The Boston Globe - 31.07.2019

B4 Metro The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019

By Emily Sweeney
GLOBE STAFF
and Sarah Wu
AND GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
REVERE — The owner of a
popular restaurant that was
gutted by a raging fire vowed to
rebuild Tuesday morning.
Artan “George” Vlladesi,
who owns the Bagel Bin Deli at
207 Shirley Ave., said he has no
idea what sparked the four-
alarm fire. He said he closed up
as usual at the end of the day
Monday.
“I was shocked when they
called me and said this hap-
pened,” he said. “I couldn’t be-
lieve it.”
The cause of the fire is under
investigation.
Revere Fire Captain Robert
Fortuna said the call came in
Monday night at 11:38 and the
fourth alarm was struck around
12:45 a.m. Tuesday. He said the
building was a total loss.
The Bagel Bin Deli operated
seven days a week and was
known for serving breakfast,
burgers, pizza, pasta, salads,
subs, and calzones. Vlladesi
said the restaurant recently cel-
ebrated its 20th anniversary.
His daughter, Katherine
Prifti, said she was 13 when her
family opened the eatery.
“We treated everyone like
family here,” she said. “People
say, you have a business, but it
wasn’t a business for us. Every-
body that came through that
door was loved.”
She recalled working behind
the counter with her parents as
a teenager, and getting to know
customers so well that she
knew when they would come in
and what they would order.
“There’s a lot of people that
come to the restaurant who

were at my wedding,” she said.

Ward 2 City Councilor Ira

Novoselsky said he started his

day at the Bagel Bin every day.

“I call this my office,” he

said. “This place is an icon.”

He said the Bagel Bin was a

political hub that drew high-

profile officials like former sen-

ator Scott Brown and the late

John McCain. “We’d have com-

munity meetings here,” he said.

“It was the place to go. Every-

one knew the Bagel Bin. People

would come around and hang

out for hours and hours.”

As the news spread about

the fire, residents bemoaned

the loss. Bob Mahoney, a Revere

resident, came to the Bagel Bin

Deli at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast

every day — oatmeal with

strawberries on weekdays, ba-

con and eggs on the weekend.

On Tuesday, he was devastated.

“We all knew each other. It’s

the meeting place of Revere,”

Mahoney said of the several

groups that met for breakfast at

the Bagel Bin. “There are a cou-

ple of places on Broadway that

we’ll go to, but it’s not like here.

It’s just not like here.”

Onu Shaibu, 36, came by

around 10:30 a.m. for a meal.

“That’s the only good place

in the neighborhood to eat,” he

said. “Their price is affordable.”

Dean Anderson, the manag-

er of Ocean Liquors at 210 Shir-

ley Ave., described the Bagel

Bin’s owner as a “warm-hearted

guy” who is a “fixture in the

neighborhood.”

“If you’re a little short on

money, he’ll let you pay later,”

he said.

After learning about the fire,

many customers took to social

media to lament.

“The ave will never be the

same without bagel bin,” one

person tweeted.

But the Bagel Bin’s Facebook

page offered them some reas-

surance, declaring: “We will re-

build.”

Emily Sweeney can be reached

at [email protected].

Fire rips

through

beloved

eatery

Revereresidents

ruelossofahub

PAUL KOOLLOIAN

JONATHAN WIGGS/GLOBE STAFF

Firefighters battled a four-

alarm blaze at the Bagel Bin

Deli (above) in Revere early

Tuesday. Afterward, Artan

“George” Vlladesi and his

wife, Emanuela, spoke to

reporters about the

overnight fire that

destroyed their business,

which they aim to rebuild.

cutors. Officers saw Robinson
with “blood coming from her
nose and the back of her head,”
said the government’s state-
ment of the case filed in court.
“She was unresponsive, did not
have a pulse, did not appear to
be breathing and her eyes were
rolled back in her head.”
Robinson was later pro-
nounced dead at Massachusetts
General Hospital, records show,
and the cause of death was de-
termined to be “blunt force
head injuries.”
A witness indicated that a
suspect, later identified as Pla-
za, had “forcefully” shoved Rob-
inson with two hands, the state-
ment said. The assailant was
wearing a hoodie with the hood
up, along with dark jeans and
dark sneakers with white soles.
After allegedly shoving Rob-
inson, the filing said, Plaza got
on a bicycle and rode toward

uASSAULT
Continued from Page B

Boston. A McDonald’s cup at

the crime scene and video sur-

veillance footage helped investi-

gators retrace Robinson’s route

before the attack from a Mc-

Donald’s at the Twin City shop-

ping plaza in Somerville to War-

ren Street in Cambridge, near

the scene of the alleged attack,

according to prosecutors.

Additional video footage

captured Plaza on a bike “in the

aftermath of the incident as he

fled the scene,” the statement

said.

Plaza was interviewed by in-

vestigators and denied any in-

volvement in the attack, accord-

ing to the filing, though he did

say that he rode his bike on

Cambridge Street on the night

of the incident, according to the

statement.

Investigators, however,

learned that he told a witness

he had “pushed her by acci-

dent,” the filing said. He also

told authorities that the sneak-

ers he wore on the night of the

attack were stolen while he was

asleep, and that he left the bicy-

cle unsecured “so someone

would take it because he had

been on it on Cambridge Street

that day,” the document said.

Asked about the bike’s

whereabouts, Plaza allegedly

told investigators, “it’s gone.”

He said he had burned the

sweatshirt and pants he wore

that night “because he was wor-

ried about being associated

with this incident,” the state-

ment said.

Robinson’s family declined

to comment after Tuesday’s ar-

raignment.

Robinson had attended the

youth academy at the Cam-

bridge Police Department,

which honored her family at the

academy’s 2018 graduation cere-

mony. Her family organized a

march in her honor last July, at-

tended by more than 100 people.

“She had future plans to be-

come an emergency medical

technician,” her family said last

year as part of the march. “She

loved to dance and she loved

makeup and getting her nails

done.”

Plaza had been arrested in

Cambridge several weeks be-

fore Robinson’s death, accord-

ing to court records. On June 6,

2018, legal filings show, Plaza

was arrested for allegedly tres-

passing on the Rindge and Lat-

in campus and earlier stealing

someone’s dog, a Staffordshire

Bull Terrier valued at $1,000.

At the time, he was dating a

student at the high school, who

wasn’t named in a redacted

copy of the police report.

Two days before Plaza’s ar-

rest for allegedly trespassing, a

female had gone to the Cam-

bridge police station to report

that Plaza physically assaulted

her on June 2 after she rejected

his sexual advances, according

to a separate police report.

According to that report, Pla-

za punched her in the arm, leav-

ing a bruise, and threatened to

stab her with his pocket knife if

she told anyone. He was

charged with assault and bat-

tery in that matter. It wasn’t im-

mediately clear Tuesday how the

June 2018 cases were resolved.

The next hearing in Plaza’s

manslaughter case is slated for

Aug. 13.

Travis Andersen can be reached

at [email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@TAGlobe. John R. Ellement

can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.

Man charged with manslaughter in death of 15-year-old girl

PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF

Isaias Plaza was arraigned on a charge of manslaughter.

By Travis Andersen
GLOBE STAFF
A contractor ordered to stop
work on the Boston Garden Of-
fice Tower after material fell
from the construction site on
Causeway Street last week had
resumed some operations by
Tuesday, the company said.
A spokesperson for John
Moriarty & Associates said that
workers were allowed to work
inside the building on Friday,
Monday, and Tuesday, and that
cranes are currently allowed to
operate, other than hoisting
steel.
“We continue to work with
the city and state to ensure any
areas of concern are immedi-
ately addressed,” the company
said. “The items on the cita-
tions were remedied over the
weekend and, since Monday,

the use of cranes has been ap-

proved for all activities other

than hoisting steel.”

“The safety of our jobsites

and the well-being of those who

work on them is our absolute

top priority,” the statement

said.

No one was hurt in the inci-

dent.

The city’s Inspectional Ser-

vices Department hit Moriarty

with a stop work order last

Thursday just hours after an-

other company, Corolla Con-

struction, was ordered to stop

work on a construction site in

the North End, where a woman

was struck by falling metal.

“On Thursday, inspectors re-

sponded to a building collapse

at the Boston Garden Office

Tower, located at 50-150 Cause-

way St.,” the department said in

a statement issued Monday.

“Upon arrival, the building in-

spector found two wire rope

chokers parted, which had

caused the load to fall onto a

trailer on the worksite,”

The response from ISD was

swift.

“The Inspectional Services

Department issued an immedi-

ate Stop Work Order and viola-

tions for unsafe structure and

lifting cables frail and broke on

lifting steel beams off truck,”

the statement said. “In addi-

tion, all parties involved were

ordered to report to the Inspec-

tional Services Department the

following day.”

At a meeting Friday, ISD

said, the agency told Moriarty

to stop using cranes and hoist-

ing operations “until further

notice,” and required the com-

pany to provide daily reports of

rigging inspections, and other

safety measures, the statement

said.

At present, building officials

have allowed work to continue

on the inside of the building on-

ly. No other work will be al-

lowed until all required mea-

sures have been completed.

The incident at the Boston

Garden Office Tower came

hours after a woman was seri-

ously hurt as she walked by a

different site on Atlantic Ave-

nue.

The woman, who is believed

to be in her 30s, was struck

Thursday morning by a metal

railing when it apparently was

dislodged as a crane was shift-

ing a pallet of construction ma-

terial onto the roof of a five-sto-

ry condo building at 47 Com-

mercial Wharf East on Atlantic

Avenue.

On Friday, ISD cited Corolla

Contracting for conducting

work without proper permits

and creating “an unsafe and

dangerous” environment.

Travis Andersen can be reached

at [email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@TAGlobe.

Work allowed to resume at site near Garden

Companiescited

forcraneincidents

site for recreation, yoga, art,

and music.

Greenfield said that once pa-

tients arrive, they must surren-

der all technology. After several

weeks of separation – and of

learning about sustainable

screen-time habits – they’ll be

gradually reacquainted, he

said.

The Tennessee health care

company, which operates six

other facilities for eating disor-

der and social integration, al-

ready lists the Greenfield Re-

covery Center on its website.

The program in Leyden would

also be geared for adults who

“compulsively” use the Inter-

net, social media or smart-

phones.

Company officials did not re-

spond to requests for comment.

“Our mission is to provide the

tools and coping skills needed

to interact with technology in a

healthier and more balanced

way,” Odyssey’s website reads.

Plans for the center were re-

ported earlier by the Recorder

newspaper of Greenfield.

The facility is being pro-

posed amid debate over gaming

disorder. The World Health Or-

ganization has recognized it as

an official disease. The Ameri-

can Psychiatric Association has

deemed it a “condition warrant-

ing more clinical research and

experience.”

Dr. Ron Pies, a clinical pro-

fessor of psychiatry at Tufts

University School of Medicine

is dubious of any type of treat-

ment for “Internet addiction”

or “Internet Gaming Disorder.”

“The bottom line from the

research I looked at is that

there are no good, solid, ran-

domized, controlled studies [re-

garding] efficacy,” Pies said in

an e-mail Tuesday. “There is

still controversy [regarding]

whethertheterm‘addiction’

ought to apply, at least in the

sense we would apply that term

to opiate or alcohol ‘addiction.’ ”

The town’s municipal assis-

tant, Michele Giarusso, said

Tuesday that about 50 people

attended the public hearing last

week in Leyden, population

about 700. Some raised ques-

tions about staffing numbers

and security protocols, especial-

ly if patients were to “escape”

overnight and knock on the

doors of nearby homes.

uCOMPULSIVE

Continued from Page B

Greenfield laughed at what

he called the stereotypical mis-

conception of addicted video

gamers roaming the streets in a

zombie-like haze. He said Odys-

sey would install a security sys-

tem and that there will always

be employees on duty.

“In general, this population

is fairly docile,” Greenfield said

of those who would seek help.

“What they really want to do is

be in front of a screen.”

Giarusso said that other

worries expressed at the meet-

ing touched on “dual addic-

tion,” or the idea that patients

could simultaneously be addict-

ed to pornography or drugs.

“There are some concerns

this is a quiet, rural town,” Giar-

usso said by phone. “Will this

change it? No one has an an-

swer for that.”

Greenfield said he hopes to

open the center as early as this

fall, pending a decision from

the town Planning Board.

The center would be located

on the site currently occupied

by Angels’ Rest Retreat, which

for nearly two decades has host-

ed spiritual and corporate re-

treats, personal growth work-

shops, family gatherings, and

wellness vacations, according

to its website.

The fast-moving process be-

gan in May, when Odyssey con-

tacted the retreat’s owner, Jen-

nifer Paris, about purchasing

the property.

“It’s a healing land, and it’s

always been used for healing,”

said Paris, who is retiring. “It’s

just been kind of a sacred place.

To benefit young men, I think

that’s awesome.”

Alison Kuznitz can be reached

at [email protected].

Follow her on Twitter at

@AlisonKuznitz.

‘Gaming disorder’

center proposed

‘Thebottomline

fromtheresearch

Ilookedatisthat

therearenogood,

solid,randomized,

controlledstudies

...’

DR. RON PIES, professor,

Tufts School of Medicine

By Emily Sweeney

GLOBE STAFF

The number of fire deaths in

Massachusetts decreased by 22

percent in 2018, according to

the state Department of Fire

Services.

The latest annual statistics,

as reported by local fire depart-

ments through the Massachu-

setts Fire Incident Reporting

System, also show that the total

number of fires declined from

2017.

Fire officials reported that

the total number of fires in

2018 — 25,504 — declined by 9

percent. There were 27,

fires the previous year.

Fire officials also reported

that 45 civilians — 24 men, 19

women, and two children —

died in 40 fatal fires last year,

and one firefighter died in a

fire-related incident. Compara-

tively, in 2017, 56 civilians died

in 43 fatal fires, and two fire-

fighters died in fire-related inci-

dents.

Forty-four percent of fatal

fire victims last year were

adults over age 65, and 87 per-

cent of civilian fire victims died

in their homes, records show.

Mass. fire deaths declined

last year, officials report