Khazei Crafty Like a Fox, Part Deux

Several days ago I wrote about how Alan Khazei's campaign for the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat was being crafty in their use of social media, by apparently watching another candidate's Twitter following/followers list (Steven Pagliuca's) and following at least one of them (me). I tried tweeting the campaign to ask if that was, in fact, what they were doing, but only got back a perfunctory DirectTweet (you know, a Form Tweet).

Two days later, I'm tweeted by AlanKhazei:

local activists like @michaelpahre in Brighton exemplify Big Citizenship (http://bit.ly/2iJzIX) - will follow and support you as senator

First, I feel weird getting referenced right before a quotation of Mahatma Ghandi. I don't deserve to be in such company.

Second, I now feel deeply guilty for not writing about the Shubow Park cleanup event here on the Brighton Centered blog, and for not attending it. (Real reason I couldn't attend: family commitments. And rain.) Here are the photos from the event.

Third, it sounds to me as though they might have happened to start following my Twitter feed on Tuesday by mere coincidence (although that is still not 100% clear). Instead, Khazei's campaign could have a formal effort to connect with hyperlocal bloggers like me.

Either way, that is still crafty campaigning in the age of new media. Tip of the hat to Khazei and Co.


Image of Shubow Park cleanup event from Alan.Khazei at flickr.

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.

Khazei Crafty Like a Fox

David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix asked rhetorically if Alan is Khazei, like a fox?

I instead think he's crafty like a fox -- in the way his people are using Twitter.

Last night I saw some re-tweets of Steve Pagliuca's original content, so I decided to start following Pagliuca's Twitter feed. Pagliuca is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in December's special primary election. (At some point a few weeks ago I started following Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman Michael Capuano, two other candidates for the Democratic nomination.)

Then the usual thing happened: Pagliuca's people returned the favor by starting following my Twitter feed. Yawn... As if they actually read my tweets.

But then, five hours and 32 minutes later, Alan Khazei, another Democratic candidate, started following me -- even though I hadn't initiated any contact with his Twitter feed.

Where did Khazei's people get the idea to start following me?

Sure sounds like they are monitoring Pagliuca's Twitter followers and then following them. Clever. That's what you get when you've got so many wired-in young'uns supporting your candidacy.

(The Khazei-ites did not respond to a tweeted request for an explanation.)

Quick Predictions for Today's Election

Mayor: Menino over Flaherty by 57-43%.

District 9 City Councilor: Ciommo over Selvig, 63-37%. Not too different from Nov 2007 vote, except that Ciommo will win big with elderly Russian vote in 2009 -- rather than split the vote, as he did with Glennon in 2007.

City Councilor-At-Large: Connolly, Murphy easy winners; Arroyo solid 3rd place; too close to call among Pressley, Jackson, and Kenneally for the fourth slot (but lean Pressley after Kerry robocalls -- popular in Boston).

Turnout: 28% city-wide.

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.

2009 Glennon Award for Least Responsive Candidate in an Election Campaign

Two years ago, I wrote about how Gregory Glennon, candidate for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor, was so thoroughly unresponsive to attempted contacts by various neighborhood residents (including myself). It was difficult to arrange a candidates forum and debate that year, because he didn't respond to repeated requests about scheduling, related issues, and media requests for comment.

After I wrote that post, even more people contacted me to tell me that I was 100% on target in that criticism, providing their own stories of emails and phone calls that dropped into the netherworld. His non-responsiveness was peculiar, given that Glennon had said during the campaign: "I will always be available. Every phone call will get returned, every email, every letter."

This year, we have a winner of the 2009 Gregory Glennon Award for Least Responsive Candidate in an Election Campaign: Doug Bennett, candidate for Boston City Councilor-At-Large.

When a Boston Globe reporter managed to get him on the phone to ask about why he was seen running a red light in front of the Globe's office building, Bennett abruptly ended the conversation. OK, that's not such a bad thing to do with a pestering reporter, right?

Well, he hung up on a reporter from the Dorchester Reporter in May. He was "snippy and unresponsive" with Boston Phoenix reporter David Bernstein when asked about some details of his campaign finance reports.

The Allston-Brighton TAB tried to interview him as part of their reporting and endorsement process, but he couldn't be bothered to respond:

All of the At-large candidates, except for Doug Bennett who was invited but never bothered to return calls or e-mails to schedule a meeting, met with the staffs of the Allston-Brighton TAB and West Roxbury and Roslindale Transcript at different times over the past few weeks.

And when we organized the BAIA candidates forum earlier this month for the Councilor-At-Large race, we were unsure whether he knew about the event -- let alone whether or not he would show up -- until the afternoon of the event, because we didn't get responses to our repeated queries. His campaign website doesn't list a phone number; Bennett never responded to my emailed request for the phone number, so I put his home number in the handout to attendees at the forum.

The Dorchester Reporter was tongue-in-cheek about this whole issue, writing:

Bennett has not returned a voicemail message asking about this odd trend of non-responsiveness.

I didn't bother writing Bennett to ask him to comment on this post.

BNN Online Video of City Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum 10/15

The BAIA forum held on October 15th for the candidates for Boston City Councilor-At-Large was taped by Boston Neighborhood Network and can be viewed online from their website. The video is in MS wmv format.

The program was broadcast on BNN around a half-dozen times during the week or so following the original event.

Thanks to BNN and Dan Moore for taking the video and getting it online!

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.

Indictment of the BRA's Public Meetings

During the Floon press conference this morning, I was busy taking some photos when Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty, candidate for mayor, launched into a hard-hitting criticism of the way that the Boston Redevelopment Authority runs its public meeting process as part of the review of proposed development projects.

Fortunately, Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe got the quotation:

“A lot of the community meetings you reference -- I got to be honest with you -- they're dog-and-pony-shows,” Flaherty said, jabbing his finger in the air. “The cake is baked. The decisions have been made. They’ll comment out there and 'yes' you to death. But most of your concerns are never, ever reflected in the final submission of a project. So you can go to a hundred community meetings and you'll be banging your head up against a wall because that's the way development works in the Menino administration."

Flaherty's soliloquy was offered in response to North Allston resident Paul Alford's criticism of Flaherty's and Councilor-At-Large Sam Yoon's spotty attendance record at community meetings in A-B. Brent Whelan offered a defense of Yoon, mentioning a two-hour tour Yoon attended with neighborhood residents (including me) a while back to give him a visual layout of the area.

I have in the past obtained pages and pages of sign-in sheets for BRA public meetings as part of finding out which candidates for public office have been involved in the community in this particular way. Flaherty's office (whether him or his staff) have fared poorly, while Yoon (mostly his staffers) have been a bit better. Alford's criticism is not inaccurate.

Yoon's retort in the form of a question -- How many BRA public meetings has Mayor Thomas Menino attended? -- was met with the Socratic answer: zero, i.e., fewer than either Flaherty or Yoon. (It should be acknowledged, however, that a member of the mayor's staff, the Allston-Brighton coordinator in the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, is a regular attendee.) None of the three has a particularly good record of attendance at community meetings, while Yoon noted that Mayor Menino is a regular attendee instead of ribbon cuttings all over the city.

Flaherty's impassioned statement shows the frustration that he feels at the public process in these development project reviews.

And Flaherty's response is a dead ringer with dozens and dozens -- if not hundreds -- of identical comments that I have heard repeatedly expressed by Allston-Brighton residents about the BRA review process. Literally -- I'm not exercising hyperbole here. I have heard such comments so often that I don't write them down anymore. Flaherty's words could've been spoken verbatim by many of the residents lined up behind him who have been at all those community meetings, week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year.

Alford can raise Flaherty's absence at public meetings as possibly indicating that Flaherty's new-found involvement in North Allston-Brighton is a campaign ploy.

But while Flaherty may have been AWOL, his summation of the BRA public meeting process makes it clear that he has heard, and taken to heart, repeated complaints by Allston-Brighton residents.

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.

Whacking the Knees of the Mayoral Debate

For those of us who have been spending many waking hours trying to prepare for a series of city councilor candidates forums -- er, fora -- and debate, lots of those hours are spent figuring out the logistics: what days venues are available; religious holidays to avoid; candidate appearance schedules; food and drink for attendees and setup/cleanup crew; arranging for, and setting up, the sound system; publicity; setting the format; arranging the hall, including tables and/or podiums; convincing someone to take audio and/or video, then getting it online; talking with people and researching questions; etc. And then actually running the event that night.

A lot of work, only a small amount of which is substantive about city and neighborhood issues.

John Carroll watched the debate last night between incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino and challenger Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty and has some sharp criticism of the event. Carroll, a professor of mass communications at Boston University, can always be counted on to see through the clutter and posturing to judge how effective the various tools of the media work -- or don't -- to further the political process.

Two thumbs up for Carroll, who invented a new term by saying that he was "dead blogging" the event, i.e., to wait until the event is over to write about it. He brings in analogies to trailer parks ("doublewide podiums"), Halloween ("Spooky World" lighting), arcade games (so many moderators "had sort of a pinball effect on the proceedings"), and Homer's Odyssey (Menino was more incoherent than usual, such that he was "totally channeling James Joyce").

And then the coup de grâce:

Was the most uncomfortable moment of the night when Menino was pressed about the lack of diversity in his administration by an all-white panel of journalists?

Ouch. Clever, biting, sarcastic... but totally fair criticism. I only hope Carroll doesn't watch our district 9 city councilor debate tonight, sponsored by the Brighton Allston Improvement Association.


Image of Menino [left] and Flaherty [right] taken from a screen capture of NECN's video feed of the debate.

More Coverage of the Councilor-At-Large Candidates Forum

Boston University's independent student newspaper, The Daily Free Press, sent a reporter to cover the candidates forum Thursday night for the Councilor-At-Large race. His story is worth a read.

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

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.

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.