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Quite the party in the Arboretum last night
By adamg on Sat, 05/23/2015 - 10:49am
UPDATE: As described below, blame Boston Latin School seniors.
Joe Growhoski found the evidence this morning on Hemlock Hill. Naturally, they couldn't have been bothered to take their trash with them.
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Comments
We picked up
a couple of bottles and cans (Bud Light) along the Arboretum road at the base of Hemlock Hill this morning. Haven't seen this sort of trash in awhile. Might be a long summer.
Let me guess
Always did this, blah blah blah
Yuppies who complain should just leave town, blah blah blah
Been here for x many generations, blah blah blah
Trash is as trash does.
Nope
That's Budweiser, so it's like-
F-ing townies, blah, blah, blah.
Disturbing my off leash dog.
Why don't they just move so their triple decker can be condo-ized.
Your last part is right, whichever tribe of Roslindale had the party, they should have cleaned up afterwards. Evidence ans whatnot.
JPOG
I grew up in JP and spent many of my teenage years partying in the "Arbs". We always cleaned up our empties and trash. How about respecting where you're from? Don't be an idiot and ruin it for everyone else.
Calling other people trash.
This is the easiest way to identify people who are nagged with insecurity. Not keeping up with the Joneses these days?
JPOG
I grew up in JP as well and spent many of my teenage years partying in the Arbs. We always cleaned up our empties and trash. How about respecting where you're from? Don't be an idiot and ruin it for everyone else.
Lame
How is this news? Westie and Rozzie kids are at the Arbs drinking and partying every weekend...
Skunky water in and skunky
Skunky water in and skunky water out? Wait, that's natty ice...
I actually respect Bud for making Bud Lite reminiscent of what Bud tastes like, unlike other lites (**cough, cough, Coors, Miller, Busch, Michelob).
Kids should really clean up after themselves, though.
Kids not the only ones drinking in the Arboretum last night
At the top of Peter's Hill last night (7ish) I saw two groups drinking - a few college age guys quietly eating sandwiches and drinking cans of 'gansetts and a larger group of middle aged men and women loudly discussing politics, drinking wine and letting their dogs run around off leash. I went to there for a bit of tranquility at the end of a busy week but I should have known better and avoided the arboretum where people feel it is okay to flagrantly break the law and ruin the experience for other visitors.
Arboretum Dog Park
Unhappily for me, all of Peter's Hill has become a flagrantly off-leash dog park. Some dog walkers have multiple dogs with them. Everyone seems to know this. Where are the rangers?
Years ago, a dog ran out of a pack right in front of my bike as I turned a corner and I hit it broadside. The dog was fine but I went over the handlebars and got pretty scratched up. It cost me over a hundred bucks to replace the derailleur and no, the dog owner did not offer to pay for it. She was much more concerned with her off-leash dog.
So obnoxious!
they've been doing this for years
IMO - we should care a lot more about crazy and dangerous drivers in the square and on Washington than some people enjoying a beautiful Friday on top of peter's hill.
These guys have been up there for years - there's sometimes live music and they're very friendly - definitely not causing trouble or leaving garbage around. sure - maybe they should find a different spot, but they live in the community and care about the neighborhood - worth getting to know - maybe loosen up and chat with them...
I'm totally dying to befriend
I'm totally dying to befriend that entitled canine clique
Being friendly and not
Being friendly and not leaving trash does not compensate for the fact that entire groups of people (particularly those with small children) assiduously avoid peters hill due to the sheer number of off leash dogs running around. I know first hand several people who have been hurt in dog/person and dog/biker mix ups in that area.
it sucks.
If you want to make an omelette
What are a few bitten faces, children scarred for life, an increase in infectious pollution, and a neighborhood of kids unable to use the local park safely, compared to the rush dog owners feel when their little furry SUVs go scampering about?
Seriously
The one part of Boston where one can informally and usually responsibly let their dog run a for a few minutes off leash and that ruins the whole city for you. Why stop at letting them off their leash and just shoot dogs and their owners on sight? Would that work for you? Make the world a better place for your tastes. Do you really not have anything better to vent about or does making everyone as miserable as yourself give you solace and a sense of purpose?.
Not ruining the whole city
Just making a public space difficult to use for others by engaging in an illegal activity.
You've going a bit far with shooting, but I'd love to see the city actually have animal control go out and cite or perhaps even detain off leash dogs. Heck, they can walk to Peter's Hill from their headquarters.
Why do some dog owners want the rest of us to be miserable?
You've going a bit far with
Was with you until the end about detaining people's dogs for being off leash. Don't punish the dog for the owner not following the law, imo.
One issue I've had at the Arboretum with my dog leashed is other dog owners let their unleashed dogs come flying at mine which gets my dog into a defensive posture and/or results in him practically hauling me for yards in chase. It's really annoying and inconsiderate. Alternatively, I've had some dog people there glance at me warily for having my dog leashed, as if my dog were dangerous because otherwise I'd let him run wild.
Southwest Boston desperately needs at least one dog park to lessen the off leash demand at the Arbs.
Agreed - a bit far for a first offense
Good for you, Rob. I have seen owners of dogs on leash at the Arbs be verbally abused by off-leashed dog owners. It's a shame when civil society degenerates to the point that lawbreakers feel emboldened to haze responsible citizens.
First offense should be the existing 50 dollar fine, as long as the dog is licensed and bearing its license tag.
Enforcement should escalate from there, upon repeat offense or aggravating circumstances.
Just as if somebody won't stop drunk driving - eventually you don't get your license back anymore.
I don't care about the dog owners
But I would say that it would be unfair to the dogs. Of course, I pity them since their owners are very insensitive.
Yes, Southwest Boston needs a dog park. Heck, there should be places throughout the city. But the Arboretum, and Millennium Park, are not the places for it. Honestly, I would say that if a schedule could be worked out, Fallon Field would be ideal (and yes, I know it is unofficially, and my kid almost picked up a piece of dogshit over by the gate by South Street.) However, my gut is that the owners will screw it up. Hopefully not. In any event, a dog park is coming to Stony Brook Reservation, so cheers to that.
Getting away with it
There is a difference between getting away with something and doing the right thing.
You may have let a dog run around illegally off-leash in a city park, but you have never done it responsibly. Nobody has, because there is no such thing.
You've also never drag raced on a residential street responsibly, you have never driven drunk responsibly, you've never lit a charcoal grill on your back deck responsibly, you've never sped down a sidewalk on a mini-crotch rocket responsibly, and you have never run a red light responsibly.
You may have gotten away with these things, and more, without causing direct harm to another person, but you have never acted responsibly while doing so.
Most kids grow up to understand the difference between getting away with things and doing the right things. I hope you will one day too.
Until then, yes, you should recognize that if your off-leash dog attacks someone, the victim may rightly respond with force, followed by legal action. If you act responsibly, you can avoid that.
You want your dog to run free
You want your dog to run free? Go to a dog park.
if they care about the community
then the safety and comfort of other people using the park should matter to them. They just care about themselves and their dogs and feel the rules don't apply to them.
I know...off-leash dogs but...
Did this really ruin your evening? Because they were drinking wine and loudly discussing politics? It's a big park--I'm sure there were plenty of tranquil spots to be found.
Did the Arboretum use to
Did the Arboretum use to allow unleashed dogs? I see that their website now mentions a leash rule. But I vaguely remember seeing a sign a few years ago saying unleashed dogs were allowed if they were under the owner's control, but if a dog is jumping up on strangers, then it's not under your control.
Oh, They're Just Being Friendly
Adorable!
And they never bite.
Reasonably sure...
Reasonably sure that this was a Boston Latin School graduation party, based on the fact that I happen to know they were having one in the Arboretum last night...
No, I don't think that's true
If it were a school graduation party, I couldn't blame hipsters/yuppies/townies, but instead would have to say 'kids are jerks, get off my lawn,' which is of course true but a bit passe these days.
Come on, man, have some consideration for us UHub commenters.
For sure
The Friday before Memorial Day is the last school day for BLS seniors (provided they completed their community service hours to have the last 10 school days waived).
Traditionally, there is a party up in the "Arbs" later in the evening. Usually its up on Hemlock Hill, a location the Westie kids in my class (2008) were fond of calling the "poop spot."
I went in 2008. I brought a full 40oz and left with an empty 40oz. The party sorta broke up when some kid pushed another kid off a cliff in a dispute over a girl. Somebody called the cops and everybody bolted from the poop spot.
Support for BLS hypothesis
We came upon an almost identical scene last year at this time in the same place, and it was easy to confirm the perpetrators, since there was various Latin School paraphernalia left on site (handwritten notebooks and the like with class/teacher names). Unless you think they were framed.
The Arbs
is the perennial drinking spot for BLSers blowing off steam.
Red, White, And Blue Trash - How Patriotic!
Looks familiar
My kids used to head out with rubber gloves and large garbage bags to clean up after parties like this in the Fells. I let them keep the can return money (and neighbors would slip them a fiver for the cleanup service, too!).
Same shit, different place.
Case noted. Case closed.
No vio.
Another photo of the remains
A Citizens Connect complaint.
Was there over the weekend
That grey hoodie on the rock was indeed a Boston Latin hoodie, adorned with empty Fireball bottles. We filled three garbage bags (props to whatever delinquent brought the bags, boo for not using them) with misc bottles and cans (just clap your hands).
Also, one of the garbage bags under the tree had about a dozen unopened Miller Lites and Bud Lites. They're still there as of yesterday if anyone wants warm garbage.
And another report from the same place:
https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov/reports/101001393803
Not just BLS kids, it turns out
Some BLA kids were there, too, but maybe did a better job of holding onto their garments. Note to BLA kids: You really should learn how to make pages on Facebook private.
You need to stop creeping my
You need to stop creeping my dude lmao
People tell me things ...
Don't worry, I'm not creeping on BLA students.
But it is interesting what other people will tell me ...
The citizen's connect report
The citizen's connect report reveals a pay stub with a Vietnamese surname! Littering not good, but gotta give it to my fellow kinsmen for enjoying American folkways.
Scary teenage townies
Having a graduation party (?) in the park (no doubt some call it pahk), leaving behind empty bud light (smh) boxes and what-not. And this is news?
The women with their urban assault strollers (saw one Friday afternoon who used one as a battering ram to get on a super crowded train), people who don't control their dogs and/or who won't make room for you to get by them on a sidewalk, etc., these irritate me much more. Not to mention the wall to wall tourists in some parts of town.
Yes, it's news
Bunch of slobs slob up a forest. News to me. Same with the gross dog walkers who left Millennnium Park a giant frozen turd bowl over the winter.
Wall-to-wall tourists, on the other hand, no, not news to me, not even when this very correspondent makes the mistake of going into the main Quincy Market building on a holiday weekend and basically gets trapped in a mob of out-of-towners who can't decide what to eat. Personally annoying, but news to the rest of the world? Well, maybe for replying in a note like this, but hardly front-page news.
You don't know that snow magically makes dog poop
vanish?? Even when you leave it right in the middle of the sidewalk or in front of your neighbor's steps or all over your favorite park. The snow fairies just wave their wands and poof--it disappears.
Seriously--worst pet peeve of this crazy winter was the magical thinking of dog walkers who suddenly decided that they didn't have to pick up. SWC, Franklin Park, the pond--it was truly vile.
I don't 'hate' them
just letting off steam
The dog walker biz model.
It's a strange low skill grifter scene.
Here's an ad from Craigslist.
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/pas/5039181698.html
I don't know if the advertiser is a typical skank or a responsible service. The latter do exist but are outnumbered by the grifters looking for easy money.
They tend to have multi mutt tandem rigs they can barely control. And when they can get away with it they'll let the mutts loose cause they're lazy. A deft mutt services freelancer can probably pull down 90 bucks a day or more for a few hours work, most likely under the table.
The other main shit spreaders tend to be middle aged crones who seem to use their pet as a stand in for the idealized human relationship that eluded them.
This bunch ignores leash rules because their precious 4 legged lover should never have to endure such ordeals merely because the property owner they are ignoring has rules.
They have a poor grasp of the social contract in addition to a number of other odious qualities. I always wonder what dogs must make of the strange slobbery baby talk the crones use to engage poochie. It can sound kind of unhinged.
Dogs are very smart and probably notice the difference in voice noises when their crone talks to another human.They are also pack creatures and bear minor indignities like a leash without much fuss.
If the crones had a clue they'd just go find appropriate places to give their adored one a real leash less treat like the vast Wildlife Management Area parcels ringing Boston or abandoned rail corridors, but a thick sense of entitlement precludes such efforts. They figure they should be able to go anywhere.. dammit.
The sad part is that they can end up killing the dog if it gets into something toxic out of their sight or it gets bitten by a rabid wild thing. Skunk encounters are another issue but those at least give the owner a bit of karmic payback.
Guy mutt scofflaws tend to be less assertive about their right to ignore property rules, at least out in white bread suburbia where I go. It's more of a classic slob play rather than the strange psycho drama of projection that grips the crones.
You sound nice.
.
Stroller rage?
I can see (tangentially) the dog poop connection, but what do strollers have to do with any of this? You hate yuppies, tourists, and mothers who selfishly go out in public with their babies. So noted. What does any of that have to do with the assholes who left their garbage lying all over the park?
The wonderful smells of city life: trash and poop.
The loose dogs will deposit their post digestion investments without the owners knowing the deposit was made. But the interest that accumulates on these deposits is measured in bacteria instead of fertilizer. From what I've read dog feces may add to the unpleasant bacteria that is floating around the air in cities. The more crap on the ground the more crap in the air. Even if these humble deposits don't increase fecal coliform too much dog feces creates a bubble of grossness.
But alas the assumption is: open field = dog play site. The only way to stop it is to fine the dog owners. The Arboretum is still a city park after all and city park laws still apply.
As for the trash I see a good exercise for a local scout troop. The troop I belonged to as a kid wound up visiting roadsides on occasional afternoons picking up all of the trash. Don't know whether this instilled in me my revulsion to littering. But it did leave me feeling as though I did something good without need of a reward (other getting away from home and enjoying a free lunch). Perhaps a local scout troop (assuming one doesn't already) could "adopt" this part of the Arboretum and once every few months pick up tras
When I see someone throw trash on the ground I just think that they don't see any value to a clean environment. But that asks the question of how do kids learn that it's okay to dispose of trash by just dropping it on the ground? How is that lesson taught?
"Tradition"
If it's such a hallowed nod-and-wink "tradition" for BLS to party in the Arboretum, perhaps it's time for a new tradition: a cleanup day in which the entire student body (or maybe just the senior class) walks the entire Arboretum and picks up every bit of trash. Sound good?
Public service project before graduation?
OR, make them clean up the Arboretum after their party or no one graduates.
I know. Tough love for the Barney generation. (NOT EVERYONE LOVES YOU!!!)
/former teacher
Make the Juniors do it
....to buy their admission to next year's party