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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Food trucks return to Boston's Greenway with a 'robust' new lineup
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.
It’s April, and that means it’s street sweeping season again in Boston. So, make sure your car is on the correct side if you park on the street. Do you need to check? Don’t worry, we’ll wait. All good?
OK, to the news:
Downtown office workers, rejoice! Today also marks the beginning of another return in Boston: food trucks on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. This year’s lineup features 18 different trucks, including six new vendors. Olivia Horte, the program manager for the Greenway, told WBUR’s Dave Faneuf that the cuisines range from Asian fusion to Korean, to Mediterranean to dessert, to bubble tea to a “new Italian truck that does fried chicken sandwiches.” (I’ll take that one, please.)
- According to Horte, this year’s schedule will be more robust than what they were able to run during the pandemic. There will be three to five trucks daily on Dewey Square and one to three trucks daily on Rowes Wharf Plaza. Read the truck-by-truck schedule here.
- Beginning next month, select food trucks will also hit the Greenway on weekends for the Greenway Artisan Market. To kick that off, there’s a food truck festival on May 6.
- And for dessert: Today is Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day. Here’s how to find a local participating scoop shop.
Massachusetts families who get money for food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will get their first state-funded extra payment this week. Thanks to a $389 million supplemental budget signed by Gov. Maura Healey last week, state officials say local SNAP recipients should get the first of three boosted snap payments from the state this Friday.
- Following the expiration of a federal program that boosted SNAP payments during the pandemic by an average of $150 in Massachusetts, the state is sending local recipients about 40% of the previous boost for the next three months to provide “an offramp to the abrupt end” of the extra payments. (That’s in addition to the average $323 monthly SNAP benefit.)
- Officials say the state boost averages out to an additional $60 a family each month, with a bare minimum amount of $38.
- The other two payments will go out on May 2 and June 2.
The Boston City Council is holding a hearing this afternoon at 3 p.m. on the proposal to ban the sale of mini-alcohol bottles in the city.
- Council Ricardo Arroyo’s office says the hearing will feature officials from Chelsea and Newton, where similar bans have been implemented. Councilors will discuss whether Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration is open to the ban and how it would be enforced. (So far, Wu’s office has not taken a stance on the issue.)
Today on the T: Shuttle buses replace train service across the entirety of the Fairmount commuter rail line through tomorrow as officials continue to replace two century-old bridges. T officials say the buses will operate near the usual train schedule — but riders should still expect delays up to 15 minutes and longer journey times.
- Meanwhile, late-night riders on the Red Line’s Braintree branch should prepare to navigate a one-stop diversion that may force them to get on and off a shuttle bus midway through their trip. Starting at 8:45 p.m. each night today through Thursday, shuttles will replace service between JFK/UMass and North Quincy so that crews can complete ongoing track repairs.
- The big picture: A new report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says the T’s staffing challenges are “likely beyond the MBTA’s or any other single institution’s abilities.” Due to both a tight labor market and an expected slew of retirements, the report concludes that Massachusetts lawmakers must do more. Read more here on the findings from the Boston Herald.
P.S.— The Boston Marathon is now just two weeks away, and our Cognoscenti opinion section is still accepting your submissions reflecting on how far we’ve come since the 2013 bombing. Tell us what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling as we near the 10th anniversary — and you could be included in a special project.
