this city and state will be NEW VIBRANT AND AGILE when you at least take a stab at explaining to your readers on how the CITY AND STATE taxpayers got snookered bigtime into providing a $46.5 MILLION DOLLAR TAX SUBSIDY to LIBERTY MUTUAL.asking the the following 4 people wold be a good place to start. your good buddy the mayor of boston the governor of the commonwealth, the then president of the always insipid and totally gutless boston city council, come on down mike ross and oh ya, the globies favorite city watchdog, LIBERTY MUTUALS very own paid shill, one samuel tyler. or better yet, why not ask the only 2 people who had the stones to speak up against said debacle, that being shirley kressel and matthew cahill.ma

Hey Mike, Give us a donation site to get the lights installed. Hopefully tax deductible, but even if not, there are a bunch of us ready to make this happen. Any way to get rid of that disgusting Bud sign on the Garden that makes Boston look like a 2-bit w____?

In these times of economic austerity isn't this just the sort of thing that the 1% claims to exist for? Perhaps Edward Conard, Romneys' former partner at Bain, who is publishing a book explaining why our society needs the super-rich (seriously!), can take this on as a pet project, as a way to cheer up the dreary lives of the other 99%, and distract them from the how he and his cronies, abbeted by congress, have spent the past decade further gutting America's middle class and leaving our once great infrastucture to slowly rot.

I agree that it is a magnificent bridge and it should always be a priority that it stay that way. My gripe is that it should be called "The Bunker Hill Bridge". Len Zakim came and went and made something of his life. He knew Springsteen. To take such a centerpiece of the city and name it after such a small, passing human being is a chronic Boston flaw. Which is not a dig at Len Zakim. The "Rose Kennedy Greenway". You've got to be kidding me.

Bravo! Stick with this.

I like the idea of the lights changing color. Local 103 IBEW is always touting its civicmindedness - maybe they can get free labor for the installation project. They've certainly made enough money off the Big Dig.

It is the normal custom for reporters to include the name of government agency or private company spokesfolk in stories. How come McGrory was so easy on the state Transportation Department flackette who not only was, as he put it, not only arrogant, but also flatout lied. I think the flackette is just another reason that the state Department of Transportation is in so much trouble... It claims its various component parts are broke and so must raise amounts the public pays - then pulls back, for a year supposedly, but threatening still higher fees next year. And here we have a flackette thinking she is safe in her Park Square bastion, not only lying about a bridge, but thinking that she is safe from exposure by a writer for Boston's self-styled most important newspaper. This dingbat is yet another example of the Patrick team and the leadership its honcho provides for the Barry O re-election mob. Wonder if the transit bunch flackette can grasp the leap from her poverty-ridden position to the too often self-proclaimed commander-on-chief. By the way, McGrory, how come we don't practice open information in this grandiose newspaper of yours, starting with the name of the flackette who tries to hid white light bulbs on a bridge?

Maybe a "Friends"-type of organization can research the cost and fund-raise for the project? Its tough to see how our public servants could justify doing it otherwise: They'll be excoriated for spending public tax revenues on non-essential services by some, then despised by others for not enhancing the bridge's image to its full potential.

Another bored, obnoxious right-winger speaks his flatulent mind.

Speak UP- We CAN'T hear YOU!! WHAT did YOU SAY?

At least Rose Kennedy was born and bred here and unless you're a Kennedy hater you can see the reasoning for naming it after her. Zakim had no roots here at all; he was simply a lobbyist, leftist rabble-rouser from NY who happened to fall sick and die early. While I understand he should have been mourned, it should have been a private thing. He was not a well-known Boston figure. I blame the media for dropping Bunker Hill Bridge from the name. They could have just as easily dropped Zakim from the name. But they continue to refer to it ONLY as the Zakim. To me, it's still the Bunker Hill Bridge and always will be.

It should be the Bunker Hill Bridge and if the media hadn't pounced on calling it Zakim for a little-known leftist advocate, that nobody outside of the little gang on the Hill knew, it would be called by its PROPER name.

Good piece. I drove over it last night and noticed it as well. What a shame.

Wow. I see the Herald posters showed up.

Maybe you should enlighten us on why Zakim was a leftist advocate?

Totally agree. But while your at it, it should also be renamed to the original name that was considered, The "Freedom Bridge". Much better ring to it. Better presentation for the same reason the blue lights are.

I guess nothing bad happended in Hingham this week. Oh, and Darling2: stop whining. You're lucky they added 'Bunker Hill' to the name at all. You've got a monument for pete's sake, don't get greedy. It really should be named the Charles River Bridge, since that's what it crosses.

I would be more concerned about the thousands of gallons of sea water pouring into the tunnels 24 hours a day.

Thanks. Its a lift to the spirit when the lights are shining. That's a very good thing. For thousands of people.

Agree with Rita's comments below. Brian, ask the mayor if during the taping of one of his "public service" announcements he makes with Local 103, he can ask them to contribute some of their expertise to this cause.

"They get dirty, they get old, they're exposed to the environment. It was a good system several years back, but now there is a better technology.'' 105,000,000.00 for the bridge and this is an answer? This is Boston, winters, summers, frigid cold, heat, rain, snow, ice, salt, dirt and it's an outside structure. Why weren't the lights designed for the environment in the first place? Another Big Dig failure the public has to pay for twice to fix.