From the Councilor: Construction Project Job Opportunities, Unpaid Property Taxes Forgiveness, East Boston Master Plan

October Newsletter from Lydia Edwards, City Councilor for District One (North End, Charlestown and East Boston)

This week, two important mobilizations came right to our doorstep at City Hall: a protest urging the U.S. Senate to oppose the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and a sendoff for a national caravan of activists fighting inhumane federal policies around Temporary Protected Status.

While I am proud to stand with people across our country urging accountability in the Supreme Court, the issue of Temporary Protected Status is close to home for residents of District One. Days before the sendoff, I hosted a briefing of individuals impacted by the Trump administration’s changes to Temporary Protected Status. People from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and other countries – members of our communities who fled dangerous social unrest, who have thrived and paid taxes in America — are suddenly being turned out by the Trump administration.

In many cases, this creates problems not only for individuals or their families, but also for Massachusetts businesses who rely on these workers.

With the outpouring of dark news from the federal government, I’m thrilled to see progress both at city hall and in the district. Our office is busy at work on a proposal to help certain low-income property owners repay back taxes. We’ve seen a flood of local applications for Community Preservation Act grants and are hopefully to see these funds flowing back to the district.

Master planning in East Boston has kicked off with hundreds of residents engaged across two council hearings and one BPDA open house. In Charlestown, we’ll be partnering with the Boston Housing Authority to bring the community an update on the Bunker Hill housing redevelopment, tentatively scheduled for October 18th.

And in the North End, I’ve been pleased to attend a series of cultural celebrations and a coffee hour with seniors at the Ausonia Apartments even as my staff are looking into accessibility and trash pick-up improvements for the district.

Thank you for your support and engagement. As always, contact my office if you need assistance with issues in District One!

Topics in this month’s newsletter include:

• More opportunities for women, people of color and Boston residents to work on construction projects.
• Forgiving unpaid property taxes.
• Ausonia Apartments coffee hour photos.
• East Boston Master Plan.
• Photos from the 1st annual Fall Block Party.

Read more about these topics and see upcoming community meetings in the full newsletter.