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Race: The elephant nobody's talking about in the mayoral election

Bobby Constantino makes the case why we saw Obama rallies in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan in 2008 but haven't seen anything similar for mayoral candidates this year:

... In Boston, young men go into the financial district at 9am on workdays and see nearly all white faces. They walk by restaurants and bars in Beacon Hill and the Back Bay and see the same. They return home to deeply segregated neighborhoods and wonder what is going on. They apply to 10, 20 and even 30 entry level jobs and can't get hired. They wonder why African Americans, Cape Verdeans and Latinos are under-represented in the police and fire departments. They walk past construction sites in their own neighborhoods and wonder why people with out-of-state plates and no vested interest there have jobs and they don't.

People in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury are tired of hearing about how much racial progress has been made when realities like these speak otherwise. Residents here want and need to know whether the candidates plan to acknowledge these realities, which is a huge step in this city, and secondly, how they plan to address them going forward. ...

Ed. note: Yoon, Flaherty and McCrea have all said one of their first priorities would be to get more minorities into the management ranks in the police department. McCrea has said he would eliminate police details and hire people from economically hard hit neighborhoods as flaggers. Flaherty and McCrea say they would actually enforce city guidelines mandating a certain number of city residents be hired on city-funded construction projects.

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How many Boston residents work in other cities? It seems a bit unfair to me that nobody around Boston has these same restrictions for workers from their own cities yet Boston politicians keep making it harder for the rest of us to work there.

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While it's not totally their fault as such a young age, the reason always comes down to education.

A GED is worthless unless you're an very enterprising young person, and lets be honest, if they apply themselves, school work is much easier in the city then in the suburbs.

While leaders that look like themselves can help, they routinely don't. Allocating jobs based on "race" also isn't the answer, and can easily lead to a waste of taxpayer money.

This comes down to community and parenting, and how to grow and invest in both in low income neighborhoods.

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equally to the construction jobs Adam was talking about?

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Not necessarily, but private and state buissiness always looks for the lowest cost solution.

You want to run on a higher tax platform just to give work to local construction companies?

Not only that, we do use plenty of local companies, and people commute or live around where they're based. Can't have you cake and eat it too.

You want a construction job, apply for work at one, and be prepared to move. I know white and black folks who have moved all over the country chasing the best paying jobs in construction as projects went up. Sitting around jobless and crying that Boston proper doesn't have a huge industrial manufacturing base isn't going to fix your jobless problem.

If you're looking for high wage, low educations jobs you need to relocate to where they are based.

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It is already city ordinance that contractor's must hire 50% Boston residents, 25% minorities, and 10% women. If local wages are higher, those costs are already reflected in the contractor's bid. Whether the contractor complies with the requirement or not, the city is still paying the same. These requirements are up front and every contractor is aware of them. Not complying is a breach of contract and a theft of our city's dollars.

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So either the city/state isn't doing it's job of enforcement, or Constantino complaint is more politics then truth.

Do we know which without the wharrgarbl positioning?

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I'm sure if there were good examples of kids who stayed in school, and got good jobs on par with whites, the black kids would do it. They are making a decision not to go to school because the cost/benefit does not make sense.

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Depends what you want to do, but the majority of good obs in Boston proper are Tech, Medical, Science, Education, and Finance. All require advanced education to get anywhere.

Unfortunately, many minorities believe they're going to grow up to be athletes or rappers, so school is just wasted time.

That part of the culture needs to change, because then only the lucky and those with good foresight fall into good jobs.

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Also required are friends in the network. If you don't have those friends, you're going to get a lower-paying job, possibly low enough that it's not worth it.

The best time for people out of work is when there is nobody else to do the job.

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Ed. note: Yoon, Flaherty and McCrea have all said one of their first priorities would be to get more minorities into the management ranks in the police department.

Right, because the solution to fixing a century of Irish and Italian favoritism is favoring other ethnic groups.

I don't give a rat's ass what color your skin is, as long as you're talented, honest, and effective. What's more important at BPD right now is public/civilian oversight, and I haven't heard a squeak about that from any of the three candidates.

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What's more important at BPD right now is public/civilian oversight, and I haven't heard a squeak about that from any of the three candidates.

You really haven't?

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Ive always been a firm believer in blind resumes. Any online resume bank should be able to handle it. You take the resume and chop off name and even address of the person who submitted. There have been studies that people with non Euro sounding names have a hard time without help or people from certain areas get stigmatized, this halts that.

If the goal is to get people with certain experiences then look for that. Government job descriptions are so exact I wonder if anybody even qualifies for the jobs and makes me wonder if they just hand it to a friend anyway. Government needs to rework descriptions to make sense and if they want more diversity allow some leeway when it comes to qualifications. For instance every job in the world seems to want a BA or BS, sure they wave that for the right candidate. If the job is customer service rep at city hall parking and the person has worked as a customer service supervisor at Staples for 5 years that should count towards the BA/BS requirement especially if the job does not have any duties that require that degree anyway.

I get a kick out of people who want to just put more minorities and women into the top brackets in fields where there are none to begin with. If you do not have diversity at the bottom you will not get people working through the system to the top. CEO's tend to not be black because VIP's are not black, because senior managers are not black, because account managers are not black because account supervisors are not black , because entry level account representatives are not black. How are you supposed to get a black ceo when the there is nobody in the feeding system? Who will be the next black president after Obama? There are no black senators, a handful of black reps and two black governors. I am sure that it is just as bad at the state level.

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I wrote a piece when I first started blogging called "All White People, All the Time" in response to a conversation I had with a friend who'd just been hired to work at an agency in the Back Bay that has 300 employees. She was the only Black and only person of color hired ever and this includes secretarial and maintenance staff. She wondered how this could be true in 2008. She graduated from Milton Academy and from a decent local college.
I am often the only Black person at meetings, in organizations, and on the non-profit boards that I've served on. For every job I've gotten, there have been at least 5 - 10 others I couldn't even get an interview for and this was in the boom times. It may have been the zip-code thing. People tend to feel most comfortable with people they perceive to be members of their tribe. When I was young age was a factor that could sort-me-out, now that I'd older - being older can sort me out. I was hired for a gig last year through Craig's List and got hired and started working before I met the manager who was based in NYC. I excelled at the project and have just received word that they want me to work on the 2010 project. They admitted, however, that had they met me they wouldn't have hired me because of my age. (And I think ethnicity as well although they wouldn't say that.)
There have been changes but there are still huge inequities in education and access and the lack of willngness among some to give people a break, a benefit of the doubt and train them to be more. My first job ever, I was ill-prepared for but because the supervisor saw something in me, he gave me a month to get it together. I know that my brother was never given that opportunity despite having graduated from the same school as me.

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Police need to work with the communities they work in, and they'll do so better if they can blend into those communities. This includes being able to speak Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Chinese, VIetnamese, and other languages that are used by Boston residents.

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This I do agree with you on. It is better for the minority community because it can build more trust for the officers but it is also good for the rest of us because a spanish speaking officer will surely be able to arrest more people in spanish areas (for example) then a white officer who does not understand what anyone is saying. I think it would also lead to less false arrests as more information can be garnered quickly on the scene.

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Why not find people that are met those obligations, and are educationally qualified.

Hate to say it, but going into a bad community and hiring up a bunch of friends, relatives, and neighbors of thugs because of the color of their skin is not going to help matters.

You also need them to be be smart and involved in their community. Race isn't the only problem, and dumbing down scores to admit more minorities is a horrible idea. Getting the best cops out of cruisers, on to their feet, and involved in the community would be much more effective.

I'm all for blind resumes like suggested above, and even affirmative action for college (wish is was class/income based, not race based), but dumbing down job requirements just to reach some percentage is stupid and irresponsible.

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Hate to say it, but going into a bad community and hiring up a bunch of friends, relatives, and neighbors of thugs because of the color of their skin is not going to help matters.

1. Where, exactly, are the "bad communities?"

2. On what planet should a hiring decision be based on who a person's friends, relatives, or neighbors are?

2a. Oh wait, you're making it pretty clear that people of color are bad, thugs, live in bad neighborhoods, etc. OK, it makes sense now.

3. Why did you post anonymously?

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Police need to work with the communities they work in, and they'll do so better if they can blend into those communities.

So in other words, let's promote people with competency as a secondary concern because minority/"ethnic" populations are racists and won't talk to a honkey?

*golf clap*

Honestly, I think it has more to do with people in high-crime areas having more experience with the police, and thus having more in-their-face evidence of their incompetence. When's the last time someone on Beacon Hill had their next door neighbor arrested because he looked kinda like someone who mugged someone else a block down? When's the last time someone on Beacon Hill had their car broken into and were told "it's not worth filing a report"?

BPD's effectiveness has nothing to do with the color of its staff's skin. It has to do with competency, honesty, and motivation.

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Racism is the systemic oppression of groups with less power by groups with more power. People of color can have biases (and do, just like all the rest of us), but only contribute to racism when they're perpetuating these biases against their own groups or other groups of people of color.

Do you actually interact with marginalized people on a regular basis? Because the issue isn't that a huge number of people of color are saying "no, I won't talk to a white cop." It's that people of color are being approached solely by officers who don't socialize where they do, don't use the same mannerisms, don't eat the same food, don't speak the language. It creates an us-versus-them dynamic. It isn't the one white cop pulling over the one white dude; it's that black dude knowing that he's only ever been pulled over by white cops, knowing that the white cop isn't sharing an office and having discussions in meetings about black America because he knows there aren't any black dudes on the force. And besides, don't we want our community leaders and community protectors to be from the community? The force needs to look like the community.

Aside from race, which clearly isn't the sole solution to decreasing the us/them dynamic, people who work in a position of serving a community need to also hang out there when they're off the job. White police officers from the suburbs can definitely be effective officers in the inner city, but only if they see themselves as part of both communities. If they flee for the burbs as soon as their shift is over, it's easy to feel removed from the community and feel like "these people in this place need to get their acts together" and arrest someone for having a taillight out. If the cop eats and shops in the community and takes his kids there to the playground on weekends, it's much easier for him to see that the guy with the taillight could just as easily be him, because everyone's taillight burns out, and to tell the guy he can get a new taillight at the place down the street where the cop buys his.

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I'll simply add a note to say how much I appreciate when someone sticks out their neck to talk about difficult issues of race and other forms of difference, especially when doing so risks offending the Powers that Be.

In my experience in this city, too few people are willing to do that. (Alas, some of the so-called enlightened liberals are amongst the worst, talking in fuzzy terms about diversity this and diversity that, but utterly wimping out when it comes to bringing truth to power.) I'm not asking for full agreement, but a willingess to talk about the tough stuff and demand accountability when exclusion is identified would be a nice start.

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This is where people lose me when racism and sexism come into the conversation. Anyone who dislikes someone based off of their race is a racist. Anyone who dislikes someone based off of their sex is a sexist. When a woman says a woman is better at job x because of ABC that is sexism. When a group of black men discriminate against a white woman that is racism. I think your getting racism and institutional racism mixed up.

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It isn't one act, and it's usually not intentional.

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I am generally the last person to say this... but you just don't get it. Sure we have some great cops out there, great white cops in minority areas I am not denying that.

For instance in the case of Crowley versus Gates I supported Crowley all the way. I thought he was right although his choice of beer annoys me. The problem is I believe in this case Gates was tired, backed into a corner and lashed out. Racial differences flashed into his mind, he suddenly thought he was being victimized. I do not believe it was true but he sure did. That affected his actions from there on in and things just went out of control. Now Gates is a scholar, he has been around for many years, he is very very smart and due to his age and what he does he is most likely a wise man as well. Now imagine the same type of scenario with a black teenager in a black neighberhood? Now lets say the black teenager, being a teenager, did something minor against the law and was being accused of something much larger. In times of crisis peoples minds go back to what they feel is safe and secure. I would feel safe with an officer of any color but that is because my parents did not tell me stories of being hosed down Chinese firefighters or of the time grandma and grandpa were arrested because grandma had to use the ladies room and their was no black ladies room in sight. I do not defend minorities being racist against white people and am against preferences that discriminate against white people. White people with biases keep it to themselves and so should minorities that have preferences but when in a stressful situation involving the police that does not always happen. I think we should have a goal of desegregated communities but until that day comes I would like to see a few additional minority officers hitting the streets.

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....to be a racially and ethnically segregated city for some time. I wish that wasn't the case, but I don't see things changing here. Right now, the only Boston neighborhood that passes for being both racially and socio-economically diverse (and sexually, too, while we're at it) is JP. Other 'hoods may be trending towards being slightly more mixed, but no dramatic changes are forthcoming.

That still leaves us with the question of how to diversify our public safety officers, and it's a hugely complicated problem, socially, politically, legally. It will take dedicated, nuanced leadership, though I don't yet know if any of the mayoral candidates are capable of that.

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It's pretty racially and socioeconomically diverse, I think. Walk around and look in classrooms at the center where I work, and the makeup of the kids is usually about 20% Vietnamese, 20% non-Latino white, 20% non-Latino Black of various sorts, 20% Latino, and 20% others (middle eastern kids, Chinese, Indian, mixed race, etc.). There's usually at least one Muslim kid and one Hindu in any given group, and I'm currently working with kids from Jewish families, GLBT families, a Mormon family, a couple of Witness families, several kids from families where a parent has a disability. The parents of the kids I work with currently include several on welfare, several who work minimum wage jobs, a few police officers, several nurses, teachers, a doctor, a professor, a lawyer, an artist, a couple of musicians, lots of construction workers, lots of people who work in human services. I have families who get maximum food stamp benefits and families who frequently take vacations on planes.

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Can we have lunch?

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Bobby, I can't speak for Eeka, but click my name and you'll find my e-mail address. David

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I've regarded Dot as being ethnically diverse but not necessarily socioeconomically diverse -- as in spanning a wider spectrum of incomes. But the same thing could be said of JP on the other end as it gentrified. So yes, Dorchester too.

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Check out Savin Hill, Ashmont Hill, Melville Park, and Lower Mills.

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David:

East Boston...All Italian right? No Italian, Central American, some West Indian, some Bosnians, some "urban pioneers".

Charlestown...All Irish right? No Irish (Townie and Toonie), Puerto Rican.

Roslindale...Greek, Arab, Irish, Italian, and people who can't afford JP, who used to live in JP.

South End...All Gay right? No Gay, Straight, White, Black, Latino, Asian. (Not too many gay black guys though, I guess they are not diverse enough to live in the South End. I lived there for a few years. It felt like a small town in the Midwest that happened to have a large homosexual population).

Dorchester..The diversity that everyone thinks they are getting by living in Brookline, Cambridge, JP, etc while pontificating on about how diverse everything is around them. Dorchester is the place where people from all backgrounds live and thrive. Sure parts are bad, real bad. Ever been to Ashmont, Neponset, Cedar Grove, Savin Hill, Big parts of Mattapan, St. Margaret's. No? You should. It's a great place. I spent 30 years there, maybe a few hours walking around and you might want to revise your statement about how segregated things are.

I see JP as diverse as the cafeteria at Oberlin. Sure your skin color or sexual orientation is different, but you are all the same underneath; know-it-alls who look down on those filthy people who live in those other Boston neighborhoods where they do things like go to work, go to church, go to the local bar, raise a family, watch the Red Sox. Heaven forbid those things happen.

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Well John, you sure fired off a volley! I guess I'll reply...

1. I do go to work. In fact, I work too much.

2. I don't go to church (though I have no problem with those who do, and if I could figure out what kind of God we have, I would too).

3. I don't drink (allergic to alcohol -- a common Asian thing), so bars hold little appeal for me;

4. I don't have a family to raise (though I wish I had time for a dog, but see comment No. 1).

5. I'm a Cubs fan and confess that I've never warmed to the Red Sox (another reason for me to skip bars).

6. I didn't go to Oberlin (try conservative Valparaiso University, followed by -- okay -- NYU Law).

7. I'm Asian. (See No. 3.)

8. I happen to be straight, and feel perfectly comfortable living in JP.

9. I don't look down at the "filthy" (your word, not mine) people elsewhere, though I've certainly experienced Boston's cold shoulder during my 15 years here.

10. I felt figuratively homeless until I moved to JP, a neighborhood that pretty much accepts people as they are, welcomes quirkiness, and is near the subway (allowing folks to not own a car and still get to work quickly, well, most of the time).

11. Props to you for pointing out that some of the other neighborhoods aren't as segregated as I represented.

Aloha,
David

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I see JP as diverse as the cafeteria at Oberlin. Sure your skin color or sexual orientation is different, but you are all the same underneath; know-it-alls who look down on those filthy people who live in those other Boston neighborhoods where they do things like go to work, go to church, go to the local bar, raise a family, watch the Red Sox. Heaven forbid those things happen.

So in other words, JP is full of bourgeois, and you're a "real" Bostonian?

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Inside, however, JP is just as segregated as the rest of Boston is as a whole. Racial and economic 'neighborhoods' are often very clearly delineated in JP.

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There are definite delineations in JP, I agree, but perhaps much more smunched together than one might think. For example, on my street, we have everything from palatial homes to modest triple deckers chopped into condos (that's me) to apartment rentals.

I'm not claiming JP is some completely integrated paradise -- I don't know if such a place exists anywhere -- but people manage to live in relative harmony despite some of the tensions that might be more pronounced or confrontational in other neighborhoods. I guess what I like about it is that people can act/dress/look like they want and feel at home here. As in, no big deal. As Boston goes it's a pretty friendly place.

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Im not sure if people know exactly how police officers get hired in Massachusetts, but it is a state Civil Service system, and the cities and towns have little choice on who they can pick or not pick. The same goes for promoting from within. Civil service sets those standards, not cities or towns.

For people who want to be a police officer in Boston, you have to take a civil service test. The test is 100 questions, with each question being a point. In theory, the person with the highest score gets the first chance of the job, and he has to be hired unless he fails a medical, psych exam, background check, lies during the interview, etc.

But, seperate lists are made for different categories. There is a list of scores for Veterans, minorties, languages, residents and non residents. Civil service looks at a city like Boston and says "Boston has x% minorties so x% minorties have to be hired from the minority list" or "Lowell needs x number of people who speak Cambodian, so the first person hired gets hired off the Cambodian list. So then, if the Boston Police Department is below that number of minorties they take the first person off that minority list, regardless of score (You need a 70% to pass and get hired).

From what I heard on the last test, was that there were simply not enough quailfied people to hire off any of those lists. Something like over 75% of them had criminal records and/or failed drug tests or had used drugs. You simply cannot hire these people as police officers. So Boston actually had to take laterals from other Departments for the first time in history (I think).

In terms of getting certain groups into management positions within the police departments, a similar process happens. But instead of seperate lists, you get points for certain categories. Each rank has a certain amount of questions (SGT 80 questions, LT 100 questions, and Captains 120 questions). Each question is worth x points, and your eperience and time on the job gives you points. If you are a minority you get 1 or 2 points, if you are a veteran you get 1 or 2 points. The person with the highest score gets promoted, unless that officer showed some sort of real problem which happens but is rare.

One of the problems with hiring police officers in MA is that you have to be a resident of that city to get to the top of that list. I think it would help if cities and towns can recruit nationally to get better qualified canidites, including minorties.

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Hi, you make some really good points- I wonder if anyone else saw this post as well? I wonder if anyone knew this (assuming this is all current), especially the people with posts suggesting more minorities in the police department and within management??

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You rreally need to get down to Roslindale more. ;~}

Just on my (tiny) little block, there are 4 families where husband and wife are of different races.

Roslindale sure looks pretty integrated to me. And Sacred Heart Parish has members from at least 40 (probably considerably more) other countries.

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If it's not easily accessible on the subway, it's not on my mental map! (I'm sans wheels.)

I was spoiled by living in New York. When I lived in New York, and on the frequent occasions I go back to visit, I have never felt like a racial minority. I have always felt that way in Boston. (And keep in mind I grew up in NW Indiana, not exactly Diversity Central!) So, this is a sore spot that I readily concede.

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...of Happy Flight (Yaguchi, 2008) on Wednesday. Japanese audience members far outnumbered everyomne else.

Lots of buses get you from Forest Hills to Roslindale Square. There is life beyond the Orange Line. ;~:

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...but my worldview tends to be Orange, Red, and Green (and occasionally Blue to Logan)! :)

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In a way your segregating yourself by Subway routes the same way others segregate by color. Theres areas of Greater Boston that are best served by Subway, others by bus and others by car. If you do not have experience using all three your missing quite a bit.

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To compare one's chosen public transportation mode to racial segregation is, quite simply, silly...and a cheap "gotcha" point (gawd, I'm channeling Sarah Palin) in the context of this thread. It is a shame that Boston's subway lines are somewhat geographically limiting, but so be it.

I vastly prefer the subway because it's much faster (most of the time) and also easier to read/do work waiting for and riding the subway; not so with the bus. As for a car, it's a cost/benefit thing: I don't like city driving, and I'm not eager to sink money into a car that I'd drive, at most, once a week if that.

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Well it is a form of segregating oneself from the people and areas not served by the subway system. It is not a "gotcha" moment it is an observation. Your not from around here and stick to the subway, it is hard to trust you as a voice that understands how Boston works.

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If you keep calling it "the subway", I'm just going to have to assume you're not from around here either.

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How else would I say only the "subway" portion of the T as opposed to the buses, trains, boats, "The Ride" and occasional trolley that make up the rest of the system?

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Your not from around here and stick to the subway, it is hard to trust you as a voice that understands how Boston works.

Yo, Shady, please don't tell me you're founding the Boston Birthers Movement?! Unpacking that comment would take forever, so I'll let it stand for its amazing self. Yikers!

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Your birther analogy only works if you claimed to have been born here which I do not believe you are making this claim. Also the birthers would never accept Obama, I would accept your views on the city as a whole if you traveled to areas that were not within a mile of a a coded Red/Green/Orange area on the MBTA map.

How can you know how diverse other areas are if you do not visit them and even only use the Blue Line to get yourself to the airport. I am guessing you do not frequent Revere Beach which can be quite diverse as well. As someone who has been around the city for most of my life and having had to depend on buses, trains, subways and most recently by car I can tell you that areas served by the different means of transport are all very different. I think you are trying to label me as being insular but I think you need to rethink how insular you may be as well.

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...that you miss huge chunks of Boston if you don't do any travel (exploration) by bus.

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If the point is to explore, I've found that bringing a bike along really extends your range. Particularly when you get further out, like on the commuter rail lines. Bike plus train can get you anywhere from Plymouth to Worcester to Rockport.

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Michael, it's not that I "don't do any travel (exploration) by bus"? I do; but I indicated my preference is the subway.

As for Shady, I don't know if you are insular, worldly, or somewhere in between. But when you attack the credibility of someone's experience and impressions of Boston life because (1) they are not from here; and (2) they take the subway, all I can say is wow, wow, WOW. Unbelievable.

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For those of us in many parts of Boston -- we can prefer the subway all we want, but it won't do us much good. Buses are a necessity. ;~}

And some utterly essential spots -- like Phillips Candy House -- in Dorchester -- pretty much require a car (or bike).

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He may be from around here. I'm just happy the idea that one's inter-city travel habit of using the subway regularly and not buses could be a metaphor for racism.

I wonder if the same argument can be made about your narrow selection of beverages that excludes alcohol drinks. It is just a wise health decision for a person with an allergy or rank racism towards all drinks with alcohol? We report, you decide.

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....I am an alcohol-ist. You've outed me. I am secretly planning the revival of the Prohibitionist movement. :)

There are days when I wish I could get sh*tfaced drunk, but an instant migraine isn't quite the same thing...

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Most areas of Greater Boston are best served by Quizno's with D'Angelos in second. Subway just doesn't spread out enough in the city.

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They make a good sandwich.

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I do not like any of the national sub chains, I much prefer a local deli. You get a much better sandwich that way. Although not all local deli's are good, some are just plain horrid like the local place near my work that presented me with a meatball sub with luke warm meatballs and cold sauce.

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My kids found an older Dunks promotional item with the "worth the trip" catch phrase. Their reaction: "Worth the trip? You mean, tripping over them everywhere? Or was there a time when you actually had to travel to get to one?"

I wonder how the Dunkin Density works out in different areas of the city relative to transportation resources ... either they do or donut serve different areas differently. I do think that the pink and orange is sending out some odd signals ...

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Why is it so hard to find white creme donots?

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The donut place at Wellington has them. It isn't a dunks, either. MMMMMMMM

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What donut place at wellington? The only ones I can think of are three DD's. One inside and the other two flying around like vulture s and that does not include the other 6 within a quarter mile. Is it in the Station Landing complex?

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It used to be a DD, but it has since gone independent - to the right as you leave, left as you head to the platform, right next to the "turnstyles".

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Ohhh, I will have to check it out next time I am in Wellington. That must have been in the past year and a half?

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They do have the ones filled with frosting, they do vanilla, chocolate and strawberry or were you looking for more like a vanilla pudding?

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On the bus from Forest Hills, at any rate :-). Actually, one of these days, I swear, I'm going to take the 34E from Forest Hills all the way to the very end of the route down Washington Street - in Walpole. That just sound so bizarre (and yes, some of you will know I've been making this 34E pledge for years).

I'll second what Michael said about Roslindale, or at least, parts of it.

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I really enjoyed the project someone undertook a few years ago -- to traverse every MBTA bus route from start to finish. they never completed their quest, as I recall. when I finally retire, I want to do this too. ;~}

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...we'll have the UHub bus tour.

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and pub crawl.

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(11PM) post pub crawl dinner snacks.

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