Tshirts and Dog's at Lizzy's this weekend

East Cambridge Crime Prevention Meeting

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

6:30 PM

East End House

105 Spring Street,

Cambridge, MA 02141

 Join us for a discussion with local officers about crime in our community,
including a review of the most recent Community Crime Report!

We Hope to See You There!

Pizza and Light Refreshments Will Be Served

Questions? Contact Tim Severyn at the East End House

at timothy@eastendhouse.org or 617.876.4444

*Sponsored by the East End House, the Cambridge Police Department,

and the East Cambridge Business Association*

Monthly Meeting Recap

For those that attended our last monthly meeting, the presentation by DPW was very informative and we can look forward to a number of postive improvements along Cambridge St.

The meeting began with some information about how businesses can apply for outdoor seating and make use of sidedwalks in front of their business.  The City of Cambridge is having great success with their outdoor seating program and are encouraging more businesses to particpate.  The city is also promoting a pilot program this season where businesses can essentailly lease parking spaces in front of their businesses, construct a platform, and use it for outdoor seating.  While there has not been any interest as of yet in East Cambridge, we are eager to see how this proposal develops throughout the city.

Sidewalk cafes have been playing big role in improving the street scape and creating a welcoming atmosphere for pedestrians.  If anyone has questions about how to take advantage of the outdoor seating program feel free to contact us.

Deputy City Manager, Richard Rossi, and Commissioner of Public Works, Lisa Peterson, then gave ECBA an overview of the many services that DPW provides within the community and fielded some questions.  The question ECBA gets asked most is "whats up with the not so great smell coming from the catch basins along Cambridge St".  The good news is that DPW will begin work in the next few weeks to install new vents in the catch basins which will eliminate the odor. Catch basins located at 621, 625, 633, 645, 719, 764, 1076, 1106, and 1121Camrbidge St have been identified for the installation.  If you have a problematic catch basin in front of your business that is not listed here, please let us know and we will relay to DPW for attention.

Also, DPW will be planting 6 new trees in empty tree wells and closing off 3 other retired tree wells which will help to eliminate a place for unsightly weeds to grow and collect trash during the summer months.

Cambridge Symphony Orchestra: ESSENTIAL TCHAIKOVSKY

Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
Cynthia Woods, Music Director

presents

ESSENTIAL TCHAIKOVSKY

Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Kresge Auditorium
48 Massachusetts Ave. (approximate address)
Cambridge, MA 02138

Overture to The Marriage of Figaro ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Concerto for Violin Op.35 in D major ... Piotr Tchaikovsky
... featuring violinist Irina Muresanu

Symphony No. 6 Op.74 in B minor (Pathetique) ... Piotr Tchaikovsky

Tickets are:
Adults: $15 (advance), $20 (door)
Seniors/Students: $12 (advance), $15 (door)
Children Under 12: $5 (all times)

Tickets can be purchased online at http://cambridgesymphony.org/event/essential-tchaikovsky/

ECPT Meeting Tonight Feb 22 at East End House

If you are interested in hearing from the developers that submitted bids on the Edward J Sullivan Court House, 5 of the 7 bidders will be at the East Cambridge Planning Team meeting tonight starting at 7pm at the East End House 105 Spring St.

East Side Bar and Grill on Phantom Gourmet

In case you missed it, here is East Side Bar & Grille on Phantom Gourmet.

Congrats to Chris and East Side and thanks for the Smoke This Rib Fest plug .... Stanley Cup of BBQ competitions indeed

Clover Brings CSA Farm Shares to East Cambridge

What if picking up your CSA farm share meant stopping by a retail location on

your own schedule instead of meeting a truc in a parking lot during a 3-hour pick-up window?

That’s the idea behind a new experiment in “CSA retail” launched today by Clover Food Lab

(www.cloverfoodlab.com), a chain of fast-food restaurants and food trucks in Boston and

Cambridge founded by MIT alum Ayr Muir.

In community-supported agriculture (CSA), customers subscribe to a farm and pay a sum of money

(usually $500-$600) in the winter; farmers use the cash to plan, buy seeds, hire employees, and

grow food. As the harvest comes in from June to October, farmers divide up the produce weekly

among their shareholders.

“The problem with CSAs in urban areas is that they’re sort of hard to find out about and

inconvenient to pick up,” Clover president Ayr Muir says. CSA members in the Boston area often

need to drive to the farms or pick up their shares from the back of a delivery truck in parking lots or

behind grocery stores during very limited time windows (for example, Wednesdays from 4-6pm).

Muir wants to use Clover to spotlight CSAs front and center. He believes that if successful this pilot

program could pave the way for CSAs to enter the mainstream. Clover believes the market for CSA

membership could number in the tens of thousands in the Boston area providing vital support to

area farms.

This February, Clover HUB, the 7,000-square-foot facility at 1075 Cambridge Street, will be

transformed into a pop-up CSA sign-up space. Customers can read information about five different

CSAs and sign up for whichever farm appeals to them the most or fits into their schedule best. The

pilot program will include Marshall Farm, The Food Project, Lindentree Farm, Drumlin Farm, and

Red Fire Farm, each dropping off on a different day of the week.

Once the growing season starts in June, shareholders will return to Clover HUB on a specific day

each week to pick up their box of vegetables.

Clover will host a public CSA Night at Clover HUB, 1075 Cambridge Street, from 7pm-9pm on

Friday, February 24. At the event, which is open to the public, customers can talk to the CSA

farmers, sign up for any remaining shares, and tour the area of Clover HUB where CSAs will be

picked up come harvest time.

Muir sees several benefits to customers who sign up. Customers will be able to stop by during

normal store hours, so they won’t lose out on their share because traffic or bad weather made

them a few minutes late to a pickup. Muir believes farmers will benefit from the increased visibility

and ease of drop-off. An indoor pickup area means that farmers will not have to wait around after

they drop off the shares. Clover will offer the service free to farms.

Clover expects customers to consider a variety of factors when picking their farm. Some customers

might pick a CSA with a Monday drop-off to have food for the week, or Fridays to have food for the

weekend. Others might select a CSA because they’ve seen the farm at a neighborhood farmers’

market (Drumlin Farm), because it is certified organic (Lindentree Farm, Red Fire Farm),

empowers local teens (The Food Project), or provides little gifts throughout the season (Marshall

Farm).

Shares are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Some farms have many shares available;

others have sliding scales for payment from low-income customers; and one, Lindentree Farm, is

launching its first-ever Boston drop-off, creating 10 special shares just for Clover customers.

The CSA program fits into Clover’s long-term goals: to improve customers’ health over time; bring

money to local farmers, and make fresh food accessible to many people. On a busy day, Clover

serves nearly 20,000 people at two restaurants and four food trucks parked at MIT, Longwood

Medical Area, Boston University, and South Station. “If this experiment works, in a few years, we

could introduce CSAs to thousands of new customers and funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars

to local farmers,” Muir says. “The hardest part for us is going to be waiting for the crops to grow.”

CSA Night

Friday, February 24, 7pm-9pm

Clover HUB (1075 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA)

Open to the public

Schedule and Location of Clover CSA Pickups (June—October)

Clover HUB (1075 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA)

Monday: Marshall’s Farm (Gloucester, Mass)

Tuesday: The Food Project (Lincoln, Mass)

Wednesday: Lindentree Farm (Lincoln, Mass)

Thursday: Drumlin Farm (Lincoln, Mass)

Friday: Red Fire Farm (Granby, Mass)

More information:

http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/?p=8750

http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/?p=7727

http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml