GREEN SHEETS: Preview of 07/08/26 Boston City Council Meeting
Council has communications, resolutions, and hearing orders about violence after deadly July 4th weekend and BPS after hundreds of layoffs were announced
There are 2 big policy issues that are going to dominate today’s Council meeting: the violence over July 4th weekend and layoffs at Boston Public Schools.
A very violent July 4th weekend has attracted a lot of attention in the press and in this week’s Council agenda and seen Boston repeat a pattern seen a number of times over the past several years. Rather than engage in the complicated and uncomfortable conversations about how to deal with violence and public disorder, leaders argue about whether or not Boston is the safety major city in America.
That argument is a safe harbor for both the administration and its critics because it allows them to avoid answering more detailed and actionable questions:
Do Boston’s anti-violence programs still meet the definition of “focused deterrence”?
How effective are the City’s efforts to deal with homelessness and public drug use?
How does the Boston Police Department determine minimum staffing requirements?
What are the budget implications of recruiting and employing enough sworn officers for BPD not to be “understaffed”?
There is another other policy conversation happening this week is Boston Public Schools’ announcement it is eliminating ~570 positions - read more in the Globe and Herald.
At first blush that is far more than the “300 to 400 positions” range that administration officials have been saying since December - BPS CFO David Bloom is Speaker 33 & starts at 2:47:06 mark. However, the details in this Boston.com article appear to show that layoffs will end up in that range. Here is the math:
368 tenured BTU positions have been eliminated, of which 311 have been placed into other permanent positions and the remaining 57 will be hired or placed into permanent positions by the end of the summer.
512 non-tenured BTU educators were issued non-renewal notices, of which 65 have been rehired and 52 will be rehired.
That leaves 0 tenured BTU staff and 395 non-tenured BTU educations without a job, at the top end of the Wu administration’s “300 to 400 positions” range. These layoffs aren’t the only employees that the district expects to see leave: the City’s FTE projections for 1/1/27 show BPS with 421 fewer FTE positions than in 1/1/26, the first time in Mayor Wu’s tenure that the total number of BPS employees will shrink year-over-year - find this on p. 65.
In this preview there will be the docket number, along with the page numbers and a short description of the docket. You can follow along in the agenda packet:
First up is “COMMUNICATIONS FROM HER HONOR, THE MAYOR,” which are items being sent to the Council by the Mayor that will see follow-up hearings before being voted on by the Council.
Docket #1311 (p. 10-12) is a request for Council approval to spend $5M for “a feasibility study and schematic design” for the new Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. This is the first tranche of spending since building a new Madison Park was accepted by the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) Core Program - the program that provides state aid for new public school construction - back in 2025.
This is not the first time that Boston has spent millions of dollars on feasibility and schematic design for Madison Park: in 2024 Boston worked on a plan to rebuild the school on its own dime, before deciding to submit the project for state aid in 2025. That 2024 work found the new Madison Park would cost north of $700M, a cost estimate that prompted City officials to apply for state aid instead. This 2024 work also appears to be what City officials relied on earlier this year when they cited the potential use of P-3 for a new Madison Park as the motivation behind cancelling HYM/MCAP’s plans to redevelop P-3.
City officials have claimed that some of the 2024 work can be used in the new process, but those claims have always been suspect because the MSBA has a very strict set of rules and timelines that the old work likely doeesn’t comply with. When the hearing on this docket occurs, Councilors should demand City officials explain exactly how much - or how little - of the millions of dollars in work done in 2024 will be used in this new 2026 process.
Docket #1312 (p. 13-15) is a request for Council approval to spend $850k for a different set of feasibility study and schematic design work for projects accepted into MSBA’s Accelerated Repair Program. The schools and ARP projects are:
Boston Adult Academy - Roof
Joseph J. Hurley School - Roof
Ellis Mendell Elementary School - Windows/Doors
Joyce Kilmer K-8 School - Windows/Doors
Lyon Upper 9-12 School - Windows/Doors
While the cost for these projects is far lower than the cost for Madison Park, they are still consequential. That’s because schools that get state aid through ARP cannot be used for non-educational purposes or sold for the lifetime of the repair.
That means as BPS shrinks its footprint from more than 100 school buildings to about 90, these school buildings - and dozens of others that have gone through ARP - cannot be permanently closed or sold.
Docket #1313 (p. 16-17) is a request for Council approval of an unusual $8.5k gift from the Friends of the Boston Park Rangers Mounted Unit, which will go to Parks & Rec for use by the Boston Park Rangers’ Mounted Unit: a Percheron Gelding Horse.
Dockets #1314 (p. 18-19) & #1315 (p. 20-21) are requests for the Council to confirm 2 new mayoral appointments to the Highland Park Architectural Conservation District for neighborhood member slots with terms ending 6/30/28: Jessica Carless and Seth McCoy.
Docket #1316 (p. 22-23) is a request for the Council to confirm a new mayoral appointment to the Boston Planning & Development Agency Board for a term ending 08/15/29: Felicia Jaques. She is being appointed to replace Ted Landsmark, a legendary figure in Boston civic life who retired from the BPDA board after 12 years back in March. That means that for the first time a majority of the board - 3 of 5 - will be people first appointed by Wu. That leaves 1 board member who was appointed by Mayor Walsh, and 1 board member who was appointed by Governor Healey during Mayor Wu’s tenure.
Jacques is an experienced affordable housing developer who worked for Community Builders, Inc before joining Maloney Development, and is the 3rd new appointment that Wu has made to the BPDA board.
Docket #1317 (p. 24-41) is a response to a 17F order filed by Councilor Murphy about City Hall’s efforts to address drink spiking, but there is virtually no information in this response. Given how little information there is in the response, it is unclear why it took so long to give to the Council: the first 17F, Docket #0595, was filed on 03/18/26, and a follow-up pointing out the first one was very late was Docket #0874, filed on 04/29/26.
Next up is “REPORTS OF PUBLIC OFFICERS AND OTHERS,” which are items the Council is being informed about, but is not able to vote on.
Docket #1318 to #1320 (p. 42-44) is notice of 3 mayoral reappointments to the Board of Review - Assessing.
What is that? Here is what the code says:
It shall be the duty of the Board of Review to review every application for the abatement of a Real Estate or Personal Property Tax and report to the Commissioner of Assessing its findings and recommendations with respect thereto, including such suggestion for settlement, if any, as, after discussion with the applicant, the Board may think proper.
This body is extremely important in normal times: with the recent resignation of Boston’s long-time Assessing Commissioner, a hugely consequential lawsuit alleging the City retaliated against commercial landlords who disputed their assessments, and increasing concern among elected officials about residential property assessments, it is even more important.
There are 3 seats on this board, each of which has a specific requirement:
Docket #1318 (p. 42) Raymond Boly was reappointed as Chair and fills the requirement for a board member “in the service of the Real Estate Appraisal Division of the Assessing Department.”
Docket #1319 (p. 43) Arlene Calderon was reappointed and fills the requirements for a board member “in the service of the Statistical Research Division of the Assessing Department.”
Docket #1320 (p. 44) Hinlan Wong was reappointed and fills the requirements for a board member from “the public at large to serve.”
While Wong holds the public seat, she works for the City of Boston: she is listed as 121A Manager in 2025, and was described as a “senior leader in the assessing department” in recent reporting.
These appointments are not subject to Council approval. However, given the enormous focus on the Board of Review’s work, look for the Council to call these folks before the body for a hearing.
Docket #1321 (p. 45) is notice of the mayoral appointed of the “Interim Commissioner of the Assessing Department” effective 07/01/26 and it is someone from Docket #1320: Hinlan Wong.
Wong has been tipped for this role since the last Assessing Commissioner Nick Ariniello announced his resignation back in May.
The most important thing to watch: whether a permanent Commissioner is ever appointed. Ariniello was appointed as “Interim Commissioner” by Mayor Walsh back in June 2019 and a permanent department head was simply never appointed. That is because Ariniello lives in Winchester, and permanent department heads must reside inside the City. According to Scott Van Voorhis reporting in Contrarian Boston, Ariniello never got a waiver from the City’s Residency Compliance Commission, he simply led Assessing as the Interim Commissioner for 7 years.
Residency doesn’t seem like it would be an issue for Wong: as evidenced by her appointed to the Board of Review, Wong does live in Boston, so she could be given the job permanently.
Docket #1322 (p. 46) is notice that the Boston Parks & Rec Commission voted for recently appointed Parks & Rec Commissioner Diana Fernandez Bibeau to be the Commission’s representative on the Community Preservation Committee (CPC).
The CPC is the body responsible for soliciting and selecting applications for funding provided by the City’s Community Preservation Act fund.
Dockets #1323-#1325 (p. 47-59) is notice the Mayor acted on papers from the June 3, June 10, and June 24 regular City Council meetings.
Docket #1326 (p. 60) is a communication from Council President Breadon “regarding City Council nominations for the Transgender, Gender-diverse, Intersex, and LGBTQIA2S+ Oversight Commission.” While there are 23 people listed in the letter from Breadon, it is unclear what they are actually being nominated for.
That is because while Breadon’s letter says the 23 people are being appointed to the “Oversight Commission,” a body by that name does not exist. The “Oversight Commission” language was removed from the ordinance and changed to “Advisory Council and Steering Committee” before the ordinance was voted into law last November. Adding to the confusion: the ordinance that the Council passed includes rules about how people are appointed to the Steering Committee, but there are no rules about how many people could serve on the Advisory Council.
Hopefully Breadon is able to clear up this confusion at today’s meeting.
Docket #1327 (p. 62-66) is a communication from Council President Breadon to address an Open Meeting Law complaint. There are 4 parts of this OML complaint, which you can read on p. 64, and which is also below.
Dockets #1328-#1331 (p. 67-70) are all communications from Councilor Flynn:
#1328 (p. 67) calls for a public safety summit after the violence over 4th of July weekend.
#1329 (p. 68) calls for more traffic enforcement on mopeds and e-bikes.
#1330 (p. 69) pushes back against efforts to extend bar closing to 3 AM.
#1331 (p. 70) repeats a call from the Boston Teachers Union for a supplemental appropriation for FY27 in order to reverse the layoffs at Boston Public Schools.
Next up is “REPORTS OF COMMITTEES” which are hearings that were held prior to 9 AM the Monday prior to the regular meeting.
Docket #0970 (p. 71-74) is a recommendation from Public Safety Committee Chair Henry Santana to accept and expend a $1.1M grant - the FY26 Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative - from the state.
The hearing for this docket was held back on July 2, and featured Councilor Flynn complaining about the absence of Commissioner Cox or anyone from his command staff at the hearing - read the transcript. While Cox hasn’t appeared at a Public Safety Committee hearing recently, he was at back-to-back budget hearings before the Council back on May 7.
Docket #0968 (p. 75-78) is a recommendation from Planning Committee Chair Sharon Durkan to accept and expend $30M from the City of Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy Fund.
The hearing for this docket was held back on June 25 and provided more evidence that residential development in Boston is slowing down. Rick Wilson, Administration and Finance Director at the Mayor’s Office of Housing told the Council - he is Speaker 1 & starts at 11:09 mark:
IDP Fund has collected $217M - or $16.7M/year - since FY14; and
IDP Fund is only planning to collect $26M - or $13M/year - in FY27 and FY28.
Chair Durkan asked Wilson about this revenue issue and his answer reinforced that gloomy outlook - this response starts at 32:47 mark:
We’ve been averaging about $15,000,000 a year in IDP revenue for a while now and that is what we’re projecting for the next one to two years . . . the slowdown that we’ve seen over the past two years, we are worried that that’s gonna affect our projected revenue going forward . . . We’re definitely worried about the declining IDP revenue as well as linkage but that could change.
Chari Durkan gave voice to concern about what this slowdown means, saying - she starts at 37:56 mark:
I do want to share that I do have a concern. I mean, it as been that we haven’t seen buildings over a 100 units of residential housing. They are just not getting built. I think Councilor Flynn actually has really been the leader to try to talk about what of the regulatory hurdles we need to address at this moment.
There are no “MATTERS RECENTLY HEARD-FOR POSSIBLE ACTION” so next up is “MOTIONS, ORDERS AND RESOLUTIONS,” which are legislative actions from City Councilors. This week there are 20 dockets total, and there are 6 worth watching.
Docket #1334 (p. 82) is a hearing order from Councilor Pepen to talk about Boston Public Schools’ HVAC plans, an issue prompted by recent reporting that in-classroom temperatures went past 100 degrees in some BPS schools.
The speeches about this hearing order will be interesting because reading the docket it seems to make an effort to push back against the Globe’s reporting, writing about “cooling centers for students” in the schools without air conditioning, and getting very specific about temperature:
The average temperature across the eight schools is 78.95 degrees with some facilities reaching over 90 degrees in certain classrooms
Docket #1336 (p. 84) is a hearing order from Councilor Flynn to learn about the impact if Boston loses the “Add Back Policy” lawsuit which alleges the City retaliated against commercial landlords who disputed their assessment.
The issue with Flynn’s hearing order is that the plaintiffs have been clear that the potential financial impact of that lawsuit is not large. The lawsuit’s importance stems instead from the assigning responsibility to City officials if the retaliation claims are found to be true.
The financial threat around office values comes from a much more mundane process that will move forward regardless of the “Add Back Policy” lawsuit: the decision of the Appellate Tax Board. In a column written back in May 2025 for the Banker & Tradesman, Scott Van Voorhis reported:
Henry Kara, the long-time dean of Boston’s tax appeal attorneys, recently urged the mayor to seek permission from the state Legislature to float bonds that could be used to pay for a flood of multimillion-dollar court judgments in favor of property tax appeals, sources say.
While that flood hasn’t arrived yet, evidence is growing that it will.
The most recent example of an office building selling for less than its pre-COVID value shows just how far the value of some buildings has to fall. 18 Tremont recently sold for $29.5M, a fraction of its FY26 assessed value of $49M. The last time the building sold for around that price was 1999, when it sold for $30.8M and the FY99 assessed value was $15.9M.
Docket #1337 (p. 85-86) is a hearing order from Councilor Pepen highlighting an issue that will be familiar to folks who followed Councilors pre-COVID: the inconsistent delivery of community benefits negotiated during the Article 80 project, which Pepen’s dockets says “are either placed on unclear timelines or are not completed at all.”
This hearing will be another test of Councilor Wu vs Mayor Wu because community benefits writ large, and this issue in particular, were a major focus of Wu’s 2019 “Abolish the BPDA” white paper. From that report - p. 35:
To ensure recipients deliver on promises and actually create the jobs and community benefits they pledge, Boston must attach pay-for-performance or clawback provisions to every subsidy deal. The City should publicly report whether these developers and companies meet and maintain their required commitments, including job creation, wages, benefits, and community investments.
While the community benefits reforms that Wu called for haven’t been implemented, public reporting is possible without reform, and that is exactly what Pepen is looking for. This docket calls for “the status of current [community benefits] projects funded by development projects” to be provided at the hearing on this docket.
That will be a tall order because there are more than 26k homes in the pipeline, that is, they have gotten Article 80 approval but have not requested building permits. Many of those are years old: for example, the Boston side of the Suffolk Downs project was approved through Article 80 back in 2020, but still hasn’t started construction.
Docket #1341 (p. 93-94) is a resolution from Councilor Culpepper asking his colleagues to support the Orange Line extension along Blue Hill Ave that he and Councilor Worrell announced 2 weeks ago.
While this extension was criticized in unusually harsh terms by high profile former transit officials and transit advocates, this docket notes that Culpepper and Worrell got a very consequential promise from the MBTA to “consider including the proposed Orange Line extension within the Program for Mass Transportation planning process.” The possibility that this extension would be part of the T’s official expansion plans argues against this plan being simply a part of Culpepper and Worrell’s effort to kill a center-running bus lane on Blue Hill Ave.
The debate and vote on this resolution is going to be a snap shot of how the Council feels about an issue that is seeing real movement: State Senator Liz Miranda came out strongly against the center running bus lane last week.
Docket #1346 (p. 102-103) is a resolution from Councilor Murphy asking her colleagues to demand “an immediate briefing on Boston’s summer safety plan and a collaborative review to strengthen public safety” after a violent July 4th weekend that saw 2 people murdered and 11 more shot.
This call from Murphy and Flynn was also made by Councilors Culpepper and Worrell, who held a press conference on Monday afternoon about the violence over the weekend - Culpepper streamed it live on Facebook & it starts at the 2:00 mark.
The debate and vote on this resolution will be another snap shot: how are Councilors thinking and speaking about the recent spate of violence and how to deal with it?
Docket #1348 (p. 105) is a resolution from Councilor Flynn asking his colleagues to support a demand for “a supplemental budget to restore funding for Boston Public Schools (BPS) employees.” As a reminder: the Council voted 10-3 to approve BPS FY27 Operating Budget, which included these layoffs.
The demand for a supplemental budget is not Flynn’s idea, but instead was first made by the Boston Teachers Union during consideration of the FY27 budget:
We are calling on the City to enact a preemptive supplemental budget to add additional resources to the Boston Public Schools.
How much should that supplemental budget be for? Flynn’s resolution doesn’t provide a number, but BTU does. A report from BTU published in March 2026 titled “When Student Needs Rise and Staffing Falls: An Analysis of FY27 Budget Decisions of the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools,” provided a number - this is on p. 2-3:
Maintaining current services in FY27 creates an estimated $48 million school-level budget impact. The district proposes to absorb roughly $23 million through school closures and reconfigurations, including 160 of the 569 staff positions associated with the closure of Dever Elementary, Excel High School, and the Mary Lyon Pilot High school. The remaining $25 million is projected to come from eliminating hold harmless and soft landing protections under the transition to Reimagine School Funding (RSF), resulting in staffing reductions across schools that will remain open.
Flynn has repeatedly spoken about the BPS layoffs in budget debates over the last several weeks, and some of his Council colleagues who voted in favor of the that budget have pushed back against his remarks.
The debate and vote on this resolution will show what, if anything, has changed on the Council since the June 3 vote on BPS FY27 budget.
The remaining sections are “PERSONNEL ORDERS” which is legislative action required to keep Council staff on payroll and “CONSENT AGENDA” which are for recognition from the Council of events like birthdays and anniversaries.
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