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Teamsters local picked by Mark Wahlberg: We're not what we used to be

By adamg on Thu, 03/08/2012 - 7:42am

Teamsters Local 25, which Mark Wahlberg wants to do a reality show about, issued a press release acknowledging its troubled past, but says that's just not them anymore:

Acknowledging that some critics would say the organization as a whole has had a storied past, [local President Sean] O'Brien said that his union has worked hard to restore a level of integrity and professionalism that is shared throughout the 11,000 member organization. "The Teamsters Local 25 members of today are proud, hardworking citizens of the community. We take pride in being a voice for working people."

In 2003, local President George Cashman and Vice President William Carnes pleaded guilty to charges related to a scheme to launder extortion money from an Ohio company and to get union health benefits to non-union employees of a local trucking company. The year before, another Local 25 member - and member of Whitey Bulger's Winter Hill Gang - pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, extortion, embezzlement, and interstate transportation of stolen property in a scheme involving computers stolen out of a Charlestown UPS facility.

Cashman was also allegedly involved in shakedowns of movie producers so bad that only large state tax breaks brought film and TV crews back to Boston.

O'Brien says Local 25 is a changed local:

O'Brien pointed to the organization's success with their autism fund as a key motivator for his members to give back to the community. "For the past five years we've used our strength in numbers to raise more than half a million dollars for autism and helped to pass a law that requires health insurance to provide autism related coverage for families in this state."

"For us, it's not just about bringing home a paycheck. It's about making a difference and leaving things better tomorrow than they are today. I think this compassion and dogged determination will come through in the members that the show follows," O'Brien said.

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Bicyclist stops for red light - and gets rear ended by another bicyclist

By adamg on Thu, 03/08/2012 - 7:11am

Bikeyface illustrates getting hit by another bicyclist yesterday on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge.

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Boxes battle bark beetles

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 5:53pm

The city has installed a series of traps in parks to see if they can stop the destructive elm bark beetle:

The traps consist of 18.5"x 28" green plywood boxes mounted approximately 15 feet off the ground on trees located at least 150 feet away from any elms. Four have been placed on Boston Common, four in the Public Garden, three in the Fenway Victory Garden, and one in Copley Square.

The traps are designed to monitor elm bark beetles which cause damage when the larvae build “galleries” beneath the bark. Adults pose an additional threat when they travel from sick to healthy trees carrying Dutch elm disease spores with them.

Each trap contains a paper lining with a sticky surface that acts like old-fashioned flypaper. The paper is infused with a pheromone lure to attract the insects. The traps contain no pesticides or harmful chemicals.

Read more about Boxes battle bark beetles

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Mahky Mahk and Townie Teamstas

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 5:48pm

Charlestown Patch reports Mark Wahlberg is working on a Charlestown-based reality series about members of the local Teamsters untion.

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Third-grade teachers have a future on the Green Line

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 5:08pm

When I got on on the second car of an inbound trolley at Hynes early this afternoon, it was fairly crowded, and the back half of the car was packed with high-school kids.

About halfway between Arlington and Boylston, WHAM, the train slammed to a stop. Some guy began yelling "Is everybody OK?" The operator got on the PA and asked the same question. Everybody was. And then the operator got back on and said "You kids back there better stop fooling around, somebody's going to get hurt."

A few seconds later, the train began moving again. WHAM, the train slammed to another stop. This time, we just sat there as the operator got on her telephone and began talking to somebody. "Excuse me, are we going to be moving soon?" one guy asked. "I have a bus to catch." Just then, a beefy inspector-type dude got on the train and made his way to the back. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he was talking to the kids and pointing to the levers above the doors back there. A couple of the kids just shook their heads, as did some random woman back among them.

Inspector Dude strode to the front of the train and yelled: "This train is coming out of service. Nobody wants to admit anything, so we're taking this train out of service." The train inched into Boylston, the doors opened up and we all stepped out, as the Voice of the T guy's voice came on to apologize for the train being taken out of service.

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Orange Line passenger charged as screaming cop biter

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 4:51pm

Boston Police report an off-duty cop returning home from a detail at the Garden last night had to subdue an out-of-control passenger who, after refusing to stop harassing other passengers, turned on him and sent him to the hospital with minor injuries.

According to police, the cop, heading toward his car at Forest Hills around 11 p.m., perked up when he noticed Aisha Abdi Yusuf, 22, screaming at some men at the other end of their train car. When he asked her - "quietly," police say - to knock it off and sit down, she turned on him:

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What is it about the red lights at the Silver Line tunnel that makes them so invisible to drivers?

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 4:13pm

For the second time in three months, a driver ran a red light at D Street in South Boston and plowed into a Silver Line bus about to descend to World Trad Center, the MBTA reports. The driver, Adam Galarza of New Bedford, was cited for failing to stop at a red light and an expired inspection sticker after the 1:40 p.m. collision, the T says, adding nobody on the bus was injured.

Compare to December's crash at the same location.

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Court: Boston doesn't have to make up unfunded state share of tuition for police officers

By adamg on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 11:11am

The Supreme Judicial Court today sided with Boston in a battle with some police officers over reimbursement for college tuition.

Faced with a fiscal crunch in 2009, the state cut its payments to the city under the Quinn Bill, which rewards police officer who continue their eduction with higher pay grades and with payments toward their tuition. In turn, the city notified its police unions it would exercise a clause in union contracts dealing with the Quinn Bill and not make up the tuition difference - which amounted to almost $9 million in total payments that year.

Several police officers then sued the city, claiming the contract clause was illegal under Quinn Bill, arguing the law requires cities and towns to fully fund the payments, even if the state reduces its share.

The state's highest court, however, disagreed:

The Legislature in drafting the statute intended a system of shared funding. As such, the statute in the end requires only that municipalities pay one-half the amounts listed in the payment provision, plus any amount actually received from the Commonwealth. The statute is "simply silent" as to a requirement to pay more than one-half. ... In the face of this silence, municipalities are free to pay more than one-half voluntarily, and may agree to do so via collective bargaining, but the statute does not require it.