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2009 elections
By adamg - 9/10/09 - 4:23 pm
On Monday, Sept., 14, the Wards 4 and 5 (Beacon Hill and Back Bay) Democratic committees hold a mayoral-candidates forum, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Boston Architectural College, 320 Newbury St. After the forum, Ward 5 will caucus on a possible endorsement in the race.
David Bernstein at the Phoenix describes the Menino camp's growing fixation on winning at least 51% of the vote on Sept. 22.
On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Brighton Allston Improvement Association sponsors a debate between the four people running for the district city council seat in Allston/Brighton:
By adamg - 9/9/09 - 8:20 am
Mayoral candidate Kevin McCrea posts a copy of a letter that would seem to indicate Allston/Brighton City Councilor Mark Ciommo managed to convince at-large Councilor (and mayoral candidate) Sam Yoon to "scale back" a proposed hearing order on Boston College's expansion plans. Ciommo had promised to recuse himself from BC deliberations because his son got a scholarship there.
Harry Mattison posts Ciommo's reply:
... I have not contradicted any aspects of my disclosure form.
Councilor Yoon approached me to co-sponsor a late-file Order for a Hearing regarding the BRA process with Boston College's [institutional master plan]. I provided him with my feedback that I supported several components of the Order for a Hearing, but that I thought that some of the language was inaccurate. I also felt that some of the language was politically charged.
My intent was to remove politics from the discussion and focus on the BRA process. I think the end result was a more productive hearing. ...
By adamg - 9/8/09 - 6:34 pm
Sam Yoon, speaking to a group of bloggers tonight, says he would start a formal process to changing the city's current strong-mayor system.
Yoon says city government under the control of a "strong" mayor is not working and that after 100 years of the system, it's time for a more democratically run city.
A charter commission would take 12 to 18 months to recommend changes to the city charter - essentially, its constitution.
Charter reform "is something I'm really excited about," he says. "We haven't had a real debate about our charter since 1909. ... I think it's worth absolutely working on. Does [the current system] really fit way our city is in the 21st century. No other city works like this."
By adamg - 9/8/09 - 12:24 pm
He took it on a tour of the neighborhoods in his last campaign and it wound up getting crushed by a garbage truck in Dorchester by mistake:
By adamg - 9/8/09 - 8:25 am
The Globe acknowledges Boston public schools are better than they were when Menino first took office, but details why they're nowhere near as good as they should be.
By adamg - 9/7/09 - 6:53 pm
Menino supporter this afternoon at Gallivan Boulevard and Adams Street in Dorchester.
By adamg - 9/7/09 - 6:51 pm
The Massachusetts Humane Society and the Teamsters, local 25, both say they support Andrew Kenneally's bid for one of four open at-large City Council seats this fall:
The work each of these groups do is vital to Boston's success by providing jobs for our families and excellent services for the city. I look forward to working with these organizations to support and educate others of the work they do and how others can get involved.
By adamg - 9/7/09 - 10:07 am
The Globe reports that city programs intended to get small pieces of land back on the tax rolls by selling them to neighbors have meant profits for at least two landowners in Jamaica Plain - just like mayoral hopeful Kevin McCrea said. The city calls these "oversights."
By adamg - 9/7/09 - 9:59 am
The Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District, known as the Boston Building Trades, today announced their endorsement of Tom Menino for re-election:
We are confident that your dedication and efforts for the residents of Boston will continue. We will continue to stand with you and your commitment to making Boston one of the best cities to live and work in.
By adamg - 9/4/09 - 9:26 am
The Daily Free Press reports on the change of heart by at-large City Council candidate Ego Ezedi, who once told opponents the lab would be built whether they liked it or not, but who now says he opposes it because of safety concerns.
Third Decade, who always opposed the project, is annoyed:
... It's changes of position (and tepid acknowledgment of those changes) like this that make me skeptical of politics and politicians in general. OK, so now you're opposed to the biolab...kind of. What's next? What do you propose as a solution for the community which you would like to elect you to office? If elected, how do we know that you won't change position again? ...
By adamg - 9/4/09 - 8:35 am
Kevin McCrea raised the issue in Wednesday's debate and today the Globe takes a look at city programs aimed at getting vacant lots back on the tax rolls.
By adamg - 9/3/09 - 11:31 pm
Bruce Mohl runs down some of Kevin McCrea's accusations in Wednesday's debate, says the facts don't all agree with them.
By adamg - 9/3/09 - 5:55 pm
The Sierra Club endorsed the two at-large incumbents today; apparently, none of the other 13 people running in the race were green enough for the group. Also winning endorsements: incumbent district councilors Michael Ross and Mark Ciommo.
The clubs says the four "will further the work of protecting the environment, support better transportation options, reduce global warming emissions, increase recycling and help push Massachusetts forward into the new 'Green' economy."
The club also made endorsements in Cambridge, Somerville and Watertown - also almost entirely incumbents.
By adamg - 9/2/09 - 10:31 pm
Jim alerts us there'll be a mayoral debate on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m. at the East Boston Social Center, 68 Central Sq. Three candidates have agreed to participate.
By adamg - 9/2/09 - 8:08 pm
What follows are my notes on the debate tonight. Props to Jon Keller for coming up with a form that allowed for an actual debate, rather than one of those stilted side-by-side affairs where the candidates never really address each other. Although with four people running, an hour was too short.
Who won? I'm terrible at judging things like that. At times, it seemed like a debate between Menino, Yoon and McCrea, with Flaherty on the sidelines. Yoon seemed too focused on Menino as the leader of SPECTRE, McCrea seemed too focused on getting the other three indicted, and Menino veered from the question sometimes (like answering some question about city finances by talking about how diverse city commissions are). But if you watched it, what do you think?
By adamg - 9/2/09 - 6:17 pm
The mayoral campaigns organized standouts outside WBZ studios in advance of tonight's debate.
Menino and Flaherty supporters were out in force along both sides of Soldiers Field Road. Scores of them and they just kept coming.
Some Yoon kids and grandparents showed up relatively late and never tried to muscle into the fray - maybe the beefy union workers for the Flaherty and Menino campaigns scared them, so they stayed clumped together more than a block away. They did have cute little maraca-like shaker things - which were completely inaudible to anybody driving by, unlike the air horns that a number of Flaherty men blared.
McCrea people? When we left, around 5:20, we hadn't seen a single one (and we walked up and down the road a couple of times). Maybe they got stuck in traffic on the way over from the South End.
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