During the Blizzard of ’78 the MBTA kept running, at least until the snow overwhelmed buses and above-ground lines. Photos here of trolleys on Commonwealth Ave in Allston.
H/T to Adam at Universal Hub.
February 6, 2013
Engineering school move to Allston Harvard’s latest cheating scandal
Harvard will be moving its engineering school to Allston, according to the Crimson, which interviewed president Drew Faust. Until now, the public plans were to use the property now occupied by the Charlesview Apartments as a parking lot. The private plans were clearly quite different from what was submitted to the BRA last fall, and presented to the community. What other surprises are in store?
CORRECTION: The engineering school will relocate to the Western Avenue planned life sciences center site, not the Charlesview location, according to Kevin Galvin of Harvard. Harvard Magazine has an overview of the school’s Allston history.
Not the only cheating scandal going on at the university, eh?
Harvard has been both high-handed and underhanded in its treatment of Allston. Underhanded, with its surreptitious acquisition of acres of property. High-handed, with its shabby behavior. Emptying out the properties it acquired and letting them sit vacant for years, greatly harming the vitality of local business areas. Not to mention lots of vacant building look awful.
How will the BRA react to this? The city’s planning agency can’t plan if a developer deceives it.
February 5, 2013
62 units, plus commercial space proposed for 425 Washington & 10 Parsons site
The developer will present his plans for the property this Thursday night at the BAIA meeting at 7PM. It will include 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 104 parking spaces. A design that preserves the house at 10 Parsons would be great. Full agenda here. Last fall the property owner withdrew his plan to demolish 10 Parsons, pledging to work with the neighborhood. Also on the agenda is a plan for 37 units (with no parking) at the corner of North Beacon and Everett Streets.
UPDATE: Will the 37 Everett proposal have parking or not? It depends. At the BRA meeting, it was no parking. At the Allston Civic, 37 parking spaces materialized. It is absurd to think that no one will have a car. Wonder what the developer will conjure up for Thursday night.
CORRECTION: The proposal is for 44 units, as stated in the original post, link above.
February 3, 2013
The Charles River, day by day
Chris Devers, a Somerville-based photographer, is taking photos of the same spot along the Charles River several times a week. The vantage point is from the Watertown side near Greenough Boulevard and North Beacon Street. This bend of the Charles River is one of the prettiest views in the neighborhood.
Photo used under this Creative Commons license.
February 2, 2013
Bus hits Soldiers Field Road bridge, mostly minor injuries
A bus carrying 42 passengers hit the Western Avenue underpass on Soldiers Field Road at 7:42PM today. The rescue of occupants took a little more than an hour, according to the Boston Fire Department. The chartered Philadelphia-bound coach had just left Harvard. While most people’s injuries did not appear serious, a few people were removed with back boards.
UPDATE: One person has life-threatening injuries, according to Boston EMS’s Twitter feed. The bus was removed early this morning. More here.
Photo courtesy of BFD Twitter feed.
January 30, 2013
Gunpoint robbery at local market
The Boston Police are seeking the public’s help in apprehending two men who were involved in an armed robbery at the Neighborhood Market in Allston yesterday evening. More info here. Hat tip Adam at UH.
January 24, 2013
The latest from Harvard
Harvard’s plans continued to be met with skepticism at last night’s Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting. Residents voiced again their concerns about relocating storage and maintenance facilities to Travis Street, as well as the school’s overall approach, citing a lack transparency as to what their plans are.
The architect originally hired to design the new science complex on Western Avenue is being wooed to rejoin the project, which was put on hold in 2009.
The next meeting of the task force is Wednesday, February 6, at 6PM in Cumnock Hall Room 102, at Harvard Business School.
January 24, 2013
Your elected officials will be all ears
The Allston Brighton State House delegation will be available Thursday, January 31 to speak about and take your questions regarding the upcoming legislative session. The meeting will be at 6:15PM at the Brighton Branch Library. If you have concerns about the governor’s recently unveiled plans for transportation, education and the increased taxes to pay for it, this is an excellent opportunity to voice them. The event is sponsored by the Ward 21 Democratic Committee.
January 23, 2013
How green was my Allston?
The compulsion of real estate developers to create new “districts” has come to Allston. The Mount Vernon Company has dubbed several blocks between Commonwealth Avenue and the Brookline line as the “Green District”. It has announced plans to build an environmentally friendly, 108 unit apartment building at the corner of Brainerd Road and Redford Street, adding to projects completed this summer or now underway. All of this adds to the urgency of improving service on the Boston College line.
January 19, 2013
When will that train arrive?
Will Brownsberger has a good summary of the suggestions that were made at a meeting to talk about Green Line Improvements. The MBTA stated that the starting in 2015, there will be real time tracking on the Green line, as there is on the other lines. The Walking Bostonian website also has a map of which parts of the city have the highest and lowest rates of car ownership.
January 17, 2013
Too tall, too dense
A developer is proposing a five-story, 44 apartment building at the corner of Everett and North Beacon Streets just outside Union Square in Allston. This is too tall and too dense for the site, which sits at constantly congested intersection. Something more akin to the Brian Honan apartments around the corner on Everett Street would be more appropriate. The BRA has scheduled a community meeting on Thursday, January 31 at 6:30PM at the Jackson-Mann School.
January 7, 2013
Round-up on Harvard’s plans
Harry Mattison has lots of information on Harvard’s latest plans for Allston, such as they are. Scroll down to the posts starting with “More on Harvard’s empty warehouses.”
January 4, 2013
100 bottles of beer on the wall
Boston has been named the drunkest city in America, according to The Daily Beast. Think about that the next time someone says we need to extend closing hours to 3AM. Meanwhile, the BPD stopped by the Joshua Tree Saturday night, which they continue to monitor after a fist-fight among patrons this summer. The watering hole was named one of Boston’s douchiest bars back in the fall.
January 2, 2013
Alleged murderer in Allston stabbing arraigned
The Suffolk County DA’s office released an account of the altercation. The victim has been identified as Tony Spaulding of Harwich. He was a tenant at the house and attended the New England Institute of Art.
November 27, 2012
Even Harvard’s students don’t like their Allston plans
A Crimson editorial writer has tough words for the university’s development plans.
November 13, 2012
BU student on bike dies after being hit by bus
Last night a BU student was hit and killed by a collision with an MBTA bus at the corner of Harvard and Brighton Avenues in Allston. The incident is under investigation by Boston and MBTA police.
This is the second bicyclist in Boston to die this year. It may be time to take another look at safety rules and bike routes. Does it make sense to put them on main roads, or would it be better to divert them to side streets where traffic is slower and cars don’t dominate the road as much?
November 11, 2012
Car arsonist hits again
Two cars were destroyed just before 8 this morning in an act of arson, according the Boston Fire Department. The vehicles were garaged at 15 Long Avenue. There is someone who is getting a sick pleasure from torching cars in the neighborhood.
November 2, 2012
Aerosmith in Allston: Not the usual basement show
Aerosmith, the Boston rock and rollers who gave us hits like “Dream On” and “Sweet Emotion,” will perform outside their former home at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston. The event is free and will be held on Monday, November 5 at 12 noon.
November 1, 2012
Stink bomb of a party
The BPD shut down a party at 2 Guilford Street near Union Square in Allston in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 23. As they were doing this one of the departing partygoers tossed a stink bomb at a house farther down Guildford Street, apparently in retaliation for complaints about all the noise. It being a crazy night, the officers didn’t arrest anyone but did issue a summons for public drinking. The owner of this single-family is listed as Theano Tsekrekas of Greece. Now, someone must be managing the property locally. Wonder who?
October 25, 2012
Drink deeper and later, in Allston but nowhere else
Union Square’s Deep Ellum today received permission to extend its operating hours, allowing it to serve food and alcohol until 2AM from the current 1AM. They will also be be allowed to keep their outdoor patio open until 11PM during warm weather.
With this decision and the one allowing the Avenue Bar and Grill to join the 2AM bar brigade, the Licensing Board has established that it will approve the latest close possible for any bar in the Harvard Avenue area of Allston, as long as it can claim that it is run responsibly.
Why just Allston? There are plenty of bars in Brighton that are run well and have to turn off the taps at 1AM.
Why was the South Boston Dominos Pizza denied when it asked to sell and deliver pies until 3AM, but the one in Allston approved?
South Allston doesn’t vote in local elections. North Allston, Brighton and South Boston do.