CHELSEA CITY STORIES
In celebration of Chelsea’s 400th Anniversary, we are re-releasing Chelsea City Stories, a story telling project “through the decades” told by Chelsea residents. These five minute videos are selections from 45 minute interviews. Thank you to Leo Robinson, Josh Resnek, Roseann Bongiovanni, Celeste Williams and Dan Cortez for their time and sharing their stories.
Created, produced and directed by Clark Ave Productions and Jukebox Events during the first year of the pandemic.
Supported by Chelsea Cultural Grant and sponsorship from Windy Studios. Questions about the project? Please email info@chelseacitystudio.com.
Also - please excuse that one typo!
Leo Robinson
Leo Robinson is a life-long resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts, and he currently serves at the President of the Chelsea City Council. In the past he as been a two-term Alderman in the city and a Commissioner on the Chelsea Housing Authority as well as the President of the CAPIC Real Estate Board.
In this video, he shares his stories about the fires - both the 1909 fire and the 1973 fire that impacted his family and their neighborhood.
Josh Resnek
An Emmy Award-winning Boston journalist and former Vice President and Editor of The Independent Newspaper Group. He has served as the Editor-at-Large for the Improper Bostonian magazine. His work has been published in The New York Times, The China Times, The Jerusalem Post, The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, The Boston Phoenix, Lawyers Weekly and the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, among many others. He has also appeared on national television as a commentator on 60 Minutes and Court TV. He is today a journalist, businessman and consultant and the owner of The Chelsea Press LLC, publisher of Casino Boston.
In this video, we here about the time Josh spent working at his father’s pharamcy and the people he remembers.
Roseann Bongiovanni
Executive Director, MPH, of GreenRoots Chelsea Roseann has worked for environmental justice for more than 25 years. Her extensive career began as a young organizer with the Chelsea Green Space Committee and included victories defeating the construction of a diesel power plant, and preventing ethanol “bomb” trains from traveling to a Chelsea Creek oil terminal. In 2016, Roseann transitioned this vital work into the independent environmental justice and public health organization, GreenRoots, which played a critical role in the response to COVID-19 in Chelsea and East Boston. Under her leadership, Chelsea was named a Culture of Health Prize Winner in 2017, GreenRoots was selected as a Social Innovator in 2018 and was named a US EPA Merit Award Winner in 2021.
In this video she shares her “aha” moment, when she realized her calling and purpose and commitment to making the City of Chelsea environmentally safe - a green place.
Celeste Williams
Community member Celeste Williams didn’t much like Chelsea when she first visited in the early seventies. But Chelsea won her over when the community rallied around her family during a difficult time.
Here she shares her initial impression and the story of how she came to think of Chelsea as “home”.
Dan Cortez
Dan Cortez is the Community Engagement Specialist for the Chelsea Police Department in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Dan works closely with residents, community leaders, elected officials, business owners and community-based organizations along with police personnel to create meaningful relationships and partnerships aimed at improving the safety and well-being of the community.
When he first moved to Chelsea he said he could squint his eyes and imagine he was on a city block in Brooklyn in the 1950s. In this video Dan shares his first impression of the City and why he has dedicated the last decade to helping our most vulnerable community members.