Sep
25
High deductibles suck
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under vandalism | 2 Comments
B&B is suffering from a smashed side mirror situation.
I’ve heard of this problem in the neighborhoods of Brighton and Allston, and have seen rows of parked cars in the morning with smashed mirrors on the sidewalk side. Oh, those silly drunk revelers, who find fascination and excitement in the most douchebaggy activities. It makes me wonder: Do people walk around and look for inspection stickers that are about to expire, then proceed to smash away at those cars?
I saw this behavior in person one night, stunned into silence by some random aggro-drunk walking along smashing off mirrors with his bare hand. He did five in a row before hurting himself (though I assume karma had some bonus prize planned out for him further down the road). Point being, that guy was so blitzkrieg’d he couldn’t have read an inspection sticker if his life had depended on it. And point #2 being vehement anti-car action should probably be saved for specific assholes who drive specific cars, where really appropriate.
Sep
24
Sustainable mug (aka, smug)
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under coffee | Leave a Comment
Apparently there was free breakfast grub this morning at Allston Café for early-risers (of which I am not).
Nature’s Path, North America’s leading organic cereal manufacturer, and Allston Café are partnering up to offer Boston residents a free breakfast and coffee. Nature’s Path is following its “Eat Well. Do Good.” mantra by providing local patrons with a free organic breakfast and a cup of coffee from Allston Café. The first 200 people in store on each day will receive a free small drink served in a sustainable mug, and a sample of Nature’s Path’s widely popular Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola.
So thanks for that Nature’s Path! Though to be honest I’m a wee confused about what kind of hippie organic food company you’ve got there, what with the mandating on-the-job drug testing. I prefer my crunchy-type-provisioners to be stem and seed friendly.
Sep
23
Gettin’ smashed
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under crime, quality of life, vandalism | 1 Comment
Time for crime! (he rhymes.) Kind words in the Weekly Dig addressed to “Dear asshat Allston party-goer”…
That’s right, if you’re the cum-waste who threw the heavy construction cinderblocks off the roof of the four-story building on Rugg Road this past week, totaling my roommate’s car, crushing another’s satellite dish and destroying two skylights, you could have KILLED someone, you mindless fuck.
Let it all out.
Sep
23
PRC PhotoSLAM @ Wonder Bar
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under art, bars, photos | Leave a Comment
From Beaupix -
Photographic Resource Center is hosting another round of PhotoSLAM! at the Wonder Bar this week. I just got an email confirmation that my 5 pictures are in this event. I’m planning to attend this event, and looking forward to meeting with other photographers!
This Thursday, 9/24, 6pm. Scenes from 2008.
Sep
22
Yetis vote for Change!
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under photos | Leave a Comment
If you haven’t voted for D-9 City Councillor yet (and HM suspects you haven’t) I’m completely comfortable recommending making your choice based entirely on insta-psychoanalysis of choice of afterparty locale. Low-key affair at home? Um. Corrib? Ah… It all comes down to Deep Ellum vs Sunset.
BTW, follow the highly entertaining mayoral voting shenanigans (or not!) at UH. Wherever you vote, you’re probably too late for free breakfast snacks.
Menino himself was about ten feet from the entrance to the polling station, handing out coffee and donuts.
There is no way you could possibly enter the polling station without being approached and handed literature by a minimum of four campaigns. They aren’t blocking the entrance, but you have to do a slalom.
Sep
20
Thirty bands?
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under events, music | Leave a Comment
That’s ambitious for a Sunday. Allston Village Street Fair, today, right now, details here. Bacchus King (above) closes it out on the main stage.
Sep
19
Please be careful on your roofs & balconies.
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under misc | Leave a Comment
Babur Khalique, dead at 23 after falling from an apartment at Walbridge and Commonwealth. No details on alcohol or other contributing factors but regardless if I can generalize – hanging out on a roof deck is fun, being drunk is moreso but both together is not a good idea. This stuff never stops being sad.
UPDATE: The alcohol issue is looking more likely (from UH).
Sep
19
To the Sunset!
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under bars, restaurants | Leave a Comment
Linda Miskin’s excellent series continues, most recently interviewing Marc Kadish of Sunset Bar & Grill.
On picking his location-
A broker told me of a good deal in Allston where there was a bargain price and financing. So, I looked at the space and the neighborhood. I soon came up with a concept of how I could open a business and really make something of it. Without much thought or time, I blurted out a low offer and got it.
Getting started-
Eventually, the squash club nearby, which I was a member of, did over their bar, and I was able to get their old draft system. We kept struggling along, making most of our purchases on credit cards and carrying a lot of debt. We put every cent we made back into the business. We opened without all of the things we should have had.
On rare beer steins-
We got a lot of those when the Wursthause in Harvard Square went out of business. One stein we bought was about six feet tall. It had monkeys all over it. It cost thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, it was stolen. People who are into these types of collections really enjoy seeing them here. Sunset Cantina has an extensive array of our collections.
Sep
18
Ciommo, green?
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under LEED, politics | Leave a Comment
In response to Harry Mattison’s questioning of Mark Ciommo’s qualifications for the MA Sierra Club endorsement, I thought I’d put it to him directly. Here’s the response from his campaign.
- In 2008, Mark filed and Order for a Hearing, which is attached, that encouraged the City to raise awareness of, and promote home energy audits – inspections of a home’s energy efficiency preformed for free by utility companies. These free energy audits not only reduce energy consumption, but also can save homeowners money.
- Mark always uses the most environmentally friendly materials for his campaign. For his literature, he uses paper that is 100% post-consumer waste recycled which is made with wind power and processed chlorine free when ever possible. When that type of paper is not available, he uses 50% recycled with 25% post consumer waste recycled paper. He always uses paper that is Forest Stewardship Council Certified. Mark’s campaign also structures its mailing lists so that there is as little waste as possible and prints digitally as opposed to offset because it is more environmentally friendly.
- As Councilor, Mark pushed for capital funding to be assigned to the Brighton Library renovation. This renovation will make the library one of the first LEED certified municipal buildings in Boston.
- Mark has always been an advocate for open space. As a former little league coach, and as former President of the Allston-Brighton Little League, he knows how important it is for the community to have access to quality parks and open space. As a founding member of the Hobart Park Neighborhood Association, Mark helped write a grant for a beautification of the park and also worked with neighbors to construct a jungle gym there. As City Councilor, Mark brought together the Boston Parks Department, Boston Water and Sewer, the Oak Square YMCA, and the Allston-Brighton Little League on an extreme field makeover at Hardiman Park in Brighton. He also worked closely with the coach of the 2008 Super Bowl Champion Brighton High Bengals to provide access to a closed field house where the team practices at Cassidy Field. Finally, he is working with several state and city agencies on improvements to Commonwealth Avenue, which will include the planting of 250 new trees.
- Mark makes environmental responsibility apart of his everyday life as well. He recycles at home and at work and has implemented many of the home energy efficiencies that he learned about while researching his Order for a Hearing on the topic.
Personally I would have liked to see someone with ostensibly green creds at least give lip service to bike commuting or even the MBTA, but not so much here. But recycled junk mail is a start, I guess. More on the Brighton Library project (& it’s federal stimulus funding) here. I also suppose I should take back what I said about him not returning emails though given what he said yesterday at the debate I’m not the only one waiting on a less timely emails.
Sep
15
On the Cambridge Street overpass
Posted by nathanael. Filed Under transit | Leave a Comment
I don’t know the current status of the Allston commuter rail stop decision process (now that James Aloisi has slunk on out of the DOT). But if they do end up going with Cambridge Street option hopefully there’ll be some infrastructure repair to the bridge to keep this ridiculousness from happening again. Bridges cannot crumble onto interstates. This lesson has already been learned. I want to say Margaret Garvey is lucky to be alive but it shouldn’t be a matter of luck to survive driving under a bridge.
This bridge isn’t on the (long) list of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts (here are the top 100 busiest as of 2007 though I think those rankings are for traffic going over a bridge where here the problem is the flow underneath). It is however ranked “functionally obsolete” by the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory.