A report on the Red Line extension of the Harvard through Alewife Tunnels. The next time you hop on a train at Porter Square and I have study the speed limit and the curves inside the tunnels. Take the inbound train from Porter going towards Harvard Station. Is your safety at risk?

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YouTube Video
http://tinyurl.com/RLTunnelExtension

I've studied a report on the Red Line extension of the Harvard through Alewife Tunnels. I'll have that up on YouTube soon. The next time you hop on a train at Porter Square and I have study the speed limit and the curves inside the tunnels. Take the inbound train from Porter going towards Harvard Station. As the train starts to go 40 to 50 mph.

Unfortunately, it's by blindsiding you with nearly $40 of parking violations, giving you a nearly impossible way to challenge it, and then hitting you with a ticket as I recently found out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eflh2Lpz0Z8&feature=channel

BYOP and youth organizers demand a year-round Youth Pass.

The Globe engages in some local community coverage! Some youth from Cape Verdean Community Unido were told by former Deputy Chief of Staff Kris Erickson not to portray the dark side of the Dudley Street community in their mural on the Fairmount bridge (owned by the MBTA) about the neighborhood's revitalization. The mural was based in large part on the youth's research of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative.

Their initial sketch depicted fires, the result of arson in the community. They were told that it was too violent, they said, and that a silhouette of a person pointing at the flames looked too much like a youth holding a gun, something many of them perceived as a hurtful stereotype.

So the youth came back with a written piece, and were told to strike over half a dozen "negative" words. Alosi has backtracked, slightly- the written version has been approved. Unfortunately, the program is essentially over for the summer, so it's a bit late, and the panel will probably remain blank.

Reading through the story, something sounds familiar:

In general, any filming, videotaping or photography that depicts the MBTA must not portray the Authority in a negative light. This includes, but is not limited to, violent content, sexual activity and assault. Furthermore, any attempt to portray public transportation as unsafe or dangerous in any way will not be permitted.

So much for my production, The Taking of Orange Line 123. Plot: TheZak hijacks an Orange Line train, demanding that the train be driven to Copley station and rambling over the radio about Boston Public Library, public records laws, and an frustrations at ordering small pizzas.

Starring protagonist boy-genius Kaz. Swrrlygrl uses a butterknife to make the Orange Line train fit on the Green Line tracks and performs open-heart surgery with a spoon on hero cop Pete Nice, who suffers a heart attack being overwhelmed with confusion trying to negotiate with TheZak. Ron Newman is the dispatcher who insists that, according to HIS systems, everything is fine. Adam works via a weak Wifi signal to collect and summarize the blog/LJ/Flickr/Twitter posts of everyone else on the train, while Steve Garfield's Nokia Wunderphone suffers a tragic death on the third rail, launched there by someone tired of being "video blogged".) Also on the train, Sam Yoon presents a ten-point proposal to extend MBTA operational hours, lower fares, decrease wait times, eliminate mechanical breakdowns, remove the T Smell, and solve world hunger. Michael Flaherty and the Dropkick Murphys play an MBTA SWAT Team, which plays "Shippin' Up To Boston", in hopes of killing hijackers who are sick to death of hearing the song.

Joseph Pesaturo stars in a brief one-line cameo: "Hijacked train? We're having signal problems."

UPDATED to reflect that the indecent involved a pedestrian, not a motor vehicle as I first thought.

The 9:30pm outbound Kingston commuter rail struck a man near the Essex Street crossing in Whitman Thursday night; the first emergency call was received at 10:06 pm, according to chatter heard on a police scanner. I cannot confirm whether or not that this incident was fatal.

Curiously, I can't find one mention of this in local media - not even the local South Shore papers. I guess T accidents after daylight hours don't give good enough photo ops to make the news.

Red line service was stopped around 1:30 AM today due to a girl jumping on the tracks, tweets Kevin Gilnack. The unknown female then proceeded to run up the tracks from Park Street and was caught at the Charles/MGH station.

Service was stopped due to officials turning off the third rail. Bus connections were apparently delayed too.

Medford Transcript poll: What do you think of the Green Line ending at Route 16?

http://blogs.townonline.com/medford/?p=1202

Vote early and often!

Ouch! That's loud and early! Central Square (in Lynn, not Cambridge) is not happy this morning and the MBTA is going to hear about it.

http://cityoflynn.upsidemedia.com/?p=47