Politics

Menino: Casey Overpass replacement will be 'second Big Dig'

adamg — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:48:54 +0000

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports Hizzona hates the plan to tear down the overpass in Forest Hills, but says, hey, it's not his project, so blame the state when the work turns the neighborhood into a living hell.

The battle to keep Boston sleepy is joined in Allston

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:47:08 +0000

Representatives of both the mayor's office and City Councilor Mark Ciommo agreed that Douglas Bacon is a fine restaurateur who runs quality restaurants. And yet both told the Boston Licensing Board today they oppose Bacon's request to extend the hours of his Avenue Bar and Grill in Allston an hour, to 2 a.m.

Why? Because they always oppose requests in Allston to extend liquor-serving hours to 2 a.m., no matter the number of existing 2 a.m. closing times or the fact that Bacon has racked up no violations in the year since he bought the place and turned it into an upscale establishment with a tough code of conduct for patrons.. In a later hearing, the mayor's office supported a 2 a.m. closing for a restaurant proposed for the area on top of the existing Hillstone restaurant next to Faneuil Hall.

The licensing board votes tomorrow on whether to grant Bacon's request for the Avenue, 1249 Commonwealth Ave.

Council approves school-relocation plan, but warns BPS: No more

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:32:25 +0000

Ross: "Irresponsible" to make kids pay for superintendent's mistakes.

A divided City Council today approved a plan that moves seven schools around and creates two new schools, but even councilors who voted in favor told School Superintendent Carol Johnson and School Committee Chairman Gregory Groover they're skating on thin ice.

Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) said the $20-million plan, which will mean 1,400 new seats in what BPS says are high-performing schools, forced her to vote for a plan that moves the Mission Hill K-8 School to Jamaica Plain. But she said she will never again vote for a BPS capital request unless officials pair it with a comprehensive five or ten-year plan. The council has final say over borrowing for large-scale capital projects.

Hey, turn it up - they're playing 'We Are Young' by Fun!

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:38:05 +0000

Wait, is that Tom Menino up there with them?!?

Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday brushed off claims of an upstart group of hip entrepreneurs that he's out of touch, saying he's tried to extend late-night buses and has infused his administration with several young, new staffers.

The City that Always Sleeps says no to fun

adamg — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:37:40 +0000

Because the idea of a woman running up to a giant screen showing a droning mayor and throwing a sledgehammer at it was already taken:

People in wheelchairs chain themselves across Beacon Street to protest T fare increases

adamg — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:21:53 +0000

Steve Annear at BostInno posts a photo of chained Ride riders across Beacon Street today, protesting fare increases scheduled to go into effect on July 1. Alternatives for Community and Environment has more photos.

State Police have asked the city DPW to send somebody over with a bolt cutter.

Councilor: BPS could build a brand-new school with all the money it wants to spend to move several schools around

adamg — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:19:06 +0000

Jackson: Not happyA skeptical group of city councilors urged school officials today to reconsider a school-moving plan that would send a Mission Hill elementary school to Jamaica Plain. The full council could vote on the issue at its regular meeting next week.

At a hearing on the proposal today, City Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) said the $19 million school BPS wants the city council to approve for loans - down from an earlier $21-million estimate - could be used to leverage additional state school construction money to simply build a brand-new school, reducing the number of students in 19th and early 20th-century buildings. State officials are currently sitting on payments for the renovation of Hyde Park High School, because BPS shut the school not long after renovating it.

"It really makes me angry that we've been given miserable choices amongst horrible options," Jackson said of the plan, in which Fenway High School would move to the Mission Hill K-8 building, the Boston Arts Academy would take over the Ipswich Street space it now shares with Fenway, the New Mission High School and Boston Community Leadership Academy would move to Hyde Park and a new Margarita Muniz Academy would move into the Agassiz School in JP along with Mission Hill.

Councilors, school officials to consider educational musical chairs on Thursday

adamg — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:23:20 +0000

Mission Hill teddy bear explains the problems with moving Mission Hill K-8.

BPS officials are scheduled to explain a proposed $21-million school relocation plan to a skeptical City Council committee at a hearing that starts at 11 a.m. in the council's fifth-floor chambers in City Hall.

Under the proposal, two high schools, including New Mission High School, would be moved to the closed Hyde Park High School - for which state officials are now withholding renovation funds because the money was supposed to be spent only for schools that are open and Fenway High School would be moved into the building that now houses New Mission and the Mission Hill K-8 School, which would be moved into the mold-infested Agassiz School, along with a new high school BPS is opening in the fall.

Group wants to grab the City that Always Sleeps by the shoulders and shake it awake

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:42:34 +0000

BostInno interviews Greg Selkoe, CEO of Karmaloop and founder of something called the Future Boston Alliance, which wants to transform Boston into a city that doesn't roll up its sidewalks every night. Starting with gyms. Why doesn't Boston allow all-night gyms? And no, Boston Bowl doesn't count.

Councilor wonders: If the T lets you pay for parking with your phone, why not Boston parking meters?

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:11:25 +0000

City Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) says it's time for the city to look at installing parking meters that let motorists pay via their smart phones.

At its regular weekly meeting tomorrow,the council will vote on a request from Jackson for a hearing into technology to enable phone-loving meters, similar to the phone payment system now in place at MBTA commuter-rail parking lots. He notes Boston already has meters that accept credit cards and CharlieCard-like smart cards.

Meter maids might not like Jackson's proposal, however - he says the meters could be set up to send text alerts to parkers when their time is almost up.

Officials want to know why BPS teaching staff so much whiter, more female than student population

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:58:19 +0000

WBUR reports BPS could face a federal probe into the racial makeup of its teaching staff because it's failing to meet diversity standards set in the court order that desegregated schools in the 1970s.

The City Council takes up the issue tomorrow, when Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) makes a formal request for a hearing into diversity in a system where 85% of students are black, Hispanic and Asian, but 62% of teachers are white - and the vast majority are women.

Pressley says the percentage of black teachers has not increased from 23% since 2007, even with a black superintendent and black School Committee chairman. BPS is still under a federal court order to increase that number to at least 35%; Pressley says she also wants to see the percentages of Latino and male teachers get closer to their numbers in the student population.

The council's weekly meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers at City Hall.

Eliot School gets room to expand

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:16:06 +0000

Mayor Menino today announced a building swap with the North Bennet Street School that could let the Eliot K-8 School double in size.

North Bennet Street will pay the city $11.4 million for 150 North St. and 130-140 Richmond St. and will give the city its current buildings at 37-39 North Bennet St. and 48-52 Tileston St.

The Eliot currently has 322 students and a waiting list of 295. The city will hold a meeting on May 22 to discuss possible renovation plans over the next few years for the new buildings, starting at 6 p.m. at the current Eliot School.

State stops repaying Boston for repairs to Hyde Park High School

adamg — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:53:28 +0000

The Globe reports a state authority has stopped paying Boston for renovations to Hyde Park High School because the school is shut.

When BPS officials realized shutting the school meant they were going to lose millions of dollars over several years for work they'd already paid for, they scrambled to find a way to re-open the building - at first announcing plans to relocate Boston Latin Academy there, then dropping that and announcing plans to move New Mission High School and Boston Community Leadership Academy.

State officials remained unconvinced they were getting their money's worth and stopped a scheduled $1.5-million annual payment, the Globe reports.

Meanwhile, the plans to move the two high schools to Hyde Park - and a series of other musical-chair moves - could be in jeopardy because city councilors, who must sign off on $20 million in borrowing for the work, have started raising questions about parts of the move, such as relocating the Mission Hill K-8 School to Jamaica Plain.

Shocked city councilors demand independent oversight of NStar transformers

adamg — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:43:17 +0000

At a hearing next week, Boston councilors will demand answers from NStar on two recent transformer problems in the Back Bay, one of which left much of the neighborhood without power for several days.

Council President Steve Murphy says he wants more than just soothing words from the utility - he wants somebody independent of the company to start monitoring the way it delivers power in Boston.

North End Segway guy seeks seat on neighborhood council

adamg — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:36:51 +0000

Allan Danley, who faces a mounting number of violations of a city ordinance against the way he operates his Segway tours, hopes to win a seat on the North End Waterfront Neighborhood Council.