Boston, MA

Joseph Slavet, ‘fearless’ and thoughtful watchdog of Boston government, dies at 104 – The Boston Globe

Published

1 month ago

May 28, 2024

Joseph Slavet, ‘fearless’ and thoughtful watchdog of Boston government, dies at 104 – The Boston Globe

In that era, “Boston politics was a struggle for the spoils of government between the Irish and the Boston Brahmins,” said former US representative Chester G. Atkins. “Joe was a significant part of moving politics beyond that to something that was professionalized, that was governed by rules and fairness, and on delivering services to everybody, not just to certain ethnic groups.”

Mr. Slavet, who also had been the first leader of the anti-poverty agency Action for Boston Community Development, was 104 when he died May 4 in NewBridge on the Charles in Dedham, where he had been living.

As a key Boston official from the late-1940s into the 1960s, Mr. Slavet was “in a lot of ways the last living link to the transition of Boston from James Michael Curley to Hynes” and beyond, said Atkins, who before Congress had served in the Massachusetts House and Senate.

“Joe was in the scrum for a long time and was always respected as being thoughtful,” said Larry DiCara, a former Boston city councilor.

“Looking back, he was fearless, even when he was on a public payroll,” DiCara said. “He let it be known when he thought something was right or something was wrong. Some might have thought of him as a bit of a scold.”

In June 1960, amid what Mr. Slavet called the “frustrating and bitter experiences with the multimillion-dollar Prudential Center and Government Center projects,” he published a detailed and concise essay in The Boston Globe, breaking down why construction was lagging.

“Many of the crises, snarls, and wrangles which have beset the two projects can be attributed to planning pitfalls,” he wrote, detailing everything from an inhospitable tax climate to “the absence of a single city agency staffed by experience professionals to pull all the pieces together, to harmonize conflicting viewpoints, and to keep things moving.”

After his leadership roles with the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and ABCD, Mr. Slavet moved into academia, first at Boston University, where he held a leadership role with the urban affairs department, and then at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he was a senior fellow at the McCormack Institute.

“He transitioned from a player in government and quasi-government entities to being an academic and was a pioneer in the early academic programs that looked at urban crises,” Atkins said.

In those university roles, “Joe was one of the earliest, and perhaps the earliest and most comprehensive thinker, about what we call today workforce housing,” Atkins said. “A lot of his work on housing is as relevant today as when he wrote it in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Born in Boston on March 31, 1920, Joseph S. Slavet was a son of American-born Anna Adelman Slavet, and Dan Slavet.

In a 2007 interview for the Veterans History Project that is in the Library of Congress, Mr. Slavet said his father was born in an area that was then part of Russia, and had arrived in the United States as a teenager. Mr. Slavet said his father had been an apprentice plumber who later worked in a plumbing and hardware supply business.

The older of two brothers, Mr. Slavet graduated from English High School and was a professional musician by his teen years.

“By 15, I was in a jazz band that played in ballrooms throughout New England,” he said in the Veterans History Project oral history.

He said he used his saxophonist income from those regional gigs to pay his way through Boston University, after turning down an offer to join a nationally touring band that would have paid the equivalent of about $3,000 a week in today’s dollars.

While a BU student, he learned that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. “When I heard that, I turned to my mother and I told her that I think my life has taken another turn,” he recalled.

Serving in the Army, he landed in Normandy, France, seven days into the D-Day invasion. A gunnery officer, he was in charge of 40mm anti-aircraft weapons.

His unit was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. A few months later, the unit discovered a mass grave near a concentration camp.

“This was my first personal experience of what Hitler had done to the Jews,” he said in the oral history.

“Our officers were so enraged,” he recalled, and his unit insisted that because of their complicity with the Nazis, residents of the nearby village should remove the remains of those in the mass grave and give them all proper burials. Among those in the village there was “a lot of handwringing and denying and crying,” he said.

Back home after the war, Mr. Slavet resumed his education. Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University, he received a master’s in history from BU and a master’s in public administration from Syracuse University.

He also met Muriel Vigor at a dance. They married in 1947 and raised their family in West Roxbury. Mrs. Slavet died in 2011, and Mr. Slavet had lived in the Orchard Cove retirement community in Canton before moving to NewBridge on the Charles.

Staying involved in public policy research long after his colleagues had retired, Mr. Slavet “didn’t stop working,” said his daughter Beth of Washington, D.C. “He always said he did some of his best work in his 80s.”

Mr. Slavet “was generally regarded as the straightest of straight arrows,” DiCara said.

A service has been held for Mr. Slavet, who in addition to Beth leaves two other daughters, Amy Glaser of Easton and Julie of Philadelphia; four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren.

Mr. Slavet spoke only Yiddish when he started school as a boy, and he delivered his Bar Mitzvah speech in Yiddish. Just before turning 104, he attended his great-grandson’s bris “and he spoke so eloquently there,” Beth said. “He had an incredible life.”

Through his work in public service and academia, Mr. Slavet had a career “that spanned the significant transition of Boston from a city in decline to a city that once again became a city on a hill, and he was a pioneer in the marriage of higher education and municipal policy,” Atkins said.

“To the very end Joe was calling balls and strikes, commenting on politics, calling people out who were self-serving, and praising people who were acting in the public interest.”

Bryan Marquard can be reached at bryan.marquard@globe.com.

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Boston, MA

LGBTQ+ Apartment Complex For Seniors Set To Open In Boston

Published

4 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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LGBTQ+ Apartment Complex For Seniors Set To Open In Boston

BOSTON, MA — The Pryde, a first-of-its-kind 74-unit apartment affordable housing community for seniors over age 62, is set to hold its ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, according to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office.

The Pryde came to life in Hyde Park after the former William Barton Rogers Middle School was transformed into a mix of studio and one and two-bedroom independent living apartments “where LGBTQ seniors over age 62 can age as their whole selves,” its website says.

Mayor Michelle Wu and Senator Elizabeth Warren are set to appear at the grand opening Friday.

The project has been a long time in the making.

In 2022, The Pryde held a ceremony attended by elected and appointed officials from the city, state, and federal levels as well as representatives from public and private agencies who helped shepherd the development plan through the approval process, and who assembled the financing.

But finally, things are moving forward.

“Any week now we will be opening our doors and continuing to make history,” Gretchen Van Ness, executive director of LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc., told Boston25 News earlier this week. “We expect to be fully occupied by the fall.”

The Pryde building includes a 10,000-square-foot community center, a multipurpose space for neighborhood meetings and events, a learning classroom, a library, and an art exhibition space. There, it will host Portraits of Pride, a photography project that presents large-scale and intimate portraits of LGBTQ leaders through curated exhibitions and special installations, according to its website.

The grand opening ceremony will begin at 55 Harvard Avenue at 1 p.m.

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Boston, MA

Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney offers extremely grim outlook for one free agent

Published

11 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney offers extremely grim outlook for one free agent

We are just three days away from NHL free agency beginning on Monday (July 1) and the Boston Bruins and GM Don Sweeney have a lot of money that he has to spend to improve his roster for the 2024-25 season. He has a lot of needs including a center and possibly another defenseman.

Sweeney also has several of his own pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) to consider re-signing, but it appears with each passing day, that it’s looking less likely that some of the players will be returning to the Black and Gold. One of the players who is a UFA is Jake DeBrusk. After Boston’s elimination in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers, he said he wanted to remain with the Bruins. Still, the player and team have yet to come anywhere close to an agreement on a contract. Thursday in Las Vegas, a day before the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Sweeney touched on several topics, including DeBrusk and his comments sound like the door is closing on the 2015 first-round draft pick returning next season and beyond.

Sweeney spoke about DeBrusk and admitted that there have not been many, if any, conversations recently and it appears the 14th overall pick nine years ago is going to hit the open market.

“I suspect that Jake will head to UFA and test the market. Remain consistent that we have been in negotiations with Jake — haven’t had any productive talks in quite some time. At end of the day, that’s his prerogative to see what July 1 brings for him.”
– Don Sweeney
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If DeBrusk does indeed hit free agency, there is going to be no shortage of suitors for him. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Seattle Kraken are all teams that could look to add him. One dark horse team to watch, is the Detroit Red Wings.

If DeBrusk does end up leaving, it’s going to be imperative that Sweeney signs a player that is equal to or better than DeBrusk, or losing him for nothing and not bringing in an equal replacement for him is not going to be a great look for the front office. This is, without a doubt, Sweeney’s biggest off-season as GM of the Boston Bruins.

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Boston, MA

How Gonzaga’s Anton Watson fits with the Boston Celtics

Published

19 hours ago

June 27, 2024

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How Gonzaga’s Anton Watson fits with the Boston Celtics

Anton Watson finished his college career as one of the winningest players in Gonzaga men’s basketball program history. The Boston Celtics probably knew that when they selected the Spokane native with the 54th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

On the court, Watson’s defensive versatility made him Mark Few’s “problem solver,” as the 6-foot-8 forward could guard multiple positions and embraced matchups against the opponent’s biggest offensive threat. Offensively he excelled at timely cuts along the baseline or from the perimeter, while his improvements as a passer were quite noticeable as a fifth-year senior. The athleticism might not stand out to some, but the results from the G League Elite Camp would suggest it’s trending in the right direction.

Above all else though, Watson’s win-loss record spoke volumes about his impact on the Zags’ success. In five seasons (though he only played 15 games as a freshman due to a shoulder injury), the Gonzaga Prep product amassed a 132-19 (.870) record and played in four Sweet 16 games, two Elite Eight games, a Final Four and a National Championship game and set the program record for steals in the NCAA Tournament (21).

“He’s been such an unsung hero of this program,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said of Watson after a win over Portland on Feb. 23. “He’s such a winner. He’s a winner and he’s a great teammate. He’s just the perfect guy you want in your program. Obviously when you’re at Gonzaga you really want him in your program because we’ve valued everything Anton’s done.”

Now Watson goes from one winning culture to the next, as he makes the move to Boston just nine days after the franchise won its NBA-leading 18th championship in a 4-1 series win over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Led by All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, the Celtics were undoubtedly the best team in the league all season long en route to an overall record of 80-21 (64-16 in the regular season, 16-3 in the playoffs). That .792 winning percentage is the second-best in team history behind only the legendary 1985-86 championship team that went 82-18 (.820).

Boston figures to be among the favorites to go back-to-back with most of the cast returning for the 2024-25 season, which could limit Watson’s playing opportunities as a rookie. Brad Stevens, the mastermind behind the Celtics’ title run as the de facto general manager, made it clear prior to the draft that any player he took with the No. 30 pick (which ended up being Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman) or the No. 54 pick (Watson) would have a difficult time finding playing time in year one.

“It will be hard for any draft pick to crack our rotation when healthy,” Stevens said. “And so, we’ll think about how we can best continue to invest in young players and their development and growth, with the reality that, if we’re able to continue to move forward with this group, that these guys are going to be on the court. So, this will be a good opportunity again to bring in somebody who we think will help us down the road.”

That said, it’s likely Watson spends most of his rookie season developing with Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics.

Though his name didn’t appear on most mock drafts, Watson’s strengths as a two-way player made him a trendy pick to go late in the second round. He has the size and strength to match up with bruising forwards and centers, while still nimble and agile enough to defend smaller guards on the perimeter. Watson’s offensive game didn’t get to shine over some of his other NBA teammates at Gonzaga, though the full repertoire was on display throughout his fifth year with six 20-point games, including two 32-point outings against UCLA and Santa Clara.

Even so, scouts and general managers needed to see more consistency from behind the arc. Watson shot a career-best 41.2% from 3-point range on limited volume (1.5 attempts per game) in 2023-24.

“[NBA scouts and general managers] kind of said, to find my place in the league or my calling card is gonna be like one of those guys that does a little bit of everything,” Watson said. “They’ve seen that I’ve improved from the 3-point line, but they want me to take more of them.”

Watson’s first opportunity will come next month at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he figures to earn valuable reps with some of Boston’s other young talent. Granted Watson is already older than his new Celtics teammates JD Davidson, Jordan Walsh and Jaden Springer, but the 23-year-old is far from a finished product on the basketball court. It just might take some time before the rest of the league notices.

“His game, to me, fits the modern NBA,” Gonzaga assistant coach Brian Michaelson said on Gonzaga Nation. “He’s so versatile defensively, he can do a lot of different things on offense. His shooting has really progressed, it’s going to have to continue to progress. Where the NBA is right now, fits Anton Watson.”

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