Hyde Park resident William Dorcena, the owner of a marketing business named CenaMaven and the brother of Dorchester state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, told the Reporter on Monday that he has formed a campaign committee and is jumping into this year’s City Council At-Large race.

“I’ve always thought about public service,” Dorcena said, adding that he will focus on public education, public safety and the economy as his top three issues. As the father of a young daughter, a taxpayer and a business owner, he said, he feels “I have to play a more pro-active role.”

Dorcena, like his sister, grew up in Uphams Corner and has been estranged from her for a number of years. Said Rep. Forry of her brother’s announcement: “He has not consulted me about his plans. As with anyone who decides to run for political office, I wish him well.” The representative, who has held the 12th Suffolk District seat since 2005, is married to Bill Forry, managing editor of the Reporter.
For his part, Dorcena declined to discuss family matters. “I definitely want to keep my family separate from political life,” he said.

All four city councillors at-large – John Connolly, Stephen Murphy, Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley – are up for reelection this year, as are the district councillors. Former City Councillor At-Large Michael Flaherty is weighing whether to jump into the race and reclaim a seat.

Dorcena, who helped the Reporter’s parent company, Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., start up the Boston Haitian Reporter and was appointed its first publisher, said he plans to win a seat through “good old-fashioned wearing out of the soles of my shoes,” adding that “it’s whoever works the hardest.”

In book, Gov. Patrick likens Dorchester to Chicago’s South Side

Dorchester gets a shout-out from Gov. Deval Patrick in his new book, in which the Milton Democrat likens the neighborhood to the South Side of Chicago where he grew up.

Recalling a visit to the Holland School, Patrick notes the diversity of the neighborhood and writes that Dorchester has “handsome Victorian homes owned by professionals surrounded by double- and triple-decker flats occupied by the working poor and barely middle class.” He adds: “Most of the people work hard and strive to better themselves, but the news is almost always about the gangs and the guns, and my visits there are as often to commiserate as to celebrate.”

The passages come from the chapter titled “In Defense of Idealism.”

Perhaps unable to distinguish between cynicism and reporters’ healthy – and necessary – skepticism of public officials, Patrick also takes general shots at the media. “The media and popular culture, reflecting their own limited vision, peddle cynicism like a drug, dulling the senses against hope and celebrating scornful indifference,” he writes.

That attitude did not prevent Patrick from hawking his book in sit-downs with reporters and Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” which has been accused, largely in humorless academic papers, of peddling cynicism.

The 227-page book, “A Reason to Believe,” is on sale in bookstores now.

Jackson to join forum on Boston’s future

City Councillor Tito Jackson and local activist George “Chip” Greenidge, who also serves as City Councillor Michael Ross’s chief of staff, will be among the panelists at a forum hosted by the nonprofit Future Boston Alliance and scheduled for next week. The focus will be on the city’s business climate.

The other panelists include Greg Selkoe, CEO of Karmaloop.com, Sal Boscarino of 6one7 Productions, Dave Ralph of Royale and Bowery Presents, and David Day, editor of the Weekly Dig. Dave Wedge, a longtime political reporter for the Boston Herald, is the moderator.

The April 21 session is scheduled for the Tower Auditorium at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design at 3:45 p.m.

An earlier, separate panel, at 2:30 p.m., will focus on the city’s “creative economy.” Panelists include Selkoe; Kofi Jones, the executive director of the Commonwealth Marketing Office; Jay Calderin of Boston Fashion Week; Sam Aquillano, the executive director of Design Museum Boston; Erik Molander, Boston University professor; and Lisa Gross, head of the Boston Tree Party, which is planning a citywide apple orchard. Joe Grafton, executive director of Somerville Local First, is the moderator.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Check out updates to Boston’s political scene at The Lit Drop, located at dotnews.com/litdrop