Casino Trachtenberg Open for Business: Schofield at "Even Money", Ciommo at 3-2

In an opinion piece in this week's A-B TAB, Mark Trachtenberg places odds on the seven candidates for this fall's election for the open Allston-Brighton District City Council seat. The article is quite a fun read, not just the guide to betting.

Here's a toast to Allston-Brighton's newest economic development project: Casino Trachtenberg!

Trachtenberg's odds on the candidates are:

Tim Schofield, even money

It’s rather surprising that somebody as “plugged in” as Tim Schofield wouldn’t have studied Felix Arroyo’s proposal to tame the BRA, an agency that can be quite a rogue elephant sometimes.

Mark Ciommo, 3-2

His lawn signs are quite an impressive display, but lawn signs don’t vote, as At-Large City Councilor Steve Murphy found out the hard way when he lost to Andrea Cabral when he ran against her for Suffolk County sheriff in 2004.

Gregory Glennon, 3-1

[While Glennon] pretty much ran [State Rep.] Golden’s office when Golden was doing his U.S. Army Reserve duty in Iraq, [he] gets viewed by many “progressive” activists as the enemy because he’s a devout Catholic and has trouble dealing with sexual politics issues such as abortion and gay marriage which the city of Boston has virtually no jurisdiction over anyway.

Rosie Hanlon, 4-1

While Rosie Hanlon readily agreed to provide the BAIA with a list of businesses in Brighton which do not sell any alcoholic beverages and thus qualify to be promoted free of charge to incoming college students as part of the BAIA’s planned alcohol-free entertainment marketing drive this coming Labor Day weekend, she also has supported various bar and restaurant owners in their applications to expand and/or extend their hours of operation.

Alex Selvig, 4-1

If you’re in the mood for a hard-core protest candidate... Alex Selvig would seem to be your best bet... Alex Selvig’s core message may be exactly what many voters in Allston-Brighton want to hear from their next city councilor, so if he can raise enough money and avoid making any “rookie mistakes,” he could be in a position to pull off the upset of the millennium.

James Jenner, 8-1

[Trachtenberg's] advice to Jenner: do the best you can in your campaign for City Council this year, go to night school to finish your college degree, volunteer for as many neighborhood organizations as you can, and come back the next time a seat opens up.

Mark Alford, 1000-1

Rosie Hanlon asked, ”Have you seen Mark Alford anywhere?” Well, I [Trachtenberg] haven’t, and, at that time, neither has virtually anybody else in local politics since the campaign began.

Well, I have seen Alford at a few meetings, including some that I ran, and I can tell you he usually sits in the back row. But then again... I didn't remember seeing Trachtenberg at those meetings. Maybe they are the Jekyll/Hyde of Allston-Brighton?