20170626 Environmental Story

By Dan Shulman

The summer season officially arrived last Wednesday, as temperatures finally begin to climb steadily and rain becomes less plentiful, city life looks to finally be returning to normal. The past week has been a stark contrast to the soggy and chilly conditions that have plagued the Fenway neighborhood throughout much of the spring.

The Fenway neighborhood has recorded 23.4 inches of rainfall so far in 2017, only 4.4 inches shy of the total for the entire 2016 calendar year. The abundance of wet weather has affected local businesses and city attractions throughout the past couple months.

Around Fenway Park, Red Sox games in April were postponed due to rain while several others in May were played in brutal conditions in a sparsely populated ballpark.

One vendor manning a sausage and steak tips stand, Anthony Diviccio, said business has declined sharply from last year.

“We can’t drag the cart out in the rain,” Diviccio said.

Diviccio went on to explain how a lot of his food was wasted this spring due to wet and cold weather

Diviccio’s  cart has been a mainstay on the corner of Yawkey Way and Van Ness St. He recently had his liquor store on Boylston St. go out of business and is heavily relying upon his street vending for a source of income.

“It’s unfortunate but we’ve got to fight through it,” Diviccio said. “We had a couple years without any rain and now it rains twice a week. ”

On the other side of the ballpark on Lansdowne Street, souvenir stores across from the stadium remained shuttered on non-game days. When the team is in town, sales have dropped as cold and wet weather force fans to opt for cozy couches instead of frigid Fenway.

“Most fans just come in to escape the rain for a few minutes,” Red Sox team store employee Beth Gabriello said. “We don’t sell a lot. “I can’t remember wearing a jacket to work in June. It’s been real cold.”

Over in the Fenway Victory Gardens, flowers and plots are just now coming into full bloom. But some plots still remain barren, victimized by the chilly spring.

South Boston resident Helen O’Grady looked deflated as she arrived at the garden on Thursday afternoon, attempting to salvage anything she could in her withering plot. None of her tomato, basil or thyme plants survived, she said.

Pathways around the garden are muddy with several puddles littering the grounds.

“This year was just too cold,” O’Grady said.