okay okay good afternoon everyone my name is ed flynn 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 and those in attendance please silence their phones and electronic devices at this time thank you i would also ask if we're able to be respectful and that we're not able to disrupt the meeting while you are here if you are disruptive you will be asked to leave and if you feel to comply you will be escorted out mr clerk will you please call the role to ascertain the presence of a quorum councilor arroyo councillor royal president council of baker councillor bark council of bark president council braden president council braden president council edwards council edward's president council fernandez anderson council fernando scenes and president council flaherty yeah council of pratt flaherty here council flynn here councillor flynn here council lara council of lara president council louisiana president council louisiana president councillor mejia here council of mejia president councillor murphy president councillor murphy president and council of world right councilworld thank you i have been informed by the clerk aquarium is present this week's clergy is we're honored to have father john curry he was invited by our dorchester colleague city councilor frank baker since council baker is not here today i will introduce father curry on behalf of council baker's behalf also want to thank council baker's staff for their work on making this possible as well father john curry is currently the pastor of saint peter's in holy family parishes in dorchester in st patrick parish in roxbury he was born and raised in saint mark's parish and he is the 10th in a family of 12. he attended saint mark's elementary school boston latin academy lake forest college and saint john's seminary he was ordained in 1997 and will be 25 year anniversary of the priesthood this coming may he very much enjoys working with the city and building a bright future for our children in a warm equitable supportive community for all people is well respected throughout the city of boston father i would like to ask you to come to the podium to open open us with a prayer thank you mr president thank you council for the invitation together let us pray god of all peoples and of all nations the horror of the invasion of ukraine in the loss of life the trampling of liberties and the destruction of property that has followed it is a stark reminder of the consequences when just one person abuses power by embracing evil however it is also an opportunity to recall that you have woven into the fabric of the human experience divine inclination for every man woman and child to embrace the goodness of love and mercy you have ordained for us which strives to build up a world of peace and justice gracious god when people of good will and sincere intentions unite in goodness evil will never prevail so with hope rooted in your goodness we pray for an end to the war in ukraine and for peace in every corner of our world we are people suffering justices no persecution or any other offense to the dignity of the human person father of all make the work of this council and its members may it be marked today and every day by a genuine desire to embrace your goodness for the sake of the people of the city of boston in the city's future may the counselors unite in civil discourse mutual respect and shared mission for the common good and welfare of our great city may they the councils above all begin each day with a gentle reminder they were elected to serve and not to be served in lord of all as we anticipate st patrick's day we ask you to bless the counselors in their work and also to bless this beautiful symbol of the irish people these shamrocks through a prayer so very dear to the irish people may the road rise to meet you may the wind be always at your backs with the sunshine warm upon your face the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again may god hold you in the palm of his hands may god hold you in the palm of his hands amen have a blessed day everybody please if you're able to rise father curry will lead us in the pledge of allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you at this time we have a special guest i'd like to ask councillor murphy to please come to the podium and introduce our special guest thank you council murphy thank you president flynn hello everyone i'm happy to introduce sasha and roshin i met them when they were students at the henderson school and they are proud bps students and they're here as students from the woods school of irish dance and they will be entertaining us this morning or this afternoon with a reel in a slip jig so happy st patrick's day everyone and enjoy thank you [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] be [Music] me [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] baby [Music] me [Music] so [Music] [Applause] thank you to that wonderful performance of the peggy woods irish step irish step dancing program at this time we do have a special guest from ireland that is here with us so i'm honored to welcome to the boston city council ireland minister norma foley of ireland to the council minister foley was appointed minister of education in 2020 has led the department of education during the pandemic with a strong focus on ensuring ongoing dialogue engagement with all education stakeholders minister foley has a passionate interest in excellence in equity in education and the pro promotion of stem ensuring access to the arts for children and young adults prior to her election in appointment as minister minister foley worked as a teacher in her home town of truly a graduate of the university of koch she was also a member of the kerry city council and served three terms as mayor of truly minister foley is also here with several members of the delegation including the council general of ireland here in boston minister foley i would love to welcome you to the boston city council and to say a few words we have tremendous respect for you but for the people of ireland especially during this time of st patrick's day when we come together as a as two countries and recommit ourselves to that important and special relationship well and j eve glare is an overview of dom could i say at the outset president flynn uh councillors mayor gormley uh father curry distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen it is truly a great honor for me and indeed a pleasure to address boston city council today to mark st patrick's day i am so very grateful to the president of the council ed flynn for your very kind invitation and could i at the outset say a very sincere thank you for and the very beautiful shamrock and the blessing of the shamrock and also the very fantastic and energetic dancing by these two young girls that's showing that the irish culture and heritage is very much growing and being nurtured and thriving here in boston so so thank you for that thank you and thank you to the girls very much so it is true to say that the bonds between ireland and boston run very very deep indeed over centuries and i would like to express on behalf of the irish government our great appreciation of all who have forged those very close ties i would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of you on your recent election to council i have served on council myself for very many years and i know it is an incredible honor so congratulations and well done to you and we at home in ireland look forward to building ever closer links with you in this the capital city of irish america i know that this is the first time since 2019 that this noble city has marked st patrick's day in person and so it is a very particularly special time for me to be here in person with you there is no doubt that the past two years have reminded us all of the very deep value of community and connection and this st patrick's day we in ireland seek again to reconnect with our communities at home and abroad we consider ourselves blessed beyond measure to have a thriving and noble irish community here in boston in ireland we are marking our national day this year with solidarity rather than celebration both as we reflect on the toll of the recent pandemic and also of course in light of the horrific and heartbreaking war in ukraine these past number of weeks on the eve of saint patrick's day i am ever mindful and i must record this here officially here in this chamber of the very great generosity of the city of boston in terms of the protection it has given to irish people who fled our country in desperate circumstances in the 19th century those who traveled on coffin ships to escape famine those who left in search of new opportunities and new beginnings those who left many to return boston city has also stood with us in our solidarity as we sought to chart our destiny as an independent nation we are very grateful for that support and solidarity and we do not forget it so it is right at this moment in time that we show support and solidarity for others in their hour of need and so this year as ireland marks centenary of the establishment of our state we stand firmly in support and solidarity of the people of ukraine [Applause] we are using our voice in the european union and our seat at the u.n security council to seek an end to the conflict and to hold russia accountable today in particular as we all gather here i would invite you to remember in a special way an irish journalist pierre zakrevsky who was tragically killed in the ukraine as he bravely reported on the conflict a past pupil of saint conrad's college in dublin pierre was a global citizen working for rte the bbc and was regularly reporting from conflict regions for fox news our thoughts and prayers are with mr zegretsky's family at home in ireland and his colleagues around the globe we also remember with acute sadness all the other families who have been impacted by the harrowing and unjust conflict in ukraine as the government ireland has increased our humanitarian aid and other supports to ukraine and like our fellow eu member states we have opened doors to those fleeing from conflict in desperate circumstances and we do this because we remember and we remember well that others opened their doors their hearts and their homes to us as a nation we have benefited hugely from the goodwill and political solidarity of so many in boston massachusetts and wider new england you have played and you continue to play a central and constructive role in securing peace and prosperity on the island of ireland especially so as we seek to ensure that the gains of the good friday agreement are protected from the challenges of brexit we are deeply grateful for that friendship and support as well as the close people-to-people trade and tourism links between boston and ireland it is more than true to say that we have been enriched beyond measure by the friendships extended to us by the people of the united states of america we treasure that friendship and are ever mindful of the wisdom of william shakespeare himself who tells us the friends thou hast and their adoption tried grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel and so we hold fast deep in our souls to the ties of friendship and solidarity that bind the great city of boston and the emerald isle and on this occasion here today as we mark saint st patrick's day with heartfelt heartfelt sincerity i say to you thank you for your friendship support and solidarity long may it continue to grow and to prosper and as i conclude may i confer upon you the blessing of our patron saint saint patrick bernardin of philippi oris galer guru maharaj thank you all i have a very small presentation that i would like um to make to your president an appreciation of your hospitality here today but equally so in appreciation of the long-standing ties that exist between the fair emerald isle and boston we on behalf of the boston city council i would like to ask councillor braden if she'd like to come to the podium we would like to present the council general and the minister with some shamrocks here as a a token of our friendship between our two our two countries um so i'd like to ask councillor braden if she will present these on behalf of the city council thank you so much for joining us thank you very much and i'd like to ask my colleagues to come up for a photo and i'd also like to recognize our friend from west roxbury mayor richie gormley who's also here he does a tremendous amount of work supporting so many charities um richie gomez mayor mayor gormley thank you councillor flynn i'd like to present this book to the consul general of ireland okay one more one and we also have the mayor of boston is with us here as well and we're just honored to have michelle wu as our mayor but be with us today on this special eve of saint patrick's day mayor will would love to invite you to the podium and offer offer official greetings from the residents of boston okay we're going to do a a picture first and then the mayor mayor will speak thank you very soon [Laughter] let me know if i can do anything okay thank you thank you thank you thank you it's good to be with you you're welcome thank you thank you thank you to the minister and thank you to the council general at this time it's an honor to have the mayor of boston with us mayor wu thank you mr president i caught a bit of the remarks from from the hallway um and so just wanted to come by and add my thanks to minister foley and consul general moore for all your leadership here we know that boston has always enjoyed a very special relationship and connection to ireland and i've had many fond memories in this chamber also celebrating that connection and i think holding up the culture and heritage of our boston irish as a reminder of how important the immigration story and immigrant story is to every part of our community here so we thank you for your visit here we thank you for your example there have been many time also where in passing policy we have invoked that for example ireland is way ahead of us in implementing plastic ban plastic bag bands and really focusing on climate so you are green in many ways and we hope to join you in that front too so thank you for having me thank you thank you mayor wu and thank you to the delegation for my own that's here with us today thank you to the mayor of west roxbury richie gormley to the woods school of irish step dancing and uh just honored to have minister foley that was with us and my sister maureen is married to a man named foley and they're also from the same part of ireland in kerry so i won't hold that against her though okay um so we're gonna get on to the meeting now i want you the first order of business which is the approval of the minutes seeing and hearing those discussion on the matter the chair moves to approve the minutes from the last meeting as presented all those in favor approving the minutes from the last meeting say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it thank you the meeting of the last meeting stand as approved communications from her on the mayor mr clerk please read docket 0375 document 0375 message and order authorizing the city of boston to accept and expend the amount of 555 166 dollars and 40 cents in the form of a grant for the federal fiscal year 20 assistance to firefighters grant awarded by the federal emergency management agency to be administered by the fire department the grant will fund safety training and fitness equipment to support officer health and wellness thank you docket zero three seven five will be referred to the committee on public safety criminal justice mr clerk please read doc at zero three seven six doctor number zero three seven six message in order authorizing the city of boston to accept and expend the amount of 492 286 dollars in the form of a grant accelerating clean transportation for all awarded by the massachusetts clean energy center to be administered by the transportation department the grant will fund the launch of an e-cargo bike delivery pilot which will include supporting local businesses to join the program thank you docket 0376 will be referred to the committee on planning development transportation mr cork please read doc at zero three seven seven document number zero three seven seven message and order authorizing the city of boston to accept and expend the amount of 38 and 829.16 cents in the form of a grant for the fiscal year 22 firefighter safety equipment awarded by the massachusetts department of fire services to be administered by the fire department the grant will fund the purchase of rescue safety and exercise equipment thank you mr correct the chair recognizes council flaherty chair of the committee on public safety criminal justice the council authority of the force thank you mr president chair of the committee of public safety and criminal justice asking to rise for to suspend the rules and pass docket zero three seven seven uh this uh grant a small amount of thirty eight thousand will fund the purchase and rescue safety and exercise equipment for our firefighters thank you thank you council flaherty council florida moves for suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero three seven seven all those in favor say aye aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it the docket has passed mr claire can you please read docket zero three seven eight doctor number zero three seven eight message in order to accept for the benefit of the city of boston police department a donation of bicycle helmets from the boston police foundation valued at fourteen thousand seven hundred and thirty two dollars for the purpose of providing protective gear to the boston police department thank you the chair recognizes council of clarity chair of the committee on public safety criminal justice council flaherty you have the floor the president as chair arise uh to ask that the rules be suspended to pass stock it's zero three seven eight uh it is a message in order for 14 732 to provide helmets and much needed protective gear for our police officers particularly for the bicycle unit and i know we all know as district and at large councils how popular that division is in all of our neighborhoods so if we can get these resources and these helmets out to these offices as the weather is changing so we get some see these cyclists out in that neighborhood thank you mr president thank you council flaherty council flaherty moves suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero three seven eight all those in favor say aye aye the eyes have at the docket has passed reports of public officers and others mr clerk please read dark at zero three seven nine zero three eight zero together docking number zero three seven nine notice was received from the city clerk in accordance with chapter six of the ordinances of 1979 regarding action taken by the mayor on papers acted upon by the city council at its meeting of february 16 2022 and docking number zero three eight zero notice was received from the city clerk in accordance with chapter six of the ordinances of 1979 relative to action taken by the mayor on papers acted upon by the city council at its meeting of march second twenty twenty two thank you doc at zero three seven nine zero three eight zero will be placed on file reports of committee mr clerk please read dark at 0-2 6-4 docking number 0-2-6-4 the committee on civil rights and immigrant advancement to which was referred on february 9 2022 docker number six 0264 order that the appropriate committee of the boston city council hold a working session to review applications for the commission on black men and boys submits a report recommending that the order pass and the names of the 14 individuals listed in the report be submitted to mayor wu thank you the chief the chair recognizes council jean chair of the committee on civil rights and immigration council lujan the chair of committee council illusion you are recognized president um we're here to discuss docket 0-264 the order to review applications for the commission on black men and boys i'm sponsored by council julia mejia and yourself council president ed flynn i was referred to the committee on february 9 2022 mayu is accepting 14 recommendations from the boston city council of which seven will be approved and appointed to serve on the commission um an ordinance creating the commission on black men and boys was initially codified last september uh this year the current ordinance was amended by adam divisions relating to executive director and defining the role of the executive director the executive director would be a member of the commission ex-officio without additional compensation and would have a vote on a mat on matters before the commission in order to collaborate with the city council the mayor requested recommendations from us and will appoint seven members to the commission from our 14 recommendations we established an online application process where members of the public were encouraged to apply um for to be one of the 14 nominees submitted to the council and members of the commission will serve a staggered two three and four year terms councils nominated two or three individuals when we held a hearing a working session for consideration by the mayor uh councillors we discussed the community involvement and experience of the nominees we also recognized the work of former district 7 city council tito jackson in getting this commission really off the ground even when he was initially told no he persisted and counselors expressed also support for their our fellow city council colleague brian worrell to serve as a commission member we emphasized the importance of participation and we also recognized that we wanted to ensure that members of the public had one of the 21 seats on the commission and so um it is our understanding that brian morrell who had overwhelming support from city during the civil council process he'll be included in administration selection process which may also include just being a member of the steering committee and being involved in other ways so as to ensure that members of the public will be able to have one of the seats um and can be civically engaged in that way so uh the passage of this order will approve the names of the following 14 individuals for submission to mayor wu first tito jackson uh daryl miller james hill dave brazile james mackey jeff semillion justin brown alex edwards devin morris kurt faustin kwame edwards louis osa ohioba ohio moba and stephen hanton from these recommendations mariwu will appoint seven members to serve on the commission i submit this report recommending that this order ought to pass thank you president flynn thank you councillor jean council who john the chair of the committee on civil rights immigration event advancement seeks acceptance of the committee report and passage of dark at zero two six four before we do that i'd like to recognize council warrell um council royal would you like to speak okay i i apologize i didn't see the um i didn't see i do apologize the the light was not on so i apologize it was and then i turned it off because you went straight to the other star so i figured i'd let you live a little bit okay but i do appreciate you looking out for me so thank you um so i just want to say thank you to come uh to president flynn and congratulations to council luigi for cheering your first hearing and holding it down like she always does i'm incredibly proud to be here today to vote in favor of the 14 black men that we have nominated to serve on the commission for black men and boys our nominees come from all different backgrounds sexual orientation ages lived experiences and bring so much resources and uh life to this conversation and while the mayor is slated to select seven of our 14 nominees i think we can all agree that all 14 deserve to sit on the commission during the working session it also we also came to the conclusion that our very own counselor is incredibly qualified to serve on the commission and we hope that the mayor will make room for him so that the voice of black men from the council can be heard as well i look forward to working with the commission the commissioners once we they are sworn in so that we can continue uh to uplift the voices and the lived experiences in all spaces thank you thank you thank you council mejia at this time the chair recognizes councillor brian warrell councilwell you have the fall yes thank you president flynn and thank you thank you uh councillor louis jen and councilman mejia for your work and your leadership um in establishing the black men's and boys commission and i just want to thank to all my colleagues for nominating me i'm very honored i'm truly grateful to have the opportunity to serve on this historic commission um here in the city of boston that will advance black men and boys here in the city of boston and to ensure that you know our community are giving the supports and tools that they need to thrive thank you thank you councilwell would anyone else like to speak on this uh thank you council illusion councillor mejia thank you council of warrell and i'm so so glad that council rule will play a key role on this commission he has an incredible important voice in the city so thank you council ralph for the important work you do [Music] council lugen chair of the committee on civil rights immigration advancement seeks acceptance of the committee report and passage of dark at zero two six four all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay the eyes have it dr docket zero two six four has passed matt has recently heard for possible action mr clerk please read docket 0185 please daca number 0185 petition for a special law relative to an act granting the city of boston the authority to provide legal voting rights and municipal elections for the city of boston residents aged 16 and 17 years old the chair recognizes council royal chair of the committee on government operations council royal you have the full thank you mr president on tuesday march 14th the committee held the hearing on docket 0185 this matter was introduced by councillors mejia and councilor bach i want to thank the lead sponsors for introducing this matter and for my council colleagues that were able to join us councillor braden councillor fernandez anderson counselor lara councillor louis jen councillor flynn councilor warrell and councillor flaherty i also want to thank the elections department and our panel of advocates for their time and participation this home rule petition would authorize the city of boston to allow any individual aged 16 or 17 who is a resident of boston to be able to vote as long as they are eligible under state law for other all other qualifications other than age these individuals would be added to a separate list of orders to be established and maintained by the board of election commissioners and would be allowed to vote for local office and ballot questions this would be done by having them fill out an alternative registration form the board of elections would be responsible for associated costs the petition would also grant the board the authority to implement regulations associated with this act when the individual turns 18 they would be removed from the separate list and informed that they must register to vote in accordance with state law during the hearing we heard testimony from the elections department on the logistical details that would be needed to address the implement and implement this uh petition including restrictions around how information of 16 year olds would need to be safeguarded the elections department also shared that since implementation of pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds in 2020 the department has processed a total of 3720 applications showing that there is a high interest in electoral participation among those who have not yet turned 18. both the administration and the advocates were able to speak to practices from other cities states and countries that implanted have implemented similar electoral policies as well as the impact this legislation would have on expanding the electorate in boston this con this conversation serves as a good starting point for this homeworld petition and i look forward to more detailed conversations about the language and future working sessions as chair i recommend this matter ought to rain ought to remain in committee thank you mr president thank you thank you council royal would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council me here council me here you have the floor i just wanted to thank the chair for um hosting the hearing and also just want to uplift nasa rare who is one of the young pers one of the young people that participated in the hearing she took some time from school to participate with us which goes to show how important it is to ensure that we recognize that the reason why we're pushing for this is that young people want to be engaged they are mature um and understand what is at stake for them they're the ones they're working paying taxes oftentimes working two to three jobs just to help support their families so we need to do right by them and making sure that we support this effort and i really want to thank my colleagues who participated and for their support around this initiative as well so thank you so very much thank you councilman here the chair recognizes council block council block you have the flow thank you so much mr president i also want to thank the chair and counselor mejia um and all our panelists who came and the counselors i think that you know this is a docket where i think we've already heard a majority of counselors in support we heard support from the elections commission we had really good tangible feedback from the elections commission about what they would need to implement it most effectively so i'm looking forward to the working session under the auspices of the chair but um i just want to emphasize you know we we had a colleague from scotland come and join the meeting virtually in scotland 16 and 17 year olds have been voting for almost a decade in their local elections and um and it's been a huge driver of youth participation it has not upended the world but it has allowed a lot of people to really get involved in democratic civic activism and as was brought raised on the call when we involve our our young people it also means involving a lot of our marginalized communities it it often drives things in a direction of economic justice i mean there's a lot of reasons why we want to make voices and immigrant families sometimes it's the only vote that might have you might have access to for now um and so just really want to stress that we're looking forward to partnering with the chair and making this something that the council is able to support in in the near term so thank you mr president thank you council block anyone else like to speak on this matter docket zero one eight five will remain in committee docket0291 has been withdrawn from the agenda um at this time um mr clerk please read docket zero three one two please doctor number zero three one two message in order for your approval and ordinance regarding targeted residential picketing to protect the quality of residential life in our city filed in the office of the city clerk on february 28 2022 thank you the chair recognizes council royal chair of the committee on government operations council arroyo you have the floor mr president on monday march 13th the committee held a hearing on docket 0312 an ordinance regarding residential picketing to protect the quality of residential life in our city this matter was introduced by the mayor on march 2nd 2022 and according to council rules must be acted upon by this body before may 2nd 2022 i want to thank my council colleagues that were able to join us councillor murphy councilor louis jen councillor bach councilor braden councillor fernandez anderson councilor flaherty councilor mejia councillor flynn and councillor lara i also want to thank chief milor for joining us from the administration this ordinance would limit the ability of individuals to engage in targeted picketing between 9 pm and 9 am for this ordinance targeted picketing means pickening protesting or demonstrating directed towards a specific residence this ordinance would work in addition to existing laws around excessive noise disturbing the peace and blocking streets and sidewalks violation of the ordinance would result in a fine of 100 for the first offense 200 for the second offense and 300 for the third and any subsequent offense the ordinance would be enforced by the boston police department during the hearing the committee discussed there we go excuse me this is a warning next time you're going to be escorted out of the building can we take a brief brief recession [Music] [Music] we're back in session thank you mr president um council of royal you have the floor thank you during the hearing the committee discussed the legality of the ordinance and whether it would unreasonably restrict first amendment rights there was some discussion of including a sunset clause or more clearly defining which protests demonstrations and picketing would be covered by this ordinance several counselors highlighted the fact that this ordinance was not introduced in a void but rather in the context of hateful extended attacks in the mayor's residential neighborhood while the law department did send a letter discussing some high-level legal aspects of the ordinance they declined to attend the hearing and the committee was not able to get further clarification on how the ordinance could be more narrowly tailored several counselors also inquired about the lack of enforcement of the city's existing noise ordinance and expressed concern over the addition of this ordinance instead of enforcement upon an existing law the committee will be submitting requests for information to the administration including an explanation from the police department about why existing noise ordinance has not been enforced the total amount spent on police details for the demonstrations at the mayor's residence the number of attorneys within the law department their responsibilities and their salaries as well as the amount of money spent on excuse me that's your warning sir please do not disrupt please do not disrupt this um this hearing you have your right to your opinion not to disrupt please escort him out please let's take a quick quick [Music] we're back in session thank you mr president uh the number of attorneys within the law department their responsibilities and their salaries as well as the amount of money spent on contracting outside legal counsel whether a stay away order would be a more effective punitive measure rather than fines this hearing has also included a large amount of public testimony and as chair i would just like to correct some misinformation that may have been spread because of this hearing the coven 19 virus is real it's not a hoax vaccines are approved safe and important way to prevent serious illness and in addition city hall has been open to the public since last summer i also want to thank our central staff you lady candice and christine whose patients leading up to and throughout the hearing allowed it to go as smoothly as i believe it possibly could due to outstanding questions of counselors i recommend that this matter ought to remain in committee for a working session so that we can hear from the police department and the law department on specific language adjustments that were discussed at the hearing thank you mr president thank you council royal would any other councils like to speak on this docket 0312 will remain in committee motions orders and resolutions mr clerk please read doc at zero three eight one doctor number zero three eight one councilor edwards offered the following order for a hearing to discuss the regulation and sighting of cannabis establishments in the city of boston boston and the zoning board of appeals the chair recognizes council edwards council edwards you have the floor thank you very much um president flynn just uh real quick i also want to thank you for your leadership in this moment and to my colleagues i think we should we owe our president a round of applause i think people forget part of the job of the president is not only to keep the meeting moving but to protect the body and to make sure democracy is happening so thank you so much thank you council royal um as well so uh we're i want to give a quick history lesson because there's a lot of institutional knowledge about cannabis that needs to be brought into this moment and hopefully will be discussed as we discuss how it is going on in the city as many of you know in 2016 the city of boston voted overwhelmingly to decriminalize and outright legalize cannabis a part of the statewide initiative the statewide initiative also required the creation of a state agency called the ccc the cannabis control commission and they have a specific mandate a moral mandate to undo the harm of the war on drugs that allows for cities and towns also to opt in or opt out of having legalized marijuana and the sale of it or cannabis i should say in their districts but it also puts on them an obligation to also deal with the war on drugs and the harms and caused by it moreover when we're talking about from the statewide mandates you are required every city in town to have at least 20 of the liquor licenses you must have 20 of those in terms of cannabis establishments and licenses so we have a quota to meet we have a more obligation to meet we have also a an industry to grow and to regulate in the city of boston that the city of boston overwhelmingly chose to be regulated and to grow here now with all of that being said there was a delay some people felt the prior administration had taken too long and even trying to establish a system to give out licenses to give out host community agreements which is basically the way in which we can contract with a dispensary to allow them to open and they felt that there was due to the baker administration and the wallace administration seemed to over oppose the legalization there seemed to be the unclear understanding but eventually we opened up the office of emerging industries i was there when that office opened and i was there when that office seemed to unfortunately in an opaque way pick which entities were able to have a hca and which ones weren't we also when i want to give credit to my colleague counselor flaherty 1.0 or 2.0 2.0 2.0 okay 2.0 he took it upon himself which i do appreciate to to say not only are we going to have this industry thrive we're not going to let it be concentrated in any one community and we have in the numbers 52 establishments to have in the city of boston it will be spread everywhere no one gets to say not in my backyard because everyone voted for it so as a result uh we didn't want a green mile as well where it's just that neighborhood to go to to go get high or go get your stuff as a result a half-mile buffer zone was put into this regulation to separate them and to encourage diversity geographic diversity that is why it's put in there's no other industry nor other vice in the city of boston that has a buffer zone like that we also required to sight from distances from schools as well i think 300 feet that is part of other laws when it comes to liquor establishments and so on and so forth now i do want to note that your office of emerging industry was called by this body which is our number one role which is to hold accountable and to demand answers counselor janie at the time held a hearing specifically to ask what is going on and why aren't people getting their licenses what are the what are the point system you're even using and why is it that this person got it and this person didn't in east boston we had a horrible problem where two were within the half-mile buffer and one got the hc both got the hca and then had to go to the zba and that's where the problem is exist today after all the back and forth and getting their hcas going to the zba the zba then chose the corporate cannabis shop and gave them their gave them the the opportunity to open up were just they just happened to be in front of the iraq veteran the latino the local person who i represent they were physically in front of him in line that's it he came up and said well i would like to also open up one and they said sorry you're within a half-mile buffer they enforce it against him they could have easily switched the order and favored the local veteran they chose not to and they had no guidance to do so so since then i have been disgusted with the cba and their role in any way shape or form in the conversation when it comes to cannabis and i use that word disgusted because that's exactly how i feel and that's what they've earned now council janie's leadership was immense and great in creating the bcb the boston cannabis board where for the first time folks like ourselves regular people in boston will be giving out licenses these licenses are connected to the hca so now we have a cannabis board this did not exist when the half mile buffer was introduced introduced this did not exist when we legalized it it existed three years later and that board has grown immensely and has made the entire process very transparent they have hearings they require for the first time a district city councillor to be notified to write the letter of opposition of support all of these things happen in the public eye they require a community meeting all of these things before the person can even come in front of them and they have to have security they have to show that if they're an equity applicant and that was one of the best things one of the lasting legacies of councilor janie former mayor janie is the equity the one for one requirement so that corporations can come in and just take up all the good spots and take up all the cannabis areas we have a one for one but that only exists for the bcb equity applicants only exist with the bcb the analysis of location only exists with the bcb and we did that we added that in there we added in labor members we added in people who were part of the neighborhood for the first time we added in veterans as a protected class we added in indigenous people we this body and the thing is we this body can only add and amend the bcb those standards those individuals who sit there that's where our power lies and we are able to adjust with the bcb as this industry will adjust because we're going to have on-site consumption at some point we're going to have restaurants at some point and we need to be able to regulate them that's why i'm further disgusted by the zba because we cannot regulate them i have a home rule petition right now that's been waiting two years to even add an urban planner to the zba you see they are now able to say no to an industry that's moving like this to a board that's moving like this is moving faster than them with different standards in them with equity obligations that they do not have are not trained in don't know what they're talking about asking about race asking about equity applicants to only cannabis establishments they don't ask about the color or the racial demographics of the developers who come before them trust and believe it's nowhere near as diverse they don't ask about it they're not trained in it yet they play around and what happens is they end up being the last step for a bunch of people in some cases nimbies who just don't want cannabis in their neighborhood so they pile on pile in and just get the zba to say no to them there's no standard by the way for their half mile when they choose to enforce it or not it shows today there are six people six entities that have been given a license by the bcb half of them are equity applicants people of color and they were told no by the zba they're stuck in this horrible situation when we had the hearing about the original and i introduced a zoning amendment to remove the zba when they came forward one of the applicants um owner of prior races said if i didn't have to go to the zba i would have saved forty thousand dollars i wasted time and money that's what we're doing to an emerging industry that's supposed to actually be repairing the harm on black and brown individuals who are harmed by the war on drugs we continue that harm by bureaucratic mess that we allow to continue to happen so last year i introduced the zoning amendment it did go to the zoning commission during that conversation uh counselor bach and i which we disagreed on the bro on the broadness of my amendment we disagreed but we believe we came to it i think a narrowly tailored compromise i hope that council brock will come to the hearing on this to talk about that narrowly tailored compromise as a district city councilor i am sympathetic with her situation and that she represents predominantly the downtown neighborhoods where there might be an oversaturation of a lot of industries including cannabis so i know that's a lot but i like half the council wasn't here when all this happened so i wanted you to know why this is so important we have this conversation we are talking about real money and the tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars we are talking about an obligation a moral one to make sure that money flows equally equitably into hands of people who are formerly incarcerated into people who are veterans who are indigenous who are black who have grown up in communities that have been over over-policed all of that is in our hands and by the way if we separate the zba it's solely in this body's hands that's the kind of control and the movement and also the empowerment that we need to have the zba has nobody on there that deals with public safety they do not have somebody on there that's dealing with economic equity we put them on the bcb they don't deal with public health they're not dealing with addiction specialists all of them are on the licensing board right now we have the expertise we have the people in the movement i'm just asking that you separate the two but the and by the way i'm sure by now you've already heard enough complaints about this eba and their administration of the laws they already have why are we letting them do this so apologize for the length of time i just felt it was very necessary that you understood my passion in this my neighborhood was the one that got screwed over the most in this back and forth and half mile and so on and so forth we now have four candidates establishment in east boston half of whom are equity applicants i'm proud of that so i'm not against the industry i'm also not looking to promote it i just want us to be the best government we can when we're dealing with these deep injuries the best way we can do that is remove the cda thank you thank you council edwards is anyone else looking to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council of priority council clarity of the floor thank you mr president and thank you to the previous speaker as the original uh sponsor of the half-mile buffer and as the former chair of government operations worked closely on the ordinance that created the boston cannabis board i'm happy to have this discussion uh please add my name and it was obviously a great recap of things that have happened to date so as a referenced the spirit in the intent of the buffer zone was to ensure cannabis facilities were cited equitably throughout the city unfortunately our zba has approved a few buffer zone conflicts and they've denied others exposing the city to potential legal action and causing additional lack of predictability and fairness for residents first and foremost as well as uh for the business owners who are out there uh trying to make commitments um signing leases getting securing investors trying to navigate the lengthy permitting process to site a fully legal business uh with that said i think it's also important to note that that we as a city were familiar with the zoning board of appeals process our residents our civic groups understand how to engage in that process that takes place every week in this building on the second on the upstairs on tuesdays the state law that legalized marijuana also allows for municipalities to control the time place and manner of cannabis establishments and that does not need to be done through local zoning so we do have a cannabis board and we could empower them to make these decisions at the end of the day for me it's about predictability and process it's about fairness and it's about upholding the half-mile buffer zone that's uh that's in the zoning code and it can't be about who you know and who you hire and this meeting in that meeting uh we have a half-mile buffer zone that was supported by this body that was supported overwhelmingly by residents across the city who asked us to do that uh and so i'm looking forward to a public discussion about this uh let's get the civic associations in the community groups let them get them in i know that when we talked about this the last time there was concern because that's the process they know they know the zoning board of appeals process they know that they deal with officer officer neighborhood services they work with district and at-large counselors and our staffs um maybe it was sort of a new a new sort of process for them but we need to bring them in so that they understand that uh the cannabis board that we have up and running they can be empowered to make these decisions that these aren't local zoning decisions but at the end of the day again predictability process fairness in upholding uh the half-mile buffers is key to this entire equation thank you mr president look forward to the hearing thank you council flaherty the chair recognizes council block council block you have the flaw thank you so much uh mr president and thank you to counselor edwards um for both reintroducing the conversation and for that summary to everyone um i think that we you know one of the things that councilor edwards mentioned in passing but i just want to underscore is that i think this council passed last year in ordinance uh a number of changes to the bcv in order to address as councilor flaherty was saying the question of whether the bcb itself was considering location in the buffer zone because part of what was happening was that the beast there was a sense that the buffer zone question was sort of being punted to the zba and that therefore if we took the zba out of the process we'd be taking out that factor altogether and so um councillor edwards uh her with her leadership we passed something that put more expertise in zoning and more focus on location into the bcb side of the equation and also raised the standard for a buffer zone exemption that the bcb was weighing and i and i want to give credit to the cannabis board i think we've seen them reflect those changes like we've seen them because that was another question as will they do it but but we've seen them kind of process those i think that the remaining thing that we have to navigate and it's going to be the topic of further conversation is just that aside from the concern downtown about concentration we have both in my district and i know a number of colleagues districts um these like neighborhood business sub districts where a lot of uses are all on top of each other and one of the ways historically that we figured out how to deal with the fact that like five different people are getting deliveries for their businesses all to one corner is that we basically use the zba process as a way to be like where are you storing your trash and what are you doing with deliveries and stuff and so one of the one of the concerns that arose on in my district was okay but that level of granular detail isn't really what the bcb's talking about but if someone's going to open a stationary store in this sub-district they're going to need to talk about this with their neighbors and we don't want it to be that a marijuana store doesn't have to talk about those things with their neighbors so that's sort of the the kind of operational challenge that we're dealing with in the sub-districts um but i think as councilor edward said that we sort of move towards a a narrowly tailored solution to that problem and i'm looking forward to discussing it further so thank you mr president thank you council block and we're adding your name council buck yes the chair recognizes council aurora council reu of the floor thank you president flynn and thank you to councilor edwards for for offering this hearing order i just wanted um to speak in support of reviewing the process of how we approve cannabis doors in our neighborhoods but also wanted to caution us to maybe use a wider lens when we're looking at it i know of at least two instances when the boston cannabis board has approved um two locations within the same half mile and then the zba has had to make the decision on which one they were going to approve in the neighborhood one of those instances is outside of my district one instance is curry is currently excuse me currently live in jamaica plain where the cannabis board approved one corporation one equity applicant and now the zba is left to make a decision about who goes there in the other instance it was in a different neighborhood the zba made the choice to obviously leave in the equity participant and so i say that to say that i would like us to really look at the entire process find the inflection points on where we can make changes to make sure that it's streamlined and also i am supportive i'm not supportive of the cpa in any way shape or form but also thinking about how we remove remove bureaucracy without um zoning in on only one issue when we've also seen similar decisions come out of the boston cannabis board so i really look um forward to having this discussion i just want to ask to my colleagues to widen the conversation to look at the entire process and how it could be more equitable versus just looking into the zba thank you council lara council ira we're adding your name yes anyone else like to speak on this matter would anyone else would anyone like to add their name please raise your hand please add council arroyo councillor ball councillor braden councillor fernandez anderson council flaherty council lara consolution councillor mejia council murphy council rollin please add the chair um docket zero three eight one will be referred to the committee on planning development transportation mr clerk please read talk at zero three eight two doctor number zero three eight two counselor braden off of the following order for a hearing on the importance of census and demographic data and the consequences of an undercount the chief recognizes council braden council braden you of the four thank you mr president um this is a hearing order on an important on the importance of the census and demographic demographic data and the consequences of an undercount as policymakers and municipal government we like to say that we make data-driven decisions but we all know that the 2020 census was considered can significantly underfunded highly politicized by our former president and was conducted in the midst of a pandemic and as a result of seriously under counting black and brown communities across the country and certainly here in boston in addition to the 40 decline in austin brighton's group quarters population so in january of 26 26 the council already voted to adopt docket number 0203 in order for the city to submit a account question resolution opera operation the formal and legitimate process for government units to challenge our census results so however i filed this hearing order to discuss the importance of census and demographic data beyond just the dicennial census years and explore how we can better integrate demographic data as metrics and indicators across all aspects of city work and programs all of this data is essential to guiding our decision making and planning for the future the important work of population estimates projections and demographic interpretations happens every year and every day as we know the election department conducts our annual residential listing which is which some decision making is based on uh however there are additional annual programs in the sense uh programs of the census bureau which would significantly impact boston over the next decade if we do not collect correct the inaccuracies of the 2020 census the census bureau conducts an annual population estimates program program collecting using collected using population base which will be determined by the results of the 2020 census and takes into account population change in change including death births and migration the city of boston has a record of successfully disputing estimates in the count in 2005 2006 2007 2008 2014 with the cities of official population estimates being revised with increases between 5 000 to over 35 000 residents at a time any change i just want to state that any any changes or correction of the numbers will not influence our discussions regarding um redistricting or re representing within the city there is also the city the census bureau's housing unit estimates which also uses the 20 census 2020 census uh population base and factors the boston's reported building permits and new residential construction so really in essence i anticipate this hearing would be an opportunity for us to discuss the ramifications of the 2020 census under count and how it impacts all of our city departments revise updates for the cities for our city's challenge to the count and hear from our city departments current practices and from demo demographers and policy experts on how to use the demographic demographic data to inform our policy making and city programs in general so thank you mr president thank you councillor braden would anyone else like to speak on this matter would anyone else okay the the chair recognizes council illusion consoles you have the floor president flynn i just rise uh to say to add my name and to say that i support this hearing order we know that with under counts they severely affect immigrant populations oftentimes who are afraid to answer census questions especially under this past administration we know that if it affects transient folks those are under houzz black and brown folks and that this and accounting is uh directly tied to a federal funding right as seeing seeing and realizing a decrease in funding at that level and so i 100 support this hearing order so that we can get our numbers right so that we can get the funding that we deserve for our neighborhoods and for our black and brown and immigrant communities thank you thank you council illusion would anyone else like to speak on this matter i also wanted to i also wanted to state that during the census count there was a lot of tremendous work from various neighborhood and civic groups including the chinese progressive association the castle square tenants association the naacp in boston and this during this count this census count it happened during the pandemic and a lot of the a lot of my constituents weren't answering their door or their phone especially in the aapi community here in boston so i just want to say thank you to counselor braden for the important work that you're doing on this on this issue would anyone else like to would anyone like to add their name please raise your hand please add counselor arroyo councillor bark counsel edwards counselor fernandez anderson council lara councillor legend council mejia council murphy council overall please at the chair um docket zero three eight one will be referred to the committee i'm sorry um yeah ze docket zero three h will be referred to the committee on city services in innovation technology mr cork please read talk at zero three eight three doctor number zero three eight three councilors mejia and arroyo offer the following resolutions supporting the pa sha elementary school community the chair recognizes council me here council me here you have the four thank you mr president and thank you to council arroyo for co-sponsoring this resolution with us this morning we kicked off our day in support of the shah and i want to thank my colleagues councilor louisiana and councilor murphy for showing up and councilor arroyo for supporting the families there i think it's really important for us to recognize that you know there's a lot happening in our education system right now and there's a lot of concerns around whether or not families are really being heard and students and educators being paid attention to so when our office was reached out to by some of the folks in the show we took it upon ourselves to lean into the conversation and to create space and to not just listen but to roll up our sleeves and organize alongside them so we utilized our social media platform and our voice to uplift theirs right but it was really the young people the little ones who took to the streets who went to the school committee meetings and told their stories they're the reasons why they were able to secure their fourth grade but the work still continues there's still a lot more that we need to do here in the city of boston to ensure that we are definitely keeping the promises that we have made to so many so i would just like to say that we are filing this resolution um because it's really important for the administration um to recognize that while we appreciate the two fourth grades um that there's still a lot more to do um and there's a saying that if it's not broke don't fix it well let not let well not only is the shaw not broken it is working tremendously and we need to be doing everything in our power to learn from model schools like the shaw and implement what they're doing in other schools across the district and as we approach this budget season we need to ask ourselves as counselors what are we doing to fund schools that nurture educational excellence like the shah does and i hope that as as a council we can send a message through this resolution that we are invested in the academic future of our students and to expand models that work best for our students in our community i move that we suspend and pass the rules and pass this resolution today thank you thank you councilman here the chair recognizes council royal council royal you have the floor thank you president flynn and thank you council julia mejia uh for your advocacy on behalf of the shaw uh school and thank you to councillor louis jan and council murphy uh for being present this morning uh it's great uh that their advocacy was heard when it comes to the addition of a fourth grade we are still going to be working towards a fifth and sixth grade so that is an alignment with our school communities so that the shah and their families can continue to grow uh and learn in a community that they are comfortable with that they want to be in that they want to continue to grow in uh and so we will continue the advocacy to do that i'm grateful that bps responded to their advocacy by providing that fourth grade class and now we have to continue to move to bring it into alignment with our first through sixth grade model uh that that we have for the district and so thank you to the to the shaw and the parents who have been on this from day one uh for months uh i'm grateful to the organizing teachers there and to the students most of all for ensuring that they got the resources that they deserved and i hope that as we move forward with bps it doesn't rely on having first second and third graders continue to have to rally for the resources that they deserve we shouldn't put them in those positions to begin with and so i'm grateful to them for doing that and i'm grateful to bps for answering it and i hope that we have many less situations like that moving forward thank you president flynn thank you council royal the chair recognizes councillor murphy council murphy of the floor thank you president flynn so i first learned about this by zooming into one of the school committee meetings and i was listening to one of the third grade students at the shaw you know begging that the promises that were made were kept so i'm definitely here in support of this and any promises made to school committees should not be able to go back on because the instability and the ever changing leadership at the bowling building so making sure that we're advocating for this school community and that that promise is kept and it's great that the children are going out and fighting for this but we as leaders and adults in the city should always be backing our young children and making sure that you know they get what they deserve so thank you very much and i'm proud to be part of this thank you thank you council murphy the chair recognizes council illusion council lujan you have the floor thank you president flynn just want to underscore what my colleagues have already said though the community rally this morning was amazing it was led completely by the students there who are set you know second graders third graders and they are the ones who are leading the way on this issue so it's up to us to listen you go to these school committee meetings and you hear them speak out and then they send you an email they are really serious about saving their school um and we also do a disservice to our families here and wreak havoc on the planning process for our families when we promise the communities one thing and then we draw back right and if we're serious about bps and about making it a a system where our families can enroll their kids we've got to make sure that we allow them the room uh and the space to plan for the future to know if they're going to have a fourth grade and a fifth grade and this goes just beyond the shaw to other schools that are trying to expand and have been made promises like the mccormick and bcla uh of expansion of improvement but yet when it comes time to put the money uh where the mouth is uh we don't see that work actually happening so we do need to really be honest when we're communicating with our school communities about the plan for the school to expand it to help it grow or if it's a school that there you know that there is no other alternative but to close it we need to be honest with families up front so that they can plan for the future that's all i support this resolution and support the work that has been done around this issue so thank you and and you'd like to add your name console yes i'd like to add my name same with you council murphy uh the chief recognizes council we're all at this time council royal you have the floor thank you president flynn and thank you councillor mejia and council arroyo for this resolution and i want to speak in strong support for the resolution related to the pa sha it was an honor to meet with the students recently um i got the opportunity to visit the pa sha and got to visit classrooms art classes and gym classes and kids were just so excited about the letters they were asking if i got to read their letters and saw one of the kids names in the newspaper so just so much excitement in that school and i remain in close contact with parents and advocates on their efforts and attended community meetings where i heard firsthand on the strong desire this community has to expand grade levels at the pa sha and just want to make sure that those school committee those teachers those those teachers those parents are involved in the conversation uh with whatever the plans that the district does have that we are making sure that they're involved in those conversations um it's also because of their hard work and dedication that the phra will have a fourth grade but there's still work to be done and i urge my fellow colleagues to make sure that we support them in this initiative so thank you yeah your name council yes police would anyone else like to speak on this would anyone else like to would uh add their name please add counselor book counselor edwards counselor brayden councillor fernandez anderson council lara councillor zhen councillor murphy council were all please add the chair um council mejia and council royal seeking suspension of the rules in adoption of docket zero three eight three all those in favor say aye all posts say navy eyes have it docket zero three eight free has been adopted mr clerk please read docket zero three eight four doctor number zero three eight four councilor braden offered the following resolution concerning equitable global vaccination against covert 19. council braden you have the floor thank you mr president um you may wonder the equitable global uh concerning equitable global vaccinations against covet 19 as we are in this moment where we are returning to some sense of normalcy in in boston and in new england the reality is though that about 50 percent of the global population is now fully vaccinated mostly in wealthy countries but more than 3 billion people around the world have yet to receive a single dose and many lower income nations have relied on vaccines such as the china's synovac which appears to be less effective and reliable in protecting against the covert 19 and its variants this is an international issue that has a local connection to this council in this city greater boston is a region as a region is a home to the global headquarters of moderna and to and a major research campus for pfizer which are the two companies that currently enjoy patent protections over the covet 19 vaccines we're very fortunate to have that intellectual powerhouse right here in our neighborhood and we've reaped the benefits of those early access to vaccines however uh there is a thing called the trips waiver uh which uh waiver through the trips waiver patents and intellectual property protections for the pharmaceutical industry would be temporarily lifted and the control of production price and distribution of covert 19 vaccines would be lifted from pharmaceutical industries as leaders in boston uh we um which is home as i said home to all of this incredible innovation uh and treatments and uh testing and vaccines for from this covered um uh um this covered virus uh we it's time to turn our attention to uh asking the united states to prioritize uh pharmaceutical pro to not prioritize pharmaceutical corporate uh profits and vaccine nationalism over the lives and livelihoods of billions of people around the world i do have personal friends in my church community who have family in india they had they've lost multiple members of their families because they haven't had access to vaccines the same many of us in this room have had the same experience this resolution calls on the biden and harris administration to greatly intensify their efforts to deliver on the world trade organization trips waiver as well as to facilitate broad technology transfer to speed vaccine productions and to fund significantly expanded global manufacturing and to expedite vaccine supplies testing and treatment that are necessary to end us this epidemic this pandemic everywhere in the world this is not the last pandemic we're going to see and the omicron variant may not be the last variant that we're going to see in relation to covet 19. so we are calling on the uh the biden administration to expedite this this waiver so that we can share the technology and help save more lives around the world thank you thank you council braden is anyone else looking to speak on this matter if you can raise your hand is anyone else looking to sign on to this please raise your hand mr clara please add counselor arroyo counselor bar counselor edwards council fernandez anderson council lara consola jen councillor mejia councillor murphy council royal and please add the chair council brayden seek suspension of the rules and adoption of dark at 0 3 0 3 8 4. all those in favor say aye aye all opposed say may the eyes have it eight dr0384 has been adopted mr clerk please read docket zero three eight five talking number zero three eight five councillors flynn and braden offer the following resolution recognizing irish american heritage month thank you mr clerk the chair recognizes the lead sponsor councillor flynn councillor flynn you have the floor thank you council arroyo and i'm honored to partner with my colleague council of council braden as we celebrate on the eve of saint patrick's day we were honored to have the the minister today with us but we also wanted to have the council general with us as well and the the lord mayor of west roxbury my good friend richie gormley who does incredible work in the boston community this body several several months ago the great famine that took place and the minister talked about that very briefly when the irish came here in the 1840s they faced many of the same struggles that current immigrants face today including poverty prejudice discrimination and jobs but the the food access in the famine that the irish struggled with in over a million died within in ireland that really resonates today as we do our work on this council during especially during this pandemic making sure that our seniors and persons with disabilities in immigrants had that equal fear access to to food and that's what that's i think is probably the most important issue in the city is making sure that those struggling residents have access to food and that's really been a an important issue that the irish always have dealt with so i'm proud to be here today and recognize the contributions and sacrifices of the irish and the irish american community here in boston across our country they were active in building trades they were active in our city city governments across across the country but they also served in the u.s armed services they served in our military and many of them fought and died for for our country so during this month we celebrate these remarkable achievements and just want to say thank you to all the irish and irish-american organizations across massachusetts that contributes so much to our state but also recognizing the important role that all immigrants play in our society and making sure that all immigrants have equal access to social and economic justice as well so i'm honored to partner with my colleague councillor braden thank you council royale thank you councillor flynn chair recognizes the second co-sponsor counselor braden what am i doing here is that working okay thank you mr chair and thank you to mr pr mr president uh for your initiative and in putting forward this resolution today um we talk a lot about um the great hunger gotta more and how it precipitated the mass an incredible decrease in the population of ireland uh we lost 100 we lost 4 million people in population the population of ireland was just cut in half a million people died of hunger and starvation and disease on the island and millions more left to find safety and shelter and food in other places mainly united states of america many landed on these shores in in boston there's a memorial to those who died in the quarantine camp out on deer island so two two centuries further forward we still have to learn from uh what happened there our immigrants from ireland faced incredible prejudice they came many of them didn't speak english they spoke gaelic they were impoverished they had suffered malnutrition and they came here in poverty they faced prejudice and discrimination in jobs and housing and they put down routes here in boston and in the united states and and thrived we that is the wish that all immigrants who come from wherever they come from that they come to this land of opportunity they are able to put down roots and thrive and be safe ireland last uh three weeks ago when the ukrainian crisis happened it was unfolded and and the russian federation invaded ukraine ireland suspended all requirements for visas for folks who were fleeing fleeing from the war in 2020 in the midst of in in the 1840s in the midst of the great famine the choctaw nation sent aid to the people of ireland in the uh to help them survive the great famine and in 2020 the irish people returned the favor and the kindness by sending money to the choctaw nation to help them survive the culvert epidemic because they didn't have access to supplies and health care and those those kindnesses out of that experience of privation the irish people have opened their hearts and recognize the struggles of other people so i think it's a learning let's pass it forward let's extend the hand of friendship and let's welcome the stranger in boston and i'm very proud to honor the irish american heritage month with you president flynn today but there's so much more work to do and uh let's recommit ourselves to welcoming stranger thank you thank you councillor braden would anyone else like to speak on the matter councillor edwards you have the floor thank you um i've been honored to represent charlestown in this time and and learned a great deal about not only irish history but also how generations of irish immigrants have helped to build this city but i think what we've learned also in any of our conversations that we must speak truth to power and and to call things what they really are and yes we should have and and continue to have and acknowledge the many people who died in the hunger the great hunger but we also need to acknowledge it wasn't a great hunger accidentally it was an intentional starvation and almost genocide of an entire people only the irish people suffered in that moment the english had food there was food and it was they were feeding off of it they were eating it and so we need to acknowledge that it was also a doubt it was a genocide that forced a diaspora around the entire world from australia to the united states and so i think it's really important to use those words because when we're talking about genocide and we're talking about refugees when we're talking about diaspora too many times we think it's just people of color from other countries no the irish people went through that as well and we should use those terms when discussing it it was a great hunger for the irish people but it was an intentional harm of an entire culture if not almost an attempt to decimate it thank you thank you councillor edwards when any other counselor likes to speak on this matter seeing no hands uh would anyone like to add their name please add mr clerk please add counselor bach please add counselor edwards please add counselor fernandez anderson please add counselor lara please add counselor louis jen please add counselor mejia please add counselor murphy please add counselor warrell and please add my name counselor flynn i assume you're seeking to suspend and pass uh council flynn seeks suspension of the rules and passage of docket 385 all those in favor say aye perfect all opposed say nay the eyes have it uh docket 385 has been adopted uh mr clerk can you please read docket zero three eight six dunkin number zero three eight six councillors flynn and flaherty offered the following resolution in support of the commissioning of the uss massachusetts thank you mr clerk the chair recognizes councillor flynn councillor flynn you have the floor yeah thank you um thank you council of royal and i'm also speaking on behalf of my colleague council council flaherty as well there's a there's a possibility that the uss massachusetts which is a submarine could be commissioned here in boston and this is what this resolution would do is encourage our federal leaders to consider bringing the submarine to boston for this commission and the reason we're doing that is boston has strong maritime roots in the city whether it's in east boston whether it's in charlestown or or the downtown area or south boston but the maritime community the fishing community the port of boston it's it's actually named after my father now but the longshoremen as well they play an incredible role in our city but the reason we're doing this is we want the uss massachusetts which which i mentioned is a submarine and it's specifically designed um to have both men and women working and living on the sub and it's it's it's a state-of-the-art subway woman in the middle in the navy would have certain obviously certain private areas for work and for um for their barracks as well so i think myself and council ferry do hope to go to d.c and try to try to talk to some of our federal officials about the importance of the uss massachusetts coming here to boston for a commissioning we had one a few years ago which was the thomas uss thomas hudner and it was an exceptional uh commissioning we had several thousand people here in the city we also want to welcome people to boston and tourists to boston as well so again just want to ask my colleagues if they will support this important resolution i hope we can suspend and pass thank you council royale thank you councillor flynn and thank you for your service in our navy does anyone else want to speak on this matter seeing no hands uh would anyone like to add their name uh mr clerk please add counselor bach please add counselor brayden please add counselor edwards please add counselor fernandez anderson please add counselor lara please add counselor louis jen please add counselor mejia please add counselor murphy please add councilworld and please add my name uh counselor flynn seeks suspension on the rules and passage of docket 0386 all those in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes have it docket 36386 has been passed sorry adopted thank you thank you council royale we're on your personal orders mr clerk can you please read doc at zero three eight seven doctor number zero three eight seven council of flame for councillor mejia the chair seek suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero three eight seven all those in favor say aye aye opposed saying nay the eyes have it the dark it has passed mr clerk please read talk at zero three eight eight doctor number zero three eight eight council of flynn for councillor murphy the chair seeks suspension of the rules passage of docket zero three eight eight all those in favor say aye opposed saying a the eyes haven't docket has passed mr clerk please read talk at zero three eight nine doctor number zero three eight nine council of flynn for council edwards the chair seeks suspension of the rules passage of dark at zero three eight nine all those in favor say aye all opposed saying nay the eyes have it the docket has passed we're on to late files i'm informed by the clerk that there are three late files one is a letter of absence from council baker the second one is a hearing order from council fernandez anderson the third is a resolution from council braden the late file should be on everyone's desk we will take a vote to add these items to the agenda all of those in favor of adding the late file matters to the agenda say aye opposed say nay the eyes have it thank you the late file matters have been added to the agenda the first late file matter is a letter of absence from council baker mr clerk if you can read the letter into the record march 16 2022 uh correspondence from city council frank baker dear president flynn please be advised that i will not be in attendance at the boston city council meeting on wednesday march 16 2022 please ask that the clerk to as please ask that the clerk read this matter into the record thank you sincerely frank baker boston city council of district 3. the late fire will be will will be placed on file mr clara please read the second late file mata into the agenda which is the hearing order from council fernandez anderson order offered by councillor fernandez anderson order for a hearing to discuss how the city budget is addressing equity whereas in 2020 the city of boston declared racism as a public health crisis and whereas 80 percent of whites own a home while only one third of african-americans less than one-fifth of dominicans and puerto ricans and only half of caribbean blacks are home owners in the city of boston and be it ordered that the appropriate committee of the boston city council holds a hearing to gather data and information from the city and community to ensure that the city's budget is meeting equitable threshold allocations in order to monitor and measure the progress regarding equity in housing capital investments economic opportunity to support generational wealth creation health equity food access hiring leadership diversity pay equity streets transportation and sanitation arts and culture environment energy open space and climate justice youth development civic engagement and 3-1-1 response data and covert recovery for marginalized communities thank you mr clerk the chair recognizes council fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the flaw thank you mr president after um as a chair of ways and means i as and as looking while i'm looking at planning for to facilitate hearings for the city's budget um i can't help but to think about equity and looking at the different ways that the city puts out the capital budget as opposed to the operations budget and just the issues on not understanding exactly what's going to what community what's going to different departments and understanding especially with operations budget and understanding specifically who is it for or what issues are being addressed specifically to what demographics so i i thought that it would be a good idea for us to talk about um whether or not a metrics or a dashboard is necessary to measure any type of progress at all if um if we're making progress where is it how are we measuring it how are we monitoring it how do we know that we're actually building equity in the city of boston thank you thank you council fernandez anderson would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council mejia council me here you have the forum you know i'm always going to rise up for equity right so um i know i just would like to just uh add that i think it's really important as as i learned my job you know this is my third year really second term you know we spent a lot of time in our budget hearings listening to a lot of blah blah blah and oftentimes i had to ask myself what are they saying and how is this money really being allocated and we would come in with really good questions and oftentimes leave with more after they answered us and so i am really grateful that you in your role as the chair of ways and means are really going to be leaning into what this moment requires is for us to hold ourselves accountable because our job as the financial stewards of the city is to make sure that we are being fair and equitable in that distribution of that budget so really grateful that you have filed this please add my name thank you thank you thank you councilman here would anyone else like to speak on this matter would anyone else would anyone like to add their name please add counselor arroyo please add counselor bach councillor braden council o'hara counselor illusion counselor this late file matter will be assigned to the committee on ways and means mr clerk please read the third late file matter into the record which is a resolution from council braden resolution to support commitments of harvard university sought by the coalition for just austin brighton whereas the president and fellows of harvard college dba harvard university and various subsidiaries including the harvard austin land company and harvard university beacon yards llc collectively known as harvard own approximately 360 acres of land in the austin bright neighborhoods of the city of boston making harvard the single largest land holder in austin brighton with its land holdings representing one-third of all land in austin and be it resolved that the boston city council meeting assembled hereby urges the president and fellows of harvard college and its affiliates including harvard austin land company to diligently meet commitments sought by the coalition for a just and also just alston and bright thank you mr mr clark the chair recognizes council braden council braden you have the floor thank you mr president uh thank you for my indulging my request for a late file on this resolution yesterday afternoon in barry's corner at the intersection of harvard harvard harvard's north harvard street and western ave there was a rally by the coalition for just also brighton to raise up the issue of asking harvard to um meet some of the commitments that have been drawn up uh ask harvard to commit to working with the community to build an inclusive equitable and resilient neighborhood in in in austin harvard this is one of the posters from yesterday harvard on one one third of allston and this neighborhood this particular neighborhood uh has has had a a long history of exploitation and abuse really by authorities such as universities and governments in the 1930s and 1950s they were redlined they were subject to urban renewal in the 1960s barry's corner was demolished a whole working class community was leveled after a nine-year fight mind you to try and keep their homes the mass the mass pike extension cut through on this neighborhood with removal of whole streets just as they were in chinatown to build the mass pike with all the attendant woes of air pollution noise and the construction of a viaduct that separates the neighborhood from the river this is an environmental justice community we've seen institutional expansion by three universities in our neighborhood we have some of the lowest homeownership in the whole city austin has a home ownership of about 10 percent i think mission hill's lower i think it's about nine percent it's a direct correlation to uh institutional expansion in our neighborhood family housing for students and absentee landlords we have a problem with absentee landlords and speculative investors coming in and buying up our family homes to house students and young professionals students pay eight hundred to a thousand dollars for a bedroom it's five bedrooms in the home five thousand dollars a month no working class family can afford five thousand dollars a month for for a for an apartment for a home so this is an ongoing trend right now harvard is on the cusp of developing their land holdings they've started by doing it project by project giving out the the projects to third-party developers and the community is putting their foot down and saying we want to work with harvard we want harvard to develop a division a vision for an inclusive equitable and resilient neighborhood we want to correct the wrongs of the past we don't want to see further gentrification and displacement of our working families and our immigrant families her this neighborhood of alston used to have a historic african-american population we had it was the home to immigrants from all over the world ireland at italy greece armenia all over please please refrain from comments at the at the council can we can we escort you out of the out of the room please thank you mr president so really we're really asking as harvard embarks on this new um rolling out all this new development in this huge space that we work together with the city with harvard with the state the federal government for that matter to develop a space that is inclusive equitable and resilient that um we we want to see a a master planning process that will engage with the neighborhood in a real way and make something that we can be proud of as a city and that harvard can be proud of they are the largest most well endowed university in the world the second largest non-profit in the world and i think they can do better thank you thank you council braden would anyone else like to speak on this the chair recognizes council mejia council may hear you of the four oh yes um so i just wanted to stand and rise and ask that my name get added and i also want to thank council braden for leaning into this conversation and really holding harvard accountable right because oftentimes things are always being done to us without us and i think we as a body on the council also have to recognize our responsibility we have to put a pause on how we're building here in the city of boston because if we're not centering on the voices of the people and creating space for those who are really living these realities to inform what development looks like then i think it's time for us to shut it down so i just want to say thank you to counselor breeden for her leadership in this space and i'm here for all of it thank you councilman here the chair recognizes consolution council regen you of the floor thank you mr president i want to thank council braden for introducing this resolution i was there yesterday in austin at uh barry's corner where uh it brought together a phenomenal group of activists from around the city really standing in solidarity with our neighbors in austin to hold harvard accountable which owns a third of the land through in austin often through these land grabs often through hiding a lot of their assets not only does harvard have an endowment of 56 billion dollars it grew by 10 billion dollars it increased by 10 billion dollars in 2021 they have the money to do everything that cj jab is asking for which is affordable housing planet planning for a future for austin that includes a neighborhood um harvard is seeking to transform its campus and it teaches the students that uh to seek the truth that's what it taught me for four years um and the truth is that they can do a lot better and uh so i i am thankful for the leadership of counselor braden on this issue thankful for all of the incredible activists from around the city that were there yesterday and i look forward to supporting cjab and austin residents in making sure that they come first in harvard's land grab thank you thank you consoles and we'll add your name yes please thank you uh the chair recognizes council murphy council murphy you have the fall thank you and thank you councillor brayden i was happy to join you council lugian and also reponent and rep moran and so many other strong community advocates so i'm happy to add my name to this and c jab is going to fight to make sure that people are put over profit so i'm happy to join thank you very much thank you council murphy anyone else like to speak on this or add your name if you could raise your hand mr cork please add council arroyo council bark counselor fernandez anderson councillor lara consola zhen council mejia council murphy council warrell and please add the chair council braden is seeking suspension of the rules and adoption of of this late file all those in favor say aye aye all opposed nade the eyes have it the third lay file has been adopted we're going into green sheets anyone wishing to move the matter from the green sheets may do so at this time the chair recognizes councillor fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the flaw thank you mr president i'd like to um ask if it'd be okay for mr clerk to pull docket zero three four six mr clerk will you please read um read docket zero three four six into the record it should be on the last page in the green sheet yes dr number zero three four six from the committee on ways and means message and order for your approval and order authorizing the city of boston to submit to the massachusetts school building authority statement of interest for its accelerated repair program for the following schools the warren prescott haley pilot school curly k through eight school lower building henderson k through 12 inclusion school upper campus aurenberger school and the english high school the statements of interest describe and explain the deficiencies and the priority category for which the city of boston may be invited to apply to the msba accelerated repair grant program in the future thank you mr clerk can you please pull the committee members to see if they would allow the darker to come before the party council of fernandez anderson yes yes councilor edwards councillor warrell councillor mejia council louisiana and councillor braden thank you mr clerk docket 0346 is now properly before the body council fernandez anderson you of the floor thank you mr president i'm pulling this docket from the green sheets in order to enable bps to move forward with their application process to the massachusetts school building authority the msaba supports school districts with support for repairs renovations and major capital projects for schools throughout the commonwealth the accelerated repair program arp supports small repairs including boilers roofs and windows and is an annual funding round the deadline for districts to apply is march 25th um hence my pulling this docket to apply for bps needs approval from this council to submit their statement of interest for potential projects which is before you now for a vote the proposal includes seven schools throughout the district for these small scale repair projects the schools are as have been they've been listed already but they are warren prescott in charlestown haley pilot school in roslindale curley k through eight lower school in jamaica plain burke high school in dorchester henderson k212 upper in dorchester orenberger school in west roxbury english high in jamaica plain if approved bps will have to come to the council for approval for these expenditures and to provide details about the projects and their impact the district has had success with these applications in the past and we hope that to get it approved in projects from the msba today for this reason i'm asking for suspension and pass of this docket thank you thank you council fernandez uh fernandez anderson um the chair recognizes council block council block you have the floor thank you so much and i want to say first of all that i am supporting uh the chair's request today um i think it's super important that boston get gets these funds and we've had an excellent track record lately of getting these funds from the msba and obviously we would not want to miss the funding round um but i feel like it's really important for this body to communicate over to bps that it's just not acceptable to file the msba docket so late that there isn't council time to conduct hearings and the reason that i'm standing on this is because at the our folks in bps and pfd did this to me when i was cheering ways and means on several occasions and now they're doing it to counselor fernandez anderson and it's just not something that the body should accept um and it's and it's something that absolutely needs to get back to the people in charge that they have to take their timelines and back them out and make time for council oversight because the reality is that you know these are amazing grants for us to get they're for roofs spoilers and windows but when we get them from the state they then obligate us um vis-a-vis that building not to like for instance knock it down to build a new building for like a 20-year period so they actually have like long-term impacts on bps capital planning which as we've been discussing today in relation to the sha is something that we really like need to do better at as a city so i do like i recognize that we will have other bites at this apple and get a chance to talk about it and i think that the last thing we'd want to do is to not have the opportunity to get these funds from the state since it's been such a successful accelerator repair program but i just want to put on the record that the next time that they that pfd and bps file these dockets with us so lately there isn't time for a hearing like i'm just going to vote against it and i just think that we really need them to recognize the important role of this body in this process so i just i wanted to support the chair i think she's doing the right thing today and pulling this but i also think that um that the administration and this has now happened across three administrations is putting the council in a situation that it should not be vis-a-vis expenditures so thank you mr president thank you councilwork uh the chair recognizes council me here council me here you have the floor yes so i just want to rise and say that i too um support the chair um in pulling this and i think in in the spirit of government accountability and transparency it is really important for us to recognize that we can't continue to do business as usual and i do remember participating in a hearing in regards to these windows and i do remember asking a lot of questions about how these schools are selected and i remember a lot of those questions not being answered and here we are yet again right so i will have to underscore that while we definitely want to support this process and making sure that we suspend and pass in the spirit of and and support of this i also want to just make it clear for the record that when it comes to the way we're spending our money we're going to have to start being a little bit more responsible and holding folks accountable to doing business the way it should be done so thank you thank you councilman here would anyone else like to speak on this matter the chair recognizes council lara counsel are you of the floor thank you president flynn um i just want to share my support for both pulling this from the green sheets and suspending and passing it as the chair of environmental justice resiliency and parks committee this is really going to increase energy conservation and decrease energy related costs for the school and as the representative from district six three out of the seven schools are in my district the orenberger the curly and the english high school are all meant to be beneficiar beneficiaries of this grant um both all three schools which are incredibly high need in my district two of which are my alma maters and so i just wanted to stand and support it both as the chair of the environmental justice committee and as the representative from district thank you council lara the chair recognizes council of fernandez anderson council fernandez anderson you have the fall i just wanted to express my gratitude for or support for councillor bach for expressing her position i do understand the frustration and agree that bps gets your stuff together however being that we are district counselors and we have schools for the district councils here we have schools in our districts and we understand the severity of the need for these grants i of course would say that we have to push it forward and i again like i i i support it and i'm all for the process um and you know the respectful process of understanding that we need time that they should be more organized to um file these things sooner and i think that the administration did a great job with getting it to me as soon as possible but here we are and again thank you so much for expression of support thank you council council fernandez anderson um anyone else looking to speak or raise your hand if you want to sign on do we do that there's no sign in there's no signing on to this one um council fernandez anderson is on on docket zero three four six moves for passage all those in favor say aye all those opposed saying a doctor zero three four six is passed we're going into the consent agenda i have been informed by the clerk that there are zero additions to the consent agenda the chair moves for adoption of the consent agenda as presented all those in favor say aye thank you the consent agenda has been adopted announcements does anyone wish to make an announcement at this time the chair recognizes council braden council braden you have the floor uh thank you mr president i'd just like to take a few moments to pay tribute to a dear neighbor of ours in austin brighton a long time resident in oak square jeanette cartier she was a retired math teacher she was a volunteer at the austin brighton food pantry and she was a very avid and enthusiastic supporter of the faneuil branch library she was the treasurer of the friends and she died very suddenly uh recently and she's been greatly missed in our neighborhood it's important to hold up those folks who quietly go about the job of making our communities better every day and important to recognize their work and i i want to just give thanks and tribute pay tribute to jeanette today as as we mourn our passing thank you thank you council braden the chair recognizes council mejia council me here you have the four thank you mr president um you know i just want to quickly take a moment to talk about last night's incident that happened at tech boston part of me is speaking as the chair of the committee of education but i'm also mostly speaking here as a community member as a single mom who's always worried about whether or not my daughter will be safe when i drop her to and from school right and while it's reassuring to know that the victims are in stable condition as of yesterday evening what happened at tech boston will no doubt spark conversations about what we're doing as a district and as a community and to ensure that our children and our educators are safe and uh and i and although i know we may not always agree on what the solutions would look like i do believe that we can all agree that there is a problem that continues to persist and what this moment calls for is for us to reckon with our differences and work together to create school environments that are friendly welcoming and safe for everyone i also want to make sure that we're providing and accommodating care and mental health and trauma-informed resources for everyone that was involved there's a lot of issues around vicarious trauma you know people who have experienced and have witnessed violence and we have this expectation that we're just going to keep on keeping on but at some point we need to recognize and grapple with the trauma and the residue of that because sometimes it's paralyzing you may not even want to go to school anymore because of it um so i just would also just want to just to thank the administration the administrators and the mayor for quickly responding to the incident and also for showing up and i hope that we can work collaboratively on pathways that will censor violence prevention and community dialogues as we move forward in this discussion thank you thank you council mejia no further announcements we're going on to memorials today today we will adjourn our meeting in memory of the following individual from council of raiding jeanette cardio a moment of silence please the chair moves that when the council adjourns today it does so in memory of the individuals and his schedule is now scheduled to meet again in the inaudible chamber on wednesday march 23rd at 12 noon all in favor of adjournment please say aye aye the council's adjourned thank you thank you central staff and thank you to the quirks team [Music] [Music] [Music] you