Menino and the firefighters: It is ON
By adamg - 1/16/08 - 10:37 am
OK, so the jakes (thanks, Boston Herald) didn't show up at the mayor's state-of-the-city address or spit at his family or anything, but that didn't stop the war of words between the two over a contract, drug testing and the reputations of those two firefighters who died in West Roxbury.
John Daly wonders why the Globe only covered the firefighter angle and nothing else that Menino said in his speech last night. Seth Gitell, who, granted, once worked for Hizzona, analyzes his speech. Joe Keohane provides the slice-of-life angle.
Comments
Same mush
What would the Globe need to say?
I'm sure it was more of the same, as it has been for 13 years:
"Crime is down, schools are getting better, I'm great."
Blah, blah, blah.
I've had just about enough of the guy ... will someone please kick him out?
Where are you from?
Nonantum?
What about the schools?
One of the few really good pieces of reporting
recently in the Boston Globe was a disturbing
article about attempting to turn English High around:
boston.com/news/...harsh_realities/
I like Menino in general, but how come he gets a
complete pass on the Boston Public School system?
Aside from the well publicized exam schools, the
whole system seems like warehousing at best and
a barren wasteland at worst. And he skates on
it year after year. Or is it just me?
It's not just you, but ...
The schools ARE better than they once were, thanks in large part to Menino and Thomas Payzant. World-class beyond elementary school, though? Unfortunately, no, except, as you say, at the exam schools.
Mayor does not control the schools
The school committee controls the schools, in conjunction with the superintendent. The School Committee may decide to genuflect on demand, but that's not enshrined in the structure.
This is Boston
The mayor appoints the members of the school committee. Saying Menino has nothing to do with the schools is like saying he has nothing to do with the BPL, which has a similar setup. Ask Bernard Margolis how that worked out.
Sorry
I didn't realize it was that bad! How is that allowed? Does it have something to do with years of court-orders?
I think it had more to do with the fact
that, prior to the court ordered busing, which had come about as a result of years of intransigence and malfeasance by a totally malevolent all-white school committee, and even during busing and beyond, elected school committees couldn't/can't be relied upon to do what they were supposed to do...desegregate the Boston schools.
Indirectly
The old elected committee consisted mainly of buffoons and obstructionists, so one of Menino's predecessors (Flynn?) managed to get a law through changing the status of the board. Wasn't exactly precedent-setting since the legislature has interfered with Boston for decades, anyway, going back to the days when the Brahmins lived in fear of what the Irish would do after they took over City Hall.
Indirectly? I suppose, yet
The above-mentioned quote from your post articulates it even more succinctly..and accurately.
Yep, it was Flynn
Part of his transformation from foaming anti-busing activist to uniter of the city:
Flynn proposes an appointed school committee.
The straw that broke the camel's back wasn't busing, but the way the committee waited until one month before the 1989 school year to consolidate nine schools.
Had no idea that Flynn got that rule passed.
Also, I never thought that busing did having anything to do with why the Boston School Committee began being appointed rather than being elected. Sure, it had to do with the above-mentioned delays, but I think that the fact that the elected school committee(s) were so totally untrustworthy also had a great deal to do with it.
It seems then, that
the waiting and delaying on the part of the (school) committee until the very last possible moment was yet another indication of their buffoonery and obstructionism, no?
Bonus points
Speaking of obstructionist malevolent school committee
members, extra points for the first one who can
match the catch phrase to the pol:
"You know where I stand!"
Too easy
So I won't answer :-). Let's just say it wasn't Jimmy Kelly or Dapper O'Neil.
another hint....
Jimmy Kelly (who once went down on a firearms charge)
was a driver/body guard for the same pol...guess that's
two hints, if you consider where Kelly came from.
And one more hint
Joe Moakley kept this person from returning to congress for a second term.
And if you think about this person
you might say "Geez".
Or, you could just hum along
"Every little breeze..."
I'm feeling a little
... wheezy.
As you walk down ...
Day Boulevard?
You people are a bunch of...
Hicks.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Bingo!
God, the damage that woman did!
I also might add however, that
First of all, not to defend what LDH did, but it was also true that she was answering to people over and above her on the school committee and in the Boston School Department, generally. As in any company or institution, the policies were made by the people over and above Mrs. Louise Day Hicks on the Boston School Committee, and the school department overall. Louise Day Hicks was a tool for that department who carried out the Boston School Department's policies as she saw fit, and it was in an egregious, nasty way.
Secondly, it did not have to be that way. Louise Day Hicks was a very well-educated, intelligent woman, who even had a professional career even before Women's Lib and the women's movement arrived. She could've used her intelligence and education to help improve the Boston School System...she didn't have to allow herself to become such a tool.
She could've helped do a lot of good. Instead, she helped do a ton of damage that seems to have been permanent.
Sorry.
I was ashamed of where I came from
every time she opened her mouth.
Drug Test Menino?
Why not? He mumbles and slurs his speech a lot. Isn't that a prime indicator of inebriation?
If he was pulled over someplace where nobody knew who he was, it most certainly would be grounds for a breath test.