back bay

At a press conference this afternoon, Gov. Patrick said he visitied a Northeastern student named Victoria, at Tufts Medical Center with shrapnel wounds from one of yesterday's explosions. Victoria, he said, told him how scared and hysterical she was as she was triaged in the Marathon medical tent. But then a man managed to calm her down, showed her his own scars from a shrapnel wound and told her she'd be OK.

Patrick said Victoria would love to thank the man, who only gave his name as Tyler. If you know him, call 617-725-4000.

This was the tragic scene at the armored Best Buy machine at Forest Hills Sunday afternoon. Joe D., who came up with the headline, reports it was still like that this morning. Aaron Gallo, meanwhile, discovered the same problem at Back Bay.

Charlie came to life today, ambling about town to promote Charlie Cards and the new air-conditioned Charlie service center at Downtown Crossing.

At the Public Garden, Charlie posed with tourists and handed out CharlieCards as souvenirs to little kids who had no idea what to do with them. "It's a CharlieCard!" T General Manager Jonathan Davis helpfully told one tot.

Then, once enough tourists had shown up, Charlie got on a Swan Boat and went for a ride. We didn't stick around to see if he ever returned, no, we don't know if he ever returned.

Ed. note: Don't worry: The Mass. Bay Credit Union paid for the suit, which has a built-in fan and a vent in the hat, but which still proved to be wicked hot enough on a day like today to force Charlie to take periodic breaks and take his head off.

Smoke was seen billowing off the roof of a building located on Commonwealth Avenue, this afternoon. Twitterer @alertnewengland reported that a rooftop air conditioning unit (presumably, not a window unit, but the condenser) had caught fire.

While that Twitter report had the fire located at 13 Commonwealth Ave, the location of the fire from my cub reporter observance was on the even-side of the street. It was either 16 or 18 Comm Ave.

Google Maps shows several a/c units on the roof of #16 - no signs of any grills, though ...

"Everything looks perfect from far away ..."

A Miniature Boston - 2011 Boston Time Lapse, by JMITimeLapse

(Made with tilt-shift technology)

Roy Simonds photographed the scene at Back Bay station shortly before 6 p.m., wonders if it was real or just part of the security show:

Guy was too calm, not aggravated, then went down pretty easy. Looked "staged". Other TSAs pretty calm at table.

Today was scheduled to be the day that 15 food trucks first turned on their grills to serve hungry Boston patrons.

According to Boston.com, however, "at least nine" of the 15 trucks were not in their assigned locations, many of which are located in the Boston Proper neighborhoods.

Delays in permitting and trucks / equipment problems were blamed. The city's point-person on the project reminded people this was just "the launch of a pilot" program that would be rolled out over the next year.

It was just a year ago (July 14, 2010) that City Councilor Michael Ross filed a measure to hold a hearing on how to regulate the trucks.

Daniel Jourdet, captured on an Internet video taking a swing at a T inspector at Copley station last April, pleaded guilty today to assault-and-battery and civil-rights charges, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Jourdet, 52, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail, with six months to actually serve for his attack on Tariq Muhummad. Muhummad, who served two years as an Army MP in Iraq. did not return Jourdet's blows while escorting him out of Copley on April 1 for creating a disturbance with a pal.

The victim asked Jourdet and his associate to stop their disorderly behavior or leave the station. Instead, the evidence would have shown, Jourdet poured forth a stream of invective based upon the victim's ethnicity. The evidence would have proven that Jourdet threw a punch at the victim before leaving the station. The victim was not injured, but his hat was knocked to the ground.

"During the assault and throughout this case, the inspector kept his cool,” [DA Dan] Conley said. "He's poised, perceptive, dignified, and intelligent - in short, everything this defendant is not."

The city of Troy, NY has egg on its face.

According to the Times-Union newspaper, the city has been using an image of Boston, not Troy, on the "Welcome" page of the official city website as well as on its letterheads and business cards. (The photo shows a row of Commonwealth Avenue townhomes.)

The author of the article notes the irony. Back in the 1980's, Troy was a stand-in city for Boston during the filming of Henry James' "The Bostonians".

Below, the image in question. (Their website currently shows a "holiday scene" in place of the regular header.)

The MBTA had its grand-opening ceremony today to announce the completion of the Copley Square renovation project.

There are two entrances to this Green Line station - outbound is at the corners of Boylston and Dartmouth streets while inbound is near the corner across the street, next to the Boston Public Library, Central Branch.

All token gates are open, the escalator (up) on the outbound side works, and both inbound and outbound now have elevators.

Channel 25 reports on an incident at Back Bay station involving a guy given wrong information about which train to take to Providence.

This is the mailing that has Stephen Lynch in a tizzy.

click on image for expanded view or view the PDF in Scribd

You find the most-interesting things in a barber shop.

Here are a couple photos of pages from the April 1925 issue of Real Estate News newspaper, "Dedicated to the Development and Welfare of Boston and New England and to those who Own, Occupy, Sell or Manage Real Estate".

On the cover is a story on plans to completely rehab an existing building on Newbury Street. The renovation did take place, as Bostonians know, as the property was the location of Kakas Furs fur for many years. In the left-hand corner of the page is a photo of the building as it existed circa 1925.

Inside the newspaper is a short article entitled "WHY BOXES REMAIN ON THE STREET" regarding trash receptacles in the Back Bay.

News by neighborhood being discussed on Universal Hub, this past week.

http://gmaps.kaeding.name/saved/boston_06132010

The state today announced federal funding for a $3-million breath of fresh air: A project to better ventilate the station, which fills with diesel fumes whenever a commuter-rail train pulls in.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the project will go out to bid after contractors finish another federally funded project to fix the station's leaky roof. That $1.6 million project is expected to go out to bid this summer and should take three months, he said.

Other projects covered by the overall $72.5 million federal grant include repairs to Red Line stations in North Quincy and Braintree and "phase 2" of the Ashmont project now that phase 1 is, hmm, is it finished?

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?

Channel 7 reports:

The train company CSX, which operates the section of the track involved, confirmed there were two commuter rail trains on the Worcester line heading right for each other.