By Sandra Storey Special to the Gazette Boston, with support from people in Jamaica Plain who care about the local environment, is starting to look at more of its forest and fewer of its trees, to paraphrase an old adage. Trees that are most visible and countable and have gotten much of our attention—street...
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JP Observer: City action on approved clean energy program at a standstill; Councilor O’Malley objects
A Boston City Council and Mayor Marty Walsh approved state program that would allow Boston residents to choose to get more electricity from renewable sources is purposely not being implemented by the City’s Environment Department. Local City Councilor Matt O’Malley responded firmly and appropriately this week when informed that the City’s Chief of Environment,...
JP Observer: What’s in a name? When it comes to public schools, we need some new ones
Riding a wave of new awareness that women and people of color have been unjustly ignored by prominent institutions, the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail (BWHT) is advocating that some schools in the Boston school system be renamed for accomplished women and/or people of color. An audit done by BWHT shows that about 10 public...
JP Observer: MA legislature asked to “Lift the Cap on Kids”
Right now there are about 8,700 children and families in Massachusetts—1,400 in Boston—who are suffering because of an outdated provision in state law based on myth rather than actuality. That law—enacted during rampant negative stereotyping of families on government assistance in the mid-1990s—bars children born or conceived after a family starts receiving welfare from...
JP Observer: Could someone please block cars from blocking our intersections?
How many minutes does it take you to drive off your street onto a bigger street in the morning and later, head home for the night? Do you get stuck there at that intersection and others along the way, blocked by cars stopped in front of you—after your red light turns green? These are...
JP Observer: We need to learn specifics about Russian propaganda
Everyone on Facebook can check to see if they unknowingly interacted with a post from a Russian agency trying to influence the presidential race and American politics in general during the 2016 campaign. Facebook (FB) estimated before Congress in the fall that 126 million users were exposed to those posts and ads. In addition,...
JP Observer: Ice activities here show vivid, recent climate change
Crowds of people ice skated securely on Jamaica Pond daily in winters from the mid-1800s to less than 100 years ago. Thick blocks of ice were commercially harvested from it to sell locally and for export including by ship. The iced over pond supported trucks and teams of horses easily. Earlier this month, after...
JP Observer: Speech is money: It’s OK to voice opinions to other legislators in D.C.
A record-breaking number of people contacted Washington with their opinions during the first two months this year, according to an article in the March 6 New Yorker. “Members of Congress claim that, Senate-wide, the call volume for the week of Jan. 30, 2017, more than doubled the previous record; on average, during that week,...
JP Observer: Community people participate in Alzheimer’s studies
Not so long ago, it seems, getting Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was thought to be only a matter of fate. A person either came down with the chronic, debilitating disease—usually later in life—or didn’t. Much about it was a mystery. Now a center just several stops from JP on the Route 39 bus in the...
JP Observer: More details, examples of Russian meddling needed
We can be sure the Russians tampered with the presidential election in 2016. Our intelligence agencies and almost everyone in Congress, no matter their party, agree that Russia intervened and say they have evidence to back them up. On Jan. 6 this year, the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National...