3 minute read

Reflections of Bruce Berman: Lead Consultant to Metropolitan Beaches

By Carol Masshardt

There are many people responsible for the effort that led to the South Boston beaches designation as among the cleanest city beach in the country, and former Director of Strategy and Communications at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and current Lead Consultant to Metro Beaches, Bruce Berman, would be the first to credit a list too long to capture here. That said, he had the mind and heart to drive the project in what now could easily be taken for granted. With his life’s work both behind and ahead, he conveys satisfaction as well as concern for the precious and precarious water he loves.

First, imagine a man at 35 years old, graduate of Columbia University, who found his way to South Boston with a suitcase full of talents and a need for the calm that fishing could bring. Recalling a pivotal moment, he remembers traversing a barrier or two to fish behind the Edison, landing two beautiful stripers and soon after being confronted by police. His love for fishing and water and Broadway Bait were parameters to his life and areas illegal to fish troubled him. “I was met by police officers, who saw the fish, looked at me, and were forgiving,” he said, “and from that point I started to think about what mattered in a different way, and thought about water access without the possibility fo getting arrested!”

Through a series of opportunities, he began at Save the Harbor /Save the Bay in 1990 and stayed until 2021. “At the start the beaches were closed an average of one out of every three days in South Boston. There was a reluctance of the MWRA to spend a lot of money, and filthy city beaches weren’t getting attention,” he recalled.

“We looked at the data, and we wondered if we could address the storm water overflow from small storms, and how transformational it would be if accomplished. “Judge (A. David) Mazzone, who become involved in litigation said, ‘we need beaches clean for swimming damn near every day.’ My wife, Patty Foley, from South Boston and President of Save the Harbor Save the Bay until 2019, took the issue personally, and so did I. Many fine public servants, including Fred Laskey, Director of the MWRA, and Judge Mazzone, made the project of drilling a 2.1-mile tunnel that would store stormwater possible,” he said.

The cost for the entire project, including work on Pleasure Bay and Morrissey Blvd amounted to $224.7 million and was completed in 2013. It is the body of swimmable and glorious water where public housing children play for summer hours, and over which Prince William said spontaneously “this is fantastic” when meeting with President Biden in 2022. It is where adults and children fish calmly and hopefully, and where those new and long standing in Boston communities and beyond chose to spend free days from May-November.

In fact, this effort changed everything with clean water, except in the rare instance of a major hurricane level storm. South Boston became the envy of other communities, who had different problems to address and beaches to restore.

“Now it isn’t ‘saving’ the beaches as much as ‘sharing’ them, and as could be expected, the popularity of the beaches creates tensions between residents, and others wanting to enjoy the beach, and then environmental issues, such as rising sea levels. How this gets managed will tell the future,” said Berman.

Every aspect of beaches and water seem a second skin to Bruce Berman. He is as concerned about creating a pipeline of capable swimming kids who can become lifeguards, as he is aware of investments needed to maintain the magnificent shoreline and create access for those wanting to enjoy it.

Bruce Berman has no shortage of energy and interests. In addition to his beloved fishing, he is co-authoring a book on Fisheries with a colleague form Brown University, here he is a visiting scholar, as well as consulting, teaching, and managing a blog “The View from Sea Level.” All his activities seem to come back to creative partnerships and all things related to water.

“When I sit on my boat and look at the water and when I fish, and when I see clean swimmable beaches, I ask how I can enjoy this if I don’t share it?” Bruce Berman and Patty live on a boat in Boston most of the year, and he is still an angler, thinker and advocate for the water he well knows can change lives.

(Carol Masshardt can be reached at carolhardt@comcast.net)

This article is from: