Contrarian Boston/Dec. 3, 2021

In today’s edition: NIMBY blowup in Concord | Marty eyes Corner Office | Ditto Lelling? | Brutal Biden takedown | Wu’s school violence problem | About Contrarian Boston | Seeking contributors

Run Marty Run?

Gov. Marty Walsh? He might be just what’s needed to whip the overpriced, inventory-starved Massachusetts housing market into shape.

The former Boston mayor, who the Globe reports is eyeing a potential run for governor, oversaw a building boom like no other in the history of Boston.

During Walsh’s seven-year reign, city officials routinely signed off on a record smashing 10-to-11 million square feet of new development each year, including thousands of new condos and apartments.

And almost all that work was done by union construction workers, earning decent salaries, an argument that growth and fair pay are not mutually exclusive.

Could Walsh take that model – or some modified version of it - and roll it out across the state?

Now for a reality check: Attorney General Maura Healey, the likely Democratic front-runner, has undeniable charisma and the backing of fired-up progressive base.

Confirmed as federal labor secretary in March, the best than can be said of Walsh’s rhetorical skills are they are better than Biden’s.

Lelling and the long list of potential gubernatorial candidates

Besides Marty, who else is thinking of running for governor?

Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision to bail on a run for a third term has opened the floodgates.

One headscratcher is Boston City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, who won support from just 12 percent of the city voters in her lopsided loss to Michelle Wu.

For pure entertainment value, though, my favorite candidate on the media’s speculation list is Andrew Lelling, the former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.

Lelling, who led the Varsity Blues college admissions bribery case, has a sharp eye for exposing hypocrisy among blue state elites. He’d certainly make Walsh or even Healey sweat a bit.

Newest target of NIMBY madness – Mass Audubon

We are not fans of upscale suburbanites moaning and groaning anytime anyone wants to build anything anywhere in the remote vicinity of their precious McMansions.

But after spotting this headline in the Concord Journal – “Neighbors on alert over potential Brewster’s Woods development plans” – it sounded like maybe the neighbors in question might have a point.

After all, what meanie would level the Brewster Woods?

But the “development” in question is a proposal by Mass Audubon for an “intellectual and creative center” where the group can also display its bird art, Mass Audubon President David O’Neill told the paper.

And the Brewster Woods, it turns out, is a 130-acre stretch of Concord woodland that was once home to the environmental group’s first president, William Brewster.

No matter. Neighbors on Ball’s Hill Road say they fear an increase in traffic, and not just from cars, but from pedestrians as well.

Those bird watchers and hikers can be pure hell, especially after they’ve binged on granola bars and washed it all down with apple cider.

Really, it’s hard to know what to say to that.

Herald’s brutal Biden takedown

The Herald’s over-the-top support of Trump has made me skeptical of the paper’s political coverage as of late.

But Joe Battenfeld’s skewering of Biden’s Nantucket getaway – complete with a Thanksgiving stay at the mansion of Romney-like financial baron – is a painful reality check for those sympathetic to the president and his aims.

Not like it’s any big secret that Biden’s messaging is poor, but his grasp of political atmospherics is clearly pretty feeble as well.

If nothing else, Biden has to stop hollering ‘America is Back’ – as he did during a call-in to the Macy’s parade.

With Covid on the rise again, along with inflation, no one is feeling particularly back right now.

Wu’s curious response to school attacks

Ok, we get it. As a progressive, empty tough talk about crime and violence is just not Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s thing.

But something is really off when the local service workers union, in wake of a beating that left a Dorchester school principal unconscious, must take to the streets to force Boston school officials to take basic safety measures.

Speakers at a protest staged by SEIU Local 888 at the Henderson Upper School talked of security cameras that don’t work and unplugged metal detectors shoved into a corner in the cafeteria.

Wu’s initial response: doubling down on her stance against posting police officers in city schools, a popular progressive stand.

Police in schools, school resource officers, as they are called, “disproportionately criminalize Black and Latinx students, perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline,” proclaims Wu’s education platform issued last spring.

Those are sweeping pronouncements that don’t leave much room for the exercise of common sense.

But let’s also be clear they were made when Wu was a city councilor, not mayor.

Now that Wu is mayor, it will be interesting to see how she grows into the job.

What is Contrarian Boston?

I have fielded emails over the past couple weeks asking what Contrarian Boston is all 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.

Contrarian Boston seeks contributors

Have a news tip? Is there an issue you would like to see explored? Interested in writing up a news item or short opinion piece? As Contrarian Boston gets on its feet, I would like to add more news and a wider range of commentary as well.

Intrigued? Drop me a line at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.

Thanks for reading and see you Monday.