In March, the Boston Zoning Commission gave the green light to a Boston City Council proposal to restrict the number of college age tenants in a rental unit to four. Now the legality of the plan will be challenged in court. The rationale behind the restriction was that having large numbers of students together in one dwelling leads to raucous partying and ascending rental prices (which could price "traditional families" out of neighborhoods.) But......

Now we completely understand the downside of Google Street View after discovering that City Councilor Sal LaMattina, aka "The Ice Cream Man," was immortalized on Google Street View taking out his garbage without a shirt on. Dave Wedge at the Herald somehow came up with it. We're not sure if Wedge was hard up for a story and looked up all the addresses of the City Councilors on Google Street View, but he found something......

Peter Berdovsky--VJ, artist, and one of the men behind last year's "Mooninite Menace"--and the city of Boston better learn to live with each other because Berdovsky isn't going away anytime soon. The AP interviewed Berdovsky about his post-Aqua Teen life, which Bostonist has covered before. Berdovsky has been working steadily as an artist and was voted a top "VJ" in his chosen art medium. He certainly hasn't been shunned by the art community. However, as......

City Councilor President Maureen Feeney ("MoFee") has suggested hosting a gigantic town meeting at the South Boston Convention Center in the spring, the Globe reports. The mayor is not feeling the idea because of the teeming hordes that are likely to descend up on the convention center to speak their minds and he has to listen to kvetching all the time, anyway. But the mere presence of teeming hordes is the point. All too......

While the idea of living with seven or so people in an apartment that should only hold four sounds disgusting, it's kind of fun and a reasonable option for cash-strapped college students. However, Boston City Councilor Michael Ross wants to put an end to it. Ross wants only four students, max, to live in any one apartment. According to Scott Van Voorhis, he wants his plan to be part of the city's zoning code. The......

--What would happen if you threw a Christmas mass and the priest never came? [Boston Herald] --Looks like City Councilor Maureen Feeney (aka "MoFee") will be elected City Council president for another term. [Boston Globe] --Even though the family that owns the stores skipped the country, Alpha Omega stores reopened. [WBZ] --Since Filene's is undergoing reconstruction, the annual "Running of the Brides" is moving to Hynes Convention Center and will be held February 22. [Boston......

Some City Councilors have complained about the mayor's blame game regarding the snowstorm, but one city councilor might be contributing to the problem. WBZ sent cameras to Chuck Turner's house in Roxbury, where his sidewalk wasn't shoveled. It gets better. Turner said that he's not going to shovel it and "claims people in his neighborhood don't use sidewalks." Well, where do they walk, then? Do they float? If a sidewalk is on the street, it's......

--Former Boston City Councilor, Albert "Dapper" O'Neil, who probably enjoyed the best nickname bestowed up on a councilor, passed away at age 87. The Globe used many adjectives to describe him, all of which can be freely interpreted, such as "irascible" and "colorful." He opposed desegregation and, in the words of the Globe, "railed against feminists, gays, and immigrants." [Boston Globe] --In a piece from 1997, Yvonne Abraham reflects on Dapper O'Neil's unusual appeal to......

Councilor John Tobin thinks that Dominic Luberto, the man whose "Christmas Castle" bathes Jamaica Plain in holiday light, is courting disaster. Tobin wants Luberto to hire a police detail because he thinks gawkers driving past the "Christmas Castle" might cause a car accident. It's a legitimate question. One of Luberto's neighbors said recently, "I love the lights. I just don't want anybody to get killed." Luberto is rebuffing Tobin's suggestion. He told WHDH that the......

Mayor Thomas Menino probably won't be happy with today's Boston Herald. The lead story paints a picture of Menino as a master player of the blame game. The article seems to be the result of Menino's rage after the snowstorm mess. Jessica Van Sack writes that people noticed Menino didn't step up and admit that any of those problems were his fault. It's old-school "you smelt it, you dealt it" politics. The piece suggests that......

This rounds up the best of local blogs. Now that we're doing "Bite Size News," "Series of Tubes" will repeat those links, too. --Matt O'Malley, who has run for city councilor himself, analyzes the votes in the Boston City Council election and finds out what may have gone wrong for Felix Arroyo and right for John Connolly. [O'Malley on the Web] --Brace yourselves! Bobby Brown will perform at the Boston Music Awards on December 1.......

Boston city councilors Stephen Murphy and John Connolly aren't the only ones who have to learn how to get along. City councilor Chuck Turner, he of the stunning goatee, will also need to learn how to get along with Northeastern University, or vice versa depending which side you're on. Before the city council elections, Turner was angry with the school for not treating the neighborhood he represents with enough respect. He didn't mince words on......

Boston City Council: The four winners in the at-large race were incumbents Michael Flaherty, Stephen Murphy, Sam Yoon, and new arrival John Connolly. Incumbent Felix Arroyo didn't make the cut. Now Murphy and Connolly will need to figure out how to live with each other after Connolly's anonymous mailers, which accused Murphy of always looking for other jobs. Michael Pahre at Brighton Centered reports that Mark Ciommo defeated Greg Glennon for the District 9 slot......

Carlo Basile, the man who was officially Democrat but fell somewhere between elephant and donkey, will be the new State Representative for East Boston. He won handily with 46% of the vote. The Hubster noted that turnout was 4,495. In the Boston City Council elections, Chuck Turner breezed to victory in District 7 (Roxbury) with 75.73% of the vote. Carlos Henriquez was second place with only 16.26% of the vote, so they will face off......

The Boston City Council wants to follow San Francisco's footsteps and ban plastic bags from the city. Robert Consalvo (Hyde Park / Roslindale / Mattapan) is pushing the measure, and nine of twelve city councilors have offered their support. We're all for protecting the environment, but the way Robert Consalvo describes those bags, you'd think we were being attacked by plastic bags: "They blow in trees, they're floating in Boston Harbor . . . They're......

Maureen Feeney (Dorchester) has been elected the first female Boston City Council president in 30 years. She gained more support from other councilors than incumbent and longtime president Michael Flaherty (at large) and John Tobin (JP, West Roxbury). Aside from the great news that a woman is in charge after way too long, the other news is the fallout from Flaherty's defeat. The Globe repeats that he's still aiming for the mayor's office. Joe......

Normally, politicians like their constituents good and drugged out from the sweet opiate that is television. However, the Boston City Council wants to pry the remote from some residents' grubby hands by banning them from attaching satellite dishes to the fronts of buildings. City Council President Michael Flaherty calls the sight of dishes on buildings an "eyesore," but satellite services are often the only option for those who are either sick of Comcast or Comcast's......

Call Bostonist crazy, but WTF?! The Boston City Council has taken up the cause of making parking lot operators refund money to Sox fans who park and then leave because of rain delays. Naturally, we can see the political capital in this move, what with the way that lot operators jack up prices when demand is high (stupid capitalism!), but will someone at City Hall start getting serious about encouraging fans to take the T......

Believe it or not, the town that went nearly 85% for John Kerry last year, has a city-sponsored Commission on Nuclear Disarmament and Peace Education, and is lovingly (or not) refered to as the People's Republic also has some Republicans...or one, at least. Buried in the "Political Notes" section of last week's Cambridge Chronicle is a short blurb about Andre Green, a young Republican who has announced his candidacy for Cambridge City Council: Green......