Cheap and easy Boston improvement ideas

[Ron Newman]

In the 1970s when I was a student, Boston had very few panhandlers. The local homelessness problem really started after Reagan became president and cut housing subsidies. The difference was quite evident when I returned here in 1984.

 

[bosdevelopment]

In the 1970s when I was a student, Boston had very few panhandlers. The local homelessness problem really started after Reagan became president and cut housing subsidies. The difference was quite evident when I returned here in 1984.

What? I know you were at MIT.. Central was a nightmare in the late 70's early 80's. I grew up in the building next to the one which housed (and still houses) the Middle East. My grandfather got mugged three times right on Mass Ave in broad daylight.

 

[Beton Brut]

In the 1970s when I was a student, Boston had very few panhandlers. The local homelessness problem really started after Reagan became president and cut housing subsidies. The difference was quite evident when I returned here in 1984.

There's plenty of room under the bus for Regan, but it should be noted that Mike Dukakis gutted the Department of Mental Health, closed in-patient facilities, and deinstitutionalized hundreds of people, leaving them to twist in the wind on our streets without access to proper care.

 

[Lurker]

As a resident since 1978 I can say that the homeless problem got significantly worse after the closing of the state mental institutions. 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' did a lot of damage by changing the public attitude towards such institutions. A lot of people didn't seem to understand that for these sick people the 'hell' of care in a hospital was a lot better than the hell of 'freedom' in the gutter.

 

[Scott]

^ There was also that documentory about the inhumane conditions at Bridgewater. The name of which escapes me now.

 

[Beton Brut]

^ There was also that documentary about the inhumane conditions at Bridgewater. The name of which escapes me now.

I think your referring to Frederick Wiseman's 1967 documentary Titicut Follies.

The only American film banned from release for reasons other than obscenity or national security, Titicut Follies was filmed inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Bridgewater, a prison hospital for the criminally insane. After the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sued the filmmakers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the film constituted was an invasion of inmate privacy and ordered the withdrawal of the film from circulation.

The ban was lifted in 1992, and the film was subsequently shown on PBS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titicut_follies

 

[nico]

I wouldn't say we're the only city with such a problem, but in my experiences in various US and European cities, Boston's homeless problem seemed to be much more apparent.
There's a History of Boston professor @ NU that lectures on the issue of Boston/MA closing it's mental health facilities, I think that he'd agree with you, Beton.

By the way Ron...If you were here in '84 than you were here for the "El."

 

[ablarc]

I wouldn't say we're the only city with such a problem, but in my experiences in various US and European cities, Boston's homeless problem seemed to be much more apparent.

You oughta see San Francisco. Mild climate makes it a homeless mecca. There's a large, permanent homeless encampment right on the formal mall that leads to City Hall.

 

[nico]

Never been to San Fran.
Lexicon506 mentioned Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona; and in my experience, they weren't as bad. (Though I was backpacking and probably looked homeless myself.)

 

[chumbolly]

Mandate that cabs can't be more than 4 years old, and do what NYC just did: require that all cabs become hybrids within 4 years. The cabs in Boston are shite compared to any other city I've been in. Get rid of the asinine rules about a Boston cab being banned from picking up Cambridge passengers and vice versa.

Put newspaper recycling bins in the subways, and have automated announcements and signs telling people that leaving one's Metro in the subway is littering. This is a pet peeve of mine. I once pointed out to a young woman, who had just dropped her Metro on the rain-slick floor of a Red Line car, that she dropped her paper. "I meant to," she replied. "That's littering," I scolded. "No it's not," she countered, "I put it there so someone else can read it." This young woman in all other respects looked normal--she didn't smell, was dressed properly, wasn't twitchy; but nonetheless, somehow her parents raised a fucking idiot. Rant over.

 

[Ron Newman]

I figure newspapers are meant to be 'recycled' on the subway by leaving them on seats for later passengers to read them. (I certainly read my share of papers this way.)

 

[chumbolly]

If you're into recycling, give your copy back to the Metro person to hand out to someone else. If it's on a seat, and someone needs that seat and doesn't care to read the Metro, it goes on the floor. You've got to look at the net effect of all those papers left for the next person--trains that look terrible. I know you mean well, Ron, but I'm going to get all Singaporean on you and call you a litterbug. Litterbug.

 

[Spatch]

I think Ron means he reads the papers other people have left on the seat, not that he leaves papers on the seat himself. He's a pretty conscientious dude.

I noticed the Davis station now has at least one receptacle for used Charie Cards: a plastic liner bag over a metal frame with lid on top. Surely the same could be built for these free papers that we're now having constantly shoved into our faces. It's a shame not as many people wrap fish anymore, or else they'd be put to real good use every single day.

Also I am tired of wearing newspaper hats.

 

[Ron Newman]

I think Ron means he reads the papers other people have left on the seat, not that he leaves papers on the seat himself. He's a pretty conscientious dude.

Well, I've done both -- read papers other people left on the seat, and then left them there for the next person.

 

[bosma]

Have someone working for the City who would have the responsibility to review suggestions like these. Follow through on legitimate ones and trash the bad ideas.


Install more bathrooms.

 

[Smuttynose]

Have someone working for the City who would have the responsibility to review suggestions like these. Follow through on legitimate ones and trash the bad ideas.


Install more bathrooms.

How bout keeping the existing public bathrooms open until a reasonable hour. Closing the Boston Common bathrooms at 5 pm on weekends is ridiculous! Had relatives visit last week when nature called at 5:30 on the Common. Had to scurry through Downtown Crossing, finally buying drinks at a pub just to get a bathroom.

 

[jass]

Have someone working for the City who would have the responsibility to review suggestions like these. Follow through on legitimate ones and trash the bad ideas.


Install more bathrooms.

How bout keeping the existing public bathrooms open until a reasonable hour. Closing the Boston Common bathrooms at 5 pm on weekends is ridiculous! Had relatives visit last week when nature called at 5:30 on the Common. Had to scurry through Downtown Crossing, finally buying drinks at a pub just to get a bathroom.

Even worse, you know the metal self-cleaning toilets? (Theres one in front of the BPL and one by the north end ice skating rink). They close. Self-cleaning pay toilets that dont let you in after 9pm.

 

[Bobby Digital]

First off, the number of homeless in this city really isnt that bad at all. get over it.

second, who cares about newspapers on the train? i always feel like i scored when theres a globe left on the seat.... and although it costs the mbta more money, it gives people jobs, doesnt it? and its not in the environment, so its really not hurting anybody. You gotta expect trash on a subway.

I dont really have a problem with the lack of public bathrooms, but it really bothers me when places dont let you use their restroom, especially if its not even some swanky restaraunt.

 

[Padre Mike]

I have made a minor science out of finding bathrooms in Boston. My best bet is always a hotel....I walk in casually, and usually a rest room is down the hall from the lobby desk. Sometimes I have to go to the second level, as in the Sheraton or Marriots.

 

[Padre Mike]

Oh, I forgot to add....Boston would be a much better city if all the fountains built around the city actually were maintained, and turned on from May 1 through Nov 1, at least!