If you are doom metal fan in the Boston-Revere area, chances are you were as thrilled as I was that the southerners of EyeHateGod would be gracing The Hub soil once again with a performance at the Wonderland Ballroom, especially since there were five other bands that were sure to pack a punch.

The show started with the local punks of Fast Death breaking out with their high-end guitars and d-beats as the fierce vocals of Dave Shey came bleeding into the mix. Since they were the openers and it was 5pm, their set got off to a slow start despite the raging that was taking place on stage.

As a few songs passed, there were two studded jackets getting the pit warmed up for the rest of the day and night.

After the somewhat short set of Fast Death, Full Blown AIDS took the stage and doomed the crowd into oblivion with their creeping riffs that slowed the headbangers rhythm to that of a bobble head trying to regain stillness. Seth Putnam, frontman for the controversial locals Anal Cunt, grabbed the guitar and unleashed some tunes that had the doomy Man Is The Bastard feel as grimy-slow bass riffs opened a canal for the noisy distorted twangs of the guitar to come bellowing in. What makes Putnam and the AIDS a worthwhile listen is the mix of slow doom and heavy, fast punk which the great sludge legends of Iron Monkey were known for. Throughout the evil set, Putnam released his death cries with bassist Paulie Kraynak backing him up at times.

The rock & rollers of Panzerbastard began setting up their tanks for war while the huge room of Club Lido was finally starting to fill up at this point in the show. Over the years, Panzerbastard has made a name for themselves as hard rockers who carry their influences of Motorhead and Celtic Frost on their sleeves. It was around 7pm and the bartenders were already getting a workout from the constant flow of alcohol driven metal lovers. And what was great about the venue is they had a hot dog stand right next to the bar with fresh dogs rotating throughout the whole show.

The dogs, along with the alcohol, is what fueled the punks and metalheads as the heavy tunes were laid down.

Panzerbastard got the crowd’s attention from the start of their set with their mold of thrash and punk that put bodies with studded jackets flying in the air from one side of the stage to the other. The Bastard’s played an array of songs from their earlier recordings along with newer titles from their latest EP Centurion.

Up next were the Boston-based Livver, who play an aggressive style of hardcore that breaks into stoner rock riffs similar to what the locals in Doomriders are doing. Some of their songs started with that old punk rock feel of 80s Dischord fame but out of nowhere a guitar lead blasts the listener with a hazy psych riff as vocalist Bruce Bettis attempts to make the ears bleed with the shrieking of his vocal cords. This up-and-coming band is definitely one to keep an eye on and most of the people who were in attendance would agree.

The Baltimore, MD death metal grinders of Misery Index hopped on stage and took a different angle in their metal than those of the prior bands. With one of the guitarists and the bassist sharing lead vocal duties, their set was one of utter chaos that blasted the listener at different levels. The band’s sound resembles that of their Maryland death metal brothers in Dying Fetus. A few ex-members of Dying Fetus have played with Misery Index as well as Jason Netherton who still plays bass them. At times the ultra quick grind came out in their songs, giving off a Rotten Sound feel. Although they were extremely on-point and profession in their playing, the crowd was patiently waiting for the Louisiana sludge lords rather than another blast beat.

And finally the time came when the crowd put down their hotdogs, lined up some shots of whiskey, knocked em’ back and grabbed some tallboys while the crowd gathered around the stage that was about to be cursed by Eyehategod.

After a quick setup, they took the stage with a bottle of vodka in hand.

Once each member took a swig, vocalist Mike Williams took the bottle and started pouring it in the mouths of crazed fans in the front row. Then, the famous Eyehategod feedback filled the room and the crowd braced themselves for the ruckus that was about to happen.

Beer cans flew through the air while the stage was littered with divers and two punks who seemed to be crouching in front of Williams on stage slapping the ground for most of the set.

Most of their set was from the earlier records In the Name of Suffering, Take As Needed For Pain, and Dopesick, but they added in a few new jams that are said to be on a new album coming out sometime in the future (it would be the band’s first full album in over ten years). Eyehategod is one of those bands that never puts out a bad release, regardless of being a band for over twenty years. Each release has the band’s original sound-a sound that has influenced scores of bands since their birth.

Towards the end of the set Williams brought the vodka back into play, pouring it once again into the mouths of their warriors in the front of the stage to keep the filth flame burning. Once the feedback let up, what was left was a room full of sweaty drunk punks and metalheads who filed out of the venue wondering when the southern sludge gurus would return to Revere.

For a ton of pictures from the show check out the Reverend’s photography at returntothepit.com. The videos from the show were taken by the Reverend as well.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Revere Beach

So it’s hot as fuck, you don’t have an air conditioner, and even the thought of another day spent drinking the heat away makes your liver ache. The only options left appear to be standing in the shower until September, drinking anyway, or going to the beach, which does sound kind of nice. Problem is, Boston only has gross beaches, right? Before you pack your bags for the Cape, think again. Think Revere.

View Free For All in a larger map

Well, OK. The water is actually sort of gross and the sand is probably as hot as molten rock (hint: wear shoes), but that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for that huge ass jetty stretching out into out into the sea. First, make your way across the sand and onto the mini-avalanche of a rock wall. Scramble along that and out to the jetty itself. Instantly, the air becomes cool, the wind becomes strong, and you forget that it’s 92 degrees just a couple hundred feet away. To get as far away from the mainland as possible, make sure you go at low tide.

Take a seat, listen to the surf and relax. Although it’s still a million degrees back at your apartment, at least your’re not one of those crabs being eaten by a seagull.

Bill here. All this recent talk about money and wars has gotten me to thinking, How cheap is suicide? I mean, I know there some expensive ways, like with lasers, but what about the cheapest ways? And are there any ways you can actually make money?

Questions for an attorney, I know. But as for suicide being cheap, Jumping Joe went ahead and did one that was altogether free last week when he went face first off the Salt-&-Pepper. Yeah, that was sad. I was broken up about it right until I learned at a homeless board meeting that the old clown had left a working van somewhere north of the river.

All of us fetched our maps, and a grim bum-on-bum test of mettle ensued to see who could locate it first. The competition was fierce as we fanned out toward Cambridge. We sneered at each other on the sidewalk. We preached to academic types about tapioca pudding. We beat each other to pulps outside liquor stores out of crazy delight. We brimmed with enthusiasm for the cause. A wave of unity swept over us and then a repeated pattern of violence.

I ended up finding the van in a back alley by the little gas station at the beginning of Route 2. I’m sleeping like a baby now. Only problem with the van is the sudden jolts between 5th and 2nd gear and some kind of large bird that lives in the back seat. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sleep in a tent like some barnyard animal anymore.

Plus I found a good book amongst all the bird droppings and little bones: Wines and Beers of Old New England. This one’s for all you cooks on the go. It’s about what New Englanders used to drink and eat in the olden days, and it comes with little recipes you can try yourself. It’s fantastic if you’re a guy like me with a van, meaning plenty of room for a little on-the-go home brewing.

Just last week I made a little spruce beer on the side of the road in Revere. I was back there in the van, and things were foaming and bubbling, and everything smelled kind of acrid, like at a brewery I guess, just chemical smoke everywhere. “That’s how they did it in ye olden days!” I screamed through the smoke at the small crowd of supporters which had gathered.

As I unrolled all the windows so they could hear me better, a sea gust lifted the smoke out of my van and deposited it directly into a nearby apartment complex. I could hear shrieking and then sirens in the distance. I know those Haz-Mat boys don’t waste any time, so I hurried out of there.

That spruce beer turned out pretty heavy — me and the bird must have been drunk for ten days straight. For those old New England farmers, that was nothing. Beer was for dinner. Every night. They’d slap a piece of toast on it and call it a meal. Seriously. And it was hearty, because of the yeast, and healthy, because the alcohol killed all the STDs the Indians were putting in the water.

I’ll say it again — the bedrock of this country was beer farts and halitosis.

____

Bill Benson is the former manager of Galaxy Bowling Lanes in Decatur, Illinois. He likes to read.

Boston is one of the country’s biggest sports markets,
and soccer is the world’s biggest sport.
So why are the New England Revolution still an afterthought?

Illustration by Scott Murry | @hotdogtaco

When Diego Fagundez, the 18-year-old faux-hawked phenom and New England Revolution scoring leader, slithers down the right wing, fields volleys, and buries the ball into the back of the net, his supporters at Gillette Stadium get loud. Really loud.

It’s not like when David Ortiz slugs one over the Green Monster, or when Rob Gronkowski barrels into the end zone. Those fans are intense, sure. But Revolution diehards kick a bit harder, singing and chanting from the first drop ball through the final buzzer. When Fagundez or a teammate rips one home, the crowd slips into a nanosecond of silence, then belts out a collective holler. Red, white, and blue scarves flow like ribbons in the air; confetti streams down from the stands; the songs get loud enough to hear for miles.

The phenomenon at hand is much wilder than the Zombie Nation sing-alongs at Bruins games. It’s more like what goes on at stadiums in Rome and Barcelona, or the insanity that will certainly unfold in Brazil next year for the World Cup. The crowd in Foxborough is smaller than those European gaggles, and Fagundez makes a lot less than do his counterparts in Europe, but it’s still soccer—loud, proud, and in some cases, drunker than an alcoholic uncle on Thanksgiving.

As one of Major League Soccer’s earliest and most successful clubs, the Revolution has attempted to expand and generate excitement deeper in the region. Over and over, they’ve failed to resonate beyond Route 128, or even past the stands at Gillette Stadium. The pandemonium just floats into the summer sky and poof—it’s gone. If you weren’t there to see it happen, you wouldn’t know it did.

Boston is a sports-crazy city. Soccer, meanwhile, is the world’s most popular pastime, and by most measures—attendance, television viewership, bars showing games—it’s catching on stateside. But as MLS once again ratchets up its efforts to inspire passion for its brand of football – think the NBA’s “I Love This Game” campaign as a comparison – New England’s squad is largely limited to super fans in the stands. We asked around to find out why.

THE GOLDEN YEARS

MLS launched in 1996, inspired largely by the United States’ hosting of the World Cup two years prior. Among the early advocates for growing the game was Robert Kraft, the exalted owner of the New England Patriots. Playing a major role in helping to establish MLS, in the league’s rookie year Kraft launched his own franchise, the Revolution, and invited them to play in Foxborough.

The Revolution’s early years were ugly, but the team was marketed heavily toward families, and was successful in drawing large crowds. In their first three years of existence they drew more than 19,000 fans per match each season—about enough heads to fill the Garden for a Celtics game. But as the team consistently missed the playoffs around the turn of the millennium, the crowds began shrinking, as did attendance all throughout the league.

In 2002, the Revolution found its first real success on the field. That year—and again in 2005, 2006, and 2007—the team advanced to the MLS Cup Final, a major achievement as the league lured more and more talented players. New England lost all four championship matches, but the run was enough to solidify their place in MLS lore, at least among the youth soccer demographic. The overall draw was still lackluster, but in 2007, Kraft’s franchise began to arch back toward the impressive numbers of their first few seasons.

Those good times crashed down hard. The team’s performance declined over the next five seasons, bottoming out last year when the Revolution finished with the second-worst record in the league. Eric Spence, a spokesman for the fan group that calls itself the Rebellion, says the “team in the past few years has stalled out.” So has attendance, which has since dropped well below the MLS average. But who’s to blame?

GROWING PAINS

The trope has it that soccer and America don’t mix. Baseball is our first national love. If not, then football reigns supreme. There’s also the notion that soccer’s a distinctly European, Latin, and African urge, which anecdotal evidence certainly suggests. Here in the States, some say, we don’t need no soccer. And fuck the metric system too!

Except that isn’t wholly true (the part about soccer, at least). According to Soccernomics, a book that delves into the numbers driving the game globally, the U.S. national team’s final World Cup match in 2010 drew more American viewers than any game of that year’s NBA Finals or MLB World Series. NBC shelled out $250 million last winter to air the world’s most mesmerizing football—the English Premiere League—stateside for the next three years. On top of all that, ESPN and upstart all-sports channels like Fox Sports 1 have all been giving increasing coverage to soccer.

As for results … youth soccer players who MLS targeted early on have grown up, and in many cases are spending enough on tickets to give the league needed traction. Average attendance numbers nationwide top those of many NBA and NHL teams, with some squads even packing stadiums. The Portland Timbers, for one, who entered the league in 2011, sell out almost every game in Oregon; in fact the whole Pacific Northwest is a hotbed, as the Seattle Sounders draw more than 40,000 fans per game—almost three times the size of a typical Revolution crowd. (Earlier this season, Portland vs. Seattle drew more than 67,000.)

This fervor comes in the midst of major league expansion—MLS has brought on nine franchises since 2005 and will add a 20th in 2015. But as the league grows around the Revolution, some fans think the team—once, however briefly, held as a noted and distinguished franchise—has failed to grow with it.

VIVA REVOLUTION

Revolution fans have a long list of complaints. Mostly they resent the fact that the team still plays in a football stadium, as opposed to most other MLS franchises which have moved into state-of-the-art soccer facilities. Seating 20,000 spectators into a colossal 70,000-seater like Gillette Stadium, they say, dampens the community spirit. “It’s a vacuum of silence,” says Fran Harrington, president of another Revolution supporter club, the Midnight Riders.

Along with Spence of the Rebellion club, Harrington says the lack of a dedicated stadium implies that the Revolution plays second fiddle to the Patriots. This is ostensibly true; at Gillette, for example, there’s hardly any recognition of the Revolution. As Spence notes, there’s a large sign on the North end of the stadium welcoming visitors to the “Home of the New England Patriots.” “Maybe let people know [that] another professional sports team plays there,” he says.

Gillette seating chart, displaying the lean amount of stadium in use

Revolution president Brian Bilello says he sympathizes with fans who want soccer to be more of a priority. Speaking of Gillette Stadium, Bilello concedes, “It works for NFL football, but it’s not close enough [to the city] for soccer.” MLS clubs, Bilello says, have resonated with the downtown, 18-to-35-year-old demographic—a group that is increasingly abandoning their cars. “It was never a play of, ‘We need a soccer-only stadium’,” he says. “It’s the power of a better environment. Location is also critical.”

Building a sports stadium in Boston’s rapidly developing core presents its own set of challenges. Such massive urban planning thrives on partnerships with communities. The Revolution has made inroads in a few cities, mostly Revere and Somerville; the Boston Globe has reported that the former’s mayor, Dan Rizzo, would push for a stadium to be built in conjunction with a Suffolk Downs casino. But there and in other towns that might invite a soccer stadium, there’s always the hurdle of convincing taxpayers to graciously accept related costs in hope of an eventual return on their investment. That’s a difficult task for the region’s fifth favorite franchise.

“We’re maintaining a holding pattern,” says Harrington, who doesn’t think the Revolution will be able to grow out in the suburbs. “[Location] is really the main factor holding us back.”

HOPE SPRINGS

Jose Goncalves in battle

While a stadium would be dandy, there’s also a much simpler way to attract new fans—the Revolution could win more games. To that end, the club has made some recent progress. After bottoming out with the second-worst record in MLS last year, the Revolution now stands in playoff contention, and boasts a stable of quality young players. Highlighting that bunch is Fagundez, a local kid who, at 18, is already in his third season. Raised in Leominster, Fagundez is the first product of the team’s academy system, which develops regional talent in hopes of some day elevating them to pro competition. He’s led the Revolution in scoring through most of this season, and, more importantly for growing the team’s base, he’s akin to Justin Bieber among soccer groupies.

On the field, Fagundez rocks with defender Andrew Farrell, the top overall draft pick in all of MLS last season, plus midfielders Kelyn Rowe and Scott Caldwell, the latter also a fruit of the academy system. Then there’s Bobby Shuttleworth, a fifth-year goalkeeper who unseated the team’s long-time starter this season, and flashy 20-year-old Columbian striker Juan Agudelo. The rebooted team has also turned itself around on account of a roster full of veterans with international pedigrees—Lee Nguyen, Saer Sene, and Jose Goncalves, among others—as well as their new coach Jay Heaps.

Of course, it’s impossible to assess the Revolution’s place in our local sports ecosystem without acknowledging the other Boston teams, their sustained success, and their histories. Most clubs that boast the most fervent supporters—Seattle and Portland, for instance—have but one or two franchises to compete with. “The popularity of the team,” says Bilello, “isn’t at the level of the other [Boston] teams. But as the soccer community continues to grow, so will the interest level.”

It’s not all grim news. The Revolution, Bilello adds, have actually seen attendance grow over the past three seasons, and the team projects to see a 10 percent increase this year. Even if those figures pale in comparison to their relative heyday, the growth is more organic than in past booms, and could be more healthy long-term. With next year’s World Cup being played in Brazil—meaning its games will show in primetime in America—Bilello thinks that coming buzz could help kickstart the Revolution all over again. Moving toward that goal, the team has gotten an assist from the Boston portal on ESPN.com, which covers the team diligently. That, in addition to current national sportscaster and Gen-Xer Damon Amendolara––who occasionally sprinkled bits of Revolution reporting into his former program on the Sports Hub before taking a national position with CBS Radio––the rise of younger reporters and media figures, Bilello thinks, will coincide with increased coverage of the sport.

Overall, the fans who still show up to scream at the top of their lungs seem to recognize that the club remains in a rebuilding phase. They’re optimistic, though some are nevertheless dismayed by the slow movement of soccer culture in New England. While a handful of fans question whether Kraft should own the team, others hope the formula that’s led the Patriots to become one of the NFL’s leading franchises will also apply to the Revolution. Until then, says Spence, “They are number five in a five-horse town.”

Jay Heaps charging up the team

Tweets by @adamtvaccaro

How one Mass city watches the watchers, and how others should follow suit

On February 2, 2009, the Cambridge City Council voted in unanimous opposition to the installation of eight Department of Homeland Security cameras at major intersections on the basis that “the potential threats to invasion of privacy and individual civil liberties outweigh the current benefits” of accepting the DHS funds. While six such cameras were installed all the same, the council and a vocal citizenry has since successfully opposed their activation.

At a follow-up meeting earlier this month, all nine Cambridge councilors reaffirmed their position: the cameras must remain off until police prove beyond doubt that their department has the capacity to balance investigative methods with civil liberties.

Such aggressive civilian oversight of law enforcement should serve as a model not only for the Boston region, but for the whole country.

Since 9-11, police chiefs, sheriffs, and commissioners have had an open invitation to request any range of surveillance and tactical gear from federal coffers, often without accountability checks to ensure that deployment squares with the Bill of Rights. Between DHS, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense, local overseers can secure every conceivable toy that they could ever covet without spending a dime of their own. From drones, to armored vehicles, to Long Range Acoustic Devices, which are essentially giant human dog whistles, it’s a veritable buffet via federal grants.

Since these checks are written by the feds, such arrangements are often executed without city councils or administrations being notified, much less being asked for permission–in Seattle, for example, police saw fit to buy not one but two surveillance drones using $80,000 in DHS funding. The chief there bought his toys in 2010, but didn’t notify the city council for two years, and only after a reporter’s Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a list of drone licensees. Upon the discovery and mounting pressure, the Seattle mayor subsequently ordered the department to return its drones to the manufacturer.

Closer to home, the same grant that bankrolled Cambridge’s security cameras also paid for similar equipment installations in all nine communities that are part of the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region alliance.

Each year, police and emergency responders in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop submit their wish lists to MBHSR, from which regional DHS representatives award funds for software, artillery, and training. The big prize this year appears to be Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology, with 21 of the controversial scanners distributed across MBHSR communities, and three going to every department save for Boston and Brookline.

ALPR devices compare passing plates against flagged vehicles, then tag those hits (regardless of whether they’re matches, typically) to a GPS reading of where each vehicle was spotted. Since they were deployed with minimal public input across Massachusetts, the majority of Commonwealth police departments have yet to enact ALPR policies specifying: how long plate scans and location data can be stored; how investigators can use the sensitive information; who can access the data; whether it can be shared with other agencies. With the potential for civil liberties violations so apparent, state legislators are shy to even endorse minimal restrictions on ALPR.

The Cambridge City Council took a different approach. Rather than ceding oversight and allowing cops to deploy whatever equipment they can muster, councilors actually asked the public to weigh-in. Despite vigorous arguments from police that switching on the cameras would improve their situational awareness and investigative capacity, councilors and citizens alike remained wary of the draft policy’s loopholes–particularly a provision that additional cameras could be installed with mere notification to the City Council (rather than via approval from the body).

This latest vote ought to jolt legislatures nationwide, or at least across the Bay State, into remembering that law enforcement is a function of government, and a critical one, but not a force unto itself. Unilateral moves like installing cameras or collecting vehicle and cell phone location data have become the terrifying norm, and civilian officials need to reassert oversight as a proactive measure, as opposed to a reactive one.

In Cambridge, elected officials have goaded public safety servants back to their role: to protect the people, on their terms.

Tweets by @ShawnMusgrave

Photo above by Imara Chew. Other images by Chris Faraone.

I read a fascinating Boston Globe story last week en route to a press conference in South Boston. It was about a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. the day before, when four inspectors general skewered the weak inter-agency communication that preceded last year’s bombing of the Boston Marathon. In doing so, the federal bureaucrats compounded prior damning revelations like the fact that FBI agents cleared Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a threat without processing his name through all available department databases.

While organizational confusion may have impeded anti-terrorism forces from thwarting the aforementioned tragedy, few would argue that authorities neglected to respond aggressively. Within minutes of the marathon attack, SWAT teams and assorted cavalries emerged from the shadows, and maintained a thorough presence all throughout the days-long manhunt. That reckless show of force considered, I couldn’t understand why officials were so smitten over last weekend’s Urban Shield: Boston, a massive first responder training that simulated crises from Brookline to Moon Island. Shouldn’t they be focused on prevention?

I arrived at the presser in time to hear Mayor Marty Walsh welcome delegates from the Metro-Boston Homeland Security Region–a network that includes the Hub and eight surrounding municipalities–plus emergency medical and fire personnel. In his comments, Walsh extolled the spirit of collaboration, while Office of Emergency Management Director Rene Fielding touted the relationships built through two prior Urban Shield runs.

Wondering if organizers added anything to this year’s schedule to bolster inter-agency communication, I asked Fielding and the uniforms beside her if they’d planned any meet-and-greet activities besides the mock trainings. “Something like an ice cream social,” I queried (they hadn’t). I was serious. Officials said that people “shouldn’t be alarmed” about the presence of 2,000 first responders in helmets and riot gear. That’s not possible–those visuals are inevitably frightening–but it might be reassuring if their interpersonal relationships were more than merely militant.

To follow up on Saturday, I went to observe transit cops and EMTs in the train yard behind the Broadway Red Line station. In one of seven simultaneous scenarios across the region, they geared up accordingly before descending a block-long tunnel into the MBTA Regional Training Center, a massive disaster prep area for simulating havoc on the different subway lines. Constructed with federal funds between 2011 and 2012, the facility resembled a Hollywood set right down to a crew of hired actors shellacked with fake blood.

While other Urban Shield trials seemed to be overblown testicular fascinations–the staged hostage situation at City Hall, for example–Boston’s underground response apparatus proved impressive. Even to a harsh critic of authority like me. In a bunker with bare walls and a large surveillance monitor, supervising officers pushed buttons to fill the mock Green Line platform with prop smoke while a bomb squad and K-9 unit scanned packages. As for first responders intermingling … for logistical purposes, they were mostly clustered with their own–transit fuzz with transit fuzz, triage officers with triage officers, and so forth.

Wondering if other hard progressives felt like me–that some exercises, like subway evacuations, were important–I wrapped my Urban Shield experience on Sunday in Roxbury, where a coalition dubbed Stop Oppressive Militarized Police (STOMP) crowded the Families for Justice as Healing storefront on Humboldt Avenue. Among their calls to end “militarized police raids and surveillance,” there was, as expected, little love for the gun show on display all weekend. I did, however, find some ideas about how training might be improved, as activists explained that emergencies and terrorist attacks aren’t always the same thing. It’s a foreign concept to our bloated first response forces, but one that officials might recognize if they put down their artillery, held hands in a circle, and scooped a few pints of Rocky Road.

 “They claim it’s emergency response preparedness,” said War Resisters League organizer Ali Issa, who lamented the fact that federal training is so bellicose. “What this really means is they’re defining what an emergency is … It doesn’t always have to be tied to terrorism.”

Image by Scott Murry

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed an agreement last week with Mohegan Sun, the company hoping to build a casino in Revere, which would require the developer to invest $300 million over 15 years in various civic projects.

It’s still far from certain, however, whether a casino will be built. Walsh has yet to negotiate a similar neighborly agreement with Wynn Resorts, which is pitching a rival project in nearby Everett. The developers are both angling for the sole Greater Boston-area license which will be awarded in the next few months.

In related news, thanks to a recent higher court ruling, Massachusetts voters will get to decide in November whether to repeal the current casino law. But while considerable effort went into placing said referendum on the ballot, we wondered if young people give a shit. Frankly, we can’t remember ever hearing somebody with more hair on their head than in their ears caring a damn about slot machines.

Surveys reveal part of the answer. According to a poll of 500 likely voters statewide, conducted by WBUR and MassINC in March, 18-29-year-olds are more or less in line with the average – slightly more approve of casinos than disapprove – while 30-44-year-olds approve at a significantly lower rate. A subsequent MassINC poll found both those groups less interested in news about gaming than in any other leading statewide issue besides healthcare.

Those numbers considered, we spent a day in Everett and Revere trying to gauge the attitude of young folks, whether they vote or not. So-called “man on the street” interviews are typically an awful way to evaluate anything, but in this case we felt they were the only window onto how our demographic – particularly those closest to the action – felt about the high stakes charade afoot.

“Most people want the casino to be here,” Revere resident Ayoub Mastouri told the Dig. Mastouri, a 20-year-old Bunker Hill Community College student, has mixed feelings, but isn’t against the idea. He continued: “I might go work there, might get a job. The bad thing is it will bring too much tourism. We already have enough of that due to Revere Beach.”

So I visited Revere Beach to interview locals, where they were seemingly outnumbered by outsiders. Four Boston-area friends I spoke with all said they favored a casino – not only for economic reasons, but because they gamble. They also hope it will attract other benefits like strip clubs. “Get some poles and everything,” suggested Amy Valenti of Lynn. “We’re about that life,” added Christian Donaruma of East Cambridge, “that casino life.”

Donaruma and his friends may be in luck. Casinos and skin joints apparently go hand in hand, as demonstrated by alleged backroom deals. Charles Lightbody, a felonious friend of Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria and former owner of the proposed site on the Mystic River, was reportedly caught on tape in prison saying he could profit from the casino through secret control of King Arthur’s, a nearby Chelsea strip club. The Boston Globe, which reported on Lightbody’s possible connection, also identified developer Gary DeCicco as another former investor in the Everett site who might still hold a stake. DeCicco’s name disappeared from official documents in 2012, right before billionaire casino tycoon Steve Wynn became involved in the deal.

Win, lose, or draw, questions of who stands to profit from a hypothetical casino may matter less to residents than what they see as broader economic benefits. Two lifelong Everett residents, Denise Sullivan and Kerri Stoddard, told the Dig they are in favor of a local casino despite alleged crooked fixings.

More than anything, we found that when it comes to the casino debate, a lot of young folks have at least one thing in common with older residents – they tend to argue passionately about their differences. Asked about their stances, Tanya Stephens of Revere and Victor Oliveira of Everett launched into a hot debate.

“Route 99 is already packed with traffic,” said Stephens. She appeared to win the argument, but ultimately agreed with Oliveira more than she disagreed. They both gamble and hope to potentially work at the casino. Wherever it ends up. If it eventually materializes.

“I think it needs to go somewhere,” said Oliveira. “I don’t really care where.”

FURTHER READING

HOT TIPS FOR PRE-CASINO ACTION IN MASS

DUSTING OFF ROUTE 1

Even before releasing any music, Boston-based pop punk band Yeehaw! had a pretty decent following on social media. That might be because of their “otherworldly” talents or the fact that they’ve already been orbiting around a bit, so to speak. What I’m trying to tell you, is that they’re aliens. Maybe.

In one of their first Facebook statuses, they hint at the anomaly: “300 likes. No recorded music. No merch. We are nothing. #aliennation.” That was in April. A mere four months later they released their debut album Demotivational Speaker (download available for pay-as-you-please) and were venturing out on their first tour alongside the NY based pop punk band Everything Ever.

“We started this band when a few of our other bands were playing a show on Mars and we got in a fender bender with our spaceships,” says bearded alien drummer Alex Pickert, over a cup of coffee at Pavement — which was weird because I wouldn’t peg aliens as coffee drinkers. He continues: “We all became really good friends very fast. No jokes ever.”

Since then, their overall Internet fanbase has more than doubled, and while that may be because each status update, tweet, and tumblr post is more entertaining than the last, it’s probably got a lot more to do with the fact that these guys are really great live. I can attest to that after seeing them play a sketchy house show in Revere this summer, their set being the highlight of the night. Just a bunch of sweaty space cowboys clad in all black playing their hearts out, being emotional and yelling about it. If you stop by their show this Sunday — a bill that includes Sorority Noise and Pinegrove – you may recognize a few of the Yeehaw! boys, as they all belong to other bands in the wonderfully incestuous Berklee music scene.

Yeehaw!’s impressive debut Demotivational Speaker is, dare I say it, out of this world. Singers Dylan Ewen (of The Sulk Scouts) and Matt Politoski (of Animal Flag) hold true to the band’s self-proclaimed sad boy mentality — kind of hard not to while apathetically moaning lyrics like, “I don’t know why I’m so empty inside / I guess I realized that there’s no point to my life.” When I asked about the reason behind the title, Pickert replies, “In all seriousness, it kinda sums up our vibe pretty perfectly. Sad songs that sound happy.”

And in my opinion, you can never really have too many of those.

YEEHAW! + SORORITY NOISE + PINEGROVE. DEMOCRACY CENTER, 45 MOUNT AUBURN ST., CAMBRIDGE. 7PM/ALL AGES/$8-10. DEMOCRACYCENTER.ORG

When nine-year First Suffolk and Middlesex State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli announced his resignation last December, Latino voters in the lawmaker’s disjointed district—which includes slices of Chinatown, East Boston, and the North End in the Hub, as well as parts of Winthrop, Cambridge, and Revere—thought there might finally be a chance to vote one of their own into the critical office. In a district in which more than 40,000 respondents claimed Hispanic origin on the 2010 US Census and where some estimates put the Latino population at as much as 40 percent of all residents, the time seemed ripe to secure the position, historically dominated by white males, for a legislator from a different demographic.

The editorial board of El Planeta, along with readers of the prominent Bay State Spanish-language newspaper, felt similarly, and in January of this year published a poll, writing:

Even though mainstream English-language media don’t cover the potential Latino candidates that are prepared for this position, there are several Latino ready to become elected officials. With the intention to demonstrate that there are Latinos candidates for the position of State Senator that Anthony Petruccelli is leaving open, we decided to open to the public this opinion poll to listen what the people think and look for the ideal candidate.

Among the community figures who the newspaper floated to potentially replace the well-liked Petruccelli, who has since gone on to work as a lobbyist: Dennis Benzan, now-former vice mayor of Cambridge and that city’s first Latino councilor; Ileana Cintron of the Massachusetts Democratic Latino Caucus; and Patricia Montes of the immigrant rights group Centro Presente; all among a local Hispanic dream slate of hopefuls from activist and bureaucratic ranks alike. More than 700 online votes later, two names surfaced at the top of the pack—Camilo Hernandez, the constituent services director for East Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattina, and 25-year neighborhood advocate Claudia Sierra.

“I have been an activist in the area,” says Sierra of East Boston, who took the cue and pulled papers to run in the April 12 primary and the special election in May. She continues, “When this seat opened, there was a lot of talk about who should run, and I analyzed all the issues we’ve been facing, the lack of leadership and inclusion, the lack of transparency in community processes, and the changes in East Boston.”

All things considered, Sierra thought the time was right to take the plunge. “We need more representation,” she says of Latinos in the First Suffolk and Middlesex. “I have become a point of reference for many people, and my daily calls are, ‘Claudia, we have problems with this, come and help us.’ That’s what I’m already doing.”

Recalling her early social justice work, Sierra says, “When I first moved here I found out all the deficiencies you face as an immigrant not being able to speak the language. That made me stronger to help other people who are going through the same thing. I started to volunteer as a translator, not just for medical but for immigration, and that’s when I started to be connected with the community … Even though I was born in this country I am still an immigrant. I grew up in Latin America and moved to East Boston when I was 18. Being born here was not an advantage to me—I faced the same challenges as everyone else … Throughout the years I have seen the same issues and nothing getting resolved. Minorities are being made to believe that they have to vote for somebody else and that one of them isn’t good enough to represent them.”

With help from a small group of volunteers, Sierra collected in slight excess of the 300 signatures required to run in the Democratic primary and subsequent May 10 special election. But while the paperwork was filed on time, officials with the Boston Election Department ruled that not enough of her signatures were valid. With that decision, despite the significant Hispanic population of the First Suffolk and Middlesex, none of the seven candidates who qualified for the ballot would come from the Latino community.

“It was a very diverse group,” Sierra says, referring to a seven-candidate field that included former Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo, Asian-American Women’s Political Initiative Founder Diana Hwang, State Rep. Jay Livingstone, and East Boston attorney and low-wage labor rights advocate Lydia Marie Edwards, who received an enthusiastic endorsement from the Boston Globe. Non-Hispanic diversity aside, Sierra says she followed the race closely and observed that “the majority of [candidates] were trying to tap into the Latino community. As Latinos, we see this all the time—they learn a few words of Spanish, they love tacos, they learn how to dance salsa, and it’s insulting. They’re playing with our culture, and they’re only doing it to get our vote.”

Squeaking past six others, Winthrop attorney Joseph Boncore emerged from a short race full of mud-slinging with just over 4,000 votes—about 400 more than Rizzo, also a white male, in second place—to fill the seat left vacant by Petruccelli. Now in office (the new senator was sworn in last week), Boncore already has to run again, this time in the regular election cycle, and will appear on the upcoming primary ballot in September. Instead of having six opponents, however, this time Boncore will face zero major party foes. According to Sierra, it’s not for a lack of trying.

Sierra at the Boston Election Department

Having learned from the rejection of her signatures the first time, Sierra says that on her second attempt, she brought friends and volunteers to find signers outside of polling stations on Super Tuesday in March. The would-be candidate then submitted 373 signatures to the Boston Election Department—about 24 percent more than required—and was again told that she failed to qualify. According to the city, 88 of her signatures were invalid, leaving Sierra 15 signers short of the mandatory threshold of 300. After wrestling with election officials over individual signatures, Sierra was able to get four more people counted, which still only put her total at 289.

Though she is calling for more Latino voices on Beacon Hill, Sierra says she isn’t asking for special treatment in the electoral process. At the same time, the twice-rejected candidate has grown weary of the Boston Election Department, which she argues has been stubborn in reviewing her signatures. Several submissions shown to the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and El Planeta, for example, were rejected because the name listed on the form did not match exactly with the department’s internal record. Sierra says this isn’t surprising, since many Hispanics have multiple family names that they do not always list exhaustively. Furthermore, election officials appear to have rejected the names of some active voters including Jose Callejas, a well-known member of the East Boston community and the owner of La Hacienda, a Meridian Street restaurant where pols like to pass through and press flesh with constituents.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson from the City of Boston wrote in an email, “The Boston Election Department thoroughly reviews all signatures to ensure a fair process for all potential candidates. Although Ms. Sierra did not formally file a complaint identifying the signatures that she believes were unfairly rejected, the department took extra steps and conducted an informal review of all signatures that we were unable to certify. That review was conducted in Ms. Sierra’s presence, and it led to the department accepting four (4) additional signatures, which was still short of the number of certified signatures that she needed.” As for their process, the spokesperson added, “Signatures are reviewed to ensure that eligible voters have signed the nomination papers. Voters signatures must match the name and address on the file with the state voter registration database, their party designation and assigned districts are also reviewed.”

Elections experts contacted for this story were unwilling to address the Sierra situation specifically. As a rule of thumb, however, those familiar with the qualification process recommended that political hopefuls collect at least 150 percent of the number of signatures needed to avoid falling short. As for Sen. Boncore (or anybody else) running solo, Pam Wilmot, executive director of the government accountability nonprofit Common Cause Massachusetts, says, “Where there’s only one name on the ballot, that’s not democracy. Having more names on the ballot requires a candidate to be sharper. It gives voters choices—even if there’s one frontrunner who is going to run away with it. I can’t comment on this particular case, but that’s a real problem in Massachusetts.”

At this time during the last legislative election cycle, in 2014, more than 60 percent of state representatives slid to victory past no real opposition. Likewise, about half of the incumbent senators statewide faced no primary or general election opponent, while only one of the six senators from Boston had company on the ballot. As for minority representation: According to a recent Globe report on State House diversity, “not quite one in 10 legislators on Beacon Hill is black, Latino, or Asian, whereas these minorities collectively account for a quarter of the state’s population.”

“This is another battle that I’m just going to have to fight—just like many other battles that I fight daily,” Sierra says. “I take this as a normal challenge. It should be easy, this shouldn’t be happening, but I can sit and cry about it or I can do something about it. I can let people know that regardless of what happens with the signatures, we still have a chance of running. It’s a chance for me to educate the community about how the write-in ballot works, and maybe that’s an advantage.

“As immigrants, as a working community, every day is a challenge for us—whether with work, or with school, or anything else. It’s always a battle.”

This article was produced by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism in coordination with El Planeta and DigBoston. For the Spanish version visit elplaneta.com

R‎adio isn’t dead, but it’s having a rebirth anyway.

Youth and community radio station ZUMIX Radio has been pumping up the jams as a web stream since 2005. Two years ago, the East Boston organization was awarded a license to broadcast on the FM dial — only one of two community organizations granted permission to do so. What are they going to do with it? Well, that’s up to you. Kind of.

The youth who participate in the local non-profit’s after-school activities get to run from East Boston High School right to the seat behind the radio board. By hosting their own shows — from local rock music to storytelling to salsa dancing ‎– alongside community members, they’re able to find confidence in their voices on and off air. If given the final funding, ZUMIX Radio will broadcast live on 94.9fm this fall. All of this sounds ideal (If it doesn’t, it’s time you read another paper — we’re not always crabby). The biggest reason being how it impacts you.

ZUMIX Radio’s broadcast is hyperlocal. Its 4-mile radio wave hits downtown Boston, East Boston, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, and Winthrop. ‎The songs they play, the issues they discuss, and the feelings they tap into are your own. So help them help you.

After 10 years of dreaming of making their station available on dial, ZUMIX Radio is asking for financial support. Any money given will help them upgrade their studio, install equipment in the high school, and gather remote broadcasting equipment. Head to their donation website to find out how to help.

This is our fucking city. Help make ZUMIX Radio our fucking station.

ALL ZUMIX RADIO DONATIONS CAN BE MADE BY VISITING GENEROSITY.COM OR FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Why the telecom company’s FiOS promise to Boston is a bait-and-switch

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call from Boston to Cambridgeport. While the early 1900s saw Massachusetts cities wired with copper as part of the state utility infrastructure. Yet a century later, we are still waiting to be upgraded from ancient copper wire to fiber.

Last April, Verizon announced that it finally would be upgrading Boston with FiOS, replacing the copper telephone wires to homes and businesses with fiber optic cable – both known as “wireline” service. Verizon claims it will spend $300 million over six years to bring FiOS to the Hub. It has even laid out a plan to divide the city into sections and allow residents to vote on which sections go first.

The media has heralded Verizon’s supposed promise that the entire city will be getting fiber to the home. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, in his State of the City address last month, exclaimed, “We’re making Boston a fiber optic city … 27,000 families have new internet and cable options in Dorchester, Roxbury, Roslindale, and West Roxbury. The rest of the city is on the way.”

Yes, Verizon will roll out fiber strategically, and even offer FiOS in some areas. Verizon’s carefully worded statements, however, mask its real plan, which is to migrate wireline customers to wireless, leaving much of Boston without any Verizon wire to the home or business.

The reason that Verizon is actually deploying fiber is to connect the many internal sites in Verizon Wireless’ network—like its cell towers. And Verizon is tapping the telephone utility ratepayer for the cost of building out the fiber needed to run that network.

This Verizon strategy is not unique to Boston. There are no plans to roll out fiber to residents and businesses in any of the surrounding cities, like Cambridge or Lowell, or in the rest of the state. In fact, Verizon says it will no longer deploy fiber in any of its East Coast territories, making the Boston claim especially suspect.

A recent report by my organization, New Networks Institute, calls for investigations into Verizon’s business practices by the legislature and attorney general’s office. We have uncovered questionable cross-subsidies between and among Verizon Wireless, Verizon’s other subsidiaries, and Verizon Massachusetts, the wireline utility, that could be used to upgrade the Bay State’s cities with fiber to the home.

For example, most people don’t know that in 1995—22 years ago—Verizon signed a deal with the Commonwealth to raise rates (and get tax perks) to have 330,000 fiber optic lines installed by 2000. Thus, wireline customers have paid billions for networks they never got. Scheduled for upgrades by 2000 were Somerville, Roxbury, Brighton, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Winthrop, Brookline, Revere, Cambridge, Watertown, Peabody, Salem and Marblehead.

Unfortunately, Verizon’s shell game has gone unchallenged.

Verizon signed its cable franchise agreement with Boston in December 2016 for the areas mentioned by Walsh, but it only covers about 25 percent of the city. The promised agreement expressly excludes the rest of Boston. And why start in Dorchester? Besides the fact that Walsh lives there, it’s a little known fact that Verizon upgraded Dorchester to fiber in 2006, yet never really marketed FiOS there.

Verizon does not take fiber to the home seriously. Its Boston plan is simply a cover for building the Verizon Wireless network as part of the regulated state utility. This means that Verizon is allowed to include the Verizon Wireless internal fiber connections in its wireline construction budgets and cover the cost by charging customers who still use copper wires statewide. Verizon executives, meanwhile, have admitted that ratepayers are paying the capital costs of fiber for Verizon Wireless and that the company will “do a few suburbs” in the Boston area and then go wireless, eliminating the cost of running fiber to the home and ridding itself of unionized wireline workforce.

And wireless? Verizon touts “5G” wireless as comparable to fiber, yet the entire telecom industry knows that at this point 5G is conceptual—with uncertain capabilities that are lacking in design details. Wireless cannot compete with fiber in price or speed. Not yet at least.

My organization believes that an immediate investigation is in order. Verizon’s plan for Boston is not fiber to the home but fiber to the antenna—and a wireless bait-and-switch. We’ve documented the flows of money. It’s time for the impugning to begin.

Bruce Kushnick is executive director of New Networks Institute, a consortium of independent telecommunications, broadband, Internet and technology analysts, forensic auditors and lawyers.

Photos by Marc Hurwitz

An Italian market with some of the region’s best subs

The Greater Boston area has no shortage of neighborhood Italian food markets, and while many—if not most—are worth going to for supplies and prepared foods, some definitely tend to stand out. One such place is an old-world shop in Revere called New Deal Fruit that caters mainly to locals, a few people in the know (including restaurant industry folks), and, well, that’s about it. And that’s a shame, because while some other markets such as Bob’s in Medford and Monica’s Mercato and Salumeria Italiana in Boston’s North End get a decent—and well-deserved—amount of press, New Deal often gets overlooked even though it serves up subs that meet or beat nearly any others in the entire Boston area.

New Deal resides in a squat and rather colorful structure just south of the combination rotary/demolition derby that is known to some as Brown Circle (where Route 60 and Route 107 meet). Its exterior hides the fact that this is a spacious food store that is much bigger than the aforementioned Bob’s, Monica’s, and Salumeria Italiana and is closer to being a full-fledged market than those places—though don’t come here expecting to find a mini version of Star Market or Stop & Shop. New Deal focuses mainly on Italian goods, with olive oil, balsamic vinegars, risotto, breads (including an outstanding scali bread), cheeses, pickles, olives, spices, and tomato sauces lining the shelves and bins, and the store has a very good supply of fruits and vegetables as well. And while most of the space is dedicated to the market area, a smallish section off to the left is dedicated to subs, cold cuts, and the like, and this is where the place really shines.

As indicated earlier, some say that the subs at New Deal are better than any you can find not just in Revere but in any other part of the Boston area, and this is not a stretch by any means. The Italian subs here, for instance, are indescribably great, with the special Italian perhaps being the way to go because of the quality of the ingredients used. Other subs such as the prosciutto and provolone, chicken parm, steak and cheese, eggplant, sausage, and meatball are just as good, as are the buffalo chicken sub, pastrami, and ham and cheese. And then there are the specialty subs, including the Top Shelf which is an even better version of the Italian/special Italian, and one called the Grand Slam which consists of (wait for it) roast beef, french fries, onion rings, chicken cutlets, mozzarella sticks, cheese, and BBQ sauce; it will most likely be the last thing you eat all day (or maybe even for two days). Prices are reasonable at New Deal, with most subs being well under $10 and the specialty subs and sandwiches being mostly around or a bit above $10.

Folks who live in Revere are fortunate to have a food shop as terrific as New Deal Fruit, and they can also do some one-stop shopping there, including buying produce and other supplies for the week while ordering a kickass sub or two while they’re at it. In a region full of excellent independent food shops and neighborhood markets, this one definitely tops most if not all of them.

NEW DEAL FRUIT. 920 BROADWAY, REVERE.

Mass pols stand ready to fight each other for the right to bribe a multinational

At least 17 Massachusetts cities and towns are now preparing to do battle with each other—and hundreds more municipalities nationwide—for the dubious “honor” of “winning” the right to throw enough public money and tax breaks at Amazon to become the site of its new Headquarters 2 (HQ2). Despite the fact that such a “victory” will result in a worse regional housing crisis, provide mainly low-paying unstable jobs with subcontractors to working class natives without college degrees while tossing thousands of good jobs to software engineers from out of state, and give the vast corporation far too much power in state politics.

To prevent those unfortunate outcomes, here’s a non-exhaustive list of local, state, and federal public officials that should be contacted by constituents and reminded of their responsibilities to defend the public interest. Like, immediately. The deadline to submit HQ2 bids to Amazon is Oct 19. Careful readers will note that many of these bids are being pushed hardest by private developers and by “economic development” nonprofits and government offices that are basically run on behalf of private developers. Fancy that.

Local Government

BOSTON

Mayor Marty Walsh is all over this one. Fresh off of colluding with Gov. Charlie Baker to cut a secret deal to lavish tens of millions on General Electric to bring its once-and-future headquarters to the Hub, he’s back to his old tricks with Amazon. Four possible HQ2 sites are being considered, according to the Boston Globe: putative front-runner Suffolk Downs (partially in Revere), Widett Circle in South Boston, Beacon Yards in Allston, and an area adjacent to South Station.

REVERE

At a Sept 29 meeting, the Revere City Council Economic Development Sub-Committee reacted positively to the Suffolk Downs proposal presented by developer Thomas O’Brien, managing director of the Boston-based Hym Investment Group that owns the property. According to the Boston Herald, committee chair and council vice president Councilor Patrick M. Keefe Jr. then called Amazon the “1A plan” for the land.

SOMERVILLE

CommonWealth reports that Mayor Joe Curtatone is working on a proposal that would include buildings along the Orange Line from Assembly Row in Somerville to North Station in Boston. Which is, according to a DigBoston investigative series, perfectly in keeping with his track record of making a big stink when developers come to town, then ultimately giving them exactly what they want.

ABINGTON, ROCKLAND, and WEYMOUTH

Kyle Corkum, CEO and managing partner of LStar Communities, the company developing Union Point—the former US Naval Air Station—is pushing a bid for the property. According to Wicked Local, Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund is supportive of the bid. Rockland Selectmen Chairman Ed Kimball said, “Rockland will extend open arms to them and Abington will receive indirect benefits as well.”

HAVERHILL, LAWRENCE, METHUEN, AND NORTH ANDOVER

Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera, Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni, and North Andover Town Manager Andrew Maylor are all preparing a joint proposal featuring the former North Andover Lucent site—which I addressed in detail in my Sept 26 column—likely in tandem with other nearby sites.

BILLERICA, LOWELL, AND TEWKSBURY

According to the Lowell Sun, Lowell Mayor Edward Kennedy has said “we should at least take serious look” at the possibility of bringing Amazon to the area. Also, “City Manager Kevin Murphy said he has already directed his staff to begin working with the Middlesex 3 Coalition, an organization of nearby communities, to explore the possibilities.” Wicked Local reports that Billerica selectmen unanimously support the effort. Billerica Community Development Director Rob Anderson also supports the bid. One possible site is Riverview Technology Park at 495 Woburn St in Tewksbury.

NEW BEDFORD

The entire city council sent a letter to Mayor Jon Mitchell enjoining him to support an Amazon bid, according to the New Bedford Standard-Times, and he’s been in touch with Mass Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash about pursuing a bid. The city has a 100 acres of a municipal golf course that has been slated for business development.

FALL RIVER

According to the Herald News, Fall River Office of Economic Development (FROED) Executive Vice President Ken Fiola—a key figure behind bringing a huge Amazon warehouse to the city—is pushing hard for the Amazon HQ2 contract but apparently doesn’t get along with Mayor Jasiel Correia II. WJAR-TV reports that his challenger in the upcoming election, Councilor Linda Pereira, is attacking Correia for resigning from the FROED board. So it’s not clear if Fall River will manage to field a proposal.

WORCESTER

The city council is unanimously in support of an Amazon deal but was not initially in agreement about whether HQ2 should be sited in Worcester or Boston. Councilor-at-Large Konnie Lukes has been the most vocal supporter of a Worcester site, pushed for council discussion about the deal, and requested that City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. prepare the application. According to MassLive.com, Augustus and some of the council were initially leaning toward supporting a Boston bid, but the city is now planning an independent bid for the contract. According to Worcester Magazine, “Councilor At-Large Kate Toomey said the south side of Worcester, by the intersection of routes 20 and 146, would be an ideal location” for HQ2.

WESTERN MASS

The Republican reports that Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and the entire city council are supporting a bid with other Connecticut River valley communities (the so-called “Knowledge Corridor”) in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Enfield, Connecticut, is a possible site. The main Bay State booster of the plan is Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts.

State Government

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER

The governor said that the state won’t back a specific site and has urged local governments to “go for it.” Strongly in support of spending public money to bring the Amazon HQ2 to Massachusetts. According to the Boston Herald, Baker has recently stated that the Commonwealth’s request to Suffolk Superior Court to order Amazon to provide records for any third-party vendor who “stores or has stored” products in Massachusetts since 2012 was “routine” and shouldn’t affect an HQ2 deal. The order could result in a flood of similar legal actions around the US to collect back state sales taxes—which will probably tick off the tax-shy multinational.

SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JAY ASH (D)

An important public servant, though not an elected one. Totally in support of an Amazon HQ2 deal for Massachusetts. In his role as chairman of the quasi-public agency MassDevelopment, he has already overseen a vote “to increase its contract with consulting firm VHB Inc. by up to $200,000 for a technical analysis” in support of the state’s Amazon bids. His bio brags that he “has played a leadership role in the recruitment and expansion of major employers, including Amazon, General Electric, IBM Watson Health, Kronos, and Siemens.”

SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO (D-WINTHROP)

Flacking for the Suffolk Downs site. Completely on board with dumping public money on Amazon and has “said he’s open to legislation that would include financial incentives to draw Amazon to the state regardless of the location,” according to the Boston Globe.

SEN. JOSEPH BONCORE (D-WINTHROP) AND REP. ADRIAN MADARO (D-EAST BOSTON)

Support the Suffolk Downs bid, according to the East Boston Times-Free Press.

SEN. CINDY FRIEDMAN (D-ARLINGTON) AND REP. MARC LOMBARDO (R-BILLERICA)

Support the Billerica, Lowell, Tewksbury bid, according to Wicked Local.

Federal Government

US REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D-SOUTH BOSTON)

Supports the Weymouth proposal, according to the Boston Herald.

And a Few Cool Kids

REP. MIKE CONNOLLY (D-CAMBRIDGE), SEN. PAT JEHLEN (D-SOMERVILLE), REP. MARJORIE DECKER (D-CAMBRIDGE), AND SEN. JAMIE ELDRIDGE (D-ACTON)

Among the only politicians in the state to speak against spending public funds to “win” the Amazon HQ2 “contest.”

Rep. Connolly of Cambridge put his opinion succinctly on the matter in a Facebook chat to me Monday: “I was asked about it by some Cambridge residents last week and here’s what I told them: ‘I think it’s reasonable for cities and the state to want to be in the discussion, but at the end of the day, when/if I have to vote on something or support a proposal, I am not going to support a neoliberal approach to economic development, so if a deal is on the table I would be looking to scrutinize it in terms of whether it helps the folks who we represent in our communities and in the neighborhoods I represent right now.’”

Massachusetts needs more pols like these. Fast.

UPDATE 10/12/17: LYNN

A reader just pointed me to an article indicating that there is some interest in bringing Amazon to the “City of Sin.” According to The Daily Item, “Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the city is in no position to compete with Boston, Revere, Lawrence and Worcester to bring the world’s largest e-commerce company’s second headquarters to Massachusetts.” However, City Councilor-at Large and Rep. Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn), Senator and mayoral candidate Thomas M. McGee (D-Lynn), and Charles Patsios—the Swampscott developer who plans to transform the 68-acre former General Electric Co. Gear Works property into a $500 million neighborhood—are all supportive of a Lynn bid.

Apparent Horizon is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Jason Pramas is BINJ’s network director, and executive editor and associate publisher of DigBoston. Copyright 2017 Jason Pramas. Licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.