Sometimes, Boston's cab drivers are telling the truth; the credit card machines don't work - and it's not their fault.

According to (Boston's own) Charles Pierce of Esquire, the Romney for President campaign shut off staffers' credit cards in the middle of the night on Tuesday, leaving the Boston crew scrambling for money.

From the moment Mitt Romney stepped off stage Tuesday night, having just delivered a brief concession speech he wrote only that evening, the massive infrastructure surrounding his campaign quickly began to disassemble itself. Aides taking cabs home late that night got rude awakenings when they found the credit cards linked to the campaign no longer worked.

Oh, well, need to save that money for 2016, right?

Naama Goldstein, who lives on Comm. Ave., writes her city councilor about the problems caused by the Monday Aerosmith concert - more specifically, the way the entire street was shut down without any coordination with Boston Public Schools to deal with kids who take buses to school:

Dear Councilor Ciommo:

As your Allston constituent, I am writing to request your advocacy on an issue that, to my disappointment, has garnered no response from City Hall or BPS, or other responsible parties.

You may or may not know that on the day of Aerosmith's publicity stunt in Allston, no plan was made by the City or BPS to provide for the children whose school buses stop along the streets blocked off for the concert. Please see my original attempt at communication on this issue, below.

We were fortunate that our 2nd grader's school-bus driver was resourceful and phoned us once he ran into the blockades, and we were able to coordinate a makeshift stop, race across city streets and get my son on his waiting bus. A little girl who waits for another school bus at our stop was not so lucky. Her mother was hung up on when she called the BPS Transportation dept. for help, was forced to get her daughter on a city bus, and was made late to work because of the City's neglectfulness.

This neglect may not seem like a big deal to Aerosmith or to the City of Boston, but it does to two very young children in Allston, and I am sure several more whom I don't know. They remain confused and saddened by the lesson learned on that day: that when the grownups want to play, children just don't matter to the City of Boston.

Councilor Ciommo, please help me to correct that impression.

Thank you,
Naama Goldstein
Allston

The Dorchester Reporter reports Obama won Mattapan 10,451 to 209.

According to city tallies, Obama's highest percentage came in Ward 14, precinct 3 (along the east side of Blue Hill Avenue on either side of Seaver), where he got 99.1% of the vote.

Obama lost just two precincts in the entire city - Ward 6, precinct 9 and Ward 7, Precinct 1, both near Castle Island in South Boston.

Petit Robert Bistro, 1414 Commonwealth Ave., could soon make way for a Japanese eatery serving sushi, yakitori and ramen noodles.

Kentaro Suzuki went before the Boston Licensing Board yesterday for permission to buy the French restaurant's beer and wine license so that he can open Ittoku.

Lawyer Jared Chrislip said Suzuki will pay a total of $200,000 to Petit Robert Bistro's owners for the right to move from French to Japanese. He said about $70,000 of that would go specifically for the alcohol license.

The Brighton Allston Improvement Association, the mayor's office and city councilors Mark Ciommo, Steve Murphy and Felix Arroyo all supported the proposal. The board votes this morning on the license-transfer request.