Council counsel

A chance to revitalize local government in Boston -- and to keep it vital in Cambridge

Boston voters have an opportunity to revitalize local government when they go to the polls this Tuesday, November 2, to vote for the 13 members of the Boston City Council.

Under Boston's strong-mayor system of government, the council's role is limited. Among its few mandated powers are approval over new debt and the ability to cut -- but not add to -- the mayor's budget. Nevertheless, an energetic, independent council has the ability to speak out, float new ideas, define issues, and shine the spotlight on how the mayor governs.

Three candidates stand out for the four at-large (that is, citywide) slots.

Incumbent Peggy Davis-Mullen is often described as Menino's nemesis, but she herself protests that the label is one-dimensional. In fact, she can work with the mayor on important issues, such as the merger several years ago of Boston City Hospital and the Boston University medical complex. An outside-the-box thinker, Davis-Mullen also proposes converting South Boston High School -- a symbol of the city's painful racial past -- into affordable housing, and building a new school near Columbia Point, whose waterfront location fits much better with the school's academic focus on aquatic studies. Though Davis-Mullen ideologically might be termed a moderate conservative, she is a strong advocate for the arts and has reached out to the gay and lesbian community as well.

The council would be a more effective body if two newcomers -- Michael Flaherty and Greg Timilty -- were elected. Both come from active political families. Flaherty, whose father is former South Boston state representative Michael Flaherty Sr., won respect for his impressive but unsuccessful 1995 council campaign. He is a soft-spoken conciliator with clearly thought-out plans on issues such as affordable housing. Timilty, the son of two-time mayoral candidate Joe Timilty, brings his father's activist passion to the race. Unlike Flaherty, Timilty has pledged not to support South Boston district councilor Jim Kelly, a diligent but parochial throwback, for another term as council president.

In District Eight (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill), yet another political heir, Suzanne Iannella, stands out as the clear choice. Feisty and outspoken, Iannella -- whose late father was the long-time council president Christopher Iannella -- brings a welcome sense of brio to politics, a once-colorful calling that these days is often drab and gray. There is precisely zero chance that she'll roll over for either the Millennium tower over the Mass Pike or the Red Sox' proposal for a new Fenway Park, projects that would enrich private interests at the expense of the public good. Her challenger, Mike Ross, clearly has a future in public service, and we hope he continues. But Iannella would be a breath of fresh air and a welcome ally to those who want to re-energize the council.

In District Seven (Roxbury, South End), veteran community activist Chuck Turner promises to be a strong advocate for a neighborhood that is too often ignored. We recognize that Turner's will at times be an uncomfortable voice. His critics charge that he won't be able to work with the mayor. Perhaps. We don't agree with him on every issue -- such as his support for bringing back rent control, which we believe is an unworkable approach to solving the affordable-housing crisis. But the council needs some moral outrage, and the savvy Turner has that in abundance. The support Turner has received from Mel King, whom the Phoenix endorsed in his historic 1983 mayoral campaign, says much about him as well.

Councilors Maura Hennigan (District Six: Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) and Brian Honan (District Nine: Allston/Brighton) both deserve re-election. Hennigan, who has had to fend off a strong and, at times, unnecessarily nasty challenge, represents a complex district. West Roxbury is overwhelmingly conservative, and Jamaica Plain isn't as uniformly liberal as the stereotype would have it. Yet when the time came to cast a tough vote in favor of domestic-partnership benefits for city workers, she was there. Her support for the Lyndon Pilot School distinguishes her from her opponent as well.

Councilors Maureen Feeney (District Three: Dorchester) and Dan Conley (District Five: Roslindale, Hyde Park, West Roxbury) are classic hard-working district officials who provide good constituent services, but who are also open to important citywide issues such as domestic-partnership benefits.

Two district councilors, Jim Kelly (District Two, South Boston, South End) and Paul Scapicchio (District One, North End), are running unopposed. That's a shame. The Phoenix is on record as believing that removing Kelly as council president is the key to reinvigorating that body. Kelly is a ferocious advocate for old-time South Boston residents, but he is simply too narrowly focused and too racially insensitive (witness his embarrassing hearings to do away with affirmative action) to lead the legislative branch of a great city.

Cambridge voters will also go to the polls this Tuesday. Unlike its Boston counterpart, the Cambridge City Council is, at least on paper, a powerful body: it hires and fires the city manager, who is the city's chief executive, and it elects from among its own ranks the mayor, who chairs both the council and the school committee.

All nine positions on the council will be filled on Election Day. Because of the city's unusual system of proportional representation, some may be elected with as little as 10 percent of the vote. The Phoenix recommends a slate of seven candidates -- six solid progressives, plus a young but veteran moderate.

The Phoenix slate comprises incumbents Katherine Triantafillou, Ken Reeves, Kathy Born, and Anthony Galluccio and newcomers Jim Braude, Marjorie Decker, and Erik Snowberg. Reeves, Born, and Triantafillou have already established themselves as thoughtful progressive voices, and their experience and energy will be invaluable in assisting Cambridge's quests for more affordable housing and community controls on development. Galluccio, never the darling of Cambridge progressives, is nevertheless a liberal by any except Cambridge standards. A son of middle-class North Cambridge, Galluccio is a bridge between conservative natives and liberal academics.

Braude, the former head of the Tax Equity Alliance for Massachusetts and a long-time liberal activist, is new to the local political scene, but he's a strong conceptual thinker trumpeting an idea -- an elected, more accountable mayor -- that's worthy of immediate discussion. Decker, a former legislative aide to State Representative Alice Wolf, and Snowberg, an MIT senior, are talented up-and-comers in their 20s who will bring a badly needed youthful perspective to the council. Snowberg, who's been organizing the dorms like a New Age ward heeler, should be applauded simply for his efforts to register thousands of Cambridge's historically detached college students.

The polls will be open on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Vote.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.