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.

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

(Photo by Isabel Leon/City of Boston)

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

The South End’s Frieda Garcia Park buzzed with activity Monday as dozens of neighborhood residents, local and state officials, and community leaders gathered to officially open the park and honor Garcia.

Children spun, jumped, and climbed on the new blue and yellow playground equipment at the corner of Clarendon and Stanhope streets before a ribbon cutting ceremony at the 12,000 square-foot park.

“Our hope is that this park will forever honor Frieda’s extraordinary leadership in our community and serve as a constant reminder of the strength, the resilience, and the beauty of our city and this community,” said Craig Bromley, president of John Hancock Financial Services. John Hancock funded the development of the park.

“We wanted to provide them with a safe outdoor play place where they could be active, a place where they could feel safe, a place where they could simply be kids,” Bromley said. “That vision is now a reality.”

The park will now be cared for by The Friends of Frieda Garcia Park, which already has $1.2 million for regular maintenance.

Garcia, originally from the Dominican Republic, moved to Boston from New York in 1965 and has been a longtime community activist and leader in the South End and Roxbury.

She has served as a United Way board member, a founding member of the Alianza Hispana, and as executive director of the United South End Settlements for 20 years.

“When I accepted the job at USES…I had no idea how I would be stretched by the philosophy of settlement houses and its focus on neighborhoods and its residents,” said Garcia, who praised the neighborhood organizations working to improve the community and the lives of its residents.

But the praise remained focused on Garcia.

“I was always impressed and amazed of her graciousness and pleasantness every time we would talk, but then I learned a whole lot more about this lady in terms of her commitment to her community,” Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the crowd. “I’ve seen her commitment to her family, and her love of the city of Boston, and that’s why this honor is so greatly deserved.”

And Garcia continued to focus on her commitment to the city even as she celebrated the park’s opening.

“Knowing that building a community doesn’t come naturally and that we all have to work at it--particularly in these difficult times—means that I may come by and sit at this beautiful park with some friends and have a cup of coffee, but there’s more work to do,” she said.

E-mail Kaiser at Johanna.yourtown@gmail.com. For more news about your city, town, neighborhood, or campus, visit boston.com’s Your Town homepage.

Photographer Edie Bresler with Fred Watson and Bob Beck, two subjects of a portrait from her Exchange Economy project for the Boston Center for the Arts.

Photo by Olga Khvan

By Olga Khvan, Globe Correspondent

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.

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

The South End Historical Society is offering a look at the history of jazz and hosting musical performances as part of Boston’s annual Jazz Week.

The South End Jazz Open House scheduled for Saturday, May 4, is the historical society’s first event in its Inaugural Richard O. Card History Series, and will celebrate the neighborhood’s musical history.

“The South End had a rich history and played an important role in shaping Boston’s jazz scene,” the society’s Stacen Goldman, said in a statement. “World-famous musicians like Count Basie and Thelonius Monk played in the Savoy, the Hi-Hat, and other South End clubs. We want to showcase that history, and also draw attention to what is still here today.”

The open house, which is set to run from 12 to 5 p.m., will allow visitors to learn about various sites near the intersection of Massachusetts and Columbus avenues, known as the “Jazz Corner of Boston.”

The society will provide a guidebook and map, allowing people to travel between sites at their own pace. Talks and performances will run throughout the day.

“The South End is the original home of jazz in Boston,” Richard Vacca, author of The Boston Jazz Chronicles, said in a statement. “The clubs were here, and so were the best of the musicians—drummers Roy Haynes, Alan Dawson, and Tony Williams all got their starts right here.”

Vacca will speak several times during the afternoon. The presentations will also mix video, portraits Winthrop photographer Nick Puopolo, and conversations with South End resident who lived through the era.

Tickets for the open house can be purchased online or the day of the event at the historical society located at 532 Massachusetts Ave. All proceeds benefit the South End Historical Society.

E-mail Kaiser at Johanna.yourtown@gmail.com. For more news about your city, town, neighborhood, or campus, visit boston.com’s Your Town homepage.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

More than 400 young philanthropists from Greater Boston and the Merrimack Valley are expected to attend the upcoming United Way Emerging Leaders Spring Gala at The Revere Hotel’s Space 57.

The “old Hollywood”-themed celebration for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley will include appearances by honorary event chairs New England Patriots defensive back Steve Gregory and his wife Rosanne.

The United Way encourages attendees to dress in the formal-wear fashions of the Golden Age of Hollywood glamour, from the 1920s to the 1950s, to help set the mood.

Volunteers in the United Way’s Emerging Leaders program support its Youth Venture initiative, which provides assistance to entrepreneurs ages 12 – 20 to help them launch small businesses intended to create lasting changes in their communities.

The event will include hors d’oeuvres; beverages, with complimentary wine and beer provided by Narragansett Beer and Berkshire Mountain Distillers; dancing, with music provided by KISS 108 radio personality and gala host Rich DiMare; and a silent auction to support local youth.

The gala will take place at the Revere Hotel, 200 Stuart St., from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, May 18.

Tickets are $100 when sold individually, $90 each for a pair, and $85 each for groups of six or more. They are available at el.supportunitedway.org/gala13. Contact el@supportunitedway.org for more information.

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

By Lauren Moquin, Globe Correspondent

When Nick Williams and Peter Negroponte opened a new a record store in Jamaica Plain on April 1, they had no marketing plan.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Jamaica Plain did not have another record store.

But they’ve seen a steady flow of customers at their store Deep Thoughts, located at 138b South St.

“We thought people would just figure it out. We made a Facebook page and we made some flyers that we forgot to give out. Things have been going really great. One guy came from New Hampshire already. People figured out that it exists,” Williams said.

On the third day the store was open, just six months after the two came up with the idea for the store, Negroponte was home with food poisoning, but Williams filled the little store with his energy. He looked around the store and the six people sifting through items in different areas of the room.

“A store like this that has some of the more oddball stuff, it just attracts people,” he said. “They just want to come from wherever.”

People walking down South Street are drawn to the whimsical colors and shapes in the window and in the store. The store has already become a comfortable hang-out.

Customers linger on the white couch in the middle of the room either looking over their finds or conversing.

The variety of merchandise that draws customers to come in and hang out derives from the co-owners.

Williams had been the manager of Feeding Tube, a record store in Northampton, for a year and half and sold records on Discogs, a website for dealing vinyl. When it came time to build variety for Deep Thoughts, the two pulled all of their resources together.

“I’ve been dealing records for three or four years now,” Williams said, “so I already had a bunch of records. We used to work with about seven distributors, and we’ve been buying off people of the street,” Williams said. “No matter what the economic crisis or whatever may be happening, people always buy records.”

“Or cassettes,” a customer chimes in.

“Or cassettes, or books. I’ve actually been surprised that young people are coming in and buying books. I just thought that it didn’t happen as much anymore,” Williams said.

Deep Thoughts has also established itself as a place for live music and a place to hang out from 12-8 p.m. on any given day. Williams and Negroponte have worked to cultivate an environment of creativity and community, and Williams hopes it grows beyond their shop.

“There’s a couple stores for rent just a block away from us,” he said. “I encourage anyone who wants to open a bookstore, coffee shop, or whatever, to come down to South Street because things are just nicer here.”

This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and Emerson College.