A June 1 item on the City of Boston’s calendar looked like the stuff of conspiracy theory: an apparently private State House meeting between the Boston City Council and Boston state representatives about redistricting—the annual redrawing of electoral districts. The meeting was slated for the “Members Lounge” at the State House, where the state...
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Councilors testify in Open Meeting lawsuit
Face new claims of secrecy Boston City Council President Steve Murphy and two other councilors took the stand in a June 20 court hearing about allegations that the council continues to violate the state Open Meeting Law, the Gazette has learned. The Suffolk County Superior Court hearing marks the final chapter in a six-year-old...
Grant could fully fund Arborway Yard
The federal grant for which the MBTA is applying in hopes of finally building the Arborway bus yard, located at Washington Street and the Arborway, could provide the $200 million to $220 million necessary to completely fund the project. The announcement on whether the MBTA wins the grant and if so, how much money...
Thrift shop to close for fix-up
CENTRAL JP—Boomerangs, the popular thrift store at 716 Centre St., will be closed for renovations July 11-21. A reopening will follow on July 22. The work will be mainly cosmetic interior work, according to spokesperson Susan Ryan-Vollmar. The storefront will not change. A discount sale is under way, and donated items are not being...
Laundromat to reopen
HYDE SQ.—The laundromat at 410 Centre St. whose closure last month sparked concerns of gentrification will reopen soon, according to landlord John Demopoulos, whose own family will operate it. “New machines—everything new,” said Demopoulos on June 22 while standing outside the former Jamaica Plain Laundry Centre, its old washers and dryers gone...
ATM closes for new storefront
HYDE SQ.—The Boston Private Bank ATM at 403-405 Centre St. is shut down until about July 20 while the building gets a glassy new storefront, according to landlord Mordechai Levin. While the ATM will immediately reopen when work is done, there are still no new tenants for the main building—the former home of the...
Bus stop changes pushed back again
Harvest stop may stay MBTA senior planner Greg Strangeways told the Gazette June 23 that planned changes to the MBTA’s bus Route 39—three years in the making—may not happen until next spring. The project includes the elimination of some stops and “bump-out” sidewalk extensions and improved amenities like new shelters and benches at others....
When MATCH moves in, other groups move out
PARKSIDE—MATCH Charter Public School’s upcoming move into 215 Forest Hills St. was met with general neighborhood approval at a June 27 meeting at the property, which MATCH recently agreed to buy. But the MATCH move also means that next year, two schools and two nonprofit organizations will be booted from the site and looking...
Restaurant seeks license 5 years late
WOODBOURNE—After owning Los Bendecidos Pizza & Restaurant at 264 Hyde Park Ave. for five years, owner Freddy Nuñez is finally seeking the city license required to run it. “The person I bought the restaurant from didn’t have it and I didn’t know I was supposed to have it,” Nuñez told the Gazette. “I had...