By: Benjamin Linares
In a couple of weeks, there will be a new heir to the Boston mayoral throne. Last week, I challenged Marty Walsh’s plans for the city of Boston. I figure it is only fair if I do the same to John Connolly. So Mr. Connolly, I hope you’re ready for your close-up.
John Connolly was born in Roslindale, Mass and grew up in a family of politics. His mother recently retired as a Massachusetts judge, and his father served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for almost six years. Connolly has been an at-large Boston city Councillor since 2007.
Connolly is running as the “education candidate,” which makes sense seeing as he taught public school for six years (three of which were in New York City) and is the chair of the city council’s committee on education. There is no arguing the fact that Boston’s public schools need help, I am just not sure Mr. Connolly really knows how to do it. I respect Connolly for being a teacher. We need more good teachers. But for someone who is running on education, he has a lot of good but undeveloped ideas. On his campaign website, the “ideas” on education section is a simple paragraph with seven bullet points, no substance. All the bullet points are good ideas; I would just like to know how someone actually running on education plans on accomplishing these things. I have had this debacle with many campaign websites. I wish politicians explained what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. You want better schools? Great. How are you going to do it? I am disappointed that he wants us to vote for him to change our schools but will not tell us how he wants to go about doing it.
The whole race is not education. Mr. Connolly has some other good ideas for the city of Boston. He wants to continue to grow as one of the largest “green” cities in the country by instituting city-wide composting and encouraging bicycling by installing more Hubway bike sharing programs. I do have to give Connolly credit; he wants to significantly invest in the MBTA. The Boston subway system is the oldest system in the country, and because of that, it needs help. A substantial amount of capital and innovation will be needed to update the 116-year-old train system and I applaud Connolly for engaging himself in what will be a very complicated process.
Boston has a very large homeless population. Something needs to be done to help these people and to get them off the street. Connolly is the only candidate that has a “Reducing Homelessness” plan on his website. He wants to invest in shelters and transitional services. Connolly also wants to increase the amount of programs that provide housing for low-income families. However, I run into the same problem. The city of Boston spends more than $20 million a year combating homelessness. Connolly offers no alternative funding ideas nor recommends ways to spend the money Boston already receives from the U.S. government. Once again, close but no cigar.
I must admit, both candidates have good ideas for the city, but as promised, I will give you my opinion on who I think should win. I am not quite finished with my research but I believe I will be voting for Marty Walsh. I think he has good intentions and a strong political force. We need someone who will use the mayor’s office to its full extent and I believe Mr. Walsh will do just that. My grandmother always says, “There is only so much you can know about a politician before he takes office.” I agree with her, there is no way to know what Walsh will do if elected mayor, but as of now, I feel more comfortable putting Walsh in charge.
This is an exciting time in Boston, we are growing and becoming a truly world-class destination. The next mayor of Boston will have the power to help guide that growth. I ask all registered voters of Boston, no matter who you plan on voting for, to go to the polls on Nov. 5. As I said in my first piece, sometimes we tend to forget that good politics can happen at the state and local levels. Let’s get out there, elect a new mayor, and hit the ground running.
