Monday, July 13, 2009

The entrepreneurial candidate

A quick once-over of Boston's mayoral candidates' web sites reveals that only one of them offers products for cash. All ask for donations but only one offers product, a little something to hold in your hand for money out of your pocket. The rest is all vague promises without a souvenir of your civic engagement. Only one candidate offers tangible results for you contribution. If he starts out this way will he deliver in the end? If elected, let us hope so.
Sam Yoon (rhymes with 'soon' as in not soon enough) is selling an extensive fashion line that will have a shelf life that ends after the next election, unless he wins. Color choices are limited: white shirts with red and blue typography. With all the effort Mr. Yoon is putting into his campaign to unseat the incumbent, one would think he could hire a graphic designer to come up with a logo that has some visual oomph. Despite that, I like this shirt written in a smattering of the languages spoken around Boston. It says this is a candidate for many constiuencies. That seems to be his intent.
Yoon signs are all over my part of Dorchester. They aren't as thick as the Flaherty signs that seem to occupy every square inch of free space in Southie but it's a respectable showing. Not many McCrea signs, unfortunately, and this is the candidate who is a true entrepreneur, a businessman, and a successful one at that, a goo-goo from the get-go despite the hurdles City Hall has set in his path.
There are Menino signs in Dorchester too. There is one weatherbeaten sign tacked to the wall of the bottle redemption center just south of Grover's Corner on Dot Ave. They have a Yoon sign in the window, hedging thier bets.
It's early in the race and the horses are still just trotting up to the gate, loosening up. Is a Republican running? This time next year, I'll be wearing my Sam Yoon tee shirt whether he wins or not. It will be twenty dollars well spent on political paraphenalia that I can sell a few decades from now, lightly used only on special occasions.
No official endorsement yet from Whalehead King, for whatever that will be worth. I like McCrea but I think he has a snowball's chance at Castle Island in August. I like Yoon, for a number of reasons but none of them substantial. I have no opinion of Flaherty who, like the incumbent mayor, seems as much a symptom as the disease. As for the incumbent, sometimes you just have to say enough is enough. Even if you like the taste of it, you can have too much of the same old stuff. It's not good for the body and it's not good for the soul.
Here is a Dorchesterite commited to Yoon. Here is a song I don't agree with in this mayoral race. I think there is such a thing as enough, whatever good intentions make the paving stones in the road:

5 comments:

Jessica Secrist said...

I like the shirts too- even though they are really plain. I like what you have to say about the mayoral race. I've been following it myself, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who even knows there's an election. Personally, I like Sam- and ANYONE is better than Menino at this point. But I think Sam is a lot better than Menino- and for that matter, Flaherty too,

La Belle Esplanade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
La Belle Esplanade said...

The word "race seems a little too action-oriented for the campaign and its coverage. I think the incumbent will win. There's nothing like inertia to keep things moving along, but I do think a change would be good for the city overalll. I think Yoon is the most charismatic in the field. In the end, I suspect it will be Menino vs. Flaherty. The machine grinding its gears. Thanks for writing Jessica. Your vote counts

Adam Pieniazek said...

Looks like Flaherty sells shirts on his site too, though they're labeled as donations for shirts kind of thing...

La Belle Esplanade said...

I seem to have been looking at the wrong Flaherty site all this time. Ah well, I'll get the hang of this internet yet.

I've always disliked the idea of 'donating' for a reward. It gives selling a bad name. Thanks for looking into this, Adam.

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