Mayor Menino has once again vetoed the city council’s proposed redistricting. The council’s second try did not assuage the mayor who believes the redistricting must be done in such a way that everything about it is right and fair – and legal.
There continues to be substantial talk coming out of councillor’s offices at city hall that Charlestown is going to be taken out of the present configuration and placed in Councillor Mike Ross’s Back Bay district.
LaMattina is then supposed to get the South End and Chinatown which will be added to his East Boston/North End district.
Councillor Bill Linehan will give up Chinatown and the South End, the Waterfront and Financial District.
Bottom line – if Charlestown is moved into Ross’s district, it is the end, for now, of Dan Ryan’s political ambitions in this ward. On the other hand, he might just give Ross a go for it although he’d have to familiarize himself with lots of voters he has never met in territories he knows very little about.
For LaMattina, losing Charlestown means he loses Ryan as a possible candidate.
It also means that East Boston remains pretty much its own place with its own Boston City Councilor.
The mayor, it is supposed, knows what he would do if the decision were his but he is not saying.
So its back to the drawing board for the city council on redistricting.