Boston Common

Redcoats retake the Common

adamg — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:19:00 -0400

His majesty's regiments of foot reasserted their control over the Boston Common today with an encampment and a successful battle against rebel colonists. The encampment continues on Sunday.

Man shot, man exposed, man upset, man in fight

adamg — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:05:32 -0400

Boston Police report a man in a van was shot shortly after 8 p.m. yesterday at Columbia Road and Devon Street in Dorchester by a shooter with bad aim who was attempting to gun down somebody else. The man is expected to survive.

Around 6:45 p.m., yesterday, a Lynn man crossing River Street in Hyde Park wound up arrested after, police say, he got into an altercation with a motorist who thought he was taking too long to get across the street and began pounding on the guy's hood.

About 10 minutes later, police arrested a totally naked Malden man who was reportedly lying on his back in the Boston Common by Boylston Street and shaking his stuff at passersby.

Also yesterday evening, police arrested three people in a three-way shoving match on the Greenway at Edinboro and Kingston streets. Police say the three had pooled their resources to buy a bottle of vodka but that the male member of the group then decided to keep the whole thing for himself.

No often really means no

adamg — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:06:18 -0400

A guy gets pissed at Bostonia Rantida when she refuses to take a bottle of water from him, no matter how many times he insists, while she's getting up from some sunbathing on the Common.

Build a cafe on the Common?

adamg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:09:30 -0400

* Yes * No * Dunno

Imagine living where the nearest Dunkin' Donuts is an hour away

adamg — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:18:28 -0400

Photo of tourist at Boston Common: Marline is smiling, because she's just had a coffee from Dunkin Donuts, a commodity that she can't get in Seminole, Okla.

She was very pleased to be within walking distance of more than a dozen of them.

Never a good idea to point a fake gun at police

adamg — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:07:44 -0400

Aaron Donovan took this photo on the Common early this evening:

Apparently the Boston Police shot a guy who was "wielding a replica pistol" on the common right outside of my office. There were tons of cops all over the area, here you can see the witnesses that police held for questioning.

The Globe reports police shot the man in the arm when he refused to drop the replica semi-automatic handgun. He was taken to Boston Medical Center and is expected to live.

Why a duck?

adamg — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:53:50 -0400

Probably just my imagination, but this chihuahua didn't seem exactly thrilled to be dressed up as a duck at the annual "Make Way for Ducklings" parade through Beacon Hill today. This kid more than made up for the pooch's demeanor, though:

If they hold a dance on the Common but nobody hears it, did it happen?

adamg — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:24:14 -0400

Silent Rave on Boston Common - Friday, May 16, 7:19 to 11:19 p.m.

A Silent Rave, or Mobile Club, or Silent Disco, is a simple concept. Hundreds, hopefully thousands, of people from any background of life turn up in a public place at a pre-arranged time, turn on their Walkmans, CD players, and iPods and dance freely to whatever music they choose to listen to!

Via Litter Ladder.

Pork Chop set to simmer

adamg — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:03:03 -0400

Kevin "Pork Chop" Bridgeman, 40, was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison this week after pleading guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to selling crack to an undercover police officer in the Public Garden last summer, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.

Prosecutors say that on the evening of July 26, an undercover Boston officer trying to root out dealers asked a couple of guys on the Common where he could buy some crack. They told him to wait for Pork Chop because "he had the good stuff." Bridgeman, a Cambridge resident, arrived and made possibly the wurst decision of his life - he decided to believe the guy was kosher after he produced a tube used to smoke crack. But first, prosecutors say, Bridgeman had to change locations:

Bridgeman insisted that they move from the Common because it was "too hot."

"I'm not doing anything in here," Bridgeman said. "I'm not getting locked up. We'll do this in the Public Garden."

Once across Charles Street, the undercover officer presented Bridgeman with $40 in marked bills, for which Bridgeman gave him two rocks of crack cocaine from a plastic bag. The undercover left the scene and uniformed officers moved in.

Upon taking him into custody, the officers recovered the $40 in marked bills, an additional $122, and 10 individually packaged rocks of crack cocaine in a rubber glove Bridgeman kept in his underwear.

Walking the Walk

adamg — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:52:41 -0400

Chris was among those walking in yesterday's Walk for Hunger:

... Today was a rough walk, it rained for the entire time but I did manage to complete the 20 mile walk in 4 hours and 50 minutes despite the far less than optimal conditions. ...

Anna: I did finish it, but my toes felt like they were going to literally explode.