Current delays on the MBTA:

"A Storrowing"

55"X44"

Send it to your local museum

I understand the concept of putting a couch or a desk on the street when you’re moving out but this is just people dumping trash on the street. Is there a way to hold the landlords/tenants accountable?

I moved to Boston for college 20 years ago today and never left. Longest place I've ever lived.

How should I celebrate without getting bed bugs from all the street garbage??

There are currently 8 trucks piled up on my block alone, each with a crew of very sad, wet looking guys. Tough luck on the weather today, hope y’all stay safe and finish up early

The proposed Magnolia housing development at 920 Centre Street in J.P. remains trapped in a state of Purgatory more than three years after it was first proposed to Boston planning officials. The project would add 158 housing units - split between rental and ownership units - and 24% of the units would be affordable units.

The Boston Globe has attributed the delays to Harvard's outsize influence over the City and the Boston Planning Dept, calling it "a story about how one mid-sized project and a developer willing to make one compromise after the other can’t move in the face of one powerful opponent who has the ear of city hall." The newspaper also called the years of delays the project has faced "a case study on how housing doesn't get built in this city."

The developers are back with a completely revised proposal, one which includes several new concessions, but opposition is also firming up. It's an interesting split-screen moment where the Boston's city review Boards appear to like the project, but the Planning Director appears skeptical. A subcommittee of the Civic Design Commission was downright complementary of the proposal at a meeting in July:

• One member marveled at the small amount of pavement in the design (all of the parking is underground), calling it "beautifully done."
• Another member called the amount of change since the last proposal "pretty remarkable." She added "This is pretty close -within striking distance - of where we asked you to go." While acknowledging the significant neighborhood pushback, she concluded "This is the kind of project the City of Boston needs, and this is a project we would be so happy to get."

But if anything opposition only seems to have mobilized:

• The Jamaica Hills Association is as apocalyptic as ever over the "Magnolia Monstrosity" proposal - https://www.jamaicahills.org/news/magnolia-monstrosity
• Harvard University/The Arboretum is still against it: https://arboretum.harvard.edu/arboretum-response-920-centre-development/
• A "Protect the Arboretum" petition drive has launched to oppose the development and to require any property neighboring the Arboretum not to ever cast shadows on the park for good measure - https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/08/31/whats-up-with-all-the-protect-the-arboretum-signs/
• E-mails released thru a Public Records Request show Harvard University/The Arboretum has a direct line to Boston's Planning Director, Kairos Shen. Shen advised the Arboretum to ignore calls from a Boston Globe reporter inquiring about the project or to only call back after Harvard consulted with the Planning Director. At the same time, Shen has been more hostile to the Nuns and their development team. He only granted a first meeting with them this Spring, three years after a project at the site was first proposed - https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/arnold-arboretum-monastery-development/
• In the Spring, the developer said he hoped for a City decision on the proposal in Late August, but a public comment period just ended and a decision remains months, if not over a year, away...

MA Election Advisory #26-05 outlines electioneering is prohibited within 150 feet of polling locations and to report violations. To report:
- Alert the Presiding Officer at the location, this is usually the Warden (police officer at the site). If unavailable, alert an election worker at the site 

- ALSO CALL ACLU of MA at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to report these and other violations. Multiple violations already reported today.

Thank you for voting today and keeping election locations fair and safe!!

Truly something special to behold.

At the Royal Sonesta off Memorial Drive.

I’ve lived in and around the city for 7 years (moved here at 20 from the suburbs for college), and I haven’t really found my “group” here. I am still close friends with friends from high school / my hometown, and the group has expanded over the years, but I feel the strong desire to broaden my horizons and meet new people in this late-20s phase of my life.

I’ve had different social circles (some friends from college, etc) but I sort of always drifted apart from them for various reasons. I got busy with work, relationships, and maintaining my current friendships. At 27, I love my close friends, and I don’t regret investing in our friendship over the years, but I need to grow!

I’ve been to meetup groups in the city before but it felt weird not having anything common to really bond over. Then everyone gets busy and wrapped back into their own lives (me included). I’m thinking of maybe joining a class or attending hobby groups (I like crochet, art, etc).

Would love to hear stories of how you actually made new friends in the city as a young professional out of college. Thanks! 🙏

I dont know that Ive ever felt grosser than I did voting for Hayden. But the other two choices are a blatantly unethical Rollins or Champion who is literally only running to help cops avoid accountability.

Because of the rain any furniture/books/stuff that people left on the street on sept 1st is unusable now. As someone who bikes to work I can say there is LOTS of it. What happens now? I don’t think I ever seen that stuff laying around for more than a few weeks, does the city eventually takes care of it?

Very fun new interview with Norwell's Grammy winner https://www.boston.com/culture/music/2026/09/01/her-appendix-behind-her-blueswoman-susan-tedeschi-is-coming-home/?p1=hp_secondary

Back in the early 2000s I bought a student rental in Allston Village.  I still own it, and I do most of the repairs myself.  I was in over the weekend painting walls that I’ve painted over a dozen times before.  As I worked, I looked out the window and watched person after person sift through a pile of stuff in front of the building.  There was nothing good in this pile that people repeatedly combed through, and it got me thinking.  Allston Christmas isn’t what it used to be.  While there are no doubt still diamonds in the rough, the quantity and quality of presents under the tree just isn’t the same.  There was a time lots of decent furniture could be found, and it could be there for a day or two before being scooped up.  I think it comes down to two things.

First is Amazon and enshittification.  Though maybe enshittification is not the right word.  Disposification maybe?  Before Amazon became ubiquitous, most students bought used furniture, or new but unfinished furniture (as in not stained or painted) at a store in Packards Corner.  It wasn’t cheap, but it was certainly less expensive than buying something at Jordan’s.  And it lasted, it was solid wood.  These were the kinds of things left on the curb for all the good boys and girls.  Now that you can buy stuff online, it’s gotten way cheaper, but it’s all single-use furniture.  When first assembled, it looks nicer than what students used to have, but it doesn’t last.  But I don’t think anyone cares.  When this year’s tenants were moving out, they tried to disassemble a bed with drawers underneath.  One small piece broke, and they gave up on the endeavor.  I said I could help and I got it apart quickly and that it could be fixed.  But they had decided to just get a new one and throw this one away.  Thus, I feel fall-apart-icle board is the biggest reason that Allston Christmas has declined.

Second are the professionals.  If there is something good left behind it's quickly snagged.  I saw a lot of people who were not students going through stuff.  And they came prepared.  They had giant reinforced bags to carry stuff, and there were tons of them.  One seemed to walk by every 10 minutes.  Before social media, I don’t think Allston Christmas was a moniker that even existed.  To know about it, you had to live there or have a friend who did. 

Edit: Should have included Facebook Marketplace et. al as #2, huge plus. Couldn't do that back in the day.

I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I CANNOT RIDE THE T WITHOUT SMELLING SOMEONE'S FLAVORED LUNG AIR FUCKING STOPPPP ITS ILLEGAL

Drove to work today instead of taking the T. Taking local road between Longwood to i93 passing through Wenthworth and Massart :(. When should I start leaving the area? Should I stick around the museums for a bit?