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At least Brookline gendarmes no longer ask for passports at their Checkpoint Charlie
By adamg on Mon, 08/31/2015 - 8:40pm
Gazing into Allston on the other side of the frontier.
Once, in days of yore, you could drive down Walbridge Street in Allston and just cross the town line and behold, you would find yourself on Columbia Street in Brookline.
Then one day, the good citizens of Allston awoke to find Brookline had erected a wall to keep them out, because, of course, you know the sorts of things Allston residents would do in Brookline if only they could still get into the leafy town.
Although relations between Boston and Brookline have since warmed up a bit, to this day, Walbridge Street in Allston abruptly ends at this wall at the Brookline line. Where is our Reagan to demand they tear this wall down, or, at the least, trim those damn weeds? They make Brookline look pretty crappy.
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Comments
Ah yes. Once upon a time I
Ah yes. Once upon a time I lived on Woodstock Ave, Brookline. Then I received a letter notifying me I now lived on Woodstock Ave, Allston. Still a shithole either way.
Yeah, some things have gotten better
When we lived in Brighton, we had a Brookline zip code and a Brookline phone number - which meant if we stupidly dialed 911 in an emergency, we'd get a Brookline dispatcher who, more likely than not, wouldn't give a shit, which was especially unfortunate when there was a series of rapes in the neighborhood and Boston Police put up all these signs telling people to call 911 if they spotted somebody suspicious (and eventually, a woman in Brighton died after getting Brookline 911 when she was being attacked). At least now landlines are hard-wired into the right 911 center (and just in time for the whole neighborhood to give up landlines).
911
Thankfully I've had few reasons to call 911 but the times I have I was surprised that the first thing asked was what town I was in and then I was transferred (after what felt like a long wait) to another person. I don't know if this is true all across the state or only Western MA.
This put me under the impress all 911 calls go to some central state police dispatcher who then hands it off to the local PD in whatever town you say. This seems particularly problematic if you don't know or are wrong about what town you are in. The "e911" technology seemed particularly slow and error prone too.
Regarding Brookline PD you should have just told them that if they don't respond right away you'll enroll your Boston kid in their school system or maybe start using a leaf blower. It's threats like that which get their attention.
It works the same way in
It works the same way in Somerville. My apt building has old, crappy smoke detectors that alarm on hot, humid days for no reason. Every time we call, it rings a few times then we have to get transferred twice, first to local PD/emergency, then to local fire. We've asked if there is a direct line for the fire dept but they say dialing 911 is best. Sure, over a minute just to talk to the right dept is best...
True for cell phones
I found that is true when dialing 911 from a cell phone because the phone isn't associated with a specific address. We found this out when we were hit by a drunk driver and needed to get cops on the scene ASAP. We followed the drunk for about 10 minutes (a very frustrating 10 minutes) before we finally got connected to the cops and could tell them where we were. They nailed him.
Once I lived in Brookline and had a west Roxbury number.....
327, 469,
I believe were Boston numbers, but they were assigned to all over chestnut hill, even in Brookline and Newton. Not sure where the 911 calls went though, but there are a few sections of Boston that the Brookline police and fire/ems actually cover today. sergeant rd. in Boston (maybe John Henry's old house) was technically in Boston but was covered Brookline because the access to that road was gated at Perkins so the access from Boston was cut off.
Not sure when this section got closed off though, must have been when the bread and circus was on Harvard st. In Brookline.
Chestnut Hill is all sorts of
Chestnut Hill is all sorts of Wonky - we had an apartment on the West Roxbury section years ago, but, it showed up as Brookline allowing us to have much lower car insurance :)
BTW, I think Boston is definitely 327/325 - Not sure if 469 was ever a Boston number?
469
West Roxbury. I know someone who has had the same landline # for 25 years.
Interesting - I had only seen
Interesting - I had only seen 325/327 in Westie. My Google-fu is failing me though and I can't seem to come up with an actual list of all the City of Boston codes.
Direct 911
FYI, here's the actual phone number for Boston 911: (617) 343-4911
It doesn't tag your location, though. But I imagine if you're cogent enough to dial 10 numbers, you're able to give your location.
we're going to need a source on that
" and eventually, a woman in Brighton died after getting Brookline 911 when she was being attacked"
Name, source, etc?
Her name was Elizabeth McCandless Murray
Excerpt from Globe article.
Her legacy
She was a graduate of Simmons College and the domestic violence prevention organization at the college is named in her honor.
http://www.simmons.edu/student-life/student-services/violence-prevention...
Woodstock is still a mess.
I live on it now, half of the street is Brighton and the other half is Allston. But our National Grid bill says Brookline. I can never decide if the checkpoint is to keep turkey's in or the uncouth and unwashed plebeians of Boston out.
FOOLS! THE BARRIERS ARE THERE
FOOLS! THE BARRIERS ARE THERE TO KEEP THOSE RADICAL BROOKLINE TURKEYS OUT OF BOSTON!
Piffle.
I just moved to Walbridge... Along with my three hunting recurve bows. I'm prepped.
I, for one, support the
I, for one, support the deployment of whatever measures are necessary on the Allston side to keep the turkeys at bay
East Albion Street at the Somerville-Medford line
has an actual fence or wall separating the two towns. Unlike the silly little barrier shown here, it completely prevents walking between the two cities. I don't know why it exists.
Nearby features: Columbus Elementary School
That fence was put up there when the school opened because people were using the road as a high-speed cut-through. Somerville refused to do any enforcement, so Medford put up a wall.
How fast were people jogging through there?
So fast that they were knocking down school kids?
Spite fence
Pretty much a spite fence. I suspect that there were other concerns, but mostly a spite fence.
Wicked fast
n/t
There's a few of those walls
There's a few of those walls on the Brookline border with Allston/Brighton. I always just assumed some old biddies in Brookline complained about undesirables driving into, and parking, in their quaint little town.
Parking was the reverse
The old biddies would park in Allston/Brighton because Brookline bans parking for more than two hours during the day - and completely overnight.
As a Brighton resident who often didn't get home until 2 or 3 in the morning way back in the day, it was glorious in the first few months after Brighton got resident permit parking spaces and Boston cops on the overnight shift zealously enforced it - I could finally get a space easily!
This wall is quite clearly
This wall is quite clearly there to keep people from using it as a cut-through and speeding by the playground in Coolidge Park.
Also, I'm not sure where you've seen other walls like this on the Allston-Brookline border. I'm quite familiar with the area and am fairly certain this is the only one.
Great wall of Trump
A liberals answer to the Great Wall of Trump separating the Brookline elite from the Allston immigrants
Illegal jogger!!
Go back to Allston!!