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City Council candidate hates bike lanes so much she parked in one, screw bicyclists, but it didn't end well for her
By adamg on Sun, 08/25/2024 - 9:08pm
Cathy Vitale, who hopes to improve next year on her dead-last finish in the 2023 at-large council race, decided to park in the Tremont Street bike lane along the Common Friday night, then refused to move when a cop asked her to - and when he went to write her a parking ticket he discovered she had a suspended license.
And can you imagine, the cop wouldn't give her the "grace" to let her drive back home to Dorchester if she promised not to drive again until she got the whole license thing settled with the Registry, so instead she had to wait for a pal to come by and drive her car to Dorchester. She claims she was unaware her license had been suspended over $90 in unpaid tolls, but that's just the sort of thing government does to poor people like her, she harrumphs, and now she has a $90 parking ticket on top of that.
Vitale, who always videos what she thinks are important happenings in her life, says she refused to move because she had nowhere else to park while waiting to pick up a friend from the Common, so of course she pulled into the bike lane, the bicyclists could just go up on the sidewalk if they needed to and besides, bike lanes just suck (ed. note: Even before the city installed a bike lane on the Common side of Tremont, she wouldn't have been able to park there legally, because it was a vehicle travel lane).
If you don't recall Vitale from her low-wattage 2023 campaign, perhaps you'll remember her as one of the Covid bucket bangers who would stand outside Mayor Wu's house early in the morning screaming at Wu's kids their mother was going to prison.
Then she joined a lawsuit over the city's brief vaccination requirement for indoor spaces and lost when the judge said she didn't prove a Regina Pizzeria actually refused to serve her when before she left in a huff when she refused to show proof of vaccination and the place called police.
Last year, she finished behind even fellow Covid-19 bellower Shawn Nelson among the eight candidates running for one of the four at-large council seats. So you don't have to worry about her pulling an Althea Garrison and getting on the council for a year should incumbent Erin Murphy win her race for that court clerk's job she's now enamored of.
Note: The link at the top of this story contains excerpts from Vitale's account. If you want to see the whole thing, start with her video of her interaction with the cop, then listen to her update (which is technically a video, but she did it in the back seat of her car, without lights).
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Comments
Bottom of the barrel
She is the absolute bottom of the barrel.
The officer was going to let
The officer was going to let her call someone to drive her car home, rather than arrest her, and she ASKED HIM TO CALL HIS SUPERVISOR!?
What is wrong with people?
I thought she moved out of state?
Or is that one of the other COVID brigaders?
Another one
Florida, maybe?
Florida for one of them
I forget which but I've seen their comments on FB recently about having moved there.
She lives in Dorchester
And for whatever reason, she decided to join NextDoor in April. She posted her pic and it's her. For someone who has a lot to say about everything, she has been silent since she joined.
Wow! So many thoughts!!!
1. She must not be that hip or she would know the Universal Hub axiom of "one crime at a time".
2. She should "pick a lane" of cray cause she's diluting her powers with this scattershot of stupid.
3. How is she still in the City? I thought all these folks moved out years go. Are there more opportunities for victimhood here?
4. Her 15 minutes of fame were over in 2022.
5. There was a time when a U-lock would have looked good going through her windshield, but thankfully I have matured since then and I wish her peace and a never-ending series of legal problems.
I was about to throw in the
I was about to throw in the towel with watching this video when the cop told her that her license was suspended and suddenly, those lost three minutes of my life didn’t feel wasted anymore. Amazing.
Makes me want to go put ride my bike in the lanes that Catherine Vitale’s traffic tickets pay for.
Good to get her off the road
How stupid can she be? Everyone knows that if you are driving on a suspended license you don't do attention grabbing stupid things ... or argue with a cop who made an extremely lawful and polite request!
Now she can't drive to Oxford or Plymouth to protest the "lockdowns" due to EEE. These towns cancelled after-dark events and are strongly discouraging people from being out after dark. So Vitale is now tweeting about lockdowns and how EEE risk is overblown to control people.
I wonder if she can find these towns on a map?
Eastern Equine Encephalitis is incurable, kills most people who progress to encephalitis, and leaves all but the rare lottery-odds miracle kid without severe long term disabilities. But let's whinge about some town that your don't live in playing their high school football games in daylight.
She probably didn't even know
She probably didn't even notice when her license expired. AFAIK they don't suspend your license for unpaid tickets, just prevent you from renewing -- although maybe moving violations are different?
Suspended? or expired?
There is a world of difference. Since the RMV doesn't warn you that your license is up for renewal, she might not have noticed that... but she certainly would have noticed if a court ordered her license suspended.
Basic facts on EEE please.
I in no way mean to downplay the risk and tragedy of EEE- to those areas of high risk: spray up, avoid dusk- but as a matter of accuracy I was of a mind to send Boston.Com a note saying they were short on some of the basic facts in the article linked below. I’ve heard that of those infected with EEE it is only the ~ 7-10 (big suffix “-ish”) of all those infected who go on to experience (severe) disease/encephalitis who face a one-in-three fatality rate. Further, the author may have noted that the young (how young) and old (how old) are at increased risk. &c. -with exceptions. Additionally, for the - ~ 90 - 93 % who do not experience severe disease, what are the symptoms and range of severity? No sxs, headache, and so forth? What’s the recovery like for mild infection?
‘Very Well Health’ says 5% of those infected develop severe disease, but ‘My Cleveland Clinic’ says “About 30% of people bitten by an EEE-infected mosquito develop encephalitis and die from the infection,” and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “Most people infected with eastern equine encephalitis virus do not develop symptoms. For those who develop symptoms,…” ‘My Cleveland Clinic’ is the odd man out.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/08/24/first-human-case-of-ee...
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21187-eastern-equine-ence...
https://www.cdc.gov/eastern-equine-encephalitis/symptoms-diagnosis-treat...
As for the odd individual
As for the odd individual whose existence I was made aware of in this article it was interesting to lean more about a representative example of the group that acted out so questionably in front of the Mayor’s home. I suspect a fair measure of racial animus to be a motivating factor. How long was she in the bike lane before being moved along? She was given the option to double-park across the street if I heard/remember rightly. Did she set out to perform a stunt? I’m not an absolutist on the subject of bike lanes. I trust the data that they save lives. I also know that delivery drivers, people picking up and dropping off vulnerable passengers sometimes have no reasonable alternatives but to stop briefly in them.
How do we create alternatives for non-commercial drivers and delivery drivers to not need to stop in bike lanes? In other words, how do we make more loading and kissing zones that are reasonable close and safe?
Just not true
There is nowhere in this city that requires a car to stop in a bike lane. The car always has a plethora of alternatives. Additionally, if it drove in a lane to get to that bike lane, then it has a perfectly good lane to park in instead of the bike lane. And if that seems to be problematic, then consider parking in the bike lane in that location is obviously equally problematic for the same reasons.
At any time if the reason for stopping in the bike lane has anything to do with "getting out of the way of other cars", then it's instantly invalid.
At any time if the reason for
Exception - safely moving aside for emergency vehicles.
Beyond that the trucks often block two lanes for deliveries
I've regularly seen trucks parked in a bike lane for delivery that still take up a majority of the motor vehicle travel lane next to them making it too narrow for a car to pass and forcing them into the adjacent lane. That means that they're blocking two lanes of travel where if they just parked in the motor vehicle lane they would only be blocking one.
I know, I know, you can't outguess stupid
But I just don't understand the thought process here. This isn't a bus/bike lane or something. This is a pretty well-protected attached bike lane that's been there quite some time. Like you had to manifestly go out of your way to park in it. That area has become one of the most policed in the city so it's not like you're gonna go unnoticed for a few minutes (kudos to that cop for actually defending a bike lane).
She wants bikes to "go around" the bike lane while she's decided it's hers to own?
MOVE, bitch. Get out the way.
I had an encounter as stupid as this on Friday on Comm Ave at BC where a NJ pickup truck owner decided his little darling needed to...I don't know, because when they stopped, she got out, walked around the vehicle looked in a rear door but didn't do anything and got back in...while parked downhill on a turn on a single lane road in each direction. Like where did you think I was going to go, sir? Into unknown oncoming traffic because you needed to drop off your daughter? After 3 of us laid on our horn, they finally moved.
I'll give the out-of-towner more benefit of the doubt as I'm sure he's used to just putting his truck wherever he pleases. But Vitale needs to just lose her license permanently. I mean, she clearly doesn't understand any of the rules...so she shouldn't get to keep playing the game.
Sounds Qualified
If she has a suspended license it sounds like she is checking all the qualification boxes to be a city councilor.
She hasn't been caught accepting a bribe yet
She hasn't been caught accepting a bribe yet as far as we know. Whatever happened to Chuck Turner BTW?
Chuck?
Chuck has been looking up from six feet under for over 5 years.
Note to self: look up bra
Note to self: look up bra bribe lady.
oh she's
Oh she's still around.. I think she tried to run for office again a few years ago.
Scammers are gonna scam again...
She was a State Senator.
She was a State Senator. Diane was something else.
I’d rather her stay here and
I’d rather her stay here and be completely powerless than see her move to nh and further muddy the water there.
Althea Garrison
It's really a shame how much shade people have thrown at her over the years. She's an example of how you can be right of progressive but a thousand miles to the left of people like Vitale. Unlike that jerk, Athea is level headed and hard working. She has qualities that are sorely missing from a lot of the candidates and elected officals these days.
Althea Garrison sucks. She’s
Althea Garrison sucks. She’s a Trumper who wants to ban abortion and take away rights from gay people. She also refuses to use a computer. She’s a ignorant and intolerant nut job, just like this bike lane parking loser.
Whatever
I don't know if I'd vote for her (never been an option) but in the short time she was on the council people were surprised by how responsive she was and she brought up some valid topics. (And didn't spend time advocating against LGB+ issues.) I've seen her interviewed many times and was impressed by how well she knew Boston.
I don't know where she stands on national issues but I'm saddened by how people seem to care almost exclusively about social issues on a local level. Boston has problems that need people who care about nuts and bolts local government, not just *rights and speaking out against Trump and friends. City spending, corruption, responsiveness, oversight, etc should be the #1 issues of a councilor.
Personally, I find myself growing more and more frustrated with those of the further left but I am forcefully opposed to the modern GOP. If I don't support a progressive candidate/slate people incorrectly assume I must be for Trump when nothing could be further from the truth. There's a place for diversity of opinions, not just demographics, in city government.
LGB *T* issues.
LGB *T* issues.
Yeah hard agree here
She's nutty as the day is long on the 4th of July. Just because she's fallen backwards into office every few decades doesn't make her any more serious.
She's nutty as the day is long on the 4th of July
Nice expression!
If you need more insanity
Here's Cathy chatting with RSC candidate Lori "I love Hitler" Kauffman this past week.
https://rumble.com/v5c04id-ep.-6.-ft.-catherine-vitale-formerfuture-cand...
Lock her up.
Lock her up.
Remarkable
Her sense of entitlement knows no bounds.
She thinks that wanting to pick up a friend entitles her to a parking spot nearby, legal or not? She thinks bicyclists should get a ticket for riding in the road? Where, incidentally, she is forcing a steady stream of bicyclists to ride as she speaks? She thinks that bicyclists should ride on the sidewalk in downtown business districts? She thinks she shouldn't have any consequences from not paying tickets?
Seriously, most adults deal with inconveniences greater than hers on a daily basis. We pay our bills, we pay our tickets (if we get them - I don't, because I follow the law), and we don't think the city owes us a magical parking space whenever we wish it.
The only problem creating this situation is that this woman is an asshole. It's not that the world hates her, or that the laws are biased against her, or that police officers aren't doing their jobs, it's that she's an asshole, and wherever she goes she creates problems.
Decades of coddling law
Decades of coddling law breaking drivers has lead to this. Drivers think they can get away with breaking the law because they usually do, unfortunately. They think they are more important than pedestrians or cyclists because this stupid country hands them everything and maybe public transportation users or cyclists get some scraps.
The quick solution is to start making streets in dense neighborhoods pedestrian only. There is no reason for someone to drive to the common. People have accessed it without cars for centuries.
I partially agree
But the quick solution? Not so much. There are folks who live in dense neighborhoods who do rely on car transport for one reason or another, and I believe it would be unfair to them to change the status of the streets they live on to make that impossible. We might have different definitions of "dense," though.
As for no reason to drive to the common, I drive to the common sometimes, and it's always for one reason: to park in the garage there because we're going out somewhere nearby. The T is okay, and I always use it if it's just me, but if you've got four or more people, it's cheaper and easier to drive.
I see the de-prioritization of car transport in the city as a good idea, but I think it has to happen piecemeal, as it seems to be going on now:
-Streets narrowed for cars
-Bike lanes added
-Speed humps added
-Lights timed to favor pedestrians
-Streets made one-way for cars, two-way for bikes
-Streets interrupted (no longer through)
All of this makes driving in the city hell, and that's a good thing, because if driving in the city is always fun, nobody will stop doing it. Using cars in the city will not end, but it would be better for residents if the number and extension of car trips were reduced. Drive it into the city, park it, and then take care of your business on foot.
One of the measures I feel we've not done enough about in Boston is large trucks. The city ought to do some amount of citywide planning to determine which streets and routes are safe and acceptable for large trucks, and then keep them off all the other roads. They cause too many accidents and deaths when they mix with pedestrians, cyclists... and overpasses.
4 people
And with 4 people in a vehicle, the per-capita / per person-miles detriments of car use are far less than the majority single-occupancy (and even double-occupancy) vehicles on the road.
Not sure how you'd keep trucks off of streets
We can't even keep them off of Storrow.
Centuries of Walking To The Common
When I drive my cattle to the Common to graze we prefer to walk down Boylston Street when the tide favors us. What of my preferences sir?
Whoa there buddy
Whoa there buddy, let's get the T up and running in a semi efficient way before we start talking about closing Tremont to automobiles.
Most people hate cyclist
But most people also aren’t unhinged lunatics and have better shit to do with their lives.
Hey cyclists, this is what you look like complaining and crying over bike lanes day in day out. You’re no different than this women.
Pot meet kettle.
Hi Catherine!
Having fun taking the T?
Learn to pluralize in your downtime.
Sorry about the bike lane under your bridge
I'm sure it "stole" "your" parking spot.
Pot meet kettle?
Uh, no. We don't cry - we organize. It's the motorists who can't manage to park or steer between two lines that are crying day in and day out.
Uh
Help me out with this. I'm failing to find the parallel.
anybody else
Hear this post in her voice?
What's the deal …
… with people not knowing that their licenses have been suspended? And $90 of unpaid tolls, that means you've gotten multiple bright orange envelopes saying "pay your toll" (I've had a neighbor get these) and you don't have an EZPass already (and, seriously, if you've paid that many tolls you'd save money with an EZPass) and somehow this comes as a surprise to people like this.
I mean, the other way to find this out is to drive into a house with an unbuckled child in your car. That's slightly dumber, but about the same as parking in a bike lane downtown and then refusing to move.
"Didn't know"
I'm skeptical she didn't know and was just trying to get the cop to give her a pass. Few people are going to outright admit to knowingly driving without a license.
Just wait
She will come out with some sob story about how she was medically discriminated against because she would be forced to wear a mask!
The RMV and city halls weren't cutting much slack on their mask requirements and she would have to go in person to clean up her mess.
Who would disrespect an
Who would disrespect an officer of the law on patrol so much as to
a) refuse their orders and argue with them, and
b) get them on camera doing something in violation of their responsibilities?
she knew alright
There's a post on Twitter where she humble brags that her license was suspended in 2023. So yeah, she knew.
Oooo
Now that is a gem. I hope you took a screen grab.. you know that tweet is gonna vanish in the next day or two.
Let me guess
She will cry fake tears when trying to clear this charge and get her license reinstated because there was no way she could possibly wear a mask to go to various places to pay her fines and that's why she didn't pay up and renew. It's a medical issue supported by nothing! Just so!
I know that in early 2022 the RMV was taking no bullshit about masking up.
No credit card, no EZ Pass
If she is as conscientious about paying her bills as she is about paying her tolls and renewing her license then she probably has lousy credit. She doesn't seem to have a job, either.
All the same, if you are poor but insist on spending money on a car then you don't have to take the pike. I lived with plenty of broke college kids that had summer jobs in MetroWest who mapped out routes to avoid the tolls to save money.
Banking details
Pretty sure you can give EZPass your banking details for direct debit, no credit card requirement. However, then you'd have to budget your tolls against your account balance before driving...and it's pretty clear she sees driving as a right and not a privilege.
She might not have a bank account
Many years ago, I'm pretty sure she worked as a 1099 at a place where I worked in the accounting office. If she's the same person I remember, she always made a big deal about needing her check early in the day so that she could get to the bank to cash it. This required changes in how we processed payments to facilitate her schedule. At any rate, I did ask her why she didn't just deposit it at an ATM, and she explained that she didn't have a checking account because banks can't be trusted.
Not 100% sure it was the same Catherine, but if not, she was a fellow traveler of Ms. Vitale's. These lunatics purposefully extricate themselves from existing social systems and then demand others cater to the questionable choices they've made.
You may be right
We can't save them all, I guess. Either way, she's chosen a path that leads to tolls going unpaid whether by design or flaw and has reaped the rewards for that choice.
discovered she had a
Ha ha ha ha ha fucking loser.
shee püt u skool intoo safe mode dərring covid:
https://www.universalhub.com/2022/dorchester-elementary-school-put-safe-...