A week to go on vacation

Thanks to keshwyn for pointing out this map of street closures due to the Democratic National Convention in July. Give it a look, even if you think you know what's going on -- the reality is even worse than the news reports have been saying. If it wasn't in the Globe, I'd suspect it as a joke.

They're essentially trying to prevent anyone from getting into Boston in the evenings during the convention: all of the main incoming roads are going to be closed after 4pm. You can leave, but it's going to be very difficult to enter. I feel really sorry for businesses that depend on the evening trade. (And even moreso for people who live in the city and work outside it.) And frankly, I think the entire metro region's going to suck that week -- the re-routings seem likely to cause traffic to jam up everyone in the area.

Does anyone know who is making these decisions? They seem preposterously over-the-top, and I'm rather curious who is driving the paranoia to such extremes. Frankly, I'd like to slap them upside the head: wrecking the traffic patterns like this does nothing to improve overall security for the city...

A week to go on vacation

Thanks to keshwyn for pointing out this map of street closures due to the Democratic National Convention in July. Give it a look, even if you think you know what's going on -- the reality is even worse than the news reports have been saying. If it wasn't in the Globe, I'd suspect it as a joke.

They're essentially trying to prevent anyone from getting into Boston in the evenings during the convention: all of the main incoming roads are going to be closed after 4pm. You can leave, but it's going to be very difficult to enter. I feel really sorry for businesses that depend on the evening trade. (And even moreso for people who live in the city and work outside it.) And frankly, I think the entire metro region's going to suck that week -- the re-routings seem likely to cause traffic to jam up everyone in the area.

Does anyone know who is making these decisions? They seem preposterously over-the-top, and I'm rather curious who is driving the paranoia to such extremes. Frankly, I'd like to slap them upside the head: wrecking the traffic patterns like this does nothing to improve overall security for the city...