Category Archives: Government activism

The MBTA fails, yet again, to provide a minimal level of acceptable service

To: CabotSuperintendent@mbta.com Cc: <Steven.Baddour@state.ma.us>, <Rep.JosephWagner@hou.state.ma.us>, <Steven.Tolman@state.ma.us>, <Rep.KevinHonan@hou.state.ma.us>, <mayor@cityofboston.gov>, <Mark.Ciommo@cityofboston.gov>, <Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov>, <Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov>, <John.R.Connolly@cityofboston.gov>, <sam.yoon@cityofboston.gov>, “‘Governor Patrick’s Office (imailagent)’” <gov.webmail@state.ma.us>, “‘Halbert, David’” <David.Halbert@cityofboston.gov> John Houghton Superintendent, Cabot Bus Garage MBTA Dear Mr. Houghton, They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If so, then I must… Read More »

Today’s letter to Continental

I just sent this letter to my contact at Continental: Ms. [named elided], Continental’s response to the incident that happened to my daughter, and to another little girl a day before my daughter, and to who knows how many other children who didn’t make the news, is inadequate. “Reinforcing procedures” does not fix anything. “Reinforcing… Read More »

Continental won’t fix the problem; will the government step in?

I just sent this letter to my contact on Sen. John Kerry’s staff: Subject: Progress on regulation related to airlines’ handling of unaccompanied minors Ms. [elided], I’m writing to check in with you on the status of Senator Kerry’s efforts to prevent what happened to my daughter on June 14 — being put on the… Read More »

We are not alone

On Tuesday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle broke the story that just a day before my daughter was put onto the wrong plane by Continental, they did the same thing to an eight-year-old girl in Houston. She was supposed to be flying to Charlotte, but instead she ended up in Fayetteville, Ark. Her story is eerily… Read More »

Resident only parking — it’s not over yet

(Follow the whole story here.) I found this photocopy in my mailbox yesterday after returning from a two-day trip: I’ve redacted identifying information both because I prefer not to publish other people’s names, identifying information and private correspondence without their consent, and because I don’t want this to turn into a personal battle among residents… Read More »

Resident-only parking restriction removed!

As I previously reported, Allston/Brighton resident-only parking signs were posted on my block on May 15, without any prior consultation with or notice to the homeowners on the block. The day I wrote to the city about this, I received a response from someone in the Transportation Department claiming that it would be looked into. … Read More »

Spam Yoon

In a recent email message to me entitled “Fighting the Good Fight,” friend, author and politician Michael Burstein referred me to Kate Hutchinson’s blog entry about spamming by Sam Yoon. Michael is an avid reader of my blog and therefore knows that I’ve been in more than a few scraps of my own like Kate’s. … Read More »

City of Boston converts our block to resident only parking without our knowledge, desire or consent

May 15, 2009 Dear Mayor Menino, I have lived at __ ___ Street in Brighton for almost twelve years. I came out of my house this morning and found a BTD employee posting “resident parking only” signs on our block. I do not understand why the residents of our block were not consulted about whether there… Read More »

MBTA Botches Route 57 AGAIN

April 27, 2009 Daniel Grabauskas General Manager MBTA 10 Park Plaza Boston, MA 02116 Dear Mr. Grabauskas, Once again, I find myself writing to the T to complain about service which falls far short of “bad,” doesn’t come anywhere near “unacceptable,” and perhaps even falls just a little bit south of “What in heaven’s name… Read More »

Letter published in yesterday’s Herald

I was the “lead” letter to the editor (i.e., the one in the grey box in the center of the letters page under a photo of the front page I was writing about) in yesterday’s Boston Herald. It’s here on their Web site; here’s the text in case it’s no longer accessible there. Following their… Read More »