Pearl before swine

I got home from work yesterday, went to check the mailbox, and found myself face-t0-face with a gang of six late-teen, early-twenty young men who were high on something other than life. One of the punks threw a handful of gravel into my face, and then challenged me to fight. Another began immediately to tell me that it was a case of mistaken identity. My mother didn't raise a fool, so I backed away, and took my phone out to call police. The punks ran.

Then it got really frustrating. Both Lucy and I called the dispatcher who didn't seem to be able to handle well the multiple calls coming in. In addition, another call had come in some minutes before because this same group had stomped over the roof of a car on College St. A police car finally rounded our street ten minutes after the call, but long after all the offenders had scattered to the wind. We waited for an officer to come and take a statement, but after an hour, Lucy called the dispatcher back, and he said, "You told me you didn't want an officer to visit you." Lucy said, "No I didn't want an officer coming here, I wanted them to chase the people who did this. I assumed, that afterward they'd want to get a statement." The dispatcher replied, "I'n not going to get into it with you." An officer did arrive, and politely, and empathetically took a statement about ten minutes later.

Today, I put in calls to the Police Department, and to the Mayor. The chief is on vacation, but I spoke with Captain Sneed. Both Sneed and the Mayor said they'd beef up patrols.

A little later today I attended the North End Action Team annual garden party and it was a great celebration. I saw the mayor and Captain Sneed and they agreed that the North End party was much more of what we'd like to see then the problems. But in talking to several people who have interacted with the town dispatcher, I can affirm that the town has a problem that needs fixing.

Open goal

It's not good for democracy. It's not good for the town. For a mayoral candidate to run unopposed is an embarrassment.

In fact, I think Seb Giuliano has done a lot of good for the town. I don't always agree with his policies (Liberty Square and Kleen Energy are two notable recent examples), but he cleaned up the high school project, got rid of a lousy police chief, prevented a big box from opening in town, and seems to be working hard, against great Democratic machine odds, to clean up City Hall.

On the other hand, an unopposed run might give him the impression that he's doing everything just right.

I suppose I don't have much of a right to complain because I refuse to run for public office, since I consider it tantamount to bashing your head against a wall on a regular basis, still, it wold be nice to have a choice.

Did I just praise a Republican?

Our Democratic town committee lost my respect when they refused to endorse Ned Lamont in his run for Senate. Instead they stood firmly by that weasel Creepy Joe Lieberman out of loyalty or pragmatism or cronyism. And look where it got us.

Now they can't seem to find someone to run against Republican Mayor Seb Giuliano. No surprise. He dismantled a relationship with an indicted builder who was in the midst of constructing a new high school. He railroaded a developer who was going to turn downtown into big box heaven. He squeezed an ineffectual police chief into retirement. He breathed some fresh air into city hall.

So when Councilman Gerry Daley says: "I hope no one in this room or the public interprets the fact that we're not nominating a candidate for mayor as some form of endorsement for the current mayor," at the Democratic caucus, and claims that the current mayor doesn't have, "a single initiative that he has proposed that has benefited the city in his term" I think it shows a fear of losing power on some important boards and committees.

The mayor has spent some time undoing the misdeeds of the former mayor, and came to office too late to stop all of them (the Richland Group - Ferry Street complex comes to mind), and he's got to focus on a few more of those bad deals (he seems to be working on Kleen Energy, but not nearly as energetically as needs be), and that's signature enough on good works for me.

It's shameful to have an election with no opposing candidate. It's shameful that the Democrats can't see beyond their old-boy network, and find a real, progressive candidate. It's a shame that no one is confident enought to step up to the plate to run against the Republican reformer. And it's an indictment of politics as usual.

The ridiculous strategy of asking voters to cast a ballot for "none of the above" just shows how bankrupt the local Dems are.

Unless a Democratic miracle occurs, in the fall I'll be voting against my instincts for a Republican candidate again.