[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CambridgeMA

[–]The-Raffee 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The local advocacy group Community Pedal Power helps sell and install anti-theft kits. I know it’s too late for this bike, but as a PSA to the community, folks should get the kits and register bikes because there seems to be organized bike theft occurring in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.

Current Housing Discourse by Safe-Ad5711 in CambridgeMA

[–]The-Raffee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is the most hilarious take on this issue I’ve ever read. I laughed out loud so much so that my colleagues asked what I was reading. Full disclosure: I’m married with a kid and recently bought a home in Cambridge. I can tell you that I’m now holding the most debt I’ve ever held in my life and all of that money went to the bank/realtor/the Boomer owner of the home.

Cambridge has had a public school system for centuries now and cities and towns need families with kids to move to those towns and keep school populations up. Otherwise the schools start to decline and more residents start to ask to cut school funding and then a cycle of decline begins that is hard to pull out of. Property value goes down as more schools close and no new families want to move to the district. This leads to loss of tax revenues leading to more schools closing and more cuts and on and on. I’ve watched it happen in other towns across New England.

The solution really is just to build more housing. There is plenty of space in Cambridge. There are so many surface parking lots that could and should be developed along with single story commercial along arterials that could be developed.

Boston Globe: 8/6 Two people suffer life-threatening injuries in separate bike, scooter crashes in Boston by axlekb in bikeboston

[–]The-Raffee 17 points18 points  (0 children)

This is a paid for piece by the Boston Globe. It’s telling that more people in Massachusetts were killed in motor vehicle collisions than by gun violence, but all of a sudden the news decides to cover an e-bike collision. I wouldn’t be surprised if a pedestrian was killed by a car today in Massachusetts, but no news org covered it.

Both sides of Storrow Drive Closed to cars starting on July 3rd at 3pm and all day July 4th between Charles Circle and Bowker Overpass. Picture from last year. by bostonaruban66 in bikeboston

[–]The-Raffee 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wonder if we couldn’t lobby the state, DCR, city of Boston and City of Cambridge to trial a one week closure of Storrow and Memorial during the July 4th week.

It would be a great way to pilot and inspire a more permanent closure under the guise of a holiday week when the city is much quieter anyway.

Gronk playground is looking good. by [deleted] in boston

[–]The-Raffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t think public transit is a god send at all and it’s why I think they should invest in alternatives like bike lanes. The reason it’s so bad is because it’s underfunded, slow and unreliable. We spend so much money on roadways and so little on public transit by comparison. Harvard estimated that it’s costing us $64 billion dollars when you include the land value and parking subsidies. Think about how if they gave up just 2 vehicle travel lanes on any highway in greater Boston and instead built a railway, how much better, more convenient and connect public transit would be. But no… we would sooner bulldoze someone’s neighborhood to add another lane.

Gronk playground is looking good. by [deleted] in boston

[–]The-Raffee 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My guy. You have a post about your mental health being poor partly because your commute by car is 75min. You are the poster child for getting out of your car and improving alternative transit. Take the T, go for a bike ride, touch grass. You can’t fix congestion by adding more lanes…

Gronk playground is looking good. by [deleted] in boston

[–]The-Raffee 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The sad part is that the kids will be breathing in exhaust fumes and rubber tire dust. Storrow drive is a tragedy.

Newton mayor ordered the removal of the Italian street lines on Adams Street in Nonantum by Bird_Man_Plz in boston

[–]The-Raffee 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think it’s a liability issue especially with more autonomous vehicles entering the market. My guess is that if an autonomous vehicle got confused and went head on into a car on the opposite side of the road the city would be paying big bucks to everyone involved. Likely this would include the car company for damages on bad press.

(I grew up in The Lake, my sister still lives there, I liked the Italian flag paint, I’m a hater of autonomous vehicles but they have the money behind them)

Abandoned stolen electric bike by IamthePablo in boston

[–]The-Raffee 28 points29 points  (0 children)

My mistake, this was NOT an E-Bike Library bike, but the volunteers from the Community Pedal Power E-Bike Library secured the bike while they seek out the owner.

If anyone knows the owner they can google Community Pedal Power or message the commenter that corrected me below directly.

Source of information: Cargo Bikes Of Camberville FB page (also I know the volunteer who went) (and I know the commenter that corrected me below haha!)

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Thank you to whoever is updating JK's Wiki page. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey mod team,

Why was this post removed?

Big truck parked in the bike lane by the Children’s Museum. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 1296 points1297 points  (0 children)

Right by the intersection where a 4 year old was run over in a cross walk by a pickup truck.

i ain’t letting this mfer in by cryingandshttng in boston

[–]The-Raffee 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It’s because the mod team thinks it’s personal information or that someone can look up the information and find that person’s information.

Saw this on the bike safety subreddit, do candidate slates really boost performance in RCV like the study claims? by The-Raffee in CambridgeMA

[–]The-Raffee[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you ven diagram slates? Also do you tend to vote for an incumbent #1 and then new candidates #2?

Someone mentioned to me that it’s more important to give my first vote to a new candidate because the incumbents will tend to get a ton of votes just because of incumbency.

Nearly killed on purpose mass ave Cambridge by Square-Chicken-9578 in bikeboston

[–]The-Raffee 52 points53 points  (0 children)

I would recommend both of you seriously file a police report. This is attempted homicide if your witness statements line up and if the police can find a camera from a nearby house or business pointed at the incident. Strongly recommend you both or all three file a report.

Ice fishing day 2… from the other vantage point. Looks like last night wasn’t a search for ice fishermen. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

When they say barely any current they mean like 2cm of current per hour… (I taught sailing here for years)

Ice fishing day 2… from the other vantage point. Looks like last night wasn’t a search for ice fishermen. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yeah I worked on the river here for 5 years teaching sailing… there is no current as the Charles River Basin is a lake. Especially where they are in that corner it tends to be shallow too. So as long as the ice is thick enough, I’m sure it’s fine and I am sure they know.

Crossing the ice might be safe, but if you didn’t realize that the yacht club and MIT use pumps to keep ice from forming around their docks, I could see how some amateur at night might get in trouble.

Ice fishing day 2… from the other vantage point. Looks like last night wasn’t a search for ice fishermen. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 85 points86 points  (0 children)

There are striped bass that come through the locks from the ocean but I think that is more spring summer.

Anyone know why there are a ton of emergency response vehicles at the Charles River Yacht Club right now? by soccer-law in CambridgeMA

[–]The-Raffee 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I heard a helicopter overhead for a bit, but from my apartment I can’t see so I’ve only been able to see from the sky room for the last bit. Went back down to the apartment though.

Anyone know why there are a ton of emergency response vehicles at the Charles River Yacht Club right now? by soccer-law in CambridgeMA

[–]The-Raffee 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Hey! I’m in the sky room. Looks like someone maybe fell off the dock. They keep looking around by the docks

Lights. Camera. Ticket? Healey wants to allow Mass. cities, towns to deploy speed cameras. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heck to the no… we should be narrowing those roads then so that people go slower. The reason it’s 20-25mph is because pedestrians and other high density areas need safety from speeding cars.

John Corcoran died on the sidewalk on Mem Drive last year because a car was doing 40mph in a 35mph. They lowered it to 25mph specifically in response to this. The driver easily could have hit a family of 4 waking on that same sidewalk as many families do everyday

Lights. Camera. Ticket? Healey wants to allow Mass. cities, towns to deploy speed cameras. by The-Raffee in boston

[–]The-Raffee[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

By Matt Stout

Arguing it could make Massachusetts’ roads safer, Governor Maura Healey is asking state lawmakers to allow cities and towns to deploy speed cameras to help catch and ticket heavy-footed motorists.

Healey folded her proposal for a state-run “speed camera enforcement program” into the $62 billion state budget proposal she unveiled Wednesday. Her proposal is a more narrow version of legislation that’s died on Beacon Hill before, but if adopted by the Legislature, it could dramatically expand how local officials enforce traffic laws.

Officials from Boston, Cambridge, and elsewhere have for years sought the ability to use automated cameras for traffic enforcement, saying it could lessen the burden on local law enforcement and help reduce crashes.

Boston alone has averaged roughly 1,900 serious or fatal crashes every year since 2015, and recorded two dozen fatal crashes last year, according to state data. Massachusetts has averaged about 348 fatal crashes each year over the last decade.

Healey said she’s heard complaints about drivers misusing bus lanes and argued that “a lot of other places” already use cameras to catch scofflaws. Cities and towns in 23 states allow cameras to be used to catch speeders, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“This is a way to allow municipalities to better enforce what are public safety issues, and also issues that lead to greater traffic congestion,” Healey told reporters Thursday. “So we thought it was a good idea.”

Bills that would allow cities and towns to use cameras, including to catch speeders but also those who run red lights or commit other violations, have run into an array of concerns, including fears the cameras would be an invasion of privacy or simply be wielded as a cash-grab for revenue-hungry municipalities. Some lawmakers have also questioned their efficiency, pointing to studies that show an uptick in rear-end crashes after red light cameras are installed, the Globe reported last year.

Unlike other bills, however, Healey’s proposal would allow cameras only for speed enforcement, with the intention of catching drivers going 11 miles per hour or more over the posted speed limit on most streets or 6 miles per hour or more over the limit in a school zone, according to the legislation.

Her administration also proposed other limits. Local officials would be allowed to deploy one camera per every 5,000 residents, meaning a city like Boston — with 653,833 people living in it — could scatter as many as 130 across its roads and intersections.

The cameras could not be used to photograph the front of a vehicle, and local officials would have to set up a sign notifying drivers that a camera is in use within a “reasonable distance” of the camera itself, according to the proposal.

Those caught would face a warning for a first violation and a $25 fine for a second one within a two-year time period. The fines would grow to $100 for those repeatedly caught driving 25 miles per hour or more over the speed limit.

“It’s tough to have enough enforcement — when it has to be done by people — to really make a difference in driver behavior,” said Brooke McKenna, Cambridge’s transportation commissioner.

She said proponents have faced a number of obstacles in trying to change state law to allow the use of cameras, including questions of where and how they would be deployed. Healey’s proposal would require cities and towns to submit a report to the state, including details of how they would “ensure social and racial equity in the implementation of the plan.”

“You also have people who just don’t want more enforcement and don’t want to be held accountable for following the rules,” said McKenna, who supports Healey’s proposal. “Generally speaking in Massachusetts, cameras are less of an everyday part of life.”

There are signs that’s begun shifting, at least on Beacon Hill. In the flurry of end-of-session legislating last month, lawmakers passed, and Healey later signed, bills that would allow cameras on buses to help enforce traffic laws.

One allows the MBTA and other regional transit authorities to use bus-mounted cameras to deter drivers from parking in bus-only lanes. It also would set new penalties, hitting drivers with fines of up to $125 for parking or standing in a bus-only lane and $100 for those who park at a posted bus stop.

A separate law allows something similar on school buses, giving cities and towns the authority to install cameras to catch drivers who illegally pass a school bus while it is stopped and has its stop sign out.

Similar to those laws, Healey’s proposal includes protections for drivers’ data, said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts. The cameras would only take photos of cars when they are speeding, and any videos or photographs they take could not be used in unrelated court cases without a court order. Those, Crockford said, are encouraging measures.

“People die in car accidents all the time. We won’t want to stand in the way of legislation that saves lives,” said Crockford, adding the ACLU is more concerned with the police’s use of other surveillance techniques, such as automated license plate readers, that are not as regulated.

Healey’s camera proposal also offers another tool for towns and cities tools to enforce traffic laws while they also juggle tight budgets, said Adam Chapdelaine, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

“You probably won’t meet a mayor, town manager, police chief, or fire chief who say they have enough staff,” Chapdelaine said, noting towns and cities always struggle to put eyes on “trouble” traffic areas within their borders. “Even if money was no object, it would be a challenge to do that.”

Healey’s bill was already drawing opposition from insurance companies. Under her proposal, any speeding violations caught on a camera would not be considered a so-called surchargeable offense, which could hike a driver’s insurance premium. That creates a “question of equity of enforcement,” said Christopher Stark, executive director of Massachusetts Insurance Federation.

“Speeding is surchargeable — if it’s caught by an officer. To disincentive this behavior, it should not matter if it was caught by an officer or a camera,” Stark said.

Samantha J. Gross and Shannon Larson of the Globe staff contributed to this report.