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JP progressives to legislature: Don't split us up and don't stick us in Lynch's district
By adamg on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 2:03pm
Jamaica Plain Progressives testify they'd rather see Jamaica Plain in one congressional district, rather than the two proposed by a legislatiive redistricting committee, with Washington Street the basic dividing line:
Jamaica Plain belongs in the new 7th Congressional District. Although many of us are white, our community of interest lies with Boston's diverse urban neighborhoods. We have chosen to live here because we wanted to be part of urban life and live with a diverse group of people. To lump our political future instead with the homogenous suburbs (and a few homogenous neighborhoods of Boston) is an incorrect reading of where our community of interest lies.
State Rep. Jeff Sanchez, meanwhile, is working on a plan that would still split Jamaica Plain, but would give part of it to Barney Frank, rather than Steve Lynch, the Jamaica Plain Gazette reports.
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Comments
I used to live in JP
I liked it, down there by Monument Square.
But Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the bald-headed saints--could these people be more insufferable and full of themselves? You couldn't pay me to live with these people these days. And that's coming from someone who lives in Cambridge.
One Man One Vote
Does it really matter? It is about how much noise you make. Tip O'Neill really didn't like having Brookline in his district "10% of the population, 90% of the mail" Seems like Tip was a fairly "progressive" congressman. Oops, Congressperson.
Suck it up, JP progressives -
Suck it up, JP progressives - this is the price you pay to create a majority-minority district. And that's a good thing, right? Is this Jamaica Plain Against Minority Representation in Congress?
Suck it /up/ yourself, NotWhitey
Is there any part of the First Amendment you don't hate?
Someone flunked Civics class.
Someone flunked Civics class.
You're showing your age
There is no such thing as civics class anymore, outside of college.
That someone would be you, NotWhitey
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The individuals mentioned in the original post may be over-entitled in your opinion (and really, who, other than you, isn't?), but that doesn't mean they don't get to excersize their rights. Here in America, if someone doesn't like something the government is doing, or thinks that they're not being adequately represented - they get to complain directly to the folks in charge. That's the way democracy works. You don't like it? Go move to North Korea.
Lynch's District?
Um, wouldn't that be called MA #?
Lynch doesn't own it. If you don't like him, vote for someone you do like.
Amen
JP progressives should want to be in Lynch's district, so they can nominate Sonia Chang-Diaz and put an end to Lynch's barely-Democratic reign. (Or, this Somerville progressive would love to see that, anyway...)
They tried
At least one of the authors of the letter was on Mac D'Allesandro's campaign against Lynch. But this letter does not help anyone.
Help put Lynch back with the ironworkers
I don't want to live in Steve Lynch's district either. But I have, since 19-whenever he lucked into his first win against multiple opponents who split the progressive vote. He hasn't had a serious challenge since. If the district gains some more progressives, maybe we can all be rid of him.
Guess I'm finally on the right side of the tracks
Egleston/Parkside gets to keep Capuano! Suck it, Pondside! :-)
Burn of the Day!
+1
Suck it Pondside!
Can those of us in Rozzie now stuck with these jerks send them back to you?
Brothers would be glad to see you go
So you white elite snobs move into JP and jack up the real estate and go to community meetings and complain about black teenagers marauding through your neighborhoods. Have you noticed in your java bars and gluton free restaurants there is no diversity. You have two types of dogs in your neighborhood pit bulls and poodles and i never see them at Jamaica Pond together,
Hater gonna hate
Compare the good natured razzing from kirs with the bigotry-filled baloney above.
Just about every sentence by this AC is so wrong that I almost beleive it's a put up.
Nope.
Not "bigotry-filled baloney" but the truth.
Diversity in JP = how many different colored North Face jackets one can see.
Because only skin
Because only skin color=diversity? Culture and philosophy need not apply?
This yuppie white girl
who occasionally frequents the local "java bar" also happens to own a pit bull. Last time I checked, though, I wasn't complaining about the black teens walking through my neighborhood, but poodles do give me pause.
Lynch vs. JP's candidate
1) If you don't like Lynch, promote your own candidate and vote him out. JP has some great community leaders already in office, and Lynch certainly has some weaknesses (and my be fatigued of office).
2) As others have pointed out, the reason that part of JP hasn't been included in the majority-minority district is that it's mostly white! Thereby, if your district was included, it wouldn't be a majority-minority district.
3) There remains a large part of the "Lynch" JP that identifies with West Roxbury and Roslindale and greatly welcomes this development, and those folks line up like clockwork every November just like they do outside Holy Name. Get those folks to support your candidate, and Lynch is out.
Gosh Darn it! What have things come to?
Oh the horror! First Whole Foods taking over and now this.
If we are forced to associate with the great non-organic, non-locovore, car driving, overweight, Walmart shopping masses, it will mean an end to our cherished idea of diversity.
Better to add us to the majority-minority district, because Gosh Darn it! we're special.
With redistricting that's sensitive to our ideals and values, we can help bring to Congress the same kind of democratic representation like we have at the JP Neighborhood Council.
Otherwise, we'll have to talk to those people and Goddess forbid, even listen to them.
It's not fair
It's not fair to lump us in with the other white people, because we're special white people. The solidarity for the brown people in our hearts means you should put us in the brown people district. We promise we'll take care of them. We'll even wear funny hats if that helps. Didja see how we protested Whole Foods?
Otherwise, our political future is just ruined. Our drum circle is going to be separated forever.
This plan separates a neighborhood that thinks of itself as one place - except for that part which is already in the ninth, but those people shop in Roslindale anyway. Bourne district luzers already drum with the Albanians down in Rozzie. Who are totally homogenous, by the way. Just because their demographics are almost identical to ours (and likewise less diverse than the city as a whole), doesn't mean we're like them at all! Homogenouses!
Oh, and that reminds me, did I say HEGEMONY yet? Because there's totally a way to work that into a sentence about this. I'll be right back after I look something up in Homi Bhabha's book...
Meh.
I read the letter and I get it. I write too as someone who lives near egleston (yay) and as a JPer who was dismayed and embarrassed by the Whole Foods kerfuffle and is now happily shopping there on a near-daily basis. Still, I take the letter-writers' points about dividing the neighborhood--it does seem like a shame. You can make all the cracks you like about pit bulls and poodles (i think both have their points) but we're still the most comfortably diverse neighborhoods in the city and try pretty hard to keep it that way. I'd much rather see us being able to vote as a bigger, more complex block.
How are the suburbs
How are the suburbs homogeneous? Why is diversity only measured by skin tone? If JP progressives dislike whites, why don't they live in Mattapan? That's not a knock on Mattapan, it actually has some very nice houses.