— News about Quincy from Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

Allow me to explain.  There is no problem.
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Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch refuses to establish a Social Justice and Equity Department.

In a gobsmacking move that can only underscore all manner of previous criticisms by Quincy Quarry News as only to be expected, but also the Boston Globe, and even the usually docile Patriot Ledger, Mayor Koch has unilaterally announced that he does not believe that he needs to abide by the City Council’s recommendation to establish a City of Quincy Department of Social Justice and Equity.

Instead, Mayor Koch claims that the council’s formal recommendation could be fulfilled with the hiring of more staff under his direct control and some reassigning of current staff. 

Then again, such was only reasonable to expect as Mayor Koch’s standard response to almost everything is to hire more people, usually a lot of them as well as beholden to him.

There are always openings at the DPW …
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

At the same time, however, it is hard to imagine that he still has any friends are still in need of a job at the public trough. 

Then again, political favors are surely due and payable and the bill often entails hiring an otherwise all but unemployable relative of a chit holder.

The bigger problem, however, as well as again, is that in this instance is that Mayor Koch has been pointedly criticized for his racial insensitivity, a long track record of ill-advised statements on both racial and gender matters, and an arguably woeful lack of duly undertaking appropriate actions on racial matters.

The new Yakoo is still a Red Raider …
Image via the City of Quincy

That and how Quincy Quarry is behooved to add that the City of Quincy employee roster has been pretty much stuck at around 95% Caucasian during the thirteen-year era of the Koch Machine even if Quincy has even longer been a diverse community as well as is becoming even more so.

At the same time, Quincy Quarry News must note that it did not feel that the City Council’s formal proposal was sufficient.

Nowhere near sufficient even as but merely a first small step on what is unarguably a long ways to go.

City of Quincy commission members
Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures pic

On a generic level, the Quarry is not a fan of impaneling a special commission to address a problem and then declare victory soon thereafter over whatever even though far more often than not that nothing really happens, if not also that the underlying problem often instead only becomes even worse.

And for a granular example in this local instance, during the council’s public hearing on its proposal, testimony offered not only included comments on matters racial but also purported examples of civil rights violations and such by committed by command officers which were not racial in nature but still running roughshod nonetheless.

Quincy Police Chief and mayoral brother-in-law Paul “The Beav” Keenan
A City of Quincy headshot

Accordingly, Quincy Quarry would prefer to see that the likely only proper way to go would be to go with an independent civilian police oversight board and so removes control over the police department from Mayor Koch as it is headed by one of the mayor’s brothers-in-law. 

Then again, within the whole of the CIty of Quincy operations, there are a number of Koch family members with many in supervisory positions throughout the City of Quincy’s operations as well as throwing their weight around in ways typically corpulent well above their job descriptions. 

Accordingly, it is only logical to further suggest that a number of other independent oversight boards could be seen as in order.

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