Boston Bottleneck

Boston has its share of issues but the bottleneck is virtual and perceived not real. We have congestion between the Mayor and the fire department, an abundance of crime, and deteriorating public school system, youth violence, and illusionary budget issues. People are so stuck on making their point that they are neither doing the research or proposing solutions.

If we really want to do something about these issues we might consider scrapping a few archaic policy systems that were established more than a century ago and revamp a few things. In this past Sunday's issues of the Boston Globes Magazine, they addressed bullying and compared the archaic intervention methods to a modern social problem as incongruent; "That’s like trying to develop strategies to reduce highway deaths based on data from horse-and-buggy accidents." At the federal level we have a constitution that was founded during a time that women and men who were not white, land owners, or educated could not vote. If we really want to think about best practices, doesn't all the data suggest that best practices mean beginning at the right starting point? But that means potentially dismantling a system that is centuries old (albeit dysfunctional). If where we began is wrong, why would we want to grow from there? Deep change is costly; not only in time and energy, but psychologically, and most people as well as governments are not prepared to deal with that.

BPS and the City have their hands full. Perhaps Carol Johnson is on the right path- clean house and give it another shot. The city council and Mayor Menino are experiencing major opposition because of their position that opposes the "racial profiling" issue in Arizona. From what I understand the phone lines are blowing up and the council is experiencing a bit of racism themselves- and no one is exempt. Other than angry racial slurs has anyone heard any rational counter proposals? I mean hey, I am open. Oh right the people who hate immigrants and want to send them back across the border, these are probably the same people who are no more than third generation removed or less. I happen to think we actually have a city council that is prepared to do something and be provocative in a way that gets voters off their ass and well...engage their government.

Recommendation to the opposition; come up with a clear well thought out proposal that demonstrates your alternative makes sense. Shouting and hollering will get you nowhere- business as usual, just lots of noise that will be forgotten in a matter of weeks or days- and still no plan. Our bottleneck occurs because very few people actually invest the time to change the status quo.