The Boston Globe - 19.08.2019

MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2019 The Boston Globe Opinion A

By Mike Ross

W

hen a power

blackout hit New York

City last month, some

courageous citizens

took it upon themselves

to direct traffic at cross streets for

hours at a time. When government

resources falter, it’s only natural for

support to come from private citizens.

That’s OK for the short term, but not

forever. Here in Boston, private dollars

are going toward transportation

services that should be government’s

responsibility.

Traffic is so bad in downtown

Boston that a group of businesses, led

by the Massachusetts Convention

Center Authority, is ferrying

commuters from North Station to the

Seaport along the water rather than

subject them to the mile-plus snarl of

paralyzed gridlock. The ICA pays for a

private ferry to bring its visitors just

several thousand feet across the harbor

to its East Boston gallery. And now a

restaurant and the Encore casino are

bringing customers, but not the general

public, to and from their doors along

the water.

In some ways, this hodgepodge of

waterway activity is encouraging.

Finally, commuters are turning toward

the water and away from the roadway.

In communities like Hingham and

Hull, riders have voted with their feet

to get out of their cars and into these

boats. In Charlestown, there’s a

commuting ferry every 15 minutes. But

elsewhere — in Lynn, Quincy, and East

Boston — ferries either don’t exist or do

so most fleetingly. It’s time for these

disparate water routes to find order,

resources, and leadership.

Commuter ferries are nothing new

to the region. Beginning in 1631, the

Winnisimmet Ferry carried passengers

from what is now known as Chelsea to

Boston’s North End. It was the oldest

ferry in the country and operated until

1917.

Today, ferries run regularly

throughout the harbor, now with more

routes than ever before. Hingham and

Hull commuter boats are served by the

MBTA and run year-round, with

frequent trips throughout commuting

hours (although a ferry from Hull ran

aground off Long Island on Friday).

These sea routes have been game-

changers for both communities, with

realtors reporting that Higham home

buyers want to move closer to the

shipyard, and Hull’s own real estate

market heating up.

When commuters take to the water,

the benefits go well beyond a scenic

ride that is faster than the roadway.

The MBTA claims 1.3 million ferry

riders per year. Fewer cars on the

highway and bodies on trains frees up

commuting options for the rest of us.

Thankfully, people are working to

bring more resources to our waterways.

Boston Harbor Now has completed a

study of water transportation in and

around the harbor, and has made two

main recommendations. Both are

smart. One calls for an inner-harbor

connector, a route that ping-pongs

from Charlestown, East Boston, Long

Wharf, and Fan Pier, providing

continuous service for multiple dense

neighborhoods along the water. The

other would transport commuters

south of the city with pickups in Quincy

and Dorchester. The study lacks a third

recommendation that would solidify

North Shore access — perhaps by

combining the existing Salem ferry,

which is also supported through

weekend tourist activities, with Lynn’s

ongoing efforts for a commuter ferry of

its own.

On several occasions this summer I

paid the $15 fare to take the Water Taxi

from East Boston to the Seaport to

meet my partner for dinner. It was a

glorious ride, and I thought to myself

how lucky I am to live here. But

transporting across the harbor whether

for work or for play shouldn’t be

limited to only those with access or

money — it should be a public good

available to us all.

Mike Ross is an attorney at Prince

Lobel. Partners at the firm have

represented MassDOT and the MBTA.

Boston Harbor can give us

a way out of gridlock

Thehodgepodge

ofwaterwayactivity

isencouraging.

GLOBE STAFF; ADOBE

Inbox

Lawmakers,followlead

ofcitiesandtowns

onreducingwaste

Janelle Nanos’s “Low waste for consumers, high hopes for

entrepreneurs” (Page A1, Aug. 13) should be required read-

ing for Massachusetts legislators, who could be seizing their

own opportunities to help us reduce waste in our state.

For example, lawmakers could update the bottle bill —

the successful container deposit law — so that we can more

easily and effectively recycle and reuse more beverage con-

tainers. They could follow the lead of more than 100 cities

and towns in the Commonwealth and ban single-use plastic

grocery bags, instead of overriding these local bans (as a

committee in the Legislature recently recommended).

They could ban polystyrene foam cups and take-out con-

tainers at restaurants (what most people think of as Styro-

foam), a step we should have taken years ago, and one that

two-dozen cities and towns now have taken.

They could pass right-to-repair legislation to make it

easier for us to repair our phones and other products, so

that we don’t have to buy (and throw away) so many new

ones.

On a planet with finite resources, we have a surplus of

ideas on how to live our lives in ways that waste less and

keep our air, water, and other resources clean. Our lawmak-

ers should embrace these ideas, and follow the lead of the

people of Massachusetts who are ready to reduce, repair, re-

use, and recycle our way out of the waste crisis.

JANET S. DOMENITZ

Executive director

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group

and MassPIRG Education Fund

Boston

I greatly appreciate the BostonGlobe.com article on food in-

security, “Cash-strapped students are skipping meals at col-

leges” (Aug. 9), which notes the severity of this issue. You

cite statistics suggesting that this rampant problem reaches

nearly half of students nationwide.

As part of Challah for Hunger’s national advocacy cam-

paign, the Campus Hunger Project, I am an advocate, push-

ing for a plan at Clark University to provide food-insecure

students with five meals a week. However, I have seen that

this issue is widespread. More than half of students nation-

wide get some sort of support, and even that is not always

enough.

Thisissueisgrowing,butthere’simportanceinone

step, one talk, one e-mail. Any effort one makes can help

end food insecurity. Talk to your student government repre-

sentatives; their job is to represent your voice and concerns.

Reach out to your alma mater’s dean; he or she needs to be

aware of such issues. Do you have a child in college? Have

them e-mail the president of their college. Each voice and

every contact added to this outreach is pertinent to the ter-

mination of food insecurity.

MONICA SAGER

Worcester

Apushforall-pointsadvocacytoend

hungeramongcollegestudents

As a mom, and a state legislator, I am cautiously optimistic

about the opportunity presented by the impending state

takeover of Providence schools. However, it is key for the

success of our schools and our communities that students

be at the center of any process. Students and families must

have seats at every decision-making table.

The process is absolutely critical. As we involve more

people in our schools, and prioritize our students, the in-

creased information to the community and participation in

school governance will support more successful schools.

From listening to students, other families, teachers, and

administrators, I know we should also prioritize providing

cultural competence and anti-racism training and support

for teachers and staff in all our schools; hiring more coun-

selors to support our students; instituting a team-teaching

or teachers’ aide model in our classrooms; and ensuring

universal access to high-quality, multicultural curriculum.

There is enough work to do to make room for everyone

at the table, and students and families must have a say in

school decisions.

REBECCA KISLAK

State representative

District 4

Providence

Students’andfamilies’voicesarekey

torevampingProvidenceschools

The proposed weakening of the Endangered Species Act is

yet another example of the arrogance and willful ignorance

shown by the Trump administration in failing to under-

stand or acknowledge our place on this planet and our re-

sponsibility to care for all its inhabitants (“Rules that help

save species weakened,” Page A1, Aug. 13).

As one of myriad species residing temporarily in this

space in the universe, we are the only one that has succeed-

ed in fouling it for the others. We are surely the only one ca-

pable of reversing some of this damage and, hopefully, stav-

ing off a looming environmental catastrophe. When will we

ever learn?

KENNETH STAMPFER

Belmont

Wehavetobecaretakersofthis

planet’sinhabitants

abcde

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Operations

By James Alan Fox

W

hy is it that so many
newsarticlesandopinion
pieces indicate that there
are hundreds of mass
shootings each year in the
United States, and then go on to cite only
examples of mass killings? Do they want to
createmasshysteria?
The hundreds of episodes contained in
the Gun Violence Archive are frequently
invoked to try to characterize a horrific
thing (such as the El Paso and Dayton
massacres) as commonplace, happening at
an alarming rate of about one a day. But by
their definition of mass shootings (four or
more victims shot), only one-quarter involve
multiple fatalities and only 7 percent reach
the threshold of a mass killing (at least four
victim fatalities). The mass shootings listed
in the Gun Violence Archive involve an
average of just over one fatality, which
sometimes includes the assailant.
According to the mass-killing database
compiled by the Associated Press, USA
Today, and Northeastern University, there
are about two-dozen mass shootings each
year in which four or more victims are
killed. Other than a spike in mass killings in
public spaces over the past couple of years,
the incidence has remained relatively flat
since at least the mid-2000s.
Of course, shootings resulting in a large
number of injuries are not inconsequential,
and it is worthwhile that these data have
been tracked since 2013. However, they
should not be confused with shooting sprees
in which large numbers of victims lose their
lives. It is like mixing data on highway
accidents with figures on highway deaths.
In this climate of fear, where active
shooters are seen as the modern-day

boogeyman, imprecise reporting can easily

mislead the public, inadvertently creating

panic and prompting poorly conceived policy

responses. A headline this week in a

California daily, for example, asserted that

mass shootings had nearly tripled since

2000, resting on the authority of FBI

research.

That FBI research, however, concerned

active-shooter events in which a gunman had

designs on killing large

numbers of people, whether or

not successful. In fact, most of

the time, the shooters failed to

realize their goal. In one-

quarter of these episodes, no

one was killed, and sometimes

no one was even injured. Last

year, word spread like rapid-

fire when an active shooter was

reported at YouTube

headquarters in San Bruno,

Calif. By the time the satellite

trucks and television

helicopters had left the scene

and cable news channels had

turned to other issues of the

day, the only one killed was the 38-year-old

assailant, by her own hand.

More important, the evidence of an

increase that has been cited countless times

is deeply flawed by the inability of finding

older cases through open-source news

searches. For example, the FBI data indicate

that back in 2000, there was but one person

in the entire United States who picked up a

gun with the intention of slaughtering

innocents. Only one? This is hardly plausible

in a population that was then nearly 300

million people, with more than 300 million

guns. More likely, those low-level cases with

limited casualties were never reported in

newspapers, nor were there social media

sites to spread the word.

As evidence that the trend is little more

than a function of data recall, consider the

change in the FBI’s nonfatal active-shooter

events. From 2000 through 2003, where the

data were gathered retrospectively, 9

percent of active shooters killed no one.

From 2014 through 2017, where the cases

were being identified as they occurred,

aided by the wealth of online news outlets

and social media, 27

percent of active shooters

failed to kill anyone. Either

active shooters of recent

vintage are not nearly as

skilled in marksmanship

as their predecessors, or

the FBI data collection

efforts were not able to

find many of the nonfatal

episodes going way back in

time.

Without a doubt,

massacres like those that

took place in El Paso and

Dayton earlier this month

are tragic, having wide-

ranging impacts in terms of the nation’s

collective sense of safety and security.

Although rare, such large-scale mass killings

are terrifying, since they can happen to

anyone, at any time, and at any place. It is

important, however, not to push those fears

beyond reasonable limits by associating

these extreme and heavily covered events

with data claims based on incidents of a very

different nature.

James Alan Fox is a professor of

criminology, law, and public policy at

Northeastern University and coauthor of

“Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and

Mass Murder.”

Mass shootings vs. mass killings

According

tothemass-killingdatabase

compiledbythe

AssociatedPress,USAToday,

andNortheasternUniversity,

thereareabout

24

massshootingseachyear

inwhichfourormore

victimsarekilled.

Otherthanaspikeinmass

killingsinpublicsettings

overthepastcoupleof

years,theincidencehas

remainedrelativelyflat

sinceatleastthe

mid-2000s.

Renée Loth’s column “Summer sensations” (Opinion, Aug.

16) was a refreshing and delightful picture of the world be-

fore us now — a reminder to take the time to look at, listen

to, and smell the beauty around us, this amazing gift from

nature, “sheer liberation” from the turmoil in our world.

Please print more columns like this to give us all a respite

from today’s news.

DEBBIE SWENSON

Chatham

Summertime,andthereadingiseasy