My View of Life on the Dock
The Renewal of Newell Stadium hits the finish line, with a helicopter fly-by, rising of the flag, ribbon cutting and a review of all the athletic teams, a day of celebration, and Gloucester has won every game played on the New Balance Field at Newel Stadium. ABSOUTLY PERFECT !!
Just got this note from Meg of the “Neighborhood Apothecary“:
I came up with a crazy idea the other day that we will be trying on Sundays from now until November. There will be a “Twilight Lounge” in the courtyard in front of the shop (17 Pleasant Street) from 5:30pm to 10pm. It will feature tea for $1, dancing, and some great old tunes. Dress is casual or retro, whichever people prefer. There might be sweets if I can get some of the local bakeries on board. Very family friendly.
Have a good one!
Meg
Mayor Kirk stopped in to the Neighborhood Apothecary recently, and I just happened to be there to snap this photo of Mayor Kirk with Meg:
After the Magnolia Road Race Mayor Kirk and the residents of Magnolia made their way down to the Pier for what many here in Magnolia do often. Jump from the Pier! Well in all good fun and an opportunity to raise a few dollars and help encourage Mayor Kirk in making the leap of faith! The push was raffled off, well don’t you know the wining bidder was Mac Bell. With a helping the mayor was inflight to a safe landing in Magnolia Harbor. Thanks to all that made the Magnolia Libary celebration a success.
A true New York City institution, CHICAGO has everything that makes Broadway great: a universal tale of fame, fortune and all that jazz; and one show-stopping song after another. No wonder CHICAGO has been honored with 6 Tony Awards®, 2 Olivier Awards®, and a Grammy®.
When: Tuesday August 6 – Sunday August 11 . 2013
All performances @ 7:30pm
Where: Annisquam Village Hall
36 Leonard Street, off of Route 127 North
Annisquam village in Gloucester MA 01930
Ticket Info: Reserved Seating $32.
General Admission $16.
General Admission and Reserved Seating tickets can be ordered online.
Go to www.annisquamvillageplayers.com and click on Tickets.
General Admission tickets (but not reserved seating tickets) may be purchased after July 22nd at the following locations:
Directions: http://annisquamvillageplayers.com/directions-parking
The Annisquam Village Hall is air-conditioned and handicap accessible.
Refreshments served at intermission.
Pictures were provided by Francesco Groppo.
Thanks to JD MacEachern for bringing the photos from Francesco
Mayor Carolyn Kirk, cheers on the her departments in the Seine Boat Race.
Gloucester Fire Department – 2013 Champions
See Mayor, They Have The Yellow Bands On. (that means they wont bite) 
GloucesterCast 4/29/13 With Host Joey Ciaramitaro and Guest Alicia DeWolfe
Click to listen- 
Topics Include:
9:42 Good Harbor Beach Footbridge Poll
13:00 Mayor Kirk
18:30 Coffee Roll Or Cannoli
20.25 Styrofoam Cups vs Paper Cups
26:06 Cotton Is For Suckers
27:20 Cross Fit Cape Ann
29:15 Muffy White
32:12 Manscaping
35:15 Joey’s Use Of Female Hygiene Products
35:53 Manly Scented Sunscreen
40:27 Laurie Lufkin Click Marketing
42:10 Alicia On Social Media
46:00 Brianmoc
47:30 The Idea Behind GMG
56:30 19 Again
58:00 LMGTFY
If you only listen to one of our podcasts let this be the one. I had so much crazy fun with Alicia.
Here are some memorable quotes from our discussion-
“Should I brace myself? Should I put my seatbelt on?”
“Powder fresh in my nether regions”
“Cotton Is For Suckers”
“Picture late 70’s early 80’s porn”
“Need a machete down there to get to the good stuff”
GloucesterCast Podcast Taped 4/25/13 With Host Joey Ciaramitaro and Guest Kim Smith
Click to listen-
Topics Include:
Spring, Planting, Mayor’s Poll On Good Harbor Beach Footbridge, Kim’s Black Swallowtail Butterfly Movie, Community Milkweed Planting Project, Kim’s Prius, Paul Morrison and Coyotes, Duckworth’s Bistrot, Craig Kimberley’s Bikini Speedo Dodgeball Premiere at The farm Bar and Grille, Feeling Like Your Live On Vacation In Gloucester
Hi Joey,
The verdict from the poll is in but it really isn’t as simple as saying, well 64% voted for the aluminum fix and 36% voted for the wooden fix so we’ll put up the aluminum span. As with just about everything, it’s way more complicated than that. If you would allow me to,
I’d like to share some of the feedback we’ve received and how we plan on proceeding from here.
In addition to the polling results, there have been many thoughtful email and Facebook messages and phone calls that have come through my office or DPW. An artist sent a picture of the beautiful Milton Avery painting of a couple walking across the footbridge. Another person sent a picture of what was thought to be the actual wooden bridge that washed away and into the marsh by Stop & Shop. Turns out, that was the section of the bridge that washed away in 2006!! This past winter it has moved into a position where it can be retrieved and DPW will remove it.
People sent links to other “synthetic” solutions, and links to other wooden bridge examples. And of course, your display today was beautiful. A lot of questions have come up as well, and I will do my best to answer them.
Cost is clearly a factor that is on people’s minds. $65,000 seemed to be outrageous for the wooden fix. That estimate is for an outsourced solution, i.e., not using our DPW.
The timetable seemed troubling to some people. We were required to go through a Conservation Commission review, and that takes a number of weeks in addition we had to wait to get the estimate and plan for the fix before proceeding to ConCom.
The way we put the poll out there, it wasn’t clear if we were talking about temporary fixes or permanent fixes. Basically, ConCom has said, “this is the last temporary fix (however we do it).” The city is encouraged to come back with a permanent plan that addresses the resource area, takes into consideration the structural integrity of the rest of the bridge, and perhaps is redesigned to withstand the types of storms and tidal surges we are experiencing. Neither choice in the poll addressed these issues.
Then the question of the Magnolia Pier came up. This is one of those quirky things about how our waterways are governed. The city has responsibility for the Good Harbor Footbridge, but the Harbormaster and the Waterways Board have responsibility for the Magnolia Pier!
And then of course, some people wanted the best of both worlds – New England charm and Yankee ingenuity which I take to mean a more cost effective solution that preserves the iconic character of the footbridge.
A couple of people suggested a “buy a plank” program where if you got married on the bridge or the beach, you could buy an engraved plank to help offset the cost of the repairs. Sort of like a memorial bench or brick program.
So – here’s what it’s come down to. DPW Director Mike Hale and I met today, and we’ve decided to use our DPW guys to do a wooden repair. I have directed him to retask some of his staff, order the materials and start immediately. While this will save the city about $60,000 it reduces the manpower that DPW can devote to all those other things citizens find important (which is why outsourcing was an attractive option).
We will formulate a Building Committee as required by the City Charter and pursue a permanent redesign. The Committee can take the time to go through all ideas, and do this right.
Joey, thank you for allowing me to pose the poll to the GoodMorningGloucester readers. Most importantly, I appreciate the spark of discussion and ideas that ensued.
Mayor Kirk
Mayor Kirk is asking for community feedback-
Hi Joey,
We have a bit of a dilemma regarding the Good Harbor Beach footbridge.
The estimate we have for repairs is $65,000. This is basically a temporary fix and carries the risk of being washed away during the next big storms. Also, the Conservation Commission is throwing down the gauntlet on any more temporary fixes.
An alternative would be to have the broken section be replaced with an aluminum boat ramp-like structure. It would have a synthetic decking, four feet wide with railings, and hook in on just the ends (no pilings necessary). Total cost of this fix is $20,000, the ramp would be made here in Gloucester by a Gloucester company, and could be finished within 3 weeks. It could be removed in the event of a hurricane as well.
So I gotta ask GMG readers, which would you rather?
New England Charm? ($65,000 wooden temporary repair)
Or
Yankee Ingenuity? ($20,000 aluminum repair on broken section, rest would remain wood).
Your readers probably photograph / paint this view more than most so we thought we’d start here to gather feedback.
Sefatia and her best friends cooked a fabulous breakfast and lunch today for the employees at National Fish and Seafood. 
Jack Ventola, Sefatia, Representative John Tierney
Jack Ventola, the president of National Fish and Seafood, bid $3500.00 and won Sefati in an auction to benefit the Hoyt Foundation. Mayor Kirk, Representative Ann Margaret, and her Mom Frances Ferrante, super nice gentlemen from Wicked Tuna Tricky Dave and and Paul From Tuna.com were there to enjoy the feast, too. A deliciously fun time was had by all! Thank you Sefatia for inviting me to film. Video to follow.
St. Joseph Trolley Party
Click photos to view larger.
A huge heartfelt thanks to All the Gloucester Families Helping with the San Giuseppe Film Project. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
A special thank you to Sefatia for organizing the trolley, and for being the best most spectacular hostess for the St. Joseph trolley. Traveling from home to home, she knows by heart, and explains in great detail, each of the family’s alar traditions and stories. She also manages to keep the trolley gang together (all 50 or so). Thanks to Sefatia, no one was left behind!
Thanks to Mayor Kirk for sharing in the St. Joseph trolley and festivities. Gloucester is so blessed to have the BEST Mayor ever!
Thanks to CATA and Ed Sallah for donating the trolley. Ed is an amazing driver and was so considerate towards each and every member of our exuberant party.
A special thanks to Felicia and her family and friends. Felicia is the first to say she could not have done it without her dear husband Barry, her mom Pat, son BJ, daughter Amanda, her beautiful aunts and gamatis, and all her friends and family, working alongside her, from sunrise until the well past the midnight hour.
Felicia and Her Best Gamatis ~ Le migliori amiche*
A very special thank you to Joey for inviting me to participate in his family’s St. Joseph festivities last year, which planted the seed for the St. Joseph film project.
Photos of each of the families interviewed coming this week.
* Thanks to Paul Frontiero for the correct spelling of best girlfriends.
The home page of today’s New York Times website features a story on Gloucester’s big debate about what to do with our waterfront (see story here).
Mayor Kirk is quoted a number of times promoting her vision of our port supporting both fishing and marine science, saying some of the $150 million Congress might appropriate should be used for “Programs that might attract those other uses that allow you to maintain a smaller fleet, and maintain an infrastructure for that fleet, and sit side by side.”
Everybody who’s seriously working on attracting marine science to Gloucester knows we need more than a port. We also need a thriving cultural economy in order to attract the workers that power marine science. Most of these workers are young, single PhDs who work very long hours and want to go out after work — and on weekends — for food, drink and music. They want to feel surrounded by culture. These people think they want to live in Cambridge. What they may not know is that Gloucester has a burgeoning cultural economy. Just look at all the live music available this weekend — and it’s supposed to be the dead of winter!
We’ve got momentum. But in order to grow a sustainable economy for Gloucester’s long-term, we have to grow our cultural economy a lot more. That’s where you come in. Think of Gloucester FIRST when planning what to do at night and on weekends. Not sure where to eat? Check out this HUGE list of restaurants. Check the live music schedule. You’ll likely find music for every taste. Want to enrich your life and the lives of your kids? Check out this impressive list of galleries, studios, museums, theatres, etc. Think you need to drive to the mall? STOP! Check this out and think again.
The secret to growing our cultural economy without losing our soul is to honor our past and embrace our future. That’s precisely what Fred Bodin does. His store honors our past by helping to keep the core of our history and culture alive. And now, he’s taken to filming the future. Here he is filming Jon Butcher with Dave Brown, Dave Mattacks and Wolf Ginandes at Jalapenos on Tuesday singing Sam Cooke’s classic Change is Gonna Come — how perfect it that! Boston rock star Jon Butcher moved to Gloucester. Let’s get out and support his decision, prove him right, boost our cultural economy and — most importantly — have a blast doing it!
A few photos from the birthday party last night at Giuseppe’s:
Thank you, Mayor Kirk, for your service to the city of Gloucester!
If you don’t follow Mayor Kirk on Twitter You Ought To- https://twitter.com/MayorKirk
Hi Joey,
Tomorrow (Friday) at 9:30am the city of Gloucester will join city halls and churches around the nation in ringing our bells 26 times in memory of the children and staff who died in the tragedy in Newtown. Everyone is invited to join us outside at City Hall for this remembrance.
Thank you.
Mayor Kirk
Good Morning Gloucester 