Steve Murphy

No mayoral race for him, the Herald reports.

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 councilors Steve Murphy (at large) and Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End) today will propose setting a limit on how much a homeowner's property taxes can rise from one year to the next.

The two argue that residents in areas undergoing gentrification are being unduly burdened by the fact that as foreclosed and distressed properties get renovated, their property values - and so their property taxes - are going up too fast. In a request for a hearing on a "circuit breaker" provision, they add:

Increases in property tax bills being seen in the post-recession real estate market have not been fully matched by a bounce-back in the employment sector, making it difficult for many long-time homeowners to continue to afford their homes.

Their proposed limit would be on top of the tax break homeowners already get. They did not detail the potential costs to the city of their idea.

The Globe reports Gov. Patrick plans to make Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral his new public safety secretary.

And that means he gets to choose a new sheriff to fill in for Cabral until a special election in 2014.

Hmm, you think Steve Murphy will try for the soon-to-be-vacant post?

Jane Swift appointed Cabral sheriff in 2002 after she agreed to turn Republican. Six months later, though, she became a Democrat again.

The outlaw Josie Dunkin' cupCity Council President Steve Murphy wants to ban "expanded polystyrene" food and beverage containers - the kind we all call Styrofoam, even though they actually aren't.

The full council votes today on his request for a formal hearing on the idea, which could lead to both a ban and fines for any businesses found selling food or beverages in the containers after the law goes into effect.

Murphy says the city has no facilities for recycling the stuff, which can sit in landfills without degrading for hundreds of years. He says biodegradable alternatives are readily available and that other cities, such as San Francisco, Portland and Seattle have already banned polystyrene packaging.

Updated following City Council vote.

The City Council will ask the legislature to relax its limits on liquor licenses in Boston so that the Irish Social Club in Boston can regularly serve alcohol to guests again.

The move, which comes even as the council readies for a hearing on ways to convince the legislature to give Boston a lot more liquor licenses, is needed to help preserve "the legacy of Irish and Irish-American culture in Boston" that the club promotes, city councilors Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) and Steve Murphy (at large) say.

At a hearing next week, Boston councilors will demand answers from NStar on two recent transformer problems in the Back Bay, one of which left much of the neighborhood without power for several days.

Council President Steve Murphy says he wants more than just soothing words from the utility - he wants somebody independent of the company to start monitoring the way it delivers power in Boston.

(This post originally appeared at www.BostonBastard.com)

Just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Boston City Council readily presented their version of Boston race relations by making an example out of Charles Yancey, a black City Councilor who committed the egregious offense of actually trying to do his job and look out for his constituents.

The annual release of City Council Committee chairs is always a good way to get a sense of where the councilors stand in the eyes of the City Council power structure and this year was no different.

When Council President Stephen Murphy released his assignments last week, we learned that Matt O’Malley has proven himself as a willing stooge of the status quo, so of course he was handed the chair of the Government Operations Committee, which had been left available when Maureen Feeney finally decided to drop any pretense of giving a shit about her Dorchester constituents and went after a major pay raise.

Another major change was that Charles Yancey was removed from his chairmanship of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee.

Among councilors, Yancey is often criticized for not doing anything, but only because trying to improve the community in Mattapan doesn’t count among City Hall’s paler politicians.

Murphy on live TV.The City Council today appointed former Councilor Maureen Feeney as city clerk in a process that would have taken about 30 seconds if council President Steve Murphy had not taken the opportunity to rail against "the broadsheets" and a former mayoral candidate.

For 15 minutes, Murphy excoriated the Globe and Kevin McCrea, accusing them of creating a circus with moving goalposts that bordered on harassment and only showed they want to chose the next city clerk, but they don't have the right because who elected them?

The Dorchester Reporter posts a copy of Council President Steve Murphy's recommendation that the full council hire former Councilor Feeney for the post of city clerk - which includes a bonus denunciation of a Globe story daring to question the timing of her interview for the post. The council is scheduled to vote tomorrow to appoint Feeney.

UPDATE: The city has a fulltime legal department, yet apparently nobody thought to check whether interviewing a former city councilor less than 30 days after she quit might violate state ethics laws, the Globe reports (Globe account required).

A roving UHub reporter files this report from this afternoon's interviews of the two candidates for the job of city clerk:

The Committee on Rules chaired by Steve Murphy interviewed the two candidates for the job. The first was Maureen Feeney, who fielded mostly softball questions from the councilors present for about half an hour.

However, Counselor Yancey asked her about the removal of councilor Turner - specifically the hearing at which the council voted 11-1 to remove him (one guess who that one vote was). Yancey asked if it was true that the rules don't allow for an item to be brought up and voted on in the same day unless voted on by a majority. Feeney agreed that is what the rules say. Yancey brought up the fact that he objected and so it was not unanimous and so Turner should not have been removed. Feeney agreed that rules should be followed. Yancey did not press the point.

The second candidate, Natalie Carithers, then also answered about the same questions from the councilors and also spoke for about half an hour. Yancey also asked her about Turner, but it was a brief discussion: She said she didn't know much about the hearing at which he was removed (even though she ran for his seat).

It appeared that the committee was going to have a discussion about the candidates but Murphy said something about the fact that there were cameras present and so that changed the complexion of the situation and so gavelled the meeting to a close.

Both the Phoenix and the South End News have endorsed incumbent at-large councilors Connolly, Pressley and Arroyo. But the Phoenix endorsed incumbent Murphy because he "has made wise use of that position, while the News endorsed Flaherty because "the sheer volume of his past successes as a City Councilor, the important issues raised during his campaign for mayor, and his on-the-ground experiences as a life-long Bostonian make him ready and able to serve the city again.

Both papers had advice for their endorsees: The Phoenix told Murphy to concentrate on Boston instead of his quixotic bids for state office; the News told Flaherty to concentrate on specific programs rather than his two-year-old hatred of the mayor.

Bay Windows, owned by the same folks as the South End News, also endorsed Flaherty over Murphy, citing his strong support of the gay and transgender communities.

Just yesterday, City Council President Steve Murphy said BPD told him it was costing $2 million a month to watch over those scamps on Dewey Square. Channel 4, however, reports today that BPD has put the total cost of its supervision of Occupy Boston since Oct. 1 (the occupation began 9/30) at $146,189.55. Assuming that's current through yesterday, and assuming it includes another massive early morning crackdown, that comes out to roughly $350,000 a month.

If you agree, please call and be nice. Agree or disagree, your comments are welcome below.

A day after police and inspectors swooped down on a Blue Hill Avenue building nearby residents called a criminal warren, city councilors and lawyers began hammering out an ordinance for cracking down on owners of troubled apartments - including a provision that would require licensing for landlords with repeat offenses.

The Phoenix reports City Council President Steve Murphy will back Ayanna Pressley for re-election to her at-large seat even if Michael Flaherty tries to get back on the council this fall.

The Herald reports that Councilor Murphy, head of the council's public-safety committee, will hold hearings on whether colleges are doing enough to protect the public from deadly chemicals (note to the councilor: cyanide is not a "pathogen"), such as the cyanide an apparently suicidal Northeatern lab tech took home with her to Milford the other day.

Mike Ball reports on a time for Murphy at Townsend's in Hyde Park tonight.

The Globe introduces us to the people running for state treasurer this year:

Democrats Steve Grossman and Steve Murphy and Republican state Representative Karyn Polito are vying for the open treasurer's seat by trying to differentiate themselves based on their financial credentials, investment philosophies, and independence.

The results from the state Democratic Convention being held today in Worcester are in, according to Boston.com and twitter feeds (hash tag: #madem10).

As expected, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor received enough votes to put them on the ballot (at least 15 percent) and receive the endorsement of the party (25 percent).

In the race for State Treasurer, Steve Grossman earned their endorsement by receiving more than 50 percent of the delegates' votes while Boston City Councilor-At-Large Steve Murphy made it to September's ballot with 15.6 percent of the votes.

The state auditor race is considered a hot one after Joe DeNucci announced his decision to retire (after ten years). Suzanne Bump, Guy Glodis, and Michael Lake all made it on the ballot. The rumor in the twittershere is that Glodis instructed some of his supporters to vote for Lake, thereby assuring his place on the ballot and potentially splitting the "progressive" vote between him and Bump, in September.

UPDATE: Administration to City Council: Just say no to firefighters; that would create a tidal wave of other unions demanding similar drug-testing deals. City council to administration: With all due respect, you suck. Councilor Ayanna Pressley: "There's some sort of conflicting shell game going on here."

Local firefighters union President Ed Kelly this morning offered to freeze for one year a 2.5% raise awarded by an arbitration panel in exchange for drug testing.

City councilors Mike Ross and Steve Murphy immediately congratulated Kelly for making the "significant concession."

"I think, frankly, it's extraordinary," Murphy said.

UPDATE: The Murphy folks have reverted to a more boring, if safer, "Coming Soon" Web site. So no more chance to edit pages or read "lorem ipsum."

Or, if one were feeling less than charitable, one might suggest the Web site shows he needs to hire Web consultants who understand the concept of "staging server" and the importance of not putting up pages that any idiot can change the content on (see that "Edit" button below? It actually works, or, at least, did a couple minutes before I started typing this):

Looks like Steve Murphy's got the Hyde Park bar-crowd vote sewn up. If nothing else, Murphy, a Boston city councilor unable to ever get elected to anything else, should do well in his base in Boston's southern tier.

Wicked Local Roslindale reports Councilor Steve Murphy is definitely running for state treasurer. This time around, he'd first have to defeat Steve Grossman to take on a Republican for the right to succeed Tim Cahill, who is himself trying to move up.

Steve Poftak wonders: Is Steve Grossman that intimidating? On the Democratic side so far it's Democratic moneyman Grossman and, maybe, Steve Murphy, who seems unable to leave the confines of the Boston City Council. In contrast, the Republicans have three candidates for one of those jobs that makes you wonder why it's still elected.