AFTER MORE THAN two hours of debate, Boston city councilors approved a $3.61 billion budget for 2021, averting a showdown with Mayor Marty Walsh that some councilors deemed necessary to address urgent new priorities related to race and policing but others warned would set back progress that has been made and imperil the […]
Boston City Council
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston City Council bans use of facial recognition tech
THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL voted unanimously on Wednesday to prohibit the police department and other city agencies from using facial recognition technology or information derived from face surveillance systems. The ordinance also prohibits law enforcement and city employees from obtaining facial surveillance by asking for it through a third party. Boston now joins five other Massachusetts […]
Posted inPolitics
Riding high on 1-vote win for City Council
JULIA MEJIA WASN’T “virtue signaling” or making any other big statement as she stepped on a Red Line car Wednesday morning at Ashmont Station. As is the case for thousands of other daily MBTA riders, it’s simply how the Dorchester single mother gets into town. But Mejia was anything but another face in the crowd […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
The life (and death) stories that drive Andrea Campbell
ANDREA CAMPBELL’S TWIN BROTHER Andre died seven years ago while awaiting trial in the custody of the state Department of Correction, and she says that has everything to do with how she wound up on the Boston City Council. The 36-year-old Mattapan resident says government needs to share more stories. By that she means we […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The life (and death) stories that drive Andrea Campbell
Andrea Campbell’s twin brother Andre died seven years ago while awaiting trial in the custody of the state Department of Correction, and she says that has everything to do with how she wound up on the Boston City Council. The 36-year-old Mattapan resident says government needs to share more stories. By that she means we […]
Posted inEconomy
City council puts restraints on Airbnb
THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL overwhelmingly approved tough new restrictions on short-term rentals offered by companies such as Airbnb and HomeAway, eliminating investor-owned units from the marketplace while allowing owner-occupied, two- and three-family homeowners to rent out some of their units year-round. The council on Wednesday made some minor adjustments to a proposal by Mayor Marty […]
Posted inPolitics
Political baby talk
IT BECAME A high-profile debate over open carry. But unlike the matter of openly flashing lethal weaponry while strolling through town, which people in some states regard as much ado about not much at all, this open carry debate played out at a high level. The controversial subject of this carry kerfuffle: newborn babies. The […]
Posted inEconomy
Walsh pulls Airbnb proposal
JUST HOURS BEFORE the Boston City Council was set to vote – and likely reject – Mayor Marty Walsh’s proposed ordinance to regulate short-term rentals such as those listed on Airbnb, he withdrew his bill and said he’d come up with another “in the coming weeks.” “During a robust process, including s public hearing and […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston city council races reflect change – and tradition
THEODORE H. WHITE WROTE many years ago that the life of a city is like a ballet. Anybody who has studied the American city, specifically the City of Boston, understands that there are rapid demographic changes underway. Boston is no longer mentioned in the same paragraph with Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland and other cities that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Millennium marches on
Millennium Partners on Wednesday moved one step closer to building its fourth ultra-luxury project in Boston’s downtown core when the City Council voted 10-3 to seek an exemption from a state law that would have prohibited the new tower from casting shadows on the Boston Common and the Public Garden. If the Legislature goes along […]