Candidates for mayor out in force

[Squeech]

Somerville elects local officials in the odd years. We'll be voting for aldermen (one for each of nine districts, plus four at large) and mayor.

This morning Joe Curtatone was shaking hands at the subway station where I catch my train-- which technically is outside of Somerville, we're really poorly served by the MBTA, but that's another story. Curtatone is currently an alderman, definitely one of the more progressive. One of his issues is that there are a couple large commercial parcels, one entirely abandoned (it used to be Somerville Lumber, probably driven out of business by Home Depot), another consisting of a shopping mall that's been losing tenants for years. The city wants them redeveloped, but the issue is with what: Curtatone and most of the lefties want a sophisticated integrated (and expensive) mixed-use project, with housing, small shops, Internet-compliant office space, and parkland (it abuts the Mystic River). The mayor somehow doesn't believe we can do better than big box commercial: an Ikea warehouse store is planned for the mall, and they want to put a Super Stop & Shop at the Somerville Lumber site. I dunno what his other issues are, but I like him. Originally he wasn't going to run, and I'm not sure why he ended up doing so, and I think the odds are against him, but I'll probably vote for him.

The incumbent, Dorothy Kelly Gay, was standing out this afternoon with about 20 volunteers holding signs, at the intersection of Broadway and Route 28, right on my way home, and pressing the flesh. She introduced herself just as Dorothy, and said something about how we were going to have fun. I said, Peculiar sense of fun you've got, which was mainly my sarcastic side getting the better of me, and she recovered and said something about how we can use some democracy. She's a nice woman, and fairly intelligent (unlike Boston's mayor Tom Menino, who Mrs. Squeech always insists is a nice man, but is dumb as a fence post), but I don't warm to her, and I'm not sure why.

There's another challenger, name of Tony LaFuente. He's using plenty of his own money (I believe he owns a successful small business) and his signs are everywhere. And a mailing from him just showed up today, on the theme that Gay has been raising your taxes, aided and abetted by Curtatone, and that he wants to change the way they do business in city hall. So he does not have my vote. It should be obvious (but probably isn't, since Somerville is not noted for its political sophistication) that the reason taxes had to go up was that we're not getting the local aid we used to from the state. Even so, we're laying off teachers and firefighters, and I can't imagine what this guy can do otherwise (and, at least in this mailing, he's not offering any specific proposals). I confess to some prejudice against him because he just moved in last year, bought a somewhat dilapidated old house, tore it all down except for the facade, and built this humongous McMansion, half of which is probably in another zip code. He probably doesn't call himself a Republican, we're a pretty solidly Democratic community, but I think of him as one.

Actually our alderman, who lives just down the street from me, does call himself a Republican, but what he really is is a contrarian.

And it should be noted that, before he got elected to the House seat that used to be Tip O'Neill's and John F. Kennedy's, Mike Capuano was mayor of Somerville-- and distinctly not a good government type; he ran a blatant patronage shop, and punished detractors ruthlessly. As rep, however, his voting record has been significantly non-sheepish. (I should give credit where credit is due-- and mollify him in case he's reading this, so his old henchmen don't decide to make an example of me!) My fear is that LaFuente will win and reactivate the old machine.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. I thought LaFuente was from Cambridge

he is Portuguese, and will probably attract Somerville's large Portuguese-speaking population.

I have seen a ton of LaFuente signs and am starting to see more Curtatone signs. I don't know much about Somerville politics but something has got to be done about that Assembly Square monstrosity. I know locals were worried about traffic, and hopefully they won't build more supermarkets and shops (Target, Shaw's and Stop and Shop are right in Wellington-a quick ride away).

The Mystic river is nice outdoor space and I hope it remains that way.

[Squeech]

2. LaFuente's palace is right around the corner from me

The rationale for the Super Stop & Shop is to attract business from Cambridge, which has the population to support a gargantuan market, but there's nowhere to put it. The theory is that Cantabridgians will drive out McGrath Highway (Rte 28) to shop there, if it's big enough and has enough stuff in it (pharmacy, photo lab, dry cleaning, etc.) to make one-stop shopping truly possible. Watch how many local businesses such a monstrosity will drive out of business. Also Rte 28 is already overloaded at drive time; this will make it much worse.

I actually wouldn't mind if the Star Market on Broadway failed; it's the worst supermarket I've ever had the displeasure to shop at. They always run out of sale items, they mis-mark stuff (although I haven't caught them at it lately) or (more often) don't bother to mark it at all, and something's always going wrong at the cash registers that requires a manager's attention and/or card key.

The mayor's impulse was, I think, just to get something built as soon as possible, to get that parcel contributing once again to the tax base. Never mind that the taxes on big-box real estate are nearly the lowest per unit area of any non-agricultural use. We might as well have let Pat's Tow use it for another car lot.