Ex-mayoral candidate makes movie

Kevin McCrea, who ran for mayor in 2009 and once successfully sued the Boston City Council for Open Meeting Law violations, is making a documentary movie about “inequality in America,” he told the Gazette.

“America: Tom & Me” is about “how the rich get richer and the poor get screwed,” said McCrea, himself a wealthy South End developer and builder. He also indicated that he has no interest in running for mayor again this year.

McCrea would discuss details of the soon-to-be-released movie only off-the-record. But he did say that the “Tom” of the title is not his former electoral opponent, Mayor Thomas Menino.

The film project began life three years ago as “House Tales,” a comedic-flavored documentary about McCrea’s firm renovating a Cape Cod condo, as the Cape Cod Times reported at the time, that he described as a “cross between ‘This Old House’ and ‘Monty Python.’” The movie was intended to have some social messages about the financing of real estate development and appears to have taken a broader scope over time.

McCrea is wrapping up editing and other post-production on the film now and hopes to stage a public screening soon.

McCrea became a prominent government-reform advocate in 2005, when he was the lead plaintiff in an ultimately successful lawsuit against the City Council. A court ruled that the council violated the Open Meeting Law by holding 11 deliberately secret meetings with Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston University officials in 2003-2005.

McCrea ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2009, criticizing both incumbent Menino and fellow challenger Michael Flaherty for a lack of transparency.

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