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...
Full Print Edition
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 from Beacon Hill into 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...
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 Mt. Vernon Street, are something to behold. There are a few...
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 American Revolution is What Began Here in 1775
This year marks the 237thyear of American Independence. The noble American experience with freedom and justice for all began here and everything that took shape and form since, had its beginnings in this place. We are called the Cradle of Liberty as a result. It is altogether an appropriate appellation. Patriot’s Day 2012 marks...
The Tough New Manager
A few weeks back, Mayor Menino invited Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine to lunch with a number of his friends at Parkman House in order to introduce him properly to some of the business people of Boston. Valentine was his inimitable self – that is – strong and fit in appearance, unambiguous about what...
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...
Back to Reality with Mark Twain
It was, we are certain, with great difficulty that most homeowners turned their heat on Saturday and Sunday due to the vastly changed weather situation. It is, forecasters predict, a condition appearing certain to continue for much of the week. All is not lost but then, everything about the heat we’ve experienced for the...
Chaos Just Around the Corner
The transformer fire that plunged nearly the entirety of the Back Bay into darkness last week reveals how fragile our existence is and also how our lives can be altered dramatically in a matter of a few minutes. It also revealed how unprepared all of us are for life without electricity and to what...