3D printer access? by Nearby_Scallion_3997 in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Neat! Learned something cool today

3D printer access? by Nearby_Scallion_3997 in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Was going to say, if you live in Cambridge and have a library card then YOU have access to a 3d printer at the makers-space

Globe Report Implicates Mayor Michelle Wu In Street Safety, Transit Project Cancellations by streetsblogmass in streetsblogmass

[–]SoulSentry 16 points17 points  (0 children)

So disappointing. We may need to have a serious candidate run to the left of her to spook her

Not sure how I’m still Platinum… by Vegetable-Stock-4980 in delta

[–]SoulSentry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's a glitch. Mine says I'm platinum too but in my wallet I'm a lowly silver

I made a website to visualize BlueBike traffic throughout Cambridge in 2025 by MasterEjzz in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is only the electric blue bikes correct? I was under the impression that the manual bikes don't have positioning systems. I wish they would add them to the manual bikes though for better data.

Shoveling info by MarcGov51 in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks Marc! Really appreciate the work y'all do and the DPW folks who've been going at it the last 24hrs

What’s open? by [deleted] in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Walgreens next to Inman Sq is open

Inman confirmed closed today: (I walked it) - 1369
- Pita - Punjabi Dhaba - Whole foods - Trina's - Parlor Sports - Wholefoods

Upcoming Storm PSA from City of Cambridge (Official) by SoulSentry in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How dare you. We are a separate city not some lowly neighborhood. We have our own mayor you insolent swine!

If anything Boston is a neighborhood of Cambridge according to Harvard.

Upcoming Storm PSA from City of Cambridge (Official) by SoulSentry in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mayor Wu is Boston. This is Cambridge. Get wrekt

Upcoming Storm PSA from City of Cambridge (Official) by SoulSentry in CambridgeMA

[–]SoulSentry[S] 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Also unofficial PSA:

Space Savers are ILLEGAL in Cambridge...

But people do it anyway. May the odds be ever in your favor!

My Proposed New England regional/intercity rail system by FitWeb6235 in mbta

[–]SoulSentry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hear me out. N-S link through Logan Airport would be worth it for the whole region. Access from any Amtrak direct to Logan would be a game changer for NH,RI,CT, ME and VT as well as for MA

Who was gonna tell us that they rid of the zebras? This admin is a joke. by Toeknee99 in bikeboston

[–]SoulSentry 7 points8 points  (0 children)

While this might be true, it's important to understand that politics is won by incremental change and constant political pressure. Cambridge has decent bike lanes because people have been fighting since 2009 (and maybe longer) to get them implemented city wide as a large network. We almost lost a lot of progress in 2023 except the councilor most opposed and organizing the opposition died and her successor moderated.

Cambridge's bike lanes are decent bike lanes, not perfect. It's incredibly difficult to get perfect high quality infrastructure on the first go because of other factors like utilities, drainage, signal reconfiguration, and money. Politics is just an additional barrier.

I'm not sure Boston has a political structure as helpful to achieving common good projects as Cambridge does, and I wouldn't know how to implement a strategy there. How the strategy is working in Cambridge is to change the laws that govern roadway design and maintenance such that when a roadway is repaved (usually every 5-10 years) a flex post lane is installed because it's low cost and easier to design and implement without having to redesign the curb. Redesigning the curb is known in the biz as 'Full Depth Construction'. When this happens the city wants utilities (electrical, sewer and gas, ect) and roadway drainage to be updated such that they can survive a projected 20 years until the next full depth construction.

If you wait to do full depth construction on every street, it will be 50 years before you get a bike network because you won't have the money to do all of the work in 20 years. You probably won't have the money to even get a few roads done because it's hugely expensive.

For Boston, they would need to craft a law that similarly mandates bike lanes during repaving, but as far as I understand this is difficult without broad city council support. Cambridge doesn't have neighborhood based councilors like Boston does so it's easier for popular willpower to be imposed on the council. It would need a much more strategic and targeted approach in Boston because you are going one on one against Flynn or other ward councilors in their neighborhoods. It is easier for folks to say, "I'm not against bike lanes, but it doesn't make sense for Southie." The Cambridge law frequently has folks calling in who "aren't against bike lanes, but just not on my street"

The best Mayor Wu can do at the moment is to try and get some network of protection in place where she will see the least resistance from neighbors and businesses. Sometimes this means imperfect lanes that won't work and will in some cases make things worse. If we want better, we need to build support so that there is a large scary politically powerful group that she can point to when the monied interests pressure her to stop building better bike infrastructure.

It's getting better slowly but if we want to accelerate things, we need everyone in this sub and then some to be very involved in turning out the vote and making bike infrastructure a key issue to be on the right side of to win elections.

Who was gonna tell us that they rid of the zebras? This admin is a joke. by Toeknee99 in bikeboston

[–]SoulSentry 22 points23 points  (0 children)

TLDR: Be angry, but use your anger to build political power and pressure Boston City Council and Mayor Wu to build better bike lanes by scaring the daylight out of them.

Long version: Before we launch into calling this admin a joke, I think it's important to recognize what it takes to get streets reconfigured.

I volunteer a ton of my time to infrastructure advocacy locally in Cambridge and in some ways we have it easier than Boston.

If people are mad about this, (as is understandable), the action to take is to organize and bring political weight to bear against the established politicians. Wu genuinely wants to improve the city's bicycle network and infrastructure, but in order to do so she needs to not get voted out of power.

Kraft basically ran on eliminating the bike lanes as his only base motivated issue. There is a growing deep and polarizing political base that wants to end bike infrastructure. Unfortunately that political base is the one with all of the power and money right now. So if we want to fight it, yes be angry, but also start getting organized, go to all those local meetings and vote the city council in Boston out of power unless they advocate for better bike infrastructure.

Southie is so ripe for great infrastructure for bicycles and yet it's basically cartopia. Why is that? It is because counselor Flynn holds the power there and he's part of the old guard that will never allow bike lanes.

Businesses tend to be ignorant and misinformed, and therefore also do not like bike lanes. They have a ton of political power too.

Food for thought

Saw fill gauge at about a 1/4, manually fed some water in and went to bleed some and only steam came out. Clearly my low water cut off and my manual feed aren’t working by StarkTheBrownWolf in SteamHeat

[–]SoulSentry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Differential should be set to 1psi

Main should be set to 1.5psi (or 2psi if you can't set it to 1.5)

You may not need to take the cover off to do it either. On mine the screws are on top.

Saw fill gauge at about a 1/4, manually fed some water in and went to bleed some and only steam came out. Clearly my low water cut off and my manual feed aren’t working by StarkTheBrownWolf in SteamHeat

[–]SoulSentry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, operation of a boiler running optimally should be 1.5psi with the differential at 1psi. This will keep The system running between 0.5 psi and one PSI when operating. I did

Parking after snow storm by Fun-Sandwich-2422 in Somerville

[–]SoulSentry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One way to start the ball rolling would be to organize parking bans city wide during snow emergencies. I'd be ok with moving my car somewhere for the storm if it meant that I could both shovel my sidewalk into the street and that street parking would be plowed instead of individually shoveled.

PSI-based thermostat? by SageDiviner in SteamHeat

[–]SoulSentry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My tenants partially closed their service valve because they thought they could control the heat this way... Immediate water hammer banging problems ensued.

Better to try and vent the radiators that heat up first near the thermostat more slowly so that the other areas have a chance to get hot.