Downtown

Boston gets a new RMV branch next month - at Haymarket

By adamg - 8/28/14 - 12:16 pm

The RMV announced today that its replacement for the Chinatown branch opens Sept. 15 in that parking garage/office building atop the Haymarket T stop that will also house the Boston Public Market.

The RMV will occupy the building's second and third floors. In addition to standard RMV functions, visitors will also get to enjoy a new E-ZPass customer center.

The RMV will open the office on Sept. 10 for a public sneak peak and for this year's auction of low-number license plates - which will include "351" - a number the registry notes is significant in Massachusetts.

Man holds up downtown bank branch

By adamg - 8/28/14 - 9:50 am

Citizens Bank branch at 40 Summer St., around 9:40 a.m. Police report the suspect is a black man in his 20s, 5'8" to 5'10", wearing a black scally cap, a white short-sleeved shirt with a black checkerboard pattern, gray pants and black shoes.

Good thing there's a bar at South Station

By adamg - 8/27/14 - 1:33 pm

The T just sent out the following alert for South Station commuter-rail riders:

Expect significant delays in the PM commute after incident impeding tracks.

Might be due to a train that kind of derailed after a collision in the yard south of the station.

3 Part Candidate Forum at Urban League

By rvillarson - 8/26/14 - 3:49 pm

Roxbury, MA – It is election season for Massachusetts residents! There are so many important issues that need to be addressed. Whether it be violence in the community, education, the economy, or green energy, everyone needs to be heard. For the first time, the Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (YPNULEM) is hosting a series entitled “Candid Conversations”. During this series, the community has the opportunity to speak to candidates directly and learn how each candidate stands on issues that matter the most to them. All are welcome to attend.

Downtown Crossing bank held up

By adamg - 8/26/14 - 9:11 am

The Citizens Bank branch at 6 Ave. de Lafayette was held up shortly after 9 a.m. by a black man, about 5'7" and thin, wearing a black knit Patriots cap and a gray dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Man stabbed outside downtown bar

By adamg - 8/23/14 - 7:00 am

Stanley Staco reports a man was stabbed around 10:45 p.m., Friday, outside Sissy K's, 6 Commercial St.

Board: Garden not to blame for collapses, attacks at Avicii concert

By adamg - 8/22/14 - 4:31 pm

The Boston Licensing Board decided yesterday the Boston Garden committed no violations that led to 86 people needing medical attention, a sexual assault and a beating the night of a June 25 concert by Swedish DJ Avicii.

Another voyage before she goes into drydock

By adamg - 8/22/14 - 1:47 pm

Jan looked out her office window this morning to see Old Ironsides returning from Castle Island after a salute of volleys.

The nation's oldest commissioned warship goes into drydock for two years of repairs in March.

Jocelyn photographed the Constitution from East Boston, on her way out to Castle Island.

Out on bail and back on duty?

By CopleyScott17 - 8/22/14 - 1:42 pm

Spotted shortly after noon at Tremont and Winter, Spare Change Guy, back on duty.

Who do you thwack when signals go black? Blame Amtrak

By adamg - 8/22/14 - 9:31 am

Riders from the south and west got to enjoy the scenic vistas of the South Station rail yards this morning when Amtrak's signals failed yet again, and trains were unable to pull into the station. America's Railroad fixed the problem shortly after 9:15 and trains began pulling in.

Last month:
T says South Station problems not their fault, riders go 'Oy, gevalt!'

Avicii concert also had a sexual assault and a beating

By adamg - 8/19/14 - 1:26 pm

As Boston Garden officials pledged to do more to prevent another EDM "mass casualty incident," public-safety officials said they had to deal with more than just several dozen chemically impaired show goers before a June 25 Avicii concert.

Board: Fenway Park not to blame for fan fall; downtown bar not to blame for heroin OD

By adamg - 8/19/14 - 10:01 am

The Boston Licensing Board last week decided that Fenway Park was not to blame for a fan falling two stories down an elevator shaft after a May game and that the Green Dragon near Faneuil Hall was equally blameless for the death of a man due to an apparent heroin overdose in its men's room.

After hearings on both matters, the board ruled "no violation" in both cases.

Custom dome

By adamg - 8/18/14 - 5:09 pm

See it larger.

Ryan Ruel looked up during a recent visit to the Custom House.

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

A tiny little bit of Downtown Crossing history gone

By adamg - 8/15/14 - 1:18 pm

Kris Haight notices they've changed the clocks on the old Filene's building to reflect the name of the Euroadvertising firm that is moving into the new complex.

Maybe they can get the little carillon cherubs to fly Roche Bros. flags, too.

Moment of silence for victims of police brutality

By adamg - 8/14/14 - 7:14 pm

See it larger.

Conqy photographed people gathered on the Common as part of a national vigil at 7 p.m.

Looks like somebody had an extra apostrophe and just couldn't bear to part with it

By adamg - 8/14/14 - 11:32 am

So there's this new Italian restaurant at 45 Province St. and it's called:

MAST'

And no matter how many times they claim the name and the apostrophe is derived from some Italian slang word (which will remind you of a particular Seinfeld episode), it's just never not going to look weird 'n stuff. And how do you even make a possessive out of that? "Fortunately, Mast''s menu has English captions ..."

Former student sues Emerson over its handling of her rape accusation

By adamg - 8/13/14 - 10:22 am

An Emerson student who says she was raped by a fellow student in 2012 is suing the college under federal equal-education and crime-reporting laws.

In her suit, filed this week in US District Court, Jillian Doherty alleges she "endured months of pain and suffering following the attack, and that suffering continues today" as a result of both a 2012 attack and by what she says is the college's mishandling of its investigation into her charges.

Man walks into downtown bar, ODs in men's room, is found dead several hours later

By adamg - 8/12/14 - 12:48 pm

At 1:33 p.m. on June 14, police say, a man with a cane walked into the Green Dragon on Marshall Street. He proceded straight to the men's room in the rear of the bar - and then never came out, until after a bar employee, notified by a customer of a leg sticking out from a stall, called 911 and arriving EMTs determined he was dead.

Good thing we don't need fallout shelters anymore

By adamg - 8/11/14 - 9:28 am

Abandoned fallout shelter next to abandoned Tremont Street trolley tunnel

The fallout shelter's on the right.

Patrick Kineavy and Alex Lovejoy of the MBTA recently explored a long-abandoned fallout shelter next to an abandoned trolley tunnel under Tremont Street (the one you see on the right on the inbound platform at Boylston).

Imagine having to subsist on whatever's in this barrel:

Police: Lout smashes cab windshield with his fist in fare dispute

By adamg - 8/10/14 - 3:04 pm

Boston Police report arresting a Norwood man on charges he put a cab out of commission by punching its windshield early this morning.

According to police, a cabbie had driven a couple to Hanover and Union streets downtown around 1 a.m.: