Downtown

A small trash fire on the Green Line tracks was extinguished by a Green Line driver late tonight, but there might be something else going on at Haymarket. Around 11 p.m., Boston_Fireman tweeted to expect delays on both Green and Orange lines. Green Line service in both directions was stopped, while power on the Orange Line between Haymarket and State Street was turned off. However, the T was given the OK to restore service on both lines around 11:40 p.m. Read more

Yes, there will be one - a large tent on Summer Street, with various artists and craftspeople, between Nov. 28 and Dec. 24.

Read more on the blog or follow on Twitter.

Via Beantown Bloggery.

Adam Weiss reports one of those black-suited special-forces T cops told him to stop taking pictures at the Government Center T stop this afternoon because, apparently, nobody's ever told him about the MBTA's official photography policy - which says picture taking is allowed on T property (just without a flash or tripod). Weiss says:

At least he was nice about it this time. He apologized, saying he didn't know the rules. Let me go on my way. Nothing against the cop, just the T for not informing him.

It's true! Look at this headline from today's Times: New York Burger Stand on Boston's Seafood Turf? Read more

The MBTA wasn't running outbound trains between Park Street and JFK this afternoon because of "a power problem in the downtown area," according to announcements that played in between the usual announcements imploring riders to pay their fares and to say something if they see something.

I was at South Station when an inbound train pulled in around 2:30 p.m., emblazoned with "Out of Service" displays. But it stopped and then, after a minute or so, the doors opened. Like the well trained sheep we are, everybody got on - and suddenly realized the train smelled like burning garbage.

"It's just a trash fire on the tracks, not the train," an MBTA cop reassured us. "It's a trash fire, not the train."

More cops appeared on the platform. Then the doors closed and we left.

NorthEndWaterfront.com collects some links on the flowering dispute between the Mass. Horticultural Society (yes, it lives) and the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy Board over the latter's plans to redesign the former's Greenway projects near South Station to cut out all the flowers - which volunteers had spent huge amounts of time planting.

The Supreme Judicial Court today ruled that Suffolk County prosecutors can re-try Leah Daniels for using a knife to slash a man's neck and almost take off his ear outside a downtown bar in 1999 - although the DA's office says it is still considering whether to try her again. Read more

The Food Monkey considers those ads now gracing some stations (such as Government Center and Back Bay) with the chef sneering at the Pepsi drinkers of the world:

... It seems that Chef Colicchio suggests pairing your diet coke with something that appears a burger/seafood paella hybrid, with a pile of polenta covered in ketchup as a side. I am most glad to see this, as up until this time, I had believed myself to be alone in my Diet Coke and paella burger dining practices. ...

Speaking of T ads, what's up with the schizophrenia at South Station, which can't decide if it should promote Macs or Windows?

The Channel 25 anchor/reporter learns first hand that 1:30 a.m. is not a good time for getting a cab in the Financial District.

Channel 7 reports a driver in a westbound trolley stopped short tonight, sending passengers flying. Interestingly, the trolley continued to Government Center, where some passengers were removed on stretchers, the station says.

Jay Fitzgerald has no objections to a restaurant on the Common. But he takes issue with one called Shake Shack:

... But you just know the same types who think "SoWa" is such a cool name will go with the "beloved" Shake Shack – and then they'll lecture us about having an inferiority complex while they’re off aping everything Manhattan. They'll never understand that it's not about New York – or Kansas City. It's about losing a little local character every time they plunk an out-of-state chain or name on an historic area. ...

Channel 5 reports on the incident at Faneuil Hall this morning. The building has been under renovations for awhile now.

The Globe reports on an accident at Tremont and Winter streets this morning. Boston Police report the victim suffered a head injury in the crash.

Now there are none -- at least none in Boston. The High Street Brigham's in Boston's financial district [url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/11/brighams_boston_store_closing_after_37_years]abruptly closed yesterday[/url], after the landlord evicted it for non-payment of rent. Brigham's also stole several months of health insurance deductions from their employees. Read more

Still from an MBTA surveillance video just as the train stopped.

Channel 4 posts copies of three separate MBTA videos (three? Yes, three) of the woman falling off the platform - looks like one of the people waving at the oncoming train almost fell on the tracks himself.

Onlookers waving at the train to get the driver to stop: Read more

BostonTweet took some video of a new breed of commuters on City Hall Plaza today:

The Boston Fire Department ordered power shut on the Orange Line between State Street and Downtown Crossing shortly after 10 p.m. when smoke appeared in the State Street station. Power was restored not long after when firefighters discovered the smoke was coming from one particular train, not another track fire, according to Boston Fireman and Local 718.

16WadeSt captures the mystery that steam always seems to bring to city nights, in this case, on School Street.

Copyright 16WadeSt. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Rick Sawyer reports he was on the inbound Orange Line platform at North Station last night when a woman fell on the tracks - just as a train was approaching:

... It was like a movie. The train stopped inches away from the woman's unstirring body, the frontmost part actually hanging over her. For a nauseating moment, we thought she had been killed—by the train or by the third rail. The conductor burst out of the front train compartment, the color draining from her face, repeating "Oh my God." ...

The most prominent thing on the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Web site is a Flash package that features Tom Menino standing in front of the Boston skyline - enhanced by the 80-story tower he wants to build at Winthrop Square.

For a building that never got built, Winthrop Square sure gets around:

Tom Wheaton photographed last evening's protest on the Common over the Maine same-sex marriage vote.

Copyright Tom Wheaton. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Naturally, there's a site that collects tacky tourist photos and, yes, of course, one of the entries involves the Red Auerbach statue and some guy's finger. Guess it beats what Harvard students do to poor John Harvard, though.

Via Jay Fitzgerald.

He was holding a guitar, but in the short time I listened to him at Downtown Crossing, Fester didn't actually play. Instead, he sang "Yesterday" to a karaoke CD.

In the "kids today" department, as I was walking up to the Forest Hills side from the Oak Grove side, these two teen girls in front of me were talking about Halloween, when one blurted out, "I wanna be a WHORE!" You go, girl!