Because the soon-to-be-ex City Councillor apparently finds the First Amendment rights to assemble and petition government too risky for elected officials. Harold M. Clemens reports on a summer-jobs rally outside City Hall yesterday by United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston:

... City Councilor McDermott described a peaceful rally the UYYW staged outside of City Hall Thursday as "urban terrorism." Obviously, brown people gathered together to protest how their own tax dollars are spent are identical in spirit and quality to other brown people who crash planes into buildings to murder innocent civilians. Or, maybe in his mind, sand monkeys and monkeys look alike. ...

Sco posts an interview with Susan Passoni of the South End, running against Bill Linehan of South Boston in a May 15 special election for city council (whoever wins will have to run again in the fall). Among other things, she calls for increased tax revenue from large commercial landholders and for more money from the city's non-profit landholders:

... So I would argue that if these institutions are going to sit on half our land and collectively are only contributing 1% of our revenue, that we need to get more in return for the services we're providing, whether it's emergency medical, fire, police, snow removal, in some cases trash removal. I would be a proponent of pushing that, and having worked in the corporate world and private sector for 20 years, I'm very accustomed to negotiating and dealing with CEOs and COOs and people of that level. That's effectively what it would be like negotiating with the university. That's something that I would really like to work on, to see if we can have a better balance, to get something in return for the land that they're sitting on.
...

Over in Allston/Brighton, Buckospal explains why he hopes whoever replaces Jerry McDermott this fall will share his enthusiasm for local issues:

... Brighton needs a person who is concerned with the issues impacting Allston and Brighton. We don't need a Menino cheerleader!

Allston/Brighton City Councilor Jerry McDermott, whom you might recall wanted to tear down the Citgo sign, won't run for re-election this fall, the Herald reports.

World Leader, whose city councilor is Jerry McDermott, says enough about Hugo Chavez already: Take down the Citgo sign because it's embarrassing that a major Boston landmark is an ad:

... As the video says, London has its Big Ben, Paris has its Eiffel Tower, and Boston has its...Citgo sign?

Boston? The "Athens of America"? The "Hub of the Universe"? And its famous landmark is a neon Citgo sign? ... The Citgo sign is stupid. It's an embarrassment. It's pathetic. I've wondered why it's been there for years except that it represents the low stature of Boston and its inability to attract or build some sort of interesting landmark. ...

Harry Mattison, who actually gets to vote for Jerry McDermott (or not), says we should all rush out and buy genuine Citgo caps and golf balls to remind us of our First Amendment rights.

Oh, yeah, that pesky First Amendment. Dan Kennedy wishes to have a word with McDermott:

... Both ('RKO blabmeister) Miller and McDermott are advocating government censorship, in direct violation of the First Amendment. Miller, as a talk-show host, is exercising his right of free speech. McDermott, as a representative of the government, is not -- he wants to use his power to silence someone whose speech he disagrees with. ...

Hub Politics, of course, says the symbolism of showing Chavez he can't diss us is more important than the tradition of the sign:

... Traditions and symbols will come and go. There is no more Boston Garden and no more Curse of the Bambino. Fenway Park looks more like an ad book than a ballpark and you can sit on the Green Monster. T tokens are soon to be a thing of the past, and Filene's is now Macy's. FAO Schwarz is gone and the Teddy Bear has a new home. There has been a few other running traditions in this state, like electing Republican governors, a nearly 90% liberal legislature, toll booths on the Pike, and a 5.3% income tax, but there are plenty of people willing to see those traditions come to pass.

Traditions and symbols will come and go. It's time to say goodbye to CITGO. ...

The Herald comes up with the best headline of the day: Mayor: We’d hate to C-IT-GO.

John Daley says McDermott should stop wasting his time with meaningless protests:

... If we really wanted to do something about being smacked around by punks like Chavez, we'd be doing more to promote energy independence.

Beth lets Jerry McDermott, Allston/Brighton's district city councilor, have it with both barrels over his demand the city tear down the Citgo sign:

... I may not be a Bush fan, but anyone with half a brain knows that Hugo Chavez is a total moron, and a moron who has little to no actual clout on the geopolitical world as a whole. The fact that a Boston City Councilor would embarrass himself giving Chavez's remarks enough weight to consider changing a fundamental aspect of the landscape of the city he is charged to serve makes me wonder if we can add some new diagnosis of "Conservative Psychosis" to the DSM-IV. ...

For the second day in a row, Brian McGrory actually gets off his tuchus and does some real reporting, this time to check out Maura Hennigan's assertion that the path around Jamaica Pond is a rubble-strewn minefield. McGrory discovers it's not.