THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 15, 2022 Page 11 State Representative LipperGarabedian to Host Virtual Office Hours Friday, July 22, 2022 S tate Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian announced that she and her offi ce will hold virtual offi ce hours for constituents on Friday, July 22, 2022, from 12:00-1:00pm. Representative Lipper-Garabedian’s office hours are always open to the public to enable residents to speak directly with the Representative and her staff about any issue. Private virtual rooms are available for sensitive topics. If a constituent is unable to attend offi ce hours, Representative Lipper-Garabedian and her staff are available to correspond, speak, or schedule a meeting. Please contact Legislative Aide Julia Germani by e-mail at julia. germani@MAHouse.Gov or by phone (617) 722-2810. To learn more about Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian and to sign-up for her newsletter, visit her website, www. KateforRep.com. "Vanity awards" ask for a fee to claim a prize - New England Business Leaders Targeted I t’s always an ego boost to receive a notice that you or your company has won an award. The Better Business Bureau reminds you that if that award requires you to pay a fee to “claim” it, make sure you check out all the details before sending money. While there are many legitimate and competitive awards out there (even ones that are unfamiliar to you), there are also a lot of “vanity awards.” These are available in virtually every industry and for every profession. For some, you fi ll out a form and pay a fee to enter the ‘competition.’ With others, you are notifi ed that you’ve won and directed to a place where you can order plaques or trophies. These awards may sound good, but many are not particularly prestigious. The more winners there are, the less respected the award becomes. Trusted, hardworking businesses and business owners deserve recognition, but not the kind you have to pay for. However, this is the premise of vanity award scams. What is a vanity award scheme? This scheme typically targets business owners through email campaigns. The email will congratulate the owner on his or her selection for the Best of [insert city name] Award and invite the contact to follow a link to a website listing further details on how to claim the prize. Among the instructions on how to claim the honor and receive a plaque or trophy, a onetime fee will be listed, ranging from $100 to $200, sometimes with higher amounts if the owner would like a larger trophy or plaque. BBB recommends the following tips before paying to receive an award: • Research the award. Check Metro Mayors urge MBTA to restore service levels, financial commitment T he Metropolitan Mayors Coalition has advocated for a fully funded, safe, reliable, frequent, and accessible transportation system since the Coalition was founded in 2001. The MBTA is a lifeline for our residents, providing access to jobs, school, shopping, recreation, and services. Bolstering use of transit is also a key element of the Commonwealth’s plans to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. When service is reduced, so is our entire region’s quality of life, as residents are forced to make compromises that only serve to hurt our economy, the environment, or both. Given these priorities, we urge swift action to restore the MBTA’s service levels, along with a longer-term fi nancial commitment so that we can usher in a strong and equitable recovery for our residents and our region. Many of the residents who rely out the company's BBB Business Profi le at BBB.org to ensure that the off er is legitimate. • Ask specifi c questions. Learn everything you can about who is giving the award, where they are located, how long the award has been in existence and how your business was selected as a winner. Organizations that off er legitimate awards will be willing to provide specifi c details on why your company was chosen. • Know the nomination process. Find out who nominated your business for the award. If you didn't apply for it or the organization cannot tell you how you were nominated, chances are the award is not legitimate. • Check for payment requirements. Most legitimate awards do not come with costs to the recipient. If there is a fee, scrutinize it closely. If there is a fee for winning or for receiving a certifi cate or plaque, it could be a scheme simply after your money. For more information The sole intent of a vanity award scheme is to capitalize on a company's excitement for an award that essentially holds no value with the purpose of making money on the off er. To report a vanity award scheme, visit BBB Scam Tracker at BBB.org/ scamtracker. For more tips to help you as a business owner, visit BBB’s Business Resources page and BBB's Business HQ. Also, read about the top 10 scams targeting small businesses. Stay one step ahead of scammers by subscribing to BBB's weekly Scam Alert emails. on the T are the same people that we lauded as “essential workers” during the height of the pandemic. A well-functioning and safe MBTA is what allowed them to get to work and is a critical component of a strong recovery. Now, the MBTA is cutting service to address critical safety issues, many of which were originally cited in the 2019 report of the Safety Review Panel established by the Fiscal Management and Control Board (FMCB). This Coalition, in the summer of 2020, encouraged the T to implement some of these changes during the pandemic when ridership was lower. Financial resources are necessary to implement a myriad of safety recommendations, including those recommendations that will be forthcoming from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). We urge the Legislature and Governor Baker to invest substantial dollars from the state’s current budgetary surplus to allow the MBTA to address all signifi cant safety concerns and to restore service at the earliest possible date. We hope the Legislature passes additional funds for MBTA safety upgrades in the Transportation Bond Bill currently before it. In addition to these funds, we urgently need a longterm sustainable funding source to continue uninterrupted service in the years ahead. This Coalition has always called for additional investments in MBTA operations, maintenance, and repair, to ensure that transit-dependent and low-income residents can access the T without serious fi nancial burden. We are committed to working with the T to take steps to protect low-income riders by creating a means-tested fare program. Cutting service hurts all of us, but especially the communities that were most impacted by the pandemic. Furthermore, increasingly crowded trains constitute an additional safety issue that puts our residents at risk. We cannot afford to fail our communities again. The Metropolitan Mayors Coalition is a group of cities and towns in the urban core of Metro Boston whose leaders gather to exchange information and create solutions for common problems. The municipal officials in this group represent more than 1.4 million residents in the cities and towns of Arlington, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Newton, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop.
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