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.

(Boston Red Sox)

Boston.com Staff

Members of the Jamaica Plain Angels youth softball team took the field at Fenway Park before the start of a Boston Red Sox game last week.

Their visit on June 18 was part of “Calling All Kids” month, which is sponsored by Hood and features activities for children attending games at Fenway Park during June.

Throughout the month, youth involved in baseball leagues and camps across New England have been selected to take the field with the team before each home game.

For more information, visit www.redsox.com.

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(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Betsey is a 10 year old Calico cat.

Boston.com Staff

During the first two weeks of July, fees will be waived for the adoption of cats that are nine years or older from MSPCA centers in Jamaica Plain, Methuen and Centerville.

The “Declare Your Love” adopt-a-thon runs from July 1 to 14, officials said.

The goal of the campaign is to find homes for the organization’s 30-plus senior cats.

“Kittens are irresistible and generally spend less time in our adoption centers before they are taken home – but senior cats, many of whom are surrendered because their older care takers have died or are too ill to care for them, can spend much more time in a setting that is unlike anything they’ve ever known,” said a statement from Jean Weber, director of animal protection for the MSPCA-Angell center in Jamaica Plain.

“It’s also important to remember that cats routinely live upwards of 20 years or more so these cats have plenty of life left in them,” she said.

The organization has a page on its website with details on adoptable cats and related information.

The adoption fee for cats is normally $95.

The adopt-a-thon campaign is funded by the Ivan Smith Adoption Challenge, which is designed to educate people about the variety of adoptable animals available at the MSPCA and to support adoption promotions.

“Senior cats make wonderful low-pressure pets for individuals and families because most have already lived in a home – often with other pets – and their personalities and habits are fully established,” the MSPCA said in a statement. “The ‘Declare Your Love’ adoptathon kicks off during a time of year when older cats languish in animal shelters, passed over for the many kittens available during the summer months.

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(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Boots is the youngest of the senior cats having just recently turned 9 years old.

(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Cleo is 9 years old.

(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Cosmo is 12 years old.

(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Kashi is 9.

(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Precious is 11.

(MSPCA)

MSPCA officials released photos of some of the cats they hope will be adopted. Because the adopt-a-thon coincides with the Fourth of July, the photos have a patriotic theme. Pictured above: Shera is 10.

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By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Bridgewater-based real estate firm Claremont Companies is seeking to build a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel at 111 Boylston Street that would cater to guests seeking lodging for several days.

Company president Elias Patoucheas appeared before Brookline’s Planning Board Thursday along with his design team for the hotel, that would be five stories tall along Route 9, but would step down to four and then three stories at the rear of the property along the MBTA’s Green Line tracks and a residential area.

Previous proposals by Leggat McCall and then GLC Development Resources LLC to build medical office buildings on the long-vacant site have both fallen through in recent years.

Patoucheas said that while the previous developers fell victim to a bad economy, that won’t be an issue for Claremont Companies.

“The cash equity to develop this project is in the bank,” Patoucheas said.

The hotel will cater to guests staying more than three days on average. Most of the parking will be underground, and the hotel will have a pool, meeting room, lounge and a fitness room.

To review the hotel proposal, Brookline’s Planning Board voted Thursday to establish a design advisory team including town officials and neighborhood representatives.

The team will begin is review in July. Planning Board members said they were encouraged by what they see in the preliminary design, though members suggested several alterations to the preliminary design, including some improvements to the façade of the five-story structure that will face Route 9.

“This is a terrific project,” said Planning Board Chairman Mark Zarillo.

(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.

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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(Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation)

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

A new public playground will open in the Jackson Square area of Boston this week, officials announced.

A grand opening of the Lorber Family Jackson Square Playground was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

The recreational space located along Columbus Avenue between Columbus Avenue between Heath Street and Centre Street features handicap-accessible zip lines, a merry-go-round, swing sets, a four square court and a 50-foot long, 5-foot wide, 10-foot tall play area named "Wall-holla," officials said.

The playground was designed by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Boston Children's Hospital Urban Renewal Committee and Injury Prevention Programs.

Officials from the department and hospital are expected to attend the opening ceremonies.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Fifteen years after it was founded as the Dudley Film Festival, the Roxbury International Film Festival is going strong, providing artists of color from across the world a stage for their films.

“I don’t think any of us would have thought it would have gone on this long,” said Lisa Simmons, the director of the film festival. “It’s really a labor of love.”

Since the festival was started, hundreds of filmmakers have been given a screen and a captive audience to debut their works, tackling everything from the story of a theater group in Alabama to living with a chronic disease.

(Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts)

Pictured are: Emma Lincecum, Tess Aho, Robin Pinchera, Hazel Prior, Isabel Vallentine, Lucy Driscoll, Isobel Farone, Mai Bablia-Weigmann, Aiyanna Canty. Not pictured are: Eva Humphries, Athena Brenzel and Selena Sweeney.

Boston.com Staff

A Girl Scout Brownie troop from Jamaica Plain recently donated toys, board and card games, and boxes of cookies to sick children at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Troop 85074, for their Brownie Quest Take Action Project, reached out to Mary Malley, Boston Children’s Hospital Child Life Services "play lady," to find out what supplies were needed, according to a press release from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts organization.

The girls placed boxes at different schools in JP and at Boing Toy Store. Each box contained an explanation about why they were collecting the toys, the release said.

The girls recently collected and donated nearly 100 toy and game items, along with eight cases of Girl Scout cookies, which were collected through the Cookies for a Cause program, where girls sell cookies for a charity.

“I am very proud of the girls, I'm just amazed that seven and eight-year-olds completed this project with little guidance,” said a statement from volunteer and troop leader Allison Lincecum.

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(Courtesy: JPNDC)

From Nov. 2010, a design sketch for the planned conversion of 461 Walnut Ave.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Construction is expected to start later this year on a long-delayed project to convert a vacant Jamaica Plain building into a respite care and housing facility for medically vulnerable and disabled homeless people, officials announced this week.

The state approved $3.8 million in funding this week for the Walnut Avenue Apartments redevelopment project that was put on hold for about two years while it was contested by a group of neighborhood residents who filed a lawsuit against the developers and the city's redevelopment authority. The lawsuit was dismissed late last year.

The nonprofit Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation in partnership with the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program announced the new state funding allocation this week and said construction should begin in late 2013 and be completed in late 2014 with full occupancy in early 2015.

“We’re grateful for this tremendous support from the Commonwealth, and the vote of confidence we received from Mayor [Thomas M.] Menino and Governor [Deval] Patrick as well as countless neighbors while the project was on hold,” said a statement from Robert Taube, director of BHCHP. “Every day in our work with homeless men and women, we see that a safe home is really their top health care need.”

The plans call for the building at 461 Walnut Ave. to be substantially renovated to provide and operate a 20-bed respite care facility for homeless people on the first floor, officials said.

That facility will be owned and operated by a subsidiary of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program will be a commercial tenant under a long-term lease. Pine Street Inn, another local agency that aids homeless individuals, will also provide services.

Approximately 30 studio rental units intended for medically vulnerable and disabled formerly homeless individuals and a one-bedroom manager's unit will be built on the second and third floors.

“We’re thrilled that 30 new homes will now become reality for people who desperately need them,” said a statement from JPNDC director Richard Thal. “We’re also proud to be sharing with BHCHP in the creation of a new model for bringing homes and health care under one roof.”

The developers received approval for the project from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in Nov. 2010.

But, one month later, 11 residents who live nearby sued, contending the redevelopment plan would decrease their property values, increase traffic, noise, artificial light, vehicle emissions and improper disposal of medical waste, and reduce on-street parking spaces, court documents show.

In January 2012, a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the developer and redevelopment authority, calling the residents’ allegations “insufficient” and that the city agency’s decision to approve the project was legally sound and based on “substantial evidence.” In October, a panel of Massachusetts Appeals Court judges affirmed the judge’s decision.

The following month the state’s Supreme Judicial Court denied the neighbor’s request for appellate review, clearing the way for the developers to move forward with their plans, including resubmitting funding applications, officials said.

The project is expected to cost between $10 and $11 million. Other funding will include $1.75 million from the city and about $5 million in low-income housing tax credits and private investment.

Originally built as a nursing home in the 1960s, the existing building at 461 Walnut Ave. most recently housed the health care for the homeless nonprofit’s inpatient medical respite program, the Barbara McInnis House. After 15 years, the program moved from Jamaica Plain in summer 2008 to an expanded, state-of-the-art headquarters at Jean Yawkey Place in the South End.

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