It’s fall, y’all

Quincy folks filing into the Quincy City Council meeting moments before they were told their signs could not come with them.

The day after the Nine Nine rally, City Council President Ian Cain happened to have his routine check-in on AM Quincy with Joe Catalano (Joe C), who asked if he wanted to comment on the raise protest. “No,” Councilor Cain answered. This struck me as unfortunate and dismissive. I wasn’t expecting praise or capitulation, and I wouldn’t have been surprised by criticism. However, I would have expected an acknowledgment that a significant number of residents remain unhappy with the upcoming raises for the council and mayor, and that these residents have not felt heard.

So, if Councilor Cain wasn’t going to acknowledge the frustration of some of the city’s residents on AM Quincy, we figured it was time to check back in with Joe C ourselves. So AJQ’s executive committee – Maggie McKee, Spencer Henderson, and I – stopped in for a chat last week.

One of the main things we talked about was how the city is moving away from resident input. Maggie contacted six other cities with a similar (“plan A”) government to Quincy – Boston, Springfield, Lynn, Fall River, Newton, and Somerville – to see what avenues their residents have to address elected officials in open forums. Most have more channels for resident feedback than Quincy, which seems to be curtailing or avoiding the few opportunities it does provide (see, for example, recent changes to the public comment period of school committee meetings, or this video of residents being told they can’t bring signs into the first council meeting after the summer break).

We conveyed to Joe C that AJQ’s mission had formalized and grown a bit since we last spoke with him. Repealing or reducing the raises is not our only focus; reestablishing democratic values will be at the heart of our future endeavors. 

I hope you will find a few minutes to check out our AM Quincy segment.  The entire interview is here and a shorter version with clarifying graphics can be seen here.