The first new mayor in a generation is a shake-up that offers a good chance for Bostonians to alter mayoral power as well—both to increase it and to spread its wealth. Some key ideas: Mayoral term limits. This race clearly…
Category: Opinion
Letter: Racial equity must be priority of next mayor
In Boston’s mayoral race, each candidate has tended to focus on an agenda he is personally most comfortable with. But at the core of most municipal crises the candidates single out—education, housing, development, public safety, transportation, jobs and others—are stark…
Letter: Bike culture is on the rise for good reasons
Thank you, Sandra Storey, for acknowledging the shift into biking culture and raising your concerns. (“JP Observer: Bikes are nice, but there are limits,” Oct. 25.) This change has come about for many reasons, many of which drivers are not…
Politics as Unusual: Walsh’s working-class concern is what the city needs
It’s easy to retrospectively say this now that Marty Walsh has emerged as the next mayor of Boston, but for anyone who made it to the Strand Theatre in Dorchester for his Election Eve rally, it was clear that his…
Politics as Unusual: Connolly’s law firm and its eviction case
Over the past several months and particularly since the preliminary election, we’ve heard countless tales about the company and characters surrounding state rep. and mayoral hopeful Marty Walsh. The broad stroke is that he rolls with greedy union hacks and…
Politics as Unusual: For voters of color, an endgame or just photo ops?
It’s hard to know what to make of our two Irish mayoral candidates and their heroic, if not clumsy, attempts to captivate voters of color. I’ve asked black, Latino and Cape Verdean friends about this, and, as expected, they offered…
JP Observer: Bikes are nice, but there are limits
I like bicycles. I think it’s great we got a bike-share program in Boston, and bicycle rental stations came to Jamaica Plain last month. I am in favor of the tidy bike lanes and of drivers watching out for riders.…
Editorial: Vote Nov. 5
Boston holds its biggest election in decades on Tues., Nov. 5. We urge you not only to vote, but also to take this grand opportunity to ask questions and make demands. Elected officials, current and hopeful, rarely will be more…
Editorial: Cheers to JP groups
What a neighborhood JP is—thanks to the remarkable organizing instincts of its own residents. Tonight, Pulitzer-winning author Junot Díaz will speak in JP as part of the impressive JP Reads series. Next week, the hit Egleston Farmers Market returns, thanks…
Editorial: Public ad standards
Offering publicly owned real estate to private corporations for devices that often bear advertising or logos appears to be the way of Boston’s future. Particularly in Boston’s parks, it is time to review existing standards on the appearance of such…