Author Archive

The JP Observer addressed the problem of traffic blocking intersections during rush hours in Jamaica Plain in March, asking for enforcement of laws that say drivers cannot pull into an intersection where traffic in front is stopped, even if their light is green. Not much appears to have changed since then, except some big...
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Questions: How can we increase the chances we get the president the majority of us vote for in 2020—unlike who we got in 2016 and 2000? And how can we also benefit from fairer election campaigns focused on enfranchised voters in every state? Answer: Support Equal Votes efforts to throw out Massachusetts’ and 47...
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By Sandra Storey Special to the Gazette “Charlie Baker is a great governor.” One ad for him this month begins with a woman saying that. He is running for a second term, and his ads are flooding the local TV stations this month ahead of the Sept. 4 primary. The ad is full of...
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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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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,...
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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...
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Right now there are about 8,700 children and families in Massachusetts—1,400 in Boston—who are suffering because of an outdated provision in state law based on myth rather than actuality.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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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