Boston + Cambridge + Somerville
School superintendent vows no repeat of busing nightmares next year
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 3:43 pmSchool Superintendent Carol Johnson has released details of plans to ensure more students get to school on time in the coming school year.
For starters, BPS has already started mapping out bus routes for the fall, rather than waiting until later in the summer. BPS blamed new routing software for a busing crisis that saw hundreds of students getting to school seriously late, if their buses showed up at all.
Part of the planning process will involve making sure drivers actually have enough time to get from one stop to the next.
Also, transportation staff underwent customer-service training, more operators will be brought on in peak hours to actually talk to parents wondering where their kids are and the whole system has been tied into the Mayor's Hotline call-tracking system.
Also, BPS has declared June as BPS Bus Driver Appreciation Month. Parents and students will be asked to write letters of appreciation to their bus drivers, who work for a contractor named First Student. BPS will soon ask for bids to run its buses when First Student's contract expires next year.
Kendall Square pulls a Back Bay
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 11:20 amPower out. Cambridge Police tweet they are diverting cars away from the area at Third and Charles, Third and Binney and Main and Ames.
Homeless man attacked on pier near the Zakim; police seek witnesses
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 11:10 amA homeless man found with a serious head injury Monday at the Paul Revere Park fishing pier under the Charlestown Bridge may have been attacked there Sunday night.
Authorities are looking for people who may have been in the park and seen anything, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports:
Because the spot is popular with people walking their dogs or fishing in the harbor, authorities are asking anyone who may have been in the area on Sunday evening to come forward with information, no matter how minor or peripheral it might seem. Specifically, they hope someone may have seen a person or persons in the area of the pier on the evening or night of May 20.
Possible witnesses can contact State Police detectives - investigating because the park is state owned - at 617-727-8817, or by calling 911 on a cellphone.
Orange Line riders north of Boston to face two years of periodic weekend, night bus service
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 10:32 amSouth End Patch reports on impending bustitution north of the city to let the MBTA build the new Assembly Square stop in peace. There's no set schedule yet for the "diversions," but the T says what will start out as sporadic shutdowns will grow more frequent as the station progresses.
Soon the sterilization of Harvard Square could be complete: Patio tables and mood lighting proposed for the Pit
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 7:39 amThe Crimson reports on some ambitious plans for the land behind the Out of Town News stand and the T stop: A complete overhaul of the Pit that would feature patio tables and chairs, stadium seating around it, LED floor lights and a giant flat-screen TV. Bonus: The plan would turn the Out of Town News kiosk into "a glass-walled information center with interactive features."
Cambridge journalist to local businesses: No more Mr. Nice Guy
By adamg - 5/24/12 - 7:10 amMark Levy at Cambridge Day puts Cambridge businesses on record: If you put a giant "Going Out of Business" sale in your window, he's going to write about it, even if you ask him not to. He's tired of getting scooped on stories he knew about first.
Council approves school-relocation plan, but warns BPS: No more
By adamg - 5/23/12 - 1:32 pmRoss: "Irresponsible" to make kids pay for superintendent's mistakes.
A divided City Council today approved a plan that moves seven schools around and creates two new schools, but even councilors who voted in favor told School Superintendent Carol Johnson and School Committee Chairman Gregory Groover they're skating on thin ice.
Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) said the $20-million plan, which will mean 1,400 new seats in what BPS says are high-performing schools, forced her to vote for a plan that moves the Mission Hill K-8 School to Jamaica Plain. But she said she will never again vote for a BPS capital request unless officials pair it with a comprehensive five or ten-year plan. The council has final say over borrowing for large-scale capital projects.
Hey, turn it up - they're playing 'We Are Young' by Fun!
By adamg - 5/23/12 - 7:38 amWait, is that Tom Menino up there with them?!?
Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday brushed off claims of an upstart group of hip entrepreneurs that he's out of touch, saying he's tried to extend late-night buses and has infused his administration with several young, new staffers.
Uh, oh, mayor of Somerville gets really mad; will he turn green and burst out of his clothes?
By adamg - 5/22/12 - 10:06 pmWhoever stole a one-of-a-kind, artist-designed Weekly Dig news box had better hope they don't run into Joe Curtatone in a dark alley. He tweets tonight:
Surely someone can find some other piece of ironic furniture. Return Rawr!
Man stabbed in Allston apartment building
By adamg - 5/22/12 - 6:51 pm1202 Comm. Ave. just inbound from Harvard Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Police looking for two men, who may have made a point of stabbing the guy in both legs.
