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A word of advice for people thinking about driving anywhere near Copley Square today

Copley Square yesterday.

Don't.

Jed Hresko captured the scene down Boylston yesterday. Mike the Mad Biologist has more photos.

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Because of some weird traffic vortex forcing EB Boylston Street traffic to turn right at Exeter Dalton and Belvidere Street have been a mess since Friday night.

The other thing I cannot figure out is why the city is always so premature with barricading all of Boylston three days before the marathon. All the bars and valets just cut the zip ties and move the fencing because, you know, customers.

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There's a 5K race that runs down Boylston and through several Back Bay streets in the AM the day before the marathon (today). The streets aren't just blocked off for the marathon on Monday...

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Ok, when was that, this morning? This mess happened Friday night.

So I ask again why? Why are bus stops (39, et al in front of the Pru) blocked when it's not race time? And why are curb cuts (Boylston at Fairfield, across Boylston at Walgreens/Gucci) blocked when it's not race time?

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There are over 20,000 runners doing the marathon. Boylston isn't just shut down to let them all complete the race. It's also shutdown to build grandstands for seating, a bridge across Boylston for the media and race crew, large displays are put up to follow the race throughout marathon morning, and the finish line is repainted every year. I'll agree to it being super inconvenient for many people. There are alternate roads to get where people need to go, and plenty of notice was given about the upcoming event.

Sidenote: Crossing Boylston on Marathon Monday is a mega bitch, and Copley T stop is shutdown. To cross Boylston during the race, everyone I know either uses the Mass. Ave. underpass bridge (not a very good description I know: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Copley+t+stop&ll=42....), or goes all the way to Boston Public Garden.

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Good story, brah. Woo.

The marathon has 20,000 runners on Monday. The 5K had maybe 5,000 people on Sunday. Great, all of 18 hours there was actually anything the hell happening, but we should close a mile of street for four damn days!? NO.

There is no damn good reason to cripple a primary artery in the Back Bay––from Mass Ave at Boylston through Arlington at Boylston––just to build the same damn bridge and media center built every damn year in front of the Public Library, for one block!! Especially, there's no damn good reason to do it for FOUR FUCKING DAYS.

Also. There's no damn good reason to ILLEGALLY prevent access to ADA curb cuts, prevent pedestrian traffic in the crosswalks defined by the City of Boston, and/or generally prevent/disrupt the routine business activities of restaurants and shops who pay a shit-ton in ransom to the various thugs, er, I mean city agencies.

And seriously, brah, what? People can read about "alternate roads to get where where [they] need to go," and I'm sure that's all well and good for drivers of idiotic cars who patronize valet service, but hello!: people who don't own cars live in this expensive-ass neighborhood (and pay expensive-ass prices to do so!!) on the premise that they can get around by walking. The fuck with the City of Boston crippling an entire damn neighborhood (un-fucking-necessarily, for multiple days!!!) in the name of "safety?!?!" I mean, really, is your inference that the damn marathon should be 9/11'd? Those shitty barriers with their monkey-fucked zip-ties holding them together are what's keeping 'Murca safe!?!?!?!?!??!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

I call bullshit, because I'm sick to death of 9/11 and the turr'sts as an excuse, and I'm sick to death of "safety" trumping common sense, and I'm sick to death of retarded shit like ill-placed barriers preventing otherwise fairly regular Americans from going about their law-abiding business.

This weekend I saw drunk skirts barf-falling over barriers into the street and dude-brahs stumbling within traffic lanes when they couldn't cross at a usually-legal crossing. How'd those safety barriers work out in the name of "safety?" Yup, not so much if some brah gets brained by an idiot cab driven by an illegal cunt without a MA license. Oops for the brah though, right, because we kept a mile of sidewalk for four damn days in advance of the marathon? Three full nights of increased danger that isn't there when these retarded barriers aren't up is just unacceptable to me.

The marathon isn't held Friday. It isn't held Saturday. It isn't held Sunday. The city should likely stage barriers early and in bulk at targeted locations, but not actually deploy them across all restricted points until just before the event(s), along the way respecting the damn fucking federal law on ADA access when they do so. The event organizers are paying for all this ridiculous shit anyways, so why not do it right?

Oh, silly me, it's Boston. We'll just do it half-assed and shrug like grinning idiots at the lawyers when called out and sued on it.

asdf;lkj

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Time for you to move out of the city to a little suburb, where your only complaint will be someone mowing their lawn at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning.

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I am sure the businesses on Boylston look forward to the marathon every year... tens of thousands of people walking by, vs the hundreds of cars that would pass by and not even have the ability to stop to buy something. Cars are just wasted space that zapps commerce. All of Boylston should be closed to traffic for the entire weekend... Newbury too.

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I agree. There should be no restrictions on walking, except when the race is actually passing by.

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On the other hand, I'd like to say good luck to all the runners and especially to everyone running for charity!

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Without running the race or drawing attention to themselves.

Just sayin'.

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But they didn't. Why do you care?

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Without running the race or drawing attention to themselves.

I don't understand that comment at all. By merely running a marathon, a person is drawing attention to themselves?

Yes, it would be simple, if instead of organizing all these charity bike rides, or running the marathon, or some other event, that people simply gave to charities. But, it doesn't happen. Sometimes a gimmick is a good idea, especially when charities benefit from it. That's life in the real world.

I'm a sucker when friends approach me to donate to their cause when they're willing to bust their ass for a few hours or even a few days. This is money a charity normally would not have received, so it seems to work.

Let us know when you run a marathon, Will, then we'll talk.

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Viva la Stool!

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I worked at a Boston charity that had a Marathon team pull in close to $300,000 from around 30 runners. Most of the runners were just every day people who got family, friends and local businesses to sponsor their run. There's no way 30 people of average means would have amounted to $300K in gifts without the focal point of the Marathon. For a really good example, check out the page for the Children's Hospital Marathon team - they're closing in on a goal of $1.45 million this year.

Also, charity runners often help their causes by drawing attention to them. It's hard to place a price tag on that, but the positive publicity often brings a bump to fundraising because someone watched a news broadcast with an inspiring story or saw a Facebook post that moved them.

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The city that sleeps will wake up for one day lol

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Why are you driving near copley square any day?

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Oh my god. I don't understand how anyone drives in Boston. I have a car, but I don't go past Somerville, Revere, Dedham and Newton except very late at night. I take the T unless I REALLY need the car, and even then I take Uber if I can afford it.

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- carrying a lot of stuff
- need to stay past 12:30 am
- traveling with someone whose physical limitations make it hard to use the T
- the quickest car route to some neighborhoods nowhere near a T station is through Copley
- Copley is on the Green Line, and I don't like being crammed in like a sardine in an 85 degree one-car train, which stops for 5 minutes in the tunnel before every station, even several hours after rush hour

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Does anyone remember what time the runners near the finish line? I believe around noon but I'm not really sure

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This shit gets more pretentious and tedious by the year. It really does.

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Pretty soon I'll suggest they call it the John Hancock Marathon. Their employees get all of the good volunteer opportunities, and some people even get race numbers who haven't qualified (not counting charity runners). I think it's bullshit to reject qualified runners, as they have in the past, then hand out race numbers to their buddies.

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...wanting Boston to be a world-class city.

This is a world class event. It takes an enormous amount of planning and execution to run an event that goes thru 26 miles of cities and towns on its way to Boston. We're not exactly planning a kid's birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheeze.

It's not all about you.
Be a good host.

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Prayers to the victims of the explosions. While I'm no fan of the marathon, this is terrible.

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