Northeast News
January 1, 2014

This feisty newshound uses this space on a weekly basis to thrash local politicos for their willful misuse of the public trust or to point out the folly of how foolishly local government “operates.” Today, however, this news-dog mourns the passing of a true Northeast icon and visionary, Mary Therese Carroll.

When this li’l pooch took up residency in Historic Northeast some 24 years ago, Mary Therese Carroll was one of the first civic leaders this doggie met, and it’s a friendship that’s been valued to this day.

As part of her passion for community, Mary Therese founded the Sheffield Neighborhood Association which led directly to the origination of Old Northeast Inc. (ONE Inc.), a local CDC (Community Development Corporation) that assisted neighborhood associations with the heavy lifting they needed in navigating the bureaucratic waters at City Hall. A number of other entities were folded in under the ONE Inc. umbrella, including Northeast Mobile Crime Watch, a volunteer citizen crime patrol that assisted local law enforcement with identifying crime trouble spots. The MCW model, developed right here in Historic Northeast, has been duplicated on a national level with great success. Under her leadership, ONE Inc. also brought community policing to Northeast, a concept this pooch espouses to this day, because contrary to what current command staff may believe, it works! Unassuming as she was, she held local politicos’ feet to the fire, most usually for the betterment of her beloved Northeast. There’s not room enough here to adequately honor someone who truly shaped the direction of how neighborhood associations developed in Northeast. Suffice it to say, however, that every neighborhood association president in Northeast, past, present and future owes their business model, and so much more to a true Northeast pioneer.

The legacy and indelible footprint left by Mary Therese Carroll in Historic Northeast is long, storied and can be seen to this day in the numerous civic projects and events advanced by the Old Northeast Inc., Historic Northeast Restoration Corporation, Mobile Crime Watch and more. Her passing leaves a void in Northeast community leadership that hasn’t been seen in a long while and won’t soon be replaced.