Massachusetts Avenue

Citizen complaint of the day: Metro-selling dude

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:04:10 +0000

A dumbfounded citizen complains, from Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard:

Dude is selling copies of the metro, the free paper. Somewhat aggressive in his approach, knocking on car windows.

Citizen complaint of the day: The tree killer of Mass. Ave. is back

adamg — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:03:10 +0000

An outraged citizen reports from 605 Mass. Ave.:

Street tree vandals have struck again and mostly destroyed a street elm. Needs to have attention and if possible saved or queued to be replaced.

The Mass. Ave. tree killer last struck in February.

Man gets ticket for dooring bicyclist, who might face charge for kicking in mirror

adamg — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:30:01 +0000

Wicked Local Cambridge reports on a Thursday incident on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge.

Driver says he felt threatened by helmetcam bicyclist

adamg — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:47:23 +0000

Channel 4 tracks down and interviews the driver captured on Eoin O'Carrol's helmetcam on Mass. Ave. a couple weeks back.

Massholes don't like acknowledging somebody else has the right of way

adamg — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:43:11 +0000

Also don't realize that some bicyclists now wear helmetcams for just such occasions, as Eoin O'Carroll demonstrates in this video from Mass. Ave. (the Boston one) yesterday:

Lynn man charged with wasting slice of pizza

adamg — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:56:20 +0000

Boston Police report arresting a man they say took exception to a cab at Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street early this morning and attacked it with his fists and a slice of pizza.

Robert Bragan, 27, of Lynn, was charged with being a disorderly person shortly before 2 a.m., after, police say, he refused to get out of the way of a cab trying to turn onto Mass. Ave. from Boylston.

Witnesses say the suspect began hitting the front of the cab and threw a slice of pizza onto the hood of the vehicle. When asked to step out of the street, the suspect refused and began to verbally disparage the officers.

Innocent, etc.

Alleged member of pack roving Mass. Ave. beating people has a thing for online porn - and Northeastern

adamg — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:48:04 +0000

Turns out one of the four teens arrested for their alleged part in a series of attacks along Mass. Ave. on Aug. 9 was a PITA to Northeastern Police.

The Huntington News reports the kid had been arrested on campus twice for trespassing. A custodian scared him off a third time as he was watching porn on a classroom computer. Cops knew it was the same kid because he fled before he could log out of his Facebook account, the News reports.

No Bon Pain on Mass. Ave.

adamg — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:32:02 +0000

Mark Corsillo reports the Au Bon Pain on Mass. Ave., across from the Christian Science Center, is now an ex-Au Bon Pain.

Photo by Mark Corsillo.

The bus driver who'd had enough

adamg — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:31:41 +0000

Mat Marquis tweeted from the 77 bus this morning:

Driver just put the bus in park in the middle of Mass Ave., between stops. "People aren't moving back enough, so I'm not moving."

"You're already twenty minutes late," a woman protests. "Buy a car," he replies. She exits; he stands, punches the ceiling, then drives.

This was it, for me. This was the one - the commute wherein I swear off that bus forever. Henceforth, I walk to the train station.

City to begin handing out "educational" tickets to bicyclists in Back Bay, South End

adamg — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:21:34 +0000

Mike Ball reports on last night's hearing on proposed bike lanes along Mass. Ave. from the river to Symphony Hall. Among other topics:

The local D-4 police captain, Paul Ivens (also a cyclist) ... was jolly but firm. Along with their regular duties, his officers have issued several hundreds of tickets to bike-lane car parkers since July. He noted that they would likely be handing out non-ticket tickets to cyclists soon as warning educational devices.

Boston looks to install bike lanes on Mass. Ave. from the river to Symphony Hall

adamg — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:40:43 +0000

The city holds a hearing on Thursday to see what people think of the proposed addition of bike lanes to one of Boston's busiest streets.

City officials say bicycles now account for up to 14% of vehicle traffic on the avenue during rush hours - and that Mass. Ave. has one of the highest rates of bicycle accidents in the city. Under the city proposal, five-foot bike lanes would be striped on both sides of the road.

The hearing begins at 7 p.m. at the BPL main branch in Copley Square.

Body found in Mass. Ave. alley

adamg — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:57:41 +0000

Boston Police tweet a male body was found this morning in an alley at 333 Massachusetts Ave. Channel 25 reports part of St. Botolph Street is closed for the investigation.

Collapsing buildings guarded by attack cat

adamg — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:02:31 +0000

Yesterday, Flatheadjake took a series of photos of the decaying Hotel Alexandra and Ivory Bean buildings on Washington Street by Mass. Ave. - which sparked an emergency response by firefighters, police and building inspectors on Tuesday when one of the Ivory Bean building's walls appeared about to collapse in high winds. He reports the cat is not at all friendly and resisted efforts at rescue.

The Church of Scientology now owns the properties and plans to renovate them for use as its new Boston headquarters. In the meantime, however, they continue to fall apart. The buildings were already marked with a prominent white-on-red X meant to keep firefighters out in case of fire:

Homeless man charged with indecent assault on the Orange Line

adamg — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:43:31 +0000

2/9/11 - 4:10 pm

A man who lists St. Francis House on Boylston Street as his address was arrested yesterday on charges he began groping a woman he'd been staring at for several stops on a train heading toward Forest Hills.

According to an MBTA Transit Police report, a woman told police Abdulkadir Abbas, 29, started staring at her as soon as she got on the train at Community College. Around Mass. Ave., the woman reported, Abbas got up and sat next to her, put his hand on her right thigh and began rubbing it, moving higher until he was rubbing her genital area.

Woman chases cell-phone thief from Mass. Ave. T stop right into the arms of a cop

adamg — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:10:28 +0000

The Huntington News reports a woman riding the Orange Line around 6 p.m. on Saturday had her phone snatched out of her lap by a teenager as the train pulled into Mass. Ave.:

She ran after him through an exit onto the Gainsborough-Camden Street footbridge where [a Northeastern University police] officer was posted. The officer apprehended the 16-year-old and MBTA police arrested him.