O’Malley’s Take on Tuesday’s Election
September 23, 2009
Overview
Yesterday’s preliminary election in Boston narrowed the field of four candidates down to two. Incumbent Mayor Tom Menino won an outright majority – 51% of all ballots cast; an impressive feat in a four candidate race. City Councilor Michael Flaherty won second place and the right to oppose the Mayor in the November 3rd election with 24% of the vote. City Councilor Sam Yoon narrowly missed entering into the final stretch of the race with a 21% third place finish and South End Developer Kevin McCrea rounded out the field with 4% of the vote.
Analysis
Simply put: Menino romped. Running roughshod over his opponents in most traditional wards, communities of color, and progressive neighborhoods, Menino is poised to win big in November. He claimed a win in 19 of the city’s 22 wards.
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Michael Flaherty was able to win three wards outright (which is noteworthy, as Menino only lost a handful of precincts in his 2005 race against Maura Hennigan and won every precinct in his 2001 race against Peggy Davis-Mullen). Flaherty took his native South Boston by a large margin and Charlestown by under 100 votes.
Flaherty’s efforts in Wards 16 and 20 – where he had hoped to put some points on the board – fell flat. Ward 16 (Neponset/Adams Village) went to Menino by about 300 votes and powerhouse Ward 20 (Roslindale/West Roxbury) went to Menino by about 2,000 votes. Read more
My Experience at Ted Kennedy’s Wake
August 29, 2009
I attended Senator Kennedy’s wake on Friday. A constant flow of people filed into Dorchester’s JFK Library until 2am Thursday night/Friday morning. The morning lines would begin to form again a mere 4 hours later.
I arrived at around 8am and only had to wait about 90 minutes before entering the library.
A steady stream of nieces and nephews greeted the thousands of mourners who waited along the shoreline of Columbia Point. There were Kennedys and Lawfords and Shrivers and Smiths. They would introduce themselves to the crowds and offer hugs, handshakes, and sincere appreciation. People would tell them stories about their Uncle and their family. It was surreal to watch.
“I worked with you at…”
“Here’s a picture of me and Teddy from 1960.”
“Jack appointed my late husband to serve as…” Read more
O’Malley’s Take on Legacy Place
August 18, 2009
Dedham’s Legacy Place – the replacement of the dilapidated old Dedham movie theatre – has begun it’s slow opening. Set to eventually house over 50 high-end shops, restaurants, and services, Legacy Place began the roll-out with it’s highly anticipated anchor store, L.L. Bean.
The flagship L.L. Bean store in Kittery, Maine is known for not having locks on their doors – because it never closes. As a means of creating buzz and excitement about this new store, the brass at the Legacy Place location advertised being open for 24 hours for the first weekend of it’s opening. The town of Dedham thought otherwise and put the kybosh on the idea. As L.L. Bean had already advertised their no-closing policy, they were in a pickle. In order to save face and live up to their (well-deserved) legendary customer-service, they dispatched clerks to hand-out gift cards to any would-be patrons who arrived for some late-night shopping.
City Sports has also opened this week to a store-wide 20% sale through the end of the month. To purchase a new pair of sneakers for under $50 was well worth the trip down Route 1. Read more
Life’s a Beach – With Stories and Scores
August 6, 2009
Photo Source:atlanticpanic.com
One of the biggest attractions of the mid-cape for me is the fact that it boasts so many visitors from Southwest Boston. It seems that no matter where you are in the Cape’s muscle, you will almost certainly run into friends, neighbors, family, and alums from West Roxbury, Roslindale, JP, and Hyde Park.
If Quincy and Weymouth are the Irish Riviera, then certainly Yarmouth and Dennis could be the Parkway Peninsula.
[I'll never understand why Roche Bros. chose Mashpee for their Cape store. It seems to me that if Pat and Bud built a store around exit 8, they'd have a guaranteed client base already built-in.]
I recently spent a week’s vacation staying at my family’s cottage in South Yarmouth (alas – the great Parkway divide continues: many WR friends settle in Dennis whereas we Rozzie Rats opt for Yarmouth).
I had endeavored to spend each day at a local beach with the hope of finding the perfect Cape shore, but Mother Nature cut that enterprise short. Still, I spent quality time at four markedly different beaches shall present my findings here: Read more
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