Longwood

The MBTA forwards a photo of somebody waiting for the train at Longwood this evening.

Our roving UHub photographer assures us that's Mike Dukakis getting onto a crowded Green Line trolley at Longwood this morning - just like he used to do when he was governor.

UPDATE: Victim identified as recent BU graduate living in Brighton. See comments.

The MBTA reports:

On October 24, 2010 at 12:19am Green Line operations notified the MBTA Transit Police of an accident between Longwood and Fenway on the D Line. A number of units were dispatched. Brookline Police and Fire Departments were notified and upon arrival with EMS determined the incident to be a fatality. Initial investigation indicated the person was struck by an eastbound trolley. He was found in the gauge of the eastbound track, west of Fenway Station. This area of the tracks is fenced on both sides.

MBTA Transit Police report arresting a Salem man yesterday after he allegedly exposed himself to a woman on an inbound D trolley and then began fondling himself.

David Bowie, 57, was arrested at Kenmore station around 4:20 p.m. on a charge of being a Super Creep, specifically, open and gross lewdness.

His victim and a man sitting next to Bowie gave similar accounts of what he'd done between Longwood and Kenmore, according to a police report: He lifted his shorts up to expose his major Tom, then began to "manipulate his penis while staring at her." Both said Bowie covered up when the woman moved to another part of the trolley after a couple of minutes.

Innocent, etc.

This evening, a female pedestrian was struck at the intersection of Longwood Avenue and Huntington Avenue by a hit-and-run driver. Waiting for the T, I saw the aftermath; a MassArt campus police car blocked one lane while the victim, hidden behind the jersey barrier and about 10-20 feet away from the crosswalk, lay on the ground. A young man was possibly an acquaintance. Someone offered their jacket, which was welcomed. A young woman in scrubs appeared to look her over/speak to her.

I started watching the clock when I realized it had been a while and there were no signs of ambulances.

As if Riverside commuters didn't have enough to worry about, now people getting off at Longwood have to dodge the blood-crazed killer turkeys of Brookline.

Digiphile somehow evaded them long enough to post the photo.

This street (Longwood Avenue- Google Streetview avoided part of it) is extremely congested. It's also one of two ways to get into the emergency room for Children's Hospital. The lanes are small on this three lane road, and the whole thing is marked no-parking.

But hey: the balding, grey-haired, bespectacled masshole owner of Boston Transportation Department Vehicle with plate # 3045 (who encouraged me to "go ahead and report the tags" but wouldn't tell me his name) apparently feels "it is [a parking space] for me", and parked blocking 1/2 of the only lane going towards the hospitals, and making it dangerous for bicyclists who need that space. He was busy chatting it up with a bunch of other people in suits and ties in front of the Mass College of Pharmacy. Commish, was that you? Maybe that gut wouldn't be so big if you found a proper parking space like everyone else, and walked. Always nice to see the rules mercilessly apply to us, but not to you?

You know what's going to happen when you park your fool Cadillac in a crosswalk in the Longwood Medical Area? A turkey's going to jump on your car and peck at it mercilessly, as Tom Wheaton observed.

Paul Levy photographs some detritus from the Icelandic-owned BostonNow: A box dumped by the Green Line tracks at Longwood:

... Too bad, too, that they couldn't at least have picked up their trash before they folded.

Evan was there with a camera:

... It was pretty spectacular...at first, I saw the driver behind the bus waving his arms and cursing. There was molten stuff dripping beneath the back of the bus that was flaming...then the flames started to grow and reach for the trees above the bus. When I heard a small explosion and the back of the bus blow off, I decided to walk away and watch the rest of the action from the safety of our lab building's front porch. ...

Kristin Huang is a first-year student at Harvard Medical School. First year means dissection and it's pretty rough (and then, the next day, even rougher). Definitely NOT for the squeamish (her subject lines begin with "Dismemberment" and "Mutiliation"), but it can give you some idea of what doctors in training have to go through.

Paul Levy provides the photographic proof that commuters, patients and visitors no longer have to risk their lives getting up the steps and path from the Green Line to the Longwood area:

As late as yesterday, the walkway was a sheet of ice several inches thick. There had been no effort to clear it or to spread sand on it. It was treacherous.

This morning, though? All clear.

This Saturday as opposed to Monday, per The Boston Globe.

This will certainly ease the coming weekend of hell brought about by several Red Sox games, college move-ins and Labor Day tourist traffic.

Trains will be able to run faster, and the handicapped-accessible Breda trolleys should theoretically be able to traverse the line at full speed without derailing now that the track renovations are complete. The T expects the latter to enter service on the D Line by the end of the year.

The news isn't all good however. Renovation projects at Longwood and Brookline Village stations will not be finished until next Spring.

Daniel Rogers was sentenced today to life without parole for murdering a clerk who tried to stop him from shoplifting at the CVS in the Longwood medical area three years ago, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

When confronted by the store manager as he tried to leave with toothpaste on Feb. 16, 2004, Rogers pulled a knife. Clerk Cristian Giambrone, 19, came to his co-worker's aid and Rogers stabbed him twice in the neck, killing him.

Third Decade says the meal at Legal Test Kitchen was so bad (both food and service) it took a good meal at JP's Dogwood Cafe to help get rid of some of the taste.

Titanjockey says Chipotle in Medford is worth the trip for its to-die-for fajita burritos.

Andreas Matern asks: If you haven't been to the All Star Sandwich Bar in Inman Square, what the hell are you waiting for?

Mark writes that Bengal Cafe in North Cambridge is OK, but that there are better Indian options in the Boston area.

Chris and Erin say that Taste of Thailand in Dorchester Lower Mills is much better than you'd think from its plain exterior.

Anna Kushnir reviews five restaurants in the Longwood Medical Area.

Rachele Rosi-Kessel says the food at Salute in Roslindale changed from excellent to disappointing when the chef changed.

Some Assembly Required works in the Longwood medical area and notes:

... The rear entrance to the Longwood Galleria food court is at the end of an alley; it's a natural gathering spot for smokers who have finished lunch and are grabbing a puff before going back to work. Also abutting the same alley is the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which, according to their web site, "provides expert, compassionate care to children and adults with cancer." Is it just me, or is this the height of irony? At least the smokers will know where it is when they need to go there...

You know those cool above-ground maps the T installed in the 1970s - then never updated? Paul Levy was looking at one at Kenmore and noticed all the long-gone names:

... Hospital of the House of the Good Samaritan; Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; Jimmy Fund Research Lab; State Teachers College of Boston; Boston English High School; New England Deaconess Hospital; Beth Israel Hospital; Sears Roebuck and Company; Children's Hospital Medical Center; Boston Lying Inn Hospital; Joslin Clinic. ...

He also provides some stats on the Longwood Medical Area (2 million patients a year!).