Rebutting "AdvanceMattapan: The (Under)Development of Mattapan"

A few years ago the Mattapan Environmental Action Network clearly agreed with AdvanceMattapan's critique of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the (now defunct) Mattapan Community Development Corporation (MCDC). It was all too easy then. 

The BRA’s big show in Mattapan—namely, the Mattapan Economic Development Initiative (MEDI)—had brought a great deal of hope that the City of Boston was ready to make Mattapan a priority.  Perhaps this was true, once upon a time.

Problem was, the BRA took far too many cues from the (now defunct?) MCDC; the primary one being, resurrecting a Main Streets initiative in Mattapan.  Since Mattapan has two competing 'main streets,' this meant choosing between Morton Village and Mattapan Square—reifying a di/vision antithetical to a "united" Mattapan.  It also meant, apparently, that the BRA no longer had a need for the MEDI’s Community Working Group, which dissolved as the Mattapan Square Main Streets initiative took hold.

While the Mattapan Square Main Streets initiative is still ‘in the air,’ it’s not at all clear how its activities constitute a “driving force in rejuvenating the communities [sic] passion in transforming Mattapan square into a thriving and robust commercial district” (http://www.mattapansquaremainstreets.org/).  

All to say, Mattapan Environmental Action Network is less than impressed that Mattapan Square Main Streets will, actually, bring Mattapan Square “into the 21^st century” (ibid).  Mattapan Square property owners have not 'greened' their buildings, for example; and WiFi hotspots are nowhere to be found there.

Mattapan Environmental Action Network calls upon AdvanceMattapan for programming related to dis/covering why Mattapan doesn't see developments comparable to other Boston neighborhoods. After years of watching Mattapan
residents resist change, we're ready for a 'sea change.' 

Last night's MBTA Public Information Meeting regarding its proposed Blue Hill Ave Station construction was an eye-opener--about which we'll have more to say in the next blogpost.

Dear "Dr." James David Manning... A.K.A. Dr. #HomoDemons | This @WeekInB...

If you're wondering what prompted this commentary by satirist, Elon James White, it is this.  

This raises so my questions; the most troubling being how little agency pastor Manning ascribes to Black men in America.  He drools self-contempt; so much so, it suggests he's speaking more from the vantage point of his own experience.  

More to come.  

The Zimmerman's Relevance: Criminal Justice Matters

A young American went on a candy run in a quiet, unassuming 'gated community' called "The Retreat at Twin Lakes." It was a little too unassuming, since Trayvon Benjamin Martin never made it home.  

See, like most American 'invincibles,' Trayvon wasn't paying attention to his surroundings until it was far too late.  Instead, he was walking to the store, talking via cell to a close friend, and looking forward to a basketball game upon his return. 

Trayvon was not the "young punk" George Zimmerman thought him to be--one of those who "always get away."  Unfortunately Trayvon was himself, far too unassuming; given the lived experience of most young Black men [and women] in urban America. 

'Cause by his own admission, George Zimmerman had been stalking Trayvon for several minutes before, in his words, Trayvon started trying to get away from him. 

It would take a few minutes more, before Trayvon fully realized Zimmerman was, in fact, following him.  And since the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Courts of Florida tried George Michael Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Benjamin Martin this much, at least, was established beyond all reasonable doubt. None of the 911 transcipts from that night suggested anything differently: a 29 year-old Zimmerman stalked, chased, and then shot, dead, a 16 year old American youth in his own neighborhood--a 'so-called' "gated community," no less.   

Dwell on that, for now; and return here, from time to time, if you're interested in following this train of thought; and how it might tie to the links below.

• indictment of Angela Corey 
• Sensible Sue's Rheto
• Nov2013.911 

Meh! Tuning N2 the Mayoral Race

The 'choice' for Mayor of Boston comes down to this: Marty Walsh or John Connolly.  While Walsh has the backing (and endorsements) of the Democratic Party establishment, Connolly still has sufficient 'juice' to wage a viable contest for the Mayor's Office.  

So both men have followed traditional paths to office within the Democratic Party. Here and now, this leaves us with a mayoral race that is culturally-coded as a class-based tension between those who rose through the ranks, however brief (as in the case of Marty Walsh) and those bred to hold office (e.g., John Connolly).  

Even though both men have been public officials for years now, neither are forwarding their voting records as a basis for comparison. Marty Walsh has been a State Representative  (Dorchester) since 1997; and has sponsored legislation and taken key votes that might give Boston voters some insight on how he'd govern the City as its Mayor.  

John Connolly has served as a Boston City Councillor-at-Large since 2007.  He has taken on two committee assignments that should be of interest to Boston voters: Education, the one he's made the linchpin of his campaign; Environment and Health, the one he's relying on to paint himself 'green.' 

(See upcoming post cautioning against political 'green-washing' campaigns hurt movements to build civic engagement capacity overtime.) 

Yet voters are basically expected to (quite literally) overlook the track records of candidates Walsh and Connolly in favor of the implicit frame of class-based warfare.  Once Marty Walsh and John Connolly are successfully cast as the working-class hero versus the hero of political elites, voters can simply prefer one or the other on that basis.  

So which one will I choose?  Meh!

What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!

"I had no idea that there was a pipeline out here;

I mean literally, right at the corner of the 

subdivision...supposed to be a 20-inch

pipeline runs from Illinois to Texas.

 I don't know. " 

Mayflower, AR Resident  

This comment captures what most exasperates me about how the oil and gas industries do business.  More often than not, We the People have no say about decisions made in quiet rooms, precisely because we're kept in the dark; even when our very lives are at stake.

The families who once lived in this Mayflower, Arkansas subdivision never knew their children played atop a pipeline bearing a toxic soup of oil sands and chemicals compounds. Without doubt, they never would have known if the 30 year old pipeline had not ruptured--spilling its Canadian Wabasca Heavy Crude; coating backyards, drive ways, and streets in oil, and worse. 

ExxonMobil probably did there, what it's trying to do here: it put an old pipeline to new uses and didn't ask about potential consequences.  

It's time We ask what pipelines are coursing through our communities? And what are they carrying? 

Most people I've talked to didn't know ExxonMobil is moving towards piping Canadian heavy crude (aka "tar sands") through New England as well.  

Many of us are mobilizing to keep New England tar sands free.  Visit 350MA.org or 350NE to find an action near you.  

At minimum, We can demand a Presidential permit be required as is the case with the KeystoneXL pipeline. This would trigger the State Department's involvement and an environmental impact study before ExxonMobil could use this pipeline to ship tar sands.  It's the least We can do.

Rally to Stop #TarSandsNE Pipeline

The Mattapan Action Network is joining with @350NewEngland's Stop the #TarSandsNE Pipeline Action.  (See previous post to see why.)

Yesterday, though few, we took a stand at one of our neighborhood ExxonMobil stations, in solidarity with a statewide action coordinated through 350NewEngland to raise awareness about ExxonMobil's plans to bring tar sands oil into the Northeast region.

At minimum, ExxonMobil should not be able to pipeline oil sands through our communities without even an environmental impact study on the harm it might cause. 

BE #IdleNoMore!  Follow us @MattapanAction or use #TarSandsNE to track the issue.  Please consider the following action steps: 1. sign 350NewEngland's Pledge of Resistance; 2. ask your elected US Representative to request Pres. Obama require a Presidential permit for this pipeline; and 3. join the @350MA TarSands Pipeline Action Campaign. 

Never hesitate to contact your elected representatives.  It's especially urgent that you contact US Senators--John Kerry and Elizabeth Warren. 

Calling Sen. Kerry is particular key since he's soon to become Secretary of State. (The US State Dept. conducts the Presidential permitting process related to pipelines crossing US borders.)  You can even call his office now: 617.565.8519 or 202.224.2742.  Sen. Warren's office needs to hear it directly from you as well: 617.565.3170 or 202.224.4543.  

US Rep. Ed Markey sits on two of the House's key committees related to oil and gas: the Energy and Commerce Committee; and its Committee on Natural Resources.  

Contact all of them over the next week. In all cases, ASK her or him to request a Presidential permit for the project. 

(Right now, ExxonMobil's trying to exploit a use permit associated with an existing pipeline in order to channel tar sands oil through the northeast region.  A Presidential permit would trigger an environmental impact review that its current use permit does not require.)

BE #IdleNoMore!  Engage. Email us: MattapanAction@gmail.com if you'd like to join an #EnvironmentalJustice meetUp to soon come.   Use #EJmeetUp and #TarSandsNE to track the issue on Twitter.

Let's Be TarSands Free! No Pipeline

Stop the #TarSandsNE Pipeline Action

You've probably seen one of ExxonMobil's commercials promoting oil sands production. Typically they rely on the image of a professional person-of-color to sell us on the idea that oil sands production means good jobs for more Americans.

ExxonMobil doesn't want to talk about how oil sands extraction is hastening the environmental degradation of Earth--our only home.  How?  

First, by strip-mining the planet's only remaining ancient boreal forests--forests so dense they can absorb GHG-emissions. Obviously as these ancient forests disappear so will their capacity to slow our acceleration toward climate catastrophe.

Second, the process of extracting oil sands aka "tar sands" is itself toxic--meaning, it's laden with heavy metals, sulfur, carcinogens and neurotoxins that are harmful to human health. To make matters worse, toxic chemical compounds are added so 'the wheat' (bitumen--embedded petroleum deposits) can be separated from 'the chaff' (rock, stone, sand encasing it).  

The waste water from these toxic chemical processes are then stored in #ToxicPools; cause like other #DirtyEnergy producers, ExxonMobil hasn't figured out how to dispose of their waste in ways that don't endanger human health.  

There is another aspect of the press for oil sands that ExxonMobil doesn't want to talk about, however.  It would be too costly to build refineries in Canada to process oil sands--described as "the dirtiest oil there is."  So ExxonMobil wants to send tar sands through existing pipelines--pipelines that leak, spilling its toxic brew of oil and chemical into aquifers, rivers, streams, farmlands, etc.

It is because of this third step in the chain that Mattapan Action is rising up in protest.  We'll join @350NewEngland's Stop the TarSandsNE Pipeline Action--taking a stand at the ExxonMobil station at the intersection of Morton and Blue Hill Ave.  

During the morning and evening rush hours on 23 Janurary we'll be there to lend our voice of opposition--asking others to join us in contacting all their elected representatives. At minimum, ExxonMobil should not be able to pipeline oil sands through our communities without even an environmental impact study on the harm it might cause.    

Even if you can't join us at Morton & Blue on the 23rd, you can do the following: 1. sign @350NewEngland's Pledge of Resistance; 2. ask your elected representatives to request Pres. Obama require a Presidential permit for this pipeline; and 3. join the @350MA TarSands Pipeline Campaign. 

Hope to see you next Wednesday.