Vote for Marty Martinez on Tuesday
Apr. 9th, 2007 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cos posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
davis_squareSomerville is holding a special election to fill a vacancy on the board of aldermen. Primary day is tomorrow, Tuesday April 10th, and the general election will be on Tuesday, May 15th. I posted about the election on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
somervillemass this weekend.
I'm gonna spend all day tomorrow (6am - after 8pm) volunteering for Marty Martinez, and I hope you'll vote for him. He's an active organizer in Progressive Democrats of Somerville, was the City Youth Director and is now on the board of the Somerville Community Corporation, and I've worked with him on several campaigns starting with MassForDean in 2003.
Marty plans to focus on open government, youth programs, smart growth, and public transportation, among other things. You can read more on his web site - he's got the most well thought out and detailed issue positions of all the candidates (Jack Connolly doesn't even have a web site, but I read a questionnaire he filled out and Marty's answers to the same questionnaire and the difference was striking).
However, a large part of the reason I personally support Marty (and this is my opinion, not speaking for his campaign here) is that I think it's another step in the process of cracking open Somerville's very closed political system so that it pays more attention to the majority of Somerville residents - people like you. If you're reading this community and live in Somerville, chances are you've lived in Somerville for less than 10 years. That puts you in the majority. Until recently, most members of this majority:
Somerville has had a few true bridge-builders in city government, but not enough. One of them - perhaps the most effective, and certainly the most well-loved by both old & new residents - was alderman-at-large Denise Provost. She got elected state rep last year, which is why she resigned from the board and created the vacancy we're filling now. Denise endorses Marty Martinez for her replacement, as do all of the other members of Somerville's state house delegation: Carl Sciortino, Jarrett Barrios, and Pat Jehlen. So does the Somerville Police, and alderman-at-large Bill White, a former Republican who ran against Pat Jehlen for state senate, which suggests to me that Marty will also be a bridge-builder.
(If you're reading this community, chances are you also get most of your political information on the Internet. Consider the fact that one of the candidates doesn't even have a web site for this election.)
Since this is an at-large seat, all of Somerville's citizens can vote. Polls are open 7am-8pm, you can find your polling place at WhereDoIVoteMA.com.
somervillemass this weekend.I'm gonna spend all day tomorrow (6am - after 8pm) volunteering for Marty Martinez, and I hope you'll vote for him. He's an active organizer in Progressive Democrats of Somerville, was the City Youth Director and is now on the board of the Somerville Community Corporation, and I've worked with him on several campaigns starting with MassForDean in 2003.
Marty plans to focus on open government, youth programs, smart growth, and public transportation, among other things. You can read more on his web site - he's got the most well thought out and detailed issue positions of all the candidates (Jack Connolly doesn't even have a web site, but I read a questionnaire he filled out and Marty's answers to the same questionnaire and the difference was striking).
However, a large part of the reason I personally support Marty (and this is my opinion, not speaking for his campaign here) is that I think it's another step in the process of cracking open Somerville's very closed political system so that it pays more attention to the majority of Somerville residents - people like you. If you're reading this community and live in Somerville, chances are you've lived in Somerville for less than 10 years. That puts you in the majority. Until recently, most members of this majority:
- Didn't vote in city elections
- Weren't aware of what was happening in city government
- Were pretty completely excluded from power and influence, and ignored by those who have power locally
Somerville has had a few true bridge-builders in city government, but not enough. One of them - perhaps the most effective, and certainly the most well-loved by both old & new residents - was alderman-at-large Denise Provost. She got elected state rep last year, which is why she resigned from the board and created the vacancy we're filling now. Denise endorses Marty Martinez for her replacement, as do all of the other members of Somerville's state house delegation: Carl Sciortino, Jarrett Barrios, and Pat Jehlen. So does the Somerville Police, and alderman-at-large Bill White, a former Republican who ran against Pat Jehlen for state senate, which suggests to me that Marty will also be a bridge-builder.
(If you're reading this community, chances are you also get most of your political information on the Internet. Consider the fact that one of the candidates doesn't even have a web site for this election.)
Since this is an at-large seat, all of Somerville's citizens can vote. Polls are open 7am-8pm, you can find your polling place at WhereDoIVoteMA.com.
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7 points
Date: 2007-04-11 10:54 pm (UTC)2. Tim Toomey is part of Somerville's legislative delegation - he happens to represent a slice of the city that isn't overpopulated with affluent out-of-state twenty somethings who are probably the majority reading this community blog (not the majority in Somerville).
3. Your post seems to imply that the majority of people reading this community blog mirror the majority of the residents in Somerville - "If you're reading this community and live in Somerville, chances are you've lived in Somerville for less than 10 years. That puts you in the majority." It may be true that the majority of residents of Somerville have lived here for less than 10 years. I don't know how you arrived at that conclusion, but if it is true it's only because your statistics are counting the HUGE immigrant population that dwells in the eastern half of the city. I'm willing to bet that most of them aren't reading this blog and most of them could care less that Jack Connolly doesn't have a web site.
4. I would like to remind anyone still reading that this city was recently recognized by the Boston Globe Magazine (that old bastion of crusty conservatism) as being the "best run city in the state." That was achieved under a Mayor and BOA that were almost without exception born and raised in Somerville.
5. I made this point in an earlier post but I think it bears repeating: Somerville is one of the most progressive municipalities in probably the 2nd most progressive state (I'll give Vermont top billing here) in the country.
6. Lest you think I have no sense of humor, I will close by saying I am three sheets to the wind after unwinding following a double shift last night and this morning. I'm really not anti-progressive and I'll probably vote for Marty again in May, since I think he's the best candidate. I'm just a contrarian who loves to put my two cents in (especially on the relative anonymity of the internet). I'm really glad you're all here and glad people like Cos give a damn (seriously, Cos!)
7. Taxes, it comes down to taxes - if you want to know what I mean, read this (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/04/report_taxachus.html) and this (http://www.somdog.org/calendar/summaries/1538.php#comments) (the second being my comments - "mrgranby" - on the som|dog website). When the PDS starts talking about taxes without the usual pandering about "over-burdened taxpayers", then I WILL JOIN THE PDS!