Dan Atkinson

THE MBTA’S ‘BILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION MARK’ Speaking of high fares and tardiness, will the T have to pay private lenders for being late to deliver its new collection system?

'We can’t get folks on Beacon Hill to wake up and pay attention to this project,” an advocate told me. It's a complex story, but people need to pay attention. Thanks to LiveableStreets Boston, In The Public Interest and the Center For American Progress for insight: horizonmass.news/2024/06/18/t...

And now that private equity is involved, we have even less info. But we do know the T has paid nearly a billion dollars for a system that won't be fully ready for another two years - and that the people they're paying are turning around and hiring lobbyists to work Beacon Hill

The long-delayed, hundreds-of-millions-over-budget AFC 2.0 process relies on a public-private financing scheme that involves companies loaning money and contracting work out to themselves. 'It’s impossible to know if the public is getting value for their money,' an expert said.

THE MBTA’S ‘BILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION MARK’ Speaking of high fares and tardiness, will the T have to pay private lenders for being late to deliver its new collection system?

The #MBTA is eager to tout a new fare system coming online this summer - they're less eager to talk about whether delays will cost them daily six-figure payments to private equity lenders. My latest for @binjreports.bsky.social horizonmass.news/2024/06/18/t...

FACIAL ANIMOSITY As Massachusetts lawmakers weigh new facial recognition rules, their own guards shop for AI-enhanced surveillance that privacy advocates call “chilling,” “unlawful,” and “racially biased”

- despite it being shown to racially discriminate and misidentify people. Thanks to @eff.org, @aclum.bsky.social, Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Digital Fourth for insights, read the full report at @horizonmass.bsky.social horizonmass.news/2024/05/20/f...

Security promises to never use the tech, but civil liberties experts are skeptical: "Any technology that is adopted, you have to assume it is going to be exploited.” And currently, Mass. police are using the tech to investigate fraud and financial crimes -

FACIAL ANIMOSITY As Massachusetts lawmakers weigh new facial recognition rules, their own guards shop for AI-enhanced surveillance that privacy advocates call “chilling,” “unlawful,” and “racially biased”

New for @binjreports.bsky.social: While #mapoli legislators are looking to restrict the use of facial recognition, their own security system at the State House is getting an upgrade with the technology horizonmass.news/2024/05/20/f...

A mobile beer garden could roll through seven Boston parks this summer - although they'll have to pay the city $14K a month and 8 percent of the gross for the privilege. My latest for the Dorchester Reporter: www.dotnews.com/2024/city-se...

Joining Bluesky with my latest for @binjreports.bsky.social - it's not Medway teens trashing a supermarket, just Mass. State Police planning to secretly spy on cell phones across the Commonwealth: horizonmass.news/2024/02/06/s...