"Breakthrough on Broken Windows"

In Lowell experiment, crime linked to conditions

"As part of an experiment to see whether disorderly conditions breed bad behavior, this trash-strewn hot spot was eventually cleaned up." (Brenda Bond, Boston Globe)

Timely research report for Wednesday's neighborhood forum. It's a scientific fact - trash strewn streets breed crime.

For the Men in my life...

Obama-rama

Bankers pay capped at $500,000 if taxpayers are paying. God, I can't wait to see what the Greenwich papers are saying. You can't afford more than one McMansion on that salary, how are our financial elite going to cope without second and third homes? Personally, I'd make anyone who complains spend a day hanging out with an Iraq soldiers orphans.

"Obama said the measures were needed to restore trust in the financial system and make certain that "taxpayer funds are not subsidizing excessive compensation packages on Wall Street."

Marco? Polo! Marco? Polo!

"Markopolos (Harry Markopolos, a Massachusetts financial analyst) discovered Madoff's alleged malfeasance in May 2000, after he became suspicious of his years-long record of success in all market conditions. Markopolos said it took him about five minutes perusing Madoff's marketing materials to suspect fraud, and another roughly four hours to develop mathematical models to prove it. He eventually delivered a detailed case to securities regulators in Boston and followed up several times over the next eight years as he continued to gather evidence. He said that important SEC officials in New York and Boston brushed his reports aside."

"Whistleblower Harry Markopolos also said he had feared for his physical safety and would turn over new evidence that Madoff had not acted alone."

Now there's an idea...

Since the start of 2008, the city has been forced to board up 193 foreclosed and abandoned properties, as part of a program called "Clean it or Lien it."

This article from the Boston Globe is relevant to our century long local discussion of substandard rental housing.