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By adamg - 9/25/14 - 8:02 am

The Globe reports developer Steve Belkin is back with plans to replace an old municipal garage in Winthrop Square with a skyscraper that would rise 650 to 740 feet, depending on whether he wants to top the thing off with luxury condos.

Belkin originally proposed a 1,000-foot tower, but then the economy tanked - and those pesky FAA regulators said they didn't want something so tall so close to Logan.

By adamg - 9/24/14 - 9:42 pm
Sunset with sundogs over downtown, shot from East Boston

Rob Wright watched the sunset and sundogs on either side of the sun over downtown from East Boston this evening.

By adamg - 9/23/14 - 7:52 pm
New mural on the transportation building on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston.

Mark O'Neill took in a ska concert at the party to welcome Shinique Smith's new mural on that Big Dig structure on the Greenway in Dewey Square.

By adamg - 9/22/14 - 4:06 pm

Boston Restaurant Talk reports on what might be a temporary shutdown of the Broad Street restaurant named for Chef Jason Santos's choice in hair dye.

By adamg - 9/22/14 - 1:18 pm
One Washington Place evacuation scene.

The scene at One Boston Place. Photo by BostonBethy.

Firefighters quickly contained a fire in pipes on the fifth floor at One Boston Place on Washington Street downtown this afternoon, but dealing with the smoke forced the evacuation of the 44-story office building.

The Boston Fire Department reports no injuries. The building houses about 2,700 workers, some of whom had to walk all the way down because the department was using the building's elevators to ferry firefighters up and down.

Before she evacuated with co-workers from the 40th floor, Jan snapped this photo:

By adamg - 9/21/14 - 9:35 pm
Old car hood on Boston Common

Arturo Gossage took in the Boston Cup display of old cars on the Common today.

Copyright Arturo Gossage. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

By Stop Litter---Yes On 2 in 2014... - 9/20/14 - 7:20 pm

We need to stop litter and keep Massachusetts clean by spreading the word about the Yes on Question 2 campaign.

The Bottle Bill is the most effective recycling tool we have. Eighty percent of bottles covered by the Bottle Bill’s 5-cent deposit are recycled. Yes on Question 2 would add a bottle deposit to water, sports drinks, tea, juices, and other drinks that were not included in the original bill because they were not popular when the law was passed in 1982.

We need your vote on November 4 to update the Bottle Bill.

By adamg - 9/19/14 - 1:49 pm
Guy with shopping cart on the MBTA's Red Line

Why didn't anybody tell us this was Bring Your Big Stuff on the T Week? As if Comfy Chair Guy, Bowl of Pasta with Grated Parmesan Guy and Motor Scooter Guy weren't enough, let us introduce you to Shopping Cart Guys. Paul Nutting spotted this duo on the Red Line earlier this week with a shopping cart full of tools. They got on at Downtown Crossing and off at South Station. He adds:

You should have seen the look an off duty T employees was giving them.

By adamg - 9/19/14 - 9:06 am
Scooter on the Orange Line

Kate Sosin reports the dude and his ride were already on the inbound Orange Line train last night when she boarded at North Station. He got off at Downtown Crossing. See it larger.

By adamg - 9/18/14 - 8:54 am

Well, seems Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was in town today. And as befits somebody of his august position, naturally, he stayed at the Ritz and got a motorcade full of Escalades that, of course, got a full police escort and had Storrow Drive blocked at rush hour?

His public schedule.notes he and his entourage will do it all again tomorrow, starting at Harvard at 9 and then across the Charles back into Boston for an 11 a.m. grip-and-grin with Tom Menino and a bunch of college presidents at BU. River-road motorists take note.

By adamg - 9/16/14 - 3:49 pm
Bomb squad moves in at South Station in Boston

Updated with the outcome.

An unattended bag forced the shutdown of Atlantic Avenue along South Station between roughly 3:40 and 4:10 p.m. - when a bomb technician opened it up and found it filled mostly with papers.

Another view by Mike McD.

Stephanie B captured the moment when the technician opened the bag, determined it was harmless and gave a thumb's up:

By adamg - 9/16/14 - 7:52 am

The Haymarket Project: Part III -- Summer

Justin H. Goodstein-Aue and Historic New England's Everyone's History project are chronicling the four seasons at Haymarket. Here, they interview longtime vendors and customers.

By adamg - 9/15/14 - 8:57 am

Over the weekend, the RMV shut its Chinatown branch and opened a new one in the building above the Haymarket T stop.

As always, the Roslindale RMV provides ample space for standing outside while you wait for your number to be called inside.

By adamg - 9/14/14 - 11:09 am
Old State House lion in a cage

The Bostonian Society took down the lion and the unicorn from the Old State House today for renovations. Jocelyn was there to watch them cage the lion, no doubt to make sure he didn't escape and try to re-assert his royal authority over the colony.

By adamg - 9/13/14 - 3:11 pm

Erica Mattison saw this singer at Downtown Crossing today, thought he was wonderful, wonders if anybody knows who he is.

By adamg - 9/12/14 - 10:02 pm

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on the results of a BRA-hired consultant's report on the shadows Chiofaro's proposed two towers would cast on the Greenway - and the issue of whether the project would have any of the required "open space."

By adamg - 9/12/14 - 12:35 pm
Tremont Street plaque where you can see Old North Church

This plaque is embedded in the sidewalk on the Tremont Street side of the Parker House. It's easy to miss - who looks down while walking down that particularly busy sidewalk? - but once you see it, you just know you have to stop and take a look.

And for years, your view was, in fact, of Old North Church, just to the left of City Hall. But now, well, look at what Aaron Helfand saw this morning when he stood on the plaque and looked out:

By adamg - 9/11/14 - 3:21 pm
Santa mailbox at South Station in Boston on Sept. 10

UPDATE: Seems the box was part of an effort to send letters to the troops.

Conor Yunits was more than nonplussed to see this at South Station yesterday, which, he reminds us, was Sept. 10. Sept. 10, people.

By adamg - 9/10/14 - 2:55 pm

Christopher Jamison wants to turn the shuttered Locke-Ober space on Winter Place into a new destination restaurant for the downtown set - right down to the fabled carved wooden bar that still sits there.

At a Boston Licensing Board hearing today, Jamison and Mark Malatesta, his proposed manager for the as yet unnamed restaurant, said they would even keep the old Yvonne's private club in the basement, although they said they would turn it into a function room.

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