17 more Mac and PC computers were distributed today at the end of another successful week of training sessions at CCTV!

There is one more week of computer training for our digital divide project, an effort with the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Housing Authority, Tutoring Plus and other local organizations.

Students from the High School were also on hand today to shoot video footage for a short documentary they are producing about the project for Cambridge Educational Access.

Participants pictured above learned about their PC computers in CCTV's television studio. Training Coordinator, Matt Landry led the session with Selma Nane providing support. read more...

By Karen Klinger

Porter Square residents are wondering what will happen now at the site of the Japanese-Korean Kaya restaurant after the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal turned down the owner's bid to tear down the eatery and put up a 50-room hotel.

Despite a show of support for the project by a number of neighbors, the board voted 4-to-1 at a lengthy February 28 hearing to reject owner Meehn Su Gim's request for a variance to build a five-story hotel and attached 210-seat restaurant on the property at 1924 Massachusetts Ave.

Board member Gus Alexander reflected the majority opinion, saying "It's too much of a building for this site," adding, "You're asking us to rezone the property, and that's not our jurisdiction."

"You get an 'A' for effort," board member Edward Wayland told
Gim and his architect, Michael McKee, noting that they had met repeatedly with abutters and other neighbors over the course of a year and had modified the project to meet their concerns. But he said Gim was attempting to deviate too far from zoning regulations by proposing to build a structure with more than twice the allowable square footage for a commercial building on the site. read more...

By Karen Klinger

NeighborMedia is launching a new feature we're calling "Eyesores" in which we intend to shine a spotlight on buildings and other structures in Cambridge in various states of disrepair, abandonment, dilapidation and decomposition. We also want to highlight construction that could kindly be called architectural mistakes, or not so kindly, just plain ugly. While it might seem Cambridge has no shortage of any of these, we can't be everywhere, so we need help. Send us your comments with suggestions and nominees for inclusion in our "Eyesores" series. We may even give out prizes for "Top Eyesore" or "Eyesore of the Month." Bottles of eye drops, perhaps.

To start off, we're celebrating the mother of all Cambridge eyesores, the former nightclub called "FACES," which has stood for a quarter-century as a lonely, deteriorating sentinel on Concord Turnpike, bordering Route 2, welcoming motorists driving into the city. The ramshackle building and the tall "FACES" sign are the first sights drivers see of Cambridge as they head in the direction of the Alewife "T" station and they make an impression, to say the least. read more...

No this guy carrying the television set down the stairs of the Stratton Center at MIT is not a thief or a moving man; he is participating in MIT's first FreeMeet. It's like a flea market, but it's free.

"And can you keep an eye out for a microwave?" he asks Kathreen Thome and Eva Cheung, the two students taking check-ins. "And if you see one, can you just sort of hold onto it for me? I'll be back..."

Free TV? Free Microwave? Wait a sec...!

This morning I braved the snow and checked out the FreeMeet at MIT. Although it was still early and people were still bringing in their “stuff”, already clothing, kids’ toys, electronic, books, and kitchen items were accumulating on tables around the edge of LaSala Room on the second floor. read more...

Freecycling