jikamens's blog

John Connolly puts campaign sign on my property without permission

jikamens — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:40:55 +0000

Dear Councilor Connolly,

When I arrived home (__ ___ Street, Brighton) at 6:15 this evening, I found a "Connolly for Boston" campaign sign secured to my porch railing with zip ties.

My wife tells me it was not there when she arrived home at 5:15. My three-year-old son tells me he saw "a man in a pickup truck" put up the sign.

Neither my wife nor I has spoken to anyone from your campaign or approved the placement of this campaign sign on our property.

Please explain yourself.

Furthermore, please remove this sign from our property immediately.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kamens

CC: UniversalHub.com
CC: allstonbrighton2006@googlegroups.com
CC: blog.kamens.us
CC: Boston Globe
CC: Boston Herald
CC: Allston-Brighton TAB

[Simulblogged.]

BPD: loud 2am parties ok; loud 2PM parties, not so much

jikamens — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:39:58 +0000

Dear Mayor Menino,

My wife and I have lived at [elided] in Brighton since 1997. At least a third of the residential units on our block are rental units, most of which are rented to a different set of Boston College students each year. Some years are good: the students are respectful of the neighborhood, keep the noise down, and keep things clean. Some years are bad: the students host loud, rowdy, outdoor parties until all hours of the night; get drunk; throw plastic cups, beer bottles and cans everywhere; throw up or urinate in the street; set off fireworks under cars; etc.

Although we never know what we're going to get in terms of students, we do have a pretty good idea of what we are going to get from the police department, which is that when we call the department at 2:00am on a Sunday morning because the students are playing Denis Leary's "Cause I'm an Asshole" at top volume out of an open window, drunkenly screaming along, and waking up the entire neighborhood, and we call 911 and ask for someone to come do something about it, the odds are that nobody is going to show up.

Sarah Jessica Parker movie shooting today in Post Office Square

jikamens — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:03:44 +0000

They've blocked off Post Office Square this morning and are shooting a Sarah Jessica Parker movie there. I think I caught a glimpse of her, but I'm not certain. Some photos.

Naked Pizza sign going up in Brighton Center

jikamens — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:26:54 +0000

Caught this photo this morning of the Naked Pizza sign being hoisted in Brighton Center. Looks like the transformation of the old Exxon station is pretty much complete!

Herald thinks welfare moms should dress commando style

jikamens — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:12 +0000

To the editor:

What a relief to see our elected officials finally getting tough on the aid recipients who spent 0.002% of last year’s welfare funds on underwear ("Pol gets tough on welfare abuse", Feb. 15).

How dare these women buy high-quality, inexpensive undergarments from Victoria’s Secret? Wal-Mart should be perfectly fine for poor people. Or maybe they should make do without underwear; if beggars wandering the streets half-naked in rags was good enough for our ancestors, it should be good enough for us.

It’s even more outrageous that some of these women are shopping at outlet stores. If they’re going to use taxpayer money on underwear, the least they could do is pay full price.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kamens

(Simulblogged.)

Open letter to Mayor Menino about disastrous snow handling this winter

jikamens — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:11:17 +0000

(Simulblogged.)

February 1, 2011

Mayor Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013

(617) 635-4500

Dear Mayor Menino,

On the brink of yet another major snowstorm, I am writing to complain about how incredibly bad the city's handling of the snow has been this winter.

Neighborhood streets all over the city are overwhelmed with snow. There's no place for residents to put new snow even if they want to do the right thing while shoveling. There's no place for people to park their cars. Other cities in the area, such as Waltham, have recognized the problem and are removing snow from neighborhood streets, not just main arteries. Why isn't Boston? (examples: Foster Street in Brighton between Surrey and Washington Streets; and Leamington Road in Brighton)

Brighton Center shoveling violations tour

jikamens — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 05:32:20 +0000

20 shoveling violations in a 0.4-mile stretch of Brighton Center, many of them on or abutting city-owned property.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reSAg6U_Cc

I've emailed the mayor a link to the video. Think he'll do anything about it?

Stabbing this morning in the Leather District

jikamens — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:39:29 +0000

Stabbing this morning on Beach Street in the Leather District.

Tim Cahill doesn't see anything wrong with leaving disoriented, demented drivers on the road

jikamens — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 12:54:34 +0000

Can you say “pandering to the elderly”? Tim Cahill can.

Ignorance on parade in the Herald

jikamens — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:06:35 +0000

I wish I could figure out why the Boston Herald prints letters to the editor which are so mind-numbingly stupid that they leave the reader agape, his jaw dropped so far that it spills his morning coffee.

This morning's chestnut was Harry Shuris of Winchester, who derided the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission for, um, doing its job by recalling a novelty chair decorated with lead paint. He offered the following "proof" of why this shouldn't matter:

Pencils contain "excessive amounts of lead." I would venture to say that at any given time there are more kids chewing on pencils than on basketball-shaped chairs.

Except, of course, that "lead pencils" don't actually contain any lead.

I sent the Herald a response, although God only knows if they'll print it. It may be that they don't want to soil their precious letters page by printing letters that contain nothing stupid or false.