Today's election in Springfield

I haven't posted much about today's election for mayor, city council and school committee, but I've certainly been watching.  The all at-large system of election has gone the way of the dodo bird, and today, we'll be electing by ward as well as at-large. 

As someone who worked with community groups and members for thirteen years to bring this about, now is a good time to review some of the goals of the campaign and see how we're doing so far.

Overall goal: to improve democracy in Springfield. 

Goal: to increase the racial diversity of the city council and school committee.  So far, so good.  Springfield went fifty years with only five people of color elected to the city council.  Now, with thirteen seats to be filled, we can guarantee a Latino/a from ward one,  African-Americans from wards three and four, and an African-American or Latino from ward five.  Candidates of color are also running strong races in wards six and eight, and three of the eight at-large candidates are also of color.  I'd say Jose Tosado, at least, is a shoe-in.  We'll see a less dramatic change in the school committee, but at least one African-American and one Latino will be elected.  (I know there's still a fair number of Springfield voters who think increasing diversity is a bad thing; they tend to be the same people who wonder why "those people" don't do more to help the community.)

Goal: to increase the number of candidates seeking office so Springfield voters have a wider choice.  30 candidates ran for 9 ward seats in September's preliminary.  If you're not already an incumbent, running an at-large campaign is expensive, daunting and difficult.  It's a rare candidate who can beat an incumbent.  Once a candidate is holding office, pretty much they're there to stay.  The only two incumbents I can think of who were not re-elected were both of color: Mo Jones and Carol Lewis-Caulton.

Goal: increase geographic representation on the city council and school committee.  We did it!  Sorry, there's just no way that our past city councils, where the vast majority of councilors came from wards 2, 6 and 7, could possibly understand the challenges of inner-city wards and ward 8.  And even 2, 6 and 7 had no direct representation.  We'll have a far better balance of concerns and solutions under the new system.

Goal: to increase voter participation.  Although some folks are already calling ward rep a "dud" because the preliminary turn-out was no higher than usual, I think today's election will show a significant difference, and that we'll see voter participation continue to increase over time.  We have a new tool in our toolbox and we have to learn how to use it.  I'm not worried.  I have the stats by ward for the last two city elections, and when all the results are in, I'll post the comparisons.

Nearly 75% of those who voted in the last city election voted for ward representation.  We're ready for change.  But ward rep is just the beginning.  To keep our city councilors accountable, we're going to have to keep our eye on them.

Question: what kind of structures would you, the voters, like to see our new councilors institute so that we can keep them accountable?

Photo from Nsub1's photostream at Flickr.

Here they are! Springfield's candidates for mayor, city council and school committee

The Springfield Election Office has just finished certifying candidates' nomination papers are the results are in! We've got some business as usual and a few surprises.

First, Domenic Sarno and Bud Williams will be the only candidates for mayor. Jeff Donnelly failed to get enough valid signatures and I'm not sure David Pankhurst returned any papers at all.

We only have eight candidates for the at-large seats on Springfield City Council-- that means NO primary for the at-large candidates. Only four of the current nine incumbents are choosing to run-- James Ferrera, Jose Tosado, Kateri Walsh and Timothy Rooke. The other four candidates are Vera O'Connor, Morris Jones, Thomas Ashe and Robert Francesca.

NO primary for Ward One-- Gumersindo Gomez and Zaida Luna will go head-to-head on November 3.

Ward Two has five certified candidates for city council, and will have a primary on September 15 to choose only two among the five: Michael Fenton, Gil Herron, Thomas Sullivan, Robert Underwood and Hamilton Wray.

NO primary for Ward Three for city council: Martin Loughman and Melvin Edwards will face off on November 3.

NO primary for city council in Ward Four: longtime activists E. Henry Twiggs and Norman Oliver are the only certified candidates.

YES for a Ward Five primary: George Bruce and Clodo Concepcion have run for city council before; Carol Lewis Caulton has actually served a term on city council; DeJuan Brown is well-known for his role with A.W.A.K.E.

YES for a Ward Six primary: We've got five candidates: Amaad Rivera, Richard Carpenter, Victor Davila, Peter Lappin and Keith Wright.

YES for a Ward Seven primary: six candidates: Timothy Allen, Peter Appleby, Ronald Jordan, Walter Lysak, Michael Rodgers and Alexander Sherman.

YES for a Ward Eight primary: Gloria DiPhillipo, John Lysak, Orlando Ramos and Miguel Soto.

The School Committee slate is a bit disappointing, because there is far less competition. Only two candidates for the two at-large seats: Denise Hurst and Antoinette Pepe, so unless something completely unexpected happens, both women will be elected.

Norman Roldan is the only candidate for District One, a combination of Wards One and Three, so he will definitely be elected. (How nice for him!)

District Two, a combination of Wards Four and Five, will have a primary: Barbara Gresham, Maurice Thomas, Tahon Ross and Sirdeaner Walker are all certified.

District Three, a combination of Wards Six and Seven, will have a primary: Christopher Caputo, Orlando Santiago, Christopher Collins and Joshua Collins are all certified. Chris Collins is currently an incumbent but is running from his ward.

District Four will not have a primary: Either Joseph Flebotte or Peter Murphy will be elected.

To recap: Expect primaries in Ward Two for both city council and school committee, Ward Three for school committee, Ward Four for school committee; Ward Five for city council and school committee, Ward Sic for city council and school committee, Ward Seven for city council and school committee,k and Ward Eight for city council and school committee.

That's it, folks! I am now hoping that the neighborhood councils, civic associations and other community groups will hold candidates' night so that each ward has an opportunity to pick the best candidates under our new system. It's only taken 40 years, 3 initiative petitions, two federal lawsuits and numerous city council votes, but we did it.

If I tried to thank everyone who made this possible, I'd be bound to leave someone out, but I have to give a special shout-out to Frank Buntin, Gumersindo Gomez, Fred Whitney, Arise and Jose Tosado.

City council, school committee races getting crowded

With ten weeks and one day to go before the filing deadline, the races for the school committee and city council seats are starting to look competitive.

So far, there are nine candidates for the five at-large city council seats, two candidates who are undecided as to whether to run at large or from a ward, and twenty-five candidates for the ward seats, with competition for every seat so far except ward 6.

For the school committee seats, five are running for the two at large seats, four haven't yet decided if they'll run at large or for a ward seat, and twelve people are running for the four ward seats. Combined wards 4 and 5 have only one candidate so far.

City Council

Of the nine current city council incumbents, only four are firmly in the running for the (now only) five at large seats: Bud Williams is running for mayor, Bruce Stebbins has announced he's not running, and Bill Foley, Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty and Pat Markey haven't yet taken out papers. I've got pretty solid info that at least one of them is not running again, but I'll let that person make his/her own announcement.

Two incumbents, Timothy Rooke and James Ferrera, have already returned their signatures to the Election Commission and had them certified-- so they will definitely be on the ballot unless they withdraw. Incumbents Jose Tosado and Brian Santaniello have also taken out papers.

Incumbent Kateri Walsh and challenger Khali Maddox-Abdego of 15 Ventura Street. haven't yet decided whether to run at large or for a ward. Perhaps they're waiting to get a look at the competition before they decide?

Other at large challengers include Walter Gould, David Poehler, Victor Davila, Robert Francesca, Peter Appleby and John Rivera.

Here's the breakdown by ward so far:

Ward One: Zaida Luna, Gumersindo Gomez, Michael Tuckey and Rajah Walia. However, so far the Election Commission does not have Rajah Walia listed as either a resident or a voter.
Ward Two: Robert Underwood, Gil Perron, Luis Garcia and Thomas Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan has also turned in his signatures and had them certified.
Ward Three: Melvin Edwards, Larry Lawson.
Ward Four: Charles Stokes, E. Henry Twiggs, Lorenzo Gaines, Omega Johnson and Norman Oliver. Mr. Oliver is already certified to be on the ballot.
Ward Five: Clodo Concepcion and George Bruce.
Ward Six: Keith Wright. However, two potential candidates who have not yet taken out papers but came to Arise's workshop for candidates a few weeks ago are Richard Carpenter with Springfield Forward and Amaad Rivera with United for a Fair Economy.
Ward Seven: Alexander Sherman and Kenneth Pooler.
Ward Eight: Betty Agin, Gloria DeFillipo, John Lysak, Miguel Soto and Orlando Ramos. Mr. Ramos may not be eligible, however, because he has not lived in his ward for the required two years.

School Committee:

Incumbents Michael Rodgers and Thomas Ashe have taken out papers for the two at laerge seats; other at large challengers are felix Rivera, Denise Hurst (recognize that last name?) and Jaime Santiago. Incumbent Antoinette Pepe (wards 6,7) still hasn't decided if she's running at large or for a ward seat, nor have Nathaniel Davis (4,5), Rafael Bones (4,5) or Dawn Summerville-Simon (2,8).

Wards 1 and 3: Norman Roldan and Chris Joseph.
Wards 4 and 5: Frank Buntin
Wards 5 and 7: Orlando Santiago and Joshua Carpenter.
Wards 2 and 8: Darryl Williams and Joseph Flebotte. Mr. Flebotte, however did not register to vote until September of last year (according to the Election Commission) so will have to prove his two year residency in order to be eligible.

That's it so far, folks! Of course, a lot can still happen. Some people who took out papers may never return them and some will return them but fail to have 200 certified signatures. (Rule of thumb: get about 50% more signatures than you need!) Some people will take out and return papers between now and July 24th for the city council and July 28th for the school committee.
So everything is still wide open.

By the way, we now have four potential candidates for mayor: incumbent Domenic Sarno and challengers Bud Williams, David Pankhurst and and Jeff Donnelly.

At the moment, it looks like we'll have primaries in most of the wards for school committee and city council, and in all of the wards for mayor.

An editorial note: None of these elected offices should be treated like playthings-- every seat under the new system is an important seat that will help set the tone for years to come. I hope that neighborhood councils, civic associations and other organizations will make sure there are candidates' nights in every single ward.

Photo from Steven Jareb's photostream at Flickr.

The "Black Community," Majorie Hurst; Unexpected trip to City Council

Sunday night I blogged about Mayor Domenic Sarno's so far unkept promise about moving forward on the environment in Springfield, MA. On Monday, my sister called me to say that Councilor Ferrera intended to introduce a resolution to urge Mayor Sarno to establish a Green Commission at Monday's City Council meeting. So I took myself down to the public speak-out to talk about what could be done right away to improve our city's environment. It was a bit odd. Through the years I've addressed City Council on only two issues: homelessness and ward representation. There are limits to how thin I can spread myself! Well, we have ward representation, now. Homelessness is another story.

While I was in City Hall I picked up a copy of Point of View, the local newspaper published by Frederick and Marjorie Hurst, and read it while I waited for the public speak-out to begin. I could not help but contrast the image of the city's African-American population as represented in the newspaper with the image that many of the city's white people have of African-Americans.

Point of View's stories this month included an article on students at Frederick Harris School talking about peace, the accomplishments of Major Toy R. Frasier, Jr., the Basileus of the Delta Chi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity located in Springfield, MA, the The 2nd Annual Hoop City Jazz & Art Festival, a column on Older Americans Month by Ruth Loving, and much more. The paper also included a pretty devastating picture of how an important issue about underperforming eighth graders was cavalierly decided.by by the School Committee. Marjorie is serving her last term as a School Committee member and was one of two dissenting votes. Read this article if you really want to know what went on at the school committee meeting. As Marjorie says,

"No research was conducted or cited. No public discussion was scheduled or held. No written policy was drafted or presented for review. And the adopted policy wasn’t even on the agenda for that night. It was simply brought forward as an oral motion by Christopher Collins, our newest school committee member, during his Curriculum and Programs subcommittee report of a meeting that had been held just prior to the school committee meeting.

And the four other members of the school committee voted in favor of it!!! We don’t know how much it will cost for busing or staffing or who will be in charge of this new program. Neither parents/guardians, students, teachers, nor principals have had any advance warning or opportunity to prepare for the implementation of this policy, which will go into effect next month. By contrast, we just recently spent over a year accumulating and studying data, holding meetings, getting feedback and buy-in and drafting and revising the wording for a school uniform policy, for heavens sake! And we spend all of 30 minutes discussing a policy that possibly will have permanent and irreparable effects on a segment of our students."

Yesterday five hundred people, mostly youth, participated in a vigil mourning the murder of Mario Hornsby, Jr., a high school student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two hours after the rally, police arrested a 17 year old man in the murder. Police said the community cooperated with the police with information leading to the suspect's apprehension.

Now contrast the above picture of the African-American community with what posters on Masslive-- anonymous, of course-- have to say about Black people. I have to paraphrase (no direct quoting allowed) but here goes:

• One poster, commenting on the vigil, says that nothing in the Black community will change until the community rejects its own image. (Which image is that, the Point of View image?)
• Another poster says that this (the violence) isn't a community problem, it's a Black problem. (Blacks aren't a part of this city?)
• Another poster, after calling the violence a Black problem, admits he/she has no idea what goes on in the Black community.
• Another poster says it's the fault of so-called Black "leaders."
• Another poster says that summer jobs are just throwing money at "baby thugs."
• Another poster suggests tying them to a tree and beating some sense into them.

As usual, there are a few thoughtful posts.

I wonder what would happen if I started posting comments on Masslive like, "If only the white community would stop glorifying gangsters, we'd have less mob activity," or "White people just wanna lock themselves away in their gated communities and leave the rest of us to sink or swim." Boy, would I get jumped on!

Too many times we white people see only a part of the picture and think it describes the entire Black community. We say, "We're not racist, we're just telling it like it is!" And we ignore any evidence to the contrary.

On my way to work this morning, I saw: Black kids in groups walking to school, Black men in suits waiting for the bus, Black moms waiting at the bus stop with their kids, two Black guys on a corner with documents in their hands gesturing to a local building, a young Black man in a work uniform headed to work at Dunkin Donuts, two Black women dressed the way lawyers dress walking toward the intersection of State and Main.

Yes, communities of color are struggling with drugs, crime, the school drop-out rate-- but most Black kids manage to make it through school without getting addicted to drugs or being murdered or murdering. And these problems are scarcely non-existent among whites.

Here's hoping that someday we can see each other in the full range of our struggles and triumphs, without stereotypes and generalizations, and wishing the best for each other.

Councilor Tim Rooke doesn't get ward representation

The Civil Rights and Race Relations Committee met again this afternoon to discuss plans for implementing ward representation. I must say it was a thought-provoking meeting. Each department head that had been charged with assessing potential changes in their departments gave a report. Mike Plaisance over at the Republican will probably give more details but for me two issues remained key. The first is resolving the situation with the School Committee, three of whose members were elected for four year terms but who can only serve two years in order for ward representation to be implemented.. The second issue, and one that will play out over time, is the role of neighborhood councils and civic associations in a system with ward representation.

Councilor Tim Rooke (not on the committee) came in about fifteen minutes after the meeting started and was greeted by Chairman Tosado. Rooke started by asking about salaries for ward councilors-- were they going to be the same as at-large councilors? Tosado said yes, that he had looked at Chicopee and Holyoke, both of which have at-large and ward councilors, and that the salaries were the same.

Rooke said he'd wondered about that, because, for example (I'm going to have to paraphrase here because I didn't have a tape recorder) if you were a councilor from ward seven, you'd get to vote on ward seven issues, but....At that point, he seemed to tune into a general sense of disagreement.

"Isn't that the way it is?" he asked.

"Everybody votes on everything," I said, at which point Chairman Tosado said, "Michaelann, please, let the lawyer answer that," cutting me off. (Although I noted he seemed to have no problem with the men who spoke out of turn.) So then City Attorney Ed Pakula gave the legal opinion and basically said just what I'd said, only with more words..

I must say I was just astounded that a sitting city councilor, who was one of two "no" votes on ward representation proposal when it came before City Council in 2006 apparently was unaware of the details of what he was opposing and even now has not taken the time to educate himself about ward representation-- now the law of the land, even for him, if he plans to run again. Perhaps he thinks he's such a shoe-in for an at-large seat next fall that he doesn't have to think about those those lowly ward councilors?

At this point Councilor Rooke went from bad to worse when he started questioning whether there would still be a role for neighborhood councils and if the city should continue to pay for staff for some of them! Of course this is exactly what the neighborhood council members present were fearful about, a forced irrelevance of the council and civic association system.

Rooke said he thought Mayor Sullivan had created the neighborhood council system in the 70's as a way of giving neighborhoods a voice, but now with the ward representation, would they be needed? I thought his question surprisingly parochial seeing as nearly every city in Massachusetts has neighborhood councils AND a mixed-- at-large and ward-- city council. Maybe Councilor Rooke doesn't get out of town much. I think it was Councilor Tosado who had a good comeback-- neighborhood councils are not ward-based and neighborhoods often overlap wards.

Well, I certainly think there's a continued need for neighborhood-based organizations.As far as I can recall, we've got twelve neighborhood councils and ten civic associations. Long may they reign.

I'll save the School Committee for tomorrow..

Ward Representation - off the record

I heard "off the record" yesterday that not all city departments are eagerly working to make sure ward representation can be put into place for the next election

Given this city's past efforts to stop ward representation, I take these rumors seriously. I'd have to pull out thirteen years of files to completely reconstruct this obstruction, but:
-- say you'll vote yes and then vote no.
-- say you'll approve it under certain conditions, and then change your mind when those conditions are met.
-- say you support it but work against it behind the scenes.

Even as recently as last September, the enabling legislation for WR languished in the House of Representatives while Mayor Ryan, ostensibly a supporter, twiddled his thumbs and the City Council, including Council President Jose Tosado, WR's biggest supporter on the Council, seemed unaware that the bill wasn't moving ahead.. It took hundreds of phone calls to our legislators and the Governor's office to get the ball rolling, and even so, it was signed into law by Governor Patrick with less than 24 hours to spare.

It's not NOVEMBER 2009 by which the city needs to be ready-- it's SEPTEMBER, in time for the Primaries.

I'm going to wager, right now, that every single one of the city's eight wards will need a primary election for City Council, and quite possibly for School Committee. Now that ward representation is law in Springfield, Massachusetts, even those who worked against it will try to take advantage of it.

Political life in Springfield life is about to get even more interesting.

Springfield starts planning how to implement ward representation

Should city and school committee councilors from wards be paid the same as at-large councilors? How much more will it cost to print eight ballots, one for each ward, instead of just one for the whole city? How much more support staff will be needed in various city departments? And how will thirteen councilors fit into a space designed for nine?

Tonight the City Council's Civil Rights and Race Relations Committee started laying out these and other questions that have to be answered before the city's new, mixed ward and at-large system, can be put into place for the November, 2009 elections. It won't be easy but it won't be difficult, and in any case, the voters mandated it in the 2007 elections.

As City Attorney Ed Pakula said, "It's not many issues that win 75% of the vote."

A few community people were at the meeting to see what the city had in mind for moving ahead., including five of us from Arise and OutNow! It was an odd feeling to hear ward representation talked about as a reality, not something still to be won. Thirteen years of work! Winning ward representation in this city has certainly followed the "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, etc." path. I have a lot more gray hairs now than I did in 1995.

Relevant department heads talked logistics and budgets, and most agreed to get preliminary plans back to Committee Chair Jose Tosado in six to eight weeks.

The two most interesting questions concerned the School Committee and the potentially changing relationship between neighborhood councils and civic associations and the City Council.

Under the old at-large system, six School Committee members were elected for four years in staggered terms. The new system calls for two committee members at-large and four representing two wards each. The three School Committee members elected last fall, Antoinette Pepe, Chris Collins and Thomas Ashe expected to serve four years, but there doesn't seem to be any way to implement ward representation for the School Committee in 2009 except by bringing an end to the staggered system and electing all six members at the same time-- everyone starting off on the same foot. I know Antoinette, Thomas and Chris don't want it that way, but no one's been able to think of any way around it. I certainly hope they wouldn't try to hold up ward representation so they can serve their full terms.

Near the end of the meeting (as always!), we citizens had a chance to speak. Walter Gould of the Outer Belt Civic Association asked, What will the relationship of neighborhood councils and civic associations be to the city council once there are councilors representing each ward? The councils and associations are used to having the ear of the entire council; it's a system they've gotten used to and don't necessarily want to see changed, and, in many neighborhoods, it's a system that has provided those neighborhoods with a vehicle to be heard. Will councils and associations now have to go through their councilor to reach the city? What if they don't like their councilor?

There are no legal ways to answer Mr. Gould's questions; new relationships and alliances will have to be formed. Some fear they will lose power and influence with the city. But having been elected to the McKnight Neighborhood Council twice, I can tell you that not all councils have ever had the ear of the city. Well, as the people said in the last election, More Democracy, please!

I'm just remembering political consultant Tony Cignoli being interviewed on television the night before last November's historic ward representation election. It really doesn't have much chance of passing, he said. Ha! Remind me not to recommend him to any friend considering a run for public office.

Photo: Urban Compass

Ward representation and the School Committee

Ward representation's impact on the City Council has gotten the most attention so far, but big changes are in store for the School Committee, also.

Victor Davila emailed me the other day to ask what would happen in the 2009 elections to the School Committee, which, up until this the last election, has had staggered, four year terms. Would only those seats up for re-election become ward seats? Or would all the seats that were going to become ward seats happen at the same timje? I told him that was a good question, and I'd have to find out.

The more I thought about it, though, it did seem to me that all seats would have to transition to ward seats at the same time. I checked in with the city's attorney, Ed Pakula, and sure enough, that's what he and Mayor Ryan were envisioning.

Photo from the Springfield School Dept. website
That means that Thomas Ashe, Antoinette Pepe and Chris Collins will only be serving two year terms. I wonder if they realized that that would be the case if they were elected AND ward representation passed?

In 2009, we will be electing the entire School Committee, two-at large and four ward seats, meaning an end to staggered terms. If it seems important to restore them, it will have to be some with separate legislation.

Just to remind folks what they voted for, School Committee seats will represent wards One and Three, Four and Five, Six and Seven and Two and Eight, PLUS two at-large.