It was only a matter of time before a large enough voice in Boston's Black community spoke out against Mayor Menino. There have been grumblings about his support for BU's Biolab for a while and his reputation for being vindictive against people who contradict his wishes is well known. I left Boston before he became mayor and returned 6 years ago. Upon returning, I heard that he enjoyed high ratings, but I could never understand why. Besides literally not being able to understand what he said, I didn't see what the big deal was about him. Yes he made appearances everywhere, but what was he really doing? Did I miss his golden years?
Anyway, the Bay State Banner's editorial opposing Menino is interesting. Has Menino finally bumped up against someone with a legacy bigger than his own? Elma Lewis isn't well-known by many Bostonians under 40. Further, her accomplishments and legacy aren't well known by many Bostonians under 30. Given the large number of young voters, I wonder how important the Parcel 3 project will be to young voters and new Bostonians. Using the Parcel 3 development is an interesting way to portray into the idea that Menino is out of touch with the community. But in order for that to take root on a wider scale, I feel that more examples and connections need to be identified.
Overall, this should be an interesting mayoral cycle. Many communities of color and liberal white communities were envigorated and galvanized by President Obama's election. I'm curious to see whether any fractions will appear if/when Menino formally announces his candidacy. If an anti-Menino movement takes hold in Boston, it'll also be interesting to see how the voting breaks down by neighborhood. Dorchester and Roxbury are two of the most populous neighborhoods, but I don't think they have the highest voter turnouts in any election. Will Menino bother courting voters of color and liberal white voters in those districts if more of these editorials appear? Or, will he pursue a George Bush-style divide and conquer campaign and just go for the safe districts? Unfortunately, none of the current candidates looks strong enough at the moment to portend an interesting campaign cycle. Hopefully that will change soon.
A week ago when I heard that a movie would be filming on my street (at the house you see in the photo) I got a little excited. I thought it would be cool to catch a glimpse of a star or two and see what a production looked like in action.
Well, that feeling is gone. Filming began early this morning and it's not as wondrous as I would have liked. First I woke up to find my high speed internet crawling at the speed of dial-up. News sites took forever to load and trying to send and receive emails was a chore. I suppose no one told Comcast there'd be a sudden spike in usage in Roxbury.
Anyway, I took my camera with me to work figuring that I could at least get some shots of the filming and perhaps a star. When I saw Ben Affleck get out of a car, I pulled out my camera but was swiftly told that photography was not allowed. No explanation was given, but I suppose it's to prevent leaks. Still, aren't I allowed to take photos from a public street? I wasn't even sure if the street was still "public" since the crew was using both sides for two blocks. I live and work on the same street but had to ask to walk through since there was no space allocated as a public thoroughfare and no previous notice that pedestrians might not be allowed to pass through.
Today I went for my first helicopter ride. A friend of a friend offered us the chance to go, so we jumped in her car, drove to Marshfield, and then flew over Plymouth Harbor for about 30 minutes. It was an amazing experience made even better by beautiful blue skies and views from Boston to Provincetown. If you've never been I highly recommend it. The company I flew with is Metro Helicopters. They fly across the Cape, the South Shore, and Metro Boston.
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