2021 Boston Mayoral Race

Between this, her proposals to reform the zoning laws, and being the largest threat to the BPPA union on the ticket, Campbell is slowly winning me over.
 
tysmith95 said:
The number of mayoral candidates shows why we need ranked choice voting in Massachusetts. I'm upset that voters turned down that proposal.
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Agreed, but Boston could implement ranked choice voting for mayor (and for all municipal elections) without a state-wide initiative. The MA ballot initiative from 2020 related to State (and some County) elections but not municipal elections, so it wouldn't even have had an effect on Boston's mayoral elections. Cambridge, for example, has used ranked choice voting for municipal elections for 80 years, and other municipalities in MA used to use it too but got rid of it in the last century out of fear of electing communists.

Also the non-partisan preliminary election for mayor is a bit more "rank-y" than if there were a conventional partisan primary and general.
 
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JumboBuc said:
Also the non-partisan preliminary election for mayor is a bit more "rank-y" than if there were a conventional partisan primary and general.
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Recent house primary elections in the 3rd and 4th districts have had huge fields where ranked choice would be perferrable.

But yes for mayoral elections it can happen without a ballot initiative. And it should, ranked choice voting makes much more sense than first past the post.
 
Essaibi George appears to be the least terrible out of 5 piss-poor candidates. Progressives don't really understand economics and we might get to see that first-hand with the resurrection of awful policies such as rent control. I am not optimistic about Boston's long-term prospects and don't think it will remain quite the powerhouse we envisioned it could be. At least with Essaibi George we probably won't have the increases in crime that the other candidates promise in the name of "equity."
 
DZH22 said:
Essaibi George appears to be the least terrible out of 5 piss-poor candidates. Progressives don't really understand economics and we might get to see that first-hand with the resurrection of awful policies such as rent control. I am not optimistic about Boston's long-term prospects and don't think it will remain quite the powerhouse we envisioned it could be. At least with Essaibi George we probably won't have the increases in crime that the other candidates promise in the name of "equity."
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Wu is the only candidate to support rent control, and there's no way it'd get implemented anyway with it banned at the state level - Baker is starkly against it.
 
DZH22 said:
Essaibi George appears to be the least terrible out of 5 piss-poor candidates. Progressives don't really understand economics and we might get to see that first-hand with the resurrection of awful policies such as rent control. I am not optimistic about Boston's long-term prospects and don't think it will remain quite the powerhouse we envisioned it could be. At least with Essaibi George we probably won't have the increases in crime that the other candidates promise in the name of "equity."
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Do you even live in Boston? The thing you seem to care about most is how its skyline looks from Arlington and 93 North. The city has bigger issues.
 
DZH22 said:
Essaibi George appears to be the least terrible out of 5 piss-poor candidates. Progressives don't really understand economics and we might get to see that first-hand with the resurrection of awful policies such as rent control. I am not optimistic about Boston's long-term prospects and don't think it will remain quite the powerhouse we envisioned it could be. At least with Essaibi George we probably won't have the increases in crime that the other candidates promise in the name of "equity."
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Rent control works and was extremely popular in the cities that had it for a reason. It was only made illegal by a racist campaign targeted to people it wasn't even relevant to. Baker will likely show himself for who he is yet again if this is attempted of course, I hope it finally sinks him.

Crime has been going down for a while it will keep doing so (It even has gone down statistically in the last year despite the crime wave narrative sweeping the press). With all the scandals (including exploiting overtime systemically) in the police department this year I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that they deserve more money or meaningfully prevent crime, especially their own crimes. Gladly most people in the city disagree with your backwards thinking, she will never win, and the city will progress with or without you.
 
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Looks like Wu is definitely in the top two, which was expected. AEG seems to think they will be in second. 5,000 votes remain in a slowwww count to the end. I was hoping for Campbell. She seemed to have a great understanding of what can be reasonably accomplished as mayor while ensuring proper growth of a city.

Wu was polling over AEG in a theoretical race between the two previously, and by quite a large margin. We'll see more in later polls, and the election thereafter, but there's a good chance we end up with Wu, from what I'm hearing. I'm interested to see how RE Devs and owners react....
 
It's AEB vs. the communist. Wu brings all the worst traits from Chicago politics.
 
armpitsOFmight said:
It's AEB vs. the communist. Wu brings all the worst traits from Chicago politics.
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If being tough on Airbnb and trying to get fresh food into BPS cafeterias is communism, then I guess that doesn't sound so bad.

BronsonShore said:
The thing you seem to care about most is how its skyline looks from Arlington and 93 North.
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And remember that one of her proposals was to get rid of the BPDA and overhaul the zoning code. This might end up being better for development in the city if she can fulfill her promises:

Planning and Development | Michelle Wu for Boston (michelleforboston.com)
 
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I'm having a hard time differentiating the final two candidates on development.

Both call for more comprehensive zoning and less ambiguity with the BPDA. Wu goes slightly further to propose abolishing the BPDA. Idea sounds good in theory but it depends on the execution.
 
tysmith95 said:
Both call for more comprehensive zoning and less ambiguity with the BPDA. Wu goes slightly further to propose abolishing the BPDA. Idea sounds good in theory but it depends on the execution.
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Yeah, what's peoples' general stance on this? I know the BPDA has a muddled history and corruption problems, but does it need full abolishment? Or would some reforms work better?

Is Wu's replacement council much different?
 
jklo said:
Janey is in second right now according to Boston.gov.
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What are you looking at??
She's in 3rd according to that site:
wat.JPG
 
Bananarama said:
Yeah, what's peoples' general stance on this? I know the BPDA has a muddled history and corruption problems, but does it need full abolishment? Or would some reforms work better?

Is Wu's replacement council much different?
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Not sure, but I at least like the idea of bold action.

Reforming is what Marty's administration tried to do, no? And wasn't it a wishy-washy change?
 
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