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Down by the water? Lovers, muggers, and thieves? Seriously though, it's frustrating how often this comes up for an explanation why why can't have nice things. "Unsavory characters" is why we don't like building public spaces, there are no public restrooms, and benches are uncomfortable...

Agreed. Or get rid of the limits altogether. But this seems to be the limit of what can pass politically, and given what a shitshow the State House is, we might be lucky to get this modest improvement. Oh yeah, good point. That one is really odd. I'm not sure there are any official boundaries...

A town doesn't have to be Toronto or London to justify good public transit. You just need to want people to be able to get around without always having to drive. In Switzerland, they'll have flag stops on the train for a single ski resort. In Japan there is a train stop just for a scenic view...

No, they're each restricted to the zip code they're created for. They are also completely non-transferable, so the can't be sold. When a business quits using one of these new licenses, it goes back to the board, and they can grant it out again in that same zip code.

Well, that's... something. What a BS system. Here's the proposed bill https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H5039 The 13 zip codes are : 02118, 02119, 02121, 02122, 02124, 02125, 02126, 02128, 02129, 02130, 02131, 02132 and 02136. Those are the green parts of this map

The parks are looking alright (though I still think you should skip them). One thing that has been off, though, is the Emerald Necklace connected to the Esplanade. On your map, it looks like you should be able to walk directly from one to the other, but you can't. The actual Emerald Necklace...

It's sooo nice. I moved back to the Boston area three years ago, and this week is the first time the red line has been running kind of how I remember back in the day. (My regular trips to Quincy continue to suck. But there's an end in sight.) Is there some way to figure out what the deal is...

I also love the look of the old Chicago Els. But I can be pretty sure that a Green Line train passing there is unbearably loud. Like, feel-it-in-your-teeth loud. Interrupt-a-conversation-two-blocks-away kind of loud. I have a nostalgia for those trains, so I'm always surprised going back to...

I totally agree, that looks a failure of planning. Tying this locally, there was a push in the State House to change MassPort's charter to require it consider broader climate objectives in their planning. Basically this is about blocking MassPort in its planned expansion at Hanscom. That...

I wouldn't be surprised if you were correct here, but really, did Northeastern ruin this? The picture you posted is from the arena's heyday in the 20's or 30's. Northeastern didn't buy the arena until 1979. What did it look like then? I'm pretty sure I've read that a lot of the elaborate...

Hey, that article on funding doesn't mention anything about the task force that was set up to work on the problem. I don't think they're supposed to report back until December, but is there anything new there? Is the task force even mentioned when politicians talk about solving funding? Have...

Ok, they've got this boat, here's my pitch. Just run from the Broad Canal, right near Kendall, to Nashua Street Park, right near North Station. I don't know how feasible it is to have another dock in the Broad Canal. It's currently just used for kayak rentals. And there is a dock at Nashua...

Yeah, no way. Just for reference, they say they tried out the route from Watertown to the Hatch Shell, five stops, in 67 minutes. I think that's technically possible, but they're not thinking through realistic (or maybe any) dwell times. But they say they tried it. That'll be close. And that's...

They say it wouldn't run in the winter. Just ice-free months.

From the Governor: Are we... Is the T bringing back steam locomotives? Has it gotten that bad?

Just a suggestion, but you might want to really consider why you're adding water and parks. I think there are a few possible reasons. Mostly, I think you should keep them off. One reason to put them on is highlight possible "destinations." NYC does this. Basically only NYC does this. I mostly...

I'll throw out a crazy transit pitch, just out of curiosity. At some distance northwest of downtown, it could make sense to branch the Red Line. There are relatively dense suburbs that would benefit from rapid transit, but maybe don't require 3 minute headways. What about splitting the Red Line...

Good point. Looks like the T's measure of dwell time per passenger went down 23%. Basically, I think they're saying absolute dwell times stayed about the same, but all while ridership on the 28 went up 38%. I'd say that's still a big win, but slightly different than what I was saying before...

Do you know offhand what percent of bus riders transfer to/from the subway system-wide? The 32 is exactly the one I was thinking about with a high transfer rate, but I don't think that high transfer rate is uncommon. It's probably the case for a lot (or most) of the buses terminating at Alewife...

Everything you're saying is why I'm starting to conclude that we should just make the buses free. We already have a lot of people not paying, with no plans to stop it. You could put tap-to-pay readers at the back door, but you'll still get a lot of fare evaders. And I don't want bus drivers...