Boston City Council rejects $13.3-million grant from Homeland Security

The City Council today rejected an anti-terrorism grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security when it deadlocked, 6-6, on accepting the grant.

It was the latest in a series of council votes in recent weeks on grants that had some connection to the Boston Police Department's controversial Boston Regional Information Center, but the other grants, which would help fund more data-analyst and other positions in the center, had been approved.

Moments before rejecting the $13.3 million grant, which Mayor Wu said would "help prevent, respond to and recover from threats or acts of terrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents," the council had voted 7-5 to accept a $175,000 grant more specifically aimed at the BRIC, to hire two more data analysts and create more detailed crime-statistics reports for use at meetings with neighborhood associations.

Councilors Baker, Breadon, Coletta, Durkan, Flaherty, Flynn and Murphy voted yes on the smaller grant, councilors Arroyo, Lara, Louijeune, Mejia and Worrell voted no.

Breadon, without comment, then voted no on the larger "Urban Area Security Initiative" grant, leading to a 6-6 tie, which, after a brief recess, Council President Ed Flynn ruled meant the grant was rejected.

Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was not present.

Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune and Julia Mejia (both at large) said they could not vote for the measures without additional discussions among councilors and the community in general. Louijeune said she needed more assurances that the surveillance components of the grants "would not do more harm than good" in city neighborhoods, in particular Black and Brown communities. Mejia said she also wanted assurances that members of those communities would have a fair shake at any new jobs resulting from the grants.