Results tagged “maurahennigan”

When Tommy went up against Maura, he made very little effort to put issues on the table. Schools, affordable housing, and the usual issues - never fixed but always talked about by politicians - were barely on the radar. Just around the time that Tom Menino was on a hunt for cell phone service, poor Maura Hennigan mortgaged her house in order to respond to Mumbles' roaming charges. Perhaps a straight pander for votes, but...

Super Tuesday it ain't. Cities around the Commonwealth go to the polls today, but the big excitement seems to be in other places. To be sure, today is a big day for Maura Hennigan and her supporters (most of whom, from what Bostonist can tell, live along the Jamaicaway and have the most gi-normous lawn signs ever). But Bostonist still doesn't know quite what it is that makes Councilor Hennigan a better choice than Tom...

Why is it that the one contest that Bostonist really wants to be a blow-out is heart-wrenchingly close, while the contest where real competition would be truly useful is unrelentingly lop-sided? So it goes in our fair city these days as the mayoral and pennant races wind down. The campaign of City Hall challenger Maura Hennigan is so lackluster that she hasn't even been able to make hay out of Mayor Menino's refusal to engage in head-to-head debates. Instead, we learn from today's Herald, she must grudgingly participate in the town-meeting style debates the Mayor prefers. Worse still (for Hennigan), the first of these (and the only television event that even approximates a real debate) will compete for voter attention with (surprise!) a Sox game (on September 28). We feel bad for Hennigan, because a debate seems like her only chance to get past the meta-campaigning ("the mayor's scaring away my donors;" "I'm mortgaging my house to fund the campaign;" "the mayor refuses to debate me;" etc.) and get to some real issues that distinguish her from Mumbles. But no one will be watching. The worst part is, for all Hennigan's tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness, we can still think of at least one person who could jump into the race tomorrow and get more votes.

Bostonist loves political theatre, whether of the absurd-but-meant-to-be-serious sort or the absurd-for-absurdity's-sake sort. An upcoming event next month fits squarely into the latter category: The Riverside Theatre Works in Hyde Park is hosting a talent show for Boston's mayoral and city council candidates. The Globe reports today that many local notables will, indeed, participate: Felix Arroyo will sing Sinatra, Kevin McCrea will twirl a baton while telling jokes (?), and Mumbles will read poetry, promising to make some unknown poet a star on the strength of his oratorical skill. Really. What the Globe doesn't report, strangely, is the time, date, or location of the event. Luckily, Bostonist is here to help: It will be at the Riverside Theatre Works' home base (45 Fairmount Ave. in Hyde Park) on Sunday, September 26, at 6:00 p.m., with an elbow-rubbing reception beforehand at 5:00.

This past weekend Franklin Park again played host to the annual Puerto Rican Festival. Boston seems to have lost interest in the festival overall. The only imagery, besides our own, found in local media came in the form of a single picture run in black and white in the Boston Globe and in color in the Metro. The Boston Herald used some imagery from the parade to discuss the recent filing in U.S. District Court that Boston failed to fulfill it's obligation to furnish election related materials in Spanish as well as English. The festival spanned three days in Franklin Park filled with food (some really good food), music, carnival rides, and anything you could ever want with the flag of Puerto Rico on it. Anything you could want, and more, that is, from hats and shirts, to Sponge Bob, to items heavily lacquered which, as best as Bostonist could tell, were meant for mantle decoration all carried the flag.

As Boston Magazine has adeptly pointed out, there is nothing like living in a two-newspaper town. Although Bostonist has chided the Herald at times for its breathless, light-on-facts coverage, we must admit that the truth seems frequently to lie somewhere between the Globe's muted understatement and the Herald's bold generalization. Case in point: today's stories about Councillor Maura Hennigan's plan to mortgage her JP home to fund her flagging mayoral campaign. The Herald blames the Mayor, saying (without any confirmation or detail) that he has "put the $queeze" on would-be Hennigan donors, and depicts Hennigan as a scrappy fighter willing to risk it all. The Globe focuses on the fact that Hennigan, scrappy fighter though she may be, owns four properties in Boston with a total assessed value of over a million dollars, and places the blame for her paltry fundraising more with her lack of - how shall Bostonist put it? - a snowball's chance in hell. (The Globe does point out that former Mayor Kelly mortgaged his home to kickstart a successful come-from-behind run in 1983.)

For a while Bostonist had been hoping that El Oriental de Cuba in JP would be open a bit later. After downing some pints at Behan’s a walk over to El Oriental for some mashed plantains is much better than that foreman grilled cheese we end up making after bars close. Alas, they were only open on weekends until 10 p.m. Until yesterday that is, when El Oriental was firebombed overnight. Bostonist loves ethnic food and for Cuban food in Boston this little spot - located "the other way" down Centre St., away from the cute little shops that define the increasingly gentrified JP - can’t be beat. The Boston Globe recounted statements from Maura A. Hennigan, who heard the Molatov cocktail-like fire starter had been tossed through the window of El Oriental around 3:30 a.m. This unexpected arson has taken the neighborhood by surprise and left the Cuban community in Jamaica Plain distraught, waiting for the restaurant to rebuild. Nobel Garcia pledged to the community and reporters that he would reopen the restaurant he’s owned for the last 6 years. Garcia said he had no enemies and didn’t know who could have done it. The food is great, the space itself left a little something to be desired, but nothing to firebomb over.

Bostonist loves political showmanship. Really, we adore it. Because actual leadership disputes are all about budgets and negotiations and the careful balancing of interests, and that stuff is BOOOOOORING. But clever turns of phrase and chicken suits are fun, and without them, our vibrant democracy would be nothing more than Canada without the smart policy. That said, we are pretty underwhelmed by mayoral hopeful Maura Hennigan's decision to speak in Latin when challenging mayor Tom...

Seemingly annoyed with constantly having to live in the shadow of their bigger sibling, Boston, Mayor Joe Curtatone of Somerville and Mayor Mike Sullivan of Cambridge have teamed up to bring Boston Mayor Tom Menino to his knees. Joining forces with Mitch Kates, former Professional Wrestler and current aide to Boston Mayoral-challenger Maura Hennigan, the two north-of-the-Charles Mayor's have issued a strong challenge to Menino.