Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

The setting sun shone down as an outbound Orange Line train approached Roxbury Crossing.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Spring is in the muggy, fetid air on the MBTA

Storified by Jeremy C. Fox· Fri, May 03 2013 12:32:56

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Road closures and traffic delays are expected in Cambridge and Boston and several neighboring communities Sunday as more than 40,000 people are expected to participate in Project Bread’s 20-mile Walk for Hunger.

The walk to raise money for hunger relief and prevention will start Sunday, May 5, at 7 a.m. at the Boston Common, and will lead to several road closures in the area, including the closing of Charles Street between Boylston and Beacon streets between 6 a.m. and 6.p.m. The outbound side of Commonwealth Avenue from Arlington Street through Kenmore Square will be closed from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., and other streets around the Boston Common and Kenmore Square will also be closed. The route map can be found here and a full list of the street closures and traffic restrictions can be found here.

In Cambridge, Memorial Drive will be closed between Fresh Pond Parkway and Western Avenue from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, and other closures, parking restrictions and traffic delays are expected.

In Brookline, the outbound side of Beacon Street will be closed between St. Mary’s and Carlton streets from 7 a.m. to noon.

In Newton, Exit 17 from I-90 Westbound will be closed from 10 a.m. until the heavy flow of walkers subsides around 2 p.m. and other closures and delays are expected.

In Watertown, Greenough Boulevard will be closed between North Beacon and Arsenal Streets will be closed to vehicles from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

The state representative candidates running for the vacant Eighth Suffolk District seat will discuss local issues at a forum hosted by multiple neighborhood associations next week.

The Beacon Hill Civic Association, the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, and the West End Civic Association are co-sponsoring a forum for the candidates on Tuesday, May 7, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The Eighth Suffolk District encompasses the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, West End, Cambridgeport, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"This State Representative Candidates Forum for the 8th Suffolk District being sponsored by the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Cambridgeport and the West End neighborhood associations, continues the long tradition of these local civic groups coming together to hold events to let our residents know about the candidates running for public office, and their respective positions about the issues that matter most to our neighborhoods," Rob Whitney, a member of the Beacon Hill Civic Association's Board of Directors, and the event’s organizer, said in a statement.

Beacon Hill resident Jay Livingstone and Back Bay resident Josh Dawson are running as Democrats for the seat, which was previously held by former state Rep. Martha “Marty” Walz. The two recently debated at events hosted by the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee and the Cambridge Ward 5 Democratic Committee.

The forum will focus on issues facing the downtown neighborhoods of Boston and Cambridge. Boston Courant publisher David Jacobs will serve as moderator, and if time allows audience members will have a chance to ask questions.

The forum will be held in the Hill House Auditorium, at 127 Mt. Vernon St, on the Flat of Beacon Hill. It is open to the public.

"All of the candidates running for this office will be in attendance, and it will be a great way for the neighborhoods to learn more about the candidates," Whitney said.

E-mail Kaiser at Johanna.yourtown@gmail.com. For more news about your city, town, neighborhood, or campus, visit boston.com’s Your Town homepage.

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

More than 35,000 walkers will trek through the streets of Boston and neighboring cities and towns Sunday, seeking to raise more than $3 million for programs that help feed the hungry.

Project Bread’s annual Walk for Hunger, now in its 45th year, will kick off May 5 on the Boston Common beginning at 7 a.m. From there, walkers will begin a 20-mile journey through Boston, Brookline, Newton, Watertown, and Cambridge.

Project Bread funds more than 430 food programs around the state, including community based meal programs, early childhood and school nutrition initiatives, and improved access to farm-to-table and local food resources.

Walkers will begin on rolling starts from 7 to 9 a.m. and many streets throughout the are will be closed for part of the day. A list of street closings is available here.

E-mail Kaiser at Johanna.yourtown@gmail.com. For more news about your city, town, neighborhood, or campus, visit boston.com’s Your Town homepage.

Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Downtown Boston.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

A City of Boston initiative has been named one of the top government innovations in the country by an institute at Harvard University.

The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics is among 25 semifinalists for the Innovations in American Government Award, presented by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“These top 25 innovations in government offer real, tangible ways to protect our most disadvantaged citizens, educate the next-generation workforce, and utilize data analytics to enhance government performance,” Stephen Goldsmith, director of the center’s Innovations in Government program, said in a statement Wednesday.

“Despite diminishing resources, these government programs have developed model innovations that other struggling agencies should be inspired to replicate and adapt to their own communities,” Goldsmith said.

The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics works to deliver an array of transformative city services to residents, ranging from enhancing public spaces, to increasing civic participation, to improving educational outcomes, according to Harvard.

The 25 initiatives were selected by a panel of researchers, practitioners, and policy specialists, Harvard said. The Innovations in American Government Award winner and four finalists will be announced in the fall.

In the list released Wednesday, the programs are presented in alphabetical order and are not ranked.

The Ford Foundation created the award in 1985 to draw attention to effective government programs, Harvard said. The awards program has since recognized more than 400 government initiatives at the local, state and federal level, as well as tribal governments, and provided more than $22 million in grants to support efforts to help disseminate those programs.

A full list of the Top 25 programs is available here.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.

(Matt Rocheleau for Boston.com)

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The temporary extra patrols of well-armed police officers and soldiers in MBTA stations are gone. But the quest to bolster the long-term safety of the public transit system is far from over.

The T still has $80 million in unspent federal homeland security grants, which have been doled to public transportation systems across the country since 2002.

The $60 million in federal grants spent by the T over the past decade has helped make the agency a national leader in the industry of public transit safety.

“The efforts toward security and policing that the MBTA has had in place for a number of years have really been looked at as a benchmark for the industry,” said Greg Hull, director of operations, safety and security for the American Public Transportation Association.

And, when the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon two weeks ago, officials at the MBTA said that, while shocked and devastated like the rest of the city, they were prepared, largely due to the new equipment and training acquired in recent years.

“It was controlled chaos,” said Randy Clarke, senior director of security and emergency management for the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

He described the atmosphere of the T’s central hub for dispatch and communications, or Operations Control Center, as officials scrambled to secure stations and stop some service after the explosions at Copley Square, and then again several day later when the system was shut down during a lengthy manhunt.

“I hate to say we’re used to crises and trained for them, but we are,” Clarke said.

On Monday, two weeks after the Marathon bombings, MBTA officials gave a tour of the control center, which includes some of the transit industry’s most sophisticated technology for daily operations and security.

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

The Boston Synagogue will mark 125 years in Boston this month with an anniversary celebration focused on its history and the release of a new history book written by a local author.

The synagogue will host a reception, silent auction, and presentation highlighting its history on Sunday, May 19, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

The celebration’s presentation will show highlights the Synagogue’s history project and what it has has uncovered about its 125-year history, its predecessors, and the old West End.

The current temple on Martha Road only dates to back to 1971, the anniversary celebrates the incorporation of its predecessor synagogue, Congregation Beth Jacob, in 1888.

The synagogue will also celebrate the release of Michael Weingarten book “The Boston Synagogue: 1888-2013.” Weingarten, a Back Bay resident, wrote the book on the synagogue’s history uncovered facts and information that is not widely known, according to the synagogue..

In a statement announcing the celebration, the synagogue said its history paralleled Boston’s in some ways, noting substantial growth from to immigration at the turn of the 20th century, followed by a long period of urban decline, and then a substantial resurgence as downtown Boston has become an increasingly attractive place for people to live.

“As such, we celebrate not just the synagogue, but the entire downtown Boston community of which it is a part,” the statement read.

E-mail Kaiser at Johanna.yourtown@gmail.com. For more news about your city, town, neighborhood, or campus, visit boston.com’s Your Town homepage.

(Jeremy C. Fox photo)

There were no signs an election was taking place at the Nazzaro Community Center.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Johanna Kaiser, and Patrick D. Rosso
Globe Correspondents

At the Nazzaro Community Center in Boston's North End at lunchtime today, it was hard to tell the polls were open inside. There were no eager supporters outside and no candidate signs posted.

Inside, just before 12:30 p.m., there were only 92 votes cast in Ward 3, Precinct 2, and 79 votes in Precinct 3.

"This is slow," one poll worker said.

Outside, Prince Street resident Rosemary McAuliffe, who is in her 80s, said she cast her ballot in the US Senate race for Representative Stephen Lynch for personal reasons.

"I think they were both good candidates," she said of Lynch and fellow Democratic congressman Edward Markey, "but knowing Stephen, I voted for him."

Bob Ganley, 33, said he was registered as an Independent but was on his way to vote for Republican Dan Winslow.

The eight-year resident of the North End said he thought Winslow was "a little more of a mainstream, modern Republican" who would stand a good chance against a Democratic opponent.

"It seems like Winslow is more in the mold of a Scott Brown rather than a Rand Paul or Sarah Palin," he said.

He said he liked Winslow's focus on making government more efficient and his more progressive stances on social issues such as same-sex marriage, which could help him win over some Democrats as well as Independents like himself.

"He seems like somebody who would be a good person to go down there and represent a new Massachusetts, whereas Markey and Lynch just represent the old liberal guard," Ganley said.

Just before 1 p.m., two tall, sharply dressed men arrived at the community center to collect signatures for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, a mayoral candidate.

Brian Clendenin, 57, said he lives in Worcester County but works in Boston. He was optimistic that he could have a successful day despite the low turnout.

"We hope things will pick up here around the polling center," he said. "We'll put in a few hours here and see what we can do."

There were no signs of mayoral campaigning or signature gathering at the Back Bay's Emmanuel Church or Boston Architectural College, or the Symphony West building in the Fenway Tuesday morning.

Signs for mayoral candidate Martin J. Walsh, a state representative, hung outside Cathedral High School in the South End and at Boston Public Library in Copley square. A sign touting City Councilor Rob Consalvo for mayor was also posted outside the library.

Outside the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in the Back Bay, Irene Tayler, 78, and Saul Touster, 88, both retired and Democrats, said they voted for Markey.

"He's the better candidate," said Tayler.

"He's much more for Obama," said Touster. "Lynch is a qualifier."

Tayler said she wished more people were voting and noted the poll workers did not have much to do.

"Everybody is bored. It's too bad. It's an important election," said Tayler.

By 1:45 this afternoon, 265 people had voted at the Catherine F. Clark Apartments in Dorchester.

Carrie Cole, a 41-year-old bartender, said she voted for Markey and, in the 1st Suffolk state Senate race for Linda Dorcena Forry.

"Ed Markey is a longtime public servant, and Lynch's stance on women's rights definitely came into play," said Cole. She felt he wasn't supportive on women's issues.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Free Wi-Fi Internet access will soon be broadcast from 16 existing pay phones in Boston.

And officials from companies leading the effort hope to, pending city approval, rapidly expand the service so that a total of about 100 existing pay phones across Boston will offer free wireless Internet hotspots by the end of this summer. By the end of next summer, they hope they will have reached a total of about 400 payphones citywide.

The effort, called “FreeBostonWiFi,” is being carried out on a trial basis, company officials said.

So far, the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology has approved Wi-Fi installations at 16 pay phones, located around City Hall, Faneuil Hall, Downtown Crossing and Long Wharf, according to Tyler Kratz, president of DAS Communications, which is one of four private companies partnering on the effort.

RCN Business Services, LCC International Inc., Pacific Telemanagement Services and DAS Communications announced their plan at a conference in Boston last week.

Four temporary demo sites were set up at pay phones near the Hyatt Regency hotel where the conference was held, the companies said.

One site at Cambridge and Court streets near City Hall Plaza was heavily used even though nothing was done at the site to advertise that the Wi-Fi signal was there.

“People had no idea it was there unless they saw it on their phone,” or other mobile device, said Kratz. “People were using it quite a bit. It blew my mind.”

Over about a 24-hour span last week, about 18,000 mobile devices “noticed” the Wi-Fi. About 2,000 devices connected and more than 200 people spent and average of 17 minutes using the Internet connection, he said.

“There’s a demand for this,” said Kratz.

He said the Wi-Fi service at that payphone by City Hall was supposed to be permanent. But, last week it was struck by some bad luck. A vehicle rammed into and damaged the booth. But, Kratz said the companies plan to have it replaced and restore Wi-Fi service within a couple of weeks.

The other 15 pay phones in line to get Internet hotspots are also located in downtown Boston and in areas that draw a high number of pedestrians, including commuters, business professionals and tourists.

Kratz said another focus will be to add the service to pay phones in low-income areas of Boston where some people cannot afford their own Internet access.

“Boston is a great city. With all of the college students and the young people it’s perfect demographically,” he said. “And we really want to make sure this is not just clustered in one spot.”

The Wi-Fi hotspots will offer around-the-clock Internet access for an unlimited amount of time at no cost to users or taxpayers.

The signal is usually accessible within 100 to 200 feet of the kiosk, though range can vary depending on whether there are objects or structures around the kiosk that could interfere with the signal.

To connect to the Wi-Fi hotspots, users need to select FreeBostonWiFiSSID on their mobile device and then accept the connection’s terms and conditions. No password is needed and no personal information gathered.

The companies that own the kiosks and run the service pay for installing and maintaining the new infrastructure at the payphone stations.

Some of the kiosks themselves have advertisements on them to generate revenue for the companies, but Kratz said the Internet service will not display ads on users devices.

"The partnership is giving new life to telephone booths that have almost become extinct due to the evolution of the cell phone," said a statement from Jeff Carlson, vice president and general manager of RCN Boston. “Small cell and Wi-Fi technology deployed through this partnership is another step toward delivering high quality wireless by lighting up hotspots in Boston using RCN's unparalleled fiber network."

The payphone kiosks will broadcast Wi-Fi in part by using small cell technology, which allows mobile devices, such as cell phones, to work.

"It's interesting and a little ironic that capacity demands from the cellular market has allowed for the repurposing of existing phone infrastructure, like payphone kiosks,” said a statement from E.J. von Schaumburg , vice president of Advanced Mobility Solutions at LCC International. “Utilizing small cell technology, we can take advantage of the excellent kiosk locations throughout an urban area and deliver high quality cellular capacity at the street level."

Last summer, a pilot program launched in New York City in which free public Wi-Fi Internet hotspots were emitted from routers installed at about 10 payphones.

Kratz said his company has been involved with the efforts in New York City and that his company now runs Wi-Fi from about 20 payphones there and plans to soon add the service to about 40 more payphones.

City officials in New York have said they plan to have Internet service added to all 12,000 payphones there.

Several weeks later after the program debuted in New York, two at-large City Councilors in Boston – Felix G. Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley – proposed doing something similar here.

Kratz said he has since met with Arroyo to discuss replicating the service in Boston and that he and other city officials have been instrumental in helping it launch.

Use of payphones has become rare because of cell phones. Some payphones no longer function to make calls. Others have been removed entirely.

Wi-Fi hotspots will help restore some use to the old payphone kiosks, officials have said.

The first-ever payphone was installed at a bank in Hartford in the late 1800s.

Since 1997, the number of payphones nationwide has dropped from an estimated peak of about 2.2 million to about 400,000, according to a petition that the American Public Communications Council, which advocates for payphone use, sent to the Federal Communications Commission last spring.

Kratz said the roughly 400 payphones in Boston his company hopes to bring Wi-Fi to are all owned by Pacific Telemanagement Services. He said there are few others in the city.

Kratz said his company is also in talks with city officials about the possibility of having free wireless Internet access broadcast from key municipal buildings, like police and fire stations, as well as from old-fashioned fire alarm boxes around Boston. But, Kratz said, no agreement has been reached and other companies are pitching similar ideas to the city.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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AP Photo/Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

In this 2010 photo provided by the MBTA, Richard Donohue Jr., left, and Sean Collier pose together at their graduation from the Municipal Police Officers' Academy.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

A Twitter tribute to MBTA Officer Richard Donohue

Storified by Jeremy C. Fox· Fri, Apr 26 2013 13:26:34

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.