mayor

Will Dorcena to pull a Bennett and knock on thousands of doors across the city

adamg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:51:57 +0000

Mike Ball reports from Dorcena's 2013 mayoral race kickoff. No word if he plans to buy a little red scooter to get from door to door or to plaster every single light post in the city with stickers.

Our first mayoral candidate

adamg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:58:14 +0000

Mike Ball reports Will Dorcena, who didn't win in the fall at-large city-council race, plans to announce tomorrow that he's running for mayor in 2013.

Ticked Tenant Troubled by Terrifyingly large Telly

Brett — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:44:02 +0000

A local resident changes the channel to snark when Citizens Connect staffers falsely mark a ticket resolved.

The reception at the mayor's office seems crystal-clear, and they're on the same wavelength with a bit of cleverness themselves.

Mayor's snowjob on snow removal

Brett — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 02:15:17 +0000

Mumbles sez:

"Another 18 inches on top of what we have is going to create a real strain on Public Works' ability to keep doing the job they’ve been doing. They've done a good job removing snow, but 18 more inches will narrow each street by a foot, foot and half."

"A good job removing snow"? Funny - when I surfed the Citizen's Connect recent reports a day after the storm, there were dozens of reports coming in of unplowed streets. Surf the reports now, and you'll see reports of all sorts of snow removal problems.

All the bike lanes around Boston (5 feet wide, roughly) disappeared for days- even the ones with snow emergency parking bans like Centre Street in JP. Until late last night, Hyde Park Avenue had several feet of snow coming out into the roadway. South Huntington Avenue has piles of snow 4-5 feet high sticking out 5-6 feet into the road. As I type this (days after the storm passed, a storm which fell most overnight), my street has more than three feet covered with several inches of snow on the side where there's no parking. Citizen's Connect is rife mostly with unshovelled sidewalk reports, but also cases like this.

Report: East Boston all frenzied over idea of Mayor LaMattina

adamg — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:12:17 +0000

The East Boston Times reports a "frenzy in the neighborhood" over the possibility that Councilor Sal LaMattina would become city council president, which would make him mayor when Menino quits in the middle of his current term - just like what happened to Menino, except the mayor's expressed little interest in becoming ambassador to the Vatican.

Menino everlasting

adamg — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:22:26 +0000

Via The Boston Channel

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today took his record fifth oath of office at Faneuil Hall.

In his inauguration speech (complete text), Menino said his next four years would be devoted to four main goals: Transforming education in Boston, creating a high-tech research community on the waterfront, improving basic city services through new technologies and bringing the city's residents and neighborhoods closer together.

Tom Menino can serve until he dies

adamg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:52:40 +0000

The City Council today rejected a proposed limit on how long somebody can serve as mayor.

While backers of the measure, sponsored by at-large Councilor Sam Yoon, said it would reinvigorate the political process and prevent the abuses of incumbency, opponents said it was insulting to tell voters they could not vote for the candidate of their choice as often as they want.

Against: Ciommo, Consalvo, Feeney, LaMattina, Linehan, Murphy, Yancey.
For: Connolly, Flaherty, Ross, Tobin, Turner, Yoon.

The council voted 8-5 to reject a proposal by at-large Councilor John Connolly to limit city councilors as well; Ross, who voted for mayoral term limits, voted against.

Comments from councilors before the vote:

Council debates mayoral term limits

adamg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:44:31 +0000

In its last week of existence, the current city council this morning is debating a proposal by outgoing at-large City Councilor Sam Yoon to limit Boston mayors to two terms. The council will vote on the measure - which would require approval by the mayor and the state legislature - on Wednesday.

Councilor Yoon's last gasp: Mayoral term limits

adamg — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:06:08 +0000

Sam Yoon is asking his supporters to barrage city councilors with phone calls to convince them to vote on a measure to limit Boston mayors to two terms in office. The proposal currently sits in Maureen Feeney's committee on government operations - to which a proposal to keep the city-council president from becoming mayor if the sitting mayor resigns has also been consigned.

City Council defers action on move to block Consalvo gambit

adamg — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:15:03 +0000

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.

Memo to Boston residents

adamg — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:27:21 +0000

Your guy won/lost this past Tuesday. You can take the sign down now.

Flaherty took Back Bay

adamg — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:40:47 +0000

The preliminary precinct breakdowns from the city show that Michael Flaherty actually carried Ward 5 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill and part of Fenway), although barely (2,544 to 2,472). In the September preliminary, that was Menino country.

Floon also carried the day in Ward 16 in Dorchester, another area Menino took in September. Obviously, though, that and the Flaherty strongholds of Charlestown, South Boston and neighboring Ward 7 in Dorchester were not enough to overcome Menino romps in areas such as Hyde Park, Roslindale and Roxbury.

Matt O'Malley, who has much better eyes, dives into the numbers in much greater depth. On Blue Mass. Group, Bob has still more analysis of the numbers.

Precinct-by-precinct results from Boston election

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:28 +0000

Right here - get your reading glasses on.

Via Harry Mattison.

Campaign notes: What's next?

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:17:24 +0000

The Globe declares Menino A leader in touch, in gear. The Herald looks ahead to 2013 and wonders if Menino will really stick around that long.

John Carroll predicts Menino will regret running for that fifth term. David Bernstein hopes Menino uses some of his political capital to deal with "some very difficult things that need doing." Scot Lehigh starts with the nagging. Peter Gelzinis talks to some voters, provides a sort of O. Henry ending.

Menino wins fifth term

adamg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:02:36 +0000

Call him Hizzonah again.

Boston today gave Tom Menino a record fifth term today, re-electing him by a 57-43 margin over challenger Michael Flaherty.

"Let's be clear: We haven't made history with this election, but we will in what we create of it," Menino told supporters. History will not record the win until we make "a new Boston Miracle for our kids," he said. "Complacency is the highest hurdle we face. Let's fend off the temptation to rest on past accomplishments."