City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) says making sunscreen dispensers outdoors as ubiquitous as hand-sanitizer stations in city buildings would let residents and visitors enjoy this most walkable of cities with less fear of sun-caused skin cancer.
In a motion that goes before the council on Wednesday, O'Malley calls for a hearing to consider how to equip Boston parks with free sunscreen dispensers so that people can liberally coat themselves with the lotion.
O'Malley says he already has the backing of the Melanoma Research Foundation.
The council's meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers in City Hall.
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Comments
This will end well
By anon
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:30pm
When homeless creeps decide to rub in some sunscreen where it doesn't need to be applied.
I understand...
By John-W
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:36pm
...that they're considering "hand lotion" dispensers on the Orange Line...
I wish
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 9:03am
some bum would drown this sad sack loser in a vat of SPF. Everyone in JP and WR hates O'Malley.
Must be why he keeps losing elections
By adamg
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 9:06am
Oh, wait ...
Not hard
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 9:59am
to win an election when qualified people with real credentials and real jobs can't run for this barely part-time hack job. This clown and his bowling shirt collection has done nothing to generate revenue, reduce property tax, or improve quality of life for property owners.
Okay
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:29am
Are you going to run?
I think you missed the part about having a "real job"
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:44am
The last time a viable candidate ran against this clown was 2 elections ago. It was a gentleman named Jim Hennigan who has done more for his the community on his own personal time than this guy has on the tax payers dime.
But why should you care, you live in the burbs!
That was an open election
By Rob Not Verified
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:51pm
That was an open election with no incumbent and O'Malley won with 60% of the vote. Then last election he got the most votes ever for a district city councilor. But keep going on about the groundswell against him.....
Ya
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:44pm
with 49% eligible voters casting ballots for City Council D6 election.
Tip: If you're going to use figures make sure you all of them, not just the one(s) that help prove your opinion.
49% of eligible voters
By roadman
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:54pm
cast ballots?!? Compared to most elections, that actually sounds like a really good turnout.
Um
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:13pm
I hate to confuse you all, sm4269a, anon (not verified), Rob not verified, and Swirls, but there was an election less than 2 years ago, and there were 2 names on the ballot, and Matt got 85% of the vote. The results are even in the internets.
All else is opinion, but the election is the only thing that matters.
Well in the last two years
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:40pm
he's shown his true colors and I know about 50 of my neighbors will vote for his next opponent. Suck on that.
Maybe you misread my comment
By Rob Not Verified
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:42pm
Maybe you misread my comment(s), but that's exactly what I was saying. Amen.
My bad
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 7:09pm
I was just throwing the blanket.
Of course, with those 51 people ready to vote for Matt's theoretical opponent, he must be quaking in his boots.
Sticking to one's area of expertise
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:11pm
I live in the district represented by O'Malley. So I can speak with some experience concerning the quality of his representation.
He has done nothing to help people who have nearly or have lost their home due to fire or other disaster. At the very least O'Malley should be responding to those constituents. When asked for help with awful noise from English High his office failed to do anything. The person who did something was Liz Malia, the House Representative, even though this was a city issue.
Speaking of things one knows nothing about, living in an area that is not addressed by the specific topic, a city councilor, does not support that respect that a person is otherwise due.
Why are you posting anonymously?
By bibliotequetress
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:41pm
If your experiences are so bad, perhaps you should use your name, and get a response.
I also live in O'Malley's district and have sought his help on problems directly. He has, always, either helped or put me in touch with someone who could.
I second this
By cw in boston
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:25pm
Councilor O'Malley or his office has always been responsive to our neighborhood concerns. He often has local office hours as well, if you need to speak to him directly. And, I often see him around JP or WR and at most neighborhood events. He is quite accessible and visible to his constituents.
We've requested help from his office
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:43pm
on multiple important issues. They've done nothing and sometimes worked to worsen quality of life for us.
And you seem so nice, too...
By Scratchie
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:48pm
And you seem so nice, too...
We should all be
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 5:09pm
a fluffy pussy cat like you.
Specifically?
By bibliotequetress
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:49pm
What did you ask O'Malley for help with?
I'm just waiting to hear how
By Sally
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 7:59pm
O'Malley "worsened" your quality of life unless you're one of those folks who thinks that tearing down the Casey was the equivalent of dynamiting Fenway Park.
Hell no
By nightmoves
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:00pm
Take a $60k pay cut? Are you mental? I didn't get two post-grad degrees to piss away my life on the kind of BS SchmoMalley thinks is important. But maybe the "donations" (cough*bribes*cough) make up for it.
Novemver
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:54am
will be here before we know it, hopefully someone steps forward.
Hold on Adam
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:16am
O'Malley has lost elections. Just not district ones.
Any yes, I have claimed that since he is from Roslindale's Crimea that he is a West Roxbury guy living in JP, but I love that he got that water fountain with the ability to fill bottles installed at Jamaica Pond. It's similar to this initiative. He sees a problem and tries to solve it. And that's the kind if thinking that wins elections.
Roslindale's Crimea
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:23am
???
Putin on the Ritz: Crimea river
By adamg
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:52am
O'Malley's ancestral homestead is near that intersection just in Centre from where the VFW Parkway splits off from Centre just past the Hebrew Center, on the same side as Yucatan Taco and across the street from the ever charming Weld American that all the neighbors hate but don't want to see replaced with apartments.
You know, the area that was Roslindale until a few years ago, when the residents finally won their battle with the postal service to change their Zip code from the then dowdy 02131 to the then resale-value-enhancing 02132 (who's laughing now?), i.e., a bunch of Rozzie rats got to call themselves Westie, um, whatever it is Westie people call themselves and add another $10,000 or $20,000 to their home prices.
Interestingly, O'Malley wasn't the only Roslindale kid who grew up to be a politician who suddenly found himself with people denying his Rozzie roots because of this - John Connolly had to face the same accusations of not really being from Roslindale for the same reason.
Oh, Boston and your neighborhood boundary wars!
Were those Roslindale residents?
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:56am
Or West Roxbury residents camouflaged as Roslindale residents?
One of the residents of the disputed territory used to live across the street from me (before moving, of course.) They were quoted in the Globe as saying that they didn't see what the fuss was. We still welcome them back to the homeland with open arms.
Its still Roslindale
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:32pm
The line originally went down the W. Rox pkwy, meaning at one point Yucatan was in Roszie. The line was redrawn down Centre St, meaning Yucatan is now Westie. O'Malley's parents house and that entire area is and always was Roslindale.
Basically a triangle was added to Westie. The W. Rox pkwy, down the VFW pwky and back up Centre.
And not all residents supported the idea, increased housing value also means increased property taxes.
My house was W Rox until the
By anon
Wed, 04/29/2015 - 9:25am
My house was W Rox until the 80's and then the last 3 houses on my street got transitioned to Rozzie. My neighbors across the street are W Rox. Who freaking cares? I'd rather see everyone here use their b*tching skills to get the Orange line to go through Rozzie and W. Rox! Now that's a win-win :)
The area northwest of Centre Street
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:54am
Between Center and West Roxbury Parkway. It was annexed by West Roxbury about 8 years ago.
Sometimes I get the feeling Roslindale will eventually be partitioned vis a vis Poland at the end of the 18th century. You and I will end up in Hyde Park, though there is the odd chance I could end up in Jamaica Plain. The Stephen Lynch part of the neighborhood will go over to West Roxbury entirely, while north of the Square/Village/Triangle will end up in Jamaica Plain. That's why we need a 20 foot high border fence. And guards. And drones, lots of drones.
Never
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:58am
The partisans of BelWash (see last weeks thread) will never accept the trustifarians of JP or the lace curtain tyrants of WR as our rulers. We have excellent access to the food suppliers of the Square/Village can't be starved out.
I think the Dapper memorial has to go to Steve Lynch, regardless of location. Maybe as an isolated territory like Kalingrad.
You must be blind
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:36pm
I grew up in Rozie and still live here. Let me tell you, the trustification started about 5 years ago.
Yuppies, not trustifarians
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 2:35pm
Roslindale is being overrun by yuppies (meaning at this point middle class professionals who had their kids in their 30s?) not people who live off of trust funds and are social justice activists who shop at WF and only eat artisanal foods.
Another key difference
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 2:41pm
The yuppies are being priced out of Jamaica Plain by the trustifarians.
Roslindale will never be cool enough for trustifarians. They will take over and destroy Dudley Square before going south of Forest Hills.
Roslindale and the Partition of Poland
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:00pm
I was thinking we were more like pre-fall of the wall Berlin.
So, if we're going to extend the geopolitical analogy
By LiamD
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 1:29pm
Is Roslindale Russia in this scenario, believing itself historically wronged for losing the Crimea to a newly constituted Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union? Or the Ukraine, having now had territory annexed by West Roxbury, er, Russia?
Roslindale could be Russia, eventually
By Waquiot
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:00pm
Excepting that Roslindale didn't decide redraw the boundaries back in the 1950s. That said, when Waquiot Jr. becomes a President of the Roslindale Federation, he will probably give a televised address after the Olympics are held in Healy Field reminding neighbors that Roslindale could have it's forces at Egleston Square or Havey Beach within hours.
Besides, we are all just a part of what was historically the Town of West Roxbury, with the town hall in Jamaica Plain. With a mess like that, the whole former town could be seen as a much more polite version of the former Yugoslavia.
WRONG
By bibliotequetres...
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 2:01pm
...and I am proof.
Emphatic, but...
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:16pm
...unclear what post you are responding to. ;-}
alas, the problem of not signing in
By bibliotequetress
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 3:53pm
and the subsequent delay.
I was responding to this, from some troll who has had an account for years but only recently decided to pop up and share his dandruff of wisdom with us.
So only homeless people are
By anon
Wed, 04/29/2015 - 9:20am
So only homeless people are creeps that do this? #sweepinggeneralization
So what sunscreen company is
By anon
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:47pm
So what sunscreen company is going to get that sweet kickback -I mean contract with the city to fill those dispensers?
Somebody's palm will get greased!
By Markk02474
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:29pm
one way or another via politics!
Speaking of grease
By JimGaffigan
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:49pm
Rape is a huge problem. Why not a more worthy cause than free sunscreen. Free lube around Kenmore. Less fully loaded jocks looking for release on a drunken Saturday night if they took care of business before hitting the town. A little astroglide and some frictionless frolics and everyone can go home safe and sound.
Makes about as much sense as this sunscreen idea.
You need new writers
By Scratchie
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:38am
This is not very funny.
Get the fair skinned ginger
By Lmo
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:50pm
Get the fair skinned ginger to launch the proposal, well played!
White people problems?
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 6:17am
“Being a redhead who grew up in Boston in the ’80s when sunscreen wasn’t as well used, I suffered many, many burns as a kid,” O’Malley said. “So many Bostonians, particularly those who are fairer skinned, have had to deal with this.”
To be fair (ahem), people of color need sunscreen, too
By ladycommentariat
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 8:26am
Skin cancer affects everyone, regardless of melanin levels.
Not exactly true
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:06am
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/statistics/race.htm
People who have high melanin levels in their skin have far lower rates of skin cancer than fair skinned people. While all people have some risk, dark skinned people have much lower risks.
Dark skin does experience some damage from the sun, but it is more superficial. One mom of a kid on my soccer team used the word "ashy" to describe it. As a coach of a mini model UN squad representing the full range of People Colors crayons, I just passed the tube around and people took it or left it as they chose.
Essentially what O'Malley is proposing. Not much different from hand sanitizer that you can take or leave.
Perhaps he's just expecting a wave of Irish tourists this summer? :-)
Being "ashy" comes from
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 1:21pm
Being "ashy" comes from having dry skin. Fair people get "ashy" too, it's just not as visible. Not the same as being sunburned.
Interesting
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 4:21pm
Not having dark skin myself, I took her word for it.
Lady, just look it up
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:08am
I know that there's a lot in the world each of us doesn't know. But you could have just looked this up.
No, skin cancer does not affect everyone equally regardless of melanin levels. It's far lower in Africans and Asians than it is in Caucasians.
UV light is not a significant factor in the development of melanoma for non-caucasians; in brown-skinned people, melanoma develops most often in the mouth, soles of feet, under toenails, etc.
Sunscreen is irrelevant to the most dangerous forms of skin cancer for most of the world. This really is a white people problem, not an all people problem.
If you're gonna change what someone wrote..
By lbb
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:13am
...well, of course you can make them out to be wrong.
Right. And that's not what she said. You added one very important word that completely changed the meaning of the statement. Now stop being so preachy.
This seems gross
By Waquiot
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:57pm
I don't know why. Sunscreen is important, especially if you are going to be out for a while, but there's something skeevy about this.
It is a Communist Plot Device
By Cuzidotrumpet
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:03pm
Intended to break down capitalism by handing out free sunscreen and therefore forcing sunscreen and pharmacy companies to go bankrupt, therefore reducing capitalist potential.
Western Intelligence has been fooled for now, but not all of us have!
(But sir, surely you know the thing about Western Intelligence!)
(What would zat be, comrade?)
(That there is no such thing!)
Mr. Mayor, we must not allow
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 2:55am
Mr. Mayor, we must not allow a sunscreen gap!
Is this for real
By Harold
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:04pm
Or are you shitting us? This is from a city councilor? are there no more important things to worry about -- education, crime, housing, health care, Olympics, transportation?
Yes, it's real
By adamg
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 5:32am
And even city councilors can deal with more than one issue.
Assertion of facts not in evidence
By perruptor
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 7:33am
Citation needed.
Come to a city council meeting sometime
By adamg
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 8:03am
Or watch it on cable or YouTube. They have agendas and everything :-).
http://www.cityofboston.gov
By Felicity
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 8:52am
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/schedule.asp
No (expletive), Sherlock
By Will LaTulippe
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:05pm
"I have the backing of the Melanoma Research Foundation." I mean, you're proposing to dispense sunblock. I very much doubt that the Melanoma Research Foundation was going to review your proposal, and then grab their mustache between their fingers and say "I've pulled one over on you, sucker! We don't want to cure melanoma! Muahahahaha!"
Considering Heat...
By Calli
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 2:08am
Degrades sunscreen and renders it much less effective, I'm curious how he's proposing to ensure this doesn't happen?
Ditto to warm plastic leaching harmful chemicals into liquid.
Maybe air-conditioned, glass dispensers that will be refilled by a team of people hired for just this one specific purpose?
I'm all for sun safety, but this city has way, WAY more pressing problems it should be spending money on. (And that's without even getting into the whole "you can lead a horse to water" thing...)
PSAs about sun safety from local figures and athletes - like Ference's face on recycling bins - would be cheaper and more effective.
How do you shake it?
By KellyJMF
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 10:15am
Sunscreen separates so you need to shake it before you apply. How does that work with a dispenser?
not anymore
By Refugee
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 11:07am
The past couple of years many sunscreens have gotten reformulated with zinc oxide as the active ingredient, and zinc oxide is immortal it won't ever degrade.
I don't know why, but this has been happening very quietly. Last year I bought a tube of Banana Boat Kids and half the tubes on the shelf were hexa-oxy-cyclo-whatever based, and half of them were zinc oxide based. The packaging and UPC codes were identical, without any hint of change except the ingredients list.
O'Malley
By anon
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:05pm
Must use spf 2000
Too easy
By Neighbor2
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:07pm
CVS is either poised to make a fortune on this, or maybe we can get them to sponsor it.
It Must Be A Terribly Boring Job ...
By Elmer
Mon, 04/27/2015 - 11:12pm
... with everything running so perfectly in the sparkling City of Boston.
It takes an awful lot of effort to come up with exciting new ideas like this to drain the city's overflowing coffers of money.
Imagine, we pay these people
By anon
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:20am
And they want a raise!
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