Results tagged “citygovernment”

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late-night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late-night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock to it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such as...

The Boston Globe popped a little story in the business section this morning about another Menino belly-ache that he shouldn't be belly-aching about. The Filene's store that closed earlier this year has been home to a street-level discount bonanza serving as a clearance center for the Federated Department stores. The cramped, trashy store is selling a lot of wares at deep discounts on the first floor of the formerly six floor store. Menino is worried...

It's easy to make fun of the Herald, as Bostonist has oft demonstrated, but sometimes you can't get the full story in this two-newspaper town unless you read both papers (or let Adam at Universal Hub do it for you). Case in point: If you read in the Globe about the collapse of an exterior metal staircase on a Brighton building, you learn that a man was killed when the staircase, which he was climbing, fell off the building. You also learn that the owner of the building was ordered to stop renovation work because he didn't have a permit, and was then denied a permit. If you read the Herald coverage, you get little detail on the whole permit history, but do find out that the guy who was killed was attempting to break into the house. Both papers give us the punchline: The building owner was cited by the City of Boston for maintaining an unsafe structure.

Long ago, when the happy promise of springtime filled the air, Bostonist told you that Somerville was making plans to be the first Boston-area municipality (and only the second in the whole Commonwealth) to implement a 311 phone line for non-emergency calls to city government. Back then, it didn't seem like much of a big deal. "Non-emergency calls to Somerville?!" you scoffed. "Forget that! It's the middle of May! I'm going to go drink beer and flirt with good-looking young people." But now, with winter holding you in its crushing, angry grip, the news that the system is actually up and running seems pretty exciting, doesn't it? OK, not really. But it's true: Somerville residents have now joined the illustrious ranks of New Yorkers, Chattanoogans, and others in being able to dial 311 for all their municipal needs.

One indisputable truth is that parking is a contentious issue in this town. (Last winter, Bostonist's car was keyed when we parked in a spot around the block from our house with no lawn chair in it (and this was after we graciously dug out three spots on our corner and reserved none of them!). Even commenting on parking has brought the wrath of other bloggers upon Bostonist's head.) Another truism is that whatever the city does, South Boston residents will not be happy about it. As the Globe gently says, Southie "zealously guards its independence and consistently resents the involvement of city government." So expect some tense resident vs. tow-truck battles in the months to come now that Southie is getting resident parking restrictions.

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...