Neighborhood improvement

Happy Saturday. It’s a birthday for Gandhi, Groucho and Greene.

How many people are quitting their jobs because of vaccine mandates? If you read the news it seems like a lot. If you look at the actual numbers, as Steve Kaczela did, it really isn’t very many. Although Washington seems to have a lot of city workers looking for exemptions.

The proposal for creating a Business Improvement District for the Newmarket area is on its way to the mayor’s office. BIDs have been successful for Downtown Crossing and the Greenway. And after all they have had to contend with, Newmarket neighborhood business owners deserve a shot at some improvement in their situation.

What happened to Rudy? Rudy happened to Rudy.

It’s chaos in Paris as bicyclists have taken over the streets. City leaders should take a lesson from Copenhagen or Amsterdam. Bikes are everywhere in those cities but both riders and pedestrians follow the rules.

And if you want to get ahead of the supply chain, start your holiday shopping now. Only 84 more days left!

Pocket change

Monday morning. It’s a birthday for Upton Sinclair, Red Auerbach and Sophia Loren.

Why doesn’t Lamborghini advertise on TV? For the same reason Willie Sutton didn’t rob hardware stores. Marketing 101.

Here are some things to know about the looming debt default. There’s always the $1 trillion platinum coin option.

There’s another dimension to the chip shortage affecting carmakers. The chips used in cars are antiquated and the semiconductor industry doesn’t want to invest in new foundries to manufacture out-of-date chips. They want the auto industry to redesign their systems to take advantage of more modern chips. Carmakers are understandably holding back because of safety and reliability concerns. A logjam inside of a logjam.

France is still miffed at the US and Australia over the submarine deal. But they’re giving Britain a pass. Is that a good thing? Is their relationship too important to risk a snub, or is the lack of a snub, itself, a snub?

And September is bike month. Galen Mook, the executive director of MassBike, has some timely suggestions for improving access and safety.

Too much of a good thing

Saturday. The first bar-code scan happened today in 1974. Wrigley’s gum. 67 cents.

The UFO report is out. It’s a head scratcher. You can read it here.

Charlie Baker’s proposed two month tax holiday should be great for consumers and business. But some special interests and Democratic lawmakers don’t like the idea. They think the money should be applied to programs rather than returned to consumers. A classic dynamic. On top of all that, Shira Schoenberg points to experts that are questioning why Baker would do this now when there’s so much other stimulus money going around. It might be good politics, but economically it could hurt more than help.

Flight attendants are the cops of the sky. And they’re getting the same treatment from the public as their counterparts on the ground.

Lawn Starter ranked 200 cities for bike friendliness. Boston came in at number 10. Not bad. The Times excused New York’s poor 19th place ranking based on its climate, “which can get too cold (and icy) for most cyclists for months on end.” Not like Boston, right?

And a new Fox News poll shows… well, they won’t tell you what it shows.