Familiar Face Consulting for Councilor Ciommo

The agenda for today's City Council meeting had a slew of "temporary" (i.e., fiscal year-end) appointments for staff members of the various councilors. Buried amongst those announcements, however, was one that caught my eye:

0608 Order for the appointment of temporary employee Kevin Carragee in City Council.

Brighton residents know Carragee well as an Oak Square resident who, along with his wife, have played a crucial role in forming the Presentation School Foundation and purchasing those school buildings from the Archdiocese of Boston. He's active in the community and is on the faculty at Suffolk University.

Why would Carragee be taking a job working for a city councilor -- presumably Allston-Brighton District 9 Councilor Mark Ciommo?

He's got a perfectly good job already, and Ciommo probably can't afford him on the small staffing budget a city councilor has at his disposable.

Councilor Ciommo confirmed that Carragee will be working with his office, but only for 20 or so total hours over the next month or two as a consultant to improve the communications and delivery of constituent services in Ciommo's office. Carragee's faculty position is in the Department of Communcation and Journalism, after all, so this kind of consulting work is right up his alley.

Mystery solved.


Image of OLP Grammar School from Brighton Allston Historical Society.

Presentation School Foundation's Jen Doyle to Appear on NECN Today

Last week, the Presentation School Foundation closed on their purchase of the former Presentation School from the Archdiocese of Boston.  They also announced a large and generous grant from the New Balance Foundation to the tune of $350,000.  The Allston-Brighton TAB has a lot of the details.

The Boston Globe wrote a nice editorial in today's edition, in which they pitched the PSF as a good group for other large charitable foundations in the region to support.

PSF President Jen Doyle will be appearing on NECN's "News Day Live" this afternoon at 4:00 pm to talk about their purchase of the school.  Link to video

Presentation School Foundation Celebration Friday 10/12 in Oak Square

The Presentation School Foundation will be holding a celebration in Oak Square that is open to the public. Mayor Thomas Menino is scheduled to attend. Pizza and cake will be served. While the announcement of the event did not specify the reason for their celebration, my guess that it has something to do with securing sufficient funding to go through with the actual purchase of the former Presentation School building from the Archdiocese of Boston. The PSF has proposed to create a community center at the building, and have received wide-spread support across Allston-Brighton and among city leaders.

Presentation School Foundation Celebration
Friday, October 12th
3:30 - 8:00 pm -- Note earlier start time!!!
Oak Square, Brighton
For more information, contact Jennifer Doyle