PAX Centurion - March / April 2015

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • March/April 2015 • Page 13 High hypocrisy Liberalism once again exposes itself in Newton: Homeless OK for Boston – but not for La-la land! F ORANYONEWHO NEEDSAN EDUCATIONABOUT THE TRUE NATURE OF LIBERALISM, I encourage you to read the March 2015 issue of Boston magazine. (Better yet, simply search “Boston Magazine” “Affordable housing” and “New- ton.”) There’s an excellent story by Lauren Gibbons Paul in this issue that exposes the hypocrisy of liberalism in all of its glory. In a nutshell, a closed firehouse in theWaban section of New- ton…Wait a minute! – let me quote verbatim from Boston magazine excerpts , that way, I can’t be accused of “intolerance” by the hand- wringing, guilt-ridden, “progressive liberals” (what an oxymoron!): Italicized comments are from Boston magazine, bold and highlight- ing are added by yours truly for emphasis, and editorial commentary is noted (ED.) as follows: “On the western end of Beacon St., a block from Newton-Welles- ley hospital, sits a charming 1917 brick firehouse…decommissioned …several decades ago, the building marks the entrance to Waban, one of the most affluent of Newton’s 13 villages… where home prices top $2 million and incomes and education levels rank among the na- tion’s highest… “Newton is a reliable redoubt of philanthropy and progressive politics ( ED: there’s that word again, we’re about to see just how “progressive” progressives REALLY are) – in 2012, an overwhelming 71 percent of the city voted for Barack Obama … and two-thirds voted for Elizabeth Warren. In 2013, when the idea for converting the old ( ED.: long-abandoned and vacant) Engine 6 firehouse came along….the city would partner with Pine Street Inn… together, they’d convert Engine 6 firehouse into permanent housing for nine ( ED : count ‘em,… NINE) chronically homeless people and one supervisor…. “…in mid-June, 2013, about 60 residents gathered at the com- munity center to air their concerns…residents began asking loud, angry, questions… Just who would be selected to live at Engine 6? And where would they get services? (ED: Geez, unlike the residents of Waban, I’m not among the most highly educated, but since Newton-Wellesley Hospital is “a block away”, (according to the article’s opening line) do you think that might be a good option, brain-surgeons and astronauts of Waban? I mean, then your chil- dren could “interact with a diverse group” of homeless people, much like those few remaining taxpayers who go to hospitals in Boston are subjected to each and every day!…) “Ten days later, at the second community meeting, the noise level and number of attendees more than doubled…One of the more vocal opponents, Waban resident Gary Jacobson, a psychiatrist who works with the chronically homeless, made his points by standing on a chair. Later, he circulated a letter stating that placement of…home- less…residents ..at Engine 6 would constitute a “clear and present public endangerment of our neighborhood.”… (ED.: And he’s a shrink for the homeless? This is my type of liberal!) “…As the debate raged on, Waban’s premier gathering spot, the Starbuck’s on Woodward St. (ED: and where else?... The coffee sucks, but the pretentious customers are worse…) became the site of tense encounters.… ” By James W. Carnell, Pax Editor “…Just as the cacophony reached its fevered peak in June 2013, …Setti Warren, a former aide to John Kerry and the first popularly- elected black Mayor in Massachusetts, summarily shut the project down….” “…For the past five years, Newton has received close to $2 mil- lion a year in CDBG, HOME, and ESG federal funds, or around $10 million. In that same time Newton has created only seven affordable units with these federal dollars…” (ED.: Not bad.. that works out to about…$1.3 million per “affordable housing unit”. I wonder who was awarded these “affordable units”? FOP”s?- “Friends of politicians”? Sounds like the “Affordable Health CareAct, huh?) “…Last year, Newton’s Zoning Board of Appeals…cleared the way for developers to turn the historical firehouse into three luxury condominiums…Work has already begun on the condos and is ex- pected to be finished later this year…” ED.: Stop me if you’ve heard this all before.You know the resi- dents of Waban, even if you think you don’t. They’re the ones who will stop at a Boston intersection in their Volvo or Prius and give money to the homeless guy pestering motorists for alms in the morn- ing. In the afternoon, as they’re going home toWaban, they’ll be on the phone complaining to the police about the bum who looks suspi- ciously like the guy they gave money to earlier in the morning who’s now passed out on the sidewalk and needs the police to come and pick him up. Geez Muffy, Biff? D’ya think he might have gone and bought a plastic half-gallon of $7.00 MohawkVodka with your gen- erous offering so you can feel good about yourself at the next Newton whine-and cheese party? How about putting him in the back of your Prius and dumping in front of those $2 million firehouse-condos? On behalf of the beleaguered Boston Police, we’d consider it sort of like you liberals “taking one ( to Newton, that is…) for the Gipper!” This incident is merely a microcosm of true liberalism: the “do-as- I-say, not-as-I-do” crowd. These are the people who invent marvelous social schemes that apply to other people, but …God damn it if these policies should apply to me or my kids! I’ll have none of it! These are the hand-wringing, guilt-ridden liberals who repeatedly elect like- minded politicians but make damn sure that the damage they cause through legislation, policy and executive fiat doesn’t affect them, their neighborhood or their children because of their wealth and political influence. If you should read the whole story in Boston magazine, you will also see that the good progressives came up with a myriad of excuses why nine homeless people could not be relocated in an abandoned firehouse ripe for renovation with federal and state dollars in their neighborhood. They invented “traffic” concerns, and concerns about the location being too close to Route 128 (“they’re concerned for their safety”, right?Always better to have the homeless stumbling around through the intersection of a safe place like, oh, Mass. Ave. and Cass Blvd., huh?) And where would the poor dears get their services, or find jobs? Geez, Muffy and Biff, how about at your nearby Starbucks as one of those obnoxious baristas or maybe at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital a block away working in the kitchen? See Hypocrisy on page 15