Left In Lowell

This must strike fear into the hearts of Obama’s opponents (bold mine).

Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media.
…
The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama.

Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day, they served as the backbone of Obama’s get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts.
…
Once Obama is sworn in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist in administration-supported causes in local communities. Obama would also be positioned to ask his supporters to back his favored candidates with fundraising and turnout support in the 2010 midterm elections.

Sounds like President-Elect Obama is taking a page out of Governor Patrick’s book, though I would say that Patrick has found it harder to achieve than he may have thought. Though citizen governance is a difficult thing in times like these (people are so busy trying to make ends meet they can’t take the time, you lose supporters once you make some decisions because you can’t please everyone, etc) I think it’s a worthy use of the mandate that Obama has achieved. Sign me up! (I already am, of course.)

And, as an aside, how sweet it is to add the category, “Obama Administration”!

Well, you can’t say Governor Patrick is sitting around on his hands with this ethics problem swirling around Beacon Hill. From a press release yesterday:

GOVERNOR PATRICK ESTABLISHES TASK FORCE ON PUBLIC INTEGRITY
Bi-Partisan Task Force Will Advise Governor on Ethics and Lobbying Reform

Governor Deval Patrick today signed an Executive Order forming the Governor’s Task Force on Public Integrity. The task force will examine the existing regulatory frameworks that govern ethics, lobbying and public employee conduct, and will seek input from public officials, experts and the public. The group will make recommendations within 60 days relative to legislation necessary to strengthen current laws, regulations, investigative and enforcement mechanisms, and penalties.

“We in public office are not entitled to our positions. We are placed here by voters to do the best we can on their behalf, and we are expected to conduct their business honestly and openly,” said Governor Patrick. “The members of this task force offer a broad range of professional backgrounds and experience. All of them share a commitment to ensuring the highest standards of honesty and public integrity.”

For more details, you can go here for the full press release (including the names of the people appointed to the 12-member task force) and the video/transcript of the speech.

Who knows if this will really do anything in the end (though I like the idea of this coming down to legislation the Governor introduces…at the very least, even if it fails, it’ll showcase the good guys and the bad in the legislature). But hey, it can’t hurt. It’s better than a kick to the head, anyway.

By the way, this task force includes getting input from the public, so if you have something productive to offer, please do. If you are one of those people who bitch and moan about the corruption on Beacon Hill and you don’t put your input in, I don’t ever want to hear you complain again, on this blog or anywhere. This is your chance to do something productive about this problem instead of just trying to run candidates against it. (That means you conservatives, too.) Of course, to my mind, those same people who do the most bitching are the ones that want to keep that corruption around - it strengthens their arguments against Big Government. If government actually worked really well (I argue that it already is headed there under progressives), then how would you convince people to be pissed off about it and vote for your guy? You might actually then have to run on the issues…heaven forfend.

I attended this evening’s ZBA meting tonight with particular interest in the Western Ave Studio Artist Live/Work Space issue. The meeting was very well attended with approximately 50 people there to show their support of the proposal. Most folks were seated upstairs and a few seated on the floor.

What I found interesting, overall was the about-face that the ZBA and David Grey and “his people” took in this whole matter. Was it the fact that they knew that they had grabbed at the last of the flimsy straws they’d been grasping since early this year?

Ultimately, the project’s special permit was approved with 4 votes and 1 member absent and 2 recusing themselves. The final vote count was not a surprise. Yesterday’s Sun’s the Column had been informed of the outcome of the final chapter in this saga.

As for the vote, there were “conditions” including a paragraph will be inserted into the deeds that advises buyers that the area is zoned light industrial (though none of these guys are squawking when their buddies garages on contaminated lots of land are purchased by the city for residential development); the artist live/ work spaces will remain affordable in perpetuity (if this indeed was the intent, why wasn’t this put out there in the beginning?); another condition was that artists will be subject to certification.

Furthermore, documentation was sought and received from Trinity Ambulance, LFD and LPD, supporting the assertion that public safety issues raised by the ZBA, were already reconciled. I would think that when this plan initially went before the Planning Brd., these areas or departments would have already been signed off by the appropriate department heads and yet the ZBA felt that this first go round with public safety and other dept. heads was not satisfactory!

My contention on this whole issue is that these “light industrial” businesses do not want folks living and working in the area, because then they become…dun, dun, dun (music).. constituents (and likely educated and savvy) and if they were to complain about contamination issues and such, NOW the issue becomes a CC problem. No one likes eyes on areas where operations were formally done out of the light, particularly when these businesses had not been previously held accountable.

And lastly, this foray into ZBA territory could have been completely avoided had Mr. Frey gone with a 40R, which would have brought it right back to the CC, that unanimously approved this measure less than a year prior..with 8 CC votes, because of course, one CC would have had to recuse.

It’s all good. The artists are a united front and together they can do wonders.

Next week, the Governor will be in Lowell for one of four public cabinet meetings. According to the website:

The meetings will be open to the public, giving residents a chance to talk directly to Governor Patrick about issues they care about most such as education reform, health care and the economy. Governor Patrick will also assemble his full Cabinet for four meetings in different regions of Massachusetts, giving the public more opportunities to ask questions and raise important matters in their communities.

I’m not sure what to expect from one of these “public cabinet meetings,” but it should be interesting. The Lowell event will be on July 22, 9am, somewhere at UMass Lowell (exact location still TBD).

So what would YOU ask Governor Patrick? About his sweeping ed reform? About the environment, green jobs, or the proposed Billerica power plant? Economic development? (And I’ll try to take the best questions with me next Tuesday if I can. I always have my audio recorder on me. )

Representative Niki Tsongas is hosting her first Town Hall meeting in the district. She will be discussing her recent trip to Iraq, her newly filed withdrawal bill, and other issues that people would like to talk to her about. It will be held on Wednesday, February 20th, 6:30 P.M. at the Acton-Boxborough High School Auditorium.

If you go, you could also ask her about Net Neutrality, or the House’s fight to hold the line against giving big telecom retroactive immunity for illegal spying.

What is with this vote by Conway, Faticanti, and Mayor Caulfield against expanding the cable access broadcast of School Committee meetings to its subcommitte meetings?

I mean, Conway and Faticanti are lost causes as far as I’m concerned, but I thought Mayor Bud “Unity” Caulfield would have seen a $2000 investment in transparency and access a small price to pay for our local democracy.

This was a total no brainer. Apparently, when I said yesterday that “Unity” Caulfield lacks vision, I didn’t go quite far enough…

Oh yes, I see a tone of derision is going to be a common theme in the blog for the next two years…I was so hoping it wouldn’t be this way. I really do hate it. But I sure as hell ain’t going to shy away from it. Let’s hope things get better, shall we? I’d love to go back to complimenting people for a job well done.

Every so often, the internets with their innovations cause consternation with the Rules. In this case, ActBlue, an online mechanism for allowing individuals to create a “fundraiser” page for any Democract running for state or national office, is facing a ruling that would cause donations via ActBlue to not be eligible for public matching funds (because Edwards has asked for a clarification of those rules). Public matching funds are intended for donations made by individuals, to keep “big money” from having too much influence, so anything related to a PAC is ineligible. The FEC has proposed calling ActBlue a PAC, and so donations would be ineligible.

But ActBlue lists any Democratic candidate running for state or local office, without picking or choosing, or endorsing. As such, they really are not acting like a PAC. In fact, ActBlue has been instrumental in jumpstarting more individual contributions, hence more widespread participation in the ever-present and very corrupt money game. This is only a good thing for democracy.

Kos has more, and also advises that the FEC is taking comments in regards to this ruling. They are often swayed by public comment when an argument can be made, but the more emails sent, the better. You can send public comment to Mary Dove at mdove@fec.gov.

I myself sent the following email:

Hi,

I am registering my opposition to considering ActBlue a PAC for purposes of public matching funds.

ActBlue literally is just a mechanism for any Dem candidate to set up online fundraising. The rules governing public matching funds are intended to keep “big money” out of politics and keep “small donors” important. I agree with that completely. However, ActBlue has the effect in campaigns of encouraging small donors, by allowing individuals, be they bloggers, or just Joe down the street, to set up a place for people to send the same sort of individual donation that you might do directly through a candidate’s website or by sending them a check.

By ruling them ineligible for matching funds, you would be stifling small donor participation in the process of donations. In regards to the fact that ActBlue only allows one political party to participate, there is nothing stopping any other party from setting up the same mechanism online, and I believe they should be accorded the same ruling.

Please allow ActBlue donations to count towards public matching funds. I say this as a voter who has not even made up my mind about which Democrat to support in the primary, so I have no reason to want Senator Edwards (who is as I understand the impetus for clarifying this rule) to gain a serious advantage by getting this money. I just believe in fairness and want to ensure that the rules governing our elections encourage instead of discourage public participation…as the rules were intended to do. ActBlue is a poster child for the spirit of democratic participation. Please do not let your ruling stifle that.

Thank you,

Lynne

In my diminished capacity as invalid (I’m back at work today but wishing I weren’t) I was unable to attend last night’s public meeting for the Hamilton Canal project put on by Trinity Financial. But waittilnextyear submitted a comment with his report, so I am reposting it on the front page.

The session on Wed evening was very well attended, as the rather large room was full. It was a classy presentation by Trinity Financial and the City, with a lot of participation from residents in the extended question/comment session. There were 2 or 3 small (about 5-6 people each) working groups set up for follow-up sessions next week. The next full session is scheduled for Sat, Jan 5th from 10:00am - 3:00pm.

What was a bit surprising to me was the Hamilton Canal district (although the 13 acres previously discussed) encompasses a smaller percentage of the total area being redeveloped than I envisioned (I guess the remainder is the JAM area, not directly controlled by Trinity Financial).

The map of the area is partitioned into 8 parcels plus a 3.5 acre site at the SW corner reserved for the court complex. That is a higher percentage of the total area that will be consumed by the State, and I think that will be non-taxable property, although I am not sure of that. I had heard prior cost estimates for the court complex to be in the range of $80-100M, but I think I heard $175M last night.

Most of the discussion centered around transportation infrastructure and people-oriented considerations. The transportation issue is very complex and is the subject of one of the subgroups. The complexity is driven not so much by the transportation/parking within the confines of the property, but the access to/from the outside, particularly the Lowell Connector and the Transportation Terminal. The people-oriented issue is also complex, as they must balance economic development with the risk of gentrification, and the pricing out of the artist community. It appears that Trinity and the City will give this proper consideration, and they have organized another subgroup to follow up on these issues.

Another area of discussion was the architectural considerations, with the impression given that this development will be first class, consistent with the historical nature of the downtown, but maybe extending that with some signature buildings that will be more modern. It was stated that the court complex would be designed “green” which was good news, but it would be good if they could make an objective that the whole parcel would be energy neutral. That would be a coup if it is feasible, and may qualify for additional State and Federal assistance.

Consideration is given to integrating this area into the surrounding locations so that it complements them, rather than separates them. Along these lines, avenues that connect the area to the surrounding development would be key, and that is included in the working subgroup discussions, I think as part of the people-oriented subgroup.

Trinity is proposing office-type buildings to be developed in the current location of the National Park parking lot off Dutton St, as they would be a much more favorable entrance into the area from the intersection of Dutton and Broadway, as opposed to entering the complex with surface parking on both side of the entrance.

Look to www.hamiltoncanal.com for more detail and future updates.

Waittil also posts the next meeting dates:
Working Groups Meeting Schedule

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

6:00pm - 7:15pm – Traffic & Parking
7:30pm - 8:45pm – Connections to Downtown & Other Neighborhoods

Thursday, December 13, 2007

6:00pm - 7:15pm – Gentrification
7:30pm - 8:45pm – Arts & Urban Design

I have to say, this is the best diary I’ve ever seen explaining the farm bill, what’s in the new version, what’s being debated, and what everything means. There are action items to take in it as well, and we should all get educated and then call our Senators.

Imagine getting somewhere on reforming the farm bill, which was created originally to help small farmsteads but now is merely a large corporate welfare system that encourages the manufacture of unhealthy foods with its subsidies. Well, this is our chance to make some changes. (Go read, then call your Senator!)

Firedoglake has the scoop, and action you can take. Go read. We need everyone on this - and calling Kerry and Kennedy, even if they are not on the Select Intell Committee, to ask them to tell the Committee that under no terms will they vote for a new FISA bill that has immunity from prosecution for telcos that illegally turned over records of their customers over to the Bush administration. Make sure it’s clear that bill should be DOA now, before it comes out of the Senate committee and onto the floor.

Secondarily, you need to read this narrative that Kagro X has formed regarding the telco, Qwest, that refused to turn over records on the basis that it was unconstitutional without a warrant - and whose CEO since been prosecuted for insider trading for selling stock a couple months before Qwest had bad earnings…when those earning only turned bad because the federal government took contracts that Qwest expected to other contractors.