really, franky?
first of all, before i blame franky for anything, it's fair to point out that, since the lowell sun reporting and editing staff are functionally illiterate, (to wit, "i contribute [sic] this win to..."), the accuracy of the quote has to remain deeply in question. however, to possibly have said anything to the effect that her election can be attributed to the "collaboration between established lowellians and the 'blow-ins', the new residents of lowell..." is to commit the very same bogus mental mistake, or at least give voice to it even if she doesn't believe it, as all the people she's trying to replace.
"established" means as little as "blow-in". well, actually, "established" might mean lazy and "i got mine so the rest of you can all pound sand", a la the work ethic of sandy ames and the corruption of his patron, kaz kazanjian, but it certainly can't have any relevance to the one-person-one-vote ideals of this great american dream melting pot of a city. as for "blow-ins", WE'RE ALL HERE BECAUSE WE WANT TO BE. (except, as i mentioned, those people who are here because they were accidentally born here, and coincidentally lack the self-respect to do anything about it more than think that such a thing means anything all by itself). the sooner everyone gets behind the idea that we're all here because we choose to be, (which is the same idea behind america, which is the only country ever founded on one), the better.
change means never giving in to bud and rita's obsession to measure and report the worth of every constituent by the length of time they've lived here. (seriously--count the number of introductions they give over the next two years that omit the "has lived in lowell for..." part, and tell me why you think that is).
i live here. you live here. that ought to be enough to prove that we are on the same side.
"established" means as little as "blow-in". well, actually, "established" might mean lazy and "i got mine so the rest of you can all pound sand", a la the work ethic of sandy ames and the corruption of his patron, kaz kazanjian, but it certainly can't have any relevance to the one-person-one-vote ideals of this great american dream melting pot of a city. as for "blow-ins", WE'RE ALL HERE BECAUSE WE WANT TO BE. (except, as i mentioned, those people who are here because they were accidentally born here, and coincidentally lack the self-respect to do anything about it more than think that such a thing means anything all by itself). the sooner everyone gets behind the idea that we're all here because we choose to be, (which is the same idea behind america, which is the only country ever founded on one), the better.
change means never giving in to bud and rita's obsession to measure and report the worth of every constituent by the length of time they've lived here. (seriously--count the number of introductions they give over the next two years that omit the "has lived in lowell for..." part, and tell me why you think that is).
i live here. you live here. that ought to be enough to prove that we are on the same side.
posted by kad barma at 12:33 PM
5 Comments:
Yessir on this.. I enthusiastically voted for Franky and cheered her win, but I also hate the use of this term and the unnecessary division it causes.
If anything, her strong showing yesterday just shows how irrelevant that *divide* is to most people.
She really pushed in the neighborhoods, that were not 'hers'. Sorry to say it like that. It helps make the point it's not the system but not getting the people who are eligible to be citizens and voters to realize the importance of voting.
I didn't vote for her, because I was afraid she might bump off a candidate that I helped out. I would of felt too guilty, if she was closer to 7th-9th place and the other candidate at 10th. I only used three of my votes. She would of been one of my nine.
Does anyone know the number of residents with green cards, who haven't yet or have no interest in becoming citizens?
----
The problem is not blowing in but transient nature of living. It may come in the form of living downtown, but in the neighborhoods it hard to see turnover as neighbors have children that are school aged then move up to another town. I know another bad term. I hate the concept of the starter home.
It would be interesting to compare turnover per residence between the neighborhoods. For example, in my building downtown, supposedly the heart of the proverbial "blow-in" phenomenon, 32 of the units remain owned by the original residential owners going on 25 years later, and another 36 of them have only been sold once over that time. (Only 9 of the units have been sold more than three times in going on 25 years). I'm willing to wager that this would compare extremely favorably with any other collection of 120 contiguous houses in the city, and I'd welcome anyone to dig into the assessor's records in their neighborhood to attempt to disprove it.
So this "blow in" crap is not only insulting and disrespectful of the full enfranchisement related to citizenship of ANY duration in the city, but also a total misnomer. Furthermore, "in the neighborhoods" is, possibly, even more insulting a thing to say than "blow-in". First of all, downtown IS a neighborhood. Second of all, "the neighborhoods" (exclusive of downtown) are actually where the more transient residents live. To hear a candidate, or her supporters, spreading this kind of bullshit, even under the guise of disbelieving it, has simply got to stop if we are ever to work together to improve the city for EVERYONE in it.
I think that's where I would disagree, I don't think downtown to be just another neighborhood. It has to be more then a neighborhood. It's downtown. It's zoned differently then other residential parts of the city to conform to more retail/office/business.
I am back after going to Renee's blog.
I am disappointed that Renee only used three of her bullets. That is one of the strong reasons I had for supporting Fair Vote Lowell. Renee's choice was a rational one, taken by an intelligent voter. She knew who she wanted and voted that way and avoided compromising her chosen candidate by also voting for others, who she supported less. We need to keep thinking about how to empower voters (my secret favor is to give everyone nine bullets and let them use them as the see fit, e.g., giving all nine to Alan Kazanjian or five to Alan and four to Rita.).
I do think Renee has a point about the downtown being different. It was that way in Johnstown, PA, where I was born, and it is that way in Lowell. The downtown carries the burden of being a neighborhood but also being the business district for all of us and for folks from other towns. I just wish it was more so in terms of being a business district.
Regards — Cliff
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