The South Boston state senator once again used a parliamentary procedure to keep the state Senate from voting on a measure that would let Boston temporarily increase the property-tax rate on commercial property higher than otherwise allowed, which, if he doesn't change his minds, means the City Council will have to set tax rates on Wednesday that will mean tax hikes of between 10% and 14% for residential property owners, the State House News Service reports.
Said Ahmed filed paperwork with the state in October to run for the District 7 city council seat now held by Tania Fernandes Anderson, but only sent out a press release about it yesterday. Read more.
Boston was hoping to send out property-tax bills this month with a bit of a break for homeowners. Only problem: state Sen. Nick Collins, who represents South Boston and Dorchester, managed to get any discussion of a bill to let the city temporarily set a higher rate on commercial property until at least Thursday. Read more.
State Sen. Nick Collins (D-1st Suffolk) is now offering his support for the proposed Small Victories tavern on Dorchester Street in South Boston, two days after he angrily denounced it as a potential home of date-apping "vidiots" being pushed by buttinsky East Bostonians. Read more.
The entire hearing. See below for Collins's statement.
Update: Collins offers conditional support.
State Sen. Nick Collins (D-1st Suffolk) unleashed a barrage of invective yesterday against plans by the owner of the Quiet Few tavern in East Boston's Jeffries Point to open a similar tavern at 400 Dorchester St. in South Boston's Andrew Square, calling it a potential hellhole catering to the very sort of losers the neighborhood doesn't need - despite testimony from people in Andrew Square they can't wait for it to open. Read more.
With the clock ticking on the end of the Orange Line, the news that many people trying to get into or out of Chinatown will have to hoof it to the nearest alternative is not sitting well with Mayor Wu, City Councilor Ed Flynn and three state legislators, who today asked the T to extend its bus-shuttle service to at least the Chinatown or Tufts Medical Center stops, in particular for seniors, the disabled and students. Read more.
No chokeholds, independent oversight board and certification of officers, WBZ reports. Two of the no votes in the 4 a.m. tally were from Boston: Nick Collins and Mike Rush (West Roxbury).
The State House News Service reports that David Biele, an aide to state Rep. Nick Collins (D-South Boston) will run to replace him, now that barring a meteor strike or something, Collins will replace state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry following his easy win in the special Democratic primary on Tuesday.
The Dorchester Reporter reports that state Rep. Nick Collins (D-South Boston) will run for the seat he couldn't win in a battle four years ago against state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester). But state Rep. Dan Cullinane, who took Dorcena Forry's place in the House, announced today he will run for re-election in the fall rather than the Senate seat this spring.
The Globe's Billy Baker profiles Maureen Dahill, the third candidate in the battle to take over Jack Hart's old state-senate seat, the one who tried to find a bridge between the oldtimers and the yuppies. And maybe buries the lead at the very end of the story, at least for people who like keeping tabs on who's running for what.
David Bernstein reports Therese Murray even got involved, with her office calling up the Collins camp to say exactly how displeased she'd be if Collins supporters tried an end run against the primary results with a sticker campaign against primary winner Linda Dorcena Forry. So grumpy Southie residents fuming about how the election was stolen from them somehow will just have to stay grumpy.
This past week was a big week in politics here in Boston.
1. Steve Lynch will not run for Mayor.
Leading up to this past week, many speculated that 8th Congressional District U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch was using the U.S. Senate race to raise his profile so he could run for Boston Mayor. Lynch's chances were ruined by losing his hometown of Boston by a margin of 31,000 plus votes to Lynch's 28,000 plus votes.
Essentially, Markey "Al Gored" Stephen Lynch. To understand this, Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to George W. Bush in 2000 and that was the real reason why Gore lost the presidency not because of Florida. For Lynch to have won the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary, he needed to run up the vote against Markey in Boston and this just did not happen.
2. Dewey beats Truman.
The 1st Suffolk Senate race was an unbelievable contest. My parish, St. Ann's, falls right inside this state Senate district. Three great candidates fought tooth and nail to replace Jack Hart who left his seat for a high paying job at a law firm.
AP called the 1st Suffolk race for Collins early on, but as of 10:08 p.m., city results showed Dorcena Forry leading by a slim margin - and the Dorcena Forry camp was declaring victory. The Collins camp, however, was conceding nothing.
The Dorchester Reporter reports the governor is slamming a pro-Collins ad featuring a photo of him and Nick Collins in the Bay State Banner, because he hasn't taken sides in the race between Collins, Linda Dorcena Forry and Maureen Dahill.
This isn't the first time Patrick has had to deny endorsing somebody, although at least this time his signature wasn't forged on the alleged endorsement.
The Nick Collins campaign reports some of its workers had just finished dropping campaign literature in the Polish Triangle this afternoon when they noticed some guys following them removing the fliers from people's steps.
Earlier:
4th Suffolk debate report.
Nick Collins, more recently a business marketing consultant, announced today he is running for the 4th Suffolk seat being vacated by Brian Wallace.
I look forward to a spirited conversation regarding the challenges facing our community and how we intend to address them. My hope is to be the leader who will bridge what is great about our past to the promise of our future.
Other Democrats considering the seat include Michael McGee, Jeffrey Poreda, Jake Bombard and Mark McGonagle. Patrick Brennan is running as a Republican in the district, which also includes a small part of Dorchester.
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