Why Did the BRA Board Delay Vote Over Charlesview Relocation Proposal?

The Boston Redevelopment Authority announced today that its Board was postponing a vote on the proposed development project to relocate the Charlesview apartments to Brighton Mills.

The BRA's stated reason for the delay dodges the salient fact that local elected officials want the project modified -- a stance reiterated by District 9 City Councilor Mark Ciommo as recently as last week.

A group of North Allston-Brighton residents had recently written to the BRA Board requesting the delay:

[The residents] said the planning process was “tainted by a project manager biased against the residents of Allston and Brighton,” referring to a number of e-mails recently released by a [Public Records Law] request in which senior BRA project manager Jay Rourke expresses frustration with Allston-Brighton residents for their continued resistance to the proposed Charlesview Development project.

The BRA gave a different reason for the delay, namely, that it had something to do with the future plans of the Brookline Machinery site, which is not part of the current development proposal. BRA senior project manager Jay Rourke emailed today:

The BRA feels that the Charlesview redevelopment project has completed the public process and is ready for consideration by the BRA Board of Directors for approval. Nonetheless, it will be removed from tomorrow night’s agenda because there is no finalized agreement between Harvard University and the BRA concerning the future of the adjacent Brookline Machinery site. The public hearing will be rescheduled and re-advertised once a satisfactory agreement with Harvard has been achieved.

The real reason? The A-B elected officials are not in support of the current proposal without significant modification, such as including the Brookline Machinery lot as part of the project. As I wrote several weeks ago, all A-B elected officials wrote in October to the BRA:

They wrote requesting the BRA and developer to: expand the area of land in the development to include the Brookline Machine building; reduce the number of rental units (those that are beyond the low-income units for the current Charlesview tenants); reduce overall the project's density; increase the number of home ownership units; reduce of the height of the eight-story Telford Street building; express a concern about a "lack of open and recreational space" in the project; increase the amount of retail space; and halt further development of Harvard property in North Allston-Brighton until "significant development of the Holton Street Corridor is realized." Pretty broad stuff which will take a while for the BRA and the project's developers to modify and accommodate.

Councilor Ciommo reiterated his position last week at a meeting of neighborhood residents:

Ciommo supports many of the requests of the ABNNF.

“It better be different than the one that was presented at the last meeting at the Honan Library, or I won’t support it,” said Ciommo.

Asked what would happen if the BRA approves the plan, Ciommo said, “Then they’ve stepped over the community.”

With opposition to the current version of the project coming from both residents and elected officials, the BRA had little choice but to put off the project's consideration until changes can be made to it.


Update (11/17/09): The Boston Globe has an article here. BRA Director John Palmieri told the Globe that he had promised to have a commitment from Harvard about developing the Brookline Machinery site -- which has yet to happen. The Globe concludes that "the move is an effort to placate Allston neighbors, who insisted additional housing be built on that site to help create a more vibrant neighborhood with residences, shops, and Harvard’s planned $1 billion science complex."

Image of proposed Charlesview development from the Charlesview.org website.

Ciommo Over Selvig 64-35% in District 9 City Councilor Race

With 26 of 27 precincts reporting, incumbent Mark Ciommo has defeated challenger Alex Selvig for District 9 City Councilor by a margin of 64-35%.

With 95% of precincts reporting city-wide, incumbent Thomas Menino has defeated challenger Michael Flaherty for mayor by a margin of 57-43%.

Incumbents John Connolly and Stephen Murphy, along with challengers Felix G. Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley, have taken the four City Councilor-At-Large seats.

My predictions were surprisingly on-the-mark, getting each candidates' percent of the vote to within 1-2 percentage points -- although Pressley took 4th place stronger over Tito Jackson and Andrew Kenneally than I had predicted.


Who Did Worst Against "None-of-the-Above"?

For those candidates running unopposed, it is instructive to see how many people didn't cast a ballot in their race or voted for a write-in -- together representing the "none-of-the-above" vote. This is one way of gauging which district councilor is least liked in his or her district, or who might be the most vulnerable two years from now:

• District 2: Bill Linehan 60.4%, None-of-the-Above 39.6%
• District 3: Maureen Feeney 66.9%, None-of-the-Above 33.1%
• District 4: Charles Yancey 64.1%, None-of-the-Above 35.9%
• District 5: Rob Consalvo 64.0%, None-of-the-Above 36.0%
• District 6: John Tobin, Jr. 67.6%, None-of-the-Above 32.4%

District 2 Councilor Bill Linehan won over None-of-the-Above with the lowest margin. Ouch.

Candidate Election Night Parties to be Preceded by Municipal Election

The candidates for District 9 City Councilor will be holding election night parties tonight:

• Mark Ciommo, incumbent, Corrib Pub, 396 Market Street, Brighton, 8 pm
  
• Alex Selvig, Deep Ellum, 477 Cambridge Street, Allston, 8:30 pm
  

All candidates said their events are open to anyone to attend.

The election night parties will be preceded by the municipal election, today, 7 am to 8 pm. Where Do I Vote in Massachusetts?


Image of Early Voting 2008 by NCReedPlayer provided through a Creative Commons license.

Unsubstantiated Allegations About Unsubstantiated Allegations

Readers of this week's Allston-Brighton TAB who flip to the editorial page will find a series of endorsements for the municipal election that will be held Tuesday: incumbent Thomas Menino for mayor; incumbents John Connolly and Stephen Murphy, as well as challengers Tito Jackson and Felix G. Arroyo, for City Councilor-At-Large; and incumbent Mark Ciommo for District 9 City Councilor.

In crafting the endorsement of Ciommo's bid, however, the editorial page of the A- B TAB engaged in a bit of mudslinging -- about challenger Alex Selvig's mudslinging:

Ciommo has been on the receiving end of a campaign of mudslinging. We took seriously the accusations that were hurled in his direction by opponent Alex Selvig and some of his followers. Many of the charges have turned out to be distortions and unproven accusations. [emphasis added]

As a frequent reader of the A-B TAB, I was startled to read that the newspaper had unearthed multiple distortions and multiple unproven accusations made by Selvig, because I have not seen any such news analysis printed or online in their newspaper. Nor were any examples given in the editorial itself.

The TAB's allegations about Selvig's "distortions" and "unproven accusations" might be accurate; as far as I can tell, however, they have not substantiated any of these allegations on their pages.

The campaign between Ciommo and Selvig has been lively and, yes, there have been some cases where both candidates -- though noticably more by Selvig -- have stretched the facts a bit to make their point. But to my eye it has mostly been the typical kind of stretching that goes on in political campaigns. Selvig did go negative with a mailing earlier this month, and another one that arrived today. But once again, inspection of the TAB's stories don't substantiate how Selvig's allegations in these negative mailings are "distortions" or "unproven accusations."

A-B TAB editor Wayne Braverman did not respond to an emailed request Friday for examples of stories they have run that would detail their allegations about Selvig. The closest examples I could find, in a news story in last week's paper, look like pretty ordinary and tame campaigning -- by both Selvig, who accurately pointed out a $200 contribution to Ciommo's campaign, and by Ciommo, who incorrectly identified the source of most of Selvig's campaign funds. (The funds were loaned to his campaign by Selvig, not by Elite Rowing -- which would illegal under the state's campaign finance law.)

Until I hear something more concrete, I will chalk up as unfair the TAB's unsubstantiated allegations about Selvig making unsubstantiated allegations.


Other Endorsements in District 9 Race

For an endorsement in the District 9 race that is better reasoned, read the Boston Phoenix:

Also deserving is first-term District 9 incumbent Mark Ciommo, who has a solid understanding of issues facing Allston-Brighton — particularly campus expansion — and took on the difficult role, for a freshman councilor, of mastering the city’s complex budget. As chair of the Ways and Means Committee, he managed to hold serious, informative budget sessions in the middle of a fiscal crisis and a mayoral-election year.

The Boston Bulletin also endorsed Ciommo:

Ciommo is a quiet man in the middle of very loud neighborhood debates.

The audible angst in Allston and Brighton is seen as necessary by residents who feel that their neighborhoods are under siege by massive development projects and the impacts that come from the hundreds and hundreds of college students who are their transient neighbors...

We agree with those who think Ciommo needs to be more vocal in his stands on crucial issues. It would be nice to see him act less like a diplomat and more of a fighter on issues like police patrols, ISD enforcement, rats and improving schools. We urge him to make good on this endorsement by taking his work on the council to a higher level.

Note that the Boston Herald did not endorse in this race, and neither did the Boston Globe.


Image of Sometimes I yell at myself by spunkinator, provided through a Creative Commons license.

BRA Ought to Drop the Shovel and Stop Digging

One of the basic rules of crisis management and organizational communications is that when you find yourself deep in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging.

The BRA slipped into that mistake on Monday.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has been criticized during the last few days over a project manager's emails that were viewed as disparaging towards some Allston-Brighton residents. Mayoral candidate Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty, his unofficial running mate Councilor-At-Large Sam Yoon, District 9 City Councilor Mark Ciommo, and Ciommo's challenger Alex Selvig -- as well as Mayor Thomas Menino himself -- all expressed criticism of the BRA's emails on Monday.

The BRA was doing a reasonably good job at crisis management over the issue: the employee was disciplined in response to a Boston Globe reporter's inquiries; the employee offered an apology; criticism from Flaherty was forcefully rebutted by BRA director John Palmieri; etc. Political campaigns are fair game for this kind of back-and-forth; that's what the sport of politics is all about.

All of this followed the crisis management script until BRA spokesperson Susan Elsbree went beyond criticizing mayoral candidate Flaherty's proposals to reform the BRA to point her finger once again at a few Allston-Brighton residents:

Elsbree said [BRA project manager Jay] Rourke has already apologized for his statements and said his comments were not aimed at the Allston-Brighton community as a whole, but rather a product of frustration at “two or three individuals who are trying to stop the relocation of 700 residents” [in the Charlesview redevelopment proposal]. [emphasis added]

Oops.

Who might she be speaking about? I can think of some.

Four Allston-Brighton residents wrote to the BRA on October 13, 2009, stating that they "support a Charlesview relocation proposal incorporating the following revisions and recommendations." And those were some pretty substantial revisions they requested.

They wrote requesting the BRA and developer to: expand the area of land in the development to include the Brookline Machine building; reduce the number of rental units (those that are beyond the low-income units for the current Charlesview tenants); reduce overall the project's density; increase the number of home ownership units; reduce of the height of the eight-story Telford Street building; express a concern about a "lack of open and recreational space" in the project; increase the amount of retail space; and halt further development of Harvard property in North Allston-Brighton until "significant development of the Holton Street Corridor is realized." Pretty broad stuff which will take a while for the BRA and the project's developers to modify and accommodate.

Who are these obstructionist A-B guys who are "trying to stop the relocation of 700 residents"?

State Senator Steven Tolman, State Representative Kevin Honan, State Representative Michael Moran, and Boston District 9 City Councilor Mark Ciommo. (Cambridge State Senator Anthony Galluccio was also a co-signer of the letter to the BRA.)

That hole just got a bit deeper. I think the BRA needs to drop the shovel again and stop digging.


Image of Digging in the Dark by Wessex Archaeology provided through a Creative Commons license.

Dead-Blogging the District 9 City Councilor Forum

The business trade groups of Allston-Brighton sponsored a forum tonight for the two candidates running for the Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor seat. Incumbent Mark Ciommo and challenger Alex Selvig took questions from moderator Michael McCormack, former City Councilor-At-Large from A-B, and each other.

Here is my attempt at "dead-blogging" the proceedings, i.e., blogging about it after it's over, not "live-blogging."

Candidates Forum
Sponsored by Allston Board of Trade, Brighton Board of Trade, Allston Village Main Streets, Brighton Main Streets
October 27, 2009
7:00 pm
Jackson-Mann Community Center

The Allston-Brighton TAB has their story on the event here.


Opening

SELVIG: [offered welcome in Spanish] I have been in area for two decades, four years working on a moving truck, then started own business. "Allston-Brighton's future is hanging in the balance of this election."

Schools: I'll have a child in the public schools; Ciommo doesn't.
BRA/BC: I stood against it, Ciommo stood in support of it.
Liquor licenses and developers: Ciommo received nearly $20,000 in campaign contributions from them, I didn't.

CIOMMO: Respect today's concerns while preparing for tomorrow's challenges. I helped hold down spending, maintain low property taxes, and create a database of information on property owners.

My vision for A-B: I'm the only candidate who is a product of BPS, and will fight for an A-B school zone.


Moderator Questions

Q1: How would you best represent the diverse constituency of residents and businesses?

CIOMMO: I was a youth worker, assistant director here at JMCC. Helped found group with mission to reach out to immigrants. Was director of the senior center, where I hired both Russian and Chinese translators. Been member of the ABOT and BBOT during that time. Socio-economic diversity is in my background.

SELVIG: Many immigrants don't have papers. Spoke to former D-14 captain Genevieve King about not reporting immigrants during police activity.


Q2: What programs would you initiate to engage the local business community?

SELVIG: "local business should be patronized by local people. let's try to spend our money in their stores."

CIOMMO: As a member of ABOT/BBOT, I attended meetings, went to their events. "I would reach out to them, and be accessible and responsive." Example: Harrell's had problem with newspaper boxes in front of the ice cream store; we got them (re)moved and installed bike racks instead. Not just jobs I held, but also in civic organizations I participated in.


Q3: What are your thoughts about phasing out busing, and what to do with the savings?

CIOMMO: I am on record in support for the 5-zone plan. We are spending more than $80 million per year on transportation; 5-zone plan would save $10 million. I spoke to district councilors, telling them that all the savings should go into the underperforming schools in their districts. Glad that the superintendent is still working on how to implement this plan. "It's time has come." When I went to school, A-B was a pilot program for busing, so I got a multi-ethnic experience.

SELVIG: "It is absolutely vital for the health of this community that we have neighborhood schools." You don't have the opportunity to go to Charlestown and East Boston to visit with teachers; too far away. The 5-zone plan is good for A-B. Regarding the money being spent on transportation, "That money is not strictly for racial integration."


Q4: What do you think are the pros and cons of institutional expansion?

SELVIG: Pros: building trades. "The key to this development has to be a neighborhood that is livable. It is important that we preserve the quality of life for this neighborhood." We have a whole planning department, but there is no city plan.

Downside is that you get ad hoc planning and have problems with your infrastructure. Our traffic problems get worse without a blueprint from the BRA.

CIOMMO: "Our community is inundated with institutional expansion," although a number of other neighborhoods have it to some extent, too. Pros: construction jobs, permanent jobs. St. Elizabeth's MC opened new ER; waits are now down to an average of a half-hour.

The colleges need to house more students. "On Harvard side, we have no development, we have a pause." That's not good for the community.


Q5: How are you going to advocate for commuter rail in A-B, and which stop(s)?

CIOMMO: Previously: studies said that A-B could not support a commuter rail stop. Now: I've attended all EOT meetings, they now see the need. I joined with colleagues (elected officials) to support Everett Street stop pending further study. Guest Street corridor has many vacant commercial buildings that are ripe for development.

SELVIG: "Commuter rail is a shovel ready project that qualifies for federal stimulus money." We should advocate for more than one stop, like Newton has. There are also smaller trains (than commuter rail trains) that could be used instead on the same tracks. With Harvard's buildout we'll have 12,000 more people working in North Allston but who have no way to get them there.


Q6: ISD is supposed to ensure property owners maintain their property. How will you hold ISD accountable in doing this?

SELVIG: Ciommo and the mayor's budget this year cut ISD funding by $300,000. That money could easily have been found elsewhere. $3 million could have been saved by eliminating fire call boxes -- something that people have been talking about eliminating since 1994. I would've increased ISD's budget.

CIOMMO: I started to do that [ensure ISD enforcement] by creating property owner database with instantaneous contact information. We respond to every call. Just did it two days ago -- called a property owner who had an overgrown lot to get him to clean it up. This year, we got $140 million less in state aid -- but we were able to balance the budget by not laying off any ISD person, firefighter, or police officer. If you see a problem with properties, call my office, ISD, DPW [department of public works], or the community service office [at the police station].


Q7: What plans would you initiate to deal with the rat problem in the neighborhood?

CIOMMO: The entire city of Boston has a problem with rats, not just A-B. We have a program ready-to-launch, but it has been delayed. "when you see a rat sighting, please call my office." As well as call ISD and the Mayor's constituent service hotline. Everyone in A-B will be getting a secure-lid recycling bin, once we launch this program.

SELVIG: Going back to the previous question: I think it is a fairly easy decision to remove all the fireboxes to save money. That would give $300,000 back to ISD, $200,000 back to elderly, [and something else].

[Back to rats:] "It needs a real effort to take care of a serious public health problem in Allston-Brighton." Residents told me that they are afraid to allow their kids to play in their backyard. I'll roll up my sleeves to deal with this problem. There are only seven companies licensed to trap/remove rats in the entire city of Boston -- [a disgrace].


Q8: What are the first three initiatives you will implement if you are elected?

SELVIG: 1. Space in local schools for every A-B child. 2. Involve the community in helping ISD address absentee landlord and party houses. 3. Promote home ownership in A-B -- our city services suffer as a result of too low owner-occupancy. Planning process to address low owner-occupancy rate. Also, we have less greenspace than the city of Boston -- we need to build more.

CIOMMO: 1. State $600 million shortfall in this year's budget needs to be dealt with. End of last budget we had a $30 million budget gap we addressed. 2. Continue to advocate and support the 5-zone BPS plan. 3. Creating a constituent service response team, including people from the district councilor's office, ISD, Mayor's ONS/hotline, DPW to work together effectively.


Q9: What is your stance on late hours for bars and liquor licenses?

CIOMMO: With the BAIA and ACA, many establishments ask to extend from 1am to 2am closing hours. "I have never supported one; not one has passed while I have been in office." "I will not support any new [increased number of] liquor licenses in our community."

SELVIG: Pretty much on same page as Ciommo. Our neighborhood is impacted by drunkenness. I opposed extended hours as treasurer of the BAIA.


Candidate Questions for Each Other

SELVIG asks Ciommo: In 2007, you promised you would reform the BRA. In the last debate, you supported an external audit of the BRA. Will you call for a hearing to push for these reforms?

CIOMMO: I will call a meeting -- and ask the chair of that committee to call for a hearing.


CIOMMO asks Selvig: In your campaign press releases, you have said that you worked to improve the schools, which you have said elsewhere that you haven't done [because your son is not yet enrolled]. Why is your campaign saying this?

SELVIG: "That was an oversight in our press releases." The work I've done is landscaping, improving appearances. The press release wording has been corrected -- thank you for pointing this out.


SELVIG asks Ciommo: Absentee landlords and drunkenness are problems in our neighborhood. Why have you taken $20,000 in contributions from liquor interests, [developers, and absentee landlords?]

CIOMMO: "I have never been motivated by money." Lots of those donations to my campaign come as $10, 25, or 50. I give the same priority to those who do and don't donate to me.


CIOMMO asks Selvig: During 2007 campaign you referred to your business selling boats. Why have you not participated in the BBOT?

SELVIG: I don't do a retail business [like those members in BBOT] -- my customers are all over the country and in Canada. I would be happy to be a member if they asked me to join.


SELVIG asks Ciommo: The night before the preliminary election, Wallingford Road voters received flyers under their doors giving direction as to how they should vote for mayor, councilor-at-large, and district councilor. 70% of those votes were exactly as on that flyer. Would you support an inquiry into what's going on over there?

CIOMMO: We all canvas and drop off campaign literature under doors like that. They support me because of my work for the elderly. How would you explain the vote in Ward 22/Precinct 5 [location of Selvig's campaign office] which voted for me at the same rate? The Wallingford Road voting places were investigated several years ago, and I believe that they were cleared.


CIOMMO asks Selvig: How would you split your time between your business and your work as an elected official?

SELVIG: I will not do both.

The last two years I had to spend a lot of time down at City Hall. the Zoning Commission meeting [in May] lasted until 1 am. Ciommo spoke in favor of the BC institutional master plan, then went home at 7:30 pm. When you get a petition of 600 signatures, I will be in that meeting room until 4 am to support them.


Closing

CIOMMO: I know how to do this work, because I've been doing it for decades. In the past two years I've launched a "fight-the-blight" program. I worked with EMS -- and a concerned resident -- to improve ambulance response times in A-B. I brought parents, BTD together to improve traffic around the Gardner Pilot Academy. I got the field house opened up for the Brighton High School football team at their practice field.

SELVIG: The more we are involved, the better things will be in our neighborhood. The key is that we call city hall when we have problems. "We are in a tough situation and, frankly, it hasn't gotten better." This whole neighborhood might become a big college campus unless decisive action is taken at city hall.

Half of the property in Boston is tax-exempt. The burden is then on the other half -- us -- someone needs to represent us. The BRA is very powerful -- I want to change it. And I won't take donations from liquor interests or absentee landlords.


Image of [left-to-right]: Alex Selvig, Mark Ciommo, and Michael McCormack.

District 9 City Councilor Campaign Finance Reports

The two finalist candidates for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor have sent in their campaign finance statements. Their forms were due October 26th covering the period September 5 - October 16, 2009.

Both candidates provided their forms electronically, even though district city councilor candidates in Boston file their campaign finance forms on paper with the city clerk. The candidates' generosity saved Mattison and I from having to schlep down to city hall and pay $0.20 per page for photocopies.

Boston's city clerk has begun posting online scanned versions of the district city councilor campaign finance report; at the moment, that is being done voluntarily. Starting January 2010, city clerk's will be required to post the reports electronically within 30 days, a result of legislation passed as part of the state ethics reform overhaul last summer.

The previous campaign finance reports for the period covering January 1 - September 4, 2009 can be found here.


Summary

Substantially more money has been spent on this campaign to-date (over $120,000) than was spent at the similar point in the 2007 campaign for the open seat up to the same reporting period (over $102,000). That is very unusual for a race with an incumbent.

Challenger Alex Selvig has outspent incumbent Mark Ciommo to-date by around 20% (approximately $62,300 vs. $52,000).

Ciommo raised all his money from more than 400 donors to-date, while Selvig mostly self-financed his campaign with loans totally $66,500 this year (and another $11,000 loan carry-over from the 2007 campaign). Selvig continues to be the hands-down winner of this year's "John Corzine--Michael Huffington--Mitt Romney Award" for self-financing in an election campaign.


Mmmmmm... Pizza

Ciommo's campaign workers appear to be partial to pizza from Imperial Pizza in Brighton Center -- down the street from his campaign office. Nine different orders over a five-week period. Selvig's interns favor Big Daddy's Pizza near to their campaign office in North Allston-Brighton.


Expenditures for Preliminary Election Under-Estimated

Selvig's 10/26 campaign finance report includes more than $10,000 in reimbursements paid during the reporting period on 10/6 for expenditures made during a prior reporting period, i.e., during the campaign leading up to the preliminary municipal election. The receipts include more than $7,600 for printing (presumably mailers) between 7/7/09 and 9/14/09, dates that all were before the preliminary election. My prior estimate for the total money spent on the preliminary election, based on the 9/14/09 campaign finance reports, was therefore a substantial underestimate of the true expenditures at that time.

Both candidates are expected to spend more money between the end of the reporting period (10/16/09) and the election itself (11/3/09), which will not be reported until the end of the year.

2009 Allston-Brighton District 9 City Council Municipal Election Reporting period: 9/5/09 - 10/16/09
Candidate	Previous	Raised	# of	Own Money	Spent	Ending
	Balance		Contrb.
Mark Ciommo	$16,117.87	$12,425.00	139	$0.00	$19,190.04	$9,352.83
Alex Selvig	$21,516.04	$750.00	5	$0.00	$26,373.86	$-4,107.82**
TOTAL		$13,175.00		$0.00	$45,573.90

Notes: "Own Money" includes both loans and "In-Kind" contributions paid for by the candidate. "In-Kind Contributions" from a person other than the candidate are not included in the table. Personal loans have been removed from the "Total Receipts" (Schedule A) and instead included under "Own Money". Number of contributors is for itemized contributors. It is not necessary for the campaigns to itemize contributions under $50: Ciommo itemized all receipts, while Selvig lists $75 in non-itemized receipts.

** Selvig lists an ending balance that is a net debt. My impression is that the debt is in addition to the outstanding liabilities on the campaign account due to personal loans totalling $77,500 made by Selvig during 2007-9, but I could be wrong.


Links to individual reports (at Mattison's Allston Brighton Community Blog):

• Mark Ciommo
  
• Alex Selvig (link not yet active)
  

Image of "Money Grab" by Steve Wampler provided through a Creative Commons license.

Video of District 9 City Councilor Candidates Debate

Video of the debate between the two candidates for District 9 City Councilor is now streaming online to a computer near you.

You can watch it below or at this link on Vimeo.

I would like to thank two people for their extensive effort in putting together this video and getting it online: Abigail Furey, who took the video last Tuesday night; and Galen Mook, who loaned Furey the equipment, and then did all the processing/uploading to put the video online. Such work is a great public service, because the video allows the debate to inform a much broader than the audience of 80-90 who showed up for the event itself.

District 9, Boston City Council Debate, Oct 20 from Galen Mook on Vimeo.

Details:

Candidates Debate
District 9 City Councilor

Sponsored by the Brighton Allston Improvement Association

Location: Brighton Elks Lodge
October 20, 2009, 7:40 pm
Runtime: 84 minutes

Candidates:

• Mark Ciommo, incumbent [right-hand-side]
• Alex Selvig, challenger [left-hand-side]

Moderator: Michael Pahre

Format:

• Introduction: Donal Carroll, president, BAIA
• Explanation of the format: Michael Pahre, moderator
• Opening Statements: 2 minutes each
• Questions: response 90 seconds for first and second candidate, then 60 second rebuttal for the first candidate
• Closing Statements: 2 minutes each
• Conclusion: Pahre and Carroll
  

Questions were three types, interspersed: moderator-prepared; audience-submitted; and candidate-written.

District 9 City Councilor Candidates Forum: Tuesday 10/27 at 6:00 pm

The business trade groups of Allston-Brighton -- Allston Board of Trade, Brighton Board of Trade, Allston Village Main Streets, and Brighton Main Streets -- are sponsoring a candidates forum for the District 9 City Councilor race.

Incumbent Mark Ciommo and challenger Alex Selvig will be participating.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Jackson-Mann Community Center
500 Cambridge Street, Allston, MA 02134
Parking available in Jackson-Mann's garage.

BNN Report on District 9 City Councilor Candidates Debate

The Boston Neighborhood Network is streaming online a report they filmed at Tuesday night's debate between the candidates for District 9 City Councilor -- incumbent Mark Ciommo and challenger Alex Selvig.

See the video stream of BNN's report embedded below or follow this link.

Allston-Brighton City Councilor Debate from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

Ward 21 Democratic Committee Endorses Four for City Councilor

The Ward 21 Democratic Committee in Allston-Brighton voted Wednesday night to endorse four candidates for Boston City Councilor -- one for District 9 City Councilor and three for the four positions of City Councilor-At-Large.

For District 9, the committee endorsed incumbent Mark Ciommo. For the at-large seats, the committee endorsed incumbent John Connolly and challengers Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley.

In a press release, committee chair Darrin Wilson said:

District Nine Councilor Ciommo and At-Large Councilor Connolly have worked hard for the people of not just Allston and Brighton, but all of Boston. We believe they will continue to work hard and do what is right for the citizens. Ayanna Pressley and Tito Jackson are wonderful candidates and will be wonderful At-Large Councilors at City Hall. They provide fresh, new solutions to Boston and have a vision for the future of Boston, including Allston and Brighton.

Connolly issued the following statement about the Ward 21 endorsement -- as well as noting two additional endorsements that he has received from elected officials here in Allston-Brighton and the endorsement of the Ward 22 Democratic Committee:

"I am honored to have earned the endorsement of both the Ward 21 and Ward 22 Democratic Committees, as well as the support of Representative [Kevin] Honan and Councilor Ciommo. I have worked hard to represent the best interests of Allston-Brighton and will continue to do so.

My law partners Cathi Campbell and Tim Schofield live in the neighborhood (in fact, we have an office in Brighton Center) and they help me to stay informed about the issues facing Allston-Brighton and to be responsive to the needs of the community."

Jackson responded to the news via email, saying: "I am truly honored by the Ward 21 nomination. I look forward to working with the residents of Brighton to continue to hear their issues and partnering with them to find solutions."

Ciommo also noted his endorsement by the Ward 22 Democratic Committee in an emailed statement:

I am honored to receive the endorsement of the Ward 21 Democratic Committee, especially in light of the fact that it requires a 2/3 consensus to secure. I was also endorsed by the Ward 22 Democratic Committee. These endorsements speak to my broad-based support throughout Allston-Brighton, and with ten days until the election, I welcome the support of grassroots civic groups like these.

Pressley's website also lists Rep. Honan, state Senator Steven Tolman, and the Ward 22 Democratic Committee as endorsing her. She issued a press release on endorsements that ran in the Allston-Brighton TAB's section on "Political Notes." (Pressley did not respond to a request for comment on the endorsements.)

While Felix G. Arroyo did not get the nod from either committee, his website lists an endorsement from Senator Tolman.

Two years ago the Ward 21 committee endorsed Ciommo for the district 9 seat, along with then-challenger Connolly, as well as then-incumbents Felix B. Arroyo and Sam Yoon for the at-large seats. The committee did not endorse for the district 9 seat in the preliminary municipal election last month; any perceived black eye from that non-endorsement appears to have healed over with the committee's new endorsement.


Image of Ward 21 Democratic Committee members in May 2009 from their website.

Selvig Goes Negative in District 9 City Council Race

The first negative mailing of the Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor campaign arrived in the mail today.

Challenger Alex Selvig's mailing is charging that incumbent Councilor Mark Ciommo hasn't accomplished anything during his last two years in office. One side of the mailing reads:

Two years ago, we sent him to City Hall.

He promised he'd work for Allston-Brighton.

Two years later, what did we get from Mark Ciommo: NOTHING DONE.

Accompanied by an unflattering image of Ciommo, natch.

Since there are plenty of days until the election, there's plenty of time for Ciommo to respond with his own negative mailing. If he decides to go that route. Stay tuned.

Selvig appears to have tipped his hand in advance of Tuesday's candidates debate; Ciommo now has a few days to prepare his defense. I have a feeling that we will see some, er, lively back-and-forth on Tuesday.

District 9 City Councilor Candidates Debate: Tuesday 10/20 at 7:00 pm

Candidates Debate
Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor

Sponsored by the Brighton Allston Improvement Association


Tuesday, October 20th
7:00 pm --- Informal Meet-and-Greet with the Candidates
7:30 - 9:00 pm --- Candidates Debate
Moderated by: Michael Pahre


Brighton Elks Lodge
326 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135
Limited parking available at rear of the building


Light refreshments will be served for a meet-and-greet with the candidates beginning at 7:00 pm. Attendees may submit questions for the candidates prior to the 7:30 pm start. Due to time constraints not all questions submitted will be selected. No campaign signs inside the venue, please. We hope to film the event and stream the video online.

The preliminary election to narrow the field from four to two candidates will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd. This election will shape the future of our neighborhood and this is your opportunity to meet the two finalists running for Allston-Brighton's City Council seat. Please come and hear where the candidates stand on current neighborhood issues as well as their vision for our community.


Candidates for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor (links to their webpages):

• Mark S. Ciommo (incumbent)
• Alex Selvig

Councilor Ciommo Running Reconnaissance for Mayor Menino?

In Mayor Thomas Menino's escalating Delete-Delete-Gate controversy, the Boston Globe reported that the city released on Friday a set of 5,018 emails sent by, or received by, Michael Kineavy, chief of policy and planning and one of Menino's top aides. The emails appear to be those found on city backup servers that were saved by other city employees, not Kineavy; the city's forensic contractor has not yet retrieved additional emails from Kineavy's computer hard disk.

In the newly-released emails, Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor Mark Ciommo was apparently tipping Mayor Menino off about what two of his competitors in this year's mayoral campaign might be planning to do:

Some city councilors, including Allston-Brighton District Councilor Mark Ciommo, also offered Kineavy a heads-up about separate issues that the mayor’s reelection challengers, [Councilors-At-Large] Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon, were preparing to raise in council hearings.

This is not particularly surprising, since "Ciommo is considered a Menino ally," according to politics reporter David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix.

Earlier this year, Councilor Ciommo ran interference with Councilor Yoon over a hearing about the Boston Redevelopment Authority's review process of Boston College's Institutional Master Plan, where Ciommo got Yoon to scale back the language of the hearing order in order to "remove politics from the discussion and focus on the BRA process," according to Ciommo. Ciommo's actions minimized the potential fallout from hearings that could have been critical of the BRA -- as well as the mayor's oversight and control of the agency.

Meanwhile, the city's computer forensics contractor has estimated the cost of the email recovery work to possibly reach as high as a quarter of a million dollars. Since the recovery is the direct result of Kineavy's own failure to save his emails as he is required to do under the state's Public Records Law, will he be asked to foot the bill himself?

Predictions vs. Reality for District 9 Race

Before the polls closed, I made a series of predictions about the Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor race.

How did I do?

Order of finishers. Prediction: Mark Ciommo -- Alex Selvig -- Abigail Furey -- Benjamin Narodick. Reality: same.

Overall percentage of vote. Prediction: 60%-20%-18%-2%. Reality: 60%-23%-13%-3%. I predicted a closer race for second place between Selvig and Furey, but otherwise my numbers were amazingly close. Almost too close. Dumb luck?

Many of the next predictions had more to do with the race between Selvig and Furey for second place.

Boston College Neighbors Vote. Prediction: Furey would edge Selvig in Selvig's home precinct (ward 22, precinct 8). Reality: Wrong. Selvig took 22/8 strongly this time around with 114 votes, Ciommo second with 95, and Furey a distant third with 58. Brighton Neighbors United leaned Selvig.

Elderly and Jewish Vote Leftovers. Prediction: Furey would pick up votes over Selvig in 22/9 (which includes orthodox Jewish community and more BNU) and add more scraps left over by Ciommo from the Russian Jewish elderly vote in 21/13 (Wallingford Road). Reality: yes, but only a few votes. Similarly positive results for Furey in 21/12 (Patricia White elderly apartments) and 21/16.

Comm Ave Corridor. Prediction: Selvig would pick up votes along the Comm Ave corridor in ward 21 (precincts 3-9), but only a handful in these low-turnout precincts. Reality: Selvig netted 99 more votes than Furey in those eight precincts -- a dozen votes per precinct on average. Outliers: Selvig picked up most of that difference in precincts 6 and 7 (Union Square and Ringer Park neighborhoods with more longer-term residential housing stock).

Oak Square and Faneuil. Prediction: Ciommo rolls over the competition picking up many votes, with Selvig and Furey splitting the scraps. Reality: Ciommo did just that in his base. The surprise was how much better Selvig did than Furey in ward 22 precincts 7 and 10 (Oak Square), 4 and 13 (outer Oak Square), and 11 and 12 (Faneuil), netting 87 votes over Furey in Oak Square, 100 votes in outer Oak Square, and another 42 in Faneuil. Furey got beat two-to-one in her home ward 22 precinct 4.

North Allston. Prediction: North Allston would provide Selvig with the big boost to give him the edge over Furey. Reality: ward 22 precincts 1, 2, and 5 gave Selvig 154 more votes than Furey, a nice boost. But in looking back it was the Oak Square area that gave Selvig an even bigger boost than North Allston.

Turnout. I predicted 12% turnout, but the vigorous mayoral campaign brought Allston-Brighton turnout up to 16.4% (according to my estimates). I am surprised by the higher turnout, since I expected that the voting rolls would not be fully purged of short-term young voters -- many of whom move on September 1st and thus get deleted from the voting rolls -- who registered locally for last year's presidential election.

There were, in fact, 6.6% more District 9 registered voters in the 2009 preliminary municipal election than in the same election in September 2007.

Left-over presidential election registered voters who don't bother with municipal elections should push the turnout numbers lower, but 16.4% turnout is significantly higher than two years ago (12.5%). That's overall a good sign for civic engagement.

Cost Per Vote in A-B District 9 Preliminary Election

Incumbent Mark Ciommo yesterday sailed into a first-place win in the preliminary municipal election for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor.

But challenger Alex Selvig outspent him by nearly three-to-one in the cost-per-vote metric. Selvig's expenditure of more than $26 per vote cast for him puts him in the same ballpark as mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty and incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino.

Ciommo took 3,493 votes compared to second-place Selvig's 1,353, third-place Abigail Furey's 784, and fourth-place Benjamin Narodick's 188.

Comparing these vote totals to the money spent by the campaigns as of the last reporting period (through September 4th), the candidates rank differently in the price per vote:

• Selvig: $26.57 per vote
• Ciommo: $9.41 per vote
• Furey: $7.46 per vote
• Narodick: $2.45 per vote

Of course, none of this money was directly handed to voters in exchange for their votes. The big expenditures were primarily mailings, polling, phone banking, consulting and staffing, get-out-the-vote efforts, and so on.

There were some significant expenditures in the last couple of weeks -- i.e., bulk mailings -- that have not yet been accounted for in the campaign finance reports to date, so this estimate of cost-per-vote will be revised upwards next month upon receipt of the new reports.

The A-B District 9 City Councilor expenditures compare to the city-wide costs of $26, $25, $17, and $4 per vote for mayoral candidates Flaherty, Menino, Sam Yoon, and Kevin McCrea, respectively.


Image of "Day 4 - Paying off debt" by quaziefoto provided through a Creative Commons license.

Ciommo to Face Selvig for District 9 City Councilor

Word from the 27 precincts in District 9 City Councilor race that Mark Ciommo has won the preliminary municipal election with 60% of the vote and will face Alex Selvig, who got 23% of the vote.

Abigail Furey finished a more distant third with 13%, and Narodick had the remainder few percent.

Still waiting for the official returns, though...

UPDATE (10:28 pm): Yep, 60-23-13-3% for Ciommo-Selvig-Furey-Narodick (plus round-off error and 0.4% write-in). 5843 votes cast. I'm estimating around 12.6% turnout of registered voters.

Predictions for the A-B District 9 City Councilor Preliminary Municipal Election

These predictions were filed before the polls closed at 8 pm on election day. This post is intended to show how clueless I am about local politics...

In a re-election bid by a candidate with broad name recognition and long-time ties to the community, Mark Ciommo should have little difficulty taking first place in today's preliminary municipal election.

The main story, however, I am predicting to be that he will only exceed 50% of the votes by a little bit, thereby guaranteeing that he will have to work hard in the next six weeks until the municipal election in order to get re-elected. The second story is that second place is really too-close-to-call between challengers Alex Selvig and Abigail Furey.

Ciommo was first elected in 2007 against Greg Glennon, an opponent who nonetheless got 40% of the vote despite alienating many in the neighborhood with his politically moderate views, lack of civic engagement in the community, modest financial resources, and a campaign that was awful in answering their phones or emails.

Ciommo's two main opponents in 2009 -- Selvig and Furey -- are unlikely to have Glennon's former boss, former state Representative Brian Golden, pulling all those strings behind the scenes. But I sense a significant level of discontent among some voters this time around in Ciommo's record during the past two years.

Selvig and Furey are both motivated, in part, by what they perceive to be Ciommo's too-friendly relationship with Boston College and its campus expansion review process. Selvig has better managed to expand his general criticism of how the city is run -- and, by association, the city councilor -- to issues beyond BC, such as rodents and absentee landlords.

Furey, on the other hand, appears to have some heavy-hitters behind the scenes when Pat Galvin, Mark Alford -- and now, Rabbi Dan Rodkin of the orthodox Jewish community -- all put Furey lawn signs up at their houses. (Pat Galvin later added a lawn sign for Selvig, too.)

The race for second place is really too close to call between Selvig and Furey.

Selvig had problems in his own Ward 22, Precinct 8 in 2007, when he won the plurality -- but only with around 1/4 of the vote. Expect Furey to give him a run-for-his-money, edging him out.

Furey should start racking up numbers next door in the Rabbi's 22/9 precinct, and make some small but significant gains at Wallingford Road's 21/13 precinct with the Russian Jewish community (at least the minority of votes Ciommo doesn't command).

Selvig can be expected to pick up gains over Furey along the Commonwealth Avenue corridor of Ward 21, but, as Tim Schofield showed two years ago, those votes are typically so few that Selvig needs to pick up more.

Ciommo will likely again dominate the Oak Square and Faneuil neighborhoods, piling up the numbers and just leaving scraps for Selvig and Furey to split.

The second-place race will probably be decided instead in North Allston. Selvig set up campaign shop there this time around, and has been knocking on doors like crazy -- including Charlesview, whose relocation is a major issue in this election. I think Selvig will pick up the rodent vote in North Allston and North Brighton -- those who were impacted and outraged by the outflux of rats in the past year, likely due to Harvard's Science Complex construction work -- and this will give him the overall edge for second place over Furey.

Third-year BU law student Ben Narodick, showed himself to be poised, well-spoken, and boned-up on local issues -- at least as much as you could expect a relative newcomer to the neighborhood to be. But people new to local politics, without any broad organizational support, usually get little more than 100 votes in this kind of election.

Prediction: Ciommo-Selvig-Furey-Narodick at 60%-20%-18%-2%.

I'm predicting that the District 9 result will be similar to the mayoral one: two challengers will duke it out in a close race for second place; and the incumbent will take a strong first place, but get a share of the vote close enough to 50% that the story for the next six weeks will be his potential vulnerability in the November election and the continued vibrant campaign.

Turnout prediction: 12% in Allston-Brighton.

Brighton's Russian Jewish Elderly Vote: Menino, Ciommo, Connolly, Murphy, Arroyo

Russian Jewish elderly voters in Brighton (e.g., at Wallingford Road, Ward 21, Precinct 13) have received their directions as to whom to vote for in the preliminary municipal election:

• Mayor: Thomas Menino, incumbent
• District 9 City Councilor: Mark Ciommo, incumbent
• City Councilor-At-Large: John Connolly, incumbent; Stephen Murphy, incumbent; and Felix Arroyo, Jr. (no fourth vote)

These directions usually originate from the precinct boss, Ukrainian-born Naakh Vysoky, and indicate for whom the many elderly residents of the senior housing should vote. A sample ballot for the precinct -- in Russian and filled out with the names of these candidates filled-in -- was obtained from an elderly voter and is shown here [right].

These voting directions normally move up to 500 votes for the favored candidates in the elderly Russian Jewish community in that heavy-voting precinct.

In the 2007 District 9 race, Greg Glennon carried 21/13 in the preliminary, but Mark Ciommo was able to work the vote hard to win the precinct in the final. This year, it appears that Ciommo has a clear edge to rack up these votes.

Given Mayor Menino's influence in that community, and Councilor Ciommo's experience as former director of the Veronica Smith Senior Center, it is not surprising that they are on the voting directions. Councilors-At-Large Connolly and Murphy are not so surprising, either, given their incumbency status.

But why is Felix Arroy Jr., the son of former Councilor-At-Large Felix Arroyo, also getting their vote? I haven't figure out the answer to that one yet.


UPDATE: A Russian speaker has kindly made the following translation of the Cyrillic at the top of the flyer:

The Russia-speaking community calls on you to take part in the elections
On September 22, elections will be held in our city, and we ask you to show your support for the candidates involved with our community. You may address them if you need any help. Please mark in the bulletin the names printed in bold.

Candidate After-Election Party Events

After the preliminary municipal election polls close today at 8 pm, all four candidates for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor will be holding parties to watch results and unwind:

• Mark Ciommo, incumbent, Corrib Pub, 396 Market Street, Brighton
  
• Abigail Furey, "a low-key affair" at her house, 3 Brayton Road, Brighton
  
• Ben Narodick, "an informal gather" starting at 9 pm 8 pm, Sunset Grill & Tap, 130 Brighton Avenue, Allston
  
• Alex Selvig, Deep Ellum, 477 Cambridge Street, Allston

All candidates said their events are open to anyone to attend.


Image of Muppet Beer Glasses by gashale provided through a Creative Commons license.