Weekly Transcript Round-Up: March 15, 2024
Cancelled hearing raises questions, press covers Council action & budget season starts early PLUS a packed upcoming week
It is the Ides of March and the Boston City Council is getting into its busy season, with the Council already working on budgets weeks before the City’s budget release in mid-April.
This past week there were important committee meetings on BPS access to the Reggie Lewis Track Center and the Boston Public Schools’ FY25 budget, along with a regular meeting that generated several newspaper articles.
Next week the Council has committee meetings on much-watched issues scheduled: the City planning department ordinance, City Hall contracts, and instituting ‘right-to-counsel’ for renters facing evictions. Also next week, the School Committee is holding their final budget hearing.
TO HEAR OR NOT TO HEAR, THAT IS THE QUESTION
The most interesting Council story this week is about a hearing that is not happening. Last week on Friday, March 8 at 5:27 PM the Council Education Committee’s chair, Councilor at Large Henry Santana, cancelled his committee’s hearing which was to discuss the controversial ‘Sundays for All’ program and was scheduled for Monday, March 18. That prompted stories from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, criticism from his colleagues, and questions for Mayor Michelle Wu from Jim & Marjorie on Boston Public Radio. The freshman Councilor Santana was endorsed by Mayor Wu in 2023 and before running served as an aide to Mayor Wu and to then-Councilor Kenize Bok, now the head of the Boston Housing Authority.
Last week BPI wrote about action the Council took to get information for the now-cancelled hearing, passing a 17F order demanding financial information about ‘Sundays for All’ from the Wu administration. With the cancellation of the hearing on ‘Sundays for All’, it is unclear what will happen to the 17F order.
PRESS COVERS COUNCIL’S HEARINGS & REGULAR MEETINGS
This week Boston City Council business produced a lot of press coverage, starting with a hearing on Tuesday about the Boston public school students’ lack of access to the state-owned Reggie Lewis Center:
The Boston Globe covered the hearing about the Reggie Lewis Center, and a transcript of the hearing is on BPI’s AI-generated feed - check it out to read or watch the video
Facilities issues have plagued the Reggie Lewis Center for years - a proposal to repair & expand the center last year went nowhere and the Dorchester Reporter’s coverage of lack of BPS access prompted this week’s hearing
This week’s regular Council meeting on Wednesday prompted article about three different items on the agenda:
RAPE KIT TESTING DELAYS Read WBUR & the Boston Herald’s coverage of the hearing order, which focused on Boston failing to test sexual assault kits within the the state legal mandate of 30 days in 50% of the cases filed in the last fiscal year. This is Docket #0507 and the hearing order can be found on page 73 of the agenda packet. Councilor Flynn is Speaker 6 and discussion starts at the 40:30 mark
PREGNANT WOMEN HANDICAP PARKING ACCESS District 3 Councilor John FitzGerald offered a hearing order to look at whether pregnant women should have access to handicapped parking access, and the Boston Herald covered the action. This is Docket #0508 and the hearing order is on page 74 & 75 of the agenda packet. Councilor FitzGerald is Speaker 2 and discussion starts at the 45:17 mark
WORKFORCE HOUSING FOR CITY EMPLOYEES Most Boston city workers are required to live in the City and Masslive covers the action that several City Councilors who are concerned that rising rent and sales prices are making that difficult. This is Docket #0509 and the hearing order is on page 78 & 79 of the agenda packet. Councilor Weber is Speaker 9 and discussion starts at the 52:09 mark.
Read the transcript for Wednesday’s meeting here.
WORRELL STARTS COUNCIL’S BUDGET SEASON EARLY
Earlier this week BPI laid out how District 4 City Councilor and Ways & Means Committee Chair Brian Worrell pushed to involve the Council and his committee much earlier than usual in the Boston Public Schools’ budget process. The working session on Thursday afternoon was not videotaped, so there is no transcript, but BPI attended the hearing. While BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper answered questions from Councilors for almost two hours, the working session shed little new light on the FY25 budget and none of the four questions BPI was looking for got answered.
NEXT WEEK’S MEETINGS
This coming week has four important committee meetings, including on the Wu administration proposed planning department, the new contracts the Wu administration struck with two of the City’s largest unions, the Boston School Committee’s final budget hearing, and a Council hearing on creating a ‘Right to Counsel’ for Boston tenants facing eviction:
MONDAY @ 10 AM This 2nd working session on the Planning Department Ordinance, an element of the Wu administration’s package of reforms to the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), is virtual - find all the details here. The last working session on Friday, March 8 was almost 6 hours long and saw a number of important changes made to the Planning Department Ordinance. The Wu administration officials present at the March 8 working session were asked to provide more information including language for the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Boston and the Boston Planning & Development Agency Board. As a reminder, the planning department ordinance lays out what is effectively a fee-for-service model where the City charges the BPDA for the work of its former staffers.
TUESDAY @ 2 PM The Council’s Ways & Means Committee is holding a hearing on contracts with unions represents City workers that were settled by the Wu administration - check out the public notice for details. Read more about the contracts in the Boston Herald.
WEDNESDAY @ 5 PM The Boston School Committee is holding their final hearing on the FY25 budget on Wednesday night. The BSC is scheduled to vote on the budget the following week. Check out the BSC’s website for more details.
THURSDAY @ 2 PM The Council’s Committee on Housing and Community Development is holding a hearing on ‘Right to Counsel’ for renters in Boston facing eviction. This is an issue that has been covered both locally and nationally in recent months. Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham wrote a column about the issue in January 2024. The New York City program providing these services that was cited in the hearing order has faced major issues that any proposed program in Boston would have to address.
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