Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn (District 2) and Michelle Wu (at-large) requested a hearing regarding ways to promote achieving an accurate count for Boston’s 2020 Census. “The census not only dictates how many elected congressional members we have,”said Councilor Flynn, “but, even more importantly than that, it determines the federal resources that come into a Read More…
The 2019 City of Boston Municipal Election took place on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 to elect councilors for each of the nine districts and four citywide At-Large councilors. The votes are in and the fourth at-large seat is separated by only 10 votes. The three elected at-large councilors are Michelle Wu (41,616 votes; 20.71%), Annissa Read More…
Boston City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George is looking to create a special commission to end family homelessness in the city of Boston and requested a hearing regarding this ordinance to create the commission. “Our city is experiencing a housing and displacement crisis,” she said. “There is an urgent need to help this vulnerable population.” According Read More…
City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George wants to create a new forensics lab for the Boston Police Department. “There is a grave and depressing need for a new and improved crime lab in the city,” she said during a recent city council meeting. The police department currently has a forensics lab at the BPD Headquarters in Read More…
The Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell is calling for the creation of an Inspector General (IG) position for city government after corruption scandals. At the beginning of the month John Lynch, who used to work with the Boston Development and Planning Agency, pleaded guilty to taking a $50,000 bribe. Also, in July, two aides Read More…
Councilor Ed Flynn requested a hearing about pedestrian safety and pedestrian crossing signals at a recent city council meeting. “I want to make sure our roads and sidewalks are as safe as they can be,” he said. Last week two pedestrians were struck by a van in Fort Point, and one of them passed away Read More…
City Councilor Lydia Edwards gave a community update on February 14th to the North End / Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA). Follow along with the above video and this summary timeline. (00:50) Community Preservation Act – The senior affordable housing at Knights of Columbus Hall and flooding mitigation at Langone Park were two of 56 projects Read More…
During a hearing this week, Boston city councilors discussed how to allow early voting in municipal elections, similar to state elections. The overriding goal is to boost voter turnout in city contests. According to Councilor Josh Zakim, only 28 percent of voters showed up at the polls in the 2017 municipal election. However, residents were allowed Read More…
The Boston City Council held a hearing earlier this week about non-citizens voting in municipal elections that caused much controversy among residents. The councilors received many phone calls and emails, often bordering on anti-immigrant or hateful. “Much of it has been very nasty and negative, which is disheartening,” said Councilor Kim Janey. “It’s disheartening that people Read More…
City Councilors Michelle Wu, Kim Janey and Lydia Edwards filed legislation to remove as-of-right designations for chain stores in Boston’s neighborhood business districts. The proposal, entered at today’s Council meeting, would amend the City of Boston’s Zoning Code to regulate formula retail uses, also known as chain stores, and require a conditional use permit for Read More…
Boston city councilors are looking to start charging for residential parking stickers, saying that the current parking system is broken because the city currently issues many more parking stickers than actual spaces. Councilor at-large, Michelle Wu, expressed frustration over the unlimited residential parking stickers the city hands out despite the fact that several neighbors have Read More…
The Boston City Council voted 11-2 on Wednesday to regulate short-term rentals (i.e., AirBnb, Homeaway, VRBO, etc.), supporting a bill close to the Mayor Walsh’s amended guidelines. The ordinance bans short-term rentals from non-owner occupied buildings, eliminating investor units and absentee Airbnb landlords. Owner-occupants may continue to list their own unit, a part of their unit or Read More…