DNC security to affect I-93 from Canton to Woburn

The Democratic National Convention brings the need for security at a high-profile event into conflict with ordinary people's needs to get to get to work or home. Do current plans balance those two sets of needs well?

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If taking this action prevents another Sept. 11 type attack, then I am all for a couple days of inconvenience.

Tom

Its great that Boston could land this big fish, but they are setting a very bad precedent. Are the taxpayers supposed to stop working every time someone /something big comes to town ? I'm sure the Mayor could put some hypocritical spin on it to make us sound less like prostitutes.

TT

Hm. Why bother holding a convention at a convention center when you can inconvenience hundreds of thousands of people instead?

sally

I like how Menino says that this will really not effect people. This coming from a mayor who when it snows makes sure that the plows do his street first. Not only is this going to effect people going to work, school, and everyday life, it is also going to make us think differently about our reps who are supposed to be looking out for our best interest. New York is not closing down Penn Station for the RNC, but then again, they do not have Menino as their mayor. I am a proud Democrat, but this is making it so voting is not even worth my time. John Kerry is not speaking up about this and caring about so many of us not being able to get to work, but my guess would be we had a blizzard on election day, he would make sure we all had a way to go to the voting booth.

Angry Boston Driver

It seems a bit excessive to shut down the roads that far away but it might encourage more people to take public tansportation, which isn't a bad thing. We all know that teh Big Dig has too much traffic even when it opened and the MA resident loves the independence of his/her car, but come on folks, a little car pooling or a commuter bus might be to your benefit. Maybe after the convention you will continue taking the non driving single car, lipstick poputting on, shaving, drinking coffee, calling Mom, Globe reading route, and make the roads a hell of a lot safer for those who really need it. As to whether it is a DNS or RNC who cares? The Governer? Mitt, "I was in for the gay marriages issue" Romney and Tom "Love the city but don't pay the workers" Menino would only have to cross to the other si\de of the fence they are on. Think of the income for the few days that it will do to boost our city, that is constantly bitching about being broke. Two things should occur though, free parking for the commuters and some compensation from the profits for the cities such as ours that will have to suffer the extra traffic.

Donal

I totally understand the need to shut 93 down at certain points but the idea that you can not get on 93 in either direction to the point of where the highway is shut down ( MassPike or Medford) is the most absurd. So someone in the burbs of lets say Canton/Stoughton/Randolph wishes to go to Braintree or somewhere in the south shore area on Route 3 for dinner will be unable to get on 93North/128South to get to route 3? Where is the logic in that? How would someone lets say from Milton or Quincy get to the Ted Williams tunnel to pick up someone at the airport if they can't get on 93North? I think the lack intelligence of George W Bush has rubbed off on Mayor Menino. And neither one will ever admit they made a mistake or apologize.

Ben

Not sure what planet Joe lives on but the "insanity" these days is being created by the current inept, reckless and above all clueless Republican administration. I don't hear you complaining about Romney traveling all over the country campaigning for Bush do I? Hypocrite. Kerry wins in a landslide, get used to it. Nice war ya got there, nice deficit too!

Miguel

How dare the Menino administration advise people to take a vacation. So everyone goes to the cape to getaway and its overpacked. Where is the outrage at Menino? Does everyone realize that the city will be lucky to break even from this circus. Where is John Kerry? This convention of liars, cheats and drunks has casued such a chaos that this state is the laughingstock of the country.

TONY

How can the city of Boston be shut down, yet New York remains open for the Republican convention? This is a joke and a major inconvenience for those of us who commute to Boston. I can see no positive spin to this convention.

David

Mayor Menino and network television are at the root of this fiasco. Menino is either too stupid or too politically partisan to actually require the convention be held in...gee, let's think about this for a second...the brand new hundreds of million dollar CONVENTION CENTER that our tax dollars paid for! Tell the networks to deal with the poorer camera sight lines. Shame on the mayor and the Dems for shutting down our city for a week. Vote Menino out.

Hoss