New In The Phoenix -- Low-Profile Council Race

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I look at the 2011 Boston City Council election, now that the field is pretty much set. What happens if they hold an election, and nobody notices?

Four years ago, when Boston last voted for City Council but not mayor, less than 14% of the Boston electorate bothered to show up. With no city-wide preliminary election (again), and little money in the race, this year is likely to be no different.

And as a result, candidates will target only that tiny fraction of "supervoters" -- further ensuring that the rest of the city doesn't even notice it's an election year.

It's a shame, because the Council seems more relevant than it has in a long time, there are interesting candidates, and the city keeps changing in exciting ways -- yet the Council is likely to end up looking less like Boston than it has in years.

Read it here -- Quiet Fight: What happens if they hold a city election and nobody notices?