Mayor Thomas Menino is, for now at least, sticking to his guns about how tough US Sen. Scott Brown is to beat.
Asked after a press conference with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan whether he had changed his mind about calling Brown “unbeatable” earlier this year, the five-term mayor shook his head. No. “Very difficult,” he added.
Asked about Elizabeth Warren, the former Obama administration official who’s been weighing a run while hitting private house parties across the Bay State, Menino notes she hasn’t officially announced. And that means it’s tough to say for now how she’ll fare on the campaign trail and in pressing the flesh. You have to go out and meet people, Menino said.
“He works hard,” Menino said of Brown. “He’s out in the neighborhoods, he’s out talking — it’s like he’s running for City Council.”
During the press conference, Menino was joined by a number of local elected officials, including US Congressman Michael Capuano, who is still considering a Senate bid. Capuano said he already plans to vote “no” on cuts Congress is expected to take up in the fall. A “super committee” will be recommending $1.5 trillion in cuts, as part of an overall $2.5 trillion debt ceiling deal brokered last month.
“This is your tax dollars at work,” Capuano said of the $20.5 million US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is funneling toward redevelopment of housing in the Quincy St. corridor. About $3 million will be used for community facilities, parks, gardens and economic development, and job creation, and the Menino administration is setting up a steering committee to track the funds with benchmarks and timelines.
The Quincy St. neighborhood has 8,900 families; 38 percent of them fall below the poverty line.
The cuts Congress is expected to take up will “hurt poor and working people,” Capuano said.
“There is not $2.5 trillion dollars worth of waste, fraud and abuse,” Capuano said.
