nathanpboston

View from inside my office of a sunlit pride flag in the window

Closeup of my office window with a sun-lit pride flag

Drab bu building with one colorful window sporting a pride flag

On this sunny day, I believe this is the most beautiful window on @bostonu.bsky.social’s campus

More:

Here’s where National Development, of Newton Lower Falls, MA, stores ICE’s new fleet of kidnapmobiles, in the NatDev garage at 800 District Ave., Burlington, MA, near ICE’s illegal detention center.

The head of private security for NatDev was on site & engaged me, claiming I couldn’t prove ice vehicles were ice vehicles (I can), then threatened to tow vehicles of immigrants checking in who are forced to use NatDev lots b/c the ICE lot is overflowing with ICE vehicles.

Sign in front of National Development of Newton Lower Falls that reads “Free Parking 4 ICE Kidnappers, Courtesy of National Development”

National Development broke its commitment today to tell ICE to stop parking on its private lots & tow ICE violators, so I’m back to protesting at its Newton Lower Falls HQ.

Thanks to BURN, @newtonindivisible.bsky.social @mass50501.bsky.social & PAC for the pressure!

Winter Weather Closure for All Boston University Campuses 2/23/26 - BA Boston University Alert To: Phillips, Nathan Sun 2/22/2026 8:05 AM Boston University Alert ... Due to the approaching blizzard that will impact our area, Boston University's Charles River, Fenway, and Medical Campuses will be closed on Monday, February 23, with limited services being offered. Employees in on-campus essential services roles must report to campus as scheduled. For the more information, please visit bu.edu/today

As expected @universalhub.com

I'd be grateful for your advice on how to pressure ICE to stop using FAA parking lots to facilitate its operations in Burlington, MA. Could FAA employees demand to keep their parking and not be displaced to make room for ICE? Thank you for considering.

As for the request for emails, based on the following assumptions, the Newton Police Department has assessed a reasonable fee estimate: Newton Police Department mailboxes were searched for the terms "flock" or "flocksafety" (with a capitalized "F" or lower case "f"), for the period between 1/1/2025 and 2/8/2026. The fee estimate is as follows. There are approximately 4,356 items potentially responsive to your request based on an initial search of police department personnel email. The Police Records Bureau will need to review all 4,356 items in order to identify and compile all the emails that are actually responsive to your request, and to segregate and potentially redact any exempt information that are required to be withheld by law. The Police Departments review for responsiveness and segregation will be done simultaneously by one City employee at an estimated time of 2 minutes per record. This leads to an estimated total time of 145.2 hours. After the two-hour deduction, 143.2 hours at a rate of $25.00 per hour equals a good faith estimate of $3,580.00. In accordance with M.G.L. c. 66, the City now notifies you that the good faith estimate to produce the documents equals $3,580.00. Once payment of this amount is received, the police department will produce the documents responsive to your request in the time allowed. You may pay online by clicking HERE. You may also pay by mailing a check or money order along with a copy of this e- mail to: Newton City Clerk's Office Public Records Request 1000 Commonwealth Avenue Newton, MA 02459 Alternatively, please let me know if you would like to discuss reasonable modifications that could allow records to be provided more efficiently and affordably. Regards, Newton Police Records

FlockSafety .com, whose license plate camera data gets used by ICE despite Flock denials, shows up in >4K Newton MA police dept emails in 2025-26.
Since Newton PD charges $3580 to process them, my next step is to request only the most recent 60 emails, which should take 2 hrs and be free.

Graphic for protest: ND logo NATIONAL DISGRACE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ALLOWS ICE TO PARK ON THEIR PROPERTIES PROTEST AGAINST COMPLICITY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 3PM-6PM NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT HQ 2310 WASHINGTON ST. NEWTON, MA Sponsor: BURN burnresilience.network MASS 501 NEWTON INDIVISIBLE Protest Against Complicity

Props to @newtonindivisible.bsky.social for calling out corporate ICE complicity. Please spread the word
bearingwitnessatice.substack.com/p/free-parki...

Before: Ice blocking EB Comm Ave bike lane just east of Babcock St.

After: ice/snow cleared and lane now rideable all the way to the BU Bridge.

I finished off the last small but critical blockage yesterday. Pleased to see immediate bike usage after clearing.

In the future, what would really help is the City fining those responsible for mounding snow into the bike lanes, making it so much harder for anyone to clear.

Congrats given a little too early: westbound snow mounds still blocking bike lanes as of yesterday afternoon. Let’s finish the job @streets.boston.gov @boston.gov @bostonu.bsky.social - lives are depending on you.

@iso-ne.com returned to “normal” last night (Feb 11, 9pm), but is still under the federal “emergency” free pass to pollute exemption until this Saturday at midnight.
www.iso-ne.com/static-asset...

You are an inspiration. Thank you so much for taking your stand on the side of love.

Photo of Salty & grimy bike before snow bath

Photo of bike plopped into a clean snow bank. Do both sides and move cranks around & drag bike around as needed

Photo of freshly snow bathed bike melting off residual snow in the sun

Bike life hack: bike snow bath:
1. Salt & grime buildup
2. Drag bike through snow, both sides
3. Put in sun to melt

Before: white flexpost bases turned sideways from snow removal equipment or cars, hazardous to bikers westbound on North Beacon St near Sinclair Rd

After: white flexpost bases repositioned for safety after having been placed in a hazardous crossways position from snow removal equipment or cars, hazardous to bikers westbound on North Beacon St near Sinclair Rd

@boston.gov @streets.boston.gov fixed your death traps for you

Feeney Bros. is the contractor, for whichever of BU or City of Boston contracted them.
Thanks also BU Urbanists for being the squeaky wheel!

Comm Ave bike lanes being cleared finally. Thanks to @bostonu.bsky.social or @streets.boston.gov @boston.gov & advocacy by @bikeboston.bsky.social

@bostonu.bsky.social @boston.gov @streets.boston.gov do better!
dailyfreepress.com/02/09/23/217...

Car culture in NewtonMA frames the climate discourse as trees vs housing, with parking pavement getting a free pass.

Appreciating advocates calling our @streets.boston.gov @boston.gov abdicating responsibility, AND @bostonu.bsky.social bears responsibility too. If it comes down to something as important as public safety, stop pointing fingers; plow it and reduce our PILOT contribution accordingly if need be.

YouTube video by Nathan Phillips Walk/bike/roll route from Auburndale Commuter Station to Weston parking lot & trails

Here’s that route: youtu.be/4Lg7AYZryKE?...

Another unofficial potential future route: commuter line to Auburndale, cross fence west of Woodland Rd south of pike, ski to recreation road, cross to Leo J Martin.
With sound barriers going up no need for the chain link fence anymore. The ROW is pretty wide the whole way.

If only the back gate at Riverside were open you could ski right across I-95 onto Leo J Martin.

An epic thread on an epic action. TY @thebostonlol.bsky.social for documenting (& shoveling), BUrbanists for agitating, @bikeboston.bsky.social for organizing, @Bos_Cafe_Bikers, BU Cycle Kitchen for muscle, hot cocoa & tunes, & Carmen Rondash for showing up impromptu with the snow blower!

Unplowed bike lane ends in a mountain of snow

There's a bike lane buried under all this snow piled up but you would never know that. A hydrant was narrowly shoveled out

Less snow on this section of bike lane but compared to the clear road and sidewalk it's unpassable

Part of the bike lane near the intersection is Chad but then the rest is full of snow once you get past the bus stop. Sidewalk and road are clear

First, context, Commonwealth Av is the backbone of Boston University and around the BU Cycle Kitchen is one of the best protected and heavily used bike lanes in all of Boston. It's protected by curbs and separate from the sidewalk and this is what it looked like yesterday. Unpassable

BREAKING: 4 students at the University of Minnesota are currently chained to Morrill Hall, demanding that their school end all cooperations with ICE and establish itself as a sanctuary campus.

City wouldn't clear a Comm Ave. bike lane, so some bicyclists showed up today with shovels The Boston Cyclists Union organized a shovel brigade today to clear out part of the inbound Commonwealth Avenue bike lane, which had been impassible since the snowstorm almost two weeks ago, most rece...

www.universalhub.com/2026/city-wo...

We got a lot cleared but there’s more to do.

I know a good preschool teacher who gets bickering children to clean up together - could be just what @bostonu.bsky.social & @boston.gov need.

While VIP’s at @boston.gov & @bostonu.bsky.social were looking the other way or pointing fingers, responsible adults - students & working people - delivered on public safety. #CommAve #BikeLanes