Mayor rebuts Connolly criticism

After mayoral candidate John Connolly criticized incumbent Thomas Menino for a lack of new ideas and transparency to the Gazette, Menino spokesperson Dot Joyce rebutted some of those comments in a Gazette interview.

“The mayor is always reinvigorating his team with new talent from our Office of New Urban Mechanics and all the new engagement opportunities they bring,” Joyce said, noting a boost in technology industry jobs and the city’s population recently topping 600,000 for the first time in decades. “[Menino] doesn’t do it alone,” she said.

On Connolly’s claims that the School Committee and Zoning Board of Appeals are examples of a lack of transparency, Joyce accused him of politicizing the work of volunteers.

“It’s easy to pick on our volunteer residents [who] spend hundreds of hours in their appointed positions for the benefit of our schools,” she said, referring to the School Committee.

Joyce also said that Connolly was wrong in saying that the Menino administration does too little to advocate for improved MBTA service.

“It’s funny, because we’ve lobbied for [extended-hour] Night Owl service for years,” she said, noting that the T did briefly institute that service, then dropped it due to low ridership. “Unfortunately, we’ve been the lone voice pushing that.”

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