With follow-through, Boston could have a BPD that resembles the force that officials have always pretended we have.
C-CHANGE: IF THERE WAS EVER A CHANCE FOR BPD REFORM, IT IS NOW
mayor Marty Walsh
FATE OF THE CITY
What Mayor Walsh’s annual address didn’t say about global warming
UMASS BOSTON DISPATCH
The mayor, the music, and a mission under threat
At this year’s UMass Boston Convocation ceremony, special guest Mayor Marty Walsh was greeted by a multimedia musical performance that captured both what is so precious about UMB and what is now under threat.
First came the music: The UMB Chamber ...
TOO MANY COPS
Some thoughts about last Saturday’s counterprotest
DISPATCH FROM THE MARCH AGAINST CAGES
Prison reformers protest Baker and Walsh-endorsed corrections conference
Activists from 19 grassroots organizations marched through downtown Boston Sunday afternoon to protest the American Correctional Association (ACA), which was holding its annual conference at the Hynes Convention Center.
The ACA is one of the largest ...
RECYCLING FOLLOW-UP: THE ROAD TO ZERO
Despite a relative win for recycling workers, living wage advocates pledge to keep on fighting
WILL BOSTON SET A NEW REGIONAL PRECEDENT AND FINALLY PAY RECYCLING WORKERS A LIVING WAGE?
For the first time in the city’s history, Boston’s living wage ordinance might finally get applied to low-paid workers sorting the city’s recycling ...
THE FALL OF THE GE BOSTON DEAL, PART II
THE FALL OF THE GE BOSTON DEAL, PART I
The official narrative and the real story
Readers might feel that this should be a time for me to take a victory lap. The GE Boston deal that I criticized from the moment it was made public in January 2016 ...
BOSTON FIDDLES WHILE THE WORLD BURNS
City government continues issuing reports while UN calls for immediate action
When writing about human-induced global warming on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to pace oneself. Because it’s such a relentlessly depressing topic that highlighting it too often can backfire. Faced with an existential threat of such magnitude that ...
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: LIVING ON SCRAPS
Boston is aiming to achieve “zero waste,” which some say can create more living-wage jobs. Is part of this lofty goal rooted in the region’s dirtiest hypocrisy?
‘WALK THE TALK’
Mayor Walsh needs to act faster to mitigate regional global warming threats
Environmental groups protested Mayor Marty Walsh last week during the International Mayors ...
TERROR AT 50 FEET
Acrimony over Seaport gondola plan speaks to need for expanded MBTA service
Much ink has been spilled in the Boston press over a plan by luxury developer Millennium Partners and its subsidiary Cargo Ventures to spend $100 million to build an aerial gondola system from South Station up Summer Street across Fort Point Channel to the ...
CITY VOWS TO SUPPORT IMMIGRANTS, BUT MAJOR HURDLES REMAIN
Carolina Mata is a recipient of TPS and escaped El Salvador in 1998 after her father was assassinated. Protected status has made life easier for Mata. “I found a stable job, got my driver’s license, and was able to take care of my children,” she said. As a single mother, Mata supports 10-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and her son who attends Fitchburg State College, while working in a plastics factory.
THE TERMINAL: SOUTH STATION IS A HOMELESS SHELTER WITH NO SERVICES
As television journalists reported that New England Patriots fans donated comforters for homeless people, transit cops disposed of every single blanket that the folks from Quincy C.O.P.E. and others handed out inside South Station.
TOWNIE: CORPORATE TAX FABLES AND COMMUNITARIAN KIDDIE TABLES
Big local corps quiet about huge profits to come from Repub tax scheme… except GE
An interesting WBUR article, “Largest Mass. Companies ...
GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL
Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief
What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if that once-secret deal cut by Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh in January 2016 goes south? Potentially ...
THE VERTEX SHELL GAME
Pharma’s Donation to Boston, Other Cities Converts Public Funds to PR Gold
Vertex Pharmaceuticals made a big PR splash last week with an announcement of a significant donation to Boston and other cities where it does business. The Boston-based company, best known for its cystic fibrosis meds, has pledged to “spend $500 million on charitable ...
SHAME TIME: IT’S TIME TO MAKE NONVOTERS FEEL EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE
They poison our Facebook and Twitter feeds, struggling to channel their emotions and be heard. But while they’re willing to piss into the bottomless rhetorical ocean that is social media, they’re not willing to pull the singular lever that has measurable impact. Imagine the nerve.
WE INTERVIEWED MORE THAN 25 BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES ABOUT SCHOOLS
We really did sit down with 27 candidates for Boston City Council—from at-large contenders to those trying for district seats—to ask about Boston Public Schools.
ELECTION SPECIAL: THE SWEET SMELL OF INCUMBENCY
In Boston politics, nothing helps more than already being in office
ALL EYES ON DISTRICT 9
For the first time in a decade, there’s a City Council race in Allston-Brighton worth paying attention to
THAT ‘FREE SPEECH’ THING
Photo by Kori Feener
Mayor Walsh and various police agencies were no friends of civil liberties at Boston’s monster protests against the ultra right
Despite the “mission accomplished” happy talk ...
‘I FEEL LIKE WE WERE STOOD UP’
Boston nazi hunt a major disappointment for many
DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE GUY IN THE MAGA HAT WHO BROUGHT A FIREARM TO BOSTON COMMON?
That’s when the man in the MAGA hat took off, attempting to run from the cops, who chased after him. He was apprehended just a short distance away, police confiscating his firearm and taking him into custody.
TWO QS ON SCHOOLS: DOMINGOS DAROSA: (BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE, AT-LARGE)
"These things aren’t happening. Why? Because one department won’t work with the next department."
TWO QS ON SCHOOLS: MARK CIOMMO (BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR + CANDIDATE, D9)
"One of the best things we have done as a school system in recent years is go to what we call a weighted student formula, which gives weight to young people who have vulnerable circumstances in their life, whether it’s poverty, whether it’s disability, it could be autism."
TWO QS ON SCHOOLS: ERICA TRITTA (BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE, D2)
"It’s difficult to know how much the schools need, but I’d like to say as much as possible. Children need to be able to access education."
TWO QS ON SCHOOLS: RUFUS FAULK (BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE, D7)
"We’re leaving the education of our children to BPS when it should be a citywide initiative."
TWO QS ON SCHOOLS: LYDIA EDWARDS (BOSTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE, D1)
"I don’t know that there’s a grading system you can give because the schools vary so much, and my concern about standardized assessment of all the schools in general is that they don’t account for all of the differences the schools have."
