District 7

Basic Black: A Conversation with the Candidates for Boston City Council District 7 (Originally broadcast on February 18, 2011)   A Reporter’s Roundtable: In conversation with the candidates for Boston City Council District 7. Our panel: Latoyia Edwards, anchor, New England Cable News; Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter, 89.7, WGBH Radio; Manolia Charlotin, editor, The Boston Haitian Reporter; Tito Jackson, candidate for Boston City Council District 7; and Cornell Mills, candidate for Boston City Council District 7. Basic Black ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Boston City Council District 7(Originally streamed February 18, 2011)  After the broadcast the conversation with the candidates for Boston City Council District 7 continued to include issues of public safety and job creation. Our panel: Latoyia Edwards, anchor, New England Cable News; Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter, 89.7, WGBH Radio; Manolia Charlotin, editor, The Boston Haitian Reporter; Tito Jackson, candidate for Boston City Council District 7; and Cornell Mills, candidate for Boston City Council District 7.

Round 1 tomorrow for Turner’s seatDespite crowded field, low turnout expected in special council election By Andrew RyanGlobe Staff / February 14, 2011 On paper, Tito Jackson looks like the runaway favorite to take the top spot in tomorrow’s special preliminary election for the City Council seat held for a decade by Chuck Turner. Of the six names on the ballot, Jackson has won the high-profile endorsements, secured the overwhelming support of labor unions, and dominated the fund-raising battle, amassing $40,000 compared to his nearest rival’s $3,500. But this is an unusual election in the dead of winter when turnout is expected to be extremely low. That means just a handful of votes may decide which two candidates will face off in the final election March 15. “It’s not so much your endorsements that count,’’ said Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a longtime political watcher from District 7 whose husband, Bruce Bolling, held the seat for a decade. “What it will be is how you count your votes and how you bring those people to the polls.’’ FULL STORY HERE:http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/02/14/round_1_tomorrow_for_turners_seat/?page=1

Roxbury residents seek strong candidateWanted: powerful advocateBy O’Ryan Johnson  |   Monday, February 14, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Politics Roxbury voters — set to replace disgraced City Councilor Chuck Turner in tomorrow’s special election — said they want a powerful neighborhood advocate who will tackle crime, jobs and education. “We need a strong candidate that will be willing to fight and stand up for us and make sure we’re getting the same city services that everyone else in Boston is getting. We pay the same taxes,” said Cheryl Crawford, 52, of Roxbury. Crawford was part of the standing-room-only crowd of about 150 at the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center yesterday in Grove Hall for the final candidates’ forum. District 7 candidates Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills, Danielle Williams, Natalie Carithers and Roy Owens are all vying for the seat vacated by Turner, who’s appealing his three-year sentence on a federal bribery conviction. Jackson, a former Patrick administration staffer, said he would use his background in economic development and job creation to fight crime and blight. “I’ve never been robbed by somebody who had a job,” he said. “Most of the ills that we have in our community are based on the fact that people don’t have money in their pockets. So we need to make sure that we bring businesses back to our community, that we support our entrepreneurs.” Mills — the son of former state Sen. Diane Wilkerson, who’s facing 3 1/2 years behind bars on a federal bribery conviction — also homed in on neighborhood violence and mentioned his credentials as an investigator with the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, locating witnesses to homicides. “This is a short-term race with long-term consequences,” Mills said. “If we don’t elect the right leader to move this community forward, we’re going to end up taking 10 steps backwards.” Williams, a former aide to state Rep. Gloria Fox, said she has 20 years of experience working in the community. “I’m tired of people coming in our community, outsiders dictating to us, what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it,” Williams said. “I’m sick of it. That’s why I came from behind the desk, to come out and talk to my community to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ ” Carithers, a former aide to ex state Rep. Willie Mae Allen, touted her work bringing one of the 2006 gubernatorial debates to Roxbury. Owens, a frequent candidate for office, railed against abortion. “What I’m looking for in a candidate is someone who is actually going to do for this community,” voter Vernon Jackson, 30, said. “There are people dying out here.” Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1316551

Long shortchanged, voters now get real choices By Joe Fitzgerald  |   Monday, February 14, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Columnists When the six candidates vying to replace banished city councilor Chuck Turner met last week in what was billed as a “speed dating” forum, much was made of the format that had them table-hopping among attendees, providing maximum interaction with the voting public. What a terrific idea. Nothing helps the political process more than an informed electorate. Not much was said about the site, however, which was too bad, because if the walls of old Hibernian Hall could have spoken, what stories they would have told about a time in this city’s history when “power to the people” had real meaning. Those flats, row houses and triple-deckers now comprising much of District 7 were once home to a disenfranchised Irish population, until James Michael Curley led flocks of cleaning ladies and day laborers to the polls where their votes eventually changed the face of City Hall. A decade ago when Eddie Jenkins, a dynamic Roxbury lawyer, ran for Suffolk District Attorney and lost to Dan Conley, his disappointed staff contended Eddie fell short because he “needed an extra 40,000 white votes.” No mention was made of the 100,000 dormant votes that languished in the barren wards of Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester where window posters, lawn signs and bumper stickers were virtually non-existent. It wasn’t racism that cost Eddie a shot at that office; it was apathy. A year later veteran District 4 city councilor Charles Yancey, the only colleague to oppose Turner’s well-deserved expulsion, was challenged by newcomer Ego Ezedi, an associate pastor at Mattapan’s Morning Star Baptist Church. Yancey denounced him as the white man’s candidate, which was scurrilous as well as ridiculous, given that Ezedi was the son of Nigerian parents. What Yancey was implying was that a black incumbent shouldn’t be challenged by another black. “That black-against-black thing bothered me,” Ezedi admitted. “But it was Pastor (John) Borders who finally convinced me. He said, ‘Why would you turn away from the district rather than run against another black man? In South Boston they do this all the time. McGillicuddy takes on Murphy, each one putting his message out, and whichever one wins, the community comes out stronger. That’s why they have such great participation over there. Why shouldn’t we have that here, too?’ ” Tomorrow District 7 will have exactly that, with Tito Jackson, Cornell Mills, Roy Owens, Althea Garrison, Danielle Williams, and Natalie Carithers offering clear and exciting choices to voters who’ve been shortchanged too long. May it be the dawning of a new and mighty day. Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1316517