Do you like shadows? Do you like historic places? Did you know that an appreciation of these items cannot coexist? Here to tell you so is the Massachusetts House of Representatives, with a bill that is "critical in protecting our historic parks" or would "stop any and all significant development from happening anywhere in the downtown Boston area," depending on which side you take. Bill 853 is a shadow-free republic sponsored by reps Marty Walz (D-Boston - Back Bay) and Byron Rushing (D-Boston - South End/Roxbury) and designed to prevent nefarious shadows from infringing on our public parks, specifically Christopher Columbus Park and the Rose Kennedy Greenway. It's a noble idea, though may border on being too restrictive of development. If you want to step out from the shadows and speak your mind on this bill, there's a meeting Tuesday, December 15 at 11:00 am in State House Room A2. You know, because everyone can drop everything and rush to the State House to fight shadows. If you can't make it tomorrow, contact your representative. After all, who knows what evil lurks in the shadows of buildings? [via UHub]
Results tagged “parks”
Boston Park Advocates highlighted the 2009 At-Large City Council Debate on Parks and Open Spaces on Monday. The candidates discussed ways to increase funding for parks, expansion of bike lanes, community gardens and seniors programs, and how to maintain sports fields. The debate featured 100 sponsors, which means people love parks. [UniversalHub]
Elvis Presley died this week, 30 years ago, on August 16, 1977. Boston is making like Memphis by holding various tributes to the King. First on the list is Mayor Menino's Movie Night on the Common. Tonight, the city will show Jailhouse Rock for free. The festivities will include a costume contest, and we're dying to find out if Menino will step into a sequined jumpsuit and throw on a pompadour wig. That we would...
NESN asks the question, "Will the poetry in the field spark romance in the stands?" Perhaps - but the first episode of Sox Appeal suggests that if you really want to woo someone, you're better off doing it without the distractions of a baseball game. Garrett Lucash, a retired figure skater who will apparently do anything to banish the stereotype of the male figure skater, meets with three different women. He tries to strike...
Attention, Brookline web surfers – Brookline has wireless Internet starting yesterday, and you now have free wi-fi for a month. Alas, after that, you have to subscribe, but if you have a subscription, you can still hop online and surf if you are in Brookline. The SSID is Brookline Wireless. The Brookline TAB has details on how the wireless works if you're just passing through Brookline and feel the urge to check your e-mail: Other...
With out of town guests visiting the cradle of the Revolution over the Fourth of July holiday, Bostonist made the pilgrimage down the red bricked freedom trail. In the North End near the Old North Church the fountain at the Paul Revere Mall was dormant. Dormant and disgusting. Full of nasty greenish stagnant water that sat in the pool without any flow whatsoever. It seemed an inviting pool for West Nile and EEE carrying mosquitoes to breed. The fountain makes the list of circulating fountains, those that recycle their water rather than continuously pump new water through the system and spitting in the eye of conservation efforts, even if it wasn't turned on yesterday.
All right, it wasn't exactly "Our hallowed snake-skull-cracking day", but there aren't too many opportunities to play the Diamondbacks and break out all the old snake jokes. What it was, was a tough game against a young pitcher pitching way above his head, and the Red Sox were fortunate to get out of it with a 10-inning, 4-3 win. Julian Tavarez pitched well, with a couple of mistakes, including giving Arizona's Stephen Drew a chance...
Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version...
It must be the Dunkies Turbo Ice. Well, not really. The makers of Hiro Beverage, yet another option on the ever-expanding field of contenders to Red Bull, asked Sperling's BestPlaces to come up with some stats on the most energetic cities to help hype the beverage's launch. Statistics supported the assertion and put Boston in third, San Francisco took the top spot and New York City was the nearest East Coast contender hitting the top...
Today the Globe ran a piece on Jackson Square. Void from the coverage was any mention of "cultural center," ample coverage was given to "crime stricken area." Jackson Square a precarious area between Roxbury and Jamaica Plain has been discussed as the anchor to the stretch of Centre Street to be renamed "Avenue de las Americas." Though we haven't heard much about the renaming initiative since it was first floated back in August. Avenue de...
As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading...
Hot on the heels of his feature film debut in Jesus Camp (Bostonist's most enthusiastic movie pick in October), megapreacher Ted Haggard faces allegations of methamphetamine use and indiscretions with a male prostitute. Haggard was (until last night) president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, where you can rent a "prayer closet" for $25 per night and apparently give new meaning to the phrase for...
Neighborhoods across the country get together this evening to celebrate their solidarity in participation of the National Night Out. A yearly cooperation between community police units, neighborhood watches, and members of the communities get together for block parties, candle light vigils, and many other activities. The Fenway Victory Gardens will be one of the community garden organizations getting together to participate in the National Night Out. They'll be illuminating the gardens with candles or flashlights to show their support for a safe and drug-free neighborhood. The muddy river as it runs through the Back Bay Fens is a known spot for some less than credible activities, and recently a community garden supporter and Bostonist reader snapped the picture of the needle in the garden you see here. It was sent to us with a plea to support their drive to make the Fenway Victory Gardens a safer place – the area around the parks has recently seen an increase in criminal activity as noted on the BPDNews blog with an accompanying graphic.
When dads have enough neckties, Dave Barry books, and an endless supply of Old Spice, the Father's Day present can be a tough find. So, instead of looking to the department stores, this year we took dear ol' dad out to Fenway Park. No, not to see an actual game. (How the hell are we suppose to get tickets?) Shelling out $12 per person and joining a group of 60 other Sox fans (with...
Sampaist is on the scene in São Paulo beginning this week to become the only ist south of the Equator. Editor Leandro M. Pinto leads the paulistanos down there.
The not-so-secret secret that a ride around the lagoon on a swan boat on a steaming New England afternoon is a great way for a tourist to feel comfortable or a Bostonian to feel nostalgic for childhood when they first climbed aboard the bike pedal style powered boats. The Swan Boats launch every May and are taken out of the water and stored at Labor Day – USA today reports, via the AP, that the...
The Big Dig is still making the news and it's supposed to be finished already. Delay after delay we thought we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, especially when they officially named the tunnel, but the job is still not done. Today the Big Dig headlines revolved around the millions of gallons of water that are still leaking into the underground roadways. A week ago it was the lagging state of the anticipated park construction.
Remember that hubbub a little while ago about the use of substandard concrete in the Big Dig tunnels? That Big Dig scandal was so five minutes ago. Today, it's all about the Rose Kennedy Greenway - the swath of park that will eventually sit atop the crumbling tunnel and brighten all of our lives. Specifically, it's about the memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, which the state legislature said in 2000 should be built somewhere (they left it up to the Turnpike Authority to choose where, and the Pike chose the greenway). Yesterday, Mayor Menino joined the chorus of public officials opposed to the memorial on the theory that it's unfair to have just one memorial to just one massacred ethnic group, and it would be a nightmare if every group got a memorial on the greenway (presumably, all that granite would hasten the tunnel's collapse).
Menino has come out voicing opposition to putting an Armenian genocide memorial on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. It is a reminder that the Greenway isn't at all finished – as if the Jersey barriers and haphazard chain-link fencing, backhoes, and dirt weren't enough. The Big Dig tunnels and roadways may be nearly complete, but the surface streets and greenspaces still show the public a seeming breakdown in infrastructure. Today's video is a public art piece put together titled "the Big Pig." The video shot in May 2000 (that's six years for those counting) is a slightly amusing adventure of a big pink pig cutout traipsing through some of the workzones. Boston may feel a sense of loss when those giant blue plywood sheets with a thin yellow stripe disappear from the landscape – it's just been so long.
LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow.
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...
Bostonist loves science but does not have the time to read the thousands upon thousands of scientific journals and magazines out there. This is where the Current Science and Technology Podcast proves its worth. A production of the Current Science and Technology Center at the Museum of Science in Boston, helps keep you up-to-date on the latest scientific research, trends, and news.
Um, because we dropped the ball when we should have been telling you about the upcoming Boston Winter Festival, in which the City's Parks Department teams up with various Vermont ski mountains and Toyota to put lots of fake snow on the Common and provide free snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and other stuff. Lodrina, of course, knew this and helpfully sent us an excerpt from the Boston.com story.
Bostonist has found that biking around the city is much more convenient that other vehicular travel. Boston may be a walking city, but when you’re looking to get from Central Square to Centre St., the bike ride is only about 20 minutes, it’ll take you that long in a car with no traffic, and a bit longer if you’re taking the subway or busses. The Southwest Corridor park is one of our favorite ways to...
When Bostonist received an e-mail notifying us that the results were in, we were expecting news about a new M&M color being introduced. It turns out the e-mail was referring to the latest survey from Men's Fitness magazine, which once again ranked the Fittest/Fattest Cities in the U.S. While Bostonist’s own fitness routine has dropped off in the last few months, it seems that our city has actually improved in health, moving from the 11th Fittest City in 2005 to the 10th Fittest City in 2006. The Fittest City overall is Baltimore, which was ranked 25th in 2005, while Chicago takes the Fattest City award (but that authentic deep dish pizza is definitely worth it). So, how did little ol' Boston get to the number 10 spot? Well, Men's Fitness created a report card of sorts to see how all the cities stacked up in 5 areas. Here is how we did:
Big Dig officials keep telling Boston that the project is almost complete. Bostonist will believe it when we see it. With the mélange of Jersey Barriers (named for the cow, not the state), confusing signage, incomplete parks, and on and off ramps that may or may not get you on or off anything, the project doesn’t seem to be in those final stages. The Rose Kennedy Greenway, the 30 acre park system between the North End, Aquarium and the rest of Boston, remains a rough cement riddled dirty mess. Part of the plan for the greenway is a pedestrian way that flows right past the InterContinental Hotel currently under construction. The hotel’s plan to move the sidewalk favored their valet pull in rather than pedestrian right of way. WalkBoston and the InterContinental have been in negotiations fighting for each others interests. Today the Boston Globe reports, they both may have budged just a few inches (literally inches, ok, maybe a foot here and there) to an acceptable compromise.
Boston, along with numerous other cities including; Detroit, Cleveland, Newark, DC, New York City and Philly, honored Rosa Parks by leaving a bus seat empty on each of the city's buses to commemorate her heroic act in 1955 of refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Ms. Parks recently passed away, and just today President Bush announced that a statue would be erected in her honor at the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.
