I think I might be the biggest proponent of public mass transit. I grew up in a suburb of NYC and was exposed to the city and able to work there because of fast, efficient, and effective public transportation. Everyone where I lived knew that taking a train into the city was smarter than taking a car. It was faster most of the time, comfortable, you could sleep, and just more relaxing. I have taken commuter rail on a few occasions here in Massachusetts and I have had anything but that experience. For lack of better terms the MBTA Commuter Rail is disgusting most of the time.

It starts on the platform. Usually the platform is gross and a lot of the time you have to climb up onto the train. Try taking a train from Back Bay station to Worchester and you will see what I mean. Then you get in the car and it smells bad, the lighting is horrible, and the seats are uncomfortable. I don't think anyone can relax in such a setting. To be honest, the time I took the train to Worchester -- I would have rather been in a car in the back seat feeling sick because I think the train was worse. The temperature is not right and the train is stop and start the entire trip. There is just something wrong with this. The public transportation is not serving its purpose and something needs to be done about it. The MBTA and the regulators on the state level are not fulfilling there responsibility.

Then I read this in the Globe this past weekend:

An MBTA commuter rail rider wrote this week to say that even on the few cool mornings last week, it was so hot aboard some trains that passengers felt faint. And it's only June.

``By afternoon these trains are literally hell on
wheels," wrote Carol of Ipswich, who switched to the Haverhill line in the middle of last week and found more of the same.

``It is early in the summer, and if the heat continues, some pregnant woman or senior citizen is going to collapse," she wrote. ``Has the T made any mention of resolving this dangerous situation?"

This is just not good. Something really needs to be done about these conditions so that more people use public mass transit. It is a good deal for everyone -- for the environment -- and for your pocket if it is done right.

My Boy Deval Patrick finally posted his awesome convention speech on his blog today. It took way too long:

Watch it here

Just a thought: I have no clue why Deval is so bad about updating his blog. It is not really him it is his campaign but just coming from the grassroots as the campaign does, it just makes sense they would update the blog all the time. When they came out with the source and added the video and audio I though the blog would really improve but it still lags. It is basically just a video page. Deval's camp should really work harder on this though because with the people that support him this is a great way to reach out and keep connected.

That has to be the corniest thing that I have ever posted in a public forum. Oh well. I don't know how many people had the business section to see this but DaimlerChrysler. If you didnt see anything have a look in the Globe here. This is a brief description of the car:

Pushing the economy-car frontier, DaimlerChrysler AG plans in early 2008 to sell a two-seat minicar in the United States, making available a vehicle that may be only slightly longer than some Hummers are wide, gets 40 miles per gallon, and will cost less than $15,000.

Just over 8 feet long and under 5 feet wide, with a top speed of 84
miles per hour, the SmartForTwo will be targeted at urban dwellers and commuters . The car's size makes it fuel efficient and easy to fit into tight parking spaces.

I sort of lack confidence in the American people in picking up a car like this but this is where we have to go. This is a solution and hybrids are a solution and so are rails. People like myself that live within the radius of a city can save a lot of money for themselves with a car like this and give the time needed for better alternatives to be developed. A part of the solution is here though and people should really move towards these type of cars. It just makes sense. They are much cheaper to run and keep you saving money. It's better for the environment and makes us safer because we aren't so reliant on the Middle East. It seems like a win win. I hope other people see it that way.

I recieved notification this morning of a new Democratic publication out headed up by William Galston, Stan Greenberg, and Ruy Teixeira. It is called the Democratic Strategist and I have not gotten past skimming what is in it yet but it looks interesting. Have a look at a piece from their mission statement:

We are launching this publication because we believe Democrats must
begin to develop political strategies that look beyond the standard two- and four-year time horizons set by the American electoral calendar. Democrats must develop a set of concrete and coherent political strategies for regularly winning elections and over the longer term - perhaps over a decade or more - winning new areas of support and creating nothing less than a stable Democratic majority in the country.

Some things that we have to be paying attention to.

Check it out here: TheDemocraticStrategist.org

I know this is not really Democrats related per say but I think it rings very true:

"I love it when I'm around the country club, and I hear people talking about the debilitating effects of a welfare society," he said later. "At the same time, they leave their kids a lifetime and beyond of food stamps. Instead of having a welfare officer, they have a trust officer. And instead of food stamps, they have stocks and bonds."

He is a real guy for sure. More people need to think like this.

One of the major focuses of this blog is going to be the city of Boston moving forward. We come from a school in Boston and we are going to be involved in Boston Politics -- we hope to have an understanding and influence on the politics of the city of Boston.

There has been a good amount of development of late and it will be interesting to see the effect this all has. Some interesting developments include the condos under construction at 45 Province street that will be in a 31 story tower as well as the Columbus Center Development. This Columbus Center development will be one of the first to use air rights over the Mass. Turnpike. Here is a picture at 45 Province Street of the Plans and below is a link to the Columbus Center Development. These will influence greatly the look of the city in years to come.

This is a link to a site about the 45 Province St. Designs

and this link is to a Boston Globe interactive on the Columbus Center Proposal getting under way .

# posted by CourageVisionChange @ 5:12 PM 0 comments