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Flaherty predicts tide of new voters will sweep him - and Yoon - into office
By adamg on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 11:00am
As he introduced the man who would be his deputy mayor, Michael Flaherty predicted 40,000 to 60,000 more people would come to the polls in November - and that the majority of them would vote for change.
"About half the people who voted last Tuesday voted for change," Flaherty said at a City Hall Plaza press conference at which he and Sam Yoon outlined their proposed agenda - which includes dismantling the BRA, performance reviews across all departments and a 311 system.
Roughly 81,000 people voted in this month's preliminary elections, which saw incumbent Mayor Tom Menino take 51% of the vote, with Flaherty and Yoon splitting most of the rest.
"The status quo is not working," Flaherty said. "Our city is stuck in neutral."
"Boston doesn't just need an urban mechanic," he said. "It needs a visionary."
The mayor's campaign dismissed the deputy-mayor idea as a gimmick and possibly illegal. Flaherty retorted that Kevin White had a number of deputy mayors. And noting the current controversy over deleted e-mail at City Hall, he added, "Gimmicks are my emory boards and Sam Yoon tote bags. ... The mayor is the last person who should be offering legal advice, quite frankly."
Flaherty said Yoon would help him take apart the BRA and develop the constituent service and statistics programs he says would improve service and cut cost. He said Yoon would be paid as a cabinet-level official:
"The mayor has Michael Kineavy and I'm going to have Sam Yoon," he said.
Yoon allowed as how he and Flaherty might disagree on some issues, but said "creative conflict" is a good thing - and can lead to better outcomes.
Flaherty said he reached out to Yoon on Friday and the two met over the weekend and came up with the idea.
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Comments
Menino's people have
Menino's people have suddenly started lunging at Yoon and Flaherty from the top down to the lowest foot soldier. I think Flayoonerty hit a nerve.
"The mayor has Michael Kineavy and I'm going to have Sam Yoon"
Ha!
I swear, I was nowhere near the press conference/rally thing!
But, really, I think Flaherty just found what this campaign really needed to join everyone together:
Some Yoon-ity!
Thank you! I'll be here all week! Tip the veal! Try your waitress!
One word to avoid
"Yoonification"
As in "Unification Church".
Sure, but if they buy out Adamg
We could have Yoon-iversal Hub!
MA, home of Yoon-iversal Healthcare!
We need Flaherty and company to Yoon-ify Harvard and Allston!
They've said nothing
...about whether they will revisit the policy on electronic release of stenographic records of City Council meetings. So forgive me for not jumping on the bandwagon just yet.
And a sleeping press corps refused to pose the question
Bastards!
Actually, I was most impressed with the obstinate stupidity of one reporter (Joe Battenfeld of Fox?) who kept demanding to know a) How Flaherty proposes to pay for Yoon's salary and b) How can the city possibly afford Yoon's salary and c) Would Flaherty split his salary with Yoon. Because as we all know, the city currently doesn't pay anything, anything at all for aides to the mayor, snort.
I was also impressed how Andy Hiller (ooh, must be a good race if Andy Hiller shows up!) kept trying to get Floon to let Battenfeld (or whoever he was) get the last question in, as if he were producing the entire press conference (he was shouting and waving his hand toward the guy). Best part was how the Flaherty people ignored him.
Andy Hiller has been
Andy Hiller has been insufferable ever since he confused the future President George W Bush before everyone else had their shots at him. Little did we know at the time how easy it was.
I wondered who that guy was...
I am pretty surprised he is a legitimate, full-time reporter. The repeated question on Yoon's salary was silly once they indicated it would be a cabinet level salary. Advisers get paid. That is not shocking or scandalous.
Michael wins. The thread.
n/t
The Flaherty/Yoon ticket
The Flaherty/Yoon ticket represents the change that Boston voters are looking for when they go to the polls. With 5 weeks to go before election day, Boston voters are beginning to look past political machinery and are examining what our candidates are offering for the future of Boston. With the Flaherty/Yoon tickets, voters are offered a true reform ticket that values education and transparency in our city.
And if McCrea jumps on the Floon ticket?
Does that make it McFloon? (I think that has a Michael J. Fox promo written all over it - as Spin City's deputy mayor Michael Patrick Flaherty and Marty McFly in Back to the future - what a combo!)
I am voting for
I am voting for Floooonnnn!!!!!
is it just me, or do they both look miserable?
The combo actually intrigues me, in particular because this is a baby step towards better governance, though Flaherty still seems like a good-ol-boy.
If Yoon took on a "city manager" type role similar to Cambridge, that would be truly interesting...
60/40 Menino
Flaherty will get half of Yoon's vote. This was an effort to keep Flaherty's union and contractor support from breaking away and giving up on him.
As long as they are speaking only to the people who get city business, through employment, marriage or contracting, then the election will go nowhere. Flaherty just has another bloc of takers who are currently on the outs and want back in. Yoon had a similar bloc who thought they could get a bite at city money. What a snore.
What do these candidates propose for somebody who isn't interested in begging to get a little piece of the city pie? What do all the financial workers or students who want professional jobs have to gain/lose in this election?
Floon loses in a snoozer.
2013
Flaherty/Yoon
vs.
Menino / Kineavy
vs.
Connolly / Pressley
vs.
Murphy / Arroyo.
boston politics is gonna turn into a shitshow. this was the dumbest idea ever. can't wait for Floon to lose and FOR A REAL LEADER TO LEAD THE CITY LIKE WE'VE ALWAYS HAD. bOSTON HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE. WE DON'T NEED TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM. WE NEED A REAL LEADER, DAMMIT. FLAHERTY ISN'T ONE AND NEITHER IS YOON.
Very confusing
Did anyone notice how in Flaherty's opening remarks he didn't mention the word "ticket" or words "running mate" once. Yoon then immediately referenced the "ticket." Seems to be a divide between the two's understanding of the union.
Also, to call it a ticket is a point blank lie as a ticket refers to a union of candidates that voters can vote for as a team on election day. Legally, there is no way no how Yoon can appear on the ballot.
Just a political stunt if you ask me, no substantive change here.
It's About Taking Part In The City You Live In
I love the Flaherty - Yoon ticket. If nothing more, the union will drive-out voters who typically don't participate in municipal elections. This is a very positive message for all people living in the City of Boston.
If Menino had it his way, the same 80,000 from the preliminary would vote in the general. When was the last time Menino ran a voter registration drive?
I was undecided having voted for Yoon in the preliminary. My vote and my family's vote is for Flaherty-Yoon!
Agreed. This has brought a
Agreed. This has brought a breath of fresh air into the whole process. It will be exciting to watch.
Brilliant!
Two young guys vs. The Dictator a/k/a "da Ill Duce."
Same old Flaherty....
Anyone see the Channel 5 piece on yet another Flaherty property that laid in disrepair? Fortunately its Southie neighbors only had to wait 35 years for them to clean it up (PROFIT). Maybe his Plymouth neighbors can hope for the same soon.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/21151096/deta...
It was a stupid piece of cheapshot reporting
While it might have been nice if Flaherty the younger said he would talk to his dad instead of saying it's not his fault his father's like that, the basics are:
Old Man Flaherty owns a vacant lot that the neighbors used as a dumping ground and dog park for 30 years and now he's building on it. Not explained at all: How that's junior's fault.
Kinda....
....disagree. The property received numerous complaints in the past decade and nothing was done to it. All while Flaherty was city councilor and in most cases president. The Flahertys did nothing to the property (including cleaning) which they paid $6k for. City and State workers took care of this seemingly abandoned lot for decades. Yet now they have decided to profit off of the abandoned parcel by cramming 18 units on to it (further over-developing southie?). I believe the developer is a childhood friend of Councilor Flaherty as well as a long time campaign donor. First the Plymouth left in disrepair and now this property.....think this is a trend. Councilor Flaherty represented his familys Blind Trust on the Plymouth property. Are we to assume the younger Flaherty has no fiscal gain from this? Are we to assume the younger Flaherty has no responsiblity to make sure that lot is kept up for his neighboring constituients rights? Find it odd you see nothing at all wrong with any of this.
If the younger Flaherty is more directly involved, then perhaps
But the Channel 5 piece seemed to be blaming the son for the sins of the father.
I saw it, too
My take was that Ch 5 thought they had something, but they didn't know what, and so weren't sure what the story was they were trying to tell. They seemed to want to suggest that Flaherty got the city the use its workers to clean his father's lot, but they couldn't quite get there. On the other hand, city crews cleaning up private lots is a story, and it does beg the question of how often this happens and at what cost. I think they should have held off until they knew if there was a story and what it was.
I agree in that
.....the piece did not go far enough. More investigative journalism was/is needed. The facts are right in front of them. My simple point is that to think that Flaherty is a change agent is just wrong. We are talking about someone who received a no show job at the BRA while in law school (his uncle was in charge of BRA at the time)....now he wants to dismantle it (only to create the same thing under a different name). Pandering does not make a leader. He knew of neighboring complaints on that property yet turned a deaf ear. Is that the kind of person you think will make changes in city hall? Lets be honest, what has Flaherty shown to date to make you think he is anything other then an old school pol? I hope the city residents know when voting for Floon.....you are simply getting Flaherty. Nothing more, nothing less.
Way to spin
When voting for "Floon" you're also at least getting the CHANCE at Yoon having influence in the Mayor's office. When voting for Menino you're getting what you already know: Kineavy breaking the law and Menino's BRA with people like Christine Colley spending OVER $1 MILLION dollars of the city's money over the past 5 years with absolutely NOTHING to show for it in terms of tracking compliance with community promises from the developers. Nothing more, nothing less.
Spin?
Is "change" a back room hand shake deal involving the promise of a job? Didnt think so. If my opinion goes against yours, it does not make it spin....it makes it my opinion. I would hope that Yoon would get a real look at a good job inside city hall (keeping talent in Boston is important), but to think that Flaherty has him on board for anything besides to grab votes is foolish. Again, what in Flahertys resume tells you he is a progressive thinker? Just not there.....no matter how much you want it to be.
One big difference
This union (not ticket) is a great vote getter. However, all the Yoon fanboys need to realize that Yoon is not getting elected and can easily be terminated. Sure, things are rosy now during election time, but once they start working together and Flaherty gets sick of Yoon's lack of political prowess, Yoon is outta there. Just a thought from a non-Boston person.
City of Boston Email Policy and Reporter's Guide
City of Boston Email Policy and Reporter's Guide
http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/emailpolicy.asp
http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/Fin...
Overview
In the course of responding to a public records request for emails for employees, the City of Boston became aware that emails were not being automatically retained in the way many employees throughout the city understood they were. City officials worked vigorously
to immediately resolve the situation and a new system to capture and store copies of all emails as they came into or out of city email accounts - called "journaling" - was put in place.
For over a year the City of Boston has been working to upgrade its email systems and policies, and completed a policy in May and approved a retention schedule in June. With the approval of the Supervisor of Public Records, the City Clerk's Archives and Records
Management Division spearheaded an initiative in partnership with the Law Department and other city departments to modernize retention obligations and adequately educate all city employees. Simultaneously, the City's Management and Information Systems (MIS)
Department invested $1.3 million to upgrade the City's email platform to improve functionality and capability.
Steps Taken Immediately
Steps the city has taken since becoming aware of the issue include:
Journaling
* The city implemented a comprehensive program that immediately creates a record of all user messages sent and received no matter what each individual does with them. All journaled messages are kept in the archive for three years.
How the City of Boston email system used to work before journaling
http://www.cityofboston.gov/TridionImages/How%20th...
How the City of Boston email system works now with journaling
http://www.cityofboston.gov/TridionImages/How%20th...
E-Discovery
* To further improve the search and message retrieval functionality of the central email / archive systems, the City's MIS Department installed E-Discovery software.
Developed Education and Training for Department Heads and Cabinet Chiefs
* The city communicated to all department heads and cabinet chiefs that messages will now be retained for three years for the immediate future. The letter also explained their responsibility to ensure that each employee understands their obligation to save email
records despite the new "journaling" system.
Corporation Council Bill Sinnott's letter to department heads and cabinet chiefs
http://www.cityofboston.gov/TridionImages/Corporat...
* The city's Corporation Counsel Bill Sinnott and Chief Information Officer Bill Oates will give an extensive presentation tomorrow morning on September 18, to all department heads regarding the city's standards and plans for the future regarding email retention.
Moving Forward
The city continues to pursue every avenue to assure the public and the press that public records sent or received from city email accounts are properly accounted for and disclosed. The methods already implemented will be continually updated and complemented by the
following future goals:
All Emails Sent or Received Will Be Kept for 3 Years
* Both "journaling" and the three-year retention will serve as a safety net until the city is confident that all email users are fully educated on the recently communicated City of Boston retention requirements.
Comprehensive Training for City Employees
* Training sessions have occurred for senior management and will continue in the upcoming weeks for all employees. The training is a collaborative initiative by the Law Department and the City Clerk's Archives and Records Management Division, both of whom will
seek clarity and guidance from the Supervisor of Public Records.
Comprehensive training presentation for city employees
http://www.cityofboston.gov/TridionImages/Comprehe...
* The Email Management and Retention Policy published by the Archives and Records Management Division on May 21 will serve as the foundation for a final comprehensive policy.
Initial email policy completed in May
Retention schedule completed in June
Work with Industry Renowned Experts to Develop a Long Term Policy and Plan
* The city announced that retired state Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney will provide advice and guidance to city officials on completing a plan for the city to move forward with a retention policy taking into account current standards regarding public
records.
* The city also hired Attorney Robert Kerwin of the firm Tarlow, Breen, Hart and Rogers to provide advice and guidance involving email retention forensic retrieval.
Work with the Secretary of State's Office
* At the request of the Secretary of State's Office, the city hired the highly regarded electronic forensics firm, the Stone Turn Group, to retrieve possible public records based on their office's recommendations.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/emailpolicy.asp
http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/Fin...
How is this relevant to the discussion?
n/t
I just deleted a Zak list of URLs
As irrelevant and annoyingly long. Zak, if you want to compile those URLs on a page on one of your 72,000 Web sites and link to that from here, that would be OK.
Wow - it's mighty White on the Floon Facebook page
It's 11 p.m. on Wednesday, September 30th and EVERY SINGLE PERSON whose race is given away by their Facebook photo on the Flaherty-Yoon '09 Facebook page is white. Go and see for yourself. This is change? If Flaherty/Yoon don't have a plan to reach Black voters besides Bruce Bolling (and it appears they don't), then they are done. 60/40 Menino.
Optical illusion
It's well known that, just as TV makes you look fat, Facebook makes you look white.
White flight
http://www.theroot.com/views/myspace-facebook-whit...
I have noticed that when I used Myspace my friends list was more diverse then it is now on Facebook. No word on how diverse my Twitter page is as it is much less personal.
Facebook is still a very preppy white universe.
Myspace Friend Collections
Facebook friend lists more typically represent the people that you associate with in real life. If you have a mixed group of friends, you get a mixed friend list. If you know mostly white people, you see white people.
Myspace lists seem to contain a lot of trophy friends - friends for the sake of having friends, but not people that you have ever met or see on a regular basis.
The least diverse friend lists that I have seen are those of my rural Canadian nieces and nephews. The most diverse by far belongs to my niece who is an ER nurse in Chicago.
Mine is mostly white, but Jewish friends and gay friends are represented in greater numbers than the general population.
I have a I have to have met
I have a I have to have met you in person or spoken with you a bit online rule to friends on the sites so a person would assume that my lists should look the same on both. I also tend not to be the one doing the inviting. Yet somehow my Myspace list is more diverse then my Facebook list. My Facebook list is bigger because it also includes older relatives and coworkers who were confused by Myspace. My Twitter account is the one where I honestly do not have any clue who is following me when, why and how and I am sure I have more then one trophy person over there that never met.