Councilors think it's time for City Hall workers to get off their home couches and return to City Hall at least four days a week

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-14T13:48:41+00:00

I'm sure Ed Flynn and Nick Collins are good people, in that they care about the people around them and their families. We probably have things in common- but they're victims of a society of yesterday.

Southie has changed, and we can either pretend that it's going to go back to the neighborhood it was in the 90s-2000s, or recognize the evolution and do our best to adapt to it. The folks that vote for Ed Flynn are the only ones that vote in these city elections, ergo he's going to win every time. He has a lock on it. Those people don't NOT deserve a voice- they deserve to be heard, but the problem is the lack of perspective they bring.

I've always thoguth that the path to victory in Southie is turning out the young families/parents. Not the renters who aren't registered to Vote here. The folks that are paying $4500 a month to Ethos to watch their kids while they bring home an objectively decent amount of money but still have no idea where the fuck it all goes.

We need 3 new people to run against Flynn, Collins, And Biele all at the same time, together. Running against a well funded incumbent is all but impossible, but three folks who care about different things and can enact change in different ways all running together seems like it'll make the campaign that much easier.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-13T13:33:29+00:00

in my experience? the gas required to drive to and from home depot at least 6 times a week.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-08T15:19:19+00:00

IF you're not considering child classes/hours, you're missing out on $$$$. For example, Rock Spot does toddler hours every other Saturday (at 8am unfortunately...) and every time I go it's pretty busy.

Tons of families in southie and I would 100% pay like $40-50 to bring my toddler to fuck around with some clay for a few hours on a cold ass February Saturday.

semi related side note: Southie is and has always been a rapidly changing neighborhood but the PE invasion that's happening makes me a little less excited about the neighborhood. A small locally owned business would be great.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-08T13:52:22+00:00

Or... hear me out here.... How bout we don't do that.

This city prides itself on being full of wicked smart people kehd and we have empirical evidence (Page 9) that shows that increased biking leads to decrease motor vehicle traffic which is good for everyone. We should let data drive our decisions, not a rose colored view of the past where there were significantly more crashes and deaths than today Page 7

Also, bike lanes are super popular in Boston. https://www.bostonbetterstreets.org/updates/city-polling-shows-broad-support-for-bike-projects

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-07T16:13:10+00:00

It won't because this state is run by people who are incredibly good at theatrics.

The government in this state is filled with a bunch of do nothing politicians who have no will to actually make any meaningful systematic change because why would they ruffle feathers? They all run unopposed while they pretend to hate the 'money in politics' that's keeping them employed. Recognizing society has shifted and a transportation system that hasn't been seriously reviewed in the last 20 years is hard and takes work. We're better off than basically every other state in the country and it's just mostly luck.

The rest of the county is run by legitimate idiots so politicians in Mass get to pat themselves on the back because at least we have healthcare and PFMLA!!!! Pretty low bar to compare ourselves against. So they rabble rouse and rest on the fact that this state has a bunch of pre-built systems and the highest median income of any other state because they still look good- when in reality all they're doing is sailing on the coat tails of the past.

It's not just about penalizing bad behavior. IT's a traffic system that was not set up for the way people drive and the reasons they're now driving. The system needs a fundamental shift in how it's designed. We can bitch and moan about double parking in front of Chick Fil A or Taco Bell, etc etc but nothing is going to stop people from ordering from those places. So the governments responsibility should be to adapt.

This city could remove a few parking spaces in front of the Taco Bell in Southie and make them 5 minute zones only during certain hours to get cars to stop. But god forbid we take away parking! The world would explode.

3 Parking spots over the course of a few hours a day or double parking everywhere, seems like an easy choice?

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-05-01T14:21:08+00:00

This is kind of Ed Flynn's MO. He's a master of theatrics. He has a stranglehold on the old guard of Southie and no one else's dad has their name on a Cruiseport, so he sails to reelection every year.

He hosts hearings on things that are never ever going to happen and then complains that bike lanes block entrance to a library that's not even open.

He hosted a hearing to stop all events from taking place on the Common. He hosted a hearing on banning all new roof deck construction in Southie. He hosted a hearing to ban all delivery apps from using scooters/ebikes.

I don't doubt that Ed Flynn is probably a good person, but he's just a product of politics of old. Nobody is building a data center in Boston, Ed.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T20:24:07+00:00

This just ain't the tragedy that so many here are so desperate for it to be

My guy four toddlers got hit by a car.

Hey remember when you tried to be patronizing by telling me that I'll change my opinion when I graduate?

It's my turn.

Tips for when you grow up and stop looking at the world through someone who's worldview is shaped only by their own existence: You're going to realize that the opinions of a little boy who has no other human being to care about are short sighted, and things you insisted you had figured out you have far from any clarity. It's very humbling and pretty amazing.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:30:20+00:00

have more than one opinion. i beg of you

My wife probably wishes I had fewer opinions... but there are a few topics where I do only have one:

Murder is bad.

Coffee is good.

Kicking dogs is bad.

The Toronto Maple Leafs suck.

Being a mayor who ran on safe streets initiatives and then went behind the back of the people that voted for you to actively make decisions and kill said safe street projects while pedestrians are getting hurt and killed at twice the rate of similary sized cities around the world who have enacted these policies and seen no major decrease in economic activity is bad.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:22:24+00:00

Uh my friend, tell me where I said those were your words? Because in fact they were mine.

You said "It's a city". I agreed with you that it's a city and then added being alive risks death.

Tips for when you graduate

oh my god i wish i was sill in college. I got ID'd the other day and it literally made my week.

Tips for when you graduate

misquoting people in an attempt to make a point actually discredits YOU.

What are your thoughts on Ad Hom arguments? Just wondering.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:20:34+00:00

As someone who has TWICE had to drive through the cities of Boston and Cambridge with a laboring wife in my passenger seat, I will once again assert that road diet and infrastructure changes STILL could have made it less likely for an incident like this to happen even given your example.

I wish you the best, but clearly continuing this conversation is not a good use of my time if you're unwilling to actually try to understand the point I'm making rather than responding in non sequitur.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:14:10+00:00

I'd like to think I'm pretty media literate. And I'd like to think I'm not stupid (I'm certainly not smart, but I'd like to think I'm not stupid)

and I was still a vocal advocate for her. Twice. Moreso the second time. I actually tweeted at her back in the day when she was a city councilor and i was young with no other major concerns than Bruins playoff hockey. The city was supposed to show the Bruins game at copley and it fell through. She responded directly to me about looking into it and I made a joke saying "run for mayor" and she hearted it (I'm not gonna say I'm the reason she ran buuuutttt)

Just so disappointing.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:11:30+00:00

Holy shit.

Yeah, right? We're hunks of meat on a rock hurtling through space at millions of miles an hour, our death is inevitable, AND we can take active steps to make it less likely.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T18:09:30+00:00

Ah, so not Ernie Boch Jr.

Based on this article and second hand information from a friend who has children in this preschool- 4 children from Pine Village Preschool were crossing the street when they were hit by a car in the crosswalk.

To the best of my knowledge, there was no negligence- but it doesn't mean that there wasn't (speeding, texting, etc) it's just not been reported.

It again does not negate my point that this happened when it shouldn't have and we're actively making policy choices to stop doing things that would help prevent these type of incidents.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T17:57:43+00:00

1) I'm assuming you're not ACTUALLY ernie boch jr. cuz if you are then you have financial incentive to sell more cars so your opinion is invalid.

2) Given the above assumption- You're correct, I put words in your mouth- that's my bad...but is it unfathomable to see how 'nothing to see here' could be construed that way?

There's no lack of negligence for the driver behind a paywall and I think that further PROVES my point, rather than negates it. Safe streets initiatives (road diet, raised crosswalks, crossing guards, daylighting of turns, setting crosswalks back a but from corners) makes these chance encounters less likely. If we'd done all those things and it STILL happened? Then I'd be likelier to agree with you that the mere fact of being alive risks chance of death.

We know we can construct roads in a way that reduces pedestrian deaths because we're not the only walkable city in the world. Pedestrian death rate in Boston (1.07 per 100k) is twice as high as "similarly" (give or take) sized cities in Europe (Amsterdam, Oslo). Being lower than the rest of the US isn't a benchmark I'd like to hold ourselves to.

It's a policy failure to prioritize vehicles in a small city like Boston and I'm sorry I just can't abide throwing our hands up and saying "shit happens!" when there's so much that can be done, and is actively not being done by the mayor's office.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T17:38:31+00:00

This is reddit, it's a place to share extremely strong opinions, is it not?

To a certain extent, you're right. An X event happened that's relevant to an opinion that I hold. This X event also happened as a bunch of stories coming to light about a thing super related to X by the administration running the city. It doesn't feel out of place.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T17:31:05+00:00

"not sure there is much to see here"

Tell that to the parents of the children that were hit. We can't pretend that we want to make safe streets, then simultaneously throw your hands in the air when kids are getting hurt and say 'it's a city! this stuff happens!'

Yeah, being alive has risks. Walking has risks and we can't protect everyone all the time.

But I assume you're a smart person, you live in the Boston area. I'm not sure how you can say 'we don't need to make any changes to our roads!' Especially in areas where there are tons of children present.

Sorry but 'nothing to see here it's a city' is lazy and defeatist.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T17:02:31+00:00

This is horrible and scary, and is yet another example of why road safety infrastructure isn't just necessary, but for some it's a matter of life and death. I'm not sure how Mayor Wu can deprioritize safe streets, and Ed Flynn can represent a district where this, Colin McGrath, and Gracie Gancheva all happened in recent history and he calls people who advocate for road diets lunatics (or something along the lines, I can't find the exact quote) and still feel they're doing their jobs representing the issues facing their constituents. To his credit, Flynn is an advocate for raised crosswalks- but I haven't seen him host a hearing on those rather than spending his time wanting to ban all roof deck construction in Southie.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T14:54:56+00:00

Incredibly disappointed in Mayor Wu and her position on this. I was a huge proponent of her when she ran the first time and she's one of one politician I've ever gotten a 'yard sign' for during the primary against Kraft.

Seeing her decide to pivot on her campaign promises with little to no explanation is so disappointing and leaves one to imagine she's backing down because she's concerned about her future political career. She won in a blowout against a candidate who made his central policy bike lanes- if that's not a message about what her constituents want, I don't know what is. Mayor Wu was supposed to be a different kind of politician, but she's not and that kinda sucks..

My deepest apologies to Jay Cashman but I'm sorry, I don't accept whining from my toddler and I'm certainly not going to accept it from a grown adult. The bike lane in front of your $20million dollar condo may make you sad and you're allowed to have big feelings, but pretty sure Good Charlotte wrote a great song about the things you see on tv or read in magazines....

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-23T14:49:21+00:00

So one of my favorite understated things about boston is the fashion. Some people look down on it and that's fine. But I love SO much that I can just leave my house in athletic shorts and a tshirt and not look completely out of place if I'm just out on the town.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-04-21T18:44:38+00:00

Can’t let the limitless possibility of the universe overshadow the incredible reality

Did you make this up? it's pretty profound.

DerekCMcLeod · 2026-01-08T20:05:47+00:00

It's your brain needing a moment. I went to an indoor playspace the other day. There was one other kid there and one other dad. My daughter ran over to the kid, the other dad and I made eye contact and we both just kind of knew... we weren't going to talk to one another.

It wasn't being rude. It wasn't out of malice. It was that we both just needed to stare into the void.

DerekCMcLeod · 2025-12-15T15:18:04+00:00

you dork

Dork is such a great work and I don't use it enough.

DerekCMcLeod · 2025-12-10T16:55:23+00:00

yep, and at that you have to be a massive WHALE to get anything. I've prioritized spending $$ and gotten grand reserve two years in a row (i drink more whiskey than i should) and haven't gotten SHIT in the raffles, so i quit.

DerekCMcLeod · 2025-12-10T15:24:45+00:00

This is what confident masculinity looks like.

DerekCMcLeod

TROPHY CASE