Jamaica Plain

Steve Garfield addresses the local Occupy Bostonians busy affixing their fliers to JP utility poles with wheatpaste: Knock it off!

This is rude.

At least use tape so we can remove these after your event.

And don't put these posters on everything.

We get the message.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette opined yesterday:

President Obama finally caught up with Jamaica Plain today on same-sex marriage, declaring his personal support for it in a groundbreaking announcement.

The Gazette noted that the lawsuit that made us the first state to legalize same-sex marriage had several JP plaintiffs, including Julie and Hillary Goodridge, for whom the case was named.

Jason, who blogs about rides on the T, reviews the 30 bus, which runs between Mattapan Square and Forest Hills via Roslindale Square:

In contrast to the 28 and 31, the 30 route itself is quite tranquil serving a mainly residential slice of western Mattapan and northern Roslindale, the parts of Boston no typical tourist would think could exist within Boston city limits. It also may be the only MBTA bus route that gets to cut through a cemetery which when coupled with the High Speed Line creates a double play of cemetery-cutting. ... The 30 keeps quiet and does its job and tries to not let delays get in its way.

Yes, today was Wake Up the Earth at Stony Brook. A photo gallery.

It's the annual Jamaica Plain block party: part entertainment, part community building, part leftwing rally, stretching for a couple blocks along the Southwest Corridor Park by the Stony Brook T stop and organized by Spontaneous Celebrations.

The Endowment of Unexceptional Humans, a quirky JP charity, is having an event in Somerville May 11th. Local Boston authors read their work and then auction off an item that's close to their heart. The Globe's new blog writes more about The Endowment.

Boston Police making a traffic stop yesterday wound up recovering 10 one-kilo blocks of cocaine from a hidden compartment in a mini-van, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The driver of the van, Elvyn Rafael Garcia, 31, of Hyde Park Avenue, was ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail at his arraignment in Roxbury District Court, according to the DA's office, which had requested bail of $1 million.

Mike Ball recently wandered around Hyde and Egleston squares, taking photos of all the murals.

Posted under this Creative Commons license.

UPDATE: Arrest made.

There was a fatal shooting at 132 Hyde Park Ave. around 6:30 p.m. at 132 Hyde Park Avenue, near Walk Hill, Scott Eisen reports.

Police shut Hyde Park Avenue as they began their investigation, but the road is now re-opened to traffic.

Casey, who lives a few doors down, reports from the scene:

That was horrible. People crying in the street. Traffic's a disaster. I heard from a neighbor someone was shot in the head. There are A LOT of cops. Neighbor told me they got there super fast.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports on recent rental increases at the Hennigan Community Center for using its space.

Jamaica Plain Patch reports on a late-night incident at Stony Brook station in which four riders teamed up to capture and detain an alleged cell-phone thief - despite some punches from the guy's accomplices.

Boston Police report they are looking for a man who may have exposed himself to little kids playing outside the Hollow Reed Pre-School on Sedgwick Rd. around 10:30 a.m. yesterday.

Four city councilors told Boston school officials today they're not liking plans to spend $12 million to move Fenway High School to the building that now houses the Mission Hill K-8 School and New Mission High School - and another $3.5 million to get the moldy, shuttered Agassiz School in Jamaica Plain ready for the K-8 School and a brand-new high school.

Instead, Councilors Mike Ross, Steve Murphy, Mark Ciommo and Charles Yancey said, they want BPS officials to report back on the challenges of leaving the Mission Hill school where it is and moving Fenway to the Agassiz.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley (Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury) says a top BPS official is telling the new headmaster and parents at the Margarita Muniz Academy it will only spend a year at the old Agassiz School and then be moved somewhere else.

Rob Bellinger was in JP yesterday when supporters of Danilo Medina Sanchez arrived to show their support for his bid to become president - of the Dominican Republic (one Dominican candidate has a campaign office on River Street in Hyde Park).

Copyright Rob Bellinger. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The Boston Fire Department reports a fire that started around 11:40 p.m. at 83 Paul Gore St. caused no injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

For the first time in several years, crime rates are increasing in the police districts that cover West Roxbury, Roslindale and Jamaica Plain, led mainly be dramatic increases in the numbers of burglaries and larcenies, according to statistics released yesterday by Boston Police.

Although districts E-5 (West Roxbury and Roslindale) and E-13 (Jamaica Plain) remain among the safest in the city, the increases for the period between Jan. 1 and April 17 when compared to last year are striking. In E-5, the total number of burglaries and attempted burglaries jumped from 26 to 64; the number of larcenies from 96 to 129. In E-13, burglaries and attempted burglaries increased from 46 to 57 and the number of larcenies from 170 to 210. Also in E-13, the number of robberies is up, from 29 to 38 (in E-5, they increased from 14 to 17).

District C-6 (South Boston and Columbia Point) also saw a dramatic jump in burglaries and attempted burglaries, from 43 to 65, but a decrease in larcenies (319 to 254).

City Councilor Matt O'Malley (Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury) ran the Marathon today - and turned on the video on his phone for the last 200 yards.

Compare to then Mayor Ray Flynn in the 1984 Marathon.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports.

JPGOP Facebook page.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports on a 200-unit apartment building planned for 105A South Huntington.

DJ Knife reports on getting mugged by kids outside the Stony Brook T stop Monday night:

BAM! The first tween barrels into my lower back and sends me to the sidewalk. "YO WHAT THE FUCK!!!???" The next one comes at me and takes a swing, misses (I think) and suddenly I’m on my feet.

I look up to see a gauntlet of 3 more tweens coming at me, and I run to the sidelines like I'm in the NFL. They miss me and I keep running. Then the last tween at the end of this adolescent thug-line charges at me with a stick. Another swing and a miss.

Gretchen van Ness forwards this photo of an homage to 1912 serenely sailing through Hyde Square in Jamaica Plain.

Moments later, of course, it hit some ice and disappeared into a storm drain.

Liam considers the future of the area around the Forest Hills T stop after the Casey Overhulk comes down:

There's a great illogic to having so much space dedicated to people driving to public transit rather than developing that space around the public transit options. Imagine the little villages that could be built near Boston at Riverside Station in Newton, Route 128 Station in Westwood, or the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn. More relevant to Forest Hills is the sea of parking that dominates both sides of Washington St./Hyde Park Avenue near the T station. These parking lots and the Arborway bus yard, already slated for redevelopment, could be turned into a beautiful transit-oriented village where people live, shop, and eat.

MQ took this photo around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Centre Street and South Huntington Avenue, reports:

I think rider got doored, bus stopped in time thankfully.

Judy Spreckels says tow-truck drivers eager for extra revenue always prowl her neighborhood at the start of street-cleaning season to hook trucks parked on the wrong streets. She reports this morning, however, that fights broke out on Atherton Street when drivers from competing companies showed up:

Just witnessed 8 tow truck drivers from 3 different towing companies loudly fighting directly outside my home. For 20 minutes. Happens every week with street cleaning. Trucks parked on sidewalks, engines running, and now fighting.