Chinatown

Mike Ball considers last night's results in District 2, which saw challenger Suzanne Lee of the South End top incumbent Bill Linehan of South Boston:

Like those inconsiderate schlubs who stroll slowly while jaywalking to inconvenience as many drivers as possible, some Boston neighborhoods love a sense of power. South Boston has been one, as in returning the dreadful bigoted Jim Kelly to this seat numerous times. He was obnoxious, inefficient and a true insult to the district outside of Southie. They did it because they could.

Linehan is much more low-key and doesn't exhibit the worst of Kelly's traits, certainly not the anti-gay stance that Kelly finally recanted when he was dying. Yet, despite the incumbent's drabness, there is a clear choice here. Lee is an achiever, an idea and action person, with specific programs and goals to improve the lives of those in the district and whole city.

Voters in District 2 (South Boston, South End, Chinatown), District 3 (Dorchester) and District 7 (Roxbury, Fenway) will narrow down the field of candidates tomorrow for the November elections.

In District 2, incumbent Bill Linehan is facing challenges from Suzanne Lee and Robert Ferrara. Report from a candidate forum.

In District 3, seven candidates want to replace retiring Councilor Maureen Feeney: Frank Baker, Doug Bennett, Stephanie Everett, Craig Galvin, Marty Hogan, John O'Toole and Mary-dith Tuitt. Candidate answers to questionnaire.

In District 7, part-term incumbent Tito Jackson will face either Sheneal Parker or one of two perennial candidates: Althea Garrison or Roy Owens.

The MBTA reports the driver of a Silver Line bus was taken to Tufts Medical Center with non-life-threatening "lacerations to the upper lip and eye area" after the attack around 3 p.m. at Washington and Kneeland streets The search for the suspect, who fled the scene, continues.

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the five life sentences given to Nam The Tham and Siny Van Tran for the execution-style murders of five men in a Tyler Street gambling parlor in 1991.

The two fled to China, but were eventually found and extradited back from Hong Kong. A jury found them guilty in a joint trial in 2001. A third shooter remains at large to this day.

The court ruled the two got a fair trial, any statements made in error would not have affected the outcome and that it was just too bad and their own fault they decided on a joint trial rather than trying to rat each other out in separate trials. They also rejected one of the men's arguments that he made incriminating statements because he came from a dictatorship where staying alive in custody requires telling authorities what they want to hear.

According to the court decision, the two entered the club around 2 a.m. on Jan. 12, 1991 and shot six men in the head. Five died immediately; one fell unconscious but came to a couple hours later:

Incumbent Bill Linehan will share a room with challengers Suzanne Lee and Bob Ferrara on Sept. 13 in a forum sponsored by the Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association

Jacqueline Church samples the offerings at BBQsmith, a food truck that can now often be found parked by the Chinatown gate.

I chose the smoked beef sandwich. Doc had smoked pork. Both sandwiches were fantastic.

The Boston Fire Department evacuated the higher floors of 1 Nassau St., a residential tower where "a major water leak" on the 23rd floor sent water cascading into floors and light fixtures below.

Although the water reached the 11th floor, significant damage was only reported on floors 17 and up, which were ordered evacuated.

Benjamin G. Smith discovers somebody'd finally had enough of the Banksy off Essex Street in Chinatown.

Pre-graffiti version of the graffiti.

Storm rakes the Back Bay. Photo by Drew.

An astonished Government Center worker e-mailed about the hail around 3:30 p.m. To be more exact, he wrote:

HAILSTONES THE SIZE OF GUMBALLS IN GOV'T CENTER!!!

At least one hailstone the size of a golf ball came down on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing - look at the size of that thing at the end of this video.

Elsewhere, reports poured in end-of-days torrents and pea-sized hail from the Fenway to Chinatown.

A state trooper and police dog were in a cruiser hit by lightning on Perimeter Road at Logan Airport. Both are reported OK, however.

A tree came down on Dartmouth Street near Warren in the South End.

Ground-eye view of the storm, from the BPL main library. Photo by Penny Cherubino.

Ed. note: No hail here on the Roslindale/Hyde Park frontier, but tons of thunder and lightning.

Rumor, on Warrenton Street, had to explain to the Boston Licensing Board why it was cited by police for having a customer smoking inside during an inspection on July 3 and why a 19-year-old was allowed to get a drink before slipping on a step and cracking his head open on July 20.

On the heels of today's announcement that Anthony's Pier 4 is slated to become a mixed-use, 21-story, high-rise development that will include retail and residential (apartments) comes news that an empty parking lot near Chinatown and the Theater District is the site of a proposed 29-story apartment building.

The Boston Herald, Banker & Tradesman, and Boston Business Journal coverage.

For a historic view of the "Hinge Block" and previous plans for that area, check out the ArchBoston.com forum.

http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=1280&page=6

Image above from me.

A woman will be arraigned today on charges she shook her 3-year-old daughter violently, then pushed her to the ground.

Yan Zhu, 44, is scheduled for arraignment in Boston Municipal Court for assault and battery for an incident yesterday morning at a Silver Line bus stop near Tufts Medical Center, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Witnesses who spotted the attack called 911 and told a Silver Line bus driver, the DA's office says.

Last week:
Mother charged with punching infant son in the mouth on a T bus

Innocent, etc.

Don't worry, the WF words don't come up once in the Dig interview.

Crime Boston has details of an 18-year-old indicted in federal court on charges he sold crack cocaine and heroin - which he allegedly stored in bags clenched in his buttocks - in the men's room at the Chinatown Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Common Cause Massachusetts is hosting a Redistricting Olympics this summer. We will be taking citizen drawn Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps all summer, evaluating them, declaring a winner, giving out prizes and submitting the winning maps to the MA Legislative Redistricting Committee for consideration.

The purpose of the redistricting Olympics is threefold: to educate the public about the steps in the redistricting process, to initiate public participation in the political arena, and to pressure the legislature to draw the districts so that the citizens are appropriately represented.

Help show the legislature that redistricting is about our interests, not theirs. By participating in our redistricting Olympics and learning how to draw your own fair districts, you can acquire the tools you need to expose attempts by public officials to politicize the state’s new legislative maps.

For more information check out and/or email us at .

Participate in our democracy!

James W. Randolph, 51, with a record that includes a manslaughter conviction, was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court today on charges he stabbed a man around 2:40 a.m. on LaGrange Street, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Ed note: Crime Boston broke the news of the indictments yesterday.

Federal indictments against 26 people describe a Chinese-led crime ring that deals drugs, runs gambling dens and brings women up from New York to work in brothels in a city ringleaders feel is full of rich bumpkins ripe for the picking.

According to court documents, Boston was also where ringleaders - some of whom got their start with the old Ping On gang in the 1980s - thought they would be left alone by the law and where one of their pressing concerns was whether their main enforcer was beating up too many people.

The Chinatown Blog recounts the neighborhood's history, starting in the 1830s, when a tidal marsh was filled in for a mixed-use development that included rail yards and residential buildings.

A Chinatown restaurant caught serving well past its 2 a.m. closing time again was slapped with a one-day license suspension.

A manager at Bubor Cha-Cha, 45 Beach St., told the Boston Licensing Board at a hearing this week he didn't really know why the restaurant was still open at 3:15 a.m. on May 7 - when police issued the eatery a citation - but thought it might have been because the restaurant was short-staffed that night and so was simply slow to fill orders.

Lt. Det. Eric Eversley, however, told the board that around 3 a.m., he saw three people enter the restaurant, get seated and given water and silverware - as 14 other people already in the restaurant continued to tuck into their food. Eversley said the drinks were non-alcoholic.

The restaurant earned a similar citation in October for the same offense; at the time the board issued only a warning. Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said she'd had enough:

"You can't operate past 2 a.m.," she said. "I don't care if you have one chef or 20 chefs, there are no ifs ands or buts."

Only suffered a broken elbow, Channel 5 reports.

You know, the guy who always claims he needs $7.75 to get to an appointment with his probation officer in Worcester. SelfRighteousCyclist reports:

Sob Story Guy has been called out too many times on the Red Line. Now hustling outside the RMV on Washington

Can you imagine the conversation between him and Spare Change Guy?

Felt on Washington Street and Caprice on Tremont Street had to explain themselves to the Boston Licensing Board today over brawls involving women.

In Felt's case, board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer told bar owners they need to get a handle on why they keep having trouble with women; in Caprice's case, managers had to listen as police described a large brawl that saw women taking off their shoes and forming a fighting ring in the parking lot next door.

Beth reports that as her Orange Line train approached New England Tufts Medical Center around 10:40 last night, the operator announced:

Next stop: Hogwarts. Don't forget your wands.

Earlier:
This train now running express to Mordor.

South Boston youth-sports activist Bob Ferrara announced today he's running for the District 2 seat (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Bay Village and a smidge of Dorchester) held by incumbent Bill Linehan. Suzanne Lee, former principal of the Quincy School in Chinatown, had previously announced she was running as well.

Ferrara accused Linehan of being a Menino mouthpiece:

Nurses, hospital reached a last-minute deal, Channel 5 reports.