Say hello to Brian Foley, who now that the national election is over and he no longer has to wave his Trump flag around Southie and getting into fights with teenagers, is supposedly running for the District 2 (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) city council seat now held by Ed Flynn.
We already knew that Said Ahmed is planning to run for the District 7 seat now held by Tania Fernandes Anderson.
Politico reports that Said Abdikarim, who ran for an at-large seat last time (you may remember him from the orange shirt he always wears), is running in District 7 this time. Read more.
In what has become an annual December rite, Boston city councilors yesterday approved a federal homeland-security grant only after a sometimes pitched battle over the roll of Boston Police in collecting information on Boston residents - and the way the council schedules votes on things. Read more.
The Dorchester Reporter reports on the quick vote today by the Boston City Council to set tax rates that could mean a more than 10% increase for residential property owners after state senators refused to OK a deal between Mayor Wu and local business groups on a three-year measure to east that burden somewhat by letting the city increase commercial tax rates. The council also approved the usual tax break for residential owners who live in their own homes.
Said Ahmed filed paperwork with the state in October to run for the District 7 city council seat now held by Tania Fernandes Anderson, but only sent out a press release about it yesterday. Read more.
The City Council today voted unanimously to keep Boston's sanctuary-city status and remind city departments not to help any federal "civil immigration enforcement" efforts, including the incoming federal administration's announced plans to set up concentration camps for immigrants before they are booted out of the country. Read more.
GBH News reports on efforts by councilors in the three cities, including Boston's Enrique Pepén (Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale) to lift Massachusetts's current standing as the only state where tenants have to pay fees to apartment brokers who work for landlords.
At hearing, mother took items out of her diaper bag: Diapers, wipes, a spare onesie and a sharps container for discarded needles on the ground.
At a hearing on public-safety issues downtown and around Boston Common today, Elizabeth Vizza had a request for suburbanite do-gooders who keep coming to the Common to feed the homeless: Stop! Read more.
The Boston City Council yesterday voted to accept millions of dollars in federal grants for projects across the city, including $20 million to upgrade Melnea Cass Boulevard, Malcolm X Boulevard and Warren Street in Roxbury, $11.4 million to plant hundreds of new trees and bolster an urban-forestry work training program and $2.3 million in two separate grants to help upgrade, expand and staff a Boston Rescue Mission program downtown that houses and train immigrants released from federal detention. Read more.
The City Council today rejected a resolution by Councilors Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) and Erin Murphy (at large) calling on the state to take over the city election department because of Election Day problems that included numerous precincts across the city running out of ballots. Read more.
Proposed stairway at Ipswich Street.
The Boston City Council yesterday approved a change in a regulation designed to protect the Emerald Necklace from being overwhelmed by tall buildings so that a developer can build a 28-story, 400-unit apartment building at 2 Charlesgate West, next to a little used portion of the Emerald Necklace along the Bowker Overpass. Read more.
Louijeune calling for a hearing and soon.
Both Secretary of State William Galvin and the Boston City Council decided today to investigate how precincts across the city ran out of ballots and numerous other ways voters had obstacles placed in the way of casting their ballots, from one polling place not having any working lights to voters with disabilities being refused access to handicap parking spaces at another. Read more.
The City Council voted 12-1 today to ask the state legislature and the governor to let Boston increase the tax rate on commercial properties to higher levels than normally allowed over three years as a way to protect homeowners from potentially large property tax rates. Read more.
In an emergency Zoom meeting this morning, the City Council agreed to hold a public hearing before voting on a proposal to potentially increase taxes on commercial properties over a three-year period to help cushion the blow on residential property owners from expected large decreases in the value of downtown office buildings because many have higher vacancy rates as a higher percentage of workers continue to stay home in the aftermath of Covid-19. Read more.
The Boston City Council, which usually only convenes on Wednesdays, has scheduled a Zoom meeting for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow to consider asking the state legislature to let Boston increase the commercial-property tax rate over a three-year period. Read more.
The City Council yesterday approved holding a hearing at which to consider ways to combat what some said was drug use and related violence that are so bad they are making some residents think of moving away and of threatening Boston's tourism industry. Read more.
The City Council agreed today to look into the environmental and safety issues related to plans for at least two industrial-sized electricity-storage plants, one on the aptly named Electric Avenue in Brighton, the other on a wooded hill behind the Stop & Shop mall on American Legion Highway on the Roslindale/Hyde Park meet that was most recently in the news for being the summer home of Moodini the Steer. Read more.
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