About Jeanne Rooney

Jeanne Rooney is the Editor in Chief for South Boston Online.
29 10, 2022

Women in the Trades: Part 2

2022-10-29T11:01:17-04:00October 29th, 2022|Categories: News|Comments Off on Women in the Trades: Part 2

By Carol Masshardt Building Pathways, housed in a simple building on Columbus Ave. has a powerful mission and an Executive Director devoted to the goal of helping women, and others historically underrepresented, gain a foothold in the trades. Mary Vogel, an attorney with a Georgetown degree, knows not only the laws and regulations of construction process and safety, but has been deeply committed to equity and inclusion throughout her career. “I wanted to be a social worker, and actually started to go that route, but it was really community organizing as an agent of social change that was my interest, and that’s what the labor movement is,” she said. So, with law school behind her, she did legal aid work in the 80’s and then [...]

28 10, 2022

Redistricting Vote Postponed

2022-10-28T10:18:18-04:00October 28th, 2022|Categories: News|Comments Off on Redistricting Vote Postponed

City Councilor Liz Breadon (the Redistricting Chair) put off a vote on the final City Council District “Map” until next Wednesday Recently, South Boston Online published an article that reported on redistricting the City of Boston, as required by law every ten years.    Basically, a controversy has arisen about the proposed new District “Maps”.  There presently are five of these “Maps”.  Two of those “Maps” best reflect the controversy that has arisen in 2022 redistricting – a “Unity Map” by Councilors Arroyo and Breadon (the Redistricting Chair) that changes district borders very sharply, and a more balanced “Coalition Map” put together by District 3 City Councilor Frank Baker and his staff.  The “Unity Map” features a much different east-west district border pattern; the “Coalition [...]

21 10, 2022

Redistricting in South Boston

2022-10-21T09:14:55-04:00October 21st, 2022|Categories: Featured, News|Comments Off on Redistricting in South Boston

Ed Flynn, the Boston City Council President (and our District 2 City Councilor), convened an Emergency Meeting to deal with the effects of the initially proposed Redistricting plan.  This plan had been submitted in the form of a so-called “Unity Map” put together by City Councilors Liz Breadon and Ricardo Arroyo.  This Unity Map has already generated significant controversy because the Redistricting it proposes will make significant changes in several Boston neighborhoods, including neighborhoods in South Boston and Dorchester in District 2 and District 3, respectively.  Briefly, the Unity Map calls for major changes in the border between Districts 2 and 3, which would be moved so far north that it would split the Old Colony, West Broadway, and Ninth Steet housing developments into two [...]

20 10, 2022

Let’s Celly! Local Vodka & Soda Company Wants Everyone to Celebrate Life

2022-10-20T22:46:07-04:00October 20th, 2022|Categories: Business, Featured, Happenings, Lifestyle, News|Comments Off on Let’s Celly! Local Vodka & Soda Company Wants Everyone to Celebrate Life

By Ginger DeShaney Because it’s important to celebrate every moment, the co-founders of a new canned vodka and soda company put it right in their name.  “Celly is short for celebration,” said John Dooley, a co-founder of Celly with his brother, Tyler, and his dad, Kevin.  “We wanted our brand to embody this idea that you need to celebrate every single moment, every single day of your life,” John said, especially with COVID and where the world is now. “We want to ensure that people are taking the time, taking the moment to cherish everything that life has to offer,” he said. “We're definitely trying to embody that spirit and bring that positivity back into everybody's lives.” John and Tyler both attended College of the [...]

20 10, 2022

The Condon Connection: Sgt. Gino Provenzano Receives Person of the Year Honor

2022-10-20T19:17:03-04:00October 20th, 2022|Categories: Education, Featured, Happenings, Lifestyle, News|Comments Off on The Condon Connection: Sgt. Gino Provenzano Receives Person of the Year Honor

By Ginger DeShaney When Boston Police Sgt. Gino Provenzano enters the Condon Community Center, it’s like Norm walking into Cheers. Everyone knows Gino’s name and greets him by giving him fist bumps, respect, and love. About four years ago, Gino started coming down to the Condon on Saturday mornings dressed in his street clothes to play basketball with the kids. He would give up his own time on Saturday mornings and forge personal relationships with the Condon kids. Now, outfitted proudly in his latest Condon hoodie, Gino jumps in and keeps score for the basketball league. He’s an avid cheerleader for the kids. From Day 1, Gino connected seamlessly with the Condon kids; his kind and unassuming demeanor resonated with them immediately. Gino describes the [...]

17 10, 2022

It Takes A Village to Make A City

2022-10-17T10:45:41-04:00October 17th, 2022|Categories: Featured, Happenings|Comments Off on It Takes A Village to Make A City

By Carol Masshardt Janet Happnie, the Traffic Supervisor (aka Crossing Guard) on the corner of P. and Broadway knows a thing or two about getting people where they are going and doing it safely. She is a retired railroad conductor with over twenty years’ experience and now has been in her post-retirement perch for the past six years. “You know, All Aboard,” she said explaining her rail work directing, engaging, and welcoming travelers in a job she held when women were a clear minority. An “oldest daughter,” growing up in Dorchester and living in South Boston for the past thirty years, the opportunities of her older brother were on her radar. “He’s a police officer and I have to say I would have liked to [...]

14 10, 2022

South Boston Real Estate Market Recap: Year-to-Date Transactions Down but Prices Hold Steady

2022-10-16T14:49:32-04:00October 14th, 2022|Categories: Featured, Happenings, Lifestyle, News, Real Estate|Comments Off on South Boston Real Estate Market Recap: Year-to-Date Transactions Down but Prices Hold Steady

 By Ginger DeShaney The third quarter of 2022 held some local real estate market surprises. “Some things even surprised me,” said long-time South Boston realtor Jackie Rooney. “The big change is the number of sales is down 30%.” But the bigger surprise is that prices held through the year's first three quarters, although many of these transactions went under agreement when the rates were lower (from November 2021 through March 2022). At the end of the third quarter in 2021 (year to date through Sept. 30), there were 756 transactions; this year, that number is 531. “Some of it is due to the interest rate, and maybe people were reluctant to sell,” said Rooney, broker/owner of Rooney Real Estate. Even if some homeowners prefer to [...]

14 10, 2022

A Curley Center Update

2022-10-14T09:21:10-04:00October 14th, 2022|Categories: Featured, News|Comments Off on A Curley Center Update

by Rick Winterson For the last several weeks, there have been questions about the Curley Community Center’s deep, overall renovations, which began in 2020, were delayed for a year by asbestos litigation, and now are expected by many observers to be completed before year-end.  We inspected the site earlier this week and then asked a few questions ourselves, with the following results and conclusions. On Tuesday, Ed Flynn, the President of Boston’s City Council and our District 2 City Councilor, kindly responded to our questions with an email, after he had talked with City officials and staff.  It’s brief and to-the-point, so we will quote it exactly as Ed sent it to us:    “From my conversation with city officials and senior staff at BCYF, [...]

13 10, 2022

Faith & Blue Events Inspire the Community

2022-10-13T18:21:53-04:00October 13th, 2022|Categories: Featured, Happenings, Lifestyle, News|Comments Off on Faith & Blue Events Inspire the Community

By Ginger DeShaney The Faith & Blue events over the weekend in Boston inspired new Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox to make sure his officers continue to build strong relationships throughout the city.  “Boston is a tremendous place,” he said at the Faith & Blue marquee event Monday night at the Lawn on D. “We have to build a better police department. And that’s my main goal. “I want to thank all the clergy, all the faith-based groups that are here today … to support the local police department and the city, as we are about making Boston the best city in the country.” According to faithandblue.org, Faith & Blue was inaugurated in 2020 by MovementForward, Inc., working with the Office of Community Oriented Policing [...]

6 10, 2022

JCALPRO Scholarship Winners Poised to Make a Difference

2022-10-06T17:35:20-04:00October 6th, 2022|Categories: Education, Featured, Happenings, Lifestyle, News|Comments Off on JCALPRO Scholarship Winners Poised to Make a Difference

By Ginger DeShaney Two outstanding Boston students who are going to make a difference in this world were awarded $2,500 JCALPRO scholarships.  Madison Rull and Angelica Angulo were presented with big checks at the 22nd South Boston Street Fest on Sept. 17. Awarding the scholarships – in honor of Dave Wilson and Floyd Jones, two members of the JCALPRO family – is a way for the company to give back to the South Boston community for all its support. Madison Rull of South Boston, who graduated from the Newman School, is a freshman at Merrimack College where she is double majoring in Early Childhood Education and Human Development and Services. Madison’s parents were drug addicts and life was not easy. After many tumultuous years, and [...]

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