Who Wants To Be... MAYOR!

davem said:
Can we get a debate on candidates started here that's not so much a debate, but more of a slew of sales pitches? Sell your perspective future mayor...
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This is why I've decided to vote for Mike Ross:
  • Lives in and represents Mission Hill (and Fenway, Back Bay, BH). I would prefer not to have Boston continued to be ruled as a colony of its outer suburbs.
  • Helped bring about the revitalization of the West Fens that we are all excited about here.
  • Was behind late night T (2001-2005), food trucks, online services, etc. There's stuff other candidates talk about that he's actually been part of.
  • Unafraid to go learn from examples in other cities, e.g. the improvements to Boston Common were adapted from NY.
  • Has made public transportation a centerpiece of his campaign. The Globe calls his focus a "gimmick." Fuck the Globe. They're out of touch. That's a "gimmick" that some of us live with every day.
  • 13 years of experience in the city council, and unlike some of the other progressive candidates, has shown the ability to win elections. You can't do reform if you can't win.
  • Gives some of the best, if not the best, answers to the questionnaires I care most about.

Here's some examples:
Mike Ross said:
I have been a strong advocate for many years of alternatives to overpasses where they can be used. I believe that overpasses create dead, underused space within neighborhoods and creates divisions between them. In my own City Council district, I have worked with the Friends of the Charlesgate for many years in their fight to remove the Bowker Overpass on the Kenmore/Back Bay line. I personally worked to set up meetings with MassDOT to advance these neighbors plan to remove the crumbling, unsafe overpass and to replace it with a surface-level road.
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I've been to some of those meetings. It may not happen, or if it does, it may take many years, but at least they're trying.

Mike Ross said:
Parking is a perennial problem in Boston. The best way to address this issue is to provide strong transportation alternatives to encourage people to drive less and reduce car ownership. My transportation plan for Boston strongly highlights investments in public transit, better cycling infrastructure, expanded car-sharing networks, and zoning reforms to encourage transit oriented development. I also support changes to zoning that reduces the minimum required number of parking spaces that new developments must include in their plans. This policy reflects the reality that fewer and fewer people are choosing to own cars.

However, we still must deal with the cars that are on the road today. As Mayor, I would support transitioning all two-hour street parking in the city to meters to put a real price on parking and work through a community planning process to address the challenges of neighborhoods with more residential permits than actual parking spaces.

I would support parking benefit districts as one way to make this change in a way that maximizes benefits to business districts. Parking benefit districts dedicate a portion of the revenues generated from newly installed parking meters to local improvements that promote walking, cycling and transit use, such as improved sidewalks, curb ramps, lights and bicycle lanes. Additionally, it can be used to encourage drivers to consider other ways to reach their destination without driving and parking. Cities like Austin, Texas are currently utilizing this innovative model. I would also lead the implementation of mobile apps that identify open parking spaces for drivers to reduce time spent driving in search of spaces, resulting in less congestion and carbon emissions from circling vehicles.
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This is a smart answer. How many other candidates even know what parking benefit districts are?

Mike Ross said:
I believe we must create a significant amount of new housing opportunities across the city to ensure that all those who want to call Boston their home can afford a home in Boston. As Mayor, I will commit to an aggressive plan for building tens of thousands of new units of housing that will help relieve the high cost of housing that is straining many families and forcing others out of Boston.
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I like the way he's always come out and said straight up: we need to build more housing. It's usually one of the first things in his stump speeches that I've seen too.

I didn't start off with him, or knowing much about him, but the more I see him the more impressed I am; with most of the other candidates, the more I see, the less impressed.
 
I like Ross too, but hate the Night Owl. With phone apps it will work better than the original implementation, but I would still strongly prefer real subway service.

He's a straight shooter and represents my city (the inner core), not Hyde park or W. Roxy which might as well be on a different planet.
 
I really wish I still lived in Boston so I could vote for Ross. He knows what he's talking about.
 
Its Ross's articulate arguments that attracted me to him as well. Both Ross and Connolly, more than any other candidates it seems, not only give an answer to the questionnaires, but actually expand on them and add specific details. The rest of the candidates seem to either 1) skirt the issue entirely, 2) throw down a bunch of buzz words that sort of form an answer or 3) answer the question, but without actually taking a stance or being specific.


Ross representing Mission Hill is also big for me, since that neighborhood seems to be a microcosm of the issues of the rest of the city as a whole.
 
Anti-student, anti-student, anti-student. Also, he's anti-student.

Eventually, I'll have to forgive him for past misdeeds.

Related, he came out with this wild idea today. No idea why he waited til T-6 days to go with it. It's an appealing idea and worthy of months of discussion.

It's almost if he has his sights on post-preliminary day.

If this idea got any light, it would be dismissed by probably 90% of the downtown Boston residents. They wouldn't want a million residents if it put more pressure on our neighborhoods. And, given the past ten years as an example of how development has progressed, downtown would feel the brunt of it.

Michael Ross envisions a Boston boom
By Chris Cassidy, Boston Herald

Mayoral candidate Michael P. Ross is pushing a plan to add 150,000 housing units throughout Boston by 2025, grow the city’s population to 1 million and restore the Hub as a headquarters town by luring two Fortune 500 companies here.

“The building boom has hit our city, but it hasn’t hit every neighborhood in our city and it needs to,” said Ross, who unveiled his plan exclusively to the Herald while walking through Kevin Fitzgerald Park in Mission Hill yesterday.

“You have neighborhoods in the city of Boston where tonight they shut down. There’s no supermarket. There’s no restaurant. There’s no strong, vibrant business district,” Ross said.

His plan is more aggressive than Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s $16 billion proposal to create 30,000 housing units by 2020.

Ross would add more than 12,000 units a year until 2025, boosting Boston’s population of about 636,000 to more than 1 million, the size of the high-tech mecca San Jose.

The Back Bay-Beacon Hill district councilor said his housing plan would not only create jobs, it would put a lid on skyrocketing home costs, boost public safety and generate more tax revenue to fund schools and other city services.

Ross said he would target areas like the Fairmount Line corridor, Blue Hill Avenue, the East Boston waterfront and the Ashmont and JFK Red Line stops — and avoid areas like South Boston where development is already booming and housing prices are soaring.

“They want to see new markets open, new development, new housing, because they want amenities in their neighborhoods,” said Ross, noting his own Mission Hill district was safer when places like JP Licks were open until 11 p.m. and more restaurants attracted diners crosstown.

“That’s how you create safety. It’s not by flooding a neighborhood with police. It’s by creating places where people want to go and visit,” he said.

Ross said he would also try to entice two Fortune 500 companies to relocate their headquarters here by the end of his first term — one to Boston and the other just outside the city, in Somerville or Cambridge.

“I’m going to make a case and go directly to their door,” he said, “and I’m going to encourage Somerville and Cambridge to join me in that effort.”

He said the model for his housing plan is the current Fenway makeover, which represents a 
$2 billion investment encompassing 2 million square feet of development, including a massive upgrade to the Yawkey commuter rail station.

“We did it right,” said Ross. “We didn’t have to give $500 million to the Boston Red Sox or bulldoze Fenway Park as some people wanted to do. All we had to do was get together and plan. And there are other neighborhoods that are craving this development.”

Ross’ proposal comes on the heels of a plan by mayoral contender Martin J. Walsh to demolish and privatize City Hall and redevelop Government Center — an idea Ross has slammed for neglecting neighborhoods.

“The greatest risk in this mayor’s race,” Ross said, “is thinking too small and thinking parochially ... and to not think big enough.”
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- See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio..._envisions_a_boston_boom#sthash.f4zBxufl.dpuf
 
JohnAKeith said:
Anti-student, anti-student, anti-student. Also, he's anti-student.
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I've heard this from a few people, but I don't understand this objection at all. How? Many of the initiatives he worked on ought to appeal to the 20-something demographic (student or not). Also, increasing housing and dorm options is something that students and local residents ought to embrace, as it has the potential to bring down rents, and also take pressure off the neighborhoods.

I personally am a student (graduate) and I live on a street with lots of students, so I have a front-row seat to some of the stupidity that occurs. I don't see how forcing students into overcrowded living conditions because of antiquated zoning laws is "helping" them. Mike Ross is offering a plan to tackle the root of the problem: bad zoning and planning.

Both Ross and Connolly, more than any other candidates it seems, not only give an answer to the questionnaires, but actually expand on them and add specific details.
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Connolly gives good answers to the questionnaires, but I am extremely cautious of him because he has a history of strange claims. For example, I worked on the Cambridge Street overpass activism this past summer. Connolly was not involved except to put his name on the list of public officials at the end. And I thank him for doing that, but that's all he did. No deeper involvement. So it's disingenuous of him to imply anything further. He has also come to Brighton and claimed to be the "top vote getter" here in the last council election, which is not true (Felix was). And he claims "Allston" is his favorite neighborhood?! Oh, he likes to take his kid to a "park across from a bus stop" yeah right. I have never seen him here except for a fundraiser.

There's a whole bunch of other oddities and I know other local residents who feel the same way. But what really bothers me is the fact that Connolly is the favorite of the absolute worst of the NIMBYs in this neighborhood. Something is not right about that. Someone is getting played by him. And I have a bad feeling that it's us.

but I would still strongly prefer real subway service.
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Not feasible, and buses are used almost everywhere else to provide night service. Montreal, SF, Philly, you name it.
 
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09/18/2013 | 9:39 AM

John R. Connolly leads crowded Boston mayoral field in new poll
By Andrew Ryan / Globe Staff

A new poll less than a week before Boston’s preliminary mayoral election showed City Councilor John R. Connolly with a slight lead over a crowded field.

The poll by Suffolk University for the Boston Herald found Connolly with 16 percent of the vote. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and state Representative Martin J. Walsh tied for second in the poll with 12 percent.

Former city housing chief Charlotte Golar Richie finished just behind them with 10 percent, a significant jump from the last Suffolk University/Boston Herald survey in July.

The survey found that just 19 percent of voters were undecided, a substantial drop from other public polls. The poll of 600 likely voters was taken over six days from Sept. 12 to 17. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

The next cluster of candidates included City Councilor Rob Consalvo with 8 percent, and former health care executive Bill Walczak and City Councilor Felix Arroyo, who were tied at 6 percent.

The poll found that City Councilor Michael P. Ross had 5 percent of the vote, followed by former School Committee member John Barros at 3 percent.

Link
 
I think the brunt of the anti-student criticism Ross gets comes from the ordinance he put together limiting the number of students that can live in an apartment. It got painted as anti-student at the time, although hind sight's probably cooled a lot of people's views on it (especially in light of the fire this summer). He's also said some things from time to time that come across as anti-Northeastern and anti-Northeastern student, but hey, he's the Mission Hill councilor, and Northeastern and Northeastern students aren't always on their best behavior towards the rest of Mission Hill, so who can really blame him.
 
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Students willing to live in unsafe conditions are enabling slumlords to jack up rents on everyone. Trying to stop that is not "anti-student" it's anti-stupid.

The market in housing can only begin to work when there's a baseline for what is considered a "safe unit." Then owners of units can compete on price and amenities. But if "unsafe units" are allowed to be leased, then there's a race to the bottom. Some people will be willing to compromise safety and pile into units. Individually they pay less, but together they offer a much higher rent to the slumlord. That pushes out people who are unwilling to compromise safety.

The ordinance was not the best way to fix that, but there's only so much a city councilor can do. The Mayor needs to make the heavy lift. Fixing ISD, make doing development reasonable, entirely reform zoning and planning, etc.
 
You know that and I know that, but politics is about messaging sometimes. Unfortunately for Ross, initial reaction when the ordinance passed was that student rents were going to rise, that they were being singled out, it was unenforceable, etc., etc., and he didn't manage to get out in front to turn the message around. Seems like he's learned a lot in the meantime though. I mean, that was what, 6 or 7 years ago at this point? He'd pretty much have to.

Note: I'm leaning Ross, so I'm not meaning to come across as hugely critical if anyone's reading it that way.
 
Damn I didn't know that Ross was polling in the back with Barros. How many make it through the first round? Looks like Ross won't be one of the finalists.
 
Polls are going to be highly unreliable in this race because of small sample and difficulties with likely voter model. The pollsters are probably basing their model on past races. And that's not a bad idea. The question is whether the unusual crop of candidates can get a not-so-usual crowd to turn out. If they can, then the polls are basically useless. If not, then they may be about right.

Also, I have to say, from talking to voters, it seems that a lot of people are probably going to show up at the polls without their minds completely made up.
 
Massachusetts has open primaries, and it seems to me that the mayoral race is non-partisan, so I wouldn't imagine that voters' party affiliation has any effect.
 
^That's not correct for state elections. Independent voters cannot vote in primary elections for democrats or republicans. Is Boston different? I was a democrat 4 years ago so I had nothing to worry about.
 
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/09/pollster_menino_s_shot_at_being_kingmaker_now

Pollster: Menino’s shot at being kingmaker now
By: Jack Encarnacao

If Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to be a kingmaker, he should do it now before Tuesday’s preliminary election, a Suffolk University pollster said today.

“If he’s going to act, he’s got to act now,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, who today released the latest Suffolk/Boston Herald polling on the mayor’s race, which showed City Councilor John Connolly growing his comfortable lead in the 12-candidate field.
 
armpitsOFmight said:
^That's not correct for state elections. Independent voters cannot vote in primary elections for democrats or republicans. Is Boston different? I was a democrat 4 years ago so I had nothing to worry about.
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The Boston municipal races are completely non-partisan. There is no primary. It is a "preliminary election" and the "general election" is in November.

No parties. All candidates compete against each other. Top 2 mayoral, and top 8 city council at-large will go onto the general election.
 
kingofsheeba said:
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...pollster_menino_s_shot_at_being_kingmaker_now

Pollster: Menino’s shot at being kingmaker now
By: Jack Encarnacao

If Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to be a kingmaker, he should do it now before Tuesday’s preliminary election, a Suffolk University pollster said today.

“If he’s going to act, he’s got to act now,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, who today released the latest Suffolk/Boston Herald polling on the mayor’s race, which showed City Councilor John Connolly growing his comfortable lead in the 12-candidate field.
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how+about+NO+_14a652e594c8b41c769ec605578ed6d3.jpg



Why does this race *need* His stamp??? Is there anyone on the face of earth who's not a paid horse-race flunkie who thinks this *needs* to happen for all to be right with the world? Isn't the whole point of this election and crop of candidates that it's free from His tentacles?
 
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