John Tobin

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. Read more

The Boston City Council agreed today to look at ways of making it harder for the nosy to see how you're voting.

Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), said the current system, in which people vote at little triangular platforms that look like they belong in a bank, makes it too easy for people standing at the same cluster to see how somebody's voted. And then there's the walk to the scanner box, which offers further opportunity to figure out a person's ballot, he said.

Tobin said some cities use a system in which voters sit at a table and a privacy curtain surrounds them.

Tobin's resolution.

Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) plans a hearing on whether the city should stiffen the penalties on people who mark up or otherwise deface "historic landmarks, monuments and structures."

Tobin says one of the reasons to get even tougher on taggers and their ilk for these violations is because graffiti can be harder to remove in general from the brick, brownstone, limestone and marble often used in such landmarks and because "cleaning graffiti from historic properties can require more testing to find the right technique and products to complete the job, which can make the removal more expensive."

Via ParkwayBoston.com.

City Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), will ask the council tomorrow to look at making like the MBTA and ban texting while driving.

A ban would require approval of the state Legislature to go into effect.

Tobin, who has paid for "Slow Down, Boston" signs for his constituents' lawns, says that while texting is a wonderful thing - he admits to sending dozens of text messages a day - texters are a menace to themselves and others behind the wheel:

Texting while driving severely impedes a driver’s ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. Distracted drivers make the roads more dangerous for everyone. It's time for us to take the necessary steps to protect motorists and pedestrians while they are traveling in the city’s neighborhoods.

The Herald reports that City Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), wants to change the city charter to keep Tom Menino from getting re-elected, engineering the elevation of the current Hyde Park city councilor to city council president, then stepping down, making the councilor the next mayor, not that Menino has ever in a million years said he would ever do something like that, mind you.

You may recall this was how Menino first became mayor, although without the engineering part, when Ray Flynn headed off to the Vatican. Menino is close with the current Hyde Park councilor, Rob Consalvo.

To replace the current system, Tobin would make the city clerk (currently, former Councilor Rosario Salerno) interim mayor until a special election.

The Herald also reports that while some (presumably on a vacation day) city workers spent yesterday collecting signatures for Menino, off-duty firefighters were out in force doing the same for their best bud, Michael Flaherty. Read more

Wicked Local West Roxbury reports that City Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain) is, with a partner, opening a comedy club at the Charles Playhouse.

The Dorchester Reporter reports councilors Sam Yoon and John Tobin hold an emergency hearing tomorrow afternoon on the fate of workers at pre-school and after-school programs at city community centers, who could lose funding for their jobs under Mayor Tom Menino's current budget plans.

Mike Ball chats up John Tobin at Tobin's "office hours" at JP Licks.

The West Roxbury/JP city councilor tells David Bernstein he's running for re-election, rather than going for Marian Walsh's seat or an at-large council seat.

Councilor John Tobin says oopsies.

The West Roxbury (and JP) city councilor tells Wicked Local West Roxbury he's not running for either mayor or an at-large seat.

ParkwayBoston.com reports the council's committee on public safety will hold a hearing to consider banning the devices in public places. Councilor John Tobin first proposed the idea after Boston Police shot a guy on the Common when he refused to drop what turned out to be a fake gun this past May.

Reporter John Drake gives us a twofer today - and neither story carries a single mention of words like "indictment" or "extortion."

In one story, he helps City Councilor John Tobin revive his perennial pitch for term limits - which wouldn't apply to anybody currently in office, but which, strangely, never seems to get anywhere.

In another story, Drake lets Councilor and mayoral wannabe Michael Flaherty channel Maura Hennigan and complain that, when the Big One hits, Boston is toast, and it's all Menino's fault.

Parkway Reunion 2009 is an effort, started by city Councilor John Tobin, to host a big party on June 20, 2009 for everybody who's Originally from West Roxbury or Originally from Roslindale types:

This will be a night that people will talk about for years. It's for anyone who has lived in the Parkway for 80 years or 8 months. It's for people who still live here or don't. The Parkway Reunion of 2009 will be a chance to celebrate all that is great about our community. From our people to our places, we have a lot to be proud of.

Via ParkwayBoston.

The Globe (well, technically, a University of New Hampshire survey group hired by the Globe) is surveying Boston residents to try to discern who might put up a good fight against Tom Menino next year.

The list of potential challengers, as seen by Globe survey takers: City Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty, West Roxbury/JP City Councilor John Tobin, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, successful businessman and unsuccessful candidate Chris Gabrieli and, of course, 1-800 Joe 4 Oil Kennedy, who, by law, has to be included in every single poll taken in Suffolk County.

Among the basic questions are how satisfied residents are with everything from education and crime fighting to street cleanliness and the state of public transportation and taxi service in their neighborhoods (taxi service as a big issue next year?).

City Councilor John Tobin thinks it would increase voter turnout; doesn't seem too concerned about observant Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses Seventh-Day Adventists.

ParkwayBoston.com has the scoop: She'll be running for re-election this fall.

So John Tobin might want to start thinking about running for mayor in 2009.

Takes out nomination papers. Does he know something we don't about incumbent Marian Walsh becoming a judge, or is he running regardless?

On myDedham, Brian dishes that consiglieri for Boston city Councilor John Tobin and West Roxbury state Rep. Mike Rush had a little breakfast chat in Dedham Square on Saturday. Purpose: To discuss their guys' possible senate runs should incumbent Marian Walsh get named a judge (the district includes both West Roxbury and Dedham, along with some other neighborhoods and towns). The two have run against each other before - for the city-council seat Tobin now holds. No word if they came to any meeting of the minds or how they took their eggs.

Brian also handicaps other possible candidates for a seat the incumbent herself has yet to actually say she's vacating.

Decisions, decisions. Does the West Roxbury city councilor (who also reps JP) roll the dice for 2009 and get ready to run for mayor next year (assuming Tom Menino decides he's had enough) or does he roll the dice for this fall and get ready to run for state senate (assuming Marian Walsh gets named a judge)?

In either case, he could face opposition from fellow councilors - in the mayor's race, from Michael Flaherty, who's been salivating after the mayor's office for awhile now (and who ended 2007 with $428,414.52 in the bank, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance); in the senate race, from Rob Consalvo, whom I doubt anybody outside of Hyde Park and Roslindale has ever heard of, unless you remember his campaign to ban the sale of mini-bikes.

WBUR reported this morning that City Councilor John Tobin will ask Gov. Patrick to require the guy with the 500,000 lights to hire a police detail.

The station quoted Tobin as saying it would be just terrible if somebody were hit by a fast-moving car on the Jamaicaway/Arborway while stopped to gawk at the brighter-by-the-year Castle. Tobin said he asked Dominic Luberto to hire a detail, but that Luberto refused, saying he's already given the city its largest Christmas display. Because the road is a state parkway, it would be up to Patrick or State Police to force the issue.

John Tobin discusses his proposal tomorrow (12/4) at 2:30 p.m. at Blog Talk Radio (if you miss it live, it'll be available on demand at the same place).

City Councilor John Tobin, whose name has been bruited about as a one-day mayoral candidate, is proposing 12-year term limits for elected city officials:

... Term limits create a sense of urgency to move your agenda forward. Give elected leaders a deadline. When the time is up, they should step aside for someone new. Longer terms may also attract new candidates who are now disinterested in running for a two-year term. ...

Oh, and speaking of those two-year terms, he would also change city-council terms to four years. All aimed, of course, at increasing the level of political activity in the city, he says.

Riding a wave of public disgust over the lack of drug testing for firefighters? David Bernstein thinks it's possible.