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.

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.

(Kayana Szymczak/Globe Staff)

Nancy Knowlton (left, with Mimi Augustin) said she was pulling for Dorcena Forry and is happy with the results. “She’s a hard worker and isn’t part of the entrenched system,” said the 56-year-old bookkeeper.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

If Dorcena Forry wins in June against little-known Republican contender Joseph Ureneck of Dorchester, she will be the first woman and person of color to represent the district, which also includes Dorchester, Mattapan, and a sliver of Hyde Park.

“I think you have to acknowledge South Boston has changed extraordinarily,” Ann Connolly Tolkoff, a 64-year-old South Boston native who currently resides in Brookline, said this afternoon outside Sullivan’s restaurant on Castle Island.

“The young people are moving in, and they aren’t voting like they use too,” said Tolkoff, a retired educator.

The seat was most recently held by Jack Hart, a longtime community advocate who left his post to take a job with a local law firm. Before Hart, who became a state senator in 2002, the seat was held by Stephen Lynch, now a US representative, from 1996-2001, and before that by William Bulger from 1971 to 1996. All three are natives of the seaside community.

At the park benches on Castle Island, where South Bostonians gather to walk, savor the sea breezes, and gossip, Bill Barrett, 65, adknowledged he had been pulling for Collins, who is from the neighborhood.

“I thought Collins should have won it,” said Barrett. “It’s been a long-time since that seat has left South Boston, but she [Dorcena Forry] seems like a nice lady.”

Barrett said the neighborhood and district are different from the one he remembers as a young man, but that change isn’t always bad.

“Change can be good,” said Barrett, who is retired. “There are a lot of young people moving into South Boston, but I think Dorchester also wanted a voice, too.”

(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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For the latest updates about your community, follow some of our local neighborhood, city and town Twitter accounts, here.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

The primary to fill Boston’s First Suffolk state Senate seat takes place Tuesday, as voters in four city neighborhoods head to the polls to select the likely successor to longtime state Sen. Jack Hart.

Democrats and unenrolled voters in South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, and a sliver of Hyde Park will have the chance to pick between three candidates vying for the seat left vacant after Hart’s sudden departure.

From South Boston, Maureen Dahill and Representative Nick Collins, are making a run for the position.

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.

Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

The orderly rush-hour crowd inside this Orange Line train bears little resemblance to the raucous crowds seen on the Green Line on game day.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Take me out of the MBTA, out of game-day crowds

Storified by Jeremy C. Fox· Fri, Apr 12 2013 12:32:54

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Fenway/Kenmore on Twitter: @YTFenwayKenmore.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The city fined a telephone book distributor $2,500 for illegally dumping hundreds of phone books on a vacant lot in Hyde Park.

During a routine patrol, Boston Code Enforcement officials found more than five cubic yards of telephone books strewn about the property at 63 Providence St., an area where illegal dumping is common, according to a statement the city’s Inspectional Services Department Wednesday.

The officers traced the books back to HYBU Corporate, a phone book distributor based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and issued the company a $2,500 ticket for illegal dumping.

A representative for HYBU told city inspection officials that the company had contracted a local courier to distribute the books throughout Boston.

“The representative assured ISD staff that they would hire a company to remove the debris and conduct an investigation as to why this happened,” city’s statement said.

The city said fines for illegal dumping can range from $1,000 to $25,000 depending on the type and amount of debris.

Illegal dumping and other issues can be reported by calling the Mayor’s 24-hour hotline at 617-635-4500 or through the city’s web-based Citizens Connect system.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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