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Walsh: Stop sportsballing in parks, or he's going to start naming those parks to shame you something fierce; first responders to get dedicated testing site
By adamg on Fri, 03/27/2020 - 2:35pm
Mayor Walsh said today that he's continuing to get reports of people congregating and playing sports in Boston parks and that while he's not ready to shut parks down, he's getting close to naming the parks in an attempt to shame people to knock it off.
Self-isolation is vital to fighting a virus for which we have no cure, and people - especially those with family members who are doctors and nurses - should stop already, he said.
"That's not social distancing," he said. "This isn't about you, it's about your fellow neighbors, it's about your friends, it's about your family. ... if you don't want to do it for yourself, we're asking you do it for your family."
"If it doesn't change, I'm going to start naming locations," he said.
At his press conference in front of City Hall, Walsh also said that the city tomorrow will open a Covid-19 testing station at Suffolk Downs for first responders - Boston police officers, firefighters and EMTs and paramedics.
Walsh also asked for people to be kind and respectful at a time when so many are stressed. And, he continued, "now is not a time for scapegoating." Other parts of the country may be seeing bullying, harassment and racism, "but I certainly will not stand for it in Boston," he said. "It's not who we are."
He said that goes equally for immigrants, whom he said make up 16% of health-care workers, 36% of home health aides and 17% of supermarkert workers. "We are all in this together, and we all depend on one another," he said.
Like Gov. Baker, Walsh said he is not expecting Boston to re-open for business by Easter. In fact, he said some semblance of normalcy might not return until July.
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Comments
naming locations!?
this guy is such a hamhead
As if publicly naming places isn't gonna encourage confrontations between sportsballers and angry members of the public
just close the parks and issue citations
why is this so hard??!?!?!
Is tennis allowed?
there's no touching
The ball gets touched but
The ball gets touched but maybe if you hand sanitize and don’t touch your face it could work.
What ya in for kid? Bball
What ya in for kid?
Bball
I went to the park for a walk
I went to the park for a walk
But really a pick up game i sought
I want to play a game
The rules are so lame
But Marty said i should not
""If it doesn't change, I'm
""If it doesn't change, I'm going to start naming locations," he said."
Why bother with a lame threat? Just call people out.
Pics or it didn't happen
Pics or it didn't happen Marty!
In some suburban towns they
In some suburban towns they've closed rec fields bc bozo teens won't follow the rules and therefore ruined it for everyone else. In a town a friend lives in, police are escorting people off the fields for just walking alone. Selfish people spoil it for others who are following the guidelines.
Fascism is happening under
Fascism is happening under the lie of 'it's for your own protection.'
You don’t need to lie about
You don’t need to lie about being for our own protection to be a fascist.
You can try to preserve public health AND be a fascist. Win win!
I’m waiting for (the failing) President Trump to delay the election claiming his wartime Presidential powers. I don’t think he’d succeed, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried.
He may not really know where
He may not really know where it's happening. This threat might (... or might not) scare some people who have been going to parks that he hasn't heard about. "I'll call your neighborhood out!" covers all of them.
Of course, I'm not putting any money on it actually making a difference...
Eastie
I've seen it still going on at a certain park in East Boston.
"If it doesn't change, I'm
"If it doesn't change, I'm going to start naming locations," he said.
And then what? In a really stern voice?
Close some streets to traffic
Open up the roads, give people more open space to social distance while also getting out of the house.
I know, I know, people park there, people drive there. Right now we need that public space, parks and sidewalks are not enough for maintaining social distancing.
Theres a balance we can find that prioritizes this health and safety need.
Oh the dang details
I like the idea, but which streets? Seems like every street I think of has a CVS or a grocery store on it, so you can't really close them. Newbury St maybe? (Their CVS is at a cross street, so you could still drive pretty close.)
Yeah def a logistical question
But it would really have to hyper focused on neighborhoods but for instance Brighton, I would really struggle to figure out which roads or maybe you close off areas around Brighton Center? Maybe the carriage roads on Comm Ave? But then it doesn't tackle everyone closer to the Pike area, Oak Square.
But on a more general city-wide theory, maybe something like shutdown Storrow Drive to cars, thats a winding long stretch that could handle a lot more people than the narrow Esplande, which was really crowded on Saturday and I avoided.
I was on Boylston earlier today for something work related and it was wide open, maybe cone off a lane or two.
But then thats another logistical issue, police resources, etc. And this doesn't come from my usual war on cars, this is all about the war on cabin fever and giving people some space to social distance.
do what the dutch do
Declare that on residential streets, pedestrians and cyclists have strict, defacto right of way and implement a 15mph speed limit.
To the Dutch, a residential street is a bike/walk way that cars happen to be permitted to drive on. Like a giant driveway to your house.
If you close streets to
If you close streets to vehicles then you are closing streets to: ambulances, firetrucks, police, public transportation including The Ride which serves people with mobility issues, doctors and other medical professionals who drive -- esp. those who work overnight shifts and therefore can't take the T.
While I 100% agree we as city residents need more space to distance ourselves while outdoors, the way to do it would be slow down over-development and greedy corprorate luxury density and instead dedicate MORE space for humans to roam freely. Also,
how about converting street level parking lots into parks? And I'm not talking about constructing kids playgrounds, just plain old open space for people of all ages to stroll through or run in... and plant some trees please. I'll contribute!
This is of course why there
This is of course why there are no parades in Boston, and the Marathon is a figment of our collective imaginations, right?
Obviously they need to think carefully about *which* streets to close, and possibly make partial exceptions for emergency vehicles. Not all streets in Boston are bus routes, after all.
Your second-paragraph solutions are good ideas, but we can't implement them right now. Stopping construction temporarily isn't magically giving Boston more open space.
Here in Somerville, my local
Here in Somerville, my local basketball court is padlocked, with the nets tied closed as extra deterrent.
Walsh won't say it...
But he means Southie or as I call it, Little Williamsburg.
Lots of soccer and basketball
Lots of soccer and basketball playing in eastie too. Kids are bored.
LOL "sportsballing"
Sometimes I miss our friend from South Boston.
Saw 15+ dirt bikers yesterday
Saw 15+ dirt bikers yesterday in Franklin Park. No cops or park rangers though per usual. Maybe do something? And then stick them in Harvey Weinsteins cell? Because cops doing nothing isn’t working, no pun intended.
They can’t. The BPD policy is
They can’t. The BPD policy is to not chase these kids because one of them died once in accident. Is that what you want? Dead kids? So you can ride your little bicycle through the park like a six-year-old? Kind of selfish.
I wanna
Wait, I want to ride my bike like a 60-year-old and my bicycle is slightly larger than a typical adult sized bike. Demeaning and misdirecting are tactics of the weak argument.
And I won’t wreck the park with the noise and surface destruction, the KIDS are the assholes, why should they have priority to destroy public park property?
Not calling out these pricks as being selfish is laughable.
I mean even mounting bikers don’t ride trails now so as not to ruin them.
Are you saying that there are no other tactics to stop these losers from causing damage and disruption other than causing their deaths in police chases?
Even IF you can’t stop them, bitching that responsible users are being selfish to note a problem is a sure sign that you smell like hypocrisy. Possibly a selfish outlaw biker.
A little respect for public property is NOT much to ask.
At least those jerks are
At least those jerks are usually at least 6 feet apart.
That’s because the BPD ranks
That’s because the BPD ranks are being decimated by the lethal virus that’s everywhere. (Not sure if you’ve been watching the news or not.) The real numbers are much worse than what’s being reported.
So, the department has been trying to minimize contact between officers and the public as much as possible. That includes responding to only priority one calls right now (you know, serious stuff you probably are lucky not to have to deal with on a daily basis like shootings, domestic violence, suicides, etc). Parts of Franklin Park are also a pretty volatile area for us, so we try to give them some leeway. Finally sir, there was a lot of gunfire yesterday so we were kind of busy with other, more pertinent matters.
Thank you as always for your continued support and please make sure you are social distancing,
- a Boston Cop
Fallon Field
Off Walworth St. in Roslindale. Every time I walk by. They should remove the hoops for the duration.
Yes
Saw three pickup games as I was out for a jog this evening at Fallon field!
Fallon
I’d be more concerned with the entitled mutt owner who think is a social mutt park.
Hint, it’s not!
...was it Robin Williams
...was it Robin Williams talking about British Police?
"STOP! ...or I shall say 'STOP' again!"
Shaming Massachusetts scumbags?
I didn't know Marty had a sense of humor.
The real threat comes next,
The real threat comes next, "If I catch you goofing off in the parks, I'm calling your ma."
Today I saw...
... 5 guys in the park kicking a soccer ball around. They were all at least 20 feet from each other, and I watched for a while: nobody touched the ball with his or her hands.
I'm thinking this is 100% OK, unless I'm missing something?
Sounds ok but according to
Sounds ok but according to Republicans soccer leads to socialism. And gay marriage. They can’t have that.
I saw Dubbya Bush at the 1994 World Cup in Foxboro
And he's Republican. He did not try to take my possessions, and he didn't even hit on me.
I guess he had eyes for Diego Maradona instead.
Exactly
Seems to me that playing a soccer game wouldn't be OK, but standing in a circle passing a ball around and chatting while 6-10 feet apart should be allowed.
It's probably not OK to throw a ball back and forth, unfortunately for my baseball-loving kids.
Cybah
And then I read Cybah's impassioned post after I posted. I guess that's the problem - my kids just will not be 100% careful even passing a soccer ball. People are craving a tiny sense of normalcy which is why they buy that $3 ice cream cone or go to the park and stand too close together.
In the soccerball-passing scenario, it really needs adult (responsible adult) supervision to be allowed, if at all.
Drum circles?
We can have our drum circle! Just increase the radius!
Stay home
MY COUSIN Bobby Kelly, just put this out.
https://youtu.be/e0-2XxgHIXk
STAY THE FUCK HOME
On Tuesday I made a FB 'COVID-19' post to number of FB friends I have and how many people I see/know are infected. Well. It was 4 on Tuesday..
As of about 30 mins ago (~12:30a Saturday morning) , its now 16. 3 are close friends, rest are random friends, 2 are in the hospital now. I also know of 2 acquaintances that died Thursday. So for me, it's doubled and then some in 5 days. 16 now, 2 dead.
I expect this to double by Tuesday.
Yet I see the ice cream truck circling my neighborhood with hoards of kids coming up to get fresh scooped ice cream on cones, not practicing social distancing. I called 911, and sent notes off to the powers that be at the city. So I did what I could.
Of course I saw this after I was told by a close friend he was ill and had a fever and was on his way to the ER.
So I stood there waiting for the police to come, but they didn't. I stood there for 45 mins waiting for someone to come, but no one came. Just parents and kids come by and get ice cream. Kids sticking their dirty fingers on the trucks wall pointing to the item the way.. kid after kid, touch after touch. No wiping, no nothing. The guy in the truck had gloves on but he was cross contaminating himself by using the same paper towel to wipe his gloves off with. Each TIME he served a new kid..
All I could do was watch. I felt like I was in some sci fiction thriller where its that scene where the lead takes a pause, and its suppose to be a peaceful scene of kids playing in slow motion. But not knowing being out there playing is killing them inside. Or something like that. It was just surreal.
Then the truck takes off, stopping a few blocks away, and more kids. Repeating the cycle. Just spreading the virus further down. Neighborhood, after neighborhood... town after town.
It's like people don't care, or don't want to move fast enough to stop it. Or parents not seeing that 3 dollar ice cream cone could have grave results.
My "count" is 16 sick 2 dead today. By next time this week, it will be 48/6 . and then 96/18 after..
We're not doing enough to stop this. We're not. When are we going to wake up and stay home. Every single day we do not do something, it just another day those of us who *do* stay in will be need to stay in at the end. How much more will I have to count for?
I have ~1800 FB friends. If this continues by middle of April ~1500 will get it and ~150 will die.
Will you keep track too when you friends start falling off? Is that the moment you'll realize....
YOU NEED TO STAY THE FUCK HOME. No Ice cream. No parks. No seeing friends. No hookups. No playdates, no "i'll just have one beer". NO NOTHING.
frustrated
It is 130a. I am tired but can't sleep. And very frustrated. I tend to babble but.. i gotta say it
STAY THE FUCK HOME
This week and next
This week and next are going to be the weeks when this stuff explodes and they start turning people away from the hospitals and people start dying alone in their homes. NYC is already stacking bodies in refrigerated trucks because the morgues are full.
Hey Adam! Can you promote Cybah's post to the main page?
Everyone should read it.
I pondered
I pondered doing that myself (i have post permissions)...
Do it.
Do it.
Take down the rims
Up in Old Orchard Beach they just took down all the basketball rims and removed all the benches from the main street.