Campaign notes: Paper, blog endorsements

An issue most would probably keep out of the news. But I can see how this would be offensive -- it's dangerously close to: you're only good at basketball.
The black body has too often been represented, to the disappointment of people of color, in either a hyper-erotic or hyper-athletic manner.

that post is way too good for you to remain anonymous any longer...

The busing issue remains full of controversy -- but what about the other claims? I'd like to hear some info defending Flaherty on those because they do seem quite questionable.

...than as a palace.

I really fear that Menino will see re-election as a public endorsement of his plan to re-locate City Hall to some place that the rabble will find it difficult to reach.

We have the best best Public Health Commission in the country -- we have done more to combat racial and ethnic health disparities than any other city.

We have the only urban planning group, JCS which actually has an anti-poverty mission and has helped thousands of families move out of poverty over the past 16 years -- the same division which offers comprehensive support for 400 court- and gang-involved youth in the City.

I'm not sure which parks you're speaking of. Franklin Park is absolutely beautiful, it has a full and well-maintained golf-course, it has a brand new field at White Stadium, and the City is working with Northeastern to create a shared space with more athletics fields on that site. The Arboretum is another natural marvel in our city; I've never been there on a weekend where it's not packed. Pagel Field on Hyde Park Ave. has been recently renovated, the park next to English High has also been resurfaced and outfitted with new fencing, equipment and stands. Down the street from the King Middle School in Roxbury, we have another brand new soccer field that is ALWAYS in use. The Parks Dept, in collaboration with Berklee, put on more that 25 free outdoor concerts this summer in the neighborhoods of Boston.

Menino held off the foreclosures in Boston before anyone else in the nation addressed the problem. He started the "Don't Borrow Trouble" campaign to educate residents and homebuyers about subprime lending -- instead of the 10,000 homes that were foreclosed in places like Cleveland and Chicago, Boston saw 930 foreclosed homes and prevented 1,222 foreclosures. The Mayor created the FIC (Foreclosure Intervention Team) to help homeowners re-negotiate mortgages before it becomes too late.

On the subject of housing, since 2000 the Mayor has created 18,000 new units of housing and preserved 9,500 additional units. The Mayor also understands the need for workforce housing which the people who live in Boston can afford -- He has a plan to bring even more workforce housing to the Forest Hills area in the near future.

We were one of the first cities in the country to develop a green jobs training program so that residents who are without employment can actually be trained in the skills needed for jobs of the future which will demand green technology skills.

Under Mayor Menino crime has significantly dropped -- it's at a 3 decade low -- the number of violent crimes are also dropping. We have a national model for community policing which combines efforts of the Police Dept., religious leaders, community non-profits, and ordinary citizens to stop violence before it happens.

And contrary to Flaherty's accusations, we actually have SAT prep and PSAT prep in nearly every high school in the city -- and in the few schools that don't have it, the closest public library offers it free of charge.

Menino has created both a re-immersion program for students who have dropped out of school as well as the Newcomers Academy for students who may not speak English or may not have received formal education where they resided before coming to Boston.

You credit Toronto's waterfront, but you criticize Menino when he wants to improve the waterfront area in Boston -- quite hypocritical.

And as for shallow attacks on Flaherty and Yoon -- not so much, my attacks on that "ticket" come because of quite a few things:

Flaherty supported the death penalty.

Flaherty opposed affirmative action and during THIS campaign publicly announced that Judge Garrity made the WRONG decision to end "de facto" school segregation in Boston

Flaherty opposed health care benefits for gay partners and has routinely marched in the discriminatory and exclusive S. Boston St. Patty's Day Parade.

Flaherty and Yoon vow to abolish the BRA but neither went to that agency's budget hearing and neither have outlined a plan for how a stand-alone planning agency would be financed in the midst of a global financial crisis and looming state cuts to the city's budget.

Flaherty claims we have a youth violence problem in our city but as CHAIR of the City Council Committee on Youth Affairs, he has held only ONE public hearing for that committee in all of 2009 -- I guess his personal campaign took precedence over his duties as a City Councilor.

Flaherty publicly claimed Barbara Ferrer wasn't a 'real latina' -- she's not quite 'dark' enough to fit his idea of what a Puerto Rican woman should look like I guess. I don't think Flaherty as a white male who was educated in the elite white Boston community has no right to determine how light or dark people need to be to qualify for their ethnicity.

Flaherty claims we have a spending problem, yet, he's voted FOR the budget EVERY SINGLE YEAR as a City Councilor, until this year's budget -- the Tough Choices budget which managed to successfully account for the 19 million dollar budget cut from the state by NOT closing a single police station, fire station, or school.

Flaherty, as Council President invoked Rule 19, NINE occasions to block conversation from the City Councilors of color -- Arroyo, Turner, and Yancey. One key block was for a discussion of how to redistrict what was an unfair partitioning of a neighborhood.

Flaherty made a mockery of Council President, and disrespected those whom the residents of Boston, many of the residents of color of Boston, had elected to represent them -- and now Flaherty tells those same residents only HE has the ability to empower them.

By all means, there are way more examples out there -- let me know what other proof you're looking for here.

It's wrong to suggest murder rates are creeping "back up to the early 90s levels".

Last year there were 49 at this time. This year there have been 41. In 2004 there had been 53 by October 12.

In 1990, there were a total of 152 murders during the year.

... in (or with) the city of Boston, who has "disrespected" Menino's authority who not been "disciplined" in some significant way?

(I don't know the answer -- just fishing for information that the papers seem at best fitfully interested in discussing).