Rob Consalvo

Mike Ball comes away impressed from Rob Consalvo's kickoff rally in JP, although he says he needs to flesh out his proposed agenda:

So far, no one in the race has advanced either a brilliant slogan or a revolutionary platform. Rob's catchphrase Making Boston Better is more than adequate. He simply has to convince enough voters that he can pull that off, that he can harden up his kind of spongy goals and achieve each one. Last evening was promising.

This past week was a big week in politics here in Boston.

1. Steve Lynch will not run for Mayor.

Leading up to this past week, many speculated that 8th Congressional District U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch was using the U.S. Senate race to raise his profile so he could run for Boston Mayor. Lynch's chances were ruined by losing his hometown of Boston by a margin of 31,000 plus votes to Lynch's 28,000 plus votes.

Essentially, Markey "Al Gored" Stephen Lynch. To understand this, Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to George W. Bush in 2000 and that was the real reason why Gore lost the presidency not because of Florida. For Lynch to have won the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary, he needed to run up the vote against Markey in Boston and this just did not happen.

2. Dewey beats Truman.

The 1st Suffolk Senate race was an unbelievable contest. My parish, St. Ann's, falls right inside this state Senate district. Three great candidates fought tooth and nail to replace Jack Hart who left his seat for a high paying job at a law firm.

Above is the "Volunteer" page on Rob Consalvo's new campaign Web site, as viewed on my Acer laptop with a 15-inch screen. Below is the "News" page on the site:

If Ayanna Pressley runs for Mayor as reports are now suggesting that she may, she will undoubtably be the next Mayor.

It's a no brainer. Number one, the race is wide open for a major female candidate to run and win. There are ten men who running. Many people do vote based on gender. For instance, in the race to replace Jack Hart in the State Senate, many pundits believe that some of Nick Collin's votes will be siphered away by fellow Southie native Maureen Dahill which will allow Linda Dorcena Fory to be able to walk into office. However, I believe with two women running against Collins, the only male in the Democratic primary, many women will split their vote, while many men will vote for Collins. I'm not saying it is right, but it is a reality that gender politics is a determining factor for how many people vote in elections.

City Councilor Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale, Mattapan) says he's running for mayor. His statement:

It's just not municipal election season until we hear the rumors about Menino winning re-election, getting Rob Consalvo elected city-council president and then stepping down so Consalvo can become mayor without an election. Oh, yeah, and the side rumor about Menino being Consalvo's godfather (he isn't).

City Councilor Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale, Mattapan) says he sympathizes with people with the sort of debilitating illnesses who would require medical marijuana, but he doesn't want the dispensaries approved by voters to be allowed to set up shop just anywhere.

Consalvo on Wednesday asks the City Council to approve a hearing to start figuring out how to limit where dispensaries can open.

The City Council sympathizes with those individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions; however, the City of Boston has the responsibility to ensure that the Zoning Code be updated to ensure that dispensaries be zoned and located in the most appropriate way in our neighborhoods.

Consalvo's proposed hearing would seek input from, among others, the BRA, Boston Police, and state and city public-health departments on siting marijuana sales outlets.

Tom Menino and City Councilor Rob Consalvo, however, are aghast at a law that overrides the city pit-bull ordinance.

City Councilor Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale, Mattapan), today proposed slapping advertising on city Web sites, including library and school sites - and even the site run by the city's public-housing authority.

Consalvo says cityofboston.gov got 6.8 million visits last year, the BPS site some 4.7 million.

With this kind of traffic, the city and the BPS could potentially raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in recurring revenue from advertising on these Web sites as well as advertising on associated city Web sites such as the Boston Public Library, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Boston Housing Authority.

Consalvo said he would want to see "strong content review" to ensure inappropriate ads are not run (Ed. note: Darn, there go the plans to capture some of the MBTA's liquor-ad sales by putting beer ads on school-lunch menus).

However, the city might have to leave its flagship site out of any ad solicitations. The US General Services Administration, which handles registration of .gov sites, such as cityofboston.gov, bars advertising:

A Gov Internet domain may not be used to advertise for private individuals, firms, or corporations, or imply in any manner that the government endorses or favors any specific commercial product, commodity, or service.

The prohibition does not apply to sites that are run with other domains, such as bpl.org, bostonpublicschools.org and fatsmack.org.

H/t Kate Hutchinson for digging up the ad ban.

City Councilor Rob Consalvo said today the largest rental-car companies in Boston have agreed to open their records to 911 dispatchers to help police more quickly track down criminals who rent cars for getaways.

City Councilor Rob Consalvo opposes a request from a Dominican restaurant on Fairmount Avenue to extend its closing hours from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Consalvo says there are no Hyde Park restaurants or bars open past 1 a.m. and he wants to keep it that way.

A later closing time "might be a fit downtown or in some other areas," but not in the southwestern corner of Boston, Consalvo told the Boston Licensing Board this morning on a request from Rincon Caribeno on Fairmount Avenue to extend its hours from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. In June, the board rejected a similar 2 a.m. request from Tony's Pizza next door.

Rincon Caribeno owner Javier Diaz says the later hours would help him better serve the area's Dominican population. He proposed keeping the kitchen open until midnight and the bar open until 2.

A representative from the mayor's office also opposed the later hours.

Diaz is also seeking permission to add hard liquor to his current alcohol license, currently limited to beer and wine. He said he has yet to see any profit from the beer-and-wine license, which he got last year.

The Herald reports City Councilor Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale) wants an ordinance under which anybody who applies for a license for "jobs that involve public contact" would have to undergo a fingerprint check. The city hasn't had any major problems with coked up cab drivers or marauding bike messengers, but Consalvo says he wants to act before it's too late. He'd pay for the new check by charging license applicants $100.

City councilors have extensive public contact, but although nearly 8% of them have been convicted of federal offenses, they would be exempt because they are not required to obtain a city license before taking their jobs.

But not because there are fewer foreclosures. In fact, City Councilor Rob Consalvo said today, foreclosures are up 5% over last year. Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale) has proposed letting the city force banks and mortgage companies to use indoor framing and locks to secure their foreclosed houses.

Rob Consalvo, who represents Hyde Park, will seek a change in state law that would let the city go after pit-bull owners who ignore the city's law requiring pit bulls to be muzzled outside.

In Jamaica Plain, livery drivers are parking in resident-only spots. In Hyde Park, cab drivers are running their businesses out of their homes. And in Allston/Brighton, cabbies are leaving their personal cars in parking lots, running their businesses 24/7 in residential areas.

City Councilors John Tobin (Jamaica Plain), Rob Consalvo (Hyde Park) and Mark Ciommo (Allston/Brighton) said the city needs to come up with regulations to keep residential areas from being overrun by businesses.

Consalvo, who said "I love tax drivers," said he knows of at least five drivers in Hyde Park who run their operations out of their houses - and is dreading the first "violent act involving a money transfer at 3 in the morning."

Tobin said that while the city has regulations barring commercial vehicles from resident-only spots, they do not apply to livery vehicles. He said the city doesn't even know how many livery licenses there are in the city.

Boston recently increased fines for serious illegal dumping and is looking at expanding its network of cameras to catch people dumping everything from bags of trash to construction debris in 43 "hot spots" around the city.

The Boston City Council today deferred action on a proposal by Councilor John Tobin that would block a rumored attempt to make fellow Councilor Rob Consalvo the next mayor.

Wicked Local West Roxbury reports on a law proposed by City Councilor Rob Consalvo to require armed guards to register with Boston Police - and undergo police training. Seems that currently, police have no idea who's out there with guns.

I live in Rob Consalvo's city-council district. Seems like a nice enough guy, certainly no John Tobin or Chuck Turner on the big name/charisma scale, but if you call his office (or even just see him on the street somewhere) and ask for some help, his office will try to help you.

And now Bruce Wall, the tourist-scaring minister, wants to run against Consalvo, largely, it seems, because he hates Tom Menino.

I have to admit I never realized Wall actually lived in Hyde Park; I associate him strictly with Dorchester, where his church is. I'm thinking a lot of people will think the same thing and he's going to have a hell of a time unseating Consalvo; and that many will see him as unfairly trying to use Hyde Park and Roslindale in his increasingly senseless head-butting with the mayor.

At least, according to Peter, who argues that the latest proof that Boston is "just an assortment of small towns within a city limit" is an attempt by Hyde Park City Councilor Rob Consalvo to ban the sale of those clown micro-bikes within the city limits:

... Can you see how plainly stupid Councilor Consalvo is? Does he not understand that it is not the presence of the scooter store that makes the noise, but the scooter riders? Can he not see that, no matter where the store is, the owners of the scooters will ride them in their neighborhoods, not where the store is located? ...

Ed. note: I can see Peter's point - laws against head shops did little to stop the flow of drugs into the country - but I still feel the need to rant about his rant, because he obviously does not live in a neighborhood afflected by them; just click Read More (or skip it altogether if you're tired of me ranting).