Natick

Mall life not all it's cracked up to be, some owners say in suit against Natick Mall condo developers

adamg — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:44:10 +0000

Some of the first people to buy pricey condos at the Natick Mall are suing to get their money back.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle, stage adaptation of classic Boston crime novel, opens Dec. 8 at Oberon

Eddie Coyle — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:25:39 +0000

Cambridge, Mass. — Tickets are on sale now for George V. Higgins’ The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Stickball Productions’ world premiere stage adaptation of the quintessential Boston crime novel. The production runs Dec. 8–Jan. 15 at Oberon in Harvard Square, for tickets, visit www.thefriendsofeddiecoyle.com

It is the winter of ‘69 in Boston and Eddie Coyle is a bottom of the barrel hood attempting to stay alive and out of jail among his “friends” – cops, bartenders, radical hippies, bank robbers, hit men and informants. Weeks away from a prison sentence for trucking stolen booze, Eddie’s making a few bucks supplying the guns for a rash of brazen bank heists, while looking to tip someone in for a kind word to the judge.

George V. Higgins’ classic novel has been called the “best crime novel ever written” by Elmore Leonard, and literary scholars have compared his unforgiving and realistic depiction of Boston’s underworld with the works of Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Balzac. Through dialogue quintessentially Bostonian, and the most poignant homage to Bobby Orr and the ’69-’70 Boston Bruins in literature, The Friends of Eddie Coyle has set the bar for Boston crime stories for nearly 40 years.

Redistricting Olympics

creightt — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:42:03 +0000

Common Cause Massachusetts is hosting a Redistricting Olympics this summer. We will be taking citizen drawn Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps all summer, evaluating them, declaring a winner, giving out prizes and submitting the winning maps to the MA Legislative Redistricting Committee for consideration.

The purpose of the redistricting Olympics is threefold: to educate the public about the steps in the redistricting process, to initiate public participation in the political arena, and to pressure the legislature to draw the districts so that the citizens are appropriately represented.

Help show the legislature that redistricting is about our interests, not theirs. By participating in our redistricting Olympics and learning how to draw your own fair districts, you can acquire the tools you need to expose attempts by public officials to politicize the state’s new legislative maps.

For more information check out and/or email us at .

Participate in our democracy!

Did the winds from yesterday's storm carry a photo from the Springfield area to Natick?

adamg — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:53:34 +0000

Kate Neville reports she found this photo and address labels in her Natick yard today. The labels list an address in Stafford Springs, CT, about 20 miles south of tornado-ravaged Monson, MA. But where is the photo from? Who is the little boy?

I keep wondering if this photo is from someone's home that was destroyed in the tornado...

Because of stories like this, NECN weatherman Matt Noyes has opened up his Facebook page to people who want to post photos of stuff they've found, in the hopes their owners might reclaim them:

I don't expect there will be a great many items, but if we can reunite even just a few folks with their treasured belongings, hopefully it will help ease their loss in a very small way.

And the hub of Massachusetts is: Natick!

adamg — Wed, 11 May 2011 03:18:55 +0000

To be exact, 32 Windsor Ave., on the shores of scenic Dug Pond, according to the US Census Bureau's 2010 Census Centers of Population by State .

And yes, of course the Census Bureau figures out the center of gravity for each state's population.

Tip o' the enumerator's cap to Kurt Hemr for finding this.

Keglers lose another one: Fairway Bowling in Natick shutting down

adamg — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:25:43 +0000

The MetroWest Daily News reports.

Court: Woman guilty as charged for abusing co-worker's debit card

adamg — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:07:20 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today upheld the fraud conviction of a woman who used a co-worker's debit card to buy pizza and clothes and to renew her driver's license.

Laura Ryan, who used the co-worker's card while on work release from MCI Framingham, had argued that state law explicitly refers to fraud involving "credit" cards and that debit cards are just not the same.

The appeals court, however, discounted that argument and upheld Ryan's conviction as "a common and notorious thief:"

Grab and run at the Natick Mall

lex.galloway — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:21:21 +0000

1/24/11 - 6:52 pm

Natick Police report a grab-and-run robbery at the Natick Collection on Monday.

At around 7 p.m., police say, two men entered the Gucci store there and began to collect purses before quickly running out. Police say they got away with only nine purses, but they were worth a total of $9,500.

Recent months have seen a spate of similar robberies at high-end stores apparel and accessories stores in the Back Bay.

If somebody calls you and says they've got a great deal on TVs, but you have to drive to another state, think twice

adamg — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:19:25 +0000

Natick Police report somebody from Connecticut was separated from $3,400 in a scam at the Natick Mall.

According to police, the victim got a phone call and was offered a great deal on four TVs - but only at the Natick Sears:

Person drove to Natick and met in parking lot with female shown in grey shirt claiming she was a Sears employee. She gave him a fake Sears bill of lading for four TV's in exchange for $3400 cash. She then walked into the store and told him to wait for the TV's to be delivered to his vehicle. TV's never came.

If you have to meet a Sears employee in the parking lot for a great deal on a TV, you're about to get scammed

adamg — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:54:16 +0000

Natick Police report this guy did his part to prove P.T. Barnum correct, in an incident on Sunday outside the Sears at the Natick Mall:

Suspect posed as store employee and met 'victim' at store parking lot per prior verbal agreement. Suspect was then given $1300 cash in exchange for store merchandise pick-up receipt to go in and pick up promised 'discounted televisions.' Receipt was fake and 'victim' was turned away with no television.

Charlie to be welcomed on MetroWest buses

adamg — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:05:52 +0000

Officials from the MBTA and the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority will gather tomorrow to announce you'll be able to use CharlieCards on MWRTA buses.

The formal announcement is at 11:30 a.m. at the Woodland stop on the Green Line.

Your ballot in tomorrow's primary

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:28:17 +0000

To preview your primary ballot for tomorrow, click on the link from the Secretary of State's website:

http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php

then enter your address and select a political party. It will show you what choices you'll have on tomorrow's primary ballot.

Jewish deli in Natick to be replaced by Jewish deli

adamg — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:15:45 +0000

Wicked Local Brookline reports the late Joan and Ed's in Sherwood Plaza will be replaced by an outlet of Brookline-based Zaftig's.

Nothing Nouvelle in Natick: Globe doubles-down on puffery

Cynic — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:14:34 +0000

Three years after the Globe first brought us the story of "the suburban pioneers snatching up units" at the, um, Natick Mall, we get the latest update. Despite listing and auctioning off units for as little as a third of their original prices, the developer still can't find buyers for almost 30% of the units in this white elephant of a project.

Somehow, the Globe finds in all this a Schweitzerian tale of triumph in the face of adversity:

It opened amid the worst recession in generations, with some critics scoffing at the idea of a Boston-style condo tower in the heart of the Route 9 shopping district. But after some tough early struggles and a big markdown in prices — penthouses were originally on the market for well over $1 million — the Nouvelle at last count had sold 152, or roughly 70 percent, of its 215 units.

I can almost hear the corks popping at General Growth's headquarters.

Saving money if you reverse commute along Rte. 9

adamg — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:08:04 +0000

Jeff Egnaczyk lives in Brookline and works in Natick, and he raves about the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority's Green Line shuttle bus from Woodland. Not only does it save him $76 a month over his old route (C line to Copley, commuter rail to Natick, Natick Neighborhood Bus to work), it runs more frequently and:

MWRTA customer service is light years ahead of the MBCR.