Our loved ones died biking in Cambridge last year. Boston-area candidates need to follow the facts on bike lanes.
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Here's what's not being stated frequently enough: Separated bike lanes reduce collisions and save lives.
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The Federal Highway Administration has
A year ago, we didn't know those statistics. Our grief has forced us to learn them, and more. Back then, all we knew was that we loved John Corcoran and Minh-Thi Nguyen, and they loved what biking gave them.
Minh-Thi Nguyen, an MIT graduate student who died in June 2024 after being struck while riding her bicycle in Cambridge.
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Biking was 62-year-old Newton resident John Corcoran's favorite hobby, and he especially relished long rides across Boston and Cambridge with his wife, Barbara, and their two children. He was such a slow, cautious cyclist that Barbara would joke she risked falling over when she biked beside him.
Biking was more of a means of transportation for 24-year-old Minh-Thi Nguyen. Although she had a car, biking between her Inman Square apartment and her MIT physics laboratory cut her commute by three times. The time she saved let Minh-Thi work diligently on her PhD while still caring for her friends and enjoying her many hobbies, from weightlifting to making sushi to crocheting while watching the Bravo hit show 'Below Deck.'
Motor vehicles hit
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John Corcoran's wife, Barbara, laid down a candle after a ghost bike ceremony held by cyclists and bike safety advocates on Sept. 28, 2024, on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, where he had been struck by a driver days earlier.
Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston
Their deaths violently pushed us into a numbness we're only now beginning to climb out of. To better understand how John and Minh-Thi died, we started learning about bike safety and transportation policy. The three of us come from very different biking backgrounds. But our reading led us to the same conclusion, which is overwhelmingly supported by years of studies: Safe street infrastructure and policies save lives, and separated bike lanes are one of the most important tools in this toolbox, alongside
Boston-area candidates raise important questions about how bike lanes will affect our cities. Common fears, however, aren't backed up by research. We hear that bike lanes will worsen congestion, but a study cited by the FHA
Cycling has recently become much more popular in
and
for pedestrians and drivers. A 2025 City of Boston analysis
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Some Boston-area candidates are ignoring the overwhelming research consensus on bike lanes and displaying a staggering lack of regard for people who cycle, victims of traffic violence, and everyone who cares about safer roads. Fortunately, in November, voters can choose who governs our streets. For the loved ones of bicyclists who died after being struck by vehicles, every death of a vulnerable road user reopens a deep wound. We urge voters to do their best to ensure no one else joins us in the grief we've known.
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Chicago Tribune
4 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
‘It's like you're paying a little tax': Jeffrey Tobolski, ex-McCook mayor and Cook commissioner, faces sentencing in series of shakedowns
Jeffrey Tobolski's traveled a well-worn path in Chicago-area politics, from following in the footsteps of his late father as mayor of the tiny west suburban town of McCook to double-dipping as a Cook County commissioner. But Tobolski's career also had another familiar, darker ring to it. For years, federal prosecutors say, he used his elected offices to create a fiefdom of graft, shaking down business owners who needed liquor licenses, forcing a developer to install air conditioning in his home for free, and even enlisting McCook's police chief as his personal bag man. After the FBI raided Tobolski's offices in the fall of 2019, he became the poster boy in a burgeoning federal corruption probe that eventually brought down nearly a dozen suburban elected officials and political operatives, including Tobolski's chief of staff and other close associates. The case unfolded like a cliched version of mid-level Chicago corruption: the wired-up executive entertaining politicos at his suburban cigar lounge, secret contracts siphoning funds from red light cameras to a mob-connected businessman, and a mayor handing over an envelope of bribe money at a Crestwood pancake house called Stacked. On Monday, five years after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate in the investigation, Tobolski is finally set to be sentenced at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, a place he's never publicly appeared due to pandemic-era restrictions in place at the time he was charged. Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall for a 5 1/2-year prison sentence, writing in a recent court filing that Tobolski 'went on an aggressive and persistent cash grab to enrich himself' at his constituents' expense, regularly demanding cash payments and other benefits from people seeking to do business in McCook and elsewhere in the Chicago area. 'Tobolski did this by misusing the inherent authority of his position to instill fear (in) everyday businessmen, such that they felt they had no choice but to pay Tobolski,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Ardam wrote. Tobolski's lawyers, meanwhile, are asking for leniency, pointing to his extensive cooperation in the case, which led to the successful prosecution of others. They also told the judge in a recent filing that the shame of media coverage coupled with the loss of his livelihood have already amounted to severe punishment. 'Any general deterrent effect of this case has already occurred, meaning that the type and length of his sentence will add little to no marginal general-deterrent value,' wrote attorneys James Vanzant and David Sterba. In all, Tobolski admitted to accepting more than a quarter of a million dollars in bribes or extortion payments over the years. He also was showered with a variety of other benefits, including cash, cigars, dinners, holiday gifts, sporting event tickets, and those free air-conditioning units, which a developer installed at Tobolski's home at a cost of $18,000. During the investigation, Tobolski was secretly recorded joking about how corrupt he was, prosecutors say, at one point stating sarcastically, 'You know I don't take any money in McCook, ever. I'm as legitimate as they come.' His then-chief-of-staff, Patrick Doherty, was caught on another wiretap talking with an associate about the prospect of doing business in Tobolski's notoriously corrupt administration. 'It's all contingent on what you can give,' Doherty told the associate, Omar Maani, about the obligatory campaign donations to Doherty's boss, according to court records. Maani, who was secretly recording the September 2019 conversation for the FBI, said, 'It's like you're paying a little tax.' 'Right. Juice,' Doherty replied, according to court records. 'Street juice….I hope we can get it before (Tobolski) goes to jail. I hope we can retire.' Tobolski, 60, pleaded guilty in September 2020 to conspiring with McCook's then-police chief, Mario DePasquale, to extort a restaurant owner who needed permission to host events serving alcohol. At the time, Tobolski doubled as McCook's liquor commissioner. Tobolski also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return in 2018 where he underreported his income by at least $66,000, at least $10,000 of which was bribe money, according to his plea agreement. The document stated he also misreported his income in returns filed each year from 2012 to 2017. In their memo asking for a 67-month prison term, prosecutors called Tobolski's use of his police chief as his bagman 'especially egregious.' At DePasquale's sentencing hearing last year, the victim, the former owner of the Pub at the Max facility in McCook, testified how in July 2018, after he'd come up short with a payment, DePasquale warned him that the boss would not be happy. The man said his license was revoked by the city the next day, putting him out of business. 'That was one of the worst days I have in my life,' the victim testified in a thick Greek accent. DePasquale's attorney said his client felt compelled to go along with Tobolski, whom he called 'one of the most vile and corrupt people that one could possibly imagine.' 'He created in the western suburbs an almost unfathomable, Wild West-like atmosphere, where everybody was fair game for them,' attorney Jonathan Minkus said. 'And the mayor made it clear to DePasquale from the get-go that if he refused to go along, he'd lose his job.' Tobolski is one of the last to be sentenced in a probe that stretched from Chicago's southwest suburbs to the Capitol building in Springfield, where federal agents raided the offices of then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval in September 2019, thrusting the case into the public spotlight. Two days later, agents fanned out across the suburbs, executing search warrants at village halls and the homes of several elected officials, including Tobolski, where they found $51,000 in cash stored in a safe. Tobolski resigned from his elected positions the following March. At the center of the case was Maani, a then-executive for red light camera company SafeSpeed LLC who worked undercover for the FBI for months and wore a wire on several defendants — including Sandoval, Tobolski, Doherty, and then-Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta — all of whom he hosted at his Countryside cigar lounge called Casa De Montechristo. Maani, who was given a deferred prosecution agreement for his efforts, also recorded state Sen. Emil Jones III and testified for the first time at Jones' bribery trial earlier this year. Maani told the jury he started bribing elected officials when he was still in his 20s, making money hand-over-fist as a real estate developer and SafeSpeed co-founder. To him, it was the necessary way to do business in Illinois, he said. 'I gave them cigars, took them out to dinner, gave them campaign contributions,' Maani said of his corrupt ways. 'They always asked me for money. I capitulated and gave it to them.' Who asked him for money? a prosecutor asked. 'Virtually everyone, from what I recall,' Maani said. The jury in Jones' trial deadlocked on all counts, and a retrial is set for January. Sandoval, the once-powerful head of the Senate Transportation Committee, pleaded guilty to taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash over a two-year period from Maani to serve as SafeSpeed's protector in the Senate. He was cooperating with the government when he died suddenly of COVID-19 complications in December 2020. Doherty and Presta also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison. SafeSpeed and its CEO, Nikki Zollar, have said they were not aware of Maani's illegal activities and have not been accused of any wrongdoing. As part of their sentencing submissions, Tobolski's lawyers filed numerous awards and other accomplishments from his career. They also sent the judge two heartfelt letters from Tobolski's wife and daughter, who talked at length about how he got into politics with seemingly the best intentions, but changed into someone they barely knew. 'I'd attend a political event with him and people would be so nauseatingly deferential to him that I had to actually concentrate to not make a face,' wrote his wife, Cathleen. 'They'd laugh uproariously at a joke that wasn't even funny.' Tobolski's daughter, who was a freshman in college at the time news of the investigation broke, wrote that she'd 'loathed' her father for dragging her to funerals and introducing her to 'a LOT of creepy drunk men' at political events. 'I resented him because I remember being told that any mistake I made in my own life would reflect poorly on him as a politician, that our lives were public and there would always be some political foe or reporter that would jump at the chance to use our family's missteps as leverage against him,' Tobolski's daughter wrote. In asking for leniency, Tobolski's wife and daughter both commended his decision early on to not fight the charges and cooperate, and said he's since made amends and rededicated himself to his family. 'The heart of the matter is that we just got him back,' his daughter wrote. jmeisner@
CNN
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- CNN
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Politico
7 hours ago
- Politico
Crime and politics
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Evandro Carvalho is also being floated as a possible successor, and a recent Boston Herald column over the weekend added Democratic state Sen. Lydia Edwards's name into the mix. A job that the Boston Globe's Adrian Walker recently described as 'one step removed from witness protection' isn't exactly where you'd expect any ambitious politicians to end up. But Tompkins has used the position to hold significant sway in Boston politics, and sheriffs across the state have been in the headlines lately amid debate over whether and how local law enforcement should work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities. For now, the claim that Tompkins extorted a Boston-based cannabis company isn't prompting calls from top Democrats for him to step down. The allegations against Tompkins haven't been proven, but the innocent-until-proven-guilty factor hasn't stopped top politicians from weighing in on other recent scandals. Healey quickly called on Democratic state Rep. Chris Flanagan to resign after he was arrested in April for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his former employer. And Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and many members of the City Council called on former City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson to step down after she was indicted for her involvement in a kickback scheme late last year. Fernandes Anderson later pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and theft. It's not Tompkins's first brush with the law. He forked over $2,500 in fines in 2015 after leveraging his position as sheriff to attempt to get a store owner to take down campaign signs that belonged to a political opponent. And in 2023, he paid a $12,300 civil fine for violating the state's conflict of interest law. Healey can't remove Tompkins, but she and Attorney General Andrea Campbell could petition the Supreme Judicial Court to do so, as the Boston Globe laid out over the weekend. 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That includes, for instance, $6.3 million in funding for Springfield and $2.4 million for Chicopee in Western Massachusetts.' THE MONEY — State tax collections rose 7.1% last fiscal year by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service: 'Amid months of hand-wringing about the state's financial footing, Massachusetts ended the most recent budget cycle with tax collections that just about matched the official forecast for modest growth. Tax collections from all sources totaled $43.708 billion in fiscal 2025, a 7.1% increase over fiscal year 2024 and 5.1% more than the benchmark, the Department of Revenue announced Friday. That was driven by growth in the income surtax, capital gains tax revenues, sales and use taxes, and 'all other' taxes, which were 'partially offset' by decreases in corporate and business taxes, according to DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder.' TARIFF TALK — Sen. Elizabeth Warren acknowledged over the weekend that tariffs 'are an important tool in the toolbox for helping develop manufacturing here at home.' But the way President Donald Trump is deploying them is creating 'more chaos in the economy,' she said during an interview on WBZ's 'Keller @ Large' over the weekend. And uncertainty over tariffs means people are playing the 'wait-and-see game' when it comes to hiring, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney said during an interview on WCVB's 'On the Record' that aired Sunday. 'The warning signs are really about that paralysis,' Rooney said. Toy company Hasbro had been making plans to move its headquarters to Boston, Rooney pointed out, 'and they openly said that given the uncertainty about the tariffs, we're not going to make the move at that point.' 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Yet, in a striking instance of mistiming, the once-meteoric growth of the biomedical industry here has essentially stagnated, to the point where nearly 36 percent of that lab space is empty, according to brokerage firm Newmark. That's the highest vacancy rate on record.' — Boston suicide prevention hearing order triggers City Council debate on terminology by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: 'A Boston city councilor wants to address measures to prevent suicides at high-rise garages after a person recently jumped to their death in Chinatown, causing a debate with a colleague who said she felt triggered by his language. The council referred Councilor Ed Flynn's order to the Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery to set a hearing on the issue, while some members are urging their colleagues to be mindful of how their words may be taken.' — South Boston bicyclist says he suffered hit-and-run after being clipped by car while in bike lane by Emily Spatz, The Boston Globe: 'A South Boston man was seriously injured after a collision that occurred while riding in a bike lane last week, which he says was caused by a passing car. Austin Barron said in an interview he was biking around Moakley Park at about 10 a.m. on Aug. 2, when a car sideswiped him before driving away. Barron, who was training for an Ironman competition, said he was in the bike lane on William J. Day Boulevard when he suddenly felt the force of a vehicle.' THE RACE FOR CITY HALL — Beauregard makes pitch for reelection by Teddy Tauscher, The Eagle-Tribune: 'While it has only been about a year since Mayor D.J. Beauregard, 36, entered office, and nine months since he was formally elected, he has faced an array of challenges including school cleanliness issues, a difficult budget season in part due to unpredictable state aid and lately litigation between the city and school. … The youngest mayor in the city's history is running for reelection this fall and promises to continue to be an 'agent of change' while also following in the footsteps of the late Mayor Neil Perry, whom he counts as a mentor. He is being challenged this fall by former cosmetics executive Barbara Stoebel.' FROM THE DELEGATION — Don't let the sun go down on Mass.: Markey slams Trump over solar program by John L. Micek, MassLive: 'You can count U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., among the chorus of Bay State pols who are less than thrilled over the Trump administration's decision to cancel a $7 billion grant program for solar energy. The Malden lawmaker, who sits on the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, slammed the Republican White House over what he called its 'unlawful' decision to stick a fork in the Solar for All Program. Sixty states, including Massachusetts, which was in line for $156 million, were impacted.' MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS — Cannabis impact fees: Where are they now? by Erin-Leigh Hoffman, Greenfield Recorder: 'As Aug. 11 marks the third anniversary of the adoption of the newest state rules regulating community impact fees on cannabis businesses, municipalities across Franklin County are left wondering what they can reasonably do with the thousands that have been collected amid a hazy future for the funding.' FROM THE 413 — Rural towns see boost in road funding by Emilee Klein, Daily Hampshire Gazette: 'Rural towns in Hampshire County can go the distance on road repair after the state tweaked its Chapter 90 funding formula to give more weight to the number of miles of roads within a community. The Chapter 90 program distributes state aid to local municipalities for upkeep to public roads and bridges. Traditionally, the formula used to calculate the amount of aid per municipality weighs population, employment and road miles. The chosen variables often leave rural towns with more roads to maintain but fewer people with a lot less funds.' THE LOCAL ANGLE — After Third Bomb Threat In Five Days, More Questions Than Answers by Jason Graziadei, The Nantucket Current: 'The third bomb threat in five days struck Nantucket's Main Street Saturday night, once again prompting a significant police response that resulted in blocked streets, evacuated sidewalks, and shuttered businesses. Shortly after the island's largest summer event - the Boston Pops concert at Jetties Beach - concluded Saturday evening, Nantucket Police received a call from an individual claiming they intended to place an 'improvised explosive device' at the Ralph Lauren store at 16 Main Street. That location was also the target of the bomb threat last Tuesday and the subsequent bomb threat last Friday.' — Cape Cod experiencing significant drought conditions by Zane Razzaq, Cape Cod Times: 'State officials are urging Cape Cod residents to minimize water use because the region is experiencing a significant drought. The Cape Cod region was upgraded to a Level 2 ― Significant Drought status, bumped up from mild drought last month, Rebecca Tepper, secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said on Friday.' — New Bedford residents turn out to protest proposed waste transfer station by Brooke Kushwaha, The New Bedford Light: 'More than 50 people gathered at the city's Board of Health hearing on a proposed waste transfer station in the North End Thursday evening – with about half of those taking to the microphone to speak out against the project. In the third of four public hearings on the proposal, members of the public shared their concerns around odor, noise pollution, increased traffic, air pollution, and vermin, as well as New Bedford's history of widespread environmental contamination.' HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH ENGAGED — Logan Trupiano, communications director for Mike Kennealy for Governor and former communications director for the MassGOP got engaged to Katie Conese, an environmental scientist at TRC over the weekend. Logan proposed on a boat in Hull Bay. Pic! TRANSITIONS — Steve Bickerton, the deputy commissioner of Boston's Parks and Recreation department, is moving on after 12 years working for the city. He's joining Morgan Memorial Goodwill as vice president of operations. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Megan Alberto, Dan Wolf, and Axios Boston's Steph Solis.
