Post about Council Pleading Guilty to Open Meeting Charges

I had earlier blogged about a Motion for Summary Judgment that the City Council sent to we three plaintiffs. As I wrote in that blog, the details aren't done yet. The other parties in the suit have asked me to take the blog down as they don't believe it conducive to final settlement of the case.

I disagree, and believe in transparency, but I'm part of a team so I have respectfully taken it down.

However, I do suggest calling your city councilor and the Mayor and ask why we are spending so much money on this, in these belt tightening times.

kevin

Against the Bailout and alternatives

I wrote my congressman and let him know I opposed the bailout. For those of us old enough to remember the Savings and Loan crisis and the fallout, this latest financial meltdown was all too predictable. Just as predictable that Tom Menino will raise taxes by the maximum 2.5 percent each year and the real estate taxes will go up as well.

In 1993 I bought my first house during those tough economic times. I had to put $60K down on a building price of $160,000.00. With that kind of equity investment you have a real stake in your property. In 2006 I sold a condominium in the South End for 1.1 million dollars and the buyer only had to put down $50,000.00. I knew then that this easy money was crazy, and my partner and I cashed out and stopped buying property.

How is it that someone with only a liberal arts Economics 1 class could see this downturn coming but few others did? The simple answer is probably greed.

As "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" decried almost 40 years ago, there has been a loss of pride, of quality, of knowledge of excellence in this country. It has been replaced with the quick buck, the flashy car, entertainment news, and celebrity. Sarah Palin is the latest end result of this, but I fear worse could be forthcoming.

Here is a simple alternative to the 700 billion bailout. Treat banks as they treat us. Let the big banks which need money come to the citizens, fill out an application and be approved or declined on the basis of their assets, their credit history and their ability to pay. We can set up a blue ribbon executive committee with all the left, right, and middle. How about a board of Congressman Frank and Boehner, Senators Dodd and Gregg, Paulson from the executive branch, and maybe Warren Buffett, the mayor of NYC, and Senator Bernie Sanders to represent the People.

The banks can present their need for money, get terms from the Bank of the People, where we take equity positions, and they can make repayment terms. It would be transparent because they would have to fill out their applications showing all their assets, debts, income, etc.

Any comments on why this is any crazier than just handing over more than enough money to set up Universal Health Care in this country?

Financial Truth about Wilkerson v. Diaz

I was disheartened by Adrian Walker not getting these facts correct. In addition, as one city councilor staffer told me, "city hall was a ghost town on election day. All of Menino's people were out working the polls for Diane".

If you see incorrect or insincere facts out there, please let Sonia's campaign know about it.




Fact Check: Wilkerson Comments on Barbara Lee
Dianne Wilkerson has repeatedly claimed (on Election night and again at her sticker campaign announcement event last night) that this election was "bought," calling out progressive philanthropist and Chang-Diaz donor Barbara Lee in particular:

Boston Herald (9/16/08): "My fear is that people will think this district is for sale," she said, claiming she was outspent. "There has been so much money spent in this process. It has been unprecedented for us."

Boston Phoenix (9/16/08): She called out Barbara Lee, the progressive philanthropist who helped back Chang-Diaz, as having bought the district, in so many words.

PolitickerMA (9/17/08): At her Election Night party Tuesday night, Wilkerson said that Lee spent an "inordinate amount of money" on the race, creating the perception "that this district is for sale."

Boston Herald (9/24/08): At a rally in Dorchester last night, Wilkerson said she would run as a Democrat in a sticker campaign "to make clear to all that are paying attention that this district is not for sale."


THE FACTS:
Barbara Lee, known for her support of female candidates, including many of Boston's female candidates of color (St. Fleur, Dorcena Forry, Cabral, Allen, Mota and Sen. Wilkerson herself in prior years), donated $500 to the Chang-Diaz campaign this year, the legal campaign finance limit.
Per the most recent campaign finance reports, Dianne Wilkerson raised and spent more money than Chang-Diaz this year -- $131,775 compared to $102,888. That figure is in addition to tens of thousands of dollars' worth of independent expenditures on Wilkerson's behalf, including mail pieces from labor organizations and political advocacy groups.
Dianne Wilkerson received nearly $100,000, 76% of her contributions, from donors outside the district, including $14,000 dollars from lobbyists and PACs.
In comparison, 49% of Chang-Diaz's donations were from donors inside the district, and 69% of her donations were from donors giving $100 or less. She received no money from PACs and only $100 from a lobbyist.
For Senator Wilkerson to make claims that the election was "bought" by one outside donor is not just false -- it's ludicrous when you put it up against the facts of who has actually funded her primary campaign and Chang-Diaz's primary campaign.

sam yoon's minutes proposal

Forgive the brevity, I broke my wrist playing basketball and can't type or write!

Offered by Councillor SAM YOON
> >
> > CITY OF BOSTON
> > IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND EIGHT
> >
> > AN ORDINANCE
> > REGULATING THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL
> > MEETING MINUTES
> >
> > WHEREAS, The City of Boston currently provides, via the City Clerk,
> > City Council meeting minutes and these records are available to the
> > public on the internet; and
> >
> > WHEREAS, The Open Meeting Law and Public Records Law is meant to
> > cultivate public dialogue on governmental action and ensures this by
> > imposing minimal standards for meeting minute content; and
> >
> > WHEREAS, The City already meets these record standards; however, we
> > should go beyond the minimum standards and make our City Council
> > minutes not only publicly available, but more understandable; and
> >
> > WHEREAS, Increasing the readability of our Council meeting minutes
> > will foster public understanding and involvement in local government;
> > NOW, THEREFORE
> >
> > Be it ordained by the City of Boston, as follows that the City of
> > Boston Code be amended by adding the following:-
> >
> > Section 1.
> > CBC Chapter II is hereby amended by appending the following to 2-10.1
> > after the first paragraph:-
> >
> > (a) In addition to keeping records of City Council meetings pursuant
> > to M.G.L. c. 39, s. 23B, M.G.L. c. 66, s. 5A, and 950 CMR 32.00, the
> > City Clerk shall make comprehensible City Council minutes.
> >
> > For purposes of this subsection only "comprehensible City Council
> > minutes" means a record of a City Council meeting translated from
> > parliamentary procedure wording into plain language, including a brief
> > summary of each topic discussed and/or all votes or formal decisions
> > made during the meeting.
> >
> > Under no circumstances shall the comprehensible City Council minutes
> > include the substance of debates by and among the members of the City
> > Council pursuant to chapter 447 of the Acts of 1947.
> >
> > The City Clerk shall make the comprehensible City Council minutes
> > electronically accessible on the City's website no later than two
> > weeks after the meeting in question.
> >
> >
> > Section 2.
> > The provisions of these sections will become effective sixty (60) days
> > after passage.
>

Thoughts at Sonia Chang-Diaz's victory party!!

First of all huge congratulations to Sonia. I met her for lunch back in 2006 when she was running and I have supported her ever since. Clara and I had a fundraiser at our house a few weeks ago where she answered questions openly and honestly, and where she wasn't afraid to disagree with some in the crowd, even Shirley Kressel.

Deborah Shah, her campaign manager deserves great accolades as well keeping the campaign focused on how to get to 50.1 percent and not get bogged down in stuff that isn't productive.

Someone we dragged to our house who was uncommitted wrote to me today "Great news about Sonia— totally worth the 50 bucks and 3 minutes it took to vote yesterday. “We the people” won a great victory and we got rid of an arrogant pol. It sends a message. Who’s next? Kudos to both of you for stepping up to the plate to help make this happen."



The first thing I noticed when I got to the party last night was that there wasn't a single elected official present. It truly was "we the people". There wasn't anyone I saw in a suit and tie, just average people looking for some accountability and honesty from an elected official, not looking for a handout and a payout. I thought to myself, "how long before Menino & Co. try to put their hooks into her". It really was an amazing victory: Governor Patrick, Mayor Menino, Congressman Capuano, Councilor Yoon, the Teachers Union, etc. all behind a convicted felon who has transgressed multiple laws and norms of society. It really is true that Massachusetts is a corrupt pyramid of power all looking out for each other. I pray that Sonia has the strength of character which she spoke last night of getting from her mother to resist the temptation of power.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the well dressed suits of Councilor Tobin and Councilor Flaherty came to the party to press the flesh and offer congratulations. One of Menino's sharpies was there as well. A City Council staffer told me off the record today that City Hall was a ghost town yesterday as Menino had all his people out working the polls, doing whatever he could to take care of "one of his own", a fellow politician who could be counted on to give tax breaks to developers, corporate welfare to the rich, and lip service to the rest of us.

It was great to be on the winning side, thanks to everyone of the THE PEOPLE who worked so hard for this victory.

Status of City Council excluding itself from Open meeting Law-and an open Debate challenge to any of them

While I was doing boring paperwork yesterday, I took the time to call my city councilors and see where they stand on the Walkowski report and recommendations that seeks to exclude themselves from the Open Meeting Law as currently constituted.

First some background. The Rules committee chaired by Maureen Feeney received the Walkowski report about 3 weeks ago, had an initial meeting and then a subsequent meeting a week or two later. At that second meeting a vote was taken to send the report to the attorney generals office, the Mass. Municipal Association City Corporate Council, and the Municipal Clerks Association for their comments and review. Only Chuck Turner voted against this, he told me, because he wanted to send it on to those organizations with the stipulation that those organizations were to understand that the City Council approves of these suggestions.

So, I wanted to call up my district councilor (Turner) and the four at large councilors and Council President Feeney to get their positions on this. Other than Turner who was not afraid to say he supports it, the general message from the councilors was that they were all for transparency. But, how can you be for transparency when you vote to have a report forwarded for review that asks for exclusion from the Open Meeting Law. They seem to want to have this dance of saying they personally are for transparency, it is just others who are moving this forward. However, if they were for transparency they should have spoken against this nonsense, and stopped wasting everyone's time with it. Surely, the Attorney General has better things to do than review a report which the Council supposedly doesn't agree with?

Councilor Connolly's office told me that John was an ardent supporter of Transparency. I asked what he had done ardently to support transparency but they couldn't answer that. His chief of staff said the councilor would call me back. Still haven't heard from him.

I called Councilor Murphy's office and no one picked up.

I called Councilor Flaherty's office and had a nice conversation with a staff member. He assured me that under no circumstances would the councilor vote to exempt himself from the Open Meeting Law. He said that Councilor Flaherty only sought clarification on the law. He said Flaherty cares a lot about transparency, and agreed that transparency is a problem at city hall especially with organizations like the BRA and the City Budget which buries all sorts of items. The gentleman even called me back this morning as we apparently missed each other at the Sonia Chang-Diaz victory party last night. My question to him is: what questions would Michael Flaherty like clarification on? His position for at least 2 years has been that he wants clarification. Why not be transparent about what you are not clear about? It is only Shirley Kressel, the District Attorney, Kathleen Devine and I that have brought about OML issues, why not ask some of us? He said he would get back to me. I appreciate the fact that they are at least responsive, if not giving a very clear answer. Flaherty is on the rules committee and he could have voted against the Walkowski report going any further but he didn't.

I spoke to Councilor Yoon's office and a nice lady there told me that Sam cares a great deal about Transparency. He, though, is also on the rules committee and voted to forward the Walkowski report on. It is kind of hard to be both for something and against something at the same time. Unless you are a politician, I guess. She told me (see earlier blog post) that Sam is introducing a bill to make the City Council minutes more readable for the public. Councilor Flaherty's office told me that Councilor Flaherty is in favor of this action. I said I'd love to see the bill and asked if she could email a copy to me. She said she would. I didn't receive it yesterday and I called her this morning and she said she would send it, but that the chief of staff had to send it. I still haven't received it. I do agree with Sam Yoon that the City Council minutes are atrocious, in particular the August 6, 2008 minutes which are so inaccurate that someone might even be inclined to think that they are in violation of the Open Meeting Law and might think about filing a lawsuit (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)!!!

I called Councilor Turner's office and they said he would call back. He did give me a call and then proceeded to explain to me why he voted against this Walkowski thing, because he wanted the council to be more proactively for it. He feels the council is even less effective than it was before. He feels it is important for the councilors to be able to meet in private to "build relationships". He told me that he thinks both the Superior Court and the Appeals court were wrong about the Tularemia decision. He thinks the Tularemia situation was an emergency. I said "but Chuck, the Tuleramia problem happened 6 months earlier, in the summer. How was it an emergency in January?" But he insisted it was an emergency, so I said "Chuck, why don't you read the Open Meeting Law, if something is an emergency there are provisions for having a meeting why didn't you just follow the law?" He said something about it being 8:30 in the morning and they couldn't find everyone or something to that effect. I forgot to ask him the most important question: if this Tularemia meeting was an emergency and so important, than why did the City Council argue in their legal filings in McCrea v. Flaherty that the City Council has no jurisdiction or control over the Public Health Commission, or for that matter over any public health issues in the city? How could something which they have no control over be an emergency? The Council didn't argue in court that the Tularemia meeting was such an emergency that they just had to meet that day, they argued that the Council has no power or authority over anything to do with Public Health, Tularemia or Boston University so it couldn't be considered a meeting since they were essentially meeting about nothing. Maybe this will become known, like all great Chess moves get named, as the Seinfeld Defense. Councilor Turner then went on for a few minutes without letting me get in a word edgewise, where he said that before you present anything to a group you work out the details before hand, and that I as a businessman get to meet behind closed doors, so he should be allowed as well. (except that in both cases it is my money at stake, and so I should be allowed to the meeting I think) He said he would come anywhere, anytime and defend his position on this, then finished with "I'm sick of this shit, Ok, take care" and hung up.

I ran into Joe Heisler at the Sonia Chang Diaz victory party last night and suggested a debate about transparency and the Open Meeting Law and the Walkowski report. He agreed to host it, if any Councilor would come on and support their actions and positions. Councilor Turner had given me a great idea.

So, how about it will any Councilors come on Joe Heisler's TV show and have a debate about how we can make the City more transparent, and defend them sending a report to the Attorney General which has the suggestion of exempting the Boston City Council from the Open Meeting Law?

PS. I just got a call from Justin Holmes from Councilor Feeney's office. He was good enough to clarify some information for me: which organizations the council is forwarding the report to, and the fact that the Rules Committee commissioned the report about 14 months ago. He referred me to Anne Hess Braga to get the information on what Mr. Walkowski was instructed to do by the Rules Committee.

Interestingly enough, the City Council did not inform corporate counsel that they commissioned the Walkowski report despite the ongoing Lawsuit about the OML. When the Walkowski report came out it was a surprise to them as well.

Victory for the good guys at last!

I'm very happy today because yesterday, Sonia Chang-Diaz unseated Dianne Wilkerson. I've supported Sonia since her last run in '06 and am hopeful about her ability to remain uncorrupted by the powers that be.

Sam Yoon to file legislation for more transparency

I called Sam Yoon's office today to see how he was going to vote on the Wolkowski proposal to eliminate the City Council from having to obey the Open Meeting Law. His staff person said that Sam was going to vote for more transparency.

She also said that he is going to file an ordinance(her words) for the City Council minutes to be better understood. She said that Sam feels the City Council minutes are very hard for citizens to understand and that he believes that citizens should be more involved. She said that even she can't understand the minutes of the City Council sometimes.

Good for Sam! I asked for them to email me Sam's proposed legislation. If I get that I will post it.

How to get City Council report on excluding themselves from open meeting law!

I saw on Universal Hub that Councilor Feeney had a press release about the Council always wanting transparency. So I called her office to get a copy of the Wolkowski report. I asked to have it electronically (you know, save trees, save postage, be able to post it so more people could see it and well, make it more transparent!!!) and they said they were only sending out hardcopies. I asked them to send me one.

I then again asked why they weren't making it available electronically and they said there was a concern that if they made it available electronically that it might be altered!!!!! Apparently, they have never heard of PDF's. I then suggested that they post it on the City website for all to see. They said they would take it under consideration. I asked to have Councilor Feeney give me a call to talk about how they could be more transparent about this.

Another good question is how long they have been working on this, and how much it costs. They supposedly commissioned this about 14 months ago. Mr. Wolkowski was paid $70K or so in 2007 according to the Herald website, who knows how much in 2008. I have put a FOIA request into the council to find out this information.

The total now must be around $150,000 that the council has spent fighting transparency and the Open Meeting Suits all without taking maybe an hour of their time and sitting down with Shirley Kressel, Kathleen Divine, and myself to discuss how they might avoid all these problems with Open Meeting Suits. Next time Councilor Flaherty is complaining about how much is being wasted on studies of a new City Hall, a good reporter should ask how much they have been wasting on this stuff.

We have offered to sit down with the council to try and work things out, but for three years they have refused. A real absence of leadership, when there is free taxpayer money to spend. Even George Bush came around to negotiating with North Korea.

Finally, if you want to see an example of what I consider to be a violation of the Open Meeting Law (could another lawsuit be far behind?) go to the posting board on the first floor of City Hall, in the upper left hand corner and read the posting for the rules committee.

The posting essentially says, and I'm paraphrasing: "This is the notice of the rules committee. We shall meet from time to time when we want to discuss the Open Meeting Law. We aren't going to tell you when or where. Consider yourself noticed."

If they are all about transparency, why not post the report on line to get citizen comments? I thought we were going green?

By the way, they have never been sued for talking in the hallways. That is just their smokescreen to try and exempt themselves from the law so they really have more backroom dealings.

Councilor Murphy indicates the City of Boston has 10,8 million bucks to spare!

In a quick session designed to give the city council staffs raises councilor Murphy testified that the city has 10.8 million dollars left over from fiscal 08 so there is plenty of money to give raises to all the city council staff. Approximately $350,000.

That should leave 10 million for the money the schools need, right?

Or maybe they will issue homeowners tax refund checks?

Watch it here: http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/cc_video_library.asp?id=577


Amazing to me in these tough times that the city has 10 million it doesn't know what to do with, although granted this is not a huge amount percentage wise.

kevin

Update on Open Meeting Law case McCrea v. Flaherty

Believe it or not, the McCrea v. Flaherty case is still going on, the City has spent about $100,000 of taxpayer money fighting it with no end in sight.

We have been trying to negotiate a settlement with the council on the remaining counts that they have not already been found guilty of. Our offer to them was to admit that the prior meetings had been in violation of the Open Meeting Law, and to work with them to establish a Sunshine Commission similar to the one in San Francisco to make sure that Boston had a best in the country policy towards transparency. In other words, we gave them a chance to really look good and to enact policy which would improve the interaction between the elected officials and the public. Here is their response from their attorney Mary Harris:

Dear Mr. McCrea, Ms. Devine, Ms. Kressel,

I write to inform you that the Council has met to consider your settlement proposal, and declines the terms you propose.

I am out of the office, returning on August 25. Perhaps we can speak to see if the area of disagreement can be narrowed, although any resolution that would include a requirement that the Council undertake commitments beyond which the court may impose after a hearing would be unacceptable to the Council. We believe your demand to establish a "Sunshine Ordinance Task Force" aimed at development of a San Francisco-like local law to be such a requirement.

We do remain willing to reach a compromise, if one can be agreed to within the parameters of the existing law.

Best regards,
Mary Jo Harris

Ward 9 Debate Sonia v. Dianne---Is there hope?

I attended the Ward 9 Debate on Monday night between Sonia Chang-Diaz and Dianne Wilkerson for our local State Senate seat. Neither candidate was particularly impressive from an objective point of view. A curt analysis would be Sonia saying "we need to do better" without specifying either what Dianne had not done well or what exactly she would do, and Dianne using the "these are the problems facing us" routine where she talks about everything that is wrong, while heads nod in agreement but she offers no solutions other than saying she will work hard.

Neither dog and pony show is particularly impressive to me. If Sonia wants to unseat an incumbent I think she should point out directly, not with innuendo, where her opponent has let the voters down. The obvious question for Dianne is if you know what the problems are, why haven't you fixed them in 15 years in the Senate and if someone is to blame, who is it?

Dianne is a master, like many politicians of taking both sides of an issue, and of saying one thing, meaning another, and denying something she just said. Some of her comments that left my head scratching are as follows:

"the Public Schools System doesn't work for the majority of its citizens", yet she is proud to be endorsed by Tom Menino who is responsible for those schools. If he isn't to blame, and she isn't to blame then who is responsible for those schools?

She said that 2/3 or our teachers are retiring in the next 3-5 years and we need to get new teachers and teachers certified in their subject areas. She then went into a tangent I couldn't understand about how parents can't teach their kids algebra. With her ongoing problems with the campaign finance people, I was thinking I certainly wouldn't want her teaching anyone algebara.

She repeatedly said she was the best person in the Senate to get to "20 plus 1" (a majority needed to pass) and said she was unhappy with the Governor about his campaign promises on CORI reform. So, the question is why hasn't she introduced the proper CORI reform and gotten it to pass if she is the most knowledgeable and most able to get it done. She is proud to be endorsed by Deval as well.

She said that the legislature was going to be called back into session to cut spending, and that she had "a hope and a prayer" that they won't cut education. I applaud her being very vehement on this point.

She also talked about economic development where she said "she won't miss any opportunity" to add jobs in her district. She didn't offer specifics but seemed to definitely be in the mode of "everyone is going to get some pork, and the system isn't fair, but I will work to get us some pork too" and that some pork for "women and people of color" is better than the no pork of the past, even though it currently isn't what it is supposed to be.

All in all, it was a night filled with a lot of words and not much substance and a soupcon of debate.

Who will save us, when we need fiscal responsibility, more transparency and renewed commitment to education.

As Sam is to Deval, Deval is to Obama

At my housewarming party last weekend a Globe reporter said to a few of us "wow, Sam Yoon has been a big disappointment." I replied to this person who had interviewed Sam a number of times, "are you kidding?, he is exactly what he said he was going to be in his campaign. I can't believe you thought anything else. Your own columnist Sam Ellis wrote that Sam only put out 'nerfball bromides'". He has continued to emit these bromides. All I ever heard him promise is that he was going to do better, but since he had never been in office it is easy to do better than nothing. I think Sam has been very honest in that regard.

These same campaign bromides I heard again with Deval Patrick. Together we can, what??? And now we have Obama, who says we need change without any specifics. What I have seen is changing of positions to meet changing political needs. No profiles in courage to me.

To me, Deval Patrick is Sam Yoon on steroids, and Obama is Deval Patrick on steroids. Of course, to me, each of them would be better than the probable Republican opposite but they aren't saying anything specific, just putting out a feel good message. Until voters demand real facts, promises and policies from their politicians this country will continue heading in its current direction.

response to Jacoby Globe editorial

Dear Jeff:

Nice article, but....

But, when will the Globe start doing serious journalism? When will the Globe stop endorsing these
guys such as Menino, Flaherty, etc.? The voters look to you, the press, for direction. I had a Globe reporter at
my house last night who when she interviewed my run for office asked fluff questions about who the Mayor's wife is,
and how far can a motorcycle be parked from a curb, when I wanted to talk about taxes, corruption and cronyism.

Look yourself in the mirror and tell it like it is. Without a serious commitment from the fourth estate, the other 3 get out of control. Why don't you write about how the firefighter pension issue is not the fault of the firefighters, it is the result of the person running the show: Menino and the City Council who should, as our elected officials be watching out for our dollars.

The same goes for the state legislature, the treasurer(s) and the governors(s) who oversaw the big dig, etc.

Sincerely,
Kevin McCrea

Giants Win!!!

The 7 to 10 year old team I have been with for the last 5 years has won again. The South End Giants played through a rainstorm and a tough Mets team, to win the championship 3 to 1. The Giants haven't been defeated in the playoffs for 4 years in a row now!

Congratulations to the team, coach Johnny and Mario, and all the kids who learned and grew all season long, were great teammates, and a pleasure for me to be around.

Mothers Day Baseball

A pitchers duel turned into high scoring run fest on Mother's Day at Roche Park.
It started out as a pitching duel between, Joshua Perez of the Giants and Dyvine of the Mariners.
A bases loaded walk to God scratched home the first run in the second inning by the the Giants. In the bottom of the third the Mariners were now facing Keson John and they took the lead with their patience at the plate scoring 4 runs despite just one ball being put into play.

In the top of the fourth the Giants put on their rally caps and erupted for 8 runs, led by a grand slam by Jason Pepin, backed up by a Ryan Hernandez home run. But the shorthanded Mariners, who were down to 8 players due to an injury, came back in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 9-9 again with patience at the plate but this time with a couple of run scoring singles by Dante and Dyvine. The Giants brought out Jason Pepin on the mound to get the final out of the inning.

As the sun faded away, the Mariners brought in Francisco in relief for the final inning. The Giants rallied again with Josh Perez getting the big hit, a triple to right. Jason came back in the bottom of the fifth to close the victory with two strikeouts and a nice play at the mound to throw a runner out at first.

On such a tension filled game, that was well played by both teams, it almost goes without saying that

GOD SCORED THE WINNING RUN!


BIG thanks to my mom for being my coach and getting me to all the games when I was a kid. And thanks to all the moms of my Giants who are so supportive of our team.

Love,
Kevin

Excellent analysis of the civic forum

http://brighton-community.blogspot.com/

Problems with management at Boston Public Schools?

The Budget Crisis That Wasn't

If you had read the papers in the early spring and had a child in the Boston Public Schools, you may have lost sleep worrying that the BPS was in desperate financial straits. Parents can rest easy. Unbeknownst to most taxpayers, Boston is now one of the wealthiest school districts in the entire United States based on expenditures per pupil.

According to the state's website Boston's school budget per pupil is the same as Weston's and thousands of dollars higher than "wealthy" districts like Brookline, Hingham, Newton, Wellesley and Winchester. For a full list of where Boston stands relative to other communities in Massachusetts, click here: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/ppx.aspx and then click twice on the column headed "expenditures per pupil".

While the rest of the state lays off teachers, adds fees and cuts school services, thanks to additional staffing and salary increases, Boston's education budget will increase 5.7% next year and this is further complemented by an additional 1-2% drop in the number of students meaning that per capita expenses will increase in 2009 by roughly 7% or almost $50 million.

So whence the massive shortfall?


There are many problems in the BPS. It has become painfully obvious that more money is not the solution to these problems as Boston perennially ranks in the bottom 5% on statewide standardized test scores in spite of massive spending increases over the past 15 years.

Open Meeting Law victory

I heard from my sister while I was driving home that we won a victory in the Open Meeting Lawsuit victory. Since Mccrea v. Flaherty was appealed by the City Council it will now be case law that the way that Michael Flaherty and the City Council interprets the Open Meeting Law is illegal, and the way that Kathleen Devine, Shirley Kressel and I interpret it is correct.

Of course, the Globe and Herald had two horrible articles in the paper today about it, and they clearly did not read nor understand the ruling. We won outright on some matters, and on the other matters the court took the time to explicitly deny the arguments(excuses) of the council as to why they were violating the law.

What the appeals court did do was agree that the City Council should be allowed an opportunity to present more evidence as to why their meetings were legal, even though the council was the party that moved for Summary Judgment.

So far, the council has spent approximately $50,000 to $100,000 of legal fees to fight for their right to have 6 members go into a room to discuss matters, then have those 6 leave a room and 6 more enter a room to discuss matters. Then when they have sorted everything out, not in the public eye, they will rubber stamp a decision at a council meeting.

Of course, they have rejected all of our olive branches to stop the litigation and try and craft a progressive, country leading open meeting policy that would really include the public.

And they wonder why only 11 percent or so voted in the election.

Message on foreclosure from Sen. Wilkerson

April 11, 2008



Dear Community Leader:



As the State Senator for your district, I recognize you as someone who interfaces with many residents every day. As you know, we are in the midst of a housing crisis like never seen before across Massachusetts! I know from the escalating number of constituents calling and walking in to our office every day that our district has been especially hard hit. I want to let you know what we are working on in the hope that you could pass the information on and be supportive of our efforts. Just in the past several weeks, between February 15th and April 3rd :



There have been 5,960 foreclosure petitions filed across Massachusetts (730 in Boston)
There have been 4,215 auctioned properties in Massachusetts


The foreclosure crisis is destroying whole communities not just here in Boston, but all around Massachusetts. If we continue at this pace, we will far surpass the 29,000+ record-number of foreclosures in Massachusetts for 2007.



Recently, I filed three bills in the Senate to protect tenants, mandate judicial foreclosure and to create a six month moratorium on new foreclosures. In order for these bills to gain traction, I need your support around the community for this package of legislation and for you to serve as a resource for the families, homeowners and tenants whose lives are being devastated every day by this crisis. Here are the summaries of the bills I’ve filed:



An Act to Require Judicial Foreclosure – Sen. 2696

This bill will enable Massachusetts to join 29 other states in requiring that a court approve foreclosures. Homeowners should have a day in court and an opportunity to raise defenses before they are stripped of the biggest asset they are likely to own in their lives. If you've been reading the daily newspapers over the last several weeks, you know that homes are being auctioned and sold before foreclosures are even complete. Even if lenders violate the law or make errors in how much money is actually owed, borrowers currently have no rights. This must change.



An Act Relative to a Temporary Moratorium on Foreclosures – Sen. 2697

This bill will provide for a 6 month moratorium on foreclosures to keep homeowners from losing their homes while more comprehensive solutions are effected on the state level. During this moratorium, a commission will be established to make recommendations that will help residents of Massachusetts deal with the crisis. This time will also provide an opportunity for mortgage holders to work with borrowers and find solutions that will help them remain in their homes.



An Act Requiring Just Cause for Eviction in Foreclosed Properties – Sen. 2698

This bill would protect from eviction tenants who are current in their rent and otherwise occupying a property lawfully after foreclosure, in other words, requiring just cause for evictions. If the foreclosing lender does not have just cause to evict, the tenants can remain, paying reasonable rents and abiding by the standard rules of tenancies. This protection will also protect municipalities as they scramble to address vacant and unsupervised properties which can become public safety hazards through burst pipes, fires, vandalism, and disrepair due to neglect. This bill will keep people in their homes and help to stabilize neighborhoods during the current crisis.



I need your help to let others know that activity is occurring. These bills can only pass if we work together to make the case that we have to provide help to homeowners and tenants and not just the big lenders who are being bailed out on the federal level.



In the meantime, if you have clients, constituents, patients, neighbors etc, who need assistance with their mortgage and are dealing with pending foreclosure, I encourage you to put them in touch with either the City of Boston’s Foreclosure Prevention Initiative by calling 617-635-HOME (617-635-4663) or the Legal Advocacy Resource Center (LARC), which provides referrals on a case-specific basis to appropriate groups. You can contact LARC by calling 617-603-1700.



If you have any additional questions or would like any more information about bills that I have filed please don’t hesitate to contact my office.



Sincerely,



Dianne Wilkerson

State Senator

Second Suffolk District


Wesley J. Ritchie

Director of Policy

Office of Senator Dianne Wilkerson

Second Suffolk District

617-722-1673

Getting Inner City school kids motivated

Low-income urban students know they attend substandard, second-tier schools that lack the technology, resources and extracurricular programs commonplace in schools of more affluent communities. And yet we continue to expect these students to prioritize education when budgetary and funding inequities demonstrate that urban education is neither a local, state, or national priority. Why should students on the Westside of Chicago not have access to the same resources, technology, and programming that is certainly offered at our nation’s “Top 100 High Schools?” Engaging technology programs like Hoops High demonstrate that attendance and (thus) academic performance will greatly improve in urban schools that are able to offer a range of exciting extracurricular classes directed at both the needs and the interests of the students.


Although this is exactly what I've been saying for years, it was reiterated in the New York Times today.

Why should teenagers care about something, when the adults who tell them to care, don't care about it themselves?

Dance Crew from Dorchester area could win MTV contest, please vote!

A friend of mine, Kevin Barry, is helping this Dorchester Group maybe win this MTV award which could lead to great things. I really salute Kevin who is so concerned with the state of his neighborhood and the ineffective leadership, but who goes out and does what is really required to make a neighborhood 'awesome'.


“AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW”
Could live in Boston!
STATUS QUO Dance Crew

From Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury

Competing in MTV’s Grand Finale – The Final 2 of
“Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew”
Let’s Represent Boston – Support Boston’s Youth by voting for Status Quo to win it all - bring home a Championship to Boston


Watch the Live Finale on MTV Thursday March 27th10pm

Vote for Status Quo to win the dance competition and represent Boston.
Vote as Often as you can. Vote! Vote! Vote Again!
Vote Now, until 9:00 pm Thursday, March 27th
1. Call toll free: 1-866-ULove01
2. Cell phone text message #1, 23882
3. Vote online: www.mtv.com

“The best tricks of any dance crew”

Vote from 11pm Thurs March 20th until 9pm Thurs March 27th
See www.cityofboston.gov for profile of Status Quo and contest


Again, another weekly reminder to vote for the hometown boys from Boston!! I thank you all for your efforts last week as Status Quo was #1 in amount of votes in the last round.
I hope you were able to catch them in their performances last night/Thursday; if not check MTV over the weekend. I am sure they will play the reruns!
Looks like it will be a tight race for the finals so try and remember to vote again this week. Information is below and attached for your convenience on how you can help bring another championship team to Boston!!!

Back to the Blog

Well, Clara and I are back in Boston, now living in Fort Hill in Roxbury. We like it up here, quiet, nice neighbors, lots of parking. Plus, we have the same trash filled streets we were used to in the south end.

A few lines in the sand (as the Mayor of Newton would say):

1) I am opposed to casino's in MA. Disclosure: I gamble, Vegas, Ecuador, etc.
Especially in Boston. I could live with one resort casino in a remote area as a
compromise, but gambling is not the basis of a progressive economy.

2) There should be no agreement with the Fire Union without drug testing.


My moles have been sending me stuff as usual such as:

1) Why hasn't the new superintendent and her right hand man registered their car in
MA yet? Maybe Mayor Menino has already explained there are two sets of rules in this state: one for the taxpayers who have to register within 30 days, and one for the rest of the "in" crowd. Allegedly they still have their Tennessee license plates. She has found the time to write the Mayor a check for his campaign however.

2) Why is Michael Flaherty and the City Council spending $600 an hour for attorney Rory Fitzpatrick to appeal the Open Meeting Law decision against them. The fine they received was only $11,000 but they may end up spending $50-$100,000 of taxpayer money to appeal the case. At the appeals court hearing Mr. Fitzpatrick told the panel of 3 judges that what Flaherty, Feeney, and Co. did wasn't right but it was legal. If it wasn't right, than why not just pay the fine and stop doing it as opposed to spending so much money defending something your own attorney says isn't right?

3) Does the head of the trash department really live in Boston, or does he just park his city car in Hyde Park and then take his own car home to Westwood or another suburb? Also, did he have anything to do with the Capitol Management waste disposal company which has come out of nowhere to be a huge player and receive maybe a 5 year contract??? Is that his son as a vice-president at Capitol?

Did I miss much while I was gone? Keep the cronyism, corruption and collusion tips coming.

Mayoral Poem

Taxes are too high,
Services are too low,
The Schools are terrible,
The Mayor has got to Go!


The outgoing Library chief says the Mayor is 'anti-intellectual'. The Mayor has no comment. I wonder if any Boston intellectuals will step in and defend the Mayor. Larry Dicara and Billy Bulger don't count, we'd like to see an independent person say that the Mayor has clothes.

The Greener World

My wife and I are taking a year to ride around the world by motorcycle for our honeymoon (motomoments.blogspot.com). One of the most disturbing and obvious
facts of the trip is how far behind much of the rest of the world the USA is when it comes to green living and energy independence. I would like to share some of our observations, and some suggestions as to how we might proceed to move forward.

Forget the empty promises of politicians to “be a leader” in Green Technologies. First we must play catch up. Virtually all of Central and South America use only fluorescent
light bulbs. Wind turbines are everywhere, from Costa Rica to Turkey, from the fertile fields of Luxembourg to the sacred green hills of Ireland. Go to a gas station in Rio de Janeiro and you can fill up with 5 types of fuel: diesel, bio-diesel, propane, natural gas and minimum 95 octane.

The SUV is virtually an ‘America only’ vehicle, which is seen only intermittently elsewhere, and even then the vast majority are of the BMW X-3 size, not the mammoth
Chevy Suburbans or Ford Excursions. We could count the number of Hummers we’ve seen on the toes of a foot of a two-toed sloth. Even on the German Autobahn, the BMWs and Mercedes are typically of the lower engine size classes. The vast majority of cars in the world are tinier 4 door Toyota Corola sized vehicles. The majority of motorcycles are 125cc types from Japan and China which approach triple digit miles per gallon.

Recycling is huge and mainstream in Europe. Kitchen cabinets come with drawers separated into 4 different compartments for green, brown, and clear glass and plastic.
Large recycling stations are on main streets in the cities and in parking lots of the Wal-Marts and other shopping centers. The mentality to conserve and recycle has clearly become standard, and people do it as naturally as we go to get a coffee in the morning. In fact, grocery stores actually charge a fee for bags and most people carry their shopping home in fold-out crates and re-usable sturdy sacks.

Public transportation is more prevalent, cheap, and easy to use in almost every corner of the world. Almost everyone knows about the trains and subways in Europe. But we also used the buses and subways in Mexico City, Istanbul, Buenos Aires and Caracas. They were all at least as clean, timely, and easy to navigate as the MBTA, and usually even better than that standard; and they were of course fully taken advantage of.

Toilets in Europe now come with two flush options. One option is for solid waste which uses the standard amount of water, and one for liquid waste which uses a reduced amount of water to do its job. Another way that resources are being saved around the world is with the prevalence of motion detectors in residential and commercial buildings which turn on and off not just lights, but also escalators and other electric appliances.

Hot water, which can account for up to 25% of a person’s energy use in the United States, is handled quite differently outside the USA. The typical solution, especially in poor regions and warm tropical climates, is, of course, cold water only. Obviously that won’t cut it in the developed world, but there are other options. In Turkey, there are hot water solar panels on virtually every roof, and this is common in many parts of the world. The most common solution is “on demand” systems which only heat water at the shower electrically, or by natural gas or propane for larger systems which provide hot water for a whole house.

The big box hardware stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot in Ireland and the UK carry wind powered electricity generators for a few hundred dollars for homeowners to install themselves. There are places as diverse as floating reed villages on Peru’s Lake Titicaca to Internet Cafés in Nicaragua which power their electrical usage using only solar panels; and many highway signs and roadside warnings are solar powered throughout the world.

Bicycle paths are common in most European cities which are older than Boston, and often have just as jumbled of a road system. In Amsterdam, which is world bicycle central, there is a parking garage next to the main bus and railway terminal with room for 80,000 bicycles. The folks we met said they use them year around, even in the snow.

On the positive side, thanks to the Clean Air and Water acts and other measures, the United States clearly has some of the best quality air and water in the world. It has been shocking to see some of the permanent smog over places such as Vienna, Lima, Budapest, and Sao Paulo to name just a few. Just the sight of these brown hazes hanging over any city is enough for me to question what, if any, real progress mankind is making. Don’t even get me started about all the polluted water ways we’ve found in our
travels.

What can be done? As the saying goes: Think Globally, Act Locally. I’ve mentioned things we’ve seen to pique people’s imagination as to how they might be more energy efficient, and to encourage them to see different solutions to energy needs, as we have done as a result of our trip. Thomas Friedman recently wrote in the New York Times that one of the best things we can do for the environment is to elect environmentally conscious leaders. In Boston and Massachusetts we need leaders who might do the following things:

1) Mandate that all taxi cabs be hybrid vehicles within 5 years (as done by Mayor Bloomberg in NYC).
2) Mandate that all non-essential city or state vehicles also be hybrid.
3) Mandate dual use toilets in new housing developments; and, make a deadline of perhaps 10 or 15 years for subsidized housing and public buildings to be retrofitted to do the same.
4) All replacement lights in public buildings and subsidized housing to use fluorescent lighting. Within 5 years all lighting to be fluorescent or other high efficiency equivalents.
5) Increase gas taxes. with the money raised to go directly into public transportation projects, such as extending the Green Line and other rail projects in the State and the Region. Gas is $8 a gallon in Europe, $5 a gallon in Brazil, and almost $10 a gallon in Turkey. The cost has not stopped driving or traffic jams, we need to make public transportation a viable alternative to cars. Perhaps a group from New England and New York could get together to impose a similar tax across the region to invest into a real regional rail system. This will help in many ways to make the region a more competitive place economically.
6) Mandate that new hot waters systems, especially in public buildings and subsidized housing be more efficient.
7) Mandate that shopping centers and parking lots of a certain size provide recycling stations for the public use. Provide similar recycling stations on public property.
8) Make bicycling part of the solution, not just a way for bike messengers to earn a dangerous living.
9) Eliminate school busing in Boston for environmental reason and move to neighborhood schools. (I realize this is a much bigger issue, but the City of Boston spends around 90 million dollars a year on transportation. That is a lot of fossil fuel. We also need better and diverse schools but that is another subject). At the least, convert buses to bio-fuel as is being done in many municipalities.
10) Insist that the MBTA provide professional service. If Mexico City and Istanbul, let alone Europe, can provide fast, clean, reliable, and timely trains and buses then we can do it in Massachusetts as well.
11) Get Wind Power moving! We’ve seen wind turbines in the Oceans near the Netherlands, in farmer’s fields through the flatlands of Europe, on mountains in Scotland and South America. There is a lot of wind in New England, and our energy costs are high. We need to do this and do it Big!

I believe that by taking steps such as these we will foster a sense of being environmentally conscious, that will hopefully move us from just taking advantage of these tried and true methods to using our innate Yankee Ingenuity to refine these existing technologies, and coming up with new ones so that we can become world wide environmental leaders.

Great thoughts on Global Warming from Vaclev Havel as I head to Prague

As we have been traveling around Europe we realize how far ahead they are in conservation, green technology and recycling. We also realize how far America is falling behind the EU everytime we go to pay for anything. America must wake up and realize that we can't rest on our laurels and must move forward.

Hope everyone is well, and that they will vote in the fall elections even though there aren't many viable races.

OVER the past few years the questions have been asked ever more forcefully whether global climate changes occur in natural cycles or not, to what degree we humans contribute to them, what threats stem from them and what can be done to prevent them. Scientific studies demonstrate that any changes in temperature and energy cycles on a planetary scale could mean danger for all people on all continents.

It is also obvious from published research that human activity is a cause of change; we just don’t know how big its contribution is. Is it necessary to know that to the last percentage point, though? By waiting for incontrovertible precision, aren’t we simply wasting time when we could be taking measures that are relatively painless compared to those we would have to adopt after further delays?

Maybe we should start considering our sojourn on earth as a loan. There can be no doubt that for the past hundred years at least, Europe and the United States have been running up a debt, and now other parts of the world are following their example. Nature is issuing warnings that we must not only stop the debt from growing but start to pay it back. There is little point in asking whether we have borrowed too much or what would happen if we postponed the repayments. Anyone with a mortgage or a bank loan can easily imagine the answer.

The effects of possible climate changes are hard to estimate. Our planet has never been in a state of balance from which it could deviate through human or other influence and then, in time, return to its original state. The climate is not like a pendulum that will return to its original position after a certain period. It has evolved turbulently over billions of years into a gigantic complex of networks, and of networks within networks, where everything is interlinked in diverse ways.

Its structures will never return to precisely the same state they were in 50 or 5,000 years ago. They will only change into a new state, which, so long as the change is slight, need not mean any threat to life.

Larger changes, however, could have unforeseeable effects within the global ecosystem. In that case, we would have to ask ourselves whether human life would be possible. Because so much uncertainty still reigns, a great deal of humility and circumspection is called for.

We can’t endlessly fool ourselves that nothing is wrong and that we can go on cheerfully pursuing our wasteful lifestyles, ignoring the climate threats and postponing a solution. Maybe there will be no major catastrophe in the coming years or decades. Who knows? But that doesn’t relieve us of responsibility toward future generations.

I don’t agree with those whose reaction is to warn against restricting civil freedoms. Were the forecasts of certain climatologists to come true, our freedoms would be tantamount to those of someone hanging from a 20th-story parapet.

Whenever I reflect on the problems of today’s world, whether they concern the economy, society, culture, security, ecology or civilization in general, I always end up confronting the moral question: what action is responsible or acceptable? The moral order, our conscience and human rights — these are the most important issues at the beginning of the third millennium.

We must return again and again to the roots of human existence and consider our prospects in centuries to come. We must analyze everything open-mindedly, soberly, unideologically and unobsessively, and project our knowledge into practical policies. Maybe it is no longer a matter of simply promoting energy-saving technologies, but chiefly of introducing ecologically clean technologies, of diversifying resources and of not relying on just one invention as a panacea.

I’m skeptical that a problem as complex as climate change can be solved by any single branch of science. Technological measures and regulations are important, but equally important is support for education, ecological training and ethics — a consciousness of the commonality of all living beings and an emphasis on shared responsibility.

Either we will achieve an awareness of our place in the living and life-giving organism of our planet, or we will face the threat that our evolutionary journey may be set back thousands or even millions of years. That is why we must see this issue as a challenge to behave responsibly and not as a harbinger of the end of the world.

The end of the world has been anticipated many times and has never come, of course. And it won’t come this time either. We need not fear for our planet. It was here before us and most likely will be here after us. But that doesn’t mean that the human race is not at serious risk. As a result of our endeavors and our irresponsibility our climate might leave no place for us. If we drag our feet, the scope for decision-making — and hence for our individual freedom — could be considerably reduced.

Funny happenings in Chinatown

Frank Chin, the power broker in Chinatown who was behind the Mayor's guy Linehan getting into the final of the may 15 special election is back at it.

Reports are that he was recently at the Election Department in City Hall. What was he doing there? Well getting hundreds of absentee ballots of course.

Nice to know old school city politics of voting for what your ward boss tells you about is alive and well.

What does Frank Chin get from the Mayor to elicit such loyalty?

City Budget nicely summed up

Although I am in Ecuador, a financial professional friend of mine took a look at the
proposed City Budget. Here is the summary:

here's the bottom line

Income:

Maxed out on Prop 2 1/2 and dipped into reserves a little
Counting on some extra from the state

Expenses:

Pay the 10% hike in health care that we got across the board

$7 million for a few extra cops

Send the rest to the school system - we have 4600 teachers for 54,000 students and 5000 other employees in the school system. That's one adult (all with health care) for every 6 students. One teacher for every 12. If a class size is 25 kids - that means the average teacher only spends half the day in a classroom.

Everything else is little more than inflation.

The globe calls this "strategic" - only if "strategic" is the new bloated!

Thoughts from Central America

Today is the last day in Central America for Clara and I. We discussed at dinner last night what our biggest surprises were. Mine was how easy it was. It was not dangerous, it didn't ever feel dangerous (aside from a crackhead neighborhood in Panama City). Clara has happily surprised at how many tourists we saw in all the countries, for example in Nicaragua which receives a lot of bad press.

People everywhere were friendly, did not hate americans,

(although they think George Bush is an idiot and they can't understand why we elected him), and on the whole were positive about the future. In almost every country there is deep cynicism about government and corruption. A park ranger in Guatemala told us the people believe every penny of foreign aid goes into the politicians back pockets, and guide at the presidential palace in Mexico(!) told us that the Mexican congress is full of rich guys who vote themselves raises, give themselves tons of perks, don't do any work, and have no responsibilities. Talk about an honest government worker.

The recurring themes of politics here are similar in each country. The rich abusing the people and the land to maintain control. The deforestation across the region is obvious, and the trash and environmental damage are all too prevalent. I am convinced that it is no mistake that Costa Rica is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the whole region. They have a stable, democratic government, they abolished the military in 1948, and they spend that money instead on schools and social welfare. They have protected the land, the flora and the fauna with a huge network of national parks. In response the people are happy, successful, and clearly are proud of their country and take care of it. It seems so simple, and the good news is that other countries are starting to see the light. We could do it Boston as well.

I intentionally was not keeping up with the news in America. I would catch snippets here and there about the Iraq war and the British hostages. I've received emails about some of the violence in Boston. The answers seem to be simple, hire more cops (as our lawsuit requests), and give kids and families hope for a future by providing good schools, and ending the corruption, nepotism, and racism that bars access to the valuable assets of the city. We just need the leadership to do it.

A quick note about District 2. Mary Cooney, Ed Flynn and Susan Passoni are 3 very good candidates. I believe either one of them will provide a beacon of responsibility if elected to the council, and I encourage voters to check out what they (and the others) have to say and make an informed choice. I'm a bit glad I'm not in their district so I don't have to choose between them!

We dropped off our bikes at the shipping company yesterday at the cargo terminal in Panama, we are getting on the plane today and will reacquaint ourselves with the bikes in Quito, Ecuador!

Hope Easter was good for everyone, and Go Sox!!!

Bon Voyage!

Clara and I are finally leaving New Orleans today, heading towards Mexico.

You can follow our adventures at motomoments.blogspot.com

My best to everyone back in Boston and elsewhere!

k

The Press Photographers at the BIG House!

Tonight and tomorrow we are hosting the Boston Press Photographers Association as they judge the best pictures of the year from Boston and New England photo journalists. We are honored to have the White House Press Photographer, a man with over 40 Time covers, and one of the top women photo journalists in the country sitting in our living room and deciding the best pictures amongst thousands of entries in many different categories.

There is best animal picture, best sports picture, etc.

They have bunkered down and no comments are allowed from the peanut gallery. It is fun to watch these professionals look and choose what is great and what is merely really good. Neat to sort of get a "year in review of New England" as well.

A friend asked us if we'd be willing to let them use the house, and we agreed as long as they took their shoes off(!) and made a donation to the South End Youth Baseball. It is a win/win on all sides!

Alas, no pictures of motorcycles or of any secret meetings!!

Reason Why Michael Ross had so many parking tickets?

I've heard that one of the reasons Councilor Ross had so many parking tickets is because he registered his car in Newton so he was ineligible for a resident parking sticker.

Why would someone do this? Because the insurance rates (and maybe the excise taxes) are much lower in Newton than they are in Boston. It would be expected that a graduate of business school would take advantage of the economic opportunity and indicate that his vehicle was garaged in Newton.

Especially when you can get parking tickets fixed.

Disclaimer: I have not fact checked this, only heard it from a source, who heard it.....

To my anonymous source

To my anonymous source:

At the recent trial I asked the question that you suggested I ask of the person in question and the answer was in the affirmative. Due to constraints and agreements with my co-plaintiffs I was not allowed to follow up with further questioning or witnesses.

It appears that everything you have provided me is true. What do you suggest I do at this point?
Would going to the feds be appropriate?

I will be out of the country for a year soon, so if you have any thoughts try and send them in the next week.

thanks,
kevin

City Hall wouldn't mind Boston full of only Rich People

BRA says wealthy only in Boston would be OK. "At the annual AIAS conference (www.aias.org) held at the Back Bay Sheraton over New Year's weekend, a senior BRA official, Prataap Patrose, Director of Urban Design, suggested in his comments, as part of a panel discussion on Urban Planning, that it would not necessarily be a negative development if Boston living was only affordable to the well to do. A fellow panelist Globe Architecture critic Robert Campbell, took the official to task noting that successful cities result when people of all incomes and educational backgrounds can and want to live and work in the city. According to audience members the fact that the press and other elected officials were not present prevented a quite larger public discussion and outcry about the official's comments."

this came from the livable streets alliance

Late night thoughts from the Bywater

Vaughan's, 1 am, January 19, 2007: New Orleans

Needless to say, there are no wireless networks available here in the Bywater, but then no one is asking for one. The city is Saints crazy, I've seen half a dozen bands in the last fortnight, from soul to brass, blues to the reincarnation of Mama Cass and every one has played "the Saints go Marching In" with cries of "Who Dat, Who dat, Who dat say they are going to beat them Saints?!?!

I was privileged enough to get a couple tickets to the Eagles game and I hate to say it, but it was louder than Yanks/Sox. It wasn't as intense, but it was loud!!! I was invited to a tailgate party by one of my workers, what a great time. It was about 130 yards from the front door of City Hall, in a park with a pavilion. There were about 60 friends, throwing the football, BBQ'ing, with kegs, pot luck food like crawfish cheesecake, and people smoking joints all within view of Mayor Nagin's office. (Known as C Ray by some pundits due to the fact that you Don't see Ray around) There was also the life size state of Ernie K Doe, deceased singer and perpetual Mayoral candidate with his personal Hearse. His widow brings him to events and parties around town. The Times Picayune recently had an editorial suggesting that Ernie K is seen around town more and is more engaged than our live Mayor. Despite being dead, Ernie didn't finish last in the most recent election.

I have put together a temporary work crew of an out of season professional golfer, a Tulane Law grad who hasn't taken the bar, and a guy from New Zealand with immigration issues who is going to join the infantry as soon as he sorts it out. Never a dull moment down here. We are getting great work done, with a wide range of topics discussed on the job from Caddyshack, to NZ's universal health care to whether anyone has seen a grown man naked, and of course the daily betting pool of when our resident white trash laborer will show up and what his excuse will be. (So far, two instances of not being able to find his way, despite being a Louisiana native, and one instance of locking his keys in the car) It's all good.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets down right, or on time, or at all down here. You may come to Boston and never see or eat a bean, but you can't escape the morass of the Big Easy down here. I drove 27 hours down here a couple weeks ago, with a 3 hour sleep in a Tennessee rest area and before I went to my place I stopped at the store for some food. With my 14 items I was third in line at the 15 items or less lane. 20 minutes, and two phone calls later I had checked out…, this morning at Home Depot (Lowe's is definitely better, cleaner, more organized, more knowledgeable staff) as I was trying to buy a microwave the two young clerks discussed boys and their cellphones while I clicked my heels. My standard sighing response these days is "well, I can certainly see how we won the war…, I'm just amazed it took so long" they usually nod in agreement. Everyone knows it, but no one does anything about it, kind of like the Weather, George Bush and Global warming. Or trash in Boston and the elected officials, see today's heeelarious Boston Herald article, "I'm going to do something about this right away", "I'm going to hold a hearing", "within 30 days I am going to have a report" Are they for real???!!!

Braintree has taken to spray painting "NO TRASH" on the street or sidewalk in front of people's homes who haven't paid their trash bills, in order to shame residents into paying. The trash collectors don't take the trash from any house that hasn't paid up. Maybe I should call my local elected official and suggest it.

Back to the present and Kermit is playing his IPOD during his "Reefer break", from Beyonce, to Michael Jackson, to 'Bounosera, senorita kiss me goodnight" His album "KERMIT RUFFINS LIVE AT VAUGHAN'S" is coming out on February 12, 2007. Their version of "Talking Loud and Saying Nothing" will be worth the price alone. Plus versions of "I'll be around" and his 13 year old daughter showed up at 1 a.m. to sing "I know what it means to miss New Orleans" with him. I can't wait.

Thanks to people who have asked me to run for Jimmy Kelly's seat, but first of all I live in Chuck Turner's district and two, I am absolutely taking the year off to travel the world with Clara. Can't wait to get further down the road, we're taking a family friend with us who is somewhat familiar with Central America on the first leg of our trip to Panama.

An All-Star jam is getting together here, with members of the Rebirth Brass Band such as 'trombone slim' in the house, the aging "Sleeping Giant" has already sung once, and more are on their way.

That's a lot of entertainment for $10. Happy Mardi Gras!

Another interesting thing from the Open Meeting Law trial was Steven Murphy. He had an amendment written up that would have kept any councilor who voted against the pay raise from receiving the pay raise. What a great way to coerce people and squelch democracy. He got very aggravated on the stand when I asked him about it, saying that it must have come from his computer and he would get to the bottom of whomever leaked it out. (It was his Lawyer who gave it to us) Interestingly though despite it being supposedly only on his computer, all the white counselors who were asked about it were familiar with it. Chuck Turner had not heard of it.

Speaking of Chuck he called me on my cellphone the night before the trial and started to discuss his personal finances. His lawyer had mentioned to the judge that even though some people voted against the pay raise, they were still taking the pay raise. The City's lawyer then apparently told Chuck that the issue of him taking the raise might come up at the trial. We had no knowledge of his pay, and it had nothing to do with the matter at hand. But it seemed to have an effect of bringing him into line with saying on the stand that despite the fact that the public never had a chance to see the pay raise statute, let alone a chance to comment or have a hearing he believed that the "public's business had been done in public" I was not surprised, but some on our team were.

It is odd being next door neighbors with the daughter of Congressman Jefferson, he of the $90,000 in the fridge. Me being so anti corruption and influence peddling. Some of the local wags refer to him as "Dollar Bill", the old nickname of the white high top wearing Senator from New Jersey who shares Sam Yoon's alma mater.

John Tobin has been quietly going around the city meeting with parents of schoolchildren in the Boston Public Schools. Whether it is politically motivated or not, good for him for putting in the work. One Ward committee has already talked about who they would support in a race between him and the Mayor. John better have some more good ideas in the next few months so that the Mayor can steal them and proclaim to be ahead of the curve.

It's 2 a.m. and the band is starting to roll again, with every song having a Saints and Super Bowl reference worked in.

Peace

New Orleans March against Violence, written at Tipitina's

The Rally

I went to the Rally at City Hall Thursday, which I thought was an extraordinary affair. Three different marches, from 3 different parts of the City converged on City Hall. The crowd was white and black and Asian, young and old, business leaders and bikers.

There were about 5,000 people there, and the People spoke. There were about 10 speakers. An underlying theme was "enough is enough", which was repeated often. I was incredibly impressed with these common folk who came to speak. They really understood the core problems facing the City. They spoke of how the problem was not a Katrina problem, it was a problem that had started many years earlier. There were ministers, siblings of the murdered, business people, neighbors, community people, all speaking of the Anger and Frustration of trying to rebuild with a government
that "just doesn't get it."

They spoke of how music was taken out of the schools in 1985, how athletics have been taken out of the schools. The crowd was chanting "Music in the Schools, Music in the Schools" for awhile. Blacks and Whites spoke about how this was not a racial issue, this was a human issue that affects everyone, one preacher talking about how the city survived the water running through the streets, but it could not survive blood in the streets.

They spoke about how we needed independent accountability of our government and law enforcement officials. How the police needed to be paid more money. About how parents needed to take control of their kids, about how parents needed to stop worrying about other people telling their kids the proper way to act, about how we all needed to look in the mirror, about how young black youths needed to step up to the plate (this was said by a young black youth), they talked about the need for better schools, and hope for the children.

I was most moved by a speaker from the Hot 8 brass band, who had one of their members murdered around New Years. He talked about how he was scared to death of the police, as he looked directly at the Mayor, and a number of Police Officials. He talked about needing lights on in the streets and of being pulled over by cops while carrying his instrument around town, and of being arrested for having the wrong name. But, he also addressed the black youths directly saying "I am speaking as a black youth, you black youths have to stop messing around. I am tired of hearing 'Nigger this, and Nigger that.' Let me tell you I AINT NO NIGGER, AND I DON'T KNOW NO NIGGERS." This got one of the loudest rounds of applause of the day.


The crowd held signs from "Recall Nagin" to pictures of the Dead, to personal expressions of grief and tragedy endured. In standard New
Orleans style, marchers were led by traditional drumming, being met with drums when converging together, and the drums giving crescendo riffs at high points of speeches, a low frequency reminder of the important words being spoken.

One Minister gave the powerful words "New Orleans might be known as the city that care forgot but This won't be the city that forgot to care."

One of the Hot 8 members also talked about how we need to get Christianity back in the schools, this was met with tepidity and a low rumble of boos. He pulled out a dollar bill and started talking about it saying "In God We Trust" and how that somehow meant that we needed God in the schools. But, I thought the crowd was very respectful, with the tacit understanding that everyone was here with good intentions. In another forum, he may have well been loudly booed off the stage by this crowd.

Mayor Nagin was right behind the stage for all of this, listening to the anger of the residents, while catcalls occasionally bombarded him from the crowd.

Overall, I think the residents were on to the right issues. The Government needs to be held accountable in a transparent manner, with independent auditing. Bad schools lead to bad results for all the residents. Law enforcement needs to be adequately funded, and also open to oversight and audit. The leaders need to lead, to have a plan, and to advocate the State and Federal government for appropriate help. There were loud calls for the government to be honest with the citizens.

I was also impressed about how race was essentially a non-issue, that everyone realized they were in this together, and they were honest about the major source of the violence being the drugs in the city, and young black youth involved in the drug trade or victims of its effects.

The Mayor held a news conference later in the day to say that he heard loud and clear and that he gets it. Here is hoping that he does.

(This is very stream of consciousness, written with my laptop on the bar at Tipitina's while an all-star cast of New Orleans favorite's celebrate the 29th anniversary)

So, here I am speaking to Anne Deady from the University of Maryland Law School, we are enjoying the ambiance at Tipitina's for their 29th anniversary party gathering, they are inscribing names into the sidewalk outside, the Neville's are singing, people are chanting and dancing.

And of course, the Hi-Life's are $2.

She is here volunteering with the public Defender's office here in NOLA.
All week, she has been doing client interviews, one person has been in for 22 months without a trial. There were 250 people from around the country volunteering during their winter break from law school. Thank you Ann, and the others for trying to help this legal and law enforcement system which is on the verge of collapse.


Soul Rebels just came on, there is nothing like a late night brass band in New Orleans, Who Dat, Who Dat, Who Dat says they're going to beat those Saints???!!!! Of Course, they are breaking into the Saints Marching In.
Luckily I was able to get a ticket to the Big game tomorrow for $240 bucks, it is my first foray into the Dome, and I am excited. This city needs and wants the Saints to do well, and the Saints have been reciprocating and really connecting with the people. The group I'm going with is frying up some chicken, bringing some kegs and tailgating from about noon on just outside of City Hall.

Looks like Anderson Cooper has been reading my blog, and decided to head to Vaughan's last night for Kermit Ruffins. It was a rocking show by all accounts, and I'm sorry I missed it but I was grouting a bathroom and the grout was setting up and getting away from me, so I ended up until 1 a.m. doing the Karate Kid, "sand on, sand off" with a sponge, two buckets of water, and a lot of elbow grease.


Sorry, while I'm writing this the Rebels just broke into a non verbal brass version of the Violent Femmes…"…Love to strut your stuff" sings the crowd.

While I was writing this at the bar, many, many people came up to me and read over my shoulder and offered their thoughts and comments. From the law student above, to an English teacher at Delgado community college who didn't like the improper English of the Hot 8 speakers, to a woman who saw the "N" word and wanted me to stop writing and have a drink, to a middle aged woman who insisted I give her my card because she wanted to be my friend. I met a couple from Newburyport who were here for his 40 year birthday celebration. They had been coming for years, and turns out he has a couple motorcycles so of course the conversation drifted that way.

A group of 6 or so 40 something cousins insisted I dance with them when they found out I was from Boston, as one of them grew up in the Southie projects. Best of all, there were many more Red Sox hats than Yankees hats being displayed in the throbbing mob.

Long and short of it, is that I want people to know that New Orleans is still very much open for business, people are coming here and having a great time, and feeling completely safe. The City needs you, will welcome you, and will absolutely make sure you have a great time.

Come on down, help out, be a part of the solution.

peace,
kevin

Citizens March on City Hall to protest violence

There were 9 murders in the first 8 days of 2007 here in New Orleans. The violence and crime is everywhere, not just a few neighborhoods like in Boston. On Sunday a stolen car thief
screeched around my corner, 30 yards from my house, slammed into two cars, got out and brandishing a gun starting running down the street. He started taking his clothes off (will there be a "baggy jeans running" event in future Olympics?) until he was naked, as it started to rain. He wasn't caught, and the dogs lost his scent in the rain.

Welcome to New Orleans.

Murdered last week was the Hot 8 drummer, shot in the back of the head while he was in his car.

Also murdered was Helen Hill, the murder that really put this city over the edge. Helen and her husband met at Harvard. Lived in Nova Scotia, the South and here. Her husband was a doctor, she a filmmaker. They were great friends with friends I've made down here, a group I call my "anarchistic doctors", who set up a free medical clinic after the storm because the government wasn't getting anything done. This group of people are the most warm, wonderful group of people who are all about peace, loving the creativity and vibrancy of New Orleans, of all races and nations. We spent the Fourth of July playing with the kids in someones front yard, eating watermelon, and shooting fireworks off in the Neutral Ground. They had started a Food not Bombs group that collected donations at Whole Foods and distributed it to the needy.

Helen didn't want to return to New Orleans, with her husband and 2 year old. But he was insistent that the City needed people like them. So they returned to help. Last week an intruder broke into their home, murdered her, shot her husband 3 times and left, not to be caught.

The two murders have galvanized the City. There will be 3 marches converging on City Hall today, ending up there demanding accountability by their politicians. It has been reported on NPR this morning, with a soulful yearning message written by a friend and attorney.

The murder rate here is approximately 4 times greater than Boston on a per capita basis.

Please try and help anyway you can. Insist that your congressman release funds for FBI and other law enforcement help. People are really reaching the end of their rope here, and everyone is concerned, rich and poor, black and white, young and old. Hopefully those controlling the purse strings will hear.

When I die, you better be second line

I LOVE New Orleans...
as frustrating as it is on a constant basis. They are just so darn polite..."I'm sorry we didn't call you back after the 10 messages you left us, we've been really short staffed. I appreciate your patience sir...." All said with total conviction.

But, really God's genius can be seen on a consistent basis in the presence of Kermit Ruffins. I'm not into drugs, but marijuana can't be that bad if combining it and the trumpet player results in so many, many, many smiles and joy.

Tonight I took a young white liberal woman from my area to the 'hood to see Kermit, despite being a native Louisianan (but growing up in the suburbs-like marriage, "the death of hope") Although she proclaimed to be really disturbed about the 9 murders in 8 days here in NOLA, when I mentioned the area off of St. Bernard Street she started asking the usual "is it safe there? Can you be intimidating to people? Isn't that where all the murders are?", and when she saw the neighborhood as we drove there she became more fearful.

All we have to fear is fear....

Once we arrived at Bullets Sports Bar, the good times began. The BBQ was smokin' right outside, the smell so good I told the chef I was getting fat just sniffin' it. The crowd was 90 percent black, and I realized that in New Orleans EVERYONE is a character. Three young guys pulled up on Superbikes for their share of the fixin's and to check the scene. I started a conversation by noting that one of the 3 was clearly a better rider, a fact I'd ascertained by looking at his tires, they were impressed and said yes indeed the youngest of them was a motorcycle dragracing savant and they regaled me with stories of highway wheelies, and dragracing stories of milliseconds and thundering wobbles. We got into a debate over roadracing v. dragracing, which quickly devolved into the glories of Nitrous and the latest computer shifting schemes, racing on the streets, before one guy humorously explained 'we're young and black, you think we can get a track?" After exchanging info and agreeing to go for a ride later, they headed off and I headed in.

Inside, James Brown was shouting that Papa's got a brand new Bag, and patron's were tappin, smiling and dancing, and this is before the act came on! Once Kermit started, the smiles expanded, the aisles got crowded, and the washboard player literally had sparks flying from his spoons.

Rounds of beers were shared, I learned the wisdom of 71 year old Ray who is a retired plasterer who still smokes and drinks, but lost everything in Katrina and moved to Baton Rouge, but he still comes down to his local when he can. I told him I think there are good people everywhere and he corrected me to say "there are good and bad people everywhere." He also told me, in the only sobering thought of the night that "this is my neighborhood, and I don't know what has happened to it, even I can be afraid walking these streets."

There were birthday salutes, funky hats, and Kermit playing one of my favorites, "when I die, better be second line, Oh when I die, you better be second line" I was wishing my wife was with me so we could dance to the second line, soon, soon...

Before the evening ended, I was licking my fingers with some BBQ and met lifelong Raiders fan John, who used to live in Dorchester. He escorted me to my truck, got my phone number and we agreed to hang out more in the future.

There was more, so much more, as always with the Crescent City, that will never die...

RIP Jimmy Kelly

How Conservative or Liberal are you?

There is an interesting questionaire at

http://www.blogthings.com/howliberalorconservativeareyouquiz/

if you have a couple minutes you could take the quiz and see how conservative or liberal you
are. It is very subjective, and I even changed my answer a couple times so it is clearly
not an in depth analysis but can give a quick look at where you are. I seemed to come out as left leaning middle of the road. My results:


Overall: 40% Conservative, 60% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Deval Gets Inaugurated, thoughts on a bold use of the Bully Pulpit

As I was driving through the South Bay Shopping Center yesterday, seeing a new building go up, I thought of a good way Deval could use his bully pulpit.

There is something called the Boston Jobs Policy. 50% of the construction jobs in the City are supposed to goto Bostonians, 25% to minorities and 10 percent to women. However, this policy is not enforced, and basically given lip service by the Mayor and his administration. A review of 5 years of BRA projects showed that only between 20 and 25 % of the jobs are going to Boston residents and fewer still to minorities.

Why are young minorities in the City shooting one another? One reason is very tiny job prospects. Look around at the construction jobs, mostly white males, which the data show mostly live in the suburbs. Even in the heart of Roxbury/Dorchester a new building going up has only white guys visibly working on it (at least 10 as I drove by, with no women or minorities). Our trade school, Madison Park has fewer than a dozen young people getting the training to be carpenters and according to the teachers they are not getting the resources they need to prepare the kids for the real world.

Perhaps Deval could work with the Mayor on giving these kids an opportunity, so they have more to look forward to than guns and violence. Use that pulpit to get the City of Boston to enforce its own guidelines and hire local people, local minorities for these honest, good paying jobs.

Talking about Police Staffing, Violence on WRKO

I will be on WRKO sometime between 10 a.m. and 1 pm on Saturday talking about the police staffing levels and the increased violence in the City. In particular, I will be talking about our Citizen Lawsuit to force the Mayor and the City of Boston to enforce it's own laws by staffing the Boston Police Department to the number required by Ordinance, namely 2500 police officers.

Please call in and join in the discussion, with your thoughts and ideas on how we can reduce the violence in the City.

Patriots Playoff Tix Raffle for Good Cause!

A friend of mine who is a bigwig at Spaulding Hospital is offering a chance to
goto the playoffs, and help raise money for a great charity. Please indulge
yourself!


Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network, official rehabilitation hospital
network of the New England Patriots, presents:

> New England Patriots Playoff Raffle
Includes two seats on 45 yrd line and two passes to VIP tailgate party

AFC East Champs, NE Patriots
> vs. New York Jets
> Sunday, January 7th
11am VIP Tailgate Party (includes barbeque and open bar)
> 1pm: Game Time
> Gillette Stadium
>
> Raffle tickets will be sold as such:
> 1 for $5
> 3 for $10
> 7 for $20
> The drawing will be held at 2pm on Friday, January 5th.
> Proceeds to benefit the Spaulding ski-a-thon teams.
> If you would like to purchase tickets or have any questions please contact
> Suzanne Showstack at sshowstack@partners.org or (617) 573-2903.