Another chapter in the legend of Jack Connors | Nothing more to debate on rent control? | About Contrarian Boston
Good luck shutting down rent control debate
Staunch supporters of reviving rent control in Boston put forth a novel argument during the “listening session” the mayor’s new “rent stabilization” panel held Tuesday evening.
And we suspect rent control advocates just don’t realize how self-righteously dismissive and even arrogant their reasoning sounds to others, especially those without the same certainty on the complex, hot button issue.
Mayor Michelle Wu not just won election last fall, but she also won a ‘mandate’ to implement rent control, or so the argument goes. Therefore, the mayor’s newly launched rent stabilization board need not engage in any more debate about the issue. Rather, it should simply proceed with discussing and drafting a plan to cap rents.
“The rent situation in Boston is ridiculous,” one long-time tenant organizer told the panel. “The election was largely won on the rent control issue. The city has spoken on this issue.”
It is true that Wu routed now former City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George in a decisive 64-to-36 percent win last November.
The problem is, when turnout is factored in, Wu won office with the backing off 20 percent of Boston voters. That’s not unusual in a municipal election, but to argue then that the results offer a sweeping mandate on a particularly fraught issue like rent control seems a stretch.
But landlords who showed up for the virtual hearing last night – and they were quite a few – could also use a few lessons both in public relations and basic human empathy.
Self-described ‘small’ landlords – one apparently owned nine units, another supposedly three dozen – came armed for bear and repeated a litany of textbook, anti-rent control arguments.
But the arguments sound all too clinical and abstract when juxtaposed against pleas of weary tenants from Chinatown, Mattapan and other Boston neighborhoods who told the panel of struggling to afford $3,000 and $4,000 rents on modest incomes.
“I am an elderly individual and I’d like to live in my neighborhood where I am familiar with my surroundings,” said 71-year-old Betty, who fears being forced out of Mattapan, where she has lived for decades, by rising rents.
Talk of boosting housing supply – something that takes years to do – is all well and fine. But how that’s going help Betty right now as she struggles to make rent?
Record shattering haul: Camp Harbor View fundraiser brings in millions
Imagine a Brink’s truck backing up to the SOWA Power Station, the 19th century power plant in the South End that is now upscale meeting space. And then visualize the guards swinging the doors open and loading bags upon bags of cash into the back of the truck.
Well, that’s effectively what took place Saturday night at the “Beach Ball,” the annual fundraiser for the camp on Long Island in Boston Harbor that serves a thousand Boston teens and their families.
A who’s who of Boston’s corporate, civic and political elite turned for the blockbuster charity event, ponying up an astounding $12.3 million.
As he does every year, Jack Connors, the legendary ad mogul, philanthropist and all-round civic leader, was the maestro who orchestrated the event and the outpouring of contributions.
In fact, flanked on the stage by Gov. Charlie Baker and U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, Connors announced he had pledges in hand for $11.8 million. And then he managed to raise the last half million by playing auctioneer and taking ‘bids’ from the crowd of more than 700.
“It shocked people,” said Vivien Li, the former executive director and president of The Boston Harbor Association, of the reaction to Connors’ announcement that he had already gathered nearly $12 million in pledges. “I have never seen this amount of money raised in one evening that benefits kids in this city. It says something about Jack’s fundraising ability and network, but also about the generosity of this community.”
What is Contrarian Boston?
I have fielded emails over the past couple weeks asking what Contrarian Boston is about.
Here’s a link to our mission statement – you can find it in the “about” section.
For a more prosaic, nuts-and-bolts description, read on.
An online newsletter, Contrarian Boston publishes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In Contrarian Boston you’ll find analysis of the day’s news, and original reporting as well.
Our focus is:
· Politics and all levels of governance, good and bad, with an emphasis on state and local, with some national mixed in;
· Economic growth and business, especially real estate, housing and new development projects;
· The media and why it does what it does;
· Education, from school board spats to the doings of multibillion-dollar university endowments;
· And whatever else catches our fancy.