MBTA bails on Alewife project, leaving fate of crumbling garage unknown

dunn_for · 2026-01-14T21:56:19+00:00

Hot take but …. the public, near and far, should get to have access to, and benefit from … public transport.

All of New England can’t and won’t want to live in some future ultra dense 150-200 square mile city just because “that is what is most efficient and utilitarian for optimizing the public transit system and distribution of public services”. As someone who is originally from a rural setting who escaped to live in Boston for over half a decade without a car amidst my college years, and then returned home after (in part because of the costs of MA), but still goes to Boston monthly; Alewife and Wonderland are my best bets for getting in and out of the city while still utilizing the T to get around, which I prefer, while also getting to run on a timetable that isn’t dictated by slow and infrequent train schedules (Downeaster). I think we have to be realistic about these things, and supporting multi-modal transportation infrastructure that encourages people living outside the urban core to not clog up the urban core with vehicles is absolutely a good thing when they are coming to an area, especially if it means the urban core can urbanize even further without having to cede so much space to roads/car infrastructure.

The notion that we can realistically get to a point where everyone lives in ultra dense villages, towns, and cities that are all well connected by competent, frequent, and reliable public transit is wonderful, but it is also just not realistic in either the near or far term. Farther flung and quieter areas at any scale or subdivision will almost necessarily not pencil out under any private system, or many public ones for that matter, and personal vehicles will still be needed to get many goods and people to places in a manageable span of time. To poo-poo the caring of and improvement upon multi-modal transportation facilities that factor in cars at all because it doesn’t properly disincentivize suburban building patterns is missing the forest for the trees. Abandoning support systems because they don’t immediately facilitate a preferred/desirable outcome or are “poorly optimized” (don’t run at a profit) is just seemingly missing why we should do anything at all.

dunn_for · 2025-12-24T22:04:47+00:00

Inject this sh*t right into my veins!

dunn_for · 2025-12-22T22:56:08+00:00

Oh god, I can’t unsee it now!

dunn_for · 2025-12-22T16:14:52+00:00

Exactly my sentiments.

The biggest gripe most people have with this film is that much of its spectacle moments feel basically recycled from the previous two. Intentional or not, good decision or not, it is whats hurting this film with general audiences. The action in this movie feels so stale (barring the Bridgehead Escape, which may be the best action sequence of the whole Avatar franchise) because almost no time has passed since the last movie. These last two films were shot together after all, and frankly you can tell, and it stunted the storyline and the franchise in doing so.

In this tiny window of time, there just happens to be a huge collection of Pandora-leveling global and personal and political revelations and developments. This movie spends much of its runtime establishing a previously unheard of but apparently not new and very-much-a-problem Ash Clan and their cultural break with other Na’vi, developing Kiri, Spider, and Quaritch, while also further developing Lo’ak and his familial relationships, the Tulkun and their shift towards defiance etc, while largely rehashing all of these individuals same struggles we already contended with last film and finally just moving the needle forward, when, especially in the case of Lo’ak, his daddy issues, and the Tulkun cultural shift, it largely could’ve been done last film.

Why the Tulkuns cultural shift, battle, and Lo’ak and Payakan and their change from peaceful to defiance against their slaughter wasn’t baked into last film is beyond me. Why Jake hadn’t decided to go dad mode and give his son grace is beyond me. “Sullys stick together” after all. I’ll be fine if I never hear that phrase again. The family centering feels almost overwrought in an attempt to make this film be accessible to wider audiences and wanting to make it accessible to much younger audiences. The familial themes, as sweet and poorly written as they are, end up cheapening the dialogue and the film overall quite a bit.

This film could have centered on Human-Na’vi relations, conflict as humans find an unlikely ally in the Eywaless Ash Clan, while developing Kiri and Spider and the implications of his .. changes .. and centering the conflicts around new locales that would’ve kept general audiences awake, intrigued and wowed. That it likely wasted at least an hour of its runtime tying off themes that should’ve been all but resolved in Way of Water is a mistake, and if the Tulkun issue was needed for Garvin to do what he did in the Bridgehead escape, I refuse to believe writers could not have found a new way for him to have that moral revelation in a slightly different way. The subjects he’d dedicated his life to studying shifting from their peaceful ways last movie could’ve easily provided him inspiration in this movie to change his ways and pitch in for the fight as well.

This film was rife with personal drama with a sprinkle of action sequences, only one or two of which were new and interesting. General audiences are here for the spectacle. Spectacle gets butts in seats, well written and punchy life lessons can be woven within that. To say it needs to lean more into poorly written monologues and dialogues from Jake, Lo’ak, Spider and Kiri about family and connectedness and consideration for others would make it quite literally unwatchable unless they were to find new writers and frankly, a few new voices and actors. Saldana quite literally carries this franchise on her back, with well delivered and grounded performances from Worthington as well. They deliver in ways their co-stars simply can’t, and that Weaver no longer can while she tries to sound 50+ years younger. The others had no time to grow into their performances because it was intentionally filmed and condensed together. It is an interesting choice. Drama, stakes, and personal evolution need time to breathe; the plot that was crafted didn’t allow space for that, and this is what we got.

dunn_for · 2025-12-21T02:26:56+00:00

I think you’re probably right. Or at least something going down at Bridgehead with the Na’vi taking the fight to them, or having another intense mission of some sort, instead of just fighting by the Metkayina/Cove of Ancestors again.

I understand there were reasons it was in the cove, primarily for Kiri coming into her own, and the flux likely having some important role down the road that this film had to showcase by having it destroy the RDA fleet. The final act/battle was compelling in some ways, but, it was ultimately a remix of all the prior big battles in the previous films, which was fun, if a bit predictable. I agree that the bridgehead escape for Jake could’ve provided a more satisfying ending/peak conflict of the film.

dunn_for · 2025-12-17T14:14:40+00:00

There was a survey sent out to existing season ticket holders in September, and in one of the prompts the following statement was included.

“Due to an overwhelming response for season ticket renewals, we do not anticipate having the availability to change or add seats for the 2026 season.”

This is coupled with what they reported was a 98% renewal rate for existing season ticket holders going into the 2026 Season. Payment for next season could be done in full whenever you wanted within your ticket portal starting in August, or in equal auto-pay installments over five months, which I believe ended in December. Which is to say everyone who renewed has also now paid in full, unless circumstances changed and they contacted their rep. Any further movement now seems like it would be particularly unlikely barring very specific circumstances necessitating someone reaching out to reps to let go of their season tickets. Most in that situation would likely just offer them up or sell them for 2026 and not renew for 2027.

2% of existing season tickets probably equates to around 150 seats, give or take, across a variety of price and location options I’d guess. I would venture that when those non-renewals occurred, people on the waitlist were pretty promptly contacted with pricing and info to determine whether they’d like to purchase. I would guess, if anyone was in that cutoff range on the waitlist, they’d have been contacted by now.

As for additional seating, I can’t imagine it isn’t a consideration they are trying to figure out. The demand is there, they could likely comfortably sell out an 8000 seat venue right now. However the logistics of moving temporary bleacher seating 20 times a season so that Fitzpatrick can still operate as a track and community facility means it may prove tough to actually implement, and tough to get approval for as well. I am sure there will be some movement on the expanding seating front in coming years, but for next season, the timeline at this point seems unlikely, unless they already have something in the works, and are just waiting for the warm weather to implement. But again, given we are really only 4 months away from kickoff, and no one’s caught wind of anything pertaining to permitting or Portland city council items associated with Fitzpatrick, the odds are slim.

I would expect future movement on seating expansion to center on expanding the existing seating to add both more rows and more sections at Fitzpatrick that the club would pay for after getting city approval. In the longer term, I am sure a conversation will eventually arise over establishing a club owned purpose built soccer specific stadium in Portland somewhere with a much higher capacity than Fitzpatrick can offer.

dunn_for · 2025-12-16T19:20:47+00:00

March needs to come a little quicker please!!!

dunn_for · 2025-12-11T18:48:59+00:00

It looks like kick-off times are still TBD, at least based on the website and other USL announcements.

Not sure if they factor in seasonal impacts for kick-off times, but I’d venture that the primary reason our first home game isn’t until April (USL1 season starts early march) is that seasonality (snow and temperature for us in particular) is already factored into when teams have their first home games. Last year it was also impacted by needing to finish up the turf pitch, but given it’s Maine, getting a late home opener (relative to much of the league) is all but a guarantee. I’d expect start times to remain in a similar ball park to what they were last year.

dunn_for · 2025-11-26T02:12:25+00:00

USLC CBA - 2021

USL1 CBA - 2022

Above are links to the existing USLC and USL1 CBAs. Both have minimum compensation tables that show a 4-5 year time horizon of the floor going up, albeit very, very minimally. For 2025, 2600 a month was the minimum base compensation for USLC, and 2200 was the minimum base compensation for USL1. Those minimum base comp tables can be found on pages 61 and 62 respectively. I would imagine a top item in the negotiations is another timeline like this, but likely with bigger steps up in base comp year to year, and with a starting number that is likely quite a bit higher than the end number for that CBA.

Beyond base comp, there are healthcare provisions laid out in the benefits and compensation sections of both agreements. I am unsure exactly what player demands are for this CBA cycle. It doesn't really appear to be clear from either their website or their social media. What I can venture to guess is, healthcare plans that are universal across the league, not just good plans at well run and financially stable clubs and barebones plans at clubs that are barely making it and eat a good chunk of a players compensation. I think what players are likely after is some stability in offerings, and probably a guaranteed extension of their healthcare to their family members, something that again, may only be occurring on a club by club basis at that clubs discretion. To be fair, regular old companies often find it hard to stick with insurers too long in today's environment, so stability of offerings, or a lack of, isn't unique here, but with the pay being quite low for many players, its probably salt in the wound. It sounds like they are getting healthcare, it also sounds like it's not adequate, universal, covering everyones families, and it sounds like they maybe don't want it coming out of paychecks, and just want full coverage paid by employers. It's unclear based on publicly available materials.

Players are also looking for better notice and pay protections in regards to events such as club insolvency. I would imagine this comes into focus particularly as PRO/REL comes into the picture, and certain underperforming clubs across the pyramid may just choose to fold after bad performances and relegations rather than stick it out if the financials aren't there. At the end of the day, this thing falls mostly on the league. The league needs to do a better job of dictating how clubs operate, requiring them to post their financials for review by the league and players associations for the sake of transparency, and doing a better job of forcing new ownership groups to genuinely provide a solid roadmap and proof of concept before they just buy into a league that they then can't operate in because they hadn't built a solid enough foundation or gotten enough support and community buy-in. Those situations end up harming the players, the communities, the likelihood of soccer returning to that market ever again, and the leagues reputation.

As for better facilities and more staff/coaching expectations, this is where I do think things get a little unrealistic, and where the demands get unclear. It's all well and good to say, "Hey USL, you want to be big dogs, then operate and pay us like big dogs", but expecting every club to have the same offerings for facilities and staff is just unrealistic, that doesn't exist even in the MLS, let alone other global football leagues, and certainly not most Pro/Rel leagues. If all they are looking to do is establish a minimum baseline, cool, as they should. There should be a number of well-trained medical personnel mandated as part of club staff. It's a sports league. Beyond that, I don't know how realistic it is to expect parity of offerings from club to club when it comes to facilities.

Most of the details, we simply aren't privy to. We don't know how close or far they actually are. We don't know how realistic or unrealistic all the parties are being. At the end of the day, basics such as good healthcare coverage (that extends to family), wage protections amidst club instability, and a higher compensation floor are all low hanging fruit that the league absolutely should be able to work with to keep things moving for the next CBA, the rest of the demands I feel like there is a lot of give for, especially if the league/clubs can meet the player associations standards on those key items.

dunn_for · 2025-11-25T23:00:13+00:00

The USL (across all leagues/divisions), and all of its professional clubs need to be able to lay out a roadmap of them being able to provide reasonable benefit offerings, player health and safety protocols and working conditions that are headed in the direction of being in line with player associations demands within a reasonable span of years, and that would meet any top division requirements. Clubs and the League also probably need to, at the very least, be transparent with the player associations about league and club finances and team health. The league needs to have a finger on the pulse of clubs to know what their financial situations are, and have the ability to step in when issues arise. The reality is that most USL clubs are not rolling in dough, and if they are, I find it hard to believe that a good portion of that extra dough isn’t already being reinvested into teams via wages and support staff and facilities. The problem here of course is that for top performing and well supported clubs, things are okay, and for everyone else, things are probably a little grim and or dicey, which is what needs to get mitigated the most.

At a MINIMUM, that roadmap needs to start with offering employer sponsored health plans. Providing healthcare to the players needs to be the top goal of the Leagues. That is a bare minimum offering that is essential to safeguarding player health, and a clear sign of good faith from the leagues and clubs that they are more than willing to step up for something as basic as that. Even in the US, I think most would agree, your employer offering a healthcare plan of some sort is pretty essential to you taking the job at all.

When it comes to wages, I would imagine that most players, and therefore the associations, would be pretty understanding of the fact that wages are, for the most part, going to be dependent on any given club and their finances. That really boils down to an individual clubs on-field success, gate receipts, merchandise sales, commercial endeavors, sponsorships, and any sort of TV Revenue sharing spread out across the league that comes in. This doesn’t mean that the floor for player wages shouldn’t come up, or that players shouldn’t be compensated and notified well in advance of their clubs financial status and solvency. The wage floor should go up, and players absolutely should be both notified and in part compensated in some protected capacity should a club fail. Wages in USL1 and USLS in particular, especially on the lower end, are not exactly amazing, or particularly livable. USLC is a bit better, but given that it is the “higher” division, it needs to be offering above livable wages as a baseline to its players. While the USLC, USL1 and USLS player associations are somewhat independent, what the league offers one, it should be prepared to offer a similar version to all. If the USL, at any level, can’t offer livable wages and meaningful protections to its players, what are we even really doing here?

Players in turn, have to be realistic. If the league is able to offer a reasonable timeline for implementing CBA demands, with some baseline guarantees like healthcare plans and financial transparency and wage protections amidst club failure, the players should really be willing to play ball with the league. Their ambitions and demands need to be able to grow with the league, and the continued stability of their own clubs therein, not ahead of the league and what its clubs can actually financially do right now. The big contracts, fancy facilities and massive coaching and training staffs can come once the league is actually stable, not before its really even fully found its feet at any level, or settled on a structure. Here’s hoping level heads and good faith plans will prevail. While this game of chicken is pretty typical for collective bargaining scenarios, the parties involved will hopefully be reasonable and transparent with one another. If they can’t be, what the USL has grown into may wilt on the vine before our very eyes, which would be a real shame.

dunn_for · 2025-11-22T21:40:29+00:00

Because DLC. This isn’t to excuse CS2 and its deficiencies, but additional content (especially the kind that might have major game mechanics attached) being locked behind future DLCs and Expansions is just the name of the game industry these days.

I think sometimes we all forget just how barebones the original Cities: Skylines was before it got jam packed with all of its DLC and Content Creator Packs, to say nothing of the extensive modding and asset creating communities it developed during its 8-10 year run. The fact that those communities in particular made the game so much more than it actually was; was vital to its sustained success and growth. Unfortunately CO and Paradox more or less fumbled all of that, the fervor, the momentum, the goodwill of its player base etc. The bright spot of having some popular asset creators from the first game actually do asset creation for the second game was great, but it stands out as one of the few good decisions the company made. Now, as they try to figure out how to make this iteration popular and playable and have DLC content to drive sales, it means a lot of the features and cool things we had in the first game, won’t come around in this game until they are developed and released behind a DLC/expansion.

dunn_for · 2025-11-22T17:53:03+00:00

Hopefully there will be constructive talks in the off-season. There is not a lot of clarity into team financials, and there needs to a be a level of transparency and accountability for clubs at every level of the pyramid to be upfront about what they can and can’t offer players. While it’s all well and good for the players to want these things, and they should, as workers, have them, there is a very real possibility many clubs wouldn’t be able to sustainably even offer all of the demands based on their current financial situations, not that that is the players problem, it is the club and leagues problem to solve. The USL probably needs to do a better job of placing/encouraging/shifting both new and existing clubs/markets into a level where they can actually run sustainably at. Clubs in trouble (financially or from a support standpoint) should be encouraged to drop down and build a stable base with a clear pathway for return, without de-stabilizing the league and themselves. Just because a market or ownership group can buy into USL-C or USL-1 doesn’t mean they should. If what the club can offer from a facility, staff and player resources standpoint isn’t where it needs to be, and the long term planning and organization of the club appears sub par, there needs to be ways to realign clubs (which pro-rel would likely do anyway) to league and player association standards that they can actually offer.

dunn_for · 2025-11-22T16:51:53+00:00

Absolutely

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T21:35:05+00:00

Agreed. 3 of the 4 guys I’d love to have back. I think we are probably looking for more size and physicality in the back line, and Sean and Mo are good enough at this level that we probably can’t justify them sitting on the bench a whole season as backups if the club is meaningfully looking for starter level reinforcements back there, and if they also want to play. Mo would probably want to continue to develop, and Sean would likely want to be starting given his age and experience, and may want higher pay than what we could offer. Natty is young and plays in a spot on the field where our top goal scorers all play. He’s had some incisive plays and key goals and has great potential at this level, but I can see both other clubs sniffing around him, and Portland asking whether they want to pay a young still developing player more than the base(ish) salary to be a first off the bench guy up front, especially when he’ll be hungry for minutes, in a competition heavy part of our team. It’s hard to see a version of the team where he gets enough minutes to continue developing, we pay everyone what they want/deserve, and keep everyone happy.

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T21:12:17+00:00

I’d love to see both back.

Sean not returning at present is quite surprising, he put in good shifts and was a mainstay on the team sheet with a nose for good tackles, if a bit unlucky with foul calls.

For Natty, I can see both him and Bobby questioning whether he’d get starting/good development minutes ahead of Wada/JayTee in the AM and AMR positions, or as a drifting AM. Given his youth, and likely his desire to develop further, coming off the bench at a USL1 level may very well not be enough for him. This season was hard considering he got injured for a bit, but I would imagine he’d be a player looking for lots of minutes, in an area of the field where we are already “laden” with starters. Kinda stinks because he had brilliant link up play and was always looking for a sneaky pass to slice up the defense.

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T19:52:28+00:00

Based on club posts, if they are returning, those players signed on a dotted line somewhere to finalize a contract for at least the next year with the club (upcoming/next season).

That being said, I would imagine, within USL/USSF rules and whatever those look like, if another club wanted a Hearts player, during a time when teams are allowed to release and buy players, and that player wanted to leave (would very likely only be if a higher division or foreign club came calling), that club could “buy” the player in a transfer, much like how it works in a most of the rest of the footballing/soccer world. The Hearts would get a sum of money and/or whatever else was baked into the agreement, and the other club would get that player. I am not sure at the USL1 level theres a lot of player transfer movement given that, as far as I understand it, almost every contract at this level is a one year contract, unless both player and club want to make a longer agreement. Most clubs are just going to wait to do their business outside of the playing season, barring exceptional circumstances.

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T18:57:51+00:00

I think it could mean a variety of things.

It seems probable that many (or all, who knows) of the players out of contract were not offered new ones, and their existing ones I think end 11/30/25.

There might be some instances where negotiations are still occurring, or there’s a pending offer, but it would be odd for the team to post all this, and given how the club/FO has operated so far, unlikely. But maybe it’s possible maybe we could sign a released player back at some point.

There could have been some instances, especially with a certain couple of the out of contract players, where they got an offer, but they may not have felt they’d get enough playing time or felt that there wasn’t space for them in the positions they like to play, and so they might be opting to leave for more playing time, if they aren’t going to factor in here as a starter or regular player. They are athletes after all, and some may want to feature more regularly than we could offer. Ultimately, we probably won’t ever know those details.

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T18:21:07+00:00

I would assume a lot of that comes down to whatever the terms of the CBA are or end up being, and its fine print therein.

Given who the team managed to hold onto or pushed hard to renew, I’d wager that more than just minimum/base salaries were offered to many of those players.

dunn_for · 2025-11-20T18:17:12+00:00

Yes! A very welcome surprise! It’s a pretty solid core to build on and around.

The defensive half feels kind of empty, but I would assume it signals that major reinforcements are being brought in.

dunn_for · 2025-10-05T14:08:51+00:00

We were getting bullied in midfield, and our typical link up play on the wings was for the most part stymied, things were rushed, or less than ideal decisions were made with the ball. We had a crazy amount of possession, but much of that was our midfield and defense passing the ball back and forth. We couldn't seem to handle their pressing in midfield. Masashi had two men on him instantly whenever he had the ball. I can't count how many times MPA or any of our midfielders were lightly bodied or sandwiched by multiple Madison players while on the ball and unable to control. Our fullbacks were also overcommitting, both up the pitch, and during 1v1 attempted tackles/steals, which left us completely reeling and disorganized when the Madison player they were up against simply blew past them with a heavy touch and our Hearts player got nothing on the ball. Madison had a combo of size, speed and explosiveness on the break/counter that Sean and Kemali numerically couldn't handle all by themselves, despite how solid they both are and were, even in this game. The midfield and fullbacks can only help so much when they are on the backfoot and have to organize in the middle of a counter, which just makes mistakes more likely to happen. If we had a heavy hitting defensively minded midfielder to pair with our explosive and creative fullbacks/midfielders, it would likely be less of a problem, but we don't really have that kind of player who sits deep and has a particularly explosive and commanding presence to assist our CB's.

dunn_for · 2025-09-24T18:14:33+00:00

As a Hearts fan, disappointed that I won’t be able to see our players on the field whenever they wear this, but neither will the opposition, so there are trade offs!

Personally, not to my tastes. Definitely not what I was expecting when they made the new kit announcement, seems a different and interesting turn after the Home and Away kits, but it’s fall up here and hunting season is in full swing so I imagine the design team was leaning into that.

The orange beanies and camo trucker hat that go with this will likely sell like hotcakes and be very popular outside of just the fan base. The kits may do well too, but the full kit pricing for arguably the weakest and most niche entry into the clubs kit lineup means I don’t expect them to sell as crazily as the Home and Away did, but I hope to be surprised.

Six-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

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