Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 5/23/25
An usually frank description of the challenges facing a youth jobs program stands out in this week's budget hearings
This week had a number of FY26 budgets hearings with the City officials who manage housing policy, parks, and the City’s streets, but despite the important topics, the Council learned little new information. This week’s regular Council meeting on Wednesday was similarly uneventful.
There was one notable exception: a really interesting exchange between Ways & Means Chair Brian Worrell & Worker Empowerment Cabinet Trinh Nguyen about youth jobs. That is the final hearing summarized below, so make sure to read to the end for it.
Before going into what happened at this week’s hearings, here is what is happening next week - the last week with scheduled budget hearings:
Coming before the Council will be the Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS), Treasury’s Collecting Division (responsible for collecting property taxes), participatory budgeting, and the Capital Budget overview.
Tuesday’s ONS hearing will be the most newsworthy, because Chief Brianna Millor has multiple connections to the on-going scandal over the domestic violence arrests & subsequent firing of two City Hall employees.
Back in October 2023 the Boston Globe published an article laying out accusations against Millor, including that she “posted a sexually explicit message in a thread with city workers on an encrypted messaging service.” Millor’s scandal 18 months ago didn’t attract the level of columnist attention that the on-going one has - the Globe published dueling columns this week from Joan Vennochi and Shirley Leung about the role of top Wu aide Segun Idowu in the scandal - but it does provide important context for today. One of the fired employees worked for Millor as her Chinatown neighborhood liaison, and like Idowu, Millor is one of Mayor Wu’s top aides, having worked in her City Council office before being appointed to ONS, one of the most politically important jobs in City Hall.
BUDGET HEARINGS & COUNCIL MEETING SUMMARIES
Monday at 2 PM was the FY26 budget hearing for the Office of Returning Citizens. The news out of this hearing was not about ORS, but rather about the Coordinated Response Team (CRT), a different office in the Human Services Department. Human Services Chief José Massó told the Council - he is Speaker 1 & starts at the 49:09 mark:
Coordinated Response, although it does sit within my my office, does not report to me directly, so I personally have not been part of any discussions in regards to increasing their resources.
CRT is the office leading the response to Mass & Cass, but didn’t get its own budget hearing.
Monday at 6 PM was the FY26 budget hearing for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) - BHA Administrator Bok is Speaker 3 & starts at the 20:58 mark. While BHA is a quasi-independent agency that gets its operating budget from the state & federal government, it has a number of capital projects being paid for by the City of Boston. Missing from the discussion was whether any of BHA’s capital spending would address issues identified by the Boston Globe in August 2024 or in a federal audit released in February 2025.
Tuesday at 10 AM was the FY26 budget hearing on Parks And Recreation. There was no discussion of the two major issues BPI was watching for: where the investments that the recently released White Stadium Transportation Plan said Parks will be making are in the department’s FY26 budget; and what drove budget cuts in 3 of Parks’ 7 programs. Read the whole transcript here.
Tuesday at 2 PM was the FY26 budget hearing on the Boston Transportation Department & the Department of Public Works. BPI was looking for an update from DPW on its compliance with a 2021 consent decree that “requires the City to install or upgrade an average of 1,630 curb ramps per year.” Last August the plaintiffs charged Boston had fallen 650 ramps behind that pace, but on Tuesday Streets Cabinet Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge’s - he is Speaker 1 & starts at the 27:55 mark - told the Council: “last year was a record year for curb ramps: we built 1,650 ramps.” It wasn’t clear whether that meant the City had caught up.
Wednesday at 12 PM was the Council’s regular meeting. The meeting had a short agenda and saw little action. 1 docket that BPI highlighted in the Council preview on X & Bluesky - should see hearings sooner rather than later: Docket #1101 - p. 49 of the Agenda Packet - is on BPS Bus Drivers' training after it came to light the driver who struck & killed a student in April had a lapsed certification. Discussion of this docket showed the continuing tension between the docket’s sponsors Councilor Flynn & Murphy on one hand, and Mayor Wu’s former employees on the Council on the other, with former Executive Director at the Boston Office of Neighborhood Services & current District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepen telling the sponsors - he is Speaker 4 & starts at the 1:11:19 mark:
I also just wanna be mindful of not politicizing this issue too much . . . If there's something's going be filed that touches my district or it's a result of something that happened in my district, please reach out to me.
Thursday at 10 AM was the FY26 budget hearing for Age Strong & Boston VETS, which was held outside of City Hall, at the Grove Hall Senior Center. Video for that hearing had not been posted when this newsletter was sent.
Thursday at 5 PM was the FY26 budget hearing for Youth Options Unlimited, Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO), and Youth Engagement And Advancement. The most interesting exchange came when Councilor Worrell asked a follow-up questions about “budget issues” at Youth Options Unlimited. Here is what Trinh Nguyen, the Worker Empowerment Cabinet Chief, said in response to his questions - this starts at about the 2:10:00 mark:
Different special advisors of the Mayor have different leaderships vision of where YOU over the last 15, 16 years and in the last 13 years that I’ve been here. So we just have to make a final decision about where that lives.
This answer stands out for three reasons, all of which are very rare for City Hall officials to speak openly about:
The internal challenges facing their departments.
Pointing the finger at where those challenges come from - the Mayor’s own appointees.
Providing a real timeline for those challenges.
Doing the math on Chief Nguyen’s answer: 13 years ago was 2012, during Mayor Menino’s last term in office. Years long fights over how to manage politically sensitive issues like youth jobs are not uncommon in Boston City Hall, or any other government, but having a bureaucrat like Nguyen name & explain the specific context is.
This exchange is likely to be important in this year’s final budget: Youth jobs are a well-known priority for Councilor Worrell and more funding for them was a central part of the changes he made to Mayor Wu’s FY25 budget last year.
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Good Day. There was more to the earlier Planning Department hearing than reported on. Here is my testimony that was written before the Zoning Commission vote this week:
To: Ways and Means Committee, Boston City Council, Docket No.0822-0830
From: Laurel E. Radwin, RN, Ph.D., Roslindale
RE: Testimony on the Planning Department Budget for May 12, 2025
It was stated that when the Planning Department joined the City administration, there would be an
emphasis on transparency, equity, and accountability. The Roslindale Squares and Streets process has been anything but.
We now stand at the precipice of zoning being finalized by the Zoning Commission on May 21. There are urgent considerations for Roslindale’s Squares and Streets.
• Areas Being Rezoned Are Officially “High Risk for Displacement”: When businesses and
residents are pushed out, it appears that the City will have no funds in its budget to help them find
new locations, move, or cover first and last month’s rent. Where is the equity in that?
• Speculators Are Already Moving In. These speculators aren’t even waiting for the Mayor to sign
off on the zoning—they're already knocking on doors, trying to buy homes before residents even
understand what’s happening
• Ignored Warnings About Marginalized Groups: A memo was submitted to the Administration
warning of the lack of protections for the disparate impact on traditionally marginalized groups.
That memo was never acknowledged nor responded to.
• New Participation Data: The effect on traditionally marginalized groups is overlooked due to their
continued exclusion from decision-making.
• Unequal Treatment Across Neighborhoods: Hyde Park has been shifted into “listening” mode,
Field’s Corner is being slow walked and Codman Square paused for one year. Roslindale is the
only community where Squares and Streets has accelerated instead of being paused or slowed.
In contrast, it is pedal to the metal for Roslindale. For example, residents were given 48 hours to
review the revised zoning map before the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board voted
on it.
Dorchester is getting a Fair Housing review before rezoning moves forward. Roslindale is not,
despite clear advice from fair housing experts that this step is critical.
• Petitions for Due Diligence Over 200 constituents are asking for a Council Hearing to examine
Roslindale’s Squares and Streets. 100 constituents are asking for the Zoning Commission to
require a Fair Housing review for Roslindale. The latter is not just a smart idea—it’s a moral
obligation.
We ask: What kind of precedent are we setting when zoning moves forward with clear warning signs ignored and communities left vulnerable?
Thank you for your consideration. Although many Roslindale Coalition members agree with these
reflections, this is my individual input.