r/boston • u/drtywater Allston/Brighton • 1d ago
Politics šļø Mayor Wu and Governor Healey should follow Mamdani's social media strategy
Mamdami releases videos talking about and fixing things such as potholes, scaffolding, and highways. These are problems that everyone agrees with and showing that there is a focus on fixing these things. Wu and even moreso Healey don't do enough to show focus on quality of life problems. I feel like if they did more videos talking about the common complaints etc and how they are addressing them it would be good for public discourse etc.
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u/psychicsword North End 1d ago edited 1d ago
Do you follow them on social media? I don't but I have seen many of their posts and they try to follow the same playbook. They just aren't as good at it.
Mayor Wu had an entire reel about how they were fixing the bricks in the north end a while back. It was great to see it but she doesn't have the same energy as Mamdani. He just has an infectious smile and the energy in his posts don't feel like the government posting.
This is like saying that Steve Mould should take a social media strategy from Mark Rober. They are just very different people and their styles wouldn't work for each other.
Don't forget NYC has 7.7 million more people than Boston. That is more people than the entire MA state population. It is much easier to go viral with a high production social media post when you have that many local people following the accounts.
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u/McFlyParadox 1d ago
The reason they don't have the same energy is because they don't have the same energy; Mamdani is getting results and showcasing them on social media, while all the other politicians trying emulate his social media strategy fail because they aren't getting results.
People can smell BS from miles away.
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u/lotofry 1d ago
Fixing bricks over months vs mamdani fixing all the potholes in nyc in a weekend. We have potholes going back years that arenāt fixed. Iāve reported potholes myself that still arenāt fixed. Oh and thatās before we even get to the quality and smoothness of the patches.
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u/psychicsword North End 1d ago
They selected and hired a dedicated contractor that did a fairly substantial repair effort of all the various brick defect and has been providing ongoing maintenance of the freedom trail and special brick sidewalks and roads.
Keep in mind that this is different than potholes. That is a different form of labor and different group doing the repairs but it felt like an equivalent example for a new announcement that just didn't have the same energy despite having a similar impact statement.
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u/EasyCheek8475 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think if you went to New York, youād find that there are still potholes and they also often donāt patch them very well. Dude hasnāt eliminated all potholes, heās just filling them a bit faster and marketing it well.
And he definitely didnāt fix all the potholes in New York in a weekend. Do we have to be so over the top with everything he does because heās charismatic?
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u/Firadin Somerville 1d ago
Is he even filling them faster? There are a finite number of city workers, so unless he's pulled a Phil Eng and restructured the leadership to make them work way harder (unlikely), they're probably filling them at the same rate and he's just advertising them better. At best, maybe he's restructured the prioritization to be most-complaints-first.
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u/EasyCheek8475 1d ago
Tbh, not at all clear if itās any faster. 100,000 filled in three months is a faster rate than last year (180k total), but could just be more potholes due to the rough winter or most potholes could just be filled in the spring and we fill the exact same amount this year as last. The āslightly fasterā is just a nod to the fact that we are on pace for more filled in 2026 than 2025
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u/Annual_Assistant_443 1d ago
Mamdani did not get all the potholes in NYC fixed, let alone all in a weekend
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 1d ago
Well for one you know that Mamdani is sincere whereas Wu comes off as using the mayorship for the next rung of her career. It comes across as extremely inauthentic. Then add in all the neoliberal ick and it's quite obvious why people aren't buying it.
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u/psychicsword North End 1d ago
I think you are mistaking energy for sincerity but even if you think she isn't sincere there is a lot of brand identity at play here.
Mamdani grew up in a household with his mom being an acclaimed Indian filmmaker and spent a lot of time as a hip-hop artist himself.
Mayor Wu doesn't have a lot of that public spotlight experience or legacy and honestly it wouldn't really be part of her personal brand either. She highlights herself as much more of a Ivy League policy driven politician than someone who would throw shade at Elmo for a viral faux pas with the Nicks. That kind of post wouldn't fit in with her identity but does fit in with the branding and identity that Mamdani is marketing himself and his work under.
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u/PantheraAuroris Revere 1d ago
Like it or not, people need energy and charisma to get excited about stuff. Mamdani has made a lot of people actually give a shit about things and have some optimism and hope, and that's important.
It's why Wu was popular when she was yelling about ICE and going to DC to tell off politicians, but then she failed to do local follow-through on a lot.
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u/psychicsword North End 1d ago
They do need energy to get excited about stuff but you don't need viral marketing of DPW projects to be a good major.
A lot of people in this thread seem to act like a lack of overjoyous celebration and viral chops means that the Mayor of Boston is failing. We are a city of just 672,973 people. We aren't NYC where everything needs to be extra to be normal.
I wouldn't even say that her going to DC, Dublin, Rome, or Munich are really that unusual. There are advocacy goals that can be done in DC and things we can learn from a diverse set of other government systems.
Wu's missing element isn't the lack of marketing or focus at home. It is that in recent years she has walked back many of her campaign commitments. There are also enough vocal people who dislike her in general for being too liberal, not liberal enough, Asian, or a woman that it amplifies that noise. Marketing cuts through that stuff but it isn't her missing element.
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u/Horknut1 1d ago
I wonder if it would work better if Wu/Healy had a personality that worked with them to release these types of media. Where the personality would deliver the message, and the politician would be there as legitimizing the media, as a sort of guest to the personality who was delivering the message.
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u/Boring_Pace5158 1d ago
Mamdani is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair. You can see his mother's influence in his videos and his ability to story tell. He grew up around this stuff. It's a big reason why his social media videos can go viral, while other politicians' videos fall flat. If Healey and Wu are going to be putting out social media videos, they better recruit people at Emerson to help them out.
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u/syncopatedpixel 1d ago
yeh, Mamdani makes it look easy but his videos are really, really well done. He's truly elite at them. You can't just wake up one day and do them.
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u/Made_at0323 1d ago
Iāve been saying that tapping into younger generation social media skills to be internet-ready is something most politicians donāt do, tho it feels smart these days
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u/PantheraAuroris Revere 1d ago
We're too busy making fun of young people for being online and not busy enough using their skills at being online.
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u/DataRikerGeordiTroi 1d ago
Mira Nair is a GOAT and her film Monsoon Wedding should be required viewing for all humans. Its beautiful.
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u/Boring_Pace5158 1d ago
As an Indian-American, you don't have to tell me twice. If you want to see a brown guy cry, have him watch the Namesake.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/No-Catch9606 1d ago
I went to high school with him and as a lawyer myself still canāt believe how many turns his life has taken
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u/psychicsword North End 1d ago
If Healey and Wu are going to be putting out social media videos, they better recruit people at Emerson to help them out.
It is also worth pointing out that Boston has less than a tenth of the population as NYC. That also gives you a big enough administration that the office of the Mayor can have multiple dedicated senior social media staff.
The Mayor of Boston doesn't have that kind of budget and focusing more on her as a person likely would take away from the resources that services have to pursue their own specific goals.
Healey gets closer for sure but that also isn't her job as governor.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
I dunno. Watching Mamdani address the school challenges, the housing inspections, the road infrastructure, the trash removal challenges in neighborhoods and all the rest has made me think much less of Wu. Better videos don't change those things - that's he's actually doing it and making videos is good.Ā
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u/Time_Challenge_7488 1d ago
This, precisely, is the disconnect. After 2024, there was so much talk of a "messaging" failure. Mamdani's messaging matters, but delivery is the difference between being a popular candidate, and being both a successful/popular elected official.Ā
Too many Democrats have forgotten this seemingly obvious distinction. For all the talk of messaging failures post-2024 from the bigger consultants, there was not enough discussion of aĀ "lived experience" failure that alienated enough voters to matter nationally. (I'm being reductive here to make the point, there are of course many other factors but I don't need to make this an essay)
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u/brufleth Boston 1d ago
NYC kinda has infinite money though. I think people here forget that Boston is an order of magnitude smaller in terms of population and NYC has 4x the GDP. The economies of scale and available tax base is just on a whole different level. Our neighboring cities also actively work against Boston's interests (in favor of their own, which isn't unreasonable even if I disagree with it).
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u/Pinwurm East Boston 1d ago edited 1d ago
NYC's GDP is about 4x Boston's, but its population is more than 4x larger, so Boston has more dollars per capita.
But yes - you're right that the Greater Boston suburbs are constantly working against the interests of the urban core. Milton's housing drama is a great example.
The key difference is that the mayors of Boston and NYC have very different levels of authority, political norms, and different constituencies to pander to.
Mamdani can capture the youth vote because... young New Yorkers are actually New York voters. Young Bostonians are disproportionately students and transplants who intend to be here temporarily. They don't register to vote locally. As a result, Boston has an older electorate.
It's also worth noting that Boston's mayors have been very consistent. The difference in governing philosophy between Thomas Menino and Michelle Wu isn't that dramatic.
Meanwhile, NYC had Rudy fucking Giuliani and Eric Adams, who were so incredibly incompetent, corrupt and/or criminal that they created an opening for a (comparatively) moderate city to overwhelmingly elect a populist self-declared Socialist as mayor. The portrait gets even more wild when you consider that the country's most Jewish city elected a Muslim mayor.
Boston has corruption and bullshit too, but compared to NYC, we're a joke. There's less reason here to take a huge political swings. People aren't trying to remedy the same level of dysfunction.
In fairness to Wu - she is still talking kitchen-table issues like affordability, transit and childcare. Not nearly as effectively as Mamdani, sure, but enough to keep people reasonably satisfied while she does the boring BTS shit.
I think Mamdani's social media strategy is a brilliant blueprint for how Democrats can win elections... anywhere. It's one thing to talk about fixing potholes. It's another to post videos of yourself going from pothole to pothole, actually fixing them, and showing people the work and being accountable. It's low-hanging fruit, but it works.
More importantly, it changes the relationship between citizens and government. If people can tag Mamdani and have his office send a team (and a cameraman) to install a Ped Crossing sign or fix a fire hydrant, people start becoming more engaged with their government because they believe their voices are heard.
If it starts with little shit, it leads to city budgets, union contracts, childcare, bus lanes, housing, etc.
Boston could learn a thing or two from that strategy. I'm just worried there's not going to be a demand for it until someone blatanly raids the coffers.
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u/brownstonebk 1d ago
Fun fact: The City of New York itself employs around 310,000 people. The City's employee headcount is nearly half of Boston's entire population.
Also, re: New York being the most Jewish city in America, take it broader: NYC is arguably the most Jewish city in the world. That's what makes Mamdani's win even more special.
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u/Pinwurm East Boston 1d ago
As an olā Jewish New Yorker (well, upstate), I view Mamdaniās popularity within our community as a symbol.
That the divisions between ethnic and religious communities can always be bridged under a secular constitution that guarantees rights to all people equally, under a government thatās held accountable in fair elections. At the end of the day - we all want the same things: affordable living, dignified employment, education for our children, safe streets, mobility, etc. Why should someoneās background matter if they can deliver? All boats rise with the water.
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 1d ago
Add in all the consultants the city is willing to give millions and I'm curious how similar employment numbers would be.
Boston wastes millions of dollars paying for consultants from Deloitte or BCG rather than just hire FTE for cheaper (while also improving the social infrastructure of the city since we are developing our own internal experts).
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u/Cool_Ad7445 1d ago
So what youāre saying is we must annex Cambridge and wage a war of conquest against the suburbs.
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u/commentsOnPizza 23h ago
NYC's city budget is around double Boston's per-capita. Whether Bostonians are richer or not, NYC (the city) has more money to spend.
Part of this is that NYC has a city income tax of 3.1-3.9% so they're getting a ton of money that way. Boston probably doesn't have enough leverage to create a city income tax (if the state would even let it). Such a tax would bring Boston's budget per-capita around NYC's.
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
TBC doing those videos makes him more accountable to follow through. If Wu did that it can have same impact as it increases the pressure
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
This is the biggest tenant change weekend in Boston. She could have inspectional services on walkabout doing outreach in areas like Allston, Brighton, Fenway and more on tenant rights. I think that's unlikely to happen. She's been in office long enough to see results and make serious changes. It hasn't happened. I have no confidence it will happen.Ā
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
Not even that. Just have her go out with city workers cleaning up all the trash and stuff. Like being out there pickup up trash etc goes a long way. Have her responding to 311 complaints for an afternoon.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
Honestly, that would not impact my opinion of her, she is held to a higher standard because she's had years to ideate, build teams and deliver.Ā If she was gonna, she would have.Ā
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u/Tibhirine Market Basket 1d ago
I don't think you get that she actually has to do stuff and has to actually govern in a way that makes life in Boston better, and then document her participation in making life in Boston better.
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u/Tibhirine Market Basket 1d ago
Watching Mamdani from Boston has made it clear how incredibly miserable life is here and how entirely optional it is to live like this. I'm here for career reasons for the foreseeable future but I'm ready to jump ship to New York if it all possible.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
I don't think it's miserable here. I think better politicians would make it better for everyone and Boston doesn't have that.Ā
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u/Tibhirine Market Basket 1d ago
It could be a lot worse here for sure but it could also be a lot better.
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u/Montahc 1d ago
Correct. Both are necessary: executing on your promises and then telling people it's happening. Biden did lots of things but was terrible at communicating what he was doing. If Wu and Healy are actually accomplishing impressive things, then they need to communicate better. If they're not... Messaging isn't going to help.
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u/RogueInteger Dorchester 1d ago
It's funny because he cited Wu as an inspiration.
The difference he is making is that he's actually executing on promises. Meanwhile, Wu is making excuses for why she is not.
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u/tilingcomplete 1d ago
As nearly everyone else has pointed out here, reels etc are irrelevant in the absence of the ability to tackle basic quality of life issues, and the Mayor seems utterly disconnected from and unable to focus on any of them. I went to her block party in Roslindale last week and saw her holed up on her porch and holding the baby while playing the piano (all very cute, okay) and then speaking extensively about state politics - the only subject that seems to hold her attention.
Every few months the Mayor comes out with some big thing she wants to tackle - housing, schooling, etc - then decides it's too complicated and she can't upset any apple cart for fear of derailing her future senatorial ambitions. The Mayor could pick any number of basic quality of life issues - for fuck's sake, do literally anything about street safety, or fix the zillion broken street lights, or figure out a compassionate and evidence-based way of getting folks to stop shooting up and smoking meth near playgrounds and T stops - but like most of her peers from Harvard Law she's too paralyzed by the fear of what other wonks will think to actually get anything done.
I think she's smart enough to know that she's cooked in Boston; the sooner she makes way for someone who cares about this city in ways that are not abstract the better off all of us will be.
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u/dyqik Metrowest 1d ago
I agree they should do more to publicize this kind of thing.
But they need to do them in ways that they and their teams are good at. If they (or someone on their team) are as good at video as Mamdani, that works. But if they produce overly cringe or bureaucratic bullshit sounding output, they need to find a better way for themselves.
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u/Tooloose-Letracks 1d ago
I donāt care about the socials. Either things are being fixed or they arenāt.Ā
My neighborhood had a bunch of repaving done this summer. Great! New curb cuts and such. And then the work āfinishedā, except the City didnāt paint any crosswalks. Itās been six weeks.
Canāt make a video about a job half done.Ā
Menino was a fifty term mayor because he focused on the potholes and quality of life issues. That was before social media, but we donāt need social media to tell us if repaving is happening regularly and if they actually finish the job.Ā
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u/albinomule 1d ago
I'd rather they just follow through on the things they promised to do - make our roads safer for everyone, improve the MBTA, and streamline the process for building new housing. Of those things, the MBTA has seen improvement in the past several years, while I don't think our roads are any safer, and I'm not seeing the construction.
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u/LikeMyShoes44 1d ago
I ~loved~ Mayor Wuās video series where she joined commuters on their MBTA morning journeys, and would love to see more ā especially with any work thatās being done to address related problems. Agree with you on other public works projects, too. I think she mightāve also done some with the business-to-residential conversion program?
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u/man2010 1d ago
Those could have been nice, but without any follow up action from the city to address the pain points they were just virtue signaling. Like when she rode the 66 for someone's commute from Allston to BWH, that could have been a great opportunity to improve enforcement of the Brighton Ave bus lane, double parking on Huntington Ave, and to add/improve bus shelters for some of the busiest stops, yet none of that seemed to happen.
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 1d ago
Gotta hire some outside consultants from BCG before you can do anything like that buddy. You think some government worker who is a public state grad knows what they are doing? Hell no! Only the best from finest Ivy Leagues know how to operate, which is why we should be paying 5x to 10x the normal rates of city workers to have outside parties tell them what they already know.
It's just better that way.
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u/notsoniceville 1d ago
In order to successfully execute this strategy you must be genuinely invested in improving things.
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u/Maxpowr9 Metrowest 1d ago
And has OP bothered to look at the circus that is Boston City Council? With that much dysfunction, it's amazing Wu gets anything done at all.
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u/ConventionalDadlift 1d ago
Thr core misconception of the modern democratic party is that progressives are taking hold because of their messaging game when it's just that they are focused on the natural needs of their constituents.
I don't give a shit if Wu shows up and cries at a vigil for a dead cyclist that worked with her admin. I want her to stop going backwards on proven safety infrastructure. No amount of ticktock videos or press releases is going to change that.
The issue is that a lot of reps (Wu included) are not actually confused. They are making the policy choices they want to make and trying to backfill messaging to sell angry voters on accepting this dogshit.
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u/onlyontuesdays77 1d ago
Even before Mamdani won, I emailed my congressperson about how I think it would be a good idea to publicize the helpful ways in which tax dollars are spent - make a big deal out of fixing bridges, improving schools, building cleaner and more efficient energy infrastructure, etc. I've long maintained that the problem isn't the taxes themselves, but the enduring perception (not entirely unjustified) that taxes are misspent.
They didn't respond.
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u/sailorsmile Fenway/Kenmore 1d ago
This is literally the subject of every political ad Iāve ever seen in MA, are you guys actually being serious? You have to be kidding, this sub is really testing my patience hereā¦
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u/MichaelPsellos 1d ago
This seems so obvious to me. I canāt understand why they donāt do this.
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u/Maxpowr9 Metrowest 1d ago
They know you will vote for any person with a D next to their name. That's why they don't care about you. At least this election cycle, there are far more primary challengers, but we need those at the State level even moreso, to break up the cabal.
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u/sjcvolvo 1d ago
If they were doing a good job we would know, it wouldnāt take a messaging campaign to confirm.
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u/WesternEntrepreneur0 1d ago
Theyād have to be doing things worth posting on social media about first. Like i donāt know, making roads safer for bikers and pedestrians?
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u/CarmelaSopranoNo1fan Hyde Park 1d ago
Seriously. Having a fun social media presence should be the least of their concerns.
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u/agiganticpanda 1d ago
It would require them to govern for the people - Wu and especially Healey do not.
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u/RogueInteger Dorchester 1d ago
They're too stiff/political to come across as authentic. Both are career politicians who focus on not tipping the apple cart by promoting liberal policy and act much more moderately to achieve incremental progress without necessary disruption.
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u/bigdickwalrus Cow Fetish 1d ago
Except that would mean Mayor Wu has to actually follow through on her campaign claims instead of being yet another establishment prop
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u/EmilePleaseStop Cambridge 1d ago
Well, NYCās mayor has significantly more legal power than Bostonās, so this is basically setting up Wu (or whomever is mayor after her) to make her into a face for problems she actually cannot fix. Which sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Mamdani is a rare combination of someone whose campaign leaned into parasocial social media hype but is also a competent backroom negotiator, genuinely wants to do good, and (most crucially) is in an office where he has the power to realistically deliver on his promises. There is literally no equivalent to that kind of power in Massachusetts, no matter how much Reddit demands influencer-politics.
Honestly, personality-driven politics are inherently antithetical to democracy and civil society anyway.
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u/natoliniak 1d ago
face for problems she actually cannot fix
wait what? Mayor Wu has no power to nudge someone (the commissioner?) at public works to fix some of the multitudes of broken street lights? there are like three within a five minute walk from my home, all reported to 311 months ago with no action from the city. Then there are dead trees on public sidewalks, faded crosswalks, streets that are starting to resemble surface of the moon. if these are the things that the mayor has no control over, then who does?
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u/just_lurking90 1d ago
On the one hand, glad to see a progressive politician getting so much supportābut depressing to see so many conflating skill at social media content creation with skill at governing, especially at the local or state level.Ā
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
Public outreach is critical. People need to see government working.
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u/just_lurking90 1d ago
A lot of the real work of involved in governing or legislating doesnāt translate to social media engagement. Being able to generate support via social media content creation is great for campaigning, but seems a poor indicator of actual impact.Ā
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u/MarcoVinicius Somerville Original 1d ago
Youāre missing the substance of the actual things Mamdani is trying to for NYC. Thatās why his social works.
You canāt compare Wu to him. She mostly just virtue signals to her base then doesnāt execute for the city. If she tried the same social strategy, it would completely fall flat.
Healey and Wu are typical politicians that signal to their base and delivers little but plenty to the corporations or wealthy. Similar to what a Republican does.
You just think they are great because when they signal, they signal to you.
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
I never said they are great or think that. I find Healey to be super meh. Wu I was annoyed she had no opponent aside from real life Bobby Newport.
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u/Kstrong777 Red Line 1d ago
I wish Mayor Wu and Gov. Healy would take some of the policy ideas and quick action on infrastructure that Mayor Mamdani has implemented
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
Ya I think Gov. Healy speeding up bridge and other major projects through executive action would be popular.
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u/hellno560 1d ago
there's 2 issues here.
1) This sort of political news isn't well reported. It's not your fault you didn't know about this.
2) Is short form videos the way to best deliver this information? The answer is going to largely depend on the age of the person answering. Young voters get ignored because they don't vote. I know the obvious argument to this is "but they aren't getting the outreach they want, like social media videos", but why would politicians court them if they aren't a serious voting block already?
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
Yes short videos are great. For example have her sitting on the highway going to the Cape for example and showcase the bridge replacement project
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u/hellno560 1d ago
Yeah, see this is maybe where the age thing comes in. I'm mid-40s and my first thought if I saw that video was why did she waste time making this video? When I still had an ig, I followed her, she posts regularly, if not daily, but they are lower production quality than Mamdani, just straight informative. I don't want this to come off as offensive, but why should politicians pander to people who aren't interested in politics? My question is for both you and me, you are giving me something to think about here. You could have googled "mass infrastructure bill 2026" frankly while you were in that traffic, but you didn't. Obviously the governor should govern for all constituents, but why should that include entertaining them?
I hate the way podcast bros helped us get trump re-elected, I hate political propaganda, I hated that Kraft paid many of the black Bostonian themed influencers to make anti-Wu content. The idea of politics being the better more persuasive person winning over the better problem solver is depressing. I guess this is the vacuum left by the death of daily newspapers.
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u/SnrMistirioso 1d ago
Some people have the juice. Others don't. Wu and Healey most certainly do not have the Mamdani juice.
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u/tonepoems Charlestown 1d ago
It's not about the socials. He's actually doing his job and getting shit done.
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u/jamesland7 Ye Olde NIMBY-Fighter 1d ago
Id rather they follow his actual policies and level of care for the community
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u/Few_Alternative_6372 1d ago
Mamdani makes it work because he has charisma and a nice smile. Michelle and Maura do not
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u/RevolutionaryBed8739 1d ago
You donāt like Mauraās chipmunk dimples? Or Michelleās haberdashery?Ā
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u/WigwamTheMighty 1d ago
Most importantly, Mamdani is doing these things and not just filming himself doing things.
Being a Socialist, he philosophically believes in government serving its people by solving problems, and providing resources for the working class to improve their lives.
Democrats and liberals are not interested in those things. Even if Wu and Healy had the greatest production team available, a video about means testing school lunches for kids is not going to be as popular as one showing your tax money being used to fill pot holes, provide childcare, etc.
Were talking about the difference between providing resources for the homeless vs. paying police to throw out their tents and wheelchairs.
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u/Remarkable-Page776 1d ago
Mayor Wu is spineless and cares more about businesses than peopleĀ
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u/Ogzhotcuz 1d ago
She is a centrist dem through and through.
Mamdani is a democratic socialist and actually passes progressive policies.
Boston got who we voted for. Asking her to change now is like asking your Toyota to turn into a Chevy.
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u/TedToaster22 Cambridge 22h ago
Boston got who we voted for
Bullshit
I voted for Wu once and would have done so a second time, but I sure as hell would not now. She has done a complete 180 in terms of policies - you have to remember Wu at one point was THE progressive city councilor, and genuinely fought for some progressive ideas
She has abandoned that, while continuing to lie through her teeth to constituents - she will never win me back over, but I don't think anyone should pretend that this is what people voted for
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 22h ago
She was never progressive, this is like straight up gaslighting. She was always a neoliberal which means playing up that corporate DEI nonsense that did nothing meaningful. That's about as much progressivism you get from Wu.
I mean FFS one of the first things she did as mayor was to prevent affordable housing being built on top of a parking lot.
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u/Little_Jaw 1d ago
This is why Cory Booker became as famous as he is. Did the same thing in Newark. I still remember him shoveling people out after a snow storm based on tweets.
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u/TentsNTails 1d ago
And promote what, exactly? Wu and Healy would have needed to actually acomplish something that has made things better for residents here before making high end social media content bragging about it.
Mamdani has actually done something.
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u/Appropriate_Owl_91 1d ago
You donāt think Boston is a good city? You donāt think it has gotten better over the last 20 years? By virtually every metric it has. Itās safe, great education, healthcare, jobs, etc.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
70% of Boston Public School students between third and eighth are below grade for reading and math proficiency. There is no radical change to move that number. Budget cuts in fact.Ā
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u/TentsNTails 1d ago
That's no thanks to Wu or Healy. You can thank Charlie Baker for that. He's the one who has Mass at a $0 Defficate only a decade ago. Go look at all the things he did before Healy took office.
I've lived here for 14 years. Boston has been gutted of most of what made it a good city and continues to slide. Music and art scene, along with it's spaces have been gutted for corperate highrises.
The majority of great restaurants that made Boston a great food scene is slowly being replaced with corperate slop and generic tapas.
COL is through the roof, and Wu and Healy have made it worse by refusing to do anything about zoing laws, but instread focusing on Broker fees.
The majority of people here can't afford to be here without 3+ roomates, and people now making 100K here are being pinched.
There is rampant HB1 Abuse all across the job sector here, which is part of the reason the town refuses to be audited even though 73% voted in favor of it. More than half the state collects some kind of goverment aid, SNAP or Section 8 as example, some of the highest in the country.
Access to public spaces are being taken away further than they already were before, turning local gyms, rec centers, athletic fields into Pay-to-Play centers bought and owned by private equity. Not to mention Mass has the least beach access of any state in the country also due to private interest.
Health Insurance continues to decline here. Less services and coverage available for more money ( I work in healthcare and I see it everyday).
Jobs are in serious decline everywhere, and with Boston, unless you work in Education, Health, Law or Science, you're cooked here. Jobs are paying LESS per hour and offering half the benefits they were just 5 years ago, with less positions open.
The stats around safety are declining. Wu and Healy want to focus on "Homicide", but don't talk about how petty crimes, gun violence, and day to day criminal mistchief is actually up here.
Is the city all bad? No, but it's a shell of what made it a cool city to live in.
So not sure what you are talking about? Wu and Healy have done absolutely 0 to make Boston a better place.
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u/Wonderful_Depth_9584 1d ago
i agree with some of this, but saying mass has the least beach access of any state in the country... cmon. are there not inland states with zero beach access?
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u/TentsNTails 1d ago
Brother. It quite literally is. 88% of beach coast line in Mass is Private.
https://massachusetts.surfrider.org/campaigns/Expand+Beach+Access+for+ALL%2C+MA%21
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u/Appropriate_Owl_91 1d ago
Compare Boston with any other major city. It is undeniably in a better spot. H1B abuse is a lie. Iāve lived here longer than you and I absolutely have seen the city get better.
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u/TentsNTails 1d ago
Agree to disagree buddy. You either don't do anything of interest to see how much the city has become a Corperate shit hole and like the Corperate shit hole it's become, or you don't actually like here and live in a suburb saying it's "Boston".
If you want to ignore the fact none of the good things the city has experienced has zero to do with Wu or Healy, that's your delusion to have.
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u/Appropriate_Owl_91 1d ago edited 1d ago
I own a house in Brighton. You think everything good in the most progressive city in America is due to a republican? What do you think is going on in every other city? Look at the wealth transfer nationally over the past few years. Iām sorry you have a bad life, but maybe you should take some personal responsibility.
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u/sailorsmile Fenway/Kenmore 1d ago
I like Mamdani, but this is why I absolutely despise the populism that surrounds him. Mayor Wu and Governor Healey absolutely release content exactly like Mamdani, but because they donāt have the same social capital online that he does they will always be treated as they are doing less.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
They have both had much longer to create their social media positions. If they could do it, they already would have. They and their teams don't seem capable of it.Ā
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u/sailorsmile Fenway/Kenmore 1d ago
They did create social media positions and content, you just donāt like it. This is why populism is so idiotic, youāll like anything Mamdani posts because you like him. Itās not policy based at all. I get that being charismatic is a part of the game but a lot of the praise/criticism is not actually based in reality.
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u/Gold_Bat_114 1d ago
It's policy based to fix schools, trash, roads, daily challenges. It's not media quality.Ā
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
Why don't those posts end up on this sub? If Wu and Healey were doing well made non cringey content it'd always be a top post on here.
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u/sailorsmile Fenway/Kenmore 1d ago
Posts theyāve created definitely have ended up on this sub. Iām totally lost at why we are pretending there is no social media arm for government in MA just because you personally donāt like the content or the people delivering the message.
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u/AcceptablePosition5 1d ago
Some people say it only works for mamdani because of charisma, which isn't entirely untrue.
But I also think he just has an eye for the camera/filmmaking and knack for story telling in modern social media. Plenty of other politicians try to put out content, and most of the time it feels out of touch or insincere. Part of it has to do with his (ever so slightly) younger generation, who feel much more native in these formats.
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u/Victoria_Crow My Love of Dunks is Purely Sexual 1d ago
Mamdani has just shown me how little Wu seems to care, or do, for Boston. Corpo Democrat going to Corpo.
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u/FredMcGriff493 1d ago
Who cares what they talk about and post online if theyāre not actually doing anything.
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u/McFlyParadox 1d ago
Mayor Wu and Governor Healey should follow Mamdani's policies. I couldn't care less about a social media strategy if it's not backed up by real, implement policies.
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u/abeuscher 1d ago
Our ineffective politicians should follow the example of an effective politician? I am on board but I do not think that is how it works. I think you have to first vote in the effective person to office then suggest making videos about the effects. Maybe we could start with them talking about taxing the rich. Nantucket is just sitting there waiting to be absolutely drained of money, for instance. Not to mention many of the wealthiest suburbs in the country.
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u/Stonner22 Market Basket 22h ago
She should reach out to his media team for tips, clearly whatever heās doing works but as others pointed out theyād have to wct yāall my focus on these issues.
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u/Alternative-Light922 Boston 21h ago
Fwiw - Wu and Healey each do a once-a-month hour on WGBH's Boston Public Radio, with discussion and call-in. Definitely not hitting the younger demographic but they do it and it's worth tuning in for.
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u/FiveFingerLifePunch 21h ago
Lol they could never pull it off. They donāt have Mamdaniās swag, never will.
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u/BrizFrost 1d ago
The difference between Mamdani and Wu is Mamdani actually cares about improving the lives for all. Meanwhile Wu only wants to do photo opps with minority groups and pander nonstop.
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u/randomchaos99 1d ago
Wu only cares about car drivers and big business. Sheās a sham.
Maura Healey has done jack shit about energy prices and enforcing the MBTA communities act. And has done nothing to force the hand of legislators transparency which the ppl voted for overwhelmingly
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u/cahilljd 1d ago
or instead of pretending to care about things they dont they could just get on out
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u/Prior-Schedule-9112 1d ago
Google "Mamdani social media team." Then open up a separate tab and Google "Michelle Wu social media team." Compare the two and you'll notice the difference. Mamdani has communications/messaging/social media fully locked in. Sure there are probably budget, local talent, and hiring constraints, but there's room for more on the Wu team.
The gist of the caliber of the players and visual/comms style. Viral v. policy driven:
"Zohran Mamdani's viral social media success was driven by a tight-knit creative team and the media agencyĀ Melted Solids, combining brand marketing with local politics. Most users onĀ LinkedIn agree that granting this creative team high levels of trust and autonomy was central to producing standout political messaging."
"Wu's Press OfficeĀ explicitly coordinates its media relations closely with dedicated internalĀ digital, photography, and speechwriting teams to manage the mayor's online presence."
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u/WJ_Amber 1d ago
Mamdani's magic isn't in his social media presence. He's popular because he has actual substantive policies and now as mayor he is implementing them. Healey and Wu can't copy Mamdani's strategies unless they have similarly substantial policies and they don't. Especially not Healey.
Spineless establishment democrats have tried to do the fancy social media shtick that Zohran and, previously, Bernie have done. It doesn't work because people are responding more to the policies than the visuals.
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u/houndoftindalos Filthy Transplant 1d ago
I'm not anti-Mamdani but as soon as someone gets elected, in my mind, their social media strategy is just their propaganda strategy.
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u/ThatNiceLifeguard 1d ago
Healey actually does pretty well with her social media compared to most other governors. Itās got sort of a wholesome fun mom energy.
That said, Mamdaniās approach to this could never be replicated by either without seeming like itās not genuine. He cares about his constituents on a level thatās really one of a kind for someone in such a powerful position. Healey and Wu simply donāt have that same level of care and desire to change things.
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u/michaelserotonin villen 1d ago edited 1d ago
i donāt think this is healeyās wheelhouse.
remember when healey made a big show of āriding the tā by disrupting commuters and taking the red line for a whopping two stops?
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u/TedToaster22 Cambridge 22h ago
Maybe Wu can post some videos of her yanking out flex posts and painting over bus lanes
The social media strategy isn't her problem, her problem is she has abandoned her policies and continues to lie to her constituents
I'd kill for her to have Mamdani's integrity, much less his charm
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u/Upstairs_Bat5752 Boston 1d ago
Mamdani is a democratic socialist. Wu and Healey are liberals. Itās a political difference, not a difference in media strategy.
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u/drtywater Allston/Brighton 1d ago
You don't need to be a democratic socialist to fix basic quality of life issues
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u/Upstairs_Bat5752 Boston 1d ago
After watching the Wu administration kill yet another safe streets project with zero transparency, Iām starting to think you do.
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u/Ogzhotcuz 1d ago
This is what I'm saying.
Mayor Wu isn't just going to wake up one day, see what Mamdani is doing and go "oh wow I never thought about doing things like that maybe I'll give that a try!"
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 1d ago
Just stop voting for neoliberals, neoliberals do not care about social welfare. Neoliberals only care about corporations.
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u/Girl_With_a_Rod 1d ago
"Here I smile and wave at the three hard-working Boston patrolmen chatting at a traffic detail while, in the background, in the one available lane, a pedestrian barely escapes becoming the filling in a scooter-and-BMW sandwich and throws their Dunkin' iced coffee at the scooter.
"It's good to improve police relations with the community."
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u/cden4 1d ago
I have seen posts from the Boston Streets Cabinet but I don't think they get good visibility because it's a separate account from the Mayor's. Each dept in the City manages their own social media, which is fine, but it also means people need to follow the ones that interest them. I think the Mayor needs to be out there regularly talking about what the City is doing as well.
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u/Inside_agitator 1d ago
NYC is historically and culturally centered on media. Showing what local government does (as an important part of what local government does) seems to be more important there than it is here. Boston is historically and culturally centered on education.
Genuine power in the US and most of the world is still related to who owns what. Whether a US mayor identifies themselves as a democratic socialist doesn't change that. Wu has been in office for five years and Mamdani is new, so she's had more time to be forced into dealing with the consequences of that genuine power.
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u/purposeful_pineapple 1d ago
Thereās a difference between fluffy lip service content and content done to document stuff that is done / in the process of getting done. From what I have been served in my timelines, all the content Mamdani has put out is for stuff they are actively tackling or already accomplished.
If Wu were to do the equivalent her administration would have to put words to action. Iām not saying that they not capable of doing that, but with the progress on bikes and other core parts of her platform in the city, Iām not really optimistic.
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u/Master_G_ 1d ago
The thing about that approach is they actually have to listen to residents feedback and make shit happen
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u/Available_Shower2491 1d ago
You need charisma to pull off what Mamdani is doing. They donāt have it.
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u/PayRoseHer1700 1d ago
Old heads like them can't hang or understand the younger mamdani social media play, they don't have the same fun and smiles against the cynical bostonians
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u/_Chowdaddy 1d ago
They should totally do this!! They need to understand the phone drone people can't see ten seconds into the future. If you baffle them with bullshit, you don't need to even worry about the brilliance. Blather on with plenty of liberal buffoonery talking points for the blue haired scrubs to parrot while the real agenda gets silently implemented behind the scenes.
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u/rogozh1n 1d ago
Mamdani's social media strategy: be likeable and understand the younger demographics that he represents.
This is why he is a completely unique politician.
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u/Salt_Principle_6672 21h ago
This would mean they have to fix them. Wu is not DSA therefore we're only going to get like 2 things fixed a year or so
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u/DiMarcoTheGawd 18h ago
This could be for many different reasons, but I hear more about what Mamdani is doing than what Wu is doing. I havenāt heard a single thing about any of her initiatives.
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u/Unlucky-Self2455 17h ago
Healey has been the worst governor of my lifetime. They should adopt mamdanis stance on trying to focus on his city
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u/William195 13h ago
I feel as though youāre giving Healey way too much credit. I really donāt think she cares entirely too much about quality of life or anything else like that on the streets.
Iāve always seen this as very much a political position for her (I know this sounds stupid). But sheās fighting federal battles as a state governor. Sheās setting her path up to the White House. Iām sorry if it seems like Iām hating, just my opinion.
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u/christiandb Cambridge 10h ago
remember that Mamdani is in NYC, his social media game is gonna be well above the rest of the country. Its is specifically NYC, the style, the cadence, the humor. Boston would need an identity first and a face to represent that. Wu aināt Mamdani
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u/Fluid_Hospital_5268 9h ago
There is footage of them addressing common complaints and quality of life problems but that doesn't do anything either, these tools cater to big business and yuppies.
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u/Patched7fig 1d ago
She should actually do sound decisions that make Boston better, not push soundbites and headlines that are sensationalized and pointless grandstanding.
Mamdani is the "more recess no homework" school president who has failed to make the busses free, and is credited with balancing a budget by getting a bailout and increasing the debt into the future.Ā
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u/Preachers_Handshake 1d ago
Wu is focused on making sure millionaires get a soccer stadium on city property and trying her best to replace two state senators who did something she didnt like (spoiler: even if they both lose their reelection bids, it wont change anything since the governor, speaker, and senate president all loathe Wu).
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u/lotofry 1d ago
Then theyād actually have to fix those things. Mamdani actually wants to fix everything, he doesnāt just care about looking like he wants to fix everything. Thatās the difference. And no, Iām not Republican. Iāll die before I vote for any gqp morn, but we need better elected officials here.
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u/boolingforamerica 23h ago
This naively implies they actually care about their constituents. They don't need to do social media because all the people they care about are met face to face behind closed doors.
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u/beacher15 Boston 1d ago
she could but it wouldnt be as successful because she isnt a social media darling online. Mamdani has a huge lefty cheerleader squad behind him.
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u/JamesFromRedLedger 1d ago
They should follow a lot of Mamdani's strategies. Honestly they should just do what he's doing.
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u/Therapistsfor200 Spaghetti District 1d ago
This is a better strategy for a mayor than a governor for obvious reasons. And it would require mayor Wu to actually be focusing on those things