resident in long time, you know, activists in the community know about and wish more people knew about and could experience and should experience. I think walking in the DePansett River, that's the first I'd say, rowing canoeing on the DePansett River. A lot of people don't know that they can and that it's free. That you can take, there are canoe launches actually, and that River Street itself is named for the DePansett River. That's what a lot of names that we have here are river related names because of it. Other things I'd say are the Wellington Hill, there are walkways and pathways that are historic throughout Matapan that I think if a lot of people knew that they could take them through the side streets and the back alleys. Another part, I don't know if I should, how thrilled the neighbors will be because maybe they'll feel descended upon, but there, let's just say there is a peak in Matapan that you can actually see the fireworks all the way down town. Well, it gives people something to look for when they come to the community. Thank you so much for being here. Folks want to stay in contact and participate in an upcoming Greater Matapan Neighbor Council meeting. I know they're paused for the summer, but we'll be starting back up in September. How can they stay in contact with the organization and how can they join? They can go to www.g-mismary.com. In is in Matapan. In is in council.c.org. Or just send an email to info.gmncounsel@gmail.com. Wonderful one. And when are those meetings for folks in case they're curious? They are, they're general monthly meetings that happen on the first Monday of the month unless it's, you know, September, which because of Labor Day, it'll be the following Monday. Wonderful. Well, Pateem Ali Salam, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for all the work that you and the GMNC do. Thank you very much, David. Take care. Wonderful. We'll be back in just a moment. There's no better way to kick off a Boston summer than with live music. We started ours at Boston Calling where we chatted with festival goers about what drew them here. Live music is genuinely what gets me through. It's, I love it so much. Music, live music lover, so so many concerts, three days straight. It's just like, I don't want to be anywhere else. I just enjoy the process of like seeing as many artists as I possibly can. I also very much enjoy like exploring new ones, but I can. The festival was a beautiful example of how music is a universal language and brings community together. Well, I really like live music because it's just a great experience and I think it brings everybody together. It's a it's kind of one of those things that you can do in like a large group. There's not too much of that anymore in this world, so I think we need more of it. I think it's just really cool to be with like birds of a feather, especially with this is such a varied lineup. That was one of the things that drew me to it is multiple of my favorite bands across several genres of music. Everyone interprets music in different ways and it means different things to them. So it's really cool to see a bunch of people gather in one place and then have different reasons why they're there. BNN had a blast getting to know some of the festival goers and we can't wait for 2025. Getting close to the first pitch here at Fenway Park, but no sign of only the great monster. [Music] [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, it's Wally! [Music] Great having you. Incredible women. I wish they had those kind of cool careers for women when we were growing up, growing up. So in this flashback we're all the same age? No. What does everyone want to be when they grow up? If I say two jobs do I get extra credit? No. I want to make immersive video games. I want revolutionized 3D printing. I want to analyze data from the cloud. I want to be a meteor. You mean meteorologist. No. That's great. I'll follow your dreams. For the record, I was a baby in the 70s. And we're back. Thank you for tuning in here on BNN and for our listeners on 102.9 WBCAFM. So our next guest is Karen Payne. Karen is originally from Hartford, Connecticut and after attending radiology training moved to Boston where she worked at New England Medical Center, now Tufts Medical Center for nearly 25 years. She's been deeply involved in civic engagement and politics since childhood. A Rosendale resident, Karen has served in leadership roles with Healthy Rosendale and the Boston branch of the NAACP and has a long history in democratic politics as co-chair of the Ward 19 Democratic Committee, a 20-year member of the Democratic State Committee and currently in her second term as a member of the Democratic National Committee representing Massachusetts. Karen Payne, thank you for joining us here on Talk of the Neighborhoods. Thank you for having me. Wonderful, wonderful. Well, Karen, so first we'll talk you a little bit about your journey here. It said, you know, started off just south of here in the nutmeg state in Connecticut. So what brought you here? Was it, you know, that job opportunity? Was it something else? Actually, it was a job opportunity. I followed two other radiology technologists that came to Austin to work and they actually trained me when I was in training. And so there was an opportunity. So I jumped on it and we all became roommates. The story of so many people getting involved up here in the city. So when you came, what was the city like when you first arrived? If you can hark back to 1973, Chelsea was burning down. There was civil disorder. It's busing. And I worked right in downtown Boston. And it was quite different. I moved. My first residence was in Dorchester on Charlotte Street, right across from the Franklin Park Zoo, which was pretty amazing then. But, you know, so yes, that's where I entered into Massachusetts. And so you've seen a lot of shift, a lot of change from that time. As you said, going through busing the Charles Stewart case, right? Absolutely, absolutely. All the ups and downs witnessed during that time period. But, you know, Boston came through. They always say Boston strong. Absolutely, absolutely. And so you've, like I said, you had your professional work there in radiology and you've gone on and earned degrees from Northeastern, from Lesley as well. So advancing yourself in that capacity. But also, as mentioned, staying deeply involved, deeply engaged in civic work. And I know, you know, in your personal story, that really started, like you said, back when you were a kid, how did that kind of first pick up? How did you get the bug? Oh, I didn't get the bug. My mother had the bug. So she was seeing a mom and five kids, but she was a survivor. She worked hard. I believe when she was 50 years old, she got her, she graduated from college. You mass amorous. So, yeah, we, and she was organizing tenants associations. We lived in housing development in Connecticut. And she helped organize the First Tenants Association. From there, we, she was involved in national neighbors. So we went around the country visiting different states and trying to figure out how to integrate neighborhoods. So that was way back in the 60s and the 70s. So we were still doing that work. And was the experience in Hartford? Was that somewhat similar to what was happening in Boston? On a lighter measure, I think there is more -- No pun intended. Because I think there's more, there are more people. You see the city of Hartford versus the city of Boston, I mean, it's like, you know, it's totally different. But the politics were similar. You know, the party was the party. But you could actually work in it, make changes, work with people in the community and make changes. Absolutely. And so, as mentioned, you've been involved in a lot of civic engagement, a lot of civic advancement, you know, in addition to your political work, which we'll touch on in just a little bit. So what brought you into Healthy Rosendale? Well, Healthy Rosendale is like one of the best things that ever happened. It was all about trying to find programming for young people with the age of 12 to 16. So there's, you know, one of the -- we'll talk about it a little later -- about the gyms of the city of Boston. But there weren't a lot of programming back then and for young people. And so we had a young, healthy group of young youngsters in our neighborhood and parents were concerned. So we found things for them to do. And this was back in the time when we had President Clinton. And we had a lot of neighborhood funding, police funding. So we were able to do different things with the police department, go on different trips. And so it was a real positive experience working with the kids and watching them grow. That's great. And additionally, you've done a lot of work with not just the Boston branch, but other branches as well, locally of the NAACP. Was that something that, once again, you saw from the images of your mom and the work that she was doing? Yeah. That was something a little bit different? How did you get connected there? Well, actually, it was forces from Connecticut to say, and you have to get involved in Boston, NAACP. So I finally found my way to the door. And it was great. It was good. Met a lot of nice people, very dedicated folks in NAACP. We did a lot of good work. It was during the time of the crisis of HIV AIDS. We passed the National Amendment for HIV AIDS that the own national NAACP followed. And so that was a plus for us in Boston. And then we celebrated the 100th anniversary of NAGA. So it was really good. It was a good time when I was there. Absolutely. And you said you've been in Rosendale for some time? Some time. How has that community changed? Obviously, the Rosendale of today, in terms of its businesses, its vibrancy, who literally, who lives there, is probably a little bit different than it was when you first arrived at your doorstep. So how did you see that community change? It has changed a great deal. When I first, when I decided to look for how purchase a home was with two friends, people that I went to Northeastern with. And so we decided we were going to pool our money together and buy a house. But I told them I wasn't going to be a pioneer. I wasn't going to go into a neighborhood where there weren't any people of color. So in Rosendale was just changing. So I was like on my street, I was like maybe the second person on the street that was of color. But over time, it's just a mecca. They say that we have 147 languages in the city of Boston. There's quite a few in Rosendale right now. And I think one of the things that we everyone talks about is keeping the neighborhood and having, making sure that the people there that survive the changes are still able to live there and raise their children. And that's what's important to us. Absolutely. And so much of that comes back to the policy decisions that are made. And obviously, Rosendale has a somewhat outsized influence now as one of its residents spends most of her time on the other side of the fifth floor. So I'm wondering how did you get involved with the work committee in ward 19 and what does the work committee do? Well, I got involved in in the local politics in Boston through working on my friend, my dear friend, Representative Liz Meyer from Jamaica Plain. I joined her campaign and some of the people that I was in healthy Rosendale joined our campaign. So that was my introduction into local politics here. It took me a while because I was working full time, going to school full time. So it took a while to get a long period of time to get out of thinking those degrees that I earned. But that's how I did it. And it was local. And we had a problem property on my street. And my neighbors asked me to host a meeting. And that's how it started. And in terms of the work of the word, the continuing work of the work committee, where does it find itself having its greatest voice, its greatest impact on life in the immediate area? I think that the voice of board town and city committees come from looking at issues that are impacting the neighbors and how they can get the information out there, how they can make change. And that's what we do at the work committee. We just did endorsements. And so we have people come in. We have forums. So people get the information out there. So people have knowledge about who's out there, what's running. And so that they have the choice to make when they go to the ballot box. And so that's what we try to do. We also work with the communities, with their young people. So we have some scientists in our work committee. And last four summers, he's gone out to Archdale and to Rosendale and did a science week with them. And so I had a friend of mine who passed away as a psychologist. And she had a microscope. So I donated that to his summer program. So we just try to stay in touch and work with the kids and work through the kids to their parents and from their parents to the kids. So that's how we do it. That is great. That is great. But your impact and your work and political engagement, of course, didn't stop at the borders of ward 19. And I said you're an over 20 year member of the Democratic State Committee. And so how did you get connected to work at the state level? And what's your role within the state committee currently? I got connected by helping another friend run for a seat. You have a lot of friends. And he's a very dear friend, Ricky Coruga. And people know him because he's done a lot of good work here in substance abuse community. And so he was running. And so I got involved and being part of the work committee, you also get involved with folks at a part of the state committee. And so that's how I started. And it's one of the things that people don't, the way I entered into the state committee was that I went to meetings and drove all around the state. Just going to meetings, sitting around, talking to people at tables and eating pizza and bad things. And just not supposed to eat. And so when a seat was available, they asked me if I would like to run. And so I did. There you go. And so as a member, I said, for all the time, you've seen at the state level a lot of different change. So I'm wondering what's been the most exciting or surprising campaign that you've been connected to in your time? Oh, I worked on the Elizabeth Warren campaign, her first campaign in Ed Markey campaign. And I didn't do it. I did it in a different way. And I was organizing and doing get out the vote. So that's how I worked on that one. Not going to say what organization it was. Well, those were both very, very intensive campaigns as those of us around remember. And so, you know, speaking of that, and a great transition there, to federal offices, you also serve now, once again, in your second term here as a member of the delegation for the Democratic National Committee here. What is that like? And obviously, these last few weeks have been a little bit interesting. Yeah, say the least. Everything is a learning experience. So what you get out of any one of the organizations that you participate in is what you put into it. And what I find most interesting and exciting is going to different meetings. Because we go, we travel all around the country. And you meet different people. And they're, you know, I remember, I'm not a member, but I participate in the Native American caucus. I participate in the black caucus. I participate in the LGBTQ caucus. I participate in the women's caucus. So those are, and those are all different interesting segments of our country. And they all bring different issues. And they all go about how to resolve those issues in different ways. Absolutely. Well, as you said, you're connecting with folks, you know, here across the state as their representative of many of the Democrats. Here, you're talking with counterparts in these different groups and from all corners of the country. Obviously, the conversation right now within the Democratic Party has centered a lot about what is happening. Will President Biden continue on? Should he continue on? And if not, who should be that standard bear? You're on your way to Chicago as a delegate for what is likely to be one of the most momentous Democratic Democrats, which I mentioned since the last one in Chicago. I'm curious where I won't make you go on the record yourself right now, unless you want to. But I'm curious, what are you hearing as you're taking part in those conversations with other Democrats? Stay strong, stay focused, stay on the program. President Biden, Vice President Harris, have provided tremendous, tremendous support for the people of this country. They have, you know, just in health care, just in, you know, pharmaceuticals, being able to negotiate, you know, you're loved ones who can't afford to have their medications. I mean, that's really a big thing. People can't forget about that. It's provided new ways of jobs. You know, you're talking about the EV. So those are totally different types of jobs that young people can get to have without having to go through years and years of training in college and spend a lot of money there. So there's different avenues that they have provided for the country so that we can keep moving forward. The environment, you cannot, cannot think about the environment without thinking about President Biden and Vice President Harris. So women's health, you know, it's really, really important that people look at this health care issue in a whole, as a whole person, not just as one object, one thing. It's women's health. It's everything that has to do with the women deciding what she's going to do with her body. So that's important. The LGBTQ community, very big, strong movements there, his administration. So I just think that people need to stay in strong, stand behind the president, stand behind Vice President Harris. And we'll get through this because we are, it's our democracy. That's what we're fighting for. It's really our democracy. Incredibly important, an incredibly trenchant conversation, particularly at this moment with so much going on and so much unsettled in the world. So in the last couple of minutes that we have here, I'm just wondering, first off, what do you think the outcome of November could mean, depending on which way it goes, for what happens here in Boston? Everyone thinks it feels that Boston is safe, but it's not. You have to look at what happens at the local level in your schools, how you're going to, how the right is trying to change the education process. We saw what the first Trump administration did to education, you know, the second administration, it will just, it will be just abbreviated. So I think that it's really important that the local environment in housing, everything that we're doing, everything that we fought for, everything we work for, is on the line. And so that is, you know, our funding comes from Washington. Absolutely. Okay. So let's think about what he did, he being the former president, did when he didn't like a certain state, he wouldn't, he wouldn't provide them disaster recovery. So let's think, stop and think about what we are sacrificing when we're talking about making changes at this stage of the game. Absolutely. One of the last couple seconds that we have here, really quickly, what's a hidden gem, something you love about the city that you wish more people knew about? All about the kids, okay? I'm all about the kids. And so where I come from, in Connecticut, there's no swimming pools, not in the city, okay? There, you have a after school program that's inside a school. Here in the city of Boston, you have a community center in every neighborhood. There you go. There you go. Well, something special with this heat, we're gonna have to wrap up tonight. But thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you to everybody. If it's happening from Charlestown to Hyde Park, West Roxbury to East Boston, we'll be talking about it in the streets and here on Talk of the Neighborhoods. Until next time, thank you so much. [Music]