[note: article is from 2013, posted December 29, 2024.]
Martine Powers was the Boston Globe‘s transportation reporter. She addressed a meeting at the Livable Streets office in Cambridge on October 17, 2013, see
http://www.livablestreets.info/event/streettalk-behind-scenes-globe-transportation-reporter [Note: no longer online and not archived, but see this.]
Livable Streets founder Jeff Rosenblum introduced Powers. He mentioned things he had in common with her. They like to tell stories, “she tells them better.” They both had spent time in Pittsburgh: she as a reporter and he as a student at Carnegie-Mellon. They were both in the Netherlands this past summer. He co-taught a course there.with Prof. Peter Furth.
Rosenblum was trying to find out about new types of facilities and how we could have them in Cambridge. He got a bicycle parking ticket for parking incorrectly at the Amsterdam railroad station.
Powers first described what she does. She works for the Globe, and has has only covered transportation for 1 1/2 years. When she first came here she didn’t know what the Big Dig is. Much of journalism is asking dumb questions, taking complex topics and streamlining them so people can understand them. Many people think that journalists wake up and think what they will do each day. A lot comes from editors. She would be involved in a theoretical discussion, then one Green Line train rear-ends another. Or the editor’s commute was really bad. She does the Starts and Stops column which runs on Sundays, and there are blog posts during the week. The column used to be just a lost of problems, T is shut down etc. but this is not necessary any more thanks to the Internet.
She wrote an article called Shifting Gears,
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/06/01/shifting-gears/OzqggjtGDxeZdStHAtMrXK/story.html
about increasing diversity among cyclists. (The photo at the top of the article, displayed on the screen in the room, shows cyclists riding in a crosswalk: a man, apparently the father, with two children. None are wearing helmets. The boy is riding through a puddle inches from the curb, having just ridden off the sidewalk. Helmet use was required by law for the children. The man is guiding a young girl on a bicycle with training wheels and not paying attention to traffic. The photogrpher stood in the street to take the photo. This is a typical staged “isn’t it wonderful that they are riding bicycles” photo which turns a blind lens to issues of cycling skills and safety. The location.)
“I write about the T, and, people say I have something to tell you.” Her audience crosses all socioeconomic lines: everyone uses transportation. As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you’re making other plans. “It’s kind of magical to be in a compact, crowded, over-air-conditioned or overheated space.” (a bus or train).
She doesn’t want to come across as super wonky: you start to talk like the people you talk with. You get to know fancy words, but editors say don’t use them, because people don’t understand them. Infrastructure, capital investment, livable streets,etc. Sometimes they leak into stories. This plays into the larger issue of trying to make it clear what conversations and disputes are about. “If you’re not explaining it in as way a 4th grader would understand, you’re not getting to the heart of the story.” There are tons of stories out there. Journalists get lots of e-mail. She gets 50 per day. One criterion is the need for real people in a story. Organizations with lots of really smart people get together and write reports. They don’t have real people in them. Incorporate real people.
Feb. 2, 2013 story: the Ride (MBTA service for people with disabilities) showed a decline in use after an increase in the fare. A woman, Wilhelmena Melrose, was affected and was featured in the story. That makes for good stories: indicate larger trend and also bring in a person who can speak to the experience.
Powers likes stories that surprise her. The Shifting Gears story: City Councilors, especially Pressley, would like to see more bicyclists from Dorchester and Roxbury. People in these communities were feeling the lack of attention. Someone from the Boston Cyclists Union (advocacy group) was saying its really important we have people write to the newspaper when a 53 year-old Vietnamese man riding a bicycle was killed. As a person of color, Powers thinks that it is Important not only to tell people what is right and wrong but to tell the more complex story.
Sept 22 2013 story was about Amsterdam as a cyclists mecca, with lessons for our town.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/21/bicycling-dutch-way/kFRT0ABSPtUnXMIUj5zONM/story.html {Article no longer online but available through Minuteman libraries at https://www.proquest.com/bostonglobe/docview/1434562990/1CF4252EF0B246A2PQ/5?accountid=35608&sourcetype=Newspapers. Search On <Bicycling Dutch 22 Sep 2013>.
– about cycle tracks. shifting bike lanes behind parked cars for safety [unfounded assumption — John Allen]. Powers got a lot of real people into the story. Jeff, his wife, Peter Furth from Northeastern made the story real. She found the trip fascinating, seeing “how they create cycle tracks and make cycling safe.” Here in Boston we talk about bike lanes, then later cycle tracks. Delve into what makes these intersections work. If you want your streets to be safer…
Street designers work with accident reconstruction specialists in the Netherlands. Automatically placing the blame on motorist rather than cyclist changes attitudes. [Note: that claim is highly overstated, see this.] Powers is is still waiting on the investigation of the Chris Weigl fatality. In the Netherlands, investigations take 6 weeks, and the street is redesigned in 2 months. Powers was surprised that what is different in the Netherlands wasn’t just infrastructure, it was the culture. She did a lot of Instgramming. They had bicycle classes in primary school. She showed photos of parents carrying kids on bikes, precariously (one on the front, one on the back); a bike parking garage with a clear cover; a stairway ramp. That doesn’t exist here. Loved seeing people riding sidesaddle on the back of other peoples bikes. (She showed a photo from the ski-epic.com Web site.)
A young woman said to her that bikes are easy to use and you can bring your friend on the back of the bike. Girls 9-11 practice jumping on the back of the bike, a coming-of-age moment. Almost more than anything that was part of transportation being part of peoples lives. That’s how I like what I do — the end.
Comment and question period:
Rebecca Albrecht: one cousin in the Netherlands said she didn’t like to have a helmet on small child because she liked to smell her child’s hair. Another said that a child would wear helmet up to age 7 or 8.
Helmets and all the other trappings of what you need to be safe are more applicable to cycling as a sport. They make a distinction.
Albrecht was in the Netherlands — people standing on the rack of the bicycle. Middle school child on the back, small child in front. Thought OmiGod, never saw anything like that. Dutch cousins said it’s safe to ride like this because you can see farther up the road. (?)
Question: What is your most common transportation? How has that changed?
Powers: I drive more than anything else: I need to have car at work. Actually I didnt have a car the first year here. i was using the T a lot more. I’m riding my bike and now that has started to change. First thought: I want to get to this place as quickly as possible and hopefully not get hit by a truck. Now also wants to enjoy the experience. Is taking more smaller streets and side streets. Covering transportation has made her think how some modes are more or less stressful: why did I drive here? Now she thinks more, it might take a little bit longer on the T but she can read her book.
Broader policy question: Huge discussion about economic benefits of biking, walking, public transit. A one-person car, 2 or 3 times as much greenhouse gas as train or bus. Powers reticent to talk about climate change. What feels more immediate is fare increases, removing a line of service etc. Does think that issues of climate change are more of the conversation at MassdotDOT and the T.
Becky (last name?): What about metrics to decide whether an article is successful. Do you read comments on your articles? “I don’t. Reporters don’t look at page views. You can get a sense of this by how many people e-mail you about an article. Also from Twitter. She doesn’t put much stock in comments e.g., “Why did this woman go to the Netherlands, this is os dumb.” Thinks that there are a lot of ways to engage.
Nat (last name?): how successful is the sidesaddle:
Powers: I never did it while there. Did it here.
About the word “accident.” People think about it mostly as it involves bikes. Editors prefer crash or collision. Bike vs. car collisions get motorists and bicyclists really angry. What does it mean to charge or sue a person.
Jackie Douglas: Use of words: cyclists vs. people on bikes . “‘Cyclists’ makes you think of someone like Lance Armstrong.”
What brought you to be interested in transportation? Grew up in Miami, drove everywhere. People here say the subways are horrible but she thinks its magical. As a reporter, you have to take a one-day course to go into a subway tunnel.
Where would you like to take the Starts and Stops? How much direction do you have in that? Could be shorter breaking new items of longer thinky pieces.
Eric: interested in history — early 2th century and mid century. Was about what was open and closed, round out with quirky odds and ends. Thought it should be a blog, its a time-management thing. Not a lot of direction top-down.
Next big story? Excited about late-night T service. What was it like when we had the night owl. T reporters are biased to their own taste — biased toward living in Boston.
Impartial — recent article would lend itself to influencing policy. Valuable info that people should know. What she appreciated about response was that it wasn’t just from the cycling community. Made people think about what its like to have a bike lane or cycle track. Interesting to be at mayoral forum. All of the candidates were talking about cycle tracks. Cool that people are think about cycle tracks. [And now we are getting cyclists killed in them.]
How does she deal with crashes, what happens afterwards and how people respond? Make sure that life and memory are honored and someone is held responsible.
[End of notes from meeting.]
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