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South Boston columnist: Keep your stupid 'progressive' bike lanes out of Southie
By adamg on Fri, 09/06/2013 - 11:31am
Just another example of Nanny State pinkos like Menino trying to foist their naive socialist ideas on the old town and destroy the neighborhood's proud tradition of double parking on Broadway, John Ciccone thunders, adding, of course, that Obama sucks.
H/t Chris Mullen.
Ed. note: Ciccone's column is called "Information Center," which will no doubt bring up fond memories for those of you who remember the busing crisis.
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Comments
"It’s a tradition that has
"It’s a tradition that has been working just fine for generations."
Right, because that's NEVER been used to justify backwards thinking, EVER. Especially not here!
South Boston has been
South Boston has been predominantly Irish for generations. Therefore, Mr. Ciccone should remove himself immediately to the North End.
jciccone demands public accommodation to break traffic laws
Wherein jciccone demands public accommodation to break traffic laws:
"short term double parking is a must; even a way of life."
"South Boston is getting victimized."
This guy knows how to push buttons: "You're being victimized!" he exclaims (yeah, he's talking about a bike lane.) His implication: "Everyone knows it's a South Boston birthright to double park. We don't need no stinking bikes: We run our errands by driving 10 blocks and double parking. And we like it"
Something tells me this guy has a problem with energy-efficient light bulbs, too.
He kind of reminds me of the Ben Affleck character in Good Will Hunting: "How much money do you have in your pockets?"
Well he can drive everywhere
Cause he knows that he left his space saver out in front of his house, so he knows that there is a space for him when he gets back from his double parking bank trip.
John Ciccone intention: "Information Center"
The world is changing rapidly because we're finally coming to terms with realities that should affect the way we live. People like John Ciccone are ill-equipped to lead or follow.
With respect to John's views on race, better to critique actual statements he makes rather than the name of his column. For all we know he chose it as a hat tip to a mythical awesome Southie of yore, not the one torn in two by race. He chose the name, and should own it -- it being his intention. Contrast with Gov Perry who inherited n*ggerhead and then scrubbed then name before, or shortly after, starting his run for President.
It's not just the name of his column
From 1987 :
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/13/us/south-boston-...
It's not a "hat tip" - *this is the same guy.*
^ ^ ^ Great article! thanks. ^ ^ ^
Great article! Did Ray want to integrate South Boston projects wholesale or as units became available? I can see why Southie resident and their families would object if it was the former. I can also see how repugnant it is if the true objection was sharing public housing with black families.
How tragic, at the moment of Ray Flynn and Irish Catholic Boston's great achievements -- Ray's electin as mayor -- the Southie crowd stabbed Ray in the back before he "stabbed" them.
The issue was desegregating
The issue was desegregating the housing projects at all. It was around this time (in 1988, maybe, IIRC?) that it was discovered that the BHA was maintaining two separate waiting lists for the Southie projects. This institutionalized racism was discovered when a black lady with a "normal" name was placed on the white list by accident, and the BHA person who discovered the mistake said "Oh, whoops, you're on the wrong list" to her when he discovered what color her skin was.
thanks for the scoop. much appreciated.
/
I grew up in the old colony
I grew up in the old colony projects in south boston during busing. There were black families that had to move out of south boston because of busing. They went to the same school as me. FORCED is what caused the problem. Parents no longer had the choice to send their children to neighborhood schools. No one likes to be FORCED to do anything they do not want to do. FORCED BUSING WAS THE PROBLEM.
Mandatory school busing may not have been the best answer,
but I can understand why it was implemented. Had Louise Day Hicks and all her patronage-ridden, opportunistic cronies on the all-white Boston School Committee back then not engaged in years of intransigence and political posturing, and, had they been more flexible, things would've been different.
Boston's a small enough city so that busing wouldn't have been needed; Kids could've gotten to school via public transportation, or even walking, to desegregated schools. Louise Day Hicks and her cronies on the Boston School Committee, for years prior to busing, blew an opportunity for more peaceful desegregation of Boston's public schools through opportunism, intransigence, and mean-spiritedness.
Yeah
The schools are much better than when they started forced busing. If you believe this you are full of feces.
The Boston Public School system's still rotten, but
Boston's public schools, at large, weren't good prior to mandatory school busing, either. However, whether one agrees or disagrees with the solution that Judge W. Arthur Garrity and his experts ultimately came up with, he should've been given credit for the following:
A) Making many more people aware that the Boston public School system had been a system in decline for many decades prior to busing (in fact, since the 1920's).
B) Exposing Louise Day Hicks and her cronies on the patronage-ridden, opportunistic Boston School Committee for the bald-faced liars that they really and truly were.
C) Making more people aware that the Boston School System had been failing both its white and non-white students all along for many decades.
D) Broadening the scope of debate among people with varying viewpoints.
E) Judge Garrity exposed a very jaded, antiquated school system, in which the School Committee knew little or nothing about educating kids, and, more to the point, could not have cared less.
F) Judge Garrity made many more people aware that there were problems of long-standing (i. e. the high student school drop-out rate, poor schools and academic records, etc., much racial and ethnic bigotry in Boston, and very few kids, if any, going to college.
G) Aren't there more kids going to college now then prior to busing? From what I've read/heard, that's the case.
Sometimes, a neighborhood just needs to change.
I'm sympathetic on the issues created by yuppification/gentrification, etc., but this article is a good reminder of why fresh blood and diversity matter. Southie today is a much better place than it was 20 years ago.
Regarding the bike lanes, I rode through the Broadway corridor recently, and I could swear there already were some bike lanes there, at least on some blocks. It definitely wasn't the entire length, but there are some lanes, and some sharrows already in place.
There's some construction on
There's some construction on East Broadway, between G and I Streets, where they painted some thin white lines right where you'd put a bike lane. I got excited, but it was just to mark where they were cutting up the pavement. East Broadway bike lanes are scheduled for after the West Broadway ones.
There are full bike lanes on A St and Dot Ave, and more are coming on some of the roads parallel to A. D St, I think, is happening soon.
When
was SB 'torn in two'?
When they freaked out
When they freaked out about going to public school with black kids.
But
SB wasn't torn in two---they were all on the same page.
And keep buying simplistic myth it was strictly over race.
And keep buying simplistic
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Sure thing, pal. I'm sure they would have reacted with just as much violence if they were having white kids from Beacon Hill bussed in. Pull the other one.
Not Just In
I'm not saying racism wasn't a huge factor, but it wasn't strictly a matter of black kids being bused in. Their own kids were being bused out.
(FWIW: "bused", with one "s", is the correct spelling. "Bussed" is the past tense of "buss", a kiss.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Thank you
For getting where I was coming from. We both lived through it.
I bet Howard Zinn here didn't. Talk to some mothers of the '70s. Race was irrelevant to many of them.
No thanks. I lived in
No thanks. I lived in Massachusetts for 48 years, more than long enough to know that race is *never* irrelevant.
People
Forget, Blacks responded just as violently, if not worse to forced busing in Boston. Another Liberal experiment gone horribly wrong.
Citations Please
Not just "well so and so told THIS story about them shades over on ..." that got magnified with each retelling, no doubt.
Any
kid who got bused has horror stories, regardless of where they were going. Ask a white girl who was sent to MPHS in '75 how welcomed she was. Also, no black deaths via whites during busing; one white death via black (not sure what page in Common Ground).
Actually, there were at least a couple of blacks
killed by white thugs in Southie and Charlestown, back in 1974 and in 1975, when busing was just getting underway;
In the fall of 1974, when busing had just gotten underway between Southie and Roxbury, a black businessman who was walking through the area was attacked and killed by some white thugs who screamed "Get the ******!" right before physically assaulting and killing him.
In the fall of 1975, when busing was getting underway in Charlestown, some white Townie thugs also beat up and killed a black sailor who was walking through the area.
The two above-mentioned incidents weren't mentioned in J. Anthony Lukas's "Common Ground", but they did happen.
There were plenty of white-on-black incidents prior to busing also, which remained hushed up for a long time, but all that, too, came to light when busing started.
This guy used to be involved
This guy used to be involved with MDC and he believed beaches in southie were for southie residents - everyone else didn't belong there. So not sure if he's a racist or just an equal opportunity obstructionist.
either way, can't believe he is still writing these crazy columns but thats what people must love about him
Ad hominem attack much?
Why do you people indulge yourselves so much in attacking people instead of discussing the pros/cons of bike lanes on Broadway where there is lots of double parking? Yeah, I realize its obvious you favor bike lanes no matter where, so you just rather bash anyone against it?
Yeah, I realize its obvious
Ad hominem, meet Straw Man.
Discussing the pros and cons,
Discussing the pros and cons, like the even handed approach this columnist took? And the statement that we need to keep in mind that many people park illegally is crazy.
Defending Hitler
The guy is a self avowed racist, and is touting illegal parking as a norm instead of a crime that should be capital in nature.
The only way you can legitimately argue against bike lanes on any street is if you are instead either recommending a different style of bike lane, or a complete and total recognition that bikes should have the rights above and beyond cars to do whatever they want in any lane.
Ehhh...a little strong.
Ehhh...a little strong. Hitler?
That bleach job does nothing
That bleach job does nothing to hide his Hitler hair.
Thanks for making my point
Thanks for making my point much better than I did.
Self-Avowed Racist?
He called himself that? When?
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Oh, you just had to go there
You just had to bring out the "Hitler" comparison, didn't you? You should know better. His surname clearly indicates he's more Mussolini than Adolf.
Jeez, take a history lesson, hippy.
Bike Lanes
If the city is going to provide bike lanes for bikes then cyclist should be required to apply for a license (pay for and pass a road safety test, pay for a license to ride on public streets and pay excise taxes). Bikes should also have license plates and insurance so they can be held accountable for not obeying traffic laws, causing accidents or injuries. Just my opinion
Because...
people who revolve a good amount of their lives around the internet suck. Self-obsessed folks with little to no balls/guts/ovaries. It provides a PERFECT platform for them.
Leave him alone he grew up
Leave him alone he grew up in socialist pinko public housing in the old harbor projects. It was the best housing project around......
(no subject)
It went both ways -
Sensless violence in Boston
Where is the bike lane?
Where is the bike lane?
Every time someone posts this picture
Every time someone posts this picture it sets our* City back 40 years.
Every.
Single.
Time.
*(And lest their be any doubt, by "our" I mean all of us, from the college kid who just moved in, to the 102 year old who has lived the City for her entire life.)
We should not and cannot forget that dark chapter in the City's history, but wantonly dragging it up at the slightest whiff (or even noseful) of South Boston provincialism - particularly in a thread about something like bike lanes - serves no worthy purpose and makes us all worse off.
Cripes.
This paper is ridiculous
This paper is delivered to me whenever their delivery schedule is, and I feel it should have a disclaimer "for entertainment purposes only". It's ignorant and at times racist. It's just a bunch of old guys ranting about how they hate EVERYONE that hasn't lived in Southie for at least 30 years and/or was born there.
With that said, I'm really not sure how a bike lane would work on Broadway. Double parking is simply a way of life on Broadway - I would say its absolutely necessary to get to any of those shops. Unless the road is completely re done and the bike lane is separated from the road itself, I don't see how a bike lane would work.
I guess using the No. 9 bus,
I guess using the No. 9 bus, taking a cab or even walking to the Dunkin Donuts in Perkins Square is out? How did people do it before each household in Southie had 2.5 cars each?
Local papers
All these local papers around here are a joke. You should see the ones in East Boston, the Sun-Transcript and the East Boston Times. The people writing for these publications seem to think World War II is still happening, and that they are 1930s immigrants fresh off the boat from Italy. How OLD are these people??
Having said that, and all politics aside, as someone who took the Numbers 9 and 10 bus on for years, a bus lane on Broadway would be an unequivocal disaster.
Correction
I meant "a bike lane on on Broadway would be an unequivocal disaster."
Joe Fitzgerald
We need to get Joe Fitz a job with these guys!
huh
I find this a strange way to make your point: "Yes, there are some people who want bike lanes. Well, it’s been said that people in Hell want ice water."
Amen
Brotha
sigh, every cliche in the book
Aside from all bullshit claims about what bicycle lanes are/aren't that contradict hundreds of studies (oops, sorry, is that too ivory-pillar?):
1)Would be the first person to scream at a cyclist for running a red light, but then feels he and his neighborhood Good-Ol-Boys are entitled to double-park illegally.
2)Complains about the traffic but demands everyone be entitled to double-park. LOLZ.
3)Fails to see irony of not building bicycle infrastructure in a neighborhood which has too many cars.
4)The classic bike version of "I'm not racist, I have black friends": "I don't hate bicycles, I have one in my garage that I ride in the park." He uses bicycles as toys/leisure devices, so he assumes everyone else does and bike lanes are for "convenience", when in reality, most urban cyclists are riding for transportation, and bike lanes are for protection.
5)Claims bicycles are "hip and trendy", not "a necessary transportation method for thousands." I'd be willing to bet there are far more "working class" and poverty-level riders in south boston than there are evil "hipsters"
This is just some douchebag appealing to blue-collar "common sense" and us-vs-them crap.
Take a look at Somerville, which is the highest density city in the COUNTRY. They, like NYC, the most populous city in the country, are embracing cycling infrastructure. Oh, but I guess southie is just so damn special...
Somerville does not have the
Somerville does not have the highest density. No. 15.
Citation Please
Bullshit claims contradicting hundreds of studies?
How many studies are on roads with lots of double parking?
Care to fix double parking by making parking diagonal? That is even more dangerous for cyclists and others than double parking. In Arlington, double parking is essential since most businesses have no rear delivery access. Trucks and vans double park all day long. Bike lanes just become double parking zones.
Double parking is not
Double parking is not essential, it is illegal.
Business customers can park legally, or better still walk or ride their bike to said business.
Business deliveries can park legally, or go to hell and die.
Maybe they should consider smaller delivery vehicles. You don't need a truck to deliver less than a pallet's worth of goods to a store. That can be accomplished by a small van or even smaller vehicle than that. Trucks are unnecessary except for a small number of oversize loads. Trains could drop stuff off at a distribution center where sprinter vans and cargo trikes or bikes pick them up and deliver to congested areas.
Double parking IS essential
Have you heard of New York City? Ever been there? Even vans double park on the streets of Manhattan. Double parking is essential to conduct business there. With multiple lanes on avenues, I suppose vans could double park in a shared lane, not blocking the bike lane. Do cyclists the run the gauntlet on the bike lane between the double parked van and the legally parked vehicles?
This is the kind of study that has never been done and the TRB is now trying to get done. What is the safest way to handle areas needing double parking?
The size of the double parked vehicle is completely irreverent - double parked is double parked, requiring other vehicles to detour around.
It's not necessary; it's lazy
It's not necessary; it's lazy and institutionalized. Surely there are minds bright enough in the world to figure out how else to move goods and services in limited space.
Let me get this straight
YOU whine INCESSANTLY about "taking up road space that cars need to feel g-forces blah blah whine blah" ...
... and then you DEFEND DOUBLE PARKING?
Seriously - do you even own a freaking mirror or other way to SEE WHAT KIND OF IDIOT YOU ARE?
History in the Making?
Is this the first recorded instance of someone from Boston citing New York as an example to be followed?
Double parking is dangerous, because
it makes it extremely difficult for emergency vehicles (i. e. fire engines, ambulances and police cars) to get through to where they need to go. Time really is of the essence when an emergency vehicle needs to get to a fire, when transporting a seriously ill/injured person to the hospital, or if and when there's an assault or other type of violent crime in progress.
The people who double park should also realize that the person in that ambulance being transported to the hospital due to a heart attack, stroke, etc., might well be a loved one, friend or neighbor of theirs, an acquaintance could be getting assaulted, etc., or the house on fire might well be that of a friend or neighbor.
That's something to think about.
One doesn't have to reside in Southie to realize that.
Arlington Selectmen didn't realize it
They plan to narrow Mass Ave in Cambridge while claiming it has no effect on emergency services. Cambridge and DCR don't care either by keeping Alewife Brook Parkway at 1935 widths and ambulances have a seriously hard time getting through to Mt. Auburn Hospital. Its worse because of the center median, no shoulder to pull over, Un abated Cambridge expansion of commercial and residential development along it, and added traffic lights along the way to make capacity lower than even in 1935.
Double parking is illegal and irresponsible
no matter where it takes place, or which way anybody looks at it. I stand by my position that it not only creates traffic jams, but that it makes it very difficult for emergency vehicles to get through. Just because some Arlington selectman claims that double parking's perfectly safe, legal and doesn't hinder emergency vehicles doesn't make what he's saying true.
You know absolutely nothing
You know absolutely nothing about the economics of transportation!
Union City, NJ
Has the highest population density in the U.S. Somerville has the highest population density in the state.
lol my God...
I don't know what's funnier. This quote:
Or that the author thinks adding bike lanes would stop double-parking on Broadway.
What about "Chief among them
What about "Chief among them were safety concerns and the adverse effect it would have on our already struggling local businesses".
Has this guy even been to Southie recently? Broadway businesses are blowing up, new stuff opening practically every week.
That's actually a good point
Since the double parking along Broadway does not appear to be enforced all that often, then it would follow that the double parking in a bike lane would also not be enforced, which defeats the purpose of the bike lane.
I also love how the author thinks that the bike lane is a step too far in the quest of making Southie "hip and happening", not the multitudes of new cafes and wine and cheese stores.
A bike lane in some cases
A bike lane in some cases makes people aware that bikes are allowed to travel on this street. So in a way they still serve a purpose.
There are a couple bike lanes around the city that are basically delivery/loading zones at rush hour and never enforced. However in my experience the travelling cars are sympathetic and more willing to let you in around them.
Okay, then
Create a cycletrack between the sidewalk and the inner-most double parking lane.
Spandex shorts
If you wan to see camel-toes and banana hammocks, go check out tall the exhibitionists down M Street beach.
No thanks
You've clearly never seen/worn bike shorts. With that much padding, there is no way a cameltoe could EVER happen.
Hehe!
Both of the above quotes would be laughable if it hadn't been for the fact that a tragic and needless death has already resulted from this kind of stupid practice (Double parking, I mean.)
To all you Southie residents; Didn't you all learn any lesson from the death of the little girl, Meghan Orr, a young girl who died in a house fire because the fire engine couldn't get there in time due to people's insistence on double parking? It's true that the little girl's father was beyond stupid...and irresponsible to have been smoking while rigged up to an oxygen tank (those oxygen tanks are extremely flammable, btw. As a silversmith who's also done a bit of welding, I happen to know that for a fact.), but that doesn't excuse this kind of arrogance and stupidity that makes it hard for emergency vehicles who are being driven by people doing their jobs to save lives and protect people, by making it even more difficult for them to get through by double/triple parking.
Moronic Asshat
Probably was the first and only person on his block to order one of those oh-so-clever pink "not equal" sign anti-gay stickers from Ass Resistance.
Save the Elderly!
Double Park somewhere today!!!
(Really?)
The above synopsis
Takes what was said in the linked article way out of context. Do all Liberal fly of the deep end when someone criticizes their opinions and ideals?
I'm sorry
I was too busy digesting sage advice to Southie teens going off to college about how to avoid the America-hating professors who want to turn them into mindless communists to fully grasp such concepts in his bike column as thanking God for letting him live in South Boston rather than Brookline or Readville.
Please explain how it was
Please explain how it was taken out of context. Do all Mass Righties accuse Liberals of flying off the deep end whenever they criticize their opinions and ideals?
Yeah, after all, Tommy
Yeah, after all, Tommy Flaherty says it's a stupid idea. Q. E. Fucking D. Can't you read?
I love how 'bike lane' is in
I love how 'bike lane' is in quotes, like the very concept was something dreamed up by people in white lab coats. Between this and the Linehan/Dorcena-Forry St. Patty's Day breakfast battle, I see Southie's reputation as a bastion of parochialism and backwardness remains secure. Pinhead.
I would say that the
I would say that the quotation marks are justified in this case, since the so-called "bike lane" would actually be a double-parking lane, presumably.
Maybe a compromise can be
Maybe a compromise can be reached - have the 'bike lane' double as a 'double parking lane' but put a limited on double parking to 15 minutes or less in an effort to keep them as clear as possible.
lol wut
You can't have a lane that is for both travelling and parking, unless you've found a way to do an end run around the laws of physics.
Also, enabling double parkers by making it "legal" for 15 minutes is a terrible idea. They'll end up doing it for hours. Intentionally parking your car in the middle of the road is a pretty clear sign that you don't care about anyone but yourself. Increasing leniency for people who already think they're the center of the universe won't help anyone.
'You can't have a lane that
'You can't have a lane that is for both travelling and parking...'
Yes, I know....that's why I called it a compromise.
They're already double parking for hours right now. If you had a lane that specifically had a 15 minute limit marked on it, it puts the double-parker on notice...effectively saying 'not only are you blocking in the guy parked legally along the curb, you're blocking bike traffic too - so get going within 15 minutes or get a ticket'. So at least there is a shot that people would double park for less time than they do now, opening up the more of the streets for bikes than it does in the present scenario.
But ideally, if it were up to me, I would declare double-parking illegal and enforce the law by having them towed and ticketed - but that's not a compromise.
Declar Double Parking Illegal When It is Already?
IT already is ilegal. It is just that the city does not adequately enforce the issue. This is how to do it.
http://www.dvice.com/sites/dvice/files/styles/blog...
It is? Well from now on,
It is? Well from now on, double-parkers are on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!
MassDOT bends rules (looks other way) when they want to
The plan for Mass Ave in Arlington calls for the space in front of the Capitol Theater to be: 1. a right turn lane 2. a busy MBTA bus stop 3. a loading zone for trucks serving the block without delivery access, and 4. pick up, drop off area for theater patrons!
Irony alert
Bike lanes: "Disrupting the lives, routines, traditions of others."
Inconveniencing others by double parking: "A must, even a way of life."
Sometimes satire just writes itself.
But this is not Cambridge or
Right on!. While kids growing up in old-school Southie overwhelmingly go on to lead successful and influential lives, Brookline and Cambridge, on the other hand, are full of drug-addicted losers on the dole.
Oh, snap
LOL
Ha ha ha!
Yeh, right! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Take a step back
Regardless of how much I disagree with that quote, as well as pretty much anything Ciccone has ever said, there's no need to turn this into a spineless attack on an entire neighborhood. Hiding behind an anonymous online comment with intentionally hurtful sarcasm only strengthens the "us vs. them" mentality that ultimately led to this article being written in the first place. How about those of us who grew up alongside the addicts, or "losers" as you so eloquently put it, yet were still able to lead successful lives influencing other Southie kids to stay clean? Plenty of "losers" growing up in Brookline and Cambridge too but hey at least they are getting a decent education right? In case you haven't noticed the drug problem in Southie hasn't improved with gentrification; it has simply changed shape. Who needs heroin when you have cocaine and molly? Also in a town that used to have a discernible collection of drunks we now have a gyrating mass of 20-somethings who still think drinking 3+ nights a week is cool. Have fun, feel free to report back in 5-10 years once you and the rest of the locusts are forced to abandon our community due to rising costs and all that remain in your memory are fading bike lanes. Maybe by then enough people will realize Southie used to be a great family neighborhood for a number of reasons; too bad converting a condo building back into a school isn't nearly as cost effective...
Editor's note
What was the purpose of the editor's note? Is it anything other than a cheap shot at Sothie for the events that occurred some 40 years ago.
Yeah, that's it, exactly
Of course, I never would have made the crack if a columnist for a South Boston newspaper hadn't given his column a dog-whistle name like Information Center.
Pro Tip For You
If you don't want people bringing up stuff that happened 40 years ago, don't name your column and something that happened 40 years ago.
Adam had good reason to take the swipe
there is a direct connection. During busing, there were three organizations with overlapping memberships... the South Boston Information Center; the South Boston "Marshalls" - self appointed "defenders" who often attempted to beat up anti-racist activists; and ROAR, the political wing of the anti-busing forces.
Ciccone represents the Info Center and has for 3 decades.
Is this really the same guy?
Is this really the same guy? He looks a little young to be ~60 years old. Maybe a son or relative?
I thought James Kelly represented the South Boston Info Ctr.
If I understand correctly, (the late) Boston City Councilor, James Kelly founded the South Boston Information Center, although Ciccone was also a representative of the SBIC.
That would make sense...
....seeing as Kelly was quoted (on this site, I believe) as defending the double parking that prevented emergency vehicles from reaching a little girl whose residence was on fire a while ago.
Southie/Charlestown is the
Southie/Charlestown is the rightwingish/townie version of JP.
Same complaints about gentrification changing the preciously shitty character of the place.
Imagine is Wholefoods wanted to open a location. It would JP part 2.
Nice try, but ...
Maybe not the best example for the analogy: Doesn't Charlestown actually have a Whole Foods now? And while South Boston doesn't have that, it does have Foodies.
Charlestown has bike lanes too!
on Main Street. It also has Hubway, though not enough of it (it really needs a station at Sullivan Square).
Although Charlestown is also the only place I know of where bike lanes were installed, then uninstalled because of supposed non-support from the neighborhood, then once again reinstalled after a more accurate survey of community sentiment.
Reminds me of where I grew up in Queens...
There was the exact same mentality, but younger local leaders there are beginning to make a difference through politics of inclusion and lobbying for better public transportation.
I almost hate to say it, but the world will be a better place when more angry, racist, willfully ignorant, old, anti-progress, anti-diversity, anti-anti-automobile politicians and columnists die off.
Us Vs Them Mentality
Let's not an "Us vs Them" mentality. The impasse is bikes lanes, not characters of the columnist and peers. There is a generational and cultural gap demonstrated by his defense that he likes to ride mountains bikes as a recreational toy.
The disagreement is rooted in the difference he and his peers view bikes and other similar trends that developed in the past decade or so. It is not rooted because of an alleged character of being an angry, racist, anti-progressive, anti-diversity, anti-anti-automobile man. Diagreement on bikes and politics does not necessitate any of those qualities. Also saying he is anti-anti-automobile implies we are anti-automobile, and I hope most of us don't view cars like they view bikes. I can agree with old as related to a generation gap and ignorant in meaning of difference in worldview. Because painting him as evil is no different as his quip about Brookline and Cambridge about view reality. That sentence shows he's not going to try to see from our view anytime soon, but I'm not going to say the world will be better with his death.
Ah, Rhonin
You're so cute when you are so painfully innocent and naive.
This guy is part and parcel of the hate that was spewed back in the day ... and he's still spewing hate now, god love him.
His opposition to bike lanes is rooted in a nasty combination of entitlement and fear of change and belief that he "owns" the area. Same qualities that led to court-ordered desegregation of the schools and the public housing in Boston.
He's pathetic in his impotence, and you are so, so very young.
Your Patronizing is not Appreciated
Aside from you mockery, I can sense the commentary is directed more than just that guy and his history. Many other conservative type carry similar views. Too similar with I have to say the difference is arguably just delivery of the view (like just saying professors seem to tend to have a left slant to politics). You may point that this guy is different in motivation and extremity while sharing goals, but that's not sense I'm getting. Thus my argument to not call for a death wish, because such a wish goes more than him.
Once more, Rhonin
In comprehensible English. Please.
I'll Reply Seriously
I'll replay seriously because I know my writing have clarity issues.
That list was maybe written about just him and few similar in Queens. But many people apply that list of qualities to anyone that hold any similar opinion to him. The typical caricature of the conservative viewpoint is that list. This make it quite easy to just dismiss anyone holding any similar opinions to think up that list and dismiss (or wish for their collective death); and that's why I ask to chill.
And, I'll bet you that in 25
And, I'll bet you that in 25 years you're going to be the old guy yelling about how things used to be.
This is kind of fun to watch but some come close to Irish bashing, imho, and that's not cool.
Wow
Dude needs a more appropriate haircut suitable to his age
Also guys, he owns a bike and therefore no one is allowed to disagree with him
This isn't North Korea
If you put bike lanes on Broadway to a vote, you shouldn't be surprised if it was defeated overwhelmingly. A few knuckleheads want to tell everyone how to live, like Southie is one big condo association. Put the bike lanes on 3rd or 4th Streets if you want to tell someone where they can ride their bikes.
Poll results here
Here are two polls. Each started by two different local online news sources. One regarded as new & hip, the other regarded as old and outdated. I'll let you decide which is which.
http://www.caughtinsouthie.com/poll/are-you-favor-...
http://southbostontoday.com/this-weeks-poll-7/
Results available after you vote.
Caught in Southie
Is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to online "rags". They do nothing but glorify Yuppies and Yupadoodle living. They always print falsified polls and never print opposing views. There is more to living in Southie than drinking Martinis, eating artisanal sandwiches and living in so-called luxury condos.
They still try to espouse living in a town where everyone hates them.
Nick Collins?
Is that you?
Lol. Caught In Southie is a
Lol. Caught In Southie is a blog, an they hardly post anything opinion related. It's mainly just store and restaurants. As for "living In a town where everyone hates them"; do you actaully live in Southie? If you do, take a walk outside. We won. We own this town.
Nice attitude pal
"They still try to espouse living in a town where everyone hates them."
You sure about that? By "everyone" did you mean "I"?
He obviously meant "everyone
He obviously meant "everyone important", i.e., him and his friends.
Sadness
Get over yourself.
Also wins for best
Also wins for best segue-way:
'The next topic is of course is the possible US attack on Syria.'
Uh....
It's spelled segway...duh!
Actually...it's spelled segue
Actually...it's spelled segue - duh!
Segways? That's a whole
Segways? That's a whole different problem!
In case anyone in the area is interested
There is the second public meeting regarding bike lanes on Broadway. The amount of pro-bike support the last meeting got would lead me to believe the anti-bike lane folks would be out in more force this time.
https://www.facebook.com/events/499439193482861/
In case you don't do the 'book:
"Please join us in a show of support for bike lanes on West Broadway in South Boston. We need every South Boston resident who supports bike lanes on Broadway to attend.
September 16th, 6:00pm, 200 D Street (The Condon School)
At the meeting be respectful & SPEAK UP for why you want to see bike lanes on this exceedingly wide road."
Is there an anti facebook page?
These hearings are totally unrepresentative of the public and public desire on projects, since bicyclists are very active on every form of social media, and people who drive are generally not. Local ballot referendum questions are the most accurate way to quantify public opinion and need more use.
people who drive are
LOL, you mean "people"? Virtually everyone drives, comments at UH notwithstanding. Some people are active, some people are not.
Why do you care
Mr. KKK02474?
I'm sorry
but are you whining that you don't have enough pro-car support? Perhaps you should take that as a sign.
How many outsiders will show up?
Are Southie bicyclists going to show up or every activist rider in metro Boston? Let just Southie residents speak and write on this. Still, the population hurt by proposed bike lanes won't respond, they will just speak by parking in them.
Poor MarkK
Still sore about people organizing to boot you out of the Arlington Town Meeting, eh?
Must have been massive voter fraud organized through social media that caused it - not the use of all the silly things you say to actually get the high number of cyclists and walkers in your area to show up, vote, and pick an alternative they liked.
What this thundering moron
What this thundering moron fails to comprehend is that there is absolutely a way to include a cycletrack, add parking, and improve traffic on West Broadway. You put in angle parking, put the two-way cycletrack on one side only between the parking and the sidewalk, and you keep the roadway wide. This will actually add parking because you get 3 angle spaces for each carlength, which now counts as two spots if you include the double parking.
MassDOT dislikes angle parking
Federal and state DOT agencies dislike angle parking on roadways because it produces more accidents than parallel parking. Backing into an angle spot is slightly safer than driving into a spot and backing out to leave, but still not as safe as parallel parking.
Also consider the area demographics. Older people have more trouble twisting their necks and torsos to see while backing into traffic, raising accident risks. Older people are also less physically able to ride bicycles, hence bike lanes make more sense on college campuses than where older populations live or people can't dress like college students at work.
So, MattyC, you are the "thundering moron" attacking people unjustly.
Damn Youngster with her bike dressed like a college student!
http://bit.ly/1561LiZ
http://bit.ly/1fGa4TT
http://bit.ly/17G91OH
Ride those things on campus you whippersnappers! A put something decent on please!
That's fine. I still live
That's fine. I still live here, so you can keep your wharbblgarbbl in Arlington, and I will have my vote count here. I honestly don't care if we add parking on Broadway, I was merely showing that there is in fact a way. I have wanted the double parking laws to start being enforced for a long time and if the bike lane is the way to get that to happen, then all the better. Double win for me.
Angle Parking
You *actually* expect these geezers to *actually* be able to park their cars?
Seriously - why do you think they double park? BECAUSE THEY SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING and can't park like *normal* people do, that's why.
It isn't about the amount of parking - it is about their complete lack of skill due to their lead-gas and ciggy-driven brain rot. That's why they keep their license in MA - Florida makes them retest!
Back-in angle parking works in Union Sq, Somerville
Specifically, on Bow Street. Changing the parking from parallel to back-in angle allowed the city to both (a) shoehorn in a bike lane, and (b) actually add more parking spaces.
Only cost a travel lane
No free lunch. I understand the area lost a travel lane in order to make those things.
The chief problem with back in parking is that drivers are unaccustomed to it. Its the equivalent of a completely new and alien user interface for a computer, software package, web site, or operating system. Windows 8 vs. Windows 7 is an example. Perhaps like taking away an intuitive graphical user interface and giving them the much more powerful and capable command line interface. Parallel parking is more intuitive for people, back in diagonal, not so much. Bad human factors.
Have you seen some of the
Have you seen some of the attempts to parallel park that go on around here on a regular basis? Parallel parking's certainly more common, but it definitely doesn't seem intuitive for a lot people.
No, it did not
Not on Bow street. Not unless you think that you are "losing a travel lane" when you have to actually drive between line markings.
Then again, you think Mass Ave is losing travel lanes when the town has consistently told residents seeking lane markings that it is only one lane each way in East Arlington since at least 1990.
Nothing
It's nice to see all the South Boston haters are out in force. See y'all on the bike lanes! smirk
Information Center Column
A friend sent me your link and I got to read all the funny comments. Thank you, no, I mean that sincerely. Anytime I can piss off your readers and send them ballistic just makes my day. And its so easy to do.
Greetings
Nice to see you here in the 21st century.
Been here a lot longer than
Been here a lot longer than you might think. Some of your readers though, kind of sound like they are living in their parent's basement reading old Howard Zinn books. Just saying..
Yeah, but your ideas sound
Yeah, but your ideas sound very intelligent and well-thought-out. You lost, we won, enjoy the new Southie!
I read Zinn in my own basement, thank you
My parents never had a basement, nor did anybody in my trailer court.
I read books, learned stuff, went to college, and made enough money to own my own house with my husband, whose dad was a bus driver raised in Southie.
Husband reads Zinn, too. In our own basement.
Confused
Do you think you aren't posting from your mom's basement just because in 2012 you took over the deed from her?
Southie today?
More like Southie 1983! Amirite?
why's that?
Because, if you were EVER going to get a clue, you would have done so by now?
It will be a good day when all the "my home town" bigots and xenophobes are rotting in hell, and the city can truly move on from your blight.
Face it, John
Your side lost. It's just that simple.
What a pleasant surprise!
So nice of you to join us, how about a sneak-peek excerpt from whatever the "Information Center" has in store for us next?? Rumor has it there's a fascinating story circulating throughout the bike courier community about a sexually deviant act (supposedly with a minor) being swept under a small-town rug because the perpetrator was so well-connected.
fyi Mr. Ciccone Fox News just announced a sweepstakes that'll award one lucky winner the chance to play tummy sticks with Glenn Beck in an effort to spawn the anti-christ... just thought you'd like to know
Going ballistic? LOL
You're confused by the sound of us laughing at you. Southie gets better every day as you dinosaurs lurch toward extinction.
Bike lanes
As a lifelong resident of SB, let me point out a couple of things.
John Ciccone is a clown and doesn't speak for the rest of us. Total fruitcake and and an embarrassment.
I will assume that all of you labeling us racists did NOT grow up in all-white suburbs with no subsidized housing. You know, totally insulated from any social engineering. And believe me I am no conservative, but it is absurd to assume that racism exists only within the boundaries of the City of Boston.
Busing was FORTY years ago. Move on.
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