Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch goes on a walking tour of his neighborhood to finally reach out to the local Asian community

– News about Quincy Massachusetts covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added

Is the End Time near?
A cutewallpaper.org image

After almost fifteen years in office which has included all manner of rocky episodes with the local Asian communities as well as with other local communities of people of color, Quincy Mayor Koch recently scored himself a surely carefully staged video photo op care of his taking a walk through apparently mostly but his neighborhood in North Quincy.

The video op was care of a walk and talk tour of local and mostly North Quincy Asian businesses hosted by the Asian Business Empowerment Council for the edification of (all but entirely Caucasian, ed.) local officials.

Piling it higher and deeper
Image via the San Jose Mercury News

In turn, given that Mayor Thomas P. Koch is surely planning to run for run for reelection next year, he thus had no choice but hit the bricks so as to endeavor to shovel it to a segment of locals with long memories whom he has not exactly put at the top of his list.

For but one example among many, City of Quincy employees as well as local officials have much remained steady at pretty much 95% Caucasian as well as largely male outside of teaching ranks during Mayor Koch’s time in office. 

That and lousy with Mayor Koch’s family members and all manner of friends.

Making change happen at the ballot box
An old photo

Granted, local Asians are not known for voting; however, if they both did vote at but the average level of registered voters voting statewide in Massachusetts as well as for the most part voted for a challenger to Koch’s imperial mayoralty, they could change the tide.

How big a sea change?  A contender such as the 2019 protest candidate who ran against Mayor Koch in 2019 but who did not either actively campaign or spend anything more than filing fees could conceivably win in a walk in a race against Quincy’s longtime peerless mayor.

In turn, all but assuredly hence Mayor Koch’s going along with the staged walking tour as well as so also strive to make lemonade out of lemons.

In any event, his so swinging by an Asian restaurant during his walking tour but a few blocks away from his home makes for an oh so delicious as well as snarky opportunity given his profile.

Dining on other people’s money
ThePeoplesVoice.org graphic image

Especially as given years of monitoring Mayor Koch’s campaign fund expenditures, Quincy Quarry’s campaign finance desk cannot recall any instance among the all but innumerable times the mayor relied on his campaign fund to pick up the check at his campaign planning meeting featuring a meal when his hizzoner has ever opted to dine at any of Quincy’s many as well as diverse Asian restaurants.

So what also, apparently, for the fact that Mayor Koch’s residence is but a few blocks away from many an attractively pride Asian cuisine restaurant featuring tasty offerings for dining in or to pick up some takeout without having to deal with ever worsening local traffic congestion as well as also conversely evermore scarce available parking.

Nixon could use chopsticks.  Can Koch?
An old photo

Further, per a summary review of Mayor Koch all but innumerable photographs as well as a Google search, nowhere could he so be found using his short and pudgy fingers working a pair of chopsticks. 

Then again, chopsticks are not exactly ideal for powering down chow.

In any event, there is something to be said for Mayor Koch getting out and about for a walk even if he was largely surrounded by a phalanx all but exclusively white coatholders.

Coatholders wearing florescent coats
An old Facebook photo

The reason for a plain clothes praetorian guard?

Perchance it was given that Quincy Mayor Koch has a checkered history with local minority communities.

His problems with the Asian community go back to his long but only properly unsuccessful campaign to stop a Chinese supermarket from opening up shop in his part of the Q, if not even longer.  After an extended run of litigation and other, the court told the Koch Machine to basically pound sand and see the supermarket permitted post haste or else.

Checking for hanging chads
A 2000 election Free Republic image

Quincy has also been subject to multiple rounds of federal election monitors from the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division as well as independent observers on hand in recent years to make “… sure the (local, ed.) polls are accessible to the city’s large Asian population. 

While, admittedly, the Civil Rights Division did not formally find problems with how the City of Quincy operated its voting places during the feds’ three monitoring of local elections, the required advance notice that federal election monitors are coming to observe a local election does provide local officials with a chance to endeavor to mitigate any problematic local election practices.

Koch also has been raked over the coals by the Boston broadsheet over his calling Black Lives Matter protesters “animals” and thugs and was so only properly-called into question his fitness to service in office.

Moreover, on an ongoing basis and as noted above, city employees have stayed pretty much rock solid stead at roughly 95% Caucasian during Mayor Koch’s just short of fifteen years in office. 

At the Quincy Police Department, we’re family!
Image via the City of Quincy

Key to the far from diverse make-up of those dining at the city’s trough includes that maintaining the status quo is helped along by city’s hiring practices, practices which include the controversial hiring of both one of Mayor Koch’s nephews and whose father was also then as well as still is the Chief of the Quincy Police as well as another applicant who is the son of the chief’s senior police captain and thus de facto Deputy Chief of Police.

Not only were these hirings found to have been in violation of applicable Massachusetts Civil Service rules and regulations, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission later found that the subsequent hiring of the mayor’s eldest son as a Quincy Police officer was also done in violation of applicable regulations. 

Among the various problematic actions undertaken to grease the hiring of the mayor’s son, the mayor’s previously hired as a police officer nephew in ways in violation of Civil Service regulations was on the selection committee that recommended the hiring of Koch’s son.

Riot Police
A Ben Margot/AP-photo

Clear problems notwithstanding, Mayor Koch did score a video clip during this photo op of a longtime local Asian restaurant owner saying that (while, ed.) he was happy to be operating in Quincy, he would like to see instituted as “… more police power.”

At the same time, however, given this immigrant restaurateur’s less than fluid English speaking skills, it was unclear if he meant just more police on the arguably ever-increasingly mean streets of Quincy or if he might perhaps just appreciate seeing more police officers who could speak his first language as well as perhaps also the not English first languages of other locals. 

In any event, Quincy Quarry News has no information as to any possible information on the restaurateur’s concerns as regards local police hiring practices.

In the meanwhile, however, the Quincy Police Department only has around but a handful of Asian police officers and no more than few others more who can speak a foreign language and/or are of color. 

Source: Asian business owners in Quincy host walking tour with local leaders to express concerns

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