Sorry for the light blogging lately. Here are a few quick looks at what's been going on.
--Barack
Obama got caught using some of Deval Patrick's rhetoric. No surprise to
anyone who reads my colleague Adam Reilly. I've got no problem with it,
except that like Adam suggests, you would think Obama would try to
avoid obvious incidents like this latest one.
--MBTA general
manager Dan Grabauskas admitted that the T has long been secretly
cutting back on service because of budget problems. A loud "I
knew
it!" could be heard from everyone who has ever waited for a bus or
train. This is part of a larger problem endemic in our government
agencies: nobody wants to admit that their agency's services are not up
to snuff, so they cover up the flaws and claim to be doing a heckuva
job. Then they get frustrated when their pleas for more budget (or more
broadly, a tax increase) go unheeded. Well, if you're doing fine, why
do you need it? We could use a lot more honesty up front.
--Speaking
of agencies pleading for more budget, those hearings are going on now
and guess what? A lot of state agencies are having a tough time
providing services at their current funding levels, according to State
House News Service reports. Tuesday's budget hearing in Cambridge
covered education. Ann Reale, commissioner of early ed and care, told
legislators that the 23,000-family waiting list for state-assisted
early education and care services was probably an underestimate, and
that the real number could be triple that figure. Funding does not
exist to do anything about it. I thought we were all about the children
in the Bay State? Guess not. Acting Ed commissoner Jeffrey Nellhaus
acknowledged a lack of classrooms for thousands on a waiting list for
adult basic education. Board of Higher Ed Chairman Frederick Clark
spoke of searching for "reasonable ways of protecting quality … despite
weak state support for us" -- weak supporting that includes a $400
million revenue gap. Expect more of the same from today's budget
hearing in Palmer, which focuses on public safety. Ditto Thursday, with
health and human services in Westfield. And we already know about
transportation, which will be covered Friday in Revere, along with
energy and environment.
--Yesterday
city councilor Michael Flaherty "announced" his "Kitchen Table
Conversation Tour," which had been described four days earlier
in the Boston Globe.
Flaherty will apparently be doing this all year. Sure sounds like he's
running for mayor, don't it? Check this quote from his release:
"Instead of talking about issues like moving City Hall, we should be
talking about getting City Hall moving again."