July 4, 2009.

The canoe and kayak launch at the Broad Canal in East Cambridge is ready for use by the public. You can drive up to the dock located at the end of the unnamed private way running off Third Street to the east between Broadway and Kendall street. Arriving here you unload your human powered boats and supplies and then find a place to park your car. There is street parking and garages nearby.

Once in the water you can paddle past the Mirant Kendall power plant into the lower Charles River Basin. From here you have easy access to the Esplanade, Lechmere Canal, North Point and Nashua Street Parks, Millers River and Boston Harbor through the locks on the new Charles River Dam. read more...

Dinner and Dancing with Helen and Constantine

Nobody goes away hungry from the Hellenic Festival at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Constantine and Helen at 14 Magazine Street. If the dinner is more than you can eat at one time, you can deal with that by dancing a lot.

“All the cooking is done by volunteers—they start coming in at least three weeks in advance to prepare everything,” says George G. He too is a volunteer at the church; he'd rather we didn’t use his last name. "You wouldn’t believe how many people it takes to put this festival on every year."

For the dancing, you don't need a partner; you don’t even have to know the steps, though you might want to watch for a few minutes first. Tip: If you don’t know a syrto from a kalamatiano, don’t start at the head of a line; go for the middle. read more...

Photo: Josh Gondelman (l) and Shawn Donovan (r) introduced performers at Stand-Up Comedy Night on June 13 at the gallery at 263 Pearl Street, Cambridge. On the walls behind them are fabric folk art panels from Uganda.

Gallery 263: Art and the Community

Gallery 263 is the new face at the corner of Putnam and Pearl in Cambridge. It’s art with a neighborhood flavor.

“We walk a line between being a fine arts gallery and a craft gallery,” David Craft says. He and Annie Newbold are co-directors of the enterprise. She is a painter and illustrator. He's a hybrid, like the gallery itself--he's part painter and musician, part researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. read more...

Tardy Story & photo by Toni Bee - my baaaaad

An executive director serving food to the masses…the 10th grader deejaying dancehall reggae…a pony tailed blond juggling bowling pins. That was a bit of the spice dusting thru the huge backyard of 71 Cherry Street on the first Thursday in June at the Welcome Summer Barbeque.

The idea had been brewing for years – how to put on a unified event amongst Area 4’s largest school age programs: (MFNH) The Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, the Boys and Girls Club, (CAC) the Community Arts Center, & the Area 4 Youth Center .

Thanks to the urging of Area 4 Coordinator Ardeene Goodridge, “We all finally came together.”, to plan the barbeque in mid spring said Mark Stearns, director of MFNH’s year long youth program.

“I’m so special, I’m so special
so special, so special!” read more...

This 19-minute video features work produced by members of CCTV's team of NeighborMedia citizen journalists, including Margaret Desjardins, Sharon Stentiford, Karin Koch, Maria Burns Ortiz and Mark Jaquith.

The video was screened at our Summer Screening Series event on June 10. To read more hyperlocal stories produced by CCTV's citizen journalists, visit NeighborMedia.

Today at about 2:30 PM Cambridge Fire Department personnel responded to a fire at 105 Sciarappa Street in East Cambridge. The fire in the first floor apartment was said to have started when "an air conditioned blew out" according to neighbors. One person was at home at the time, but exited without injury. Their dog Jackpot was carried out safely.

The three unit building on the west side of Sciarappa between Hurley and Spring, owned by Walter Tauro, Is listed in City of Cambeidge records as in an overall condition of fair.

Cambridge Fire Department sent five trucks and had the emergency dealt with in a little over a half hour.

The second photo shows a front window being broken out by a firefighter's axe.

By Karen Klinger

Increasing the number of off-street parking spots in Cambridge for Zipcars initially might have sounded like a fairly innocuous, green-friendly concept, but it became a hot-button issue when opposition surfaced to the car-sharing company encroaching into residential neighborhoods.

Especially controversial was the idea that someone with a parking spot in a driveway could rent it to Zipcar or a shared-vehicle competitor (although only Zipcar now operates in Cambridge).

Now, the Cambridge Planning Board has met some of those concerns by deciding to recommend to the city council that zoning regulations be changed to allow Zipcars to park in residential areas, but with restrictions that would prohibit them in almost all driveways.

“It really is that Zipcar in the driveway that I object to,” the board’s chairman William Tibbs said at a meeting June 2. read more...

STAYING INFORMED DURING A PANDEMIC: A COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
Cambridge Public Health Department wants your opinion! Come participate in a focus group designed to help your local health officials keep you informed during a flu pandemic. You don't have to be a Cambridge resident to participate.

And get paid $50!

Tuesday, June 9 from 2:00 pm -6:00 pm
OR
Saturday, June 27 9:30 am to 1:30 pm
Refreshments will be served.

For more information call or e-mail Regan Checchio at 617-357-5772 x14 or checchio@reginavilla.com. (Let them know if you need an interpreter or other assistance.)

These focus groups are co-sponsored by the Cambridge Public Health Department and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Photo left: Harkness Rose Garden

Here in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when we think of Chelsea we're likely to think of carrots and onions and lettuce. That's because nearby Chelsea is home to a big wholesale produce market.

But among gardeners worldwide, going to Chelsea means making the pilgrimage to the Chelsea Flower Show in London. This show has everything—indoor and outdoor displays on a grand scale, prizes, medals, exotic entries from all over the world, sophisticated garden architecture, royalty (Prince Charles received a horticulture medal from the Queen), nostalgia, and yes, even fancy arrays of carrots, onions and lettuce. read more...