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Throwback to an earlier era
By adamg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 9:59pm
Roving UHub photographer Kevin Wolf reports he walked back to Southie via Broadway tonight, and just look at the signs he found: Menino AND Patrick.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Why are their names there at all?
I don’t understand why the mayor’s (and in this case governor’s) name needs to be on every city sign that has nothing specific to do with them. It costs the city money to keep updated (not a ton but still some) and only serves to provide free advertising for the incumbent which weakens our democracy. It’d be like writing your company’s CEO’s name on every work product you deliver. A stupid practice.
You answered your own question
It’s taxpayer funded campaigning. It’s a perk of the job no elected executive is willing to give up no matter how shameless and wasteful it is.
When Mitt Romney became Governor in 2004
one of the first things he did was to direct MassHighway to remove all names of officials from the 'Welcome to Massachusetts" signs, and to remove the "Rebuilding Massachusetts" signs - which also had officials' names, from state highway construction sites.
The border signs remain nameless to this day.
I tip my hat to Romney
Although maybe he just didn't want his dog to know he was Governor.
In contrast, when Walsh was running to replace Menino he was asked about the sign thing and he said what people wanted to hear: He only wanted his name on his office door.
A few months after he was sworn in, all the neighborhood signs started to be "updated".
Walsh even put his name …
… on my potholder. It’s kid’s playhouse size and about sums up what he did for fair housing.
You're not kidding
We still have one hanging up on a play kitchen (which is, IDK, still here so future grandchildren can use it?)
Clearly an unauthorized addition
I seriously doubt the Legislature included Patrick's and Menino's names in the Act that authorized that sign.
There are several 311
There are several 311 complaints over old Menino signs in the wild.
Wait...
So I clicked in, because this is indeed amusing, and found this:
https://311.boston.gov/reports/101003772081
"Broken sign. Constituent sounded belligerent as she told me a story about Mayor Menino and Marty Walsh for about 10 mins+"
Does that mean that phone calls to 311 get registered into that online system? Because their typical response to the online complaints is "call 311 for this." To which I've made new complaints with a screenshot of their response and said "isn't this what this system is?" One time I used the app to request pickup of a TV. They said to contact 311 and schedule a pickup. I made another report saying "isn't this 311? Can you please pick up this TV?" They responded "you'll need to contact 311 with the address and request a pickup." I responded again, "Aren't you 311, like it says on this app? Can you please pick up this TV at the address provided?" They agreed to do so, and did. But what ridiculous bullshit is this? Why have an app? And why train the people to ignore the first three requests for something they are in fact permitted to do?
My neighbor who can't do voice calls for accessibility reasons has made 311 complaints specifically stating this is the case, and asking if 311 can route the information to the appropriate place. They respond by saying "call 311."
But now it appears that phone calls get manually entered into this system, so it's in fact an endless loop? What?
What? They named a bridge after Kelly?
I don't remember the Councilman apologizing for all the hateful, reckless remarks he made during the busing crisis. Where is the bridge named after Congresswoman Louise Day Hicks yet another voice of division? Yikes.
meh
No one calls it that... But yeah, like the rest of this thread points out, it's politicians making themselves feel more important.
Ok fine, let’s rename it the
Ok fine, let’s rename it the Judge Wendal Arthur Garrity Jr Memorial Bridge instead.
If it wasn’t for Kelly
and Hicks, South Boston wouldn’t be what it is today. And all the Yuppies and Millennial’s, whose parents hated South Boston over the years, would not have moved there.
GTFOOH with your racism
and learn how capitalization and pluralization work
"You gotta hand it to Hitler for doing..."
No, actually, you don't gotta hand it to them.
(or as dril put it: https://twitter.com/dril/status/831805955402776576)