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Here's one way to get the mayor's attention
By adamg on Sat, 06/24/2017 - 12:42pm
.@BOS311 @BostonParksDept pic.twitter.com/yCtq4AVCwG
— WinthropSt.Coalition (@SAVEtheDearborn) June 24, 2017
Some volunteers who say they collected 34 used syringes in Howes Playground in Roxbury today found a creative way to display them.
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Comments
Gives me an idea
How about "neutralizing" the sharps end of some of these and using them to build a scale model of the Long Island Bridge? It could be presented to a Quincy dignitary at an awkward time.
Parks
I've accidentally almost sat on one of those in the grass in a park.
The addicts need help not to be pathetic. But when needles end up where children play, that is the last straw in this opioid epidemic: the dealers should get prison sentences so long that they die in prison.
Please explain
Why do you think that would help anything at all?
Bottom line is that there is DEMAND and there will, therefore, be a supply. Incarcerate all you want - there will be more.
Gives me an idea too
And that's to forget about the bridge...
What's the incentive for any Quincy "dignitary" or elected official to give a rat's ass?
Boston lost their leverage when they let the bridge collapse.
Poorly played by Menino and Walsh.
City of Quincy didn't let this bridge collapse nor did it not negotiate for future use.
The City of Quincy let this bridge collapse
They fought any attempts by Boston to fix the bridge. Sure, Menino could have tried to shame Quincy into letting the work be done, but the suburbs have no shame when it comes to cities' problems.
Give me a break
Quincy, which is also a city by the way, has it's own opioid epidemic and deals with it. What's in it for Quincy if Boston is allowed to bus their problems down Quincy streets because no one in Boston wants it dealt with in their backyard? Talk about double standard
Quincy's a suburb of Boston
And despite the political infighting over the years, the one thing that has unified the Koch and Phelan wings is the desire to at first keep Boston from repairing the Long Island Bridge and now rebuilding the same due to attitudes like yours.
Own the fact that Quincy is responsible for Long Island being inaccessible by land.
Boston has juice and lawyers
What exactly did they do to push for repairs or replacement? Did they negotiate with Quincy? Did they go to court?
No, Menino kicked the can down the road and Walsh did too until it became a crisis.
Quincy wasn't exactly being helpful but it's ab it ridiculous to pin the whole shebang on them.
This article sheds a bit of light on the years of inaction by Boston:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/13/bridge/CKX45L7z1CXdtMmsYkXP...
I'm from Boston, btw, and have no need to bolster Quincy's rep here, but the facts are the facts
That's funny
Quincy's newspaper says something different.
And that is just the most recent Menino effort, found after a little bit of searching. Someone at some point gave an interesting timeline on this website, but I'm too lazy to look it up. Suffice to say, Boston was ready to rebuilt while Quincy was advocating tearing it down.
Where was Boston's legal action?
Your linked article makes my point.
“Mayor Menino sent a letter to Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch on Tuesday, stressing the importance of the proposed bridge repairs,” Guifoil said in an email. “Menino wrote that Boston will seek legal action to try to perform some of the bridge repairs if Quincy’s conservation commission continues to delay the work.”
Quincy made noise about blocking the repairs and that's it? Boston responded with a shruggie?
Come on. If you believe that then I have another bridge to sell you.
If this were a bridge to an asset that Menino or Walsh valued they'd have moved forward thru the legal process. It wasn't. They didn't.
Dem's the fact.
I might be confused here
Boston wanted to repair the bridge. Boston put aside money to repair the bridge. Quincy vetoed the repair job. Yet it wasn't Quincy's fault the bridge wasn't rebuilt. It was Boston's (or specifically Menino's) fault. I'm missing the logic of your argument.
Quincy doesn't just have veto power end of story
This is America. You appeal and litigate. Or use your political juice. I've never seen a government entity just rollover on something like this.
No negotiations? No public grandstanding? Nothing? Menino slunk away with his tail between his legs?
OK.
The point is it wasn't something the city fought for at all. Ever.
Yes they do
The bridge links 2 cities. If one doesn't agree, there are problems.
But sure, if you want to think that Quincy was willing to let the bridge be rebuilt, despite proof to the contrary, there is nothing I can do to convince you. The sun rises in the west. The earth is cooling. Donald Trump is not President of the United States. Menino didn't propose repairing the bridge. And Quincy's representatives in the General Court didn't shoot the idea down.
No, they don't
Where's this vote in the General Court you speak of? Never heard of it. How do Quincy's reps shoot down Boston's reps? That never happened.
Here's some real info from Commonwealth Magazine's site:
Headline:
Boston abandons Long Island Bridge
Unclear what the city will do with the island and buildings
JACK SULLIVAN Apr 27, 2017
Relevant quotes:
If it's dead in the water b/c of Quincy opposition why was Walsh still paying lip service to rebuilding it? Where was the Quincy machine stopping this?
And:
Quincy had Boston quaking so bad they feared even filing an application? Wow! How the mighty have fallen.
All 3 of the state Reps that live in Quincy ran roughshod over the 17 reps (current numbers) from Boston, huh?
During this fairy tale vote that only exists in your mind, maybe. Otherwise, nope.
Full disclosure
I found my article from the Patriot Ledger via an earlier Commonwealth Magazine article, so I never even used Google for my research.
Still, show me something that contradicts the Ledger article from before the bridge was condemned and I will eat crow. Otherwise, my proof that Quincy hindered attempts to repair the bridge stands, which proves my assertion- Quincy is to blame for the demise of the bridge.
Prove to me that Boston moved forward
And I'll eat crow for both of us. I completely agree with you that Q did not want this bridge repaired or replaced. That doesn't mean they can just shut it down to the point where Boston couldn't even appeal in any way.
And as far as I know nothing took place in the legislature. The conservation committee asked for a 3rd party eval.
Then Boston dropped ball. Where are the plans? Where are the proposals? Where are the legal briefs? Who made th case to move forward for Boston?
There is none of this b/c Boston never truly pursued repairing or replacing the bridge.
And Swirly, please do cite how Quincy' thru the legislature or home rule you know so much about, specifically stopped bridge work in its tracks with no path for appeal from Boston.
I won't hold my breath.
I proved obstruction
Which, going back to the beginning of this thread, is the point.
When was it that Quincy wanted the bridge repaired and Boston balked?
If you don't want to read contemporary stories or learn the basics of state-city relations, I cannot help you. Quincy could and did prevent the bridge from being repaired, so it was torn down. Koch is being disingenuous to allude to the idea that somehow Quincy wants the bridge rebuilt.
This is Massachusetts
You clearly have no idea how the legal structures of this state work when it comes to home rule. If you had shown any interest in learning about these things, I would attempt to explain them to you. But since you don't seem interested in knowing how municipal governments work, how the Commonwealth functions, and how they interact according to fairly strict rules, I'll just leave it at that.
You underestimate me, Swirly
I have a keen interest in these matters and await your kind enlightenment.
Please be specific how a call by the Quincy Conservation Commission to have a 3rd party eval stopped this project in its tracks. W/o appeal by Boston?
You're telling me, even if the commission put the kibosh on the bridge (which I have yet to see a doc or report on) then Boston had no recourse whatsoever?
Take a step back. It has to be Q as the boogie man?
You can't see that Menino kicked the can an Walsh went another way? Perhaps a way that leads to lucrative development or a legacy park on LI?
This is realpolitik.
And believe me, I wish Boston got there shit together..
Here's a question:
If Boston was so dedicated and big bad Q was so evil why didn't Boston take the millions allocated to the bridge repair/ replacement and get a ferry running?
I have to yell now: they did NOTHING!
No repairs no replacement no ferry. Nada!
Cigarette butts
That could work with cigarette butts too. If Marty is paying attention.
Sure, fortunately you don't
Sure, fortunately you don't contract hep- c or worse when you step on a cigarette butt. There are greater issues at hand.
Far more people are killed
by secondhand smoke than by contact with discarded syringes.
I mean
Literally nobody is stopping you from going out and doing this
Second hand smoke say?
Then why the anti-tobaccoist's war against vaping? No tobacco involved, only a delivery system for nicotine. Nicotine isn't the cause of cancers from smoking tobacco,chewing tobacco,snorting tobacco, and there's no 2nd hand 'smoke'from vape and electronic 'cigarettes', just a harmless mist that quickly dissipates.
Nicotine has legitimate therapeutic and medicinal uses,too; so why the anti-tobaccoist's war on vapes and nicotine?
Personally, I find the vape mist
less immediately offensive but it contains dangerous chemicals too, like the ones added to regular tobacco cigarettes. So that's why they are also banned.
As for nicotine, it can be easily ingested without others nearby having to breathe it in when nicotine addicts use chewing tobacco or gum or patches.
Imagine if when the person next to you drank alcohol you had to take a sip too. What if you were a recovering alcoholic? I imagine it's a similar dilemma for nicotine addicts trying to quit or who have quit and don't want it in their bodies.
Facts on Ecigs
Uh, no. most Ecig ejuice in ecigs don't contain 'Dangerous' chemicals like cigarettes. That's an assumption by the PHC and others who didn't do their homework. A cigarette contains over 200 chemicals along with the tobacco.
3 ingredients sometimes 4. Thats it..for Ecig 'juice'..
-Flavoring (organic available)
-'PG' or Propylene glycol- which is a synthetic liquid added to food, cosmetics and certain medicines to absorb water to help them stay moist..(it helps 'carry' the flavor)
-'VG' or Vegetable Glycerin, which is produced from plants oils (palm, coconut etc) is used in place of sugar, and in toothpaste, soap, and in other forms can be used in lotions, shampoos etc..which helps create 'vapor' for the 'smoke' you see ecig users exhaling.
-Nicotine-Mostly your choice in Mg. Usual choice of ZERO to 36MGs are added. People I know mostly use 3mg.
Now, if you buy those 'pre-filled' ones or 'pre-filled cartridges at the gas station with no list of ingredients, good luck to you!
I know MANY people that tried all the other cessation methods that didn't work, but this did.
Good for them!
Part of the issue
Is that the vehicles to get the nicotine into the system are approved for eating and not inhaling. Studies are currently being performed to test the properties on lungs vs digestive systems.
1. Very fine particulates go deep into the airways and deposit themselves, which is not good. I don’t know where the particulates come from.
2. The oil that is used to carry the flavorings has been shown to cause fibrosis. It’s called popcorn lung after popcorn factory workers.
And one recent study:
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-017-0249-x
It's not perfect and doesn't necessarily reflect how people typically use vaporizers, but it's a start. There are so many parts in current vapes to study: the metal for the coil, the cotton for the system, the oil or glycerin for juice, the ingredients for the 'flavorings' ... it's a bit of the wild west right now.
Correction to ABBQ
True, studies are still being conducted, but a correction for the 'popcorn' lung issue is that it comes from the use of 'Diacetyl". This ingredient is/was? used in the popcorn production factories but it is not the ingredient in MOST juices used for ecigs. My friends use 'Diacetyl' free juice. I'm sure 'Diacetyl' is still used in those pre-filled cartridges though.
I believe it is a far safer choice to use than cigarettes when other means don't work.
Most cigarette users miss the 'inhalation' part more than the nicotine part of 'smoking' and this replaces that. They seem to adjust down to zero nictotine but not the inhalation habit.'Throat hit' is the other part that's hard to break away from.
Also a lot of people don't even add the nicotine to their juice.
I'm just saying that before 'banning' the use of ecigs those that make the rules shouldn't put all of the cases in one basket without knowing what's available out there.
True, but this makes your
True, but this makes your concern with act of smoking rather than the discarded butts on the ground.
And then there are the people
And then there are the people who are killed in fires started by smokers. Time to start writing tickets to smokers who toss their butts on the ground.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"We were just playing with some used needles we found on the ground to send Marty a message and I just stuck myself with one."
Well sometimes it's worth the
Well sometimes it's worth the risk to get the point across.
Pretty sure they use those
Pretty sure they use those plastic grabbers to pick the needles up so that they don't need to come into contact...
I like this. Not sure if
I like this. Not sure if Marty will ever see photo but damn stop this drug madness. Can't we all live in peace and drug free? No. We can't. I know :(
NEEDLES AND SYRINGES VS THE CITY OF BOSTON
First strategy: start taking this public safety Danger very very seriously. Second do an aggressive Public Safty Campaign and Announcements: Warning parents, day cares, camps, recreational centers; anyone and everyone that uses a park. Everyone must do a safety check prior to using. Thirdly, appeal to the addicts to not use in public recreational areas. Finally, increase the criminal or civil penalties for using in such areas.
More realistic: install
More realistic: install sharps receptacles in parks and around town, a bit like some of the plastic bag dispensers sometimes made available for dog owners, or reward users who bring their used needles back to public health facilities equipped to handle them.
Nature abhors a vacuum
-- reward users who bring their used needles back to public health facilities --
Unless the reward is simply a certificate of appreciation, then they will have to have some sort of modified bike rack available for the elderly Chinese recycle bin raiders and their overflowing shopping carriages as their ilk would be like 98 percent of the new cottage industry that would form.
Still, not a totally bad idea IMHO but it does seem like a simple transfer of accidental sticks to another subset of the population.
Why would this be a problem?
So long as they were issued sharps containers and required to do a short training in proper handling, the end result would be to get these things removed from public spaces where they could cause injury.
What kind of "ilk" are they?
What a condescending, bigoted comment. You really are nothing more than a breathing mass of protoplasm.
They are comparative ilk
They are comparative ilk in the realm of refuse collection, but not all Chinese. I happen to live where three territories converge: an older hoboish white guy, an elderly Chinese lady and a black guy who I suspect is from an island of some sort. The Chinese lady happens to be by far the most efficient and speedy so I assume innovative also, therefore I used her as the example and consider the rest of her industry mates as ilk. my usage of ilk was not derogatory.
Ilk can innovate - Are Apple and its ilk struggling to innovate? - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/apple-tesla-amazon-struggle-to-innovate/
City Council has been urging
City Council has been urging BPS to do a safety campaign for the past year, but BPS is stalling.
Subcontractors not properly equipped for trash handling.
Subcontractors not properly equipped for trash handling.
Subcontractors put out the trash to the curb for properties. Subcontractors people aren't properly equipped. Skin can get abraded/cut/pierced by sharp used needles, glass, broken mirrors, metal improperly disposed in trash. Trash in the trashcans are consolidated by hand removing trash from one can/container/barrel by hand to another can/container/barrel. Recycling in rollout recycling toters is consolidated by hand removing recycling contents from one toter to another toter.
Cities fail to reach out to Subcontractors' people with the communications materials for residents. Communications materials are needed for subcontractors' people using English as a Second Language. in addition to residents' health and safety, municipalities could look out for the health and safety of all including subcontractors' people at risk by handling residents' trash, getting the garbage out to the curb for weekly pickup at the curb by Public Works.
I want to say thank you to
I want to say thank you to the volunteers who cleaned this up because I was at this park later in the day with my kids, not our usual park but there's sprinklers, and I always walk the park to check for things like this and saw nothing. Thank you if anyone of them is on here.