West Roxbury

Some people try to visit all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. Others vow to eat at every single burger place in Boston. Googiebaba has decided to try to meet all 24 people running for mayor of Boston. She starts with DA Dan Conley, whom she met one rainy Saturday while she and her two kids were on the side of the West Roxbury Parkway, victims of a flat tire:

A black SUV pulled up, and there was a gentleman talking to the police officer. I actually thought I might be in trouble when I saw him. He had that air of authority about him. For those not in Boston, Dan is our District Attorney. He introduced himself, and then asked me if I wanted him to take the kids home. This continues to amuse me. My children are gorgeous. They are bright, shiny stars. But they are also beastly. I keep imagining what would have happened if I had said yes, and put my two kids in the back of his beautiful SUV. ...

A pissed-off citizen reports from Stratford Street in West Roxbury:

Dirty Tap and Toilet water due to Water and Sewer work in WR. Someone could have warned us?

Complete with a photo of a toilet with the lid up so you can fully appreciate what discolored toilet water looks like.

Boston Restaurant Talk reports.

West Napoli Cafe, at Centre and Bellevue streets, wants to branch out from pizza and subs to ice cream, pastries and coffee. Its owners go before the West Roxbury Neighborhood Council tonight seeking its blessings for plans to turn the old Absi Jewelers next door on Bellevue street into the Ria Cafe.

The council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the E-5 police station. The proposal doesn't need zoning permission, but it would need a food-serving license from the Boston Licensing Board.

Currently, West Roxbury has one dedicated ice-cream parlor - iScreamWorks - and two bakeries - Sugar and Baker Baker.

The sun is shining, the Dunk's are open and people are not staying inside.

Around 2 p.m., A. Griffin tweeted:

Well, West Roxbury seems to be business as usual, afternoon traffic, people walking and jogging.

Wicked Sharp on Centre Street adds:

Just heard an ice cream truck rolling through neighborhoods.

Jessica tweets:

Same in Dorchester. Nearly everything is open and ppl are everywhere.

Christopher tweets:

Eastie is the same way. Just grabbed some lunch, neighborhood is just as vibrant and busy as always.

Mike Pyyhkala tweets:

Also businesses open, traffic, in Andrew Square Boston.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday found Michael Coker, 50, guilty of second-degree murder for the strangulation death of Janet Phinney in the Grove on March 18, 1988, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The verdict means a life sentence, but with the possibility of parole in as little as 15 years.

Prosecutors proved that a spurned Coker strangled Phinney, then left her body in a wooded area behind Cedar Road.

Before sentencing, Phinney's brother, Robert, read a statement:

Janet was the baby girl in the family of seven kids. She was vivacious and her personality was extraordinary. Each of us hold our own special memory of Janet [but] there are 12 nieces and nephews who will never have the privilege of their own memories of their aunt ... She will never have the chance to have her own family and share in ours. She has missed 24 Christmases, 24 Easters, 24 Thanksgivings, and 591 family birthdays to this date. A piece of us all died that day and we will never be the same.

A grand jury has added evidence tampering and new larceny and fraud charges to the list of formal allegations against Steven and Lori Pallidino, who allegedly defrauded investors from their offices atop the Centre Street ice-cream shop they co-own.

Jury selection started yesterday for a former Hyde Park man charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend outside her West Roxbury home in 1988.

Michael Coker, now 50, is charged with first-degree murder for the strangulation death of Janet Phinney, then 20. Prosecutors charge Coker killed her in a rage after she broke off their relationship, then buried her body under leaves in woods behind her parents' home on Cedar Road.

Two West Roxbury residents ran an investment company that used money from new customers to pay off old ones - and to finance gambling forays, vacations in the Bahamas and rent for the husband's mistress, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office charges.

A Suffolk County grand jury last week returned indictments against Steven and Lori Palladino for loan sharking, larceny and making false entries in corporate books. Steven Pallidino is scheduled for arraignment today on those charges, as well as being "a common and notorious thief based on more than two dozen prior larceny convictions in Suffolk Superior and Norfolk Superior courts," the DA's office reports. Lori Palladino is scheduled for arraignment on April 4.

According to the DA's office, the two have funneled millions of dollars through Viking Financial Group - located in a small office above iScream on Centre Street, which they also own - since they incorporated it in 2007:

A concerned citizen filed this photo of a shelter at the LaGrange Street commuter-rail stop:

Gang tagging. West Roxbury MBTA station.

Boston Police report charging teens from West Roxbury and Roslindale with burning down the long vacant McDonald's on the southbound VFW Parkway last night.

Police say they followed footprints in the snow from the flaming old hamburger stand to the nearby Charles River - from where they could observe fresh footprints on the Dedham side of the river (the same investigative technique they used to catch a robber at the open McDonald's two years ago):

McDonald's fire. Photo by BFD.

Firefighters are on the southbound side of the VFW Parkway, near the Dedham line, where a long closed McDonald's is on fire (it's across from the still open McDonald's). Around 11:30, firefighters were ordered out of the building.

Associated Press reports Hess is selling off all its gas stations. That's bad news for Hess-mad West Roxbury, which has the city's highest per-capita number of Hess stations.

Join Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders at our annual Summer Party held outside in the heart of Provincetown, MA on Saturday, July 27 from 4:00-7:00PM. Enjoy the view of the harbor, mingle with other GLAD supporters and learn more about our ground-breaking cases.

Tickets are $75 online | $85 on site | $30 student
Purchase at www.glad.org/events.

Don't miss our amazing auction and celebrity auctioneer Kate Clinton. You don't have to be present to win. Travel packages, restaurants, massages, and much more - something for everyone!

Children are welcome to attend (at no charge) and will enjoy a range of fun activities.

Delicious summer fare and refreshing cocktails provided.

More information, tickets and sponsorships are available at www.glad.org/events.

Remains of a Brook Farm jug.

The City of Boston Archaeology Laboratory has put together a display of artifacts found during excavations in the 1990s at the historic Brook Farm site:

Bare produce shelves at West Roxbury Roche Bros. Photo by Ted Folkman.

West Roxbury Patch reports on what went down Wednesday at the Washington Street Hess station, which apparently has become the local go-to spot for drugs - police nabbed the guy while clandestinely monitoring the station.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that Boston Police Officer Paul Durkin lost his right to a city pension the night he pulled out his service revolver and shot another cop who was trying to get him to stop stumbling down VFW Parkway in West Roxbury after a night of drinking.

It cannot be gainsaid that police officers, who are extensively trained in the use of firearms, and who carry their service revolvers with them while off-duty, have a high degree of responsibility to which the public deserves and demands adherence. Simply, an officer who consumes an excess amount of alcohol and uses his service revolver to shoot, without any justification whatsoever, a fellow officer from a distance of a few feet, has sadly breached that trust.

West Roxbury Patch reports the prospective candidate for anger-management classes also smashed his girlfriend's phone when she received a call from another male.

Boston Police report the arson squad is investigating a fire at Nick's Parkway Auto Repair, 1200 VFW Parkway, that damaged eight cars. The fire was reported around 12:30 a.m.

Photo by Alex Jones.

Joe Donahue reports an incident around 1:30 p.m. on the VFW Parkway at Corey Street:

Woman runs from male companion in car, he chases, assaults her on median. Other motorists detain him [for police].

Milton suspect.

UPDATED throughout the day.

A woman who robbed a bank in Milton Lower Mills on Monday may have struck again in Roslindale, West Roxbury and Beacon Hill today - and may have been foiled in Jamaica Plain by a bank employee who began giving her the eye. She apparently traveled from one bank to the next by MBTA bus.

AlertNewEngland reports reports the black woman dressed all in black with a sparkly black headband first struck a bank on Corinth Street in Roslindale and then another one on Centre Street in West Roxbury in the morning. After she left the Centre Street bank, she was spotted getting on an outbound 35 or 36 bus.

Boston Police reports the theft of 10 to 15 Christmas trees, stereo equipment and CDs from AJT Supplies, 4945 Washington St. in West Roxbury, sometime late Friday or early Saturday.

The landscaping trees sells Christmas trees to benefit Childrens' Hospital.

If you know anybody who suddenly came into possession of a dozen Christmas trees and CDs of Christmas music, let Cindy Lou Who E-5 detectives know at 617-343-4566 or contact the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

West Roxbury Patch reports the evidence includes both a sample of his precious bodily fluids and a roughly two-inch long "penis imprint."

Why can't we have things like this now?

From a discussion of the Washington Street trolley and the car barns that sat where the Domino's by the parkway is now.