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Happy Allstonmas!
By adamg on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 9:57am
BostonTweet reminds us what today is. And we remind you: Don't let the bedbugs bite!
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Comments
T alert
I just got the following T alert:
"Route 66 experiencing 20-25 min delays due to 9/1/2010"
I know, I know, it's just their typical sloppy, illiterate writing for those alerts (I'm so tired of "disable vehicle" alerts...), but it was pretty funny under the circumstances.
hey,
at least give 'em points for being honest for once.
Allstonmas (don't forget Brighton!) as full-fledged debacle
It was brutal. It took me 25 minutes to go 1 mile though A-B this morning - that same mile having taken all of 2-3 minutes (even with some red lights) over the past few weeks. If I see one more SUV with New Jersey plates and a mattress on top I am going to puke.
Also, it seems like the amount of crap put out on the streets this year is much greater than usual, with the result being that it looks like a freakin' shantytown over there. It is also a pretty big hazard, since the sidewalks are impassable for pedestrians, pushing them into the street, and there is so much crap on the sidewalk that it is cascading onto the street (I almost clipped a rogue table leg with my passenger side mirror). Now would be a very good time for the City to do some revenue enhancement. What a debacle.
Who is in charge of enforcing these things?
I live in Allston, and frequently see the BTD people ticketing cars for not having resident stickers, but who enforces trash and other violations?
Wouldn't it make sense for the same people who are walking the streets enforcing parking permits to also be able to write citations for trash and un-shoveled walkways? They're already out walking around all day anyway, and they're able to recognize the difference between a table just left by a renter and a sidewalk obstruction that has been there for 2 or 3 days. I'm sure it would require restructuring of the bureaucracy, but I think in the long run it would save the city money, increase revenue from violations, and improve the over all cleanliness of the city.
City Inspectional Services
Why they're not out here 24/7 this week, I have no idea.
call it in, Sam
I agree the city should be proactive, but Proactive isn't a word in Menino's vocabulary, or the vocab of any city workers.
So, you have to report stuff.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/mayor/24/
If you have an iPhone:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/iphone.asp
Reportedly, tickets with photos showing the problem get triaged quicker because they can verify much of what's said just by looking at the photo, so upload away.
Trash
Part of the trash problem is that unlike some recent years, the city hasn't bothered with special trash collection runs. I know that last year, at least, even though the official collection day is Thursday, there were trucks picking up trash every day from the 30th to the 2nd.
I'm concerned about the number of televisions and computer monitors I've seen out in my neighborhood, because the city takes a hard line on not picking up those items without a special request, and many of the transient residents don't know how or don't care to bother with that. Unfortunately, the longer those items sit on the sidewalk the more likely they are to get smashed in the weekend's drunken entertainments, which leaves hazardous waste all over the sidewalk and street.
yeah, Menino loves to bitch about stuff like that
Same with Sail Boston, remember that fuss?
Yet every weekend, there's a crew of a dozen guys with trucks and massive bucket-loaders cleaning up the piles of rotting garbage, cardboard, and wooden crates from the haymarket; the stench is unbelievable:
I was going to mention that it looked like the Haymarket...
File under photo being worth 1000 words. Reason No. 784 why the Haymarket should be moved out of that location.
Honest to God several strips of Allston Street looked like this and worse this morning.
I love Haymarket in that
I love Haymarket in that area. Sure it's crowded and smellyt and noisy but that's the city for ya.
I am surprised that some of the hotels and such in the area haven't objected more. There's that one hotel right across from Quincy Market which has Haymarket right outside its door and it always smells to high heaven saturday night
I believe they have complained
I seem to recall an article some time back that said the hotels nearby had been trying to pressure the city to do something about it.
Watch as the indoor market on the Greenway is used as a justification for "scaling back" (read: closing) Haymarket.
Fruit and vegetable salesmen
Fruit and vegetable salesmen have been gathering in that area for hundreds of years. They shouldn't have to leave because an overpriced hotel was built there a year or two ago.
Leave? No. Clean up after
Leave? No.
Clean up after themselves? Yes.
The bed bug thing is making
The bed bug thing is making me queezy. There's a pile of mattresses and sofas outside my building since yesterday and this morning they were all tagged with those "this might contain bedbugs" tickets.
As someone who lives year round in Allston this is the worst time of year since you've got all the people coming back but it's still summery out and school hasn't started up so they've got nothing to do and they just lounge around the stoops.
Compounding the problem
Cambridge Avenue is (or at least was two hours ago) down to one lane each way due to construction. Backup caused a line 1/4 mile long to get off the Pike both eastbound and westbound.
Cambridge St. Construction
I'd be happy if there was actually construction taking place on the Cambridge St. overpass - the lane has been blocked off for weeks and I have yet to see any work being done. I am hoping that this lane was not blocked off merely to reduce the amount of weight that the overpass was being subjected to at any given time.
In any case, the traffic has regularly been backed up to where the pike ramp enters Cambridge St. since the lane restriction on the overpass went into effect. And this has been with the light late summer traffic. This is about to get a hell of a lot worse - like when the Pike decided (or its toll takers forced it) to operate only one cash booth at the westbound A-B tolls, and traffic backed up to the Pru Tunnel.
Getting ugly
There's some kind of traffic tie-up happening on Ashford. Lots of blaring horns. Add in the shitty weather and I'm suspecting we're going to be seeing a few fistfights on the streets before this ends.
Allston Christmas photos
A stroll along Harvard today.
Allstonmas Update
I drove the same route through this a.m. (Summit to Allston St. to Brighton Ave. to Harvard Ave.) and someone (or some people) should be rewarded (hah! thought I was going to say fired didn't you?) for the remarkable transition. With the exception of some clumps of papers and other common city sidewalk accessories, all of the massive mounds of crap had been removed to 30 yd dumpsters which were being loaded on trucks.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due, so to whoever was responsible for this (Boston DPW?), nice job.