River Street

River Street in Hyde Park evacuated when contractors hit gas main

The offending backhoe and the hole where it hit the main. Photo by BFD.The offending backhoe and the hole where it hit the main. Photo by BFD.

Contractors digging up River Street at Fairmount Avenue struck a 12-inch gas main around 5 p.m., sending natural gas into the air and forcing the evacuation of nearby buildings.

Two of the workers were taken to the hospital for evaluation after reporting lightheadedness, the Boston Fire Department reports. MBTA buses were brought in to give people ordered out of nearby buildings a place to stay out of the rain.

Brian D'Amico reports the gas was not completely shut off until 6:45 p.m. He adds that on its way to the incident, Ladder 28 was involved in a minor accident at River and Maple.

The shame of Hyde Park

Unplowed sidewalk in Hyde Park

Between the Tedeschi and the New York Fried Chicken on River Street is this tiny "park" that's an extension of the municipal parking lot. The city hasn't plowed the sidewalk out front, and apparently neither the scratch-ticket people nor the chicken people cared enough about their customers or other pedestrians to spend the extra 15 minutes to shovel it out, either. But then, why bother? It's only Hyde Park's main street.

Ed. note: When I got home, I filed a complaint via the city's newish Android Citizen Connect app. I wonder if the Snow Police will fine themselves.

Bank robbers sure seem to like Sovereign Bank: Mattapan, Brookline branches robbed

Boston Police tweet the new Sovereign Bank branch at 860 River St. was held up this afternoon by a guy who passed a note. Meanwhile, Wicked Local Brookline reports a Sovereign branch in Brookline was held up - by a guy who had to flee on foot because he left the key fob for his Lexus in the bank.

Yesterday:
Sovereign branch downtown robbed.

Hyde Park getting fourth supermarket

In a development project that's actually happening, construction is now proceeding at a snappy pace at the new mall going up where the old paperboard plant used to be on River Street, near the Mattapan line. And there's now a "coming soon" sign for a PriceRite supermarket. It'll join the Shaw's and Americas' Food Basket, both on Hyde Park Avenue, and the baby Stop & Shop on Truman Parkway.

Fire at Hyde Park YMCA construction site

Local 718 tweets a two-alarm fire broke out around 6 a.m. on the third floor of YMCA, 1137 River St. The Y is closed for renovation and expansion.

Major Mattapan street shut down by fake grenade

Boston Police shut down River Street near the Dorchester line around 11 a.m. when somebody discovered what appeared to be a live hand grenade. It turned out to be an inert training grenade.

The disappearing mill

Fans of the decaying industrial look need to get themselves down to River Street on the Hyde Park/Mattapan line pronto, before what's left of the old Bay State Paper plant is completely carted away as a developer turns the property into a mall (granted, a mall that sounds pretty cool). Already, about half the property consists of large mounds of dirt and gravel rather than hulking machinery and mysterious objects and buildings that look like they could cave in at any moment.

Like the valve says, the mill is closed:

How many fried-chicken joints named after other cities does one neighborhood need?

NY chicken

If the neighborhood is Hyde Park, the answer is two. Both are on River Street; the New York one is in Cleary Square; the New Orleans version just outside Logan Square.

NO chicken