Soooo...elections next week.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Anybody running for Alderman-At-Large who's particularly egregious in any way?  And what do we know about the guys running for Alderman in Ward Three?  I'm happy with my alderman but local coverage can be spotty about this stuff, and I still remember the Curtatone challenger who turned out to beat his wife.

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I still remember the Curtatone challenger who turned out to beat his wife

What was this?

[ron_newman]

Rick Scirocco in 2007. I don't remember all the details anymore, but I do remember voting for the underqualified Suzanne Bremer in the preliminary that year just so we could get rid of Scirocco and not embarrass the city in the general election.

Edit: Pol profiled in black and blue. The bulk of the article is behind the Herald paywall, but the two paragraphs you can see are sufficient. (I'm not sure any of these women were his 'wife', however.)

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Oh right! I'd forgotten about him.

[ron_newman]

I've been meaning to make a pre-election roundup post, but have been too lazy. I hope you don't mind if I dump some relevant links into your comment section, until I have time to do this right?

Alderman-At-Large: 7 people running, all 4 incumbents + 3 challengers; vote for up to 4:

Jack Connolly (incumbent)
Bruce Desmond (incumbent) -- haven't found his website yet
Todd Easton
Sean Fitzgerald (this is a Facebook page)
Michael Nionakis
Dennis Sullivan (incumbent)
Bill White (incumbent)

Ward 3:
Steve Delani
Tom Taylor (incumbent)

Ward 4 (no incumbent, since Walter Pero is not seeking re-election):
Christine Barber
Tony Lafuente

Ward 7:
Katjana Ballantyne
Bob Trane (incumbent)

No contests for other ward aldermen, for any school committee seat, or for mayor.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

Holy gender ratio disparity, batman.

[ron_newman]

If you live in Ward 4 or Ward 7, you can do something about that.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

Alas, I do not. But perhaps someday down the line...

[squirrelitude]

Ugh, why did Jack Connolly think it was a good idea to only have a video and not a proper issues page I can glance over? I'm a voter, I make snap judgments. :-P

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Some info here also http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/highlight/x25723166/Somerville-voters-guide-Candidates-stories-endorsements

I believe you are talking about Ward 4 and 7 not Ward 3- no one is running against Tom Taylor.

[ron_newman]

Someone named Steve Delani is running against Taylor. I don't know anything about him. Alderman Taylor has been fighting serious illness and hasn't had much time or energy to put into campaigning.

[ron_newman]

Somerville News interviews each of the Alderman-at-large candidates
Somerville News endorsements (not that I think they're really worth anything)

[squirrelitude]

I skimmed their Bob Trane endorsement, and it basically amounted to repeating "he feels your pain, man" in various phrasings.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's why I'm voting for Katjana Ballantyne. It's just time for a change and I think she'll do a great job. I would be ok with Bob Trane, still. At least he opposes Wal-Mart! :)

[ron_newman]

Somerville Patch's election guide

[antimony.livejournal.com]

And for those of us up over the Medford border: Medford Patch Election Central (http://medford.patch.com/articles/medford-election-central), Wicked Local's Medford Elections tag (http://www.wickedlocal.com/medford/town_info/your_vote) -- if anyone has more info, chime in!

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

From Nionakis' website:

Michael D. Nionakis
Somerville Alderman-At-Large
Issues:
Schools and Education
Economic Development and Divide
Infrastructure
Accessibility

Check back soon as Michael articulates his ideas and we continue to develop our site.

You think that 2 days before election would be a good time to let the voters know about his stand on the above issues.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

It still says this. Sigh.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

Thanks to everyone for the links-- very helpful!

[progressnerd.livejournal.com]

Six candidates sought the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville. See the candidates' questionnaire responses (http://www.pdsomerville.org/node/184) and the PDS endorsements (http://www.pdsomerville.org/node/186) are on the PDS website.

[ron_newman]

SCATV held a candidates' debate at the Somerville Theatre on October 17, which you can watch here.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

Todd Easton is a really good guy. He is committed to making Somerville a better place to live and raise a family. Are you concerned that Somerville is building a second indoor ice skating rink when our libraries are lacking? Todd is! Does it bother you that there are no parents of school aged children on the current BOA? It bothers me! Check him out. www.todd4somerville.com

[tober.livejournal.com]

Not that I have any skin in this (I live in Cambridge) but are you quite certain that in fact Somerville is building a second indoor ice rink? It is my understanding that they are in fact building a new _outdoor_ ice rink next to an existing indoor one.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

I guess I assumed it was going to be indoors since it is costing 3.2 million to build. If they're paying that much for an outdoor rink, something is very, very wrong. http://somerville.patch.com/articles/breaking-ground-on-new-ice-rink

[rmd.livejournal.com]

but the zamboni doubles as a party bus.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Considering that the city went to the mat recently to get the school that burned repaired, I think maybe you're selling them a little short.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Actually, personal experience tells me parents of school-aged children are absolutely the last people you want on local political boards. Not that I don't think parents shouldn't be represented, just that kid-blindness is not a good thing when it comes to politics.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

That is an interesting perspective. Several of the long-standing incumbents had school aged children earlier in their terms. Were they less effective then?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I suppose a better way of phrasing it is that I fail to see why the board of alderman lacking any members with school-age children is a concern.

When I was dabbling in local journalism, I covered town meetings a lot and I found absolutely no lack of support for children from the child-free or those with grown children, quite the opposite in fact. Like I said, the city just wrapped up a massive struggle to rebuild the East Somerville Community School, which burned in 2007, and a lot of cities would have just said "We don't have the budget" or thrown the kids in some trailers.

Instead they issued bonds, made Liberty Mutual pay up in court, and worked incredibly hard to keep the school's community together and the parents involved. There frankly aren't a lot of cities that would even bother to do that in the first place.

Similarly, that ice rink you're complaining about is being specifically built because parents went to the aldermen and the mayor and said they wanted more space for youth hockey, and they made it happen.

Hockey rink vs library?

[somdad.livejournal.com]

Yes, the city did a good job of pursuing the state + insurance company to get funds for ESCS, but this was the city administration, not the Board of Alderman.

As far as keeping the school's community together, something the Aldermen can do; I'm not sure I agree as the students are scattered across the city, many don't know what is happening to the building and tumbleweeds are filling the site that has been vacant for nearly 5 years.

With regards to hockey, just because some parents went to their alderman and asked for ANOTHER hockey rink doesn't mean that we should give it to them. I can think of many other items that I'd spend $3.2M on before a rink; which is often used by teams from outside of Somerville (e.g. Belmont). Meanwhile, the libraries are falling apart, we have no quality indoor recreation facilities and little space for community gathering. I know many families that go to Arlington and Cambridge for libraries and recreation, the hockey rink seems like a mis-spent opportunity.

[squirrelitude]

I have rarely seen "think of the children!" *not* come up in political debate.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I am a little turned off by the fact that his campaign left postcards on windshields of all the cars on my street. That seems wasteful, not to mention annoying (since they look like parking tickets from a distance). And the cards are only one-sided and don't have any information other than a URL.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Let's see...Curtatone, Lafuente, Delani, Rossetti, Sullivan, Connolly, O'Donovan, Fitzgerald, Desmond.

I'm glad to see that diversity has taken hold in the city.