The Third Decade

No burritos for the people...yet

It's always great when businesses get back to you with a personal response.

Earlier this week I sent an email to Boloco asking them to open a shop in Dudley Square. Well, actually, I wrote "Bring burritos to the people. Please open a store in Dudley Square." I never really thought about whether I'd get a response, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to send the suggestion.

To my surprise, I received an email from their marketing guy today. Unfortunately they have no immediate plans to come to Dudley, but they say it's on their "list with about a thousand other places in and around the city of Boston."

So maybe Roxbury Crossing or Jackson Square then?

Hooray for Healthcare

If I wasn't already a believer in health insurance for everyone, I would become one now.

My bill for visiting the travel clinic just came in. I don't understand why a one hour visit and consultation would cost $745, but after my plan kicked in, my payment is just under $7. Wow! Before my visit, neither the clinic nor the insurance agent I spoke to could inform me of what would and wouldn't be covered. I steeled myself for a nasty surprise that might be at least 10 times what I'm being charged, so this is quite pleasant. I almost wish I had another tropical vacation coming up so I could make use of my insurance again.

So why is it that people in other states are resisting coverage for everyone? If my low budget Massachusetts plan is a model, seems like it would be a great thing for the masses. The affordability is great, but so is the peace of mind.

Citizens Bank, get with the program.

Dear Citizens Bank,

We've been together for about 10 years. I started off with your parent, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and then joined you when I moved back to Boston. Things were good and I've enjoyed the relationship all these years. But why are you getting sloppy on me all of a sudden. All those years we worked and traveled together, but now you've decided to give me the cold shoulder? I called more than 24 hours in advance to say that I would be traveling and to tell you where. So why can't I use my card?! Luckily I have a backup, but you were my buddy all these years. I even sent an email through your customer service line to report a problem, but still haven't heard back. Although I'm writing this with humor, this truly sucks. Please have someone in customer service contact me using either the email or the phone number I sent...or just release the funds.

Wish you were here.

Inside the Cochituate Standpipe

entrance to the pipe, originally uploaded by derequito.

After years of living in and around Roxbury, I finally had the opportunity to go inside the Cochituate Standpipe (the "fort") at the top of Fort Hill. The visit was lead by Rep. Byron Rushing and Discover Roxbury as they showed a film crew from This Old House around Roxbury.

It was great to see how sound the structure is overall, although there was some loose brick chipping off here and there. Unfortunately, when the park service worked on the building a generation ago, they used plexiglass instead of regular glass for the windows. Over time plexi clouds up and becomes opaque, which meant we had four windows but no view.

Oh well. Maybe a preservationist society will take up the cause and restore the monument to its former self. It would be great to have something as well-preserved and open to the public as the Bunker Hill Monument someday.

Facebook's "Mandingo President." Ugh!

There's random and then there's "random."

While posting a status update on Facebook, I was asked to prove that I'm not a spambot by completing one of those captcha text boxes. Usually they're a random combination of letters and numbers, although lately I've noticed that a combination of actual words are appearing more often. Usually the words are bland and common, but today I came across this:

What the hell is this crap?! There's no way this is random. Some techie working for Facebook or the captcha system programmed this in. People, get a grip. Barack Obama is the president for at least the next 3 years. Programming your racism into the internet will not change that.

And you, Facebook, do you have any internal codes of conduct regarding employee actions like this?

Hello, 2005.

Hello, 2005.

Yes, I realize that it's now 2010, but I was sent back 5 years in time earlier this week. While at a function at the Park Plaza Hotel, I passed by one of their computer rooms and saw this nighttime street image as the screen saver on every monitor:

 

What you see above is actually from their website. But, follow this link to see why I was transported through time.

Yup...you can imagine my shock. Years later and there it is being used without my knowledge. After a couple of days of contacting various people at the hotel, I've finally been in touch with the Marketing person. I expected to hear denial or be ready for a fight, but she's been quite lovely. She admits that they didn't know who the photographer was and she's interested in working out rights, crediting, and possibly future job ops. Woo hoo!

Wish me luck, and send advice on this kind of thing if you have it.

Happy New Year!

Annual ArtROX! Holiday Bazaar

The artists of Roxbury will be holding their annual holiday bazaar this Saturday. Stop by Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley Street, from 11am to 6pm for holiday gifts and original works of art.

 

Shouting at Success

I went to the Dunkin' Donuts at Dudley Station for the first time today around 9:30am. When I walked through the door, the place was hopping with people holding their hot beverages and chatting lively. But when I joined the long line of customers, it soon dawned on me that the place was going through a mini-meltdown. Customers in line looked confused about when or whether they would be able to order and the cashiers looked overwhelmed. After about 30 seconds, a woman behind the counter yelled out to the room that it was too loud for the staff to hear new customers placing orders and that people who already had their orders should leave or else (yes, the tone really was like that).

What the hell?!

Yes, it was buzzing, but it was the noise of customers enjoying each others' company and a hot drink. The youngest person was probably in her late 20s, but there were plenty of older folks, too. It's not like these were rowdy teens just getting off a bus after school. Not only that, these were customers who were using the counters and their free time without any intention of disturbing business. That had to be the poorest of poor service I've seen in a long, long time. It's one thing to ask customers to quiet down, but another to say take your stuff and git! America shouldn't be run the hell out by Dunkin' (not that anyone really took her advice).

Aren't there known calming techniques that corporate America uses to quell a crowd? Does music or TV hush up folks? There was a TV in the store, but it wasn't on. There was also no music playing. So there had to be some other technique at their disposal other than to shout like that. At least my cashier was nice, though. She looked happy to hear me say hi and ask how she was doing. Maybe that little nuggest common courtesy will spread back through the rest of the staff.

Dumpster Diving...Really?

Given the recent stories about the proliferation of rats around the area, I'm shocked that there are people who are choosing to go dumpster diving in areas where rats would most likely be scurrying about. I get that they're making a point about food waste, but what about common sense? With swine flu and bird flu floating around, do we really need people purposely exposing themselves to another potential source of infection? Someone call the parents, the Millennials are losing their damn minds!

Goodbye, Silver Line.

When I woke up this morning and read the Globe article about how the state scrapped plans for the 28X/Mattapan Silver Line, I was both happy and curious. That proposed extension of the Silver Line never really made sense to me. I've taken the existing route between Dudley Square and Downtown many times and have always found it slow, crowded, and uncomfortable. Current Silver Line service is sporadic. It's not unusual to wait at Dudley Station for over 15 minutes for a bus to depart...if it's even at the berth. Given that the extension would be about twice as long as the current route, it was surprising to see the state try to sell this project as an improvement to the bus service that already exists.

Anyway, I was curious to see what the reader comments to the article would be. Unsurprisingly, many of them are by people who don't live in the affected neighborhoods or use the Silver Line. They label area residents as "whiners" and suggest that the Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan lost out on something beneficial. Puh-leeze. Planning to spend $147 million dollars for a new, slow bus line was ridiculous. Even as an express route with a dedicated lane, the bus would've still had to deal with Blue Hill Avenue's heavy traffic and the general lack of courtesy that most drivers show to each other. The state's idea also seemed like another temporary solution to an issue needing long-term planning and coordination: how to improve transportation to an area of Boston lacking rapid rail transportation.

Looking at the past 25 years in Boston transit, there's been an unfortunate pattern of disinvesting in routes in the urban core while investing heavily in outer areas. As Washington Street lost the Orange Line and South Huntington/Centre Streets lost the E-line (to be replaced by bus service), North Cambridge gained the Red Line extension, the new Orange Line was moved to the Southwest Corridor, and the commuter rail expanded in multiple directions. In the meantime, the Somerville Green Line extension, the Indigo/Fairmount Line, the Lynn extension on the Blue Line, and the Urban Ring have been dangled in front of area residents without significant progress being achieved. Is it any wonder that residents in dense urban areas are expressing their outrage and annoyance and demanding better ideas? Besides having poor transit options, as new residents move into urban areas they're bringing more cars to compensate for the lack of adequate public transportation and adding to congestion. The feeling I sense from a lot of people (although by no means the all) is that enough is enough.

We need something better regionally. As a Roxbury resident, I'm glad to know that organizations like the Washington Street Corridor Coalition have been working for years to advocate for improved service and coordinated planning. In addition to improved transit through Dudley Square, I also hope that Somerville, Dorchester, and Lynn are included in a regional transit update that brings more of the densest parts of Metro Boston better rapid transit options. The Silver Line was a nice try, but it's time to move forward and start thinking about how to build a more comprehensive rail network with some vision.