Web Lessons and Blogging

On Tuesday, February 12th, from 10:00am to 11:30am, I will be teaching a free class on the Internet at the Springfield City Library, entitled, "Internet 101 - Welcome to the Web". This class is for folks new to the Internet and who would like to learn more about how to navigate the Web and find resources.

To learn more, or to sign up (or sign up a friend or relative), visit this linked webpage and scroll down to the "Internet 101 - Welcome to the Web" class.

Again, my class time is February 12th, 10:00am to 11:30am.

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In addition to the above class, in March I will also be conducting two free blogging classes at the City Library for those folks interested in blogs and blogging. Blogs are like online journals, where folks can write about their lives, politics, religion, or whatever they choose. The first class is "Blogs 101", which goes over the basics of blogs - what they are, how to find them, and what they offer that mainstream media doesn't. The second class is "Blogging Basics", where I instruct folks on how to make a blog, write a blog, upload photos and video, and more.

The "Blogs 101" class is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4th, 10:00am to 11:30am.
The "Blogging Basics" class is scheduled for Tuesday, March 11th, 10:00am to 11:30am.

To sign up for one of these classes - or both of them, go to this same linked page and scroll down to "Blogs 101" and "Blogging Basics".

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Optimistic Malcontents

High hopes and low expectations. Acknowledging good things while lamenting the bad. Hollywood, rock 'n roll, and clips from original videos highlight this short take on cynical optimism...





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Also, I whipped up a podcast over at the Springfield Intruder, which you can check out HERE

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And finally, here's a video I found on YouTube that was done by visitors to Springfield. Includes a lunch at The 99 and trips to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Springfield Armory.




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Springfield's CityBlock Concerts

Summer is here, and it’s time for downtown Springfield to liven things up again this year with outdoor activities. Many folks know about the Thursday night concerts at Stearns Square by now, but probably less folks are aware of the daytime goings-on just across the street from Towers Square on Fridays.

SEE THE SPRINGFIELD INTRUDER STORY HERE



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O'Brien Clip on Devine & Dusty

While attending the campaign kick-off of Springfield City Council candidate Karen Powell last week, Tommy Devine and myself found ourselves the target of "Bax & O'Brien" co-host John O'Brien's good natured barbs. It was all in light-hearted fun, of course. After all, if you can't kid around in a friendly environment, then when can you goof around?

You can listen to a sound clip HERE.

And just for the record: I do not do 1-900 numbers. I go to the Mardi Gras!

I'm going to get you, John O'Brien.

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In other news...

While walking along Central Street (Spfld) a few days back, a young girl passed me one of those little "praise the Lord" pamphlets that religious fanatics think will make us see the Light. This one was actually disguised as a miniature comic book.


Inside, the comic warned me that the the Bible says, "the wages of sin is death," and that this death "is HELL!" - with the word "hell" being decorated with little flames.

I was unimpressed, however. But at least I took the time to snap a photo of it.

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And last but certainly not least, I have a brand-new weblog by the spiffy name of "The Springfield Intruder". You can check it out HERE. The SI is pretty much more of the same ol' crap I write, only instead of divying it up between the New England Rogue Journal and this weblog, I'm putting all my Springfield stuff at the Intruder.

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Powell Begins City Council Bid

Springfield City Council Candidate Karen Powell kicked off her campaign at the John Boyle O'Reilly Club in Springfield, MA, on Tuesday evening surrounded by friends and supporters, including Mayor Charles V. Ryan, various City Councilors of diverse repute, and local political pundit Tommy Devine. John O'Brien, of Bax and O'Brien fame, hosted the event and almost managed not to offend anyone in the crowd (sorry Ben Swan).

First up at the podium was 2006 Teacher of the Year Melinda Pellerin-Duck. Duck talked about Springfield's past troubles and her confidence in Powell's ability to make the right decisions in the future. She recalled their crusades together as they marched and packed the City Council chambers - much to the dismay of the councilors there. She said the citizens of Springfield could no longer afford complacency, and that those in Springfield's leadership needed to rebuild and not let down a public trust that has been betrayed so many times in the past.

Mayor Charles V. Ryan was next up to speak, and he talked about Powell's past efforts to make Springfield a better place to live. He said the Finance Control Board isn't going to be around forever and that the city needed people in office who could pick up where they leave off. He recalled first meeting the Powells when they ran their dog for mayor in 1999 (a protest statement against former Mayor Mike Albano). Ryan talked about his friendship with Karen Powell and his admiration for her determination to see things through get things done, and that it was that kind of drive that the City Council needed.

Karen Powell stepped up to the podium and spoke about her vision for Springfield, which she said has recovered quite a bit from past administrative misdeeds, but which still has a tough road ahead. She supports the work of the Springfield Finance Control, and believes it's important that their work continues. Powell has been active for years in fighting for what she believes are Springfield's best interests, and this campaign will be her first effort at making positive changes "from the inside [of government]."

For more on Karen Powell, check out this Reminder article. Below are some photographs I took while at the event.




Melinda Pellerin-Duck; John O'Brien; Mayor Charles V. Ryan

Karen Powell at the podium.

Karen Powell and supporter Kara Adams

Tommy Devine striking a pose.

That's me, making up for lost time in front of my computer with Kara Adams.

Karen and husband Bob Powell

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Simpsons: Missed it by a Hair(do)

[UPDATED: 6-18]
Well, I arrived at Court Square in Springfield, MA, at 2:20pm on Sunday to check out the Simpsons video shoot scheduled for 2:30pm that afternoon. Unfortunately, at the last minute they apparently decided to move up the time to before 2:00pm because of concerns about the weather. I looked around - it didn't exactly look like the "cast of thousands" as later headlined on the Masslive Simpsons blog. I asked around, and got a number of "about a couple hundred." The Republican later confirmed that count in their story on the event.

Oh well. As long as they got their video in.

People were still milling about and getting their Simpsons hairdos while I was there. And I got a neat photo of probably the ugliest bus I've ever seen in my life. Photos are below, and below them is a 5-minute video I took of the post-event.



Click on the photos to enlarge.














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Out & About in Springfield, MA

Okay, here we go! I made a brief video at the bottom of Longhill Street in Springfield, MA, yesterday. As I recorded it, I was twice distracted by folks who wanted to get my attention. The first person was a woman asking for directions. She got quickly annoyed with me, however, as I took my time explaining various turns while the cars behind her got backed up. So she just drove off. The second person was some chick shouting out "Hey, a camera! Hi!" - and she waved merrily as the car she was in sped by me, which was funny. See the video, below. I also wandered around Springfield and snapped a few photos (scroll below the video).




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Earlier in the day, I strolled down Chestnut Street and stopped to take a couple of photos of the stairway opposite the Museum of Fine Arts. The stairs lead from Chestnut Street down to Dwight Street, and were apparently meant to be used by folks trekking from the Museums to the Civic Center.



Unfortunately, the area is currently gated and locked. The banners inside that I saw were old and torn. (Nostalgia trip... ~*~`~..*..... I remember using the stairs as a teenager back in the `70s to get to the Civic Center for rock concerts.... I don't remember much about the rock concerts.... perhaps because of the drugs and alcohol....~*~`~..*)




I don't know if the stairway/park is always locked up or not, but every time I walk by it, it is. Why is that? I don't know, but I suspect the usual suspects: vagrants and drug addicts.



The picture above shows the lower part of the stairway/park, next to Dwight Street. There's a drained pool there at the center-left, and also a statue of a naked chick to the right.

It's a beautiful little urban park, and a it's shame that it doesn't get any use these days.

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Meanwhile, on another part of my travels, I spied these pigeons (above) roosting between the steel beams of the railroad underpass at Dwight Street, just before coming out onto the Lyman Street intersection. There's a fairly thick layer of bird yucky all along the walls, there, and also covering the lights.



Yeah, I know. Woop-dee-doo.

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And finally, below are just a couple of extra photos I had left over from my daily walks. The first one is of an old abandoned car on the lot next to the closed-up "Louie's Auto Body" on East Columbus Avenue. The photo below that is of a vagrant's house parked in the doorway of a vacant building at the corner of Main Street and Adams Street. (Both photos are about a month or so old.)




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Missing Persons in New England

VIDEO: Digging For Animals

A trip into the woodlands of Forest Park, in Springfield, MA, where I trekked about in search of Nature's little creatures. I dug into the swamps, lifted old logs, and rolled over stones in my quest for wildlife. There were plenty of salamanders to be found, but other animals would prove to be a bit more elusive...




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Missing Persons in New England

Springfield Clean Up Day

Springfield Cean Up Day 2007 was scheduled to commence on Saturday, April 28th, come rain or shine. Thankfully, we were spared the former. But as I drove to my appointed meeting place, a heavy fog draped the buildings of downtown, and I remember saying to myself, "come on, give us a break...."

- READ THE STORY HERE

Below is a short video of the day as we cleaned up sections of the South End.







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UPDATE ON CLEAN UP RESULTS:
(info from Keep Springfield Beautiful)

Recap of the Great American Clean Up on April 28th:

- 47.25 tons of miscellaneous trash picked up by the DPW.
- 2.83 tons of televisions and monitors.
- 4.5 tons of metal to be recycled by Jos. Freedman.
- 4.5 tons of tires brought to Jos. Freedman dumpsters for recycling.
- 108 tons of bulk waste in the Waste Management dumpsters.
- 3.42 tons of litter collected by the Parks Department.

Grand Total - 170.5 tons (341,000 lbs) of trash removed from the streets and vacant lots of Springfield on Saturday, 4/28/07 (reaching the target).


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Trash Fee Bill: English Speakers Only

Well, I received my trash fee bill a couple of weeks back and I've finally taken the time to give it a good look before signing over my money to the City of Springfield. The instant I examined the notice, however, I found myself shocked - stupefied beyond all comprehension, actually - by the fact that the bill came in a mere single language - ENGLISH!

Of all the insensitivities!

Was this some terrible plot on the part of the City government? Some inexcusable administrative blunder? How could this have escaped the leering gaze of our community PC watchdogs? Perhaps, I pondered then, my Latino and Vietnamese neighbors received their bills in their native languages? (But no. I later found that a single line located at the top of the notice, which appeared in three languages - Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian - actually instructed non-English speakers to get an translator, of all things.Thanks a lot!)

The truth to this insulting omission, I suspected, was something far more mundane than some evil conspiracy: Budgetary constraints. Nowadays, however, in our "progressive" and ethnically sensitive society here in the hinterlands of Western Massachusetts, one should reasonably expect to see all our government correspondence delivered to us in every single language in the Western World, as well as Vietnamese, Laotian, Arabic, and Somali. Expenses be damned! Doing anything less would merely display our Western-chauvinistic, Euro-centric Imperialist bias.

How dare we!

What happened, by the way, to the brightly colored bill - like the one we received the first time? My new bill was on plain white paper. Sheesh. I did think the new name for our city service, "City Haulers," was pretty catchy, though. We should get a roller derby team named after them!



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Missing Persons in New England

"Street-People.com" Coming to Springfield

So I fired up my computer this morning and I found this e-mail from the folks of "Street-People.com". It's from their Media Coordinator, Wayne Andrews, who just wanted to let me know that Street-People.com representatives are coming to Springfield during the month of April.

What the hell is "Street-People.com"? Well, in the press release that was included in the e-mail, they say they are the "online home of the homeless," and that they travel the country talking with street folks and featuring them on their website. So now, apparently, it's Springfield's turn. I surfed on over to their website looking for some updated news. There they had a "Street People Invade New England" story where they mention that they are scheduled to make an appearance on the "Bax & O'Brien Show" on April 20th (8:05am). So I'd look for them to be roaming our streets at about that time.

As for the website itself, it has a blog style to it, with updates from folks chatting with the vagrants they've met up with. The most recent post was for March 4, 2007. And naturally, they have a "PayPal" donation button there. I was tempted to donate 50 cents, but then I figured that - like all good vagrants - I would only be encouraging the website to spam my inbox begging for more.

They also mentioned in the press release that the group had been on "Good Morning America," which led me to believe, of course, that they had actually been guests on the nationally broadcast morning show. This turned out to not be the case. At the site, I clicked on the "Good Morning America" link to find that they had simply put up posters and signs around an outdoor stage area where the GMA folks were prepping a broadcast featuring Justin Timberlake. Oh well... some kind of exposure is better than none, I guess.

Anyway, it was good to see from their GMA post that Springfield is not the only city plagued by an oftentimes overzealous population of vagrants: "We showed up at 4:15 a.m. and there were already a hundred or so people standing in front of the stage, though a good portion of people were still out and drinking from the night before. And of course there were a couple of street-people hanging around, asking for cigarettes, change, etc. You can't sling a dead cat in this town without hitting a homeless person...unless you're actually looking for one and then you can't find them. They're sneaky that way."

The website was actually created by two office workers from Memphis, Tennessee, and was meant to add a little satire to the subject of street people, while at the same time getting word out about the "social phenomenon" of homelessness. The press release went on to say, "Being panhandled is something everyone that lives in a city understands. Our site is an outlet for that part of our culture showing that some people really need aid and others are just scam artists."

Well, I know all about the scam artists. In the City of Springfield, fifty cents won't buy you a cup of coffee - but it will get you accosted by the folks I sometimes refer to as "the roaming residents" of Springfield.

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Missing Persons in New England

Of False Alarms & The Litter Bug

Wednesday morning, the sound of sirens alerted me to the possibility that something was a-miss in my neighborhood. Firetrucks sped onto my street, and - what do ya know? - parked just a few houses down from my house. Quickly, I pulled on my sneakers, grabbed my camera, and ran out the door...





Fortunately (or unfortunately, if I were a member of the paparazzi), the call turned out to be a false alarm. The call had been for the white house, seen above. By the time I got there, the firemen and police at the scene were already relaxed and chatting. I asked one fireman if it was a false alarm, and he nodded and said "yeah."


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Meanwhile, Springfield's saga with overflowing dumpsters continues. I could take photographs of illegal dumping and overflowing trash bins every day and never have a problem seeking out subjects. It is not that the dumpsters are occasionally overfilled and I just happen to get opportunistic photographs. The dumpsters in my 'hood are almost always overflowing just a couple of weeks or so after being emptied. And they stay overflowed for another week or two thereafter. The one pictured below is on Central Street, just up the road from the neighborhood's worst litter offender, the Northern Heights apartments. I could take a picture of this same dumpster each month, and it would look the same each time.



Overflowing dumpsters are a nag of mine because it leads to scenes like the one below. That littered lot is the result of weeks of nearby dumpsters and trash bins being left over-filled, where the loose trash on top just blows around to the neighboring streets and yards. Practically every day I have to police my yard for trash blowing in from neighboring bins and dumpsters - primarily the ones being stuffed over-full in the parking lot of the Northern Heights apartment complex on Central Street.



The dumpsters in Springfield need to be emptied when they are full, not when some arbitrarily set pick-up time comes along. Repeat violators of the city's litter ordinances need to be fined. The dumpster companies or property owners need to be told that their dumpsters must not be filled beyond the brim of their containers - period. And if they are repeatedly overfilled, then fine the company or property owner. And fine them for every housing unit that uses the dumpster. So if an apartment complex has 20 units, we fine the company or owner $500 x 20 = $10,000.

That's what I would do, anyway. But I've been told I'm a meanie when it comes to ordinance violators. Either that or my expectations of city ordinance enforcement - you know, the laws the city wrote, for whatever reason - are just entirely unrealistic, gosh darn it. ("We can't do that..." [sob])

I think if the City took such strong action in these matters, the mass violations would end immediately. We need to send a clear and strong message to trash container providers and/or property owners: If you do business in Springfield, or utilize trash containers or dumpsters on your property, then you will do so responsibly. If the City does not take such action - if we refuse to crack down on repeated trash offenders - then any efforts to reduce the immense litter problem in this city will only have temporary, short-term results. And the massive illegal trash dumping and disregard for littering in our communities will continue.

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Springfield's Clean-up Day is slated for Saturday, April 28. I tried a few months back to get involved with the "Keep Springfield Beautiful" group that's organizing trash pickups throughout the city, but their meetings were on weeknights, when I'm working, so I was unable to attend them. Recently, I called to inquire about joining up, but all I got was their voicemail. I left a message, but they haven't got back to me yet. In any event, from reading their website, it looks as if they're looking for groups of people to sign up, as opposed to individuals. Oh well. If anything else, I can just grab a couple of trash bags on my own and walk down my street. They'll fill up quick enough.

I'll send you'all a picture!


UPDATE! I recently received an invite to join up with the "Keep Springfield Beautiful" folks. That's great news! I even get a T-shirt and a free lunch out of deal, too. (I wonder how many homeless people will be helping out?)

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Missing Persons in New England

A Visit to 52 Westminster Street

Last week, Jim Boone, President of the Springfield Preservation Trust (SPT), invited me to come along on a tour of the house at 52 Westminster Street, in Springfield, Massachusetts. The visit was scheduled for Saturday, April 7th, at 1:00pm, and our tour was to be hosted by the Rev. Maxine Moore, the Paster of St. Mark Methodist Episcopal Church, which is the the owner of the 52 Westminster property.

I arrived shortly before 1:00pm, and I was met there by Jim Boone. Soon afterward, about a half dozen other members of the Trust arrived to join us. While we waited for our host to arrive, we talked and snapped pictures, and we also took a little stroll around the exterior of the property.

And so 1:00pm drifted by...

A couple of neighbors noticed us at the property and stopped by to talk with us. Both were entirely uninterested in any restoration of the old house. Their sentiment is entirely understandable - who would want to walk out each day to be greeted by such a neglected and blighted property? Still, the SPT was there to gather information about the house's interior, and also to urge the church to either sell the property or take action to renovate it.

1:15pm went by....

The house at 52 Westminster had been used as a church for much of its history. Jim showed me a photograph of the house from the 1930s, back when it was in fine condition. It's a shame that owners of such properties - with such rich histories - feel the need to let them fall into such a dire state of disrepair.

1:20pm went by....

The neighbors complained that drug dealers often park in front of the property to sell their drugs, and that drug users will use the back-side porch to do their drugs. The neighbors said they have repeatedly called the police on such occasions, and the only way they felt that such activities would stop is with the demolition of the old house. The property is actually on the City's list of buildings targeted to be brought down. So the clock is ticking on this small piece of Springfield's history.

1:30pm came along - but unfortunately, our host did not.

Jim Boone received a call on his cell phone. It was Bill Devlin, an SPT member, who had just had a conversation with the Reverend Moore: Who are all those people [attending the tour]? she had asked him. (Bill had called to inquire about her whereabouts, mentioning that a lot of folks were waiting.) Unfortunately, the Reverend said she had just plum forgotten all about our visit, and she wasn't dressed yet, and she hadn't checked with the trustees of the church to OK our tour of the house, and... well, you get the picture. There would be no tour.

Oh well. Below are some photographs I took of the property while we waited for our no-show host. And at the bottom is a brief video tour of 52 Westminster Street. You can also check out a video done by Joseph Fountain last month at the site. Mr. Fountain is an interested buyer, but the church, unfortunately, has not returned his calls.

rear view of the house

side-rear view

front view



St. Mark Church (owners of 52 Westminster)




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Missing Persons in New England

Outside The Springfield Museums

A quick tour of the Springfield Museums, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield is the home of The Dr. Seuss Museum, The Seymour Planetarium (which is "the oldest American-built planetarium in the world"), and The Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located nearby the Museums, on East Columbus Avenue, next to Rt91 North.

Approaching from State Street, a stroll around the inner courtyard (detouring to see the Dr. Seuss Memorial), and finishing at the Museums' front entrance on Edwards Street.

The Springfield Museums will be free for Springfield residents beginning May 1st, 2007. Visit the Museums website here.




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Missing Persons in New England

Flynn Talks Crime - Collins Gets Time

March 30, 2007.

After a scheduled thirty minute "speak out" of citizens and the reading of the minutes, the public meeting of the Springfield Finance Control Board began with a brief discussion of city affairs. Springfield Police Commissioner Edward Flynn had been scheduled to speak first, but he was a bit tardy for his appearance there - perhaps because of his interview with Urban Compass blogger Heather Brandon concerning the ridiculously stupid letters to the editor that appeared in that day's (Friday) Springfield Republican, regarding a shoot-out police had gotten into with a violent criminal.



Mayor Ryan convenes the FCB meeting - 3/30/07

Upon his arrival, Flynn began his testimony before the Board with a comparison of crime statistics from 2006 and 2005. As most interested people already know, the stats include the following information: For the year 2006, murder was down 17%; Robbery was down 12%; and aggravated assaults were down 19%.

Flynn went on to say that of the aggravated assaults, they (the police) believed that approximately 40% of those reported were the result of domestic violence, and that a further "large number" involved persons already known to each other (non-domestic). He said about one-quarter to one-third of reported assaults were deemed to be by a stranger.

On reported rapes in the city, Flynn estimated that 90% of these crimes involved persons already known to each other, or were the result of prostitution or other accompanying crimes. (This is probably not a big surprise.)

Commissioner Flynn also took the time to discuss a new plan the Department had been working on. The plan would have newly released inmates (from area jails) visiting Police Headquarters (on Pearl Street) upon their arrival in Springfield. There, they would be introduced at the Headquarters' roll call, where they would have the opportunity to meet with the officers. The plan would of course have the dual purpose of allowing the officers themselves to have a good look at any potential repeat offender. Personally, I thought the idea was pretty good - and as a good citizen, a bit amusing, too. ("Welcome home, John. Come on over and meet the boys. We're here to "help" you if you should happen to lose your way again...")


Police Commissioner Flynn speaks - 3/30/07

Flynn also discussed the subject of robbery in the city. He asked the Board - and the public - not to read too much into wintertime statistics, since historically, incidents of robbery tend to go up in winter because of the longer periods of darkness and the greater ease of concealing weapons due to the wearing of heavier clothing.


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For an inaugural "speak-out" event, this FCB meeting turned out to be somewhat of a dud as far as attendance goes. Only five people showed up to speak, and those people were still only allowed 3 minutes to talk. One of those speakers, though, was regular-attendee Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association.

Collins fit a lot of information into his brief three minute speech to the Board. His first two topics concerned public employee and SEA business, and he then went on to city business. He discussed the need for Springfield to find new sources of revenue. He said the city should support Deval Patrick's call for cities to have the ability to raise their own revenue, other than property tax, which would then allow Springfield to take advantage of the very large influx of young persons who frequent the city on weekends by introducing city taxes on beverages and meals. He went on to discuss the need for allowing an increase in property tax rates (beyond prop 2.5) for those property owners living outside of Springfield (property investors) via home rule legislation from the State.

The Urban Compass blog has the complete text of Collins' speak-out - which I thought was pretty entertaining and informative, as well as the text of the other speakers who showed up to have their voices heard.

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Missing Persons in New England