Bay State Banner 10-08-2015

Page 1

inside this week:

Fall Education Guide special advertising section pg B4

A&E

business news:

DOCUMENTARY ‘HE NAMED ME MALALA’ OFFERS HOPE, INSPIRATION pg B1

Congress probes consumer, business protections in sharing economy pg A14

plus Che ‘Rhymefest’ Smith searches for father and self in documentary ‘In My Father’s House’ pg B2 Thursday, October 8, 2015 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS

www.baystatebanner.com

Legislators advance profiling bills Bills would require police to report data on pedestrian stops PHOTO: ERNESTO ARROYO

Right to Remain proponents marched from the Field’s Corner Vietnamese American Community Center to 200 Hancock street, stopping at several sites along the way to protest against evictions and foreclosures.

Neighborhoods protest no-fault eviction policy

Right to Remain calls for ‘Just Cause Eviction’ Law By JULE PATTISON-GORDON

Viewpoints clash in the privately-owned, non-subsidized housing market where one person’s home is someone else’s business venture. As new developments and other factors draw more outside interest to the area, landlords may seek to cash in on it by raising rents. But upholding

their rental contract does not protect families from being forced out of their homes by landlords hoping to court renters who can pay more. To address this, the 2015 Right to Remain Boston Assembly convened supporters along with Boston and national cosponsoring organizations at the Vietnamese American Community Center in Dorchester on

Saturday. Residents and activists recounted their experiences with soaring rents in an overheated housing climate, shared visions and called upon Boston to enact a just cause eviction law. After the meeting, several dozen marchers made their way to 200 Hancock Street where they joined a tenant association

See RENTS, page A13

By SANDRA LARSON

The Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony this week on a set of bills addressing racial profiling by police. The proposed legislation, introduced by Rep. Byron Rushing and Sens. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Linda Dorcena Forry, aims to prohibit racial profiling during motor vehicle and pedestrian stops, and require increased data collection and review to identify racial disparities in policing practices. The law would apply to all state, municipal, college and university law enforcement officers. “What we’ve seen nationally and locally around demands for police accountability underscores the need for this type of legislation,” said Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program at the American Civil Liberties

PHOTO CCOURTESY OFFICE OF LINDA DORCENA FORRY

Linda Dorcena Forry Union of Massachusetts. “We can’t manage what we don’t measure,” Hall told the Banner before the hearing. “It’s one thing to say racial profiling is happening based on anecdotal reports, but it’s another to have empirical

See PROFILING, page B12

Bus Rapid Transit studied anew for Hub Dudley to Mattapan, Harvard seen as feasible routes By SANDRA LARSON

The addition of “Gold Standard” Bus Rapid Transit lanes could cut travel time by nearly half between Dudley and Haymarket or Harvard, and by more than onethird between Dudley and Mattapan, according to a report on BRT by the Barr Foundation, a Boston-based private foundation that focuses on education, climate, and

arts and culture. The Barr Foundation convened the Greater Boston BRT Study Group in 2013 to look into how and where new dedicated BRT lanes might improve Boston transportation. The group’s report, “Better Rapid Transit for Greater Boston,” released in June, suggests that BRT — if implemented at its highest standard — could be a cost-effective option to improve access and efficiency in several of

the city’s transit corridors. “Transit is the life blood of the city,” said Jackie Douglas, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance and a member of the BRT Study Group. “This was an opportunity to deep-dive into one option for transportation across the region.” Partnering with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), the Study Group, made up of community leaders

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50TH ANNIVERSARY

See BRT, page A11

ADRIAN GILL RENDERING

Bus Rapid Transit is a system that includes dedicated bus lanes, enclosed stations and wheelchair access ramps.

The Bay State Banner 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute on November 10, 2015 Visit www.baystatebanner.com or email sandra@bannerpub.com for ticket information


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