Mota is extremely well-spoken; she has a richness of experience in the neighborhood; and evinces compassion on behalf of her neighbors. And walking around the neighborhood with her, one gets the strong impression that she knows everybody already. “I think if you go around and talk to folks, people are concerned about the local [quality of life] … making sure people can still live here, and how can we make sure East Boston will prosper and grow.”
I asked about her views on education: She spoke of getting on the school/parent council, addressing the achievement gap, and the unfortunately high dropout rate. Mota stresses the importance of community involvement: “I'm a big advocate of family/community engagement coordinators,” referring to her own experience in the Boston Parent Organizing Network. She'd like to see more investment — effort and money — in this kind of strategy.
David asked her views on MCAS: She thinks it's been important in evaluating achievement, and pointing out the achievement gap between white kids and black and hispanic kids. But she doesn't think it should be the sole graduation requirement.
East Boston is indeed an island, and easily overlooked by power brokers — unless they're from here. I asked her what she would want Deval Patrick, Sal DiMasi and Terry Murray to know about East Boston. She said she'd want them to see the importance of the small business community; the new health center that keeps folks out of the ER (thanks to Travaglini's advocacy, incidentally), and how it will be affected by the new health care law. She notes it's a working class community, and people may find it difficult to stay as Eastie undergoes a degree of gentrification. She notes the tension between rising property values (good) and the dislocation that arises from the inability to buy into — or stay in — a rising market (bad).
David asked about the tension with Massport over airport expansion. “There's a lot of lingering resentment”, says Mota, but admits that the airport isn't going anywhere. “I think this is where I as a candidate, bring a unique perspective. I come from community organizing, community activists; I value community input … Sometimes the input is not what you want to hear, but it's valid; and people need to feel like their voice has been heard.” She talks about the importance of a inclusive discussion between community and airport, taking issues like parks and air quality into consideration. (They are nice new parks in Eastie — we saw them ourselves.)
David asked whether it was a good thing for accountability to have Massport as part of the executive branch. Mota agrees accountability is the key, but also forsees that it could be a difficult situation for a state rep, since it may take away the ability local concerns
Mota promises humility as an elected official; in speaking of the tendency of elected leaders to become aloof, Mota laughs, “If I get elected, please bring me down quickly. Bring me down whenever it goes to my head, let me know — and you can play this, too [pointing to the recorder], remind me once I get elected.”
Charlie, you made an error in your posting. It is my understanding that Basile attended Suffolk University and possibly Suffolk Law School but is definitely NOT an attorney (check: http://massbbo.org/bbolookup.php).
I was told that he “dropped” out of Suffolk, but it may be that he dropped out of the undergrad program and does not even have a college degree because there is no mention of him even having attended the law school. This may be just semantics, but his bio mentions that he attended the undergrad program, but doesn't indicate that he graduated:”Born and raised in East Boston, Carlo has spent his life giving back to his community. Carlo attended East Boston public schools and later St. Dominic Savio High School. He then took his studies to Suffolk University where he pursued a degree in criminal justice.
After attending Suffolk University…”
While I'm on the subject, I have been wondering something about Drago. I know that Drago attended Suffolk Law School and graduated in January, but he claims he did not take the bar exam. However, I don't really know of anyone who spent 4 years (night school) and thousands of dollars in law school just to not take the bar – is it possible he took the Febuary Bar and failed?
community activist Gloribell Mota
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…and I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way.
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Where did the name Gloribell come from? I’ve never seen it, even in the articles regarding Italy that I have perused in the European press.
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Since I don’t live in the district, I can’t vote for any of the candidates there, but I’m just curious.