Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Were these Orange Line passengers tweeting positive thoughts about the MBTA? It could happen.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

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

This story was updated Friday, June 28, due to the announcement from state officials that the work and related closure would be postponed:

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

State officials have, again, postponed plans to temporarily close two onramps to Interstate 93 North in downtown Boston.

With rain forecasted for this weekend, officials have cancelled road work that would have involved closing the Haymarket ramp and the Sumner Tunnel ramp Friday night into Saturday morning and again on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

It is the second time in as many weeks that the work and its related closures have been postponed.

No new dates have been announced for the project, which involves milling and paving work, officials said.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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(Photo courtesy City of Boston)

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

Getting to City Hall might be easier from some Boston residents this summer as the city launches its City Hall on wheels full time.

Starting July 2, the “City Hall to Go” truck will regularly visit neighborhoods on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to provide certain services to residents, and be stationed by request on Fridays and Saturdays at special events, block parties, and street festivals.

The truck will allow residents to pay or dispute parking tickets, request birth, death or marriage certificates, get a dog license, request a residential parking permit, or pay property and excise taxes without travelling to Government Center.

Residents will also be able to sign up for Renew Boston’s home energy audits and weatherization, request raffle applications, and submit claims to the City Clerk.

The city first held a soft launch of the trunk in December.

“The ‘City Hall to Go’ truck makes personal, timely service from the City of Boston possible for a whole new set of constituents,” Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “We are constantly trying to push what appear to be the limits of municipal services. The success of the truck’s earliest visits shows that benefits of City Hall can exist far beyond its walls.”

The repurposed Boston Police Department SWAT vehicle will be open until 7 p.m. on weeknights and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The truck will also use social media to determine part of its schedule. On the fourth Tuesday of every month residents can tweet @CityHallToGo to tell the city where they want the truck to go that day. The truck will open at the most requested location at 12:30 p.m.

The city provided the following schedule for its mobile City Hall. It is subject to change and residents can follow @CityHalltoGo on Twitter or call 617-635-4500 for updates.

FULL ENTRY

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The MBTA will increase security and police patrols around the system on July 4. As in years past, the T will boost subway service and will not charge fares after a certain point at nighttime, officials announced this week.

“We encourage people coming into the city to celebrate to use the MBTA and ask passengers to expect large amounts of people, and as we do every day we ask people to be aware of their surroundings, and if they see something unusual, report it immediately,” said Joseph F. O'Connor, superintendent-in-chief of the Transit Police Department.

He said, that while security is normally heightened on the holiday and for other large public events around Boston, this year there will be even more patrols than on July 4 in years past, including a “significant amount” of both uniformed and plain-clothes officers throughout the public transit system due to the bombing attacks in the city at the Marathon in April.

“We want people to feel safe,” O’Connor said. “We want to reassure the public for people who may be concerned because of the events that happened at the Marathon and in the week after.”

There will be no special restrictions on what items passengers can carry while riding the T, but O’Connor reminded riders that some items will be prohibited within a secure perimeter that will be established around the Esplanade.

He said random bag inspections, which are performed daily at strategically-chosen parts of the T, will be performed on the holiday. O’Connor also encouraged riders to download the agency’s free smartphone application which allows users to report suspicious activity by sending text and photos directly to Transit Police.

He said that Transit Police will, as they do regularly, work closely with federal, state and city law enforcement throughout the holiday.

The T also plans to institute schedule-related changes similar to what the agency has done on Independence Day in years past.

On Thursday, July 4, fares will not be collected after 9:30 p.m., subway service will run at “rush hour levels” after 2 p.m. and the last outbound commuter rail trains scheduled to leave Boston will delay their departure to allow passengers more time to board after the fireworks display at the Esplanade.

“Customers are urged to take public transportation to and from Fourth of July events and advised to check T-Alerts and mbta.com for the most up-to-date service information during the holiday,” the agency said on its website.

Officials also reminded riders that bicycles are not allowed on any subway lines on July 4. Bikes are also not allowed on inbound commuter rail trains from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on outbound trains after 4 p.m.

Buses will operate on a Sunday schedule. Before 2 p.m., the T’s four subway lines – the Red, Blue, Orange and Green – will operate on a Sunday schedule.

The commuter rail will operate on a Saturday schedule, until the day’s final outbound commuter rail trains, all but one of which will delay their departures from Boston until 11:45 p.m. – about 45 minutes after the city’s fireworks display usually ends. The #1173 to Newburyport is scheduled to depart at 11:15 p.m.

Quincy and Hull boats will run on a weekday schedule. Charlestown boats will operate on a Saturday schedule. Hingham boats will not run.

Passengers who use The RIDE service are asked to check directly with their contractors for specific schedule changes.

For more information, visit the T’s website, www.mbta.com.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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For more news and stories about the MBTA, follow @LifeontheMBTA on Twitter, here.
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Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Activists affiliated with the Student Immigrant Movement and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network gathered outside Boston City Hall on Wednesday.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Vivian learned she was in the US illegally during her freshman year in high school, but initially she believed that her status would prevent her from attending college but have few other consequences.

She learned differently in August 2011, when her mother gave her some upsetting news, she said.

“She came home crying like I’d never seen her cry, and she just told me, ‘Your dad’s with ICE,’” Vivian said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security that deals with border security and illegal immigration.

Vivian, 19, who asked that her last name not be used because of her immigration status, was one of about 30 immigration reform activists who rallied outside Boston City Hall at lunchtime Wednesday before marching down Tremont Street to the headquarters of the Student Immigrant Movement.

That organization coordinated the event, in cooperation with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Inside the office, activists held a teach-in on immigration issues where Vivian and others shared personal stories.

Vivian said that by November 2011 her father had been deported, after spending time in an immigrant detention center where his health declined as a medical condition went untreated.

She came to the US from Guatemala with her mother and her sister when she was 8, Vivian said, to reunite with her father, who had already lived here for about 7 years. She now lives in Lynn.

Their journey was difficult, but she quickly grew to love the US and her family’s new life here, Vivian said. Today, though, her mother also is in poor health and can no longer work, she said, forcing to take a job and support her family.

“It’s still a struggle with us right now, especially my mom, because she has very severe rheumatoid arthritis,” she said. “I don’t want any other family members to go through the same pain and struggle that we’ve been going through.”

Wednesday’s rally, march, and teach-in were part of a national week of pro-immigrant actions called “Not One More.” Locally, those events have included a hunger strike on Monday night among immigrants detained at the Suffolk Detention Center, according to the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

As activists marched down Tremont Street, stunned onlookers paused to stare and listen to their chants; tourists looked up from maps to see an energetic crowd toting signs and banners down the narrow sidewalk. A few passersby joined in the chants, or cheered the marchers on as they passed.

“Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the DREAMers, the mighty, mighty DREAMers,” they chanted, referring to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act that would provide permanent residency to immigrants who came to the US as children, graduate from high school, and either serve in the military or complete four years of college.

Massachusetts is one of a dozen states that have passed some form of the DREAM Act, but it has not been successful at the federal level.

Organizers hope this week’s events will highlight the struggles of illegal immigrants as the US Congress considers immigration reform measures that could provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already living in the US.

On Monday the Senate endorsed a proposal that would create that pathway while also improving border security.

Activists who participated in Wednesday’s events included immigrants from Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Zambia, as well as American-born supporters. They said they live now in such communities as Lawrence, Medford, Revere, Brookline, Cambridge, Hopkinton, Attleboro, and neighborhoods all over Boston, though more than a half-dozen call East Boston home.

Carlos Rojas Álvarez led a discussion on the use of prosecutorial discretion and how advocates for immigrants facing deportation may request that a prosecutor elect not to force them out of the country, but he also shared some of his personal story.

Rojas Álvarez, 19, is an East Boston resident who came with his family from Colombia 14 years ago, he said. He described himself as “undocumented and unafraid,” but said his mother is not so fearless.

“Every single day she goes to work afraid she’s going to be stopped,” he said.

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

Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Carlos Rojas Álvarez, center, led a discussion on the use of prosecutorial discretion in immigration cases during a teach-in at the office of the Student Immigrant Movement.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Buses will replace train service on a portion of the Red Line this weekend.

On Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30, buses will replace service between Broadway Station and JFK/UMass Station, the T’s website said. The shuttles, which are accessible for people with disabilities, will stop at both stations as well as the one between them, Andrew Station.

Work is planned to be done on the Columbia Junction Project, T officials said.

For more information, contact the MBTA customer communications department at (617)222-3200, TTY: 617-222-5146.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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For more news and stories about the MBTA, follow @LifeontheMBTA on Twitter, here.
For the latest updates about your community, follow some of our local neighborhood, city and town Twitter accounts, here.

(Patrick D. Rosso/Boston.com/2013)

In Video: A look at the volunteers behind the Public Garden's Rose Brigade.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Under the summer’s sweltering sun, a few dedicated souls armed with gardening gloves and clippers are pruning and caring for the roses in the Boston Public Garden.

Part of the all-volunteer "Rose Brigade," which was founded in 1988 by China Altman, members are tasked with the health of the approximate 280 rose plants in the Public Garden.

Now 26 summers later, the group and the roses are still going strong.

FULL ENTRY

Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

After a ribbon-cutting, people streamed onto the Northern Avenue Bridge to admire the new planters.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

City officials, environmental advocates, and gardening enthusiasts gathered amid Tuesday’s scorching heat to celebrate the completion of a project to beautify the worn Northern Avenue Bridge over Fort Point Channel.

More than 40 people were in attendance for a ribbon-cutting opening the new horticultural display, called the Harbor-Link Gardens, which includes hardy seaside plants and was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America to The Boston Harbor Association.

“This is just great,” said Leslie Will, vice-chair of the committee. “One of the biggest pedestrian walkways in Boston, and we’ve dressed it up.”

The Boston Harbor Association envisioned and oversaw the project on this bridge connecting downtown with the South Boston Seaport area, and it will maintain the 12 new planters through an agreement with the Boston Public Works Department.

The steel-truss bridge over the Fort Point Channel is more than 100 years old and was once busy with vehicles, but has long been limited to pedestrian use because of deterioration. Mayor Thomas M. Menino once wanted to tear down the bridge, and in 1999 vetoed a unanimous vote of the Boston Landmarks Commission that would have preserved it.

Menino said then that designating the 646-foot span a landmark “would only force upon the city an unfunded mandate and limit the city’s flexibility to address long-term transportation needs, including federal requirements of the US Coast Guard to keep the Fort Point Channel open to navigation.”

But Menino backed down from that position after the Evelyn Moakley Bridge was built adjacent to the old bridge and in a statement released Tuesday, he commended the public, private, and non-profit partners that made the bridge beautification possible.

“The Old Northern Avenue Bridge is an important connection between the Rose Kennedy Greenway and downtown and the buzzing Innovation District,” Menino said, “and now pedestrians will have an even more enjoyable walk between the two.”

David J. Warner, president of the South Boston-based landscape architecture firm Warner Larson, designed the new planters, donating his services to the project. Warner said Tuesday it was a challenging project.

“This is a very exposed site, with the wind and the cold,” he said. “Not only do we have planters surrounded by these extreme weather conditions, but it’s on a bridge, and there’s also air moving under the bridge.”

Warner said the 12 two-ton planters were built with insulation on all sides and on the bottom, to protect the roots of plants from the summer heat on days like Tuesday, when temperatures climbed into the 90s for the third consecutive day, and from the bitter cold of Boston winters.

He said the design also had to take into account the bridge’s location on the edge of Boston Harbor.

“We only used plants that we knew could survive in really exposed seashore conditions,” Warner said. “The challenge in selecting plants that are hardy is also selecting plants that are attractive and look good together.”

He said the planters are split between two different designs.

One includes holly, pine, juniper, Russian sage, Elijah Blue fescue grass, Angelina sedum, and purple-leaf sand cherry. The other includes thunderhead Japanese black pine, black-eyed Susans, cat mint, yarrow, coral bells, icy drift rose, Hameln fountain grass, winter chocolate heather, verbena, potato vine, and petunias.

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

Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Antonia M. Pollak, Boston parks commissioner; Joanne Massaro, Boston public works director; Vivien Li, president of The Boston Harbor Association; and Michele Hanss, chairwoman of the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America, gathered to cut the ribbon.

By Evan Allen, Globe Staff

Newton Mayor Setti Warren announced Tuesday he would block funding for a controversial proposal to build affordable housing for formerly homeless people on Beacon Street in Waban, saying residents need more time to discuss the issue.

"There are several reasons why I cannot support the allocation of federal funding for the proposal at this time," Warren said in a statement. “For an affordable housing project to move forward anywhere in the city, I believe it is essential that we first allow for an appropriate period of time for our residents to be heard."

The proposal, called Engine 6, has drawn outcry from residents concerned that the potential tenants could put their children in danger, and who say they were not consulted about the development’s location.

The project, developed by private nonprofit Metro West Collaborative Development and managed by the Pine Street Inn, is projected to cost about $3.1 million; developers had requested about $1.4 million in federal funds managed by the city to move ahead. The project was to be funded with a mix of private and public money.

While Newton Planning Director Candace Havens said that without Newton’s funding, developers still had the option of looking for funding from another source, a spokeswoman for the Pine Street Inn said that Warren’s announcement had halted its plans.

“Affordable housing for very low-income individuals is the key to ending homelessness, and more of this kind of housing is desperately needed,” said spokeswoman Barbara Trevisan in a statement.

“Without the support of the city of Newton, we are unable to move forward with this project," she said. "Pine Street Inn is disappointed that a deserving group of homeless men and women will not find housing in Waban, but we look forward to working with the City of Newton in the future as they move forward on affordable housing.”

The senior housing project manager for Metro West said the nonprofit is “committed to continuing with the Engine 6 project.”

“[We’re] currently evaluating our options moving forward,” said Steve Laferriere in an email. “We remain committed to working with the city and the community to bring this important project to fruition.”

The Newton Housing Partnership and the city’s Planning and Development Board both voted to recommend granting the funding, and their recommendation was set to be forwarded to Warren after a 30-day public comment period set to end July 2.

However, Warren weighed in before the deadline with his announcement Tuesday.

“The decision had to do with the time frame, and allowing the community to get information and get the facts,” said Warren in a phone interview. “Thirty days, to me, is not enough time to do that.”

He said the city is committed to hosting workshops and educational forums this fall to discuss affordable housing, both projects that currently exist in Newton and possible future projects.

Warren said he would be open to considering the Engine 6 proposal again at a later date.

While the proposal had enraged many residents in Waban, others had been supportive of Engine 6. Kathleen Hobson, who lives on Dorset Road with her family in Waban, said she had been working to organize supporters, and had a meeting planned for tonight.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said of Warren’s announcement. “Obviously, we’re going to try to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”

Hobson said she was disappointed that the mayor did not wait until the end of the comment period to make a decision about funding.

“It feels like we were doomed,” she said. “I’m sorry the mayor didn’t let the comment period persist to the deadline. There was a deadline. July 2.”

Warren said people are still welcome to submit their comments on the project.

“Listening to the dialogue was very important,” said Warren. “It was very important we have an extended period of time that would not be had within a week or two weeks time.”

Hobson said she will still hold the supporter meeting.

“We have to process together and see if we have the energy to push back,” she said.

Alderwoman Deborah Crossley, who moderated meetings about Engine 6 and was working to educate residents about the proposal, said she was unhappy with the mayor’s decision.

“I urged him not to do this, because to me we had a public process that we had put in place, that everybody was gearing up to participate in,” she said.

While the meetings had been contentious, she said, people were beginning to work through the information, ask questions, and understand.

“I’m very disappointed. I worked very hard on this,” she said. “To be told, close to the time when the event is scheduled, that ‘everything’s off, sorry,’ in order to stop a difficult conversation, makes no sense to me.”

Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

After a successful production last summer of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” the North End Music and Performing Arts Center is preparing to mount its second opera this Thursday and Friday, with an outdoor community outreach performance on Sunday at Christopher Columbus Park.

A live orchestra and a troupe of singers, several of them NEMPAC instructors, will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1790 opera buffa “Così fan tutte” as the center moves its production for the first time to Faneuil Hall.

“This opera is a model of the offerings that we provide,” said Sherri Snow, executive director of NEMPAC.

Snow said the production highlights the center’s music programs, musical theater program, Italian language offerings, and efforts to bring the arts to residents of the North End and all over Boston.

FULL ENTRY