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Mayoral debate recap
By adamg on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 8:08pm
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?
Is Boston better or worse off than four years ago?
Flaherty: We could be better. Number of areas where we're deficient: Public education. Crime. Way too many murders.
McCrea: We've had four years of essentially stagnation. We've had a corrupt City Hall. Licenses behind closed doors. Stagnating development. I want to make Boston the most open, honest and transparent city in America.
Menino. We're making progress in schools. Lowest crime rate in 40 years. Green jobs. This is about the future. We have a stablized tax rate.
Yoon: On average, we're not better off. Too many young people being murdered. We have a dropout rate that has not decreased. The Filene's Hole. A system in which a single person, the mayor, has all the power to make decisions and control city government.
Flaherty: Street workers can help cut crime, which I learned as assistant DA. The mayor cut street workers.
Menino: The police can't do it alone. We have 59 street workers, more than in many years. That's what I'm famous for, working together.
Yoon: Strong mayor system, that as a system of government does not incentivize participation. You need to give up some power to share with the DA and community groups to fight crime.
Menino: VIP program, working with families of troubled youth, peace teams. It's not just the police, it's the community.
McCrea: The mayor likes to say we have a low tax rate. It's not true. 40% higher than Cambridge. Flaherty is not only one with court experience. I successfully sued City Council over open-meeting violations.
Flaherty: (To McCrea): There was no malfeasance, city councilors were doing what they thought best. I've moved on from it, I've learned a valuable lesson. It won't happen with me as mayor.
Police details
McCrea: End police details. Have policemen fighting crime.
Menino: Details help fight crime. Give us 200 additional police officers in our city. Help solve crime. About same cost as flagmen.
Yoon: Number closer to 400. No study to actually prove that they fight crime.
Flaherty: High-potency drugs, proliferation of guns, so uniformed trained officers help fight crime. If it wasn't for paid details some neighborhoods wouldn't see police officers at all.
McCrea: We could hire tons of people in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury at $15/hour as flagmen.
Menino: I saw a study that shows approximately same cost for uniformed officers and civilian flagmen. So I'd rather have trained officer on Mass. Ave.
Yoon: This is not performance based management
Menino: So why are we invited to a conference about performance-based management?
Yoon: So why no 311?
Menino: We have 635-4500.
Why is Boston continuing to lose private jobs but add municipal jobs?
Menino: Growth in city payroll is to improve schools, police and fire. Businesses are growing in Boston: Life sciences, Legal Seafood development.
Yoon: The issue is the BRA.
Flaherty: We need to stimulate green and creative economy. So many artists are leaving our city for places like Providence. And stimulating green companies means improving schools to provide trained workers.
McCrea: Flaherty was for fat government until he decided to run for mayor. Businesses don't want to come to Boston because of corruption.
Menino: The BRA preserved 9,500 units of affordable housing. The BRA does so many good things. BRA is a change agent and people don't like change.
Yoon: There are lies, there are damn lies and there are statistics, and that's what the mayor is giving us. Ray Flynn was more of a master builder than Menino.
Flaherty: McCrea, I did not oppose budget because I'm running for mayor.
McCrea: 1 Beacon St. gets tax break for being in a "blighted" area.
Yoon: We have so much talent in Boston for community development. Let's tap that.
Menino: Sam talks about community development corporations. 20 CDC directors endorsed me.
McCrea: Eliminating BRA means nothing if mayor still controls everything. Would give control over planning to the City Council.
Yoon: That would take reforming the city charter, which specifies the current strong-mayor system.
Charter schools
Yoon: I support lifting of caps on charter schools, but it won't be a magic bullet. The Athens of America has no excuse for not having world-class schools.
Flaherty: Need lifting of a cap, too many people leaving Boston because of current lottery system. Autonomy for principals, school-level budgeting.
McCrea: Charter schools are the latest buzzwords for these politicians to pretend they care about public schools. We know what really works: Longer school days, longer school years, more parental involvment. I won't cut the school budget. I will visit every school over two years to find out what they need.
Menino: In-district charter schools. I wasn't against charters schools by themselves but because of the issue of financing charter schools by taking money from public schools.
Flaherrty: 24,000 dropouts. Too many chronically underperfoming schools.
McCrea: Why don't they just expand the cap on the schools they all send their kids to? These three all got their kids into their first-choice schools. What a miracle. I'm going to change that.
Residency law for city workers
Flaherty: For it. What frustrates a lot of folks is that a lot of people have left our city, due to schools or public safety. Fix those, goes a long way to stabilize our city.
McCrea: In favor. Would offer low-interest loans to city workers to help them buy houses.
Menino: In favor. Schools are not there yet, folks, I admit that, but they're on right track. Diversity of our neighborhoods.
Yoon: Make city workers live here, but we have to get rid of patronage. Mr. Mayor, with all due respect, you have too much power.
Menino: Most of my department heads didn't work for my campaign.
Yoon: Term limits.
Flaherty: Menino ran on residency requirement, but he let up on it.
McCrea: These city councilors haven't stood up to patronage, like Ted Kennedy did with Iraq war.
Brightest new idea on money?
McCrea: Money is not a chronic problem. The problem is corruption at City Hall and a mayor who cried wolf so he could get meals, hotel taxes.
Menino: We've had the highest bond rating ever. We know how to manage our city well. We aved $30M in debt renegotiation. Kevin, we'll give you a lesson in budget management, because you don't understand it.
Yoon: Look at the BRA and centralization of power.
Menino: Diversity of our city.
McCrea: Menino practicing Reaganomics, giving breaks to fatcats.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
I was already leaning Yoon
I was already leaning Yoon and the debate made that leaning stronger. Yoon looked prepared and ready to to be head of our city. Flaherty looked scared. McCrea was OK, maybe I liked him second best. Menino came off out of date, confused at times. Keller did a great job.
Scared?
I am a Flaherty supporter but he clearly had command of all the issues and knows exactly what he wants to do to improve our city. If you consider responding completely and coherently to all questions posed to him being scared then maybe you have a point.
I especially liked it when he said the city had a spending problem not a revenue problem. We cannot tax our way out of this current economic crisis, we need performance review so that we can eliminate all the wasteful spending in city hall.
All legitimate points.
Seriously?
Knock it off. You're not doing Flaherty any service by posting here in his defense.
Jon Keller won big
I agree - I thought Keller was awesome - I was already a fan - I might have to become a groupie!
Missed the first 15 minutes
First off, let me say that the reason an "hour" seemed too short is because they still had commercial breaks! What the hell was that?? Do the campaigns get a cut of the GEICO money coming in to WBZ for that?? So, yeah, probably fewer breaks than normal for an hour of TV, but still something like 8-10 minutes of commercials (plus some Keller face time), so like 40 minutes total for the candidates...divided by 4...10 minutes to each guy to say something? On like 10 questions? Horrible.
With those technicalities out of the way, here are the impressions I got from all 4 (from right to left):
Yoon: Mr. Mayor, I love you, but you suck. Let me count the ways: 1) BRA, 2) BRA, 3) Charter caps, 4) BRA... Some good points from Yoon, but felt a bit too "talking point" and less organic with his discussion. The only guy on the stage to only take a "these other guys" glancing blow from McCrea's haymakers and not a direct swing at him...interesting.
Menino: mumblemumblemumblemumbleCitymumbleBetter. Ha, I kid Hizzonah. But really, he stumbled a bit and just flat out ignored some of the most damning comments from the other candidates. Sir, you're going to have to better to respond than "come now, you know that's not true...". Weak, Tom, weak.
McCrea: Camera 1? No? Camera 2? Ok, I'm going to look this way now. Drone drone drone...I have the evidence RIGHT HERE! drone drone. I really like most of Kevin's ideas. I really want to like this guy because of it. But he has no charisma (less of a problem for me and more of a problem for getting enough mouth-breathers to vote for him to actually make him a plausible candidate) and is just a little too "blow it all up and start over" for practicality.
Flaherty: I'm bibbity-bobbety magically better than the mayor because I sound better than the mayor, but look closely and I'm pretty much the same bobblehead on a lot of things. Flaherty seems to have too many years of political history vested in how the city has gotten to its current spot to be able to just outwardly dump on the mayor...because everyone would start asking what the hell he was doing about it up until now. I really hope this doesn't come down to a Flaherty/Menino campaign after the primary...but I feel like it's barreling down on me anyways.
The field vs. Menino
I thought Yoon and Flaherty gained the most. Menino was very bland but kept his cool most of the time. McCrea was, well the way he always is - trying to indict everyone. So par for the course on the last two.
The hour time frame was definitely too short. I wish we could have more open formats like this. Keller did a great job and gave the candidates free reign which is certainly a welcome departure from most campaign "debates". If I was Menino I'd be worried about Flaherty and Yoon...particular Sam Yoon. I thought he made a lot of sense on his points so he's definitely catching my attention.
Menino lost the debate but
Menino lost the debate but he was the only one on the stage who can lose the debate and win the election.
Flaherty started poorly. He seemed dark and used none of his natural charm. It came out later when he found his pace and spoke extemporaneously on a variety of topics. He was pretty good but I don't like him for mayor. Does anyone besides (not) me see his prosecutor's experience as (not) a plus? Maybe if he had done some legal defense work too. Here's what makes me uncomfortable with his style: When you're a hammer everything's a nail. I have to admit, I haven't followed his work in the city counsel closely.
McCrea has the mind of a politician. He was effective defining himself and defining his opponents by declaring his own position in opposition to them. Also he took credit for ideas that other politicians presented first tonight, as the one who authored them. He hurt Menino the most with the accusation of selling a $10,000 lot for $5,000 plus $200 in campaign contributions. I'd like to see the globe or herald follow up on that. Check McCrea's website. I don't think he'd be stupid enough to make a deliberately false claim. If there's a factual basis for it however, he could spin it anyway he wanted. McCrea also did a good job showing that the city is leaving real estate tax revenue on the table by giving One Beacon a specious tax exemption.
Yoon is smart and progressive. He studied city government from the inside on the counsel and he knows what he wants to do to fix it. He would be a transformational mayor who wants to change how the city government is structured and how it operates. He values a decision-making process based on factual data and scientific studies not anecdotal data. Hazzah! (I'd like to know how comfortable he is at making decisions with a paucity of data.) by comparison, Menino understands it may be more important to be a source of security (and conservatism) even if things don't get much better. That is the choice between Menino and Yoon. I think Sam did a very good job presenting as a knowledgeable and articulate, respectful and yet unyielding candidate. Guess who I liked? I'm not decided yet. Do we get another debate?
Here's a question: Which of the politicians are most and least likely to end the patronage style of governing?
Most likely to end - Yoon & McCrea
Least likely to end - Menino & Flaherty
And finally, at least Menino he didn't call anybody a liar tonight.
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My observation
In my opinion (and, I think, many in the room that night), Sam Yoon did very poorly in front of the DotOUT group, Monday night. That's probably why he received fewer votes in the first round than Kevin McCrea. He flubbed his answer on the St Patrick's Day Parade (intentionally?) and pretty much just gave his stump speech.
After he was done I turned to someone (actually, Kevin McCrea, I think!) and said, "God, I'm glad I actually saw him talk before the primary - I'd never even consider voting for that guy!"
Big difference between then and tonight. I felt he was much better at expressing himself. He was a little robotic and a little too "Harvard" at times but overall, a great night for him.
He still has the "junior varsity" look about him but he just might not ever be able to get beyond that.
Yeah, he went on too long about the BRA and the "strong-mayor" system which probably meant little to the voters in the suburban neighborhoods. What do they care if the BRA makes haphazard opinions on whims, what do they care if 111 Huntington has a crown on it only because the Mayor wanted one?
I think he was the one that, toward the end, explained that he (and the others) were all for having planning and development departments after the dissolution of the BRA, but as separate departments, but I think he brought it up too late. He made a dig about the BRA but didn't offer the alternative until too late in the debate.
I rank Kevin McCrea as either first or second for the night. Much more professional than in earlier appearances, seemed fit for the job. I found it interesting that, two nights ago, he said "I sued City Hall about their closed-door meetings" yet tonight said, "I sued Mike Flaherty and City Hall about their closed-door meetings." I was surprised two nights ago when he didn't mention his lawsuit was against M. Flaherty, specifically. Perhaps he was being polite in front of his colleagues?
Kevin had much more to say than your typical "Grace Ross" "Christos Mihos" "Ross Perot" or "John Anderson" candidate. He is more than a one-message candidate. I say this even though he chewed me out the other night and warned me today "Don't go over to the dark side." ::whatever::
Details
Kevin McCrea has details on the $100,000 / $5,000 deed claim:
http://electkevin.blogspot.com/2009/09/details-to-...
this is known as
opposition research
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It is surplus land
I don't think Kevin's claim that it's two "buildable lots" is accurate, although it doesn't discredit his claim that it was a giveaway, by any means.
There is plenty of surplus land in the city. Often they are little slices of land left over from when the city or state built a project. We don't live in a "square block" city, you know. On an irregular basis, the city sells these off.
I looked into this once while living at 9 W Broadway. There was a tiny 8x8 piece of land across the street that went up for sale; I made a proposal but it says very clearly in the details that preference is given to abutters. (Abutters like buying up the land because they get more space to enjoy and they also are then able to guarantee, once and for all, that it will never be built on.)
Almost always, the land is too small to build on. I'm no expert on zoning, but I've been told that you must have a lot of 5,000 square feet to build a home in the city. Most if not all the parcels I've seen advertised were much smaller than that.
The lot in this case has 10,000 square feet. So, large enough to build on, in theory. But, if you look at the deed (http://suffolkdeeds.com) (search on James Rourke) you can see written in very clearly "No structures are to be erected, constructed or installed upon the Premises, whether permanent or temporary ..."
So, it's written into the deed that they can't build on it.
Kevin should have just left that part out of his claim unless he has contrary information.
One question: there was a mortgage taken out on the property. Why was a mortgage necessary on a $5,000 piece of land?? (Mortgage was written by the city of Boston, btw, but there's no record of the terms or interest rate.)
Yoon, McCrea, Flaherty and Menino
As always - disclosure - I'm a McCrea supporter. This is intended as an honest appraisal of tonight and my other observations.
My opinion - Yoon won the debate and that's not a surprise-the guy is REALLY smart. He presented a lot of good ideas and defended his positions well. My concern about Yoon as always is he's great at holding meetings and hearings - but even after reading through his on-line material he seems to have a serious problem on execution of ideas which is critical when you are mayor. I remain very concerned that he doesn't have what it will take to stand up to the unions in what will be very contentious upcoming rounds of collective bargaining agreements. He's also an "any tax is a good tax" candidate thinking that money will solve the problems we have - it won't.
McCrea came in second - if you want to call it "indictments" fine - but the preponderance of the evidence indicates that the other three are all guilty of everything from go along to get along politics to things that border just this side of legal and in Flaherty's case at least crossed the line civilly, not criminally. In addition to his integrity, the reason I'm behind Kevin is he has a proven track record of getting things done - whether it's successfully starting and running his own businesses, carrying through the McCrea v. Flaherty suit to a successful conclusion or bucking the odds to be on that stage tonight with as much ammunition or more than his opponents - you have got to give him credit for getting things done - and that's on a shoestring budget - imagine what might happen if he had real resources.
Flaherty was third. Kind of a bland performance overall - but he was well prepared - I wouldn't call him scared. Like the other two younger candidates he brings a lot of not just new - but good ideas to the table - especially smaller government. My concern is that he's still a machine politician and will owe a lot of favors should he win. I still question his sincerity on a lot of things - he spent 2-3 years fighting McCrea's lawsuit and only after getting his butt handed to him by a judge he's ready to move on - even though there were apparently more examples of back door deals after the lawsuit was concluded (Paul Wolkowski example)? He also voted for 9 out of 10 of the mayor's budgets - and again "this budget was different" is his excuse for suddenly getting religion? Hmmm - I see a pattern. As mayor you have to be out in front of these issues.
I thought the mayor got crushed - and not just because the others ganged up on him (fully expected). First - his basic message was - everything's fine and dandy - don't make waves - all my homegrown stuff (eg- mayor's hotline v. 311, BRA v. segregated planning/development departments etc.) is better than everything that is used by other communities throughout the state and the country. As usual, even when McCrea held up city documents that basically proved his point - Menino simply denied the veracity of the reports - that's what he always does - don't let the facts get in the way of the mayor's opinion and anecdotes - and from other comments it looks like he's finally getting called on that habit. The number one reason Menino got crushed - each of the other three were proposing good ideas that can take Boston up a level - and instead of saying "Hey - those are good ideas, I'll be happy to look at that" He says - it's my way or the highway because the status quo is good enough.
I think and hope more and more Bostonians are realizing we can't move forward on the status quo. My heart tells me the best thing for Boston would be a McCrea/Yoon final. My head tells me we will get Flaherty/Menino.
re: Heart vs Head
I completely agree.
Might as well throw out my disclaimer: I do not support any candidate, nor do I have a particular favorite yet.
Read the Globe and Herald headlines and decide who "won"
Globe -Menino, under fire from rivals, keeps his cool
Herald - Menino brushes foes aside in debate
"Mayor Thomas M. Menino cruised through a televised debate last night, emerging unscathed as his three rivals threw barbs - but none packing enough sting to knock him back".
Also Herald editorial:
OK, it’s tough to defend a 16-year record, but then no one ever told Tom Menino this election would be a cakewalk.
During last night’s first mayoral debate Menino took a few body blows from his three rivals for the office, but you gotta give the mayor this - he knows where he stands and he’s not afraid to tell the voters.
No, the mayor is as he has often said, no fancy talker. But anyone who takes him on has to convince voters he has something better to offer. Pablum and me-too-ism aren’t going to cut it
No, the mayor is as he has often said, no fancy talker.
There's that, the man cannot express a complex thought and there's the business as usual governing style, some call it patronage, where the connected get jobs and deals on city-owned real estate and the residents' interest get the shaft.
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Don't mistake a speaking problem with stupidity
This is not a black-and-white pure-evil vs. pure-good election.
The schools are better than when Menino took over. Crime rates are dropping. Residential tax rates have stabilized. The trash gets picked up. We have two gorgeous new parks (Millennium and John Paul II). We have a much better convention center
Is he perfect? No. The schools still have significant problems. Shootings are up. The convention center is the cornerstone of a "city within the city" that's really based on automobiles, not pedestrians. Developers have gotten sweet deals and we've gotten mediocre buildings.
But please don't insult the voters who have returned him to office for 16 years now. We're not as stupid as you might think (and no, this does not mean I'll be voting for Menino on Sept. 22. I still haven't figured that out yet).
I live in Milton, so I
I live in Milton, so I haven't been following the election as closely as you Bostonians. But I did get to see the mayor speak to a small group of reporters and other pols, once, and he was perfectly clear--an excellent speaker. He seemed comfortable. I still can't reconcile that guy with the Menino I see in debates.
straw dog 1
This is not a black-and-white pure-evil vs. pure-good election.
[straw dog 1 - didn't say it was]
The schools are better than when Menino took over. Crime rates are dropping. Residential tax rates have stabilized. The trash gets picked up. We have two gorgeous new parks (Millennium and John Paul II). We have a much better convention center
[Pros]
Is he perfect? No. The schools still have significant problems. Shootings are up. The convention center is the cornerstone of a "city within the city" that's really based on automobiles, not pedestrians. Developers have gotten sweet deals and we've gotten mediocre buildings.
[Cons]
But please don't insult the voters who have returned him to office for 16 years now. We're not as stupid as you might think (and no, this does not mean I'll be voting for Menino on Sept. 22. I still haven't figured that out yet).
[How is my list of cons more of an insult than yours? Who called you or anyone who voted for him stupid? Don't go off on me just becuase you haven't figured out who you're going to vote for.]
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Code words
My apologies for straw-men building. But stuff like "the man cannot express a complex thought" has been code word for 16 years now for "Menino mumbles, therefore he's an idiot." And he isn't.
You are right.
I should have been more specific. Thanks Adam.
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Taxes, did you say taxes???
Residential tax rates have stabilized? Ten years ago residents paid $247 million in taxes. today that is $507 million (and we've only expanded housing stock by 2%). Most homeowners haven't felt it that badly because the city has changed the law to push most of the increases onto landlords by increasing the residential exemption and manipulating classification laws.
Here's the problem - and it will be interesting because this won't break until after the election (that's not an accident either). As we know, commercial values collapsed in late 2008 and early 2009. If commercial taxes which are 2/3 of the total property tax levy go down by just 10% - that means residential taxes citywide will go up by 20% (they calculate commercial taxes first then the residents split the rest - so we have to "make up" for every dollar by which commercial taxes are reduced).
This is where it could get really ugly - first - while taxes will go up by 20% - most of that will fall on downtown residents because housing downtown has not really depreciated while neighborhoods like Dorchester, Eastie etc. have seen substantial depreciation. Downtown residents could thus easily see 25-35% increases. But then it gets worse- you pay the entire increase over only 2 quarters - so take a downtown condo paying $2k per quarter - gets a 30% increase on the total - that means his/her $2k payment is now $3200 - or 60% more than last year. Because most don't understand how the system works - they are going to think their taxes went up by 60% and there will be some very unpleasant scenes downtown.
there are two other possibilities - the city will push to increase the residential exemption - which just means landlords and ultimately their tenants pay or the assessing department pulls a rabbit out of their hat and somehow figures out a legal way to keep commercial assessments up. The assessing department in Boston is VERY good, but they've had to pull rabbits out of their hats about 6 or 7 of the past 8 years. Not sure they have any rabbits left.
Blogs, Globe, Phoenix & Metro all agree - Yoon wins debate
Looks like a great night for Sam Yoon. He looked like a modern mayor - and he showed a real grasp of the facts.
Seriously?
Do us all a favor and meet steveismyname somewhere in the city and beat each other to death. Thanks.
Scrawk!
I didn't know parrots could type.
modern mayor?
I didn't sense any leadership qualities whatsoever. He seems like an armchair observer rather than an actual hit the streets and roll up your sleeves kind of leader.
Yoon performed very well.
I thought Yoon won the debate too.
He's definitely smart enough to do the job. The questions I have as two-fold: Is he decisive enough, and an he get things done? It's one thing to debate ideas, its quite another to get ditchdiggers and firemen to go back to work.
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Style: Flaherty; Substance: Yoon; Memorable Moment: McCrea
Okay, full disclosure...I went in hoping that one of the three challengers would come out looking like a clear, strong opponent against Mumbles. Now I wish I could morph them together (any chance they will agree to stand up together and support the one of them who will finish second to Menino?).
I have seen Flaherty in the past be somewhat tentative and wishy-washy. Tonight I thought he was hands-down the winner on style. He was the only one to look directly into the camera and connect with viewers. He was generally short and to the point. He also got off a good line about there not being a problem with revenue but rather a problem with spending. He struck me as someone trying to convey a careful, mayoral attitude and almost like he was the incumbent not trying to blow a lead (does he have some polling numbers we don't know about?!).
Sam Yoon clearly knows his stuff and if this was a high school (or dare I say Kennedy School) debate, he would be declared the winner. But I think he may have come across as too wonky. And if his ultimate interest is in changing the type of strong mayor form of government that Boston has, why not start a petition campaign or run for the state legislature. Isn't that where those changes would be made? He needs to be more forceful as well. But I must admit I came away from the night liking him more.
More disclosure: Before tonight, I had bought in to the gadfly caricature that had been out there on Kevin McCrea. I walked away from tonight's debate thinking that while he is a long-shot, he actually does have some good points and I am glad he is in the race. It is refreshing to have a non politician in the race. (As a parent, I disagree with his opposition to Charter Schools - but I at least know where he stands. What exactly is Menino's position this year?) I thought the ouch/gotcha moment of the debate was the corruption charge. I thought that I was going to see that "liar, liar pants on fire" temper that others referenced from the other night from Menino when McCrea pulled that one out (literally).
Menino continues to be an inarticulate, bumbling fool. But, he didn't blow up or say anything that particularly bad (how sad that our expectations are so low!)
So, the big question is whether anything changed? Who knows. But I am looking forward to more debates.
Menino Stomped Em, People Wont Watch Any More Debates
He killed Yoon when Sam mentioned CDCs (Sam used to work for one, ironically his one project there was supported by BRA funding) and mentioned that CDC directors around the city were supporting Menino because of his support of affordable housing. Similarly, Menino noted the BRA tax agreements that made it possible to preserve 9500 units of expiring use housing, given the Legislature has failed to act to give these tenants protection. The BRA was the only leverage the city had.
Funny, how Brian Mooney, the political analyst saw Menino as a winner, while the Globe editorial whacked him. Editorial must have been written before the debate as they all go home at 5 pm.
Boston City Council election. Stenographic machine record.
Regarding the Boston City Council election, ask your favorite candidate for the stenographic machine record of the last public meeting of the City Council. The stenographic machine record is a good source of information about City Council proceedings, transactions and debate not appearing in the minutes.
You ask them
And post their answers somewhere.
taxes taxes taxes
McCrea should be pounding that 40% figure vs cambridge. It's his major difference w Yoon.
Connect it to substandard services and collapsing private jobs market.
Flaherty and artists
Anyone know what the deal is with this? Art doesn't sell here because the economy is crap, it's obvious. What is he trying to pull?
Read his position paper
Here.
Basically, he says the city is ignoring galleries and small artists, who are leaving for places like, gasp, Providence. He would hire a city art director to help these folks with city permitting and the like and look at using unused city buildings for galleries, rezone certain areas as artists' districts and the like.
Flaherty & Artists 2
His solutions are already part of the problem:
1 a university/grant-driven process which produces works of art which are not appealing to buyers
2 a high cost of living abated by tax favoritism for certain interests for no clear reason or demonstrated community benefit
3 the exploitation of artists to stack floors onto development projects which the community opposes
So he turns to a culture czar and back to the universities for answers. These official and institutional channels are the ones using artists for cover and destroying the freedom of artists by tying them into projects which are ineffective or if effective, soul-killing.
While it's nice he would think about me, if the city did a better job for all business, that would be the best thing for artists. Artists don't make a place safer or nicer. They need buyers with rising incomes and good job possibilities who can buy luxury goods. Too much of the middle class in Boston works in the government/non-profit sector, and these people never have the leaps in income I need from my buyers.
Flaherty's pitch for artists
Flaherty's pitch for artists in Boston is, on its face, a no win issue. All the non-artists are concerned about fundamental issues. If the issue was framed as affordable inner-city housing then ok but by making it about artists all the non-artists will say "who cares? aren't there more important issues, it sure feels like there are."
[size=9]www.[color=#FF0000]C[/color][color=#FF9933]O[/color][color=#CC00CC]L[/color][color=#339900]O[/color][color=#3300CC]R[/color] OF CHANGE.org Sign the petition![/size]
Insert "commercial" in your phrases, at least
You're only thinking of commercial artists. Among the artists who benefit from things like zoning for live/work space are art therapists and artists who work with youth to do community art projects. Also artists who create public art on their own. These things do make the community safer and nicer. There's plenty of research to show that beautifying an area reduces crime and increases people's feelings about their community. And art therapy and involving youth in creating things obviously improve a community.
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http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Artists have to eat
It still doesn't work... those artists are at the mercy of nice people in government, and the art that comes out of that means nothing -- if it meant something it would flip people out. You have to make a living first, then you can volunteer.