• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

CRASHING MARTY’S NEW YEAR’S PARTY

Written by EMILY HOPKINS Posted December 29, 2015 Filed Under: COLUMNS, Free Radical

FR_WalshNewYears_728

Image by Tak Toyoshima

 

On Christmas, after my mom and I polished off our Buzzfeed-inspired bangers and mash wrapped in pastry dough with a bottle of wine, we sat down to consider what personal hurdles we would attempt to clear in 2016. It’s that time of year, after all, when we try and slow time down a little to decide what we want to be in the future. I can’t imagine what kind of comparable exercise, if any, is happening behind the gates of the State House on Beacon Hill, or inside City Hall, but I have some thoughts about how some politicians can do better in 2016 …

 

Break bad habits

It seems that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has developed a strange habit of trying to push sporting events on the people of Boston. I mean, for a town that loves sports, he sure has made some people loathe sports. No one needs to be reminded of the whole Boston Olympics debacle. Walsh ultimately dropped the games, but to paint him as a hero in the story is like congratulating someone for kicking a dead horse. Unable to take hints, Walsh also caught flack for his move to bring an IndyCar race to the streets of South Boston. “We’re trying something different and new here, and I don’t understand the pushback,” the mayor told reporters. Next year, Walsh should quit trying to turn Boston into a literal playground.

 

Bolster housing stock

Home improvement is an admirable resolution. On a municipal level, that should mean the addition of roofs over the heads of Bostonians who need them most. We all know that the Long Island Bridge, an artery for Boston’s homeless communities, closed around this time last year. What less people may know is that those beds and services have not been entirely replaced. With a new year upon us, as the Commonwealth remains mired in an opiate epidemic, Boston needs more than a bare minimum of replacement properties for vulnerable residents.

 

Respect students

On a different note, the city still hasn’t figured out how to address the student housing situation that is forcing families out of neighborhoods and creating death traps. No one has been punished under the ‘no more than four’ ordinance—a misguided attempt to keep students safe and neighborhoods ruly—while there is an apparently endless boom in luxury housing development, and the burden of proof for no-fault evictions continues to fall on the tenant. All things considered, this coming year will be a crucial one for housing in Boston.  

 

There are countless issues on which Walsh and his team at Boston City Hall should probably focus in 2016, plus hundreds if not more ways that politics on Beacon Hill could improve. Last year, I wrote more than two-dozen columns about areas that need help—from transgender rights, to police reform. On that note, here’s a goal that any pol can take on: Shut me up! Help me run out of things to complain about. I’d gladly put down my pen. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be so lucky.

Author profile
EMILY HOPKINS
Related posts
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    A DEPARTURE: AFTER FOUR YEARS OF BLISTERING COLUMNS, A FREE RADICAL CHANGE
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    PAST INCARCERATION: REMEMBERING CHARLESTOWN'S FORGOTTEN PRISON
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    WHY BOTHER? ON RENEWING URBAN RENEWAL IN BOSTON.
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    THE THIN BLUE PAYWALL

Filed Under: COLUMNS, Free Radical Tagged With: #mapoli, bospoli, Boston, Charlie Baker, Marty Walsh, Massachusetts, New Year's Resolutions

WHAT’S NEW

State Wire: Massachusetts Ranks #1 in Child Well-Being

State Wire: Massachusetts Ranks #1 in Child Well-Being

Trump-Loving Mass Republican Party Freaks Out Over Mar-a-Lago Raid

Trump-Loving Mass Republican Party Freaks Out Over Mar-a-Lago Raid

Governor’s Council Weighs Controversial Parole Board Renomination

Governor’s Council Weighs Controversial Parole Board Renomination

Bay State Gas Providers Pay Up

Bay State Gas Providers Pay Up

State Wire: Mass Needs to Reform Youth Restitution Policies

State Wire: Mass Needs to Reform Youth Restitution Policies

“Pie” by Eric Ferdinand is licensed under CC-BY 2.0

Share and Share Alike: Major Funders Need to Give Equally to All Nonprofit News Outlets

Primary Sidebar

Advertisement

FEATURED EVENT

Advertisement

Most Popular

  • The T Will Stay Broken Because Poor and Working People Are Seen As Expendable 
  • Inside the Bay State’s Legendary (and Only) One-Man Brewery
  • Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • Worcester’s Wasteful, Never-Ending War on Police Transparency
  • The “Biggest Masshole In Massachusetts” Is Running For Secretary Of State

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): [email protected]