Who’s Responsible For Shoveling Hydrants? Nobody

Published February 9, 2011

Universal Hub posts photo after photo of Boston fire hydrants covered in snow. We received a handful of reports of blocked hydrants on our map of unshoveled sidewalks.

Besides the public-safety risk, it can be infuriating when you’re ticketed for parking in front of an invisible hydrant.

UHub reporter Lexis Galloway tried to figure out whose job it is to dig out hydrants. It turns out the answer is nobody:

Although the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and the Boston Fire Department are responsible for making sure hydrants actually work, there’s no law regulating who has to keep them clear after snowstorms, Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said.

In an interview with Universal Hub, MacDonald said that while firefighters shovel what they can, there’s only so much they can do in a winter like this. “We have to rely on the owners and neighbors to take care of shoveling the hydrants out,” he said.

The city helped organize a volunteer dig-out in Charlestown last weekend, which may be the best solution for now. You can report blocked hydrants to the Mayor’s Hotline.

Ol’ Ray Allen, Sharpshooter, Still Going Strong

Published February 9, 2011

When Ray Allen made his first NBA three-pointer, “The Macarena” was the hottest song in the country.

“Home Improvement” was a top-10 TV show. It was still weeks before Tom Cruise and the rest of the world fell in love with Renee Zellweger, Jerry Maguire’s secretary.

Ray Allen showcases his beautiful shot against the Bulls in 2008. (AP)

Ray Allen showcases his beautiful shot against the Bulls in 2008. (AP)

Los del Rio have long since faded away and Tim Allen now only exists in digital form as Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear, but Ray Allen’s jumpshot still has more legs than Zellweger’s career.

Allen, the Celtics’ shooting guard, continues his march into the record books Thursday when he becomes the NBA’s all-time leading three-point shooter against the arch-rival Lakers at the TD Garden.

Right now, Allen’s 2,559 career three-pointers leave him just one short of the the league’s record, but he won’t be there for long. In Allen’s 14+ seasons in the NBA, he has made an average of 2.4 three-pointers a game.

That first three-pointer came in Philadelphia, when Allen was a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks. In the next day’s newspapers the Associated Press made no mention of either of the two threes Allen sunk, but it did highlight Allen’s key contributions as a rookie starter in his first NBA game:

Allen, who finished with 13 points, scored 6 during a stretch late in the fourth quarter that turned a close game into a 111-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the season opener tonight.

Allen also hit the game-winning foul shot to ice the game after Allen Iverson, also a rookie, was tagged with a technical. For basketball fans, looking back at that is poetic.

Since then, Allen’s been known as a fitness freak with a shot as sweet as his bald ‘do. Along with an Ortiz double off the wall and the crowd at Gillette during a Tom Brady 2-minute drill, Allen’s jump shot is one of the current Three Wonders of the New England Sports World.

In his second NBA game, Allen’s Bucks beat the Celtics. Twelve years later, Allen helped lead the C’s to their NBA-record 17th championship. Now, as Allen cements his place in the NBA record books, the 35-year-old’s boundless energy is re-charging the Celtics’ hopes for banner No. 18.

Weds. Morning: No Smoking On The Common?

Published February 9, 2011

Good morning! It’s cold today. Here’s what’s news on a Wednesday in Boston.

Gov. Deval Patrick, in his forthcoming memoir, reveals he considered resigning after taking office in 2007. His wife was hospitalized with depression, and they almost couldn’t face four years in the spotlight. Patrick also says he failed the bar exam twice and got “blackballed” by an exclusive Brookline country club.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino is setting the tone for a battle with Walmart, which is in talks with the city to open one or more stores here. “I’m very concerned about how they treat their employees … I want to make sure they are good jobs, that their employees get health insurance, retirement plans — all the benefits everyone else gets,” Menino told the Herald.

Two Boston city councilors are proposing to ban smoking in public parks and beaches. Hundreds of cities and towns have similar bans, from Braintree to New York to San Diego. Menino has not weighed in on the idea.

Boston is preparing to unleash “Pot-zilla,” a $150,000, self-contained pothole-filling machine. The city expects 500 pothole complaints this month as as ice thaws, re-freezes and thaws again. (Head over to Hubbub’s pothole map to learn how to report potholes in your city or town.)

The Track Gals report on the success of the Boston Police Department’s social media efforts. BPD reached 20,000 Twitter followers yesterday, the largest of any PD worldwide.

Ken Olsen And His Beautiful Machines

Published February 8, 2011

DEC PDP-1

DEC PDP-1 (Marcin Wichary/Flickr)

How important was New England native Ken Olsen? Consider this tweet from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen:

Condolences to DEC Founder Ken Olsen’s family. BillG & I wrote Microsoft BASIC on DEC PDP-10 mainframe. Ken’s work was vital to our success.

But the real measure of this man is found in the outpouring of support from ordinary people who worked for Olsen.

“DEC and Ken Olsen’s style and vision allowed me to reach my potential and fostered independent thinking,” writes Richard Green in the comments on our obituary. “I started as a lowly break/fix tech. I never felt that I WASN’T a part of DEC. If you wanted to learn something or do something new in your career, DEC was the place to be.

“If you never worked there, it is hard to appreciate what is was like. There were long hours, many all-nighters and we weren’t getting rich, but I couldn’t wait to go to work everyday.”

A colleague of mine said Digital Equipment Corporation is the reason a lot of people are in Massachusetts today. Olsen co-founded DEC in Maynard in the 1950s, building the company into a giant. At its apex, only IBM was a bigger tech company. When DEC began disintegrating in the 90s, some Massachusetts towns were devastated.

“I’m so sad to learn that Kenneth Olsen, the co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, has died,” writes WBUR’s Curt Nickisch on his personal blog. He continues:

When I arrived in Massachusetts to report business and technology for WBUR, I started hearing the lore of the golden days of the Bay State computer corridor. Digital Equipment Corporation, or DEC, dominated for decades. It was the poster child of the “Massachusetts Miracle.” It was the Google of its day, the cool company you wanted to work for.

Curt interviewed Green, the commenter I quoted, for a remembrance on WBUR’s All Things Considered. A year ago, Curt produced an interview with DEC’s other co-founder, Harlan Anderson.

What strikes me about DEC’s machines is how pretty they were. IBM, the rival that would win the personal computing wars, defined the beige box. Long before Apple’s candy-colored iMac, DEC computers were little pieces of art. Photographer Marcin Whicary posted some beautiful photographs of the PDP-1 on Flickr.

Olsen died Sunday in Indianapolis. He was 84.

Boston Police Report Body Found In Jamaica Plain

Published February 8, 2011

Boston homicide detectives are investigating the death of a woman, believed to be in her mid-30s, whose body was found in Jamaica Plain this morning.

It it’s ruled a homicide, this would be the second of 2011. At this time last year, there were twice as many homicides.

Police say the woman was shot in the head. She was found at 21 Kenney Street, near the Jamaicaway, and pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone with information about the death can call detectives at (617) 343-4470 or can leave an anonymous tip by calling (800) 494-8477 or texting TIP to 27463.

The first homicide victim was Nicholas Buford, 21, of Dorchester, on Jan. 4.

Hubbub believes every life is important. We’re mapping and following up on every 2011 homicide in Boston.

Got Salt? Us Neither

Published February 8, 2011

Rock salt crystals

Rock salt crystals (Glyn Nelson/Flickr)

My boss, who lives in Newtonville, was lamenting the fact that he couldn’t find rock salt anywhere this weekend — and the workers at Home Depot were jerry-rigging roof rakes to keep up with demand.

After hearing last week’s story by WBUR’s David Boeri, you would think there’s plenty to go around. There are 50-foot mounds of the stuff in Chelsea, and the trucks don’t stop trucking. But that’s the commercial end of the salt business. Retailers and their distributors can’t keep up with demand..

I called or visited six stores last night to see if they carried salt or ice melt forumla. Here are my findings:

  • Tags Hardware, Cambridge: Sold out, stock expected Tuesday.
  • Home Depot, Watertown: Sold out, restock unknown.
  • Lowe’s, Dedham: Sold out Sunday, restock unknown. Operator suggested a grocery store.
  • Which led me to… Star Market, Brookline: Jars of salt for sale at $7.99; no more bags left.
  • Star Market, Brighton: Out of stock. The sign for ice melt is still visible, but the display has been replaced with wiper fluid.
  • True Value Hardware, North End: “Tons of it.”

I informally polled my Twitter followers to find out if they have had any luck:

  • Katy Aronoff: “Not salt, but there’s shortage of roof rakes. People were lined up at Salem NH Home Depot on Fri for shipment that never came.”
  • Jeremy Marin: “Has anybody not had trouble? Local TrueValue told me they can’t even order more – not expected in warehouse ’til Fall. … Foodmaster and Shattucks (Ace) in Arlington had as of yesterday. Nobody has Calcium chloride though.”
  • Carissa O’Brien: I” found regular salt, and an organic calcium mix (for the roof) at Aubuchon Hardware, Maynard.”
  • Catherine Mather: “slim pickings at Home Depot Medford on Saturday, but I noticed a lot at Whole Foods Medford on Sunday.”
  • Margaret Felice said she found “plenty” at Home Depot in the South Bay shopping center.
  • @AndreaWBZ: “use kitty litter instead.”

Have you had luck? Tell us where you are able to find salt.

Tuesday Morning: Truck Day

Published February 8, 2011

Good morning! It’s Truck Day, the first sign that spring actually does come after winter. The Red Sox’ 18-wheeler leaves Fenway today for Ft. Myers, Fla., for spring training. Pitchers and catchers report Sunday.

Computer pioneer Ken Olsen, once dubbed “America’s most successful entrepreneur” by Fortune Magazine, has died at 84. Olsen founded Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard in 1957; Digital would become the second largest computer company, behind IBM. WBUR’s Curt Nickisch, the Boston Globe and the New York Times remember.

A federal judge has refused to halt the February special election to replace former City Councilor Chuck Turner, who is sentenced to prison on corruption charges. Turner said his civil rights were violated when the board expelled him in December. Under state law, Turner wouldn’t be able to serve anyway because he will be incarcerated.

A Globe review of fresh census data show a 17 percent rise in Massachusetts couples living together who identify as same-sex. That’s in comparison to 2000, four years before Massachusetts became first in the nation to legalize gay marriage.

Today in weird: A New Jersey woman is charged with trying to smuggle $50,000 worth of cocaine through Logan Airport after she swallowed 50 condoms filled with the (other) white stuff. Police say 21-year-old Luisa Gil was arriving from the Dominican Republic.

Speaking of the white stuff, more snow is coming. More than 60 schools are closed or delayed, many of them over concerns about weakened roofs.

For Many In Mass., Economic Struggle Is Still Acute

Published February 7, 2011

It’s the “reluctant consensus” that our economy is slowly improving, but new data show those on Massachusetts’ lower end of the income spectrum are seeing few of those green shoots of recovery.

More Insurance Waivers

The number of state-approved health-insurance waivers jumped last year, from 44 percent in 2009 to 63 percent in 2010. People apply for these waivers because they can’t afford insurance, which is required by Massachusetts law. (About the same number of people applied for waivers, but state regulators were more lenient in 2010.)

To the Boston Globe, “state officials said they excused the majority of waiver applicants in large part because of the protracted sour economy, which made insurance unaffordable for more people.”

Most uninsured people don’t apply for a waiver and have to pay a tax penalty.

More On Food Stamp Rolls

The news service Stateline is out today with a report on food stamp rolls, which topped 40 million people nationally last year. Massachusetts fared slightly better than the rest of the country, but the number of state residents using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program increased 11 percent from November 2009 to November 2010.

It’s Also Budget (Cutting) Season

Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed spending plan would cut child-services programs and raise doctor co-pays for low-income patients, among other efforts to close a looming budget gap.

Nationally, the Globe’s Adrian Walker today notes President Obama’s proposed budget would slash funding for Community Service Block Grants, which fund social-services agencies such as Action for Boston Community Development, or ABCD.

Update: The Globe reports the state’s 11 Democratic members of Congress have all signed a letter asking Mr. Obama to leave the community grants alone during the budget process.

You Kids Don’t Know How Easy You Have It

Published February 7, 2011

If you think this winter is tough, WBUR’s David Boeri says snap out of it.

Boeri dug up these old copies of the Herald and the Globe, from 1969 and 1978, when two of the worst storms in history pummeled the area. “I was living in Alaska (as a commercial fisherman),” Boeri tells me, “and my parents were thrilled to be showing me just how bad it was in Massachusetts.”

Until the Blizzard of ’78, a four-day storm in February 1969 was the worst on record. As you can see on the Globe front page below (see full size), a storm in February 1716, before modern record-keeping began, supposedly dumped 10 to 15 feet on Boston in five days.

Map: Report Boston’s Worst Potholes

Published February 7, 2011

[googlemap title=”Greater Boston Pothole Reports” height=”500″]http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=212115722427213421944.00049bb321ead8b47473b&ll=42.36514,-71.099396&spn=0.216126,0.372849&z=12[/googlemap]

Map updated 2/9/11

Boston’s 2011 Pothole Season came early this year. Neither drivers nor bicyclists nor bus riders are spared. Oftentimes you can’t see the craters until it’s too late. Ka-THUNK.

Here’s where you can help: Report the worst potholes in and around Boston, and we’ll map the data. (You might have seen our map of unshoveled sidewalks.)

Here are three ways to file a pothole report:

We’re also including data from the Mayor’s Hotline in Boston. You can call (617) 635-4500, fill out this form or download the Citizens Connect mobile app (iTunes, Android Market). This only works for the city of Boston. (Our form also covers surrounding cities and towns.)