Category: Political
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Criminalizing the Homeless
As the New York Times noted in its 17 July 2014 editorial, “Shunting the Homeless From Sight,” the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down the City of Los Angeles’ ban on citizens living out of automobiles. We all should be grateful for the wise decision of the Ninth Circuit, which…
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Waste Not, Want Not: Food Recovery Grows Out of Massachusetts’ Waste Ban
In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that America generated 36 million tons of food waste and 96 percent of that food went directly to landfills or incinerators. In the same year, the EPA also reported that 14.9 percent of homes in the US did not know where their next meal would come from. Instead…
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Random Thoughts
As we sweat through summer, I have a few things on my mind: The Supreme Court The court justices or should I say jesters have handed down some rather insane rulings in the last couple of weeks: stomping all over abortion rights, the Hobby Lobby ruling is just plain stupid, letting employers opt out of…
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Gentrification in Chinatown Raises Demand for Affordable Housing
CHINATOWN, Mass.—“It has long been gentrified,” A Chinatown resident exclaimed with a heavy sigh as he walked toward his apartment in Tai Tung Village, one of the early housing projects for low-income Chinatown residents. Tai Tung Village is a gray, medium-sized high-rise surrounded by other rundown-looking apartments. A family of four only needs to pay…
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MBTA Cleaners Fight Staff Cuts
BOSTON, Mass.—On Saturday June 22, MBTA station cleaners and their supporters marched through downtown Boston and rallied in the Boston Common to protest upcoming staff cuts that would eliminate 30 percent of the cleaning workforce on September 1. The rally attracted 1,000 people, according to police reports, and was the latest event in cleaners’ campaign…
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GOP Gubernatorial Hopefuls Split on Climate Change
BOSTON, Mass.—You would be forgiven for thinking GOP gubernatorial candidates Charlie Baker and Mark Fisher agree on a lot of things about government. In debates, the two are often on the same page over job growth and tax issues. But as Baker, the party’s 2010 hopeful, fends off attacks from the Democratic party of Governor…
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Forty Years Later, Busing Crisis Stirs Controversy
BOSTON, Mass.—Three Boston city councilors stirred up controversy recently by voting “present” when Councilor Charles Yancey proposed a resolution to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. While 10 of the 13 councilors voted in favor,…
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To Protect and Serve? Police Militarization from "Urban Shield" Has Boston Residents Worried
Faneuil Hall was full of tourists, the smell of food and the sound of a street performer drumming on buckets. A circus tent was set up just outside City Hall Plaza, the sounds of the announcer and the cheering audience filling the typically empty plaza. No one – not the tourists, not the street performers,…
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Somerville Reforms Immigration by Withdrawing from Secure Communities Program
SOMERVILLE, Mass.—Mayor Joe Curtatone took historic steps toward the protection of undocumented immigrants on when he signed an executive order to withdraw the city from Secure Communities, a program enacted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) two years ago to remove undocumented immigrants who pose a threat to public safety. “[The program] is a…
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City Council Commission Addresses Issues Facing Black Men and Boys
BOSTON, Mass.—Boston’s city council saw two bills introduced for discussion this year about issues that concern black youth, both of which passed with ease this February. Councilors Michael Flaherty and Tito Jackson led the discussion with more than 60 black residents from all over the city during a hearing at Madison Park High School in…