Mayor Jim’s Weblog

Normally I do not venture into State or national issues.  After all, my position as Mayor is that I am Mayor of the entire city, not just the Democratic Mayor.

But all this talk about why the race for the Democratic nomination should end bothers me.  For years we have complained that the Democratic and Republican conventions are shams– mere photo ops to coronate a victor chosen much earlier.  Fewer and fewer people watch, and fewer networks carry the event.

What if we had a real convention?   What if the Democratic nominee were really chosen at the convention and if the convention really decided something?  Would that be so terrible?

Think of it for a moment.  Millions of people would tune in.  It would be, easily, the most widely watched convention in history.  When the two candidates kissed and made up at the end, and ran as a team the momentum would be incredible. 

There hasn’t been a convention since 1952 which went beyond the first ballot (this one won’t either), but in the grand scheme of things, it is the Democratic tradition to chose people at the convention. 

It is a myth to believe that a “divided convention” leads to defeat.  Sometimes it does, as in 1924, which we would not have won in any event. 

But in In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt won at the convention on the 4th ballot over the early favorite Al Smith.  In 1960,  John Kennedy won at the convention over Senators with far more experience, Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey.  Both Roosevelt and Kennedy, as we know, went on to win and to be great Presidents.  

Two of the most divided conventions of all time were the 1948 convention, where Dixicrats walked out, and the 1964 convention where the Mississippi Freedom delegation walked out.  In both cases, the Democrats won.

The one convention where I was a delegate was in 1972 in Miami.  That convention was unified, and decided ahead of time for George Mcgovern.  The result was one of the greatest landslide losses in history. 

So I ask you, dear readers, what is so wrong with a real convention?

Jim Fiorentini

By a vote of 6-3, the City council tonight voted for the Mayor’s parking plan, the fourth plan which has been presented to them.

Unlike previous plans, this parking plan did not recommend charging for parking in the downtown.

Voting for the plan were Councilors Hart, Hall, Daley-O’Brien, Scatamacchia, McGonagle, and Quimby.  Voting no were councilors Macek, Donahue and Ryan.  

After the vote, Councilor Macek said he would have changed his vote to yes, bringing the total to 7-2.

The plan called for two hour free parking on Washington and Wingate Streets, free parking in the lots, and strict enforcement with civilian ticket takers.  Several councilors objected to the civilian ticket takers.  Councilor David Hall, a former police officer, made and impassioned plea for civilians, pointing out that using police officers was three times more expensive.   

What is your opinion?  Are you happy with the new parking plan?  Should it be enforced with civilians or with police?

Jim Fiorentini

I met today with the race organizers from several races and with Deputy Thompson from the police department  It was a very cordial and friendly meeting. 

Everyone was in agreement that, whenever possible, we will use auxillary police to avoid charging for details at road races.  The races we have in Haverhill today are charitable races.  We all agreed that if a for profit group wants to run a race to make money, they should be treated differently than a group raising money for charity.

We also agreed that there will be an application form, that road race organizers will give the city at least 30 days to review the race route to make certain it is a safe route and that the police chief has the final authority to determine safety at races and, for that matter, on Haverhill streets in general. 

Everyone there went out of there way to praise the Haverhill police for their past cooperation on road races.

We have more to do, and follow up meeting to be scheduled soon, but it appears we are on our way towards developing a policy we can all live with.  Overall , it was a great meeting!

JIm 

After watching Frontline’s show, Bush’s War, I am longing for good books about the Iraq war.  I read Woodward’s book, “Plan of Attack” but it is a bit outdated.

 Does anyone have any recommendations? 

 If you missed “Bush’s War” on Frontline, it is a must see about how we got into this mess.  You can watch it on line on PBS.  (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/)
 Jim Fiorentini

Friends,

Tomorrow night at the city council I am unveiling my plans for performance oriented government.  Since you are kind enough to read this blog, I thought I would give you a heads up.

Performance measures in government have been quite the rage for the past ten or 15 years, ever since the publication of “Reinventing Government.”  The theory is that by establishing performance measures, you challenge government to always improve and get more efficient.

For example, suppose you set as a performance measure that you want 75% of the potholes filled within 48 hours of the time someone calls them in.  (That, or something like it, will be a standard we will adopt.)

At the end of the year, you then measure how you did, and then try to improve and raise the bar.  Maybe your goal for the next year is to fill 90% within 48 hours.  Maybe your goal for the third year is that you have improved roadway maintenance so that the number of pothole calls have dropped.

The possibilities are endless.  In the fire department, your goal might be to respond to every working fire within 4 minutes.  In police, your goal might be to hold neighborhood meetings, or increase patrols in certain areas.  In the clerk’s office, your goal might be to have a 90% customer satisfaction rate on your customer surveys.  In highway, we will set goals that downtown streets will be swept and cleaned every week, and a goal that 300 new trees will be planted. 

Different communities do this in different ways.  In Baltimore, performance measures are in a separate computer program called “Citistat”.  Somerville and Amesbury have set up Citistat programs.

In other cities, like Cambridge, No. Andover and Chelsea, the performance goals are built into the budget of each department. 

In still other cities, like New York, department goals are posted on the web site where the city gives itself an on-line report card every year.  We are still experimenting and it is not clear which model we will eventually follow. 

The budget crisis we are undergoing is a permanent crisis, not a temporary one.  If we are going to get through this, and we will, we have to find ways to constantly improve government efficiency.  The best way to do that is by instituting government performance standards and then constantly upping the bar.

What standards would you like to see?  How can we improve?

Jim Fiorentini

We all know about Barack Obama’s former pastor endorsing him.  Obama has publicly repudiated his former pastor’s views and called them wrong.

But it seems that Barack Obama is not the only one with some crackpots endorsing him.

John McCain was endorsed by mega church pastor Rev. John Hagee.  Here are just a few of the quotes from Hagee.  McCain has not repudiated Hagee and actively sought his endorsement:

“God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin. From the same interview:

Hagee:” All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that….I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”

Hagee also believes that we should provoke a war with Iran in order to hasten the second coming of Christ, that Harry Potter books are designed to introduce children to the occult and are work of the devil.

Crackpot endorsements for Hillary Clinton:

Clinton is endorsed by number one right wing crackpot Ann Coulter.  Here are some quotes from Coulter, who says she is proud to call herself a “Hillary girl.”  Hillary, when asked about Coulter’s endorsement, said she was happy to have any support and that ’strange bedfellows and all that.”

When talking about the widows whose husbands were killed in the attacks on Sept 11 Ann Coulter said:

“I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.”

Ann Counlter on soccer moms:

“Liberal soccer moms are precisely as likely to receive anthrax in the mail as to develop a capacity for linear thinking.”

Ann Coulter on the war in the Middle East:

“I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.”

“We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

Is Obama held to a different standard?  He has publicly repudiated his former pastor’s views.

I think back to when I was a kid, going to Mass every week, with a pastor I strongly disagreed with.  Was I responsible for his views?

What do you think?

Reading President Bush’s speech today to the Economic Club of  New York, I am struck by how much the political parties have changed over the decades.

 It used to be it was quite easy to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans and economic issues.  Among other differences, the Democrats were the Party that believed in government intervention to solve people’s problems.   When Franklin Roosevelt ran in the 1930’s, he advocated government action to help what he called the “forgotten man.”

 The Republicans were the party of small government, that is was simply not the job of government to change the course of markets, or intervene to help people.   Herbert Hoover stuck to the small government no interference principle, and succeeded in making the Republicans a minority party for half a century.   Ronald Reagan said that government was not the solution, it was the problem.  Remember that?

You might not know this is the same party when you read Bush’s speech today.  His difference with the Democrats, he said, is not whether we should take action, it was how much, when and where.

Contrast the small government, no intervention thoughts of prior Republicans with what Bush said today:

“Fortunately, we recognized the slowdown early and took action.  And it was decisive action, in the form of policies that will spur growth.  We worked with the Congress.  I know that may sound incongruous to you, but I do congratulate the Speaker and Leader Reid, as well as Boehner and Mitch McConnell and Secretary Paulson, for anticipating a problem and passing a robust package quickly.”

Part of their robust package, as they call it, was to send a rebate check to every American taxpayer in the country. Does anyone recall when George McGovern was laughed off the national stage for proposing a tax rebate check for every American? 

Speaking of Mcgovern, whose reputation is as the most liberal person ever nominated for President, his view of abortion was that the States should be free to regulate abortion, exactly the view today of the most conservative Republicans.  Barry Goldwater’s position in the 1960’s was that abortion should be legal.

So I ask you this question, what does it mean to be a Republican or a Democrat today?

Jim Fiorentini

Recently the State offered to allow us to do more work at the high school– provided we can pony up $1.9 million of city money to do the job.

The money is for a new electrical system at the school, something that is critically needed, new lockers, new floor tiles, and a new access road around the parking lot.   

I have been working proactively with the State Building Assistance Board, the Department of Revenue, our financial advisors, and others, come up with a plan to pay for our portion of the money.  We do not have the cash, so we have to borrow our portion of the money. 

(Borrowing makes sense in this circumstance, this is a long term project, and you want to pay for it with long term dollars.)

Here are some of the questions we have to answer before we can borrow the money: 

• When do we start repayments?
• What is the bond interest rate?
• Will this affect our bond rating?
• Are there ways to do this in a less expensive manner?
• Are all parts of the project necessary?
• How does this project measure up with other project requests in the city?
• Can we do this without a debt exclusion?

 Everything we do has to be done in a fiscally prudent manner. Fixing the high school is important, but restoring our city to fiscal stability is even more important.

I have already indicated that I would like to do this project, and that we are not going to let this opportunity slip by.  We will do all or part of the project.  Now, the hard part– coming up with a means of paying for it and doing it in the most fiscally responsible manner. 

I will have an announcement on this within the next two to three weeks.  

There is talk that the “super-delegates”, delegates who are not elected as delegates, could sway the Democratic national convention.

Ever wonder who the “super delegates” are?  The Globe did a story on them, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/gallery/021208_superdelegates/ , you can see the delegates and brief profile.  You’ll know lots of them: Senator Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Deval Patrick.  Others are more obscure unless you are party activist– Gus Bickford, and Mary Xiafaras for example.

There are a lot of theories about how super delegates should vote.   John Kerry, an Obama supporter, says they should stay neutral, and let the elected delegates decide the race. 

Others say they should vote the way their State voted– Massachusetts favored Hillary Clinton, but not by a landslide proportion. 

Senator Ted Kennedy, an Obama supporter,  asked rhetorically in a recent interview if super-delegates should perhaps be divided proportionally according to how the State voted.

Nikki Tsongas, who represents Haverhill, and John Tierney, Congressman who represents Amesbury and Newburyport are both super-delegates and both are neutral thus far in the race. 

How do you feel super-delegates should vote at the convention?

I watched the city council meeting and heard a good deal about the roof at the Tilton School.

I wanted to see for myself, so I spent a good deal of the day at the Tilton School inspecting the roof.  I went with our maintenance people, climbed up on the flat roof that appears to be the source of difficulty, and went into the classrooms.   I am certainly not an expert of roofs, but here is what I saw. 

I saw that during the rainstorm, the vast majority of the school was dry. 

From what I saw, the hallways, entrance ways, library, and offices were all dry.  27 of the 29 classrooms were completely dry.  One classroom, discussed at length at the council meeting, had been leaking but the maintenance staff seemed to have fixed it, at least temporarily. 

One classroom had water leaking in around a window, and one classroom had a bucket in the corner.  The maintenance staff said they expected to fix those problems in a day or so.  Neither of them appeard to be serious, and they certainly did not appear to present any danger to the children or staff. 

We have a maintenance staff, and a city roofing company.   They worked on shoveling snow off the flat roof– and that appeared to alleviate part of the problem.

They still have to check the slate roof.  It is not safe to put workers on slate roofs when it is icy or wet so we have to wait until it is dry to do this. 

As soon as they can do so, they will inspect the slate roof and let me know.  From what we know now, it appears to be a manageable and solve-able problem.