John Kerry Media Source

Watch the video here: http://www.jkmediasource.org/node/183 Massachusetts legislators held town hall meetings on the issue of healthcare reform throughout the congressional recess, and Senator Kerry chose Somerville as the site of his discussion with the community on this and other issues. The meeting was held at Somerville High School on September 2, hosted by Mayor Joe Curtatone and with Congressman Mike Capuano as the opening speaker. There were some lackluster boos from the back of the auditorium, but mostly hearty cheers and applause for legislators and citizen speakers alike. The line to attend the meeting started to form about three hours before the start of the event and the hall ended up being filled to capacity with an overflow area with video for those not in the auditorium also completely filled. As we filed in past the Somerville police officers providing security, we were handed cards with numbers on them and the Mayor selected numbers at random during the discussion period so that the audience could ask Senator Kerry questions. Members of Senator Kerry's staff also stood at tables outside the main hall with comment forms so that citizens could write down anything on any topic of concern to them and get them directly to the Senator's office. The Mayor and the City of Somerville organized and hosted the meeting in an atmosphere of order and civility and the discussion was spirited and thorough. The LaRouche brigade with their photos of the President as Hitler and their sad, unintelligible hymns and the energized, informed pro-reform demonstrators all exercised their right to freedom of speech in the parking area outside the auditorium and the citizens of Massachusetts attending the meeting had a good, solid, constructive discussion inside. We are deeply grateful to George Wood and City Cable of Somerville, MA for sending us their professional-quality video of this event with generosity and extreme speed so that we could share it with the online community and we are grateful to the Mayor and the City of Somerville for making real, substantive communication between citizens and their government possible.