“Boston will plant 100,000 trees during the next 13 years, with the bulk of the plantings to take root in the city’s least green neighborhoods,” the Globe reported Saturday. “By expanding the urban forest by some 20 percent to cover more than one – third of the city, leaders hope to reap a range of [...]
Archive for April, 2007
They’re Not Frills: Boston to Plant 100K+ New Trees
April 30, 2007Framingham Seeks Walkable Community Workshop
April 29, 2007“Framingham has applied to the Boston MPO to host a Walkable Community Workshop later this year to focus on Downtown Framingham,” according to the agenda for this month’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting. This is good news indeed! I hope we get approved and the workshop comes to town.
I’d been hoping a couple of [...]
‘It’s Almost Impossible Not to Make a Friend Here’
April 29, 2007After decades of focus on larger, more luxurious private residences (think exurbs, large homes, large lots), with relatively little attention to neighborhood public spaces, the pendulum is starting to swing back.
That’s what went through my mind, anyway, as I read an interesting story in the New York Times today highlighting how some new condo and apartments are creating common [...]
Update: A Vision for Garden in the Woods
April 24, 2007I love Garden in the Woods, the botanical/wildflower garden and education center in north Framingham. It’s a lovely natural oasis amidst a suburban neighborhood, but I can’t help thinking about how it might be an even more appealing destination to stay at longer if there was a place to sit, eat, drink and relax. A [...]
New York City Mayor Proposes Charging Fee for Driving Into Some Areas of Manhattan
April 22, 2007“Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a series of Earth Day proposals this afternoon to improve the environment of New York City, including charging a new congestion fee to drivers who come into parts of Manhattan during peak hours during weekdays,” the New York Times reports.
The $8 fee for autos and $21 for trucks would be [...]
Framingham: The Good, The Bad, The Needs Changing
April 18, 2007Fifty or so residents came out on a cold, rainy evening last night for the Framingham Planning Board’s Master Plan “Visioning Workshop.” The purpose was to get input from the community on what we’d like the town to become in the future.
The exercise involved breaking up into small groups and answering several interesting questions, such [...]
Paris to Offer Thousands of Rental Bicycles on Demand at Very Low Cost
April 17, 2007Here’s a cool idea: The city of Paris will begin offering “thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city’s image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place,” the Washington Post reported recently.
“By the end [...]
The Costs of Commuting
April 15, 2007There’s a great article in this week’s New Yorker magazine (sorry, it’s not online update: Thanks to Charlie for posting the link to the article) about commuting, “There and Back Again” by Nick Paumgarten. I know it’s been written about before, but he takes an intriguing, in-depth look at the lengthening commute of the average [...]
