Neighborhood
-
iPhone App for Municipal Complaints
The city has released an iPhone app that enables residents to report problems as they encounter them on the ground: “The Citizens Connect iPhone App that provides a lightweight interface into the City of Boston’s Constituent Relationship Management System (CRM). The intention is to help constituents easily report a variety of different service requests including…
-
Who is My Neighbor?
in NeighborhoodThis past week I’ve been reflecting on how my sense of place has changed now that a neighbor has been shot and killed across the street from where I live. While I was away last weekend, Garibaldis Pena, 27, was gunned down as he put a car seat into his sister’s car. It appears to…
-
Minton Stable Garden Potluck
in NeighborhoodThis evening I stopped by the first potluck of the year at the Minton Stable Garden two blocks away from my place. I sauteed up the collard greens from my CSA and they actually got eaten (even by some kids). Thanks to Laurel for sharing some of her fish–I came away with to nice pieces…
-
Bikes Not Bombs Fundraising Ride
I'm excited to be participating in the 21st Annual Bikes Not Bombs (BNB) Bike-A-Thon on June 8th, riding 62 miles to raise money for this fine organization that promotes biking for transportation and community development. ABOUT BIKES NOT BOMBSBNB is doing many things right: recycling donated bikes, training city kids to repair bikes, sending bikes…
-
My Life with Squirrels
Today Cathy sent me alink to this amazing photo of an albino squirrel near Jamaica pond taken by cottenmanifesto and posted at Loving Nature While Living in the City. Apparently its existence dominated the lunch conversation at her work today. The life of a squirrel can be a precarious one, as I witnessed earlier this…
-
JP Neighborhood Summit
in NeighborhoodYesterday I attend a JP community summit at English High (the oldest public high school in the US) sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood development corporation, an event which helped give me a better sense of what's going in the larger JP community. I've been getting to know my immediate Stonybrook neighborhood during the last…
-
Condo Cameo
At the Stoneybrook Neighborhood Association meeting in December, I met someone who used to live in the building next door to me and through our conversation discovered a bit more about the history of both buildings. Fifteen years ago when he bought the place, it had reputation as a drug house and had been condemned…
-
Sweet Finnish Closed
in NeighborhoodYesterday I was rode to my regular dissertation coffee shop, Sweet Finnish, on Centre St., only to see that it wasn't opened yet. In the interest of time, I decided to continue down to JP Licks, my other writing spot. Just I was leaving, one of the Sweet Finnish regulars came in and informed me…
-
DIY Slow Down Sign
The other day this sign appeared just a few houses down the street in response to the cars that regularly barrel down Rossmore as they cut through to Washington. This has been a source of concern and complaint for several neighbors, and someone apparently was driven to take matters into his or her own hands.…
-
From here to there, one fall morning
A short video from my bike ride to work this morning. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62tS-646ut4]