Crime Has Gone Down in the Back Bay

By Nick Davis
BACK BAY - In the last three months of 2007, crime fell in the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, and the South End, according to police sources.

However, the neighborhoods saw an increase in larceny and attempted larceny. In 2007, police reported 3,101 larceny and attempted larceny incidents compared with 2,930 in 2006.

William Onuoha, the neighborhood coordinator for the Back Bay, said the increase of larceny in the Back Bay was a result of people leaving items in their cars such as GPS systems, laptops and cell phones, which is easy for panhandlers to get in too. “People leaving things in their car shows there is not a worry in local residents, which is a good thing,” Onuoha said.

Onuoha says crime has dropped in the Back Bay because of police officers “walking the beat”. “Because police are walking along the streets in Back Bay it creates a heightened sense of security, which deters crime and makes the community safer,” said Onuoha.

Trina Bellavance, visual merchandiser at Louis Boston, has not noticed a difference. “I think Back Bay has always been a safe neighborhood,” Bellavance said. “I think the Boson Police Department and the different associations within Back Bay have really made a big effort to make the neighborhood safer in recent years.”

Kim Brown, a junior at Northeastern University said students are frequently getting computers, bikes and their wallets stolen at her school. “I always see crime reports in the school paper about people getting things stolen,” Brown said.

Brown also said she thinks Back Bay has become much cleaner in recent years. “I remember there was a lot more homeless people and I would see graffiti on walls of buildings when I would go shopping,” Brown said.

One of the major reasons crime has dropped in the Back Bay is the NABBers, a sub section within Neighborhood Alliance of Back Bay. The group's mission is to combat the graffiti in the Back Bay.

Alex Cooper, director for membership and marketing for the Back Bay Association, Alex Cooper, said clean streets improve the vitality of Back Bay. “An issue always is to support retail business on Newbury Street," Cooper said. "To make sure that independent stores are able to stay in business on such a competitive retail zone The Back Bay is Boston’s most thriving business district so the issue was always to maintain the economic vitality of the economy because it’s so central.”

The seven categories mentioned in the crime report were homicide, rape and attempted, robbery and attempted, aggravated assault, burglary and attempted, larceny and attempted, and vehicle theft and attempted.

Possible Concerns Raised about Druker Co. Building Plans

By Nick Davis
BACK BAY — At the cross-section of Boylston and Arlington streets, the former home of Shreve, Crump, & Low, the oldest jeweler in North America, is empty.

Two years after the jeweler relocated down the street, the Druker Company, a leading Boston development firm, has proposed to build a luxury nine-story office building. Featuring high-end retail stores on the first level, the developers say they want to spur a revival of a once-thriving retail section of Back Bay that has been lackluster in recent years.

Jackie Yessian, chairman of the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay, said she is not against the proposed plan of new businesses. “There’s just a building there now that we like.”

Yessian worked with the Boston Preservation Alliance in 2007 to preserve the historic building and acquire landmark status, but the Boston Landmarks Commission did not grant the designation.

Yessian said she was also concerned about the number of parking spaces the Druker Co. is planning under the building, saying that there are “certain guidelines required by state law” that she does not feel the company meets. Parking has never been put under the building, she said, and there might be a problem with groundwater.

“Local residents feel the new building’s facade might create a shadowing effect on the Commons,” Yessian said. “[It will cause] significant growth in traffic congestion.”

President Ronald Druker addresses the concerns, according to the 350 Boylston Project Notification Form submitted in late 2007 to the Boston Redevelopment Authority. To make sure the developer has met all the rules and regulations the project notification form is submitted to the BRA before the building is approved.


Druker Company said the new building would create 300 construction jobs and about 880 permanent jobs.

The project has yet to be approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The Boston Redevelopment Authority is working on a “scoping determination”, said Alexander Cooper, director for membership and marketing at the Back Bay Association. “This is an overall examination of the project proposal, where the BRA will decide what further studies will need to be conducted before they approve or reject the current proposal.”

Some residents support the project. “Competition in many ways is a good thing,” said John Nargi, managing director at the upscale Hermes store located right across the street from the proposed building sight. “It will increase the flow of traffic through the area, which should increase the possibility of ringing in new customers.”

Druker owns the Heritage Building, located right across the street from the proposed project. Nargi said Druker is trying to expand his presence in Boston with well-planned projects under his name.

The building plans call for nearly 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space, a 6,000 square foot fitness center and spa, and 150 subterranean parking spaces.

The proposed building was designed by Argentine architect Cesar Pelil. If approved, construction is expected to start in 2009, and will finish in 2011.

Trina Bellavance

By Nick Davis
BACK BAY - On a recent afternoon, Trina Bellavance was making adjustments to the window displays in front of Louis Boston. A homeless woman, covered in black, and wearing a red beret, passed by she complimented Bellavance on always having the best window displays in Boston. “Some times appreciation for the daily hard work I put into my job comes from the most unique places,” she said.

Bellavance, the "visual merchandiser" at Louis Boston, describes her personal fashion style as “slightly bohemian military or anything biker.” She sports a boyish cropped hairstyle. She has been in Boston’s visual merchandising field for about 10 years, the past two as head of the women’s floor at the high-end fashion boutique.

A native of Nashua, N. H., Bellavance has been into art ever since she was a child. “I remember as a little girl she liked to ride horses,“ said Aimee Bellavance, her sister. “She would always love to draw horses, too.”

Bellavance majored in studio arts at the University of Vermont, and attended graduate school at the Museum of Fine Arts School and Tufts University, where she received a Master’s degree with a concentration in painting. Soon after, Bellavance said she was hired in the Visual Design department at Anthropologie on Boylston Street in the Back Bay.

Although she enjoyed her time at Anthropologie, Bellavance often felt restricted and wanted to work at a place where she would be granted the artistic freedom to explore her own ideas. After seven years at Anthropologie, Bellavance saw an opportunity at Louis Boston.

Her boss at Louis Boston, creative director Matthew Keller, said he hired Trina because she had a portfolio that showed talent. “She also has a personality that everyone gets along with,” Keller said.


Some of Bellavance’s duties include assisting in the master visual concept for Louis Boston every season, dressing mannequins, and merchandising clothes. Bellavance said one of the perks about working at Louis Boston is working with clothes from today’s most famous fashion designers.

“Trina is very creative, resourceful and knows how to create something extraordinary out of the ordinary,” Louis Boston intern, Kristel Cue, said. Cue said she admires how Bellavance can turn everyday objects--from magazine cutouts to cardboard shreds--into picturesque window displays. “It definitely takes imagination and an artistic eye to see how empty spaces can be transformed into visual masterpieces,” Cue said.


During her stint at Louis Boston, Bellavance has been able to observe some changes in the Back Bay, including the rent increase which has caused the area to lose some of its unique appeal.

“It’s becoming less popular because with rent so high, smaller shops are looking to relocate,” Bellavance said. “It used to be a lot of exclusive high-end boutique stores here, but now larger fashion corporations are starting to move in because they can afford the higher rent.”

In the past two years commercial retail company's like H&M, Filene's Basement, and Victoria Secret have opened stores on Newbury St. While some may think these stores deter from Newbury Street's once all exclusive boutique shop, others think these stores offer more realistic and affordable clothing.

"As much as I like the boutiques on Newbury Street I can't afford to pay for an expensive garment every time I go shopping," said Northeastern University junior Bailey McAndrews. "These stores offer a cheaper, sometimes more stylish version that you see in the boutiques, which is very appealing to students seeing as they have many other things to pay for."

Bellavance said she hopes Newbury Street will consist of a harmonious mixture between the two types of stores in the future.