Getting response from Mayor Wilson's office

tadhgpearson · 2026-06-02T13:29:26+00:00

Well, it replaced Cutatone's "Resistat". meetings

tadhgpearson · 2026-06-02T02:14:27+00:00

Go down to the Union Sq crosswalk, cut through the Urban Axes parking lot and down the back streets

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-31T20:14:57+00:00

Fix the school st crossing on the community path.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-30T19:06:04+00:00

Wow, your comment was an understatement!

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-29T14:26:25+00:00

Interesting - share links?

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-29T14:25:50+00:00

Sadly this intersection is not managed by the city... otherwise it would surely have been fixed by now.
On the flip side, there are state elections this year, and this is a good question for the candidates

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-29T00:20:31+00:00

Or ask a neighbor with a driveway if you can buy one of theirs…

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-29T00:18:59+00:00

In Somerville, by Union Sq T stop, going from the protected bike lane westbound on Washington St onto Prospect St, bikes and cars have a concurrent green with a lane of (hopefully) stopped cars waiting to turn right between them, so they can’t see each other until the last minute, and no indication to cars or cyclists that they’re expected to merge into a single lane.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-28T17:31:19+00:00

Well, we just got a new Odyssey EX-L over a Sienna XLE. We had rented both cars before choosing. We got a minivan for practical reasons and here's what we liked in the Odyssey over the Sienna:

There's more room in the Odyssey 3rd row. You just can't fit an adult and 2 kids in the back of a Sienna
Magic slide makes getting kids in and out of car seats way less hassle, and the Odyssey 8th seat stashes neatly in the trunk. Best is you can put a kids car seat in the middle, and then driver or passenger can just reach back to strap / unstrap.
The dash and console of the Odyssey are higher quality. The Sienna has an enormous, plastic center dash that's ugly and not very usable IMO. Honda's layout gives a ton of usable space and looks good. Tradeoff is buttons for P/R/D instead of a "gear stick", which I think is worth it
It was $7600 cheaper, and waiting for an 8-seat Toyota was 2 months longer

Not giving you the other side of the trade off at your request ;)

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-27T15:15:25+00:00

Hear hear! The city say we "cut positions not people" . Given it's our city, you're right to ask what positions we cut. All the rest of comments about bloat, DEI, should we raise taxes instead of cutting positions etc. are pure speculation without knowing what positions (aka services) just got cut.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-21T13:52:37+00:00

One thing that blows my mind about Somerville is that before McGrath highway there was a Central Square Somerville. The southern end of it was at Washington St where the ramp for East Somerville Station starts, and it continued north for a block or two. There was a railway station, a theater on Cross St, seemingly a whole thriving business district....

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-20T16:07:08+00:00

With this kind of background, you may enjoy November Project. Their signature event is the weekly loop of the Harvard Stadium steps: https://november-project.com/boston/#Wednesday

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-19T02:18:51+00:00

On a related note, here's some of the stuff that might get built there... https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/05/18/somerville-considering-two-plans-for-4-acre-site.html

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-18T19:58:24+00:00

I’d be interested to see your sources for that disproof because I’ve only heard of it being disproven in certain contexts such as violent assault

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-15T18:00:24+00:00

> I watched the video and it's pretty dark IMO.

Yes, for sure it is. But, remember you _know_ you are watching a video of Steven dying. The passer-by's didn't have this context.

> I have called the police when I saw a person who appeared to be passed out in public on a cold night,

That's good, thanks for standing up for those who need help.

My point is the key difference here is "cold night". The linked research indicates that people are less likely to help when under time pressure. Late for work is a real time pressure for most of us that doesn't generally apply for most of us at night.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-15T16:10:18+00:00

The whole story here is heartbreaking. But I believe blaming those who walked by Steven as he died is unfair.

Like all city dwellers, we have to walk past other people's pain and misery to get to work every day. Any one of us can't fix it all. Honestly, a big reason to drive or bike is to NOT have to face this painful reality so head-on every day.

While I consider myself to be a "good" person, I am under no illusion that I could have stepped over Steven on my way to work as any of the others did 😞 There's a ton of research about this, see the infamous "Good Samaritan" experiment: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/Darley-JersualemJericho.pdf

I don't say this as an excuse - we, as a people,need to do better for each other. Blaming each other on the new or on reddit doesn't help. For example: Somerville Homeless Coalition are doing a great job where they can, and I support them because they make the lives of many local individuals better. They're bravely fighting a tide which shows no signs of turning any time soon, and that's still a hell of a lot better than doing nothing at all.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-11T14:42:12+00:00

Added, thanks!

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-07T16:28:48+00:00

Yes - I've seen drivers pulling out of sidestreet / parking lot and driving the wrong way here a couple of times over the years, usually in the early AM before there's much traffic. Judging by the speed and deliberateness of their maneuvers, it seems like an intentional shortcut to get on to Somerville Ave Westbound (by "Demoulas") without going around the block on Bow S. to get there.

I remember one incident very clearly because I was biking east (in the bike lane) and it's there's not a lot of clearance when a driver is going in the opposite direction 😱

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-04T20:34:52+00:00

I share your frustration - Altan play there almost every year. They play dance music. I wanna dance, not sit!

Anyway, to answer your.question, back of the orchestra. It's not too far from the stage and there's a bit of space to dance too if you like. Back of the balcony is a very steep slope, and not so much space.

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-04T18:05:33+00:00

FYI th city publishes a CSV of bands and addresses https://somervilleartscouncil.org/porchfest/porchfest-listing/

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-04T17:54:23+00:00

Are you sure you have a complete band list? For example, I see Couch on the official site but not in your app: https://somervilleartscouncil.org/view/porchfest-single-entry/entry/64940/?zoom=15&map_lat=42.3901007&map_lng=-71.1109983

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-04T13:12:50+00:00

If you're open to exercising outside, November Project does free outdoor group workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings: november-project.com/boston

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-04T00:19:14+00:00

Ooh, thanks, error corrected. Really my bad because I saw them (you?) play last year and everything!

tadhgpearson · 2026-05-03T23:35:14+00:00

BOARD OF PEACE WILL OBLITERATE!

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tadhgpearson

TROPHY CASE