Thursday, May 07, 2009

Long day of campaigning, and Menino spying on me

I spent the day campaigning in East Boston. It is edifying and enjoyable meeting people from the different neighborhoods, and seeing how different the characteristics of each place are.

One of the defining characteristics of the Eastie people is that they are not afraid to voice their opinion. They don't mince words and a meme I heard repeated often today is that "all the politicians are crooks", "they are all bums", "I don't trust any of them", and "they get in there and promise us things and then they don't do nothin'". The frustration and cynicism is palpable, and is hard not to agree when one sees the condition of the streets and the trash on them.

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the on duty fireman who came to the Shaw's with his crew to get groceries. He said "Our budget is 135 million dollars and we could cut 30 million dollars with no letdown in services". He talked about how inefficient things are, and how top heavy the department is. I find in talking to city workers that they have an excellent grasp of what is going on, and really know many places that we could save money. We need to engage them in this process to make Boston more efficient, make our workers communal owners of the City we serve, not make them feel as if it just doesn't matter because everything is so corrupt and there is no way to change it.

Finally tonight I spoke in Allston where the Mayor's community liaison Daniel Roan was furiously writing down in his notebook everything I said. I wonder if he was on political time or city time while he was doing that? Anyway, Dan is a very nice guy and well liked in the community, and of course anyone is welcome to write down my thoughts and ideas, just make sure you give me credit for them!

One of the ideas which seems to get a lot of heads nodding is my proposal to put trash cans in any community which would like them, and then to empty them in a timely manner. People are fed up with trash, and can't believe that we can't take care of this basic public service. We have many underused people in our society right now, training them to clean up our city would be a productive way to put jobs and money back into the economy on the lower end of the pay scale which is being hit hardest by the recession.

3 comments:

Steve Wintermeier said...

The big belly solar compacting trash cans have been well received downtown for high traffic areas. They are still expensive but they help pay for themselves by reducing frequency of pickup and keep trash enclosed so it doesn't blow all over the place. Color and size are key components (Newbury Street has replaced the large green ones with a smaller black version) and the neighborhood/businesses should be consulted on these details. Some have proposed building in "bullrings" so you can lock a bicycle to them rather than install separate bike posts lowering costs and improving aesthetics. DETAILS, DETAILS! ;-)

theszak said...

via
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=33POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
PRELIMINARY MUNICIPAL ELECTION
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for MAYOR
NAME ADDRESS Phones
William B Feegbeh 27 Leicester Street Brighton, Ma 02135 617-208-8888
Gareth R Saunders 38 Robeson Street Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130 617-942-2984
John M Hanney 598 R East Seventh Street South Boston, Ma 02127 617-596-2138
Joseph A Wiley 34 Princeton Street East Boston, Ma 02128 617-784-7539
Kevin R McCrea 218 West Springfield Street Boston, Ma 02118 617-267-2453
Michael F Flaherty 1726 Columbia Road South Boston, Ma 02127 617-635-4205
Sam Yoon 39 Waldeck Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-635-4217
William Theodore Leonard 25 Hawthorne Street Roxbury, Ma 02119 617-512-0672
Roy A Owens 2 Otisfield Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 617-541-4335
Gary P Finneran 22 Mansfield Street Allston, Ma 02134 617-782-4000
Thomas M. Menino 102 Chesterfield Street Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-635-3151 617-361-6364
Tim Michaud 99 F Street South Boston, Ma 02127 617-319-0856
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for COUNCILLOR-at-LARGE
NAME ADDRESS Phones
Doug Bennett 85 East India Row #25A Boston, Ma 02110 774-236-9555 617-227-2081
Martin J Hogan 491 Ashmont Street Dorchester, Ma 02122 617-297-5771 617-412-9822
Natalie E Carithers 29 Brookledge Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 617-838-2383
Robert L Fortes 46 Mount Everett Street Dorchester, ma 02125 617-201-3534
Stephen J Murphy 141 Warren Avenue Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-635-4376 617-361-3339
John R Connolly 12 Shaw Street West Roxbury, Ma 02132 617-635-3115
Andrew P Kenneally 156 Porter Street East Boston, Ma 02128 none given
Scotland M Willis 33 Hawthorne Street Roxbury, Ma. 02119 617-283-2755
Francisco Trilla 770 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130 617-524-2121
Jaha M Hughes 356 Seaver Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 857-869-7615
Kevin R McCrea 218 West Springfield Street Boston, Ma 02118 617-267-2453
Sean H Ryan 264 Lamartine Street Jamaica Plain, Ma. 02130 617-504-3133
Ego Ezedi 311 Ashmont Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-282-8280 617-293-7155
Peter A Lin-Marcus 77 Tyler Street #5 Boston, Ma 02111 617-852-8235
Tomas Gonzalez 1080 Truman Highway Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-708-8500
Felix G Arroyo 93 Wachusett Street Jamaica Plain, Ma 02130 none given
Hiep Quoc Nguyen 4 Roseland Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-852-8619
Jean-Claude Sanon 11 Rexford Street Mattapan, Ma 02126 617-298-1363 617-839-7191
Bill Trabucco 28 Rawson Street Dorchester, Ma 02125 none given
Ayanna S Pressley 1910 Dorchester Avenue Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-740-0892
Tito Jackson 37 Schuyler Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 781-507-3987
Shunaiber Tauhid 14 Gardner Street Allston, Ma 02134 732-429-3671
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for DISTRICT CITY COUNCILLOR
NAME ADDRESS Phones
DISTRICT ONE
Christian Kulikoski 6 Charter Street Boston, Ma 02113 617-823-4521
Salvatore LaMattina 76 Montmorenci Avenue East Boston, Ma 02128 617-635-3200 617-567-0071
Laura Garza 86 Orient Avenue East Boston, Ma 02128 617-359-7973 617-569-9169
DISTRICT TWO
Bill Linehan 128 G Street South Boston, Ma 02127 617-635-3203 617-268-5387
DISTRICT THREE
Maureen E Feeney 160 Milton Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-635-3455
DISTRICT FOUR
Shaun O Harrison Sr 24 Donald Road Dorchester, Ma 02124 857-236-4186
Charles Calvin Yancey 3 Hooper Street Dorchester, Ma 02124 617-635-3131
DISTRICT FIVE
Rob Consalvo 18A Chittick Road Hyde Park, Ma 02136 617-635-4210 617-361-5733
DISTRICT SIX
John M Tobin Jr 51 Joyce Kilmer Road West Roxbury, Ma 02132 617-635-4220 617-327-1973
DISTRICT SEVEN
Althea Garrison 98 Howard Avenue Dorchester, Ma 02125 617-407-7661
David James Wyatt 62 Weaver Court Roxbury, Ma 02119 617-442-4191 857-492-3076
Chuck Turner 63 Beech Glen Street Roxbury, Ma 02119 617-635-3510 617-445-5867
Roy A. Owens 2 Otisfield Street Dorchester, Ma 02121 617-541-4335
Carlos Tony Henriquez 20 Judson Street, Dorchester, Ma 02125 617-279-9363
DISTRICT EIGHT
Michael P Ross 214 Parker Hill Roxbury, Ma 02120 617-708-0202
Oscar T. Brookins 4 Hillside Street Roxbury, Ma 02120 617-427-4140
DISTRICT NINE
Mark S Ciommo 10 Oliva Road Brighton, Ma 02135 617-789-4693 617-635-3113
Benjamin Ian Narodick 264 Kelton Street Allston, Ma 02134 510-384-9665
Alex Selvig 70 Lake Street Brighton, Ma 02135 857-654-8708

via
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=33

theszak said...

How do we persuade the Elections Commissioners to include on these listings the addresses for email or websites where supplied by candidates on their stationery or email correspondence with Elections?...

Addresses for email or websites give voters greater opportunities to ask candidates, to correspond with candidates about issues of concern.