Somerville

[push-stars.livejournal.com]

Who should determine the future of a community? Somerville probably has over 80,000 people but only 10,000 actually voted in the last round of elections for Mayor and Alderman. The people, who actually voted, voted because they had huge interests in their business, or town government. Or perhaps they voted because someone in their family was a civil service worker. It is even more likely that a lot of these votes were cast simply because they were told that this person or that was Good person and not because of a platform that was genuinely aligned with the community. Most people actually were not involved. They were not empowered to protect their own interests or they just did’nt know how to effectively. Most of the leadership, most of the power in our community actually dissuades people from getting involved to protect their own interests. A lot of seats were won un-contested and these winners still found they only got less than 70% of the vote. The other 30% left their portion of the ballot blank. We all Know that Un-contested elections are bad. You can see the results of the election here: http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/CoS_Content/documents/UnofficialCityElection11-08-05.pdf


“Years ago, a left-wing Yale music professor made history in New Haven. He won an election as a third-party candidate, the first such victory in generations. He and his party called for publicly funded elections, bike lanes, cleaner air, support for Yale unions--all positions on which Democratic City Hall was either opposed or silent. The Yale prof rode his bike on his new rounds as a city alderman. He was dubbed "Alderman Bike." The city's Democratic mayor, John DeStefano, drove around town in his taxpayer-paid Lincoln Navigator SUV.” Check out how another town was able to become a leader in change, this link is really key to the message here:
http://prorev.com/whyiran.htm

We don’t all have to vote for a particular candidate or tote a specific party line to make big things happen. But when we vote en force for our values and for what is important we give our elected officials the currency they need to make changes. see what happened here: http://www.mattgonzalez.com/index.php

Finally East and West Somerville are two totally different worlds. I am begging and pleading for all the help we can get in protecting homes, residents, renters, and business like Ricky’s Flower shop in Union square. Ricky’s is just one of many family run business that serve the fabric of our community in ways that places like home depot can’t. Help make sure that our neighborhoods are not rezoned into commercial districts and that our town remains a neighborhood controlled by our neighbors.

thanks again for listening,

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

that's huge, could you cut it?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Took the words right out of my keyboard! :-)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Somerville has a population of 77,478, according to the 2000 census (http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/About.cfm?page=35). And only 65,903 are of voting age.

[marylu.livejournal.com]

dude, you write the wierdest posts. are you suggesting, with all your exclamation points, that low voter turnout is a shocking problem unique to somerville? 'cause it ain't. I don't get what you are asking people to do. election season is over. if you're just trying to raise awareness with these links and stuff, then it would be more helpful if you posted concrete things like aldermen's contact info or their positions on zoning.

[komos.livejournal.com]

I, for one, welcome our tangential East Somerville overlords.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I was somewhat confused myself.

The post is a call to action to do... something.

We all Know that Un-contested elections are bad!

That is a lot of capitalization. And an exclamation.

This reminds me of something I once told my students (I used to work in a high school in Illinois) - "The louder I say it, the more true it is!"

(usually I yelled that loudly)

obTopic: I moved to Somerville about two years ago. While I am annoyed that things are not open late, in general I find the Davis Square area to be a pretty good place to live. Sure, I would love to have housing costs go down, but the housing costs in the Davis Square area are more due to desirability than anything, from what I have seen.

Would I like to see places like Winter Hill get a little cleaner and safer? Sure. Do I trust the government with my money to do something about it? No.

Would I like to see the ever-promised Green Line extension? Sure. Do I look at the Big Dig and realize I could stay here another decade and never see a Boston Ave/Tufts stop? You better believe it.

When it comes down to it, there are no local-level issues that are so bad that I think that cleaning house at City Hall is a worthwhile investment.

[catalyst.livejournal.com]

Finally East and West Somerville are two totally different worlds.
     that's true (although "totally" is an exaggeration). generally speaking, west somerville is rich and white, while east somerville is non-rich and non-white. so, uh, where you going with that?

[ron_newman]

If you want to get involved in local politics to change the city for the better, I suggest you check out Progressive Democrats of Somerville, or Somerville Transportation Equity Project. There are plenty of other good local community groups; these are just two that I'm familiar with that do good work here.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Good lord, why are people in this thread so nasty? Wah wah, a sentence was capitalized. Wah wah, three paragraphs on my friends page. The OP was trying to do some good and raise awareness.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I think the issue is that the OP's post is so incoherent that it's not really clear what awareness was trying to be raised, or toward what ends, or whether it relates to any current events at all. I don't think it's nastiness so much as befuddlement. People might be more engaged or interested if the OP's points were made clearly.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

'People might be more engaged or interested if the OP's points were made clearly.'

Or less bitingly snarky/sarcastic? I'm sorry, but a community that largely wears pastel sweaters has no reason room to be derisive.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

-reason

"Alderman Bike"

[bgum.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in the Green-Rainbow Party, you can go to the local meeting at O'Natural's on Elm Street, this Thursday (23rd) at 7pm. We'd love to get your input, even if you aren't "J".

[catalyst.livejournal.com]

     hey push_stars, are you alexandra, perchance?

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

I personally voted in the last local election because I knew which of the candidates I thought would make the best choices. Many people were not involved, but from what I saw, a growing number of people were.

Also, it shouldn't be underestimated that the city has a very high turnover rate of voting-age residents, some of whom are not yet citizens, some of whom consider their "real" home somewhere else, where they may understand local politics better, and many of whom are exactly the demographic that don't vote no matter WHERE they live.