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Election roundup: Walsh wants more services for addicts; Consalvo wants GPS chips in guns
By adamg on Tue, 07/23/2013 - 9:59am
Marty Walsh, himself a recovering alcoholic, says one of the first things he'd do as mayor is set up a city Office of Recovery Services:
As my team laid out their research on the wide range of issues and services we will address in a Walsh Administration, it became all too clear that there aren't enough detox beds, and accessing services that are available is trying and can be overwhelming for addicts in need and their families.
My Office of Recovery Services will focus on navigating the system for addicts, enabling their use of the services critical to recovery. We'll work to identify additional detox beds for Bostonians ready to take that critical first step. We continue to work out particulars, but the Office of Recovery Services will provide a 24-hour referral line, and will advocate for more and better delivery of services.
Rob Consalvo says stolen phones can be tracked through their GPSes, so why not get gun manufacturers to embed GPS chips in their products? That's one of Consalvo's ideas for using technology to fight crime. Also on his list: Exapnd the ShotSpotter program, which uses microphones mounted in high-crime areas to detect gunfire, to more parts of the city, creating a voluntary registry of privately owned surveillance cameras, and controlling traffic lights to speed cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances to emergencies.
Charlotte Golar Richie holds a "youth summit" on Saturday to "discuss issues related to the criminal justice system and its impact on the city's youth," as well as unemployment and dropout and crime rates. 4-6 p.m. in the Roxbury YMCA Multipurpose Room, 285 Martin Luther King Blvd.
The Globe reports that unlike Walsh, who wants the School Committee to stop right this second with its work to find a new school superintendent, Bill Walczak wants the committee to at least be ready to hit the ground running when he becomes mayor.
MassPoliticsProfs compares Dan Conley's money with Walsh's large organization:
So we may soon have a lesson in the importance of money versus volunteer power in the mayoral election.
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Comments
GPS Chip In Gun
Ya right after we install them in Politicians.
how about controlling traffic
how about controlling traffic lights in general? boston does a terrible job of it. it shouldn't take 10 minutes to get out of the north end. it would benefit the mbta tremendously.
Hey Rob
Legal Gun owners aren't the ones committing violent crimes in Boston!
GPS in guns
There's no way someone could disable these chips, right?
Consalvo seems like a nice dude who has Peter principled at the rank of mostly powerless city councilor.
Wait
if you have an FID card you can drive to Dedham and purchase a GPS free gun. But hey nobody EVER claimed Rob was an intelligent man.
No, you wait
I suspect Consalvo is talking about something a bit more widespread than just Boston. It's not as if Boston mayors never deal with issues across the river.
Ever use the internet?
http://www.walmart.com/browse/hunting/guns,-rifles...
Ever read terms of service?
Page one:
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/Special...
Still
How about getting on issues effecting the city that he actually has a chance of influencing, instead of jumping on the gun bandwagon?
Until a mayor of Boston has sway over gun purchases in VA, TN, and NH; not much is going to be done to stop guns ending up on Boston streets. Period. I have no problem with a Mayor spending time to pressure them and their states to come around, but lets get real about how effective focusing on that is going to be, and how much of a waste making it a issue is.
Drop the BS and lets see what we can do here locally. I think getting the Boston economy into a banner position nationally/internationally would do more to stop street violence in DOT than grandstanding on even harsher guns laws in Boston. But maybe that's just me.
I don't know what I expected
but I still manage to be surprised by politicians who know nothing about technology.
You can't track a phone's location via its GPS. GPS doesn't work that way.
The only reason you can track a phone is because a phone is a device that really only works when it's turned on and is transmitting information to its mobile network. Since most people have phones for the purpose of... using them, their phones are often turned on and communicating with their network. Thus, they can be tracked, because their function is inseparable from the tracking system itself.
Obviously, this makes zero sense with respect to a gun, or any other object that doesn't have to be connected to some network in order to function. Anyone who wanted to avoid being tracked would simply destroy the transmitter, or block the transmission with some sort of shielding, or shoot people in an elevator or a rural area or anywhere else that you don't get cell phone reception.
How do you even attach a transmitter to a gun in such a way that the gun part and the transmitter part are inseparable? What happens when the batteries run out?
This is ridiculous, both from a technological standpoint and from a government intrusion standpoint. Rob Consalvo is not a clever man.
Spot On
Either he is ignorant about what he is suggesting or pandering to those who are. It seems one thing you can always count on is that that those who talk the most about "gun control" know the least about them
Suggesting a gee whiz
Suggesting a gee whiz technical jargon solution which will never work, but will con people into voting for you, is just so much easier than dealing with the real complex issue of violent criminals.
GPS to track stolen/lost guns
geesh - no one actually reads anything - he's suggesting something like lojack for legally purchased guns. not a bad idea, but also not such a great idea. it's an idea.
shot spotter is good - although I secretly hope it pinpoints the jerks in Roslindale who shoot off fireworks all summer long at 2am.
Not a bad idea?
It's pointless and at best an attempt to show he's thinking about a problem without actually trying to provide a solution.
It's pandering hiding in technospeak.
Consalvo
Hasn't done much in the 10+ years he's been in office. Don't expect anything different if he becomes Mayor. Although he probably has a better change of being struck by lightning twice!
They said the same about the
They said the same about the current President of the US. AS a brands new Senator on the scene he beats the institution of the Clintons and went on to become the Leader of the Free world. Nobody thought for a minute that this could happen.
Rob has at least come forward with a proposal, from the perspective of what he actually has the power to do when he gets elected to the Mayor position. It is easy to referee on the sidelines and not actually be 'the change'.