I won't miss Commissioner Flynn

Seems like it's all over but for the official announcement-- Springfield's Police Commissioner Flynn will be leaving Springfield less than halfway through his five-year contract for the greener pastures of Wilwaukee. Good riddance, as far as I'm concerned.

My beefs with Flynn are minor compared to his impact-- or lack thereof-- on our community. The last thing we need is another dose of cynicism.

Is violent crime really down in Springfield? You couldn't prove it by me, and nobody knows what figures to believe.

From Flynn's very first day in Springfield, he made it clear that he was going to focus on "quality of life" issues, changing the "perception" of downtown Springfield from dangerous to less dangerous. Part of changing the perception was driving out homeless people. What good has it done?

My civil libertarian friends won't agree with me, but I thought that placing cameras in strategic places downtown and elsewhere was a good idea. People are less likely to commit a crime if they think they can be easily identified and caught! Whatever happened to that initiative, does anyone know?

Maybe the best thing Flynn did was to create a Civilian Review Board. However, I was just on the Springfield Police Department website, and couldn't find any mention of the board.

The faster our city can move on from Flynn, the better.

Homeless man who helped catch killer meets widow

He put himself in harm's way to keep the attention of a man who had just shot and killed a Broward deputy until the man could be captured. You can read more at the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

New bill would help homeless veterans

Sen Charles Schumer, D-NY, represents a state where more than 21,000 homeless veterans live. $225 million of his bill would go to expanding housing for veterans. Read more at NY1 News.

There's a real story behind this unstaged photo

Check out Daily Mail to find out.

FOURTH homeless man in a week found dead

On Saturday, another homeless man was found dead, this time in Northampton, MA. Craig Carpenter, 42 years old, was found near the Super Stop and Shop. Police said he appeared to have died of exposure after having fallen asleep while intoxicated.

I know the City of Springfield wants to "share the responsibility" of homelessness with surrounding communities. Perhaps the deaths of four Massachusetts men in one week-- one in Springfield, one in Northampton, one in Westfield and one in Waterford, CT-- is a sign the city is succeeding?

Homeless man Ct. hit and run victim; remembering Westfield death

According to The Day, a homeless man who was killed in a hit and run by a white sports utility vehicle in Waterford, CT was originally from Massachusetts.

Frederick Finn, 43, was probably living behind an old drive-in when we has killed on Boston Post Road.

My sister Liz called me this morning to say she remembers Minh Khuu, the 45 year old man who was struck and killed by a train, as a former resident of the Warming Place Shelter, now closed. She says he was not alcoholic, not an addict, just homeless.

Minh Khuu was wearing earplugs when he was killed, probably why he didn't hear the train coming. Liz says he often wore earplugs at the Warming Place, because the noise of the shelter made it hard for him to sleep. He probably forgot to take them out of his ears on the day he was killed.

The homeless man who was found dead in the Connecticut River last week has been identified as Juan Bonille, 73 years old.

Meanwhile, Masslive posters yesterday were talking about how "dangerous" homeless people are.

Homeless man killed by train in Westfield

Didn't see this on MassLive earlier... a homeless man who had most recently stayed at the Samaritan Inn in Westfield was killed while walking his bicycle on the railroad tracks. His most recent address was listed at 769 Worthington St. in Springfield-- that's the address of both Friends of the Homeless' shelter and their SROs. I wonder why he left. SROs and transitional housing are supposed to help a person take a step up from there, but it doesn't always work out that way.

It's dangerous to be homeless.

Remembering Homeless (and all) Veterans

My dad was a WWII and Korean veteran, serving in the Navy and the Coast Guard. On my dining room wall I've hung the original certificate from the U.S. Navy, stating that he had crossed the Arctic Circle on July 1, 1944 while serving aboard the U.S.S. Tampa. I suppose on most days I don't even notice it anymore, but today we honor veterans and I see that certificate again with new eyes.

The New York Times is reporting seeing the first trickle of homeless vets from the Iraq wars. The Boston Globe has an article with a Massachusetts focus on vets' struggles. The AP reports on Bush's politicking around getting a spending bill passed that would increase veterans' services.

In Boston yesterday, the Globe reports that eighteen veterans were arrested at the Annual Veteran's Day parade, protesting that their anti-war message had been excluded from the parade.

Check out probably the best blog on the web about veterans and homelessness, OldTimer Speaks. Photo is from that site.

Sick of seeing plastic bags tangled in tree branches, sailing on the river, blowing across the road? There's a blog dedicated to eliminating plastic bags from our society. Check out Norquest Bags.

Cape Cod after Noel

Cape Cod Times has some good pictures of storm damage from Hurricane Noel....photo in this post, however, is from our own Cape vacation, taken by my sister Liz.

Poor Cape Cod. Born only 10,000 years ago, it may not last another millenium.

Air freshener makes us sick

Did you know that many air fresheners work by deadening the olfactory nerves in our nose? In other words, the odors were trying to eliminate are still there, but we can't smell them.

Did you know that households that regularly use air freshener have a higher asthma rate among kids in the household?

Two new studies, one by the National Resources Defense Council and the other by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, should make us all think twice about using air freshener products.
Seventh Generation's Non-Toxic Times Newsletter has some good hints for alternatives. My favorite:
• To scent indoor air, place a drop of a natural essential oil like lavender or mint on a cold light bulb, or add a dozen drops to a bowl of water placed on a radiator or wood stove. You can also boil fragrant dried herbs in a pot of water to release a fresh smell.

Phrases I have probably said more than 10,000 times in my life:

Hey, how are you?
Thanks so much.
Okey-Dokey.
Get down, cat.

Ward Representation now the law of Springfield's land

Ward representation was passed by Springfield's voters today by an overwhelming 74% Although I believed ward rep would win a majority of votes, I am truly stunned by the level of support. I've been casting my mind around for another candidate or issue in the recent past that won by the same 3 to 1 ratio, but so far have been unable to think of one.

A few thoughts tonight: Eight by ward and five at-large for city council is not the version of ward representation preferred by most of those advocates who really studied this issue, but was instead a pragmatic decision made by City Councilor Jose Tosado (tonight's top vote-getter). It was not easy for those of us in Arise, Oiste, most other plaintiffs in the voting rights lawsuit and other activists to decide to put our weight behind Tosado's version. Hell, he wasn't even in office when we started this campaign. But we did it and I believe ward representation will, as Nick Camerota says, bring an end to politics as usual in this city.

Ward representation received more votes than any single mayoral, city council or school committee candidate-- almost 3,000 votes more. This was also the case in the 1997 election. Of course we worked hard to turn people out, but our hard work cannot take full responsibility for this. A 74% margin represents something deeply true in its urges toward democracy.

Yet at the same time, except for the huge upset of our incumbent Mayor Ryan by challenger Dom Sarno, every single incumbent on the city council and school committee was re-elected. People may want democracy and change, but mostly they don't know how to get it. I know that today, I voted for exactly two city council candidates, and neither was an incumbent. If you're in an at-large system, and you're trying to get a non-incumbent elected, you have to bullet-vote.

This kind of entrenchment of the incumbents is just one effect of an at-large system, now, thankfully, dead. But we still have a lot to learn about how to use ward representation so that we can all really benefit..

--- One last thought for tonight: we Arise folks met up at the Caribbean Club with Vera O'Connor to await poll results. Oiste, Out Now and Neighbor to Neighbor folks joined us, as well as Nick C (who designed our ad in the Springfield Republican) and E. Henry Twiggs, Chair of the City Democratic Committee. What a motley crew we made! From bowlers and overcoats to jeans and sneakers, we looked like the city I know and love. These folks are just the best, and I love them..

Body recovered from Conn. River

Stopped home for a few minutes in between covering polling places-- saw this in MassLive-- yes, homeless people dying is still a problem in Springfield--

By GEORGE GRAHAM
ggraham@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - Firefighters, working with police, recovered a man's body this morning from the Connecticut River, near Memorial Bridge.

Police told firefighters they believe the body is that of a homeless man who fell from a river bank, Fire Department Lt. Neil A. Hawley said.

Police summoned the Fire Department to the scene about 10:30 a.m. and a medical examiner arrived a short time later, Hawley said.

It appeared, judging from belongings found by the river, that the man had, at least temporarily, living near there, Hawley said.

Additional information, including the man's identity, was not immediately available.

24 hours until Springfield's polls close

Tonight there are some candidates for City Council who know they don't have a prayer of being "one of the nine" but hope to make a good showing in any case. Some know they're pretty much a shoe-in by virtue of the power of the incumbency. And then there are a couple of incumbents not absolutely sure they'll be re-elected, and a couple of challengers who might have a chance...and then there's the question of ward representation, Question One on the ballot, which will change the landscape of elections in this city from this point forward... if it passes.

I'm done being nervous for tonight, won't do any good, trying to remember when I had my fast cup of coffee because I must get to bed soon and get up early. Good luck to all of us.

Politics as usual-- beginning of the end?

Just came back from another ward representation standout at Wilbraham and Breckwood. There were seven of us, including City Council candidate Vera O'Connor. I'm not one to be overoptimistic, but it sure does seem like ward representation has a lot of support in Springfield .

98 hours until the results start coming in. Vera will be waiting for results Tuesday night at the Caribbean American African American Social Club, and she has graciously offered to let us join her. We'll bring the pizza.

I've wanted to write more about this campaign as it's gone along, but everything has moved so quickly! We didn't even know for sure the question was going to be on the ballot until October 2nd, putting the election only a month and a few days away.

I say the ward representation campaign has moved quickly, but of course that's not true. Some people have been fighting the at-large system since it was implemented 46 years ago. Arise, my organization, has been involved since 1995, when a young man named Joe Fountain brought us a discrimination lawsuit he had filed. The ball started rolling from there.

Ward representation will be no magical cure for Springfield's sick politics, and it won't undo all the damage of the entrenched at-large system all at once. But here's what I see will start happening between now and the first election (2009) actually to have both at-large and ward rep seats on the city council and school committee:

People who have considered running for office-- or who have run before, unsuccessfully-- will start believing that they could run successful campaigns from their wards. Some of these people will make great city councilors and some will be mediocre or worse. However, in a ward campaign, it'll be a lot harder to get over on the community. People will know who you are.

People running a campaign from a ward will have a real reason to encourage voter registration and, more importantly, voter participation. Ward candidates will have to turn out the vote to win.

An unknown number of current city council incumbents, numbering nine, as well as any challengers, will have to decide if they are going to vie for one of the at-large seats, reduced from nine to five, or if they are going to go back to their community and run from their ward-- a bit of a problem when nine of the current councilors come from only three of eight wards. This is all just lading up to the first mixed election.

The Springfield Republican had a very favorable editorial about ward representation today, posted at MassLive: