A different type of bike lane that changes the rules for both cyclists and drivers has been installed on a three-block portion of Massachusetts Street. The new bike lanes are wider and more visible than existing bike lanes throughout the city. They also include signage that restricts vehicles from turning right on a red light, as well as a new feature that a city diagram says is intended to make cyclists more visible at intersections. Read more: LJWorld.

A buyer signs up to 150 pages of documents when closing on a home, and among the multitude of notices can be an agreement to pay significant sums to the city. After a contentious debate about the $5.3 million Queens Road benefit districts, city leaders have questions about whether such agreements can be more forthright in the future. The recently created Queens Road benefit districts will add thousands to the tax bills of residential and commercial property owners in the area, and many said they were not aware they had agreed not to protest the benefit districts. Even though the no-protest [...]

Donna Curran, Maple Leaf Festival booth committee chair, said she knew the 361 vendors she signed up for the festival would be busy Saturday. The day was perfect for the festival, she said, with sunny weather and mild temperatures. “We’re always busy when we have nice weather,” she said. “I knew it was going to be nice. I didn’t even look at the forecast.” Curran and other festival organizers estimate from 30,000 to 35,000 people attend the annual festival, although they have no way to take an exact headcount. Even when the booths opened at 9 a.m., she said, there had [...]