Weekly Transcript Round-Up: May 10, 2024
BPI Releases new Boston Poll; BPS offers few details on school building plan as School Cmte & Council deadlines loom; 3 makes a trend as parliamentary maneuvering used to end antisemitism fight
This week Boston Policy Institute, Inc released a poll that we commissioned from Social Sphere Inc, the polling firm led by Harvard Institute of Politics’s John Della Volpe. The poll asked 600 Bostonians about everything from whether the City was headed in the right direction to if they supported constructing new school buildings. WBZ-TV’s Jon Keller covered the poll and interviewed our Executive Director Gregory Maynard about it on a segment that ran Tuesday evening - watch a clip here and the whole segment on WBZ’s website:
This poll includes a lot of specific questions about the future of Boston, including quite a few issues that will be coming before the Council in the coming weeks. Read more from the Boston Herald about the tax hike question, and also coverage on Boston.com, the Dot Reporter, GBH, Commonwealth Beacon. Check out the slide deck that John Della Volpe put together analyzing the poll here, and the top line poll results here.
Outside of budget hearings there was some action at Wednesday’s Council meeting and School Committee meeting, and between the City Hall and outside groups over the budget:
The Wu administration clashed with two outside groups, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, over the administration’s proposed FY25 budget - read more about that plus what BPI’s poll says about the proposed tax hikes.
At this week’s School Committee BPS’ long-term facilities plan was presented again, in anticipation of a more detailed version being presented to the SC on May 22nd and to the Council on May 23rd - read more about that plus what BPI’s poll says about school construction.
BPI has a run-down of where in the transcript to find the Council’s fight over the multiple resolutions on anti-semitism that were offered this week - this is the third time this Council term that parliamentary maneuvering has been used by Council leadership to end debate on an issues, making it something to watch as the Council term continues.
This week’s budget hearings didn’t feature much that was new. Scroll to the end to check out this week’s hearings and links to the transcripts.
LTE’S, LETTERS, AND REPORTS FLY IN WIDENING DEBATE OVER FY25 BUDGET, BPI POLL SHOWS DIVIDED PUBLIC
This week the Wu administration clashed with two important Boston institutions over the FY25 budget:
Current Boston Housing Authority Administrator & former District 8 City Councilor Kenzie Bok wrote a letter to the Boston Globe to forcefully push back against a recent report from Boston Municipal Research Bureau calling for spending restraint;
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Council Ways & Means Committee calling for cuts to Mayor Wu’s FY25 Budget - read about it here.
The “taxing war of words” as one publication called it will be in a future Weekly Transcript Round-Up: a second hearing before the Council’s Government Operations Committee on Mayor Wu’s home rule petition to hike taxes on commercial real estate is scheduled for May 30 - check out the public notice here.
BPI polled Mayor Wu’s proposed tax hike - check out the results in the graphic above. Here is what pollster John Della Volpe had to say about the results:
While there is no clear consensus on the method to offset pandemic related lost tax revenue, voters do not see raising residential property taxes as a viable option.
The clashes between the Wu administration, BMRB, and the Chamber all center on the issues raised by BPI’s ‘The Fiscal Fallout of Boston’s Empty Offices’ which started the conversation about the impact that declining office values will have on Boston’s budget. While BPI’s report remains the only one produced by a local group about this set of issues another report from the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institute, reached similar conclusions about the impact declining office values would have on local budgets. TPC wrote:
Cities, counties, and other local governments have traditionally relied on property taxes as a substantial and stable revenue stream. But with remote work taking hold after the pandemic, studies suggest that the value of office buildings could fall by half in many cities. The question facing policymakers is not if this will affect local budgets but how bad will it get. [emphasis added]
SCHOOL CMTE HEARS ABOUT LONG-TERM FACILITIES PLAN, BPI POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR BUILDING NEW SCHOOLS, TEARING DOWN OLD ONES
On Wednesday night Boston Public School leadership gave an update on the long-term facilities plan to the School Committee. Here is what ‘Last Night at School Committee’ wrote about it:
The Superintendent’s team provided updates on current projects and gave historical context, noting that they would be investing in and creating thousands of high quality seats. However, the report did not include a long-term strategy nor any budget, enrollment projections, and timeline. School Committee members continued to point out the need for a long-term plan and strategy. The Superintendent will bring forward proposals at the next School Committee meeting.
The next SC meeting is on May 22nd, and the next day, May 23rd, the City Council is set to hear about BPS’ long-term facilities as part of BPS’ FY25 budget presentations.
BPS has 119 school buildings, most of which were built before World War II, and many of which are now partially or mostly empty, since BPS’ schools were built to serve a significantly larger number of children than are enrolled in BPS. How to replace those small, aging buildings with modern schools that can serve BPS’ declining number of students has been an issue Boston has tried and failed to solve for almost a decade. Mayor Marty Walsh attempted to enact the BuildBPS, a $1 billion ten year plan to replace Boston’s schools, but it failed in the face of opposition from parents and the Boston Teachers Union. BPS now has a capital plan that clocks in at $1.3 billion in 5 years - check out the BPS capital budget in the budget book on pages 480 to 516 - and while details still have not been released the cost is about the same as Mayor Walsh’s BuildBPS, plus inflation.
With the public opposition to BuildBPS in mind, BPI asked about school construction in our poll, and the results show that a solid majority of Boston residents support replacing old schools with new, larger ones. That should be encouraging for BPS leadership, which has talked a lot about building new schools, but not a lot about what happens to the old ones, and to the Wu administration, who could use proceeds from selling surplus BPS property to help stem Boston’s coming budget crunch.
The poll also showed just how small the number of residents in Boston who have children under 18 is, and how those parents’ views of BPS differ from the majority who do not have children under 18. BPS declining enrollment is partially a story of the overall decline in the number of children in Boston, but it is also a story of Boston’s parents opting out of the public school system. As the plan to spend more than a billion dollars replacing BPS aging schools comes into focus, it is clear from comments on the School Committee and the City Council that the system’s plan must address declining student enrollment.
Read the transcript for Wednesday night’s School Committee meeting here, and listen to the Shah Foundation’s ‘Last Night at School Committee’ episode on Wednesday’s meeting here.
THREE MAKES A TREND AS COUNCIL PRESIDENT AGAIN USES PARLIAMENTARY MANEUVER, THIS TIME TO END FIGHT OVER DUELING ANTISEMITISM RESOLUTIONS
The Boston City Council resisted taking action on a resolution about the on-going conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza for more than six months, but now has passed a resolution about the conflict at each of the last two regular Council meetings, one calling for a cease-fire and the other condemning antisemitism.
Last week the Council approved a resolution 11-2 calling for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas. The resolution’s approval was a major win for its author, District 7 City Council Tania Fernandes Anderson, who has been trying to get a version of the resolution passed since October 2023. The Boston Herald reported that while language accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide” was removed from the resolution, Jewish groups were disappointed the resolution failed to mention Hamas’ October 7 attack, which precipitated the on-going war. The Bay State Banner also reported on Jewish groups criticizing the resolution.
This week the Council appeared to respond to the criticism from Jewish groups, with not one but two resolutions condemning antisemitism:
One was offered by freshmen District 6 City Council Ben Weber - his resolution is Docket #0821 and can be found on pages 25 and 26 of the agenda packet. Discussion of this resolution starts at the 40:16 mark and he is Speaker 3 in the transcript.
The other was offered by District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn - his resolution is Docket #0822 and can be found on page 27 of the agenda packet. Discussion of this resolution starts at the 1:05:22 mark and he is Speaker 6 in the transcript.
The debate over the resolutions starts just before Councilor Flynn starts talking, when this exchange occurs:
The whole exchange between Councilor Flynn, Councilor Weber, Council President & At-Large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune and City Clerk Alex Geourntas lasts less than five minutes - Council President Louijeune is Speaker 0 and Clerk Geourntas is Speaker 1 in the transcript. The Council President and Clerk’s use of Rule 15 marks the third time that high-profile parliamentary maneuvers have impacted a major issue this Council term:
The adoption of the $13M anti-terror grant was objected to and sent to committee by At-Large Councilors Erin Murphy and Julia Meija, and the next week was pulled out of green sheets by Ways & Means Chair and District 4 City Councilor Brian Worrell and passed - with a significant number of Councilors switching their votes - without that hearing - read more about that in the Feburary 2nd WTR; and
A resolution about the Sundays for All program from Councilor Flynn and Councilor Murphy was objected to and sent to committee by District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan, and that hearing was scheduled and then canceled by Education Committee Chair and At-Large Councilor Henry Santana - read more about that in the March 15th WTR.
Both of these earlier examples, plus the latest example this week, were carried out by the Council’s leadership: Council Vice President and Ways & Means Chair; the Council’s Education Chair; and now the Council President. Each time, the rules were used to prevent further debate, and in two of three cases to end discussion of the issue entirely.
As the saying goes: Two Is A Coincidence, Three Is A Trend. This is a trend that BPI is going to continue to monitor as the Council term continues.
WEEK 3 BUDGET HEARINGS
Here are the budget hearings from this past week:
The Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Cabinet took both the 10 AM slot for Licensing and Tourism - read the transcript here - and 2 PM slot for the remaining office - read the transcript here - on Monday;
Boston Centers for Youth & Families and the Boston Public Library in Tuesday’s 10 AM slot - read the transcript here;
Department of Innovation & Technology in Thursday’s 10 AM slot- read the transcript here; and
The most anticipated hearing of the week was the Planning Department, which was in Tuesday’s 2 PM slot - read the transcript here. It was the first time a budget hearing for a City of Boston Planning Department has been held in more than 60 years. Despite the anticipation for the hearing at BPI, it did not produce any news. Instead the hearing featured rehashed conversations about the ongoing Article 80 reform process and community involvement in planning from the ordinance hearings that created the Planning Department earlier this year.
Is there something you are watching for in a budget hearing either this week or in the coming weeks? Email BPI at info@bostonpolicyinstitute.org to let us know!
Boston Policy Institute, Inc is working to improve the public conversation - help us by following BPI on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and LinkedIn.