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Josh Zakim

By adamg - 10/27/16 - 3:21 pm
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.

By adamg - 10/11/16 - 5:50 pm
A goose in Boston's Public Garden

Winged menace gives you the eye.

Boston city councilors will take a gander at a gaggle of ideas to deal with geese and the crap they leave behind.

At a hearing today, councilors heard suggestions that included fining people who feed them, having parks workers and volunteers coat goose eggs with oil, which kills the chicks but fools the mother goose so she doesn't lay more eggs - and buying more umbrellas for city parks workers with which to find off angry geese when they try to grab the eggs to coat them in oil. Read more.

By adamg - 8/3/16 - 1:35 pm
Boston Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George speaks against expansion of charter schools

Essaibi-George explains vote against charter-school expansion after glowering at shuffling charter supporters.

The City Council voted 11-2 today to oppose what two called the pending "catastrophe" of expanding charter schools in Massachusetts. Read more.

By adamg - 6/8/16 - 1:15 pm

The City Council today unanimously reaffirmed the city's policy against letting Boston police officers detain anybody at the request of federal immigration officials unless they have a criminal warrant. Read more.

By adamg - 3/30/16 - 1:21 pm

City councilors said today they will work to craft a proposal that would let Boston drop the speed limit on most roads to 20 m.p.h. - just 15 m.p.h. in school zones. Read more.

By adamg - 3/30/16 - 1:05 pm

The city council today approved a protest against a recent North Carolina law lifting rights for transgender and gay residents in its cities: A ban on travel to the state by Boston city workers.

The measure, which now goes to Mayor Walsh for his consideration, has exemptions for public-safety and public-health workers who would have to travel there for law-enforcement or public-health reasons. Read more.

By adamg - 3/2/16 - 1:31 pm

City officials are looking to amend decades-old fire codes that require the use of carcinogenic flame retardants on furniture sold in Boston, saying new fire-prevention measures mean the chemicals are no longer needed. Read more.

By adamg - 3/2/16 - 1:05 pm

Boston city councilors are going to give Northeastern officials a second chance to show up and discuss their decision to equip the campus police force with high-powered weaponry. Read more.

By adamg - 2/24/16 - 2:03 pm

The City Council almost voted today on a zoning change that would prohibit both medical marijuana dispensaries and potential recreational pot shops from being closer than a mile to each other. Read more.

By adamg - 11/5/15 - 3:34 pm

The Boston Licensing Board today approved the city's first Tilted Kilt restaurant, which will feature waitresses in tight tops and short tartan skirts, as well as food and TVs turned to sportsball. Read more.

By adamg - 11/4/15 - 11:58 am

The Boston Licensing Board tomorrow decides whether to approve two new restaurants in the Fenway: A Tilted Kilt where Copperfield's is and Tapestry where Church is.

The Tilted Kilt at 96 Brookline Ave. would be the first Boston outlet of a national chain that is sort of like Hooters, except the bonnie lasses wear wee tartan skirts instead of shorts. Read more.

By adamg - 10/21/15 - 2:40 pm
Complaint from a tourist that got city councilor to consider busker regulations

E-mail complaint to the mayor's office that helped spur LaMattina into action

With additional reporting by Kayla Canne.

City Councilor Sal LaMattina says he enjoys street performers. But faced with complaints about "bullying" from the amplifier-enhanced dancers in front of Faneuil Hall - from both tourists and other performers - he says it's time for Boston to consider some sort of busker regulations. Read more.

By adamg - 10/1/15 - 2:26 pm

A city zoning rule that bans more than four undergraduates in an apartment isn't working, city officials said today, so they've begun looking at changes that would let them start levying fines on landlords who persist in overcrowding their units. Read more.

By adamg - 9/2/15 - 2:00 pm

The City Council today unanimously proposed an ordinance that lets police fine any scooter or ATV riders they see popping wheelies, standing on the seats or doing other stunts on city streets. Read more.

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.

By adamg - 5/27/15 - 1:59 pm
Matthew Walsh calls for more treatment programs

Matthew Walsh tells councilors treatment programs for people like him need more resources.

Substance-abuse experts and recovering addicts say a proposal by City Councilors Bill Linehan and Frank Baker to fund new treatment programs through a 2% tax on Boston alcohol sales could provide new beds - and new hope - to addicts who now have to wait long periods for help.

By adamg - 4/9/15 - 2:58 pm

Mayor Walsh today signed an ordinance raising the fines for parking in resident-only spaces around Fenway Park on game days from $40 to $100 - just one day after the City Council approved the idea.

The increased fine will remain in place through the end of the year - after which city officials will evaluate them to see if it worked to free up spaces for Fenway residents. The $100 tickets will be doled out to cars without resident stickers starting two hours before a game and ending two hours after.

By adamg - 4/8/15 - 1:08 pm

The City Council today approved a proposal to increase the fines for non-residents parking in resident-only spaces around Fenway Park from $40 to $100 during Red Sox games.

Councilor Josh Zakim, who represents the neighborhood, said the measure should help residents with parking stickers who come home to find all the on-street spaces filled with Sox fans - many of whom find a $40 fine a decent price to pay for game parking.

The measure, which requires the mayor's approval, would run through Dec. 31 as a pilot program.

By adamg - 3/25/15 - 5:14 pm

City Councilor Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) said today he is continuing to work towards putting four ballot questions before Boston voters this fall on whether they want the city to host the 2024 Olympics and whether taxpayers should pay for anything related to the games or use eminent domain to take any property Olympics organizers think they need.

Zakim said recent pronouncements by Boston 2024 that it wants a statewide referendum is "very encouraging."

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