The T blew up a few bike racks at Alewife over the summer. There has been construction activity at the old locations. There have been a lot of bikes locked to railings with the remaining bike racks overflowing.
Today I rolled up to the remaining bike racks and a couple security guards were passing out pamphlets that advised me not to get my bike stolen. More interesting, they handed me a “Bike CharlieCard” that I can use to open the gates at the two new bike cages. The MBTA also had a promo on the new bike cages today.
I have a few questions:
Will this really help prevent bike theft? They handed me a card, no questions asked, and it opened the door for me. Can’t a thief just apply for a key to the castle? It is a theft deterrent, but will it actually deter anyone? I’m not sure.
Maintenance. The T simply sucks at it. They don’t have anything that doesn’t break down. Trains, turnstiles, parking lot gates, ticket dispensers, signals, tracks, bridges, speakers, coin dispensers, buses, dollar-bill readers, pavement, batteries, rechargers, refuellers, radios, electronic signage, locks, security systems, etc. If the T has it, it breaks. Let’s see if this cage is still intact and functional in 6 months or 6 years.
At the moment I’m guardedly optimistic. Perhaps the T got this one right?
I’ve had the opportunity to both work with Jack Hurd and watch him from a distance. He’s a good person, an excellent listener, a good communicator, and wise in his decisions. I’m proud to support him for State Senate.
I first watched Jack when I was new to Town Meeting, the spring of 2002, and every year since then. He’s covered dozens of issues and covered them well. His website does a better job than I do of detailing his accomplishments.
I first worked with Jack when I started trying to improve the town’s IT department. I had been frustrated with the town’s Data Processing Advisory committee, and was working with Annie LaCourt to get a citizen petition before Town Meeting. Jack met with us, listened to us, and helped us get a compromise that was supported by the selectmen and passed through Town Meeting. He turned what could have been a confrontation into a compromise that moved the town forward. The end result was the consolidation of the town’s IT department under a CIO. That change is reaping huge gains in town productivity.
The skills Jack has demonstrated as Selectman will serve us all well in the State Senate.
Why I’m Not Voting for Ken Donnelly
By all reports, Ken is a nice guy. His stated positions are very similar to Jack’s – you can compare them here.
I will not vote for Donnelly because I fear that he will be a union mouthpiece. In the last year, he’s received more than $100,000 from unions and union members (you can verify this yourself by reading the state filing reports, or read my analysis, or the Arlington Advocate).
In private discussions with Donnelly supporters, they’ve told me that the unions are supporting him because he’s a good guy, not because he’s going to be totally pro-union. I just don’t buy it. These unions are not shelling out this kind of money because he’s “a good guy.” They’re shelling out this money because they think he’s going to vote their way in the Sentate.
Do we really need another legislator who thinks we need police details at every road construction sites? Why hasn’t the state reined in the Boston fire department? Why does the teachers’ union successfully continue to block any reform efforts that are linked to teacher performance? Why does the state permit the SEIU to bully teaching hospitals?
I think unions have a positive role to play in the state. I support them, in general. However, their role needs to be balanced. The state government is already very pro-union; we don’t need another union voice on Beacon Hill.
My bottom line on Donnelly: he’s going to be a very big friend of the unions, and the unions already have big enough friends.
When I read Infinite Jest, it was a revelation in reading. I hadn’t read a book that stretched my brain like that since. . . learning to read. His development, plot, imagery, sentence construction, thought patterns, characters, and vocabulary stretched me and challenged me. Just the vocabulary! I hadn’t needed a dictionary to read a book since I was 10, and there he was, making me reach for the shelf more than once per chapter. I convinced several friends to read it and it was the source of months of discussions.
I went back through Broom in the System and thought it was OK. Oblivion also gets an OK. The short stories in Girl with the Curious Hair and Brief Interviews are more on par with Infinite Jest – mind-altering books that leave you wondering how much different you are from the stranger who started reading the book.
There are a few other fiction writers that I really have loved, including Frank Herbert and Greg Egan. Foster’s writing was on a different plane. I guess he’s another example of genius being crazy, and crazy being genius. It would be nice if a few more of the crazy geniuses would stick around longer.
A week without a post. Ugh! Here are the excuses, perhaps as a form of update:
I’ve been spending a lot of time at Lambda Phi of Alpha Delta Phi. I’m delighted to report they got 19 pledges.
A fair amount of time at work. Finished Sprint 2, kicked off Sprint 3.
Three Red Sox games, only one of which was a win. I may have the worst Sox home record in the entire city this year.
Saw Donna the Buffalo at Paradise. My review: Meh. And how could they not play Positive Friction?
My one creative output this week was a post on the HubSpot blog about Yammer. A few thousand people read that blog; I haven’t written for an audience that size since I wrote for The Tech.
Writing about Yammer was pretty easy for me. Yammer is trying to solve a problem that Abuzz and eRoom were trying to solve, and IMlogic was managing the same type of corporate messaging. I could talk for hours about corporate knowledge management/messaging. Then my audience would lapse into a protective coma.
It’s one thing to change your mind. I respect it. We’ve all changed our mind at some point. Maybe it’s because of personal experience, or a compelling argument, or learning new facts. Whatever the reason, I respect the evolution of personal opinion.
But what about taking a position just for expediency? In this case, I’m not talking about taking a position just to be well-liked. I’m talking about taking a position so that you can score points/defend the candidate of your choice, facts be damned. I’m talking about looking at some characteristic of a candidate, and then supporting or condemning it, simply because you like or dislike the candidate.
That’s the stuff that I find so appalling. I can’t stand the thoughtless, useless attack for the sake of the attack. If you don’t like a candidate, if you have a problem with their issues, great, I invite you to make your case. But if you’re just yapping because you can, then I invite you to shut up.
Jon Stewart made a montage of people yammering about “the gender card.” He has some great examples of the flip-flopping that I abhor. (hat tip to Matt).
WRKO conservative talk host Reese Hopkins told listeners 17-year-old Bristol Palin‘s pregnancy makes him question VP hopeful Sarah Palin‘s parenting skills. Angry Republican listeners blew up his e-mail box, claiming Bristol’s condition is family business. And Hopkins, who talked extensively on-air about the suspicious Gloucester teen pregnancy pact, was a little shocked. “You called these girls sluts, you said their parents were horrible,” he said of his listeners. “But in 125 e-mails I have stacked in front of me, you’re telling me [Bristol Palin’s pregnancy] is not a big deal.” Hopkins went back to the e-mails he received on the Gloucester story and compared them to his Palin e-mails. He found 70 listeners who flip-flopped on the teen pregnancy issue and invited them to explain.
Good for him. Frankly, I don’t think any of us can judge any of these parents from this distance. If you judge one, judge them all – you don’t get to cherry-pick the ones you happen to like.
Last, but certainly not least, my friend Darienne weighed in on McCain’s speech at the Republican convention:
“Americans want us to stop yelling at each other, OK?†McCain smiled tonight, looking about as sincere as Steve Martin.
That he expects me to believe that after the spectacle of the past few days may be most insulting of all.
She hit the nail on the head. How can McCain put up a three-day parade of attack dogs, from Romney to Palin, and then pretend that it’s not what he wanted to happen? I guess you believe him if you want to, but I think his actions speak louder than his words.
My friend and former Tabblo colleague Dave St. Germain took the week off to go Minneapolis. He’s been running around with the protesters and taking pictures. I think his commentary has been fascinating.
Now, I know that I’m prone to get lost, but I’ve never been this bad. My friends Heather (UNC) and Brian (Duke) are going to argue about whose fault it is for days.
The Universal Hub has another story about photographers being harassed by the MBTA police. I’ve had it happen to me; I never got around to blogging about it. Suffice it to say there is a police report somewhere in MBTA land where it’s documented that I own a camera and I take pictures with it. Of Alewife, even!
The most amusing part of the story is the link to the MBTA Police website. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Today I rolled up to the remaining bike racks and a couple security guards were passing out pamphlets that advised me not to get my bike stolen. More interesting, they handed me a “Bike CharlieCard” that I can use to open the gates at the two new bike cages. The MBTA also had a promo on the new bike cages today.
