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.
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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 Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The second annual Taste of West Roxbury is scheduled for Thursday, May 9.

The event will feature food from more than 20 local restaurants along with a DJ, raffle prizes, silent auction and a cash bar, according to its hosting organization West Roxbury Main Streets.

It will be held at the Irish Social Club from 6 to 9 p.m.

The list of participating restaurants so far includes: Baker Baker, Corrib Pub and Restaurant, MJ's Pizza, Roche Brothers, Rox Diner, Spring St. Café, Sugar Bakery, The Upper Crust, Tony's Place and West on Centre, oranizers said.

Tickets will be $25 in advance, and $30 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online here or at The Cooperative Bank, Mt. Washington Bank, and West on Centre.

Proceeds benefit West Roxbury Main Streets’ community revitalization efforts.
Restaurants interested in participating or businesses interested in sponsoring the event should call 617-325-6400 or e-mail director@wrms.org.

For more information, visit www.wrms.org.

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

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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By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

An independently-owned Upper Crust Pizzeria in West Roxbury will close on Sunday, the owners announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Another restaurant will take over the retail space at 1727 Centre St., according to the post, which did not name the new restaurant.

“It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing that The Upper Crust Pizzeria of West Roxbury will be closing on Sunday, April 28th,” said the Facebook post, made Thursday. “We would like to thank all of our loyal customers and the community (especially West Roxbury Main Streets) for their support during the last four years.”

The location is run by the Mulry, Regan and Santangelo families.

The Globe reported earlier this month that the West Roxbury pizzeria was the last remaining franchisee of the Upper Crust chain, which has closed numerous locations and in October filed for bankruptcy protection after mounting financial problems, labor troubles, and disputes among its partners. Some of chain's locations have reopened.

In their online farewell message, the West Roxbury shop's owners "encouraged” customers to use their dinner vouchers and gift cards, but said that “gift cards will be continued to be honored at the six other Upper Crust locations.”

“We have not only seen many of our friends become our customers, we have also had many of our customers become friends,” the post said. “We also would like to thank all of our employees, many of whom have been with us throughout the entire time we have been open.”

“However, as any small business owner knows, it is a time taking endeavor to own and run a business and sometimes the time it takes is at the expense of our families and other careers. Therefore, our decision to sell, although bittersweet, is the best for all of us at this time.”

“We are looking forward to the new restaurant that will be opening soon at our location and hope the community is as supportive to them as they have been to us.”

The West Roxbury pizzeria opened in 2009 at the site of the former Tai Ho Restaurant, which burned down in 2007 in a blaze that left two firefighters dead.

The restaurant’s closure was first reported Thursday by several news outlets and blogs, including Boston Restaurant Talk.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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For the latest West Roxbury updates:
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And connect via Facebook by clicking the "Like" button on the top left hand corner of the West Roxbury homepage, here.