Published August 27, 2010

Menino with unidentified woman, chicken

I swear, there is no shortage of weird news in this town. In reverse order of weirdness:

• Boston’s first case of West Nile Virus has been reported. The victim will be OK. (Universal Hub)
• Aijalon Gomes is home from North Korea. (Globe)
• A man on a scooter died after colliding with a car near BC. Sad. (BPD)
• Mayor Menino christened the city’s free-range chicken farm. (Mayor’s Office)
• A prankster fashioned a fake shark fin out of Styrofoam and duct tape, prompting people near Somerset to call 911 and report a shark sighting. (Fall River Herald News via Bostonist)
• A Holyoke man was arrested for a kilogram of cocaine found hidden in bologna. (AP)

Hubbub prefers links to news organizations and bloggers that break stories. Let me know if someone else had a story first (or better).

Published August 27, 2010

I just talked with Jessica Shumaker at the BRA, which tracks the college community’s impact on the city.

We know the annual population boom 1) lowers Boston’s median age dramatically, 2) clogs our streets with U-Haul trucks and 3) lengthens the lines at Starbucks. But what about the economic impact?

Turns out all those young people (and their professors and institutions) make a BIG impact on the city’s economy. The BRA compiled these salient facts:

• Nearly 155,000 students in total (fall 2006)
• According to a 2004 analysis, Boston’s colleges and universities support 67,000 direct and indirect jobs in the city (81,060 in the state) and contribute $4.3 billion to the gross city product ($5.45 billion to the gross state product)
• Students and student visitors spent an estimated $1.5 billion in 2004 and $2 billion in 2009.

Tufts and Harvard have facilities in the City of Boston, which is a boon for the construction business. (Though the biggest project, the Harvard Allston expansion project, remains stalled.)

I’m sure a retail group somewhere is tracking the Back To School boom this week and next — think of all the laptops, futons and shower curtains waiting to be sold.

Published August 27, 2010

Correction appended.

Movin' on up (jimmy page's/Flickr)

If I had to guess, tomorrow will be the single biggest moving day in America. As many as 300,000 academics are moving in to Greater Boston for the first of September.

There are 34 colleges and universities in Boston, according to the city, and that doesn’t include a couple of famous ones across the river. Here’s a sampling of what folks on Twitter said about the big weekend:

@amylrabinowitz: Dreading it is an understatement.

@Neldar: Leaving the state this weekend to avoid it.

@kehutchinson: I moved on Monday, braving through a student tsunami at BU, going from E. Boston to JP. Thank god that’s over with.

@sanditaK: i’m making the move next Wednesday, using my “one moving day per career” as permitted by my employer LOL

@amandakelly4: thank goodness I moved 2 months ago, missing the end of Aug/early Sept moving mayhem.

@KatyAronoff: Doing the Somerville–>Lowell haul tomorrow. Mostly packed and already about half moved so hoping it will be over quickly!

And Suz Carter on Facebook FTW:

Any bets on how long it will take for one such truck to get stuck on storrow drive?

Are you moving in? Across town? Away? What’s your new ‘hood? Are you dreading it? Excited? Share your stories and we’ll feature them on wbur.org throughout the weekend.

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