Healthy Main Streets Comes Full Cycle with Wrap-up Event

Mayor Thomas Menino presented a new bicycle to excited 11-year-old Chamila Bumar the winner of the grand prize free drawing at the wrap-up of Healthy Main Streets “Where’s Charlie” Initiative. Mayor Menino hosted the family fun celebration at Town Field in Dorchester on August 2nd.  Pictured from left to right are City Councilor Maureen Feeney, Owner of Back Bay Bicycles Timothy Libby, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Department of Neighborhood Development Director Evelyn Friedman, and 11-year-old winner of the free bike drawing, Chamila Bumar of Dorchester.  In July, Mayor Menino joined officials from the MBTA and the Boston Public Health Commission in the Mission Hill Main Streets district to kick-off a month-long program designed to promote better health and physical fitness habits while highlighting the City’s Main Streets commercial districts. Since then, more than 50 MBTA ‘Charlies’ have been found by residents, hidden in various establishments throughout seven of Boston’s 19 Main Streets districts.  Residents who found a Charlie icon throughout the month of July were awarded fitness prize-packs they picked up at local Main Streets District Offices that included a pair of New Balance sneakers and a MBTA pre-loaded Charlie Card. At the August 2nd event, Mayor Menino awarded a grand prize of a 2009 ‘Specialized Globe Carmel 1’ bike to 11-year-old Chamila Bumar of Dorchester; the award was sponsored by Back Bay Bicycles. The Mayor will also presented prize-packs to residents who found Charlie in Dorchester, and all attendees were able to participate in a free drawing for the bicycle, New Balance sneakers, and pre-loaded Charlie Cards. All residents who attended the celebration received a gift bag full of coupons and small give-aways.

Mayor Menino Celebrates Grand Opening for Three Businesses in the St. Mark's Area Main Streets District

On Saturday, June 28, Mayor Thomas M. Menino cut the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening celebrations for three St. Mark's Area Main Streets establishments: Dot Art's Clay Station Studio at1782 Dorchester Ave., the Ashmont Market at 630 Adams Street, and The Dot-2-Dot Cafe, at 1739 Dorchester Ave. The Dot-2-Dot displays artwork by Dot Art graduates, the Ashmont Market boasts ReStore Boston-assisted facade improvement work, and Clay Station students made the dazzling tile display that adorns the Dot-2-Dot's storefront.

Present your Boston Community Change card for merchant rebates on your every day transactions to generate cash rebates for YOU and donations to local nonprofits. Boston Community Change is changing our communities for the better by changing the way we shop, changing the way we do business, and changing the way we support the causes we care about. See our online directory of the businesses in the Boston Main Streets districts and to order your FREE Boston Community Change card today!

The Boston Main Streets Foundation is committed to making Boston's neighborhood commercial districts thriving, vibrant centers of commerce and community through its support of the Boston Main Streets program. The Boston Main Streets Foundation seeks to develop long-term strategies to increase the economic power and resources of neighborhood commercial districts while pursuing initiatives that build knowledge and capacity for Main Streets programs and the businesses they serve.
In 1995, Mayor Thomas M. Menino created Boston Main Streets, the first urban, multi-district Main Streets program in the nation. Boston Main Streets provides funding and technical assistance to 19 neighborhood-based Main Streets districts throughout the City of Boston. The Boston Main Streets program focuses its effort on providing merchants and community residents with the tools for their historic commercial districts to compete in today's market. The Main Streets program helps the local districts capitalize on their unique cultural and historical assets while focusing on the community's economic development needs.
The Boston Main Streets program has served as a national model to urban areas seeking to revitalize neighborhood commercial districts including Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Detroit and New Orleans.

Boston Main Streets (BMS), in partnership with the Boston Partnership for Older Adults (BPOA), Mission Hill Main Streets (MHMS) and the Commission on Affairs of the Elderly, has created the city’s first Elder Friendly Business District.
By 2010, one in three Americans will be over the age of 50.  According to the BPOA, many older adults are often isolated and leave their homes only to visit their local shopping area. With these shifting demographics, community commercial districts must be better attuned to the wants and needs of older adults.
In the Elder Friendly pilot program, we identified essential infrastructure improvements, unfilled business niches, and ways businesses can improve their service to older adults. We compiled information about resources for older adults and developed programs for disseminating information through local businesses. Currently the program is being expanded to other districts. For more information, visit the Mission Hill Main Streets web site.

This colorful guidebook contains information about each of the 19 districts, including maps, directions, places of interest, types of restaurants, and other details about the neighborhood commercial districts.

Beyond Baked Beans:
Discover Boston on Main Streets

 

The Boston Main Streets program is a unit of the Office of Business Development (OBD). The Office of Business Development is Boston's Business Resource. OBD provides quality services and resources to entrepreneurs, businesss owners and neighborhood business districts to help businesses expand, redesign storefronts, create jobs and play a vital role in their local community's and the city's economy. OBD is a division of the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development.