Spring is in the muggy, fetid air on the MBTA
Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com
The setting sun shone down as an outbound Orange Line train approached Roxbury Crossing.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
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Boston's New Urban Mechanics initiative named one of top 25 in nation by Harvard
Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com
Downtown Boston.
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.
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Video | MBTA takes steps to boost safety, security throughout system
(Matt Rocheleau for Boston.com)
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.
FULL ENTRYTen-year-old cancer patient helps Stop & Shop raise money for Jimmy Fund
At right, from left: cashier Tony Eason, store manager, Angela Perkins (Michayla's aunt), and Triple Winner Ambassador, Michayla Mathis with a customer.
Photo: Paul Hortitz
Michayla lives in Roslindale with her parents, Michael and Michelle, and older brother, Michael, 20. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2012, and her treatment currently includes chemotherapy. She attends fifth grade at Happy Hollow, and recently learned how to sew. She loves fashion and hopes work in the fashion industry when she grows up. She loves dancing and is enrolled in a hip-hop class. Michayla used to do gymnastics and hopes to start again after her treatment is finished.
Some pay phones in Boston to offer free Wi-Fi Internet hotspots this summer
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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A Twitter tribute to MBTA Officer Richard Donohue
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.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.
City Councilor Matt O’Malley names new staff liaisons for Jamaica Plain and Latino communities
Boston City Councilor Matt O’Malley has added two new staff members.
Beatriz Rivera will be his Jamaica Plain liaison and Alexandra Valdez will be his Latino liaison, according to a press release from the councilor’s office.
“I am thrilled to have Beatriz and Alexandra on my staff,” O’Malley said in a statement.
“They are both smart and energetic and have strong connections to Jamaica Plain,” he added. “Beatriz grew up in Jamaica Plain and brings her experience working with some of the neighborhood’s most respected organizations. Alexandra will be a great resource for Jamaica Plain’s vibrant and active Latino community.”
O’Malley said both women are fluent in Spanish.
“I want to make sure that all residents of my district have access to my office and a voice at City Hall,” he said.
Rivera will serve as the liaison between O’Malley and JP, officials said.
She will handle constituent services for the neighborhood. She will monitor development, zoning and licensing issues affecting Jamaica Plain and will work closely with its community groups, nonprofit, city departments and elected officials. She will also represent the councilor at community meetings and public hearings and will accompany O’Malley to his neighborhood district office visits.
A lifelong JP resident, Rivera most recently worked as a community health educator at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center and was a program director at Spontaneous Celebrations. A graduate of Pine Manor College, she was also a program director at the City School Summer Leadership Program and has received several awards for community leadership.
“I feel honored and excited about being the Jamaica Plain Liaison for Councilor O’Malley,” said a statement from Rivera. “As a resident born, raised and currently living in the Jamaica Plain community I am committed to working hard alongside our team for the better of our community.”
Valdez will represent O’Malley at meetings of Latino organizations and events around the district.
A resident of Mattapan, Valdez has worked closely with Fundo Arcu, an organization that provides community services and plans cultural events for Boston’s Dominican community, including the annual Dominican Parade. She will receive her associate’s degree this spring and plans to complete her bachelor’s degree at Suffolk University beginning in the fall.
“It’s a pleasure to be working alongside a team of people who strive to make our community better,” said a statement from Valdez. “I feel honored and excited to be representing the Latino community and Councilor O’Malley to the fullest.”
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The story of the man in the cowboy hat who helped rescue a Marathon bombing victim
(Charles Krupa/Associated Press)
Carlos Arredondo, 52, and two others help rush Jeffrey Bauman Jr., 27, of Chelmsford, to get medical aid after Bauman was severely wounded in the Boston Marathon bombings.
The story of how Boston resident Carlos Arredondo helped save the life of a man severely wounded in the Marathon bombings began nearly nine years ago.
Arredondo, now known worldwide as the man in a cowboy hat photographed wheeling an injured bombing victim on April 15, saw his life change dramatically -- on his 44th birthday, Aug. 25, 2004. On that day, Marine officers in a government van arrived at the driveway of his home in Florida.
Arredondo thought it was a surprise birthday visit from his son, who had been serving in Iraq. Instead, he was told that his 20-year-old son was dead. Lance Corporal Marine Alexander Scott Arredondo had been fatally shot by an enemy sniper while he checked on the security and well-being fellow soldiers.
Carlos lost control of his emotions. He picked up a sledgehammer, smashed the windshield of the government van, poured gasoline on the van and himself, and lit a torch, causing an explosion.
Arredondo suffered serious burns on more than 20 percent of his body before Marines rescued him. He has since described his reaction as an accident, not a suicide attempt.
After nearly a year of recovery, he and his wife Melida, who is the stepmother of Alex and his brother Brian, began travelling the country. The couple teamed up with other families, speaking publicly at rallies, memorials and directly to politicians in the nation’s capital to raise awareness “about the cost of war.” They’ve protested rules, laws and other issues with military service they feel are unjust either for soldiers and their families.
Over the years, the Arredondos have experienced highs: In 2006, Carlos Arredondo, a native of Costa Rica, became a US citizen; and on Aug. 7, 2011, a post office near his son Alex’s childhood home in Jamaica Plain was named in Alex's honor.
And there have been lows: On Dec. 19, 2011, Arredondo’s other son, Brian Luis Arredondo, committed suicide after battling depression. He was 24.
But Carlos Arredondo, despite struggling with his own depression, has pushed onward. Around Boston, he has become known for his patriotism, peace activism and, most recently, for his heroism and that distinctive cowboy hat.
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On April 15, Marathon Monday, Carlos Arredondo was at the race, near the finish line.
He was there, along with his wife to cheer on members of the National Guard who ran in memory of fallen soldiers, including one guardsman who ran for Alex. He was there to cheer on a group of women from the Samaritans organization who ran in support of suicide prevention efforts. And, he was there to hang up and hand out American flags to spectators on behalf of an organization called Military Friends.
At about 2:50 p.m., he learned there was one other reason: to help save the life of 27-year-old Chelmsford resident Jeffrey Bauman Jr.
FULL ENTRYTake me out of the MBTA, out of game-day crowds
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.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
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MBTA challenges public to design better maps of its transit system; but T can't afford to update any maps
(MBTA)
The MBTA launched a contest this week challenging the public to design better maps of the transit system. But, the T says it has no plans to update any maps it posts around stations, buses, trains or boats because the debt-plagued agency cannot afford to.
“Replacing all of the maps in the MBTA system would represent a significant expense and not one the MBTA is contemplating at this time,” said an e-mail Wednesday from Kelly Smith, a spokeswoman for the state transportation department. “The T does not have any current plans to redesign the map.”
“However, there have been many independent attempts to redesign the map over the years, and the MBTA is interested in providing an ‘official’ forum for these designers and cartographers to exhibit their ideas,” she added.
“While it is possible that contest entries may include new elements or strategies for visually portraying the system that the MBTA may consider incorporating into official maps in the future, the intent of the contest is first and foremost to provide an opportunity for those in the mapping and design communities in Boston to share their ideas," Smith said.
The contest, dubbed "New Perspectives," has two categories – an open tier and a classic tier, according to contest rules posted on the T's website.
The open tier category “encourages the broadest range of creativity” under the following guidelines: the entry can be of any map of the T system or an aspect of the system “as inclusive as the entire system map, or as limited as one bus line;” and inactive, interactive or web-based maps can be submitted.
The classic tier category aims to improve the existing “spider” map and requires that maps: are of the T’s full rapid transit system, including at least the Red, Orange, Blue, Green and Silver lines; conform to the T’s current map standards; and are printable.
The existing “spider” map focuses primarily on Boston and its immediate suburbs, showing all of the T’s subway stops, some of its key bus routes and parts of the commuter rail and ferry lines.
A committee of “transportation and cartography experts” will judge the entries based on “creativity, aesthetic quality, readability, and informative quality” and then select a winner in each category along with as many as five honorable mentions, according to the contest rules.
Winning entries will be showcased on the T’s website, displayed at the State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza and will be announced publicly at an MBTA-hosted event during National Transportation Week, which runs from May 12 to 18.
Entries are free to submit, the contest rules say. There is no limit on the number of entries.
Submissions are due by 5 pm on April 30. Winners will be notified by e-mail in early May.
All submissions become sole property of the T and can be reused or reproduced in any way, according to the contest rules. Entries will not be returned.
Entries should be e-mailed to DOT.GISServices@dot.state.ma.us.
For more information about the contest, including additional entry requirements, click here.
E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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