Roxbury
The new B-2 police station under construction in Roxbury has a special tribute to retired Det. Paul Martin, which he learned when some colleagues brought him on a detour on taking him home from cancer treatments at the hospital.
The Boston Fire Department reports a firefighter responding a report of an unconscious person on Edgewood Street in Roxbury this morning himself had to be taken to the hospital after he was hit by a maroon Dodge Durango that then took off.
The department says the unnamed officer, with 20 years on the job, was putting his gear back on Ladder 23 when hit shortly before noon. Fellow firefighters and EMTs already on scene rushed to his aid and transported him to Boston Medical Center for treatment of "multiple cuts, bruises and sprains." He is now off duty because of the injuries.
Friends of the Friends of the Egleston Square Branch Library will hold a rally at noon tomorrow to support the city's branch libraries and demand none be closed as a way to bridge the $3.6-million budget deficit BPL officials say they face.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today prosecutors cannot use a loaded gun seized from a teenager's room at a Roxbury shelter - or his comments that "the gun has no bodies on it" - because while a shelter manager agreed to the search, police didn't have a search warrant. Read more
Although first it would have to find a suitable location, Third Decade reports.
Third Decade thinks it's good the mayor may finally do something about the mess that is the Filene's Hole downtown, but wonders when he'll do something about the derelict Ferdinand's building in Dudley Square - which the city already owns:
... C'mon, Mr. Mayor, address development in the city in a holistic manner. What's good for downtown is also good for the neighborhoods. Address our problems as aggressively as you're addressing those where the tourists and suburbanites go. We want progress, too!
Jonas Prang breaks the news that Darryl Settles has finally decided not to go forward with his development plans for what is now a derelict building at 85 Centre St.
Our eye in the sky passed along this photo of an MBTA tow truck about to pull away a dead bus on Huntington Avenue Wednesday morning.
Updated at 8 p.m.
Boston Police report finding Troy Robinson and his nephew in Dorchester this evening after sending out an APB for him and his two-year-old nephew.
The pair had last been seen around 7 a.m. on Tuesday when Robinson loaded the kid into his silver Galant; police issued an alert around noon today.
"Boston Police learned the whereabouts of Troy Robinson from phone calls after residents viewed the alert on television." Police say they found them on the 700 block of Washington Street. Robinson was arrested, the boy was taken to a local hospital to be checked out.
Robinson was already wanted on unrelated charges, police say.
Innocent, etc.
District B-2 reports Boston Check Cashers, 366 Warren St., was held up yesterday evening by two guys who hid in the store until closing, then used a gun to force employees to open the safe.
The suspects are both described as black, 5'7", wearing face masks and dark clothing. One suspect had a black handgun, the other a silver one.
Mattoo Manner posts some photos of the two-in-a-row citywide basketball champion team at Madison Park High, which is now competing for the state title.
The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports on a $1.45-million state project to renovate and enclose the Cass Rink.
Jonas Prang invites us to listen in as he opens the window:
... This quiet is even more pronounced - and valuable - during the warm spring, summer, and autumn evenings. With the windows open one can hear the urban night life: the wind in the trees, the call of the mockingbird, the wings of the bats, the insects, the rustling in the underbrush of the neighborhood raccoon, skunks, the opossum family, and the feral cats. Overlaid on this natural activity is the sound of the arriving cars of one's neighbors and the quiet conversations of the few pedestrians conversing among themselves as they walk home. ...
The Boston Redevelopment Authority today approved a 10-year construction project that will reshape the gateway to the Longwood Medical Area at the Riverway and Brookline Avenue. Read more
With in-patient stays on the rise and community hospitals beginning to close pediatric units, Children's Hospital said today it hopes to break ground this spring on an addition on Binney Street to add new beds. Read more
I've started a blog on Fort Hill and Roxbury neighborhood issues: jonasprang.blogspot.com. The germ of the blog is the Settles Kerfuffle at 85 Centre Street, but I may branch out once that issue gets thrashed out.
Like many infant blogs, it's a little messy and not very attractive. Even so, I think I'll concentrate on the prose before tarting it up with pretty pictures.
Boston Police report the arrest of a Mattapan man for the May 29, 1995 stabbing death of Zandera Sullivan in Roxbury. Read more
Ghetto Uprising notes the strange absence of mailboxes along the street:
if my frustrated, informal, impromptu, rushed survey of Blue Hill Ave while looking for a mailbox is correct, then there are more liquor stores and churches on that street than there are mail drops. ...
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today a man convicted on a charge of first-degree murder on largely circumstantial evidence should spend the rest of his life in jail.
The SJC said that while nobody saw Isias Semedo pull the trigger that led to Jorge Fidalgo's death, a Suffolk County Superior Court jury properly convicted him based on the "joint venture" theory that his actions contributed to Fidalgo's death every bit as much as that of the actual murderer - a friend of his. Read more
Boston Police report arresting a Charlestown man in Roxbury on charges he tried to hold two people at the Orange Line station shortly after midnight today. According to police: Read more
Boston Police report that when a man refused to give a panhandler money around 1 p.m. on Saturday at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Warren Street, the guy tried to reach into the man's rear pocket and when the man sidestepped that move, the panhandler punched him in the face.
Guy Edwards, 47, of Roxbury, was charged with assault and battery and attempted unarmed robbery. The victim, 59, was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital for treatment of a swollen face and a bloody nose.
Innocent, etc.
Iseut reports that after she heard complaints about Darryl Settle's proposed restaurant at 85 Centre St., she called him to offer her support. But:
... He said he has decided to abandon the 85 Centre Street project because it was a risk not worth taking when faced with such a negative reaction from a few people near to 85 Centre. He has many other opportunities. ...
Settles had been scheduled for a Boston Licensing Board hearing on Wednesday for his request for a liquor license, but he withdrew his application.
District C-6 reports a woman walking from Victoria's Diner to a nearby Citizens Bank to make a deposit Monday afternoon was held up by a man in a black face mask who told her "I have a gun. Let's go for a walk."
The suspect is described as a black Hispanic male, 5'11" to 6', who also wore a black jacket and dark pants. After taking the woman's red tote bag with the cash around 4 p.m., he ran down Mass. Ave. toward Columbia Road, police said.
The Huntington News reports a homeless, part-time Northeastern student who was arrested on charges of stealing another student's iPod on Jan. 24 - behind the Boston Police Department headquarters - is now suspected by State Police for involvement in "a string of robberies along the Southwest walkway." The News reports Omar El-Jahmi, 24, was charged with armed robbery by State Police and will be reported to a Northeastern student disciplinary board.
Innocent, etc.
The Boston Licensing Board said today it will likely approve a food permit for Blue Marble Chocolate Cafe, 258 W. Broadway in South Boston, where owner Jennifer Turner plans to serve coffee, tea and "chocolate dessert-type products."
However, board Chairman Daniel Pokaski said he would likely vote at a meeting tomorrow to defer any action until after Turner meets with neighbors. Board member Michael Connolly said he didn't even think that was necessary. Representatives from the mayor's office and city councilors Bill Linehan and Steve Murphy gave conditional approval, pending a neighborhood meeting.
Meanwhile, the board looked similarly in favor on a proposal by Barryson, Inc. to open Lilly's Gourmet Express Pasta at 1526-1528 Tremont St. on Mission Hill.
"I don't know who opposes gourmet pasta, but certainly not the mayor's office," a representative from the mayor's office told the board. Read more
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