VOL. 123 - NO. 33 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AUGUST 16, 2019 $.35 A COPY 99th Feast of Madonna Della Cava SAINT ANTHONY’S FEAST by Matt Conti CENTENNIAL FIREWORKS Friday Evening, August 23, at 8:30 p.m. Madonna Della Cava Women’s Society The sky will light up in celebration of the Centennial Anniver- sary of Saint Anthony’s Feast on Friday, August 23, at 8:30 p.m. To begin the 100th Annual festivities, St. Anthony’s Society, with the generous support of our neighbor Faneuil Hall Marketplace has commissioned a fi rework display on the inner harbor. Best Viewing will be at Prince Street Park at Commercial Street & North Washington Streets (Enter at the tennis courts). The 100th Saint Anthony’s Feast will be celebrated from August 22- 25, 2019 on Endicott, Thacher & North Margin Streets in the North End of Boston. Schedule for Friday, August 23, 2019 Madonna Della Cava Men’s Society 12:00 Noon: Feast of Santa Lucia continues The Madonna Della Cava image of Maria SS Della Cava, memory of the late MDC Society 7:00 p.m.: Opening Ceremonies of the 100th Saint Anthony’s Society of Boston’s North End Principal Patron of Pietraperzia, member. On hand for the fes- Feast - 201 Endicott St. held their 99th annual feast on Sicily, and processed until tivities was Fr. Claude of Saint 8:30 p.m.: Centennial Fireworks Display – Prince Street Park, the weekend of August 9-11, dark throughout Boston’s North Leonard Church, Boston Police Commercial/No. Washington Sts. 2019. With food vendors and End. Commissioner William Gross 9:00 p.m.: Spectacular Performance by Louis Prima & The nightly entertainment, the Joseph “Cool Joe” Buceta and District 1 City Councilor Witnesses - Bandstand MDC society brought out the Way was unveiled at the feast in Lydia Edwards. For more details and special attractions, please visit: www.stanthonysfeast.com. (Additional Photos on Page 5) News Briefs Building a Better T: by Sal Giarratani Accelerated Schedule for System Upgrades, Cuts Project Timelines What is Warren Smoking Lately? The MBTA recently announced they plan to undertake addi- downs. We’re taking a holistic Last week, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the cam- several planned system upgrade tional acceleration plans in the approach in getting as much paign trail in Iowa called President Trump a “white construction projects will be near future. work done as possible, and supremacist” in an interview with a NY Times reporter. accelerated, shortening some “Riders deserve a reliable, we’re hopeful that customers Later in the week she called out the Fox News Network, timelines by as much as eleven safe transportation system and will see and feel these incre- “We need to call it out: FOX NEWS is a hate-for- months for certain projects. while we understand this accel- mental advances in reliability profi t Machine that gives a megaphone to racists and System upgrade work to improve erated plan will be inconvenient and the customer experience.” conspiracists.” reliability for riders on the for some riders, we believe ACCELERATED PROJECTS: Beto O’Rourke called Trump a white supremacist too Green, Red, and Orange Lines these temporary diversions Green Line Intersection but he’s so down in the polls anything he says is pretty that was previously scheduled are necessary to improve the Upgrades: The MBTA is making much meaningless. Democrats are pretty much tone- to take place only during limited system that has been neglected 30 intersection upgrades on the deaf and in 2020 they will go down the toilet losing the overnight hours will now take for decades,” said Governor B and C branches to mitigate White House again and may actually hand back the place during entire weekends, Charlie Baker. “The MBTA will the risk of service interruptions House to the Republicans, too. requiring shuttle service around continue to evaluate upcoming by replacing aged track. Sometimes the Resistance certain stations. planned projects for this fall The acceleration plan con- The accelerated work plans and next year for additional denses planned work by fi ve Thinks it’s so Smart approved by the Fiscal and opportunities to accelerate work months, by increasing the num- The Trump Resistance thinks it is so smart some- Management Control Board will where possible.” ber of weekend diversions from times. Recently, they decided to call in for some deliver benefi ts to riders signifi - “We know that diversions in 10 to 14 on these branches. free reserve tickets to a planned Trump Rally up in cantly faster and allow T crews service are an inconvenience in This will help complete the Manchester, N.H. They had no plans to attend, but only to undertake multiple projects the short term, but these shut- project by December 2019 to keep seats empty making Trump’s rally look bad on at the same time as opposed to downs will allow us to quicken instead of May 2020. Fake News. Have these people nothing better to do with (Continued on Page 14) performing projects one after the pace of investments in the The T will now also replace their useless lives than plan games and show how little the other during the limited system more efficiently and 7,000 feet of track during the they support free speech in America. This strategy is overnight hours. effectively,” said MBTA General planned weekend diversions. so dumb and will be seen as a silly counterproductive In June, the Baker-Polito Manager Steve Poftak. “We’ve Green Line D branch shut- game they can’t win. Administration announced heard loud and clear that we downs are already scheduled Epstein Suicide! Are You Kidding Me? as part of the $8 billion, fi ve- need to accelerate the pace of for the weekends of September Boy when it comes to keeping high profi le dirt bags year plan to modernize the improvements. This is an espe- 14-15, September 21-22, alive in prison, the Feds are playing like the Red Sox of MBTA, transportation offi cials cially important opportunity for September 28-29, October 5-6, (Continued on Page 10) would speed up planned work the MBTA to replace track in October 12-13, October 26-27, to improve the system faster. areas that aren’t accessible to MBTA offi cials also announced work crews without these shut- (Continued on Page 9) PAGE 2 POST-GAZETTE, AUGUST 16, 2019 Res Publica by David Trumbull Study Calls for Easing MBTA Procurement Restrictions and HORACE Beefi ng Up Project Management Capacity This week we continue with were written late in his career This year marks the 70th anni- But the project has been beset our coverage of the scholars and were also in hexameter. versary of the debut of the song by delays. Orange Line trains in the Augustan period of the In these letters, he attempted “M.T.A.”, the sad tale of Charlie, expected to enter service this Golden Age of Latin literati, and to become a social and literary stuck on a Boston Metropolitan summer were scheduled to be Quintus Horatius Flaccus is our critic with respect to Roman life Transit Authority subway train. in use last year; none of the celebrity. His popular name was at that time. It was the campaign song of modernization plan’s big-ticket Horace and he was born about From an early date, Horace’s mayoral candidate Walter A. items are complete; and a new 65 BC on a farm in a rural area work has been used in Roman O’Brien. Seventy years later, MBTA fare collection system is of Italy called Venusia. At the schools as a textbook. The and now named the MBTA, delayed indefi nitely. age of 11 or 12, he was taken “magister” (teacher) would fi rst public transportation in Boston According to the Pioneer to Rome where he was educated read a passage and then make continues to vex both riders and Institute report, among the under a celebrated teacher, the class repeat it. The passage the public offi cials in charge. causes of the delay are overly re- and later at the age of 17, he was then thoroughly thrashed According to a new study strictive procurement practices. was sent to Athens in order to out as to its meter, geography, Horace, portrayed by Giacomo published by Pioneer Institute, For example, on sub-contracts further his education and poetic history, and ethics. Students Di Chirico the Massachusetts Legislature worth more than $100,000 that interests. Soon after his return were also required to memorize must free the MBTA from overly are part of contracts over $10 to Rome, he declined an offer refl ected in his greatest poetry, much of his work. restrictive procurement meth- million, the MBTA is subject to to become a private secretary the themes of which are drawn Horace has long been ranked ods and the T must dramatically the so-called fi led sub-bid law. to Emperor Augustus because from rural life. as one of the great Roman poets increase its project and contract Under the law, the Division of it meant giving up his inde- The works of Horace are who, incidentally, became the management capacity if it is to Capital Asset Management and pendence. He started writing divided into four distinct cat- poet laureate of Rome after the reach aggressive capital spend- Maintenance pre-qualifi es sub- poetry and attracted the atten- egories: 1. Odes (a poem written death of Vergil. ing targets aimed at upgrading contractors, then the T must do tion of a wealthy Roman named to be sung); 2.