Cross-posted from Blue News Tribune.
The Globe seems be buying the Yoon campaign spin on this. I do not, and I think it’s a bad tactic: the law is the law.
But I put quotes on code violation simply because this is a new one for me.
He says two inspectional services officers came to his campaign office in Fields Corner this week, declaring the “Yoon For Mayor” posters taped in the storefront windows a code violation and threatening a $1,000 fine every day unless he gets a “site cleanliness permit.”
Yoon says it smells of harassment. “Who’s doing the complaining here?” he said. “You’ve got to wonder.”
His campaign workers were even more explicit. “This is exactly the kind of politics we’re going to stop,” said a Yoon consultant, Jim Spencer. “We’re not going to let it be about dirty tricks.”
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
A clever way to bring sunlight to a “dirty trick?” I’m unconvinced.
I could believe that this code began as a way to hinder challengers — but the Globe doesn’t address that. (See what budget cuts do?)
Then, on Tuesday, Yoon’s staff members were working inside the office when two inspectional services officers and a representative from the association stopped by and told them they would be fined $1,000 a day if they didn’t get a “site cleanliness permit” in two weeks.
The permit, intended to combat rodents and windblown litter, requires businesses to certify that they have a Dumpster, a person responsible for it, and a schedule for emptying it.
I just read an amazing book about rats. I support this law!
But the Yoon forces are defiant.
Yesterday, it didn’t look as though Yoon’s staff had taken much action in response to the warnings. The windows were nearly covered with blue, white, and maroon campaign posters, as well as a hand-lettered sign declaring “all welcome.” Spencer said the campaign didn’t have a Dumpster because “we don’t serve food.” He said he was researching city codes and wants to comply but was still wondering about the warnings. “We find it curious,” he said.
Yoon wins today. But he better not push this for too long, in my opinion, or he loses tomorrow.
That kind of fine is more appropriate when there are genuine cleanliness issues such as uncovered food waste.
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p>I don’t think this was a “dirty trick” on the part of the mayor’s office. However, I do wish they would get around to sending inspectional services to get my neighbors to stop dumping large amounts of sub rolls in their backyard. It attracts large numbers of squirells, sea gulls, crows, and other birds. There is so much bread, that much of it ends up in adjoining yards where the birds drop it. It also attracts skunks, cats, and there is now a coyote hanging out in our neighborhood. Several calls to the mayor’s office have not resulted in any action to date, so we stopped trying.
Mr. Menino to open a “little city hall” in every precinct during a hard-fought campaign, and pay city workers to hand out his campaign literature?
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p>As I recall, Mr. White won the election, plead “guilty” to the obvious campaign law violations, repaid the city from his campaign funds, and kept the trailers open after he won re-election — where they provided good and needed local access to city government.
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p>If you’re going to run a political machine, can you at least do it well?
The institutional knowledge (and skill) died over time.
started as a positive effort to reconnect the city to the neighborhoods, became overly “political” in the eyes of many, and became a target for many of White’s political opponents and others. Ray Flynn replaced the LCHs with the Office of Neighborhood Services, which continues today and has been replicated down in Providence.
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p>All of these are tools in the toolbox, it’s how you use them. Our ONS coordinator in Jamaica Plain recently got kudos for preventing our local farmers market from being displaced by the parking lot owner where they set up shop. That, to me, is a classic example of government doing the right thing, and we need more examples of it. (now we just need more vendors!)
Surely the trailer in Dorchester, where city employees were paid to distribute Kevin White campaign posters, was “overly political” — Mayor White himself agreed when he pled guilty and paid the fines.
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p>My point is that Kevin White, for all his obvious faults, did far more for the city of Boston than Mr. Menino. Mr. White had vision, an agenda, and a genuine love for the city — none of which I see in Mr. Menino’s exercise of his public office.
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p>Just to pick a small example, what has Mr. Menino offered that compares to Mr. White’s vision of Quincy Market? I walked the alleyways of Quincy Market before the renovation. I spent many enjoyable afternoons and evenings there afterwards — before it became yet another bankrupt shopping mall.
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p>What is the comparable contribution from Mr. Menino’s administration? The hole in the ground where Downtown Crossing used to be? The wasteland of deserted parking lots that surround the new convention center?
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p>The city screams for leadership, for vision, for energy. In its place, Mr. Menino suggests that we relocate city hall to a wasteland with no residents, no shops, and no public transportation.
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p>I don’t know if Mr. Yoon is the answer. I’m fairly sure that another term for Mr. Menino is not.
Arlington County, VA has a similar ordinance. I’m currently volunteering down here for Brian Moran, who is running for Governor and they had to take down their window signs after someone complained. I have yet to figure out what the rationale is.