Marty Walsh made a lot of promises while running for mayor, and now he has to start figuring out a way to deliver on all of them.
Back in July, for example, Walsh was asked at a forum in Jamaica Plain how he would address racism in Boston. He seemed caught off guard by the question, saying it was the first time it had come up during the campaign. Over the next four months, however, he started answering that question very differently. He made a lot of promises to Boston’s communities of color and went on to win the election in large part by securing the backing of former rivals Charlotte Golar Richie, John Barros , and Felix Arroyo and racking up winning margins in Boston’s minority neighborhoods.
Now a new group calling itself the Inclusive Boston Alliance is developing a scorecard to hold Walsh accountable on his promises at intervals of 100 days, six months, one year, two years, and four years. The alliance includes the NAACP office in Boston, the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts , the Commonwealth Compact at UMass Boston, and MassVOTE. The group intends to focus on education, employment, public safety, and economic development policies.
Walsh promised to appoint a chief diversity officer to his cabinet who would push for more people of color in his administration and at private sector businesses in the city. He said his administration would reflect the racial makeup of Boston and added that “leadership of color” was needed at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He also promised to increase the number of teachers of color in the city’s schools.
None of these promises will be easy to keep, although the city of Boston’s workforce is already racially diverse. CommonWealth recently reported that 48 percent of the city of Boston’s nearly 20,000 municipal workers are minorities. Salary data, however, suggests minorities are in lower-paying jobs. The average earnings of white city workers is $60,822, compared to $37,257 for blacks, $35,729 for Hispanics, and $33,532 for Asians.
The racial makeup of the city’s school children is 36 percent black, 40 percent Hispanic, 13 percent white, and 9 percent Asian, yet the city’s teachers are 63 percent white, 21 percent black, 10 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian. The Boston Public Schools earlier this week released data on teacher evaluations that suggested black teachers were receiving poor grades at twice the rate of other teachers.
Making Boston’s private sector more inclusive may be the biggest challenge. A CommonWealth investigation revealed that blacks and Hispanics represent two-fifths of the city’s population but are largely absent from the Boston power structure. Moreover, blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented at the top of the corporate ladder while being overrepresented at the bottom. Minorities are missing entirely from the group representing Boston’s construction trades, a group that Walsh headed before launching his campaign for mayor.
–BRUCE MOHL
JFK ASSASSINATION ANNIVERSARY
Copies of today’s Boston Globe came wrapped in a reprinted version of the front page of the paper from November 23, 1963, the edition reporting on the November 22 killing of President John Kennedy, the 50th anniversary of which is being marked today. U.S. News & World Report reaches out to celebrities and newsmakers ranging from Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick to former Gov. Michael Dukakis to get their remembrances on where they were when they heard the news. Presidential historian Robert Dallek outlines what he sees as Kennedy’s legacy.
BEACON HILL
Opponents of the new gas indexing tax, which ties the levy to inflation, say they’ve collected more than 100,000 signatures to place a question on next year’s ballot to repeal the tax.
Scot Lehigh calls for a grand bargain between labor and business involving a hike in the minimum wage and reforms to the unemployment insurance system, and says it’s a chance for AFL-CIO president Steve Tolman to show he has the right leadership stuff — unlike his blustery predecessor.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A clerk-magistrate declined to issue 13 child endangerment charges sought by Fall River officials against a landlord whose buildings have been condemned by the city because of deplorable living conditions.
The Herald goes after acting Boston Redevelopment Authority chair Mike Monahan , an IBEW official, for voting to approve the redevelopment of a Boston parking garage; the national electrical workers pension fund is a major investor in the project.
Ken Gray has won his mayoral recount in Amesbury , topping current mayor Thatcher Kezer by three votes.
MARATHON BOMBINGS
Former Globe editorial writer Tom Gagen poses a set of excellent questions about the manhunt and shootouts that followed the Marathon bombings, and suggests there is something less than unbridled enthusiasm for getting to the answers.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Senate Democrats decide they’ve had enough of reflexive Republican holds on presidential appointments and vote to end use of the filibuster in such cases.
A study by the conservative American Enterprise Institute estimates that about $9 billion in gifts is at risk annually if President Obama moves forward with his plan to limit charitable deductions.
CASINOS
Easton selectmen rejected a mitigation offer from the developer of a proposed slots parlor in Raynham because it was about a third of the $1 million the town is seeking annually,
Shirley Leung cheerleads for a Revere casino.
ELECTIONS
Dr. Donald Berwick , a candidate for Massachusetts governor, says a single-payer health system should be seriously considered, WBUR reports .
On the eve of the mayoral recount in Lawrence , WBUR goes to the city and takes the pulse of voters.
Elizabeth Warren is still not running for president .
Sen. Rand Paul ‘s presidential game plan against Gov. Chris Christie appears to revolve around mocking Christie’s weight . Another 2016 hopeful, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker , offers up a defense of conservatism in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The owner of a building in downtown Quincy has sued the company overseeing the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the downtown for reneging on a deal to purchase the building and failing to pay rent while headquartered there. The developer has put the project on hold for the winter for financial reasons.
Consumer confidence in Massachusetts is significantly higher than the national average according to a Mass Insight Global Partnership study.
Old school toys like Barbies and Legos are topping Christmas shopping lists this year , which may not be a good thing for toy retailers.
Federal regulators enact new rules to discourage short-term, high-interest loans . The New York Times looks at loopholes some lenders have exploited to make costly payday loans to the military.
EDUCATION
Nearly 93 percent of teachers across the state receive passing grades in evaluations, State House News reports.
The Globe reports that discontent is brewing at Brandeis over reports of the rich payout enjoyed by the university’s former president.
HEALTH CARE
House Speaker John Boehner tries enrolling in Obamacare online and gets stuck.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Could it be true? Just 90 companies are responsible for two-thirds of all man-made global warming emissions since the Industrial Revolution.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Annie Dookhan is expected to plead guilty today in the massive state drug lab scandal.
Nearly a month after Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer was killed, prosecutors charge her alleged 14-year-old assailant with murder, aggravated rape, and armed robbery, the Salem News reports. District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett says the indictments “detail horrific and unspeakable acts,” Time reports.
Do it yourself policing: A Winthrop woman has her stolen SUV back after her sister did some serious private sleuthing to find the car in Chelsea — then steal it back.
Lawyers for former Patriots’ tight end Aaron Hernandez have accused the Bristol District Attorney‘s office with violating a gag order and orchestrating a “publicity stunt” when it served a subpoena on a Miami Dolphins player after a game at Gillette Stadium.
A fired Lawrence police officer is found not guilty in a child rape case in Florida, but still faces separate but similar charges in New Hampshire, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
MEDIA
John Henry says he bought the Boston Globe because the newspaper needs “private, local ownership” to prosper, but he’s not a local, CommonWealth reports.
