2-11-2013

Page 1

The Daily Free Press

Year xliii. Volume lxxxiv. Issue XIV

NEMO FINDS YOU Blizzard gives students difficulties and fun, page 4.

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Monday, February 11, 2013 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

BODIEZZZ

Snuggle up to Warm Bodies this Valentines Day, page 5.

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THREE-J

www.dailyfreepress.com WEATHER

D.J. Irving hits seven threes en route to BU win, page 8.

Today: Wintry mix to rain/wind/High 46 Tonight: Showers early/Low 32 Tomorrow: 43/25 Data Courtesy of weather.com

BUPD takes student into custody at ‘Snowbrawl’ SAO changes to increase student resources, funds By Margaret Waterman Daily Free Press Staff

Snowball fights are all fun and games until someone loses an eye, or until someone hits a police officer with a snowball, as one student found out Friday night’s “Snowbrawl.” Boston University Police Department officers took a student into custody Friday night for hitting an officer in the face with a snowball during the massive snowball fight on the Esplanade, said BUPD Captain Robert Molloy. “He will be charged with disorderly conduct, assaulting an officer and resisting arrest,” Molloy said. Molloy, who declined to identify the student, said the officer involved reported the student put up some resistance before eventually complying and was taken into custody and brought back to the station. The officer then collected his information and released him. A large group of students gathered at the intersection of Bay State Road and Silber Way late Friday night and proceeded to walk along Storrow Drive where plow trucks were clearing snow, Molloy said. “They found people were then coming down Storrow Drive from the Esplanade climbing back up and climbing over fences,” he said. Molloy said officers were dispatched to the scene to instruct students to clear the area, when a student intentionally struck an

By Brian Latimer Daily Free Press Staff

ing ever since its peak in 2006, according to the statistics. The travel time index is a measure of how much extra time is needed for driving when there is traffic, as opposed to when roads are open, according to the press release. In 2011, Boston’s travel time index was 1.28, which means that trips by car took on average 1.28 times longer in the average amount of traffic. In 2006 at Boston’s peak, the travel time index was 1.42, according to the statistics. Some drivers said they are used to dealing with Boston’s traffic congestion. “Of course [the roads] are more congested, it’s common sense,” said Nick Sabokrooh, a florist in Westwood. Sabokrooh said he commutes to Boston City Florist everyday, and it takes him about 45 minutes to do so. “We always have to deal with rush hour because we open at eight in the morning,” he said.

With its new changes, Boston University’s Student Activities Office will provide greater online connectivity and increased resources for the benefit of student groups, officials said. SAO’s development, an ongoing process through the spring 2013 semester, will provide student groups with more efficient ways to deal with paperwork, said Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore. “Some of the things that they [students] will see are a greater use of technology right away,” Elmore said. “Someone who’s in the leadership position in a club or association will say to himself or herself, ‘wow, there are more opportunities for me to do things such as sell tickets online,’ to be able to do more online and to be able to check people in with their tickets online.” The restructuring began in January when the Director of Student Activities position opened up, Elmore said. Elmore said personnel in SAO were changed slightly to maximize efficiency. “Abby Myette, I promoted her to an associate director’s position there,” he said. “She’s alongside Raul Fernandez, who’s also an associate director, and I’ve got [Assistant Dean of Students] John Battaglino overseeing the whole operation, which included me asking him to move his office over there so he’d be right on the ground and in the space.” Elmore said SAO officials’ goals are to structure advances in the website that will reduce the amount of paperwork student groups must submit to start and maintain a group. “With student activities, we’ve got to look at a new world where clubs and organizations come and go a little faster,” he said. “Clubs and organizations I think of more like startups these days. They’re more initiative-driven, cause-driven, and that may mean that the initiative finishes and you move on to the next thing.” Elmore said the advances will include student groups’ access to SAO funds for on and off-campus activities. “I’ve asked the Allocations Board to give some more thought to how we allocate funds to student organizations,” Elmore said. “I hope what people will see is a bit of loosening up when they want to request funds, a bit more

Traffic, see page 2

SAO, see page 2

TAYLOR HARTZ/DAILY FREE PRESS

Students participate in ‘Snowbrawl Fight part two’ Saturday afternoon on the Esplanade after Winter Storm Nemo dumped two feet of snow Friday night.

officer with a snowball. The student will be summonsed to Roxbury District Court sometime in the near future, Molloy said, where the court will decide if there are enough facts and evidence to have a complaint made against him. A video posted to YouTube, titled “Boston University PD Officer Tasers Student at Snowball Fight,” shows footage of the student being handcuffed by a BUPD officer.

Bystanders gathered around the officer and the student as he was held on the ground and then taken away. Molloy said the allegation that a BUPD officer used a taser gun on a student is false. “We never have carried tasers,” he said. “The officer did not use a taser. He was flashing his flashlight to attract the attention

Snowbrawl, see page 2

Boston ranked fifth most traffic-prone city in nation By Bram Peterson Daily Free Press Contributor

Due to rush-hour traffic and the lack of a distinct grid roadway system, Boston was ranked the fifth most traffic delay-prone city in the nation, according to a recent study. More than 498 populated cities and metro areas across the United States were ranked on various traffic-related and environmental factors, such as the total yearly delay time per driver, travel time index and the total amount of wasted gasoline per driver, according to a Tuesday press release by Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Boston ranked fifth in the yearly delay-percommuter category, with Boston commuters logging an average of 53 delay hours per year, according to the release. “We all understand that trips take longer in rush hour, but for really important appointments, we have to allow increasingly more time to ensure an on-time arrival,” said Bill Eisele,

report co-author, in the release. “As bad as traffic jams are, it’s even more frustrating that you can’t depend on traffic jams being consistent from day-to-day.” Washington D.C. tops the list for longest total delay times followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, according to the release. The roadway congestion also takes an environmental toll, in the form of wasted fuel. Commuters wasted an average of 26 gallons of fuel a year, totaling over 66 million gallons from all commuters in 2011, according to 101 Urban Areas, a group that collects and provides urban mobility statistics on its website. Boston was ranked 11th nationally in total daily commuters by car, logging approximately 1.9 million auto commuters a day, according to the 101 Urban Areas statistics. Although the number of commuters in Boston has been steadily rising, the travel time index for the Boston metro area has been decreas-

Boston still recovering after Winter Storm Nemo slams Commonwealth By Kyle Plantz Daily Free Press Staff

After one of the worst blizzards in Boston’s history, the city continues to recover in the aftermath of Winter Storm Nemo, which hit the Northeast Friday afternoon. “Our number one priority is getting to the side streets,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said in a press release Sunday. “Residents have been very patient as we work to recover from the fifth largest snow storm to ever hit the City of Boston.” Winter Storm Nemo hit the Northeast Friday and continued until Saturday, bringing about 24.9 inches of snow to the Boston area. Boston schools are closed Monday and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will resume normal services Monday. “We are focused on getting service back to our customers as quickly as is safely possible,” said Kelly Smith, deputy press secretary for the MBTA, in an email.

“We have crews working around the clock to make necessary repairs and tend to clearing, but we’ll only reopen service when it is absolutely safe to do so. Our main goal is restoring service for Monday morning’s commute.” MBTA services closed Friday at about 3:30 p.m. and remained closed until the MBTA announced Sunday there would be limited subway and key bus routes around 2:00 p.m. Sunday, according to the MBTA website. The City of Boston had no power outages, according to the National Grid outage map Sunday. Still, on Sunday, more than 300,000 homes and businesses reported having no power. Michael Verseckes, a Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman, said everyone was in full force trying to clear the roads. “We are still clearing out some of the major roadways,” he said. “The post-storm

Blizzard, see page 2

MICHELLE JAY/DAILY FREE PRESS

Commonwealth Avenue was still under the process of being cleared at 10:30 a.m. Saturday after Winter Storm Nemo dumped two feet of snow Friday night.


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