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.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Members of the McCormack Civic Association will be out in Sharon’s Park this Saturday sprucing up the neighborhood green space. They are in search of helping hands.

From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. residents will be weeding, picking up trash, and mulching the various sections of the park, on the corner of Buttonwood Street and Columbia Road in Dorchester.

After the morning clean-up. refreshments will be served.

For more information or to volunteer email the civic association at Civic@McCormackCivic.com

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.

(Image courtesy DND)

Two possible uses for the site, presented at Wednesday's meeting.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

South Boston residents were given their first look at potential uses for the city-owned property between West 1st and West 2nd Street.

Nearly 50 people filled the Condon Community School Wednesday night to discuss 16,000-square-feet vacant land at 174 West 2nd St. and 179 West 1st St.

The Department of Neighborhood Development has been working over the past few months to dispose of the land, which, excluding the one-story vacant Public Works building, is for the most part open.

(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.
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

Lauren Jones, a South Boston resident and director of policy and communications for former Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, was recently recognized for her work with Massachusetts’ veterans and military families.

At a ceremony at the Hascom Air Force Base in Bedford, Jones was presented with a certificate of appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service. The honor recognizes, “patriotic civilian service that contributes to the mission of an Army activity, command or staff agency or to the welfare of Army personnel.”

In addition to Jones’ honor, Murray, who resigned from his post as Lieutenant Governor in May, was presented with the Outstanding Civilian Service Award for his work over the years with the military and military families.

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.

(Image courtesy Phyllis Allison and Chris Soule)

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

The Dorchester Heights Association welcomed the summer with its annual BBQ Tuesday at the Dorchester Heights National Monument.

With burgers, beverages, and friends, the civic association celebrated another successful year and recognized the community members who make it all possible.

(Image courtesy Phyllis Allison and Chris Soule)

(Image courtesy Phyllis Allison and Chris Soule)

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.

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.

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.

(Image courtesy Stefanov Architects)

A rendering of the structure and the proposed additions .

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

South Boston residents will get another look at plans for the proposed development of the James Collins Mansion at a community meeting set for Thursday.

The 8,700-square-foot white residential structure, located at 928 East Broadway, was constructed in the 1860s and inhabited by James Collins, a wine and liquor distributor.

Past proposals by developer Rocco Skippa, called for the razing of the structure to make way for new condominium units. Neighbors, however, pushed back, demanding the mansion be preserved because of its historical and sentimental value to the community.