Beacon Hill

Asteria, part of the West End apartments is a newly constructed apartment complex located at 4 Emerson Place in Boston. Your apartment features include 9 foot high ceilings, oversized windows, cherry kitchen and bath cabinets, stainless steel appliance and washer and dryer. The community features a fitness center, swimming pool, full service concierge, playground and gated access. Public transportation is available at North Station (Green and Orange Line) and Charles/MGH (Red Line).

Katy looked out her window this morning at Charles River Park to spot an addition to a snow bank.

Courtney Sacco photographed Rene Fielding of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management helping to clear hydrants in Charlestown today. Troublewithtribbles photographed a road by Mass. General that is still so clogged with snow cars and trucks were parking in the travel lane.

Photos copyright Courtney Sacco and Troublewithtribbles respectively. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

They could really use the rain.

He might be a prisoner who just escaped from a work detail. Anne Allred at Channel 7 tweets police are now looking for Milton Walker, 39, serving time for auto theft, B&E and larceny.

As the Boston Athenaeum continues to dry out from flooding caused by a burst pipe, officials hope to re-open early next week.

In a daily e-mail update to members of the private library on Beacon Hill, Director and Librarian Paula Matthews said workers discovered the source of the flooding was a burst iron sprinkler pipe above the ceiling of one of the library's reading rooms. Once repaired, the library will be able to turn its sprinkler and fire-alarm systems back on, with the goal of re-opening in time for a Tuesday-evening lecture.

Matthews added that librarians hope to recover more than 1,000 circulating books that were soaked when the pipe burst. None of the library's paintings, sculptures or rare books were harmed, and no exhibit spaces were damaged. There was some minor damage to a few rugs and some furniture, she wrote.

The library was founded more than 200 years ago and houses rare book and art collections, in addition to a circulating library for its members.

There's an article in today's Boston Globe Magazine with the title Home sweet hell: Falling into the condo trap.

A 27-year old novelist moved into a four-unit condominium building back in 1999. Almost immediately, she began having confrontations with her upstairs neighbors who, according to the article, had majority ownership of the condo association, meaning they pretty much controlled what did or did not happen in regard to the building.

She’d left her laundry in the building’s coin-op washer for too long, she’d left her boots in the hallway and created an eyesore, she’d arranged her things in the common storage unit in a way that somehow annoyed them.

But, the real story isn't the article (although it's written very well and is both entertaining and educational).

The Boston.com message board reached a nasty level of discourse I'm only used to seeing on the other major Boston daily newspaper's site.

Criticism of the novelist:

• she is a "self-centered brat"

It may sound counter-intuitive to those of us with just one pickup a week, but Ross Levanto explains how cutting the neighborhood's weekly trash pickups from three to two would make the place less trashy:

One out of every four hours during the week, trash is at the side of the street. No wonder trash remains the top area of concern for residents. Switching to two days of pick up, plus recycling on each of these days (hence, 2 + 2) will greatly improve the trash situation on Beacon Hill, and in the other downtown neighborhoods that currently have three pick-up days.

Channel 5 reports the coyote was shot when it tried to escape down an alley this morning. Boston Police tweet it was state environmental police who shot the canine, not them.

The Boston Fire Department reports torches being used to remove a cooling tower atop 165 Cambridge St. started a fire around 10:40 a.m.

The fire was contained to the cooling tower and there were no injuries, the department says, adding damage was about $100,000.

Neal Gaffey attended Deval Patrick's inauguration at the State House, a centerpiece of which was a large cake in the shape of the building. Courtney Saccor photographed state Senate President Therese Murray administering the oath of office to Patrick as his wife Diane held a bible and Secretary of State Bill Galvin looked on:

Photos copyright Neal Gaffey and Courtney Sacco, respectively. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Matthew Cote videoed today's demolition of one of the melting Boston Common ice sculptures:

Did you resolve to “do more good” in the world? Join Socializing for Justice and make your New Year’s resolution count this year!

Meet like-minded progressives at Connecting for Justice on January 27 from 6-9PM at Lir Irish Pub and get connected to great social justice organizations in Boston. Have you been lurking on SoJust? It’s time to meet the friendly faces of the group that’s grown to almost 1600 members, hosted 85+ events and fostered hundreds of connections since our founding 4 years ago.

Join us if you are ready to go BEYOND ALLIES and build a CROSS-ISSUE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.

RSVP at www.sojust.org (our main website) and view Member Profiles, Message Board and Calendar of Progressive Events. Newcomers always welcomed!

Cost: $2-$10 collected at the door

This is not a meeting - it's a fun networking social!
No Program. No Speaker. Just Us. For Justice.

MassDOT reports on the slightly less creaky Craigie Bridge, which will be partially shut off again sometime early next year for more repairs.

ChinatownKicks photographed the painting of ancient ruins covering up some ruins of a more recent vintage on Charles Street.

Copyright ChinatownKicks. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Between 12:15 and 1 p.m. Carey Goldberg reports it's part of an effort to encourage people to get off their asses and walk.

Contractors are scheduled to begin repairing the drawbridge by the museum (the Craigie bridge for those of you in the know) tomorrow, which means shutting the Boston-bound side for a month.

Eepers. Pedestrians and bicyclists will continue to be allowed to cross the bridge, but they have to promise not to snicker or even mutter "I told you so" at people in motorized vehicles.

Somerville has more info, including a link to live traffic cams you can use to route yourself accordingly and the fact that the bridge is a "twin double-leaf bascule bridge," which is, if nothing else, fun to say.

Chris Devers photographed a Beacon Hill street last night.

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Mike Ball reports from the Boston Common event for people who couldn't make it to Washington today:

It was like a hippie event, at least for those of us old enough to recall those.

Truth be told, most of those at the rally looked old enough to recall.

Earlier:
What a great day for a tea party - would you care for a watercress sandwich?

In the Public Garden today.

Awesome restrooms (Dyson Airblade hand dryer!!) right through the main doors on the ground level to the left & right of the escalators.

Somebody's organizing a rally for Boston Common on Oct. 30. But who's organizing a March to Keep Fear Alive on Tremont Street?

The mayor's office tweeted the news today after somebody tweeted that Asian Longhorned Beetles were to blame for the recent takedown of two trees on the Common:

Boston Parks Dept. repts that trees removed were part of routine work. NOT due to the Asian Longhorn Beetle.

The Herald reports on the possibility the school could move en masse to a "continguous campus" fronted on Tremont Street, which would let it increase enrollment without worrying about outraged howls of anger from Beacon Hill residents. But would they be butting heads with Emerson?

One possible outbound Longfellow realignmentA state task force meets Wednesday to consider possible options for re-aligning the venerable bridge as part of the state's $255-million repair program.

The session to consider three options begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Shriners Hospital auditorium, 51 Blossom St.

Options range from keeping the current two car lanes in both directions to shrinking car lanes to one in each direction - and reducing their widths. According to a draft report, most task-force members would prefer to go down to one car lane outbound from Boston to allow for wider bike and pedestrian lanes.

The task force rejected a proposal for "flexible" lanes that would be restricted to bicyclists only at certain hours, in part because task force members realize Massholes would attempt to drive in the lane during those hours.

Regardless of road configuration on the bridge, the task force agrees the state needs to reconfigure the approaches for cars, pedestrians and bicyclists at Charles Circle, and that the state finally build the missing 500 feet of a walkway under the bridge on the Cambridge side. One proposal calls for construction of a new pedestrian bridge linking the Longfellow to the Esplanade.

• Longfellow Task Force documents and discussions