Ms. Pressley goes to Washington

We actually want to minimize the time Garrison has on the city council.

I always wondered which of my policies it was that people didn't like so much. I'm sure here in Boston that people don't judge people because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity, their name, but they make smart, informed judgments about candidates, what they promise they are going to do, what promises they have followed up on, etc.

As Adam will tell you, Payaso continually talked about Universal Health Care and making the BPS better and more accountable, and was the only candidate who promised to visit each of the BPS schools to try and learn how to improve them. Obviously, that didn't resonate with the voters. We voted for the incumbents. Because our policies with the schools, the MBTA, income inequality, housing costs and the opiod crisis couldn't possibly be improved. I was thinking about that today as I was cleaning the leaves out of my yard and throwing away heroin needles.

BTW, I have gotten to know Althea, Domingos, William and I think all of them could make fine city councilors. It is an at large councilor, they have virtually no power, as another person noted, no direct constituents, they are one of 13. I for one would enjoy having different voices and ideas having the chance to be heard. Something other than the standard candidate talk of 'we need to do better'.

Here were my published stands on the issues and promises of what to do. I'm interested in where we differ?

I would always advocate for UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. I would ask each elected official from Boston on the City, State, and Federal level where they stand on this issue and publish the Yes/No answers online so the citizens know where their officials stand on the most important issue in America today.

I would visit all the Public Schools in an 18 month period. I’d meet with parents, teachers, students, stakeholders and present a plan to eliminate busing, insure equity and present a comprehensive plan to the City on July 1, 2019. This would save nearly 100 million dollars a year that we can invest in the schools including a new State of the art STEM school to be built in conjunction with and as a pipeline to MIT and other great local science Universities. I would not vote for any pay raise for any public official until this school is built.

I would professionally audit the Boston Public Schools.

I would professionally audit the BPDA. I would initiate the process of eliminating the BPDA and creating separate Planning and Development agencies controlled by the citizens of Boston.

I would take any and all agreements that the City of Boston, the BPDA and any other agency has made with any public space, private property, private, public or business entity in regards to taxes, uses or benefits and put it PERMANENTLY on the City of Boston website for all the citizens to monitor. I would also put all public documents online. Both would have a searchable data base. I would invite Don Sakland to consult to make sure stenographic records are properly available to all citizens.

I would ban the spending of public funds on putting politicians names on signs, clothing,buildings and other non-temporal items.

I would move the election cycle so that the election of the Mayor coincides with Presidential elections. This would expand turnout and decrease the power of the incumbents employee base.

I would eliminate the waste of taxpayer funds on the Greenway Conservancy and roll the Greenway into the State park system.

I would not allow any buildings to violate State Law and cast shadows on the Boston Common, no matter how much I received in campaign contributions or alleged promises of money to be paid to the City. I would not give any tax breaks or exemptions to the developer of this building.

I would not give any public lands or tax breaks to rich corporations and developers. This only increases the inequality in the City of Boston and America.

I would investigate and enforce and make all public projects report their City of Boston jobs policy results on a searchable database on the City of Boston website.

I would ensure that we work to eliminate ‘no show’ jobs, redundant jobs, political hires, etc. We should not tolerate full time pay for less than full time work.

I would make sure that public properties go to the highest bidder in open, honest bidding processes so that citizens get proper value for their assets.

I would engage the local business schools at Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard, MIT and Babson to use their brainpower to examine each of the different departments in the City of Boston. We will ask them to do case studies on each department so that we can eliminate inefficiencies and redundant jobs. We would plan and model for the future and truly have a government that reflects the cutting edge private sector we have in Boston.

I would take the T at least once a week to work (and bicycle in the good weather) and advocate working with the State for a truly modern public transit system equivalent to the excellent systems in Asia and Europe.

I will work to create a new class of zoning for inexpensive micro units that we can build to provide less expensive housing for our poor and middle class workers and to house our homeless, which is the shame of our city and country.

I wouldn't have the answers to the opiod crisis, but I do know we need housing, mental health facilities, and that Long Island bridge and shelter should be fixed to help the problem not sold off to developers or used for Olympic events.

I would not support any use of taxpayer money on events like the Olympics, Grand Prix’s, tax breaks or giveaways of public roads to private sports teams.

I would be open to receiving tips and ideas on waste, fraud, abuse and corruption in the City and would not be afraid to investigate, no matter the political connectedness or ramifications. I would advocate for the budget of the Financial Commission to be at least doubled. I would also be open to Citizens Ideas on how to save money. For example: having the Big Belly trash compactors have LED’s on the street side of the Big Belly’s so workers don’t need to stop, idle, get out of their trucks and walk around to see if the LEDS are red or green. This would save time, money and reduce Greenhouse gases.

I would advocate for instant run off voting and term limits for Mayor and City Council.

I would love, adore, respect and protect all the citizens of the city no matter race, gender, orientation, and would not be afraid to call out injustice, corruption and intolerance even if it challenges the status quo.

Finally, I would take $10,000 of my salary each year and award it as scholarship split between two graduates of the Boston Public Schools who write the best essay on the topic of ‘The value to democracy of open and honest government, public schools, public parks, public transportation and the public welfare.’

Elected:
Wu 65,040 (24.47%)
Pressley 57,520 (21.64%)
Flaherty 51,673 (19.44%)
George 45,564 (17.14%)

Also-rans:
Garrison 18,353 (6.87%)
Darosa 11,647 (4.38%)
King 8,773 (3.30%)
Payaso 6,124 (2.30%)

Note the huge drop-off after the top four. The current system is way too likely to elevate a fringe candidate. One can argue that it just did.

To their everlasting credit, Boston voters rejected Garrison in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 (mayoral race), 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. She has never won a Boston election. Boston voters have never wanted her, yet now they're stuck with her because of this stupid system. And she makes off with an annual salary of $99,500 and generous benefits.

That's why the anger.

Seeing Ayanna's tweets, it's pretty incredible how someone can go from city councilor to US congressperson like this, all within a few days. The excitement (and, fear) she is feeling must be dizzying, something few of us will ever feel.

It's a shame she doesn't have experience working for a sitting US representative or senator.

But residency in Boston is a requirement. Too bad, Zak.