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Felix Arroyo
BY KRISTEN LOMBARDI
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The shindig thrown for Boston at-large city-council candidate Felix Arroyo this past Tuesday was nothing like your standard white-bread, post-election party. Held at Mirage, the black-awning-bedecked dance house in the South End, it was attended by young folks and old folks, black folks and white folks, gay folks and straight folks. There were unkempt dreadlocks and bushy beards. There were strobe disco lights hung from the ceiling and campaign posters duct-taped to the walls. And there was a giant inflatable cat, whose mischievous grin gave it a striking resemblance to the man of the hour. As Arroyo’s wife, Elsa, put it later in the evening, "This is a people’s campaign. We have no money, no business, no developers. We are only the people." Perhaps because of the organization’s distinctly grassroots quality, the crowd seemed reluctant to get excited. Just after the polls closed, at 8:30 p.m., nary an Arroyo supporter would predict the outcome. At that point, early returns showed Arroyo in fifth place, even though many of these supporters had spent the day calling voters in Dorchester, Mission Hill, and Roxbury in a final get-out-the-vote effort. Even though they’d spent the day stumping with yellow-and-green Felix Arroyo signs. After all, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, the at-large council race was pegged as tight — and Arroyo as vulnerable. He placed fifth in the September 23 preliminary after being inched out by politically connected newcomer Patricia White. And so, many supporters saw Arroyo’s re-election as a test. Says Eric Weltman, a progressive activist, "Can progressives elect one of their own? The verdict is still out." But it wasn’t long before the apprehension dissipated. By 9:30 p.m., after 60 percent of the city’s precincts had reported and campaign officials had announced that "our candidate" had placed third in the fight for four at-large seats, many Arroyo supporters could hardly contain themselves. Packs of "Felix Fans," as their T-shirts described them, screamed in fevered, I-can’t-believe-it delight, their faces red with glee, their fists in the air. One older black man turned to me, wide-eyed, and mouthed the words, "Oh my God. I’m so surprised." Thirty minutes later, when 72 percent of the precincts had reported and officials announced that Arroyo had moved up to second place, the mood in the room was euphoric. Chants of "Felix! Felix! Felix!" ricocheted off the rafters. Contingents broke out into song: Aah-roy-ooo, Aah-roy-ooo. Spanish-speakers in the crowd offered their own ditty: Oh-ah. Felix no se va. Oh-ah. Felix no se va ("Felix isn’t going anywhere"). Awaiting their candidate’s victory speech, Arroyo supporters passed the time ruminating on the reasons for his stunning placement. Was it, they wondered, the late endorsement from at-large city councilor Michael Flaherty, who bested Arroyo for the first spot? Was it the spiffy new voting machines? The last-ditch push to get out the vote? Or the progressives’ call to arms? Whatever it was, they reasoned, it worked — and well. Arroyo campaign manager Ed Toomey summed up the sentiment when he gushed, "Isn’t it nice to be in second place? Don’t you feel good?" Eventually, at 10:35 p.m., the man himself ascended the stage as Bob Marley’s "Get Up, Stand Up" blasted over the speakers. Flanked by fellow at-large city councilor Maura Hennigan, who also won re-election, and District Seven councilor Chuck Turner, who didn’t face an opponent, Arroyo described his placement in this year’s elections as historic. "In the city of Boston," he said, "voters have said that principles matter," as do equity and diversity. As a councilor, Arroyo pledged, he would carry forth a "new vision for the city" — one that includes all its residents. "This is your message and it will be heard by me every day" — a vow that earned him a rousing round of applause. Concluded Arroyo, "We have opened the door to a new Boston, and it’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming." Standing in the midst of the crowd, all that could be heard was the stomping feet of hundreds of his delighted followers.
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