Tobin Heads to New Battleground

As we expected, Boston City Councilor John Tobin was a good guest on Left Ahead today. He spoke openly and fully on nearly everything, personal and political alike.

Head over to Left Ahead through the link above to play or download the show or click here. It runs about an hour.

He's remarkably straight ahead. His only equivocation is whether he'll pursue his nearly life-long (since first grade) drive to become Boston's mayor. He honestly doesn't seem to know whether moving from city hall to VP of city and community affairs with Northeastern University will change that.

He did speak on numerous issues, including:

• How the mayor and other councilors took his resignation
• How he and two long-term friends dickered on which would run for his seat
• Duties of universities and other non-profits to Boston
• Free Wi-Fi for citizens as a civil-rights issue
• Why universities should adopt one or more public schools
• PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes)
• His early political-race loses
• How he and Mayor Tom Menino settled disputes over the years
• Who would tell him when he had stupid ideas

Tobin's move promises much. Short-term, there's the excitement of a special election (not yet scheduled) with numerous challengers, including the Tobin-endorsed Matt O'Malley. Then in short order, I expect to hear Tobin being as active and innovative down on Huntington Avenue as he has been in town.

---

Tags: massmarrier, Boston, Northeastern, John Tobin, city council, podcast, Left Ahead