Letter: Faulkner Hospital Construction Truck Parking on Centre Street Endangers Public Safety

During the height of the Monday morning rush hour, two tractor trailers carrying cranes for the Faulkner Hospital expansion PARKED in and completely blocked one of only two inbound travel lanes for commuters going into Boston from the Parkway neighborhoods and southwest suburbs for nearly two hours. These trucks were not unloading but were parked for hours at an already congested and dangerous intersection waiting to be waved on to the construction site hundreds of feet away. This massive disruption was completely unnecessary as there was plenty of parking available on the road shoulder in front of the Faulkner Hospital just across the street - a large, long, mostly EMPTY lane many hundreds of feet long. This area is designed for a bus stop and exclusive right turn lane. The volume of traffic in that lane on that outbound side is exponentially lighter than the inbound side during the morning commute.

617 Views

Substation Issue Caused Wide-Ranging Jamaica Plain Power Outage

On one of the coldest nights yet this winter, around 4,200 Eversource customers lost power on Thursday night in a widespread outage that ranged from the Forest Hills area stretching to towards Jamaica Pond. An Eversource spokesperson said the outage was due to an issue at the substation in Jamaica Plain, and that as of Friday the company was continuing to look into the exact cause by troubleshooting so it wouldn't re-occur. "The substation serves eight different circuits and while doing some planned work the circuit tripped, stopping the flow of electricity to all of them, which is the way it is designed, so we could safely evaluate the problem and make repairs," said Eversource Spokesperson Priscilla Ress. The outage happened around 9 pm, and power was restored to half of the affected customers in about an hour, and it took another 15 minutes for power to be restored to all customers, said the spokesperson. Affected areas seemed rather random and vast, which included Sumner Hill, Tower Street across from the Forest Hills MBTA station, the West Roxbury Courthouse/Morton Street area, Green Street, Louders Lane near Faulkner Hospital, Burroughs Street, and down Centre Street to The Joint.

664 Views

Initiate Franklin Action Park Plan! City Hiring Full-Time Administrator and Maintenance Staff for Franklin Park

Mayor Michelle Wu said that the city will be hiring a dedicated full-time administrator and six new full-time maintenance and natural resources staff that will bring dedicated staff for Franklin Park to its highest level in more than 50 years. During Wu's State of the City Address on Tuesday, she said the city will act on the recommendations of the Franklin Park Action Plan, and hire the new staff members. Currently, the park has three dedicated maintenance staff, and city will also begin the process for community input and design to reimagine and invest in a home for the Elma Lewis Playhouse. “The Franklin Park Coalition is thrilled to celebrate Mayor Wu’s significant new investments in Franklin Park,” said Rickie Thompson, President of the Franklin Park Coalition, via press release. “The Coalition has been advocating for renovations and additional staffing for a significant time.

509 Views

Free Yoga Classes at Connolly Branch Library

The Connolly Branch Library is offering two free gentle yoga classes on the next two Thursdays. JP Centre Yoga's Henri Garrison-Desany will teach the classes for new and experienced practitioners alike on Thursday, Jan. 11 and 18. Please bring your own yoga mat. To register, please email Nic at connolly@bpl.org or call 617-522-1960.

430 Views

Photo: Apparently ‘Celebrities This Way —>’

You don't see a lot of celebrities in Jamaica Plain. Nor would you think there'd be a plethora of celebrities -- at least enough for a sign pointing you to where the celebrities are located. But on one recent evening, there were signs on the lawn of the Jamaica Plain Spanish SDA Church on Elm Street that said, "Celebrities this way!" with an arrow pointing you down Newbern Street. After a little investigation, it didn't seem like any celebrities, not a one, were that way.

1,004 Views
Must be February — Ula Cafe has started making their Valentine's Day cookies. My favorites are the ones like this with PG-13 messages.

Don’t Miss the Cookie Swap at the Connolly Library

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you'd like to share? Or maybe you've been wanting to find new cookie recipes. Then you'll want to participate in the Cookie Swap at the Connolly Branch Library. Bring in some of your favorite cookies, and you'll leave with more cookies and new recipes. Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate will be served.

544 Views

Amtrak: Drones Would Cost More $ Than Helicopters to Inspect Power Lines

A lot of people were irritated recently by the low-flying helicopters checking out Amtrak tower and power lines and wondered how come drones couldn't be used to minimize noise. "Drones cost more as they require line of site," said Jen Flanagan, Lead Public Relations Specialist for Amtrak. Other people remarked that the timing of having a low-flying helicopter on Veterans Day could trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Flangan said the contractor was not restricted from flying on Veterans Day so they can get as much work done as possible before the weather changes will restrict them from flying. She said Amtrak apologized for the inconvenience of the timing on the holiday.

1,282 Views