Five (or so) things to do this weekend: May 18-19
Get in free to the Harvard Art Museums. Get photographed on the red carpet. See the art of the East/Central Cambridge Open Studios. Tune in to Porchfest. Experience “Love on the Run” via Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Verdi. And have a literary weekend.
Officials concede failures in low-income housing, move to study higher standard
The City Council wants a study that could mean a permanent increase in the amount of affordable housing in large residential developments – and if work on the study started now, it would come back for a vote in 2014, potentially too late for some of the flood of projects under way.
‘The Great Gatsby’: Fitzgerald classic remixed with lots of spectacle, but no soul
Leonardo DiCaprio gives a thoughtful and nuanced performance lost alongside a miscast Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan and amid a swirl of 3-D spectacle.
Let the Redevelopment Authority finish Kendall Square planning, then do city
Any involvement of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority in Central Square is completely premature, but the authority can and should take the lead in Kendall Square. Afterward: an expanded role in citywide planning activities.
Special counsel report due to the CRA likely not the report citizens wanted
The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority is due to receive a report from special counsel at a May 15 meeting, but observers of the troubled authority are wary of a “whitewash” resulting from a too-narrow focus.
Foundry building gets $40,000 for study after months of resident, council pleas
The empty Foundry building is getting a $40,000 study that could be done by the end of May to show what is needed to start its reuse by business startups or nonprofit organizations needing cheap space in East Cambridge.
‘Mud’: Pulpy crime noir, love story and coming of age, all found along a river
Mud is the name of the arcane protagonist played by Matthew McConaughey, a metaphor for the sticky situation he’s in and is everywhere in this steaming Arkansas Delta that mixes genres like the olio found at the bottom of the Mississippi.
Failure on power request delays H Mart opening in Central Square until winter
The H Mart grocery store and food court projected to open in Central Square as soon after renovations as February might not open until the winter, and one of the reasons points to concerns about power needs in rezoned and redeveloped Kendall and Central squares.
Letter: Connolly shows leadership on MIT’s Kendall plan
Only one presumptive City Council candidate has consistently raised awareness about the two major flaws in the massive Kendall Square upzoning deal for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That candidate is Mike Connolly.
Cambridge teen identified as bombing suspect, target of massive manhunt
Cambridge resident Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, has been named as the man being hunted by thousands of police officers as a suspect in the Monday bombing of the Boston Marathon and violence that began Thursday night in Kendall Square and led into Watertown and other communities.
