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We could have a preliminary election for city council in Allston/Brighton
By adamg on Mon, 05/08/2017 - 1:28pm
Alex Golonka says he's running as the progressive alternative in District 9 (Allston/Brighton) to incumbent City Councilor Mark Ciommo.
Golonka, who recently filed campaign-organization papers with the state elections office, vows that if elected, he would fight for "affordable housing, renters rights, artist/cooperative housing, and fair property taxes for homeowners," as well as a $15 minimum wage and a modern transit system not run by private companies.
In addition to Ciommo and Golonka, Brandon Bowser of Allston has also signaled a possible run this fall.
If there are more than two candidates for the two-year seat, the district would see a preliminary election in September to narrow the field to two for the November ballot.
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Comments
class 05 represent
good luck pal, miss our bus rides together <3
brian honan
sorely missed, I often wonder where he would be today? I wonder where marty would be?
Brian was a great guy.
He would have never worn skinny jeans while whining about the cost of housing. He would see the forest for the trees and recognize that longtime residents were the people that were given the boot over the last 10 years in favor of higher rent paying hipsters. The same people now outraged at rent increases.
Didn't know campaign-organization papers were so scary
"Golonka, who recently fled campaign-organization papers"
Wish I could blame autocorrect
But I wrote this post on my laptop. Fixed, thanks.
Candidates. City Councils. Boston. Cambridge. & School Committee
61? (58?) (54?) Possible Candidates for 13 Members Boston City Council
26 possible Candidates for 9 Members Cambridge City Council
11 possible Candidates for 6 Members Cambridge School Committee
https://www.reddit.com/r/MetroBoston/comments/69qs2p/possible_candidates...
Why not state rep?
I'd be interested to know why someone would go through the work to run for city council vs. state rep. Is it simply a question of party affiliation where you can get on the final ballot as a challenging Democratic candidate vs. getting knocked out by the incumbent in the primary?
Side note- we need a new state rep for Brighton who works for city residents, not regional liquor distributors.
Mr. Golonka is on Twitter -
Mr. Golonka is on Twitter - perhaps you could ask him?
But I say we just clone Sen. Brownsberger.
Candidates. Twitter social network microblogging.
Looking around the social network microblog Twitter for District 9 Candidates Brandon David Bowser, Patrick A Hoarty III, Kevin Murphy
District 9 Brandon David Bowser
District 9 Alexander Bernhard Golonka @votegolonka https://twitter.com/votegolonka
District 9 Patrick A Hoarty III
District 9 Kevin Murphy
District 9 incumbent @MarkCiommo https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=MarkCiommo
https://www.reddit.com/r/MetroBoston/comments/69qs2p/possible_candidates...
[email protected]
[email protected]
Pay is much better
Councilors make $110k. Reps I think about $80k (??) And for a lot less work.
I wish I had
There was no way I was going to win either of my two elections - the first for State Rep, the second for Register of Deeds, for reasons including that I wasn't a Democrat. (oops, I said Democrat again instead of "Democratic" .. sorry anonymous person who got mad at me about that, six months ago ...)
As it seems you know but others may not, Boston city councilor elections are not run on a party basis, meaning you don't have an (R) or (D) after your name when it appears on the ballot. That can be very helpful, if you're not a (D). (I have always been an (I), which scared some people, I heard.)
I actually don't know how the #s compare for a state rep position vs. district city council. For District 2 (mine), the population is about the same as the house district (er, I think it was Suffolk 3rd District?).
To get on the ballot, it's 150 signatures for state rep and 200 signatures for district city council. (It's a ridiculous 1,500 signatures to qualify for citywide city council.)
In some ways, I think it would be easier to run for state rep, especially in a special election, because of low turnout.
And, of course, sadly, incumbents rarely lose for any seat, for any race, anywhere.
*Edit: I think city council is a better job, too. Who would want to be a state rep (a D, at least) and have to kiss Bobby "Slots" ass every day?
Democratic...
is the term used for the Party itself (and as an adjective for things relating to the party). Democrat is a noun -- referring to someone who is a member of the Democratic Party.
It's not so hard. You can master this if you try ... just a TINY little bit.
State Rep VS Boston City
State Rep VS Boston City Council
At City Council you make more money and could push to be City Council President. Your universe is pretty much all within Boston itself, you become very familiar with your colleagues. Speaking of, you have many less colleagues, which means your voice is pretty loud compared to someone who has to share a room with dozens of other reps.
As a State Rep you get a greater chance of moving up, especially if you stick around for a bit. Seniority means much more as a rep than as a Councillor simply because they need some way to distinguish between everyone in the room. It also means that if you don't happen to get along with a few of the people you work with, that is fine you just find others to work with. You get to work with people outside of Boston and clearly being a State rep does not stop you from becoming Mayor if that is the goal. In fact having a balast of financial support that is not dependent on the city could be helpful in those sorts of races. It is also easier to "bring home pork" since the pot is bigger AND look like you are attempting to bring home pork since you can vote for something that is popular back home without worrying about it passing if enough non Boston reps are willing to vote against it. It makes it easier to look like the good guy.
Also it depends on who is currently in the seat. It is not uncommon for people to run for one lose, then run for the other when it opens. It might also depend on the make up of the districts. None of the City Council seats matches up evenly with a State Rep seat, so the demographics may work better for a candidate one way or the other. Plus just good old timing. With one in an off year and the other on an even year you can pick the one that fits into your schedule the best.
The right Staff...
The right Staff can be of greater influence than the Officials themselves
http://anopenbostoncitycouncil.blogspot.com/
It's problematical finding the right Staff.
A failure of the incumbent.
The incumbent failed to open the City Stenographer Stenographic Record of Public Meetings of Boston City Council for ESL English Second Language folks, for hard of hearing folks, for all folks!
His campaign web site looks
His campaign web site looks way too similar to the city of Boston web site. it is really weird. why would a candidate do that?
http://www.alexgolonka.com
blue filter over picture at the top. series of round circles. and a circular picture of a councillor at the bottom of the page.
seriously, it's weird.
Very generic "I'm a progressive! Vote for me!"
Lots of odd things about the website, starting with "City Council of Allston Brighton." OF? As if A/B has its own city council? "Into the state house" - how about city hall? No biography of any kind. Nothing about any issue he has ever worked on. Nothing about the huge amount of development underway and proposed, or universities, in fact nothing at all specific to the district, or even Boston. Maybe it's a template. You could use it in lots of cities, for lots of offices.
Yep
Yeah, I noticed that as well, especially the lack of a bio or any info on why we should vote for him - the only function seems to be to get us to give him our email addresses. I'm hoping it's a template, but he needs to get some details in there ASAP.
Ciommo has a good
Ciommo has a good understanding of the city budget. Not an inspiring speaker or progressive stalwart, but he's done good work for the district. Will be hard to beat. Happy to see people running though.
Need new blood
Ciommo had done good work for the district? Not for all of it - he sure hasn't done much for Allston. He especially DGAF about those of us who live in the Packards Corner/Allston Village area. Apparently he gives out great Halloween candy, though (to those who live or trick-or-treat near Brighton Center,) which is definitely something I look for in my representative on the city council.