Chuck Donaldson is the man who wants to build a windmill right at the top of Millennium Park in West Roxbury. When I first read about his proposal, I wrote NO!!! Donaldson invited me up to the park to try to convince me to support the idea.

It was fun watching a pair of local Brazilian teams play soccer at Millennium Park yesterday (I think the complex behind them is the apartments by the Chestnut Hill Mall).

The Transcript reports some retired engineer in West Roxbury wants to put a wind turbine right at the top of Millennium Park. He also wants to replace a wildflower field with solar panels.

At the risk of sounding like an environmental hypocrite (I drive a Prius and stuff): NO!!!

The park is a wonderful, rare commodity in Boston: A wide open expanse with gorgeous views (plus plenty of room for recreation. Now this guy wants to stick a big pole in the middle of this view - a 100-foot high, 16-foot diameter pole at the end of the park - where there are now two sheltered benches for looking out over the countryside. Why not investigate putting windmills on top of downtown buildings or the Pru and Hancock? Or up on Bellevue Hill at the other end of West Roxbury - where there are already two MWRA water towers? I bet there's a lot of wind there, too.

Also, he wants to create a West Roxbury advisory group for the project. Given that this is a citywide resource, why limit it to them, as opposed to opening it to people who actually use the park (raises hand). It's not like the park is in the middle of the neighborhood.

I got to Millennium Park today about 10 minutes before the first bolt of lightning flashed in the distance and the announcer at the annual kite festival told everybody it was time to call it a day.

Even as most people reeled in their kites, some still looked skyward, hopefully:

Every time there's a heavy rain, this woman, who lives on the southbound side of the VFW Parkway, just past the West Roxbury Parkway, dons her boots and raincoat and goes out with a rake to try to keep the storm drain and "dry" catchbasin outsider her house clear, to minimize the damage from flooding. She's been doing that a lot lately.

357-unit complex proposed for space in old industrial park on Rivermoor Street, which is off the road that runs from Home Depot to Millennium Park in West Roxbury.

Steve Garfield was at Millennium Park in West Roxbury for Flag Day today. Also see Flag Day videos.

Lino takes a trip to Millennium Park in West Roxbury and is amazed by the number of SUVs in the parking lot:

... I counted a total of 66 vehicles. Out of a total of 66 vehicles I saw 2 pickup trucks, 3 minivans, and 33 SUVs making a total of 38 gas guzzling vehicles. I realize that West Roxbury is one of the most affluent parts of the city of Boston but a parking lot where 57% of the vehicles are gas guzzlers, I sort of wonder about the mental stability of some of these people. Don't they realize that bigger is NOT always better. ...

Two things: Not everybody there is from West Roxbury. Millennium Park is sort of the regional soccer center. But then again, this is West Roxbury, where one pizza place (Target Pizza on Washington Street) uses a Hummer H2 to deliver pizzas.

Not the most dramatic sunset, but still a pleasant way to end a warmish day at the giant dog park that Millennium Park in West Roxbury seems to have become (it was amazing how many people were there at sunset with their dogs today).

What better place to see a big thunderstorm roll in than the top of one of the highest points in the area?

Yes, I was an idiot; but at least I realized before the lightning began flashing along the Charles on the other side of Millennium Park that standing outside in a parking lot at the top of one of the highest points in the area was dumb even for me (and hey, I didn't get out the kite we have in the trunk). I came to this realization when I noticed the wind (and the anemometer atop the Port-a-potties) had suddenly stopped; I got back in the car just before the rain started smacking the roof.

Still, it was quite something to see. And right in the middle of it all, a hole opened up overhead and the sunlight came pouring through for a couple of minutes.

Then the hole closed up and I could look toward the Great Blue Hill and watch the black cloud coming in from the north mixing with the silvery cloud coming in from the south:

Over in Watertown, Teddy Kokoros heard thunder at the same time he saw lightning and that's never good.

Chris Fournier got caught downtown:

... Like deer in headlights we were trapped. What to do? No real place to wait it out. No cabs in sight. Let's make for the Haymarket T stop! Soaked by the time we made the short distance walk, we brazenly decided to skip the taxi and just ride the Green Line. Stupid! By the time we got to Lechmere the rain was coming down at a ridiculous pace. When I say ridiculous, I mean RIDICULOUS! I've been in bad weather, but I have never, ever been SOAKED like this before. ...

Some people were not impressed.