Category: Boston,

Purchase of Mount Ida is an insult to UMass Boston

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

[UMass Boston] …students — who make up the most diverse campus in New England — are getting another painful lesson about where they stand in the university pecking order. As low as it goes.

…The 72-acre Mount Ida campus will give UMass Amherst students a pastoral base of operations for internships and academic collaborations in Boston. Meanwhile, UMass Boston students have endured months of administrative turmoil and cold-hearted cost-cutting on a campus infamous for its crumbling infrastructure.

…And now Meehan, with customary rubber-stamped approval from the UMass board, is taking on debt at Mount Ida that is estimated to run from $55 million to $70 million.

……The memo states that the university will cut the funding for the centers and institutes that require the biggest subsidies. They include the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, the Institute for New England Native American Studies, the Labor Resource Center, and the Center for Social Policy.

…Mills is closing the deficit by slicing away at programs that make up the heart and soul of UMass Boston. The cuts are not coming from the top. They are coming from the most vulnerable — children, women, veterans, and minorities.

…The cuts will reportedly save up to $1.5 million out of a $430 million operating budget. Meanwhile, there’s enough money in the overall system to take on debt-ridden Mount Ida and send its students to UMass Dartmouth at a reduced rate.

Purchase of Mount Ida is an insult to UMass Boston – The Boston Globe

Jeezus…

State Police pay higher than reported, data hidden for years

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Boston,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Revelations about an alleged overtime scam, a wave of suspensions, and hefty pay for Massachusetts State Police troopers have sparked scrutiny of the state’s largest law enforcement agency.

…Payroll records for an entire 140-trooper State Police division — including some of the department’s highest earners — have been hidden from public view and weren’t filed with the state comptroller for several years, the Globe has found.

…The records also show that 393 troopers normally assigned to other State Police divisions worked detail and fill-in shifts for Troop F, collecting another $6.4 million.

In the entire department, at least 299 troopers — about 14 percent — made more than $200,000 last year.

…On Tuesday, Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin revealed that 20 active troopers and one retiree face sanctions in an overtime abuse scandal in Troop E. The troopers allegedly logged hours they did not work, with some alleged violators putting in for as many as 100 no-show shifts.

On Friday, State Police said nine of those troopers were suspended without pay, nine more retired, and one was kept on active duty.

…There has also been infighting within the State Police, with unionized troopers arguing that higher-ranked nonunion workers should not be assigned to work overtime shifts.

…At least 79 percent of Troop F made more last year than Governor Charlie Baker, who earned $151,800. The percentage would be even higher if you included the pay that some workers received in 2017 for time spent in other State Police divisions.

Fourteen Troop F members earned more in overtime than in base pay.

State Police pay higher than reported, data hidden for years – The Boston Globe

Oi…..

A Drag Queen Dressed As Elsa Saving A Boston Police Wagon During A Blizzard Is Too Perfect

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

 

I think we can all agree that life’s stressful moments would be vastly improved by the presence of a helpful drag queen in a Disney princess gown.

A Drag Queen Dressed As Elsa Saving A Boston Police Wagon During A Blizzard Is Too Perfect

!!!!

Harvard can save West Station, bu tthe question is are they willing to back up claims of being a good neighbor by putting their money where their mouth is?

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

[State Representative Michael] Moran’s district includes much of Brighton and Allston, including the site of a massive project that would take down a decrepit Mass. Pike viaduct, straighten the highway, and free up dozens of acres, now owned by Harvard, for new development.

…In a public comment letter also signed by other elected officials representing Allston and Brighton in the House, Senate, and Boston City Council, Moran urges the state to “monetize the total benefits” to Harvard — the “single biggest beneficiary” of the Pike realignment — to guarantee the construction of West Station sooner rather than later. In other words: While Harvard has already committed to covering a third of the station’s cost, the state should hit the school up for the majority of it.

…In general, the Greater Boston region, which might otherwise have become the eastern end of the Rust Belt, shouldn’t take its universities for granted. Yet there are some problems that only an institution like Harvard can solve. It would be a shame if the university stood aside as a major transit hub — the key to an urban vision for Allston — fell victim to bureaucratic inertia.

Harvard, only you can save West Station – The Boston Globe

Michael Dukakis’s Last Stand for the State of Massachusetts

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Infrastructure and Transportation,Leave a comment

[Dukakis is] in the midst of one more big push, his current obsession, and something he’s been working on for a long time: getting the city’s North and South stations connected by an underground rail line. “It would be transformative,” he will gush—in how much congestion would be relieved, in how many polluting cars would be taken off the road, in how much time would be saved for commuters, and in the economic boom that would result.

We walk the 2 miles to Northeastern, where Dukakis has taught public policy and management for 27 years. It’s a walk he makes most weekdays, winding along the Emerald Necklace. [As] always, Dukakis carries a plastic bag, because as he walks he must pick up trash.

…Dukakis’s obsession with connecting the North and South stations stretches back as far as he can remember. He has been riding public transit—streetcars at first—by himself since he was five years old, in 1938. It gave him freedom to go downtown as a boy in the city he loved, to wander. To stare up at the home of Paul Revere on North Square, to imagine that he was Johnny Tremain, the fictional acolyte of the great silversmith. Dukakis loved history. Or to go to baseball games. All his life the T has been his preferred mode of travel, especially for the dozen years when he was governor: taking the Green Line to Beacon Hill, talking to people also heading to work or school about how their lives were going, about what he should be doing better.

…[Weld and Dukakis] have joined together on this, in an effort to persuade the guy in the governor’s office that this is the project he ought to be focusing on, and not wasting time spending—are you ready for this?—$2 billion to add seven tracks to South Station. Absolutely crazy, folks! Seven tracks. Two billion dollars. When they fill up, then what? And what about the folks on the north side, who come down from the North Shore, Merrimack Valley. Bam, hit North Station, then two trains, three changes, walking, running, trying to get to work. It’s crazy! I have colleagues who come from the North Shore, you ought to be able to get on a commuter train and come to Ruggles, the Northeastern station. Can’t do it. So what do they do? They drive!” Which is causing terrible gridlock.

…“What I want to know is why we’re spending money on this interchange. We’ve got about 200 bridges in the state in desperate need of paint.”

In the dark car, Michael Dukakis shakes his head, because it simply doesn’t make any sense.

Michael Dukakis’s Last Stand for the State of Massachusetts

hmmm

David Ortiz makes long-term commitment to the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Management 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The Red Sox have come to a long-term agreement with 10-time All-Star and three-time World Series Champion David Ortiz, inking an unprecedented deal that should link him with the organization forever. In his new role, Ortiz will act as a mentor for current players, participate in recruitment efforts, make a variety of special appearances for the club, and work in a business development capacity for Fenway Sports Management and its partners. “For over a decade and a half, we have gotten to know what kind of man David is both on and off the field,“ said Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry. “His skill and success on the diamond are rivaled only by his spirit, compassion, and big heart. I cannot think of a better representative for our organization. I’m happy we can now say officially what we have long known, David is family.“

: David Ortiz makes long-term commitment to the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Management | MLB.com

Yeah!!!!! At last some good news…

When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

For wearing their hair in braids, two teenagers were threatened with suspension at their charter school. Similar incidents show that strict dress codes can punish students for their racial identity.

…According to Colleen Cook, administrators at Mystic Valley have routinely reprimanded black students for dress code violations involving hair.

Other black girls have been pulled out of class, she says, lined up, asked if they had hair extensions and given detention if they did.

Colleen remembers when one student, who wore her hair in its natural texture, was taken out of class and told that she would need to relax, or chemically straighten, her hair before returning to school the next day.

In defense of their daughters, the Cooks brought in a yearbook to show school leaders the many white female students with hair extensions and dyed hair.

But, the Cooks say, the administration didn’t see that those students were in violation of the dress code, stating those hair alterations weren’t as obvious.

…”I feel like the school is pushing us to raise them as white children, but that’s not who they are or who they’re going to be.”

When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code : NPR Ed : NPR

Criminalizing being black starts at an early age. I hope the Cooks sue the school into stone age. If the school system insists on disrupting the education of young people who happen to be black, then in all fairness everyone else’s education needs to be disrupted as well.

Meb Keflezighi stopped to embrace Martin Richard’s family after final Boston Marathon

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,Leave a comment

“I just told them to be strong. We think about them often.”

Meb Keflezighi stopped to embrace Martin Richard’s family after final Boston Marathon

Meb! Meb! Meb!

“I remember I was at the airport and somebody comes [up] and goes, ‘whenever you come to Boston, you should never buy a beer.’ ” – Meb Keflezighi

Awww, he knows us.

Meb! Meb! Meb!

First Woman to Run in Boston Marathon Is Doing It Again — 50 Years Later 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Chick Stuff,Leave a comment

“The marathon was a man’s race in those days; women were considered too fragile to run it,” she wrote in an essay for The New York Times 10 years ago. “But I had trained hard and was confident of my strength. Still, it took a body block from my boyfriend to knock the official off the course.” Switzer recovered to finish in 4 hours 20 minutes.

…“In 1967, few would have believed that marathon running would someday attract millions of women, become a glamour event in the Olympics and on the streets of major cities, help transform views of women’s physical ability and help redefine their economic roles in traditional cultures,” Switzer wrote.

Over the years, Switzer has competed in more than 30 marathons, winning New York in 1974 in 3:07:29, and has worked as a television commentator. She is the founder of 261 Fearless, a running club for women. The name comes from the number she wore in 1967.

…Of her legacy as a pioneer, she wrote in The Times: “We learned that women are not deficient in endurance and stamina, and that running requires no fancy facilities or equipment. Women’s marathoning has created a global legacy.”

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n/t

Boston Marathon 2017: 1st woman to officially run does it again 50 years later 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Chick Stuff,Leave a comment

Kathrine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in the same bib number that a race official tried to rip off her in an iconic photo from the 1967 race.

Boston Marathon 2017: 1st woman to officially run does it again 50 years later – CNN.com

If you were raised on a steady diet of Boston area sports anytime before the last 10 or 12 years you just always end up cheering on the underdog, the people’s competitor, the David against the Goliath. It’s been bred into your consciousness.

Boston area sports have always been a significant part of my pop-culture diet and I just can’t help but to dig the hell out of stories like this. Kudos 261! Way to open up sports to more and more people. Way to make positive change happen.

Gov. Charlie Baker captured the spirit of the marathon with this finish line video

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,Leave a comment

The 2017 Boston Marathon was full of sights and sounds that proved why the capital of Massachusetts is such a special city.

Gov. Charlie Baker captured the spirit of the marathon with this finish line video

Such a sucker for shows of humanity like this…

God bless sports!