The Arlington Affordable Housing Trust announces the kickoff of a summer of community engagement to inform its five-year action plan, beginning with a communitywide affordable-housing survey >> The deadline is Thursday.

The community-informed plan aims to help the trust prioritize actions and strategies to create and preserve affordable housing in Arlington.

The survey is the first of several opportunities for community members to inform the trust on the types of affordable-housing activities that should be prioritized. 

Bongiorno

Coolidge

Two Arlington residents have received the 2022 Commonwealth Heroine Award from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. 

Christine Bongiorno and Aimee Coolidge are two of 121 women across Massachusetts who were honored at the 19th annual Commonwealth Heroines ceremony on June 22 at the The Venezia in Dorchester.

Bongiorno, head of town health and human services, was recognized by the Select Board on Monday, June 27.

Aimee Coolidge was the longtime chair of the Town Democratic Committee until she stepped down to emerita status this spring. 

Hauser electrical panel. / Melanie Gilbert photo

'We're grateful to the CPA and Town Meeting.’
-- Jack Nagle

The Arlington Housing Authority (AHA) – under new executive-level leadership in the front office and maintenance department – is charting an ambitious repair and renovation program of the buildings in its extensive and aging portfolio.

The effort is possible because of a more than $6 million infusion to the authority in American Rescue Plan Act money from both federal and state levels, as well as funding from the Town of Arlington’s Community Preservation Act Committee (CPA) and Community Development and Block Grant programs.  

At the June 16 board meeting, Executive Director Jack Nagle said these funds will allow the authority to address critical and long-term infrastructure needs.

“We’re very grateful to the CPA and Town Meeting members for approving the Menotomy Manor window-replacement project, and the Hauser building’s electrical panel project,” Nagle said.

Prince Hall marker, North End.

UPDATED June 29: Twenty-seven people gathered June 24, a beautiful summer's evening, on the Battle Road Scenic Byway in Arlington, to honor a founding father, Prince Hall.

Declared by the Select Board in 2021 and voted on by Town Meeting that year, the first Prince Hall Day event was held.

They came together to honor an 18th-century patriot, abolitionist, organizer, educator, advocate and Mason.

Beth Melofchik, a Precinct 9 Town Meeting member who helped organize the events, wrote: “Prince Hall led efforts to allow free black men to join the Revolutionary army. He worked to establish the first schools for black children.

“And Prince Hall was the first person to use the language of the Declaration of Independence for a reason other than war with England.  For more information about Prince Hall see Danielle Allen's 2021 article in The Atlantic >> and the WGBH video, below.

Those involved gathered on the 225th anniversary of the day on which Prince Hall gave an address to his African Lodge, considered the first official black institution in the U.S. Titled “A Charge,” it was delivered at Menotomy, as Arlington was known, on June 24, 1797.

We bring people together for the purpose of finding connections."

Andrea Nicolay, library director

UPDATED June 29: The end of fines for overdue books is one of Andrea Nicolay’s proudest accomplishments in her 10 years at Arlington’s libraries, the last seven as director. Her final day is July 1, and then she will move on to become director of libraries in Albany, N.Y., a city with more than twice as many people as Arlington, with seven branches compared to the two here. It is a challenge she says she is more than ready to meet. 

Nicolay’s tenure has included circulation that reached an all-time high, an increase in library hours, a new strategic plan and programs that go beyond the purview of the traditional library: It has joined with Arlington’s social-service agencies to assist patrons in need of support and will add a program in the fall to help non-English speakers improve their language skills. In addition, the library will work with Lamplight, a nonprofit organization already in Arlington, to help people pass the test required to become certified nursing assistants.

For Nicolay, libraries fill a multitude of functions and are a major resource for a community, having long moved beyond merely being a place to check out a mystery novel. “We bring people together for the purpose of finding connections, whether making a new friend or having eyes opened to an issue you never thought about before. It’s a place of light and enlightenment.”

Libraries, she says, have always supplied access to information and entertainment, “and we do that at every level. We provide people with resources so they can understand issues better or learn a new skill. I think of them as being multifaceted scaffolding for civic good.”

Proposed condos and retail space at 1021-1025 Mass. Ave. / Harrison Mulhern Architects

UPDATED June 30: The Select Board has unanimously agreed to send a letter to MassHousing regarding “The Residences at Mill Brook,” a proposed 50-unit multifamily development and 1,000 square feet of commercial space at 1021-1025 Mass. Ave., near Brattle Square.

The proposed project by the Maggiore Co. of Woburn would combine two parcels between the Highland Fire Station and Quad Cycles, a bicycle business, and develop a four- to five-story building with at-grade parking and a small retail space on the ground floor, according to the comprehensive-permit application. 

“This site approval is not the same thing as the 40B process, which is a lengthy process with different reviews. This is a narrower scope of responsibility, such as whether this site and its design are appropriate and financially feasible," explained Town Counsel Doug Heim.