Before I Die Installed in Roxbury

"Before I Die is a global art project that invites people to reflect on their lives and share their personal aspirations in public space. This project was started by Candy Chang on an abandoned house in New Orleans after she lost someone she loved," according to the project's website. Today, with the help of YouthBuild Boston and with the blessing of owner Nuestra Comminidad, yours truly installed Before I Die at the corners of Washington and Bartlett Streets in Roxbury. The irony is that, Bartlett Yard, as this community has known it for several years, will die as an eyesore and environmental hazard and be reborn into a vibrant arts space. Before it dies, come and write your aspirations and become part of that rebirth. If you can't make it to Roxbury, check for more pictures on the Before I Die page devoted to this installation.

Corner of Washington and Bartlett before installation.

Figuring out how they'll mount the panels

Michael Chavez, YouthBuild Boston Director of Project Development & Management shows the trainees how it's done.

Securing the panels.

First panel and aspirations by passing MassArt students

Carlos with his contribution

Stenciling the title.

YouthBuild crew and Mark Matel, Bartlett Yard Project Manager, (holding stencil).

'Alchemist' Gagged at MIT

A medical mask to thwart the spread of the flu virus that plagued Boston before this winter's snow and deep freezes?
Or a statement on MIT's reticence during the prosecution of Aaron Swartz?

Plensa's 'Alchemist' gagged during the snowstorm of February 8.

My Night at Aga's

    The Roxburian recently wrote about the importance of supporting local businesses and that intention, coupled with curiosity and the need for adventure, found me, a woman old enough to be someone's grandma, throwing dollar bills at gyrating female tuckus and drinking more than is salubrious at Aga's Highland Tap in Dudley Square.

    A small, innocuous, rectangular-shaped building on the corner of Eliot and Washington Streets, Aga's was "Established Since 1947" according to its sign.  A few years ago, Aga's painted "Bikini Bar" in massive lettering on the side of the building facing Melnea Cass, piqueing the sensibilities of neighborhood watchdogs (and no doubt soon-to-be-across-the-street neighbor HBI, Inc).  The lettering was removed.  
    My original plan had been to check out the "Bikini Bar" with a visibly pregnant friend (bars serve soft drinks, too) who was also in need of adventure but she found her adventure abroad before we got the chance. Finally, one night last October, my friend D and I enjoyed cultural attractions at both ends of Boston: a Martin McDonough play at the Charlestown Working Theatre followed by drinks and, um, dancing at Aga's. 
     Like The Roxburian, I'd been, at first, a little intimidated and frightened by the prospect of Aga's.  I imagined a dark, dingy place, the air fogged blue with dense smoke from cigarettes of all types and levels of legality, and heavily tattooed (ha! like that means anything anymore!) glowering ganstas with their guns resting on the bar by their beers; vicious drug dealers doing lines off the bellies of their women; one-eyed pirates with knives between their teeth and assault rifles on their backs and ...well, you get the picture. But the more I really thought about it, the more I realized that some of Boston's very best bars over the years were "dives", places that may have appeared to be scary but that were in reality great spots to hang out. The Blue Sands, the Rat, and others, the memories of which have been smothered by copious consumption of their wares, are some that spring to mind.  Anyway, how bad could Aga's be, really? 
     One clue that assumptions and reality are often divergent was that, walking past the bar on warm evenings, the bouncer was sometimes sitting on a stool just outside the door reading a book.  I'm not a fan of stereotypes (except, it seems, about grandmothers) but I've worked in bars and in most cases it was rare that any of the doormen would read anything more than a newspaper when things were quiet.  Turns out that Nathan, the book-reading bouncer, is a really nice guy - former Marine currently apprenticed to become an electrician and working nights to make a little extra dough.  Good-bye, one-eyed pirates with knives.
    So on the night of the big adventure, we travel from the dark humor of McDonough, to the deadly quiet of Dudley (the safest place in Boston after sundown because no one is there). Nathan greets us at the door and requests a five dollar cover charge. The bar is against the wall on the right as you enter and to the left there are a couple of chairs and tables and then a small dance floor.  There are two male customers, the bartender, two women who turn out to be the dancers, Nathan, and D and me. And that's it.  All night, and it’s a Saturday, people come and go but D and I are the only ones there for longer than 20 minutes and at no time in the evening are there ever more than five customers, total, in the bar.   
    At one point, there’s a latino guy with his buddy and girlfriend.  Later in the night, a distinguished looking black man in a velvet jacket with a massive cross hanging around his neck rushes past Nathan and through the door leaving a trail of scent in his wake.  Alice refuses to serve him and prods Nathan to get “The Reverend” out of the bar.  A white guy who looks like an undercover cop comes in for a few minutes and chats with Alice at the end of the bar. She tells me that he’s a “friend of the bar” around the same time she’s telling me that the City doesn’t like Aga’s.  A couple of single black guys come and go. Most of the night it is just D and me with the dancers, the bartender, the bouncer. Good-bye, vicious drug-dealers.
    The dancers are Visa and Trina, both youngish, one black, one white and they take turns moving on the dance platform in bikinis. During breaks between sets, they throw on tee shirts and shorts. Their dancing is uninspired.  Trina appears bored, almost sullen, and stares at herself in the mirror behind the bar as she moves as if she is dancing for herself - or to avoid thinking about the eyes on her. Occasionally, when there are male customers in the bar, she will “accidentally” pop a nipple from her bikini top. The red, glassy squint of Visa’s eyes hint that she’s got a good buzz on.  Her dancing is more of a get down on all fours, thrusting, humping, and grinding her fifi in your direction kind of thing. I am happier talking to them than seeing them dance and in my mortification for both of them, I shower them with dollar bills – ones, fives, even tens.  It becomes a very expensive night - atypical in my dive experience. D and I buy them one drink each (they warn us that Alice will get mad if they have more) and chat with them, between their dances, about work, life, dreams and goals.  Trina says that she manages a store during the day.  Visa, when asked if she had so much money she could do whatever she wants, says she would have a butt augmentation.  Goodbye, assault weapons. 
    The women’s dance sets and breaks are managed by owner and bartender, Alice, a post middle-aged woman whose Greek immigrant father-in-law was the original Aga, whose daughter does the books and whose son sometimes help out with the business. She lets Trina or Visa know that a break is over and it’s time to dance again. The raunchiest hip-hop music booms from loud speakers and petite Alice, gray hair peaking out from beneath her hat, knows all the words and sings along (imagine your grandmother mouthing, "you a fine muthafucka wontcha back that ass up") while mixing drinks, and keeping track of dances and breaks and money coming in, mostly from D and I who over-order and over-tip Alice (even though she’s over-charging us) because we think she’s so cute and funny and atypical and the place is so diverting.   Goodbye, glowering ganstas.
    When we first arrive and are getting to know Trina, and Visa, and Alice, and Nate, D says, “We have to make a documentary about this place.” I am thinking the same thing.  Over the course of the night, (after several beers, then Jack and cokes, then shots of whatever) occasionally, while D is talking to Trina or Visa and I am talking to Alice or Nate,  D will lean over and say in my ear, “we are sooo lucky”.  Not because we are drunk at an off-the-beaten-track bar but because we do not have to dance there - we have educations and economic resources and people who care about us and would help us out before we would have to dance at Aga’s.  Still, we are determined, before the hangovers set in, that we will frequent Aga’s,  that we will become regulars there; we will make a documentary about the place and its history; we will support Alice and Nate and Trina and Visa in the only way that we can – by putting dollars in their pockets - or bikinis. Beyond that, whether they use those dollars to buy butt augmentations or get tattoos or earn a plumber’s license is not really up to us or within our control.
    Fear of the unknown alchemised into melancholy and what we had hoped would be an adventure became more of the same, all over again: ordinary people trying to get by in the only ways they know how. Walking home and the next day and even now all I can think is it would be great to find a way to turn Aga's, which is really a cute little building in a great location, from a 'bikini bar' to a burgers n beer joint or even better - a Wally's II. Keep Nathan on the door. Alice can still pour and sing all the lyrics to every filthy gansta rap song you've ever heard, and Trina and Visa can waitress.  The Aga's team would make more money and the neighborhood would gain a local business that just about everyone would be eager to support.

Bucking the Trend

In my neighborhood, I've seen car parking space savers in June, for chrissakes, so this sign on Highland Ave. adjacent to a freshly shoveled spot was a ray of civic-minded sunshine.

Ghost Town

On a usual Friday at 8:15 a.m., the streets of Boston would be bumper-to-bumper and curb-to-curb with car traffic. Not this morning.

Huntington Ave., north/eastbound

Huntington Ave., south/westbound

Longwood Avenue, eastbound

Longwood Avenue, westbound

Columbus Ave/Roxbury Crossing at 8:15 a.m.

Roxbury Crossing.  That's salt, not snow on the ground.

Fenway Enfolds

Back in December, the Fenway won the city wide competition to be the first state recognized cultural district in Boston.  In March, the Massachusetts Cultural Council announced the Fenway Cultural District as one of the first State-designated cultural districts in the State - a distinction which would send funds and tourism their way.  With the MFA, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MassArt, and the BSO, among other institutions in their district, how could they not win?  Today people from architectural firm Perkins + Will were in
Evans Way Park, the park between MassArt and the Gardner Museum,  assembling a fabric installation called "Fenway Enfolds" in anticipation of the bigger-than-usual annual celebration Opening Our Doors on Monday.

Commonwealth Avenue Mall Apples

Apple tree on Commonwealth Avenue

Food foragers take note: Roxbury may have the remnants of apple orchards scattered throughout the neighborhood but Back Bay has a productive apple tree, too, at the corner of Mass. and Comm. Aves.  This one looks like they are Red Delicious variety and they proved to be red  - but not as delicious as the Roxbury Russett. We ate these in a yummy compote with local garden plums and quince.

Apples from the apple tree at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Comm. Ave.

Inside an apple from the Commonwealth Mall

Snakes in Roxbury

No, I'm not writing about Diane Wilkerson or the Roxbury Neighborhood Council, which has failed to file legitimizing documents with the Secretary of State for at least five years now yet continues to raise and disburse funds.  To whom and for what those funds are disbursed remains a mystery because the organization is operating without legitimizing documentation. (Working journalists:  please take note and investigate. Be sure to interview all of the people who have been kicked off the council for expressing their dissenting views).

This is more interesting than them. As I was leaving for work this morning I was delighted to note that a nest of snakes had slithered up a lily stalk and were hanging out on a rose calyx, basking in the warmth of the late morning sun. I counted seven - or eight - heads.  They were so intertwined, it was hard to tell how many there were.

The Apple Orchard of Melnea Cass Boulevard

A corner of Parcel 8, at the junction of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Washington Street, currently serves as the staging area for roadworks happening around the city. There are piles of bitumen and gravel and slabs of deconstructed road.  And there are also  8-10  about 5 apple trees, some heavy with fruit, lining the edge of the chain link fence on Melnea Cass.

Though it looks like there may be more than one variety, I was only able to reach the apples from one tree.  Mindful that the fruit of trees rooted in the raw materials for asphalt may not be healthy in anything more than a tiny dose, I sampled only one  - which was difficult because it was absolutely delicious.  Both tart and sweet, and also super crunchy, it was the best apple I've tasted for years.  These don't seem russett-y enough to be  are definitely the legendary Roxbury Russett, the oldest apple variety in the U.S. and thus qualify as heirloom varieties.

Much of this area of Roxbury was once flush with orchards - one of the reasons Orchard Gardens got its name. Maybe as a part of Grow Boston Greener or the city's urban farming initiatives, these are trees that could be nurtured and maintained. After all, what grows greener than a fruit tree that could well be over 100 years old?  And maintaining what we already have might sometimes make more sense than starting from scratch.  As the city looks to make Melnea Cass more friendly to pedestrians and forms of transportation other than the car, preserving the Melnea Cass apple orchard might be a worthy part of that plan.

Roxbury Russet apples picked from the old trees at the corner of Melnea Cass and Washington.  Delicious!

Do You Know How Clean Your Air Is?

Dudley Square does. Check out the Boston Hazecam on the Airbeat site.

The above screen grab is from the website of the Roxbury air monitoring system Airbeat located on Warren Street Harrison Ave, adjacent to Dudley Station.

From its website:
  
"AirBeat is a pilot project sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifically for the community of Roxbury.   If AirBeat proves successful in Roxbury, it could become a recipe for addressing air pollution issues in many urban areas across the country.

AirBeat is one of many pilot projects funded by the EPA under a program called Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT). The purpose of EMPACT is to make timely environmental information available to communities in a format that is useable and easy to understand. In the past, this information was usually technical and took weeks or months to become publicly available. However, with the advent of new technologies and the Internet, environmental data can be made available to the public within minutes or hours. This allows people to make informed, day-to-day decisions about their lives that can protect their health and the environment."

Dance in Paradise

Live Webcam of Ferdinand's Demolition/Construction

The BRA and Multivista Construction have a live web cam running very cool high resolution video of the demolition of the Ferdinand's building and construction of the Dudley Municipal Office Building.

Urban Safety 101

In the second episode of Mad Men, Sally, playing astronaut with her little brother, wears a full length plastic dry-cleaning bag over her head and torso. Her mother Betty calls her over, and viewers with a 21st century bias might presume it's to yell at the kid to get the plastic bag off her head. But the setting is the early 1960's, when smoking was still good for you and driving while drunk commonplace and tolerated.  Housewife Betty's complaint is about the dry-cleaned clothes that had been in the bag. "If those clothes are dirty, young lady," she scolds,  "You'll be punished." and then takes a drag off her cigarette.

Signs posted in the last year or so around the neighborhood remind me of that Mad Men episode because often the sentiment that seems so obvious, isn't.  Everything has its time and place context so non-city residents will leave the GPS on the dashboard and the laptop in the back seat because it's what they do back home in the village/town/suburb/attached garage.  And when they come to the track meets at the Reggie Lewis gym - or to shop in the Back Bay - they need a warning label - like the ones now found on many plastic bags.

Going by the numbers of people who walk around flashing their iphones or with their earbuds in or headphones on, non-city dwellers aren't the only ones who need some urban safety schooling. There's no guarantee that abiding by the below list won't get us mugged but the Cambridge Police advise the following among other things:

Be aware of your surroundings at all times and trust your instincts.

 Always walk with a friend or in a group when possible.

 Walk with confidence.  Keep your head up to observe your surroundings and don't look down at the ground.

 If you feel you are being followed, show you are suspicious – turn to look at the person. It sends a clear message that you will not be taken by surprise.

 Do not wear ear buds, headphones, or listen to music or talk on a phone when walking alone. 

The bit about talking on the phone surprised me.  I always used to feel a little safer if I was walking home late at night talking to someone on the phone as if that connection to another person would protect me.  I suppose it makes sense that chatting on a phone diverts attention from our surroundings so we become easier targets.

My favorite urban safety advice comes from the police force at my place of employment:

"The safety and security of the ...community... is the combined responsibility of the entire community. Safety is a two‐way street and the community must take precautions to protect itself.
...Each of you must assume a personal responsibility by taking precautions to prevent yourself
from becoming a victim. The more people looking out for one another, the more effective we
will be at protecting the community."

Nice Rack

Lock rack, corner of Tremont and Parker streets

I wasn't sure this lock would work as a bike rack so I tested it and it does but this one is more about aesthetics than volume.

Tube of paint rack at MassArt

School of the Museum of Fine Arts rack

And then there is Cambridge where entire car parking spaces are removed and sidewalks expanded to provide for much needed bike parking.

From the Bastille to Dudley

A "Let Them Eat Cake" Cake, complete with tiny guillotine and disembodied head.

Not very surprising that at a fête de quatorze juillet, there should be a "let them eat cake" cake, extolling the virtues of liberté, égalité, fraternité.  What this picture misses is that the tiny head at the base of the bloodied-with-frosting guillotine is that of Mitt Romney, who has an entitlement mentality similar to that of Louis XVI and a sensitivity to the plight of working people in the US which mirrors the approach of Marie Antoinette.

More specifically and locally, Romney is the dude who, as governor of Massachusetts, reneged in 2004 on a promise to develop Ferdinand's in Dudley Square, condemning a generation of young people to unemployment and the geographical heart and soul of Boston to a decade of further blight with his let-them-eat-cake attitude. He insulted the intelligence of every person in metro Boston with the folderol that he could relate to "urban" populations because as a graduate student he and his wife had lived in West Roxbury, conflating and confusing two neighborhoods which, though historically the same, now embrace very different demographics. Ironically and sadly, any true West Roxbury resident (or conversely, schmuck with a basic knowledge and understanding of this city) would be very quick to make the distinction between the two neighborhoods, underscoring Romney's double-edged sleaze sword. 

M. de Lafayette, au secours, au secours!

Mystery Pooper Prompts Posters

The layout of the title and image on this poster made me think, crap!  Some guy is pooping in his neighbor's yard?!  Turns out it's the guy's dog who's pooping and the guy who isn't picking it up.  Given that his image has been plastered on street poles for a couple of months now, I doubt his dog will be pooping in this quadrant of the neighborhood anytime soon. Nor has anyone come forward, it seems, to collect the reward. My money says the "mystery pooper" is an exceptionally entitled student who moved out in May and left the poop as a token of the esteem in which he held his temporary housing and neighborhood.

Development in Dudley: the Scorecard

Click on the map to expand it.

Several developments and improvements, massive and small,  planned within less than a mile of Dudley Square and slated to be created over the next few years, are both exciting and overwhelming to district residents.  With the right massaging,  the geographical heart of the city may go from myocardial infarction to pulsing with positive and vibrant activity once again. Here is a list of these potential improvements and developments, some already underway, some in very early evolution.

Ferdinand's/Dudley Square Office Facility will provide 150,000 square feet of administrative office with ground-floor retail, according to the Dudley Vision website.
Sasaki Associates is the designer.

Melnea Cass Boulevard Design Project which will incorporate principles from the Complete Streets initiative intends, in part, to "create a sense of “place” that will make people slow down and stop in the area. Create a pedestrian friendly, people oriented environment; Increase density of foot traffic rather than car traffic. Provide safe and pedestrian friendly crossings between Parcel 9 and Parcel 10. Investigate new “urban mall” concepts in which businesses are oriented to the street and outdoor space, with café seating contributing to a lively public realm," says the Design Project website.

Parcel 9, currently called Melnea Hotel and Residences
Team: Urbanica, Inc / NADAAA
Current program:
87,200 sf  hotel
22,000 sf retail
3700 sf meeting room
63200 sf of 52 residential units
46,900 of below garage with 139 spaces
Pyramid Group is working as partner in charge of finding a hotel brand.  Developers will keep retail small, around 1000-1500 square feet, to keep it viable and are striving for the new European style boutique hotel where sleeping quarters are podlike and work is done in shared common spaces, according to Kamran Zahedi of Urbanica.

Parcel 10, Madison Tropical
Team: Tropical Foods Market/Madison Park Development Corp.
Estimated cost: $44,000,000
Current program:
residential: 66 units
office: 11,000 sf
retail: 22,000 sf
supermarket: 35,000 sf
This is a opportunity for the specialty foods store, Tropical Foods,  which draws thousands of shoppers from throughout New England, to expand and Madison Park Dev. Corp. to build more housing.

Bartlett Place
This week, the 8.5 acre former site of the MBTA's service and parking garages, has been serving as base camp and crew parking for the Bullock/McCarthy vehicle The Heat.
Team: Windale Development Company and Nuestra Communidad Development Corp.
Estimated cost: $137,000,000
Current Program:
commercial uses 40,000-70,000 sf
housing 313 units
Intention is to create an "urban village": Windale President Arnold Johnson.

Parcel 3, currently called Tremont Crossing, on Tremont Street across from Boston Police headquarters will be "truly mixed use" space with a "strong cultural and educational edge" according to partner Barry Gaither. It will become the new home of The National Center of Afro-American Artists as well as the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts
Team:  Gaither/Jeffrey Feldman/Stull and Lee
Current program includes:
large format retail 500,000 square feet
smaller retail 50,000 sf
office 200,000 sf
museum/cultural facilities including performance space 58,000 sf
market rate multifamily residential 200,000 (240 units)
Estimated cost: $300-$320 million

Dudley Square Sewer Separation Project is intended "to reduce pollution levels in Boston harbor" and this work in Dudley Square is a priority because of the redevelopment plans in the area, according to the Boston Water and Sewer Commission's website. The project encompasses an area between Melnea Cass Boulevard, Washington Street, Circuit and Whiting Streets, and Albany Street and includes a few blocks in Highland Park.

A three story office building with ground floor retail is planned for the corner of Taber and Warren Streets, diagonally across from Ferdinand's.

The MBTA is making several improvements to the Dudley Square Station.

Roxbury Community College will get  $20 million to renovate, modernize, and boost its science center.

Powahouse and net energy gain E+ housing will be adding to housing stock and cutting carbon emissions with their vanguard projects.  Powahouse has a completion goal of August 2012 and is fully occupied.  E+ is in the pre-construction phase and looking for buyers.

Jackson Square Redevelopment Initiative

Shooting in Dudley, Hollywood Style

"Untitled Female Buddy Cop Project" (that's the temporary formulaic name, kids, so look for something different at the box office) "The Heat" starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy will be filming in and around Dudley Square,  July 5- July 12, from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.

From July 5-10, crews will be shooting at the old B-2 police station. It's a good use for the abandoned station and a better-than-usual mode of "shooting" (drugs not guns) in Dudley. When a scene from "The Town" was filmed down the street in Highland Park, the production company provided free lead and asbestos remediation to the homeowner for use of his house. Similarly, the city has saved money on the B-2 demo since scores of yards of waste were removed from the site gratis, again by the film's production company.

The rest of the shooting will be in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Call the locations department at 617-237-2645 with any issues about deliveries or accessibility.

This movie is already cracking me up and not just because the hysterically funny bridesmaid is in it. The neighborhood explodes this time of year with fireworks. Good luck locking down the set for sound, all you third assistant directors. Unless, of course, noisy, smokey, big-bang/no beauty fireworks are part of the scene and then you are in exactly the right place.

Shrubs and new paint...

...make the old B-2 station look so good...

...there may be some confusion about which is the new police station. This sign should probably read "Real Police Station".

Call to Prayer, Call for Respect

A muezzin at the neighborhood mosque has begun singing the call to prayer which is quite lovely broadcast above the din of the traffic at Roxbury Crossing. I just happened to hear it when leaving the Reggie Lewis Center one Saturday and another time on a Friday when playing hookie from work.

The call doesn't bother me - it adds beauty and cultural interest to the area - but the lack of notice about it does. During construction and when they first opened, the cultural center and mosque was the neighborhood's best friend forever. There was nothing they wouldn't do for us and little they wouldn't promise. They were going to invite us to prayer meetings - interdenominational and otherwise. They would have a room open and available to the community for community meetings. They were planning all kinds of activities (for children, for women, for families) in which they would include the neighborhood. Traffic wouldn't be a problem because, since they're just a block away from the Roxbury Crossing T stop, they'd strongly encourage use of public transport.

Like some other institutions in the neighborhood, once they got what they wanted, the physical neighborhood to which they belong ceased to exist for them. Traffic is exacerbated and parking for local residents not-existent as believers flock to the area for major services. The room available for community meetings has a substantial price tag, $200(!) last time we checked, hardly affordable for small volunteer based, no-income community groups. This neighborhood has a very robust listserv, which includes mosque members, but I've seen no invitations to or even announcements about prayer groups - interdenominational or otherwise - or mosque activities or events. And for those of us on the unplugged side of the digital divide, there have been no fliers posted in the neighborhood to let families know about the treasure trove of children's activities offered at the center.

Though some of us are curious about Islamic culture we may be shy and hesitant to intrude on unfamiliar cultural ground so invitations to visit are necessary.  One example of a welcoming neighborhood institution was St. Margaret's Convent. It not only made a meeting room available for free to the community, but also held free community meetings regularly in one of the public spaces in the convent and members of the convent participated actively in neighborhood affairs. That the Islamic center is also a religious institution makes the lapse in communication and lack of follow through on promises even more upsetting. I understand that "thou shalt not take advantage of or ignore your neighborhood" is not one of the Five Pillars but Zakat, or charity, is. We don't want a portion of their income - we'd just like them to honor their word and make a meeting room available to us for free and let us know what's going on - invite us to events,  let us know about opportunities.  Be the good neighbor they told us they would be.

Salaam alaikum.

Update, 19 July 2012
Though St. Margaret's Convent supplied a meeting room (and tea and cookies) for free for community meetings, the now defunct Fort Hill Civic Association donated $500. annually to the sisters' mission in Haiti, according to a former FHCA co-chair.

Magazine Street Ped Bridge Looking Good

Steve and Steve, of S&R Corporation based in Lowell, MA,  take a moment to pose in front of the new Magazine Street pedestrian footbridge in Cambridge which they've been building.  They're "waiting on parts",  they said, to finish the construction which should be completed in "a few weeks".