This blog post was written by a member in good standing of the Quincy Dems and the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee. The opinions expressed are their own and do not constitute an official position of the Quincy Dems or the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee. The podcast being discussed is produced by two different members of the Quincy Dems, but is not a Quincy Dems production nor does it represent the view of the committee.
Fellow Dems,
Councilor at large, and Quincy Dem, Anne Mahoney has been producing a podcast about Quincy with her husband, and Quincy Dem, Kevin. The podcast is called “City Limits” and the title evokes a couple meanings:
Since much of our attention is drawn to national matters, Anne and Kevin wanted to focus on things that are happening in and about Quincy.
Much of the podcast’s discussions are based on the financial limits that should be considered in the city’s spending plans.
Anne is a lifelong Quincy Resident and has been elected to the School Committee, run for Mayor, and is now serving her 2nd term as one of Quincy’s three councilors at large. In addition to being Anne’s number one supporter, Kevin is a professional graphic designer who has lent his talents to Anne’s campaigns and the QDCC’s web presence. Together their podcast is extremely listenable. It basically sounds like overhearing a conversation about Quincy politics while sitting at the adjacent table at The Fat Cat or The Four’s. They speak respectfully about our other elected leaders and there is no malice or ad hominem criticism. But listening to their first few episodes, one is left feeling overwhelmed by the volume. No, not the volume of the discussion, that is pleasant and calm, but the volume of money being spent and the volume of high-priced projects you may or may not be aware of.
City Limits Cover Art, designed by Liam Mahoney
In episode one, entitled “You've reached City Limits! How much are we spending?” Anne and Kevin outline their vision for this podcast, the who, what, when, and why of it all. Spoiler alert: the “where” is Quincy. They discuss “unprecedented levels of current and proposed spending by the current Quincy administration and a recent city council finance meeting regarding the new public safety headquarters.” It only takes a few minutes of the podcast to realize why this was so necessary.
For myriad reasons, we do not have the press to keep our political leaders in check. Newspapers are struggling to stay solvent, they cannot hire nearly enough reporters to follow up on the many issues brought before our mayor and council. The Quincy Sun is a beloved institution in Quincy, but it is hard enough to give the surface level facts of the many threads going through a modern city. It’s impossible to expect them to dig and investigate. The same can be said of the Patriot Ledger, whose coverage area expands to the entire South Shore, Commonwealth issues, as well as Federal.
When discussing the police station, Anne says “I promise you they’re (the current administration) gonna spend, at the end of the day, it won’t be less than $120 million, it will be more.”
For comparison, in 2017, Patriot Ledger reporter, Mary Whitfill, wrote “Scituate — a town with one-fifth the population of Quincy — opened a combined police and fire station that cost $18.4 million. Town meeting voters in Dedham approved $45 million for a combined public safety building two years ago, and Mansfield police and fire moved into a $22 million building this August.” The point of this blog post, however, is not to litigate the cost of the new Quincy police station, but to show the kinds of discussions that are featured in City Limits.
Episode two, entitled “It is a bit grandiose!”, outlines even more spending that seems to be part of what can arguably be termed a spree. The episode discusses the spending for a new animal shelter, a sort of “presidential library” purchase and a preview of a possible construction of a 15 story building for Quincy College.
A striking moment in the episode was this exchange around the 9:30 minute mark: Kevin and Anne were discussing how there always seems to be designs, sketches, etc. before anyone discusses spending. Kevin remarks “Listening to the mayor’s podcast, it sounds like there’s a building [for the “quasi- Adams Presidential library”] already designed. Does the city have an architect on retainer?” You can almost hear Anne’s smile as she replies “Not that I know of, Kevin...Before we even talk about funding, we [the city] have plans.”
It sounds like what is being described here is a fait accompli method of governance, where the administration gets a project rolling prior to any budgeting or approval, knowing that it becomes more difficult to stop at that point.
Episode three, Just Stop Already, outlines even more proposed spending. I listened to this episode on a late night dog walk and could not believe that in the third episode, we are still discussing the spending on the table. The episode summary includes $23 million in requests to acquire land and design a building for Quincy College (not counting construction), the possibility of purchasing President’s Place (assessed at 57 million), the potential purchase and eventual razing of the Munroe building (assessed at 6M, but 11M in requested money) despite it being registered as Historic, critical thinking about the overall Quincy College plan.
I suggest everyone listen to this episode, because there is so much here. One thing that Anne and Kevin point out is how the administration has no problem running back to the Quincy Taxpayers for more money to support this spending habit, but by purchasing more and more private land, they are taking that land off the tax base. “Everytime we take a commercial place or we take something by eminent domain that’s paying [tax dollars] into the city of Quincy, that means we have to make up those tax dollars some other way.”
Episode four, Hidden Stash vs Known Agenda is their latest episode and you can see they are settling into their format. They added some new segments, relaxed and had some more fun with it as well. But even with some levity, the business of calling out reckless spending and less than transparent accounting was still serious and hard-hitting.
Anne went on to point out some good questions from her fellow councilors about the Quincy College situation. But the basic point Anne and some the councilors seem to be hinting at is that a brand new building is not going to solve the problem Quincy College is facing. Quincy College is one of the last, possibly THE last, municipal college in the country. While that’s a very nice piece of trivia, the rest of the country seems to believe that a city-run college is not the best structure for this part of the secondary education system. Accordingly, Anne discusses her resolve asking the Quincy College Board of Trustees to approach the Massachusetts Association of Community College to become a "state" community college.
As a Quincy Dem, I think communication with the citizens should be at the core of our mission. I’ve been proud and grateful to listen to Anne and Kevin’s podcast. I intend to give a little recap in our blogspace to let you know what’s being discussed, but it won’t replace listening in. You can find their podcast episodes at the links I’ve used in the article, but you can also subscribe to it on your favorite podcast provider. The episodes are around 24 minutes long and work well while running an errand, taking a walk, or while cooking or doing the dishes. If Anne and Kevin can take the time to fill us in on what we might be missing at city hall, we should find the time to hear and consider their take on Quincy News.
Find City Limits on these popular podcast providers:
apple google audible captivate.fm
You can send a text to the podcast by finding the number in the Podcast Description page at the sources above.