Alewife
Alleged jetsetting criminal mastermind to get a taste of Boston justice
By adamg - 12/15/11 - 3:41 pm
Tagged up Red Line car, signed with Bezat's tag.
A man wanted on two continents for massive graffiti attacks against subway systems was nabbed in Newark as he was about to board a plane for Paris and has been shipped up to Boston, where he now faces up to three years in prison for allegedly tagging up Red Line trains and Alewife station on Sept. 13, the MBTA reports.
Maxime Christian Bezat, 25, was arrested at Newark Airport on Dec. 3. Although he faces numerous tagging charges in New York, MBTA Transit Police journeyed south to bring him to Boston, which in recent years has become something of the nation's graffiti enforcer.
Bezat, who allegedly goes by "Rask," was arraigned in Cambridge District Court yesterday on vandalism charges; he was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
A photo released by the MBTA of a spray-painted Red Line train shows two other large tags in apparently different styles than Rask's. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said "the investigation is ongoing."
Innocent, etc.
Dead Red Line train makes for very unhappy commuters
By adamg - 11/30/11 - 6:54 pmSomewhere between Park and Harvard is an Alewife-bound train that simply couldn't take it anymore, to the consternation of riders on both it and other trains stuck because of it, not to mention the people who finally straggle to Alewife only to find that the parking garage is, of course, releasing them into the wild only very reluctantly.
The man who got arrested for refusing to submit to an MBTA bag search
By adamg - 11/21/11 - 7:27 amThe Herald interviews an Arlington man who fought the $100 fine sought by prosecutors, and won.
The MBTA Transit Police report on the Oct. 26 arrest at Alewife paints a slightly different picture than the simple civil-liberties patina painted by the Herald:
I informed Goodwin that it was his right to refuse to submit to the program, but that he would not be allowed to gain access to the MBTA from this station. Goodwin then became very belligerent, yelling, "I'm not a Muslim, you don't have to check my bag. I don't have to accept this Nazi-ism!!"
No Red Line north of Harvard on weekends
By BostonUrbEx - 10/22/11 - 9:32 amRecently, if you look out the windows on the Red Line between Harvard and Porter, you'll almost always find workers pressing against the wall to let a train by. In case the water-stained tunnel walls don't give it away: they're working on the corroded tracks as we speak. However, that may not be enough time to keep the tunnels in shape, and as The Globe explains:
The MBTA will close the Red Line north of Harvard Square on weekends from November through March to complete $80 million in repairs designed to keep trains from derailing, transit administrators said yesterday.
Starting Nov. 5, weekend service will stop to allow T crews to plug tunnel cracks and seal water leaks that have eroded the concrete track base and corroded power lines. Then crews will replace damaged track, supports, and electrical components.
Boston area not immune to planking
By adamg - 7/10/11 - 10:09 pmWhole series of planking photos, including my favorite - planking the giant steel T outside Alewife. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to tell if somebody is planking or dead drunk.
MBTA: Drunken teen plunges 20 feet off Alewife escalator, lives
By adamg - 6/27/11 - 2:41 pmOnly suffered a broken elbow, Channel 5 reports.
A vending machine that probably makes more sense for the T
By adamg - 5/19/11 - 9:33 amMediacrity posts a photo of the new, soon-to-be-stocked Redbox machine at Alewife.
Workday ends on the Red Line much like it began
By adamg - 2/11/11 - 5:40 pmDead train and signal problems mean the last refugees on the line before the T switched to buses got to enjoy 50 minutes staring at tunnel walls while their trains moved to the next stop. But there's an added bonus for commuters headed to Alewife: An angry turkey is now patrolling the garage.
Park Street photo that will remind you of Tokyo. Well, if Tokyo had trains that didn't run.
Tom Bruno did find one silver lining in it all: Despite an hour delay on the Red Line, he didn't miss his Rockport train at North Station - because it was late, too.
It's too bad there's not a fortune-cookie factory at Alewife
By adamg - 1/24/11 - 7:41 pmHarried Red Line commuters who managed to get to their cars at Alewife found themselves trapped in the garage tonight.
At 7:35, Stu K tweeted:
It's a serious health concern. I've been here for over an hour breathing in exhaust. I've moved 10' on 5th floor.
At 7 p.m., Dan Dunn tweeted:
Been 15 minutes on roof of Alewife and my car hasn't moved a single foot. Someone send pizza please.
Half an hour later, he tweeted again:
45 minutes on roof of Alewife so far. Called police. Police say MBTA says rte 2 traffic. Google says no traffic on rte 2. I'm screwed.
Followed 15 minutes later by:
Passing 60 minutes immobile on the roof of Alewife. Soon I will grow thirsty and be forced to melt snow on car hood.
