The shit alleged in the Whitehead/Sabatini report is insidious in academia and biotech. Academia and biotech are the primary driving force of the economy in the Boston metro area. Far more people in the Boston metro area are impacted by this type of sexual harassment on a day-to-day basis than anything else you cited. Also, it isn’t a zero sum game. Newspapers can write about many things. Other papers will write about national issues. Only local papers are going to did into local stories of corruption (and yes, long running, systematic sexual harassment is a form of corruption).

Passenger flights routinely use the “polar route” to get from North America to Asia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_route

All of the hospitals in the city are having financial struggles, along with hospitals nationwide. Boston has too many academic medical centers for the size of the population, which hurt Tufts children’s (Floating Hospital) - they were competing with Boston Children’s and MGH. Tufts will be fine for residency. They are somewhat protected as the teaching hospital for Tufts Medical School - if the hospital closes, it would be tough for the med school to continue, so they are too big to fail, so to speak.

Some of them will take care of disposal - I know College Hunks will. Or you can schedule bulk trash pick up with the city. Just have to schedule the movers for the day before the trash pick up.

Most of the local moving companies offer labor by the hour

A little out of the box, but Picture a Scientist. It isn’t about Boston per se, it’s about women in science/academia, but faculty at BU and MIT feature prominently. To the extent academia is a huge part of Boston culture and economy, it’s a pretty enlightening documentary. I think it’s currently on Netflix.

Also not about Boston specifically, but the recent documentary Augmented covers Hugh Herr from MIT and bionics/plastic surgery collaborations with Brigham and Womens. It’s available for streaming through PBS.

Skip the Small Talk is great, especially if you’re social/outgoing enough to follow up with people. I’ve heard good things about Venture Cafe on Thursday evenings at Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), but haven’t attended myself.

I’ve seen confirmed reports that a train is disabled, and unconfirmed reports that it derailed. Two trains stuck behind it and they are evacuating passengers through the tunnels. Derailment seems likely, otherwise they would just reverse the other two trains back to the Kenmore. Also, sounds like it happened at the switch where the E branch separates form B/C/D. No injuries, but definitely a mess.

Just be sure to check the extra cost of an insurance plane vs. the amortized costs of the cleanings over time. Four cleanings a year at $180 each works out to $60/month. Don’t pay more than that for insurance.

Surprisingly, rats don’t actually care how much money humans earn or pay for their housing. The rat problem around Coolidge Corner is as bad as I ever saw when I lived in Brighton. Lots of restaurants = lots of rats.

The article says OSHA is involved and confirms the victim was a worker. I know they have been doing work on the roof/HVAC system on that side of the building. So seems like an unintentional fall.

Charity galas often have lower prices for “young professionals” if you fit in that group. If you have any Harvard-affiliated friends, see if they can get you tickets to the Viennese Ball at the Harvard Club. It’s already sold out for this year, but you might be able to get tickets if someone decides not to go.

Early fireworks on the common at 7pm, weather permitting. The lights on the Comm Ave mall are cool, and less crowded than Copley. Check some of the concerts at First Night, then take your time walking over to the harbor for midnight fireworks.

Frog pond doesn’t charge admission for kids, but they do charge for skate and equipment rental. Millennium park charges comparable rates for their rentals (more for skates, less from the seating aides).

If it’s something you want to do on a regular basis, buy skates. And teach your kids to skate so you don’t need the skating chair/aide. Or wait until the kids are older and can skate on their own. If it’s something you want to do once just to say you did it, that’s the price you pay.

You mean the one wrapped in black mesh? It’s coming down eventually, along with the parking deck behind it. To be replaced with condos and a hotel. The most recent records I’ve seen are from April 2022, but they’re at the stage of nit-picking color selection for the building facades.

I’m saying the housing shortage is so bad in the area that any new housing is good. People who can afford luxury housing will buy it, and leaves an existing non-luxury building available for someone else. Luxury infill development in neighborhoods that are already established as expensive places to live will help reduce gentrification in other parts of town. If we’re going to build new luxury condos, it’s much better to have them in Coolidge Corner than in Brighton.

Among many other things, the severe housing shortage is driving prices up. There is a market for $1M condos, especially is an already expensive neighborhood like Coolidge Corner. These condos mean the older condos of similar size will drop in price (or at least stop increasing so dramatically).

This type of development is perfect for that spot - small scale infill sized to the available lot. Hard for NIMBYS to oppose it.

Absolutely. Only 5 units, and I’m sure they will be $1M+, but I’ll take whatever housing we can get.

It was demolished in early November. Soon to be condos.

I lived in that area for a year without a car when I first moved here. I commuted to Longwood on the 66, waking to the stop in good weather and taking the T to Harvard Ave in bad weather. It was fine. I was there during on of the bug B branch shut downs to update the intersection at the BU Bridge. Taking the T into downtown sucked during that period, but wasn’t too bad otherwise. There’s a Whole Foods at Washington St and a Star at Packards Corner, so groceries are easy enough without a car. Socially, I spent a lot of time in Somerville and Medford. Usually took the buses to get across the river, connecting with the Red line at Harvard Sq, but almost always took an Uber home.

Ground floor 😬

All the way to Broookline… When I was shopping, I was scheduled to view a condo near Long Wharf, but decided not to because the place I ended up buying was good enough and less expensive.

Almost bought a condo there. Feeling real good about my life choices right now.

Maybe some condition that makes it impossible to drive or walk to a laundromat?

Is the laundry restriction in the official condo docs? If not and you have washer/dryer hooks up, then it seems hard to enforce.

For future buyers - check condo documents thoroughly! You should have a contingency in your contract, so you can back out of the sale without penalty if there’s something unacceptable in the condo docs.