Month: April 2017

Pastel Perfection

Posted on by Nichole S.

Gorgeous photo, courtesy of Paul and Betsey Horovitz, from the mouth of the Annisquam River.  So many beautiful hues of green, blue, and purple from the ocean to the sky.

IMG_2705

A couple of the winners Art in Schoolhouse

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

Dave Fernandes beautiful work

Phil Peterson, great work

Today from 10 – 2

Seaside Garden Club Welcomes the Backyard Growers on Tuesday, April 11

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

kwillwerth's avatarCape Ann Community

The Seaside Garden Club welcomes the Backyard Growers on Tuesday, April 11, 7 pm at the Manchester Community Center. Guests are welcome, $5 fee.

Backyard Growers (BYG) is a grassroots organization helping to reshape Gloucester’s relationship with food. We provide resources and support to establish vegetable gardens and accompanying programming at homes, housing communities, organizations, and schools. In the end we create life-long gardeners inspired by the power of growing one’s own food. Our mission has remained consistent since our inception, with new mission-driven programs and initiatives added each year to continue reaching a broader swath of our community over time.

Urban farmer Lara Lepionka founded Backyard Growers in 2010 as a way to help her neighbors stretch their budgets by growing their own food.  Since those first gardens were built, Backyard Growers has grown exponentially to include a suite of programs serving a broad segment of Gloucester’s low- to…

View original post 296 more words

SKY DRAMA OVER GLOUCESTER HARBOR

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Layers of of fast moving April storm clouds swirling over the Harbor last night.

Click image to view larger panorama larger

Smith’s Cove Rocky Neck

***

Semiconductor legend: you couldn’t make a chip without ion implantation| RIP Peter H Rose (1925-2017)

Posted on by Catherine

Rockport resident, Rose was a notable North Shore physicist and entrepreneur who founded seminal global manufacturing companies in Gloucester (Extrion Corp. 1971/ then Varian/now Applied) and Beverly (Nova Assoc, 1978)/now Axcelis). Who were the customers? Who wasn’t! Intel, IBM, …Rose received a National Medal of Technology in 1996 for his work on ion implantation. He was awarded a PhD in physics in 1955 from London University.

I enjoyed this video clip from a panel discussion held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, April 1-2, 2008:

Risto Puhakka Moderator: “A lot of the ion implantation technology really came from the– and still is in– the North Shore of Boston. What was the biggest contributing factor that it all practically came from there which is today’s ion implementation technology?”

Peter H Rose: “Well it started (on the North Shore) because that’s where we built the companies. It’s where we lived.

And in fact we did suffer– or maybe we didn’t suffer– from the fact that we were isolated from silicon valley. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if we started a company (there) my guess is that there would have been 20 start-ups in the second year. Luckily we’re far enough away that the technology didn’t leak out quite so quickly.”

 

from YouTube credit: Peter Rose joined a panel moderated by Risto Puhakka of VLSI Research to discuss the development of ion implantation. The panel was part of a conference organized by SEMI and the Chemical Heritage Foundation called Empowering the Silicon Revolution: the Past, Present and Future of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Industry, held April 1-2, 2008 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Take Back the Night 4/10

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Gloucester Health Department's avatarCape Ann Community

Please join us on Monday, April 10th at 6 PM at the Gloucester Police Department for a march and rally led by Mayor Romeo Theken to protest sexual violence. Together we can demand an end to this horrible crime.

For more information, please contact Public Health Nurse, Kelley Ries, at 978-325-5266.

View original post

Medication Disposal Day 4/29

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Gloucester Health Department's avatarCape Ann Community

Join us on Saturday, April 29th from 10am to 1pm at the Rose Baker Senior Center. Do what is right for the environment and safely dispose of your unused medications properly.Med Disposal Flyer 4.29.17 (1)

View original post

THEY’RE BACK – OSPREYS, HERONS, EGRETS, AND MORE – SPRING HAS SPRUNG ON THE MARSHES!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Great Egret Flying Over Perched Osprey

There is much to chortle about in this latest Cape Ann Winged Creature Update. Early April marked the arrival of both Snowy and Great Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons and Great Blue Herons. Osprey pairs and evidence of Osprey nest building can be seen wherever Essex Greenbelt platforms have been installed. Northern Pintail and American Wigeon Ducks are stopping over at our local ponds on their northward migrations while scrub and shrub are alive with the vibrant song of love birds singing their mating calls. Oh Happy Spring!

Ospreys Nest Building

Northern Mockingbirds Singing 

Blackbird Tree

Female American Wigeon

Gadwall (center), Male Pintail, Mallards, Male and Female American Wigeons 

Gloucester majestic Stacy Boulevard construction Part 4: public works bringing the plans to life

Posted on by Catherine

FAST STATS

Contractor: Newport, Nashua, NH, Brian McCabe is the Project Manager
Status: in progress
Progress April 2017: nearing finish line
Project start (historic): pre 1900
Modern project start: 1999
Funding Awarded: 2013

  • from State: $5,600,000 Seaport Advisory Council
  • from City: $1,120,000 + contingencies
  • Funding in place: 2015
  • Gloucester seawall grants over the last 18 years include: Cripple cove/ Robinsons landing; small sea wall by beacon marine and pirates lane; fort square; Stacy (Stage Fort through Blynman); plus emergency work on Blynman collapse

Bid Open and contract amount: 2/24/15 approx $7 million
Contract completion: on schedule, estimated spring 2017
Locations: Stacy Boulevard and Blynman
Priority: Top Level! Unique and exceptional project– Mayor’s Office considers seawall boulevard a priority necessity, for safety, a centuries infrastructure project with immeasurable quality of life benefits for residents and visitors and essential to economy
Temporary work site chain link fence: Required. The chain link fence is installed by the contractor to protect the work zone and define it better.
Tender house at Blynman and bridge: These are State not city/DPW purview. The new bridge house is temporary (thankfully). The entire bridge needs to be replaced and when it is a new tender’s house will be constructed. I will write more about the bridge house and Blynman in other posts.
Local jobs– scroll below

IMG_20161202_095731

photo above: fencing subcontractor on a beautiful work site readying for railing. Railing required diamond coring like old granite quarrying. Stacy Boulevard December 2016. 

IMG_20161202_094837

photo caption: Railing! 2000 feet of new galvanized railing. (The replaced railing was not galvanized. DPW replaces railing: it’s simply a matter of funding.)

IMG_20161202_100234

photo caption: Alex Karp – GZA Field Engineer Boulevard construction. The GZA company acquired (David) Vine Associates. GZA is the design engineer for the boulevard project.  David Smith at GZA (formerly Vine) has worked with Gloucester since 1999. 

IMG_20161202_093910

photo caption: Gloucester’s DPW construction along the Boulevard

IMG_20161202_093606

photo caption: CAP STONE! It’s more than decorative. It has two exposed sides that need to be trimmed to look perfect. Mike Hale, Boulevard construction, November (of course note beard) 2016

IMG_20161202_093005

photo caption: Stacy Boulevard contruction capstone and harbor

IMG_20161202_093354

photo CAPtion!: Stacy Boulevard dazzling dizzying scope of ocean and capstone as far as the eye can see

IMG_20161202_102206

photo caption: Mike Hale with Brian McCabe, Project Manager, Newport construction, November 2016, Gloucester Boulevard

LOCAL JOBS

Along with the Mayor’s office and current administration, Gloucester’s DPW and Newport Construction work with subcontractors including local ones such as:

GZA – national with corporate headquarters in Norwood, MA – Engineering

Gloucester Transit Mix Concrete, Gloucester, MA,  – huge part of project!

Cape Ann Stone, Rockport, MA, Bruce Johnson (owner) – granite

MBT Electricians, Gloucester, MA –  electrical and lighting

Essex County Landscaping, Gloucester, MA, J D Aspesi (owner) – irrigation and sod

Anne Gilardi Johnson –  additional new gardens, site and landscape design for the Boulevard (building upon the successful Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial)– Johnson , a Gloucester native and multi award winning landscape architect, was commissioned by the Fishermen’s Wive Memorial board back in 2000 to design the landscape for Morgan Faulds Pike bronze sculpture, dedicated August 2001. “A series of design plans, and finally a study model, was produced as part of an interactive process between the designer, sculptor, and the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association.” Johnson is a member of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (largest chapter of the national organization), “known for her design of urban spaces including parks, playgrounds, memorials and streetscapes in Boston,” Worcester, and Gloucester. Her award winning designs include Boston’s (James) Hayes and Childe Hassam Parks in the South End. Generous Gardeners is planting the new beds on the Boulevard: thousands of tulip and daffodil bulbs were planted by many volunteers last fall to bloom this spring!

IMG_20161202_093234

some prior posts:

April 2017 Part 3- Gloucester’s boulevard public works construction Part 3: compare high res plans from 1922 and 1923 with today

April 2017 Part 2: Boulevard Public Works stunner | Gloucester is an early client for the Harvard and Olmsted trained landscape designer, Thomas Warren Sears. His 1908 photos are a must see!

April 2017 nearing the finish line Part 1- 

September 12 2016- Stacy Boulevard construction update: historic Blynman the Cut Bridge project scope plans and engineering details

August 2016