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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Boston City Hall Plaza reopens today. Here's what's new — and what's next
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
TGIF! We’re in for our first actual chilly weekend of the season. (But, hey, at least we aren’t getting up to four feet of snow, like Buffalo.) And no matter what happens to Twitter, you’ll still be able to find us back in your inbox on Monday morning with the news, as always.
The “barren wasteland” that is Boston City Hall Plaza is getting a long-awaited (and some may say overdue) reintroduction today. After a three-year renovation project, city officials are celebrating the plaza’s reopening with a series of events — promoting the brick, windswept expanse’s makeover as something a little more warm and friendly.
What’s new: The city spent tens of millions of dollars to make the plaza around City Hall more accessible and attractive as a gathering space. The features include:
- A “gently sloped” walkway, which replaces the brick steps around the northeast side of City Hall.
- A playground with a surprisingly large slide, which some city councilors seem to already be enjoying (I think).
- Lots of new trees, shrubs, flowers, LED lighting, public art, water features, seating and “plug and play” event spaces.
- The reopening of the north entrance to City Hall for the first time in over two decades.
What’s next: Today marks the end of Phase 1 of the project. According to a spokeswoman for Mayor Michelle Wu, the next phase — “pending funding” — is renovating City Hall’s fourth floor outdoor courtyard. (The Boston Herald reports they’re looking to run an elevator to the currently non-handicap-accessible space.)
Save the date: The MBTA is officially opening the Green Line Extension’s longer Medford branch on Monday, Dec. 12. It’s a little later than the T’s most recent “late November” target — not to mention a full year behind the project’s original timeline. But the long-awaited opening is still welcome news for denizens of Medford and Somerville. Officials estimate the branch will carry over 50,000 riders a day.
- Check it out: You can view a map of the five-stop branch through the middle of Somerville to Tufts University in Medford here.
- The details: The Medford branch will be an extension of the Green Line’s E branch, while the D branch will take you to Union Square (as it has for the last two months). The new extension will also be one part of the system not beleaguered by slow zones; MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says trolleys will “operate at their intended speeds” on both GLX branches when service begins.
- We will, however, have to wait a little longer for the Somerville bike/pedestrian path that will run along the Medford GLX branch. Pesaturo said Thursday that it will not open Dec. 12; its opening date is still TBA.
In other MBTA news, the agency’s board of directors approved the T’s recently revised plans to overhaul its bus route network. If they can hire more drivers, the plan aims to increase overall service by 25%.
- The plan will take until 2028 to fully implement, but the first changes will take effect next spring. MBTA project manager Doug Johnson said they plan to start with communities like Chelsea, Everett, Malden and Medford, where there’s high bus ridership, but barely any high-frequency service.
- You can explore this interactive map of the full bus network redesign.
President Biden’s student loan relief plan may still be in limbo, but Massachusetts is launching its own loan relief program, specifically for health care workers. Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration announced Thursday that it will offer $130 million in grants to help social workers, primary care doctors, nurses and many others in the behavioral health and primary care space repay their college loans.
- The program is part of the state’s efforts to provide “tangible support” to a sector that has been stretched to the brink by staffing shortages.
- The loans will range from $12,500 to $300,000 per individual, with priority given to applicants who are multilingual or work in historically underserved communities. More info will be made available next month by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, which is implementing the program.
PSA: If you plan of traveling on I-93 southbound north of Boston this morning, maybe… don’t? A garbage truck crash from earlier this morning is causing big delays.
P.S.— Public schools across Massachusetts will be handing out one thing ahead of the holidays. Do you know what it is? Then take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of the stories we covered this week.
