As if the 15 million "Axe" ads aren't enough.

According the the Globe:

Desperate to raise more money without increasing fares, the MBTA is preparing to install its own closed-circuit television network in subway cars and stations.

T officials said the plan, which calls for installing television screens inside subway cars on the Red, Orange, and Blue lines, could generate $3.5 million in advertising revenues a year. But the televisions would mark a dramatic change for America's oldest subway system.

The network, which would probably offer a newscast in addition to advertisements, would be installed within the next year, according to the plan, which requires final approval from the T board.

Thankfully, "the system will be silent, with closed captioning and audio available on FM radio or FM-ready cellphones."

Maybe now the T will be able to afford to fix the problem with the Maverick Station escalator, which, according to an email I received from the T,

. . .malfunctions . . .because of one of the inherent safety features built in. The escalator has very sensitive side panel sensors that shut the escalator down when they are struck. Unfortunately the ongoing problem is that every time the sensors shut the escalator down, the process causes a circuit breaker to disengage. Only the maintenance contractor can reset the circuit and restart the escalator when this happens.

By the way, does anyone else other than me think those Axe ads are kind of offensive?

An interesting Op-ed piece

in the NY Times by Luis J. Rodriguez about MS-13 and the exportation of gang culture from the United States to El Salvador. I've also heard that this is a problem in Honduras.

While there's no proof that MS-13 has any connection to Al Qaeda, it has something in common with it: American policy played a role in the creation of both groups.

MS-13 is a result of our policy in Central America, specifically the policy that fueled the civil wars that sent more than two million refugees to the United States in the 1980's. Some of their children confronted well-entrenched Mexican-American gangs in the barrios where they landed. For their protection, they created their own groups, emulating the style of older Chicano gangs like 18th Street. MS-13, for instance, was born in the crowded, crack-ridden Mexican and Central-American community of Pico-Union, just west of the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.

After the Los Angeles riots of 1992, government officials declared the main culprits to be young African-American and Latino gang members. In the mid-90's as many as 40,000 youths accused of being members of MS-13, 18th Street and other gangs were deported every year to Mexico and Central America. Sophisticated, tattooed, English-speaking young men raised and acculturated in the United States were sent to countries with no resources, no jobs and no history with these types of gangs.

Soon the deported members of MS-13 and 18th Street began recruiting among homeless and glue-sniffing youth who had never been to the United States. In a few years, these new members were making their way to the United States, ending up in far-flung corners of the country and recruiting a new generation. When the Department of Homeland Security deports the men it arrested last week, the cycle will start again.

I have to laugh, though, because this is the type of argument that people like Ann Coulter love to sink their teeth into. "Liberals hate America. They blame America for everything that goes wrong in the world. blah, blah, blah America brought democracy to those ungrateful commies in Central America."

(article via Hubblog)

Terrorists: Killing Cows?

Ok, this really has nothing to do with terrorists or East Boston, but it just struck me as hilarious. This is a screen capture from today's Herald website. The story is about some cows in Taunton that were found shot "execution style." [hehehehe I swear, I'm not laughing at cruelty against animals, it's just the idea that someone decribed the cows as being shot "execution style" like it was some kind of bovine mob hit.] Anywhoozle, the funny part of the screen shot is not really the article, but take a look at the google adds ads [it's hard to be a blogger when you can't spell] underneath the article. Coincidence?

I swear, I'm trying to be nice

but I have to point out one error in this Herald story about the recent stabbing at an Eastie restaurant (which by the way was not gang related--just a generic bar fight). The Herald identified La Terraza as a "Maverick Sq. restaurant," however, the restaurant is located at 19 Bennington Street, which again, is nowhere near Maverick Square as shown on this map. Maybe I'm just being pedantic?

The Globe also has a surprisingly detailed story on this incident. La Terraza must be loving all this publicity.

Loose ends.

First of all, thank you to Jay Fitzgerald at Hubblog for clarifying his issues with Universal Hub and for his nice emails. In this spirit of reconciliation, I offer a positive post about the Boston Herald. They had a nice write up of the latest show at the Atlantic Works Gallery. I really wanted to see this, but didn't get a chance and unfortunately it closes on Easter.

Art exhibit lets visitors see world through pets' eyes

Open the cage door, hop on the perch and swing like a bird.
Or crawl through the gerbil tube and explore the leisure activities of a rodent.
Sound weird?
Maybe that's what your pet thinks when he sees you chomping on a bag of chips every night in front of the TV.
Two East Boston artists want you to experience the world of a domestic animal with ``Pe(s)t,'' an installation that turns a gallery space into a human-size cage.
Visitors walk through a barred cage door into a gallery space covered with pine shavings. A pile of hay in the corner serves as a nesting area, and bright red plastic troughs of water and dried bread are there for the taking.
Those looking to express their inner canary or chihuahua can play with pastel foam rings hanging from the ceiling or swing from a well-anchored, human-size bird perch.
But before you get too comfy in the cage, watch your footing.
Brown papier-mache poop pellets are scattered through the shavings and unsettling puddles of yellow gelatin pet pee glisten atop the hay.
``It's a visceral, hands-on experience,'' said East Boston artist Peter Pizzi. ``A lot of people personalize their pets - they make their pets into people. We thought we'd flip that and give people the experience of a pet in a cage.
``We wanted to ask the question, `Are our pets having the experience we think they're having?’ ''. . .

In other news, the Boston Business Journal reports that something is finally being done with the old Joseph H. Barnes School on Marion Street. I don't remember when that school closed, but it's been sitting empty for at least 10 years. According to the BBJ, the East Boston Neighborhood Development Corp. will turn the old school into affordable senior housing. Hurray for any affordable housing in this city!

Ok. Bring on the hate mail.

It seems that my recent post about the Boston Herald has caused a stir. Ok, for me this is a stir, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s hardly a blip, but I feel I need to address certain issues that have occurred to me reading the comments here, and the posts here and here, and here.

Unfortunately, the nature of blogging often necessitates over simplification, therefore, I want to make it clear exactly what my beef is with the Boston Herald in relation to their recent coverage of gang activity in East Boston and also respond to some comments I’ve read regarding immigration.

Issue #1: My point is not that the Herald should not be covering MS-13 or any other gang for that matter. In fact, I think they should be covering these stories, as gang violence is a problem for the entire city and surrounding towns. However, where my problem with the Herald begins is that I believe that they are deliberately covering this issue in a way that is sensationalistic and in my opinion constitutes immigrant baiting and that is ultimately detrimental to the city of East Boston. They are connecting two groups--immigrants and terrorists--both decidedly outsiders. They are portraying that link in a way that is, if not outright falsehood, is at least suspect. The Herald themselves have reported in a January 7^th article by Michelle McPhee that “’The FBI has not established a link between MS-13 and al-qaeda,’ said Joe Parris, supervisory special agent in the FBI national press office. ‘There is no link established.’” (Strangely, this story seems to have become expired from the Herald web site and it is not available in either Lexis-Nexis or Newsbank. You can see that the story once existed, but you can’t read it.) According to the Christian Science Monitor, in one of the stories which Jay Fitzgerald (I can't believe a real journalist gives a crap what I say) cites to back up the Herald's stories:

One of the biggest concerns is that terrorists may [emphasis mine] exploit the current crossing procedures to make their way into the US. One way they might do this - and members of Congress say evidence is mounting that terrorists are trying this - is by paying smuggling networks, especially organized gangs.

The operative word in this paragraph is may. That means it's not a done deal--it's something that has to be watched. Measures have to be put in place to prevent this. I never said that MS-13 was not a homeland security risk. My point was that East Boston is not the new international headquarters of al-Qaeda.

Now let's run through some of the Herald's headlines on this subject in recent months:

March 4: Rep: Terrorist gang could infiltrate border

January 13: Flaherty: Eastie gang poses threat to LNGs in harbor

January 7: TEXAS REP: BEWARE OF AL-QAEDA, EASTIE TIE

January 6: Cops: We nabbed killer terror gangster (My personal favorite)

January 5: GANG TIED TO TERRORISTS

People can chose to believe or not to believe the FBI spokesman quoted above, but the fact remains that given the Herald’s glaring headlines and hyperbolic language the foremost idea being conveyed to the readers of the Herald is that Salvadoran gang member=terrorist and East Boston=battle zone. But this is a false impression. Eastie is more than just a free fire zone between downtown and the airport. It is a diverse neighborhood of hardworking people, with a great history, wonderful restaurants, a vibrant community of artists, great parks and reasonable rents. All of which will suffer if people are too scared to set foot here. If people are too afraid to walk the streets that means they are giving up those streets to the criminals.

Issue #2: I do not live in a bubble. I said there were two murders in Eastie last year. I did not say that there was no crime. We have plenty of assault and battery, domestic violence, breaking and entering, forced prostitution, rape, drug dealing, bookmaking, and yes machete attacks. But, we had all of those things (ok maybe not the machetes) before the Salvadorans arrived and if the Salvadorans move on, I’m sure we’ll still have most of these things (ditto machetes) when they are gone. I remember what East Boston was like in the mid-80s through the early 90s. The city was dead. Houses owned by absentee landlords, stores closed, parks unkempt. This is not the case anymore. There is hardly a storefront that doesn’t have some kind of independent small business in it, new parks have been built and are being maintained, houses are being rehabbed and new condominium units are being built everywhere you turn. All of this started to happen after the Salvadorans, and Colombians, and Brazilians and other Latin American immigrants started to move into East Boston. So clearly, Latin American immigration has not been bad for East Boston’s economy.

Issue #3: My beef with the Herald has nothing to do with the fact that it is a conservative paper. My problem is that I think the Herald is doing some bad journalism in terms of it's coverage of this Eastie issue. Politics on the editorial page should have nothing to do with the quality of the journalism in the news section. Humorous post titles aside, I don’t want to live in a one newspaper town. I don’t think the Globe deserves any prizes, either—at least the Herald seems to have a permanent reporter (Michelle McPhee) on the East Boston beat.

Issue #4: On immigrants and immigration. It may shock some people to know this, but immigrants are people. I know that we use the term “alien,” but in this case, we don’t mean immigrants are from Mars. Latin American immigrants are like everyone else. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, some of them work hard, some are lazy. MS-13 are bad guys. Let me say this again, so nobody is confused, MS-13 are bad guys, but they are not representative of the Salvadoran population as a whole, in the same way that the Mafia is not representative of Italians as a whole. Also, I know that schools don't teach geography anymore, but Latin America is not a country. It's a continent an entire region and Latin American immigrants are not some amorphous blob. Without even counting the small islands of the Caribbean, they come from 26 different countries each with its own history, traditions, and problems.

Issue #5: Why is this guy a hero for crossing the border illegally because he's Cuban? How many non-Cubans who have made this same arduous journey are arrested and sent right back over the border? Won't he be "stealing" an American job? Couldn't people working for al-Qaeda exploit this loophole--maybe even with Castro's blessing? He's a bad guy, too, right?

I'm really glad. . .

that there are people like this in the world. I see this man on the B Line almost every day. In my head he's called "DJ B-Line." He travels with his turn-table and DJ tools. He always stands against the left-side door that doesn't open until Park Street. Headphones pumping, he practices his DJ'ing. And by practice, I mean he mimes all of the moves. Scratching, fiddling with the dials, and even chaging records. He's oblivious to all of the T riders around him and unselfconscious. People just watch him and I watch them watching him. You can tell that they think this is all kind of strange, but they kind of like it--they are smiling. The best part of watching him is that he may be practicing to spin whatever is playing on his headphones, but to me, its like he's spinning the songs in my head and since my mp3 player is usually set to shuffle, he spins and ecclectic mix. Sometimes he's spinnin Beethovin, other times it's Loretta Lynn. Today he was spinning the Mary Jane Girls--don't ask. I'm glad that there are people like him in this world who can't be bothered to be ordinary. He makes me smile and he makes my fellow passengers mile and that is no easy feat on the B-Line.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Some remainders from my picture-taking adventure a couple of weekends ago:



Sunny Side: This row of houses reminds me of a rainbow.



Rocks and Sun

The Big Time.

As many big time bloggers have already pointed out here, here, and here, there is nothing more boring than the main stream media talking about bloggers. . .unless of course they are talking about you or, rather, me in this case and it's the Boston Globe talking.

Why must trees die so that the Herald can live?

It's not like I'm trying to make this a personal vendetta against the Herald, but they just keep taunting me. Take this wonderful little confection below (inflammatory words conveniently highlighted in red by me):

As local investigators hunt for a brutal ruler of the bloodletting MS-13 street gang on the run for executing 28 people on a city bus in Honduras, federal officials announced the arrests of more than 100 ``Mara Salvatruchas'' in raids across the United States.
The busts in seven cities since early January mark the start of a nationwide crackdown on one of the largest and most violent gangs in the country, with links to murder, machete attacks, rape and other crimes.
The announcement came days after Boston police were issued an intelligence alert about Alvaro ``Snoopy'' Bustillo - who is believed to have snuck into the United States armed with ``firearms and submachine guns'' just weeks after he allegedly assisted his fellow MS-13 members on Dec. 23 when they opened fire on a crowded bus in Honduras, killing 28 people and wounding another 29.
A bulletin was issued for Bustillo, 28, who may be headed to his mother's house in Freeport, N.Y., on Long Island, sources said.
At least two members of MS-13 who were deported managed to sneak back into the country and make their way to Boston. One of those men, Elmer ``Tiger'' Tejada, 25, was busted by Somerville Police in January. The other remains at large and has been spotted on the North Shore.
Federal officials estimate between 8,000 and 10,000 MS-13 members are in the United States illegally. This year, the Herald reported Boston police were stepping up efforts to monitor MS-13, which has a stronghold in East Boston, after the group was being eyed for links to al-Qaeda.
Yesterday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia said the 103 reputed gang members arrested have convictions for murder, sodomy(??), assault and arson.

Let's break this down. Yes, MS-13 was involved in the Honduras bus shooting and the Boston police may be on the lookout for this "Snoopy" character. They arrested Tejada, but as far as I can tell he had nothing to do with the bus thing or Snoopy. Two deported MS-13 members made it back into the United States out of approximately 3,000,000 people who cross the border illegally every year. Is this really that surprising given that it has recently been reported that people on the no-fly list can still legally buy firearms in the United States? I don't know what their definition is of a "stronghold in East Boston," but I do know that Eastie had one of the lowest homicide rates in the city of Boston. Can you guess what the 2004 homicide rate was in a city considered the "stronghold" of a "brutal," "bloodletting" gang? 100? Maybe, 50? Nope. A big, whopping 2. That's right. I said 2! And what was my source for this wonderful statistic? None other than the Boston Herald. They reported on December 31, 2004 in an article by Laurel J. Sweet, entitled "Hub's homicide tally deadliest since 2001," that:

The majority [of people killed]- 24 - died in Dorchester. Roxbury followed with 17, Mattapan with seven, the downtown with five, South Boston with three, East Boston, Hyde Park and Jamaica Plain with two each and Roslindale and Charlestown both with one.

The last time I checked journalism was not defined as taking a group of unrelated facts and stringing them together into a convoluded narrative. But maybe I ask too much. Damn, my insane dependence on reality!

Related story: Reason #4187 to hate the Boston Herald.

Bad Pizza is a crime.

Herald Police Log Watch:

The dough wasn't rubbery - but the money was.
An East Boston man slipped a Domino's pizza delivery man a bogus $20 bill to pay for a large pie delivered to 1144 Saratoga St.
``Keep the change,'' the apparently hungry counterfeit bill-passer told the driver before slamming the door Sunday night.
The driver looked at the bill, saw it was a fake and knocked on the door of the apartment, but there was no answer. He called Area A-7 cops, and detectives there will investigate.

This should be an open and shut case for the A-7 guys. Lets us set aside for a moment the fact that this person ordered a Domino's Pizza in a city full of real pizza--including what has often been referred to as one of the best pizzas in Boston. This in itself could be considered a crime. In addition to that, the customer exhibited some extremely suspicious behaviour. I know from my own personal experience delivering pizzas in Eastie that if a guy gives you a $20 bill for a single pie and tells you to keep the change, the bill has to be bogus.

The Stem Cell Debate Comes to Eastie.

Oy. With all the noise I have to deal with outside my apartment, at least I don't have protesters. If I did, you know there would be water balloons flying out my windows in no time. Poor Trav. I wonder how many of these people would refuse a treatment involving embryonic stem cells if they or one of their children was affected by a life-threatening illness or a spinal chord injury.

Kneeling in front of the brick terrace, arms outstretched, eyes closed, they pray for divine intervention.

On at least eight mornings over the last three weeks, about a dozen members of a Winthrop Catholic church have spent their waking hours pacing the sidewalk outside Senate President Robert E. Travaglini's East Boston duplex to protest his bill promoting stem cell research.

The worship group carries rosary beads, crucifixes, and posters with slogans such as "Stop Playing God" and "This is all about Money," hoping to get their message across. But so far, said the Rev.

Thomas DiLorenzo of Holy Rosary Parish in Winthrop, they have been shunned by the state Senate leader.

"There's an important moral principle here, which is being violated by embryonic stem cell research," said DiLorenzo, who has organized the demonstrations through Holy Rosary and by publicizing them on his daily WEZEAM radio show. "We should never do evil so that good should come from it."

The demonstrations are aggravating some of Travaglini's neighbors.

And yesterday, his wife and his mother-in-law requested a police escort to traverse the 20 feet from their front door to their car.

Travaglini said that he will try to listen to the protesters' concerns, but that he remains committed to seeing the Legislature move his stem cell bill by the end of the month.

"I am trying to be as respectful and as attentive to their position on the issue as I can," Travaglini said at the State House yesterday.

"But I'm also focused on saving lives, and that's more important to me."

As the protests continue, state and city police cars have parked across the street from the Travaglini household. Boston police spokesman Mike McCarthy said officers will not arrest people unless they disturb the peace by blocking foot or car traffic, damaging property, or trespassing on private property.

But neighbors hope the clanging of tambourines and blasting of church hymns will soon come to an end. One neighbor said she was awakened by the commotion last week. Another said they should move the prayer sessions to the State House.

"They don't belong in front of the children protesting," said a third neighbor, Lois Santasousso, 59. "This is not an atmosphere you want."

The group plans to continue its efforts, which began a few days before a legislative hearing two weeks ago on the stem cell bill.

"We are not against stem cell research, but we are totally against embryonic stem cell research," said Suzanne Noye, 52, who drove to East Boston yesterday with a group of demonstrators. "We're praying to make people aware of the fact that this is wrong."

--by Janette Neuwahl, Boston Globe

Scenic Wonders.

Where can you see a 35 foot Madonna, watch commercial jets taking off and landing, attend a mass in Portuguese, pick up that new set of rosary beads you've been meaning to buy, and maybe even knock off some of that community service requirement working with the elderly? What a silly question. East Boston, of course.

Located at 111 Orient Ave, The Madonna Queen National Shrine was founded by Don Orione fathers in 1954. The Madonna herself is 35 feet tall and was sculpted by an artist named Arrigo Minerbi. All around her in the plaza are beautiful mosaics depicting important moments in the life of the virgin. The shrine sits almost at the top of a large hill in the Orient Heights section of Eastie. From the back of the shrine you can see a panoramic view of Boston, East Boston, Logan Airport, and parts of Winthrop and Revere. When I was a child, you could visit the top of the shrine in the "crown" and see a 360 degree view, but I'm not sure if that feature is still open. The statue and plaza are not the only thing the shrine has to offer. Down under the plaza, built into the hillside is a 4 story building housing a church, a gift shop, and function rooms. The church at the shrine has recently become the headquarters for the Brazilian Catholic apostolate in East Boston and masses are offered in Portuguese. Across the street from the shrine is the Don Orione Home for the elderly. In front of the Don Orione home is a tiny plaza where visitors can, for a $3.00 donation (on the honor system), light a seven-day votive candle and offer a prayer.

The best time to visit the shrine is either around Christmas time when Christmas lights are put up all around the plaza, a large creche is set up in the center and Christmas music is piped in through the loud speakers. The other good time to visit the shrine is in the wamer parts of the Spring or during the Summer when the wind that whips through the plaza will feel refreshing rather than icy. The gift shop is open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. For information call (617) 569-2100.

Because I am dedicated to this blog and to all three of my regular readers, I woke up early Saturday morning and risked freezing my fingers off in order to bring you pictures of the shrine.

The sign at the entrance to the plaza.

A view of the statue and the plaza from across the street.

Inside the plaza

Statue of Christ. The dedication plaque for the plaza sits at the base of this statue.

The 35 foot Madonna taken from the base of the tower.

Close-up of the Madonna's face.

One of the many mosaics surrounding the plaza.

Holy Week 2005 service schedules, printed in English and
Portuguese, hanging outside the church.

One of the two angel statues that stand at

the top of the gates at the entrance to the shrine.

Sign asking for $3.00 donation to light a 7-day votive candle.

I had to light a candle myself and place it with the rest.

The fountain in the candle plaza, looking toward the shrine.

View of Boston, from the shrine.

View of Consitution Beach, East Boston, from the shrine.

View of Logan Airport from the shrine.

When you're a jet, you're a jet. .

rumble,
originally uploaded by marilora.

It's a sad statement about my mind that when I read this story the first picture that came to my mind was the rumble scene from West Side Story. It's an even sadder statement on the amount of free time I have that I just spent half an hour looking for the pic online. In any event, here is another illuminating episode from the Boston Herald Police Logs:

Hammer time.
A brawl broke out in Maverick Square on Monday afternoon after three men got into an argument with two others at the corner of Bennington and Harve streets, an altercation that escalated when one party grabbed a hammer and said: ``Any time you're ready.''
The trio responded by slicing the hammer-wielding suspect across the chest with a steak knife.
The victim was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with a slice across the left nipple. The man with the knife fled the scene, leaving the GMC truck he was driving parked on the street.
Cops impounded the truck, which was registered to CRC Construction Inc. in Wakefield, until the owner shows up to claim it.

Issue #1: The corner of Harvre and Bennington Streets is nowhere near Maverick Square unless there is a wormhole that I am unaware of. (see map The green arrow indicates the closest address that I could think of to the corner of Bennington and Harvre and the red balloon is in Maverick Square. By the way, there is a whole story about street names in Eastie. Some day I will do a post on them.)

Issue #2: Once again I'm amazed by the level of detail in this story. ". . .A slice across the left nipple." Did we need to know it was the "left" nipple? And if the guy who ran away isn't the owner, then I'm sure that CRC Construction Inc. is just tickled pink that their name is attached to a notorious nipple-slicing incident in East Boston. It's only a matter of time before the Herald connects them to some gang-banger, terror cell.

An open letter. . .

to the driver of the 117 bus, 8:35 a.m., Condor Street Stop:

Dear Driver,

You sir are a prince among men. There we were. Three lowly bus riders, huddled in the snow drift that used to be our bus stop. You had to stop at the red light directly in front of our bus stop. You could have taken pity on the poor shivering souls standing in the snow, directly outside your bus door. But, no! You are a man who knows the rules and follows those rules to the letter.
The 117 is supposed to be an express bus from Bellingham Square to Maverick Station and gosh-darnit you were going to go express. It doesn't matter that other 117 drivers often stop and pick up East Boston passengers in the morning. Those drivers are obviously unable to follow the rules. It doesn't matter that you were stopped at the red light in exactly the spot you would have stopped in had you been picking up passengers. You, sir, stood your ground, refusing to even look at the bus-riding peasants standing outside your bus door. When you firmly gestured behind you with your thumb at the non-existant 114 bus, you showed us who was in control. You must have been truly annoyed when you had to stop at the next bus stop up the street and pick up passengers. Did some poor soul actually have the temerity to have to get off the bus, forcing you to stop and foiling your attempts at "express-ness." Yes, it's sad that the best laid plans of mice and bus drivers often do go awry.

For your unflinching dedication to the rules, on behalf of T riders everywhere, I salute you and I say F--you. F--you very much.

Sincerely,
Marilora

Note: I just want to say that there are awesome bus drivers out there. I've seen some go above and beyond by stoping where there wasn't even a stop for an elderly passenger, or waiting when they see a person crossing the street toward the bus. But, I feel that this particular bus driver was just being plain mean since he was stopped anyway. Also, his refusal to even look at us standing outside the bus was particularly insulting.

Update: One of my fellow passengers called the T to make a complaint against this driver. The person she spoke to her said that the driver had no cause to be that rude to us--as long as there was not a safety issue involved. The customer service person said that the problem would be addressed. She found out later from some other T employees that the word on the street was that this driver was sent to customer service school for some re-training, because he has had several complaints against him. So, the moral of the story is that some times the system actually does work. I think my rant was more cathartic, though.