[addfgionio]

This is a little silly but I don't see a problem. No one lives in these areas, so no one will get the subsidy. People have lived there in the past; this isn't a random patch of wilderness. It sounds to me like people in this area would qualify if they existed. Now they're pre-approved.

Where's the harm?

[542354234235]

>No one lives in these areas, so no one will get the subsidy

>Where's the harm?

the harm is that no one will get the subsidy. The point of the subsidy is to help people get internet. There are hundreds of thousands of people that don't have it, many because they can't afford it. This isn't a case where they picked 100 areas for the subsidy, and it happens that 2 of them don't currently have anyone living there. This gives the illusion that that a solution has been put in place, without actually heping any of the people that need the help.

[bluepod4]

> There are hundreds of thousands of people that don't have it, many because they can't afford it.

Yes, but not in Massachusetts. If this were a federal program, then my eyebrows would raise. But it’s a state program.

There are already related subsidies and programs in less well-off areas in Massachusetts. I imagine you don’t know about them because they aren’t for you.

Do you live in an area in Mass where such a subsidy is needed?

Do you know anyone with an “Obama” phone (a federal program)?

Do they give out free internet-enabled tablets (a state program) in front of shopping centers where you live in Mass?

Based on your comment, it seems like you have good intentions. But what you said isn’t based in reality. It sort of reminds me of when I worked at Amazon in Cambridge and some program manager warned a new employee who just moved to the area not to go to Dorchester at all and especially not with $40 (literally) in his pocket as if Dorchester isn’t a suburb where people drive cars and pay more than that for gas and food daily lol.

Side note/tangent: Has anyone experienced or participated in what I call “white people urban legends” or “white people camp fire stories” in the workplace? I’ve worked at both startups and FAANG companies as a software engineer across the country for 10+ years. There’s always this phenomenon where people sit in a circle and tell each other ((and specifically usually a new employee as some weird initiation ritual I guess)) not to go to a “dangerous” area and start telling stories that happened to a “friend of a friend”. It almost seems like a game because laughter and jokes are involved. For example, “don’t go to Dorchester.” “Don’t go to Roxbury”. “Don’t go to Oakland. It’s dangerous”. ((As if these places aren’t already being gentrified out the wazoo. If you see white women jogging at night time there, then it’s not that dangerous guys.)) The program manager that I mentioned earlier was telling a story about his grandfather that happened in the 70s. He was literally warning people not to go to Dorchester because of that lmao. He literally said “my grandfather used to tell me all the time”. I laugh about this now. But it’s sort of sad that this happens at every workplace I’ve been at.

[542354234235]

> Yes, but not in Massachusetts.

“In Massachusetts, nearly 362,000, or 1 in 19 people, lacked internet service as recently as 2019, including dial-up internet service. In total, 1,009,000 people [in Massachusetts] were without broadband access at home.”[1]

”[In 2021] in about half of the state measured by Microsoft — eight of 14 counties — no more than 63% of households actually have high-speed access”[2]

What is the opposite of white urban legends, where people are so disconnected from how other people live that they assume that hundreds of thousands of people couldn't possibly not have broadband internet? Based on your comment, it seems like you have good intentions. But what you said isn’t based in reality. It is also rather telling that all your ramblings were about dangerousness surrounding "poor" areas. Not about actual poverty, which by the way is sitting at 24% in Dorchester and 34% in Roxbury.[3] Poor people exist, whether you are worried about being mugged by them or not.

[1] https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/fil...

[2] https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2021/07/07/gda-broadband...

[3] https://churchandprison.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Selec...