Never saw this in their printed pages:
"Fewer Massachusetts motorists appeal traffic citations" June 24, 2012 by BEVERLY FORD, New England Center for Investigative Reporting
BOSTON -- Fewer Bay State drivers are appealing auto insurance surcharges for accidents or traffic violations, even though the odds of winning an appeal are favorable, a study by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has found.
Data provided by the state Insurance Board of Appeals, which rules on traffic accident cases alone, shows that the number of drivers appealing those accidents – and the insurance surcharges that come with them – has declined by 36 percent since 2006 even though just over half of those drivers were winning their appeals. Only about 30 percent of motorists who appealed their cases were found to be more than 50 percent at fault and subject to a surcharge, the records show.
The state Registry of Motor Vehicles is seeing a similar trend in the number of traffic ticket appeals filed by motorists through the district courts. Some insurance critics suspect that the trend may be due to both the fees imposed for appeals and a lingering recession that has left many drivers with little spare cash to file those appeals.
The fees, which start at $25 to contest a traffic violation before a clerk-magistrate and $50 to challenge an insurance surcharge, can add up quickly. Appealing either decision through the court system can add hundreds more to the tab....
Meaning it is COSTING YOU MORE to TAKE A CHANCE in COURT than it is to PAY A FINE even if it is FALSE!
Welcome to our wonderful little liberal Democrat(?) fascist state, folks.
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I guess the Globe is too busy taking the T:
"MBTA needs better terms on interest swaps" June 25, 2012
At the time, it seemed like a way to cut down on crushing debt costs. Yet the millions that the MBTA is paying to banks because of ill-considered interest rate swaps shows why the agency never should have entered into these complex financial deals — and why it should seek better terms now.
I've seen that clearly for some time, sorry.
The T entered into interest-rate swaps in the early 2000s, when interest rates seemed low and were expected to rise. In these deals, the T issued bonds to banks and agreed to pay them back at a fixed rate. In exchange, banks would pay the T at rates that varied with the market. The swaps turned into bad bets when interest rates dipped to historic lows as a result of the financial collapse.
Good Lord, the same banks that screwed states and the world economy swindled us all on these deals, too.
Now the T, like transit agencies across the country, is paying down debt at rates far higher than what’s available on the market, costing the T almost $26 million each year, according to a study from a group called the ReFund Transit Coalition. The T can only refinance if it pays a huge exit fee — a step that other public transit agencies have taken.
The $26 million is ON TOP of the TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS a MONTH -- all as SOCIAL SERVICES and the SAME PENSIONS RUINED by said banks are cut back!
And we can only get out of the deal if we fork over hundreds of millions up front for a shitty deal the same banks sold us. Un-flipping-real!
As lawmakers scrape around for money to close current deficits and prevent future ones at the MBTA, the transit agency and lawmakers should try to find ways out of the swaps.
Related: MSM Monitor: One If By Land, Two if By Sea....
I think I will just stay out of the city.
While the banks will likely argue that these are contracts that can’t be broken, the T should still try to renegotiate.
It's incredible, isn't it?
Yup, deceptive deals that collapse upon market manipulation and fat cat CEO contracts must be adhered to, but that cop, teacher, and firefighter who collectively bargained for a deal? Tear that f***er up because the same banks that looted your pensions are in line for the first chunk of tax loot.
Public agencies in California, including a San Francisco museum and the city of Richmond, have successfully renegotiated swaps by stressing their fiscal struggles, while Oakland is currently in swap refinancing talks with Goldman Sachs.
The T could also note that banks profiting from swaps — Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and UBS — all benefited from the federal bailout as the nation plunged into recession. A troubled but essential transit agency deserves the same consideration in its time of need.
Simply the worst thieving scum I have ever seen.
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Related: Big Banks Are Booming
They made HOW MANY BILLIONS LAST QUARTER?
Also see: UBS Cuts Massachusetts a Break
Oh, thanks!
This will be $ure to catch your eye:
"MBTA may sell station names" June 27, 2012|Alejandra Matos, Globe Correspondent
Subway stations across Boston could soon carry the names of corporate sponsors — think JetBlue Airport Station — much like the naming rights auctioned for sports stadiums, making the MBTA among the nation’s first transit agencies to apply corporate monikers to places woven into city lore....
WhyTF not, huh? They already own the country and all the politicians. Let's stop pretending anymore, Americans.
MBTA passengers would reap most of the benefits from the naming rights, said Mark E. Boyle, the MBTA’s assistant general manager for development.
Yeah, sure they would.
With the infusion of money, the T could upgrade WiFi on the commuter rail, improve access for the visually impaired, and upgrade the stations’ aesthetics, Boyle said.
“It would allow for better maintenance standards for our stations,” he said....
Promising to fix up the s*** boxes is he?
Cities across the nation are plastering the identities of corporate sponsors on all manner of public property. It is a sign of dire financial times for local governments, said Dany Berghoff, a naming rights specialist and vice president of development with 21 Marketing in Greenwich, Conn.
This as we are told we have been in recovery for three years and that Massachusetts is roaring ahead of the rest of the country.
It's enough to make you wonder if someone took a dump in the corner of the car.
“It’s the nature of cities right now, and debt situations have something to do with it,” Berghoff said. “Cities have such debt and need something to defray costs.”
Maybe the politicians could start wearing corporate logos so we know who owns them.
Paul Regan, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, acknowledged that the T needs every penny it can get but cautioned the agency from confusing passengers, especially tourists, with the modified names.
So it can forward them to banks.
In phone interviews and focus groups, commuters expressed concerns about completely altering station names. But the MBTA will take measures to ensure that does not happen, Boyle said.
“Park will always be Park, and Copley will always be Copley,” Boyle said. “The historical names will remain. Corporations will only add their names to the stations.”
Still.... it's not the same.
But Berghoff warned that simply adding a corporate sponsor’s name to a station will be of little value to both parties if nothing is done to enhance the experience for T passengers. Otherwise, he said, T users will see the name change as a corporate gimmick.
Yup, if the car still stinks and there are breakdowns you will just get angry seeing the name.
“If a company is just slapping a name on the station, it devalues it for the company and the city that is selling the name,” Berghoff said. “Cities and companies have to be smart about how they are going to use those rights.”
A call for bids could be issued within a month, and it could take up to eight months before contracts are signed....
The revenues the T is projecting appear reasonable, Berghoff said, but companies may ask for a discount because they are taking a risk on a new venture.
Then f*** 'em!
Regan, with the advisory board, said that the revenue projections strike him as high, but that if they are met, the T’s financial woes would be eased.
Government always says that because it's a sales job!
“That would be very beneficial,” Regan said. “From an operating perspective, that’s real money.”
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Related: As MBTA plans to sell station naming rights, riders suggest possible monikers
Jury says MBTA owes passenger $1.2m
That won't be helping the debt situation.
And what do you mean my token isn't any good?
"Glitches, gripes mark first days of MBTA fare hikes" by Eric Moskowitz | Globe Staff, July 03, 2012
Long lines, confusion, and commuter anger marred the first weekday commute following the MBTA’s fare increase, as a software glitch rendered thousands of T passes temporarily invalid and caused backups at key subway stations during the morning rush hours....
Is there such a thing as subway rage?
The glitch did little to win friends for the T on a muggy day when customers were already bristling over the first fare increase in 5½ years....
Even everyday problems that arise on an aging system — such as door failures that caused temporary breakdowns on both the Ashmont and Braintree branches of the inbound Red Line during Monday’s morning commute — felt magnified in the aftermath of the fare increase, as riders bemoaned the T on social media.
That's what happens when ALL YOUR TAX and FEE LOOT goes piling into BANK COFFERS, folks!!
Still, most of the half a million commuters who rely on the MBTA — which provides more than 1.3 million one-way trips on a typical weekday — traveled without incident, said Jonathan R. Davis, the T’s acting general manager.
“I’m concerned that we had this issue with some of our customers, but overall I think, for the first day associated with the fare increase, that it went OK,” he said.
You weren't riding the lines, were you?
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