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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Challengers for City Council

Here are the challengers for City Council, as I know them:
  1. Joe Mendonca, (whose website is here.) (Joe-Mendonca@comcast.net)
  2. Paul Belley
  3. Ryan Berard, (whose website is here.)
  4. Franky Descoteaux, (pronounced Dakota, I am told)
  5. Ray Weicker
  6. Syed Hussain
  7. Pat Stratton
  8. Patrick Murphy, (whose website is here.)
  9. James Wogas (whose website is inbound shortly.)(JIWish@aol.com)
EMail errors and corrections to crk AT theworld.com. (I am only doing it this way because that is the way the Big Boys do it and I assume it is to thwart spammers.)

I would not suggest that we take the position of "Vote them all out," but I do think it is time to think about each of the incumbents and each of the challengers and then try to find some fits.  Some of the incumbents have been great for Lowell and some haven't.  Perhaps we need some fresh faces with fresh ideas.  On the other hand, with only eight challengers running, at least one of the incumbents will be sticking around.

To be up front about my own position, I went to Jim Millinazo's campaign kickoff.  But, I also went to the one for Joe Mendonca and the one for Franky Descoteaux.  I didn't contribute equally to each of them, but I did contribute to all three.  You can check the records and see what I did contribute.

These are hard times, in the sense that they are challenging times.  Further, the question is not just what are we going to do to keep the city afloat in 2010 and 2011.

We also need to ask ourselves about the vision for 2020 and 2030.  Capital investments take a long time.  Whatever we want our city to be in 2020, we need to be taking the decisions now.

I am hoping to interview as many candidates as possible and post the results on my blog.  One of the questions I ask will be about vision for 2020 and the path to get there.  I will ask about what they think our demographics will be in 2020—that is looking one census ahead.  What about industry?  What about the University?  Will we be a destination city—people working elsewhere and living and dining and shopping here?

You need to be asking the candidates the same question.

And contributing money, even if it is only a dollar.

UPDATED CANDIDATES LIST

Regards  —  Cliff

5 comments:

The New Englander said...

Cliff,

Any chance you'll do endorsements? (beyond the three candidates you've mentioned)..I'll be on leave all of AUG and quasi-employed in OCT so I should have plenty of time to sort this out by election day, but any advice on how to use the five votes I haven't accounted for would help as this is my first go-around (and it looks like my only until at least 2013 unless they take absentee ballots).

Ditto for School Committee...going to try to bring myself up to speed eventually, but other than one vote spoken for, and one person I'm definitely NOT voting for, it's a mostly open slate.

best,
gp

C R Krieger said...

Greg

Maybe not.  I want to just try and put out info and ask questions this time around.  I am trying to explore this side of the blog-o-sphere.

I do believe that you can vote absentee.  Remind me and I will send you the EMail of one of the folks on the election commission.  Former military, so sympathetic.

Regards  —  Cliff

Dan said...

Hi Cliff-

Dan Murphy here, Patrick Murphy's brother. I sent an email of our press release out to some of the other blogs, but couldn't find an email address for yourself. I did mean to include you, so I apologize I couldn't.

dan@thinkmurphy.com

Renee said...

I feel a bit guilty for being critical.

I went to Patrick Murphy's website. Instead I learn about his family history, but not really about him independently. I don't care about an elder family member who was once on city council, who had his picture taken with President Kennedy.

In today's Lowell Sun, there was a quick article on him.

In the article he states he refuse to take the stipend in elected and won't raise cash.

I know this may sound unpopular, but I do believe in stipends. Even though it is a pubic service, these individuals will sacrifice time from employment and from family. My father-in-law, while never in elected office was on multiple boards such as the President of the Soccer League at a time in Lowell. I have no reason to believe he wasn't compensated, but it took a tremendous amount of time. It's one of the reasons why my husband and I don't get as involved, we have a family and he gets home at 6:30 at night.

He sounds gimmicky, no substance like his Ideas page which only says "Coming Soon".

Dan said...

Renee-

No need to feel guilty--at the time of your comment, Patrick had not yet updated the ideas section of his website (his campaign was 7 days old.)

It's true that you learn a bit about his family on his "about" page--they were very important in the formation of his worldly perspective. The fact that his parents were Lowell teachers is helpful to know because he understands the challenges of the Lowell school system, for instance. What you learn about him, of course, are things that may seem marginally important, but are indeed central to his character. You learn, for example, that he is a stone mason and has worked since the age of sixteen at a grueling trade--he is a hard worker. When combined with his graduation on scholarship from Phillips Academy, you learn his work ethic is supported by a bright mind. These are traits of a good councilor.

You also learn that he fought as a boxer out of the West End Gym, which largely suggests he is mentally tough, deals well with adversity, and has the poise to persevere through difficult times.

Patrick is fortunate to have a job during these tough economic times. He makes an adequate living and wishes the same for his fellow citizens. It is therefore antithetical to his character to accept a yearly stipend of $15,000from the city as a councilor while many of his fellow citizens are struggling. He is not advocating the rest of the council surrender their stipend; he is merely refusing to accept his.

As for the picture of our grandfather, George B. Murphy, who chaired JFK's campaign for the Greater Lowell area, I myself posted that to Patrick's about page. Both a city councilor and state representative, George Murphy was an honest politician who served his poor neighborhood of the Flats well; he was an inspiration for our family and an inspiration for Patrick's campaign. This picture is a reminder, perhaps for no one but ourselves, that George Murphy's spirit--that is the way he led his life--lives on.

I was reminded of my grandfather again reading a comment posted on Dick Howe's website. I am glad that he is still remembered this many years after his passing.

http://richardhowe.com/2009/07/15/patrick-murphy-city-council-candidate/#comment-9106