E-Mail This Article to a Friend Fresh starts Boston City Council and Somerville mayoral endorsements

THIS YEAR’S city-council elections have offered an interesting contrast between activism and apathy. The at-large contest, which saw two feisty challengers enter the race — Matt O’Malley and Patricia White — offers real choices. And the District Four race between incumbent Charles Yancey of Mattapan and challenger Ego Ezedi is a lively, albeit acrimonious, contest between two strong candidates. The District Six contest is airing important issues. But four district councilors, James Kelly of South Boston, Maureen Feeney of Dorchester, Rob Consalvo of Hyde Park, and Chuck Turner of Roxbury, are running unopposed. Meanwhile the challengers opposing Paul Scapicchio of the North End, Jerry McDermott of Allston-Brighton, and Mike Ross of the Back Bay and Fenway aren’t particularly strong.

Maybe this is why only 13.58 percent of registered voters turned out for the September 23 preliminary election. Then again, maybe not. Only a minority of citizens pays enough attention to municipal politics to understand what’s at stake when local officials are up for re-election: budgetary oversight, policy changes on education, affordable housing, funding for arts programs, and leadership on hot-button social issues like marital rights for same-sex couples, among many other things.

With all that in mind, the Phoenix offers its endorsements in this year’s council race. In the at-large race, the Phoenix endorses Michael Flaherty. First elected four years ago, Flaherty is coming into his potential as a city councilor. He’s finishing out his second, albeit controversial, term as city-council president, during which he allowed the school-busing contract to be broken up into pieces — rather than bidding it as one gigantic package, for which Laidlaw was the only company that could feasibly meet the job — saving the city $10 million for the 2003-’04 school year.

From the very start of his tenure on the council, Flaherty has also advocated increasing the number of school zones in the city. Currently there are three, a situation that results in ridiculously wide swaths of the city being zoned together — one zone, for instance, pairs Readville with South Boston. While there aren’t enough schools in the city to return to neighborhood schools, there are enough to increase the number of zones to six, seven, or eight — thereby retaining an element of parental choice, but increasing the possibility that students will attend schools closer to their homes. The school department recently announced that it will study the idea and come up with a proposal.

Flaherty is also a staunch supporter of the right of same-sex couples to marry. While it’s not a city-council issue, it’s important for every elected official to show leadership on this crucial matter of basic fairness. In addition to quibbling with Flaherty’s parochial use of Rule 19, which lets the council president table any proposal not deemed relevant to city business, we would also like to see Flaherty be less of a Menino man.

In the at-large race, the Phoenix also endorses Maura Hennigan. Hennigan’s age — she’s 51 — doesn’t qualify her for the position of elder statesman, but her 20 years on the council surely do. As a result of her long service, Hennigan has earned the ability to say what others might be thinking but are afraid to voice. She has been relentless in her criticism of the city’s Inspectional Services Department. She has put forth an important proposal, along with fellow at-large councilor Felix Arroyo, to strip the Boston Redevelopment Authority of its planning function — which conflicts with its role as a developer. She staunchly opposed allowing the city to engage in the radical tactic of taking land for a new Red Sox stadium by eminent domain. She also opposed the use of city funds to help the team build a new park. Her campaign to fix potholes, meanwhile, demonstrates her fundamental understanding that constituent services are a city councilor’s top responsibility. And she supports the right of same-sex couples to wed.

The Phoenix also endorses Felix Arroyo in the at-large race. Arroyo is an important progressive voice on the council. He understands that the council is the exact place to give voice to frustration with the USA Patriot Act, for instance. He’s also formed an important alliance with District Seven councilor Chuck Turner that should not be broken up. He is the only Latino member of the council — a shock, considering the increasing numbers of Latinos throughout the city. As such, he performs the valuable service of giving voice to a minority that has few elected representatives throughout the state. He also supports the right of same-sex couples to wed.

Finally, the Phoenix endorses Patricia White in the at-large race. White has put together an impressively well-organized race for a first-time challenger — raising more than $140,000. Surely some of that can be attributed to her family pedigree: her father, Kevin, was mayor of Boston for four terms from 1967 to 1983. White is a strong candidate in her own right, however. She is steeped in politics, having served as Steven Grossman’s deputy field director during his 2002 run for governor. In 1992 and 1996, she did press work for the Clinton-Gore campaigns. And in 1990, as an undergraduate at Boston University, she worked on John Silber’s campaign for governor. Meanwhile, like our other three picks for the at-large race, she supports the right of same-sex couples to wed. At 33, White would bring great energy to the council and a reasonably progressive view of what Boston needs to do in terms of housing and education to make the city a better place. This view, of course, would be informed by her years of on-the-ground experience in politics, as well as a long historical connection and commitment to Boston from both sides of her family. It would be very interesting to see what this new generation of an old-line, well-connected political family brings to the council chamber.

In District Four, the Phoenix endorses Ego Ezedi for city council. The race between Ezedi and incumbent councilor Charles Yancey has devolved into a bitter, divisive, racially charged slugfest. Yet Ezedi has emerged the clear choice in this race. An associate minister at the Morning Star Baptist Church, Ezedi has brought an energy and vibrancy to political campaigning that residents of Mattapan and Dorchester haven’t seen for years. He takes seriously the job of a district city councilor, advocating filling potholes, getting abandoned cars removed, and putting street signs in place.

Ezedi cut his political teeth with a street-savvy urban pol, Congressman Michael Capuano, for whom he is an aide. (Ezedi took a leave of absence to campaign for the District Four council seat.) If Ezedi is elected, Capuano will no doubt prove to be an important mentor to the 30-year-old city councilor. Though he is firmly ensconced within Boston’s community of conservative African-American clergy — Minister Don Muhammad has endorsed Ezedi’s run for office — the challenger nonetheless rejects the anti-gay and anti-Semitic thinking that sometimes surfaces in these circles. Ezedi, for example, is a strong backer of civil unions for same-sex couples. His candidacy offers the possibility of positive change in District Four.

In District Six, the Phoenix endorses incumbent John Tobin. Since taking office two years ago, Tobin has grown in his job of district councilor. By many accounts, his record on constituent services is spotless. He is also an ardent advocate for the arts — one of the few elected officials, if not the only one, to take such a stance. A stand-up comic himself, Tobin understands the value that creative people — visual artists, writers, musicians, and performance artists — bring to a community. He has brought artistic performances to West Roxbury’s Centre Street, which shuts down at dusk. And he has already pledged to veto next year’s city budget if more money for the arts isn’t included. All that said, the race mounted by challenger Francesca Fordiani has been impressive. Fordiani is based in Jamaica Plain — an area of District Six to which the West Roxbury–based Tobin does not pay as much attention as he should. Fordiani, a social worker and performance artist herself, has many thoughtful things to say about affordable housing, constituent services for lower-income residents and people of color, and the need for a vibrant arts community. Hers is not a protest candidacy — it is a serious run at the office. Should Tobin win, he’d be wise to have a lengthy sit-down meeting with Fordiani after the campaign to pick her brain about how to do better.

Somerville

The Phoenix endorses Joe Curtatone for mayor of Somerville. In the unexpected match-up between Curtatone and Somerville businessman Tony Lafuente (incumbent mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay finished third in the preliminary election), Curtatone is the clear choice. He has eight years of experience in Somerville politics, having served on the board of aldermen since 1996. He is passionate, energetic, and eager to assume office.

Somerville faces a host of problems. The city was hard hit by state cuts in local aid, forcing the layoffs of teachers and the closing of a fire station. There’s no reason to think that the next fiscal year won’t bring more of the same. Curtatone has offered a hard-nosed approach to budgeting that would force department heads to justify their annual expenditures. At the same time, as a former chair of the finance committee for the board of aldermen, Curtatone does not claim that there are pots of money to be found. But he does believe funds can be reallocated within departments and even across departments to possibly save positions in the police, fire, and school departments.

Unlike Lafuente, Curtatone would like to see the police department’s top job taken out of civil service in order to give the mayor authority to appoint a police commissioner — as most big cities already do. He also wants to see more officers out on the streets working with the community to eliminate the terror imposed on residents by the East Somerville gang known as MS-13.

Development at Assembly Square, of course, is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, issue facing the city in the decades to come. Curtatone wants to see a T stop at the parcel. He wants to see green space developed. And he wants business development with residential units in place. This is not an unreasonable vision for the parcel. In fact, it’s a great vision, one that Kelly Gay embraced but was unable to get off the ground. The politically savvy Curtatone is easily the best choice for getting things moving at Assembly Square — a political minefield of bottom-line-oriented developers and obstructionist activists.

The next mayor of Somerville will have to hit the ground running. While Lafuente has many positive attributes, he’s simply too inexperienced to assume political office come January. The job should go to Curtatone.

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