What a relief to see our elected officials finally getting tough on the aid recipients who spent 0.002% of last year’s welfare funds on underwear (“Pol gets tough on welfare abuse“, Feb. 15).
How dare these women buy high-quality, inexpensive undergarments from Victoria’s Secret? Wal-Mart should be perfectly fine for poor people. Or maybe they should make do without underwear; if beggars wandering the streets half-naked in rags was good enough for our ancestors, it should be good enough for us.
It’s even more outrageous that some of these women are shopping at outlet stores. If they’re going to use taxpayer money on underwear, the least they could do is pay full price.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013
mayor@cityofboston.gov
(617) 635-4500
Dear Mayor Menino,
On the brink of yet another major snowstorm, I am writing to complain about how incredibly bad the city’s handling of the snow has been this winter. (more…)
A walk of less than 0.4 miles on one side of the street in Brighton Center, showing 20 violations of the City of Boston’s snow shoveling regulations, many of which are the fault of the city itself. Here are the violations, with time stamps in the video:
0:36 437 Washington St. – curb cut (Foster St.)
1:05 427 Washington St. – curb cut, sidewalk (Foster St.
2:44 423 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Parsons St.)
3:44 419 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St.)
3:59 414 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St.)
5:24 389 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Leicester St.)
5:38 385 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Leicester St.)
5:50 385 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St.)
5:50 388 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St.)
6:00 383 Washington St. – sidewalk
7:06 435 Market St. – curb cut
7:16 Market St. & Washington St. – public square completely unshoveled
7:38 362 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St.)
9:16 323 Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Waldo Ter.)
10:15 Wirt St. & Washington St. – public square completely unshoveled (Washington St., next to public parking lot)
11:06 Wirt St. & Washington St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St., in front of police station)
11:10 Wirt St. & Washington St. – pedestrian island completely unshoveled (Washington St., in front of police station)
11:56 Washington St. & Cambridge St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Washington St., in front of police station)
12:05 Washington St. & Cambridge St. – pedestrian island completely unshoveled (Washington St., in front of police station)
12:15 736 Cambridge St. – curb cut, crosswalk (Cambridge St.)
Wellesley Parking Clerk Bonita Legassie dispatched a parking attendant with a handheld computer Legassie knew was broken (“Driver finds survey ticket a wrong turn”, Jan.10). The broken handheld issued parking citations which Legassie knew were bogus. Legassie did nothing to dismiss the bogus citations, even though handling problems like this is her job. Even now, when the problem has been discovered by the public and reported in the newspaper, Legassie hasn’t dismissed the bogus citations, notified the victims, and refunded those who’ve already paid them.
Last time I checked, knowingly taking people’s property on false pretenses is criminal theft. Is the district attorney investigating? Is the Board of Selectmen looking for a new parking clerk?
A week from today is election day. In Massachusetts, there will be three statewide ballot questions in addition to candidate elections. These ballot questions are important and I strongly urge all registered voters in Massachusetts (if you’re not registered, register before the next election!) to visit the polls and weigh in. I recommend voting no on all three ballot questions.
According to Margery Eagan in today’s Herald, both Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker support “some type of road testing for the elderly.” Independent gubernatorial candidate Tim Cahill? Not so much:
“I don’t want to take away licenses from able-bodied people or force them to go through a driver’s test,” he said. What the Legislature did, he said, is “fine.”
Hey Tim… The point of road tests for the elderly people would be to figure out which people are not “able-bodied.” Anybody who can look at the string of completely avoidable accidents involving elderly drivers and think that this isn’t necessary is a moron. I don’t vote for morons.
The MBTA just spent $900,000 in federal stimulus money to buy 25 new buses for use along Route 28 (Mattapan Square to Ruggles Station). These longer, articulated buses don’t fit in the current bus stops, so the stops going to have to be enlarged, eliminating between 60 and 92 parking spaces along a stretch of road that has a heavy concentration of local merchants who rely on car traffic for their business.
Needless to say, the merchants are livid. According to the Boston Herald, here’s what Richard Davey, the General Manager of the T, had to say to justify the removal of parking spaces:
“… he said a survey of 500 Route 28 bus passengers found that 91 percent approved of it rolling out the state-of-the-art 60-foot articulated buses, even if it means losing between 60 to 92 parking spaces along its five-mile route…”
Yes, that’s right, the T asked people who don’t use the parking spaces whether it’s OK to get rid of them.
What’s next? Are they going to ask people who don’t ride the buses whether it’s OK run fewer of them?
The T is holding a public hearing at 6:00pm tomorrow at the Mattapan Public Library. They’ve publicized this hearing where? On the buses, of course. This calls to mind Arthur Dent’s experience in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when his house is slated for demolition to make room for a bypass road:
“But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh, yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”
“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur. “yes, I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked file cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’”
Also, wouldn’t want normally want to hold one’s public hearings before buying the new buses? What exactly is the T going to do with $900,000 worth of buses if it turns out they can’t use them because the public outcry is too loud for them to enlarge the bus stops?
Unless, of course, the public hearing is a sham and the removal of the parking spaces is a foregone conclusion…
The condition of our economy proves the absurdity of John Stossel’s argument that gambling should be legal because, “People are responsible for the consequences of their bad habits” (“Is it your choice to gamble? You betcha!” May 14). We’re digging ourselves out of the worst recession since 1929 because people took out mortgages they couldn’t afford. It’s costing us trillions of dollars to clean up from their “bad habits.”
Whether it’s Keno, a slots hall or a casino, any gambling establishment is a blight on the community, one that hurts those who patronize it and everyone else.
Yet another chapter in the saga of the political spam I can’t seem to put a stop to, courtesy of ex-Congressman Robert Wexler. I’ve just been spammed by Scott Maddox, who is running for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Like I care!
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A week from today is election day. In Massachusetts, there will be three statewide ballot questions in addition to candidate elections. These ballot questions are important and I strongly urge all registered voters in Massachusetts (if you’re not registered, register before the next election!) to visit the polls and weigh in. I recommend voting no on all three ballot questions.
