Bump city! Bump, bump, bump 🎶

I enjoy my commute to work, even when it's raining out.

In the last couple of years, I've seen two fatalities on Mass Ave in Arlington - one pedestrian and one cyclist. Apparently it was worse in the past. I note this is East Arlington. That section was redesigned a couple of years ago, in response to another pedestrian fatality.

Oh dear, the vandals have turned to digging up graves.

Continuing my obsession with #ArlingtonMA police blotter reporting, we used to have a TV and radio store called Avery's. Thieves chiseled out some concrete blocks in back of the building and liberated a bunch of television sets. All without setting off alarms.

It's October 1981, and the saga of the Red Line Extension's tail track continues. At the behest of the East Arlington Resident's Association, our Select Board commissioned a hydrology study. General conclusion: the tail track will not increase flooding.

Over the course of my life I've gone from poor white trash to somewhat well-to-do white trash. Perhaps this is progress. I'm still pretty trashy, though 🙃

On the lighter side - the larceny and vandalism report from Aug 27, 1981. Lots of slashed tires, sugar in gas tanks, stolen radios, smashed glass, and a flasher at the corner of Broadway and Grafton.

The MBTA Tail track saga takes another twist. By September 1981 one of our legislators had filed a bill to revoke the MBTA's easements around the Alewife T station (which they need for construction). The #ArlingtonMA select board votes 3-2 in support of this.

One of our misfit trees.

Dot survey from the Planning Department's booth at town day. It asks "what kinds of housing do you think are most needed". I appreciate the love for mid-size apartment buildings. And, nobody said "we don't need more housing"

In happier news, most of the Harvard to Alewife construction is progressing nicely.

It's later Summer 1981, and residents of East #ArlingtonMA are totally losing their minds over the MBTA's plan to build a tail track beyond the Alewife Stations. This would be an underground track where the T stores trains.

Mass peeps: you still have time to sign!

I know the url by heart: wgbh.org/tv-shows/sch...

Regulation is always a balancing act. At this point in time, we are not achieving a great balance. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/21/o...

In 1979 #ArlingtonMA had a problem with chronic vandalism. By 1980 that expanded to burglary and crime. By 1981, shit was getting much worse. A Wollaston St man is charged with Breaking and Entering, with intent to commit rape.

Last week's Arlington Redevelopment Board meeting. The main item was a discussion about compliance with special permit conditions for 882 Mass Ave. www.srevilak.net/wiki/Arlingt...

A potential ballot question for 2026: allowing homes on smaller lots (which would be smaller and less expensive than bigger homes on bigger lots). bankerandtradesman.com/minimum-lot-...

I would pay for this.

Weekly thread of #ArlingtonMA home sales. Ten properties changed hands. Three were in the sub-million dollar range.

Goodbye Boston central artery, Storrow drive, Mass Pike, Alewife Brook Parkway, Route 2, Route 128, etc, etc.

LLM LOLs. arstechnica.com/information-...

An MA state bill that would form a commission to study the feasibility of extending the red line to Arlington and Lexington, or to add BRT lanes to route 2. I hope it gets a favorable recommendation.

"A spine is a terrible thing to waste"

"If you can drive or afford a car, you may not understand what it’s like to rely on walking, rolling, transit and asking for rides. But for ... people with disabilities, young people, seniors and people who can’t afford cars or gas – this is our every day. " weekwithoutdriving.org

Being in Massachusetts, I'm not terribly opposed.

There was also the one from a resident who felt that the tail track would be "the camel poking its nose under the tent" -- if you let T build a tail track, they'll have the train running through Arlington in no time at all. Sigh, if only that were true.

It's July 1981 and the #ArlingtonMA select board has decided not to take the T to court of their proposed tail track. (The tail track is a few hundred feed of underground track near Alewife station - the T stores subway cars there).

Me an' my Dunkies.

The venerable EV 635A. Also known as "the microphone your parents used to reach for, when they needed a microphone.

A bit of election night vandalism from March of 1981. Somebody smashed up a newspaper employee's car and threw a brick through their office window. Which is to say, it was a typical Saturday night. Clockwork chartruse anyone?

In the US we have too many miles of red tape, and not enough miles of transit.

Feb 1981, and the #ArlingtonMA select board is still wringing their hands over the MBTA's plan for a tail track for Alewife Station. As a refresher, a tail track is an underground tunnel where the T stores subway cars, and it would be on state-owned land in East Arlington.

Somehow, I do not find this surprising.

The fog is back.

It's Jan 1981, and the #ArlingtonMA DPW is making an appeal to residents, to please return any street signs they've taken, no questions asked. The DPW would like to avoid replacing them at fifty bucks a pop.

The malegislature.gov website is having some trouble this morning, but I do appreciate their sense of humor.

Good set of comebacks. I particularly agree with the one about bikes and businesses. They make impulse shopping super easy, and take up way less space than an auto. momentummag.com/your-comebac...

I appreciate a good pro-labor candidate.

This is what a safe street looks like. I wish we had more like it. #Somerville

The Boston city council wants to look at (re)legalizing triple-deckers in the city. Besides being New England's quintessential form of middle-housing, they're my favorite housing typology. I am a triple-decker stan. universalhub.com/2025/boston-...

Weekly thread about #ArlingtonMA home sales. This week's batch of 15 property sales caught my attention for two reasons: (1) most were in the sub-million dollar range, and (2) one of the homes was built during my lifetime.

The Corn Za is amazing. zarestaurant.com/arlington-za...

Cool September morning.

It's Winter 1981, and the MBTA has run another Red Line News supplment in local papers. The contract for Alewife Station has been awarded, and they expect it to be complete by November 1983.

Cool deal.

Monday's Arlington Redevelopment Board meeting. Both of our hearings were postponed, so most of the action fell under New Business. Planning staff gave the board an update on Arlington's designation as a Housing Choice Community. www.srevilak.net/wiki/Arlingt...

In lighter news, it's not every week that thieves steal $3000 dollars worth of hubcaps. In 1980's Arlington, that only happened every couple of weeks. 🤣