Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 2/21/25: Council fighting continues; Globe & BMRB defend appointed School Cmte; Financial District's 1st Auction of Class A Office Bldg; Packed Council Agenda Next Wk
With Presidents’ Day on Monday and February school vacation, this week only saw two City Council meetings, one of which was the latest episode in the months-long fight between Councilors over whether hearings are necessary before multi-million dollar grants are voted on:
The only reason there was a Planning Committee hearing on Thursday about a $14M federal transportation grant was because District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn objected to Committee Chair & District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan’s motion to suspend & pass the grant at the Council’s regular meeting on February 12, 2025 - this starts at the 5:52 mark & finishes at the 9:51 mark in the transcript, Durkan is Speaker 6 & Flynn is Speaker 7;
Councilor Durkan referred to Councilor Flynn’s action at Thursday’s hearing and the two immediately had an argument about the absence of Streets Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge & the removal of the Boylston Street bus lane - this starts at the 24:05 mark & finishes at the 27:28 mark in the transcript, Durkan is Speaker 0 & Flynn is Speaker 1.
In addition to that on-going story, there was another important policy discussion going in Boston this week, with news, opinion, and research about how Boston Public Schools are governed:
The Globe’s opinion side had two pieces defending the current mayoral-appointed School Committee (SC) in Boston, one from the Ed Board & the other from columnist Adrian Walker, both of which drew heavily on a report from the Boston Municipal Research Bureau (BMRB) published earlier this month, while the paper’s news side offered implicit push-back to its opinion writers with one piece about growing public opposition to the appointed SC and another about the controversial, behind-closed-doors decision by Mayor Wu to reverse course on the $700M+ renovation of Madison Park High School - BPI is quoted in the Madison Park article;
The defense of the SC marks a change in the Globe Ed Board’s policy agenda, reversing its December 2022 call for the SC to be abolished and its functions and powers split between the Mayor’s office and the City Council, and two pieces this past December, one criticizing the Mayor for reappointing a long-time SC member, writing “Wu missed a chance to show Bostonians how an appointed school board can actually govern,” and another from columnist Marcela Garcia resurfacing the idea of abolishing Boston’s SC in her piece calling for an end to Lawrence, MA’s all-elected School Committee.
While this week’s Council agenda was light, next week is packed as the Council works to get through major items before budget season starts in earnest. Here are next week’s hearings & working session, but please note that this schedule is subject to change, with hearings likely to be cancelled and added:
Monday, February 24, 10 AM - Ways & Means Committee Hearing on Dockets #0237-0238 - A hearing regarding a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society (BPDBS) - Forensic Group and the City of Boston.
Monday, February 24, 3 PM - Government Operations Committee Hearing on Docket #0407 - A hearing to discuss an ordinance regarding road safety and accountability for delivery providers. This hearing is on the regulations on delivery companies like UberEats and DoorDash - but not FedEx of UPS - that Mayor Wu announced earlier this month - read more from StreetsBlog Mass.
Tuesday, February 25, 10 AM - Strong Women Committee on Docket #0268 -
A hearing to discuss the plans underway for facilities work this summer on several of our buildings. This docket was discussed at the January 15 Council meeting at the 3:00:12 mark in the transcript, and appears aimed at preventing the articles like this one from WBGH in late June 2024 “One-third of Boston pools will be closed this summer.”
Tuesday, February 25, 3 PM - Government Operations Committee Working Session on Docket #0144 - A working session to discuss a home rule petition regarding ranked choice voting. This docket, which proposes to use Ranked Choice Voting to elect Boston’s City Council while keeping the current district & at-large Council set-up, was introduced last year and had a hearing in October 2024 - check out the Boston Herald & hearing transcript - so it appears this working session will use that 2024 work to make changes to this home rule petition.
Thursday, February 27, 10 AM - Ways And Means Committee Hearing on Docket #0325 - A hearing regarding the City's FY26 budget, specifically FY26 revenue. The Council submitted a request for information on Boston’s FY26 budget after a working session held earlier this year - check out the Council’s RFI - but it included almost no questions about revenue.
Thursday, February 27, 2 PM - Education Committee Hearing on Docket #0267 -
A hearing regarding Boston Public Schools transportation for student athletes. BPS’ school buses are still behind the state-mandated 95% on-time requirement that was part of BPS-DESE agreement that ends in June 2025, and transport for student athletes has been significantly worse for years - here is an article from May 2022, October 2024, and December 2024.
Finally, there was major action on an issue first quantified by BPI’s February 2024 report “Fiscal Fallout of Boston’s Empty Offices.”
For the first time since the end of COVID a Financial District building with Class A office is going up for auction. The building that once served as State Street’s HQ is half empty, and the announcement of its March 20 auction underscores that more than a year after BPI’s report was released, Mayor Wu still has not released a long-term plan for how to combat growing Bosotn’s budget crisis.
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