good afternoon everyone good afternoon everyone my name is ed flynn and i'm the city council president viewers can watch the council meeting live on youtube by visiting boston.gov city council dash tv i'd like to ask my colleagues in those in attendance to please silence your cell phones electronic devices thank you i i would also ask everyone to be respectful of each other and do not disrupt the meeting this public meeting while you are here if you are disruptive you will be asked to leave and if you fail to comply you will be escorted out again we ask for your patience and for respect of this body please also note that according to city council rules there were no signs allowed in this chamber mr clerk will you please call the role to ascertain the presence of a quorum please councilor arroyo councillor baker councillor bark councillor braden council edwards council of fernandez anderson council of flaherty council of flynn here council lara councillor louisiana councillor mejia councillor murphy and councilor warrell i have been informed by the clerk that a quorum is present this week's clergy is reverend kenneth sims from new hope baptist church reverend sims was invited by city council mejia council me here if you would come to the podium please good afternoon thank you councillor flynn i'm really excited to present our clergy for this afternoon reverend kenneth sims was born and raised in boston massachusetts and for the past 32 years he has been married to the lovely charlene monique sims from this union was born one son three daughters and he is also blessed with two precious granddaughters reverend sims was licensed to preach the gospel in 2003 by new england hope baptist church boston he prepared for preaching ministry at gold gordon canal theological seminar center for urban ministries education reverend sims was ordained in 2006 by the united baptist convention of massachusetts rhode island and new hampshire and served as the assistant pastor of new hope baptist church boston for seven years on april 28 2013 reverend sims was unanimously voted in and installed as the new senior pastor of new hope baptist church bob's in boston where he currently serves reverend sims loves both god and people and he strives to make a difference in the lives of as many as he can through his service and i would just have to say is that during covet reverend sims was a partner with our office and making sure that a lot of the families who needed relief were able to access food and other resources so i just want to say thank you reverend sims for your leadership and your support in serving our most needy during covet thank you and we'll kick it over to you thank you councilor maha thank you for this uh wonderful opportunity to come and pray with you to our city council of president to the city councilors to the community uh to everyone that is present good morning to you we i bring you greetings from new hope baptist church high park massachusetts where i have the privilege uh to serve as their senior pastor as many know this week is the most important week i believe in the christian church it is holy week beginning on this past sunday palm sunday and we will go through holy week monday thursday good friday which speaks of the passion of christ and then sunday we will climax this wonderful week with resurrection sunday or easter as many know it as and so it's a privilege to be here today i usually host a new day prayer at new hope on wednesdays and i very seldom not do that but i thought it was equally important that i be here to pray for and with our city counselors and the community and all the work that you're doing i really appreciate your service and we're going to pray god's continued blessings upon you and the peace and prosperity of this great city called boston with that let's pray oh lord our lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth father we come this morning thanking you for this beautiful day that you have given us god we ask for your presence and your blessings to be upon this all-important boston city council meeting and hearing on today we thank you for our city counselors god we thank you for their service we thank you for their heart i just pray that god you would continue to grant them wisdom that they might make decisions that first represent and please you and then would be for the benefit blessing and and benefit of this great city called boston so god we invite your presence and i pray that you would guard every heart i pray that you would guard every mind i pray for our city councillors god i pray for your protection upon them bless them their families all that they endeavor to do i pray that you would keep them in your prayer in your care let us sense your presence in this session this afternoon god we pray again for your peace and for your blessings bless everything that's going to be discussed bless this agenda on this afternoon god we pray that your will would be done on earth just as it is in heaven so god we thank you today we give your awesome name praise and we pray this blessing in the name of your wonderful son jesus christ amen amen thank you thank you reverend and if if we're able to stand if you're able to stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance thank you reverend sims and thank you council and mejia for inviting reverend sims and reverend sims thank you for those warm greetings and in wonderful prayer thank you uh mr clerk please let the record reflect that council baker council lara and councillor morel are present yes we're on to the approval of the minutes seeing and hearing no discussion on this matter the chair moves to approve the minutes from the last meeting as presented all those in favor of approving the many minutes from last meeting say aye all opposed thank you the meeting minutes of the last meeting stand is approved communication from her honor the mayor mr clerk please read docket zero four eight zero two zero five zero one together docker number zero four eight zero message and order for the annual appropriation and tax order for fiscal year 2023 filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022 docket number zero four eight one message in order for the annual appropriation for the school department for fiscal year 2023 filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022 daca number zero four eight two message in honor proving an appropriation of 40 million dollars to the other post employment benefits opeb liability trust fund established under section 20 of the massachusetts general law chapter 32 b fired by the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022 docker number zero four eight three message in order proving an appropriation of one million six hundred thousand dollars from the city's capital capital grant fund to address the impact of transportation network services on municipal roads bridges and other transportation infrastructure or any other public purpose substantially related to the operation of transportation network services in the city such funds will be transferred and credited to the capital grant fund from revenue received from the commonwealth transportation infrastructure and has enhancement trust fund filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022. dr number zero four eight four message and honor authorizing the city of boston to enter into one or more leases lease purchase or installment sales agreements in fiscal year 2023 in an amount not to exceed 36 million dollars these funds are to be used by various city departments for the acquisition of equipment and furtherance of their respective governmental functions the list of equipment includes computer equipment hardware and software motor vehicles and trailers ambulances firefighting equipment office equipment telecommunications equipment photocopying equipment medical equipment school and educational equipment school buses parking meters street lighting installation traffic signal equipment and equipment functionally related to and components of the foregoing filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022 docket number zero four eight five message and order approving an appropriation of 550 million 370 000 for the acquisition of interest in land or acquisition of assets or the landscaping alteration remediation rehabilitation improvement of public land the construction reconstruction rehabilitation improvement alteration remodeling enlargement demolition removal or extraordinary repairs of public buildings facilities assets works or infrastructure for the cost of visibility studies or engineering or architectural services for plans and specifications for the development design purchase and installation of computer hardware and software and computer assisted integrated financial management and accounting systems and any and all cost incidental or related to the above described projects for the purposes of various city departments including boston center for youth and families department of innovation and technology environment fire neighborhood development office of arts and culture parks and recreation police property management public works and transportation departments boston public library boston redevelopment authority and public health commission filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022. dr number zero four eight six message in order proving an appropriation of 138 million five hundred and thirty five thousand 000 for the acquisition of interest and land or the acquisition of assets of the landscaping alteration remediation rehabilitation or improvement of public land the construction reconstruction rehabilitation improvement alteration remodeling enlargement demolition removal or extraordinary repairs of public buildings facilities assets works or infrastructure for the cost of visibility studies or engineering or architectural services for plans and specifications for the development design purchase and installation of computer hardware or software and computer assisted integrated financial management and accounting systems and any and all cost incidental related to the above described projects for the purposes of the boston public schools filed in the office of the city clerk on april 11 2022 docket number zero four eight seven message and auto authorizing a limit for the boston public schools revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to support the maintenance and repair boston public school facilities including custodial and utility costs for extended building time floor refinishing landscaping and building repairs receipts from lease permit for use and parking fees for boston public school facilities will be deposited in the fund boston public schools will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and these expenditures shall not exceed two million two hundred thousand dollars doctor number zero four eight eight message and order authorizing a limit for the boston public schools revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 for boston public schools transportation costs including bus and public transportation costs this revolving fund shall be credited with revenue received by boston public school department for the provision of transportation to groups and entities for field trips and activities other than transportation to and from school receipts and resulting expenditures from this fund shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars docker number zero four eight nine messaging auto authorizing a limit for the boston public schools revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to repair and purchase boston public schools computer technology including computers mobile devices and instructional software this revolving fund shall be credited with any and all receipts from equipment sales and repair fees for boston public school technology receipts and resulting expenditures from this fund shall not exceed two million dollars docker number zero four nine zero message in honor authorizing a limit for the boston police department revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to support the k-9 units training program for officers and police dogs from non-city or boston law enforcement agencies the special operating division will charge tuition and other fees to outside law enforcement agencies for the k-9 unit the tuition and other fees by outside agencies will be used to purchase training equipment certify instructors update facilities and provide funds for other training needs not otherwise budgeted the special operations division will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be capped at 125 000 dollars two minute break docking number zero four nine one message and honor authorizing the limit for the boston police department revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to pay salaries and benefits of employees and to purchase supplies and equipment necessary to operate the police department fitness center revenue from this fund is derived from monthly membership fees receipts and resulting expenditures from this fund shall not exceed 125 000 docket number 0492 message and honor authorizing and limit for the boston centers for youth and families bcyf revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to pay salaries and benefits of employees and to purchase supplies and equipment necessary to operate the city hall child care this revolving fund shall be credited with any and all receipts from tuition paid from parents or guardians for children enrolled at the center receipts and resulting expenditures from this fund shall not exceed nine hundred thousand dollars talking number zero four nine three message and auto authorizing a limit for the mayor's office of arts and culture revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to purchase goods and services to support the operation of the strand theater the revolving fund shall be funded by receipts from rental fees for the use of the stream theater the mayor's office of culture and arts and culture will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be capped at three hundred thousand dollars doctor number zero four nine four message and honor authorizing limit for the mayor's office of arts and culture revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to purchase goods and services to support public art to enhance the public realm throughout the city of boston this revolving fund shall be funded by receipts from easements within a public way granted by the public improvement commission the mayor's office of arts and culture will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be capped at a hundred and twenty thousand dollars dr number zero four nine five message in honor authorizing a limit for the mayor's office of tourism a revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to purchase goods and services to support events and programming on and around city hall plaza to advance tourism and promote participation in public celebrations civic and cultural events this revolving fund shall be funded by receipts from payments for the use of city hall plaza pursuant to city of boston code ordinance 11-7.14 the mayor's office of tourism will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be kept at 150 thousand dollars that's uh docking number zero four nine six message in order authorizing a limit for the law department revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to purchase goods and services for repairs to city property the revolving fund shall be the revolving fund shall be funded by receipts from recoveries from damages to city property caused by third parties the law department will be the only unit authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be capped at three hundred thousand dollars docker number zero four nine seven messaging on authorizing a limit for the distributed energy resource revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 to facilitate the purchase of offsets of greenhouse gas emissions which shall be associated with a portion of the electricity consumed by the city annually and to operate maintain monitor and expand the city's existing solar arrays and the boston public schools combined heat and power facilities the revolving fund shall be credited with any nod receipts from the sale of renewable and alternative energy certificates and demand response program revenues produced by combined heat and power units located at boston public school sites and solar renewable energy certificates produced by the city's photovoltaic arrays receipts and resulting expenditures from this fund shall not exceed a hundred and fifty thousand dollars docker number zero four nine eight messaging order authorizing limit for the environment commission environment conservation commission involved revolving fund for fiscal year 2023 for the purpose of securing outside consultants including engineers wetland specialists wildlife biologists and other experts in order to aid in the review of proposed projects to the commission for the city's ordinance protecting local wetland and promoting climate change adaptation the revolving fund shall be funded by receipts from fees imposed by the commission for the purpose of securing outside consultants the environment department will be the only department authorized to expend from the fund and such expenditures shall be capped at fifty thousand dollars doctor number zero four nine nine messaging auto approving an appropriation of five hundred thousand dollars from the city's boston equity fund to create a special revenue project grant in order to support equity applicants and licensees as defined by the equity program and to establish and operate a cannabis business in the city of boston the fund shall be credited to the special revenue grant fund from the boston equity fund established pursuant to city at boston ordinance ordinances chapter 8 section 13 establishing the equitable regulation of the cannabis industry in the city of boston docker number zero five zero zero message in order approving an appropriation for four million five hundred sixty thousand dollars from the 21st century fund also known as the public educational or governmental taxes and cable relegated fund also known as pig pursuant to section 53f 3-4 chapter 44 of the general laws and to the peg axis cable related grant for cable related purposes consistent with the franchise agreeing between the cable operator and the city including but not limited to supporting public educational or governmental access cable tv services monitoring compliance of cable operator with the franchise agreement or preparation of renewal of the franchise license and docker number 50501 message in order authorizing the appropriation of one million four hundred thousand dollars from the income of the george francis parkman fund the funds are to be expended under the direction of the commissioner of parks and recreation for the maintenance and improvement of boston common and parks in existence since january 12 1887. thank you mr clerk docket zero four eight zero two zero five zero one will be referred to the committee on ways and means mr clerk please read docket zero five zero two please document zero five zero two messaging honor approving an appropriation of one million four hundred twenty three thousand three hundred and eighty six dollars for the administrative and operating expenses of the city of boston community preservation committee also known as cpc for the fiscal year 2023 and a further appropriation order in the amount of 38 861 894 from the community preservation fund estimated annual revenues for fiscal year 2023 to be appropriated and reserved for future appropriations thank you docket zero five zero two will be referred to the committee on community preservation act mr clerk please read docket zero five zero three in zero five zero four together talking number zero five zero three message in order authorizing the city of boston to expect accept and expend the amount of 394 million five hundred thousand dollars in the form of a grant awarded by the united states department of treasury to be administered by the city of boston's chief financial officer collector treasurer this grant payment is made from the corona virus state and local fiscal recovery from fund sl frf in the treasury of the united states established by section 9901 of the american rescue plan act of 2021 a rpa pursuant to the requirements of the arpa the grant payment would fund covert 19 response and recovery efforts and accelerate a green new deal for boston the once in a generation transformative investments that address the systemic health and economic challenges in the areas of affordable housing economic opportunity and inclusion behavioral health climate and mobility arts and culture and early childhood in early childhood doctor number zero five zero four message in order authorizing the city of boston to accept and expend the amount of forty million dollars in the form of a grant awarded by the united states department of the treasury to be administered by the city of boston's chief financial officer collect a treasurer this grant payment is made from the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery fund clfrf in the treasury of the united states established by section 901 of the american rescue plan act of 2021 arpa pursuant to the requirements of the arpa the grant payment will fund provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue of such state territory or tribal government due to the cover 19 public health emergency relative to revenues collected in the most fiscal in the most recent full fiscal year of the state territory or tribal government prior to the emergency thank you mr docket 0503 0504 will be referred to the committee on boston's covert 19 recovery mr clerk please read docket zero five zero five dot number zero five zero five message in order for your approval a home rule petition to the general court entitled petition for a special law an act relative to creation of a branch of the boston public library within an affordable housing development at parcel r-1 in the south cove urban renewal area in the chinatown section of the city of boston thank you doctor zero five zero five will be referred to the committee on government operations reports of public offices in others mr clerk please read docket zero five zero six two zero five zero nine please talking number zero five zero six notice was received from the city clerk in accordance with chapter six of the ordinances of 1979 relative to action taken by the mayor a papers acted upon by the city council at its meeting on march 9 2022 docker number 0507 notice was received from the city clerk in accordance with chapter 6 of the ordinances of 1979. relative to action taken by the mayor on papers acted upon by the city council at its meeting on march 16 2022 docker number zero five zero eight notice was received from the mayor of the reappointment of meenakar as chairperson to the boston housing authority monitoring committee for a term expiring february 28 2024 in docket number zero five zero nine communication was uh communication from shami benford chief emergency management regarding the metro boston homeland security region b m bhsr contract renewal thank you talk at zero five zero six three zero five zero nine will be placed on file reports of committee mr clerk please read talk at zero three one three document zero three one three the committee and community on the community preservation act which was referred on march 2nd 2022 daca number zero three one three message in order for an appropriation amount in the amount of twenty seven million two hundred and five thousand eight hundred fifty four dollars from fiscal year 2022 community preservation fund revenues for community preservation projects at the recommendation of the city of boston community preservation committee submits a report recommending the order ought to pass thank you the chair recognizes council flaherty chair of the committee on community preservation act council clarity of the floor thank you mr president in accordance with general laws chapter 44 b the community preservation committee recommended a total of 52 projects for consideration for the allowable uses of the community housing open space in historic preservation of the approximately 27 plus million appropriation 14 million 660 in 159 thousands being recommended for 10 affordable housing projects 6 million 141 thousand 357 dollars recommended for 25 historic preservation projects and six million four hundred four thousand three hundred thirty eight dollars recommended for 17 open space and recreation projects this matter was sponsored by mayor michelle wu referred to the committee on march the second as previously discussed at the last council meeting the committee held a hearing on april 5th where public comment was taken and members of the administration provided testimony on all 52 projects with that said i am happy to report that the 52 recommended projects support and align with the objectives of the cpa in the priorities of this council and i know that as referenced in the opening prayer as we're in holy week uh the prayers of the ministers and pastors in the congregation of a lot of churches were answered uh by the cpa this week so congratulations uh to them in the other recipients of many and much needed causes and this is also a call to other organizations and groups and churches out there to take a long hard look at cpa get the word out there also to my district and at large colleagues if there are things in your district if you're driving by something and you think it could be a good fit that's kind of how this thing works it's uh you get introduce folks to cpa and introduce the cpa to the different organizations around the city and as mentioned uh through the chair it's an opportunity to kind of bring people and organizations together so uh with that as the chair uh i recommend docket zero three one three uh ought to pass and that will be the full owner will be 27 million 205 854 from fiscal year 2022. thank you mr president thank you council flower before we take a vote on this does any council wish to speak the chair recognizes council mejia council me here you have the floor thank you councillor flynn and thank you to the chair i just i'm really excited to see all of these investments the only thing that i just want to point out that in the affordable housing line most of those projects are just earmarked to dorchester roxbury on jamaica plain which is great i'm glad to see more affordable housing but i think as we continue to move through these conversations in the future we'd love to see affordable housing being spread across the entire city so that we're looking at affordability across other spaces and places so i just kind of want to name that and something for us to continue to hold ourselves accountable to that affordability should be across the entire city not just in concentrated areas that's it thank you thank you council mejia the chair recognizes council bought council bloc you have the floor thank you so much mr chair and just as vice chair of the committee i wanted to say add my um support to the chair on approving this slate and also say that i really appreciated how much the administration came to also answer our questions kind of about how cpa is being administered how we measure questions of equity geographic distribution how we make sure that the historic preservation program in particular supports you know the parts of our community that have amazing historic assets but don't necessarily have a endowment or a board or whatever organized around them and i just um as somebody who fought for cpa back in 2016 it's just really great to see it sort of coming into that maturity and also to see the administration recognizing that it's still a work in progress in terms of how we put all those things together so i know i saw a daca going to counselor flaherty's committee today about the administrative budget for the year ahead and so i think some of the conversations we started there will get to continue but just really excited about this slate today so thank you thank you council block the chair recognizes council baker council baker you have the form thank you mr president i just have a quick question through the chair to the the other chair over here i guess does it 27 million does that deplete what we have in cpa now or do we start at a zero balance for 23. council clarity of the flow here and i'll refer that one obviously to counselor bach because i think that they hold back but then it's going to continue it's like it's revolving i guess yeah so not necessarily depleted there's probably some similar to what we do with the um yeah there's a statutory hold back but through the chair to council bach council block you have the flaw yeah i would just say so there there is a a bit of a residual um but it's not huge but then we get a whole bunch more in like july 1st so the way that the cpa um for anybody watching at home if you are thinking about applying for a cpa project it's a rolling application process so you and your group could submit an application today if you go on the cpa website there's actually a whole bunch of info sessions coming up in april and may and i think the deadline for actually filing is all the way in august and then through the fall they work with projects around like viability and and making you know qualifying for cpa and then it's really the winter where we get this slate of projects and then end up voting in the spring so it's kind of a year-long process thank you thank you council book thank you council baker the chief recognizes council legion council of january of the floor thank you um and i i want to echo something casper bach said the administration really did a great job with their presentation in terms of allocation of of cpa funding i also just want to echo something council flaherty said when we're out and about looking at you know what could need upgrades i want us to pay particular attention to our immigrant communities because when we look at the distribution of who received these funds i don't see a lot of representation from immigrant congregations from folks who may not have access to city hall in ways that others do so just a a plug for us to do be a lot more intentional about reaching out to communities that may not know about cpa or may not have access to folks who know about cpa thank you council legend the chair recognizes council fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the flow i guess just piggybacking off from my uh colleague uh sister um lujan um i think that you know it's it's it's they did an amazing work presenting um thank you to the chair and counselor um box um presentation presentation and questions as well engagement it really i learned a lot from the presentation um i think piggybacking off of counselor louis jean it's just really eye-opening to see that access is everything so everything that is getting preserved or rehabilitated and we'll probably see that in the budget as well is about people who have access people who are directly connected people who know counselors people who are politically connected as well so if we continue that way in this city that we continue to rehabilitate and fix and put capital funds or preservation funds into projects that stakeholders or activists or people are of affluent communities even with the budget at the presbytery budget process with the community we noticed that it was about 70 percent white and affluent communities therefore empowerment therefore knowledge and navigating of resources so if we continue in this way i would like to set precedence at least to be if this is a educational moment an aha moment whatever like let's get to the point where we actually put our money where our mouth is and actually start changing this thing because i heard one comment in there that was very offensive extremely offensive and to just like to even today i can i'm still emotional about it um about and i'm not going to call out names or anything like that but it was about it was a public thing i guess i can talk about it um it was about roxbury dorchester mattapan not wanting or not caring about fancy stuff and so what the hell does that mean we do care we do want that stuff the thing is is that we're so poor we want to eat we're just so busy we're just so poor that we are so busy to just advocate on getting housing and food so of course we're not our first focus is not get beautifying and fancy stuff so i just to go back and i don't want to get sidetracked here but i want to open up and encourage everyone in moving forward with any types of programs or any types of funds or any type of capital that we really open up our minds to look at how we're redistributing funds and how are people connected and how people get money because it really seems lopsided and really as i said it really seems like it goes to affluent communities because they are more connected and know how to advocate and understand how to reach this money thank you council fernandez anderson anyone else like to speak on this the chair recognizes council of braden councillor braden you have the floor thank you mr president um i also want to this is a great program um we're still hiring ironing out some of the kinks is fairly new uh it's it's putting a huge amount of money into projects that wouldn't necessarily be funded otherwise i do share my colleagues concerned about the geographic spread of of the allocation across the city but part of that is i know from my experience nelson brighton that we i have a list of the back of my paper here of things that possibly would be eligible for some cpa money but very often it is you need community groups you need people who are volunteers your historic society or your neighborhood groups to really dig in and do the work to prepare these presentations so i hope that we can ensure that community groups all across the city or our neighborhoods that need support technical support and guidance i know that the cpa has that technical support and guidance to help but that people will be emboldened to sort of think about their neighborhood and and ask for help to prepare a presentation uh for cpa funds going forward so it's a great program i i hope that we can expand the reach and and the distribution of funds going forward and thank you for all the work that's been done so far it's incredible incredible group of folks that review all the applications and and present the ones for our approval so thank you thank you thank you council braden um i i would like to add that you know i just want to say thank you to council flaherty council bark and our former council council campbell those three were really instrumental in bringing cpa to to boston so i want to recognize council blah council flaherty and count former council campbell bringing this to bringing this to the city it's an incredible program as everybody mentioned just just as just as a follow-up to council braden's um comment um in my district i host a list i host a a session with each each neighborhood in my district on cpa itself just trying to encourage neighborhood associations to attend and to complete the application um so there's a important role for for us to play as well in the cpa staff will attend a meeting if we do ask them to attend so let's all try to work together in bringing this program throughout the entire city but let's also use our district city councillors as well because they have great contacts with neighborhood associations community leaders and in the cpa will will gladly assist us in some of these outreach um information sessions so just wanted to mention that in case it's it's helpful anybody else like to speak on this matter so thank you council of flaherty the chair of the committee on community preservation acts council of flaherty seeks acceptance of the committee report passage of dawkin 0313 all those in favor say aye all those opposed say navy eyes have it the darkest past at this time the the chair recognizes council alara council lara i apologize for not calling on you no thank you so much president flynn and i don't think that this will impact uh the the vote at all i unfortunately missed this hearing and so i wasn't there for the process but i because i missed the hearing i set up a one-on-one meeting with they dean to ask these these questions ultimately and so our office is hoping to look over the eligibility and create a list of eligible organizations and schools that didn't have access to these resources so that we can send a written letter to those offices i wanted to offer that to my colleagues because it's just we know it became it was evident to me as well as it became evident to everybody else that having access and knowing about the fund was a barrier to it and so obviously that's going to take some time to comb through the entire district and see like organizations or schools that are eligible but our hope is that by sending kind of like a mail-in letter um and maybe doing some phone banking to like make calls to people to just let them know um and having some of the community meetings that you've just mentioned that it would increase access and just knowledge around the cpa program i know that there's still going to be barriers because it is a grant and although you don't have to be a grant writer to write it you still have to have like some sort of knowledge like counselor brendan said to put it together but i think that letting people know about it is a good first step so we can actually um ultimately see what the what the need is for more technical assistance and make sure that they dean and the cpa office has all the resources that they need to run the program effectively thank you council lara one final comment council me here yes i'm here for all of that councilor lada and you know i'm in my what 28 months here on the council and the more that i am in this building the more i realize um the access of accessibility and who has it and who doesn't so i really do think as we continue to move forward all of these conversations are going to need to be led through an equity lens as my colleague fernandez anderson says all the time and i think that while i am voting yes and moving this along this time i do believe that we need to hold ourselves to a higher um standard when it comes to city resources because the haves and the have-nots continue to persist and i think there's 13 members of this body and we all have a responsibility in making sure that we're serving all of our uh all of our constituents and right now this as written and as doled out does not really truly reflect equity thank you thank you councilman here matt has recently heard matt has recently heard for possible action mr clerk please read doc at 0199 docket number 0199 order for a hearing on state receivership for boston public schools thank you the chair recognizes council me here the chair of the committee on education council me here you have the floor thank you mr president on monday the committee on education held a hearing on docket 0199 an order for a hearing on the state receivership for boston public schools we were joined by my colleagues counselor flynn murphy lara louisian and breden from the administration we were joined by bps deputy superintendent of academics drew elslin and bps deputy chief academic officer farah azarija and bps senior director of data and accountability monica hogan on the advocate side we were joined by domingo morel professor at rutgers e deci board member and bps parent to hey scala a parent at the hurley school and ruby reyes executive director of the boston education alliance the hearing itself was brought about as a result of recent events where members of the board of elementary secondary education have begun to bring receivership up as a possibility in bps future it was also brought up based on the desire from counselors to learn more about the receivership process and what it could mean for our school district during the hearing we heard from members of the administration advocates and members of the public alike that receivership is not a viable option for boston public schools hareen um who herself was a desi board member admitted that the vote to take lawrence into receivership was the wrong one i'm given by dusty's poor track record of improving schools districts placed under receivership several members of the public also came forward to voice their opposition um and to many um to any proposed state receivership of bps given the overwhelming opposition it seems crucial that we as elected officials listen to the voices of the people and take a stand on receivership especially as we undergo a superintendent change i look forward to taking further action on this issue but for the time being we're going to keep the stocking committee thank you thank you council mejia would any other councils like to speak on this matter that the chair recognizes council baker council baker you have the fall thank you mr president i was unable to make the hearing on monday it and i'm i'm torn with receivership um i i don't think the busing contract works we spend 150 million a year that contract could be cut up into 150 million dollar contracts and spread around the city um i'm i'm concerned about madison park i think madison park should be a a regional school where they can control their old own destiny because vocational education i believe is different from your regular your regular gen ed i lived through the devil when the devil went in to turn around status and they and when they had the the supports there they really thrived but then the state took it all from them after five years when it wasn't really enough time for them to do what they were trying to do so again i i labor over the fact that we're spending all this money every year and it's not going to get any better it's going to be 40 50 million dollars every single year 25 000 per student each year i mean i think as a parent i would rather that as a voucher so i could send my kids someplace but those are just some of my thoughts i i i am concerned about receivership but are we going to continue down this path of of i believe not really giving our kids the kids in the city of boston the best of what they deserve i believe we're failing them the schools are unsafe the schools are having difficult times and maybe in a year a year and a half they'll become more safe as we get further away from the covet and all of and all of the mental health issues that every family in the city is going through so just some thoughts on that mr president that i was unable to voice during the monday hearing so thank you for allowing me thank you thank you council baker the chair recognizes council flaherty council flaherty you have the floor thank you mr president just have the record reflect that i was president at the hearing thank you mr clark please um reflect the record that council flaherty was was present [Music] the chair recognizes council lara council are you of the floor thank you president flynn i just want to make a comment um particularly around what happened at the hearing i think it was made very obvious to myself and my colleagues that deci has shown an abysmal track record in the district that it's already taken over all of which are smaller than bps and currently still underperforming in fact bps is currently uh over performing every single one of the districts that are ran um that are under deci receivership i share concerns around the timing of the review we have an outgoing superintendent we have a new mayor we're changing to a more democratic process and also the review was happening a year earlier than the mou stated that the mou between bps and desi indicated and we didn't receive any updates from desi about how they were upholding the agreements in the mou their end of the agreements on the mou and during the hearing it was really made clear that receivership has has been ineffective at least here it's a racist policy it's undemocratic and i don't think that that's an option for bps and frankly i don't think it should be an option for anyone boston is generally moving towards a more democratically run school system and i think that we should continue in that direction i think all of my council colleagues like councillor baker share concern over bps i think that we have questions about what we're doing how we're doing it how we can be more effective how we can better serve our students and the answer to all of those questions i don't think that the answer to any of those questions is state receivership and so i'm grateful for um chair mejia for holding that hearing but i think that we need to make a commitment a collective commitment as a city council to fight the possibility of this happening to our schools thank you thank you council alara i wanted to weigh in in i'm also against the receivership of the boston public schools for many of the reasons councillor lara mentioned i i don't want to see a state official coming to boston that has very limited knowledge about our school system and neighborhoods running a major a major system i'm confident that we have people here in boston that are able to do it we have a mayor that just started five or six months ago and i think it's important to give the mayor an opportunity in the new superintendent whoever that might be an opportunity to make changes make structural changes improvements to to bps but i think we also have to acknowledge that bps is a struggling system but it takes all of us to work together with with the mayor with with the bps team and our bps families to make drastic improvements that are desperately that are desperately needed the chair recognizes counseling meet me here for a brief minute yes thank you sorry counselor flynn um but i just want to thank council aladda for her leadership um and really and for your support and for speaking up and i also want to acknowledge um counselor baker and his concerns because i think they are real i think we have an opportunity during this budget cycle um to really hold ourselves accountable when bps comes with their powerpoint presentations right is dollar for dollar what's our return on investment right and i think that this is this level of accountability is what we are going to be put to task for and i'm looking forward to that conversation um because what i have seen is that we have just started to implement more guidance counselors in our schools a lot of the things that we've been fighting for have just been implemented this year so we need time to see how the return on those investments are looking before we give um jesse and i actually was in holyoke fighting against the state receivership then um in 2015 and i saw the debacle that that that had on the community and also that's one of the lowest performing schools and even though it's still under state receivership so i think that we have an opportunity to stand together as a council and push back so thank you to my colleagues thank you to council baker for raising those concerns and we need to continue to hold ourselves and the administration and bps accountable to ensuring that our return on investment looks the way we are hoping our our intentions are so thank you thank you council mejia the chair recognizes council legend council zhan you have the floor thank you mr president um i just wanted to respond to one thing that uh councillor baker mentioned and one thing i think that was teased out pretty well at the hearing we always like to compare ourselves to our suburban counterparts which for a number of reasons i don't think is fair because of the structural differences in our schools and a number of you know legacy uh practices that don't apply here in the city of boston but i will say that the solution when we talk about we're spending too much money the what was mentioned in the hearings that we're actually not spending enough if you actually do want to do that comparison to certain counterparts who are spending thirty thousand forty thousand dollars per pupil per student so i think especially as this budget conversation is coming about how we're spending per pupil and if we do actually want to bring in other suburbs and the things that they have and what we don't have the answer is to more investment and deeper investment into our public schools as a public resource rather than thinking about taking it away i will also say that obviously bps has a lot of problems but one of the bps's biggest problems i think is they don't communicate the good things that are being done in our schools there's a lot of great things being done we're actually competing in a lot of areas with charter schools and i think it's important for us to really uh elevate that and to talk about what our schools need are more resources and i think that was something that was really brought out really well in the hearing that if we are serious about this it's not about taking away from the schools it's about what we're adding to them thank you councilman here thank you councillor um any other final final question final thoughts talk at 0199 will remain in in committee mr clerk please read docket 0187 please document number 0187 petition for a special law enact relative to reorganization of the boston school committee thank you thank you mr cleric um the chair recognizes council arroyo chair of the committee on government operations council arroyo you have the floor thank you mr chair uh the committee on government operations held the hearing on monday april 11th on docket number 0187 petition for a special law regarding an act relative to recognization reorganization of the boston school committee which was sponsored by myself and counselor julia mejia i'd like to thank my council colleagues for attending council braden councilor louis jen councillor flynn councillor murphy council of flaherty and councillor rarel this homeworld petition would establish a transition from a fully appointed school committee to a fully elected school committee in the city of boston as it's currently written the legislation takes in uh takes a phased-in approach to that transition doing it over time so not the all the elections are not at the same uh all those seats are not filled by election at the same time in the future they would be on the ballot at the same time but it phases in that approach uh this hearing was an opportunity for councillors to refresh their memories of the hearing held last year and for new counselors to hear from residents and advocates and share their thoughts at the hearing the committee heard from parents teachers and students at boston public schools who voiced their concerns about the current state of the appointed school committee committee also heard from several advocates who outlined the history of boston's decision to establish an appointed school committee highlighting the deep inequities this created there was also a conversation about national models of school committees where they've been either hybrid or appointed and or elected uh there was further discussion on the proposed phase in approach and process as well as how this would play out with the current superintendent search and potential state receivership uh i consider it a good initial conversation i'm going to recommend that this docket remain in committee for a series of working sessions the first of which uh will be tomorrow and it'd be great uh for counselors if you do attend to come sort of with your ideas for what this could look like or what it should look like the goal here is to have multiple working sessions the first one to sort of collect from counselors what they would like this to look like ideally and then to work to find a collaborative sort of uh way to to get this done in a way that helps everybody see what they want to see out of this as much as possible so that's tomorrow and i look forward to seeing folks there thank you thank you council royal would any other council like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council me here councilman here you have the law uh thank you to my co-sponsor council arrogo i want to thank all the amazing advocates who helped us get here to this historic point the yes on three coalition the boston education equity coalition former elected school committee members students teachers and families and so many others you all helped to ensure that this hearing was not only productive but it also centered community expertise as i said during the hearing we received a mandate from the people to return to an elected school committee in the city of boston and there will be times in the future to discuss specifically how that would work but this hearing was meant for us to focus on the why and i think our panelists and members did do that perfectly um in terms of identifying what our why is um so i just wanted to thank council arroyo for his leadership and the entire crew that worked alongside our office hosting a series of community conversations in native languages um it's important for people to understand what's at stake so our office alongside council arroyo and the coalition um hosted a series of um community conversations and thank you to council louisiana for um co-hosting with us the haitian creole we did one in spanish only and we're looking to do one in chinese mandarin in the near future and the goal really is is to help ensure that people understand what's at stake and to inform our thinking so i just want to say thank you thank you council mejia would any other council i'd like to speak on this matter this time thank you the the one the one i wanted to highlight that i i am in favor of um an elected school committee and i think it's important for residents to have a voice in the future of the boston schools i i am concerned about the timing of this and i'm i've mentioned this at the the hearing the working session so i guess my question may be to council royal one of the things i highlighted is what impact this would have on the search for the superintendent of the boston public school system i know we discussed this at length but are we able to get a sense of what this what the search committee um thinks of this this proposal at this time if it has any effect at all on how we select or who was selecting as a superintendent i just i am curious about that um so if you have any comments i'm not to put you on the spot um council royale but just wanted to ask you that question happy to answer that uh i have not spoken with the search committee uh on the superintendent search uh i recognize sort of the um fact that we are in the beginning of a new mayor's term even though this process is about 30 years in the works and is something that has happened even or started under the previous administration or maybe two administrations ago uh depending on how you keep track of it um so i would just say that part of my consideration and the way that the doctor was originally written uh is the fact that this is phased in so that we don't immediately just take everybody who's on the school committee and say out with all of you and move forward in that way it phases in the elected approach so that you're not looking at a fully elected school committee until 2026 um and it's working in stages to get to there so you get some new elected seats every municipal election up until the 2025 municipal election obviously all of these things can be discussed in a working session and sort of ironed out with folks but the idea here was how do we do this in a responsible way you know voters haven't voted for a school committee in 30 years so you have to get the education that that's actually a thing on the ballot then you have to have all these sort of races uh planned out in terms of making sure that all the the actual infrastructural things are ready to go and so all of those things i think we should take into account all those things i think we should talk about in a working session to directly answer whether or not i've been told that makes any difference in the current superintendent search i have not been told that it does but i also have not spoken to the search committee so i couldn't speak to that one way or the other thank you council royal and thank you for your leadership on this issue um an informa informative hearing uh 0187 will remain in committee mr clerk please read doc at zero two five nine talking number zero two five nine in ordinance amending city of boston code ordinance chapter fifteen section ten in establishing the boston fair chance act the chair recognizes council royal chair of the committee on government operations council royal you have the floor thank you uh we have the hearing uh mister thank you mr chip the committee on government operations held a working session on tuesday april 12th on docket 0-259 an ordinance amending city of boston code ordinances chapter 15 section 10 uh and establishing the boston fair chance act which was sponsored by councillor julie mcgee and myself i'd like to thank my council colleagues for attending councillor julia mahia council russia louis gen councillor kendra lara councillor kenzie bach and counselor ed flynn i'd also like to thank chief uh solace rivera chair mckenna and the human rights commission and get in the advocates for the persuasion and counselor flatty were you that remember there was one we had a tech no okay uh this ordinance would amend the existing language in the boston city code and establish a chief diversity officer who would provide oversight over the city's nondiscrimination equal opportunity and affirmative action policies this ordinance would also require regular updates on progress made regarding diverse hiring and promotions and require that the chief diversity officer work with offices to make sure that there are fair hiring practices in place for family members of current employees uh during the working session uh the committee heard language suggestions on sections speaking to collective bargaining agreements which would not be subject to this ordinance all collective bargaining agreements supersede this there was further discussion regarding the duties of the chief diversity officer and the language suggestions on how covered employees would receive a promotion upgrade or reclassification the committee is working to get information on the city's current job posting policies uh while we wait to receive those specific language amendments from from multiple parties uh that we discuss at the working session i'm going to recommend that this remains in committee thank you mr chip thank you council royal uh the chair recognizes council mejia council me here you have the floor thank you mr president and thank you to my co-sponsor councilor arroyo for chairing such a great working session we received a lot of great feedback from the administration and from our advocates and our colleagues here so on the council and that we feel like we are really moving this work forward and making the ordinance stronger to best fit and serve our city workers and a special shout out to counselor bach for a lot of great ideas that you shared in that space really do appreciate you and one thing that i'll just say is that i also want to uplift a lot of the workers that reached out to our office over the summer talking about the issues that they were experiencing and it was because of their courage and their leadership that we are here in this moment addressing this issue so i just want to uplift the workers who who literally came out of the shadows to talk about the discrepancies in in promotional practices here in the city of boston and i'm hoping that we can move this along quickly so that we can take it up for a vote a vote thank you thank you councilman here would anyone else like to speak on this matter two talk nine will remain in committee mr kirk please read docket zero two six five please docket number zero two six five in order authorizing the city of boston to accept and expand a grant funded through the corona virus state and local fiscal recovery front clfrf in the treasury of the united states established by section 9901 of the american rescue plan act of 2021 a-r-p-a awarded by the united states department of the treasury thank you mr clerk the chair recognizes council block chair of the committee on boston covert 19 recovery council bark you have the flaw thank you so much mr president um last night we had a great hearing on the potential of utilizing arpa funds to support the dorchester field house this was sponsored by councillor baker and i want to thank colleagues for joining councillors murphy flaherty luigi lujan flynn warrell edwards and fernandez anderson uh and also to councilmember for sending a letter in support um it was you know it's it's great to have colleagues in these chairs but it was even better to have the young people here last night and it was really i think inspiring to see um what it looks like when young people are involved in a planning process and then they actually get to talk about it and talk about the way that they like have seen their agency reflected so i think that was a real highlight for us hearing from the youth advisory board panel um as well as being joined by the martin richard mr8 foundation and the boys and girls club of dorchester um so we heard extensive presentations from bob's canal dot joyce kevin deebler and then as i mentioned the youth advisory board and also heard from mr bill richard um and a large number of uh community testifiers so um the boys and girls club of dorchester in partnership with the martin richard foundation is proposing a field house that is designed to be adjacent to the mccormick bcla merge school um it's on a ground lease from bps land one of the subjects of the of the conversation was about making it deeply accessible to bps students so they've been working on an moa to make sure that both every week yet student there gets access as a member of the club and also that during the day it could actually be used as an extension of the school facilities so i think we had a really robust exciting conversation and i also just want to as chair say that um you know what counselor baker was modeling last night is that if counselors have proposals that they want to have considered vis-a-vis the american rescue plan funds sort of in concert with us looking at the proposals that are coming across the transom today from the mayor that i'd encourage folks to file a docket and then my intention is to hold hearings on kind of some of the subject matter areas that the mayor's made proposals on and to co-notice that with dockets from counselors that are related to the subject areas so um i think you know this has to be for us to spend these one-time funds in the best possible way it has to be a collective conversation between the council and the mayor and i think we had a very good go at that last night so i just i really want to thank everybody who testified we were here until 8 pm but it was just about the most cheerful till 8 pm hearing i've been a part of and i think the students were here in the chamber taking photos and investigating the space after 8 pm and yeah and i think some of them are probably coming for our seats before too long um so with that mr chairman because we're continuing to consider the american rescue plan funds i would ask that this docket remain in committee and also would obviously defer to the sponsor if you wanted to say a few words thank you council bloc the chair recognizes council baker council baker you have the floor thank you mr president um my concern with the opera money is that we are going to spend it all and not have anything to show for it i mean we were in our budget initial discussion today and basically there was 350 million there that that they're looking to just send around third see later gone i don't know about anybody else but i haven't been asked my opinion of where i think the money should be spent this was a way for me to get my opinion on record here and and for a little bit of history on it columbia point was formerly the city dump um and it was a columbia point housing project which was probably the most overlooked one of the worst in in the country but one of one of the first also they sent in the uh i believe it was early fifties they sent five thousand families over on the on the peninsula one way in one way out no stores no amenities no playgrounds nothing the peninsula is a different place now we have we have dorchester bay city looking to do some building over there that will connect on to umass and we have this project right here in a time where we have um not just kids but all of our families are suffering to some degree with what just happened to us in in covet and just being shut in and trying to figure out how we how we get on with life and how we heal as a city as communities and i believe in my heart that this building here will go a long way at doing that and 10 million dollars is a lot of money it's a big ass i've never asked for 10 million dollars someday maybe i'll be asking for 10 million for myself someplace but 10 million out of three it's not from ways and means two 10 million 10 million out of the 350 million that's available to us now is 2.8 10 million is 2.8 percent of what's left on the 350 million dollars and that's not including what's going into what the school has the the bps budget has they have another 400 500 million dollars this project this project will provide everything from indoor fields so when we when we have 15 feet of snow we can still play soccer we can still play baseball we can still play lacrosse in the middle of the winter we'll have basketball courts we'll have we'll have um um sorry we will have uh performance spaces we will have spaces that that will will be dedicated to kids with disabilities that may have sensory issues will will will allow the challenger leagues to come in and the challenger leagues are set up for kids that have disabilities that are in wheelchairs so they can experience sport uh there'll be a test kitchen in there basically this this project if we do end up coming for a vote we're kind of figuring out how we end up doing the vote isn't for me it isn't my vote the vote was for the kids that were here last night that totally amazed a lot of people that i think were in the audience and it's this sort of investment in our future in our kids that's going to allow them to be successful into the future we're a different city now than we were in 1980 in 1980 when i was growing up our fields were all terrible i mean the best baseball i played was on a was on a hard parking lot that it shouldn't be the case anymore we have technology we have really really good building systems where this building will be teaching and training and healing not just kids but families for generations and part of the larger picture this will be infrastructure that will be community infrastructure before we have a whole lot more development over there in the next 10 to 15 years akin to the seaport not necessarily to that scale but there's going to be a lot of building that happens over there and one of the criticisms on the seaport is there's no space for families or kids to run to play to to have community um and this would be in their first and a 10 million dollar investment with from the city of boston would allow us to to really position the large foundations in in the city to say okay the city's committed the state will shouldn't say will but i feel confident the state's going to come up with a good a good bit of money also and um the whole peninsula the whole columbia point peninsula and when i look at the columbia point peninsula i i do it from standing with the with the globe in front of me the globe is now going to be is is the beat it's going to be 700 000 square feet of lab space research and development which is part of excuse me for going on so long but i need to get this out which is part of the whole new industry that's coming to boston it's it's biotech it's high-tech manufacturing we don't know the jobs none of us here know the jobs you know what plumbers are we know what cop and desire we don't know well i don't know maybe i'm maybe i'm being some uh making assumptions but we don't know what the people in those labs are doing the globe's going to be training towards those jobs the project at dorchester bay city is going to be connected on to on onto umass is going to be training towards those jobs the whole peninsula is going to avail us the opportunity for kids to be able so so the peninsula is going to be k 0 to 16. training and development of young minds and this is the first step of it right here and it's an amazing amazing building concept and i think that when it gets built regardless if the city gives us 10 million or not this thing's going to get built it helps us a lot if the city is committed but when this thing gets built we're all going to be able to look at it and point that i see i want one of those in my district and we're going to be able to do that we're going to be able to take that model and replicate it because it's not just like when i was growing up it was all sports it was that was the only outlet you had we weren't thinking about we weren't thinking of singing we weren't thinking of poetry it's all different here now there's so many different ways to form the child this building is going to form the child is going to form the community and the most important thing that i heard last night was from a young kid that said we want to add to the good in the world this is going to add to the good in the world and that's why it's a formal request for 10 million dollars across the hall to say look at it pay attention to it this is the way we should be spending our upper dollars and i don't you know i don't want to poo poo on any other way that we're spending half a dollars i don't necessarily agree with a lot of it because i think it's going to feel like a vegas weekend when we're done our pockets are empty we got nothing to show for it right i want to be able to point to it look at this thing right here 10 million dollars you know we won in vegas we hit craps i'm bringing a hundred thousand home or whatever you know what i'm saying making the analogy i don't want to feel like we went to vegas and it's all gone so thank you for allowing me to drowned on there a bit mr president thank you council baker the chair recognizes council fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the flow if it's okay with you um council president it's uh council mejia council murphy council for natalie sanderson then council for larry okay the chair recognizes councilman here councilman here you have the phone is tired of me standing up that's why he's trying to silence me you know that's not gonna happen um so i just quickly wanted to say and i really do appreciate counselor baker's advocacy on behalf of this particular project i also would be remiss if i didn't mention um that there was a little bit of a controversy in regards to this very specific piece of land the mccormick students uh the the faculty and and um some of the folks really wanted to keep that space green and there is some tension there and i think it's important for us as we continue to move forward in this conversation that you know in the true spirit of really reflecting community voice that we you know we honor that and and we just uplift it because that is definitely something that we're setting the presidents here that community voices also being overlooked so i just wanted to to name that and and while i appreciate you know the whole vision of what the city could look like 10 years from now i also want to be 100 that the city what it's going to look like 10 years from now it's not going to be a lot of us being able to go to this beautiful community center that um that we're fighting for because we're not going to be able to afford to live here in this city so i think that while it's really beautiful and i'm excited to to support this initiative i think it's also important for me to uplift the fact of the matter is is that um every day the city changes and um the the beautiful the beautiful things that we're fighting for most likely most of our people are not going to be able to benefit from so while i support this project i want to do so with um naming that thank you thank you councilman here the chair recognizes council murphy council murphy you have the following thank you so it was a very inspiring hearing and i just want to thank my d3 city council of frank baker for advocating so strongly for this project but always showing up in the district and advocating for your constituents so as one of your constituents i did just want to take this time to say thank you thank you council murphy the chair recognizes council region council jean you have the fall thank you mr president i want to thank councillor bach and council baker for holding this hearing last night those students were extremely impressive i have obviously a bias for some of the students i'm a mccormick kid myself and a lot of the mccormack kids were here i played basketball track and field at mccormick because we didn't have a good track we didn't have our own track at mccormack we had to use bc high's track right a private school and but we also use the outdoor area for recess and i think that it's important as we look at this project to also think about the outdoor space and how we can maintain as much outdoor space as possible for the mccormick kids there's also the issue of mccormick is merging with bcla that's going to add a lot more students to the campus students who should be able to access the outdoors pretty freely i'm also really encouraged by a memorandum of agreement that will exist between the project and the school so that we make sure that our students in the area are both from the developer the mccormick bc and mccormick bcla are able to access the site in a welcoming and and fully accessible way so i look forward to further discussions about this project and also to honoring the voices of those who live in columbia point they also presented a letter before the bpda announcing some of their concerns which i think that we just need to take into account when we're considering this project i also think uh council baker because last night one of the things that he mentioned was that this project is it could be a really great project in response to the reckoning that we are having and experiencing here in our city and in the country trying to find spaces where we can find common ground i think this project especially with the use of arpa funds would really create a precedent and i think that is a precedent that i'd like to see a lot of our communities especially communities of color use how we're uh sending supporting private initiatives even though it's a non-profit it's not it's it's not a public initiative um and and then yeah i think something else that was said was um we should be creating beautiful buildings as a city we can do that we have the capacity to do that and i'd like to see us build more beautiful buildings that really honor and affirm the dignity of all of our young ones we as a city have the capacity and ability to do that with the land that is in within our uh purview and so i want us i want to see us doing more of that thank you thank you council the chair recognizes council of clarity council fiery you have the floor thank you mr president just want to go on record and support strong support of this and i think it's important to note that both of these organizations have a stellar track record uh in delivery uh real deliverables to to children and to families uh in dorchester uh i reference that the hearing it's a it's a it's a gem of a location uh you think about the columbia point housing project across the street uh depending on who's golfing it's a five iron from the marielle mccormack where i was born the old harbor projects right uh think about the partnerships uh with the mccormick and the deva bc high umass all the jobs that are going to be coming online at the bayside expo don't forget the geiger gibson community health center there and the the plan to revitalize the jfk train station so lots of opportunity down there if there's ever an organization or partnership that is going to help close these gaps we're looking at them and i think it's also important to note the uh the author or the first speaker did mention that the collective partnerships both in the private and public sector that this uh this ask there are there are matches that are lined up with that match to put this in a shovel ready position which is what clearly we want to make sure that happens so i mean if you can think about what has sort of been in front of me and my team in terms of the future of that peninsula it's absolutely amazing and to think about the pipelines that are coming from these schools to those other institutions uh to those jobs particularly in the stem field uh we'll be servicing these kids and the sort of the first two priorities will be uh the [Music] harbor point housing development in uh just on the other side of kosciuszko circle will be uh kids from the maryland mccomic i mean sky is the limit uh not not hard to get excited about this so i think this will be it's a modest request frankly uh particularly given that the matches that are lined up to make this a reality for the folks over there on mount vernon street and for futures to come you know the track record of these organizations not fly by nights not trying to come lately's not mediocre kicking butt in their respective fields and it's about children and families and they will be servicing our most vulnerable residents in the city thank you mr president thank you council ferrari the chair recognizes council fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the flow thank you um council baker thank you so much for actually filing this and um before i go in to talk about why i support the project um i go back to my point about you know it's it's so it's one thing to actually know that there's a disparity in certain areas but it's another then to have to get people on technicalities or bureaucratic processes before you can have access so it's i've been working in the last or my our my office and i my team and i have been working the last three months in building asset mapping comparative data across the city and looking at the deficits we have a list of those companies and non-profits and organizations we know exactly everything that roxbury needs by now because we've been doing the study for the last four months actually before i even got inaugurated um but then there's the other thing that in 2022 boston understands deficits and yet only provides to those who have access that's odd and so then the question is it's like you're slapping me twice you know the problem you don't fix the problem but then when you fix the problem you give the other side double the money of what you could give me or what you end up giving me so we are going to be looking at those things to see if any of what i'm saying makes sense um but i learned a lot from the presentation yesterday oh my god like you have the resources or boys and girls club does i connected to everything there the three girls that were here they were all west african right you pulled on my heartstrings the burtons uh you had bpd like it was such a thorough and such an influential presentation how could i not it was holistic it was impressive we want one at every bps we want bps to look like that right um so i agree with consolidate if we are to set if we're it's just what we're doing this is a new culture y'all we're setting precedence this is what we're doing what we can do is actually access money this is what this government says we can access money and if you don't have access you counselor lara will help us with technicalities and if you don't know how to present council baker will help with that and if you see disparity councilor mejia will help you advocate we have what it takes we have the money and we have all of that yet i'm i'm i guess i'm just spilling over because i'm looking at all of the projects that's already proposed and i'm looking at what's happening and now i'm learning little by little oh snap i'm a rookie i don't know jack that's why it's just bypassing me so fast and meanwhile people are like suffering so i support you it doesn't take away from your project or their project it doesn't take away right is right wrong is wrong if it's a good project let's support it and let's keep it moving let's do the same for other communities thank you thank you councillor fernandez anderson and before i call council baker i just wanted to weigh in i had the opportunity to attend last night's meeting as well and just listening to the young young children there from from the mccomic school talk about how important this this facility would be to them they don't they don't have money they don't have any influence a lot of them a lot of them actually live in public housing developments but they're i said that they should have a state-of-the-art facility that's as nice as anyone in the city or nice as anyone in lincoln or wellesley those kids certainly deserve it council flaherty mentioned that it's it's walking distance and as did council baker from the mary ellen mccormick public housing development which council council baker represents but it's probably the most difficult and challenging environment living environment in the in the city um so i i just want to say thank you to council baker for advocating hard for you your constituents and i appreciate that that type of level of advocacy that you've provided most of them most of them are kids kids of color kids in public housing developments a lot of a lot of african-american kids latinx kids in a large large vietnamese population as well in in in dorchester so just want to recognize the the work counselor council baker did on that let me let me ask uh let me call on councillor baconnell council baker you have the full thank you mr president um just i want to make a couple more points and i apologize so in 1974 first year busting on my side of the city i was bused over the to the devo to the devil school this parking lot looks exactly the same that it did in 1974 so for us to try and hold on to this i think is a bit short-sighted we should be shooting for more bc high across the street is is getting ready to spend 49 million dollars on fields and field houses directly across the street so that means our kids of the devil mccormick will be looking out over the fencing look what's going on over there for them bc high had one benefactor that gave them the 49 million dollars we're asking for 10 to go towards us and and some things happened in the redesign about the open space because if before the kids were totally involved it was more like a large one story kind of took up a lot of it took up a lot a lot through the um student council they pulled the building in and went vertical with it so it's it's it's on it's on floors which provides um an open lawn on the on the front on mount vernon street which would be the only lawn on front on on mount vernon street there'll be outdoor basketball courts there'll be a lot of outdoor space here that's that wasn't there in the original design and that came from involving the involving the teens um there's three housing developments to speak to 10 years down the line there's three housing developments like you you mentioned within walking distance the the the harbour point of course mary allen mccormick and old colony old quality might be you know might be a little more than a walk but certainly if you have something to walk towards you just go towards it and that's i think in those three developments is almost 2 000 2 000 kids under the age of 21. so i mean and those are those are units that are going to be deeply affordable for all of our lifetimes in those in those housing developments so um in zero two one two zero two one two five which is where this sits which is part of my district which is where i grew up has been identified as the most diverse district the most diverse zip code in the entire country so that means all people are congregating in zero two one two five and this is gonna be in zero two one two five but it's not just gonna be for zero two one two five it's gonna be for mattapan if they if they can get there it's gonna be for south boston it's gonna be for whoever wants to get there i i envision city wide track mates there city-wide basketball tournaments um so i i think i understand the the the tension the initial tension that was about saving green space but i challenge anybody to go look at the green space is a green space is it green space is brown grass green space is a cracked parking lot with some paint on it is that green space i don't know i think this is far more important far more it will be it will deliver far more in the development of our kids than just open space thank you thank you council baker docket zero two six five will remain in committee motions orders resolutions mr clerk please read zero five one zero talking number zero five one zero council is flynn and murphy offer the following petition for a special law enact regarding the disability pension for kurt injured thank you mr clerk the chair now recognizes councillor flynn councillor flynn you have the floor thank you council arroyo uh council royal may i add um counselor flaherty on as an original co-sponsor seeing no objections council flaherty is now added as an original co-sponsor thank you council royal um this is also being filed with council council murphy as well this is this is about a boston police officer named kurt stoken joe who grew up in in my neighborhood he entered the police academy in 2006 started in the boston police department 2007 the dedicated police officer for 19 years on january 8 2016 he responded to a call and he was shot this left curt permanently disabled from any further service as a police officer he is married he has two children with seven and four at the time of this of the tragedy his wife who is currently in remission from cancer has been working full-time as a nurse throughout covert um i'm gonna ask council murphy if um if she will continue i know she has spoken to the family but for the year um thank you uh councillor murphy you now have the floor thank you um so when i did speak with kurt he told me that he worries about how he can continue to care for his family from sunrise to sunset every day he suffers from anxiety depression nightmares sleep deprivation and this has completely impacted the quality of his life in a very significant way for himself his wife his children in his extended family kurt even though he is still suffering mentally six years later is willing to come in and testify when we hold our hearing and i do ask my colleagues to support this request knowing that we don't take this lightly at all we have to look at the circumstances medical records and the facts of each individual case and make our decision accordingly but i do ask my colleagues to support this thank you thank you council murphy uh the chair now recognizes council flaherty no no comment uh does anyone else want to speak on this matter seeing uh no one uh would anyone else like to add their name uh mr clerk please add counselor baker please add counselor bach please add counselor brayden please add counselor fernandez anderson please add counselor lara please add counselor louis jen please add counselor mejia please add council rally please add my name as well docket number 510 will be assigned to the committee on government operations uh if we can read uh mr clark docket uh just is it zero five one four thank you talking number zero five one four council of flynn offered the following resolutions celebrating the 75th anniversary of paralyzed veterans of america thank you mr clark the chair now recognizes councillor flynn councillor flynn you have the floor thank you thank you mr chair thank you mr uh mr chair um could i ask could i add counselor murphy as an original co-sponsor as it relates to veterans and military families thank you uh councillor flynn seeing and hearing no objections uh councilman murphy you are now at it as a co-sponsor thank you this this resolution is in celebration of 75th anniversary of the paradise veterans of america it's an organization that has a lot of members here in greater boston and across across the country as well this organization represents veterans that have lost a limb and that are unable now to to move on their own without the without the support of a of a chair um and i've been talking they've had spinal cord injuries um and they need a chair to to function and i filed this this resolution to recognize the paralyzed veterans because they gave a major piece of their their body their life really in support of our nation and to recognize that sacrifice to recognize that service but i also filed it to recognize that when they came home from service in the military they've had many challenges obviously as as someone that's almost completely paralyzed they need support they need services right now there's a major debate going across the country of how our airplane airplanes treat anyone that's in a wheelchair as they're traveling um traveling or traveling on an airplane and many people that work at an airport unfortunately take the the wheelchair and just kind of sometimes just throw it in the in the in the plane without any regard for that person that's that has the wheelchair and damaging a wheelchair is really damaging that person's accessibility i i highlight that that issue because it's not an issue that just impacts the paralyzed veterans but it impacts anyone that's in a wheelchair so it's really an issue of civil rights and human rights but i get back to the paralyzed veterans and they gave a piece of themselves for our country their family has also served has also sacrificed and during during this time i wanted to just say thank you to the to this organization to let them know that there are people that recognize them for their service but also that this body stands with them in support of of all persons with disabilities to make sure that they have the access to services that they need that's why i think the americans with disabilities act which was which is a federal act i think it's probably the most significant federal federal legislation that was ever written but here in boston i want to work with my colleagues and i i know you do a tremendous amount of work on assisting persons with disabilities but this body has always stood for persons with disabilities across the city so just want to say thank you to my colleagues for joining me and supporting this important resolution thank you councillor royal thank you councillor flynn uh the chair now recognizes uh the other original co-sponsor counselor aaron murphy um thank you and as the chair of veterans military families and military affairs i'm proud to support this resolution with president flynn my father was a proud navy veteran who served during the cuban missile missile crisis and my stepfather papa jack had an impressive career in the united states marines he grew up in a single family household with very limited resources in mission hill and went on to be a pilot for marine one which is the u.s marine corps aircraft carrying the president of the united states he was flying vice president johnson on november 22 1963 when president kennedy was assassinated and it was on his flight that johnson was sworn in as our 36th president of the united states of america i have always respected the sacrifices that our military and their families make and the paralyzed veterans of america is a great organization that advocates and supports our veterans that suffer from spinal cord injuries and diseases such as ms and als and i feel it's very important that we recognize and celebrate their 75th anniversary thank you thank you councillor murphy the chair now recognizes councillor baker thank you mr chair and thank you council murphy and and you and council flynn for your continued support for the disabled community my oldest brother was blind and and my uncle don donald vincent baker came back from vietnam in 1968 paralyzed from the neck down no resources any place the doctors basically told his family my father and and you know grandmother and everything that he probably wouldn't make the year he ended up living until he was 83 and had a great life because he had supports that were his community the dorchester community surrounded around him so thank you for your continued support for the veterans the disabled community and and aaron thank you awesome thank you for telling us about puppet jack that's a pretty good story and please sign my name mr chair thank you councilor baker would anyone else like to speak on this seeing no one would anyone else like to add their name uh please add uh i believe counselor baker asked for his name to be on but just be sure counselor baker please add counselor bach please add counselor braden please add counsellor of tania fernandez anderson please add counselor flaherty please add counselor lara please add counselor louis jen please add councillor mejia please add councilwoman please add my name uh mr uh seeing uh uh council flynn and council murphy seeks suspension of the rules and passage of docket 0514 all those in favor say aye aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it docket0514 has been adopted mr mr clark please read doc at zero five one one talking number zero five one one council is bark and baker offer the following order for a hearing to utilize federal covert recovery funds to construct municipal composting infrastructure thank you the chair recognizes council block council block you have the flow thank you mr president and if i could suspend rule 12 and add counselor lara please uh mr clark please add council lara as an original co-sponsor great thank you so much um really excited to put this before the council today in partnership with councillors baker and lara i talked today in the budget breakfast about sort of the types of criteria that i think we need to be thinking about when we think about the arpa funds right so is it addressing something urgent are we are we being a part of a systemic solution and then you know are we creating anything permanent um is this kind of taking on something that the public can manage is it a public good that we're investing in and you know does it create and support good jobs and so really filed this today to put in the hopper alongside other things a proposal that i think takes those boxes and should be part of our arpa conversations folks who came to our waste management hearing a few weeks ago will have heard the exciting news that the city is launching a 10 000 person composting pilot citywide and obviously our ambition is that the city will eventually compost citywide for all in the way that seattle and a number of other cities do but the reality is that scaling up to do that is something that um is like very costly it's a long-term investment in like in sort of growing city services profile right and currently our approach to that has been one of contracting but when you kind of imagine growing that contract the city scale it's potentially very expensive over the long term and the people of boston are never going to stop generating compost eligible food waste so you know it's a sort of long-term thing and i think that counselor baker has really led the way and i'll let him speak about it more in emphasizing the fact that you know if we as a city invested in municipal compost infrastructure this is something where we could grow good city jobs to be more efficient over the long term than contracting this out it's an area i mean frankly i think that when you think about waste management and the places where the city um could build the infrastructure in an ideal world we would then become the hub even for neighboring municipalities folks who are too small to plausibly do this themselves would say oh but boston's running that composting infrastructure and could pay in in order for us to handle it um so i think kind of we're at this juncture where we know this is a direction we're traveling it's essential for our climate plans and the question is are we going to travel this direction via private contracting and sort of end up stuck there or are we going to do some upfront investment infrastructure and kind of pave the way for real good city public jobs that will do this critical thing that are that our folks want to see done and that frankly are our food our zero waste plan requires to be done um so excited to talk about this i know that the department's already started putting out rfps thinking about this stuff but it's kind of one of those things where either the one-time money is there or it's not when you talk about facilities i also want to note and there's a reference in the in the hearing order to this that um another thing that came up at the hearing was the creation of a center for hard to recycle materials known as a charm and that would be kind of the other physical infrastructure piece as we talk about the growth of e-waste and a bunch of these other things in the city people i'm sure have heard about the hazardous waste days and the long long lines and it's another kind of unsustainable thing that we do so really excited to put this in conversation with the other filings from the administration on the american rescue plan funds as i mentioned earlier you know our plan in the coming months will be to have hearings on their proposals in kind of topic areas and then also mix in the council proposals so we'll just encourage other folks to also come with things that you'd like to have discussed but this is one for me and several colleagues so thank you to my co-sponsors and thank you mr president thank you thank you council block the chair recognizes council baker council baker you of the floor thank you mr chair and thank you council block for filing this and allowing me to to come alongside with you i uh because of my background i was in the printing department which we ended up contracting out in 2010 i lost my job which ended up landing me here so good bad i don't know but if you equate this with what we spend in tipping costs which is which is how they refer to what it costs us to dump our trash and also our recycling over the years every year that's going to go up by millions of dollars and there's no way that we will ever be able to control that we're at the beginning of something that's actually not new we used to collect compost back i wouldn't even put a date on it because it was before my time um you know this is something we can do if we build the infrastructure and i don't want to make the vegas analogy again but we need to be able to build something that we can point to with this money here like we don't wanna in two years say okay 800 million gone what do we have what did we do we didn't do anything so kenzie thank you again for bringing this up this is a great great thing i think here and to be talking about building city infrastructure and city jobs which goes contrary to to what the municipal thinking has been the last 20 years oh we got to contract it out we have to just you know get rid of the employees get rid of the employees it's more difficult to to get a city contract and pay for your family on a city contract than if you have a good city stable job and if we we're in the beginning of this like council block said again we could become this the hub for the whole area taking taking people's compost and then selling it back to them as as good material to to um to plant with another printing department fact we bought a a a web press that at one point we printed all of it was just one job we did on it we printed all the the tickets for the parking tickets for the city of boston but also 11 surrounding communities i see the same sort of thing happening here we're actually generating i think we could probably generate money with this so i'm so excited about this right here and i'm so excited about people really thinking about composting in a real way not just okay it's in the bucket and it's out there we don't know what it's about i mean this is this is real here and i appreciate it because it is real thank you thank you councillor baker the chair recognizes council lara council laura you have the floor thank you um president flynn and thank you to my co-sponsors i'm really looking forward to uh working on this issue together i don't think anybody on the city council or watching us from home is unfamiliar um with councillor baker's impassioned speeches and i'm very happy to be on the agreeable end of both of them today um i think that the covenant pandemic has offered us a unique opportunity to access capital the and capital funding that's going to be necessary for us to create more locally run infrastructure for me the city's composting program is just the beginning of that i think that if we commit to building more city-run infrastructure it's going to mean more community control the program really ultimately will serve and will be owned by the city that's going to be operating it this is going to make sure that we're putting our tax dollars to good use by putting servicing our constituents over profit making and ensuring that our focus is particularly on meeting the community's needs i'm sure that the companies that we contract with do good work but the city council is responsible for operating in the public interest local control is going to be local presence it's going to mean local regulations it's going to be local jobs and as the chair of the environmental justice resiliency and parks committee i see this locally run infrastructure and utilities as well as one path that's going to get us closer to being a climate resilient city and so i'm happy to co-sponsor this thank you thank you council lara i i would all i would like to add as as we have this discussion um also part of it should also include um i i hate to bring this up again the pest control it's it's a major it's a major problem in in our city in every neighborhood of boston but when we're doing composting we also have to make sure that we have a public awareness campaign of of educating people of exactly what you need to do same thing with recycling same thing with taking out the barrel it's not as simple as just taking your barrel out to the street there are certain times you have to do it certain places where you have to put the barrel where you have to put the recycling so public awareness has to be a critical part of it and i think as we move forward in the budget process we we have to make sure that we have the funding in place for code enforcement for inspectional services for public works when they're dealing with these quality of life nuts and bolts issues so just want to say thank you to my colleagues council council baker and council of lara would anyone else like to speak on this or would anyone else like to get their name please raise your hand mr cork please add counselor brayden council of royal council of flaherty council illusion councillor mejia council murphy council we're all in in the chair talk at zero five one one will be referred to zero five one one will refer to the committee on boston's covert nineteen recovery um mr clark please read talk at zero five one two doctor number zero five one two counselors warrell and flaherty offer the following order for a hearing regarding allocating our funds to a homeownership voucher program the chair recognizes council rel councilworld you have the flaw thank you president flynn can i suspend route 12 and add counselor bach as a original co-sponsor yes having having um heard no objections please add council voc as an original co-sponsor um you have the foil council role thank you and thank you to my co-sponsors council flaherty and council block as the african thought leader once said people are not fighting for ideas for things in anyone's heads they are fighting to win material benefits to live better and in peace to see their lives go forward to guarantee the future of their children we have watched thousands of long-time residents leave boston because of the rising cost of housing our neighbors who have called boston home for decades cannot afford to purchase a home in their hometown and struggle to keep up with the rising cost of rent through the federal section 8 voucher program we are able to subsidize rent and voucher holders are able to use their vouchers to purchase a home in addition to expanding section 8 vouchers we as a city can create our own voucher program i'm gonna be a little bit creative and i came up with a name for it but it's called the boston priority housing voucher where we have the flexibility to define who is eligible for the assistance and will be able to create equity applicants like we have done in other programs this is an opportunity to bring much needed housing assistance to long-term bossa residents who are stuck in the middle i've come across many of our neighbors who make too much to qualify for housing assistance but do not earn enough to purchase a home by layering relief we will provide our neighbors with a clear path to the middle class as interest rates go up borrowing requirements will become more strict to increase home buyers buying power it would take more than just down payment assistance if we are serious about home ownership let's put bostonians in the best positions to purchase and make boston the permanent home and to continue on with um councillor baker's analogy imagine imagine going to vegas rolling the dice and be able to buy everyone in the city of boston at home thank you thank you councilworld the chair recognizes council of flaherty council flaherty you have the flow thank you mr president that sounds like a chicken in every pot that's right but uh i also obviously want to thank uh the the the lead sponsors leadership and partnership we've been back and forth on on this over the last couple of weeks just trying to pull things together and i i just think it's important to note that our rental and home ownership markets are extremely competitive and are among the uh the most expensive uh in the united states and parallel to that is the cost of living uh in boston has increased steeply over the last decade everybody in this room has heard from a constituent a friend a neighbor on this issue and all of us know long-term residents and families that are being forced out of the city a city that they know they love a neighborhood they love and grow up with um because they can't meet uh that uh that's that financial crunch and so i know it's a serious problem we're quickly becoming the city of the very rich and the very poor and interesting to note uh at a hearing last night my team and i heard from a landlord that rents to folks in his neighborhood at uh well below market rate and i know he's not alone uh it's not an overabundance of it but there are a lot of small landlords that rent to to their neighbors and uh and that happens across the city however these landlords are starting now to express their own distress at rising costs in our city whether it's property tax maintenance and repair of those properties and they're now having to make decisions as to whether they can continue to do that and continue to provide below market rents in light of the uh increasing cost and now they're starting to grapple with having to increase uh those rents uh so that they don't find themselves going into a hole this dynamic it's separate from sort of the focus of this hearing but i raise it because i think it's important because we do have the stop land this the small landers if they stop doing that uh that's only going to sort of further exacerbate the crunch uh for affordable rental opportunities that give renters a chance to to stay in their communities and so home home ownership is is the best way to build equity and generational wealth um and in boston uh that goal is uh becoming further and further out of reach and i want to note that the the oneplus boston mortgage program it works and it's making a difference not enough of our lending institutions are participating and that's a whole other issue that we can address but i think it's important to note that that program is an incredible program that helps income eligible first-time buyers gain buying power in the market and i think that this is sort of what um we were getting at and obviously leaning into this with the lead sponsor and obviously in council box experience here providing direct cash uh opera assistance to fund uh this to to to for income eligible first time home buyers whether that's cash for down payment uh cost whether that's a cash flow uh to help with the closing cost that could be cash to bridge alone uh will make the difference between someone getting in a home and or not getting in a home and so i think that's sort of the spirit of what we're looking to do here i look forward to a robust discussion about this welcome any additional ideas and feedback but we talked at length about the section 8 voucher and is there another opportunity is there another voucher out there that can again sort of close those uh those gaps when it comes to home ownership and and i think that this may be the answer to that so look forward to working with the lead sponsor and the co-sponsor and all my colleagues to try to make this a reality uh no no different game changer nothing will do a better job of creating generational wealth than a person owning their own home thank you mr president thank you council flaherty the chair recognizes council bloc council book you have the flow thank you so much mr president um and this is another thing that i'm excited to have come to the code recovery committee and be part of our conversation there because um i think it's exciting that the administration is um proposing in in their proposal to have the most money going to affordable homeownership than we that we've ever done in the city but i think that when i talk to colleagues on the council and there are so many advocates of home ownership that i'm hesitant to start naming them but counselor louis jen counselor fernandez anderson and counselor braden i mean we talk about these all the time and i think part of what i've heard coming from counselor warrell is whatever we do for affordable homeownership we've got to make sure that it's actually hitting the right people like that the programs are actually that the folks who we all talk to who we know need them that especially like our first time home buyers of color first generation home bar that these are actually the programs that serve that group and and fit that middle and so i think there's been a bunch of interesting of like suggestions proposed uh on the affordable home ownership front by councillors counselor royal's proposal of vouchers is the one that's before us today i think the idea of really putting those side by side with what the mayor's office of housing is thinking and really drilling down and making sure that home ownership money is well targeted to hit that missing middle and keep folks in the cities a really important role for this council so i'm looking forward to being able to have this conversation side by side about that funding allocation so thank you mr chair thank you council bloc the chair recognizes council braden council braden you have before thank you mr president i i want to also thank uh councillor warrell for taking this initiative for bringing this forward homeownership someone mentioned recently it's the most reliable way to control your rent because you have a pr if you have a 30-year mortgage you can predict your outgoings on your housing costs and it's it's a way to build generational wealth and sadly we are seeing our neighborhoods been impacted by folks who've grown grown up in the neighborhoods even folks who have had their families have owned a home in the neighborhoods the next generation cannot see a future in which they will be homeowners in our city and um and many of our immigrant community are leaving the city because their their rents are just so out of um unaffordable in relation to their earning capacity that they're relocating to other other cities and are further out like brockton and and uh framingham etc so and one of the big issues that we we're faced with there are potential folks who want to buy a home are competing with investors who come into our neighborhoods with a million dollars in cash and put the money down before the house can even the two family home that can even come onto the market and then they rent out those homes those two family and three family homes uh at a thousand dollars a a bedroom a thousand that's generating five five thousand dollars a month from a from a unit in a two-family home working families can't afford that housing folks group together young professionals or students can group together and pay that but this is a totally unsustainable way to go for our housing going forward so not only do we need to think about this type of a voucher program to help put homeowners folks get into the home ownership and and have a have a home to build generational wealth but i also think we need to really seriously look at the mechanisms to try and um disincentivize the speculative investment that is driving families out of our city thank you thank you council braden the chair recognizes council fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the floor um i think this is an amazing idea right especially since um i filed something extremely similar to it so i'm wondering and how we can work together to merge the two so that we can make it work i think there's room for us to do work together and so if i file something and this looks super similar then we should work together and i'm wondering then if how how we create the space to do that same points using using alternative ways to create homeownership especially with low amis qualifying them through different vouchers assistant programs same point so i just i just think that great minds think alike i appreciate you brian and i respect you i think we have um we want to fight on the same side and i want to work with you and see how we can merge the two ideas thank you thank you council fernandez anderson would anyone else like to speak on this matter or add their name um if you please raise your raise your hand mr cora please add council arroyo councillor baker council braden council fernandez anderson council lara councillor jean councillor mejia counts in the chair um docket zero five one one will be referred to the committee in boston's covet 19 recovery mr clerk please re-dock at zero five one three talking number zero five one three councils mejia and lara offer the following resolution in support of the out of hospital birth access and safe act house 2341 and senate 1519 in recognizing black maternal health week in the city of boston thank you mr correct the chair recognizes council mejia council mejia you have the floor thank you mr president um and before i go on i'd like to um add counselor arroyo as an original co-sponsor mr clerk please had council of royal as an original co-sponsor um you have the floor council me here thank you mr president um you know i when i gave birth to annalise um i was considered a late age mom i was you know 40 and i had gestational diabetes and um a high-risk pregnancy that ended in a c-section and navigating the um the system was a bit traumatic considering all of the complications that i faced but what i did not know was my rights and what i should be asking for and advocating on behalf of and you know this conversation in terms of black maternal health is an issue of equity and i think we have an opportunity here in the city of boston to really lean into the conversation and help support the advocacy on behalf of this issue we know that home births here in the city of boston not in the city of boston but just in general over the past years have risen dramatically the new center for disease control and prevention reports showing that between 2019 and 2020 home birth rates rose 47 percent in massachusetts alone out of birth births either at home or in birth centers are safe and beneficial and a valid reproductive choice that is currently denied to most birthing people here in massachusetts because of certified professional midwives who attend low-risk births in homes and birth centers are not licensed in massachusetts despite being licensed in 37 states and so had i had the option to have a home birth probably my situation would have looked very different fortunately there's legislation in the state house titled the out of birth hospital birth access and safety act has been filed which seeks to establish within the department of public health a licensing process for professional midwives and add them as medical slash mass health providers passing this legislation is crucial for supporting birthing people closing the crucial safety gaps and expanding access to out-of-hospital birthing options meeting people where they are and accommodating the needs of birthing persons to ensure that they feel comfortable safe and well taken care of it is crucial that we're making space for people with different preferences when it comes to birthing and this legislation seeks to address just that it also is very timely that this legislation is in the statehouse and we're currently celebrating black maternal health week in a time when historic and systemic inequities have resulted in the risk of death and severe mobility being two times as likely for black birthing women compared to white counterparts and we need to be doing more to support this legislation to recognize black maternal health month and i think it's all 365 days a year especially as um home birth rates um have risen here by 36 percent uh among black breathing people in the united states um between 2019 and 2020 and for all those reasons i'm excited to support this initiative and also just want to shout out the nishira brazil who is leading now here in the city of boston to have a birthing center right here in boston and there's i also want to give a shout out to nurse tiffany visell who is in the labor in delivery as well as emily anesta for all the work that they have been doing in this space so just wanted to thank you both for your leadership and also to my co-sponsors for joining me on this so i ask that we suspend the rules and pass this resolution and i hope that my colleagues who have co-sponsored will rise up to the occasion to say a few words too thank you thank you thank you council mejia the chair recognizes council lara council lara you have the floor thank you president flynn uh and thank you councillor mejia for including me as your co-sponsor on this resolution i am very happy to hear nashira barrel's name invoked in the city hall chambers as deshira was my boss at the boston public health commission when i worked there and she taught me pretty much everything i know about home birthing and i i think that the city of boston is incredibly lucky to have her working to open the first freestanding birth center in the city and ran by a black woman nonetheless um i'm excited that the boston city council has an opportunity to publicly support the out of hospital birth access and safety act and to recognize black maternal health week this is an issue that's very near and dear to my heart as a mother when it came time to make a decision about my birthing plan i was bombarded with research and data that made it very clear to me that the decision to have a child especially as a black woman was a dangerous one the united states has the worst maternal health mortality among all wealthy nations in the world and it's the only nation where the maternal mortality rate um has been rising every year in massachusetts like councillor meghan mentioned black birthing people are two times more likely to die or have a near miss than their white counterparts due to structural or interpersonal racism and i know that it's kind of daunting to listen to that data and to listen to those facts but there's a bright spot and that bright spot is that most maternal health depths are preventable which means that we can do something about this crisis when i decided to have a home birth and to give birth at home i did it because i knew it would be the safest most affordable option for me my midwives and my doula were essential in ensuring that i had a joyous birthing experience and our current laws in the state of massachusetts make it so that experience is not accessible to everyone i believe that all people deserve to have a birthday experience where they feel listened to affirmed and cared for and we should work to make that possible uh regardless of whether people are giving birth at home at a birthing center or at a hospital and working towards this licensing will make that possible by supporting this resolution we're acknowledging that uh the importance of safer more equitable access to midwifery care options and the impact that offering those supports will ultimately have on the maternal health outcomes of black women and all birthing people in the city of boston and across the state thank you thank you council lara the chair recognizes council royal council of royal you have the flow thank you mr president uh thank you to uh councilman and counselor lara for sponsoring this and bringing this forward and for all the advocates who have been doing work on this uh when i did the racism as a public health crisis i dug into a lot of different health metrics and things that impact health and one of the most striking uh disappointing and painful ones was the uh inequities that we see in black maternal health even in boston where our hospitals are considered world renowned we have these wide gaps in inequities and these unnecessary deaths and frankly it's it's painful to know that our children and their parents are experiencing outcomes largely due to the fact that they are black and so we need to get to a place where we prioritize this where we speak on this and we move on this in a way that effectively addresses a very real issue i hope to see real action on this because these numbers are are scary they are very disappointing and we are in the year 2022 and this needs to be more of a focal issue so thank you to those who have raised it and thank you to those who continue to advocate for these kinds of protections thank you mr president thank you council royale would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council legend council zhen you have the floor thank you mr president i just rise in support of this resolution it is i just want to reiterate that the numbers are scary that black women are dying at rates that are should make us really jolt um and the number of stories from people in my own family um the number of time that i have had to exercise you know my strength as a lawyer to make sure that hospitals aren't discriminating against not only black women um in the maternal health space but in hospitals in general um so we have deep deep health disparities uh where that we need to address and there's so much work being done at the city level at the state level great advocates uh which is why it's really important to have black women in spaces and legislative bodies really pushing for a black woman in our health so just want to rise in support of this and rise in recognition of black maternal health week so thank you to the sponsors thank you council zhan anyone else like to speak on this matter the the first the first hearing i had as a city councilor four years ago i i sponsored a hearing with with mayor janey council janie and we had this discussion on um the health care of african-american women and as we as we recognized black maternal month this month i just want to say thank you to the the sponsors the in the tremendous work that you're doing on this subject and to our our city officials as well for the focus that they're that they're doing as well but this is an important issue and we we we need to work together to make sure that the health care and services are available to everybody equally especially especially women in need women of color as well so thank you to the sponsors if anyone else would like to um sponsor this raise your hand please please add counselor bake up council bach council braden council fernandez anderson council flaherty council of zhang council murphy council overall please add the chair um and talk at zero five one one will be referred to the committee in boston's i'm sorry uh yeah um dark at zero five oh yeah docker zero five one three um council is mejia lara and arroyo they seek suspension of the rules in adoption of zero five one three all those in favor say aye all those opposed saying the eyes have it the resolution has been passed mr clerk please read doc at zero five one four oh we did that one um mr clark please read dark it zero five one five doctor number zero five one five councilor lara offered the following resolution and support of house two two five an act regarding the use of adversive therapy the chair recognizes council lara council larry you have the floor thank you president flynn um i am very much wearing my uh mama hat today on the city council floor um i want to start my remarks by quoting an article that was written by by nbc news and highlighting the experience of a former student at the judge rodenberg center quote rico torres was just ate the first time school staffers strapped electrodes to his legs and shocked him they draped a 12-volt battery over his shoulders in a backpack while a nearby teacher held a clear plastic box with a photo of his face attached when torres misbehaved the teacher would reach inside the box and push a button that sent a two-second jolt of electricity coursing through his body under his treatment plan taurus could be shocked for threatening to hit another student running away swearing or screaming refusing to follow directions or quote inappropriate urination one employee he said used to shock him in his sleep because i didn't wake up she shocked me recalled torres now 24. then i ended up peeing the bed so she shocked me again the electrodes uh stayed on his skin for 24 hours a day for most of a decade until he turned 18. this device is called a graduated electronic decelerator and is a part of his treatment at the judge rohrenberg educational center in canton massachusetts the judge rotenberg center is believed to be the only place in the world where geds or graduated electronic decelerators are used and to give you a point of reference aversive therapy is illegal for abled neurotypical children and adults it's illegal for pets and zoo animals however it is legal for children and adults who have intellectual disabilities developmental disabilities and are autistic the un has called the use of these devices torture the fda has moved to ban them nationally for the threat that they have posed to public health three students had died at the school between 1985 and 1990 including one who died while restraint in 2002 resident andre mccollins was tied to a restraint board for seven hours and was shocked 31 times after he didn't take his jacket off when told this is happening in our backyard the passage of bill h-225 is going to ensure that no program agency or facili facility that is funded operated licensed or approved by any agency or subdivision of the commonwealth shall administer or cause to be administered to any person with a physical intellectual or developmental disability any procedure which causes apparent signs of physical pain including but not limited to hitting pinching and electric shock to help change the behavior of the person i just want to make a note that the judge rotenberg center as of most recent reports has received almost 2 million dollars in covent recovery funds from the state of massachusetts today during autism acceptance month on behalf of my son and all other children and adults who have intellectual disabilities developmental disabilities and are autistic i respectfully ask to suspend the rules so that we may take a vote on this resolution today and i ask that my colleagues join me in supporting it thank you thank you council lara would anyone else like to speak on this matter would anyone else would anyone like to add their name please raise your hand mr cork please add council arroyo councillor baker council bar council braden council fernandez anderson council flaherty council of gen council mejia council murphy council rel please add the chair council council lara is seeking suspension of the rules adoption of dock at zero five one five all those in favor say aye aye aye all all opposed saying nay the eyes have it the docket has been adopted mr clerk please read talk at zero five one six please document zero five one six council authority offered the following resolution recognizing national public safety telecommunications week the chair recognizes council of flaherty council flaherty of the law thank you as president as chair of public safety i just want to recognize national public safety telecommunication week our boston police department operations division serves as the city's public safety answering point and acts as the connection point between emergency services and those in need in 2021 which is the latest stats that we have bpd operations fielded a total of 618 925 calls let me just get a hold of that six hundred and eighteen thousand nine hundred twenty five nine one one calls for the city of boston alone that's over fifty one thousand calls a month each of those calls represents a resident in need looking to speak to a calm helpful person extremely stressful frightening or life-threatening or altering situation the calls range from motor vehicle accidents medical emergencies shootings fires domestic disturbances to mental health crisis and the very rare but the very good ones birth and deliveries they deserve much more than a week so again a big thank you to our 911 dispatchers for all the work that you do on behalf of our city and its residents and i'm asking that the rules be suspended that the council passed this resolution today and urged my colleagues to sign on and let's send a big warm hearty thank you uh and uh and an appreciation for the great work that they do long hours stressful conditions and situations uh overworked undermanned the list is endless but our 911 operators are truly the unsung heroes when that phone rings thank you mr president thank you council of clarity would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council me here council me here you have the floor thank you mr president and thank you to the maker for filing this resolution i rise to say i'm in support my cousin was a 9-1-1 operator brenda ortiz for many years and i got to hear a lot of what that stress level is like and also one of the parents that was part of a network that i created is currently still working there and i actually have heard from so many folks about the level of stress and the best way for us to honor them in addition to filing this resolution is to making sure that we are supporting their mental and social and emotional well-being by making sure that we are also when it comes to budget season really uplifting the amount of support that they need and staffing and also supporting their mental and social emotional well-being so i just rise to say thank you to counselor flaherty for uplifting this but i think i just want to add that in order for us to really uh understand the magnitude of the the trauma that a lot of our operators are under is is crazy like you get a call and you have to facilitate and rise to the occasion and and sometimes you go home and you're triggered and you're carrying that with you so i think there's a lot of work that we could be doing in that space counselor flaherty and i look forward to aside from this resolution figuring out how we can support a lot of our workers and their social and emotional well-being thank you thank you thank you councilman here would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council braden council braden you of the floor thank you mr president i want to thank the lead sponsor for this resolution i think when we think about first responders and emergency services the folks the first people to respond are the folks who answer that call and it is a as country mejia has already mentioned it's incredibly stressful and i think we need to sort of work look at recognizing the work that these these workers are doing as they are first responders and they may not be getting in an ambulance or a police car and racing to the scene of a crime or an accident but they are the first responders who very often are helping reassure people in crisis uh connect them with them with emergency services and really take care of a situation it takes a lot of presence of mind and professionalism and groundedness to be able to do that in a calm and efficient and efficient way so i would ask us to consider not just looking at these workers as sort of an administrator as administrative staff but also really start to think about them as as very much part of our first responder infrastructure thank you thank you council braden and i i would just like to echo what council mejia mentioned uh on this on this subject is when we when we do these resolutions it's also an important opportunity or a unique opportunity for us to advocate for it in the budget process in the budget season as we're coming into the budget season we're learning more from council authorities resolution and from council braden and council media but it's also an opportunity for us to acknowledge the tremendous work of these dedicated professionals but also to advocate for them in the budget process so i just want to say thank you to councillor flaherty council of braden and council mejia for those comments um council flaherty seek suspension of the rules oh yeah would anyone else like to add their name to it please raise your hand mr cork please add council arroyo council baker council block council braden councillor fernandez anderson council lara consul zhen council mejia councillor murphy please add the chair the council flaherty is seeking suspension of the rules and adoption of docket zero five one six all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the docket has been adopted mr clerk please read docket zero five one seven please document zero five one seven counselors louisiana and flaherty offer the following resolution and support of fully funding abcd title 10 funding the the chair recognizes consolation consul gen you have the floor thank you mr president i asked to suspend rule 12 and add my council uh fellow colleague counselor julia mejia as a third co-sponsor seeing and hearing no objection council mejia is is certainly added thank you so much mr president i'd also like to give a hat tilt also to uh counselor aaron murphy uh if i could add a fourth co sponsor i would add her um the reason being as a council flaherty mentioned last week um abcd lost its title 10 funding and i appreciate him for bringing that to all of our attention especially because all of the at-large city councilors we sit as board members on abcd so this was an issue that really affected us and uh we were all really trying to figure out what we could do as some of you may know abcd stands for action for boston community development was established in 1962 by the first lady of roxbury melania cass who was a leader in so many ways in our city and centering the needs of those who are often forgotten of uh voting rights of uh just a number of issues that were important to uh bostonians particularly low-income bostonians regarding and abcd works on job training child care heating assistance you name it number of folks constituents and family members have relied on abcd over the years they've participated in title 10 program for nearly 50 years and they use that to really help empower folks and equip them with the tools to overcome poverty through a comprehensive and holistic approach to a range of health and racial barriers faced by households in poverty the cultural linguistic and economic distinctions in communities and neighborhoods create pockets of extreme poverty exacerbated by histories by decades of neglect and abcd works integrally in those spaces to really help empower those communities and so with two days notice they lost 2.8 million dollars in grant funding and it provides substantial resources to all the communities that i already mentioned so it was a very big hit to its family planning services so members of the city council and our representatives who all serve on the abcd board have been working with our city with our state and federal partners here the boston delegation in congress to really uh talk to secretary becerra and hopefully reinstitute this to a 2.8 million dollars in funding which is so critical to family planning across our city and so i just thank my co-sponsors here for your work in supporting this resolution also in our work together on the board of abcd either personally or through our representatives so thank you thank you councilwood john the chair recognizes council of flaherty council firearm of the fall mr president and uh thank you to council louisiana for um for her partnership on this issue is as referenced it's a fantastic community organization on the front lines for community health services fuel assistance drug training placements food pantries you name it abcd does it they've been there title 10 funding has been doing uh and has been partnering with abcd for 47 years not quite sure what happened not not sure how the ball sort of got dropped or there was an oversight here but it's critical that we get clarification um and and have this decision be reversed so that uh the title 10 funding be restored uh to abcd and then for for our council's colleagues identification council flood and i were on a call with uh congressman lynch this week who with his relationships uh was also getting his phone was burning up on this issue and i know that he was going to make efforts to to connect with the secretary to try to have this title 10 funding restored so i just want to give him a shout out for for his uh efforts on on our behalf as well thank you mr president thank you council ferrari the chair recognizes council me here councilman here you have the floor president and thank you to counselor luigian and flaherty for having me as a co-sponsor um abcd has for me has meant the entire world first my brother went through head start we got our homes heated through the fuel assistance program and i ended up getting my first job right out of college through the family planning title 10 initiative and you know the woman that hired me um is irvine golsan god rest her soul um gave me my first job and introduction to family planning to community engagement to public health this was 30 something years ago so for me to be fighting to ensure that these funds stay with abcd is as personal um and i think we need to do everything in our power to ensure that everything that abc has done for so many people that we all rise up and fight um to to to keep this organization alive and and i'm really thinking about irene right now i'm really thinking about irene golson and how much she's poured into this city around taking care of our bodies or of our health and this is for her and we have to fight for her so thank you thank you council mejia the chair recognizes council murphy council murphy of the floor thank you um i'm happy to partner with my at-large counselors thank you for including me abcd is a 200 million dollar non-profit organization and they recently lost their 2.8 million dollar family planning grant as we already heard this loss won't shut their doors but they will have to make some hard decisions and have to lay off as many as 15 counselors abcd provides social services for our youngest children in head start child care settings career training summer jobs and they also run the william ostergai high school that services our youth recovering from substance abuse clothing food housing and utility bill advocacy for families and all the way up to our seniors where they help thousands of boston seniors promoting health and financial security and offering activities to help combat challenges like hunger and isolation after struggling through the pandemic these past two years we need these social services now more than ever in support of fully funding abcd so there are no interruptions in the services they provide to our boston residents thank you thank you council murphy the chair recognizes council zhen council zhan yes i just want to call thank you sorry i just wanted to add for the record that the majority of title 10 funding is goes to mattapan roxbury dorchester and so when we're in an era of trying to make sure that these neighborhoods are getting maximum resources we shouldn't be taking it away just wanted to add that for the record thank you thank you council jen would anyone else like to speak on this matter i just want to i want to acknowledge and thank council of flaherty and council zhen for their work on this important issue council flaherty received a call on a cell phone i believe from john drew who is the the executive director there talking about how how this impact would hurt families in need uh so i just want to acknowledge the the role the city council played in advocating for families in need abcd plays a critical role in our city they also supervise and administer the food access program snap which i think is probably the best federal program there is but having said that i just want to thank my my colleagues for their important work on this on this matter um counselor jean council flaherty council mejia would anyone like to add their name please raise your hand please add council royal council baker council bloc council braden councillor fernandez anderson council lara please add the chair councillors lugen flaherty mejia seek suspension the rules adoption of dark zero five one seven all those in favor say aye aye all opposed say nate the eyes have it the docket has been adopted we're onto personnel orders mr clerk please read doc at zero five one eight doctor number zero one five eight council of flynn for council me here the chair seeks suspension of the rules passage of docket zero five one eight all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the doctor has passed mr cork please read doc at zero five one nine doctor number zero five one nine counselor flynn for counselor mejia the chair six suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero five one nine all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the docket has passed mr clerk please read doc at zero five two zero talking number zero five two zero council of flame foot council world the chair six suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero five two zero all those in favor say aye all those opposed say nay the eyes have it the docket has passed we're on to late files um i i'm informed by the clerk that there are three late files two late fire matters and one personnel order yeah two personal orders and one resolution the late file should be on everyone's desk we'll take a vote to add this these items into the agenda all those in favor of adding the late file matter into the agenda say aye thank you the late file matters have been added to the agenda mr cork um please read the first late file mata into the agenda first late fire mata personnel order for council of flame for counselor oil the chair seeks suspension of the rose passage of the first late file matter all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the late file matter has passed second like filematic personnel order council of flint for council arroyo the chair six suspension of rules passage of the second lay file matter all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the second late file has has passed mr cork um the third lay file third late file offered by councilors wareland baker a resolution to declare april 13th lewis d brown day whereas louis d brown was born on april 13 1978 and grew to be a 15 year old sophomore who was an avid reader motivated to pursue a phd in one day be the first black president of the united states and whereas louis d brown's legacy continues to inspire the next generation of peace advocates in the city of boston and beyond now therefore be it resolve that the boston city council declares april 13th lewis d brown day thank you mr clerk the chair recognizes council baker council baker you have the floor thank you mr president i will speak for councillor warrell and myself today is actually brian rowell's birthday also so there might be something going on there i'm not really sure but um we we have to recognize louis d brown on today which would be his 44th birthday he um for lack of a better term he gave his life his life to the city of boston in his death the peace institute was birthed um and we all i think know the peace institute no teen or know the good work that that they've done over the years and and through tina's grief and their family's grief they've helped thousands of families since then we actually had them in here today to to um talk to us about you know what they're doing and what the future may look like and and you know have some ask for us that we'll be putting together in the in the budget budget season but just wanted to make sure that we stood up and and and didn't didn't let this go by without um you know recognizing it so thank you mr president on behalf of myself and counselor and thank you council baker um would anyone else like to speak on this matter i know co i know council baker and council were all had the louis d brown staff that were here today and presenting the program to us and it was it was exciting learning learning about it i knew about their program for many years including their mother's day walk that they have through the streets of through the streets of dorchester but they play a critical role in many families that are many families that lose lost a loved one working during that difficult period of time working with the funeral home working with the police working with social services so the louis st brown institute is they do tremendous work in the city would anyone like to add their name to the matter um mr clerk please add counselor arroyo councillor bark counselor braden counsel authority council lara counsel jean councillor mejia council murphy please add the chair councillor baker and council rel are sinking are seeking suspension of the rules and adoption of the third raid file all those in favor say aye aye opposed the eyes have it it has been adopted we're on to green sheets anyone wishing to remove a green sheet may do so at this matter we're on to the consent agenda i have been informed by the clerk that there are no additions to the consent agenda the chair moves for adoption of the consent agenda as presented all those in favor say aye aye thank you the consent agenda has been adopted we're on two announcements do any of my colleagues have any announcements at this time the chair recognizes council murphy council murphy you have the four yes i just wanted to recognize that boston police officer rob mcclain died unexpectedly last week and is being weighed tonight at saint ann's church his um he leaves behind he's the loving husband of courtney whalen who is the historic preservation consultant in our community prison patient act department and also leaves behind a young son nolan i want to express my considerate condolences and offer any support the family may need at this time thank you thank you council murphy the chair recognizes council flaherty council flaherty of the floor courtney was here offering her time and talents on the historic preservation side sat here obviously through the hearing went home and woke up the next morning she woke up her husband unfortunately did not so uh we just want to in the spirit of that uh and obviously for courtney's great work uh in the cpa space we're gonna let him know that we obviously uh we're past we had passed today's 52 projects and we can do so uh in in that spirit for her and also wanted to thank my colleagues for their questions about the neighborhood distribution of the cpa folks know i take my role as a citywide city council is very seriously all 22 awards all 255 precincts to borrow a phrase of our colleagues all means all uh i think i've worked very closely with 18 on behalf of this body to sort of spread it around the infield and you know me council flynn uh no flies on me if they were they'll be paying rent right as you say that's right so um i've put together um copies of from 2018 to present uh of all the pro funds the projects that have been funded for particularly for our newest colleagues in their ratification as to what has transpired over the last few years as well as a summary of the 2018-2021 program accomplishments it also includes a percentage of those that were by neighborhood population as well as their representation there's a breakdown if you're more of a visual learner there's also a heat map that has been included as part of that presentation from cpa they dean and her team do a great job to the best their ability we heard person after person at the person group after group after group testified that they felt that they were the only applicant uh that's how special uh they get treated when they go through the process i think a big part of it's also our job as district and at large colleagues to connect folks to those resources uh we're out there we're across my instance i'm across the city district colleagues and at large colleagues combined uh we can be those and we can be the ambassadors to the different groups and organizations and making sure that cpa is doing their part uh and and the the materials being presented uh and it's um uh to people where they're at in in in the appropriate uh and proper languages that are spoken here in boston i've also included the total number of applications broken down by neighborhood cpa category as well as their status awarded unfunded withdrawn or ineligible this information was sent along yesterday in advance of today's vote as council bark has referenced the fiscal year 23 funding round is now open uh all of my district and atlantic college you should be getting that information out there uh do a blast do a mailing uh go do an arc in whatever way you can get that information to your constituents into those very uh important and worthy community organizations and projects is great and also there's a community preservation virtual community meeting coming up next wednesday april 27th at 6 p.m so same thing blast that information out and obviously continue to work with a dean and her team so great opportunity we obviously can always do better in connecting dots but i just want to let folks know as the chair of that committee and as a city-wide counselor i'm sort of targeted making sure that we're spreading uh that across the city in in it's demonstrated uh with these uh categories of maps that were broken down uh by my team so thank you mr president thank you council flaherty the chair recognizes council arroyo council royal you have the fall thank you uh mr president i just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge uh yasmine radassi who's from my office has been with me pretty much from the start was actually uh hired in march of 2020 and so you know what that month was uh and has been with me through all of it uh every policy thing that i've done has only been better because she has helped mold it or shape it has been a wonderful person to have in offices and rooms as a representative of me and what the work and quality of the work that we're trying to do and you know i would say in the last three years we've been on a lot of ordinances we've gotten a lot of things done in almost none of them would have been what they are now in fact i would say none of them would actually have been what they are now without her participation in countless work sessions that i could not attend countless ones that i could attend just shaping and putting that together and so she is moving on friday is technically her last day she will be joining the office of police accountability and transparency and she will be wonderful there so i'm excited for her i'm excited for the city and that she is still dedicated to public service and that the last two years and everything that's been going on with covid and all of the different sort of things having scared her off so i'm glad that she's still going to be participating in that way it's a major loss for my office but a major gain for the city as you move up and so i'm very grateful for her service and if you see her wish her well she has been a service to the city of boston so thank you yasmine for everything you do and farooq has big big shoes to fill as our new policy guy so thank you uh for the indulgence for for having a moment to properly send off yasmine so thank you yes me i'm going to continue going up the road i might be out of order but i'm going to call on council bacon x council baker you have the floor thank you mr president just a quick announcement i told you i was going to announce it last month when we had birthdays tomorrow is my 20th anniversary my wedding anniversary i've actually been with my wife for 36 years but 20 officially so today i love you if you're watching and thank you thank you council baker the chair recognizes council bloc council bloc you have the floor thank you so much president flynn um i rise because uh we've got three people who have served the city in senior leadership capacities on cabinet whose last day is friday um and so we've got resolutions signed by the whole council for all three of them here and i just wanted to say a quick word about each of them in order of their years of service for the city so the one i know best is the one who's been here for five years justin starrett our cfo we talked about him a little bit this morning at budget i first met justin in 2017 when he had just joined the city and i had um had also just joined the bha um and i remember being in the sixth floor conference room and uh we're trying to convince the city to get in on bha uh capital projects um and i remember it clearly because you know we had a really good idea that we were pushing and justin listened to it and like immediately the sort of wheel started spinning and he basically told us all the ways in which the way we wanted to do this wasn't going to work and was wrong and then he figured out a way to do it that would work and so i think the thing that i really want to emphasize about justin's budget leadership and then overall financial stewardship of the city as he's moved up from budget director to cfo um is that when when justin's telling you that you haven't figured out how to do something yet he's already halfway to thinking about how to get it done and i think that in boston we we're at our best when we're like perched right on this line of being very fiscally responsible because that's really about safeguarding the options of all future generations of bostonians and yet at the same time pushing the envelope for like how progressive a city can we be how equitable city can we be how much investment can we push into various directions and under justin's leadership we've seen the capital budget and not just the budget but the effective capital spending grow year after year we've seen like consistent investments in a whole bunch of departments i think the council in many ways has gotten used to the idea that like every budget cycle were sort of retooling several departments to do their work a lot more effectively that is not necessarily something to take for granted um and i just think that in both these roles of budget director and then taking on this wider fiscal stewardship of the city it's not just about you know you hear a lot about the aaa bond rating which is super important and our the fact that we're going to pay down our pension liability these are like core super important things but i think at every department of the city has justin's fingerprints on it and and that's also true even outside of the city department's bha where i was working he's really been an architect of getting support for housing into the city capital budget for the first time over his tenure so i just as having served in ways and means and worked with him on budget stuff just really want to thank him for all that work and say that we're going to miss him a lot um secondly selena barrios-milner has served the city for seven years doing tons of work in equity in economic development and then became the chief of equity under mayor janie i think you know some of the greatest accomplishments that she's had in her tenure are actually getting that disparity study that was so long looked for and hoped for across the finish line not just getting it done but getting it done well and with community stakeholders and then being in the position to start implementing a really you know more robust and with better teeth bg bjrp and i just think that that is work it's funny how all the stuff that we talk about in these big picture conceptual ways on the council like they often come down to like really in the trenches technical complicated bureaucratic work um especially something like that where the city was trying to make a real legal room to be more equitable and i just think that in this work a lot of times you sort of pass the baton and we're going to be finding that for many years hence as we get smarter and more robust on those fronts we're carrying a baton that selena really passed to us and um and so i'm really grateful for all her work on that and i gotta i i canvassed john barros who was her boss um about her and he just a few adjectives said oh what an amazing person passionate committed hard worker such a dedicated public servant so i want to thank selena as well and lastly with 15 years of the city four different mayors chris osgood is leaving us on friday and i just i think chris is one of the best public servants in the city um and i think that you know people again and again we'll talk about chris just the way how smart he is how dedicated he is his kindness the only negative thing i've ever heard said about chris is that he's too kind which tells you there's really a problem with the rest of us not with him um and you know i just think that chris has reinvented himself within the city many times obviously went from chief of streets to chief of staff most recently um but and has worked i mean countless hours we the city owe his family a very substantial debt at this point i would say but just the fact that he has been such a core dependable part of a city under nino under walsh under janie under wu i just um i i think for someone who whose fingerprints are all over the operations of a lot of our city departments chris is really up there and uh and i just i i'm as somebody who i go to would just like wait how does this work or what was the history of this or whatever i know that i'm gonna miss him and i think a lot of people in the hall are gonna miss him and and i pause to just say all these things because i think that we all know that like public service for the city um it's just just left of the limelight on cabinet can be sometimes a little invisible and thankless and i also think that there are some hands that helped hold the city together operationally as we went through both the public health emergency of coven 19 and the repeated political transition that we've had over the last couple of years and i think all three people all three of these people justin selena and chris were those hands holding up the city in the meantime so i just want to express my thanks and and thank all the counselors for assigning these resolutions today so thank you mr president thank you council book the chair calls on council braden council braden you have the floor thank you mr president i i rise to give mention to two uh individuals uh i'll start with lydia edwards uh not not lydia edwards lydia robert sorry wrong wrong name um lydia is an owner of a one of our what we call our legacy businesses in austin brighton and bright center she's run a hair salon there for 55 years and is retiring and thankfully her it's a woman-owned business and thankfully one of the women who has worked in the business with her over many years is now going to continue that that presence in brighton center and we wish her a long and happy and healthy retirement the other person i want to mention this afternoon is jason desrocher who is the community organizer at the austin brighton cdc uh many of you are familiar with jason he's a frequent uh flyer here in the in the hall when he comes to advocate for affordable housing and equity and and just to really push the envelope in terms to advocating for more affordable housing in austin brighton and across our city one of the things he's been instrumental in doing has been holding boot camp workshops for residents of olsen brighton to prepare them to participate in the article 80 process and to be strong uh voices for a more inclusive and equitable development uh in our neighborhood so it's with great gratitude that i i wish jason all the best he's been at the cdc for seven and a half years and we're going to miss him um we miss all the good trouble he's been getting us into over the years and i wish him all the best is next in his next chapter thank you thank you council brayden we're going to we're going to memorials we will adjourn our meeting in memory of the following individuals for councillor bark pegg daugherty sydney sid topol for council of baker robert mc robert mclean carol rook frankie mckinnon for council edwards william bill carter for council legion robertson allen for the body leonard elkins naacp boston branch president a moment of silence please the cheer moves that when the council adjourns today does so in memory of those individuals mentioned we are scheduled to meet again in the ionella chamber on wednesday april 27th at 12 noon all in favor of adjournment please say aye the council is adjourned thank you [Music] [Music] you