Capitol to Add Statue of Rosa Parks

Capitol to Add Statue of Rosa Parks

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D.-N.Y., announced last week during President Barack Obama’s and Vice President Joseph Biden’s Inaugural Luncheon that a statue of the civil rights icon Rosa Parks will be added to the National Statuary Hall before the end of the year.

Parks will be the first African American woman to have her likeness depicted in the hall, said Schumer, who also was in charge of organizing Obama’s and Biden’s inauguration. Schumer is chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and in that position, he oversees the Capitol’s artwork.

Parks made history when police arrested her on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to relinquish her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.

E. D. Nixon, one of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, and Clifford Durr, a white attorney, bailed Parks out of jail.

MassDevelopment bond boosts affordable housing in Boston’s Dudley Square

MassDevelopment has issued a $9 million tax-exempt bond to build 43 units of affordable multi-family rental housing on two sites in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.

The project sponsor is Madison Park Development Corporation, which develops and preserves mixed-income housing in Roxbury and promotes Dudley Square as a thriving business district.

The two parcels are the last development sites of the Orchard Park HOPE VI initiative, which had helped to stabilize the area. Bank of America purchased the bond.

“This announcement is great news for Boston families and individuals looking for quality, affordable housing in the thriving Dudley Square neighborhood,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said. “I want to thank MassDevelopment and Madison Park Development Corporation for their commitment to this project, and I look forward to continuing our work together.”

The first site will house a five-story elevator building with 31 rental units — five one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom, and five three-bedroom — and 3,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The second site will have a four-story walkup building with a two-bedroom unit and 11 three-bedroom units.

“Creating and preserving affordable housing is at the core of MassDevelopment’s mission,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “The Commonwealth has set an ambitious goal of 10,000 multifamily housing units a year, and Dudley Greenville will help meet that objective.”

Founded in 1966, Madison Park Development Corporation has created a model of resident-led community development, and has evolved to become a comprehensive agency promoting the full revitalization and redevelopment of Roxbury.  

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2012, MassDevelopment financed or managed 280 projects generating investments of more than $2.3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 12,000 jobs and build or rehabilitate 900 residential units.