WELCOME TO MARTYLAND.

Photo Credit: The Boston Herald. Mart Walsh and Mayoral Opponent John Connolly in 2013.

There is a long history of favorite sons in politics and government. JFK is still revered as a saint by many in Massachusetts. Lincoln is revered in Illinois. Reagan is revered by many in California. Boston's current favorite son is Marty Walsh, elected mayor in 2013. Marty has the neighborhood roots and the accent, which won the hearts of predecessor Menino's diehard fans.

Marty Walsh won his race on the backs of labor unions. Steelworkers, pipefitters and the like. My own Dorchester street was canvassed several times by jovially aggressive union members. One election day, a pair of ironworkers banged loudly on my front door with meaty fists, and one asked me, "Did you vote for Marty Walsh?" The question was phrased with that familiar undertone of a schoolyard bully. I told him that I live in a country that esteems the secret ballot. In other words, "None of your damn business." He retreated off my porch quickly with an apology.

Marty has been traveling abroad to make trade overtures in foreign lands. Marty has courted the Olympics Committee for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Marty has been tough with the casino crowd who were voted out of Boston into the welcoming arms of abutting suburbs. Despite all the progressive press, nothing much has changed in Marty's native Dorchester since he took office. And, as I get better acquainted with Marty's supporters, I see that Marty and the people who like him here in Dorchester prefer it that way.

I belong to the local civic association in my Dorchester neighborhood. I go to the monthly meetings. I listen thoughtfully. I pay my dues. I vote on issues of real estate development and street signs. These votes frankly don't mean much, but you wouldn't know it from all the arguing and constant assertion of Dorchester provenance by those who feel that living in a rundown neighborhood for decades is a badge of honor and bestows veto power on inevitable social change.

The most amusingly strident voices are those of the few elderly residents who regularly assert their self-bestowed privilege as landlords. When the topic of posted street cleaning comes up, for instance, they vociferously protest on the grounds that they would be burdened by having to park on a different side of the street four hours a week to make way for the street sweeper. This protest rings hollow in a neighborhood where many three-deckers have underutilized and unrepaired driveways. This is never raised by the association's board, who tend to become stoically silent while these rants erupt.

The same crowd, living off high Boston rents, cry that they will be financially victimized if street cleaning or permit parking were to be adopted in the neighborhood. They would get tickets for stubbornly not moving their cars for street cleaning. They might lose a tenant who illegally keeps a car in the neighborhood without properly registering it from his home address. Really terrible burdens.

But these are the prevailing attitudes of the Old Guard here in Martyland. When a developer comes before our association with a nifty condominium plan for a currently derelict warehouse all hell predictably breaks loose. This isn't all NIMBY, mind you. No, in fact it is anti-NIMBY. In a recent case, the Old Guard expressed outraged concern that an auto body shop might be harassed by new condo owners down the street. Mercy! Imagine: Condo buyers who would be paying for a $450K unit in a building which has improved the neighborhood and widened the tax base might dare to be offended by lead paint fumes. The Old Guard are not Greenpeace-oriented, to say the least.

Then there are the local lawyers. It is hard to tell where they are coming from at any particular moment. This is perhaps a professional handicap. Are they representing themselves as concerned neighbors? Are they representing themselves as voting members of an association where everyone has one vote? Or are they representing the businesses or individuals they are representing? Always hard to tell. But, man, can they blow hot air and dominate the floor until the final gavel.

The reps from the city council and city agencies are another group here in Martyland. I'm not sure if any of them actually live in Martyland, also known as Dorchester. Some seem downright frightened to be attending the civic association meeting. One city council aide stands for the whole meeting, which is sometimes two hours. She wears the same frozen expression throughout every meeting. Her answers to questions are short and not always on point. Noncommittal is her standard. Occasionally, we get the "I'll get back to you on that." brush-off from someone from the city. In bureaucrat speak, that means, "Don't hold your breath."

My top favorites here in Martyland are the police officers who attend our civic association. And I'm not being facetious. They are veterans and wear the faces of people who've seen it all...more than once. Their determination to come to a group of civilians with the harsh realities and statistics of urban crime is admirable. One officer couches the dreadful news in stand-up-comedy blandness. Another shows his utter frustration with the state of humanity. And another actually attempts to convey the tragedy of what he encounters. When confronted by citizens with complaints about slow 911 response, they can do little else but shrug. After all, the politicians have made it impossible for experienced police personnel to man phone lines or squad cars in sufficient numbers. They are busy using all that Homeland Security money for military surplus hardware.

I must admit that Martyland is more like a state of mind than a real place. After all, Dorchester has 160,000 Bostonians living in its many and varied neighborhoods. There are some universal aspects of the vast Dorchester acreage: Bad roads, traffic jams, junkies begging at stop lights, gang violence, bad public schools, etc.. But mostly, Martyland is a mental state of not wanting anything to change while espousing endless aspirations for social and economic development. It isn't much different from Meninoland or KevinWhiteland or JamesMichaelCurleyland. Boston politics simply are what they are, and, in a construction boom, they are governed by labor unions, developers and sports teams...not by earnest citizens who attend rather pointless civic association meetings. Politicians are wise enough to leave those folks to squabble among themselves while the big-money deals are made behind closed doors.