How to file a complaint against taxis who charge Sumner Tunnel fare to East Boston residents

From a reader: 

I, myself, am almost always charged the Sumner Tunnel toll by taxi drivers, for them to go back through the tunnel to return to Boston, even though it's the law that they aren't supposed to charge East Boston residents. When this happens, I go to: www.cityofboston.gov/police/hackney/taxi.asp and then click on Complaints & Lost Property and compete the form.  And then Hackney gets a money order from the taxi driver and mails me the reimbursement for what I was overcharged.  And, to top it off, even though the drivers charge the Tunnel fare, they don't return to Boston via the Tunnel.  They go down Meridian Street, and through Chelsea and Everett, into Boston via Route 99. 

I've complained to both LaMattina's and Basile's offices about this, and am always told they'll pass along the message and look into it but, as far as I can tell, nothing has been done.  I've asked them to propose legislation to allow Hackney to charge the drivers a penalty when this happens.  As of right now, the only "punishment" is that they have to present a money order to reimburse the passenger what they overcharged.  That's not a consequence, since they're only giving back money that was stolen in the first place.  If there were some sort of punishment (especially monetary), maybe they wouldn't take a chance to overcharge.  As of now, it's worth the chance, because there's no punishment, so why not try..."  

No Sunday Morning Peace on Meridian Street thanks to Taxis

The latest from Friends of Meridian Street

Sleep in late? Get the kids ready for church? Plan a nice quite Sunday morning? NOT ON MERIDIAN STREET, EAST BOSTON!!!! We residents of East Boston that live on and around Meridian Street, East Boston get to hear, see, smell, breath and dodge the steady stream of hundreds of empty Logan taxis that bless our streets again this morning and all day long. But that's O.K. as the multi-million dollar Coughlin Bypass Road that these Logan taxis are supposed to be using gets to rest so us East Boston resident taxpayers can have a nice quiet Sunday morning. Not! We are still waiting for our State, East Boston officials and our friendly, cooperative Massport officials to make this right. Hopefully those of you in East Boston that don't live on Meridian Street can get a peaceful Sunday morning.

Friends of Meridian Street still upset over taxi traffic

Every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year from 4am to 6:30am there are hundreds of taxis that bypass the tolls via Meridian Street to the Meridian Street Bridge. Approximately 90 to 95% of the traffic at this time weekdays are empty Logan Airport taxis driving on Meridian Street to the bridge. It would be impossible to take all the plate numbers down without a video camera. In addition, there are Logan taxis using Meridian Street at all times of the day and night to bypass the tunnel. The Boston Police Department must be well aware of this as they drive right by the station. The elected officials of East Boston, and the Massachusetts Department of Environment and the BPD's Hackney Division have all been notified about this in the past.

Update from the Office of district city councilor Sal LaMattina: "I am waiting to hear from DOT to find out if there are any laws regarding toll avoiding.  Clearly they are charging their passengers $5.50 for the tolls. I am as frustrated too."

Friends of Meridian Street: Latest update on taxi problem

This just in from Friends of Meridian Street. 

Thomas P. Glynn, MassPort, needs to be contacted about this and we cannot access his email. 

 

Again and still 90% of the morning traffic on Meridian Street, East Boston are empty taxi's from Logan Airport driving to Chelsea on Meridian Street. Also 24 hours a day these Logan taxis are using this route without fares. 

 

With our children getting ready for school and waiting for the school bus pick up and families going off to work, the amount of air quality pollutants from these cabs (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) is affecting all our health. Not to mention the heavy traffic safety factor. 

 

We especially are concerned for our children. 

 

Someone needs to address this problem in East Boston and rectify this serious community problem.

 

Billboard interrupted

The billboard hovering across the street from the Wood Island Blue Line Station felt the brunt of Hurricane Sandy yesterday. They certainly don't make billboards like they used to.

Photo credit: eastboston.com

Parking Problem on Meridian Street Irks Residents

This just in from Friends of Meridian Street!

As a member of the Friends of Meridian Street again we want to report the total disregard for our residents by the Canton Eatery (339 Meridian Street) owner and employees. They have been spoken to by the Boston Police Dept. Parking Supervisor/Sergeant and the MBTA police that they cannot park in the MBTA No Parking/Tow Zone. Again the owner and employee "take out" vehicles are using this parking space all day and especially at night.
 

The elderly/handicapped MBTA bus riders cannot enter/exit the buses at the curb and some cannot get on/off because the buses have to stop in the middle of the street and cannot pull up to the curb because the Canton vehicles are using the No Parking/Tow Zone for take out parking. There have been several complaints from our residents living on Meridian Street next to and across the street from the Canton Eatery, 339 Meridian Street, East Boston, MA  02128. This is making it extremely unsafe. 

One of our main concerns is right across the street to the MBTA bus stop is a MassHousing 50 unit apartment building that houses handicapped and elderly residents. It is necessary that these East Boston residents are able to board and exit the MBTA bus’s at the curb/sidewalk. And now that the Chelsea Bridge is closed the extra traffic makes this an even greater safety concern for our residents. We respectfully request that this is resolved.

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EB Republican Ward Committee expresses support for Suffolk Downs casino plan

This just in:
The East Boston Republican Ward Committee endorses the current Caesar’s/Suffolk Downs plan to develop a casino at the East Boston/Revere racetrack. The Committee believes a casino, hotel and related facilities will boost employment for East Boston and other local residents. After polling its members individually this summer the Committee affirmed this endorsement by majority vote of members attending its September 30, 2012 meeting.

East Boston Kiwanis Food drive planned for October 25, 2012

Eastboston.com 10/25/2012: Kiwanis Food drive planned for October 25, 2012

The Kiwanis Club of East Boston will conduct a canned food drive on Thursday, October 25, 2012, from 5-7 p.m. at Shaw’s Supermarket in Liberty Plaza. The food drive will benefit the food pantry at the Grace Church Federated in East Boston.

Let's make this video viral!! "Big Jet Plane" No Eastie Casino Makes A Point With Song!

With apologies to Joni Mitchell.

A great protest video.

Big Jet Plane - YouTube

George Will: Supreme Court gives conservatives a consolation prize - The Washington Post

A brilliant piece of writing! 

"People steeped in Congress’s culture of unbridled power find it incomprehensible that the Framers fashioned the Constitution as a bridle. Now, ... the continuing debate about the mandate will reverberate to conservatism’s advantage."

George Will: Supreme Court gives conservatives a consolation prize - The Washington Post

Conservatives’ consolation prize

By George F. Will, Published: June 28

Conservatives won a substantial victory Thursday. The physics of American politics — actions provoking reactions — continues to move the crucial debate, about the nature of the American regime, toward conservatism. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has served this cause.

The health-care legislation’s expansion of the federal government’s purview has improved our civic health by rekindling interest in what this expansion threatens — the Framers’ design for limited government. Conservatives distraught about the survival of the individual mandate are missing the considerable consolation prize they won when the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional rationale for the mandate — Congress’s rationale — that was pregnant with rampant statism.

The case challenged the court to fashion a judicially administrable principle that limits Congress’s power to act on the mere pretense of regulating interstate commerce. At least Roberts got the court to embrace emphatic language rejecting the Commerce Clause rationale for penalizing the inactivity of not buying insurance:

“The power to regulate commerce presupposes the existence of commercial activity to be regulated. . . . The individual mandate, however, does not regulate existing commercial activity. It instead compels individuals to become active in commerce by purchasing a product, on the ground that their failure to do so affects interstate commerce. Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority. . . . Allowing Congress to justify federal regulation by pointing to the effect of inaction on commerce would bring countless decisions an individual could potentially make within the scope of federal regulation, and — under the government’s theory — empower Congress to make those decisions for him.”
If the mandate had been upheld under the Commerce Clause, the Supreme Court would have decisively construed this clause so permissively as to give Congress an essentially unlimited police power — the power to mandate, proscribe and regulate behavior for whatever Congress deems a public benefit. Instead, the court rejected the Obama administration’s Commerce Clause doctrine. The court remains clearly committed to this previous holding: “Under our written Constitution . . . the limitation of congressional authority is not solely a matter of legislative grace.”

The court held that the mandate is constitutional only because Congress could have identified its enforcement penalty as a tax. The court thereby guaranteed that the argument ignited by the mandate will continue as the principal fault line in our polity.

The mandate’s opponents favor a federal government as James Madison fashioned it, one limited by the constitutional enumeration of its powers. The mandate’s supporters favor government as Woodrow Wilson construed it, with limits as elastic as liberalism’s agenda, and powers acquiring derivative constitutionality by being necessary to, or efficient for, implementing government’s ambitions.

By persuading the court to reject a Commerce Clause rationale for a president’s signature act, the conservative legal insurgency against Obamacare has won a huge victory for the long haul. This victory will help revive a venerable tradition of America’s political culture, that of viewing congressional actions with a skeptical constitutional squint, searching for congruence with the Constitution’s architecture of enumerated powers. By rejecting the Commerce Clause rationale, Thursday’s decision reaffirmed the Constitution’s foundational premise: Enumerated powers are necessarily limited because, as Chief Justice John Marshall said, “the enumeration presupposes something not enumerated.”

When Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), asked where the Constitution authorized the mandate, exclaimed, “Are you serious? Are you serious?,” she was utterly ingenuous. People steeped in Congress’s culture of unbridled power find it incomprehensible that the Framers fashioned the Constitution as a bridle.
 
Now, Thursday’s episode in the continuing debate about the mandate will reverberate to conservatism’s advantage.

By sharpening many Americans’ constitutional consciousness, the debate has resuscitated the salutary practice of asking what was, until the mid-1960s, the threshold question regarding legislation. It concerned what James Q. Wilson called the “legitimacy barrier”: Is it proper for the federal government to do this? Conservatives can rekindle the public’s interest in this barrier by building upon the victory Roberts gave them in positioning the court for stricter scrutiny of congressional actions under the Commerce Clause.

Any democracy, even one with a written and revered constitution, ultimately rests on public opinion, which is shiftable sand. Conservatives understand the patience requisite for the politics of democracy — the politics of persuasion. Elections matter most; only they can end Obamacare. But in Roberts’s decision, conservatives can see that the court has been persuaded to think more as they do about the constitutional language that has most enabled the promiscuous expansion of government. 

georgewill@washpost.com

How East Boston voted in the primary race for Suffolk County Registrar of Probate

Election Results for East Boston
Suffolk County Register of Probate
September 6, 2012
City of Boston

Free Computer Classes at the East Boston Branch of the Library

 

The East Boston Branch Library 276 Meridian Street, 617 569-0271 is offering introductory computer classes. These courses will be on searching the internet. Classes will be held on:

 

September 18th at 3pm

September 27th at 11am

October 1st, at 6:30pm

October 11th at 11am

October 16th at 3pm

 

Please call the library at (617) 569-0271 or email  MKrug@BPL.org.

Letter to the Editor of EastBoston.com: "Kiwanis Club 'Senior Outing' to Salem Willows a Success"

E.B. Kiwanis Club ‘Senior Outing’ to Salem Willows a Success

To the Editor:

The Kiwanis Club of East Boston recently hosted 110 local residents on our annual “Senior Outing to Salem Willows.” The Kiwanis Club volunteers helped the Seniors board two buses at the East Boston Social Centers, and then throughout the day, the seniors were treated to fresh air and ocean breezes along the Salem waterfront. They also enjoyed coffee and muffins, a free lunch, a 90-minute guided boat tour around Salem and Marblehead harbors, and topping off the day with ice cream.

The Senior Outing was a great success, thanks to the many Kiwanis Club members who volunteered their time and energy. Also helping to make the outing a success were the following individuals and businesses:
East Boston Savings Bank, East Boston Savings Bank President Deborah Jackson and Chairman Dick Gavengano, Carlo’s Catering, Dunkin’ Donuts, Shaw’s Supermarket, Rino’s Restaurant, John Lynds and the East Boston Times, Muffin Town, Demoulas’ Marketbasket, First Priority Bank, photographer Ross Rosario, the East Boston Foundation, Senator Anthony Petruccelli, Representative Carol Basile, and City Councilor Sal LaMattina.

Thank you all for your assistance and your support of this important community event.

Regards,

Ed Coletta
President, East Boston Kiwanis Club

Community Preparedness is Community Health: An Important Workshop

Gain valuable knowledge and skills for emergency preparedness!    
Learn CPR Anytime and Receive a Free CPR Anytime Kit® 
at the







BCYF Paris Street Community Center
112 Paris Street, East Boston, MA
August 28, 2012, 6:00PM – 8:00PM


This Community Preparedness Workshop is presented by the Boston Public Health Commission and Boston EMS Office of  Public Health Preparedness & Community Outreach Division.

Source: Boston Centers for Youth & Families 8/16.

No Eastie Casino: "Caesars: Bad Partner for Suffolk Downs, Terrible Bet for Boston"

The  following press release was sent to eastboston.com on Tuesday morning, August 14. 

CONTACTS:

Celeste Myers / 857-574-0255 / celeste.myers@gmail.com

Brian Gannon / briangannon.j@gmail.com

Caesars: Bad Partner for Suffolk Downs, Terrible Bet for Boston

(EAST BOSTON, MASS, August 14, 2012).— With Suffolk Downs now officially in the running for one of three casino licenses that will be awarded statewide, the review process for the racetrack and its development partner, Caesars Entertainment, begins. Gaming officials ensure that this review process will be a thorough, careful analysis of each developer’s financial viability and business practices. Upon investigating Caesars, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission should reject Suffolk Downs’ application to build a casino.

On the surface, Caesars may seem like a top-performing, admirable corporation in a booming industry. But when you pull back the diamond-studded curtain, one finds a debt-saddled company that mistreats its employees, preys on the vulnerability of problem gamblers, shirks its tax responsibility, and secretly knows the casino market is saturated and in decline. In Caesars, Suffolk Downs bringing a Trojan horse into a family-oriented, tight-knit neighborhood. We urge the racetrack to sever ties with Caesars. We urge the City of Boston to stand against dangerous businesses preying on its residents. (Note: We have still received no acknowledgement of our letter to Mayor Menino asking him to apply the same scrutiny to Caesars as he recently did to Chick-fil-A) And we ask the Gaming Commission to reject outright any casino application with Caesars’ name on it. Consider:

Caesars is Financially Unviable

Caesars is underwater financially and flailing wildly for even the most unlikely source of rescue. Its debt ($19.9 billion) dwarfs the next most indebted casino operator, MGM ($13.4 billion). Since its stock debuted in January, Caesars’ stock has since plummeted 42 percent to below its initial public offering.[i] Moody’s Investor Services has downgraded Caesars’ credit rating and warned investors that the company’s debt is “eating its cash” and threatens its competitive position in the market.[ii] Caesars industry-leading debt and low credit rating have resulted in the company being forced to pay an interest rate of 15 percent — close to 70 percent higher than the gambling industry average of 9 percent.[iii] To earn cash, the company has been selling off several of its properties[iv], and in what some analysts say is its biggest gamble yet for its long-term future, Caesars has recently invested heavily in online gaming companies that try to hook young people through sites like Facebook.[v]

Caesars Targets Problem Gamblers with Predatory Marketing, Frequency Casinos

Over the last decade or so, CEO Gary Loveman has built Caesars into the biggest casino company in the world by accessing gamblers’ personal financial information and using it to target those who are most likely to come back again and again. (called “frequency players”) Caesars’ “Total Rewards Program” provides free meals, alcohol, hotel rooms, and entertainment tickets to people who visit the casino an average of three to five times a week. The owner of a Bethlehem, Pa., casino admitted in 2010 that many of these frequency guests live within 15 minutes of the casino, “give [the casino] $25, $30 five times a week … grab a hot dog or maybe a chicken sandwich,” gamble three hours, “then go home and sleep in their own bed.”[vi] Pressured financially, Caesars will resort to even more invasive and predatory practices to keep current customers, woo new ones, and increase its bottom line.

Caesars’ casino at Suffolk Downs will not be a destination resort, but a frequency market, the centerpiece being the 4,000-5,000 slot machines (by comparison, Foxwoods – one of the world’s largest casinos – has 6,000 slot machines). With just 350 hotel rooms planned for the facility, it’s easy to see that Caesars will be primarily targeting the potential repeat players who live in the surrounding communities.

Here’s the scary thing: They won’t stop at preying on legal gamblers; they’ll be after our teenagers too. Just a few weeks ago, Caesars agreed to pay the Nevada gaming regulators a fine of $100,000 to settle multiple charges that dozens of Caesars employees allowed underage teenagers to drink and gamble at several of its Las Vegas casinos.[vii]
 

Caesars Mistreats its Employees

Suffolk Downs and Caesars are promising thousands of good-paying permanent jobs once a casino is built. On average, they say, casino workers will earn $42,000 per year. But that number factors in a handful of positions that pay many multiples of the salary they cite, including executive and manager salaries. By looking at other Caesars locations around the country, we know the “jobs” reality is much more sobering. Recently, it was reported that within a few weeks of the grand opening of Cleveland’s celebrated Horseshoe Casino, “lots of people” were already quitting their jobs. Cashiers reported working 11-hour days; slot attendants earn $6 per hour plus tips (which have been nonexistent); and some workers cried after seeing their paychecks.[viii] And for the last five years, Caesars has battled union dealers at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas over a labor contract, even asking dealers to share what little they earn in tips with management. Dealers at Caesars Palace earn “little more than minimum wage” and “receive as much as 90 percent of their incomes from tips.”[ix]

Caesars Skips Out on its Property Taxes

In exchange for permission to operate, casinos promise governments a big cut of the profits in the form of tax revenue. But in Atlantic City, Caesars has exploited unfair loopholes to pay less in property taxes, resulting in city budget shortfalls. Caesars opted to have its properties reassessed factoring in declining revenues – an option not afforded to independent homeowners – forcing Atlantic City to retroactively pay Caesars $27 million in refunds for a lower assessment between 2009 and 2011.[x] In St. Louis, Caesars is fighting the county assessor in court after its Harrah’s location there was asked to pay more property taxes.[xi] The company is employing the same tax-avoiding scheme at its Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.[xii]

The people of Boston want to know that the business entities in their midst are good neighbors. Suffolk Downs and the state’s Gaming Commission need assurance that a casino developer is financially sound and trustworthy. Caesars Entertainment will be none of these things. Like the people of Foxboro did with Steve Wynn, we will tell the truth about Gary Loveman and Caesars, and they will be sent on their way.

The ball is in the Gaming Commission’s court. It must stop Caesars Entertainment from developing at Suffolk Downs or anywhere in Massachusetts. It will simply be too costly to do otherwise.

For more information about No Eastie Casino:
www.noeastiecasino.com
https://twitter.com/NoEastieCasino
https://www.facebook.com/groups/253713061343651/

---

[i] http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/13/how-low-will-caesars-entertainment-go/

[ii] http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/jun/29/moodys-warns-again-caesars-entertainments-debt/

[iii] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/caesars-15-shows-loveman-s-difficult-world-corporate-finance.html

[iv] http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/rolling_the_dice_h9p5omq8lR3tnpJ3ortUsN

[v] http://www.mobiledia.com/news/154874.html

[vi] http://articles.philly.com/2012-05-07/news/31598203_1_pennsylvania-casinos-slots-parlor-city-slots

[vii] http://www.lvrj.com/business/caesars-to-pay-100-000-fine-to-settle-under-age-gambling-alcohol-charges-162946696.html

[viii] http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/05/31/lots-of-people-already-quitting-their-jobs-at-cleveland-casino

[ix] http://www.lvrj.com/business/caesars-palace-union-agree-on-contract-for-dealers-162087895.html

[x] http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/caesars-atlantic-city-settle-tax-appeal-but-other-casinos-have/article_07104fa0-75fa-11e1-a73a-0019bb2963f4.html

[xi] http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/harrah-s-appeals-appraisal-that-would-double-taxes/article_80f10a48-ca2e-11e1-9041-0019bb30f31a.html

[xii] http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/weak-hand-the-rivers-casino-should-live-up-to-its-promises-629954/

ITAM 6 Goes Green in City Contest: Paris Street is looking good!

Eastboston.com 7/31/2012 ITAM Post 6 Finalists in Mayors Garden Contest

Big Meeting Planned! Host Community Advisory Committee August 7, 2012

Read about Host Community Advisory Committee Meeting on Suffolk Downs proposal at Eastboston.com.

Awesome News from Zumix! Annual Snowfall, fabulous all-girl rock band, is heading to Europe!

This news just came over from Zumix:

Exciting news! We just purchased plane and train tickets, reserved accommodations in London (http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/417549) and Paris (http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/156620), collected copies of everyone's passports, and are pleased to announce that  Annual Snowfall, ZUMIX's fabulous all-girl rock band, is heading to Europe! 

The girls have raised over $6,000 to cover their costs - and they are holding a car wash and a Latin Dance this weekend to raise more! They leave on Wednesday August 1st and return August 11th. During their journey, they will perform at various sites in London and Paris, will visit similar youth/music organizations (http://therhythmstudio.co.uk/), get a private guided tour of IRCAM, an institute dedicated to music and science (http://www.ircam.fr/www_ircam.html?&L=1), meet with amazing international touring artists, do lots of sightseeing and taste-testing, will practice their French, and will serve as our first International Artist Ambassadors - representing ZUMIX abroad! One of the most incredible parts of the planning process has been meeting with their parents. 

They are so pleased their daughters will have such an incredible opportunity. We are humbled by the love and trust they have for ZUMIX. 

Big thanks to Strong Women Strong Girls for including Annual Snowfall in their blog: http://swsg.org/annual-snowfall-in-the-summer-support-this-all-girls-rock-band-in-the-their-quest-to-tour-europe/.

Hope you are having a great summer and thanks for your ongoing support!

Much love!

Madeleine Steczynski

Latest news from Eastboston.com: Local Big Sister reaches one year milestone

Read more at Eastboston.com:

Casino Opponents to Caesars and Suffolk Downs:"It's on."

The following press release was delivered to eastboston.com this morning from No Eastie Casino's Celeste Myers.

EAST BOSTON, MASS.— In living rooms and parks, community centers and church basements -- all across East Boston -- groups of neighbors are coming together around a single unifying idea: a casino at Suffolk Downs will permanently and negatively alter a community that has often been at the losing end of new developments and legislation – yet a community that over the last 20 years has been moving steadily toward “something better.” They have seen the $1 billion casino proposal Suffolk Downs and Caesars Entertainment have put forth and see right through the big promises and the fancy artist's renderings.

Two events in the next few days will feature the collective voice of neighbors who believe we can do better than a casino at Suffolk Downs. On Saturday at 10 a.m, casino opponents will participate in their third East Boston stand-out/visibility, this time in Orient Heights -- "ground zero" for the effects of a casino. And a Community Casino Meeting on Monday, June 25, will be the broadest assembly of Boston casino opponents yet. Residents from any and all impacted areas will gather in solidarity against this Trojan horse in our community, eager to counter the multi-million dollar PR campaign Caesars and Suffolk Downs have begun to mislead those who will be most affected by a casino. The meeting, sponsored by No Eastie Casino, will feature brief presentations about the process and casino proposal and enlist neighbors as volunteer foot soldiers in the fight. It will take place at the East Boston Social Centers, 68 Central Square, in East Boston, from 6-8 p.m.


Though it is being presented as a help to our neighborhood, a casino will be a Trojan horse, profiting mainly the wealthy corporate executives and leaving the city and our neighbors with all the problems:
Fewer Jobs — Every new slot machine kills 1-2 jobs per year because each machine removes more than $100,000 annually from the consumer economy. The East Boston casino proposal calls for 4,000-5,000 slot machines. [1]

Local Businesses Suffer — 66 percent of independent restaurants closed in Atlantic City after the casinos opened there [2], and a third of the city's retail businesses have since closed [3]. Casino owner Donald Trump famously said: "People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they lose customer dollars to the casinos."[4]

Crime Increases: After a 5-7-year honeymoon period in which crime stays the same or decreases slightly, rates of assaults, larcenies, burglaries, robberies, murders, and auto theft increase go up from 22-114 percent. [5]

Addiction and Bankruptcies Increase: Gambling addiction rates double in communities surrounding casinos, increasing from around 1-2 percent to 3-5 percent. [6] If the populations of Boston, Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop see just a 1percent increase in gambling addiction, the casino would create 7,200 new problem gamblers – double the number of jobs the complex promises to create. Personal bankruptcies increase by more than 18 percent in surrounding communities. [7]

Traffic Increases: 10,000-15,000 new vehicles will be on our roads every day, further congesting an already unequipped Route 1A. The $40 million in "improvements" do not come close to meeting the infrastructure improvements needed to support a casino -- which would cost around $500 million, according to a study conducted by Seagull Consulting, for Sen. Anthony Petruccelli. [8]

Other Effects: Home values decrease, car insurance rates increase, real estate taxes decrease, predatory lending increases, and air pollution is worsened.


Why would we willingly invite this unknown entity, this Trojan horse, into our community -- one which has seen unprecedented positive growth over the last 20 years?

It's time for the people to hear and share the truth Suffolk Downs and Caesars want to remain hidden. It's time for the concerns of residents of Boston and beyond to be heard and validated. This casino is not inevitable. The people have a say, and the people will not be silenced. In the end, truth will prevail.
--------------------

Notes:



1. J. Kindt, Senior Ed. (Ed.). 2009. Gambling with Crime, Destabilized Economies, and Financial Systems, 1-1,286. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein and Company, Inc.



2. Evelyn Nieves, “Our Towns: Taste of Hope at Restaurants Casinos Hurt,” New York Times, March 23, 1997, section 1, p. 39.



3. Robert Goodman, The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America’s Gambling Explosion (New York: Free Press, 1995), p. 23.



4. Interview with Donald Trump. "The Jackpot State", The Miami Herald, March 27, 1994



5. Grinols and Mustard download, p.14 Figure 6: Percentage increases calculated by dividing year one figures by year seven figures as reported by Grinols and Mustard



6. Welte, J. W., Wieczorek, W. F., Barnes, G. M., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Hoffman, J. H. (2004). The relationship of ecological and geographic factors to gambling behavior and pathology. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20, 405-423.



7. The Personal Bankruptcy Crisis, 1997: Demographics, Causes, Implications & Solutions," SMR Research Corporation, 1997, p. 117.



8. Lynds, John. “Petruccelli: Put casino legislation in the hands of voters.” East Boston Times Free-Press. March 19, 2010.

June 19: East Boston Kiwanis Club to Host Suffolk Downs Officials

Suffolk Downs Officials To Make Pitch for Resort Casino at Kiwanis Dinner,  June 19 2012

Read all about it at eastboston.com. 

 

A view from 1918: 42 Everett Street, East Boston

City of Boston Archives | Rear of 42 Everett Street, East Boston, 30 March...

Health Center offers free career advancement classes and health information workshops!

(EAST BOSTON, MA — January 11, 2012) Start the New Year off on the right foot! Beginning this month, the Education and Training Institute of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) will offer free career advancement classes and health-information workshops to the residents of East Boston, Revere, Winthrop, Chelsea, and Everett.

Starting on January 18, the East Boston Harborside School will provide free General Equivalency Diploma (GED) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes during daytime hours at the Education and Training Institute at 155 Addison Street in East Boston. Take advantage of this excellent opportunity to develop your potential! To find out about hours and to register, call 617-635-5115. 

Other sessions to be offered this year include certified nursing assistant (CNA) training, financial literacy and math classes, job placement training, a disability rights workshop, and many health education topics.  Most courses are offered in English as well as Spanish, and participants do not need to be EBNHC staff members or patients in order to attend.

While the Education and Training Institute is commonly known as a training facility for EBNHC employees, the goal of the Institute is to help the community in other ways beyond traditional health care services. “We are pleased to have great partners working with us, like the Harborside School, to help provide valuable resources to our neighboring communities,” said Steven Snyder, Vice President of Education and Training at EBNHC.

The Institute isn’t limiting itself to the typical continuing education courses, either. “We are also planning to offer some really interesting and fun topics to get community members together at the Institute,” said Snyder. “Our schedule includes a presentation on the great history of Revere Beach and another on the history of immigration in our community.”

The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) has been a vital part of the community for over 40 years, providing easily accessible, high-quality health care to all who live and work in East Boston and the surrounding communities of Chelsea, Revere, Everett, and Winthrop. EBNHC handles 300,000 patient visits per year—more than any other ambulatory care center in New England.

For more information about the Education and Training Institute and upcoming offerings, call 617-568-6444 or visit www.ebnhc.org.

CONTACT:
Joanna Cataldo
Education and Training Institute
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
cataldoj@ebnhc.org; 617-568-6444

Source: EBNHC

Chamber to install new officers on Feb. 9 at Spinelli's

This just in from the Chamber of Commerce:


2012 INSTALLATION of the NEW OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS CEREMONY & DINNER

President Diane J. Modica
First Vice President  Pat Todisco, III

Second Vice President  Marisa DiPietro

Third Vice President Scott Heigelmann

Treasurer  Kim Altschul

Secretary Joanna Cataldo

New Board Members:  Phil Giffee, Michael Sulprizio and Bobby Martin.

Existing Board Members:  Sal Amico, Rodrigo Angulo, Robert Indresano, Christopher Pachios, Maureen Ferris

Outgoing Members: Joe Zirpolo, Franz Israel, Scott Warren and President Neffo Cappuccio

Thursday, February 9, 2012
Spinelli’s
282 Bennington Street, East Boston
6:00PM
$30

Reservations are required, please call 617-569-5000 or e-mail at Eden@eastbostonchamber.com
175 McClellan Highway (Rt. 1 A), Suite 1, East Boston, MA 02128  Tel: (617) 569 5000

www. EastBostonChamber.com

Local Big Sister celebrates one-year anniversary with Little Sister

East Boston (January 10, 2012) — East Boston resident, Big Sister Kim and her Little Sister Amanda, of Revere, recently celebrated their one year anniversary.   

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston asks for a minimum commitment of 12 months in their Community-Based Mentoring program, though many of our Big and Little Sister relationships last for several years, and even develop into lifelong friendships as the Little Sister becomes an adult. Research has shown that mentoring relationships lasting at least one year, particularly for girls, result in more positive outcomes in a girl’s social-emotional development, academic performance, and ability to make healthy decisions.  

 The success of the relationship is a direct result of the volunteer’s commitment and the professional assessment, training, and support the volunteers receive from the agency’s social work staff.  Big Sister wishes to congratulate Kim on making a difference in the life of her Little Sister as a caring, supportive friend and mentor.

About Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, founded in 1951, is New England's leading advocate for the healthy development of girls. They are the only mentoring organization in Massachusetts that combines the established, research-based practices of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America with a gender-specific lens proven to increase positive outcomes for girls. In 2011, Big Sister mobilized 200,000 volunteer hours to mentor 2,956 girls in Boston and inspire them to excellence in school, at home, and in the community. For more information about Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, visit www.bigsister.org .

East Boston Family to Present Donation to Boston Medical Center

2011 Deep Freeze Hockey Tournament raised $2,000 for BMC cancer support services

(Boston) – On Thursday, Jan. 12, members of the Anthony Family from East Boston will present a donation to Boston Medical Center (BMC) for its cancer support services. The $2,000 was raised during the two-day East Boston Deep Freeze Hockey Tournament, held in December that featured the high school hockey teams from East Boston, Newton South, Swampscott and a combined St. Clement, Medford-Pope John, Everett team.

The Anthony’s are long-time supporters of BMC and, over the past seven years, have raised more than $20,000 for BMC by hosting numerous events in their community.

Robert Anthony, who is the coach of the East Boston High School hockey team, founded the East Boston Deep Freeze Hockey Tournament in 2006 to increase breast cancer awareness in honor of his wife, Jacki, who is a breast cancer survivor and a patient at BMC. 

Thus far, the funds raised have supported survivorship services at BMC, including funding for mastectomy prostheses and bras for underinsured women.

Another annual event organized by the Anthony family is Strike Out Cancer Baseball Tournament, which raises money for colon cancer research and cancer support services at BMC. This event was established in 2009 by East Boston High School administrator Phil Brangiforte and his wife, Carrie Anthony, who is a colon cancer survivor, a BMC patient and the daughter of Robert and Jacki Anthony.

IMG_1959 (L-R) – Dr. Amy Fallon from Boston Medical Center’s department of hematology and medical oncology and Jacki Anthony.

  

Dr. Chris Andry presented a letter of thanks from Boston Medical Center (BMC) President and CEO, Kate Walsh, to the Anthony family, who presented a $2,000 donation to BMC from their annual East Boston Deep Freeze Hockey Tournament.  The money will go to BMC’s cancer support services.(L-R): Robert Anthony, Jacki Anthony, Carrie Brangiforte (all from East Boston) and Dr. Chris Andry, executive director of cancer care services at Boston Medical Center

  

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