"Sam Yoon chat" live online

Boston.com is my homepage -so when I opened a browser and saw Sam was chatting threw my question into the mix - no surprises for my regular readers - paraphrasing:

If inflation is up 25% over the past 10 years but the city budget is up 50% and residential taxes up 100% - how can the city still be clamoring for more money including the recent passage of the meals and hotel taxes that Yoon supported in public testimony (and I believe voted for last week).

My question never came up but a "Stephen's" similar question was posed as follows (editor's discretion perhaps?) - talk about a non-answer - I like Sam and consider him a pretty decent guy - but this is the kind of ivory tower of babble that concerns me about him being Mayor (in addition to the fact that he keeps adding lots of "hope" to his vocabulary - I'm a tad tired of hope and would like to see some results):

[Comment From Stephen]
As States, Cities and Towns scramble with budgets.. especially revenues..what effect does this have on Boston's attractiveness to gather new businesses and residents, and what should be done?

11:57 Sam Yoon:

11:59 Sam Yoon: Stephen, I think Boston has a competitive brand that will not go away anytime soon. We have the world's greatest -- fill in the blank. Academic institutions. Health care institutions. Sports teams. There is plenty of economic activity that we can generate here.

But what is holding us back is
12:00 Sam Yoon: the way Boston governs. Municipal government, unlike any institution, is the hub, it is the convener, it is where the civic vision of the people is realized and then acted upon.

But we have a government that operates in the dark ages. That is reflected in the absolute lack of creativity, vision, and most importantly, transparency in our budgeting.

This can change if
12:02 Sam Yoon: the head of that government is elected by people (lots of people) who rise up and demand change. And demand that their voice is heard.

Democracy was born here. Democracy is the single biggest antidote to any economic malaise. It is the reason why I am absolutely confident that our country will bounce back from our recession. It is the resiliency of our people.

But on a local level, people are hurting. They are losing their jobs. They are losing their homes. This election, with your participation, your interest, your conversations with friends and family can make a difference and point us in a new direction.