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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Boston is (again) expanding its Open Streets series. Here's the 2024 schedule
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.
Brace yourselves for another busy news day. The Governor’s Council is slated to take up Gov. Maura Healey’s sweeping marijuana pardon plan. The Boston City Council could vote on Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to restructure the Boston Planning and Development Agency. And the Coolidge Corner Theatre's will publicly debit its much-awaited expansion. (Not to mention, there was some late-breaking news about Steward Health Care and MASS MoCA.)
But first, let’s get outside:
Move over, cars: Boston’s third annual “Open Streets” program will feature more locations and longer hours this year. The city is adding Hyde Park to the list of neighborhoods that will temporarily close off streets to cars for a pedestrian takeover. The timing of this year’s series is also extending, running from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (compared to 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. last year). “We’ll have food trucks, art, music, activities for every generation,” Wu said yesterday, adding the city will provide misting stations when needed to help “beat the summer heat.” But you don’t have to wait until summer. Here’s a look at the schedule:
- Dorchester — Sunday, May 5 (Dorchester Avenue from Ashmont Street to Linden Street)
- Roxbury — Saturday, June 22 (Blue Hill Avenue from Warren Street to Dudley Street)
- Jamaica Plain — Sunday, July 21 (Centre Street from Lamartine Street to South Street)
- Hyde Park — Sunday, Aug. 11 (Hyde Park Avenue and River Street to Fairmount Street and Davison Street)
- East Boston — Sunday, Sept. 15 (Meridian Street from Maverick to Porter Street, and Bennington Street from Porter to Day Square)
- Allston-Brighton — Sunday, Oct. 20 (Harvard Avenue and Brighton Avenue from Cambridge to Comm. Ave.)
- Last but not least: Open Newbury, which Wu expanded to 16 straight Sundays last year, is also returning. But city officials say they’ll announce that specific schedule closer to summer.
Stewarding a sale: Financially distressed Steward Health Care is proposing a plan to sell its doctors network to Optum Care, a sister company of the insurance giant United Healthcare. Steward says the deal — which includes its primary care doctors and other providers across nine states, including Massachusetts — would preserve health care services and jobs as it tries to climb out of a worrisome financial hole.
- It’s not a done deal: The companies need state and federal approvals before they can close. And as WBUR’s Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports, some officials — like Sen. Elizabeth Warren — have concerns about the proposal. Click here for more on the reactions to the proposed sale and what comes next.
- Meanwhile on Beacon Hill: WBUR’s Deborah Becker reports lawmakers are considering tighter regulations on private equity transactions in the health care space in light of the Steward saga.
The local angle: Leaders in Massachusetts are assuring the public that the state’s bridges aren’t at any major risk of a disaster similar to what happened yesterday in Baltimore. During a press conference yesterday afternoon, Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said the state’s bridges are inspected every two years and the nature of our harbors and ports differ from those in Baltimore, which has the country’s ninth-busiest container ship port. “We are not the same size port as they have in Baltimore,” he said. “We don’t have the same size navigable waterways, nor the same size bridges.” Gulliver also noted the big container ships that do dock here “certainly” do not travel under similar local truss bridges, like the Tobin Bridge.
- The latest: While the exact cause of the giant container ship Dali’s collision with the Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge hasn’t been confirmed, experts say a momentary loss of electrical power and stiff tidal current appear to have played major factors.
- What’s next: It’s unclear how long it will take to rebuild the Key bridge and reopen parts of Baltimore’s port. That’s expected to have ripple effects, especially for the car industry.
It’s over: After three weeks, the strike at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has ended. Unionized workers at the museum in North Adams voted to ratify a new contract last night.
- The two-year deal increases MASS MoCA workers’ minimum wage to $18 an hour and includes annual raises of at least 3.5%.
P.S. — Worcester is looking for some very good dogs. According to the Telegram & Gazette, the city is seeking trained dogs to help patrol city parks this summer and scare off geese before the birds poop all over the place. Is your doggo up to the task? Applications are due by April 10.
