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DCR to remove car-blocking boulders from Stony Brook parking lot, state rep says

Workers from DCR, who put down a string of boulders across one of the few remaining parking lots in Stony Brook Reservation on Friday will remove them today - and pick up the trash that led them to put them there - state Rep. Rob Consalvo (14th Suffolk) says, adding that ISD will join the trash picker uppers to see if they can identify who dumped the trash and possibly fine them.

In the Keep Roslindale Quirky Facebook group this morning, Consalvo wrote:

I spoke with DCR and they will be removing the rocks today. DCR is there this morning removing all the illegally dumped debris. Illegal dumping is a serious issue and we will work with DCR, the State Police and the City of Boston to address this problem. ISD is also helping and will be sending fines to those they find responsible.

Over the past decade, DCR has closed most of the parking areas in the 475-acre forested reservation and begun laying down boulders even on widened road shoulders where people might pull in for a trip into the woods.

Illegal trash dumping is nothing new for Consalvo. As a city councilor - representing much of the same area he now serves as a state rep - Consalvo railed against surbanites driving into Boston to dump their trash because they were too cheap to pay their towns' trash-bag fees.

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Comments

Who's running the DCR? Just in last 2 months:

1. DCR arbitrarily announces they're closing the Southwest Bike Path during the Orange Line closure and then quickly has to backpedal due to public outrage

2. DCR arbitrarily announces they're re-opening Memorial Drive to car traffic on weekends and then quickly has to backpedal due to public outrage

3. DCR arbitrarily closes off a parking lot in an apparent fit of pique and then quickly has to backpedal due to public outrage

In a functioning state government, someone would be fired by now, but I guess Charlie Baker is just going to skate out of the last few months of office without lifting a finger to address another failed state agency.

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The handling of Stony Brook heavily implies that we have garbage leadership at DCR. Someone needs to be replaced/retire/etc.

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Having worked with DCR for a number of seasons, I can confirm that the upper echelons consists largely of Baker appointees who have neither the background nor the interest to ensure that the parks actually serve their publics. The rest of the hierarchy fights over political scraps, and front line staff pick up the pieces as best they can.

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"The buck doesn't even pause here. Now, where's my bonus?"

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How about DCR and the State deciding they were going to install meters on Revere Beach and had to back peddle when the entire half of the city went haywire because people were parking all over the place. Sundays became impossible to get around Revere Beach because everyone went on the same day. All the surrounding areas needed to heighten their parking restrictions making life hell for residents. The whole thing was a huge boondoggle and ended up with all the meters being ripped out of the ground not even a year later.

I sometimes feel like DCR does not want people using public spaces anymore.

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Something similar happened on Memorial Drive, but the MIT grad students weren't as well organized, so those meters stayed.

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I commute on it several times per week, along with less frequent commutes on other paths managed by other organizations. I'm amazed at how much better all the other paths are.

They recently released a thing about "improvements" which appear to just be repaving (don't get me wrong; it's needed), but nothing about all the cheap-but-vital things those of us who use it regularly could tell you it needs:

1) Clear lane markings on all sections, ideally bike/ped symbols fairly frequently on the pavement.

2) Signage indicating more clearly where the other path is when they're further apart. While this doesn't help the people who just don't care, some of the pedestrians who get mad that I'm ringing my bell and trying to pass their several-abreast group seem to honestly not be able to figure out where the pedestrian path is.

3) Frequent signage indicating to stay right except to pass, pass on left, use bell or voice to pass. There are great signs indicating this on non-DCR paths. My god are there a lot of students who are attending a local college along this path who like to splain at me and insist that cyclists are supposed to stay right and pedestrians are supposed to stay left when I attempt to pass them on the left and remind them to stay right. Apparently getting into college these days doesn't involve the ability to think real hard about why staying left on a two-way path with others staying right results in so many near-collisions.

4) Signage on the part in the Back Bay that's shared, indicating that it's shared. Optional: some sort of automatic tazing device for the people who insist that bikes aren't supposed to be on said shared path.

5) Signage visible from the path indicating cross street names and arrows directing people to major landmarks off the path, as well as periodic signage indicating how far to major landmarks along the path (come on; these are even basically built in given that there are T stops along the path every half mile or so).

6) Flashing lights at crosswalks.

7) Training for DCR employees to not block the path with bobcats and shit, and if it's really necessary for one to be on the path, to use cones and/or a flagger, and position said bobcat so the detour isn't into swampland.

8) Training for BPD to not sit in parked cruisers on the bike path at Prentiss St.

9) Training for Northeastern U that they need to use Jersey barriers to create a bike path when they close the corridor for construction on Columbus. Also, training for NUPD to not just be like "the bike path is closed; take a different street" to children (or adults who could be new riders, not from the area, have developmental disabilities, etc.)

10) An overall understanding that paths are different from car streets in that they should be usable by children and disabled folks who might learn a route somewhere using a path, and might not have the skills to just use a completely different route if it's closed, or might have the skills to ride on paths but not in car traffic. Just...don't close paths, and if you must, require clearly signed Jersey barrier alternatives or a human present to get people safely back to the path.

11) Water bottle fillers.

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Also there are issues with stretches of the SW corridor where what's ostensibly the pedestrian path is adjacent to the road but the bike path isn't, and pedestrians often choose the bike path because of this. Amory st. between Williams and Gordon (i.e., the stretch between English hs and Green St) is really bad for this.

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Is the lady that carried a stick to hit bikers on the bike path still walking there in the a.m.?

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Roxbury Xing to Ruggles too.

I don't care if people walk on the bike path when the designated pedestrian path is the sidewalk (I'll do it too sometimes), but FFS if you're doing this, just use shared-path etiquette -- stay way to the right and be aware that runners and cyclists will pass you, don't ignore me ringing my bell repeatedly, don't be completely surprised I'm coming up in your space, don't have no idea which way is left, and don't then direct epithets at me.

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I'd rather have them jersey barrier or similar protective solution alongside the sidewalk and then improve signage and do public outreach to encourage the bike path to be respected the same way that pedestrians respect normal roads. It's the only way to go if we want to promote bike commuting as feasible and fast and nudge the city toward a less car-dependent future.

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A few weeks ago I was riding back from downtown on the SW Corridor through NU/Ruggles with a kid. One lane of Columbus including the path was closed off for a construction crane in the road, and there was a detour sign with a bike on it directing us to the left (into the oncoming road lane). There were NU cops aplenty. So we went left, then the cop at the other end directed a line of cars through the one open lane right toward us, which was only about car-width. Cars all started honking at us. Cops didn't get off their asses whatsoever. I called to the cops to ask what we should do. Cop said, "I don't care what you do, but the bike lane is closed, so use a different route, go that way, I don't know" and pointed us toward one of the side streets that exit onto Tremont (which has no bike lanes). So we waited until there wasn't any oncoming traffic and rode the last block in the oncoming lane. At the other end was another NU cop who was actively directing traffic. I asked that one what the deal was. He said it didn't get planned very well, and he realizes they shouldn't block a bike lane, and he also wasn't happy with the one lane of traffic, "but they didn't close (whatever the stub of Melnea Cass going to the garage is called), so we can't have cars coming down here and then just seeing a closed road with nowhere to go" to which I said, "like happened to us when we rode down the path and it was suddenly closed and we were directed onto an arterial with no bike lanes? Or rather, not in any way directed?" And this second officer was actually understanding, but said they assign them to these details at the last minute and the people out dealing with the situation have no say in how it's handled. Said to e-mail NUPD, which I didn't bother doing, because I frequently e-mail and tweet them photos of things like their officers running over flexposts, or the bike lane being literally shoulder-to-shoulder with students milling around chatting who won't move for bike bells, and they don't care.

Just...police aren't trained whatsoever that if a road typically has pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure and you close it, you need to provide equivalent infrastructure. They need to be educated that cyclists are often kids or people with disabilities who have the skills to ride on paths, but not to go dodge cars on Tremont because you decided not to create a bike lane. Motor vehicle drivers are required to have the skills to drive on other city streets in order to be licensed. Make them go somewhere else. Since this cop wouldn't get off his ass and be of any assistance when a parent and child came through asking where we should ride and saying we weren't going to ride on a street with no path. We have bike paths, but we can't send kids alone on them because of shit like this like a damn crane that wasn't there on the way into downtown and cops who don't realize people use bikes to get places.

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I've been at DCR meetings on other projects (Clippership Connector) where they were open about the fact they don't prioritize signage and leave that to others.

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Thank you.

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which can be earmarked to pay for for all that you demand.

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By not tearing up the roads, taking up parking spaces, polluting, etc.

You should kiss their feet.

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100 billion in general taxes (income, property tax, etc) go towards car infrastructure, why shouldn't a few billion also go towards cycling infrastructure?

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Everyone benefits from roads. Only a select few benefit from bike infrastructure.

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For values of everyone that do not include pedestrians, dogs, cats, and wildlife. Too simple.

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But you know that.

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I bet you can’t

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Only a select few benefit from bike infrastructure.

This is patently false. From the US Department of Transportation, increased bike and pedestrian infrastructure is known to have the following health benefits:

  • Address chronic disease (e.g., asthma, diabetes, heart disease)
  • Improve access to health-supportive resources
  • Improve equity
  • Increase physical activity
  • Improve safety
  • Reduce human exposure to transportation-related emissions
  • Reduce motor vehicle-related injuries and fatalities
  • Reduce transportation's contribution to air pollution

All of which benefit everyone, especially the last few entries there.

I'll also point to this article which summarizes a few different findings in various studies - that protected bike lanes in particular lead to fewer collisions and injuries among pedestrians.

Now, given that just about everyone is a pedestrian at some point on their journey, and hopefully you'll agree that even the most selfish driver probably doesn't want to be in a collision with a cyclist or pedestrian, I'll say that it's clear that bike infrastructure benefits everyone, whether or not they cycle.

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They want all this infrastructure and refuse to pay for it. Just look at eeka’s post above - new signage, barriers, lanes, training, etc. Curious if eeka would be willing to pay a bike use/registration/whatever tax for these upgrades?

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And as noted above, everyone benefits from these improvements, so its hardly selfish. Unless as a driver you're saying you'd prefer to run into more pedestrians and cyclists?

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I pay gas tax and car registration tax, but typically leave my car at my house and ride my bike. I really should expect you car-obsessed folks to pay a bigger share for safe cycling paths for my minor and/or disabled household members so they can cycle instead of me driving them places and creating traffic and pollution.

Also, when were you told you weren’t allowed to use the SW corridor path? This is an even stupider argument than the walnuts who don’t want to pay for schools because they don’t have kids or fire departments because they aren’t on fire. If you feel you aren’t getting your money’s worth, get off your ass and go use the path.

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Man, you bikers just can’t help with the eliteness and entitlement, can you?

Sorry, putting my life on the line because I need to grab a loaf of bread or get out of the house sounds like a really bad life choice. Maybe if bikers were willing to fork over some of their hard earned money the bike infrastructure wouldn’t be so pathetic.

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Maybe if it's so dangerous out there, you should quit driving like such an asshole.

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Oh you're so close to getting it.

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… like a spoiled brat, robo.

But I have to hand it to you, you got me to respond to another one of your asinine comments again. I need more self control.

A refreshing bike ride to run some errands should set me straight. Thank you for the reminder!

Smell ya, later, you exhaust spewing degenerate.

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Always a fun interaction with you and spin.Take care and ride safe.

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Same to you.
Drive safe!

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Find a new contentious opinion to gain yourself some attention.

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And I take delivery of my R8 in a month. When are you coming down to visit? We’ll hit the town with that glorious V10 behind our heads making sure to stretch her legs at 8700rpm.

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https://getjerry.com/questions/what-is-an-audi-r8s-top-speed

the Audi R8 is one of the faster cars on the market right now! The R8 has a top speed of 203 to 204 mph and a 0 to 60 time of 3.7 seconds

Weird having street legal cars capable of going well beyond the highest posted speed limits.

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Well, not really.
The automobile industry will sink to any low to sell cars. You never see a car ad where the driver is driving responsibly.

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It's called the sales tax I pay every time I buy a new bike, inner tubes, chain lube, etc.

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Bike lane users pay nothing dedicated to the creation and maintenance of their precious bike lanes and yet they always clamor about how they need this or that.

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I’ve said numerous times - drivers should cover the entire cost of the roads they use. Bike costs and driver costs are mutually exclusive. Bikes should cover the costs of their infrastructure too.

I will say, as you pointed out, drivers cover ~50% of road costs. Bikes cover 0% of their infrastructure.

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What about infra that's shared by bikes and cars?

Also I think you've confused bikes with taxpayers, try to remember that a bike is an inanimate object.

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I've never met a more entitled bunch. Everyone is a taxpayer so stop using that as justification for spending millions on bike infrastructure that only you use.

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Bikes cover 0% of their infrastructure.

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Because it doesn’t take into account sales tax. Are we in agreement now?

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Kindly prove the 0% quote.

You can't, do keep on spinning Robbie!

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Name one tax or fee that’s levied to directly fund bike infrastructure. Not a single one exists so therefore bikers pay nothing for their infrastructure.

I’m not spinning anything here. These are just the facts of the situation.

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that's levied to directly fund sidewalks? None that I know of, therefore, everyone is paying nothing for their infrastructure.

...or, you know, we pay taxes into general funds and then elect representatives to decide how that money is allocated. You might want to see if you can find a civics class when you move that will explain to you how your new local government works!

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Let the entitlement flow through you

Sidewalks, like schools and parks are good for general society. Bikers are a tiny fraction of the city’s population and aside from the pro-biker studies that make some, frankly, outlandish claims they benefit no one but the biker population. Why is this so hard to understand?

I’ll take a step back. Why are bikers so reluctant to pay a small fee for their infrastructure. I’m seriously confused by this.

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pro-biker studies that make some, frankly, outlandish claims they benefit no one but the biker population

You dodged these points earlier in the thread, which are from USDOT:
https://www.universalhub.com/comment/909474#comment-909474

Thanks!

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You said cyclists contribute 0% to their infrastructure.

When told that we pay taxes (which you of course know), you pivot to there not being a specific tax earmarked to bike infra.

Should we start hemming and hawing over snow removal on side streets/dead ends that only a select number of citizens use? Come on Robert.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/driving-true-costs/...

The report documents that the amount that road users pay through gas taxes now accounts for less than half of what’s spent to maintain and expand the road system. The resulting shortfall is made up from other sources of tax revenue at the state and local levels, generated by drivers and non-drivers alike. This subsidizing of car ownership costs the typical household about $1,100 per year—over and above the costs of gas taxes, tolls, and other user fees.

While congressional bailouts of the Highway Trust Fund have made this subsidy more apparent, it has actually never been the case that road users paid their own way. Not only that, but the amount of their subsidy has steadily increased in recent years. The share of the costs paid from road-user fees has dropped from about 70 percent in the 1960s to less than half today, according to the study.

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Even if I weren’t a biker, I’d support better bike infrastructure because bike friendly cities are just better. They’re more humane. Car-centrism is the opposite of the public, civic style that makes cities good places to live.

FWIW, the reductivist, “bike lanes only benefit bikers” kind of thinking is the same drivel that gets lobbed at public transit.

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Well said and made me think about my stance.

I will say though. Public transit is good for everyone. If people can’t see that, they’re blind. However, there’s a large portion of the public that cannot bike, but anyone can take the T.

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there’s a large portion of the public that cannot bike

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The DCR shouldn't have backpedaled due to community concerns?

That's how responsible government works. They responded to community input. Good management does that. Bad management ignores the community.

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Wouldn't need to backpedal in the first place.

How much time and money was spent moving boulders? They could have just sent a trash crew out once and been done.

Part of DCR's problem is that they suck at communicating with municipalities. If there's a dumping problem, get the city and MSP involved before of going all Fred Flintstone.

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How about don't make the arbitrary decisions in the first place?

A state "parks" department should involve the community in their decision-making process so they're not repeatedly caught flat-footed by outrage over their dumbassery.

Is "Waquoit" just Charlie Baker's sock-puppet account? Hi Charlie, would love to have a governor who actually cared about public goods and paid them a bit of attention!

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I personally like Charlie Baker but some of the decisions his departments make are just mind numbingly incoherent. I am not even talking about the way it impacts residents but also the fact that they constantly seem caught off guard when there is blowback. It is bad enough when they do not talk to the community but it is especially egregious when you call the local City Hall or State Rep and they have no clue too.

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Each decision was a means of dealing with an actual issue. Each one pissed off enough people that they were reversed or revised. Again, good leadership allows for that. For an example of bad leadership, let's look to the creation of the DCR. Do you remember that, or did you just move to Massachusetts 8 years ago? I mean, the way you make things appear before 2015, you may have been in New Jersey or somewhere else back then.

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Your favorite governor and his appointed cronies have shown to be incompetent stewards of our public goods.

You must be confusing me with someone else, because I have not said ONE WORD about how things were in 2015? Not that it matters, all of the dumb and arbitrary DCR decisions I helpfully listed for you happened in 2022, not 2015

arbitrary definition:
1- not seeming to be based on a reason, system, or plan and sometimes seeming unfair (yep)
2 - using power without restriction and without considering other people (double yep)

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_englis...

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Gotta love gatekeeping like that.

Hey if that retort doesn't work, don't forget to throw out the "were you even born here" line.

hahahaha

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... so our experience is probably insufficient -- but the parks under DCR (and Baker especially) are in far worse shape than they were when they were under the MDC (not that they were in anything like tip-top shape then either)>

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I'm just noticing that Pete X's point of reference for a lot of things is the start of the Baker administration. Then, when I note that things were just as bad if not worse before Tall Deval's arrival at the corner office, he pretends that he isn't solely blaming the guy who he is solely blaming for the problem.

And look, Baker owns a lot of things. I honestly think that after 8 years, he owns the T's fiasco (despite the fact the the T, while he was governor, finally started getting serious about infrastructure, but then stopped being serious about it.) I don't see him micromanaging the DCR like Pete thinks he does. The reality is that the DCR has been doing the same boneheaded things since it's creation, and it's creation was a knee jerk reaction to the MDC's boneheaded failures. If Healey decides to "shake things up" at the DCR (or the T for that matter) I expect the same results that we've seen with other shakeups.

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And you can pretend to not understand the definition of "arbitrary" too, but no one's buying it.

Let me make it simple for you: I didn't mention a governor from 8 years ago because it is not relevant to your guy Baker's current performance. Your guy Baker is bad right now. Go over that list of DCR flip flops in the last month and try to explain the relevance to current Bain Capital employee Deval Patrick (who, to be clear, I am not a fan of.)

Oh I forgot, according to you those arbitrary decisions followed by panicked backtracking weren't "flip flops"...they were "good governance"

despite the fact the the T, while he was governor, finally started getting serious about infrastructure, but then stopped being serious about it.

The dissembling here...is something. But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

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That Maura Healey lauds his performance.

Hey, perhaps I’m actually Maura Healey.

But again, I’ve been riding the Orange Line since before the Southwest Corridor opened. Only in 2015 did it start to be closed on the weekends for maintenance. As for the DCR, I take it you still don’t know why the MDC was abolished.

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“ But again, I’ve been riding the Orange Line since before the Southwest Corridor opened.”

Lol! You can lead a Waquiot to a definition but you can’t make him understand it.

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Look, that you just moved to Boston a few years ago is okay, but the point is that when I note that Baker did a good job with the T, it's not an absolute point but to compare him to his predecessors. Perhaps if the T during the Romney and Patrick administrations decided that spending more than 28 hours a week working on the subway lines was the way to go we wouldn't have the issues we have. As it is, I will once again note that before 2015, week-end closures for track and signal work wasn't happening. That's a lot of maintenance not getting done.

But this is about the DCR, and again, if you think that things were golden there before the arrival of Baker, I've got a bridge to Long Island to sell you.

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We found the one guy who thinks Baker did a good job with the T! That's all you need to say to show us where you're coming from. You're just gonna continue to ignore that FTA report pointing out all those dire management failures that Baker and his appointees are directly responsible for.

Your whole argument has been, "Baker is not bad because Deval was also bad," but Deval is not currently responsible for MBTA or DCR management personnel or practices, nor is he currently putting boulders in public parking lots.

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I mean sure, you and your buddies Diehl and Donnie Palmer might not like him, but a lot of Massachusetts residents do.

And to again recycle this, the problem with the "culture of safety" at the T isn't Baker any more than it was Patrick. But heck, let's get back to the problem at hand, the Stony Brook Reservation.

Now, I'm assuming that you are not commenting about the situation solely to be a concern troll. You may truly be upset that staff at the DCR removed parking from the reservation. but here's the thing. The next time you visit, drive up the road away from the ball fields. At the 4 way intersection, bang a right onto Enneking Parkway. Heading up you'll see a big clear space on the left right before Turtle Pond and another on the right after the pond. Any guess what those are? That's right, they were once parking lots. Back in probably the second Dukakis administration, though possibly during Weld's time in the office, those parking lots were permanently closed, due to illegal or lewd behavior taking place. That's why the loss of this lot over the week-end was a big hit. So you see, the response of the MDC/DCR has historically been to solve a problem by limiting public access. This isn't Baker micromanaging the state. This was most likely a decision by some whose name Baker has never seen.

But, if you want to distill things, my counter to your theory that state government has been dysfunctional for 8 years is to note that it's been that way for a lot longer. Again, do you want to know why the DCR was created?

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Pointing out that the parks department that directly impacts my quality of life is poorly managed isn't what "concern trolling" is.

And despite your increasingly smarmy attempt at gatekeeping, I know the history of the DCR, and I know that it's irrelevant to the run of incompetent flip-flopping I described above.

But again, you're the guy who literally said Baker has done a good job running the T, so it makes sense you think every turd his team lays is a golden egg. Enjoy the rest of your day!

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Then you know your "8 year" comment that started all of this isn't well thought out. We are talking decades of incompetence. I mean, again, the MDC got abolished because four high school kids got hit by a car because the agency couldn't be bothered to clear its sidewalks, but I'm sure that Charlie Baker, then at Harvard Pilgrim, was responsible for that as well.

I mean, if you are going to continue to insist that all the problems with state government are only 8 years old, why wouldn't I conclude that you have no clue how things were 9 or 10 or 20 years ago.

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.

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I mean, if you are going to continue to insist that all the problems with state government are only 8 years old, why wouldn't I conclude that you have no clue how things were 9 or 10 or 20 years ago.

I have never, repeat NEVER insisted the problems with state government are only 8 years old. Go through every single comment I've made and you won't find this. So are you being dishonest, or are you lacking reading comprehension because you're so set on shilling for your guy Baker?

One more time: I'm saying the current DCR is run incompetently and that falls on the CURRENT GOVERNOR.

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Implies that the problems are solely of his origin, whereas the MDC/DCR has been dysfunctional for decades.

I'm just assuming you like arguing for arguing sake. That you get bend out of shape when I merely note that "Patrick's [insert state agency name] was also a joke" is quite telling. Methinks that in 4 or 8 years, you will probably not be complaining about Healey's [insert state agency name] being a joke, even though she will probably be dealing with similar if not the same issues at the MBTA, DCR, DCF, and all of the agencies that have caused headaches over the years.

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Ok, shill.

Because I push back on you trying to shift the blame from Baker to the governor from 8 years ago, you can divine through mind-reading that I'm "implying" that everything was perfect in the past.

Gotcha.

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Is that like a 1800 term? Never heard of it. Anyways, can you two take this offline. It’s getting annoying and you both win

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I also blame the governor 18 years ago, 28 years ago, and in the case of parking at Stony Brook Reservation, most likely 38 years ago. I also don't see Baker being such a micromanager that he decided the way to deal with illegal dumping is to close the last open parking lot. That said, he does seem like the kind of guy who would make a call to someone closer to the decision making noting that he's got a state rep screaming bloody murder over the decision so it needs to be reversed.

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Why do you think I moved to Boston a few years ago?

Making assumptions or confusing me with someone else?

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It was not created as a way to fix the so in need of fixing MDC. It was created as part of a more general agency consolidation that Romney sold as more cost effective. But when you replace one poorly run bureaucracy with another poorly run bureaucracy and also cut funds due to promised efficiencies that will never arrive, you end up with something even worse than the original. Patrick didn't fix it? Okay, but now Charlie has had 8 years and likewise didn't fix it. Who should we focus on, the current guy, or the guy who left office in 2015?

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He either doesn’t care or has moved on. It’s like blaming Patrick.

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It’s funny that the same kind of cronyism and patronage that we’re told installing a divided Government would prevent continues uninterrupted. Except, I think the GOP leadership of both Romney and Baker managed to appoint some truly incompetent pals to manage things.

Back when it was the DCR and DEM, it was two dueling patron-packed departments which competed for resources and power against each other. Perhaps the competition and tribalism clearly created a better incentive to perform than the DCR by itself?

Still, merging the two to create the DCR was just common sense. But keeping leadership at the appointment of the Governor is not.

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I cannot even imagine thinking it's ok to drive to the woods to dump trash.

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the dump is closed, and you have a VW microbus full of garbage.

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n/t

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...and on the back of the paper are the following words: "Kid, have you rehabilitated yourself?" to which you say, "You got a lot of goddamn gall...I mean, I'm sitting here on the Group W bench, wanting to know if I'm moral enough join the Army - about burning women, children's houses and killing villages after being a litterbug!"

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It must be getting near Thanksgiving.

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and have him find an envelope with a name on it under the pile of garbage.

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If you don't have either, you have a park that's usable only by people who will arrive on foot or bicycle. (Are there even any bike racks in this park?)

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given how hostile DCR is towards bicycles.

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Mass. Central, Cochituate, Northern Strand, Cambridge-Watertown Greenway, etc.

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I’m paying a visit to that gem in a few days.

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They build some good bicycle usage facilities, but I don't think they consider the possibility that people arriving by bike might want to lock up and then explore by foot.

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OR open some of the lots and put up surveillance cameras to record the people who come and dump.

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Motion-activated game cameras are cheap - $70 on Amazon. They're camouflaged and made to easily attach to a tree so they can be placed in such a way that they're hard to spot. A few of those at the dump sites would provide cops with pictures of the perps and their vehicles. Much cheaper than hauling in a load of boulders, and more useful.

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It's well documented recently that even when the cops are handed a case on a silver platter with nest cam footage and/or airtag location, it's YMMV at best.

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There are bus lines that run alongside the park, including the relatively frequent 34/34E, so there's options for people outside walking distance.

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Can ISD cite scofflaws on DCR property? If they can can they cite the MBTA for refusing to remove graffiti on the red line walls between JFK and the Andrew tunnel.

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… slowly comes to mind…

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