Ayanna Pressley

City plan would add dozens of new liquor licenses for small restaurants - and giant South Bay, Seaport projects

By adamg - 3/6/17 - 10:59 am

Mayor Walsh and City Councilor Ayanna Pressley today unveiled a proposal to add 152 new liquor licenses aimed mainly at helping out start-up restaurants in outer neighborhoods.

But their proposal, which would require approval by the state legislature and the governor, would also grant the city the power to give an "umbrella" license to any development of more than 500,000 square feet, such as the South Bay Town Center project now under construction in Dorchester and the Seaport Square development in South Boston. Read more.

City looks at adding more mental-health workers to ride along with police

By adamg - 2/14/17 - 5:48 pm

West Roxbury Judge Kathleen Coffey urges councilors to back more mental-health workers on the street.

Boston city councilors have started looking at expanding a program that uses mental-health workers to try to de-escalate confrontations between "emotionally disturbed" people and the police.

A proposal by Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) to add more workers to the existing Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST) won the backing of Police Commissioner William Evans and West Roxbury Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Coffey, who runs a special court session for people with mental illnesses facing criminal charges. Read more.

Councilors agree to hearing on violence in Boston

By adamg - 1/11/17 - 3:13 pm

The City Council today gave backing to a proposal by Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) for a hearing to look at both specific increases in murders and shootings in Boston over the past year and more general issues about how Boston police, public-health and even housing departments can do something about it. Read more.

Boston City Council to Harvard: Give your food-service workers a decent contract

By adamg - 10/19/16 - 1:25 pm

The city council today urged Harvard University to give its food-services workers the $35,000 minimum salary that is one of the issues in the workers' current strike. Read more.

Two city councilors among Times columnist's list of 14 must-watch young Democrats

By adamg - 6/25/16 - 9:52 pm

Times columnist Frank Bruni writes that at-large Boston City Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Michelle Wu (also currently council president) are two young Democratic elected officials to keep an eye on. He also put US Reps Joe Kennedy and Seth Moulton on his list.

Council approves half-mile limit on pot shops, dispensaries in Boston

By adamg - 3/2/16 - 1:20 pm

Anticipating voters will approve the recreational use of marijuana, city councilors voted today to ban pot shops and medicinal marijuana dispensaries from opening closer than a half mile to each other.

City Councilor Michael Flaherty (at large) had originally sought a one-mile restriction, but offered a half mile as a compromise. Read more.

City Council backs idea of BYOB at small sit-down restaurants outside downtown

By adamg - 12/16/15 - 2:13 pm

The Boston City Council today approved a resolution calling for restaurants with under 30 seats outside the downtown area to let customers bring their own beer and wine if they don't have liquor licenses.

The proposal now goes to the Boston Licensing Board, which has oversight of liquor service in the city and which currently bans all BYOB. Read more.

O'Malley has at least one backer in bid for council presidency

By adamg - 11/7/15 - 9:13 am

Jamaica Plain News reports at-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley will vote for O'Malley (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) for council president to replace Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown), who is not trying for a third term in the president's aerie above the council chambers.

City Council gives itself a raise

By adamg - 10/28/15 - 1:00 pm

The City Council today approved Mayor Walsh's proposal to increase members' pay almost 14%, to $99,500, starting Jan. 1.

Councilors Ayanna Pressley (at large) Michelle Wu (at large), Charles Yancey (Dorchester) and Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill, Fenway) voted against. Read more.

Pressley issues cross-river endorsement

By adamg - 10/18/15 - 8:57 pm

Cambridge Day reports at-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley has endorsed Manikka Bowman, a candidate for school committee in Cambridge, where voters get to choose who oversees the school system.

City councilors accept mayor's proposed salary increase

By adamg - 10/15/15 - 7:51 am

Two key councilors in the struggle for higher council pay say they have come to terms with the mayor's proposal to increase their salaries 13.7%, to $99,500, come January. Read more.

At-large council candidates want reins on development, BRA

By adamg - 10/14/15 - 9:38 pm

At-large city councilor Steve Murphy called for restrictions on development in Boston at a candidate forum in Roslindale tonight. Fellow at-large councilor Ayanna Pressley, meanwhile, wants to look at restricting the numbers of certain types of franchise operations in particular neighborhoods. Read more.

What's happening to Chinatown?

By Kayla Canne - 10/3/15 - 1:44 pm

Image provided by Lillian Chan. See larger.

It's been nearly a month since Maxim's Coffee House served its last drop of hot coffee, its famous bun pastries flying off the shelves before the local bakery lost its lease and was forced to close its doors after 33 years in Chinatown. Yet artist Lillian Chan still finds sadness as she walks past the shuttered windows of the "iconic landmark" on the corner of Beach Street and Harrison Avenue. And neither she, nor the bakery, are alone. Read more.

Yeah, when's the last time you saw Steve Murphy wearing rouge?

By adamg - 9/9/15 - 8:45 am

Among the people welcoming BPS students to school yesterday was at-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley. Today, Pressley reports, she's getting private messages via Twitter (or "DMs" in Twitterspeak) questioning what was going on with her face:

Are ppl (incldg media) really DM'ing me re:why I wasn't wearing make-up @ #bps visits yesterday? Ridic. Ask my colleagues why they never do.

Pressley: Kid in Roslindale incident should have shut up, but officer should have walked away

By adamg - 8/26/15 - 6:44 pm

At-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley met today with Police Commissioner William Evans and Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross about that incident on Washington Street in Roslindale. She issued a statement: Read more.

Serial restaurant operators could get liquor license intended for small entrepreneurs for new Dorchester eatery

By adamg - 6/24/15 - 11:27 am

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant a liquor license for a proposed restaurant at the site of a long abandoned video store in Adams Corner in Dorchester. Read more.

City Council to call West-End hotel management on carpet about bodily fluids left in rooms by Mass. General patients

By adamg - 6/3/15 - 1:10 pm

The City Council today approved a hearing on conditions for housekeepers at the Wyndham Hotel on Blossom Street, whom they said are routinely exposed to blood, feces, vomit, syringes and other possibly unhealthy materials left in rooms by Mass. General patients staying at the hotel. Read more.

Not all councilors loving the idea of BYOB

By adamg - 2/12/15 - 8:46 am

City Councilors Ayanna Pressley (at large) and Bill Linehan (South Boston, South End, Chinatown) both say they love the idea of increasing the number of restaurants that can serve alcohol in Boston, but both are saying they have major concerns about a proposal by Councilors Michelle Wu and Steve Murphy to let smaller eateries offer BYOB service.

BPS backing away from pepper-spray idea, but city councilors want hearing anyway

By adamg - 11/5/14 - 2:32 pm

Interim School Superintendent John McDonough plans to tell the School Committee tonight that he will not support a proposal to arm school police with a form of pepper spray.

In a statement released today, he said:

At least two city councilors not thrilled with idea of equipping school police with pepper spray

By adamg - 11/4/14 - 10:39 am

Councilors Tito Jackson (Roxbury) and Ayanna Pressley (at large) want the school department to just say no to pepper spray.

School police, who do not carry guns, say pepper spray would help them better control violent situations. But in a request to the council for a hearing on the BPS idea, the two councilors say they don't understand the need when violence in Boston schools is declining and when pepper spray brings with it a variety of health risks and legal liabilities for the city:

Ayanna Pressley

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