People who worked with Thomas Ruffen are sadly remembering his life, following his death early Thursday, for which an allegedly impatient, uncaring Hyde Park man has been charged with murder.
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization recalls Ruffen: Read more.
A Hyde Park man faces murder charges for allegedly running over a pedestrian who had collapsed on the street in front of him and for whom a bus driver had stopped early Thursday morning, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Read more.
Around 5 a.m. on Columbus Avenue where Centre Street turns into Ritchie Street, WFXT reports.
Centre Street between Jackson Square and the Monument at South Street will become a giant block party - and shut to vehicles - between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday as part of the city's Open Streets program.
Drivers will be able to cross Center at Green and Myrtle streets and Boylston and Moraine streets, but don't even think of trying to turn onto Centre then. Cars parked on that stretch of Centre will be towed starting at 1 a.m.
Mayor Wu today announced plans to turn Dartmouth Street in front of the Copley library into a pedestrian area between June 7 and June 17th - in a pilot that could lead to the block being shut to traffic permanently - and to re-create the Newbury Street open-streets pedestrian program on long stretches of Centre Street in Jamaica Plain one day in July, Blue Hill Avenue in Grove Hall in August and Dorchester Avenue in September. Read more.
Photo by Francis Delaney.
Yesterday afternoon, Francis Delaney noticed a raptor inside the Jackson Square Orange Line station. He reports he called animal control last night and will call the Animal Rescue League this morning.
Earlier:
Hawk takes up perch in Green Street Orange Line station.
Today is the anniversary of the Thomas G. Plant Shoe Factory fire in 1976, which completely destroyed what had once been the world's largest shoe factory, along Centre Street in Jackson Square. The Jamaica Plain Historical Society recounts the fire, started, as were so many other fires then in JP and the Fenway, by arsonists, who first disabled the complex's sprinklers, then set multiple fires in what had been converted from a factory into the home of multiple small businesses - and residents.
Mayor Wu announced today the money will go to "address plumbing, ventilation, windows, and kitchen and bathroom improvements" in 526 apartments at the Mildred Hailey Apartments in Jamaica Plain. Read more.
Jamaica Plain News reports on the newly expanded schedule at the Anna Cole Community Center testing site, where lines in recent days had stretched for blocks and hours.
In response to a photo of the longest line yet at the Anna Cole testing site in Jackson Square today (people started lining up more than an hour before it even opened), Mayor Wu tweeted tonight: Read more.
Ari Ofsevit reports the line to get tested for Covid-19 at the Anna Cole Community Center this afternoon stretched all the way past the Jackson Square T stop and onto Centre Street.
Amy reports blackshirts from the anti-Semitic National Social Club showed up this afternoon in front of the closed Blessed Sacrament Church on Centre Street this afternoon and were promptly confronted by people from the leftist/anti-fascist Lucy Parsons Center across the street. Read more.
The T officially began service today on dedicated bus lanes that run down the center of Columbus Avenue between Egleston and Jackson Squares. The goal is to speed service on the routes that use Columbus - the 22, 29 and 44. The T is now looking at extending the dedicated lanes to Ruggles.
WGBH reports that the Hyde Square Task Force has agreed to let Pennrose turn the crumbling Blessed Sacrament Church on Centre Street into 52 residential units and a 200-seat performance space. More than half the units would be marketed as affordable or "workforce," which is slightly above those levels.
The view from the new Lamartine Street. Rendering by Stantec and Dream Collaborative.
The BPDA board today approved plans by developers to raze several buildings at the sprawling Mildred Hailey Apartments complex in Jamaica Plain and replace their current 253 Section 8 apartments with all new units - and add 420 additional income-restricted apartments and an all new street grid, green space and pathways intended to stitch the complex into the neighboring community, rather than walling it off. Read more.
The city today announced a pilot program in which workers at businesses in the Main street districts in Nubian Square, Hyde/Jackson Square in Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, East Boston and Fields Corner can sign up for CharlieCards preloaded with $60 of value and two-month Bluebikes passes. Read more.
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