Mike Ball, himself an avid bicylist, ponders the ramifications of a City Hall statement that Hizzona Himself wants bicyclists to stop for red lights and wonders if the new enforcement will also involve going after signal-disregarding motorists as well:

Given the adversarial and disdainful attitude of many non-cyclists here, a well-handled education program should be amusing all around. To hear the anti-cyclist types tell it or read their comments on newspaper and other websites, every single cyclist is a crazed scofflaw who terrorizes the aged, toddlers and law-abiding motorists and pedestrians.

Yet, if the Mayor's release is right, a very overdue crackdown on red-light runners, crosswalk blockers, and those who don't yield to walkers or other vehicles (including bikes) should follow. Motorists, whose tickets for moving violations are considerably higher than $20 and can come with license suspensions and multi-year insurance surcharges, will be in for a much greater shock than cyclists.

Ed. car karma note: This morning, I was approaching the city's worst intersection, where Morton Street and Gallivan Boulevard slam together, to get onto Gallivan from Morton, when I had to hit the brakes because some jerk on the other side blew through the stop sign and barreled onto Morton. This was followed almost immediately by the sound of a police siren and the sight of flashing blues as a cop waiting by the hardware store took off behind me after the miscreant.

Trailer for Escape from the Red Line. All its missing is a theme song by Maureen McGovern.

Via Wicked Local Cambridge.

Today was scheduled to be the day that 15 food trucks first turned on their grills to serve hungry Boston patrons.

According to Boston.com, however, "at least nine" of the 15 trucks were not in their assigned locations, many of which are located in the Boston Proper neighborhoods.

Delays in permitting and trucks / equipment problems were blamed. The city's point-person on the project reminded people this was just "the launch of a pilot" program that would be rolled out over the next year.

It was just a year ago (July 14, 2010) that City Councilor Michael Ross filed a measure to hold a hearing on how to regulate the trucks.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council voted last night to back a request from Los Bendecidos, 264 Hyde Park Ave., for a common victualer's license.

The small pizza and Hispanic-food takeout place applied for and got its health and building permits from ISD, but council member Michael Reiskind said nobody at ISD told the owner - who bought it from another person who also never had a food-serving license - he also needed permission from the Boston Licensing Board.

The board heard Los Bendecidos' case last month but deferred action until after hearing from the neighborhood council.

In recent months, a number of new restaurants have been snagged by ISD's apparent inability to inform applicants about the Boston Licensing Board, although typically they have been open for a couple of months or less before being discovered on a routine inspection by a Boston Police officer.