The co-founder of Flatiron Energy of Boulder, CO met with Brighton residents yesterday to talk at length about the company's proposal for a two-story, 62,000-square foot building filled with lithium-ion batteries on Electric Avenue - except for the one thing most of them wanted to hear more about: How the company would protect them from the risk of a fire at a large electric facility as close as 40 feet to some residents' property. Read more.
Verizon cell zones in East Boston; new zone in green.
The Zoning Board of Appeal yesterday approved plans by Verizon to install 20 new cell antennas in four clusters atop an apartment building at 319-327 Chelsea St. in East Boston.
The City Council agreed today to look into the environmental and safety issues related to plans for at least two industrial-sized electricity-storage plants, one on the aptly named Electric Avenue in Brighton, the other on a wooded hill behind the Stop & Shop mall on American Legion Highway on the Roslindale/Hyde Park meet that was most recently in the news for being the summer home of Moodini the Steer. Read more.
The State House News Service reports Mayor Wu is continuing to push for the state Senate to approve a measure that would let city assessors temporarily increase the total amount they can level in taxes on commercial property as a way to help reduce impending increases on residential property. Read more.
Boston Building Resources will celebrate National Reuse Day on Saturday, October 19, with a free community event from 11:00 to 2:00 promoting the craft and creativity of reuse in all its forms. Eliminating needless waste through reuse is a straightforward, but often overlooked, way to live more sustainably.
The celebration will take place at Boston Building Resources, 100 Terrace Street, Roxbury Crossing. Free food will be available, and live music will be provided by the Emily Grogan Band.
A San Francisco man was arrested yesterday on charges he sent several voice-mail messages to two companies, one in Somerville, one in Cambridge, that he was furious at them and was planning to head over with an AK-47 and a handgun with a silencer and mow down everybody he can. Read more.
The Chelsea Record reports the city Planning Board has approved a proposed industrial-strength battery complex on Eastern Avenue that will use two floors of batteries to store electricity for the local grid for times when it just needs some more juice. Flatiron Energy's proposal now goes to the city zoning board. Read more.
Update: Association replies.
A Suffolk Superior Court judge holds a hearing tomorrow afternoon on a request from Adam and Shelby Burns, who live behind the South Boston Lithuanian Citizens Association on West Broadway for a temporary restraining order that would effectively shut the club down as they pursue the suit they filed today over alleged noise, rowdiness and harassment by the club, its managers and its patrons. Read more.
GBH reports a Boston-based venture firm funneled money to an effort by a New Hampshire Libertarian cryptobro who has now added GBH reports to a list of people he feels should be executed, including Kamala Harris.
The Boston Licensing Board says it will be accepting applications through Dec. 6 for the 66 new "neighborhood" restaurant liquor licenses and the 4 new anywhere licenses it now has the authority to issue over the coming year. Read more.
WBZ reports on the impact on both businesses that get and ship their goods by sea and on the local workforce:
There are only 160 dockworkers in Boston, but the strike is expected to affect about 12,000 jobs in the area, including tugboat and truck drivers and delivery workers.
Gov. Healey today announced the state has taken control of St. Elizabeth's Medical in Brighton by eminent domain from its current private-equity owner to keep it open, rather than letting it simply fade away like Carney Hospital in Dorchester. Read more.
A New Jersey man who quit a job with Boston-based DraftKings to move to Los Angeles for a job with one of its online-betting archrivals, only to get sued by his former employers under the Massachusetts non-compete law, will have to make his case under Massachusetts law rather than California law, a federal court ruled yesterday. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon reports the city is working with downtown and Seaport landlords to have them put up their temporary flood barriers on Boston's first Deployables Day to get building personnel used to using one of the cheaper technologies city planners hope to use to ward off rising sea levels and more severe storms. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board today indefinitely suspended the liquor license of the Loyal Nine, 19 Union St., after concluding bar managers and an owner lied about a violent incident involving one manager and his girlfriend and only failed to cover it up because at least one disgusted employee managed to use a phone to capture a snippet of video from the bar surveillance system. Read more.
The Zoning Board of Appeal yesterday unanimously approved a marijuana dispensary at 297 Newbury St. in the Back Bay, granting a variance to let it open just steps from two other existing dispensaries. Read more.
A concerned resident filed a 311 complaint tonight about the unusually loud noise coming from the Vicinity Energy steam plant on Kneeland Street in Chinatown:
Very loud screeching sound coming from Vicinity Steam plant. Started around 9am yesterday and today. Still going on now.
Rendering of proposed store's interior.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans to replace a UPS store at 2193-2201 Commonwealth Ave. with a 900-square-foot "provision" market focusing on high-end beverages - and kosher wines - and prepared gourmet foods, aimed not at the thousands of underage Boston College students right across the street but at nearby residents looking for a more convenient place to stock up than Cleveland Circle or Brookline. Read more.
An ISD housing inspector looking at a second-floor apartment at 194 Harold St. in Roxbury on Oct. 21, 2021 today sued the building's owners and property manager for the permanent injuries she says she suffered in a fall down the stairs after the manager's dog lunged at her. Read more.
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