Mess in New Orleans

Never seen anything like it. What a total lack of leadership....

how elections are won...

The day before the primary there was a meeting called at the jewish elderly center in Brighton. Flaherty, White and Connolly were called there where Naak (yiddish for Noah) and block voters of russian jews voted en mass for them, about 350 votes.

We (and everyone else) had contacted Naak, in yiddish, but he said he was old and didn't get involved in politics anymore. I knew a blow off when I heard it!

This is what makes politics so fascinating. I'd love to know what goes on in those meetings, what is promised or what deals are made. I spoke to one of the participants of the meeting and they couldn't tell me how they were even invited to the meeting it was a mystery to that person, but they were happy with the 350 votes! (not sure i quite believe that)

Nobody invited me to any meetings to get 350 votes without me even knowing why. I wonder what I was doing wrong???!!!! Maybe I didn't hire the right family members.

At least I hope that participant said "thanks dad!" that night.

random notes...

mayor menino " government is cold and callous" BC HIGH breakfast

Patricia Armstrong "teachers need to get more recognition"...
(don't keep supporting all the incumbents, if your friend jumped off the brooklyn bridge would you do it too?)

Billy Bulger ...."altruism"...
( on the morning it is reported he is suing the state for more pension money, as if 160,000 isn't enough already)

Where did Patricia White go to school???

I received this email from a constituent about where Patricia White went to school:


There is an article in the Globe today about Ptricia White and what elementary school she went to.

She said she went to the Josiah Quincy Elementary School, it was 1975. she was bused. the students knew who she was and bothered her all the time, because of who her parents were.

I e-mailed the Globe that Patricia White was in the Prince Elementary School in 1975, I was a student there at the same time, I find it interesting that she does not mention the fact that she went to the Prince, as it was the oldest school in Boston, was also required and had all Masters Degree teachers, this was also the year it celebrated its 100th birthday before it was turned into condos, then there was never another elementary school in that area ever again.

Plus, as far as bothering Patricia White, everyone knew who she was, she was in fact popular, no one ever bothered her at the Prince School in 1975.

It will be interesting to see if the Globe responds to me.

Letter to Joan Vennochi

Interesting article Joan, thanks for writing it. However, I believe the Globe and the other major news sources need to look in the mirror. I just ran a campaign for city council at large filled with passion and honesty about what the problems of the city truly are, and who the people responsible are. Ask your City Hall reporters during this time: Madison Park, Andrea Estes, Lisa Wangsness. We had many good conversations about what the real news in the city was and is.

What has the Globe written about? The Globe took a page and half on a Sunday to write about me and never once mentioned my three issues of education, housing and equal access to government. The Globe twice wrote articles about the money I put into my campaign, but didn't cover the Open Meeting Lawsuit hearing at Suffolk Superior Court where the City Council's lawyer argued that the City Council was irrelevant in regards to the BRA and planning and development in the City. The Globe didn't write anything about the $4million dollar land giveaway in the Fenway to the Forsyth Institute, and how they will be allowed to circumvent the zoning laws.

Everyone on the Inside in the city reads my blog, from the Mayor to the councilors, to State Reps, and State Senators. Every political reporter in the city reads my blog to find out what is going on. Lisa told me they were "thinking about" writing a story about it. Don't you think the citizens might be interested in knowing about what every politician in the City has in common? People from State Rep Wallace to Senator Tolman thanked me for what I was doing. It is a sad state of affairs when telling the truth and doing investigative journalism is not seen as a viable option in politics.

BUT, you did run two pictures of me with my baton and wrote two articles about my baton twirling prowess. I'm sure the voters are much more informed now. 15 years ago I used to spend 3 or 4 hours on a Sunday morning reading the Globe cover to cover. Now I read it and am done in less than an hour. I haven't learned to read faster. I believe that people do want information, and intelligent information. We live in an information society and those who can use and process that information will be the winners. I think the reason for newspapers loss of readership, revenue, etc. is because they are dumbing themselves down.

We look to the fourth estate to be an opinion leader, to give us the real news. At least the Herald had a column about the candidates with their pro's and cons and then endorsed four. The Globe didn't even mention any by name on their editorial page, and just lamely told people to vote. Why would people vote if you haven't told them who the candidates are and where they stand??? Where are the people supposed to get the information to know how to vote.

Finally, about the debates. Are the news sources in this city so afraid of the Mayor that they won't sponsor a debate on their own? Sign up for the auditorium at the Boston Public Library (it's free) and have a debate on housing and education and invite the two candidates. If one doesn't show then report about it and give the other all the time. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and comment about stuff, please consider being a leader and sponsoring the debate. An open discourse about the visions for the future is good for us all. You will truly be doing a service to the community then.

Thank you,
Kevin McCrea
Former candidate for city council at large

Adding Insult to Injury....

A reporter called my cell phone today and said "...Michael Flaherty.(?)....",
somehow she had my cellphone number down next to his.

Many people today have asked me to continue the blog, any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

My next verbage which I hope to be an essay but what will probably be a diatribe, will be on Racism in Boston, which is a topic that I believe is dividing this city, much more any discourse we are having about it would let on I am even more convinced of that after traveling to the far corners of the 02 zip code zone. I was very gratified and thankful that Chuck Turner voted for me, my work in Roxbury has not gone on deaf ears.

Thanks very much for all the kind calls and emails today, especially from Ed Flynn and Matt O'Malley. Don't cry for me Argentina, though, I'm the one that is married to Clara (watch out for her tri-lingual candidacy) and I had 4 buildings offered to me today, and I was hired for another consulting job as an expert witness.

Interestingly I got a call Monday from Christine Colley from the BRA who told me that my request for the Boston Jobs Policy numbers on a recent south end project would be treated as a Freedom of Information Request. Nice to know that they don't just answer questions when you ask them. You would think they would be proud of the "great" work they are doing, and would send our press releases of their strong commitment to Boston workers.

K

Thanks!

I'd like to thank my supporters and the people that voted for me. I feel disappointed that your hard work didn't yield better results.

I congratulate the 8 finalists who are moving on. They all have been working extremely hard to earn the votes.

Best of luck to the voters who will choose their officials. Please make sure and vote so your voices will be heard!

kevin

Kevin's Top Ten list of Candidate Predictions...

1) Kevin McCrea-Bostonians stand up for truth, honesty, transparency and the American Way!
2) Flaherty-Plenty of money and machine, and he has kept the council in line.
3) Arroyo-near unanimous minority support and widely respected.
4) Murphy-in low turnout, he gets his supporters out.
5) O'Malley-Union support in low turnout pumps him up.
6) Connolly-Money and organization bring him up with a bullet.
7) White-Will the Globe article hurt? Could be as high as #2 if women want one of their own.
8) Flynn-How far will the name carry him?
9) Yoon-Can he attach his name to Arroyo's star?
10) Althea-Could surprise with her core voters.

Live, from Boston, the campaign coverage on BNN tomorrow night!

Kevin -

I was reading back in your campaign blog, and thought I should drop you a line. For the record, I'm the Cablecast Manager here at BNN.

First, it's great to see you keeping a blog of the campaign trail.

We do often suggest people have planted callers when they go on BNNLive programs. Many times, people are afraid to be the first caller on a call-in show, and it breaks the ice a bit to hear another caller or two go first. It also helps the guests, who often have never done live TV or anything like it before, get comfortable with the format and how the exchange works.

In my own personal opinion, sure, it is a little fishy when a caller throws someone a meatball over the plate, but I think most people can tell the difference anyways. Its not a lot different then someone packing in supporters at a public meeting. And if that gets someone who is really riled up about an issue to call in and get some real answers from someone, all the better. If someone calls in and wants to comment or ask a question, we'll put them on. You don't get a lot of forums like that.

It does seems like you overall enjoyed your experiences here on BNN, and I'm glad to hear that. I hope you were able to get a little exposure and your presence out tot he community, or at least enjoy 15 minutes of fame in hearing "hey, didn't I see you on TV last night?"

As an FYI for you as well, we'll be doing live results coverage on BNN tomorrow night from 9pm to 10pm on Comcast Channel 9 (Channel 15 for those with RCN).

Anyhow, good luck with the campaign, and good luck tomorrow!

-TomO

She wore white, and she said yes! The Wedding was a BIG success...

Father John Connolly presided over a beautiful mass/wedding at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. My bride was incredibly gorgeous, and we got a big laugh out of the Father's prayer that other candidates for city council would get to spend more time with their families....very soon!

Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw the surprise awaiting her at the end of the aisle....I had secretly conspired to buy her a new red convertible (thanks to her mom for helping me pick it out!) None of the local papers covered it, but the New York Times did.

Of course, on the day we were married the Red Sox won and the Yankees lost--a good Omen!

Finally, when we got home from the New England Aquarium Reception we had been locked out, and I had to take off my kilt and skinny up the back deck naked to get in through the deck door which was luckily left unlocked! Glad the Herald wasn't there for that!

Thanks to all my family and guests and friends for sharing the wonderful event.

I love you all!

Who is Sam Yoon?

He wears a Menino Button on his lapel, then tells an audience he didn't know he had it on his suit, even though his well paid media consultant was with him at the time. Then he says it was a mistake to have it on. (You don't know what political buttons you are wearing? begs credibility!)
He tells me that he won't reintroduce the community stabilization act, then announces before an audience that he will reintroduce the community stabilization act.
Today he sent out a flyer that would seem to indicate that he and Felix Arroyo are running together. But a call to councilor arroyo's office indicated that Felix is endorsing no one, and that they have been getting a bevy of phone calls about it and they say they have nothing to do with Yoon. In the Banner Yoon says that he will be effective where Felix hasn't been.

Jim Spencer is Yoon's paid consultant, he does not work for Arroyo. However that doesn't stop Spencer from sending out cards with Yoon and Arroyo's face on them as if he represents them both. Politics is dirty business!!!

Yoon said the other night he would like to see paid community organizers. Would that be just another arm of Menino's in the city. Another paid guy to keep an eye on the people by BIG BROTHER like the police guy that channel 4 just nabbed yesterday.

Then he said he would institute a progressive tax rate. So I asked him if he had any details of the plan, did it mean taxing million dollar houses more than 200,000 dollar houses? He said "yeah, maybe something like that". I said do you have any details on your website or your literature? He said "no, you know I run my campaign differently from yours" then something about not putting out any details and not wanting to answer questions.

We need independent people who have their own thoughts and ideas, not people who hang onto coattails.

I liked how he took the Sam Ellis article that said he was a nerfball and needed to learn the issues and spliced the opening bit and the closing bit to make it sound good, very clever. Karl Rove would be proud!


Finally, I do give him credit for being a gentleman, we've actually had a couple good laughs about things, he is a funny guy. As I've said to him a few times, just be yourself!

More Corruption with City Government

Where are our fearless city councilors speaking out about this? I'll bet not one peep from the menino 9 about this waste of our taxpayer dollars. This was on CBS 4 last night.
I'm currently working with one of the major news sources in this city about an ongoing giveaway to some businesses in the city. As soon as we (hopefully) break it, they will change their ways. It shouldn't be like this.

Joe Bergantino, Reporting(CBS4) BOSTON An exclusive I-Team investigation. Your hard earned taxdollars going to waste. Our hidden cameras catch one of Mayor Menino’spolitical operatives tucked away in a high paying job in the BostonPolice Department. I-Team reporter Joe Bergantino has the disturbingresults of a two month investigation.Until recently, Jim Sullivan was one very lucky guy. He’s Mayor TomMenino’s top political operative in Brighton. And he’s been head ofthe Boston Police Department’s Central Supply Division, a city jobthat has paid him $97,000 a year. His responsibilities: to keep track ofall of the Boston Police supplies, as well as seized property andevidence stored at this warehouse in Hyde Park.A demanding job? Well on one particular day Sullivan shows up for workat 11:56 a.m..At 3:09 p.m., our cameras watch Sullivan leaving for the day.Total time on the job: 3 hours, 13 minutes.So what else did Sullivan do that day?At 3:20 p.m. our hidden cameras caught him grocery shopping at RocheBrothers in West Roxbury.By 4:24 p.m., he was back to his apartment in Brighton for the rest ofthe afternoon.An unusual day for Jim Sullivan?No.The I-Team watched Sullivan for several days over several weeks.His routine: Get to work in the afternoon and leave after only a fewhours.Average number of hours worked: about 3 hours a day.On two of the days we trailed Sullivan, he didn’t go to work at all.His time sheet? It says he was at work for eight hours every one ofthose days.Joe Bergantino: “We’d like to talk to you about your work habitssir. We’ve watched you over several days over several weeks, some daysyou worked about three hours, some days you didn’t go to work at all.You indicated on your time sheets that you were there, why did you lieon your time sheets? (No response)“You’re the Mayor’s neighborhood coordinator here, did you getpermission to not go to work? C’mon, answer our questions sir.”Jim Sullivan: “I appreciate the opportunity but any questions have tobe answered through the department.”Joe Bergantino: “Well, you’re the one who didn’t go to work,you’re the one who was working three hours a day.”Jim Sullivan: “Excuse me.”Joe Bergantino: “Does the Mayor know about what you were doing? Didhe? Why won’t you answer that?”Jim Sullivan: “Thanks for the opportunity but I won’t be making anycomment.”Neither is this woman, Sullivan’s secretary, Ann Bisceglia. Shehappens to be the wife of one of Mayor Menino’s closest friends.According to the police department, Bisceglia fills out the time sheetsfor all employees at Central Supply, including Sullivan.She knew when her boss was or wasn’t at work.So how did the Mayor and Police top brass handle this political hotpotato? Classic damage control. After learning we were watching someoneat Central Supply, they quickly figured out who it was. Before we wereable to ask a single question about Jim Sullivan, they suspendedSullivan without pay for five days, demoted him, and took away his citycar. Boston Police claim they just happened to be doing their owninvestigation into Sullivan’s work habits.Joe Bergantino: “So the timing of all that is very, very curious?”Kathleen O’Toole, Boston Police Commissioner: “Well, I assume thatwe have some of the same sources that you have.”We know that’s not true.As for the Mayor.Mayor Tom Menino, City of Boston: “We took action right away because Iexpect everyone to do a full day’s work for a full day’s pay.”The reality is Jim Sullivan had a sweet deal. He is politicallyconnected and collecting a huge salary for showing up part time.How does that happen?Mayor Tom Menino: “I know him, I don’t know him well, but I knowhim.”Joe Bergantino: “Did you have any role in placing him there?”Mayor Tom Menino: “No. I had no role in placing him there.”Joe Bergantino: “Even though he’s your campaign coordinator fromBrighton?”Mayor Tom Menino: “A lot of people work for me and my campaign.”Keep in mind, Jim Sullivan wasn’t fired for what amounts to stealingfrom taxpayers.He’s still on the police payroll, now making $83,000 a year. As forSullivan’s secretary, the wife of one of the Mayor’s best friends, apolice source tells us she won’t be punished for filling outSullivan’s falsified time sheets because she wasn’t the boss. Onebig question here-how many other political operatives are tucked away inno-show jobs in Boston city government and how much are they costing allof us?

Last Blog before the wedding....???

Got our first newspaper "endorsement" which is nice to feel. West Roxbury and Roslindale paper said---

Kevin R. McCrea - There is no question about the fact that this candidate is very different from any running in this race. He is a well-accomplished man and his candor is certainly refreshing.

Interesting group the herald endorsed Flaherty, Yoon, Connolly, White. What thread do they all have? All of them refuse to say that meeting in closed door meetings excluding the press and public are bad.

A lot of politicians have been coming up to me and saying great things, an idiosyncratic list to be sure..... Rep. Brian Wallace, Sen. Tolman, Councilor Kelly.

Too bad Patricia White declined my offer for one dance tonight at the Allston-Brighton CDC black tie affair.

I was trying to cause the field to thin out by giving them a collective heart attack. How? By showing up tonight in my tuxedo, complete with McCrea Tartan cumberbund and bowtie. No such luck.

East Boston candidates night by chamber of commerce was good, excellent questions, especially how will "you" compromise to get things done. I mentioned that I'm getting married Saturday I know all about compromise....

Interesting that Michael Flaherty has left every candidates forum early before I get a chance to ask him whether he will stand up and defend his record on the open meeting law. But, he is a very busy man and I'm sure has more important things to do then take public questions. Sort of like the mayor.

Someone from councilor Turner's office thanked me for writing the blog today.

People who read the blog! we know you are out there.....
Shout out to Mayor Menino, Maura Hennigan, councilors arroyo, tobin, consalvo, murphy, the herald, the globe, the reporter, south end news, senator tobin, teachers union patricia armstrong, etc. An open, honest, discussion of the important points of the day are good for all of us. I look forward to discussing these items with the council.

Ok, I've got to go and pick the music for the wedding. I'm leaving the city up to the other candidates for the next couple days.

I'm calling out the Globe, the Herald and the Christian Science Monitor. You can't make fun of the mayor for not debating, and write editorials about how it is wrong. STEP UP TO THE PLATE! Sponsor two debates, one on housing and one on education. Invite the Mayor and invite Maura. If one doesn't show, let the other talk for an hour. We are in a sad state of affairs when our press is afraid of the Mayor as well. You can get the auditorium at the Boston Public Library and have a debate. Do your job to promote the public discourse of ideas.

Sam Adams, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Payne are not impressed with us, after what they went through to get us the right to discuss ideas in public. Look what greatness came from their open debates about the direction the country should go, from federalism vs. states rights, a standing army vs. militias, the power of the courts, etc.

All we debate now, is the lighting and the podiums at the non-debates. Pitiful. Notice how none of the city councilors or candidates will openly call for debates. We need true independent voices on the council. Disagreeing with the Mayor is not cause for treason, it is a beginning point of a discussion to come up with the best plan.

kevin

The Police know the Truth....

This is an email I received this morning!

Big thanks,
k



Kevin:

A lot of people love what you're doing with the campaign, exposing Menino and Flaherty (and Connolly and White) as the frauds they are. The Globe placed the ball on the tee for you today with its fundraising through developers and lawyers story.

The only other candidate I can see out there challenging the developer fundraising connection is Flynn's kid.

It would be good for both of you to keep hammering away at Flaherty to try to dash his future mayoral hopes for the good of us all.

I would appreciate it if you would not publish my name or identity since I am a BPD officer.

Thanks.

McCrea Intern Rap

This is the PG version suitable for all, because we know the sucker MC's on the other campaigns can't take the heat, and aren't fire....



The McCrea Intern Rap
By: Amanda Barros, Jaime Bezek, and Kate Dormeus

Summer at McCrea’s
Ain’t no boring days
We’re knocking on doors
No shoes on McCrea’s floors
Jaime and the girls,
Watch Kevin’s baton twirl.
This job ain’t no game
We’re pushing Kevin’s name
No more backroom deals
More meals on wheels.
Tryin a make a better Boston
No matter what its costin’.
Ask specific questions
Or you’ll quickly get rejected.
Take excellent notes
‘Cause were tryin to get votes
Be polite on the phone,
Or you’ll be sent home
Show people the name
So Kevin grows in fame
In this campaign you can’t buy luck,
So your stance on the issues can’t suck
Kevin doesn’t need to worry about that
His promises are down in white and black
Were going around the city
To places great or gritty,
To tell the citizens hello
And about a candidate they should know
15 candidates…….Who would you choose?
Don’t know? We know a dude
What else on the campaign?
We need to finish this rap game!
What else did we do?
We went to nursing homes too!
We went down to Wingate
And had some three year old cake
It was nice and chewy
And even a little gooey.
Jeff had some real fun
His day ended with a gun!
The BRA is whack
But Mayor Menino got their back
Hey voters pick up the phone
Cause you know you’re home
We’re tryin to make a difference
Won’t you people ever listen?
That’s why you got no house
And an uneducated spouse.
Shout out to Bruneli and Shiloh the dog
Check us out on Kevin’s blog
Kevin likes to play James Brown
Look for him in your town.
So on election day,
Vote Kevin McCrea!

how THE MAN keeps it up

All summer I've made sure my interns do more than just answer phones and hand out leaflets. I've had them probe city hall for information so they can discover how their government works, and we can expose the workings of the machine, and how THE MAN keeps us down, to the gain of the rich and the suburban workers.

Today's episode brings us to the BRA project at 422-424 Massachusetts Avenue. First of all, I try to be as conservative as possible in my numbers, always giving the city, the developer and the BRA the benefit of the doubt. For example, I believe 10 units were built but I only have sales figures for 9 units so I just use those 9. So, the profits were probably greater than I state.

The BRA was not forthcoming in giving out information about the compliance with the Boston Jobs Policy so I taught 16 year old Jamie from the O'Bryant school how to do a FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act) and we finally received the information last week. My summer intern Jeff obtained much of the other information from the building department and the BRA and from real estate services.

MONEY

422-424 Sales $ 5,680,000

Costs:
BRA payments 216,000
Construction Costs 3,200,000
broker 260,000
Estimated soft costs 1,000,000

Net profit 1,004,000


This is an annual return on money of about 50% based on the 1,000,000 of equity they indicated they were putting in the project. This is an excellent rate of return. Usually anything above 10% is considered good. Also, take into consideration that in the soft costs are usually a "developers fee" where they get paid for their effort to manage the project. So, they basically double their money in two years and draw a salary for their effort.


BOSTON JOBS POLICY ANALYSIS

The Boston Jobs Policy indicates that 50% of jobs should go to Boston residents. 25% of the jobs should go to minorities, and 10% should go to women. We obtained the job breakdown through our freedom of information request, since the BRA wouldn't give it to us from a phone request.

Boston Residents 16.4%
Minorities 13.1 %
Women .8%

This means that on a Boston Redevelopment Authority Job, more than 4 out of 5 jobs went to people who do not live in the City of Boston, and only 1 in 7 jobs in this 50% minority city went to minorities.

In addition, all the building permits were obtained by contractors outside the city. Sprinkler work from Hopedale, MA, Plumbing from Hingham, MA, Electrical work from Salem, NH, and security from Norwood, MA. General Contractor from Wakefield. This means that the owners of the companies, who usually make the most money, were all from outside the city.

When one looks at the numbers in more detail, there are further irregularities. A general rule of thumb in construction is that half of the costs are materials, and half the cost is labor. For the purpose of analysis, we will give the benefit of the doubt and say that in this case, only 25% of the hours are labor and 75% materials. This leaves $800,000 in labor costs. The BRA compliance sheets indicate that there were 11,462 hours worked on the job. This would come out to an average hourly wage of around $69 dollars an hour which is clearly out of line with what the typical construction worker makes.

Reasons for this could be that the BRA paperwork is not accurate, that somehow the developer built the builiding without much labor, or that the builder overpaid his building permit. The latter two reasons do not make physical or economic sense. Reasons for the BRA paperwork to be not accurate is that the contractor may not want to indicate all the workers hours to the BRA because the compliance figures would be even lower, or the contractor was sloppy in his paperwork, or the BRA was not vigilant or knowledgeable about collecting data. It is typical on city jobs to make sure you log all minority, women, and resident jobs in order to maximize your percentages. Therefore it is likely that the percentages on the project were even lower than reported.

For example, on this approximately 10,000 square foot brick building only 461 man hours of time are reported for masonry work. It is hard to believe that three men built all that masonry in less than 3 weeks time.

Community Benefit

The developer promised $50,000 to the abutters for the upgrade of the back alley. This was never done. I have an email into the BRA's Christine Colley who is supposed to check up on compliance by developers. I have no answer yet, but it was sent recently. The project was finished earlier this year.

Irregularities

The original building permit was for $3,200,000. After two years of work (where the price of building materials increased dramatically, in part due to the Iraq war), and switching general contractors the project only went $8,810 over budget less than 1% of costs. This is very, very impressive or they are shortchanging the money owed the building department.


Conversations with the BRA

What brought this analysis on is that the City is about to put out an RFP for Parcel 3 in Roxbury and I and many residents are very concerned that the jobs and economic benefit from this Parcel will benefit the community. The BRA has said the jobs policy is always in effect, but I and others have questioned whether it will be enforced.

I spoke to Kairos Shen to what if anything was done about the lack of compliance on the project. He asked me to check with Christine Colley who passed me to complaince officer John Redd. John called me today and admitted that they had some problems on that project. He admitted that no fines were levied against the developer. He tried to explain some arcane process about how it was decided to fine people that wasn't put in place on this project. The summation is that the jobs went predominantly to white male suburban workers while the BRA was in full knowledge of it, and didn't find the inequities important enough to do anything about it.


Postscript

Last week at a Mission Hill Ward meeting, I spoke about this project and the lack of resident, minority and women hiring in the city, and the lack of compliance with the rules in the City. I do not think I was very articulate, in fact, one reporter was nice enough to tell me that I was rambling. I apologize.

But, after my speech a John LaCroix an attorney for the city in the Boston Employment Commission came up to me and handed me his card. He told me that the job I was talking about was a BRA job, not a city job. (I knew this, but didn't say it in my speech) He then told me that the Boston Jobs Policy was "JUST A GOAL, NOT A POLICY" and that if I had any questions I could call him.

I am flabbergasted. I wish they would tell contractors that this is just a goal, we wouldn't work so hard to try and comply by it (those of us who do try, anyway). When the general counsel who represents the Mayor says that it is just a goal, you can begin to understand why the Mayor has 7 of his 8 paid campaign staffers being white and they clearly only give lip service to making sure Boston Jobs and our tax dollars go to Boston workers.

Statistical Analysis while listening to Pink Floyd while the in-laws are away...

When I got out of college, having come from nothing, I told myself that as long as I had three things (Remember #3 on your ballot!) that I would always be happy. These three things were a place of my own, a motorcycle and a killer stereo. I'm happy to report that I've always remained true to myself, and everything else is just gravy.

So, yes, I do have a killer stereo and I love to play it loud, if it's too loud, you're too old!

So, while I'm here listening to Money off of Dark Side of the Moon and doing some statistical analysis of a BRA project done for the benefit of the rich, white and suburban, while I have the house to myself which is extremely rarely these days, I'll switch over to the music genre.

The three songs which I have etched in marble calligraphy in my house, and which are my driving forces in this campaign are:

Imagine: John Lennon
Get Up, Stand Up: Bob Marley
Justice Tonight: The Clash

In particular, when I am feeling down, and the forces of oppression are wearing me down, I crank up Justice Tonight. The single staccato drumstick 2/3 of the way through the song represents to me the powerful single voice shouting out against injustice. Alone but unfailing in its message about standing up and saying what needs to be said, no matter what is swirling around the edges.

I also want to get the new Green Day album, it is clearly the most political and rocking album around right now.

I've dreamed of getting elected and having a concert of unity on the hatch shell. Get Rage Against the Machine, 50 Cent, Peter Paul and Mary, Tim O'Riordan & Natural Gas, Gypsy Kings, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, DropKick Murphy's and get all of our citizen's together to celebrate!!!! That would be a party!

What does it say about our society and our city when we have the democratic national convention and the big party of the week was at Louis Boston, only the most exclusive clothing store in Boston. I thought we were democrats, you know, lunch pail, working class, inclusive, etc., etc, blah, blah, blah. Another example of how the rich control everything to the exclusion of the workers. A real democratic celebration should have happened on the hatch shell, or even better at Franklin Park.

Finally, when we drive the Big campaign vehicle around we play different music to bring some smiles to the faces of the people. The clear favorite album is the Blues Brothers, in particular Peter Gunn theme, and Rawhide. But, clearly the number one favorite song with the people of Boston is James Brown, "I Feel Good" people just spontaneously start to dance, groove, get down, and generally smile!

I'm just here to bring some happiness to the people. Glad to oblige!

Television Ad is up today, can be seen on my website.

Our first TV ad explaining why taxes are going up, and about the property giveaways at City Hall started airing today. Look for them on stations like TNT, CNN, Lifetime, etc. from 6 am to 10 am and from 8 pm until midnight.

You can see the ad on my website at www.electkevin.us.

How Clueless is Kevin? A conversation with Ned Johnson, Fidelity

So I was campaigning in Beacon Hill today at a community event. I went up to a man in a red shirt and introduced myself. He started off by saying "all politicians want to do is suck your blood" as he pantomimed protecting his neck from a vampire. I agreed with him and told him that is one of the reasons why I'm running. We went on to have a good conversation about my work as a contractor and he complemented me on actually doing something, not living off of others. He clearly was not impressed with politicians, not an honest profession he thought.
Then he talked about charities and about how they had wanted to give money to the Red Cross but before they gave money they wanted to look at the percentage of money that actually went to victims, but the Red Cross refused to open their books. He asked if I knew what their overhead was and I answered that it was about 20% (he clearly was impressed that I was in the ballpark) he answered that it was actually 24%. He said that if he charged those types of fees they would put him in jail.
So, I asked him what "honest" line of work he was in. He said that he owned a few businesses but that Fidelity was his main line of work. I mentioned my mother used to work there. (I was still clueless about who he was). He said he thought Menino would be good at working at the Red Cross because he was very good at squeezing blood out of the businesses. He was genuine in saying that he did think Menino would be good at it.
He also agreed with me that we didn't really have any choice in the political system, one of his european friends had told him there are no real differences between democrats and republicans. As I said, "what were the choices last year, one rich, privileged guy from a connected family who went to Yale versus another rich, white, privileged guy from a connected family who went to Yale". He said "what is up with these yale guys anyway?"
As our conversation wound down, I thanked him for his time and asked his name. He said "Ned Johnson" , I said "THE Ned Johnson" and he said well one of many Ned Johnson's with a twinkle in his eye.
As I introduced myself to a couple standing next to us, they said hi to Ned and Ned said "hey listen to this guy, he's got some interesting stuff to say" Thanks for the introduction sir!

As I confirmed later, that was THE Ned Johnson who runs Fidelity. Quite a lively, down to earth guy, thanks for the time, Ned it was interesting. I don't get to rub elbows with the rich and famous too often, it is interesting how outspoken he is about the low esteem he holds politicians in.

The juxtaposition with the black man who was an evacuee from New Orleans I met yesterday morning outside a shooting site in Dorchester who said that as far as he could see, Boston was no better than New Orleans couldn't have been bigger. I offered him a job working on my campaign so he could make enough money to get back to his family. We'll see if he shows up at work tomorrow at 9.

Postscript: he didn't show, but another gentleman I met there did show up.

Kevin

The Building Department, Corruption, and not enforcing the rules

I was at the building department recently to get a permit. It was my first time in awhile (I've been kind of busy campaigning, getting married, etc.). Anyway, there was yet another form we had to fill out now additional from the last time I obtained a permit. So, it took even longer to get a permit than usual. Didn't the Mayor have some big announcement in the spring about how he was going to speed up the permitting process???

Anyway, it was great to hear many of the people giving me words of encouragement, that they had seen my signs or read about me. The people who work for the city usually are very nice, and want to do a good job. However, they are uninspired or thwarted by a lack of leadership. The new "temporary" building department head is supposedly a pretty nice guy, he has been friendly to me, although I don't believe he has any training or experience in the construction field. Just like his predecessor, Kevin Joyce who was universally not liked, also had no experience in construction and would have staff meetings where he would liken himself to an Army General or Dictator. He was finally gotten rid of after trying to force a subordinate to pay too much money to an outside contractor I believe in a no-bid contract situation. She said no and reported him. That only cost the city $500,000 in legal and settlement fees. Allegedly he was having an affair with her as well, but that is quite another story. Another excellent department head choice by the Mayor.

One of the former guys at the zoning review counter once said to me, "kevin, you know so much about the corruption on your side of the counter...you should see how much goes on behind the counter!" I believe him.

But I digress. While I was at the building department I went on one of my usual rants about how the rules aren't enforced in the city, unless you get the ear of city hall. I was reading about the whale on newbury or boylston street that the Back Bay Architectural Commission was trying to remove (it is for charity i think) after just a month at an outdoor restaurant. I started to tell everyone out loud in the permitting department about an illegal roof deck in the south end. The person building it actually asked me how to build it. I told him that he needed a permit and he said he was just going to do it on his own without a permit. So, I let the building department and the historical department know about the deck:

Before he built it, that he was going to build an illegal deck
While he was building it, that he was building an illegal deck
After he was done, that he had built an illegal deck

Neither the building department nor the historical department has moved to force anything to be done.

The people at the permit department asked "did you make a formal complaint?" I said let's look it up in the computer and they looked it up and sure enough they had the complaint lodged in the computer. The complaint was 4 years old and they still haven't done anything about it. This is yet another reason I'm running for city council. We shouldn't just enforce the rules if you live next to the mayor or some other city official. Equal enforcement for everyone in the city, not just the rich and connected. This is yet another example of the incompetence of city government. Why should people play by the rules, when the rules are ignored or selectively enforced? This breeds disregard for the law.

Not good!