On this Independence Day, a concerned citizen complains about conditions around one of the historic buildings that made the holiday possible:

Ugly Barricades at Faneuil hall - serving no purpose and taking away from view of historic building.

J.L. Bell gets to the bottom of the issue.

They turned on the lights on the Christmas tree at Faneuil Hall Marketplace tonight. Nathanael Hevelone was there.

The city, which actually owns Faneuil Hall Marketplace, has blocked plans by its current bankrupt manager to sell management rights to a New York firm, the Herald reports. The BRA claims it wants information on how the new operator would actually manage the marketplace and bring back the local stores that once filled it, but that the company refuses to dish.

Negotiations have not gone well:

Robert Ambrogi reports a Globe reporter who wrote about a performer upset over restrictions on his performance space at Faneuil Hall can't be forced to testify in his lawsuit against the city.

Bruce Peck, who performed as one of those painted mime-ish people, sued Boston in federal court in 2009 after Tom Menino ordered restrictions to ease the noise he said he heard way up in his fifth-floor City Hall office.