I am, and I think in general much of this forum, agrees with the general ideas of this group. I am curious to see what type and how much of a force they actually become in the city. If it's anything like the New Boston group, it will be interesting.
Also, very telling and something I did not realize, is the founder and karmaloop CEO was a BRA staffer.
http://bostonherald.com/news/region...ck_ceo_challenges_menino/srvc=home&position=3
CEO challenges Menino: Don’t hold city back!
By Dave Wedge
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - Updated 35 minutes ago
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An upstart group of hip, high-tech entrepreneurs has launched a scathing video that paints Mayor Thomas M. Menino as an uncool Vladimir Putin-like figure, saying his iron grip on the city is stifling its culture and strangling its economic future.
Greg Selkoe, founder of the nonprofit Future Boston Alliance, said he also is building a political base with an eye toward backing a challenger to the five-term mayor in 2013. Selkoe, a former Boston Redevelopment Authority staffer who now heads the successful online retailer Karmaloop, said he expects a “strong, young candidate” to emerge to challenge Menino — although he denied harboring political aspirations of his own.
“I think there’s some interesting people who are seriously considering it that would really shake things up,” said Selkoe, whose initiative is being launched just as the mayor’s dance police struck again, shuttering a Hub nightspot during the weekend for unlicensed gyration violations.
FBA launched its snarky YouTube video hammering the Menino administration for a licensing and regulatory system it called “rigged for the connected.” The video blasts the mayor for a moshing crackdown and for forcing Nike to remove controversial T-shirts from its Newbury Street store windows. FBA also highlights bans on 24-hour gyms, inadequate late-night transportation and excessive City Hall “red tape.”
“The regulations, out-of-date outlook and power structure are holding our city back,” the video states.
David Day of the Mmmmaven Project, a Cambridge-based music technology school, attended FBA’s launch last week and said Boston needs to be more open to new ideas.
“In an innovative, creative economy you have to have a government that at least attempts to be as innovative as the world around them,” Day said. “You’ve got an administration that has been around since the days of analog. It needs to adjust.”
Selkoe said he’s willing to sit down with the unhip mayor. Menino declined to comment. His spokeswoman called the video “divisive.”
“We’re not going to pull punches,” Selkoe said. “We’re tweaking the mayor a bit. From our perspective, it’s completely fair. We hope he won’t take it too hard.”
City political observer Larry DiCara said a groundswell of “young, educated” voters could pose a stiff challenge to Menino — if they can be motivated to get out and vote. He noted longtime Mayor James Michael Curley was toppled by John Hynes, based largely on the efforts of an upstart group called the New Boston Committee. “It would take a Herculean effort,” DiCara said. “But maybe a movement like this could change turnout.”
Critics cited the three-day shutdown of a popular club, Cure Lounge on Tremont Street, as an example of the city’s obtuseness. City licensing officials shut down Cure last weekend, saying dancing there violated the venue’s license.
Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce said Cure is licensed as a “lounge,” not a “nightclub” — so no dancing — and the citations are part of a crackdown on Theatre District lawlessness that has included violence. City licensing chief Patricia Malone said: “They’re not allowed to have a dance floor or even dancing. This is the third time they were notified of violations for dancing.” In March, the House of Blues was cited for moshing — an aggressive version of slam-dancing — during a punk rock show.
Selkoe said City Hall is making Boston look bad.
“It makes us look draconian,” he said. “Why are we wading into things like this? It sends a bad message to the rest of the country.”
Also, very telling and something I did not realize, is the founder and karmaloop CEO was a BRA staffer.
http://bostonherald.com/news/region...ck_ceo_challenges_menino/srvc=home&position=3
CEO challenges Menino: Don’t hold city back!
By Dave Wedge
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - Updated 35 minutes ago
+ Recent Articles + Email + Bio
E-mail Print (33) Comments Text size Share
An upstart group of hip, high-tech entrepreneurs has launched a scathing video that paints Mayor Thomas M. Menino as an uncool Vladimir Putin-like figure, saying his iron grip on the city is stifling its culture and strangling its economic future.
Greg Selkoe, founder of the nonprofit Future Boston Alliance, said he also is building a political base with an eye toward backing a challenger to the five-term mayor in 2013. Selkoe, a former Boston Redevelopment Authority staffer who now heads the successful online retailer Karmaloop, said he expects a “strong, young candidate” to emerge to challenge Menino — although he denied harboring political aspirations of his own.
“I think there’s some interesting people who are seriously considering it that would really shake things up,” said Selkoe, whose initiative is being launched just as the mayor’s dance police struck again, shuttering a Hub nightspot during the weekend for unlicensed gyration violations.
FBA launched its snarky YouTube video hammering the Menino administration for a licensing and regulatory system it called “rigged for the connected.” The video blasts the mayor for a moshing crackdown and for forcing Nike to remove controversial T-shirts from its Newbury Street store windows. FBA also highlights bans on 24-hour gyms, inadequate late-night transportation and excessive City Hall “red tape.”
“The regulations, out-of-date outlook and power structure are holding our city back,” the video states.
David Day of the Mmmmaven Project, a Cambridge-based music technology school, attended FBA’s launch last week and said Boston needs to be more open to new ideas.
“In an innovative, creative economy you have to have a government that at least attempts to be as innovative as the world around them,” Day said. “You’ve got an administration that has been around since the days of analog. It needs to adjust.”
Selkoe said he’s willing to sit down with the unhip mayor. Menino declined to comment. His spokeswoman called the video “divisive.”
“We’re not going to pull punches,” Selkoe said. “We’re tweaking the mayor a bit. From our perspective, it’s completely fair. We hope he won’t take it too hard.”
City political observer Larry DiCara said a groundswell of “young, educated” voters could pose a stiff challenge to Menino — if they can be motivated to get out and vote. He noted longtime Mayor James Michael Curley was toppled by John Hynes, based largely on the efforts of an upstart group called the New Boston Committee. “It would take a Herculean effort,” DiCara said. “But maybe a movement like this could change turnout.”
Critics cited the three-day shutdown of a popular club, Cure Lounge on Tremont Street, as an example of the city’s obtuseness. City licensing officials shut down Cure last weekend, saying dancing there violated the venue’s license.
Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce said Cure is licensed as a “lounge,” not a “nightclub” — so no dancing — and the citations are part of a crackdown on Theatre District lawlessness that has included violence. City licensing chief Patricia Malone said: “They’re not allowed to have a dance floor or even dancing. This is the third time they were notified of violations for dancing.” In March, the House of Blues was cited for moshing — an aggressive version of slam-dancing — during a punk rock show.
Selkoe said City Hall is making Boston look bad.
“It makes us look draconian,” he said. “Why are we wading into things like this? It sends a bad message to the rest of the country.”
