, weighs in at
8.1 megapixels, and cost me just under two hundred bucks, a bargain when you consider that I never leave home without it, and always come back with at least 150 photos from the day's adventure. The L
series is even easier on the pocketbook. You can find L14s with 7.1 MP for around a hundred bucks. No one will mistake you for Ansel Adams, but you can have a lot of fun with it.
Pony Up, Boston!
Boston's Mounted Police patrol the Fenway, circa 1963.
At the Spring meeting of the Fenway Garden Society there was considerable concern about a proposal to axe horse patrols in Boston, which is home to the oldest organized mounted police unit in the country.
Now the Mayor says he has not heard enough input from us to save the mounted unit. It's worth saving, trust me. The mounted patrols are a long-standing and integral part of the delicate social ecology of this fragile public space. The idea that the patrols are a luxury to be dispensed with in financially tough times undermines the park itself and trivializes the difficulties of keeping this gem safe, clean, and open to the public.
Two things you can do:
First, Sign this petition.
Second, whip off an email to Councilor Michael Ross, including your name and address at: Michael.Ross@cityofboston.gov, cc'd to Reuben.Kantor@cityofboston.gov. A sample email (courtesy the Fenway Garden Society):
We are gravely concerned about Mayor Menino's proposal to shut down the historic Boston Police Department's Mounted Unit. The horse patrols are not only community builders, but effective law enforcement officers and especially needed in the Fenway's extensive park land where tall vegetation requires the extra height and agility that the horses give their officers.Please tell your friends and neighbors. Letters and emails sent to Councilor Michael Ross received by Thursday May 28th at noon will be collated and submitted to the Mayor's Office.
The Fenway is home not only to the Red Sox, but to more than 400 gardeners and thousands of residents and students for whom the parkland in the Fens is their primary open space. The mounted patrols are adept at crowd control during major events, but also excel at patrolling the bordering park land known for illicit criminal activity. This advantage they provide cannot be matched by officers in cars, bicycles or on foot.
We understand the City faces financial challenges and needs to improve efficiency, but ask that our valuable parks not bear the loss of the mounted unit because of a temporary downturn. The mounted patrols account for 1/4 of 1% of the Boston Police budget- we believe that sum is insignificant compared to the value of crime prevention and safety they provide.
Good luck with saving the horse patrols. It seems obvious how important they are.
Here in New Orleans they are so valuable in crowd control in the French Quarter and on parade routes that no one suggests they be discontinued. The officers are pretty friendly and one can pet the horses (respectfully and with permission, of course). They're great for public relations.
There are about 22 horses in the troop here. How many horses in service in Boston? Are they also mixed breed part Percheron?
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Boston has only a 12-horse unit (by breed, they're draft-horse crosses, relatives of the giant Clydesdale). The projected savings ($600,000) is a pittance.
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I found this article with a link to a petition which can be signed by anyone, not just residents, so I signed and am sending it to a friend who plans to move to Boston in the next few years.
http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/boston_police_horses_032009/
The big dig seemed visionary; certainly it was audaciously expensive. I wonder how the city that ripped out that monstrous scar and knitted itself back together, despite such an enormous expenditure of time and money, can now seemingly casually discard the unique utility and beauty this small mounted patrol provides.
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Thanks Anita!
Too bad you can't find a way to vote in the next local election, too. I think we need a change of leadership in Boston.
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Ditto on the thanks to Anita - no longer a Boston/Mass. resident so I can't do much on the local petition, but agree wholeheartedly - horse patrols are brilliant psychology all around - they should double the unit and axe some of the carbound, donut-munching "Municipal Police" instead...
HEAR, HEAR!! Mike, on the leadership change!!
a.) Why are people so bloody complacent about hizz-visionless-onner? (actually, he's best when he doesn't have some grand ideas...all his grand ideas are true stinkers...)
b.) are there ANY viable opponents in the upcoming race?
(please, dear God!).
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