Boston Thread Location • Page 42

The traction that this group has had has been based on the fact that only public outreach against is from the landscapers, who already work 10+ hour days. Now that this is circling around the public and other local areas, we are hoping it brings more rational arguments to the table. My dad and company tried working with these people about how many blowers can be going per lot, how many landscapers on a street at at time etc. These people had none of it. Whenever anyone spoke in defense of the landscapers they just held "our health matters" signs and would not listen to any argument. They claim the landscapers are lazy, which really gets me angry. My dad missed baseball games on saturdays when I was young so I could live in Newton, go to college, be secure etc.

 

That's the thing, 75 percent of the time the police show up either landscapers are gone, or not using a leaf blower, and if they are, they are using the regulated ones. It's so nonsensical.

 

I'm a scientist, I get that these tools are not great for the environment. But I believe that until there is an affordable solution that won't cost landscapers (who already don't make much) significant increases in costs to themselves, be it new equipment, or loss in profit, regulated ordinances like this that discriminate against private business is a scary precedent.

 

similar thing going on down on long island right now as well, some snooty nassau county towns want to get rid of noisy gardening/landscaping tools. people just need something to get all in a fuss about or they feel bored. buncha squidwards if you ask me.

 

It's nice to hear people have a different side to this. In Newton, the people that are vocal about this, act like it's live or die, like the woman who claimed she wanted to commit suicide over this. I wish I called the cops on her, to 1) get her help if she needs it, or 2) maybe show her the consequences of using those words so sparingly and empty.

With the news article taking tractions, and a few other places posting about it, hopefully this will have an effect with the city council ballots in November.

 

I don’t have anything of substance to add but what the fuck...

 

Yeah, that was really hard to hear. The biggest arguments for health I heard was that, and then people saying they get assaulted by leaf blowers on the sidewalks, physically assaulted mind you, and that landscapers are rocketing chipmunk feces into children's mouths.

What really bugs me is their misuse of climate science. Their biggest health claim was that PM-10 (Particulate Matter 10), where the ten refers to it's diameter in microns, is ejected in people's mouths by leaf blowers. What happens is, and this is true, the particles get stuck in the small hairs and fibers in the respitory tract and lungs. What's not true is that leaf blowers have any grander effect on their motility than dry air. PM-10 weights less than dry air, and simple wind, or natural air currents move it along on it's own. They are trying to pin this all on leaf blowers simply because they don't like the sound.

Engineer something new, make it affordable for these business' and I guarantee they will use it.

 

Did something happen at the Middle East? The Hotelier's show on Wednesday was cancelled due to "in-house security.concerns"

 

A few bands have pulled shows over the last week or so, but I haven't really found out why

 

there are/were allegations that one of the co-owners is an abuser/rapist

edit: florist had tweeted about it when their show got moved but now the tweets are deleted so i'm not totally sure? but something along the lines of a person in power being sketchy seems to be going on i guess

 

going to Boston Friday until Sunday. any suggestions on restaurants or bars to check out? I've been multiple times visiting friends who live there and their creatures of habit - meaning that I've been to Chinatown multiple times as well as Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall.

the guy I'm going with has never been and he really wants to see Harvard and Harpoon, so we'll be in Cambridge and whatever neighborhood Harpoon is considered to be in. those are our only concrete plans. hitting up Trillium in Canton on the way in.

 

If anything, eat at Shake Shack in Harvard Square. Also, if you're up near Everett, there's a brewery district where Down The Road Brewery just opened their taproom, and it's right near Night Shift Brewing, my favorite brewery around Boston.

 

shake shack is good but its a chain sooo

 

as @Matt mentioned, Shake Shack is a chain and we've got some down here in Philly. unless there's something special about the one in Harvard Square!

and I'll definitely check those out if we get up near Everett! thanks!

 

Night Shift is a great place to hang out, they've got a lot of great beer and usually a few food trucks around dinner time. I would definitely recommend Harpoon. Make sure to take the tour, there's a lot of free drinking involved at the end. And save room for one of their homemade pretzels.

Harvard Square has a lot of food options so you can't really go wrong there.

Also in the area for bars - Bukowski Tavern has a good vibe and they're usually playing mid 2000's emo music lol. State Park is another I go to often.

 

The Yankee Lobster Company is a pretty good fish market/shack that's near Harpoon.
The Trillium Boston spot is a few blocks down if you're just looking to grab some cans/bottles. There's a decent amount of restaurants in that area too. Row 34 is one and has a good raw menu and beer list. There's a pizza place on that same street that was really good but I forget the name, it's between Trillium and the Children's museum

 

Thank you both so much! definitely checking out Harpoon and Trillium!

 

Bleachers is playing Mix 104.1's Christmas show 12/14 with Kesha.
I. Need. In!

 

This is coming up again and I don't mean to turn this into my venting area for this, but this globe article is trash

The city of Newton is at war — over leaf blowers - The Boston Globe

I was at these city committee hearings, the only people being aggressive were the ones in favor of the ban, specifically the people who said hearing the leaf blowers makes them want to do things, like kill themselves....

The article even notes someone assaulting a landscaper, cmon now. "an incident in August in which a landscaper reported being assaulted by a resident who was attempting to take photographs of the company’s equipment."

Also, turning a leaf blower on inside a fucking room in a building is not the same as someone using it work outside on a property. Maybe people in Newton should realize their completely unnecessary large plots of property require effort to maintain, and sticking true with the richest being the cheapest/biggest assholes, they don't give a shit.

The globe seems to think that 320 calls, half of which are the same 15 people, equals the city being at war. I imagine the city as a whole would vote against the regulations, but ordinance was passed regardless.

 

I'm not from Boston, I've lived in NH my whole life. But since we're all New Englanders, how does everyone feel about Portland Maine? I'm moving there in January and I couldn't be more excited.

 

I LOVE Portland Maine. Really happy for you. If my industry had a bigger presence there (bioinformatics) i'd move there in a heartbeat.

Duckfat is a must get for poutine and sandwiches. Amazing breweries, decent venues (Portland City Music Hall, Cross Arena).

Beautiful landscapes, love it.

 

@alina and I went for the first time over the summer and immediately thought about moving there because it was such a great area. If you like beer, the street that Allagash is on has like 2-3 great breweries right across the street from the parking lot.

 

I really would move there if I could. Smiling Hill Farm in Scarborough has awesome ice cream and a massive open pen petting zoo. Me and a few baby goats were tearing up the playground, it was amazing.

 

Tbh if I had to move to any New England area outside of MA, I'd easily look into Portland first and foremost. My girlfriend is in Portsmouth so it's barely an hour drive from her place and we love making day trips up there (maybe not in the winter though). Probably one of my favorite food and beer scenes around. Especially love what they've done with Thompson's Point. Also, coastal Maine is the ideal New England landscape and gorgeous as heck.

 

Portsmouth is great to.