Month: June 2013

Editorial: The parklet boondoggle

The up-to-$25,000 cost of the City-funded “parklet,” aka free sidewalk seating for private businesses, is as amazing as the fact that it took a Gazette Freedom of Information Act request to get that number. The parklet program looks like a…

Editorial: The abuses of spying

Recently revealed government spying on peaceful protestors and potentially everyone’s phone records, email and Internet activity are outrageous violations of the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. They are shocking examples of fear overcoming wisdom and power overcoming…

Activists protest police spy center

A small group of civil liberties activists staged a protest June 1 at Boston Police headquarters against a controversial anti-terrorism intelligence center based there. The protest followed recent articles in the Jamaica Plain Gazette and DigBoston about how the Boston…

Hill Happenings

As the youngest of six, I’m a lucky guy to have had a terrific big brother. Thanks, John. John Martin passed away peacefully in Las Vegas June 2 after an enduring illness. A deluge of memories of John billowed through…