WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. One former city councilor Chuck Turner was slapped with a three year sentence behind bars. He said he wasn't backing down. He promised to appeal and to return to politics. But today two men are left standing in the fight to fill Turner's seat. Tito Jackson a Beacon Hill insider plugged into the Patrick administration and Cornell Mills son of former state senator Dianne Roker Center whose campaign is not so much machine but of the community activist Brandon Jackson's priority is to bring jobs to the district mill sees crime in affordable housing as the issues topping his to do list. This hour we host another forum one week before folks cast their vote for the future of district seven from the polling place it's off to the comedy clubs with a preview of Boston's third annual women in comedy festival. Up next from serious men to funny gals. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying back to Stan's murder

case against CIA contractor Raymond Davis is being delayed again. The lawyers for the families of the two people Davis is accused of killing say the trial will resume next week. NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Lahore the delay gives the defense more time to review the case that has severely strained U.S.-Pakistani relations. The hearing in the jail where Raymond Davis is being detained was closed to the media. Family lawyers of the two slain men say Davis was not as expected formally charged with the double killings. Rather the lawyers say the new defense team was granted time to review the record which has police saying Davis acted in cold blood when he shot the two Pakistani men on a horse street and Davis saying it was self-defense. But the question of whether Davis should be on trial at all is still hanging fire. The U.S. insists he has diplomatic immunity. The lawyer who are high court is due to hear what the Pakistan government has to say about immunity for Davis next week. But few are counting on a quick resolution to the affair that has inflamed anti-American passions and deepened distrust

between the two allies. Julie McCarthy NPR News. War. At least 20 people are dead and more than 100 are wounded in Pakistan. After a car bomb exploded in the Punjabi city of Faisalabad Today authorities say Taliban militants planted the bomb at a gas station intended to target nearby offices of the country's main intelligence agency. Libyan warplanes trying to keep Tripoli out of the hands of rebels are pounding sites around the capital. The latest is a week of the closest rebel held city to Tripoli. Meanwhile several more airstrikes are reported around the key oil port Ruslan Ouf. NPR's chief fundraising executive Ron Schiller has been caught on tape criticizing conservatives and saying NPR would be better off without federal financial support. NPR's David Folkenflik reports Schiller's remarks were captured as part of a video staying at a time when NPR is under public assault. Today's tape produced by the conservative political activist James O'Keefe shows Schiller an NPR

fundraiser at the library talking with two men over lunch in late February at an upscale Washington cafe. Shiller said the federal funding was vital for local member stations. The men present themselves as representing a Muslim organization and appear to be critical of what they said with Zionist influence in the media. NPR called chillers remarks appalling. But in a statement said quote The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a five million dollar check with no strings attached which we repeatedly refused to accept. Ron Schiller announced just last week that he was leaving NPR after 18 months for a job with the Aspen Institute close to his. Colorado home. David Folkenflik NPR News. On Wall Street the Dow Jones industrial average up 142 points or more than 1 percent of 12000 to 32. This is NPR. Florida lawmakers are focused on closing a more than 4 billion dollar budget gap. NPR's Greg Allen says the legislature which convened today in Tallahassee has

its sights set on education Medicaid and state workers pensions. Florida's Republican controlled legislature wants to cut a billion dollars from what the state spends on Medicaid in a budget laid out by Florida's governor Republican Rick Scott. The lion's share of the cuts would come from education. Scott has also proposed overhauling pensions to government employees requiring workers to contribute 5 percent of their salaries to their pensions and moving new hires into for a 1 K type retirement plans. Florida's legislature is also likely to quickly pass a bill linking teacher pay to student performance. Competing demonstrations are expected today. Tea Party supporters who like the cuts versus unions and progressive activists who oppose them. Greg Allen NPR News Tallahassee. The University of Notre Dame plans to stop using hydraulic lifts to film football practices after a student plunged to his death during practice last October. Today university officials said they would instead use a system of four cameras perched atop a 50 foot high poles. The decision comes just weeks before the start of

spring practice last fall a 20 year old died when the hydraulic lift he wasn toppled during wind gusts of up to 51 miles per hour. Shuttle Discovery is on the verge of ending a more than 25 year career in space travel. A day before it's due to return to Earth for the last time the shuttle crew plans to hold a farewell ceremony in orbit to kick things off Mission Control deliver the first ever a live wakeup music called Blue Sky written in honor of the world's most traveled spacecraft. I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from CIT for last selling all callers of the Herman Miller air on chair online including sit for a last true black online at CIT for last dot com. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. This is the Calla Crossley Show when former Boston city councilor Chuck Turner was slapped with a three year sentence behind bars. He vowed to

appeal and to return to politics. But today there are two men vying for his seat. Tito Jackson and Cornell Mills They join me today. One week before folks cast their vote for the future of District 7 Tito Jackson Cornell Mills welcome. Thank you for having us on our. I actually like being referred to as a serious man. Oh good an excellent pleasure to be here. All right listeners if you have a question for the candidates you can call us at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. That's 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. You can also post a question on our Facebook page. That's Facebook dot com slash Kelly Crossley Show. Before we get started. The last time you were here there were lots of folks in the contest. It's come down to the two of you. And that election even though there was seem to be a lot of conversation about it not very many people showed up at the polls so I want to know from each of you what are you doing to get people out to the polls for this final vote.

You know just so I don't want to diminish the two thousand eight hundred eighty eight folks who did come out. We know that there are 40000 registered voters in District 7. So I definitely want to make sure that we acknowledge the folks who did come out. We'd like to have a higher turnout other than you know higher than a 7 percent. I'm not going to endorse. I'm making phone calls this morning as three mornings out out of the week. I am out on the street corners doing stand out trying to bring attention to this race. Mind you these are the most difficult economic as well as political times for the community that we are representing. So it's going to be incumbent upon us to make sure that we're pulling folks out pulling them to the poll and helping them understand how important their vote their vote is. And that is it is a reflection of the voice of our community. OK Cornell. Well. I want to I want to first Also you know give credit to those who came out but there we had a 7 percent turnout on Election Day on February 15th. It was definitely the coldest

Election Day we've had in the 16 years that I've worked on elections. We have 90 percent of our electorate who did not get involved. And I think it's unfortunate that we don't take politics as serious as we should whether or not you cast your vote whether or not we go to the polls. Those decisions still get made on your behalf and on our behalf so it's incumbent upon us to get involved we have to beat the drum of civic engagement and make sure we're gay engaging young people early so once they turn 18 they should be casting their first ballot and then every year it becomes a habit. So I've been you know kind of championing that speech for a long time. Visibilities door knocking phone calling. Just being out there being out a lot of different community events will get people more involved and we're hoping to see a big uptick on the 15th of March. And in addition we've also been using Facebook Twitter and also social media to make sure that we get that that covered also. I think the social media site is also very important.

District 7 it's quite large and very diverse. We have discussed here often. Including Roxbury and Dorchester and parts of Jamaica Plain in the south in the Fenway so there's a lot of very constituent needs in there but one of the things that we keep hearing that comes up in this community is really all about education. And I know that the Boston Public School under the aegis of Superintendent Carol Johnson has made a decision to close a number of schools for financial reasons for efficiency blah blah blah. But a number of them are in your district and sense your constituents. Cornell say that education is very important to them. How do you respond to these school closings and it should be noted that the black educators Alliance has come out saying that this is a civil rights violation. And there is a suit filed against some of these closings but. Your response. Well as as a parent KELLY I think I have a personal investment in making sure that our young people can afford and do receive quality education.

I have four children one of which does attend the Boston Public Schools ranging in age from 2 to 16. So as a family and as a community it's our job to make sure that our schools are affording our kids the best best opportunities that those buildings are kept up to par and that in that they're able to play on a level playing field moving forward in this. And this is science. So I think that what do you say to these closings. Well I think it was a mistake. The problem with the system is you know we always tend to fix issues and we're always reactive. We have to be proactive about this issue because the fact that we have an elected I should say an appointed school board creates a problem. We have 50000 54000 students in Boston public schools. There really is no accountability to the students as these decisions get made behind closed doors. And we need to take a closer look at this. This elected or this appointed committee and find a way to either. Form an elected one or create a hybrid one where the entire community can be involved and can have a voice and as your counselor I look forward to being able to bridge that divide.

OK before you speak Tito Jackson let me give the number again 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 7 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 You can also tweet us or send us a comment to our Facebook page. Go ahead. Definitely I think the process was problematic and I think the result was problematic. We have we have a disparate and disproportionate effect of those school closings on our community. I agree with Cornell. I think we should have an elected school committee. And I actually think the person in this room who would be most qualified to do that would be a parent in the school system so I would like an elected school committee that actually has a caveat of having folks on the school committee be parents. I think that would be very important. And what this issue of education I think we need to start from the beginning. I definitely think we need to focus on early education where we have a huge huge gap. There's a recent study that looked at five year olds five year olds who are from low income households are read to allow for 25 hours that they're from a middle

income household household they're read to allowed for 700 hours on entering kindergarten. We are proposing in my campaign. Iraq Spirit leads a program where folks from our community actually go into the schools and read to our young people and use that as a foundation for mentoring relationships. So I think that is one aspect. In addition I also think we need to look at education from lifelong learnings and also make sure we support colleges like community college. OK we have a caller Linda from Boston you're an eighty nine point seven Go ahead please. Harry the unemployment rate in District 7 is double what it is in the state. I would like to know how either one of you and both of you would bring jobs to the district. All right. Well thank you very much for the call. For now I'll take that question first and foremost. The biggest issue. Around unemployment is really a federal issue. The

federal deficit the budget crisis both on the federal budget and on the local budget have has caused a lot of companies to close they've caused huge huge uptick in the unemployment. But what happens in District 7 and it happens in a lot of communities of color is that they're usually the ones that are the first ones to lose lose the employment last ones hired first one fired. And that dynamic is unfortunate but it's real. I think we have to find ways to promote entrepreneurship as a small business owner myself I understand what those what the roadblocks and and the amount of red tape you have to navigate through in order to take advantage of it because job security just really doesn't exist anymore. You know everyone else what can you do right now I mean everything you're saying is absolutely forward thinking. But this caller is speaking to right now there's unemployment is double in. In your role if you were elected city council what can you do. Well the first thing I would do was was to try to open up some some hands on proactive training programs. We always tend to work backwards on this issue where we aks people to show up

at a job fair with their resume so the employer can tell them that they're not qualified. We need to find out exactly what qualifications are needed if we know that there are a number of jobs coming into the city or into the state. We can we can start training people three months six months out. We had a debate a few years back where we wanted to open up Madison Park High School. They have a vocational tech program where we could be teaching adults. So these are these are opportunities that are there if we know about these companies that are looking to to to to place businesses here in the state. We need to be able to get in front of those opportunities so we'll have people ready from day one. All right. Kelly you have a background in economic development. I worked at the state level to help create over twenty five hundred jobs. I would bring those relationships and that know how to bear on on the economic development side of things. Right now we have a very exciting program that's an actually movement that is happening into our two. The Ferdinand building is going to be redeveloped the school department is taking this novel approach of actually moving closer to students which is

I think a very good thing. The Ferdinand building has been key and actually a centerpiece to my economic development plan. It will help that section of Washington Street and Warren Warren Street be opened up storefronts be developed in that area and also jobs created through congested construction. And as that as this site is developed I will mandate and make sure that the Boston jobs plan is followed. Knowing that 25 percent people of color 10 percent women and 50 percent Boston residents will be on that job so when when is that supposed to get started Mayor Menino has supported but it's not. It started within 12 months and this would have been a year. Yes ma'am. In addition to supporting entrepreneurs in the area I've already met with some local banks including at least one bank about money that can be infused into our community to help our entrepreneurs and those people who want to innovate. But overarching that we need not only a plan but we need a vision for what our community should look like. And I look forward to having Roxbury become

an innovation zone and which we bring a cutting edge not just working age but cutting edge institutions into our community. Those those in biotech those and the scientists in science technology engineering and math areas because we know one Ph.D. creates a downstream line of three point two jobs. So it's not only going to be the folks who are researchers. There are folks who work in those offices. There's folks who do security of those folks who let me ask a question Governor Deval Patrick's on a trade mission right now. Yes many of those people you those business people in that group somebody they can come back and make a connection in your district if you were city council. I've already spoken with. Bob Kaufman who is with the mass biotech Council have have had conversations with him. We need not only to create jobs that are for today but we need to plan to make sure that our folks are qualified for the jobs of tomorrow working with the anchor institutions in our community. Roxbury Community College as well as northeastern to make sure that

our young people as well as our not so young people have the qualifications that they need to move in to the careers of tomorrow back to the training that Cornell talked about I am speaking with Tito Jackson. You just heard him and Cornell mills and theyre both candidates running for former Boston city councilor Chuck Turner see. We're going to be back with more conversation with our two candidates and your phone calls and your Facebook comments and your tweets. Please send them in listeners 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. If you have a question for either of these candidates who want to be your representative in District 7 We'll be back after this break. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Skinner featuring a sale of fine

in teak period and contemporary jewelry from Tiffany and Company and more in their 63 Park Plaza Boston gallery. Tuesday March 15th details and preview dates at Skinner Inc. Dot com. And from Susie Orman's Money Class debuting tonight at 8:00 on WGBH to this new PBS special features Susie's expert advice on what actions people need to take in light of the new economy. Suzy Orman tonight at 8:00 on WGBH too. As a unionized public employees fight to keep collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and several other states we talk about the history of collective bargaining with Philip Dray author of There is power in a Union The Epic Story of Labor in America. Join us for the next FRESH AIR. This afternoon at eighty nine point seven.

You rely on public radio for stories like this. I'm David Schaper in the Wisconsin state capitol where not only continues the president traveled to Cleveland to hear about the successes and setbacks of small businesses there. As you can enjoy the convenience of monthly installments and automatic renewal becomes part of the most public radio support the program as a sustainer online at WGBH dot org. If the world didn't. Him in front of you wrong and he defines good by luck. Coming up at 3 o'clock on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley This is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in

we're looking ahead to next week's election to fill Chuck Turner's seat on the Boston City Council or city council. I'm joined by Tito Jackson and Cornell Mills both candidates for that seat. Listeners you can post a question for candidates on our Facebook page. That's Facebook dot com slash Calla Crossley Show or you can give us a call at 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70 and we have a caller right now. Jessie from Roxbury you are ninety nine point seven the Calla Crossley Show Go ahead please. Hi. Do you know what motivated him. All right thank you that's a very good question and it requires a brief answer. For now males are what motivated you to get into my logic. Well I have been and been involved in politics since the age of 10. I have worked on over 20 political campaigns I was raised the son of the state senator here in the city. But more importantly I was raised in the civil rights struggle so that in my opinion there's really two reasons why people run for public office. Either you want to be

somebody or you want to help others become somebody so I'm in this to help others. I'm committed to helping my children receive a better life and and live a better life the same way that my ancestors did for me. And if listeners don't know your mother was former state senator Dianne Wilkerson Tito Jackson. I got into politics on the shoulders of my father Herb Jackson who was the head of the greater Roxbury Workers Association who fought tirelessly till we passed away to make sure that women people of color as well as Boston residents got on job sites. And I'm also the son of Rosa Jackson who is a community organizer and also just showed us. So as a family that was all about doing more we came to a household with over 50 to foster kids. And there's four of us out of the seven who are adopted. So I've always been taught that it's not only about taking care of you and yours but always going that extra mile and doing a little bit more for the community.

OK very good. Let me turn to you Cornell and ask this question. How do your campaign platforms that the stuff that you're telling your can your me your possible constituents that you will do an audit if you were in office how does that translate into the real work that you would do. I mean you know often people talk on the campaign trail it's really tough to translate that into action once they get in that seat. Well any time you're looking to pass an initiative or put an item on the budget through the city council you have to you have to influence six other individuals in order to fork to get them to agree to give me one of your last ones that you're going to be translating as you're talking about this. Here's the issue platforms going to the job of a city councilor is twofold. It's really to advocate and it's to provide access. We don't have we don't have any any ability to make laws. We don't create any budgets. So part of that I have a caning is just knowing you know where the moneys are is knowing you know what the issues are and knowing who the players are that you're

going to need to talk to so just through my through my experiences in this city. I understand how business works I understand how politics works and I understand that there are a lot of forces at play that don't want to see people in District 7 receive a lot of the benefits that the city has to offer. So give me one at one of the things and you're one of the issues on your platform that you know you're going to be working to translate that into something real once you're in the city. Well one of the one of the primary concerns is crime and violence is my is my platform issue. One of the first things I'm looking to do is to sit with counselor Ross and counseling and see councilor Ross who oversees the crime crime budget as it comes out the budget. Nancy oversees the post auditing of all of the monies that are in the budget. So I'd like to figure out who exactly is receiving the Shannon grant money who's receiving funds to fight crime to make sure that we're putting those dollars into the proper resources so many people that we have such a wealth of nonprofits and individuals in our city who profess and who claim to do this work so we need to find out who's doing it effectively. Those that are should continue to be funded. Those that are not.

I look to find other ways to divert that funding to a more successful initiative. OK. You know Jackson same question. Yes. So the foundation of my platform and I think the transformative. Aspect of our community will be bringin jobs foot we have double the unemployment that the rest of the city has. So my first piece will be pulling together a job fair to make sure that we reaching out with some of the relationships that I have with companies who actually are hiring and hosting one of those in our community. I also will be working with the labor community to make sure people from my community actually get on job sites and also are involved in the apprenticeship programs that allow folks to get the training that they need to get get their cards. In addition I will be hosting a business summit bringing all of the businesses together in the District 7 area doing an evaluation on their means bringing in folks at the state as well as city level and also folks

from the private private side of things to make sure and particular banks to make sure that we have the resources and in particular working capital that these businesses need to sustain as well as grow. OK if we couldn't Can I jump in quickly can you if we're going to have a real conversation about relationships and about job opportunities. We have to be honest about whether or not those opportunities are going to make its way to District 7. When you have relationships through city hall or through state government you have to understand that there there's only one pie. So as that pie gets cut up there are neighborhoods that end up being marginalized and being left out of that out of that. The benefits from from those resources. So if there are relationships if there are support that's being done by those same individuals who've historically kept our community back and kept our community out of the process then we have to take a closer look at how we're going to be able to bridge that because it's not going to happen overnight. You know historically as a city we've been dealing with this issue of unemployment. And it hasn't

trickled down the trickle down theory doesn't really work. We need to challenge the status quo. We need to challenge the establishment candidates and find out ways to effectively agitate so that we can see some some real change to say in the same vein that councilor Turner is famous when you say effectively agitate. What do you mean. Well what I mean is that we have to be willing to speak out when we see acts of injustice. We talk about a jobs policy and a jobs program. Well we've been down this road before where there are but the same the same developers end up working on the same projects I say and they're not returning anything to the community and those jobs those jobs are not returning to the community. There are no people of color in positions in the labor and the labor fight. There are no people of color in positions. And the Boston Police Department and we have a system set up where we tend to put Band-Aids on bullet wounds where we don't really address the root of the issue. We tend we tend to dance around it and really really just address the underlying result rather than addressing the effects of those results.

OK very good. Did you like where you are in there you know you know what I mean and I think the real issue is our ability to deliver people in our community are definitely into advocacy. But right now it's about delivering. And it's really about delivering jobs. So when it really comes down to it I just left a meeting. You know we deal with many issues in our community but even with the issue and we were and with Superintendent Paul Evans even even the police are actually looking at the opportunity to make sure that. In the most difficult population that these young brothers have an opera opportunity to get a job and to get a decent living and one of the ways and one of the areas that we do that is in working with labor to make sure that we get our fair share of seats on those job sites and that's you know again following in the footsteps of my father and those folks who came before me. OK we have a caller Keith from Dorchester Go ahead please you're on eighty nine point seven. Yes you will listen to both candidates. I would have

thought Mr. Jackson spoke but we only had revenge. What do you want. Love well love. Well are you going to. Well yes certainly. Yeah well why would that. Well but it was you. Oh yeah. And you know what brother. That's a that's a huge concern I actually attended a job fair I actually didn't plan it. I attended a job fair at the Perkins Center which is attached to the lease school. And I'm honestly Kelly I want to cry because there were about four or five vendors there and about 800 people and this was a Corey job fair. These are folks who have made a mistake and now at this point one of the turn their lives around. So I'm taking it on my shoulders as as a citizen. And hopefully your next city councilor too. We do and partner with those brothers and that and that and that job fair to redo that job fair and make sure that we actually have

folks who are hiring and who will provide the training who will provide the resume preparation skills who will provide the interviewing skills for these brothers who had made a mistake and now need that opportunity to transition over. And I just want to say this and this. Yes I'm going to I mean I like Korea because Cornell's point was and thank you very much for the call Keith. You know it's not too much trickle down going on so three vendors would seem to suggest that. Right well it's sounds like we're giving a lot of lip service to this issue. Unfortunately when you know during during my opponent's time when he was administering jobs none of those jobs made their way to District 7. So it really speaks to this issue as to whether or not there's real advocacy going on. A large part of this jobs issue is the Cory bill. Governor Patrick was against adding juveniles into this Cory bill so that young folks who were seeing the crime or who committed a crime receive the charge. They don't have the ability to get jobs through the city hope line over 50 percent of the people

who signed up last year were disqualified. So when I speak about putting Band-Aids on bullet wounds it really speaks to the root of this issue and a lot of it has to do with institutions that are set up in this city a lot of which or many of which have been hesitant about providing jobs for the community. I do make them hear you that I mean what you know what I mean Chuck Turner what you there could be no more bold voice then Chuck Turner could there be. Exactly. If I may. And for me this isn't about a city councilors fight. This is about a community fight. I've continued to work in this in this field as a citizen. So I did construction compliance on the one Lincoln project in downtown Boston a few years ago and as a citizen I wanted to get involved to make sure that there were people of color women in minorities working on that job site. We don't do enough as people and then we end up providing a lot of lip service about what we would like to see done as elected officials. So I will say there's nothing that one elected official can do without the support of the people. So as a community there's

so much more that we can do in connection and in support of our elected officials so we have to we have to organize we have to advocate. We have to make sure that we know who those people are that have been keeping us out of this job. Mark I need to let you know in the ER let me give the number 0 8 7 7 3 1 8 9 7 8 7 7 3 0 1 8 9 7 8 8 0. And just my my only issue here Kelly is our community is going through the most difficult political and economic times. I'm not going to say as a as. Hopeful elected official that I don't have power. I'm not going to allow folks to think to think that we as elected officials don't have power and I have and that's not that's not what we're against. And on top of it the real issue here is providing the opportunity and hope for our future and building up our community. And you know I've heard you speak about my record Mr. Mills the real issue is about what we bring to the table not what the other candidate doesn't bring to the table. I'm willing to run on my own and I'm going to run on my record and the things I'm able to bring to the

table and I think you could do the same. Let's be honest about what we bring to the table that obviously is not it's not realistic to suggest that as an employee of the state you're responsible for delivering jobs that's not the job of a rank and file employee. The governor he campaigned on those same jobs. You know the mayor has said that he's reviving for life. Ferdinand building for probably six years now that plan's been in the works. Now it's a part of your campaign. Let's stop with all the rhetoric and all the campaign talk and let's just be real about it. Well at the same time though you know that I would expect the city council person to be raising the issues so that they're in the face of those people who are making the decisions if that be the case right. But you can't raise those issues if it's done in a comfortable way because it's going to be an uncomfortable composition called conversation. I should say so you have to be willing to have I guess to begin with. All right well here's a here's a comment from our Facebook page. Jed wants to know what percent of your staff or key volunteers are residents of District 7. That's to both of you.

I'll answer that question first. Over 90 percent of my staff are residents they live in the district and they're they're young men and women who have previously not been involved in politics I've gotten them engaged and they're excited and hopeful about the opportunity to move forward and start to gain some of the benefits of a taxpayer in the city. And that was Cornell males OK Tito Jackson and I have actually a vast array of folks outside probably say maybe 30 percent of my staff. But I also think the other issue here is being able to make sure that we bring attention. To the issues and plight of the folks in District 7 they were able to bring resources into our campaigns because actually if we're able to bring resources even outside of the community into our campaigns I think that's indicative of our ability to bring resources into our community and I think that will be translate that translates. And I think it's very important that we have a broad base of folks who care about this great district and that it truly meets

and gets to its true potential. OK I just want to make sure you answer Jed's question that I did. That's on our Facebook pages Facebook dot com slash Calla Crossley share with others of you want to contact us that way otherwise you can call it 8 7 7 3 0 1 89 70. OK so do you know why you're talking. You've gotten a lot of endorsements from you know the globe and Phoenix and other places but you did not get the Blackstone eone endorsement so I want to quote from them and ask you to respond to this. The Blackstone eone which is a political blog has endorsed Cornell mills. And here's what the blogs said in support of Cornell. I was an Amazon and an am a supporter for Tito Jackson as an at large candidate. However as a resident of Roxbury I do not think he is right for the District 7 seat. His personality is one that an at large seat would in Gratiot himself on the entire city attending parades and attending to the needs of a diverse group of citizens across the

city. Tito can be the black councilor who shows up in everything from Juneteenth to St. Paddy's Day and from the West Indian Carnival to the gay parade while doing the Tito slide. What may work well citywide does not serve the very specific needs of District 7. How do you respond to that data. Honestly Kelly I don't respond to that because when it really comes down to it on February 15th nineteen hundred and forty three people agreed with me that I have the ability to bring jobs that I have the ability to stand up for young people in schools and that I have the ability to bring the the the safe and clean streets that I need so I definitely agree with people's right to voice their opinion. And I appreciate Jamal Crawford endorsement as an at large candidate the writer of the book. I'm running for District 7 city council and I believe the people and District 7 need need leadership. And my objective is to be able to provide that leadership. So you know

I don't respond to that. OK. Cornell the Boston Phoenix indoor studio Jackson Here's an excerpt from what they wrote Jackson's opponent Cornell Mills is a smart political newcomer with an admirable record of community service at the moment however Mills lacks Jackson's broad frame of reference and clear focus. You want to challenge that. Well I think the broad frame that they may be speaking about is just this desire to be everything for everyone. I have a pretty consistent message. Whether it's whether I'm in the south and I'm in Roxbury I'm in an up on this corner. I have the same message to everyone that I speak to and I haven't seen that same consistency with with my opponent. I will say this I have an experience that goes far beyond my opponent's experiences. But I'm not running against Tito Jackson at all I'm running for the seat. I'm running for the city. I'm I'm a homeowner. I'm a father and a parent and I'm also a small business owner. These are real life experiences that qualify me uniquely for this seat because I'm living the issues of the district. I'm not talking about it. I'm not just

it's not something I studied or read about. I'm actually embodiment of all the issues that this district is dealing with hands on. OK here are some callers. Jesse from Holliston you're ninety nine point seven the Calla Crossley Show. Go ahead please. Hello there. I grew up in Roxbury new chat Kerner and I would I know that Chuck really represented the legacy of old school back story politics and I would love to hear. The candidates plan to really kind of turn out like a few around and change the tenor of the political conversation and Rackspace for the better. All right Jessica I appreciate councilor Turner that dedication. He spent over 40 years in our community advocating zealously and as a former football player. He left it all on the field. Well when it comes down to it right now we are lacking leadership. We have no one in the seat. And so my objective is to step forward and provide the same type of advocacy. But I think we definitely at this point

and as it relates to jobs need to make sure that that advocacy is directly related to the ability to deliver jobs and economic development and that community and I think that's how you should grade us. And I think that's how we're going to get District 7 to actually transform and be able to move forward. Colonel I'll say this to the caller. It would be a mistake to try to transition away from the old school advocacy that was very effective in this city. I think what we tend to only when we look at our our history when we look at you know our struggles a lot of those struggles still still continue. There's been a huge debate as to whether or not we're in a post-racial America. You know we have a president who is of color and we have a governor who was of color. But at the same time you know blacks are at the bottom of every list that's gotten at the top of every list that's bad. So there is still a dynamic in this country where people of color and women minorities are at a disadvantage. So we have to continue to protest. We have to continue to find ways

to boycott. We have to continue to be boisterous and be loud and continue to beat that drum of justice because without it we're going to continue to see the low turnout because people will be discouraged. They're not going to have much hope for the future. So the first step in restoring some of that hope is to is to giving them a sense that they have a voice that's going to create a level playing field so that they can receive some justice throughout all levels of society not just the educational field also the criminal justice field and also in the jobs market. You know that was Cornell Mail's candidate for district 7 city council seat. And Tito Jackson how would you answer that question. More time. The question was. Turner was old school and how will you know. But he left a very bold advocacy legacy and how will you step into that freshen up that legacy what will you do. No I think as I said before we stand on the shoulders of those folks who came came along before us. And my objective is to take that legacy of advocacy and the energy there and to move that forward

and create some access as well as create some deliverable on the other side. The advocacy I think is key. But when it really comes down to it folks can't pay their bills we have advocacy folks aren't sending their their school their kids to school with with the advocacy piece. It's the ability to actually deliver and make sure that our young people have world class world class schools. Also when it comes down to it we still you know obviously in the 90s we had a hundred fifty murders a year and we're down to 70 but that's still too many. So when it comes down to it we definitely need to change our tone tenor as well a strategy to make sure that we are actually able to deliver for the people in our community. OK we're heading to a close here but before we go. Give me three words Cornell mills which tell me and tell our listeners where you are the best candidate for this job. City council or District 7.

Real experience real results as well say that I might if I wanted some guy give me a 4. Yeah OK all right Tito Jackson why are you the best candidate in just a few words three words I gave Cornell force if you want it for you can for District 7 city council see jobs focus love legacy. All right. Well you heard it here first and last. That wraps up our coverage on the race to fill Chuck Turner's seat on the Boston City Council District Seven. That's a district that includes a Roxbury and Dorchester Fenway. OK just one second there Fenway and parts of Jamaica Plain in the south in there is a forum tonight. It is 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the historic Hibernian hall 184 Dudley Street and Roxbury Massachusetts All right so you can tell your friends who did not hear this a riveting conversation that they may go tonight to hear those two have been joined by both Tito Jackson and Cornell Mills who were candidates for

that forum. The election let's remind everybody is next Tuesday March the 15th and whichever one of you wins we'll have you back in the studio and putting your feet to the fire to see if what you say here you're going to plan to do. Thank you both thank you so much Kelly. Up next it's a preview of the women in comedy festival. We'll be back after this break. Keep your dial on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Simmons leadership conference on Tuesday April 26 a day of leadership motivation and networking for women seeking to compete in today's changing business climate information at Simmons dot edu slash leadership and from safety insurance committed to safety and driving. And reminding parents of teenage drivers that it is illegal in Massachusetts for their children to drive while using a cell phone. You can learn more at safety insurance dot

com. 20 years ago challenge Saudi Arabian society by driving a car. Today Saudi laws still forbid her from driving and doing a lot of other things that women here take for granted. It's hopeful to believe that we still actually have these kind of laws against women. What Saudi women can and cannot do. That's next time on the world. Coming up at 3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. Hi I'm Brian O'Donovan host of the Celtic sojourn on WGBH and I hope you can join me for this year's presentation of a St. Patrick's Day Celtic sojourn. The concert features island's dynamic fight these band the iconic vocals and accordion work of Seamus Bagley and the Irish-American singer songwriter Carla Newman

reserve your tickets for March. That Sanders Theater in Palm Beach on Saturday the 19th at the XY Tyrian Theater in New Bedford visit WGBH dot org slash Celtic. If we're creating this movement I just want to oppose all wind energy from our walk. That's extremely problematic. I'm reporter Sean Corcoran Stay with us for the trouble with wind turbines and found with Massachusetts coming up this afternoon here. Eighty nine point seven. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley This is the Calla Crossley Show. Today is International Women's Day. And what better way to observe it then to preview Boston's third annual women in comedy festival. Join me for a primer and a preview our Michelle Barbera and Maria Ciampa. They are comedians and co-producers of the women in comedy festival which runs from March 9th through the 13th in Boston welcome to you both. Thank you it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having us. Oh I'm excited about it. All right so let's start. How did you come up with the idea to do this. I know you're both comedians and need another platform but. Beyond that.

Well I've been working with Maria for I don't even know about almost 10 years now many years many years and so we're really good friends and also and we love to just chat about comedy we love comedy and we noticed that there was an imbalance in the number of women at comedy festivals on comedy specials in comedy in general especially with this boom of sort of that Judd Apatow kind of thing going on right now there's a lot of guy centric comedy. And we thought it would be really cool too. I just came up the idea Why don't we do a festival because you can't sit around and ask for permission to do stuff so really let's just do it let's not just asked to be included on stuff let's just do our own thing. And Maria and I both thought that was a good idea and so we just put it together we did the first year invite only and then we started taking submissions a second year and every year it's grown and grown by leaps and bounds and amazing. That was Michelle Barbera She's one of the co-producers of the women in comedy festival here in Boston and now we're going over to Mr Ciampa to talk to me about why you know what's the rap that women get about not being

funny. I mean you know that that's one of the reasons why they say you don't see women at festivals. Yeah that is a great question I'm first of all thank you so much for having me and Michelle Michelle also Elise Sherman is our third co-producer So we just want to say thank you so much to her she can be here but she's amazing missed the three of us. But to your question about you know what's there about women are funny I feel like it's such a weird question because people are like can you talk about this are you willing to talk about this so much. I think it's. Kind of weird that it's even on the table I know why it's on the table I know some guy wrote an article in Vanity Fair a few years ago saying that women are like I know that's why. But I I just hope like in a few years that will look back on the question like Are women funny the way we like and we'll see it just as ridiculous as we'd see like a question like are dyslexic special. Like I just feel like it's a ridiculous question but sorry I asked that question here. I mean yeah I just always wondered. Are we funny. I are dyslexic fashion. Kind of ask the question because I'm a big fan of comedy show I love Last Comic Standing. I'm

infuriated when they get to the end and there's like one woman and she never makes it to the final maybe Last Comic Standing finalists in the festival this year Mike Kaplan. Oh excellent I mean it's just it's very frustrating and I know that you too were very disheartened by the big comedy festival South by Southwest with only one woman. So I mean you look at that and is is that because women are deliberately being marginalized or just there's something else going on. I think this is Michelle. Yeah I think that it's again it's a question of giving yourself permission to do stuff I think that historically women haven't really. First they weren't given permission to be funny to be on stage so much literally right hundreds of years ago they weren't even allowed to actually be the actors in plays that represent themselves. And I think that stigma has stuck especially with comedy. And I think that it's going to take a while for women to really fully give themselves permission to be to get out there and stay out there and go through go through all that it takes to get to

the point that a lot more men are going through. I think that it's easier for women to be discouraged and be cast out. Maria I wonder also if it's a self fulfilling prophecy you don't see many and you know so that festivals like yours can actually give a platform highlight some women who are actually out there doing the work that just people don't know about them. Yeah I think it's so important for any anyone to have role models. And I feel like growing up like I watched a lot of Saturday Night Live and there were plenty of funny women on that show. I grew up in a family of seven kids five sisters and my older sisters always made me laugh you know so I had those positive role models so it never really dawned on me that I couldn't do these certain things. And so I started though with improv and sketch there's these different genres of comedy I think some genres of comedy are more accepting of women and some are a little less when I made the transition into stand up. It's not that it was less accepting it was just that the community was more packed with guys and those guys knew each other and it was a situation where you know am I going to

befriend them am I going to hang out real a drink a lot of beers play poker. You know that's not who I am. So it's just kind of also a question of what kind what kind of you know community are you most comfortable and what kind of routines are you willing to take on to get in with that community more. And I think that you know since we've seen this festival grow over the past three years we have seen more women who have more courage and hopefully it is because they're seeing role models out there and they're working out and they're not becoming discouraged. It's so easy to get discouraged in comedy. You get up there on a microphone do some stand up you tell a joke it gets no laughs. You want to go home and just eat glass. I can imagine how it is but you know what. If you are with a supportive community and you talk about that it's like yeah you know I totally died on stage but we do it all the time. Big deal is part of the job. This is my guest Maria Trampas She's one of three co-producers putting together the women in comedy festival and I want to just pick up on your point in that you have various genres in this festival sometimes in the comedy festival. It's all stand up. But in this one you've got the improv you've got the

storytelling and you have the stand up and that's a deliberate move right. And we also have a sketch and musical comedy which is great. You know Jennifer Coolidge was here not long ago and she started in improv and now his turn to stand up so that's a very interesting trend to say great of my great admirers of Jennifer's. Yeah. Now I also note and that was my guess Michaud Barbera that you have invited men so explained that women in comedy but you've invited I have some. Oh it was never our intention to exclude men or anyone and any comedian of any gender anybody can apply. It was really more of our intention to kind of flip the ratio and make women feel really welcome and meet and make it really easy for women to find us online. Type in women in comedy would come right up. So it was a it was a terrific it was terrific platform to get to women was a really great. It was like a Google actually and the other reason is that we are three women in comedy and we created the festival.

OK so I want to know which comedians inspired the two of you. Michelle you want to start. Well I'll tell you when I was a kid. I think I was generally watching more male comedians. So as a really small child the first things I got into were Woody Allen and Monty Python and airplanes like that kind of humor I my brother and I would quote the entire movie Airplane back to each other every day. So those were the kind of things that got me at first and I and I remember memorizing all the lines and the cadence and everything. And I remember how I loved all the women that Woody Allen would play off of like Diane Keaton and when of my friend Ernie the other woman who was in the earlier films who was fantastic. And I can't think it's all right. We get it. Yeah but so my very early influences were probably more male. And then as I got older people like Joan Rivers and and then as I was an adult people like Amy Poehler and Tina. They have been huge injury chill Dratch who's going to be at our festival.

Those are people from Saturday Night Live. If folks don't recognize those name and Rachel Dratch from Saturday Night Live is one of your headliners and your huge breakthrough for women to be so visible not only as actresses in Seren live but as head writer Tina Fey was the head writer which is huge and your inspiration very similar. Like I said I grew up watching Saturday Night Live. I also like like Michelle my sisters and I would over and over again watch movies like Spaceballs in Blazing Saddles and maybe we didn't even get the jokes but we could just recite everything. I definitely I always loved Bill Cosby Richard Pryor George Carlin. So yeah in a sense for the standup it was more guys that I was watching then I really got into Jeanine Groff fellow as I was a teenager and then when I really started becoming more interested in doing comedy I sought out more female stand ups. And one of the first female standup that I really loved was Jen Kirkman. She's one of our headliners this year which I'm so excited about she was a

writer for Chelsea Lately and now she writes on NBC is perfect couples. So so many different a lot of different influences but yeah I think it kind of was the thing right have to seek out your female stand ups. Like I can understand that. I know that we TV has a female standup comedian with her own series called Stand Up mother Tammy Pesca telly who was one of the finalists in the season 2 of Last Comic Standing. And that I think shows a lot of growth. Would you not agree that you know when you get those kind of highlighted those women who are highlighted in that way in a more in a more broad spectrum than people get a chance to see what women comics Yeah I do. I always love we I LOVE WE because it's like the flipside of life time. It's like you want to be scared terrified of everything watching life time. Yes. And then if you want to feel empowered that actually Joan Rivers has a reality series and with her daughter on the on that series too. So there was a time not long

ago I guess 80s Roseanne Barr Brett Butler Tyler Wanda Sykes. You saw them everywhere and in their own shows. Can we can we can return to that now are you seeing some of that happening. Tina Fey of course is a good example but I think we're seeing I mean Jen Kirkman as a writer on and yes the show is great. I feel like there was just a boom in stand up comedians getting shows and that's what I saw especially in that documentary when Standup stood out to kind of learn not watch documentaries guys and I'm pretty cerebral. So but I mean I hope we can return to that because I want my own show and my pilot written. So yeah I mean part of it was that there was such a big stand up boom in general in the 80s and there were these big stand up celebrities back that it's a little different now who comes and who do you expect to come this year and know that the audience has been growing everyone. Yes and I hope we hope everyone will come and actually I remember looking at our audiences last year and just being amazed at how

diverse they were and also their own. We seem to be slightly more men funny and that was really especially at the Maria Bamford Show there were a lot of guys and I was so happy. And then motley shows you were. We have a bunch of stand up shows at Mollie's in Faneuil Hall. It was one of the first times where there was like entire tables of college aged white guys in their caps who were like Lady comedian groupies like they were kind of like embarrassed to talk to us after the show it was so weird really really funny it was like oh my god. I think women comics offer an insight into women's lives and I think men want to know that that's my fake on it. OK I agree. I mean we've been talking about the women in comedy festival with Michelle Barbera and Maria Ciampa thank you ladies very much. Thank you. They are both comedians and Co producers of the women in comedy festival which runs from March 9th through 13th in Boston. This year's headliners include sketch duo Kristen Schaal and Kurt brow. Now Laura if I'm pronouncing that right and stand up comedians Rachel

Dratch Jen Kirkman and Morgan Murphy to learn more visit our website or log on to women in comedy festival dot com. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. This is the Cali coffee show where production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station for news and culture.