23 Comments
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John's avatar

I was incredibly surpised and excited to hear a Democrat politician using common sense and good judgement. The Party left me many years ago, but perhaps there is some hope for the future. Education is the key to success and prosperity and it cannot happen surrounded by chaos.

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Frederick Tirrell's avatar

The Democratic party needs a revolution. The lack of leadership displayed by the current torch bearers is embarrassing with Trump as president. lead the way and have Markey retire. We need to either have you or Moulton as a senatorial candidate.

Also, the leadership needs to work with conservative republicans and have a short podcast with Bush and Obama sitting together and speaking as Americans , not party members but as former presidents their concern for America.

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Dianne L's avatar

Why did you vote against the impeachment? Very curious why.

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Carole Ferguson's avatar

Well. There we are. This is FOR something; we have a real platform to offer in contrast to billionaire greed tax plans.....let's stick with this direction of what we are for.

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ksheidlage@gmail.com's avatar

This may seem like a nitpick, but I think one staircase for a six-story building is a mistake. Consider a fire when some residents are elderly, are parents with babies or toddlers, or twelve-year old soccer players who are temporarily on crutches. That single stairway would be inadequate.

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Mikki Castonguay's avatar

I don’t think it’s any surprise that the kids are not showing the progress they did before COVID. No one is. 1:1 tutoring is a great idea. But we are all lacking. And as Elton John sings in Rocket Man: ´I think it’s gonna be a long, long time..’ before any of us catch up. No sense comparing ourselves with ourselves from a different time . Learning is fluid. We’re not in a different boat than any student anywhere else in the world that lost time IN school.

Teachers love to teach. It will happen. ( maybe once the teachers also get their own selves together. They suffered too. )

But I support the fight for students anywhere in this country to get a decent education without politicians deciding that something costs too much when it has to do with education, but ready to spend billions on their own personal vendettas.

I support you and thank you for your fine efforts. We are lucky to live in Massachusetts- although Oregon has passed some cool new laws…

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Shifting Places's avatar

This would receive my vote for president 💯

Well in tune how to balance our society into a rational place to live.

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Howard Friedman's avatar

The quality of life issues you list are almost all issues caused by poverty. The first three issues you would like the police to address: drug use, loitering and panhandling are not crimes. (Drug possession is a crime.) Incarcerating people because they are poor will not end poverty and will not solve these problems. The “broken windows” theory you support has been a failure.

A jobs program would be more likely to help with some of these problems.

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Keaton's avatar

Broken windows theory did wonders for New York City in the 1990s. There is no question that it would yield results.

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Arthur Pier's avatar

Given that one of the Democratic front runners for NYC mayor is talking about the need to raise taxes and defund the police, it’s refreshing to know that there are rational Democrats willing to present policies that the public can actually support. Thank you!

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Km's avatar

Notably, Mamdani supports extremely modest rent control measures, something which Massachusetts rejected in 1994. I can't take anybody seriously if they say we need to build more housing but aren't willing to admit that the market needs to be controlled so that people can afford a roof over their heads.

Taxes fund services that are essential to maintaining quality of life. If you want usable transit (including maintaining car-centric infrastructure!), high-quality healthcare, and any public services whatsoever (including the police!) you need taxes.

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Erin Flanagan's avatar

Get on Substack with the Bulwark crew.

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Jesse Wacht's avatar

Sometimes the catastrophe in education via Corvid can lead to a solution like you implemented -- great job! Now to get that type of plan to expand the bipartisan tent to all Americans -- kids a good place to start! Similarly, a cost-of-living issue like housing supply is overdue for some aggressive action -- keep up the great bottom-up detailed work Jake.

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Sean Paul's avatar

Love this. You get my vote.

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Dinora's avatar

I'll keep this comment local: I love the walkable community proposal. I'd like to add that unless we invest in some kind of city-wide tram system that is convenient, accessible, cheap and reliable, the idea of banning cars and making parking unavailable is going to upset people. I visited the city of Vienna, Austria recently and used their wonderful public transportation system. I want that for us.

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Justine Black's avatar

Are you going to lock up loiterers and those in encampments before or after all the new housing is built? And are you going to ensure police won’t disproportionately arrest people of color for “loitering” as has been a common charge in the past (and has been involved in many cases of police harassment and violence against people of color). It’s worrying that you did not point out these connections at all.

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Ed Dailey's avatar

Perfecto!

/Ed Dailey

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Harry's avatar

First four are really smart. I generally agree with the sentiment of the last point, degradations to public order are a problem, but it's a mistake to have police enforcing it. There would need to be a fairly dramatic increase in training to maintain public order without resorting to violence.

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Keaton's avatar

Why should those who want to disrupt public order be allowed off the hook? Maintaining civility in public spaces was the cornerstone of New York City’s revival in the 1990s. There is a blue print there we ought to look at.

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