Boston, MA
Henry Lee, self-effacing savior of the Boston Public Garden, dies at 99 – The Boston Globe
Mr. Lee, an unlikely hero in a development battle that remains a storied chapter in Boston history, died Monday night in Beverly Hospital of cardiac arrest. He was 99 and had divided his time between Beacon Hill and Beverly Farms.
For more than 40 years, he led the Friends of the Public Garden from its origins in a Back Bay living room to its pivotal role as a powerful guardian of Boston landmarks.
Having served in the US Foreign Service earlier in his life, Mr. Lee brought his diplomatic training to bear on negotiating with city and state officials to form private-public partnerships that protected the Public Garden and other green spaces.
And though he worked tirelessly to oppose developer Mort Zuckerman’s initial Park Plaza proposal, Mr. Lee was just as persistent at deflecting acclaim for his own efforts.
“It’s not just modesty,” he told the Globe in 1995, adding that he believed it was “counterproductive” for him to be the focus of too much praise. “Many people work very hard for the Friends,” he said. “I do all the talking, and I get the credit.”
Mr. Lee did more than simply talk, however. During his presidency, he refused to take a salary and ran much of the operation from his home — even typing all correspondence as the organization expanded its activities beyond protection and upkeep of the Public Garden.
“He used to say, ‘We can either spend money on the parks or we can have an office,’ ” said Liz Vizza, his successor as president.
As president, Mr. Lee sometimes personally injected a treatment into trees along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to blunt the blight of Dutch elm disease. As president emeritus in his 90s, he’d stop by the organization’s office to let everyone know a park bench needed spiffing up or a plaque had slipped from its holder.
“Henry’s combination of sweeping vision with incredible persistence and hard work to get all the little details right has transformed such an important part of how we think of Boston and how we interact with one of the most foundational spaces in the city,” said Mayor Michelle Wu.
Wu praised “the care and attention” he brought “to making sure everyone all across the city can experience beauty in their day-to-day lives and find that pop of color or calming presence. He devoted his life to making sure all of us would have that gift.”
Though born into a household of very modest means, Mr. Lee carried himself with a Boston Brahmin bearing, and his extended family was woven into the city’s history. Then-Governor Frank Sargent, who supported the original Park Plaza proposal, was a relative.
After graduating from Harvard College as a scholarship student and finishing graduate work, Mr. Lee spent several years in the US Foreign Service, which provided essential diplomatic training for his future civic work.
“Henry was a mentor and an inspiration to me and to so many of us in the parks advocacy world,” Vizza said. “He really taught me the true meaning of diplomatic advocacy.”
In an increasingly acrimonious world, Mr. Lee wrapped in a blanket of polite charm his steely will to preserve history and places where anyone and everyone could gather.
“He would often say, ‘You can beat down the doors of City Hall once, but the next time you go they’re going to change the locks,’ ” Vizza recalled. “He knew that to succeed you had to work with people.”
Born in Boston on Jan. 13, 1925, Mr. Lee was the son of Henry Lee and Frances LeMoyne Lee. Though Mr. Lee, his oldest son, and his father shared a first name, none of them used Jr. or III to highlight which generation.
Mr. Lee’s father had been a stellar runner and equestrian steeplechase competitor, but injuries from riding kept him from holding most jobs. His mother had raised two children from a previous marriage in addition to Henry.
When Mr. Lee was a boy, serious ear infections left him so weak that doctors thought he wouldn’t live past 12. “I think he sort of put that forecast to shame,” said his son Henry of Brookline.
Mr. Lee attended the Brooks School in North Andover, took a year off to work in Arizona earning money for Harvard, and then graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He also received a master’s in history from Stanford University.
In 1945, while a Harvard sophomore, Mr. Lee married Joan Cabot Metcalf, whom he had met at a party.
“Dad said, ‘If I didn’t marry her, I would have lost her,’ ” their daughter Karen of Portland, Ore., told The Beacon Hill Times earlier this year.
Joan Lee, a philanthropist who held behind-the-scenes roles in civic organizations, died in 2019.
Mr. Lee’s Foreign Service postings took him to Germany and Washington, D.C., before the family moved back to Boston in the late 1950s.
He taught at Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge and was a teacher and administrator at the Dexter School in Brookline, which overlapped into the civic activism that made him a public figure as he turned to it full-time in retirement.
The Friends of the Public Garden currently has more than 3,000 members from 32 states and an annual budget of $3.6 million. Since 1970, the group has helped raise and invest about $50 million in funds for specific allocations, including maintaining trees and the upkeep of sculptures and sustaining other green spaces.
This year, the organization established the Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks to honor his legacy of commitment.
Along with the Friends, Mr. Lee led organizations such as the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Charitable Irish Society and a host of other groups.
“I used to kid him: ‘Have you ever been in an organization you weren’t head of,’ ” said his son, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Mr. Lee, his son said, “was my guiding light. He was the one who taught me where the bar is in life: ‘If you want to be a success, this is what you have to do to achieve it.’ “
A highly successful swimmer as a youth, Mr. Lee won numerous victory trophies, but into adulthood he kept only one — for a second-place finish.
“He was in lane seven and thought he was so far ahead of everybody else, but he forgot there was a guy in lane eight, who won,” his son said. “For his whole life he kept that trophy to remind himself that you cannot do anything without giving 100 percent.”
A service will be announced for Mr. Lee, who in addition to his son Henry and daughter Karen leaves another daughter, Eliza Schierloh of Beaumont, Texas; another son, Thomas of Seattle; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
“To a real extent his career began at 54,” Mr. Lee’s son Henry said.
“When Park Plaza fell into his lap,” he added, “all of a sudden all these civic opportunities came his way and he made the best of them. When you walk through the Public Garden today, you look around and say, ‘A part of this is because of him.’ “
Despite all of accomplishments, Mr. Lee was unwilling to boast even a little.
“Although I have never amounted to much, I have had interesting careers in government, education, and numerous civic and historical endeavors,” he wrote in 1998 for the 50th annual report of his Harvard College class.
Though Mr. Lee worried mightily about national and world affairs, he focused his efforts locally — including improving a park that was a stroll away from his Beacon Hill home.
“It may be rationalization, but doing something effective in small compass has seemed in many ways more rewarding than grappling futilely with larger issues,” he wrote. “In all events, I have kept busy and out of trouble.”
Bryan Marquard can be reached at bryan.marquard@globe.com.
BOSTON – Before the lights went out at Matthews Arena for the last time, they shined brightly on Boston University center Brandon Svoboda.
The sophomore from Pittsburgh scored two goals including the game-winner at 18:21 of the third to lift the Terriers to a 4-3 victory over Northeastern, on Saturday night. Svoboda’s fourth of the season was the final goal scored at Northeastern’s historic Matthews Arena.
The Terriers’ victory over the Huskies was the last sporting event played inside Matthews Arena, which officially opened its doors as Boston Arena in April of 1910.
“I got a lucky bounce and I capitalized on it and put it in the back of the net,” said Svoboda. “Playing the last game ever in this building is pretty special and what was it, 1910 this place was built so it was pretty special being the last team playing in this building.
“We are a young group and we are figuring it out so it was obviously a big deal to get a W in the last game in this arena.”
BU improved to 9-8-1 and 6-3-0 in Hockey East going into the semester break while the No. 11 Huskies fell to 10-6-0 and 5-4-0 in the conference.
“It was just a big win for us going into the semester break,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “The first half has not been ideal for us so to finish it that way, to come back in the third period to win a hockey game in this environment, where this is their last home game here and they wanted to win and we found a way to pull it off.”
Northeastern purchased the structure in 1979 and renamed it Matthews Arena three years later. The demolition of the old barn nestled between Mass. Ave and Gainsborough Street will begin in January and the new arena is scheduled to go online in September of 2028.
“Having a new facility is definitely a big selling point,” said NU coach Jerry Keefe. “It is going to have all the amenities you need to develop players and I think this generation of recruits like the shiny and the new.”
The first Beanpot Tournament was played at Boston Arena in 1952, so it seemed appropriate that Northeastern would play its final game against a neighboring Beanpot opponent. BU played its home games at Boston Arena from 1918 to 1971 before moving into its new facility on Babcock Street.
Pandolfo enjoyed many Matthews moments both on the ice and behind the bench. Pandolfo also played in the final Beanpot game at the old Boston Garden.
“I always enjoyed playing here that’s for sure,” Pandolfo said. “It was a fun place to play and I always enjoyed it and I enjoyed coaching there. It is a great environment and a special old building.
“That’s the biggest attachment for me and that I just enjoyed it. My grandfather played at Northeastern, my mom’s dad and that makes it special as well. It was also Boston University’s home rink as well for a long time and that is a big reason we are here closing it out with Northeastern.”
The Huskies had some extra zip in their blades that created several scoring opportunities, all of which deftly handled by BU netminder Mikhail Yegorov.
NU went up 1-0 on a power play goal by freshman center Jacob Mathieu at 11:28 of the first. Mathieu found an opening outside the BU crease and redirected Giacomo Martino’s wrister from the left circle for his fifth of the season.
NU went up 2-0 at 14:36 when junior center Tyler Fukakusa finished a two-on-one break with his second goal of the season. BU got on the board when Svoboda netted a power play goal at 17:40, his third of the season.
“We were playing fine but we just made some mistakes so to get out of that first period 2-1 was important no question about that,” said Pandolfo.
BU tied the game 2-2 on sophomore center Sacha Boisvert’s second of the season at 13:38 of the second. NU went up 3-2 when sophomore left wing Joe Connor beat the buzzer at 19:59 with his sixth of the season. NU tied the game 3-3 on Kamil Bednarik tally at 18:02 of the third. Svoboda would score 19 seconds later to complete the comeback.
“You give up a late goal at the end of the second period after a power play, that can really hurt you,” said Pandolfo. “But our guys were determined to come back.”
Boston, MA
Boston city councilor pushes for state audit of federal grant funds after misuse by city program
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn requested that the state auditor’s office conduct a formal audit of the nearly $560 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds the city received from the federal government, in light of misspending by a city program.
Flynn sent a letter to State Auditor Diana DiZoglio on Friday requesting an audit of the federal grant funds the city received through the ARPA legislation of 2021 that was issued as a COVID-19 pandemic-relief measure.
The councilor said Boston received nearly $560 million in federal funds for pandemic recovery. The money was committed by the end of 2024, and must be spent by the end of next year, he said.
“In May of this year, it was reported that the City of Boston’s Three Squares Main Streets program allegedly misspent ARPA funds in the amount of $32,000,” Flynn wrote in the letter. “Irresponsible funding and spending leads to inflated costs and missed opportunities to improve our communities.
“It is critical that the City of Boston spends taxpayer dollars responsibly to regain our credibility and show respect to the residents,” he added.
Flynn wrote that he chose to pursue a state audit due to the City Council’s failure to hold oversight hearings, and ensure that “Boston is in compliance with spending regulations.”
Auditor DiZoglio’s office said Friday that it had received Flynn’s letter and that the councilor’s request requires a majority vote from the City Council and approval from the mayor to permit the auditor’s office to conduct a municipal audit.
“Our General Counsel will be sending Councilor Flynn the legal process required, under the law, to engage the Office of State Auditor with respect to a municipal audit,” DiZoglio spokesperson Andrew Carden said in a statement.
“Unlike the Office of Inspector General, which has the full legal authority to audit and investigate municipal government entities without a request or permission from a city or town, the Office of State Auditor, while mandated to audit state government entities, is actually legally required to obtain permission from a municipality, via both a majority vote from the City Council and approval by the Mayor, to be permitted to conduct a municipal audit,” Carden added.
Flynn told the Herald he wouldn’t hold his breath for approval from his colleagues on the City Council, which is largely allied with Mayor Michelle Wu.
“Since the City Council failed to hold the necessary oversight hearings to determine how we spend federal funds, an outside audit is essential to ensure appropriate spending, demonstrate transparency and accountability,” Flynn said. “The Boston City Council will not support an independent audit of our financial records to ensure we are complying with federal spending laws.”
Mayor Wu’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether the Wu administration would support Flynn’s request for a state audit.
Wu’s office launched an internal audit last May after the city main streets’ program’s alleged misuse of federal ARPA funds was flagged by the Boston Finance Commission, a City Hall watchdog.
“We’re grateful for city staff who have been working to ensure oversight of every dollar of federal funds spent on pandemic recovery, including grants to nonprofit organizations,” Wu spokesperson Emma Pettit said in a statement at the time. “Through their diligence, these financial irregularities were identified and reported to the appropriate agencies to take action.
“The city will continue to support any further investigation, and is undertaking a further audit to ensure full accountability.”
Boston, MA
Skip the chaos and crowds with unique holiday markets are worth the detour – The Boston Globe
The holiday season is in full swing: The puffer jackets have been broken out of storage, carols and festive pop classics play throughout every store, and the annual struggle of what gifts to get your loved ones (and that one office White Elephant) is back. If you are looking to skip the long lines (and stinky cheese) at more social media-famous markets, but still want some one-of-a-kind holiday shopping from small businesses, here are some smaller holiday markets to visit this winter.
A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS Reading Memorial High School’s Drama Club (and supporting organizations) will host a Dickens Holiday Marketplace and Craft Fair once again this holiday season. The market, which has run for over 20 years, hosts 55 New England-based vendors selling artisan goods, including wooden cutting boards and goods from Magnus Woodsmith, pottery from Nancy Littlehale, and more. There will also be hands-on crafting opportunities, including coloring and cookie decorating. The Saturday marketplace — including an on-site warm beverage sale — is also a fund-raiser for RMHS’s drama department, raising money to support production equipment, scholarships for graduating students, and other needs. RMHS drama club members dressed in Victorian costumes will roam the fair and perform short skits and sing carols. There will also be tap, jazz, and contemporary dance performances by local troupes in the school’s performing arts center.
Dickens Holiday Marketplace and Craft Fair. Reading Memorial High School, 62 Oakland Road, Reading. Dec. 13, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Entry is free. rmhsdrama.org
SUPPORTING WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES Boston Women’s Market hosts its holiday market at Night Shift Brewing in Everett on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. New England-based, women-owned vendors will be selling gift-able goods, including handmade jewelry from ADK Jewelry, natural skincare products from Beauté Noir, and cat toys and playhouses from Cat in the Box. The market will also be host to a family holiday celebration, including free ornament painting and an ugly sweater contest. There will be giveaways throughout the market of Night Shift Brewing gift cards and merchandise. If you’re hungry, Daddy’s Bonetown Burgers has you covered, and specialty holiday cocktails, yet to be announced, make the perfect holiday treat.
Boston Women’s Holiday Market. Night Shift Brewing, 87 Santilli Highway, Everett. Dec. 13, noon to 5 p.m. Entry is free. bostonwomensmarket.com
CULTURAL COLLECTIVE In celebration of the season, the Cultural Survival Bazaar will hold a Winter Solstice Indigenous Art Holiday Market on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 at The Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama. The market will highlight Indigenous art and artists from around the world, including North and South America, Palestine, East Africa, and more. There will be over 50 vendors, such as Chinampa Temachtiani, which sells jewelry, clothing, and axolotl plushies, Hebron Glass, which sells blown glass goods, and Afri-Root Collective, which sells handmade African art from women artists. The market will also feature live musical performances from Lyla June, Yarina, and more. Looking for a new book to cozy up with this winter? Attendees can also participate in a book swap.
Winter Solstice Indigenous Art Holiday Market. Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are $10. Free for children under 18. bazaar.culturalsurvival.org/boston
SHOPPING SMALL Returning for its fourth year, Small Mart Market is hosting the second of two holiday vintage shopping events in Greater Boston. The holiday market will take place at the Crystal Ballroom with over 50 vendors, including vintage clothing resellers and upcycled fashion designers. Vendors include the market’s organizers, High Energy Vintage, a Somerville-based secondhand clothing and record shop, and Existential Thread, a Rhode Island-based vintage clothing store, as well as others, such as Jessamy Shay, who designs clothing by repurposing garments and fabrics. There will also be artisan goods and artists selling prints, posters, and pottery. The market will also feature a full bar, complete with festive beverages such as a cranberry Moscow Mule and Irish Coffee for purchase.
Small Mart Market Holiday Market, Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. Dec. 20, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free. smallmartmarket.com
FRIENDLY SHOPPING (AND COMPETITION) The Charles River Speedway and the Brighton Bazaar are partnering for the Bazaar’s 100th event, The Holiday Stroll, on Dec. 20 and 21. The Speedway hosts over 60 local vendors, featuring a variety of artisan goods, including metal art, kitchenware, and decor from Eli West, handmade pottery from Sugalski Ceramics, and more. At the upper courtyard of the Speedway, there will be a gingerbread house building competition on each day of the market. With a $5 buy-in, which can be purchased ahead of time or on site, the competition will last from noon to 3 p.m. Winners will be announced within the week after the market for prizes such as a $75 gift card to a Speedway vendor of their choice or two tickets to a show at The Roadrunner of the winner’s choice. For a less high-stakes activity, there will be card-making stations where attendees can craft personal holiday greetings for loved ones.
The Holiday Stroll. The Charles River Speedway, 525 Western Ave., Brighton. Dec. 20-21, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entry is free. charlesriverspeedway.com
SECONDHAND STOCKING STUFFERS The Somerville Flea — usually known for holding court in Davis Square in summer and fall — hosts its annual holiday market on Dec. 21 for last-minute shoppers looking for one-of-a-kind secondhand goods. The extensive shopping event will feature around 40 vendors and their curated collections of vintage goods, such as clothes from Dandelion District, books from Hiding in Books, and home decor from Unpredictable Finds. A DJ will play holiday mixes to set the festive mood while you shop. Snacks and beverages will be available at Arts at the Armory’s ROOTED Café.
The Somerville Flea Holiday Markets. Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, #1C, Somerville. Dec. 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free. thesomervilleflea.com
Isabella Bernstein can be reached at isabella.bernstein@globe.com.
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