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Two ward committees endorse Menino
By adamg on Wed, 10/14/2009 - 11:48pm
The Democratic ward committees in Ward 4 (South End and Fenway/Kenmore) and Ward 15 (Meeting House Hill and Bowdoin Street in Dorchester) voted last night to endorse Tom Menino's re-election bid, the Menino campaign reports.
Wards 5 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill), 13 (Savin Hill), 16 (Neponset in Dorchester), and 22 (Brighton) have previously endorsed him.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
No surprise here
Any neighborhood that doesn't support the Mayor will get retribution if he gets re-elected. So of course everyone is publicly kissing his butt. If you don't, you'll get no services.
That sounds very like....
...the way tings worked under the reign of the elder Mayor Daley. Not sure about whether this is true under Richard the Younger, however.
Or its....
....civicly active neighbors who see first hand what the Mayor has done with parks, crime and neighborhood services. I live in Dot and it is interesting to see the people at the Menino stand outs are all active parts of bettering our neighborhood in one way or another. Conversly I see Flahertys crew and it is made up of firefighters, bitter real estate agents and Flaherty cousins. Speaks for itself.
Non-Endorse
How about the Ward Committees who have not endorsed Menino this year. That is the story. If a 17-year incumbent mayor can't even get ward committee endorsements, he is in trouble.
Seriously, you two
Get a room, already.
many are still deciding ...
But the progressive Ward 4 (South End/Fenway) and 15 (Dorchester) Committees, both of whom were active in the Patrick and other progressive campaigns both endorsed Menino the other night. They know who's stood up for them vs who stood up for the landlords, Verizon, Southie real estate people, etc
How many of these "progressives" have kids in BPS?
I am guessing none.
Who can do what
I hate when peopel use some of those arguments. "Look what th emayor has done for parks". You think any mayor would neglect all parks and let them fall to pieces? I'm sure TM isn't the only mayor in the world with a parks department. I'm I'm sure any new mayor elected will continue to have a parks department.
To add insult to injury, the Mayor's policy is pretty much 'do no maintenance and let the parks fall into disrepair and neighborhood activists start complaining, then swoop in, re-do the whole park and look like a hero'. That gets you votes and your picture in the paper, but it's no way to run a park system.
Actually, I do....
..think a Mayor would let parks be run into the ground. He was actually on City Hall Plaza yesterday. Say whay you will about the Vatican, but at least they freed us from Raybo.
Park Politics
I think there is absolutely a bias toward better maintenance of parks in the heavy-voting neighborhoods. For example, in my experience, the parks in West Roxbury are pretty nice and the ones in Allston/Brighton are miserable.
What has always surprised me, however, is how lousy the Common, Commonwealth Mall and other downtown parks often look (the Public Garden excepted, which is, I think uncoincidentally, mostly maintained by an entity that is more or less private).
Someone mentioned the Mayors Daley...I just got back from Chicago and was very, very impressed with their big downtown parks. They put the Common to shame. I jokingly commented that if Millenium Park is the result of Cook County corruption, we should consider it. (On a side note it's more likely the result of having lots of big companies headquarted in Chicago. Corporate philanthropic giving is greatest where corporate headquarters is, which is why it matters when companies move their headquarters out of Boston - former Globe columnist Steve Bailey was absolutely right in his column of 6 or so years ago entitled "Cleveland by the Sea".)
Ward Committees
Most Ward Committees are stacked with City Hall employees and developer friends of the Mayor. Creates the illusion of "grassroots" when the Bully-in-Chief Menino and Kineaevy want to endorse someone.
Hardly true if you look at some of the endorsing committees
Maybe Ward 16 in Dorchester, certainly not in Ward 4 or 5, the downtown progressive wards, not in 15, to the best of my knowledge. A lot of new people have gotten on to Ward Committees in recent years, Ward 4, being a good example of that.
Of course, South Enders voted the Mayor their "Politician of the Year" award, so one might expect the Ward Committee to reflect that.
Ward Committees dont change much
Very rarely do you see large turnover on these committees (maybe Obamas machine changed a few). They tend to endorse who they know more then who they might be willing to like. They should know Menino well enough by now.