Boston, MA
‘Super overtime’ MBTA earners in Boston blow by New York City counterparts
![‘Super overtime’ MBTA earners in Boston blow by New York City counterparts ‘Super overtime’ MBTA earners in Boston blow by New York City counterparts](https://www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MBTAnc-4.jpg?w=1024&h=683)
The runaway time beyond regulation prepare in Boston has been diverted in New York Metropolis by utilizing high-tech controls, a Herald payroll evaluation discovered.
In Boston, 38 MBTA staff earned $100,000 or extra in time beyond regulation final yr — together with three who topped $200,000-plus.
In New York Metropolis, two MTA staff clocked in OT simply over $100,000 — and that got here throughout a hiring freeze.
“It’s absurd we now have seven instances extra tremendous time beyond regulation individuals right here on the T,” mentioned Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute. He referred to as on the Boston brass to review what New Yorkers do and undertake it, quick.
“T administration ought to rent the agency New York did and ask them to make a bid to do an impartial evaluation and put an finish to time beyond regulation abuse right here,” Sullivan, a former state inspector basic, added.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, largely, runs New York Metropolis’s huge subway system. Going through rising OT prices pre-pandemic, the company employed the legislation agency Morrison & Foerster in 2019.
The consequence? “We had been in a position to maintain the road,” mentioned MTA boss Lisette Camilo in an MTA announcement. He added OT has dropped to a “manageable” degree.
The MTA’s strict controls embody:
- Digital OT approval kinds “for real-time oversight.”
- Weekly time beyond regulation exercise reviews.
- Mid-year critiques and efficiency value determinations to watch “compliance.”
- Prioritizing initiatives to “reduce time beyond regulation.”
The MBTA, responding to a Herald request this week for steps it’s taking to cap OT, mentioned security and capital initiatives drive added hours.
“MBTA expertise is that OT hours have been constant at roughly 14-15%; current will increase shifting to the far finish of that vary are responding to sturdy capital program, security and vacancies because of the difficult labor market,” T spokesman Joe Pesaturo mentioned in an electronic mail.
He added, “to assist enhance service reliability whereas lowering the usage of OT, the T can be ramping up hiring of latest staff” within the new fiscal yr.
Pesaturo mentioned the T is seeking to rent 152 positions “straight for service and transportation” together with 76 for the bus fleet, 41 for heavy and lightweight rail, 119 for upkeep and safety, 64 for system, energy, and amenities upkeep, 41 for bus and rail upkeep.
He mentioned finance managers “evaluation and analyze time beyond regulation bills month-to-month they usually commonly report year-to-date and year-over-year traits” to senior administration.
Louise Baxter of the T Riders Union agreed extra drivers should be employed, however she added there’s “an excessive amount of top-down” management in Boston the place bus drivers aren’t given “sufficient discretion.”
A Herald evaluation additionally exhibits the T’s time beyond regulation tally is dominated by a who’s who of foremen overseeing painters, pipefitters, wire and monitor employees. Just a few transit cops crack the $100,000 OT checklist with crime on the T a problem, however that’s much more so in New York Metropolis.
But it surely’s not apples to apples when in comparison with New York Metropolis’s MTA, the place the time beyond regulation prime canines work within the warehouse, storerooms and information facilities. The highest OT transit cop in NYC pulled down $67,000 in time beyond regulation final yr. The highest OT officer in Boston earned $142,000 in OT.
The MTA OT bible stresses {that a} “trendy timekeeping system” has held the company to “larger accountability and validation of time beyond regulation spending” — and spreading the additional hours round.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Boston, MA
On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe
![On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/RXdiHjvsR-YRssuoWYXfrycNpP4=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/QDP4KTWTRDX27EGFYFUJGKISTI.jpg)
Fisher and Braun are two students moving this weekend, a notorious one in Boston when 70 percent of the city’s leases start on the same day. Trying to move in a cramped city at the same time as thousands of others is exasperating. Even those who aren’t moving feel stressed by the congested traffic and piles of junk on sidewalks.
Adding to the moving confusion is Allston Christmas, an unofficial Boston holiday during which Allston/Brighton students leave their unwanted goods out for people to take. The holiday has grown over the years, expanding well past Allston, and sidewalk piles pop in areas like Fenway, Mission Hill, East Boston, and other neighborhoods with high populations of students.
The holiday has a chaotic yet jovial atmosphere, with students walking the streets hoping to find free home goods or furniture treasure amid piles of junk. Though the city warns against picking up stuff from the street for multiple sanitation reasons, including the spread of bed bugs and the sidewalk piles being ideal for rats.
Other renters prefer listing their odds and ends on Facebook Marketplace.
Northeastern graduate Becca Miller carried her mattress down from her home to the SUV of a buyer she connected with through the online platform. The mattress was one of 13 items Miller sold on the app over the past three days.
Selling the items online was stressful. Miller estimated she talked to around 70 people, many of whom ghosted her or didn’t offer the right deal, before finding buyers for her belongings. She said the process was like having a full-time job.
She was trying to get the belongings sold by her move-out date. Her roommates were already gone, having left the country to study abroad in Indonesia. Miller is scheduled to meet them there in a month for a post-grad opportunity.
![Moving vans along Aberdeen Street took up parking spaces as students across Boston were moving in and out of apartments to get ready for the fall semester.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/23ID3Y77RRIMZFMZPODP34I6ZE.jpg?auth=2b62577605504cf5eee3aafdb651a7f3e43aa5c6e01e37fda3723e7174a4610e&width=1440)
Despite the stress, Miller liked the process of buying and selling used goods. Most of the items in Miller’s apartment were second hand because she and her roommates were environmental studies majors.
“Buying new stuff, I have a block around it,” she said.
For Ian Furst, 28, a project manager of a local biotechnology company, moving from the Fenway area was a family affair. His fiancée’s family; his parents, Andy, 60, and Samantha, 54; and his brother Nate, 27, came to help the couple move out.
Furst lived on the sixth floor of his building, something that wasn’t a huge problem until the elevator broke down. It hasn’t been fixed for 15 months, so his family helped him carry boxes, bags, crates, and bulky items down the stairs.
“We love the neighborhood, Fenway is very much our home, but Jamaica Plain was calling,” he said.
Samantha said that last weekend, when they got a head start on moving, her two sons did 110 flights of stairs each. This weekend, she said, it’s somewhere around 50.
“This sucks,” Nate laughed as he lugged three tote bags of stuff into their minivan before going back up to do it again.
![Forsyth Street in Boston near Northeastern University was a busy scene as students were moving in for the fall semester.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/NGD3STWZONKKVOOAVYVYVB376Y.jpg?auth=914f8f87a2ac4af6be384f3a95854141bb0c54d2928c46e1a5b4a84d2e7c11d8&width=1440)
Furst lived in Brighton in 2019. He bounced around apartments in the area before finding the Fenway spot that he’s currently leaving. His parents live in North Reading, but during their college and young adult years, they also rented apartments in and around Allston and Fenway. They were all familiar with the standstill traffic and double-parked streets that fill up this time every year.
“It’s an adventure,” said Andy, of the busy weekend.
Furst was grateful he had some help on that adventure.
“It takes an army to move out of an apartment on a Sept. 1 timeline,” he said.
Izzy Bryars can be reached at izzy.bryars@globe.com. Follow her @izzybryars.
Boston, MA
Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31
![Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31 Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/31/be4b78d8-1e0a-422d-af1f-d4080f46f6fe/thumbnail/1200x630/c475c3a2b253e8405c4eff1d11eee9dc/057a66114a4312acccd2c508830eeafc.jpg?v=25685eaa472b1a5dbb5bd46ae506d232)
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Boston, MA
Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)
![Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10) Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/31/PDTF/75021224007-usa-20240830-szo-aa-1-0026-jpg.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4938,2778,x0,y257&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal favorite for 2024 American League Cy Young
“Days of Roar” podcast on Aug. 26, 2024, evaluating Tarik Skubal’s AL Cy Young campaign with Nick Pollack of PitcherList, who explains nasty changeup.
The Detroit Tigers refused to quit.
Still, they were overpowered by big swings from the Boston Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning.
The Tigers lost, 7-5, to the Red Sox on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. A three-run home run in the eighth inning from slugger Kerry Carpenter snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak, but the Tigers — despite forcing extra innings — were unable to complete the comeback.
In the 10th, right-hander reliever Shelby Miller allowed a two-run home run to Ceddanne Rafaela on a two-strike elevated fastball. The next batter, Jarren Duran, hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton, crushing a first-pitch sinker.
Right-hander starter Casey Mize gave up four runs across six innings in his return from the injured list. He hadn’t pitched for the Tigers since June 30 because of a left hamstring strain.
“A little sluggish, a little slow,” said Mize, who completed four rehab starts with Triple-A Toledo. “I think I finished better than I started, but certainly not good enough. I need to be better. Obviously, not good enough.”
The Tigers (68-68) have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak. As a result, the Tigers have slipped to 5½ games out of the final spot in the American League wild-card race, with 26 games remaining in the 2024 season.
As Mize battled, the Tigers were shut out until the eighth inning, when Carpenter hit a three-run home run off Red Sox left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino.
The three runs in the eighth inning were sparked by Andy Ibáñez’s walk and Matt Vierling’s single. Carpenter hasn’t been successful against left-handed pitchers in limited opportunities, but he pushed Bernardino’s first-pitch sinker — located up-and-away — for an opposite-field homer to left field.
It was Carpenter’s first homer off a lefty pitcher in 2024.
“It’s a tough matchup,” Hinch said of Carpenter, who entered Friday’s game hitting .048 (1-for-21) in 24 plate appearances against lefties this season. “He did a good job of hanging in there and taking a good approach.”
After making it a one-run game, the Tigers opened the ninth with Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single off right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen. McKinstry immediately stole second to advance into scoring position. With one out, Jake Rogers smoked a first-pitch cutter at the top of the strike zone for a double to score McKinstry and tie the game at 4-4.
The Tigers had a chance to walk-off the Red Sox, but Riley Greene struck out swinging on Jansen’s cutter way above the strike zone to strand Rogers at third base.
In the top of the 10th, the go-ahead homer from Rafaela snapped Miller’s streak of nine relief appearances without a run. Miller threw three elevated fastballs in a row to Rafaela, who whiffed at the first two before driving the third one to left-center, into the second row of seats.
“I’ll stand by that decision all day,” said Rogers, who called the three fastballs in a row. “Obviously, it’s not the right call. We’d be in a different position if I made a different call. We went up, went up higher and went up even higher. I’m not mad at that one. It sucks to go down there, but it’s obviously the wrong pitch call. I need to be better about that. But it’s impressive, honestly, that he hit a ball like that.”
Greene, who served as the free runner in extra innings, scored in the bottom of the 10th inning on consecutive outs, making it 7-5, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.
[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]
Casey Mize returns
The Tigers fell behind in the first inning.
Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, allowed four runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. He has a 4.36 ERA in 17 starts.
“I thought Casey was good, in his own way,” Hinch said. “He was pretty efficient because they were swinging early. He’s going to be frustrated with the way it ended. From a volume standpoint, it was very positive. I thought he was good at times and also misfired at times.”
In the first, Mize surrendered a leadoff double to Duran on the first pitch of the game. Two batters later, Duran scored on a groundout for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.
The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, soon after another double from Duran. The Red Sox then made it 3-0 with Connor Wong’s double after Mize walked Tyler O’Neill on six pitches in the fourth inning.
He registered three of his four strikeouts in the sixth inning, but with two outs and two strikes, Wong pulled a down-and-away slider for a solo home run, the fourth and final run against Mize.
“I wanted that one to be off the plate,” Mize said. “It catches some plate, but it’s at the bottom rail of the zone. Not a horrible pitch, but in the context of 0-2 and two outs, probably needs to be better, for sure. It was a gut punch of a home run there.”
Mize generated nine whiffs on 40 swings — a 22.5% whiff rate — with four fastballs, one splitter, two sliders and two curveballs. There was a lot of hard contact on the 20 balls in play from the Red Sox.
His fastball averaged 93.9 mph, down 1.7 mph from his average fastball velocity in the 16 starts.
“The velocity has been in line with what the rehab outings have been,” Mize said. “Definitely a little bit down from pre-injury. My body feels great. I think it’s just a little bit of my brain catching up, realizing my legs are OK. It’s going to take a little bit of time to move the exact same way I was pre-injury, but physically, I feel great. I think we’ll get there.”
Before Carp’s homer
Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck carved up the Tigers for most of Friday’s game. He fired six scoreless innings on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts, using 95 pitches.
The Tigers didn’t get a hit against Houck until McKinstry’s leadoff single in the fifth inning.
McKinstry was later thrown out while trying to advance from first to third on Parker Meadows’ single, ending the inning. Hinch wanted to challenge, but umpire Chris Guccione determined Hinch didn’t decide to challenge within his allotted 15 seconds.
“Yeah, we ran out of time,” Hinch said. “The information afterwards, it’s probably a coin flip that it even gets overturned. That’s why he pointed to his watch.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
-
Connecticut1 week ago
Oxford church provides sanctuary during Sunday's damaging storm
-
Technology1 week ago
Breakthrough robo-glove gives you superhuman grip
-
Politics1 week ago
Clinton lauds Biden as modern-day George Washington and president who 'healed our sick' in DNC speech
-
Politics1 week ago
2024 showdown: What happens next in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump face-off
-
News1 week ago
Who Are Kamala Harris’s 1.5 Million New Donors?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taunted over speculated RFK Jr endorsement: 'Weird as hell'
-
Politics1 week ago
Vivek Ramaswamy sounds off on potential RFK Jr. role in a Trump administration
-
World6 days ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake