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.

Blogging the Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum

Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub blogged extensively the candidates forum for the Boston City Councilor-At-Large race. It's worth a long read.

Here are some interesting excerpts:

Felix G. Arroyo provides insight as to why so many elderly Russian Jewish voters backed him last month: because of his work for immigrant rights.

Andrew Kenneally wants the city to strong-arm universities' institutional expansion by holding back re-zoning and building permits in order to demand more money through PILOT.

Incumbents John Connolly and Stephen Murphy listed their accomplishments during the last two years:

Connolly: Two legislative accomplishments you're most proud of.
Connolly. 1. Securing committment from mayor to triple number of hybrids in city fleet. 2. Working with Murphy on financial-disclosure law.

Murphy. 1. Financial accountability ordinance with Connolly. 2. Reformed retirement-board system (people out injured five-six years). 3. Grease-duct ordinance after Tai Ho fire.

Tomas Gonzalez made reference to the BRA's task forces when calling for some reform at the agency, questioning whether the mayor should be appointing their members.

Connolly noted that Mayor Thomas Menino's proposal (a bill in the state legislature) for state-chartered public schools that would be controlled by the Boston School Committee is too vague to evaluate.

Kenneally bucks the tide by opposing charters schools altogether:

Should the charter school cap be lifted for Boston even if it leads to public school closures?
Kenneally. I'm against charter schools for a number of reasons. One: I believe i nunions. Steal money away from Boston public schools. They pick and choose - they don't take special needs students. Success based on false data.

Tito Jackson repeatedly exhibited a good sense of humor, including some self-deprecating remarks.

Ayanna Pressley identified increased transparency and increased community input as reforms that are needed at the BRA sooner rather than later.

Doug Bennett puts the blame squarely on Mayor Menino for the Filene's hole (and Christo art installation):

Should anyone in city government be held accountable for giant holes in the ground?

Bennett. Yeah, Mayor Menino should be held accountable. I think the BRA should be elected. Filene's looks like a bomb went off in the center of Boston.

Casino Gambling

Gaffin also gives a good summary of where the candidates stand on the issue of casino gambling.

I agree with his assessment that the candidates sounded generally supportive of the idea of having a casino somewhere in the City of Boston. That is a change from two years ago.

While the issue is one in front of the state legislature, it matters at the municipal level because a community will have the opportunity to welcome or block any proposed casino within the city limits. Middleborough's town meeting met and voted on a particular proposal put forward by the Wampanoag. More action from other communities around Massachusetts is likely if the bill begins to gain traction in the legislature -- which is likely, now that the House Speaker is supportive of the idea.

Most surprising to me was the support for the idea expressed by Andrew Kenneally, who lives in East Boston and would be most directly impacted by such a casino. My instinct is that East Boston residents will be the loudest opponents of the proposal; Kenneally's response leads me to rethink that assumption.


Image by Abigail Furey; all rights reserved. Candidates [left-to-right]: Felix G. Arroyo, Andrew Kenneally, John Connolly (incumbent), Doug Bennett, Tito Jackson, Ayanna Pressley, and Stephen Murphy. Not picture: Tomas Gonzalez, who arrived a few minutes later.

The City Council Revolution Will Be Televised

A lot of words have been written about the diversity of the candidates for Boston City Councilor-At-Large this year. It has sounded like a mini revolution in the making.

We now hear that the revolution will be televised. The Boston Neighborhood Network has decided to send a camera team to the BAIA Candidates Forum Thursday night. They will broadcast the footage at a later date and stream the video online.

BNN this year did a series of interview shows with the candidates for various city council races -- including the District 9 City Councilor candidates. They are claiming quite a niche in the televised coverage of the city councilor candidates.

So, a reminder:

BAIA Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum
Thursday, October 15th
6:30 pm -- meet-and-greet with the candidates
7:00 pm -- forum
Brighton Elks Lodge
326 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135


Image of an old TV camera on display at the Newseum by mechanikat provided through a Creative Commons license.

BAIA's Boston City Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum Thursday, October 15th

Boston City Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum

Sponsored by the Brighton Allston Improvement Association


Thursday, October 15th
6:30 pm --- Informal Meet-and-Greet with the Candidates
7:00 - 8:30 pm --- Candidates Forum
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 6:30 pm. Attendees may submit questions for the candidates prior to the 7:00 pm start. Due to time constraints not all questions submitted will be selected. No campaign signs inside the venue, please.

If you wish to submit a question in advance of the forum, please email pahre@comcast.net by Monday, October 12th.

September's preliminary municipal election narrowed the field to eight candidates for four elected positions of Boston City Councilor-At-Large. The final municipal election will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd.

This election will help shape the future of our neighborhood and this is your opportunity to meet the candidates running for the four seats. Please come and hear where the candidates stand on current neighborhood and city-wide issues, as well as their vision for our community and city.


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

• Felix G. Arroyo
• Doug Bennett
  
• John R. Connolly (incumbent)
• Tomas Gonzalez
  
• Tito Jackson
• Andrew P. Kenneally
  
• Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent)
• Ayanna S. Pressley
  

Note: The BAIA's District 9 City Councilor Debate is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, October 20th at 6:30 pm at the same venue. Coverage of the 9/17 District 9 City Councilor Forum can be found here and here.


Update (10/14/09): BNN has decided to video-record the candidates forum. They will broadcast it at a later date, and will also stream it from their website.


Image from a prior candidates forum cribbed from Adam Gaffin without getting any permission from him whatsoever.

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.

City Council Looking Into Bisphenol A in Baby Bottles

The Boston City Council will be holding hearings Thursday afternoon on the potential health impacts of the chemical compound Bisphenol A (BPA, C₁₅H₁₆O₂) that is used in the manufacture of many baby bottles. Councilor-At-Large John Connolly, chair of the council's Committee on Environment and Health, called for the hearing.

BPA is commonly used to manufacture hard plastics that are also transparent, such as the water bottles made by Nalgene, as well as the linings in canned and bottled foods and drinks. The chemical has been linked to concerns over various neural and behavioral problems particularly in young children. The National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health recently issued a draft report on BPA concluding that:

there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures. The NTP also has some concern for bisphenol A exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females. [emphasis in original]

Why would the Boston City Council take up the case of possibly banning the sale of baby bottles made with BPA since such issues are usually in the domain of the federal government's Environmental Protection Agency and Consumer Product Safety Commission?

Because the federal government has been way behind the curve on this topic -- avoiding or delaying regulatory action on BPA, possibly in part due to influence exerted by the chemical manufacturing industry.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a two-part investigative report in November 2007 on the health impacts of BPA and how agencies in the federal government were failing to act to regulate its manufacture or use. Their report found that "the federal government's assurances that [BPA] is safe are based on outdated U.S. government studies and research heavily funded by the chemical industry." Bill Moyer's Journal this week carried a story about the Journal Sentinel's coverage which you can watch online (or also on demand with Comcast).

Steven Hentges of the American Chemical Council -- the chemical industry's trade association that also runs a Political Action Committee that spent $2.39 million in federal lobbying in 2007 and $85,000 in Massachusetts state lobbying in 2007 -- will be speaking at the hearing. (Hentges is not a registered lobbyist either with the state or federal governments.)

After Canada banned the import and sale of plastic baby bottles containing BPA, Hentges criticized such bans as not being based on science. Oddly, the American Chemistry Council even issued a press release after Canada's ban quoting Hentges claiming that “the weight of scientific evidence, as assessed by Health Canada and other agencies around the world, provides reassurance that consumers can continue to safely use products made from bisphenol A." Turning a government's move to ban a product into a statement that the product is safe sounds like more spin than a Tasmanian Devil.

Also speaking at the hearing will be Mia Davis, National Grassroots Coordinator with the Clean Water Fund and co-author of the book "Baby's Toxic Bottle," and Dr. Michael Shannon, Chair of the Division of Emergency Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Boston.

How do you know if a particular hard plastic product contains BPA? There is no way to know, since disclosure of its presence is not required to be reported. That's part of the problem. Nonetheless, apparently only plastics falling under categories 3 and 7 (the recycling numbers on the bottom of the bottle) potentially contain BPA.

San Francisco banned baby bottles containing BPA in December 2006, but never enforce their ban and later rescinded it. Canada banned them in April 2008, and Senator Charles Schumer has introduced legislation to ban them in the U. S. Ten states have legislation currently pending for their own bans on the bottles. Nalgene and Fisher Scientific have announced that they will stop producing the bottles, and Wal-mart and Toys-R-Us/Babies-R-Us are phasing out carrying bottles made with BPA.


Scientific Consensus Reached

The NIH convened a panel of experts in November 2006 to assess the literature relating to "concerns about the potential for a relationship between BPA and negative trends in human health that have occurred in recent decades." The panel issued a series six papers in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, including the consensus statement of the participants (vom Saal et al. 2007, Reproductive Toxicology, 24, 131-138, "Chapel Hill bisphenol A expert panel consensus statement"):

...Human exposure to BPA is within the range that is predicted to be biologically active in over 95% of people sampled. The wide range of adverse effects of low doses of BPA in laboratory animals exposed both during development and in adulthood is a great cause for concern with regard to the potential for similar adverse effects in humans. Recent trends in human diseases relate to adverse effects observed in experimental animals exposed to low doses of BPA. Specific examples include: the increase in prostate and breast cancer, uro-genital abnormalities in male babies, a decline in semen quality in men, early onset of puberty in girls, metabolic disorders including insulin resistant (type 2) diabetes and obesity, and neurobehavioral problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

There is extensive evidence that outcomes may not become apparent until long after BPA exposure during development has occurred... These developmental effects are irreversible and can occur due to low dose exposure during brief sensitive periods in development, even though no BPA may be detected when the damage or disease is expressed. [emphasis added]

Note that the consensus statement of the 38 scientists convened for this panel addressed the health impacts of low doses of BPA, particularly emphasizing the evidence for long-term, irreversible effects initiated due to exposure during early childhood development. This is the apparent reason why recent concerns have focused on baby bottles, rather than linings for food and soda cans.


City Council Hearing

Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008

Time: 3:00 pm

Location: Iannella Chamber, 5th Floor of Boston City Hall

Other people will be allowed to testify at the hearing.

Image of Nalgene bottle by ryanmack provided through a Creative Commons license.

More On 311 -- And Could It Be Flaherty's Issue in 2009?

In a nice piece of investigative reporting, the Boston Globe found out how little the city has progressed in the last two years in rolling out a city-wide constituent complaint tracking service (often referred to as a "311" service). While the city has a system called the Mayor's 24-Hour Constituent Service Hotline, the system doesn't provide full tracking of complaints throughout the city's various departments, resulting in little knowledge as to how well complaints are resolved.

The Globe story fails to note five rather important angles to the story:

1. There already is an online constituent service webform (actually two webforms!) that generates a small (but non-zero) amount of tracking information;
2. The online webform that accepts complaints about building, health, housing, code enforcement, environmental services, and weights and measures has been broken for more than one year for at least some web browsers;
3. The city has begun regularly summarizing various departments' performances through average response times to complaints, despite not having a system fully trackable to the public;
4. Mayor Thomas Menino may very well be slow to embrace a city-wide 311 system because he has already associated constituent services with his "Mayor's Constituent Service Hotline"; and
5. One of Mayor Menino's likely challengers next year, Councilor Michael Flaherty, has been pushing the 311 service, and may renew his push if Mayor Menino doesn't get the new system running soon.
   

The Globe story noted that Mayor Menino vowed two years ago to roll out such a complaint tracking service by the end of 2006, but city officials now say that it may be 2009 or 2010 before the system is ready -- and for a total price tag of $4 million.

Why the service has been so slow to roll out was not addressed in the Globe story. I can guess that the basic problem is that various city departments probably use different software to do their core tasks, so the process requires bringing all of their work under a common system. That is an awfully hard task when you're dealing with a large organization -- although New York City was able to do so relatively quickly for $20 million in 2003. Where there's a will there's a way.


Online Constituent Services. The Globe story completely missed the fact that constituent complaints can be submitted online, not just by phone (617-635-4500). Why does this matter? An online complaint (eventually) returns a ticket number, so that you can keep track of the complaint; phone calls do not generate a ticket number. The number helps for follow-up calls -- but you still cannot view the status of the complaint online, ticket number or not.

Weekend staffing for the online form has been spotty in my experience: once I even received an email on Monday morning from a city employee saying that I shouldn't use the online form over the weekend because it wouldn't necessarily be answered. (I have subsequently been told that requests submitted online during the weekend are being read over the weekend, but I have not confirmed that in practice.)


Broken Web Forms. One or more of these web forms has been broken for well over one year, at least in my browsers (Firefox, Konqueror, Opera). The form fails to identify any street address that I enter in order to submit a building complaint (e.g., work after hours). The building, health, housing, code enforcement, environmental services, and weights and measures departments probably think that nobody is submitting complaints online; in fact, since the web forms fail for at least some people (like me), people are stuck sending their complaints back to the Mayor's 24-hour line.


City Department Tracking of Response Times to Constituent Complaints. To his credit, Mayor Menino is using measured metrics to track the response of his various departments to constituent complaints. For example, in 2006 88% of potholes were filled within 24 hours. Obviously, some amount of information is getting stored and analyzed in the current system -- which seems to obviate the need for the Boston Globe to do their own investigation of the city's response to 50 randomly selected complaints, since the city's statistics cover a much larger statistical sample.


Why Turn the "Mayor's 24-Hour Constituent Service Hotline" Into the "City of Boston Constituent Service Hotline"? Come on, Globe, recognize the obvious reason why the Mayor doesn't want to get rid of the "Mayor's 24-Hour Constituent Service Hotline" by creating a "311 Constituent Service Hotline." Do you detect a word that would disappear from the name? Much of an elected municipal official's work is in constituent services, so they understandably want to claim the credit for their (staff's) work. Why not call it the "Mayor's 311 Constituent Service -- That You Can Also Access By Calling 617-635-4500?" I think that name is catchy.

Wait... Councilor Sam Yoon already thought of that idea, and told it to the Boston Globe two years ago:

Some inside City Hall believe Menino may be reluctant to give up a number that's become part of his own urban brand. ''I recognize the mayor, for good reason, could be worried that he'll lose the connection he has with people through the mayor's hot line," says Yoon.

Yoon's solution: ''Let's call it 'the Mayor's 311.' "

Councilor Flaherty Has Been Pushing For 311 Service. In last fall's campaign for Boston City Councilor-At-Large, three of the current office holders -- Councilors John Connolly, Michael Flaherty, and Sam Yoon -- responded to a questionnaire here on the Brighton Centered Blog about revamping the constituent services system. Councilor Connolly called for a 311 service; Councilor Yoon expressed how impressed he was with Somerville's 311 service, and that Boston should improve their service; and Councilor Flaherty noted that he called for the city to implement a "CitiStat" system four years ago:

COUNCILOR MICHAEL FLAHERTY: The city has an obligation to responsibly and efficiently meet the needs of constituents. However, I am unsure that the 24-hour hotline is the appropriate tool as it lacks the ability to track constituents’ requests. That is why we need CitiStat, which is a government accountability program that I called for in 2004. CitiStat enables every request to be tracked so that the city – and its residents (by phone or internet) – can comprehend how quickly and adequately requests are addressed.

I am under the impression that Councilor Flaherty and his team consider this one of his signature issues, so the Globe story in Sunday's paper will add fuel the fire of his Mayoral ambitions by giving him a strong issue for campaigning. Mayor Menino therefore has a deadline for rolling out his version of the system before election day in November 2009 -- not in 2010, the date told to the Globe by Bill Oates, the city's chief information officer.

Newbie Councilor Connolly Settles Into Job

The TAB has published online a nice piece about how John Connolly, the new Boston City Councilor-At-Large from West Roxbury, is settling into his new job.

He eventually managed to find his office and figure out who to call about downed power lines.  He doesn't like the building itself, though he doesn't mention his position on whether or not it should be moved to the waterfront -- or instead get a twirling-thingy up on top.  And most of the phone calls to the office are about constituent services, fully consistent with those who say it makes up 75% of a city councilor's job.

In his first month on the job he made it out to Brighton to attend one of the meetings of the BC Task Force, and followed that up with a letter to the BRA that was well-informed on the issues.  It might lead you to think that he had spent a decade in office already.

And maybe, just maybe, it might also lead you to believe that he is trying really hard to learn about neighborhood issues in preparation for a possible mayoral bid.  Just maybe.  We'll watch those fund-raising numbers carefully over the next six months to see how well he replenishes his warchest.

Picture ThisNOW: New City Councilors Sworn In, Then Cropped Out

BostonNOW isn't having a good week.

First, their printed paper being distributed mid-morning today has a cover title, "Obama's big day / High turnout among independents could be his key in N.H." Oops. Senator Hillary Clinton beat Senator Barack Obama in yesterday's New Hampshire Democratic primary, but that final result appears to have come in too late for BostonNOW's publication deadline. The print edition distributed later in the morning appears to have a different cover -- fortunately about Senator John McCain's big day, not former Governor Mitt Romney's.

The Obama-gaffe was preceded by a story in yesterday's BostonNOW about the swearing-in ceremony for the Boston City Councilors at Faneuil Hall Monday. Noting that the Council "welcomed two new members: John Connolly and Mark Ciommo of Allston-Brighton," BostonNOW ran an accompanying photo -- then proceeded to crop both new councilors out of the photo. Maybe this is a freshman councilor hazing stunt by the media?

In the photo -- or, more properly, out-of-the-photo -- Councilor Connolly is in the front-row off-camera to the right; Councilor Ciommo is in the back-row, also off-camera to the right. The Boston Globe ran a picture with all the councilors on page B1 of Tuesday's paper.

Let's hope the two new City Councilors get treated better when assigning them office space.