Author: Madyline Swearing

  • What to know about Bluebikes’ expansion in Dot, Mattapan, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain

    By Madyline Swearing

    Boston’s bike share system is expanding throughout Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, with 20 new Bluebikes stations to be installed in those neighborhoods. City officials hosted an open house on Oct. 1 at the Marshall Community Center, where residents reviewed proposed site maps and offered feedback on potential station sites (see map below for specific locations).

    Here’s a look at the details of the initiative.

    What is Bluebikes, and how does it work?

    Bluebikes is a publicly owned bike share system that lets anyone rent bikes from docking stations. The system operates in 13 municipalities and has 337 stations in Boston.

    Payment plans include 30-minute rides for $2.95, $10 day passes, monthly and annual memberships. Passes and memberships can be bought on the Bluebikes app and website, or at a station kiosk.

    Boston saw 2.6 million Bluebikes trips in 2024, 11 percent of which started in Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain.

    What is the Bluebikes expansion plan?

    Last year, Mayor Wu and the Boston Streets Cabinet — consisting of the Public Works and Transportation departments — announced plans to add 100 new Bluebikes stations throughout Boston’s neighborhoods to meet a rising demand.

    This is all part of Go Boston 2030, the city’s transportation plan to improve safety, expand access, and reduce emissions. Launched in 2017, the project’s initiatives have included extending MBTA service hours, building neighborhood “slow streets,” and ensuring each household in Boston is within a 10-minute walk of a public bike share station. About 89 percent of households meet that criteria, according to the Streets Cabinet.

    “The objective is to make it convenient and reliable for people to get around the city by bike,” said Boston Bikes Director Kim Foltz. “Biking is a sustainable and affordable form of transportation and is a good connection to other transit.”

    What has already been done?

    The expansion has been implemented in phases, beginning with the MBTA Red Line diversion in 2023. The first phase involved the addition of eight new bike stations in Dorchester and Mattapan, and 31 docks were added to existing stations.

    Since last year, the city has received more than 2,600 comments offering feedback on proposed bike station sites, compiled from open houses, emails, and survey responses. So far, nearly 80 of the 100 new stations have been installed across the Beacon Hill, Downtown, South Boston and Allston neighborhoods, to name a few.

    Where is the project now?

    The initiative is in its fourth phase, focused on adding 20 new Bluebikes stations throughout Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. The Streets Cabinet aims to install two to four stations in Dorchester, two to four in Jamaica Plain, two to five in Mattapan, and four to seven in Roxbury.

    Boston Bike Share Planner Louisa Gag said proposed sites were chosen for their visibility, clearance of utilities, and potential accessibility for a Bluebikes service van. Gag said it is a priority to put docking sites within half a mile of an MBTA station.

    Other requirements include access to at least four hours of sunlight each day, to charge the sun-powered docking computers, and ensuring sites leave at least 5 feet of sidewalk space for pedestrians and 1.5 feet of clearance from the street curb. Off-street sites were favored overall, as they don’t disturb parking and don’t need to be removed for snowplows in the winter.

    Sites may be installed on public or private property, which can include plazas, residential neighborhoods, sidewalks, parking lanes, and libraries.

    Residents are invited to attend open houses where they can review maps of potential docking locations, offer feedback and ask questions. There will be two events in Mattapan this month, on Oct. 28 at the Mattapan Library and on Oct. 30 via Zoom.

    Feedback forms will be offered in person at each open house or can be accessed on the city website until Oct. 31.

    What is the timeline for the project?

    The Streets Cabinet will accept suggestions for new bike stations until Oct. 31. They will be reviewed and considered over four weeks. Site lists will be narrowed, and permits will be filed. Installation is expected to begin in January.

    What other programs does Boston Bikes offer?

    Boston Bikes offers community workshops like adult bike lessons, youth biking programs, and community ride events. Cyclists can arrange to have their bikes repaired at no cost or learn how to fix them independently during community workshop events.

    Discounted bike passes and e-bikes are available for residents, new riders and those who are income-eligible.


    This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on October 17, 2025.

  • “White Raven, Black Dove,” a new opera animated by its performers, and a computer, debuts at Strand

    By Madyline Swearing

    Inside a sprawling Brookline home, where koi swim in an in-ground living room pond and a pet pig named Mazipan can be seen through sliding glass doors, a troupe of performers flit around a makeshift stage, rehearsing a battle of futuristic proportions.

    The scene is set in the years after the Sixth Extinction — a human-made climate crisis that has left the planet Earth a dystopian wasteland —and a new opera, “White Raven, Black Dove,” which is scheduled for a three-day run at the Strand Theater this weekend (Sept. 26-28), tells the story of the segregated Silvers and Onyx, who are faced with building a new world.

    Steeped in international mythology, the opera combines live performance with computer-generated animation to explore themes of race and climate change.

    As a self-proclaimed “activist” performance company, White Snake Projects produces only original operas by living creators as a way to “authentically” explore societal issues, says Cerise Lim Jacobs, the company’s artistic director and founder.

    “Art can be used as an instrument of change,” Lim Jacobs said. “It doesn’t have to be didactic and burdensome, but fun and immersive.”

    The company was founded in 2018 following the success of Lim Jacobs’ first opera, “Madame White Snake” — a retelling of an East Asian folktale — which won a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for its composer, Zhou Long.

    An immigrant and woman of color, Lim Jacobs says her values “totally permeate” the company and its work.

    As rehearsals continue inside her Brookline home, haunting vocals detail the discord between the identity-bound light-skinned Silvers and dark-skinned Onyx, and reveal how a scarcity of resources has driven the two groups apart. Amid the devastation, characters Raven and Dove serve as proponents of change.

    Shows are produced thematically each year. With last year’s general election, the company’s theme was voting rights. This year the environment has taken center stage. Lim Jacobs says recent federal funding cuts to organizations like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration helped influence that decision.

    “What could be more timely?” Lim Jacobs said. “It cannot be more urgent. The whole thing is frightening.”

    Beyond advocacy, Lim Jacobs says, a main objective of White Snake Projects is to modernize opera and make it appealing to younger generations. One way is through the integration of cutting-edge technology in operatic settings.

    For the company’s director of innovation and computer-generated imagery (CGI, Curvin Huber, this means applying gaming technology to live performances. A professor at the Lesley University College of Art and Design, Huber has worked in the 3D industry as a generalist for about 30 years. His expertise with Unreal Engine, a game development creation tool, has optimized White Snake Projects’ scene designs.

    With Unreal Engine, photorealistic graphics can be created and modified in real-time, creating a speedier design process. Once the 3D imagery is generated, it can be projected on stage in any format.

    “The advantages are that it can build content quickly and we can make changes as needed,” Huber said. “It allowed for a more efficient pipeline.”

    While Huber has logged almost 100 hours working on “White Raven, Black Dove,” the base work was done by Lesley design students, who spent three semesters working with the creative team to produce the 2D animations and 3D illusions that make up the set.

    As part of Lesley University’s internal internship program, which matches students with local clients, students are assigned to specific teams, depending on their skill levels and interests. Derek Hoffend, professor of game design and immersive technology at Lesley University, serves as the students’ project manager.

    “They could be doing drawings and concept studies for character and environment designs,” Hoffend said. “Some do game engine work, where they’re building 3D environments in Unreal Engine.”

    Huber says he then acts like a cinematographer, polishing and refining students’ work to make it production-ready. “It’s a great experience for them — they get to see how it works,” he said. “We force ourselves to take a step back and ask what we want visually and what’s the best way to tell a story.”

    Hoffend says the opportunity for students to see the physical manifestations of their work has been beneficial for them both creatively and intellectually.

    “They really appreciate having a client,” Hoffend said. “They’re used to doing things in the classroom, but to see something that gets out into the world that’s also politically interesting is important.”

    In times of increased political divisiveness, Lim Jacobs says, the company has to consider the implications of its work more than ever before. And while funding may have been cut, production levels haven’t.

    “People have to feel hope, otherwise they’ll give up,” Lim Jacobs said. “We make work for our community. I hope they come and feel inspired to do a little something.”

    See “White Raven, Black Dove” at the Strand on Sept. 26 at 8 p.m., Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. A talkback with a member of the creative team will follow each performance. Tickets are “pay what you can.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on September 24, 2025.

  • Zoo’s Boston Lights exhibit comes with a side of wings, grilled corn, courtesy of ‘Park’d’ food vendors

    By Madyline Swearing

    Families, vendors, and elected officials gathered in Franklin Park last Saturday (Sept. 27) to kick off the launch of “Park’d,” a month-long food truck fair running alongside the Franklin Park Zoo’s Boston Lights exhibit.

    The event, which featured five food trucks, was organized by the City of Boston, the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, Zoo New England and CommonWealth Kitchen, a Dorchester-based food business incubator.

    “Park’d” food vendors will be at the Blue Hill Avenue entrance of Franklin Park from 6 to 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through the first weekend of November.

    The food service took months of planning, CommonWealth Kitchen CEO Jen Faigel said, noting that it was bolstered by the success of her incubator’s late-night food truck initiative with the city this summer.

    She said that the Zoo Lights exhibit provides the perfect opportunity to offer families and visitors a variety of late-night food options that wouldn’t be available otherwise.

    “It’s creating a meaningful opportunity for our businesses to go out to make some money and build their skills and knowledge,” Faigel said. “It helps to keep them moving on that path toward profitability for their business, and when they do well, we do well.”

    Along with a rotating selection of food trucks and carts, Park’d features family-friendly activities like cornhole, inflatable soccer, ring toss and face painting from local artist Sully Paints.

    In the center of the hustle and bustle, dishing up heaping portions of freshly grilled Mexican corn and a family rice recipe, was Lalu’s Chicken.

    Husband-and-wife team Christine and Felipe Ramirez have run Lalu’s through Commonwealth Kitchen for three years. After watching Felipe’s parents run their own brick-and-mortar restaurant for 15 years, and witnessing the massive demand for catering services at Christine’s biotech job, the pair realized they could find an opening in an untapped market.

    They’ve since moved into the corporate catering world and have spent evenings and weekends at pop-up events and farmers’ markets. Felipe said Park’d is a chance to tap into the underserved market along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor.

    “This is us giving the community the chance [to have] a variety of food to choose from late night, and not just the fried food that’s all over,” Felipe said. “We hope that the community embraces CWK and its members.” 

    Next to Lalu’s was Boss Town Hot Dogs. Former service industry worker Shema Taylor and veteran Michael Morris started the stand in Tennessee in 2017 before relocating the cart to Boston in 2023 and joining CommonWealth Kitchen in 2024.

    Taylor said the company stand prides itself on its menu options, such as plant-based sausages, gluten-free buns and an assortment of condiments, while using locally sourced ingredients from the New England frankfurter company Pearl.

    She hopes to expand by offering local baked goods and energy drinks in the future, but for now, her hope is that this event will help to spread awareness about minority-owned businesses and cuisines.
    “We want to let other minorities know that you can come out and be your own boss,” Taylor said. “Don’t take a ‘no.’ If you keep at it, it might be a no right now, but just stick with it and keep your eyes on the prize.”

    The aim, Faigel said, is to have about 10 food trucks and pushcarts rotate throughout the event, including Bibim Box, Magic Empanadas, and Caribbean Hibachi, as a way to help multiple member businesses build their skill sets and clientele. 

    State Sen. Liz Miranda was one of the elected officials on hand to welcome the crowd. 

    “Tonight is not just about feeding your hungry families and yourself, but actually contributing to Roxbury and Dorchester in a meaningful way,” she said. “I’m just really happy that the state did something right.”

    Faigel said that while many people may be living through difficult times, supporting local businesses can make a difference.

    “We all can feel overwhelmed and disempowered by what’s going on in the world,” she said.

    “Opportunities for people to come together with joy, with hope, in celebration of what makes Boston such a wonderful place to live — its diversity … I feel like we all need more moments of that.”
    Jeannine Laing and Dawn Morris stopped by the event to grab dinner during one of their daily walks, after learning about it on Facebook.

    “We’re always looking for new places to eat,” said Laing, who lives in Codman Square and works for the Franklin Park Tennis Association, a nonprofit that provides free tennis lessons for children and adults. “It’s in such a convenient location.”

    Morris, who recently moved from Roxbury to Dorchester and works in communications for the Boston Police Department, said she hopes the community will take advantage of the event while the weather is still nice.

    “It’s hard for everybody right now,” Morris said. “We have to support each other whenever possible.”

    This story comes from a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on October 2, 2025.