civic engagement

Amid the state-wide discussion over the proposed increase in Mass Pike tolls, one of the communities that could be most affected by the proposal has rapidly organized itself to voice their concerns to state agencies and elected officials, while taking direct action through public meetings and even on the streets of East Boston.

Almost immediately after the Turnpike board voted to increase the tolls, two well-trafficked websites were created (www.stopthehike.org and www.stopthepikehike.org) and a large public meeting was scheduled at a local restaurant.  At every civic association or community meeting during the month of November, regular agenda items were put on hold while the residents discussed the proposed toll hike and how it would affect the community.  Anyone with a an email address in East Boston received multiple mass emails from their friends and neighbors informing them of the next meeting on the issue or directing them to contact a state official. Today at 4PM there will be a large rally in front of the Sumner Tunnel and later a City Council hearing at the High School.  Other hearings, rallies, and meetings are scheduled through January.

Real Clout's first rule of lobbying is knowing that elected and appointed officials make different decisions when watched by the affected constituency.

The Herald reports that the Boston City Council is trying to figure out how to handle the presence of constituents hanging around at council meetings, or heaven forbid in the corridors as they discuss and vote on issue of the day.

An 80-page report the council takes up today recommends asking the Legislature for an exemption from the law that requires all cities and towns to conduct their business in public. An exemption would mean citizens have no legally guaranteed right to attend council meetings, or even receive meeting minutes.

“You may not have a right to speak, but you have a right to watch,” Pam Wilmot, executive director of government watchdog Common Cause, said about current protections under the law.

From the Globe today comes a straightforward description of what community organizers do all day...and night. See the whole article including a picture of long time Boston organizer Lew Finfer looking very cool and non threatening.

In a basement conference room at the Codman Square Health Center yesterday morning, Lew Finfer did what he's been doing for almost four decades: community organizing. This time that meant leading a meeting of 20 representatives of grass-roots and nonprofit organizations from Dorchester and Mattapan to mobilize city residents against a ballot question that would abolish the state's personal income tax.

From Commonwealth Magazine: Homegrown campaigns often work if a lightening-rod issue is on the ballot, but when the issues are more mundane, it isn’t so easy, particularly when voters are working long hours or are newcomers to politics. An alternative, at least on one end of the ideological spectrum, is One Massachusetts, which provides free training sessions for groups organizing Proposition 2 1/2 override campaigns. The year-old, Boston–based nonprofit was spun off from the Public Policy Institute, a liberal group that promotes community activism. Colleen Corona, a member of the leadership team at One Massachusetts and chairman of the board of selectmen in Easton, remembers the “ Eureka !” moment she had in 2006, when receiving invaluable tips from a campaign manager working for an elected official. At the time, Corona was organizing a Proposition 2 1/2 override campaign in her hometown.

 

“The information got us going, and without it we could not have run our campaign,” she says. “I realized that I wanted to help other struggling campaigns in any way I could.”

 

Colleen's picture was not featured in the Commonwealth Magazine article. This photo was taken of Colleen training local advocates on municipal budgets at the ONE Massachusetts Statewide Proposition 2 1/2 Convening in Boxboro on May 31, 2008.

Firefighter’s son helps homeless by working with public officials and demonstrating that government is the way we work together to get something done we cannot do alone.... like tackle chronic homelessness.  

WORCESTER— His father’s advice was deeply felt and repeated time and again. Never hesitate to help others help themselves, he would say to Patrick: For reasons impossible to explain, you’ll benefit at least as much as the recipient of your time, effort or generosity.Patrick T. Spencer recalls countless times he witnessed his dad follow through with the credo, be it coaching Little Leaguers, assisting a neighbor or co-worker, or just helping a stranger in need of a hand. Sometime in April, the like-father-like-son adage will be evidenced yet again when Patrick and others stand in front of the three-story stucco dwelling at 62 Elm St. and formally dedicate the Lt. Tommy Spencer House, the first residence to open as part of the Home Again initiative fighting chronic homelessness in the city. The name of the facility honors the memory of Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, Patrick’s father and one of the six Worcester firefighters who perished in the Dec. 3, 1999, inferno at an abandoned warehouse on Franklin Street.