Boston
Tuesday - Feb. 9th - everything went fairly smooth today. So no, delays and headaches are not an everyday occurence. And no, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using the T. Just make sure to give yourself extra time in the mornings.
I just think there are way too many disabled trains and switchgear problems than there should be over all, and things need to be improved before they get worse. People rely on these trains - and we should get better service. Right now, we're not getting our money's worth.
I'll only post if I have a legitimate complaint. No reason to do this every day. But, too many times there have been headaches and I don't see anything posted anywhere. So I wanted to tell it like I see it.
~Leon
Incredibly, after I filed a Motion to video with the Court, and provided said Motion to DA Dan Conley's underling Edmond Zabin -- and then proceeded to upload 35 YouTube videos (now with 14,000 views) Dan Conley gave me the stiff arm and a finger toward the face when I moved to ask him a question at conclusion of the Dan Talbot murder trial. He doesn't like the fact that I exposed a situation where it appears that Officer Billy Soto planted a spent .40 cal casing on top of a Gatorade bottle in the trash. Those of us who shoot guns, even occasionally can see that, scroll down and look at pictures, click on them, they are trial exhibits that I shot in hi-res 1600 x 1200
http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2010/01/dan-talbot-murder-trial-27-jan-2010.html Read more
Even Salt Lake City is tipsier than Boston, according to a Men's Health report pushed by USA Today.
Wicked Local Roslindale reports Councilor Steve Murphy is definitely running for state treasurer. This time around, he'd first have to defeat Steve Grossman to take on a Republican for the right to succeed Tim Cahill, who is himself trying to move up.
School Superintendent Carol Johnson yesterday called for a series of steps to meet an anticipated deficit in the school budget for next year. Read more
An East Boston convenience store that wants to sell beer and wine will have a tough job convincing city officials to overturn a longstanding, if informal, policy of limiting licenses to full-fledged packies and a few grandfathered establishments. Read more
From tragedy to farce in a couple of hours three years ago today (Every single UHub Mooninite post).
H/t to Andy for the reminder.
Check out this video, released this week by BPD. I pose the question because normally, the only people to stride purposefully through neighborhoods in slow motion as they listen concernedly to local residents while inspirational music plays are candidates, right?
There's an awesome website called SeeClickFix that I blogged about over at WestwoodBlog. It allows citizens to report potholes and other problems so the city can fix them. It's full of reports of potholes and general complaints about road conditions. It would be great if the "fixers" were watching it, but it appears they aren't. Read more
The Obama Administration is announcing $8 Billion in grants for High-Speed Rail - and allocating just $112 million of that total to the only successful rail corridor in the country - and the only existing high-speed network. Instead of building on success, the administration has decided to hand out chunks of cash to regions without any substantial existing passenger rail traffic. It's more than a little painful.
Let's be clear: this was a largely self-inflicted wound. The states along the Northeast Corridor were spoiled by the relatively good state of rail transportation in the region, and so failed to invest in the planning and advocacy that constitute the necessary groundwork for big federal grants. The states that just hit the jackpot - Florida, California, and Illinois - are notable for their size, which allowed individual states to do the bulk of the planning. They've spent decades surveying lines and clearing environmental reviews. We didn't. Read more
Chris Lovett reviews 2009 housing sales and prices from Boston neighborhoods.
The list follows. Anybody notice anything interesting, besides the fact that indicted (but still innocent) Chuck Turner doesn't chair anything? Also, note the new Committee on Women and Healthy Communities, which is described as focusing on improving the lives of "girls, women, and others" (hmm, does that leave anybody out?). Read more
MySecretBoston officially launches next week, but this online guide to "hidden" cool stuff in Boston already has an impressive number of finds online. It's an attractive site and has some attitude (and, personally, as a Drupal geek, I'm fond of their choice in content management systems). Read more
Not a clue what Channel 25 and Commonwealth Magazine will be saying about some city affordable housing program, but here's the BRA's retort. OK, looks like the BRA is responding to teaser tweets from a Channel 25 reporter questioning whether city workers get an unfair advantage in a housing lottery.
Want to buy a child? Seriously. It will only cost you a bag of millet. Leila was sold ... traded really. For a bag of food that would feed her family.
If you're not interested in purchasing a child, what about children who work as many hours a day as they are old just to support their family. Read more
This missed connection ad on Craigslist reads like a modern day love poem. Bearded men of Boston...pull your faces out of the PBR pitcher, it looks like someone has their eye on you...
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/mis/1567745744.html
Robinson tells Red Mass. Group the Brown numbers in the 9th district have him considering a rematch against the South Boston congressman. Alas, the commercial he used last time is a bit out of date, but heck, there's gotta be a sequel in there somewhere:
Bob LeLievre breaks down Coakley's large win in Boston by neighborhood, along with comparisons to 2006 numbers for Deval Patrick. Some interesting numbers: She lost South Boston, barely took West Roxbury, Charlestown and Tom Menino's redoubt of Readville, but got 96% of the vote in Mattapan and 92% in Roxbury.
Massport has announced today that they are offering free Wifi for the next two years! Since Thanksgiving, WiFi access has been free at Logan and other airports around the country due to a sponsorship deal with Google to provide the access for free that only required you to click past a splash page announcing Google's sponsorship.
The two months showed a sixfold increase in usage at Logan according to Massport and they wanted to follow up on that by continuing the program with other sponsorship. Read more
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