Back Bay

The Daily Free Press reports BU campus police don't have tasers and that what some people thought was a taser was, in fact, a flashlight the cop was using to signal a fellow officer during an Esplanade snowball fight at the height of the storm. Police say the student was captured and released after throwing a snowball in the cop's face.

Joshua Dawson spotted this ad-hoc toll gate in the Back Bay this morning.

Leslee spotted this couple on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall today.

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Alice Murphy noticed an unusual snow formation on Comm. Ave. between Clarendon and Dartmouth.

What do several hundred BU students do? Descend on Storrow Drive and the Esplanade. Police, of course, arrived not long after to break things up.

More video (snowball fight starts about 1:00).

Sven Heistad was amazed how empty Comm. Ave. in the Back Bay was this afternoon.

Empty Comm. Ave. in Allston. Copyright Photographynatalia.

Transit Police report arresting a guy who donned one of those bright orange vests T workers often wear in an attempt to evade paying to get on the Orange Line at Back Bay.

Mike the Mad Biologist wonders what can be done about the scourge of frozen-yogurt places in the Back Bay.

The phonebooks are peeking out from under the snow and ice!

Matt Karolian wonders why there was a pile of Hershey's Kisses dumped on Arlington Street this morning. You may recall what happened in Copley Square after the Super Bowl last year.

The Globe reports state Rep. Marty Walz (D-Back Bay) is resigning to become CEO of Mass. Planned Parenthood.

WCVB's Rhondella Richardson tweets an 80-lb. chunk of concrete fell from the Charlesgate bridge this afternoon. State officials say the bridge is OK to drive on; no word on whether it's OK to walk under.

This comes on the same day a ceiling collapsed at downtown health club and concrete plunged from ceiling of Forest Hills commuter-rail stop.

Scott Eisen shows what you can do with a good telephoto lens and a long exposure at night while looking toward downtown and the Back Bay.

Copyright Scott Eisen. Posted by permission.

Gnimsh captured part of his his show in front of the old Best Buy at Mass. Ave. and Newbury.

Ed. note: It will never happen, but wouldn't it be awesome if he teamed up with Chicken Man and danced in the back of his truck?

Photo by MBTA.

MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott and Assistant General Manager Michael Turcotte examine the shorted out cable that stopped the Green Line in its tracks during yesterday's morning rush hour (not to be confused with the other cable in the same location that shorted out service last night).

The date on the table presumably refers to the year subway service started in Boston, not the year the cable was installed, but one never knows.

The Globe reports on the 50ish-story tower that will rise on part of the Christian Science Center property - along with a 20-story building. Construction could start by year's end.

Another "power problem" between Arlington and Copley tonight - yes, cables are burning - and riders are finding themselves stranded. Emily Munroe tweeted shortly after 9:50:

Just got kicked off Bgreen line before Kenmore and was told there are no shuttles.

Bostonians had their choice of venues for standing around this AM, such as Andrew. Photo by Chris Wright.

Fire on the inbound tracks between Arlington and Copley around 7:40, Jay Joynes tweets. At first, the T shut Arlington station because of heavy smoke, but shortly after 8 a.m., it shut down all Green Line service downtown. And shortly after 8:30, the T began evacuating trolleys stuck in the tunnel near Hynes and Copley stations.

The T eventually sent in some shuttle buses between stations to the west and downtown, but many commuters didn't wait. As Gracetopia tweets:

I now feel like one of the army of the commute, as I walk from Kenmore to downtown with my fellow MBTA refugees.

Lindsay Douglas, though, was one of the people who stayed behind at Kenmore:

I've never seen chaos like this. Coldest day of the year + the MBTA shuts down the green line. Yelling+angry people.

And because misery loves company, an inbound Red Line train died not long after at Charles/MGH, Rob Grover tweets. Later, another train died at Porter. Around 9:20, another train died, inbound at Andrew.

The Back Bay Sun reports the Friends of the Public Garden has started posting trees with 4x6-inch black anodized aluminum signs to let you know just what kind of trees they are.

Boston Police report they are looking for a woman who walked into Barney's in Copley Place on Jan. 10 and walked out with a purse selling for $10,290 - without paying for it.

Police say she was accompanied by a boy, between 8 and 14.

If she looks familiar, Det. Matt Tierney would like to have a word with you, at 617-343-4683.

Ouch.

Boston Police are looking for a man who held a woman up at gunpoint around 3:40 p.m. on Boylston Street at Clarendon. The victim then walked into the Kate Spade store, 117 Newbury St., to seek help. The suspect is described as a black male, about 5'6" and heavyset, clean shaven, wearing a tan waist-length coat, a beige beanie, yellow-tinted sunglasses and blue jeans. He was last seen headed outbound on Boylston.

Jonathan Berk wondered what these people on the Lagoon today were thinking.

Jackie Bruno at NECN reports it's so cold that

A guy on Boylston St. tried printing his parking meter sticker but it's blank. Ink is frozen.

It's so cold, J. Tammaro reports from Park Street:

Sob Story Guy has changed his story to he needs a jacket at the goodwill on Harrison ave

The Boston Ninja Race is the evening of Jan. 23, along the Charles (although it begins and ends at the Crossroads Pub at Beacon and Mass. Ave.):

NINJA THEME REQUIRED. Dull swords allowed. Snow ninjas allowed. Complaining about it being "cold" is not permitted at any time.