January 7, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Christina Basilio - Google Tech Expert discussed the top trending resolutions and how to keep them - 41% of people who make resolutions give up on one or all of them within the first 3 weeks.
Jenny Moffitt - Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the United States Department of Agriculture joined Dan to talk about making the food supply safer, healthier & more resilient during disruptions and in the future.
Boston traffic decreased by 10% over last year – still ranks 4th worst in U.S. Dan Mazella – Director of Traffic Operations for TTWN (Total Traffic and Weather Network) Boston checked in with Dan.
Joe Gold – One of the event producers of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Boston, which is extended by popular demand – Now open through Memorial Day, 2025!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Christina Basilio - Google Tech Expert discussed the top trending resolutions and how to keep them - 41% of people who make resolutions give up on one or all of them within the first 3 weeks.
Jenny Moffitt - Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the United States Department of Agriculture joined Dan to talk about making the food supply safer, healthier & more resilient during disruptions and in the future.
Boston traffic decreased by 10% over last year – still ranks 4th worst in U.S. Dan Mazella – Director of Traffic Operations for TTWN (Total Traffic and Weather Network) Boston checked in with Dan.
Joe Gold – One of the event producers of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Boston, which is extended by popular demand – Now open through Memorial Day, 2025!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan on WBZ Boston's radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Remember to call. I don't have the exact date, but
I know the Red Sox truck leaves for spring raining
about a month from now, first week in February. It's
only yes, yeah, no, no. All we got to do
is get through January. It's as simple as that. And
then the sun is shining for so you know what
I'm saying. Once that truck leaves, we're in good shape.
(00:27):
Thanks to call, Nicole and I bonding over sports topics
and scores and all of that. My name's Dan Ray.
I'm the host of Nightside, heard every Monday through Friday
night right here at WBZ Boston's news radio ten thirty
on your am dial. Heard it about thirty eight states
with what we call over terrestrial radio. What that means
(00:48):
is the regular radio system. And of course we're on
the internet all across the country. Melissa called in from Portland,
Oregon last night. You know, Melissa was listening on the internet.
You can listen on the internet. Just go to WBC
News Radio Boston or something like that. I'll go to
the iHeart app. You'll be all set. So first hour
tonight we have four. I wouldn't call them top news stories,
(01:12):
but they're all newsmakers in their own way. And then
later on tonight, we're going to talk about inspections of
the Massachusetts emergency shelters as a result of the fact
that this fellow who apparently is staying here without any
sort of documentation or authorization, had about ten pounds of
fentanyl as well as an automatic weapon at a Revere shelter.
(01:37):
Something to be concerned about. And at ten o'clock tonight,
I'm going to be talking with Lou Fronte. He's a
former convict, no other way to describe it. Remember the
Gambino crime family, who has written a trilogy of books,
this one the second one. I'm going to talk about
as American Mafia, an America's political elite. Really interesting guests,
(01:57):
And later on tonight, I think we're going to talk
about some of the musics today by President elect Trump
on Panama, Greenland, and gossip. But first, first guest tonight
is Christina Basilio. Christina, I hope I pronounced that name correctly.
Is it Basilio, It's Facilia, you get it right. No
relation to the Great Fighter from the nineteen fifties and sixties.
(02:20):
Carmen Basilio.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I assume, uh, not quite.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Maybe we're cousins twice or three times removed.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Tough boxer, let me tell you, tough boxer. But we're
going to not talk about boxing. We're going to talk
about trends, top trendsing resolutions here in America, and how
people can keep their their resolutions. I guess we don't
do really well at that. I believe that there's a
report out of the Pew Research Center. You're a Google
(02:49):
tech expert, but I assume you're familiar with the Pew
Research Center Research Center report that we're referring to.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, that's about forty people who make resolutions will give
them one or all of them up in the first
three weeks of the new year, and our hope is
that we can motivate some people to keep those resolutions
a little bit longer this year.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah. It's interesting because I guess younger people, you know,
younger people in the eighteen to thirty make about half
of the resolutions. Well, miss seniors kind of like myself,
people who are on the wrong side of fifty, they
don't nearly approach young people. Why such a difference in
(03:37):
an age approach to this and the approach of different
ages to the concept of resolutions.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I wonder if maybe
there's a little bit of influence from social media. There's
a lot of interest in maybe going after your passions
and your interests, and when you're seeing those things online,
maybe it starts to influence how you think about your
own time, like what do you want to do with
your time? How do you want to take care of
your health and wellness? Whereas maybe if you're a little
(04:05):
bit older, you already have your goals that you have
set for yourself, and maybe they're more long term perhaps,
and you don't have to think about starting over at
the start of the new year because you perpetually know
what you want to work on and what's important for you.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, it's funny. I was thinking actually the opposite, meaning,
if you're over fifty or sixty, you probably have messed
up a lot of things in your life that you
like to straighten out. When you're in your twenties, you
haven't had too much time to mess things up yet.
But I guess maybe your theory is it makes more
sense to most in terms of there's also a disparity
(04:40):
age differentials between what people want to do now. I
guess health, exercise, an environment kind of about the same
three quarters or four fifths of the resolutions irrespective of age,
But there is a difference when you get to things
like hobbies and personally interest. Tell us about that more
(05:02):
resolutions for young people for hobbies and personal interest than
older people. This is quite a gap.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, when we were looking at the data, we really
looked at the aggregated data of what Americans were looking at.
So when we talk about hobbies and interests, there wasn't
interest in things like learning how to draw or maybe
learning how to crochet, and things like making a sour
dough starter. But it feels like people are interested in
maybe taking on new hobbies, new interests, maybe things that
(05:32):
they can do independently from their friends, and things that
they could do at their home to maybe continue to
grow and learn something new.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Also a big disparity on work or career issues. Older
folks they kind of got to figure it out their
work and career are sixty five and older. But people
who were in that young trench, two thirds of them
make resolutions about again career or their professional work.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So we actually saw a really interesting trend this year
around careers. So people were either looking for how to
choose a career that they love, change a career, or
even start a career. And I know that for some
folks maybe they don't know exactly what they want to do,
so they may turn to a tool like people search
to look for things. Like folks that are fresh out
of college, they may look up things like jobs for
(06:26):
English majors, so they can get a better idea of
the job market and what type of jobs exist for
them to enter into the workforce with the skills that
they're bringing to the table.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Of course, those people, those young people with archaeology majors,
they don't have to worry about finding a job because
there are no jobs in archaeology at this point, so
that probably have a little bit of a factor as well.
Not much about sports or activities. It looks like a
lot about relationships with family and friends. Fairly tight shot
group there what irrespective of the age, seems everybody is
(06:59):
worried about their relationships with family or friends. That's the
one I think uh area resolution area that that people
are united on in terms of interesting irrespective of their
age did Is that what you found as well?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, so we did see a huge interest in things
like work life balance and wellness. Some of our top
searches were around just how to have better mental health,
how to how to communicate better, how to have better relationships.
So it seems like people are really wanting to be intentional,
apparently regardless of age, on creating better, stronger relationships with
(07:35):
their friends and family, and we've seen that in our
search data too.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Now you are is it a Google text tech expert?
Is that that's the way I think it's. It's it
reads here you're a Google tech expert? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
So what we do as Google technology expert we look
at how Google tools can help people on topics that
matter most to them. So, for example, when we're talking
about things like careers, we look at what people are
searching for like how to maybe build their resume, and
we have different tools that we look at. So, for example,
(08:12):
our Grow with Google team has a really awesome interview
warm up tool. So let's say you're about to go
do some interviewing, you haven't done it in a while.
If you visit this chatbot, it's able to help you
practice your interviews and give you feedback on your answers
to make them stronger. Another thing that we look at,
of course in the new year is around health, wellness
(08:34):
and fitness and some of the tools that Google has
for anybody that maybe has some health goals is you
need to use the tools on hand. And the funny
part I think about is maybe your tool on your wrist.
If you have a smart watch. I personally use a fitbit.
You can use the data that these tools give you
to make more informed decisions on your fitness journey. Whether
(08:54):
that's trying to get better sleep with sleep tracking, or
trying to be more mindful and do more yoga and meditation.
These different types of tools can help you reach those
goals and make it a little bit easier to keep
those resolutions.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All right, well, Christina, I think you and I have
bonded here tonight. So the next time that I can't
get into my Google account, can I call you?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Of course, But I've just given you a hard time.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Give me your hard time. Check out the box of
Carmen Basilio. It's a really good boxer fifties and sixties
top son of a gun. You might be interested. Basila
was not a very common name, as I'm sure you know,
so you might be related after all. Thanks. You've been
a great sport, Christine. Enjoyed having you on the program,
and we'll have you back maybe. Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Thanks, Happy New Year everyone, and good luck with your resolutions.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah. I have no resolutions. It didn't make didn't make
one because I always break them. I figured, why why
make something that I know I'm going to break. But
there's a lot of people out there who do have
the resolutions. Thanks again, we'll talk soon, Thank you very much.
When we get back, we're going to talk about making
the food supply safer, healthier, and more resilientlliance more resilient
with a woman who's the Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory
(10:07):
Programs at the United States Department of Agriculture. That's a
long title. We'll be back with Jenny Moffatt right after
this here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
All right, moving right along, we are now going to
talk with Jenny Moffatt about making our food supply safer, healthier,
and more resilient during disruptions and in the future. Jenny Moffatt.
You are a former Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
at the US Department of Agriculture. Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Thanks for having me, Dan, it's a pleasure to be.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
On When were you serving in the Department of Agriculture?
Are you a career you know GS fourteen or fifteen
or resist the position that you held for a period
of time or have you recently? Are you still holding it?
It says former, So I assume this is in your past.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
I'm actually still holding it. I am in the Biden
Harris administration. So I will be on board until January twentieth,
and then we'll transition to the Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So okay, so everybody has to leave. You can't stay
a little longer. Okay, fair enough, So tell us what
what have you done? Tell what what successors you have?
You know this area much better than I do. Tell
us what you've done. We always hear about these food recalls,
and there's a lot of that, and how much of
(11:43):
it is proactive? How much can you anticipate or do
you have to wait for a problem to develop and
get the word out and you know, throw throw that,
let us away or throw those cucumbers away or whatever. Well,
how does it work?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Yeah, well, well, a lot of our work actually been
on building a more resilient in local and regional food
supply chain. And so, really, if we rethink back to
the beginning of the COVID nineteen pandemic, there were lots
of food supply chain disruptions we saw right all across
(12:18):
the country. We saw places that in products that were
not available on store shelves, and we realized at that
time that this was It just revealed a critical need
for change and a new approach to our food system,
really building and strengthening a more resilient food supply chain
so that we can withstand those kinds of shocks to
(12:40):
our food system.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I was recently, matter of facturs this morning. I'm a
big strawberries and banana and blueberries guy breakfast, and so
I'm looking at my package of blueberries and I guess,
and I realized they're not from Maine at this time
of year, as they would be during the summertime. They're
from Peru. Do we make sure that particularly fruits and
(13:03):
vegetables that we're bringing in from outside other countries are
safe that a lot of the you know, the chemicals
that maybe we no longer use here in America are
not still being used in countries around the world. What's
what's the process there?
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Well, I'd say there's a handful of different processes to
ensure the face safety of food. So there there's definitely
government oversight between federal government as well as state government
oversight of food that is being sold, whether that is
food that is being produced here in the United States
and sold or food that's being imported and sold as well.
(13:43):
We have what the federal the Food and Drug Administration
has the produce safety rules to make sure that the
food is safe, but also retailers and buyers of product
do their own oversight as well for food safety to
make sure that it meets the standards that they have
as far as the quality as well as food safety standards.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So I mean, I get that if I'm you know,
running a you know, a fruit farm or whatever, blueberry strawberries,
that if I'm doing it in Maine or California anywhere
in between, I assume that there are safety inspectors from
the U. S d A who who can periodically show
up and say, hey, what do you use and what
(14:24):
aren't you using is the Is there any concern and
I just am looking to actually feel better any concern
about stuff that's coming in from overseas, you feel that
that that's as safe as our as our food products.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
We do definitely provide oversight of product that's coming in
from overseas. We also, you know, we're doing both food
safety inspections for product that's coming in as well as
food quality inspections. So we have inspectors at courts of
entries looking at product and making sure that it meets
the standards that are required for whatever the product might be.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Now, I know that you got those of you in
USDA don't make policy. Obviously Congress makes policy. But as
someone who is under Secretary for Marketing and regulatory programs,
will you feel as confident when there's a change of administration,
irrespective of whether it's from Democrat to Republican or Republican
and Democrat, that the same good standards that you were
(15:29):
involved with will be carried on with your successors.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
So one thing I'll say, Dan, is the rules and
the regulations continue. They might change over time, and it
takes but it is a public input process for any
of those rules and regulations to change, whether, of course
you know it is through the congressional process or what
we call our federal rule making process. One thing I
will say is while I work at USDA and Biden administration,
(16:01):
there are over one hundred thousand employees at USDA that
our career employees. Those employees will continue to work regardless
of administrations.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So where will your next career stop be? I mean,
on a resume, it's pretty good to have under Secretary
of Marketing and Regulatory Programs for the USDA. Where do
you think your work will take You? Tell us a
little bit about yourself. How'd you get to that position?
Not often we get a chance to talk with under
secretaries here on Nightside.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Well, I grew up in agriculture. So I grew up
on my family's farm in California. My family raises walnuts,
organic walnuts, and so I grew up on the farm.
It was very interested in agriculture from a young age.
And after college worked in the nonprofit sector for a
little bit and then came back to the farm and
(16:52):
worked for our farm. And did you know all of
the different things that happen on a farm, whether it's
everything from peril and making sure we're paying our bills
to all of our sales and marketing and working with
our employees to produce the wellness that we grew. And
then from there I went on and I went into
state government and worked for the Department of Agriculture in California.
(17:14):
Loved the work that I did there and really felt
that it was such an important UH aspect to come
from working in agriculture and having a seat at the
table and being part of the conversations in policy making,
and really loved that. And so then then moved on
to us DA, And at us DA we've been we've
(17:38):
been really advancing what we call the Food Systems Transformation Framework,
and this is really about building and strengthening market opportunities
for farmers and ranchers so that we have for that
farmers see new income streams, new revenue opportunities. They can
see a way in which that they can continue their livelihood,
(18:00):
hopefully hire more people, create more jobs, but also importantly
be able to produce healthy food for their communities, like
you talked about the blueberries that come from Maine to Boston,
and really strengthening some of our local and regional food systems.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So I've been.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Really excited about the work and just love the work
that we've been doing at USDA in this administration. Back
in twenty twenty one, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan
and then at that time in the American Rescue Plan
was five billion dollars for us to really transform that
(18:38):
food system. And so when we got that money, actually
it's four billion dollars, but still a significant amount of money.
When we received that money from Congress, our first question.
We went to this to farmers, to ranchers, to food
producers and said, how can we best invest this money
to really make a transformative impact. We knew we had
(18:59):
one time dollars, and they said, we need more infrastructure.
We need more food processing infrastructure. We need more food
distribution infrastructure. We need need more places where that we
can take our product to market. We need more opportunity,
even on our own farm to do things like value
added products, so turning brule berries, let's say, into a jam,
(19:20):
or freezing them so that they can be sold year round.
All of those different things require cold storage or require
machinery or packaging. We need more of that. And so
we've been through grants and also some loans been investing
in regional food businesses around the country, and I as
(19:43):
I've traveled and met with the producers that this has impacted,
it's just amazing to see the difference that this has made,
whether it is in produce, whether it's in meat and
poultry processing, whether it is a dairy. It's really been
just a game changer for communities and for those farmers
and rangers to be able to really see a whole
(20:06):
new way in which that they can develop new revenue stream.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, Jenny, thank you for what you've done in the USDA,
and best of luck in your future career plans. I
know your career will change a little bit on January twentieth,
but I really thank you for all the work you've
done and I appreciate you spending some time with us tonight.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We get back on to talk about Boston's traffic. We
rank fourth worst in the USA, twelfth in the world
worst traffic. We spend about eighty hours those of us
who commute eighty hours a year sitting in traffic.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Dan Mozilla, director of traffic operations for the Total Traffic
News Network, back with him on Nightside right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thank you, Nicole, give you update on the Bruins. Unfortunately,
the V's are down three nothing to the Edmonton Oilers
as they come close to the end of the second period.
With us now is Dan Mozilla. He's the director of
Traffic Operations for TTWN Total Traffic and News Network right
here in Boston. Hey, Dan Mozella, welcome back to Night's Side.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
How are you Hey? I'm doing good. Dan. You know
when you say the title, it actually like sounds grander
than when I say as the people.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
No, I know, I give it the broadcast presentation the
director of co operations for TTWN. Oh yeah, that important.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
So we now very important.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Had the fourth worst traffic congestion in the good old
US of A behind I guess New York, Chicago and
LA But even more importantly, we are we are the
twelfth worst in the world. I think of all the
countries and all the cities around the world where traffic
is nuts in Paris, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Rome, and we're we're
(22:07):
number twelve. That's quite an accomplishment.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
It is and we don't even have the Olympics, and
it's and you know it's bad, man.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I mean, wouldn't have been great to have had the
Olympics back in twenty twenty five? Oh yeah, I mean
that has gone perfectly.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
It would have gone without a hitch, without a hitch.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
You can just see those opening ceremonies with the cars
driving down the Charles.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
Right, Yeah, exactly. It would be our own Olympic sports.
It would be great. I would I would think I
would get a gold medal in that.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Oh no, we had we had a lot of fun
with that when they were thinking about that in terms
of what, you know, I remember what they could do.
But yeah, so look we're sitting. There's a lot of
people who sit in traffic. I had never commuted nine
to five one year. One year when I was a
TV reporter, I was on like the ten to six shift,
(23:03):
but always off hours, so I don't know the agony
of sitting on the Expressway every morning at eight thirty.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
I mean, I'm always I mean, I've always said that.
You know, there's nothing express about the Expressway. It's it's
a it's a terrible name, but it does mean something.
It's the way the road is designed of why it's
called the expressway.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well there's also but there are a lot of people
who do express themselves from behind the wheel.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
One thousand, one thousand percent. They express with a verbal
and nonverbal communication, as we call it.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Very important, very important, but they the I mean, look,
can can realistically do we just have to throw up
our hands? Can it or can it get worse?
Speaker 6 (23:57):
It can always get worse, It can always always at worse.
And right now, you know, I'm gonna go with the
fact that you know, it's winter or right back from
the holidays, people's routines are are still you know, not
where they should be. So I think a lot of
people in the winter definitely do a more work from
(24:17):
home because you know, they got to people are getting sick.
You know, we've got a lot like the flus on
the rise, COVID on the rise, you you name it.
So a lot of people are I think working hybrid
right now because sometimes during the afternoon it was actually,
uh it was it was last week at this time,
we were just like, huh is today the holiday or
(24:39):
or it was yesterday the holiday because there was just
nothing happening. But then it just all gets jammed up
at once. It's never like a slow build. It just
it's like someone flips a switch and everything just gets
congested out there. It's it's it's well for me, I say,
it's good for business, but for the rest of everyone
out there, yeah it is. I mean two hours to
(25:01):
go nine miles, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, I just think that intuitively, those of us who
have driven in the Boston area for years, we know
when the traffic is going to get really bad and
we want to be out in it. Do you know,
we don't want to be ahead of that curve of
behind the curve. We want to be right in the
middle of that curve.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
C of course, of course you got to be there
where everybody is, you know, because that's Boston. We all
want to be around our friends.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yes, on Sunday this past was it Sunday or Saturday?
I think it was Sunday, so it was Sunday. You know,
the city's kind of quiet. My wife doesn't like to
drive on Storrow Drive, so we drove down Beacon Street
about twelve thirty in the afternoon. It took like about
fifteen minutes to get from Arlington Street down past Charles
(25:52):
Street or from Barlington Street to Mass Avenue. There's two
bike lanes on each bike lane on each si to
Beacon Street.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Then of course there's the parking meters. Uh. Then there's
cars that we have the special parking spaces. And then
there's the people who double park their cars on a
Sunday and literally in the middle of Beacon Street and
cars are trying to it come down to one lane
and there wasn't one police officer tagging anybody. It took
(26:21):
about twenty minutes to get from again Arlington Street to
ken Moore Square. I thought my head was going to explode.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Now, imagine doing that five days a week. Yeah, like
almost like fifty weeks a year. You know that that.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Is a toleration, don't you think you do?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
Yeah, a toleration. Another day, it's just just another day.
And you know what when you when you only do
it once, they're like, oh, this isn't that bad, this
isn't the second day. Huh, all right, I can get
used to this. Third day. All right, I'm finding another
commute to work or and then on the fourth day,
I'm working from home.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Now let me ask if this last question and I
don't want to put you in the middle of a
political kerfuffle here, But do we need more bike lanes
to slow things down even more?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
No, we we do not need any more bike lanes.
They are they are, you know, as as environmentally friendly
as they are. They have taken up a lot of
space on the roads and that is part of our
congestion problem.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
By the way, do you know how much money Boston
has spent on bike lanes. We'll take a guest.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Oh, guest, Oh, it's more than I think our salaries combined.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Speak for yourself. It's one hundred and twenty one that
they've spent.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Oh yeah, Oh, I can't tell you the last time
I rode a bike.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Hey, Dan Mozil as always, so, if if we get
a snowstorm this weekend, let's hope it's on a Friday,
because you know, we want to have some impact on
traffic and give you something to talk about.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Okay, exactly, exactly, yeah, see see, I I want, I mean,
everyone be safe. But yeah, let's let's talk about some uh,
some congestion on STO Drive again.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Sounds great, sounds great, man, I love your calls. We
have the same sort of sixth sense of humor, but
we must.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Be related to It's definitely a Dan thing.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
You got it. He thanks the dem Mozella, the director
of traffic operations for t t WN Total Traffic and
News Network Boston. Thanks Dan, talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Thanks Dan, everybody we.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Get back on to talk about the Titanic. Yeah, the
exhibit which has now been extended because of popular demand
right here in Boston. If you have missed it, we
have some great news for you. Gonna talk with one
of the event producers, Joe Gold, coming up on the
other side of the break here on night Side.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
All I want to welcome Joe Gold. Joe is one
of the producers of the Titanic exhibit, which great news
has been so popular that it has been extended. Its
stay has been extended in Boston. Joe welcome. This is
good news for people who haven't had a chance to
get by to see the Titanic the artifact exhibition. How
(29:21):
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I'm well, Thanks Dan, thanks for having me on again.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You're welcome, You're welcome. So really, the exhibit was going
to the exhibition was going to close win.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was going to close on February second, but the
demand has been so fantastic. Nearly seventy five thousand people
have come to see it, so we decided to extend
it to June first.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So you're extending it not by four days or four weeks,
four months, February, April and May. That is fabulous.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I remember that Boston, when we talked before, is one
of the last major cities to host the Titanic artifact exhibition.
Is my memory correct on that?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Your memory is exactly right. So in nineteen ninety eight,
there was an exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic, but
it was really just artifacts on their glass that people
could come in and see, but there was no story
behind it. This exhibit, which has toured probably every major
city in the world, this is the first time it's
been in Boston and it's been exceptionally well received.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So it's at what they call the Castle in Park Square.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Correct, that's right at the Castle at Park Plaza, and
we're open Wednesday through Sundays, and the business has been
really terrific. In fact, not only do we have an
opportunity to see the Titanic, but I'm not sure if
it's tomorrow. But once a month we do a promotion
with Arthur Murray Dance Studios and you can learn to
(30:57):
dance from the Titanic.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Wow, that's assuming you're able to learn to dance, but
that's another story. Well, yeah, some of us are hopeless.
So the thing that is so impressive about it is,
I guess you actually see what it would look like
the Grand Staircase. You know, a replica. Obviously the Grand Staircase.
(31:21):
We know where that is. It's at the bottom of
the Atlantic Ocean. But it's breathtaking. I've not seen it.
I've not been there, I will admit, and I apologize
for that, but I will certainly get there before Memorial Day.
But this tell us about the Grand Staircase, because my
understanding is that's one of the amazing presentations.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
So in the exhibition, we've recreated a first class cabin,
a third class cabin of a hallway from the first
class deck. But as you said, the sort of the
masterpiece of the exhibition is the recreation of the Grand Staircase.
And when it came to installing it, first of all,
we have to make sure that we had sufficient space
(32:04):
because the towers up about thirty feet tall, and it's magnificent.
People come in, they take their picture on the grand staircase,
they bring their family in. And for the holidays, we
had it decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful. But
even without the Christmas decorations, it's really a sight to see.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Now all of us remember, I think that the Titanic
sank the same month that Fenway Park opened, twenty twelve,
and we remember the hundredth anniversary of Fenway Park and
by extension, the hundredth anniversary of the Titanic. Refresh my recollection.
Was this the first transatlantic trip that the Titanic had taken,
(32:50):
or had it gone back and forth a few times
before this disastrous voyage.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Now this was the maiden voyage. It had two stops,
I believe, came out of the fast had two stops,
and then it proceeded on its way to New York.
And about two days before its arrival in New York,
at late at night, it did strike the iceberg on
April fourteenth, and it's sunk on the fifteenth, And you're
absolutely right, that's the same year that Fenway Park opened.
(33:19):
And I saw a story actually either today or yesterday
that the when Fenway opened was still the news about
Titanic was still fresh in people's mind and it sort
of dwarfed the opening of Fenway Park at that time.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah, just an amazing coincidence. So let me ask you this.
You said that this has been in cities around the world.
Boston obviously because of it's you know, it wasn't coming
to Boston, but because of the confluence of the opening
of Fenway Park and we've all learned the movie The Titanic,
et cetera. Is there as much interest in the voyage
(33:55):
of the Titanic, the legend of the titan type the
Titanic uh in cities worldwide as it is in places
like England and the United States.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
There is I just saw an article about two weeks
ago that the producers of Titanic, of RMS Titanic signed
a deal to take it to the Middle East. So
it's going to play in Saudi Arabia, to play in
United Arab Emirates, and it'll be there for about two
or three years. So there's great interest from all around
the world. And I believe one of the other exhibitions
(34:29):
the touring exhibition is opening up in New Jersey. So
we're very fortunate in Boston to have the exhibition here
for such a long time and give everyone the opportunity
to see it.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So there are multiple exhibitions that the one in the
Middle East. This the Boston exhibition is not going to
leave Boston and head to the to the UAE correct
that there's there's there's another exhibition in h in that
part of the world.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Company that we took the exhibition from has a permanent
display in Orlando, as a permanent display in Las Vegas,
has two other touring exhibitions as well as the one
that we have, and I believe for the Middle East
they're creating a sixth unit that's going to be there.
Since it was discovered and they first brought the first
artifacts up in nineteen eighty seven, they brought up fifty
(35:22):
five hundred artifacts. In Boston. We have about two hundred
and fifty. The others are displayed, as I said, in
other exhibitions, and they're creating a new one for the
Middle East.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So when you say in artifacts, people in Boston will
be able to see actual objects which went down with
the Titanic and have been.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Recovered, their personal effects from a number of the passengers.
There's bathroom fixtures from the first and third class cabins.
And in one area, which is particularly my favorite, is
we have pictures on the wall of dishes that were
(36:05):
at the bottom of the ocean. There's one of the
deck benches that was there, and then in front of
it in a glass case are the actual artifacts that
were recovered from the bottom of the ocean. So yes,
there's two hundred and fifty artifacts of personal effects, parts
of the ship, and a number of other things that
people have the opportunity to see.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
So just a crazy question from left field, and that
is has this exhibit ever been in places around the
world that we think are just far away, meaning Moscow, Tokyo,
Peking How far a field has one or more of
these exhibits actually experienced.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
There's been to all these cities and more.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Okay, yeah, how many cities.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I was gonna say, I don't know how many cities,
but thirty five million people have experienced Titanic.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I can just see the Titanic somewhere in Moscow. I'm
thinking to myself, what would they know about it? But hey,
it's it's worldwide. Okay, so how can folks still get tickets? Joe?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
The tickets are available at Titanic Boston dot US. Just
go online, pick the day in day and time that
you'd like to see it, and tickets are available for
all times, and especially now that we've opened up four
additional months, there are plenty of tickets available.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Okay, this is great to talk to you again. It
was fun to talk to you the first time. It
was even more fun this time because I had to
sort of deep into my head say okay, let me
ask some questions that maybe he kind of answer, and
you answered them. A great job, Joe, Thank you so much,
the Titanic.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Man, and hopefully you'll get a chance to come see
the show exhibition.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
You know, Joe, I'm going to make it a point.
I'm going to make it a point. I'm looking forward
to it. Thank you so much. All Right, we get back.
We're going to talk about issues a little closer to home.
And the issue that we're going to talk about we
come back is the inspections that are now finally, finally
going to take place at some of the state run
emergency shelters. It is a problem, It is a huge
(38:15):
problem with implications far beyond the one arrest that has
been made. There are actually been two very serious arrests made.
We get to all of that on the other side
of the nine o'clock news here at night side
It's night Side with Dan on WBZ Boston's radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Remember to call. I don't have the exact date, but
I know the Red Sox truck leaves for spring raining
about a month from now, first week in February. It's
only yes, yeah, no, no. All we got to do
is get through January. It's as simple as that. And
then the sun is shining for so you know what
I'm saying. Once that truck leaves, we're in good shape.
(00:27):
Thanks to call, Nicole and I bonding over sports topics
and scores and all of that. My name's Dan Ray.
I'm the host of Nightside, heard every Monday through Friday
night right here at WBZ Boston's news radio ten thirty
on your am dial. Heard it about thirty eight states
with what we call over terrestrial radio. What that means
(00:48):
is the regular radio system. And of course we're on
the internet all across the country. Melissa called in from Portland,
Oregon last night. You know, Melissa was listening on the internet.
You can listen on the internet. Just go to WBC
News Radio Boston or something like that. I'll go to
the iHeart app. You'll be all set. So first hour
tonight we have four. I wouldn't call them top news stories,
(01:12):
but they're all newsmakers in their own way. And then
later on tonight, we're going to talk about inspections of
the Massachusetts emergency shelters as a result of the fact
that this fellow who apparently is staying here without any
sort of documentation or authorization, had about ten pounds of
fentanyl as well as an automatic weapon at a Revere shelter.
(01:37):
Something to be concerned about. And at ten o'clock tonight,
I'm going to be talking with Lou Fronte. He's a
former convict, no other way to describe it. Remember the
Gambino crime family, who has written a trilogy of books,
this one the second one. I'm going to talk about
as American Mafia, an America's political elite. Really interesting guests,
(01:57):
And later on tonight, I think we're going to talk
about some of the musics today by President elect Trump
on Panama, Greenland, and gossip. But first, first guest tonight
is Christina Basilio. Christina, I hope I pronounced that name correctly.
Is it Basilio, It's Facilia, you get it right. No
relation to the Great Fighter from the nineteen fifties and sixties.
(02:20):
Carmen Basilio.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I assume, uh, not quite.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Maybe we're cousins twice or three times removed.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Tough boxer, let me tell you, tough boxer. But we're
going to not talk about boxing. We're going to talk
about trends, top trendsing resolutions here in America, and how
people can keep their their resolutions. I guess we don't
do really well at that. I believe that there's a
report out of the Pew Research Center. You're a Google
(02:49):
tech expert, but I assume you're familiar with the Pew
Research Center Research Center report that we're referring to.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, that's about forty people who make resolutions will give
them one or all of them up in the first
three weeks of the new year, and our hope is
that we can motivate some people to keep those resolutions
a little bit longer this year.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah. It's interesting because I guess younger people, you know,
younger people in the eighteen to thirty make about half
of the resolutions. Well, miss seniors kind of like myself,
people who are on the wrong side of fifty, they
don't nearly approach young people. Why such a difference in
(03:37):
an age approach to this and the approach of different
ages to the concept of resolutions.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I wonder if maybe
there's a little bit of influence from social media. There's
a lot of interest in maybe going after your passions
and your interests, and when you're seeing those things online,
maybe it starts to influence how you think about your
own time, like what do you want to do with
your time? How do you want to take care of
your health and wellness? Whereas maybe if you're a little
(04:05):
bit older, you already have your goals that you have
set for yourself, and maybe they're more long term perhaps,
and you don't have to think about starting over at
the start of the new year because you perpetually know
what you want to work on and what's important for you.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, it's funny. I was thinking actually the opposite, meaning,
if you're over fifty or sixty, you probably have messed
up a lot of things in your life that you
like to straighten out. When you're in your twenties, you
haven't had too much time to mess things up yet.
But I guess maybe your theory is it makes more
sense to most in terms of there's also a disparity
(04:40):
age differentials between what people want to do now. I
guess health, exercise, an environment kind of about the same
three quarters or four fifths of the resolutions irrespective of age,
But there is a difference when you get to things
like hobbies and personally interest. Tell us about that more
(05:02):
resolutions for young people for hobbies and personal interest than
older people. This is quite a gap.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, when we were looking at the data, we really
looked at the aggregated data of what Americans were looking at.
So when we talk about hobbies and interests, there wasn't
interest in things like learning how to draw or maybe
learning how to crochet, and things like making a sour
dough starter. But it feels like people are interested in
maybe taking on new hobbies, new interests, maybe things that
(05:32):
they can do independently from their friends, and things that
they could do at their home to maybe continue to
grow and learn something new.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Also a big disparity on work or career issues. Older
folks they kind of got to figure it out their
work and career are sixty five and older. But people
who were in that young trench, two thirds of them
make resolutions about again career or their professional work.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So we actually saw a really interesting trend this year
around careers. So people were either looking for how to
choose a career that they love, change a career, or
even start a career. And I know that for some
folks maybe they don't know exactly what they want to do,
so they may turn to a tool like people search
to look for things. Like folks that are fresh out
of college, they may look up things like jobs for
(06:26):
English majors, so they can get a better idea of
the job market and what type of jobs exist for
them to enter into the workforce with the skills that
they're bringing to the table.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Of course, those people, those young people with archaeology majors,
they don't have to worry about finding a job because
there are no jobs in archaeology at this point, so
that probably have a little bit of a factor as well.
Not much about sports or activities. It looks like a
lot about relationships with family and friends. Fairly tight shot
group there what irrespective of the age, seems everybody is
(06:59):
worried about their relationships with family or friends. That's the
one I think uh area resolution area that that people
are united on in terms of interesting irrespective of their
age did Is that what you found as well?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, so we did see a huge interest in things
like work life balance and wellness. Some of our top
searches were around just how to have better mental health,
how to how to communicate better, how to have better relationships.
So it seems like people are really wanting to be intentional,
apparently regardless of age, on creating better, stronger relationships with
(07:35):
their friends and family, and we've seen that in our
search data too.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Now you are is it a Google text tech expert?
Is that that's the way I think it's. It's it
reads here you're a Google tech expert? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
So what we do as Google technology expert we look
at how Google tools can help people on topics that
matter most to them. So, for example, when we're talking
about things like careers, we look at what people are
searching for like how to maybe build their resume, and
we have different tools that we look at. So, for example,
(08:12):
our Grow with Google team has a really awesome interview
warm up tool. So let's say you're about to go
do some interviewing, you haven't done it in a while.
If you visit this chatbot, it's able to help you
practice your interviews and give you feedback on your answers
to make them stronger. Another thing that we look at,
of course in the new year is around health, wellness
(08:34):
and fitness and some of the tools that Google has
for anybody that maybe has some health goals is you
need to use the tools on hand. And the funny
part I think about is maybe your tool on your wrist.
If you have a smart watch. I personally use a fitbit.
You can use the data that these tools give you
to make more informed decisions on your fitness journey. Whether
(08:54):
that's trying to get better sleep with sleep tracking, or
trying to be more mindful and do more yoga and meditation.
These different types of tools can help you reach those
goals and make it a little bit easier to keep
those resolutions.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All right, well, Christina, I think you and I have
bonded here tonight. So the next time that I can't
get into my Google account, can I call you?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Of course, But I've just given you a hard time.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Give me your hard time. Check out the box of
Carmen Basilio. It's a really good boxer fifties and sixties
top son of a gun. You might be interested. Basila
was not a very common name, as I'm sure you know,
so you might be related after all. Thanks. You've been
a great sport, Christine. Enjoyed having you on the program,
and we'll have you back maybe. Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Thanks, Happy New Year everyone, and good luck with your resolutions.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah. I have no resolutions. It didn't make didn't make
one because I always break them. I figured, why why
make something that I know I'm going to break. But
there's a lot of people out there who do have
the resolutions. Thanks again, we'll talk soon, Thank you very much.
When we get back, we're going to talk about making
the food supply safer, healthier, and more resilientlliance more resilient
with a woman who's the Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory
(10:07):
Programs at the United States Department of Agriculture. That's a
long title. We'll be back with Jenny Moffatt right after
this here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
All right, moving right along, we are now going to
talk with Jenny Moffatt about making our food supply safer, healthier,
and more resilient during disruptions and in the future. Jenny Moffatt.
You are a former Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
at the US Department of Agriculture. Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Thanks for having me, Dan, it's a pleasure to be.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
On When were you serving in the Department of Agriculture?
Are you a career you know GS fourteen or fifteen
or resist the position that you held for a period
of time or have you recently? Are you still holding it?
It says former, So I assume this is in your past.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
I'm actually still holding it. I am in the Biden
Harris administration. So I will be on board until January twentieth,
and then we'll transition to the Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So okay, so everybody has to leave. You can't stay
a little longer. Okay, fair enough, So tell us what
what have you done? Tell what what successors you have?
You know this area much better than I do. Tell
us what you've done. We always hear about these food recalls,
and there's a lot of that, and how much of
(11:43):
it is proactive? How much can you anticipate or do
you have to wait for a problem to develop and
get the word out and you know, throw throw that,
let us away or throw those cucumbers away or whatever. Well,
how does it work?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Yeah, well, well, a lot of our work actually been
on building a more resilient in local and regional food
supply chain. And so, really, if we rethink back to
the beginning of the COVID nineteen pandemic, there were lots
of food supply chain disruptions we saw right all across
(12:18):
the country. We saw places that in products that were
not available on store shelves, and we realized at that
time that this was It just revealed a critical need
for change and a new approach to our food system,
really building and strengthening a more resilient food supply chain
so that we can withstand those kinds of shocks to
(12:40):
our food system.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I was recently, matter of facturs this morning. I'm a
big strawberries and banana and blueberries guy breakfast, and so
I'm looking at my package of blueberries and I guess,
and I realized they're not from Maine at this time
of year, as they would be during the summertime. They're
from Peru. Do we make sure that particularly fruits and
(13:03):
vegetables that we're bringing in from outside other countries are
safe that a lot of the you know, the chemicals
that maybe we no longer use here in America are
not still being used in countries around the world. What's
what's the process there?
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Well, I'd say there's a handful of different processes to
ensure the face safety of food. So there there's definitely
government oversight between federal government as well as state government
oversight of food that is being sold, whether that is
food that is being produced here in the United States
and sold or food that's being imported and sold as well.
(13:43):
We have what the federal the Food and Drug Administration
has the produce safety rules to make sure that the
food is safe, but also retailers and buyers of product
do their own oversight as well for food safety to
make sure that it meets the standards that they have
as far as the quality as well as food safety standards.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So I mean, I get that if I'm you know,
running a you know, a fruit farm or whatever, blueberry strawberries,
that if I'm doing it in Maine or California anywhere
in between, I assume that there are safety inspectors from
the U. S d A who who can periodically show
up and say, hey, what do you use and what
(14:24):
aren't you using is the Is there any concern and
I just am looking to actually feel better any concern
about stuff that's coming in from overseas, you feel that
that that's as safe as our as our food products.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
We do definitely provide oversight of product that's coming in
from overseas. We also, you know, we're doing both food
safety inspections for product that's coming in as well as
food quality inspections. So we have inspectors at courts of
entries looking at product and making sure that it meets
the standards that are required for whatever the product might be.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Now, I know that you got those of you in
USDA don't make policy. Obviously Congress makes policy. But as
someone who is under Secretary for Marketing and regulatory programs,
will you feel as confident when there's a change of administration,
irrespective of whether it's from Democrat to Republican or Republican
and Democrat, that the same good standards that you were
(15:29):
involved with will be carried on with your successors.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
So one thing I'll say, Dan, is the rules and
the regulations continue. They might change over time, and it
takes but it is a public input process for any
of those rules and regulations to change, whether, of course
you know it is through the congressional process or what
we call our federal rule making process. One thing I
will say is while I work at USDA and Biden administration,
(16:01):
there are over one hundred thousand employees at USDA that
our career employees. Those employees will continue to work regardless
of administrations.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So where will your next career stop be? I mean,
on a resume, it's pretty good to have under Secretary
of Marketing and Regulatory Programs for the USDA. Where do
you think your work will take You? Tell us a
little bit about yourself. How'd you get to that position?
Not often we get a chance to talk with under
secretaries here on Nightside.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Well, I grew up in agriculture. So I grew up
on my family's farm in California. My family raises walnuts,
organic walnuts, and so I grew up on the farm.
It was very interested in agriculture from a young age.
And after college worked in the nonprofit sector for a
little bit and then came back to the farm and
(16:52):
worked for our farm. And did you know all of
the different things that happen on a farm, whether it's
everything from peril and making sure we're paying our bills
to all of our sales and marketing and working with
our employees to produce the wellness that we grew. And
then from there I went on and I went into
state government and worked for the Department of Agriculture in California.
(17:14):
Loved the work that I did there and really felt
that it was such an important UH aspect to come
from working in agriculture and having a seat at the
table and being part of the conversations in policy making,
and really loved that. And so then then moved on
to us DA, And at us DA we've been we've
(17:38):
been really advancing what we call the Food Systems Transformation Framework,
and this is really about building and strengthening market opportunities
for farmers and ranchers so that we have for that
farmers see new income streams, new revenue opportunities. They can
see a way in which that they can continue their livelihood,
(18:00):
hopefully hire more people, create more jobs, but also importantly
be able to produce healthy food for their communities, like
you talked about the blueberries that come from Maine to Boston,
and really strengthening some of our local and regional food systems.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So I've been.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Really excited about the work and just love the work
that we've been doing at USDA in this administration. Back
in twenty twenty one, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan
and then at that time in the American Rescue Plan
was five billion dollars for us to really transform that
(18:38):
food system. And so when we got that money, actually
it's four billion dollars, but still a significant amount of money.
When we received that money from Congress, our first question.
We went to this to farmers, to ranchers, to food
producers and said, how can we best invest this money
to really make a transformative impact. We knew we had
(18:59):
one time dollars, and they said, we need more infrastructure.
We need more food processing infrastructure. We need more food
distribution infrastructure. We need need more places where that we
can take our product to market. We need more opportunity,
even on our own farm to do things like value
added products, so turning brule berries, let's say, into a jam,
(19:20):
or freezing them so that they can be sold year round.
All of those different things require cold storage or require
machinery or packaging. We need more of that. And so
we've been through grants and also some loans been investing
in regional food businesses around the country, and I as
(19:43):
I've traveled and met with the producers that this has impacted,
it's just amazing to see the difference that this has made,
whether it is in produce, whether it's in meat and
poultry processing, whether it is a dairy. It's really been
just a game changer for communities and for those farmers
and rangers to be able to really see a whole
(20:06):
new way in which that they can develop new revenue stream.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, Jenny, thank you for what you've done in the USDA,
and best of luck in your future career plans. I
know your career will change a little bit on January twentieth,
but I really thank you for all the work you've
done and I appreciate you spending some time with us tonight.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We get back on to talk about Boston's traffic. We
rank fourth worst in the USA, twelfth in the world
worst traffic. We spend about eighty hours those of us
who commute eighty hours a year sitting in traffic.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Dan Mozilla, director of traffic operations for the Total Traffic
News Network, back with him on Nightside right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thank you, Nicole, give you update on the Bruins. Unfortunately,
the V's are down three nothing to the Edmonton Oilers
as they come close to the end of the second period.
With us now is Dan Mozilla. He's the director of
Traffic Operations for TTWN Total Traffic and News Network right
here in Boston. Hey, Dan Mozella, welcome back to Night's Side.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
How are you Hey? I'm doing good. Dan. You know
when you say the title, it actually like sounds grander
than when I say as the people.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
No, I know, I give it the broadcast presentation the
director of co operations for TTWN. Oh yeah, that important.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
So we now very important.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Had the fourth worst traffic congestion in the good old
US of A behind I guess New York, Chicago and
LA But even more importantly, we are we are the
twelfth worst in the world. I think of all the
countries and all the cities around the world where traffic
is nuts in Paris, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Rome, and we're we're
(22:07):
number twelve. That's quite an accomplishment.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
It is and we don't even have the Olympics, and
it's and you know it's bad, man.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I mean, wouldn't have been great to have had the
Olympics back in twenty twenty five? Oh yeah, I mean
that has gone perfectly.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
It would have gone without a hitch, without a hitch.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
You can just see those opening ceremonies with the cars
driving down the Charles.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
Right, Yeah, exactly. It would be our own Olympic sports.
It would be great. I would I would think I
would get a gold medal in that.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Oh no, we had we had a lot of fun
with that when they were thinking about that in terms
of what, you know, I remember what they could do.
But yeah, so look we're sitting. There's a lot of
people who sit in traffic. I had never commuted nine
to five one year. One year when I was a
TV reporter, I was on like the ten to six shift,
(23:03):
but always off hours, so I don't know the agony
of sitting on the Expressway every morning at eight thirty.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
I mean, I'm always I mean, I've always said that.
You know, there's nothing express about the Expressway. It's it's
a it's a terrible name, but it does mean something.
It's the way the road is designed of why it's
called the expressway.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well there's also but there are a lot of people
who do express themselves from behind the wheel.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
One thousand, one thousand percent. They express with a verbal
and nonverbal communication, as we call it.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Very important, very important, but they the I mean, look,
can can realistically do we just have to throw up
our hands? Can it or can it get worse?
Speaker 6 (23:57):
It can always get worse, It can always always at worse.
And right now, you know, I'm gonna go with the
fact that you know, it's winter or right back from
the holidays, people's routines are are still you know, not
where they should be. So I think a lot of
people in the winter definitely do a more work from
(24:17):
home because you know, they got to people are getting sick.
You know, we've got a lot like the flus on
the rise, COVID on the rise, you you name it.
So a lot of people are I think working hybrid
right now because sometimes during the afternoon it was actually,
uh it was it was last week at this time,
we were just like, huh is today the holiday or
(24:39):
or it was yesterday the holiday because there was just
nothing happening. But then it just all gets jammed up
at once. It's never like a slow build. It just
it's like someone flips a switch and everything just gets
congested out there. It's it's it's well for me, I say,
it's good for business, but for the rest of everyone
out there, yeah it is. I mean two hours to
(25:01):
go nine miles, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, I just think that intuitively, those of us who
have driven in the Boston area for years, we know
when the traffic is going to get really bad and
we want to be out in it. Do you know,
we don't want to be ahead of that curve of
behind the curve. We want to be right in the
middle of that curve.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
C of course, of course you got to be there
where everybody is, you know, because that's Boston. We all
want to be around our friends.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yes, on Sunday this past was it Sunday or Saturday?
I think it was Sunday, so it was Sunday. You know,
the city's kind of quiet. My wife doesn't like to
drive on Storrow Drive, so we drove down Beacon Street
about twelve thirty in the afternoon. It took like about
fifteen minutes to get from Arlington Street down past Charles
(25:52):
Street or from Barlington Street to Mass Avenue. There's two
bike lanes on each bike lane on each si to
Beacon Street.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Then of course there's the parking meters. Uh. Then there's
cars that we have the special parking spaces. And then
there's the people who double park their cars on a
Sunday and literally in the middle of Beacon Street and
cars are trying to it come down to one lane
and there wasn't one police officer tagging anybody. It took
(26:21):
about twenty minutes to get from again Arlington Street to
ken Moore Square. I thought my head was going to explode.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Now, imagine doing that five days a week. Yeah, like
almost like fifty weeks a year. You know that that.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Is a toleration, don't you think you do?
Speaker 6 (26:41):
Yeah, a toleration. Another day, it's just just another day.
And you know what when you when you only do
it once, they're like, oh, this isn't that bad, this
isn't the second day. Huh, all right, I can get
used to this. Third day. All right, I'm finding another
commute to work or and then on the fourth day,
I'm working from home.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Now let me ask if this last question and I
don't want to put you in the middle of a
political kerfuffle here, But do we need more bike lanes
to slow things down even more?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
No, we we do not need any more bike lanes.
They are they are, you know, as as environmentally friendly
as they are. They have taken up a lot of
space on the roads and that is part of our
congestion problem.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
By the way, do you know how much money Boston
has spent on bike lanes. We'll take a guest.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Oh, guest, Oh, it's more than I think our salaries combined.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Speak for yourself. It's one hundred and twenty one that
they've spent.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Oh yeah, Oh, I can't tell you the last time
I rode a bike.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Hey, Dan Mozil as always, so, if if we get
a snowstorm this weekend, let's hope it's on a Friday,
because you know, we want to have some impact on
traffic and give you something to talk about.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Okay, exactly, exactly, yeah, see see, I I want, I mean,
everyone be safe. But yeah, let's let's talk about some uh,
some congestion on STO Drive again.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Sounds great, sounds great, man, I love your calls. We
have the same sort of sixth sense of humor, but
we must.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Be related to It's definitely a Dan thing.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
You got it. He thanks the dem Mozella, the director
of traffic operations for t t WN Total Traffic and
News Network Boston. Thanks Dan, talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Thanks Dan, everybody we.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Get back on to talk about the Titanic. Yeah, the
exhibit which has now been extended because of popular demand
right here in Boston. If you have missed it, we
have some great news for you. Gonna talk with one
of the event producers, Joe Gold, coming up on the
other side of the break here on night Side.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
All I want to welcome Joe Gold. Joe is one
of the producers of the Titanic exhibit, which great news
has been so popular that it has been extended. Its
stay has been extended in Boston. Joe welcome. This is
good news for people who haven't had a chance to
get by to see the Titanic the artifact exhibition. How
(29:21):
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I'm well, Thanks Dan, thanks for having me on again.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You're welcome, You're welcome. So really, the exhibit was going
to the exhibition was going to close win.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was going to close on February second, but the
demand has been so fantastic. Nearly seventy five thousand people
have come to see it, so we decided to extend
it to June first.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So you're extending it not by four days or four weeks,
four months, February, April and May. That is fabulous.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I remember that Boston, when we talked before, is one
of the last major cities to host the Titanic artifact exhibition.
Is my memory correct on that?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Your memory is exactly right. So in nineteen ninety eight,
there was an exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic, but
it was really just artifacts on their glass that people
could come in and see, but there was no story
behind it. This exhibit, which has toured probably every major
city in the world, this is the first time it's
been in Boston and it's been exceptionally well received.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So it's at what they call the Castle in Park Square.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Correct, that's right at the Castle at Park Plaza, and
we're open Wednesday through Sundays, and the business has been
really terrific. In fact, not only do we have an
opportunity to see the Titanic, but I'm not sure if
it's tomorrow. But once a month we do a promotion
with Arthur Murray Dance Studios and you can learn to
(30:57):
dance from the Titanic.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Wow, that's assuming you're able to learn to dance, but
that's another story. Well, yeah, some of us are hopeless.
So the thing that is so impressive about it is,
I guess you actually see what it would look like
the Grand Staircase. You know, a replica. Obviously the Grand Staircase.
(31:21):
We know where that is. It's at the bottom of
the Atlantic Ocean. But it's breathtaking. I've not seen it.
I've not been there, I will admit, and I apologize
for that, but I will certainly get there before Memorial Day.
But this tell us about the Grand Staircase, because my
understanding is that's one of the amazing presentations.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
So in the exhibition, we've recreated a first class cabin,
a third class cabin of a hallway from the first
class deck. But as you said, the sort of the
masterpiece of the exhibition is the recreation of the Grand Staircase.
And when it came to installing it, first of all,
we have to make sure that we had sufficient space
(32:04):
because the towers up about thirty feet tall, and it's magnificent.
People come in, they take their picture on the grand staircase,
they bring their family in. And for the holidays, we
had it decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful. But
even without the Christmas decorations, it's really a sight to see.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Now all of us remember, I think that the Titanic
sank the same month that Fenway Park opened, twenty twelve,
and we remember the hundredth anniversary of Fenway Park and
by extension, the hundredth anniversary of the Titanic. Refresh my recollection.
Was this the first transatlantic trip that the Titanic had taken,
(32:50):
or had it gone back and forth a few times
before this disastrous voyage.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Now this was the maiden voyage. It had two stops,
I believe, came out of the fast had two stops,
and then it proceeded on its way to New York.
And about two days before its arrival in New York,
at late at night, it did strike the iceberg on
April fourteenth, and it's sunk on the fifteenth, And you're
absolutely right, that's the same year that Fenway Park opened.
(33:19):
And I saw a story actually either today or yesterday
that the when Fenway opened was still the news about
Titanic was still fresh in people's mind and it sort
of dwarfed the opening of Fenway Park at that time.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah, just an amazing coincidence. So let me ask you this.
You said that this has been in cities around the world.
Boston obviously because of it's you know, it wasn't coming
to Boston, but because of the confluence of the opening
of Fenway Park and we've all learned the movie The Titanic,
et cetera. Is there as much interest in the voyage
(33:55):
of the Titanic, the legend of the titan type the
Titanic uh in cities worldwide as it is in places
like England and the United States.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
There is I just saw an article about two weeks
ago that the producers of Titanic, of RMS Titanic signed
a deal to take it to the Middle East. So
it's going to play in Saudi Arabia, to play in
United Arab Emirates, and it'll be there for about two
or three years. So there's great interest from all around
the world. And I believe one of the other exhibitions
(34:29):
the touring exhibition is opening up in New Jersey. So
we're very fortunate in Boston to have the exhibition here
for such a long time and give everyone the opportunity
to see it.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So there are multiple exhibitions that the one in the
Middle East. This the Boston exhibition is not going to
leave Boston and head to the to the UAE correct
that there's there's there's another exhibition in h in that
part of the world.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Company that we took the exhibition from has a permanent
display in Orlando, as a permanent display in Las Vegas,
has two other touring exhibitions as well as the one
that we have, and I believe for the Middle East
they're creating a sixth unit that's going to be there.
Since it was discovered and they first brought the first
artifacts up in nineteen eighty seven, they brought up fifty
(35:22):
five hundred artifacts. In Boston. We have about two hundred
and fifty. The others are displayed, as I said, in
other exhibitions, and they're creating a new one for the
Middle East.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So when you say in artifacts, people in Boston will
be able to see actual objects which went down with
the Titanic and have been.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Recovered, their personal effects from a number of the passengers.
There's bathroom fixtures from the first and third class cabins.
And in one area, which is particularly my favorite, is
we have pictures on the wall of dishes that were
(36:05):
at the bottom of the ocean. There's one of the
deck benches that was there, and then in front of
it in a glass case are the actual artifacts that
were recovered from the bottom of the ocean. So yes,
there's two hundred and fifty artifacts of personal effects, parts
of the ship, and a number of other things that
people have the opportunity to see.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
So just a crazy question from left field, and that
is has this exhibit ever been in places around the
world that we think are just far away, meaning Moscow, Tokyo,
Peking How far a field has one or more of
these exhibits actually experienced.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
There's been to all these cities and more.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Okay, yeah, how many cities.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I was gonna say, I don't know how many cities,
but thirty five million people have experienced Titanic.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I can just see the Titanic somewhere in Moscow. I'm
thinking to myself, what would they know about it? But hey,
it's it's worldwide. Okay, so how can folks still get tickets? Joe?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
The tickets are available at Titanic Boston dot US. Just
go online, pick the day in day and time that
you'd like to see it, and tickets are available for
all times, and especially now that we've opened up four
additional months, there are plenty of tickets available.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Okay, this is great to talk to you again. It
was fun to talk to you the first time. It
was even more fun this time because I had to
sort of deep into my head say okay, let me
ask some questions that maybe he kind of answer, and
you answered them. A great job, Joe, Thank you so much,
the Titanic.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Man, and hopefully you'll get a chance to come see
the show exhibition.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
You know, Joe, I'm going to make it a point.
I'm going to make it a point. I'm looking forward
to it. Thank you so much. All Right, we get back.
We're going to talk about issues a little closer to home.
And the issue that we're going to talk about we
come back is the inspections that are now finally, finally
going to take place at some of the state run
emergency shelters. It is a problem, It is a huge
(38:15):
problem with implications far beyond the one arrest that has
been made. There are actually been two very serious arrests made.
We get to all of that on the other side
of the nine o'clock news here at night side
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