Boston, MA
Shop owners in Boston say they were not told about construction work, now they are losing business
BOSTON – Stores in Boston’s Charlestown say they are losing business after construction work began on Main Street. The shops are barely visible behind the equipment and orange cones.
Boston Water and Sewer crews are doing much-needed maintenance work on the pipes around the neighborhood. However, the caution tape, noise, and construction equipment are impacting small businesses in the area.
“That’s the first customer I had today in two hours, and I probably won’t get another one, I hate to say it, all day,” Betty, a consignment store employee told WBZ-TV.
“Put some of us out of business”
It’s slow because the shop’s front door is a construction zone, with crews climbing in and out of a giant hole in the roadway.
“It’s not even blasting right now. You gotta hear the noise. They blast all day long,” the employee said.
“It’s going to put some of us out of business,” Amanda Mitchell added.
Mitchell owns two businesses in Charlestown – both impacted by the construction.
“No one said anything that there would be construction at all,” she said outside her boutique, Place and Gather. She showed up to work, surprised to see a giant hole at her front door.
“When you come in the morning and there are giant holes and the sidewalk is closed from all the way down there to all the way around the corner,” Mitchell explained. “Customers, Freedom Trail walkers don’t know how to physically get down over here.”
Boston says they notify residents two weeks before
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission said they notify businesses and residents by mail two weeks before construction begins. Parking notices go up two days before the work starts.
“The Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) sends notices to residents and businesses who are affected by replacement or rehabilitation of our infrastructure (water, sewer, and drainage systems) two weeks prior to commencement of the work. In addition to the customer notifications mailed to residents and businesses prior to the commencement of work, the contractor also posts No Parking Notices on vehicles within the active work zone 48 hours in advance. BWSC apologizes if a business or a resident did not receive a notice of the construction work.” said BWSC Spokesperson Tom Bagley.
“I got zero heads up here,” Mitchell said. “This began last August.”
Mitchell explained that she understands the work is necessary. She just wants a warning before she’s greeted by a construction zone outside of her quaint boutique.
“Just communication. We want this work to happen, we just want a timeline.”
No two trials are the same — and it appears that’ll be true for the high-profile Karen Read case as well.
Prosecutors have been working to keep several defense witnesses off the stand in the upcoming retrial over the killing of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
“It’s not surprising to me to at all that, with new lawyers on the case and fresh looks at the evidence, that they’re making a determination as to which pieces of evidence they think they have real chance of excluding,” NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said.
The witnesses whom the prosecution moved to exclude from the case are a doctor whose expertise includes dog bites, a forensic expert who challenged the now infamous Google search, “hos long to die in the snow,” as well as two accident reconstruction experts whose testimony under cut the state’s version of how O’Keefe died.
Prosecutors in the Karen Read trial spent the day in court trying to discredit the expertise of the defense’s dog bite expert, Dr. Marie Russell, so she can’t testify in the retrial.
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Judge Beverly Cannone will decide if the witnesses testify. She allowed them at the first trial and Coyne said it could create problems if she says no for the next trial.
“It does put her in a difficult point to be able to now reverse herself, and I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” he said.
Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan is now leading the state’s case, and he plans to cut down the number of witnesses while bringing a different style than the original lead prosecutor, Adam Lally.
“Hank’s approach is like an everyman’s approach,” said Coyne, who knows the experienced defense lawyer. “He’s understated. He’s very quick on his feet. I think he’ll be well received by the jury.”
Read’s team remains intact, but she said Tuesday outside one of the witness hearings that they’re taking a second look, too.
“We’re going to re-tool everything. Maybe something will stay similar but we’re gonna shuffle a lot of things around,” she said.
Much of this preparation could be moot if the state’s Supreme Judicial Court decides to throw out two of the charges against Read.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office says one of Karen Read’s key arguments has been “debunked” in a legal filing seeking to prevent testimony from a defense witness in the upcoming retrial.
BOSTON – It’s a peculiar sight in downtown Boston: Giant pink people peering into restaurant windows and hanging out in alleyways.
These sculptures that are making their debut in the United States are called “Monsieur Rose” or “Mr. Pink” in English. It’s a new art installation designed to catch your attention and lift your spirits.
“These characters transform the streets into playful places and our daily travels into delightful, colorful journeys,” a website for the exhibit says.
“Cute-ism” art
Their collective name in French roughly translates to “cute-ism” from artist Philippe Katerine. The inflatable sculptures are part of this year’s Winteractive art walk.
Winteractive is the same event that brought floating clown heads to the city last year. The Downtown Boston Alliance says the reaction encouraged them to up the ante this year.
Changing people’s days
Michael Nichols with the Downtown Boston Alliance says the organization is exploring “different ways of using our downtown to have fun.”
“It is the darkest, drabbest time of year in Boston. It’s gray … just cold and bitter,” he said. “And pops of pink color, bubblegum pink dotting the downtown in now six different locations is changing people’s day.”
Mr. Pink is only the beginning of the experience – new installations will be added to the collection every day for the next week. On Thursday morning there was another eye-catching sight: A display that appeared to show a satellite or small spacecraft that had crashed onto the hood of a car.
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