The city has won its fight with MassDot, the state’s transportation authority, which has ruled that trucks carrying hazardous materials will be banned from Boston’s streets between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. They will instead be forced to use Interstate 95 around the city, unless making a local pickup or delivery. Mayor Thomas Menino...
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Editorials
NSTAR, Again
In March, a fire at an electrical sub-station in Back Bay caused a costly and potentially dangerous electrical outage for much of Back and parts of Beacon Hill. About 21,000 NSTAR electric customers were without electricity for two days. An unrepentant NSTAR said then it would not reimburse businesses of residential consumers for their...
Swans Return to Public Garden
The return of the swans to the Public Garden is one of those rights of spring that makes life worth living, especially if you transit through the Public Garden for your morning walk to work. The return of the swans following a winter at the Franklin Park Zoo is just what the doctor ordered....
The Brilliance of Budding Beauty Versus the Deadly Nightly Cold
There is a great battle being fought by everything gentle, colorful and gorgeous that has been coming out of the ground and blooming or coming near to it. That battle is about life and death between what is blooming or trying to bloom and the recent spate of nightly cold which causes death to...
Everything is Sprouting
Despite the recent chill in the air, everything green and colorful coming out of the ground all over the hill, is sprouting brilliantly. Everywhere you look, whether a flowerbox, a spit of grass, a row of trees and budding bushes like those lining Commonwealth Ave. are something to behold. There are a few brilliant...
Spring Rain, Finally
In an odd way, the heavy rain that lashed much of the East Coast late Sunday evening and Monday felt good. The rain soaked nearly everything outside and in such a way that some of us believed we could feel a collective sigh of relief coming from plants and everything living and trying to...
The Boston Marathon 2012
The great Boston Marathon has come and gone, once again. Once again, tens of thousands made the 26.2 mile route, and this time, in the searing heat of a spring that came very early. Safety warnings not withstanding from public officials and race officials, as well, the legion of runners – men, women, and...
The Marathon
Everything this week coming up will be about preparations made for the single biggest event of the year every year in the Back Bay – The Boston Marathon – which takes place on Patriot’s Day, April 18. The Marathon, in every way, is the signature event in our neighborhood whose finish here is often...
Easter, 2012
Back Bay churches enjoyed large crowds at their traditional Easter weekend services. Boston’s faithful revealed once again that Easter has a unifying effect for the faithful – and that there is no shortage of the faithful in Boston. The world has changed dramatically and continues to change but Easter, from year to year, remains...
The $600 Million Lottery Wager and Its Lesson
Even those who are aloof about casino gambling coming to Massachusetts had to look with more than just a bit of awe upon the hoopla and the result of last week’s Mega Million Lottery game which took in $39 million in Massachusetts. The take in all the participating states came to more than $600...