Not every reader agreed with our selection of housing advocate Bruce Marks as our 2007 Bostonian of the Year. But some of our runners-up - Josh Beckett, Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, and the Teamsters' Sean O'Brien - got universal applause. Then Miss Conduct heard the growl from an angry, animal-loving public.
Homeowner Helper
It made my day to read about a passionate, committed, and savvy individual like Bruce Marks ("Guarding the House," December 30). Would that we could clone him and spread his like throughout the world of banking. How wonderful to be so passionate about helping the underdog. Corporate welfare is OK, but the little guy should not have to pay for banking practices that have benefited the banking oligarchy far more than the poor slob trying to realize the American dream.
Claire O'Toole Cashman
Wethersfield, Connecticut
What troubles me about Bruce Marks's recognition is that the self-described successful lending record of his Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is, in fact, abysmal, and it undermines the many good people doing great work within housing and consumer advocacy. If all corporate policies (education, law, insurance, medicine) were set by similar personal guerrilla tactics as Marks has used on banks and mortgage banks, where would that leave us as a society? Probably somewhere akin to the gangbangers' control of the courts through witness and judicial intimidation.
Kevin M. Cuff
Executive Director, Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association
Boston
I wanted to thank you for naming Bruce Marks Bostonian of the Year. I am the 21-year-old chief of Tribe Phenomena, the Augusta chapter of the Georgia Youth Leadership Group EmpowerMEnt. I have been advocating for the rights of foster children for more than five years, and I know how hard advocacy can be, especially when you are fighting an enormous system. I learned about Mr. Marks's Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America a couple of months ago, and since then I have become one of his biggest fans.
Lakievia Curd
Augusta, Georgia
The problem with selecting Bruce Marks as your Bostonian of the Year is that there are dozens of other organizers working on housing issues in Boston. While Marks may supply significant numbers of low-income families with a meaningful way to achieve homeownership, many of the housing organizers I know are working hard to address the systemic issues that underlie the problem of access to housing. There are different approaches to organizing, but only some emphasize working to build a movement that has the potential to challenge fundamental inequities. We need a range of approaches, but at the core, we need efforts that link a broad enough spectrum of groups and people so that we have some chance of making meaningful changes to the large-scale social, economic, and political framework. From what I read, I doubt that Marks considers himself part of such an effort.
Doug Brugge
Cambridge
Female and in Charge
Am I missing something in Lisa Wangsness's article ("Party Crashers," December 30), with the subtitle, "It used to be that women couldn't land top political positions in Massachusetts. This year, that changed." Jane Swift broke the glass ceiling as governor years ago, and Kerry Healey was recently lieutenant governor. Does it only count when Democrat females break the glass ceiling?
Ed Kubulins
Hingham
Teamwork
I would like to add my voice to the praise you gave to Sean O'Brien and the Teamsters Local 25 ("Your Friendly Teamsters," December 30). For the last two years, the Teamsters have donated their trucks and time to make our December Polar Express event possible. They tirelessly moved decorations, food, and supplies on a very tight schedule to and from South Station, Providence Station, and Gillette Stadium. Their efforts helped to make the event magical for all the families that attended.
Edie Stevenson
Executive Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern New England
Windham, New Hampshire
Sporting Chance
Regarding Charles P. Pierce's line, "For over 20 years, we were told that high-priced professional athletes looked on Boston as though it were Siberia, only with a poorer class of fur coats" ("Winners," December 30), Beantown has always been the place to be. The only trouble was that all four of the big sports organizations needed strong leadership, and that has finally happened under the auspices of some owners with visions of success, tenacity, and wise selections in coaching and negotiations personnel. Bob Kraft and the new owners of the Sox should be held up as inspiration for other franchises across the board.
<Herbert L. Foster
Norway, Maine
Ruff Advice
I disagree with Robin Abrahams's response to the woman who felt that allowing her dog to chase squirrels was acceptable ("Miss Conduct," December 30). Squirrels are not toys. One day her dog may catch a squirrel who is too young, too old, or too infirm to get away. Her dog may get bitten by a squirrel that is fighting for its life. The squirrel and/ or her dog will be injured, and all because she is too lazy and thoughtless to teach her dog to chase a ball.
Phyllis Browne
Boston
To inflict needless stress on another living thing is not ethically acceptable. Furthermore, society places constraints on the "abstract right to do what you want," which in the case of this dog's owner is probably a leash law. Most municipalities have such a regulation. Free, running dogs are a danger and stressful presence not only to squirrels but to people as well.
Ellen Kosmer
Amherst
I loved Abrahams's answer to the question about the dog who chases squirrels. Some years ago, I walked my dog on Boston Common every Sunday morning. Whenever she saw a squirrel, Sandra hunkered down and tried to sneak toward it. People passing by laughed at the sight of a 60-pound German shepherd doing the best she could to be invisible. And if you were observing the squirrels, they behaved as if she were in fact invisible. But when she finally lunged toward them, the squirrels would run up the nearest tree, circle around it until they were hanging head down in front of her, and make a sound that was clearly "Nyah, nyah, nyah." The sophisticated squirrels on Boston Common were taunting her.
One day a lady confronted me, waving her umbrella, saying, "You are letting that dog terrorize those poor squirrels!"
I said, "Madam, the score is squirrels, 304, German shepherd, zero."
Sandra continued to chase squirrels until she was too old to run, without ever losing her enthusiasm, despite no success.
Barbara R. Hoffman
Boston
Abrahams wrote, "Squirrels need lots of practice avoiding things, which you were providing. . . . The worst you're doing to the squirrels is stressing them out a little." There are more than enough threats in the squirrel's environment giving it "practice" without adding one more. The squirrel doesn't know the dog is playing with him; the squirrel is terrified and running for its life. (Who's to say it doesn't run into the street when it's racing away?) What about the kids who see this? Kids won't enjoy the spectacle. They usually identify with the smaller animal, and the dog's being the aggressor and bully here. All this to justify the behavior of one person who chooses not to get her dog a ball to chase.
W. Moore
Arlington
Marking the Days
When I was kid circa 1960, your annual calendar included many of the Christian holidays as well as the Jewish holidays. I remember spending time going back and forth from each month's annotated holidays to the legend, learning what was important to my Christian friends as well as memorizing when my Jewish holidays were coming. It helped me understand what the majority of the population was observing throughout the year.
This year's calendar (December 30) is void of all religious holidays except Christmas. I guess it is easier to omit these important events than to risk leaving anybody out. But these holidays do exist, and every time we hide, omit, or ignore an important event because it is directly relevant to only one portion of our population, all of us are a little poorer, a little less involved, and a lot less understanding of our neighbors.
Eric Milgroom
Stoughton
Editor's Note: Only federal holidays were indicated on this year's calendar.
A Worker's Plea
TV host Kim McLarin is astonished at how Boston's black and white worlds don't interact ("First Person," December 2). She is so right. I am white and have worked in this area for most of 30 years. Because my work includes hiring to fill many roles in almost a dozen high-tech firms, I have performed countless phone screens and 700 to 800 in-person interviews. I can count on my fingers the number of black job applicants. Further, I have contracted with vendors of all kinds to receive services for my employers. Again, very, very few of the individuals in those firms have been black.
Yet, a year back, I attended Deval Patrick's inaugural. I cannot describe my astonishment at the number of black professionals in the crowd. Where are these people, if not in or servicing Boston's high-tech industry? What am I doing so that my circle overlaps theirs so little? Most important, how can I - we - change this?
Twenty years ago, my "partner in crime" at a large computer firm was a black man about my age. We bemoaned the scarcity of black co-workers, but neither of us knew what to do about it. He has gone on to a very prestigious high-tech job - out of state. Is that telling, or is it chance?
Stefania Nappi
Weston
