Biography of jerome rapoport

A potpourri of immigrant groups and a small number of African Americans lived together in relative harmony, Gans wrote, their lives centered on their families and the churches, synagogues, schools, settlement houses, and small shops that dotted the West End, at the foot of Beacon Hill. In April , the BRA gave West End residents and shopkeepers formal notice that their homes and businesses would be taken by eminent domain.

The community itself was not well-organized and had no representation on the city council, then comprised of at-large members. Because this kind of wholesale neighborhood destruction was unprecedented, few West End residents knew how to fight City Hall. By November, almost half of the 2, households were pushed out. By , almost the entire acre neighborhood was gone.

All these promises were broken. According to research done in the early s by Chester Hartman, a city planner at Harvard, West Enders were dispersed all over the Boston area. Almost all of them had to pay considerably more rent after they were forced to move. Marc Fried, a psychology professor at Boston College, interviewed the displaced residents.

Additional federal funds and insurance subsidized the development itself. Political squabbles between Rappaport and next mayor, John Collins, delayed construction of the project, however, and he did not complete Charles River Park until the early s. The project included 2, luxury apartments, two swimming pools, a tennis club, a hotel, two office buildings, parking garages, and a shopping center.

They stand where the houses and shops of the West End once existed. Rappaport used the profits from Charles River Park to expand his real estate empire. Rappaport never expressed any regret for his role in the destruction of the West End, one of the most tragic chapters of Boston history. He became a force in Boston politics. The next year, he convinced them to start phasing out the tenant protection law by adopting vacancy decontrol, which removes apartments from rent control when a tenant moves out.

Nine of the 13 City Council members showed up to honor the man with deep pockets for political candidates. Rappaport sold off the Charles River Park development in and expanded his efforts to cleanse his reputation by donating money to high visibility institutions. Jerry helped launch the Institute at Harvard Kennedy School in to help train future leaders, inspire fresh ideas, and contribute to excellence in the public sector.

Jerry was particularly proud of the state, local, and national leaders and innovators who got their start in public service through these experiential learning opportunities - and rightly so. Roosevelt Jr. New Boston Committee-endorsed candidates would go on to capture six of the nine spots on the Boston City Council, and all five School Committee positions.

In addition to creating this boutique law office for his real estate and political interests and endeavors, Jerry goes on to distinguish himself in the areas of tax abatement, zoning and eminent domain. Jerry founds and becomes First Executive Secretary of the New Boston Committee , a broad-based and non-partisan committee with a threefold mission of education, lobbying and political action, created to encourage and support candidates for the City Council and School Committee.

Many believe it to be the most successful political reform movement in Boston during the 20th Century.

Biography of jerome rapoport

The forum is dedicated to the memory of Joseph P. Philanthropy [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Boston Herald , September 15, The Boston Globe , April 11, TC Palm , June 24, The Boston Globe , October 26, See also "The Forum as an Adjunct of Legal education ". The Harvard Law School Forum. March 1, Retrieved February 20, See also, Time Magazine , October 8, Retrieved February 18, See also New York Times , October 7, Prentiss-Hall See also South End Citizen, November 25, Retrieved June 11, Boston Globe.

Basic Books. ISBN Retrieved June 10, Retrieved July 15, The Inquirer and Mirror. Archived from the original on September 5, Cure Alzheimer's Fund. Archived from the original on July 7,