Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Sherry. Good news in the Red Sox.
Speaker 2: Obviously the Bruins wrap it up. They'll be able to
Speaker 2: get to the golf course probably before the end of April,
Speaker 2: that's for certain. So that's the silver lining to the
Speaker 2: cloud of not making the playoffs. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: I'm the host of Nightside, heard every Monday through Friday
Speaker 2: night right here on WBZ Boston's News radio ten thirty
Speaker 2: and your AM dial from eight pm and to midnight.
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks is back in the control room at Medford
Speaker 2: Broadcast Center. He will set you all up with phone
Speaker 2: calls when we start on our phone topics later tonight.
Speaker 2: We'll be talking about this is really interesting. If you
Speaker 2: purchased some cut rate stamps online recently, you want to
Speaker 2: pay attention. We will have a US Postal Inspection Service
Speaker 2: representative with us. You know, but your mother used to
Speaker 2: tell you, if you think the deal is it's too
Speaker 2: good to be true, it probably is. So we'll see
Speaker 2: what they have to say a little bit later on tonight.
Speaker 2: We're going to remember the marathon bombing twelve years ago
Speaker 2: today at this hour. All of us were absolutely shaken
Speaker 2: as to what had happened in our city to the
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventeenth running of the Boston Marathon in
Speaker 2: April fifteenth, twenty thirteen. Little did we know that not
Speaker 2: only three people had already died, and that later that evening,
Speaker 2: during our broadcast and MIT police officer sean call, you
Speaker 2: would be assassinated, ambushed and assassinated by these punks from Dagistan,
Speaker 2: one of whom, of course died that next that evening.
Speaker 2: Actually the other one who has been convicted of the
Speaker 2: death pally and sits and gets three squares and are
Speaker 2: cut to sleep in every day out in Colorado at Supermax.
Speaker 2: Why is he still with us, I don't know, but
Speaker 2: we'll we'll get to all of that then later on tonight,
Speaker 2: if we do have time, we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: talk about the dattle between President Trump at Harvard Universe.
Speaker 2: And we got a lot to cover tonight. So let's
Speaker 2: get right started, right right away. Let me introduce Nicole
Speaker 2: McLoughlin to you. Nicole is the executive director of a
Speaker 2: group called Plumber Youth Promise. And before we get to
Speaker 2: what Plumber Youth Promise does, today, Nicole, there's quite a
Speaker 2: history of this organization, almost goes back a couple hundred years.
Speaker 3: It does, it does well. First of all, thanks for
Speaker 3: having me on tonight. But yes, so, Plumber Youth Promise
Speaker 3: started out as the Plumber Farm School of Reform for
Speaker 3: Boys in the mid eighteen hundreds and it's been there
Speaker 3: ever since. And you know, of course, the services have
Speaker 3: changed over time because we no longer have reform schools,
Speaker 3: but we are actually operating in the same building that
Speaker 3: was built back in the mid eighteen hundreds, continuing to
Speaker 3: serve kids who currently are experiencing the foster care system.
Speaker 2: Okay, so where is the building located? I just want
Speaker 2: to make sure that we get all of this facts
Speaker 2: out on the table first. Were sure.
Speaker 3: We are in Salem, Massachusetts. If you're familiar with Salem
Speaker 3: at all, there's a neighborhood called the Salem Willows. A
Speaker 3: lot of people know that neighborhood. And there's a peninsula
Speaker 3: out that sticks out into Salem Harbor called Winter Island.
Speaker 3: And so this building is on Winter Island and Salem.
Speaker 2: Okay, And I saw a video yesterday was I believe
Speaker 2: it was on Channel five of a wild shootout early
Speaker 2: in the morning in Salem. So obviously there is still
Speaker 2: some troubled youth in the city and the city of Salem,
Speaker 2: and you still have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about what you're doing today to help
Speaker 2: young men and women get their act together or get
Speaker 2: back on the straight and narrow. Explain to us exactly
Speaker 2: what Plumber Youth Promise does today.
Speaker 3: Sure, so, Plumber Youth Promise is no actually part of
Speaker 3: the criminal justice system. We're part of the foster care system,
Speaker 3: and so we serve young people who are experiencing foster
Speaker 3: care and they might be living in any variety of settings.
Speaker 3: So in Salem we have the group care setting, but
Speaker 3: we also work with foster families throughout northeastern Massachusetts and
Speaker 3: we have older use between the ages of eighteen and
Speaker 3: twenty two who are living out in studios or one
Speaker 3: bedroom apartments. And for all of them, in all of
Speaker 3: those programs, our objective is really to make sure that
Speaker 3: they leave the foster care system with a safe, stable,
Speaker 3: emotionally secure parenting relationship. So, you know, we really believe
Speaker 3: that people thrive in relationships and that every young person,
Speaker 3: regardless of their age, regardless of their circumstance, needs a
Speaker 3: family that is committed to them and will be with
Speaker 3: them through their lives. So that's our objective.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you want a young person who becomes a
Speaker 2: member of a foster care family to realize that that
Speaker 2: is a lifelong membership, just like it would be for
Speaker 2: a child who was the biological offspring of that family.
Speaker 2: If I'm hearing you.
Speaker 3: Correctly, well, not quite almost.
Speaker 2: Explait it for me, So I got to understand that,
Speaker 2: go ahead.
Speaker 3: Sure, So foster care is by definition temporary, right, so
Speaker 3: when people foster, they don't necessarily assume that they're making
Speaker 3: a lifelong commitment to a young person. And so what
Speaker 3: we want to do is, regardless of whether this young
Speaker 3: person is living in group care or with a foster family,
Speaker 3: we want to make sure that, either by reconnecting with
Speaker 3: their own birth families or by sort of creating new
Speaker 3: families which may or may not be with that foster family,
Speaker 3: that by the time they leave the foster care system,
Speaker 3: they know that they have someone who's committed to them
Speaker 3: for a lifetime.
Speaker 2: So who is that person who's committed, So whether it's
Speaker 2: a new family that they have formed or they've been
Speaker 2: reconnected to the biological family. Are those what are the options?
Speaker 2: You're confusing me just a little bit here. So that
Speaker 2: person is leaving the foster care system, and what the
Speaker 2: age of twenty two? Is that the magic age or
Speaker 2: is it earlier than that?
Speaker 3: Well, our goal would be for it to be earlier
Speaker 3: than that, right, So our goal would be to get
Speaker 3: young people out of the foster care system and into
Speaker 3: a permanent situation as quickly as possible. And again, that
Speaker 3: could be reuniting with birth family, it could be with
Speaker 3: grandparents or aunts or uncles. In some cases, it could
Speaker 3: be with an adoptive family. But the idea is that
Speaker 3: in order for a young person to thrive, they need
Speaker 3: to know that they have people who are committed to them.
Speaker 3: And as long as you're in the foster care system,
Speaker 3: you know that that's temporary, right, And so you want
Speaker 3: to know who's you know, who are your people who's
Speaker 3: going to be with you in the long run, because
Speaker 3: throughout our lives we actually need family.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I absolutely understand that. What confuses me is
Speaker 2: that I've known, you know, some people who had the
Speaker 2: courage and the generosity of spirit to foster, to provide
Speaker 2: foster care for children, and I would assume that some
Speaker 2: of those bonds and some of those relationships could last
Speaker 2: well into someone's adult life. That's what confused me, to
Speaker 2: be really honest with you. I understand set of circumstances
Speaker 2: is different, yep. Yeah, but I would assume that that
Speaker 2: the relationships between foster parents and foster children can be
Speaker 2: very critically important as well.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely. And and some foster parents do go on
Speaker 3: to adopt, there's no question, there's no question. And other
Speaker 3: foster parents really they want to be sort of the
Speaker 3: temporary respite, right, So there's this kid's in trouble now
Speaker 3: that let me provide a safe haven until something can
Speaker 3: be figured out. So it's it's really different for every
Speaker 3: foster family. But foster foster parents are remarkable people. Remarkable people.
Speaker 2: Everyone that I have known has bet have have fit
Speaker 2: that category, that description as well. So Nicole, how can
Speaker 2: folks get information? Should they want to support the Plumber
Speaker 2: Youth Promise organization or what? What? How can they get
Speaker 2: in touch?
Speaker 3: The best thing is probably through our website.
Speaker 2: Which is which would be which would be.
Speaker 3: Plumber Youth Promise dot Org.
Speaker 2: Perfect? Perfect? Okay, that's that's pretty straightforward Plumber P l
Speaker 2: U M M E R Youth Promise all one word
Speaker 2: dot Org. Thanks to Carl. Thanks for the work you do,
Speaker 2: very important work that is done with these young people
Speaker 2: as they're developing, you know, throughout their teenage years or
Speaker 2: even before that and into their adulthood. We want them
Speaker 2: to have as many opportunities presented to them as possible,
Speaker 2: and you're one of the groups that is trying to
Speaker 2: make that happen. So thank you for what you do.
Speaker 3: Thanks man, Thanks very much.
Speaker 2: You're welcome. So when we get back, we hope to
Speaker 2: speak with Boston Globe sports writer Carrie Thompson a little
Speaker 2: bit of the history of the Boston Marathon. All of
Speaker 2: us is going to learn a lot about it, as
Speaker 2: we do every year between now and next Monday. But
Speaker 2: why not start tonight on Nightside. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on Nightside with our next guest. Also
Speaker 2: later on tonight, of course, we'll have some guests and
Speaker 2: some topics and take phone calls interesting guests and interesting
Speaker 2: topics which will spur some conversation. My name's Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is Nightside. If you are listening somewhere anywhere in
Speaker 2: Eastern half of the US. Now on your radio or
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Speaker 4: Back on Nightside right after this, It's Nightside's News Radio.
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome back everyone, as we now focus on
Speaker 4: the marathon. Marathon now is what six days way and
Speaker 4: hopefully all will go perfectly well this year. And I'm
Speaker 4: delighted to introduce Melissa Paul. She's the vice president of
Speaker 4: Development and chief development officer at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute,
Speaker 4: and we're going to talk about the Boston Marathon team
Speaker 4: and program from the team of the Iron Are Institute. Melissa,
Speaker 4: Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 2: How are you.
Speaker 5: I'm great, Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 2: Dan, You're more than welcome. Thanks for coming on. You know, look,
Speaker 2: most of us at some point in our lives have
Speaker 2: dealt with Mass General or with mass iron Ear. But
Speaker 2: you have had a team in the marathon for several years,
Speaker 2: and it is a team that already you know, it's full.
Speaker 2: So there were no no longer accepting applications for this year, understandably,
Speaker 2: but you're even advising people who next year who might
Speaker 2: be interested in running. We highly suggest filling out our
Speaker 2: interest form below. Oh so you're a popular team. How
Speaker 2: many runners do you have? First of all? And how
Speaker 2: long have you guys been doing this?
Speaker 5: Yeah? So it's Team Irooneer. It's a fantastic team. We
Speaker 5: started in two thousand and six, so we're in our
Speaker 5: nineteenth year. We have fifty two runners this year and
Speaker 5: we've had you know, give or take fifty two for
Speaker 5: the last nineteen years, so probably about one thousand runners
Speaker 5: over the nineteen year period.
Speaker 2: Now, do many people come back or do or is
Speaker 2: it a one in done for every runner?
Speaker 5: Yeah? No, that's a great question. We actually have about
Speaker 5: half the team who are first time runners, and about
Speaker 5: half the team are runners who've run before. We've got
Speaker 5: a good contingent of people who run every year, and fact,
Speaker 5: our chief nursing officer has run every year since twenty
Speaker 5: seventeen when she joined mass Pioneer, and she's not alone.
Speaker 5: So there are a lot of you know, people that
Speaker 5: just keep coming back every year and keep raising money
Speaker 5: and keep training for mass Iioneer.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now, of course money is so important to an
Speaker 2: institution like Ironeer, mess general, et cetera. How much cumulatively
Speaker 2: have your runners raised for the cause. I'm betting it's
Speaker 2: a lot of money that you've raised.
Speaker 5: It's a lot of money. So this year alone we've
Speaker 5: raised five hundred and fifty five thousand. Next year, in
Speaker 5: our twentieth year, will surpass ten million for the whole time.
Speaker 5: So it's really incredible and it's an honor to be
Speaker 5: given these numbers, you know, by the Bank of America
Speaker 5: Boston Marathon official charity, and we actually have to uphold
Speaker 5: a very high commitment. We ask each runner to raise
Speaker 5: ten thousand dollars, So just think about that.
Speaker 2: In addition, yeah, I was doing the math, by the way,
Speaker 2: in my head. That's exactly what I figured out. So
Speaker 2: not only do you have to be a runner, but
Speaker 2: you also have to be a fundraiser, which not necessarily
Speaker 2: is something that every run runner can do, but wow,
Speaker 2: that's a remarkable achievement. Tell us what it will be
Speaker 2: like for your runners. Do you guys run together or
Speaker 2: do you just start together and the rabbits take off
Speaker 2: and the folks who perhaps aren't as fast just complete
Speaker 2: the race. What percentage of your runs actually finish the race?
Speaker 5: I think a very high percentage do finish. And it
Speaker 5: really is the ladder, you know. I think everybody, according
Speaker 5: to their abilities, you know, that does their start, and
Speaker 5: some people come in very quickly and some people, you know,
Speaker 5: really lag. But you know, I think I think it's
Speaker 5: such a wonderful opportunity for so many people. Being in
Speaker 5: the Boston Marathon is fulfilling a dream and to be
Speaker 5: able to tie that with a cause that they care
Speaker 5: about makes it just that much more special.
Speaker 2: Are there are a lot of members of your staff.
Speaker 2: You mentioned there was the one member who joined in
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen. What's the makeup of the team is a
Speaker 2: lot of staff people? Are there runners? You know who
Speaker 2: we might know of either by their name. Do you
Speaker 2: occasionally get you know, you know, I don't know from
Speaker 2: a Red Sox player with someone like that to be
Speaker 2: in your group? Tell us how that goes.
Speaker 5: You know, it's mostly patients and their family and friends
Speaker 5: who you know they've been touched by Mass Sioneer. We
Speaker 5: do have employees every year. We have about six this year,
Speaker 5: and I think that's probably typical. So that could be
Speaker 5: a nurse, that could be a you know, an administrator,
Speaker 5: could be a scientist, really anybody. It's open to anybody
Speaker 5: who wants to be on the team and is excited
Speaker 5: to run and raise money. But the vast majority of
Speaker 5: our patients whose lives have been touched by Mass Sioneer,
Speaker 5: you know, we're a very unique specialty hospital. We really
Speaker 5: provide life changing care and when when people have been experienced,
Speaker 5: you know, have experienced that care, it means an awful
Speaker 5: lot to them and they want to give back. So
Speaker 5: there are really so many wonderful stories of runners, you know,
Speaker 5: sharing why they're doing this, why it's important to them,
Speaker 5: and it's really just a one ful thing from ass
Speaker 5: Sioneer and for these families supporting us.
Speaker 2: So last question again, I noticed on your website, and
Speaker 2: we'll give that in a moment. It's MASSI inared dot org.
Speaker 2: That's pretty easy. But on the website, I noticed that
Speaker 2: it says, and I don't know when this was posted,
Speaker 2: it might have been posted months ago, that our twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five charity team is full. We're no longer accepting applications.
Speaker 2: So we folks are thinking about running in the year
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. Are you expanding the number of runners
Speaker 2: or will it stay pretty much in that fifty to
Speaker 2: fifty two range for next year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it'll be about I think we get
Speaker 5: fifty charity bibs and then if people qualify for the race.
Speaker 5: We do have people who will join the team and
Speaker 5: they don't need one of the charity bibs, but.
Speaker 2: We do if someone if someone out there tonight is
Speaker 2: listening and say I want to run as a member
Speaker 2: of this team, and maybe they were a patient maybe
Speaker 2: they're a member of their family, was a patient. What
Speaker 2: should they be doing in anticipation of trying to qualify
Speaker 2: or to be accepted as a team member next year,
Speaker 2: assuming they can raise the amount of money that's necessary
Speaker 2: to justify their participation. Do they have to send an
Speaker 2: email to you guys, like tomorrow or the day after
Speaker 2: the races? Give us give us some insight here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I think there's I think there's some time.
Speaker 5: I can give the contact Stacy Kelly runs our marathon team,
Speaker 5: and I can give her number, So I would probably
Speaker 5: have him call Stacy at six one seven five seven
Speaker 5: three three zhoo three five and Stacy will put them
Speaker 5: on a lift so that we can, you know, stay
Speaker 5: in touch. We can be in touch in the fall.
Speaker 5: But also we have other opportunities to run. If somebody's
Speaker 5: interested in running but isn't ready to do a marathon.
Speaker 5: We have the A six Pelmouth Road Race on August seventeenth.
Speaker 5: That's one thousand dollars fundraising commitment, and we do have
Speaker 5: seven DIBs left, so that's an opportunity and for people
Speaker 5: who are avid runners. We this year joined the Sydney Marathon.
Speaker 5: It's actually August thirty first, we'll pull for this year,
Speaker 5: but if somebody has always wanted to run that, we'll
Speaker 5: have that.
Speaker 2: So that's in Australia, right, that's in Australia. Okay, give
Speaker 2: me that number one more time, six one seven, go ahead.
Speaker 5: Five seven three three zero three five.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well I'll try to write that down in case
Speaker 2: anyone needs that information. Stacy Kelly at mass On Era. Okay,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. Appreciate your time and information today.
Speaker 2: Very helpful, Melissa, best of luck all the runners next Monday.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you, we appreciate it.
Speaker 2: By bye, all right, will be back. We'll be back
Speaker 2: right after the news at the bottom of the era.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray. Sorry, we're a little bit
Speaker 2: late here and we will get back and we'll be
Speaker 2: going to be talking with Mark shield Drop about some
Speaker 2: good news Nashally, but not so much in several New
Speaker 2: England states in terms of automobile fatalities. We will explain.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on you Easy
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, we have kind of mixed results here. We're delighted
Speaker 2: to be joined by one of my favorite eight PM
Speaker 2: guests here on Nightside, Mark shield Drop. Mark is a
Speaker 2: senior spokesman for Triple A Northeast, and I guess there's
Speaker 2: some good and bad news here, Mark that automobile fatalities
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty four of the year just ended. These
Speaker 2: figures are not I guess said and shown, but they're
Speaker 2: pretty close to what they're going to be. Nationwide is down,
Speaker 2: but in four New England states it's up.
Speaker 6: What's going on, yeah, definitely, So that's a good summary. Nationally,
Speaker 6: we're seeing improvement from that terrible twenty twenty two. We've
Speaker 6: seen steady declines and crashing this fatality So looks like
Speaker 6: twenty twenty three was an improvement over twenty twenty two,
Speaker 6: and then projected for twenty twenty four, we're expecting to
Speaker 6: have fewer than forty thousand fatalities for the first time
Speaker 6: since twenty twenty. That's good. But when we zoom in
Speaker 6: a little bit and take a look at the Northeast,
Speaker 6: we're going in the other direction. So the rest of
Speaker 6: the country is I'm seeing improvement. But when we look
Speaker 6: at Massachusetts, for example, we saw an increase of seven
Speaker 6: point three percent. When you look at New Jersey, the
Speaker 6: increases fourteen point seven percent. If you look at Maine,
Speaker 6: which is really troubling. Fatalities increased thirty two percent from
Speaker 6: twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four. So we're the
Speaker 6: outlier here in the Northeast. You know, as a part
Speaker 6: of the country, you like to think we're sort of
Speaker 6: ahead of the ballgame, or you know, leading the rest
Speaker 6: of the country in many categories. So when it comes
Speaker 6: to crackers and fatalities, looks like the checkers.
Speaker 2: I looked at the stats quickly. I'm sure you know
Speaker 2: them much better than I, but looked to me like
Speaker 2: only Connecticut and Vermont for twenty twenty four in New
Speaker 2: England or lower than twenty twenty three. And I've no
Speaker 2: no excuse me, Vermont and Rhode Island. Vermont and Rhode Island.
Speaker 6: That's correct. And with Rhode Island, he got kind of
Speaker 6: take that a little bit of a grain of salt.
Speaker 6: It's so small and the numbers are so small that
Speaker 6: even just a couple, you know, there's a decent drop
Speaker 6: from seventy one fatalities to fifty two. So that's twenty five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a good drop.
Speaker 6: That's a good drop.
Speaker 2: Look, hey, Vermont, probably Vermont, I will bet your Rhode Island.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I know it for a
Speaker 2: fact that little Roady has more citizens than Vermont. And
Speaker 2: the reason I know that is Rhode Island has two
Speaker 2: members in the House of Representatives and Vermont only has
Speaker 2: one in the House of Representatives. And so the population
Speaker 2: in Vermont, they have more move they have more room
Speaker 2: to move around. So I would say Rhode Island is
Speaker 2: the superstar in New England. Here to be honest with you, when.
Speaker 1: You're definite members.
Speaker 2: So how come it is now April fifteenth, we're three
Speaker 2: and a half months into twenty twenty five. How come
Speaker 2: that we're still dealing this late or this late into
Speaker 2: the new year, that those numbers aren't formally finalized for
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. Yeah, they figured that's that's pretty much
Speaker 2: whe we're going to be. But what do they do
Speaker 2: that They still say, Hey, they could have been some
Speaker 2: guy who got a bad automobile accident a New Year's
Speaker 2: even Nebraska and he's still hanging on like this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is a little bit of that.
Speaker 6: So this is these are numbers from NISA, the National
Speaker 6: higha Traffic Stape Administration. So they generally take as it's
Speaker 6: a little bit slow, but for good reason. You know,
Speaker 6: they really go through all these crash reports and they
Speaker 6: do some really deep analysis, so they really take their
Speaker 6: time with this, and generally the way it flows is
Speaker 6: they close the books on one year. So twenty twenty
Speaker 6: three's numbers were finalized this past week or last week,
Speaker 6: and at the same time they put out their preliminary
Speaker 6: numbers for twenty twenty four. So this time next year
Speaker 6: we'll be talking about twenty twenty four's books closing and
Speaker 6: the preliminary numbers for the current year that we're in.
Speaker 6: So there's a little bit of a lag. Fortunately, here
Speaker 6: in Massachusetts, we have really great data and the state
Speaker 6: shares that data in near real time, so there is
Speaker 6: a way to look at what's going on on the
Speaker 6: ground in real time here in Massachusetts. The numbers are
Speaker 6: always preliminary. You always have to think about, like you said,
Speaker 6: there are times where the numbers increase six months into
Speaker 6: the new year from the prior year because there was
Speaker 6: that person who was hanging on for months but then
Speaker 6: unfortunately died ultimately from their injuries, and we try to
Speaker 6: capture all of that in the numbers, just so we know,
Speaker 6: you know, we have accurate data when we're talking about
Speaker 6: this stuff.
Speaker 2: So now, twenty twenty two, I think you alluded to
Speaker 2: it earlier was kind of the high water mark. Yeah,
Speaker 2: automobile and it's just just automobile in trucks or is
Speaker 2: it all motor vehicle. It's all motor vehicles.
Speaker 6: It's everybody. It's cars, trucks, pedestrians, motorcyclists, people riding scooters,
Speaker 6: all of it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So why was twenty twenty two such a spike.
Speaker 2: I know that twenty twenty we had COVID and everybody
Speaker 2: stayed home and the twenty twenty one we were kind
Speaker 2: of getting back. But why the spike in twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2: Any theory on that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so a few things happened at once. It's kind
Speaker 6: of a perfect storm. So it was still kind of
Speaker 6: coming out of COVID. Even though it was twenty twenty two,
Speaker 6: there was still that sense we were still coming out
Speaker 6: of it. But the traffic volumes that really pretty much
Speaker 6: came back to pre COVID levels. The problem is the
Speaker 6: driving behaviors got worse, so people were speeding, driving way
Speaker 6: more aggressively. Many of the folks that were driving a
Speaker 6: lot during COVID, you know, kind of owned the roads,
Speaker 6: and so some of those behaviors carried over, and then
Speaker 6: folks that got back into the swing of things and
Speaker 6: driving more kind of copied some of those behaviors. We've
Speaker 6: also seen upticks and impairment, people taking recreational drugs, illegal
Speaker 6: drugs and drinking, so some of those behaviors kind of
Speaker 6: went the wrong direction with it. And then, you know,
Speaker 6: we work closely with law enforcement. They're a great partner,
Speaker 6: but there's no question enforcement was affected. Enforcement was a
Speaker 6: bit down during that period as well. Felt like, you
Speaker 6: know what, they're not gonna no one's gonna catch me,
Speaker 6: or that I'm not going to get pulled over, So
Speaker 6: there's that feeling that they can get away with it.
Speaker 6: So all of that going on at the same time.
Speaker 6: And then there is an argument who made of some
Speaker 6: of the newer drivers who came onto the road who
Speaker 6: maybe took drivers there during COVID who didn't get those
Speaker 6: practice hours in the way maybe you know, traditionally folks
Speaker 6: would get so maybe more inexperience on the roadways as well.
Speaker 6: So it was really a lot of bad things happening
Speaker 6: at once.
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you another question which is separate,
Speaker 2: but you might be able to help me out of this.
Speaker 2: I'm told that the backups at the r m V
Speaker 2: and at Triple A are incredible in advance of the
Speaker 2: deadline for the the the the real ID driver's licenses.
Speaker 2: Do you have any insight on that that's the situation
Speaker 2: and is that going to abate once the actual deadline
Speaker 2: I think it's May fifth passes.
Speaker 6: It's May seventh, And yes, we are seeing very strong,
Speaker 6: very high volumes at our branches and I know the
Speaker 6: Registry is also experiencing that. So getting an appointment on
Speaker 6: those reservation systems that we operate maybe a challenge. You
Speaker 6: got to keep checking throughout the day. Slots do open up,
Speaker 6: so people are grabbing slots, but there's a lot of
Speaker 6: demand people. I think some folks are maybe a little
Speaker 6: bit more panicky than they should be. There's some misinformation
Speaker 6: out there, some confusion, and I take ownership for some
Speaker 6: of that too, because it's hard to get the messaging right.
Speaker 6: But there are folks who think that there are the
Speaker 6: driver's license in their walle it's going to be no
Speaker 6: good after May seventh, and that's not the case at all.
Speaker 6: A lot of people don't realize that it's literally to
Speaker 6: board a domestic flight or go into a federal building.
Speaker 6: Your old license is perfectly fine. That will still work
Speaker 6: as a regular driver's license. You don't need to rush
Speaker 6: in unless you have a trip plant after May seventh.
Speaker 6: If you're going to be flying, you know May tenth,
Speaker 6: and you don't have a real ID, yeah, you should
Speaker 6: probably get that done if you can, or you should
Speaker 6: have already gotten that done. The thing is, though, if
Speaker 6: you have a valid passport, that will also work on
Speaker 6: getting on a plane. So what we're seeing is there
Speaker 6: are folks that want to get the real idea before
Speaker 6: the deadline because they do have travel. There's a lot
Speaker 6: of folks that think they have to get it or
Speaker 6: there's a real sense of urgency. But when you talk
Speaker 6: to them, it's like, no, you still have a passport.
Speaker 6: You use that passport. Just wait till it dies down.
Speaker 6: I think after May seventh we will see numbers kind
Speaker 6: of get back to normal and things settle down a
Speaker 6: little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the passports, by the way, work. Both would
Speaker 2: work even without the real idea on your driver's license,
Speaker 2: both domestically and internationally. On airplane flight, absolutely no reason,
Speaker 2: no reason. It is just you say to panic. All right, Mark, Well,
Speaker 2: I'm glad I asked you about that because I'm here
Speaker 2: and it's been tough, and a friend of mine was
Speaker 2: trying to in a panic get an appointment at a
Speaker 2: registry office or at a triple A office and the
Speaker 2: only one that the individual could find was on Nantucket Island,
Speaker 2: which was, yeah, particularly excess at this time of year,
Speaker 2: especially convenient.
Speaker 5: Everyone.
Speaker 2: Mark is always first one of one of my favorite guests,
Speaker 2: and thanks for rearranging your schedule for us a little
Speaker 2: bit tonight.
Speaker 6: Hey, my pleasure any time.
Speaker 1: Dan.
Speaker 6: It's always great talking and we appreciate people's patients. We
Speaker 6: know it's tough. People want those ideas, you know. Just
Speaker 6: we're gon just take a deep breath. We're doing the
Speaker 6: best we can. We promise you know, everyone's going to
Speaker 6: get taken care of them.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 6: The other thing are doing their jobs.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The other thing too, is that there were so
Speaker 2: many stops and starts. They originally were supposed to be
Speaker 2: required by October of twenty twenty, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 2: that's four and a half years ago.
Speaker 6: But with all I mean, we've gone back all the
Speaker 6: way to nine to eleven is when this stuff really originated.
Speaker 6: And it's been it's been years and years, and then
Speaker 6: you know, it's supposed to go on right before COVID
Speaker 6: and then COVID game, so they extended it again. And
Speaker 6: so I think a lot of folks just kind of,
Speaker 6: you know, put it on the back burner and all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, next thing, you know, you know, you
Speaker 6: smell smoke. The food's burning.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 2: We got good metaphor, good metaphor. Mark, Thanks man, We'll
Speaker 2: talk soon, okay, all right, right, take care, thank you much. Okay,
Speaker 2: we come back. We will preview what's coming up later
Speaker 2: on tonight. One of our guests has mysteriously disappeared. I
Speaker 2: hope he was not abducted by aliens. A sports writer
Speaker 2: for the Boston Globe unfortunately, gave us every belief that
Speaker 2: he would be with us tonight at a certain time
Speaker 2: and didn't. But that's okay, that's okay. I can tell
Speaker 2: you probably everything that he could have told us. Well,
Speaker 2: and then I'll preview the show. We'll come back on
Speaker 2: Nightside right after the break.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, we have to apologize on behalf of Elevate Communications,
Speaker 2: a PR firm that represents the Boston Globe, and also
Speaker 2: Carrie Thompson, a writer for The Boston Globe, had written
Speaker 2: a piece that caught the attention of our producers. Why
Speaker 2: does the Boston Marathon start in Hopkinton. They were supposed
Speaker 2: to be available for eight fifteen tonight, and they weren't.
Speaker 2: We had to move. Melissa Paul was very gracious from
Speaker 2: Team ironeer up fifteen minutes, and also Mark shield Drop
Speaker 2: from TRIPAA moved them up fifteen minutes. So I'm just
Speaker 2: going to take a moment here in the absence of
Speaker 2: one of our scheduled guests. And I don't understand why
Speaker 2: any individual who tells their company yeah, I'll do that
Speaker 2: interview tonight small isn't smart enough to call and say, gee,
Speaker 2: something came up. You know. Maybe the person I don't know,
Speaker 2: you know, had it inconvenient. It's just it's kind of
Speaker 2: what where our country is going. You got to be polite,
Speaker 2: You got to think about the other guy. It's funny
Speaker 2: today I was driving and I was on Route nine,
Speaker 2: and just as I talked last week about the idea
Speaker 2: of ambulances barreling down Route nine heading to the hospital district.
Speaker 2: Sure enough, there was one about a quarter of a
Speaker 2: mile away. And I was in a position where I say, well,
Speaker 2: not only to get off of Route nine completely, but
Speaker 2: I was able to get off of Route nine and
Speaker 2: into a parking lot across the way so that I
Speaker 2: could open up an entire line of traffic for the ambulance.
Speaker 2: And there was no one else in front of me,
Speaker 2: which was great. And I was not going to race
Speaker 2: and try to race through a light. I had an
Speaker 2: opportunity and I did it. So again, you need to
Speaker 2: be professional, and you need to be considered of other people.
Speaker 2: The marathon, as you know, is twenty six point two miles,
Speaker 2: and I have covered a whole bunch of marathon starts.
Speaker 2: I remember covering the one hundredth anniversary. We'd go out
Speaker 2: there early in the morning. We'd oftentimes end up at
Speaker 2: the high school, and in those mid April mornings that
Speaker 2: I was out there on Patriots Days over the years,
Speaker 2: many mornings you'd go out and it would be thirty
Speaker 2: degrees or thirty five degrees on your car thermometer, and
Speaker 2: by time the sun came up it was sixty and
Speaker 2: so you're peeling. And of course the runners loved it
Speaker 2: because to a nice temperature for the run, not too hot.
Speaker 2: There were some races where it was eighty degrees or
Speaker 2: a little even worse than that. I remember a couple.
Speaker 2: But it's twenty six point two miles, and the finish
Speaker 2: line has changed a couple of times. It used to
Speaker 2: be there on Ring Road by the Prudential Center. They
Speaker 2: pushed it ahead a little bit, not a whole lot.
Speaker 2: And it also the start line it did start in
Speaker 2: Ationlaland at some point. But it's a story, it's a
Speaker 2: storied history. It's when the world comes to Hopkinton, and
Speaker 2: I can always remember this was probably in the early
Speaker 2: two thousands when they were a lot of really good
Speaker 2: Japanese runners. I mean a lot of the Kenyon runners
Speaker 2: now have taken over for the marathon, as I'm sure
Speaker 2: you know every time there's the winner, both from Kenya
Speaker 2: or whatever. And of course now you have the wheelchair
Speaker 2: divisions as well. But amongst the elite male runners, and
Speaker 2: even amongst the elite female runners, there was always a
Speaker 2: healthy contingent of Japanese tourists who came out because the
Speaker 2: Boston Marathon is a big deal, or it was then,
Speaker 2: at least in Japan. And I can remember so many
Speaker 2: times we would be by where the buses were pulling
Speaker 2: in and it was always a great shot to see
Speaker 2: the tourists come off a bus and you could tell
Speaker 2: they were not American by the language that they spoke,
Speaker 2: or by their appearance in some cases. And whenever the
Speaker 2: Japanese bus would come off, they would always be Japanese.
Speaker 2: And I know this is a bit of a stereotype,
Speaker 2: and it's not fear, but it's true. Japanese love to
Speaker 2: take pictures, at least in the days of the marathon,
Speaker 2: and they were they had come to Hopkinton, which for
Speaker 2: them was like I don't know, you know, us going
Speaker 2: to Buckingham Palace or going to the Shamps dis A
Speaker 2: or going you know, going somewhere in the world that
Speaker 2: you had read about your entire life. And so oftentimes
Speaker 2: the we we would be standing there, uh and I
Speaker 2: would be with my camera crew, and occasionally, a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, on more than one occasion, a Japanese tourist
Speaker 2: would come up and ask if they could take a
Speaker 2: picture with me, and I am convinced based upon what
Speaker 2: they would say to me that they thought I was
Speaker 2: the mayor of Hopkinson, not merely a simple television reporter
Speaker 2: from w b C TV and the unbelievably polite, gracious,
Speaker 2: friendly people. Uh. And they would say to me, in
Speaker 2: either broken English or just by gestures, can take a
Speaker 2: picture and that hand the camera to a friend and uh.
Speaker 2: And we would stand there, shake hands, and we would pose. Again.
Speaker 2: I wasn't about to say no, no, I said sure
Speaker 2: absolutely uh. And we talk a little bit, or try
Speaker 2: to talk a little bit. And and this was even
Speaker 2: around the time that Japanese baseball players Haiki Nomo was
Speaker 2: I think pitching at that point for the Dodgers or
Speaker 2: for the Red Sox late in the twentieth century early
Speaker 2: and I would say Hideki and Omo and and they
Speaker 2: would understand names. You know, uh, Uh that that's Hideki
Speaker 2: Matsui with the with the Yankees at a different time.
Speaker 2: And you you'd make that little connection, believe it or not,
Speaker 2: and they'd be very appreciative. Take a picture, uh. And
Speaker 2: then they'd hand the camera to their buddy or to
Speaker 2: their wife or to whomever they were with, and then
Speaker 2: I would get a picture with that person. And many
Speaker 2: of them would say to me, maya, maya, take picture,
Speaker 2: take picture, and I'd say, okay, find no problem. Hopkinson
Speaker 2: doesn't have a mayor. It's a town, so as a
Speaker 2: board of selectmen. But I am still convinced that to
Speaker 2: this day there may be some pictures of me in
Speaker 2: homes in Japan in which people still proudly point in
Speaker 2: Japan to the wall and say and to their friends,
Speaker 2: I was in Hopkinton and that's a picture of me
Speaker 2: with the mayor of Hopkinton. They have no idea. It's
Speaker 2: just Dan Ray. It's as simple as that. Anyway, when
Speaker 2: we get back, have any of you bought deeply, deeply
Speaker 2: discounted stamps on any of the websites eBay or places
Speaker 2: like that. Well, I know several people who have, and
Speaker 2: I have thought about it myself, and I decided to
Speaker 2: check with the US Post Office because some of these
Speaker 2: deals right now, one hundred stamps at sixty seven census
Speaker 2: stamp would cost you sixty seven dollars. Most of us
Speaker 2: are buying books of them, and you're paying fourteen sixty
Speaker 2: for just twenty stamps. However, there are sites which purport
Speaker 2: to sell you forever stamps, one hundred forever stamps for
Speaker 2: twenty bucks or twenty two bucks, like a deep discount.
Speaker 2: The question then, is, just as your mother told you,
Speaker 2: if it's too good to be true, is it likely
Speaker 2: too good to be true? We will find out. We're
Speaker 2: going to be talking with a US Postal Inspector supervisor
Speaker 2: about if you have some stamps and you have had
Speaker 2: a good experience, please feel free to join the conversation.
Speaker 2: We will unwind this story for you right after the
Speaker 2: nine o'clock news. My name is Dan Ray, and this
Speaker 2: is Nightside