Thinking Citizen Blog — Kim Janey: the First Woman, the First Black Mayor of Boston — But Only “Acting Mayor”
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic: Kim Janey (1965- ) the first woman, the first black mayor of Boston — but only “acting mayor”
Local government matters a lot. Especially, if you think as I do, that education is the civil rights issue of our time. You may have heard that education is primarily a local issue not a federal issue. So what would you do if you ended up as Mayor of Boston? Acting mayors are restricted in their powers to dealing with “urgent problems.” How urgent are the problems with Boston’s schools? should schools be re-opened immediately? Prior to Covid, absenteeism among juniors and seniors in Boston high schools was running at 40%. What might Janey do about that? Mayor Walsh never quite delivered on his promise of universal prekindergarten. Should this be Janey’s first order of business? or should it be police reform? or perhaps the issue of “equity versus privilege” at Boston’s exam schools? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
JANEY IS ACTING MAYOR FOR SEVEN MONTHS — UNTIL THE NOVEMBER ELECTION
1. As President of the Boston City Council, Janey automatically succeeded her predecessor, Kevin Walsh, Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, when he was confirmed by the US Senate (by a vote of 68 to 29).
2. Janey had been elected President by her fellow councilors in January 2020.
3. In 2017, she had won election for District 7 (Roxbury) with 55% of the total votes cast of 8901. IN 2019 she won re-election with 70% of the vote.
NB: “Acting mayor” is not the same as mayor. “Acting mayors” can not make permanent appointments and are restricted to making “urgent” decisions.
BACKGROUND BEFORE HER ELECTION TO THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL
1. Janey was born in Roxbury and “has had family in the city of Boston going back six generations.” Her parents were divorced when she was young. Her father was a school administrator who eventually became superintendent of schools first in Rochester, NY to and then in Washington DC.
2. Janey “was bused from Roxbury to Charlestown, as part of Boston’s controversial court-mandated school desegregation plan. She later attended high school in Reading under a voluntary program that allowed inner city students to commute to nearby suburbs for high school.”
3. “She gave birth to a daughter at the age of 16. After graduating from high school, she worked to raise her daughter and attended community college. She entered Smith College but interrupted her studies to care for her grandfather after the death of her grandmother.In 1994, Janey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College, where she participated in the Ada Comstock Scholars Program designed for students who are older than the traditional age for college students.”
NB: After graduation she “worked as a community organizer for Parents United Child Care. She joined the Massachusetts Advocates for Children, a non-profit, in 2001 and held several different positions before becoming a Senior Project Director in 2001.”
THE SPECIAL ELECTION THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN, AND THE NOVEMBER ELECTION TO COME
1. Why no special election for Mayor? Well, if Walsh had resigned before March 5th. there might have been. The Boston City Charter provides that a special election be held if a vacancy occurs “within sixteen months of a regularly scheduled municipal election.”
2. However, a special petition to over-ride the special election had already been passed and approved by the Governor in February anyway.
3. So far four candidates have declared: most notably Michelle Wu (former President of the Boston City Council from 2016–2018), Andrea Campbell, (former President of the Boston City Council, 2018–2020). Above is a photo of Wu. Below is a photo of Campbell.
NB: Potential candidates include (in addition to Janey): Carmen Ortiz, former US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and Nick Collins a Massachusetts state senator. Who am I missing? Does anyone out there know anything worth knowing about any of these candidates or potential candidates? If so, please share.
She Experienced Busing in Boston. Now She’s the City’s First Black Mayor.
Eight years after Walsh’s promises, Boston prekindergarten is still not universal — The Boston Globe
Boston and NYC on different paths to pre-K for all — The Boston Globe
At Boston’s public exam schools, it’s equity vs. privilege — The Boston Globe
Here is a link to the last three years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
