from Jackie Bennett

The Cape Ann Community Band                                                        June 25, 2022

AN INVITATION TO PLAYERS TO PERFORM!

The Cape Ann Community Band Presents:

An Old-Fashioned Concert In The Park

Saturday, August 20, 2022, at the Antonio Gentile Bandstand

Stage Fort Park, Gloucester, 7pm, (Rain date Wednesday, August 24, 7pm)

Sponsored by

FDIC

David Benjamin, Director of the Cape Ann Community Band invites you to participate in an exciting program of concert band music. The band will rehearse for six weeks beginning on Monday, July 11, at 7pm at the Rose Baker Senior Center, corner of Manuel F. Lewis Road and Rogers Street, Gloucester.

Players should commit to at least four of our six rehearsals, including the final rehearsal on August 15. The concert will be held on Saturday, August 20, at 7:00pm at the Antonio Gentile Bandstand, Stage Fort Park, Gloucester. The rain date is Wednesday, August 24. The program is geared toward young and more experienced players. Families are encouraged to participate as well as former and current school band classmates. The music represents varying levels of ability; there’s something for everyone.

Players will need their own instruments. Players who have a music stand should bring that as well. Percussion equipment and some stands are provided. The band is proudly sponsored by Bank Gloucester. Director Benjamin says, “We’ve always had a lot of fun preparing our concerts. It’s a supportive mood at our rehearsals. Everyone is learning and enjoying the company of fellow musicians.”

For information please contact David Benjamin at 978-281-2286 or by email at David@DavidLBenjamin.com  Cape Ann Community Band/ 32 Revere St./ Gloucester, MA 01930

July 4, 2011-

That Jon and Elizabeth Dubin have buried a time capsule in the Bass Rocks area to be dug up when Benjamin Lewis (now 9 months) reaches the age of 10?  The time capsule contains letter, photos and toys.  Jon and Elizabeth are devoted FOB’s and came in today to get GMG Tees for themselves.  They come back to Gloucester every summer.

E.J. Lefavour

Jim Montagnino was literally born in Gloucester’s West End in 1941 at 57 Main Street.  His father Dominic was a “high liner” fishing Captain who never would allow his son to follow in his occupation because it was too dangerous. So, Jim enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17 years old upon his graduation from St. Ann’s High School class of ’58 where he was captain of the baseball team for both his junior and senior year. He was also captain of the basketball team in his senior year.

He and his best friend, Mike Calomo had been freshman at Gloucester High School, but were both rejected at tryouts for both the baseball and football squads, so they both transferred to St. Ann’s High School where they were more than “stars” on the basketball and baseball fields.

After being honorably discharged from the Army he attended and graduated from Burdett College. After high school, Jim soon married the true love of his life, Mary Jo Pratt. They began their life together building on each other’s strengths, a true partnership and bond that lasted the test of time. They enjoyed 58 years of devoted marriage to one another. They had four children and had seven grandchildren whom he all adored. 

Jim saw an opportunity to get into to fishing industry another way. He began his career in the seafood industry working in the offices of O’Donnell-Usen and later Booth Fisheries, who were both located in Gloucester. The fishing industry was evolving from smaller fresh fish companies who bought the local and Boston fleets catches to the Trans-Atlantic steamers from Europe and elsewhere who were unloading millions of pounds of frozen blocks bought by Gorton’s and Booth Fisheries He was offered a significant promotion by Booth Fisheries at their N.E. distribution center in Portsmouth, N.H. He refused the offer because his family and the were all in Gloucester. He wanted to continue playing adult Basketball, Flag football (until he was 50) and loved playing card with all his closest friends who were all here in Gloucester.

Jim then decided to bet on himself. He began in a small two-person office with himself and his godmother, Vicki Naves. Together they grew Gloucester Dispatch to a full-service logistics trucking brokerage company with fleet of over 100 tractor trailers covering the 48 states.  Jim saw the vision and that those millions of pounds of frozen seafood needed to get from the Quincy Market Cold Storage (now Americold) to their destination throughout the United States. 

The success of his trucking business allowed him to invest in his favorite love, the City of Gloucester. He was the first person to invest in the West End, where he bought the west end furniture building from Walter Chadwick and rehabilitated it to apartments on the upper levels and retail on the ground level.  Others soon followed his model. He invested primarily at first on Main Street being a regular at Nick’s pool room since he was a kid. When the Brown family decided to sell their department store, he bought it and allowed small businesses to start with the smaller spaces and grow. He later started the first condo project “The Residences at Seaport” on the upper levels of the Main Street and Elm Street levels where National Furniture and Shephard’s Street Market were former occupants. At the time the local zoning did not allow for residences above street level businesses. Each project he developed brought him pride and satisfaction to see his interest in Gloucester was rewarded with their success. 

in the 80’s he was the major developer to purchase two out of three parcels at Parker Street. These had been taken by Urban Renewal back in the sixties and never developed until he built the Head of The Harbor. Eventually, Whole Foods was a major tenant for over 25 years as the major distribution and processing center for their New England and New York area purchasing product most of their fish from the local fleet.

This momentum continued and he sold his Cameron’s building to see the latest housing development by Action Inc. and partner with North Shore Community Development at 206 Main Street (across from Elm Street). He was happy to see that project completed.

His passion was to stay in Gloucester and see the beauty and potential of each undertaking.

He was a former board member of the AGH and was an ongoing supporter of the Grace Center, St. Ann’s Parish and an original member of the original group that started the Grace Center.

Most recently, he purchased East Gloucester Marina and his love of boating and fishing continued on. His other love was golfing at Bass Rocks Golf Club which was a favorite form of fun for him and with his friends where many happy memories and were made and challenging tournaments were won.

He was thankful to all those who gave him the opportunity to see his dreams come true.

Lowell Peabody contributes:

Joey, I took shots of all 3 of the women’s  teams before and during the competition and all 3 have received their copies. I thought you might like to see a before the race group shot of the 3 crews. It was indicated that they do this every year, and they not only gathered themselves but made certain I knew where to be to take the shot..They were a bit concerned about me climbing the ramp from the dock as on the way down I had tripped landing flat on the dock, and  lost my phone overboard!! No harm, but I got to know all of the crew members who quickly made sure i was OK. I told them I always do that to get the crowd warmed up…. Great sportsmanship photo, pre-race which was also evident when the race was over. They all congratulated each other and the winning BackLash. 

And since I was there and got trapped, I learned that on the Walkers parade to the boats for the Greasy Pole, they stop at the stage for a round of “VIVA!” “ST. PIETRO” before getting to the boats. One of the organizers did tell all the walkers this was not a time to drink…

TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF TRASH BAG POLICY – TUESDAY, JUNE 28 – TUESDAY, JULY 5.  We have been informed that the vendor for the City of Gloucester trash bags continues to face manufacturing disruptions due to supply chain issues and will not be able to meet the demand for bags this week. Mayor Greg Verga has announced relief for residents by allowing each household to put out 2 – large size (no greater than 36 gallon) garbage bags for pick up, free of charge, for the following dates – Tuesday, June 28 – Tuesday, July 5, 2022. This will allow each household a free trash pick up day while we work through next steps with the vendor. We ask for your cooperation in making this possible by limiting your waste to 2 bags.

Please note, Monday, July 4th is a holiday, there will be no trash collection. Households with Monday pick up will be on Tuesday, and all remaining collections for the week will be one day later. Trash pick up the week of July 4th will run on a holiday schedule.

If you have any questions please contact DPW at 978-325-5600 or Mayor Verga’s office at 978-281-9700. We will provide updates for next week as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Greg Verga

Mayor

City of Gloucester, Massachusetts

978.281.9700

Once again we decimated all other local coverage of the most important weekend of the year and it was all because of these dedicated individuals.

Great great great job. Proud of the hard work and dedication you guys put in

Congratulations To VFG On An Incredible Win Against All Odds Knocking Off The Reigning Champs!!!

Just to clear up any confusion here is a clarification on the Magnolia Pier seasonal dinghy outhauls design as provided by Mayor Verga’s office.

Timeline of Magnolia Pier:

• June 2020
  • Magnolia Pier Rebuild was completed. The ramp/gangway was purchased as part of the project and the float was older and built by the Gloucester High School.
    • Gloucester Harbormaster and Magnolia Pier Advisory Committee requested a new float be built for fear of failure of the oversized old float – the request was denied.
• September 23rd, 2020
  • The new gangway and old float were ripped away from the pier due to a storm and weather event.
• January, 2021
  • Meeting with Mayor Theken, Ted, Mike Hale, and CAO to discuss the pier going forward. 
• May, 2021
  • Based on a virtual meeting attended by GZA on May 21, 2021, it is our understanding the City of Gloucester desires to make additional improvements at the recently reconstructed Magnolia Pier by installation of a gangway lifting mechanism (“Gallows Frame”).
• June 8, 2021
  • GZA GeoEnvironmental submitted a proposal for the Magnolia Pier Reconstruction Project to begin the development of design drawings, permitting amendments and/or new filings, bid phase and limited construction phase services for the proposed improvement project. In addition, GZA was asked to review the existing float size and provide recommendations for improvements and to investigate interim pier-mounted lifting davits that could be installed on the pier at the gangway connection to assist with gangway removal for the 2021 summer season, and beyond.
• June 28, 2021
  • GZA GeoEnvironmental provided a clarification letter that the load conditions associated with seasonal dingy outhauls being attached to the pier were not included in the design of the Magnolia Pier Reconstruction project. (Letter attached)
    • In response to this letter, the Gloucester Harbormaster was instructed to send an email/letter to all permit holders stating they would not be able to return the following year (2022).
      • Permit holders had been reportedly tying their outhauls to the ladders or handrails of the pier. Having small boats tied to a static line causes damage and strain on the pier. 
• September 2021 
  • The Waterways Board unanimously voted to put a moratorium on issuing any new mooring on Magnolia Pier.
• November 2021
  • The Gloucester Harbormaster was instructed to send an email letter to all permit holders stating they would not be able to return the following year (2022).
• January 2022
  • Mayor Verga’s administration takes office.
• February 2022
  • Mayor Verga directs the City’s CFO to look into potential funding sources to begin the work with GZA to address the gangway and float.
• April 2022
  • The City was able to locate funds to begin the GZA design and permitting process for the gangway and float.
• May 11, 2022
  • Gloucester Waterways Board meets to receive an update on the Magnolia Pier outhauls and to discuss possible actions. The Waterways Board voted to abolish the outhauls on the Magnolia Pier. 
    • Here is the official language from the meeting minutes on the vote:
      • “Donna Crocker made a motion to abolish the Magnolia Pier outhaul seconded by Chair Steven LeBlanc. The motion passed by roll call 6 in favor 2 opposed”
    • City Ordinance for the Waterways Board:
      • “Sec. 10-1. – Waterways board.
        • The purposes of the waterways board is to provide a broad-based citizen management organization that guides the use and development of the city’s waterways and public waterfront facilities. The waterways board shall be the city body which establishes policies and regulations for the city’s waterways. It is intended that the board adopt clear, concise and fair policies and regulations that promote improved access to the water for all citizens, including commercial fishermen, business owners and recreational boaters. In cooperation with the harbormaster and other city staff, the board is intended to ensure that our waterways are well planned and maintained, utilized to the maximum extent possible, safe, and reflect positively upon the city.”
      • https://library.municode.com/ma/gloucester/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH10WAAD_ARTIMA_S10-3AURE
• June 2022
  • GZA is currently working on the permitting process. Will likely secure the permits in the late fall with a goal of construction in the spring of 2023.