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Letters

Letters to the Boston editor, July 1, 2011

Boston City Council President Steve Murphy assumes — incorrectly — that the Finance Commission meddles in city affairs ("City Sticklers," June 24, 2011). He's wrong. It does not. All the commission does is investigate and report.

Murphy also assumes — again, incorrectly — that city councilors would do "a lot more work" if the commission didn't exist. He's wrong. They wouldn't. Murphy forgets that the commission is necessary precisely because city officials don't ask the right questions and don't act upon the answers.

Boston residents are lucky; most Massachusetts cities have no finance commission at all. What's regretful is that councilors like Murphy starve the commission for funds, and stifle its ability to work, when they should be grateful for any help they can get.

NED FLAHERTY
BOSTON

THANKS FOR THE HICKEY

Thanks for your recent update on Johnny Hickey ("Hickey's Current event," This Just In, June 17, 2011). I am thrilled that his Oxy Morons is getting out there. Thanks to Chris Faraone's first article on the film ("The Secret Life of a Charlestown Drug Dealer," February 4, 2011), I saw it in Revere and I thought it was very powerful in exposing the world of highly addictive drugs and the violence, chaos, and demons that surround them.

Hickey's story and the story of Faraone's unique friendship with him are worth following.

KEN TANGVIK
ROSLINDALE