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Socialist to run for city council; calls for elected School Committee and BRA
By adamg on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 11:56am
David Bernstein alerts us that Seamus Whelan has set up a formal campaign committee to run for an at-large council seat in the fall elections.
According to his Facebook page, Whelan will run as the "socialist alternative" and "a voice for the 99% in Boston."
A registered nurse, Whelan calls for more teachers, an end to foreclosures and an elected School Committee and Boston Redevelopment Authority:
Boston is controlled by unelected organizations, from the school committee to the Boston Redevelopment Authority to the MBTA Board and the vultures on State Street. We need an economy that works for everyone and not just the rich and powerful. We must organize to build structures that allow working people make the important decisions that affect our lives.
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Comments
already has my vote...
First of the candidates to tell it like it is.
99%
Was unaware 99% of Boston supports the Socialist Party. Will his HQ be at Dewey Sq.?
What?! Wu doesn't speak for
What?! Wu doesn't speak for the 99%?! ahahaha
"We must organize to build
"We must organize to build structures that allow working people make the important decisions that affect our lives."
If he is only going to let working people make the important decisions, he just lost 50%+ of the Boston voters.
Has this guy ever heard of
Has this guy ever heard of Mayor Menino? Our elected officials aren't much better...
An end to foreclosures?
Hold on, let me buy a piece of property well above what I am able to afford...THEN end foreclosures!
Boston School Committee and BRA make public policy
Boston School Committee and BRA make public policy and they are accountable to voters indirectly only. In fact, their longevity on those boards lasts beyond the mayor's tenure in office.
If you want a School Committee and Redevelopment Authority that is more accountable to the public, make them elected. Here's the thing though, if there's money involved and there is, corporate interests would love to control the majority of both of those committees.
Absolutely. I could see
corporate education companies getting involved in this. There used to be an elected School Committee which was overwhelmingly white and male. The committee members often used the office as a stepping stone to other elected office. It was not effective back then.
Ah... the good old days of
Ah... the good old days of elected School Committees. ;-)
I'd like to see the Boston
I'd like to see the Boston Traffic Dept heads elected; as well as the top brass of the T. Give the City back to the people!
BRA
The BRA can't be improved. It can't be made more transparent, or more responsive, or more competent. It should be terminated; it was meant to be temporary, and it should have disappeared years ago. We should set up a real planning department that also creates the zoning to implement those plans. The standard Board of Appeal variance process, which provides for legal recourse against wrongful variances, would of course still be available. The market would bring in development, the City would regulate it for the public interest. That's all we need. No BRA finagling of zoning and false "blight" declarations for developer tax exemptions.