At the end of a recent community meeting on the state transportation system, a grandmotherly woman with a lyrical Caribbean accent strode up to the top transportation official in Massachusetts, dispensing with pleasantries.
“Let me tell you something,” she told Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey. “I am so upset with Number 28.”
Comments
What a stupid story. The racebaiters are running out of things to complain about.
You have that right.
But the Globe story is WORSE than stupid. ANY Globe story you need to ask yourself, "What is the HIDDEN ADJENDA" here? For the answer to that, see some of the other bloggers' comments here. In general, the hidden adjenda is ALWAYS that the public needs to expect higher income taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes. And the taxes will affect the poor and the middle class, NOT the "rich" people.
But the Globe always says that Black people shouldn't have to work. And Obama is pushing for yet more extended unemployment insurance So what's the problem?
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The comment by Miker6 is exceptionally racist -- and unfounded. I regularly read the GLOBE. I don't recall ever reading anything to the effect of what Miker6 claims.
And how about low income whites?
What a stretch for racism...embarrassing...just so you know, most of the suburbs have very few buses if any. In Boston they complain they have too many and the T stop is a half mile away. The first buses that get cut are in the suburbs, because when they tried to cut some in town there were cries of racism. Pick jobs closer to home, move, get a ride share...my husband's job is not accessible by T and despite being under 7 miles away takes an hour or more to drive to...he never considered racism as a culprit for the traffic.
No, it's not race, but probably wealth.
The difference is that, statistically speaking, your husband is either poor, or he has chosen to take a longer commute even though he didn't have to (not unheard of, but not normal either). If you look at page 61 of the actual report (http://www.northeastern.edu/dukakiscenter/wp-content/uploads/Staying-on-Track-Plenary-Presentation.pdf) you'll see that, in fact, many people commuting to places in the outer suburbs take nearly an hour to get to work. It's just that there aren't nearly enough white people with commutes like your husband's to sway the average. The study is pretty comprehensive even if it does focus too much on skin color and not enough on wealth. But if you just switch the words "black" with "poor" and "white" with "rich" (which is probably pretty reliable for most parts of the state) I think you'll find the results are pretty meaningful (even if your husband is an outlier).
And the rest of us ride in limousines to work? Talk about divide and conquer mentality.
You're kidding me, right? "We want a system where nobody’s commute is longer because of the color of their skin,” So, when it takes me 2 hours to get into Boston on the MA Pike, in what should be a 35 minute commute, should we be looking for racial discrimination? You figure there's some racist sitting at the MBTA control panel, saying "Hey - that bus is in a black neighborhood - slow it down!!!!!" Or, if you are fair about the analysis, and not TRYING to play the race card, would you find out that just about ALL sections of the MBTA are overcrowded, underserved, poorly maintained, and running behind schedule? I don't care what neighborhood you are in - get on a local bus at rush hour, and you are not going to do much better than 7 mph. Have you ever ridden a bus in an urban area? Want to inprove mass transit by disclosing its failures and militating for change? Do it with even-handed analysis, not selective statistical manipulation to support your divisive theories.
Try living in a condo building next to a subway station. I think you'll find it shortens your commute pretty dramatically. The problem here is not that there aren't ways to achieve short commutes and live in the city. It's just that those options don't tend to be available to the city's poorer majority.
Oh, please! We all suffer equally riding the slowest public transport in the world. There are so many variants to take in to consideration here, that it is an impossible comparison. And if you said fat people have longer commutes, it might be because they are slower, but it wouldn't be acceptable to discuss that.
they should try getting to work between 6AM & 9AM on the expressway...how about 1 hour to go 7 miles most days or try getting a bus out of Milton to Quincy or Ashmont Station....then they can complain.
How about building public housing projects on Beacon Hill and in Back Bay to move the disadvantaged closer to their service jobs? Or how about limo liberals offering rides to work for their nannies and cleaning personnel?
Embarrassing. It's becoming harder and harder to justify paying for this subscription. I certainly don't pay for the garbage on foxnews.com, why pay for this? Front page story! This is what you provide your readers? Lazy journalism at best.
I was driven to "garbage news" having been fed up with the lies, divisiveness and abandonment of objective reporting by the "network media". You might give Fox another try--it might at least upgrade your diet.
It's always been this way, even when Boston was mostly white. As a college student in the 70's, it took me more than an hour to bet to Boston State College from Hyde Park. Two buses and the trolley. It's not a matter of race here, but one of a lousy transit system.
This is a wonderful example of the local "liberal" (parochial) agenda. Here's the key (in case you passed over it lightly): "Lawmakers and advocates see an opportunity in the new year, with Beacon Hill expected to debate new taxes to support the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the highway system, and the regional bus agencies beyond Greater Boston, a transportation network deeply indebted and unable to keep up with basic maintenance and operations."
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As we all know, taxes are said to "have to" be increased because there is not enough revenue for things like our crumbling transportation infrastructure. Now, don't think that means old bridges and roads. They're talking about the Big Dig -- where corruption and incompetence resulted in huge cost overruns and costly maintenance issues that is sucking the life out of whatever Beacon Hill chooses as the target to have the life sucked out of for public consumption. I won't even mention the costs of all those hacks with make-work jobs, or with performance that ultimately increases costs (like the drug testing boiler room operation that now requires special courts, judges, and lawyers, or the meningitis scandal that now requires more contracted investigations).
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Now the wonder thing in this state is that once you have created the need for more money, and you have manipulated things such that to the public it looks like the need is for typical things, then, having "justified" the need (and, in a "it takes a village" state where "justified" needs are always funded), you always get the money. But you get more than your phony "need" and -- it must be a miracle -- there is some additional to do things like, hey, improving bus service. But, can''t improve bus service just because it should be good for every person in the Commonwealth -- no, that reason has not weight in THIS village. We CAN improve bus service, however, if we can paint it as impacting one of our annointed "victim groups". Blacks were an obvious choice, but there was also illegal aliens (undocumented immigrants for you parochial types), hispanics, the poor, blue color workers, and lastly but not leastly, single mothers.
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The amusing irony here is that the Parochial agenda is to MAKE SURE that no group is treated badly because of race, religion, etc, etc, but only so that they are free to treat you badly if you are not loyal to those in power (are you know who they are).
Nice blog. We need more of this. Globe needs to be called out on a daily basis. And notice that the article avoids putting out actual money figures. Globe and Deval won't tell you how much this spendthrift state is in debt. And in addition, bloggers should note all of the major news that the Globe DIDN'T print, particulary major World news. And also, for people who read free weekly local community newspapers. Many of them will insist that the public support their spendthrift Selecmen by agreeing to higher property taxes. You know, for better schools, roads, and, of course taxpayer funded Green energy prokects
I agree with you that we shouldn't need a parochial excuse to fund our transit system (we should be doing it because it's good for the economy, not because we should feel guilty about underserving some population of victims). But please do not fall into the trap of blaming our financial woes on the mismanagement of the Big Dig. Even the most generous estimates put the cost overruns due to mismanagement at less than a billion dollars (of the total $21 billion price tag). This means that even if the project had been run absolutely perfectly, we would still have almost exactly the same financial problem on our hands.
No, the issue here is that building and maintaining transportation infrastructure is expensive. The gas tax needs to be raised to the level it was at (in terms of raw purchasing power) when we were building most of these roads and bridges the first time around, and then it needs to be pegged to inflation so that we don't end up in this situation again. And then we need to start looking at other sources of revenue that will allow us to actually maintain our transit network.
What's missing in this whole discussion is the fact that *transit investment pays dividends!!!* Yes, it is expensive now, but historically it has ALWAYS been worth the money in terms of the added revenue it brings to the state! Lets stop quibbling over loose change and start building the infrastructure we've needed all along.
Globe, remember Syria -- that country where hundreds die every day? Once you get done evangelizing about Better Buses for Blacks (BBB) you might find out how many died yesterday.
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Yes, and, by the way, how about that doctor at Faulkner Hospital in JP who is getting screwed by the Board of Registration of Medicine for only being a fantastic doctor but not kissing the ring of the tribe? I'm guessing that one was really about payback for not doing what his wife wanted -- feminism payback.
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Finally, who knew that my commute is much worse than a black's (more time, miles, and high cost for a car and gas, and, to add insult to injury, I have to drive it myself)!!
Any freshman sociology major can tell you that you need to control for variables when analyzing statistics. This story does not even bother. It is pretty clear that the "cause" of longer commutes is that low-income neighborhoods are underserved by the T and low income residents are less likely to bike, walk, and carpool/share a cab (any of which would shorten their commute.) There may be a "racial disparity" but it is NOT CAUSAL According to these authors, my brother's commute must be only 20 minutes because he is white, not because he chooses to bike 4 miles into downtown instead of riding the bus for an hour and 15 minutes.
This. Although lets not overlook the fact that said poor neighborhoods are also underserved by bicycling infrastructure. I bike to work downtown from my house in JP, but I am significantly more motivated to do so because I can ride along the Southwest Corridor Bikeway. I'm not sure I'd be so keen on it if my commute were along Blue Hill Avenue the whole way.
But Boston Globe and the 2012 New York Times Company, why, for the most part, do black peoples run faster and jump higher than, well, us unblack peoples. Maybe that's hidden in that Duck Center's analysis somewhere. God.
Because they are genetically different and more highly evolved for outdoor athletics -- the black skin is your clue (better shielding from the sun). People are different, physically, genetically, culturally, ability-wise. Enlightened thinking is about equality of opportunity, not about equality. People are just NOT equal. Groups are just not the same, whether it is Irish, Italians, Jews, women, men, gays, bisexuals, lesbians, transvestites, accountants, actors, engineers. What is enlightened and fair is to provide equal respect and equal opportunity to anyone who can show that they can do the job. Equal respect, by the way, means no hero worship -- much less the bogus "hero" worship we have today, where whole groups are heros (soldiers) or you are a hero for just doing your job (fireman at 911). Everyone deserves equal respect and equal treatment under the law and equal opportunity. Yes, blacks were clearly discriminated against and deserved equal opportunity instead.
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But because that was too difficult for government work what was implemented was reverse discrimination. And, in Parochial enclaves like Massachusetts -- with it's former Yankee skin-flintedness combined with Irish, then Italian, and now Hispanic Catholicism -- there is a Parochial agenda that specifically searches out groups to annoint as "victims" for special consideration, whilte scufing dirt in the faces of the un-special.
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Doesn't it seem bizzarre that in a time where teens "hook up", "Sex in the City" is touted as expressing feminist freedom, botox and silicone enhancement are all the rage, and yet a Cardiologist at Faulkner Hospital has his license to practice medicine revoked (after reportedly 20 years of service without a single filed patient complaint) for sleeping with one of his co-workers a few times (actually, the more likely reason is that he angered his soon-to-be-ex wife and was whacked by the state's extremist feminist wing)? I suggest the the Globe investigate the personal lives of the members of the Board of Registration of Medicine. I don't think there could have been this level of what appears to be grossly unfair treatment without lots of hypocracy on the part of the Board.
Wow, thanks jkupie, that really helps. Thanks, thanks again.
Oh my God. Well, fortunately we now have a woman of color in the Senate who will give more priority to this kind of urgent problem. Surely she can convince our President to establish a Black Commuter Protection Agency. Kudos to the Globe for uncovering yet another insidious bit of discrimination.
Thanks Globe for giving people of color another excuse for not achieving. One of the most stupid, ill-informed articles and a waste of time.
How about this for a headline: "People died...Susan Rice Lied"...pretty good huh!
That's what happens when the government runs things. They get more expensive and lousier. But at least you are paying for some great pensions for the politically connected.
Here's an idea....stay in school and study....get a job...and Move out of the city.
So, you actually believe that those who live in the city do not have jobs, or go to school???
Your comment ignores the fact that some of the most expensive real estate in the state is in the city. And all of it is, if you're counting by price per square foot. And if you're talking averages, Cambridge and Brookline are the two highest in the state for that metric.
The issue is simple: If you can afford to, you'll tend to live somewhere that makes your commute shorter and less painful. But this doesn't mean living outside the city, it just means living near a subway station.
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The T moves at the same 7 mph whether you are black or white. This story should have nothing to do with race.
Race is, annoyingly, just being used as a proxy for wealth in this story. And yes, probably all of the buses average about 7 mph within the city. The disparity is in the fact that poor/black people tend to ride the buses, while wealthier/white people tend to ride the trains (which are faster).
The explanation is simple: If someone can afford to live somewhere that makes their commute shorter, they tend to do so. It's not a race issue. It's a class issue. And an issue of transit not serving all parts of the city equally well (which wouldn't eliminate the issue completely, but it would soften the blow a bit).
This will never bee helped by pulling the race card. Too many variables. Look to Montreal and Quebec City for bus lanes and bike lanes. They've got that part of it figured out.
Yeah, another funny aspect of the globe focus on race in this. Follow the link to the study, and there is all sorts of information about green house gases, bikes and alternatives etc.
Weird to make this about race. Aren't we just saying that it's slower going in dense urban areas?
I think you're missing one of the important points in this article, which is that even within the city limits, white (read: wealthy) commuters have a shorter commute than black (read: poor) commuters.
Of course if anyone thinks about this for more than two seconds the reasons should be obvious. Because transit does not serve all areas of the city equally well, people who can afford to do so will pay a premium to live in places that make their commutes shorter and less painful. Because these people also tend to be sought-after employees (hence their higher pay), their employers also pay a premium to locate in places that are easy to get to. The poor are stuck with whatever is left over.
You can bet that if the city actually managed to bring the commute along Blue Hill Avenue up to par with, say, the Orange or Red lines, it would help with the disparity for a few years, until it started to spur development of the in-demand property around the stations, at which point rising rents would force poor people to other, less-well-served areas.
"The race issue" at least as far as transit is concerned, is a red herring in my opinion. This appears to be a race problem because black people in Boston tend to be poor (and vice-versa), but I think that bringing race into the discussion tends to confuse the issue, which is really one of class. In the past, city planners made a conscious effort to drive out black people by drawing red lines around their neighborhoods and deliberately underserving them. Today the issue is less one of malice and outright racism than it is one of ignorance and neglect. It is very important to distinguish class issues from race issues because the solutions are generally very different. Mass transit solutions that focus on better serving black neighborhoods in, say, Mattapan or Roxbury, are likely to overlook problems in similarly underserved but somewhat less dark-skinned neighborhoods like Medford and East Boston. And not to mention the confusion caused by trying to categorize everyone into vague sub-groups like "Hispanic," "Latin American," or "Pacific Islander."
ericherot - Good post! I think you are correct ... addition of good transporation options to an area will make it more desirable, rents go out and the poor are squeezed out. That's why it would make sense to use income levels as the measure rather than skin color ( especially since census data is incomplete for hispanics, regarded as a ethnicity and not race). At least include income statistics in addition to the Globe required black / white breakdown.
If you live in the city and you rely on public transit it's going to take you longer to get where your going especially during rush hour. The fact that you are also black has nothing to do with it.
As I pointed out in another comment, according to this study, even within the city limits and among people who take transit to work, there is a disparity between rich and poor. The explanation is simple: If someone can afford to live somewhere that makes their commute shorter, they tend to do so.
to apply the title of a current film to this insipid, far-fetched article, "A-R-G-O".
The Globe just jumped the shark with this social commentary. Hey Globe, stories like this detract from your mission.
Looks to me like the Globe is reporting the news. Is that a problem?
It's an absolutely ridiculous story. Everything is not racial. To report this drivel only serves to detract from truely important matters of race and equality.
Bus 28 travels the bulk of its route along Blue Hill Ave which is a high traffic thoroughfare that crosses through a number of high volume cross roads with traffic lights it seems at almost very corner. Throw in rush hour traffic volumes and what you get is slow bus service. I'm going to go out on limb and say that almost all bus service will be slower during rush hour. I'm guessing the 51 bus from Cleveland Cirlce is not exactly setting land speed records during rush hour. This story is odd. It seems like an attempt to create an issue out of something that has nothing to do with race. Urban areas have higher population density. Urban areas have higher vehicle traffic. Higher vehicle traffic creates slow downs. Slow downs impact all vehicles, including buses.
If the Globe thinks there is discrimination against blacks in Boston transit, they must be glad about Patrick's hand picked hire of Atlanta's MARTA system head, Beverly Scott, a black woman ? Oh, wait, her staff needed anger management counseling and the MARTA system is in 'deep trouble' according to a recent audit.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/11/11/new-manager-underwent-professional-counseling-atlanta/acbp8AwNFKjou8LaWQ6E3I/story.html
WSD: I love how you can always find something nasty to say on any topic. It's a gift.
What in God's name is the point of this pathetic article? Front page news on the largest circulation day for the BG? Slow news day... Or maybe fodder for the SNL Weekend Update.
This article along with the horror of the MFA lending out its masterpieces .. its all irrelevant . With everything else that is going on in this state The Globe has reached a new low .
This article obviously hit a profound nerve for a number of posters. Some of the comments were very "shrill."
As a regular rider of both the Silver Line and #1 bus -- I live in the South End -- I have a more nuanced take on this issue. The MBTA probably could examine whether the current route configuration is optimal. It might make sense to reconfigure some routes for the common good -- Asian, black, Latino, and white combined.
Even an optimal bus network would probably still suffer from two problems: 1. traffic congestion and 2. passengers fumbling for passes/money AFTER stepping on the bus or asking the driver for information. Dedicated bus lanes would probably be tough to bring to the narrow streets of Boston. (The Silver Line "lane," by the way, is often blocked by double-parked autos.) And I'm not sure how easily one could make bus passengers -- whatever their ethnicity -- more "efficient." Subways have the edge on both these axes for obvious reasons.
It's about commuting - or the inefficiencies thereof - not about black and white.