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Issues

We believe that our government should constantly be asking itself these three important questions:

  • What are we doing to include all voices in the process of government decision-making?

  • What systems do we have in place that to hold our city representatives and government agencies fully accountable?

  • How can we remove the unnecessary barriers to our city’s resources and services? 


During our time in office, we have made huge strides in changing the way business is done in the City of Boston in four main areas: Accessibility, Accountability, Transparency, and Civic Engagement. Here is some of what we’ve achieved:

Accessibility

  • Filed and passed a language access ordinance that expands existing laws to provide more services to people who speak languages other than English.

  • Hosted over 50 events broadcasted on Zoom and Facebook Live, with recordings being stored on our Facebook page.

  • Organized a hearing on language barriers faced by non-English speakers during COVID-19 that, for the first time ever, provided real-time translation into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

  • Held a hearing on public hearings to better understand the barriers that prevent constituents from participating.

Accountability

  • Coordinated a Housing Policy Summit with residents, housing advocates, community activists, non-profit organizations, city officials, and elected representatives.

  • Designed a Civilian Review Board to review, investigate, and suggest sanctions for police misconduct.

  • Collaborated with community organizer Derrel Weathers on a series of Community Conversations, reaching 200+ constituents.

  • Called for targeting corporate landlords and ensuring that we put provisions in place to support smaller landlords who are struggling to keep up with the constantly evolving market.

Transparency

  • ​Produced infographics and videos throughout the FY21 (and now FY22) budget season to educate people about how their tax dollars are being spent.

  • Hosted a BPS Reopening Town Hall with parents, teachers, and students to break down the reopening plan, hear constituent concerns, and collaboratively create solutions.

  • Filed a Home Rule Petition, in coalition with community groups and leaders, to create a fully elected school committee in Boston and put the power back into the hands of the people

  • Shared hundreds of video highlights from weekly council meetings, hearings, and committee meetings, directly letting constituents know what is going on behind 'closed doors.'

Civic Engagement

  • Worked side-by-side with local advocates to write and pass an ordinance creating Retail Residental Kitchens, which allows home cooks to sell shelf-stable foods, share their culture, and lowers the barrier of entry for entrepreneurs.

  • Organized a series of town halls focused on the impact of fireworks on the city as a whole as well as specific neighborhoods.

  • Invited a dozen young people from across Boston to engage in policy work, communications work, and civic engagement work over the summer through our Civic Engagement Institute.

  • Facilitated weekly COVID-19 mental health check-ins hosted by and for young people 

HEARING ORDERS:

  • Order for a hearing regarding Civil Rights in the Creation of Sanctuary Safe Spaces in Boston

    • Date Filed: January 13, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held in December 2020

  • Order for a hearing regarding the economic empowerment of income-adjusted parking tickets

    • Date Filed: February 12​, 2020

    • Status: Expired

  • Order for a hearing on public hearings as they relate to government accountability and accessibility

    • Date Filed: February 12​, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held in November 2020, filed an ordinance in March of 2021

  • Order for a hearing discussing the viability of late-night MBTA service in Greater Boston

    • Date filed: February 12, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held in November of 2020

  • Order for a hearing addressing food insecurity and cultural competency in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak

    • Date filed: April 8, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held, programming created

  • Order for a hearing concerning language access and information parity during the Covid-19 outbreak

    • Date filed: April 15, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held May 15, ordinance filed

  • Order for a hearing regarding the allocation of City of Boston Covid-19 Relief Fund

    • Date filed: April 29, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held

  • Order for a hearing concerning college and university campus police in the City of Boston

    • Date Filed: June 10, 2020

    • Status: Refiled​

  • Order for a hearing identifying restorative justice practices and the role of police in our schools

    • Date Filed: June 10, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held, subsequent hearing filed, awaiting next steps

  • Order for a hearing addressing the use of non-lethal physical restraint tactics employed by law enforcement

    • Date Filed: June 10, 2020

    • Status: BPD policy change came June 11 on this issue, shelved

  • Order for a hearing regarding the epidemic of violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people

    • Date Filed: June 10, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held 8/21, awaiting next steps

  • ​Order for a hearing to review all grants, city funds, and city programs for violence prevention and intervention purposes 

    • Date Filed: June 24, 2020

    • Status: Hold placed, currently being scheduled

  • Order for a hearing regarding participatory budgeting for Boston

    • Date Filed: July 8, 2020

    • Status: Expired

  • Order for a hearing discussing the accessibility of small business outreach during and beyond the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

    • Date filed: July 8, 2020

    • Status: Refiled

  • Order for a hearing regarding zero-based budget visions for alternative community investment 

    • Date filed: July 8, 2020

    • Status: Expired

  • Order for a hearing on Racism in Retail Stores in the City of Boston

    • Date Filed: July 29, 2020

    • Status: Refiled

  • Order for a hearing to discuss internet access and digital equity in the City of Boston

    • Date Filed: July 29, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held, refiled, trying to schedule a second hearing

  • Order for a hearing regarding the selection of NWEA as the admissions exam vendor for Boston’s exam schools and the impact of exam-based admissions has on diverse enrollment at those exam schools

    • Date Filed: July 29, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held in September 2020

  • Order for a hearing discussing youth engagement in regards to Police Reform

    • Date Filed: August 19, 2020

    • Status: Refiled

  • Order for a hearing discussing the relationship between school lunches and the achievement gap

    • Date Filed: August 19, 2020

    • Status: Refiled

  • Order for a hearing addressing sexual assault in Boston Public Schools

    • Date Filed: August 19, 2020

    • Status: Refiled

  • Order for a hearing to review the Melnea Cass Blvd Design Project Speech

    • Date Filed: September 16, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held, design project postponed

  • Order for a hearing discussing Permits for At-Home Entrepreneurs in the City of Boston

    • Date Filed: September 16, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held in October, ordinance filed in January of 2021, passed in March of 2021

  • Order for a hearing on Expanding Access for Minority Business Enterprises into High-Volume Commercial Centers

    • Date Filed: November 4, 2020

    • Status: Refiled, hearing scheduled for April 22, 2021

RESOLUTIONS:

Our office has offered resolutions that: 

  • Urge the federal government to alleviate the cost of COVID-19 testing for uninsured undocumented communities  (3/25/20)

  • Urge immediate action to provide financial security to small businesses through means including increased relief funding and a moratorium on commercial rent/evictions during the COVID-19 outbreak (3/25/20)

  • Recommend greater protections for workers made unemployed due to the COVID-19 outbreak (3/25/20)

  • Call for shifting the narrative of Bostonians away from deficit-based descriptors and affirming our resilient yet under-represented communities (4/8/20)

  • Affirm the provision of bilingual ballots for elections during the COVID-19 pandemic (5/13/20)

  • Support federal action condemning police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive and militarized force (5/20/20)

  • Urge the MBTA to protect free movement and peaceful assembly with reliable public transit services during public demonstrations (6/10/20)

  • Recognize June 2020 As LGBTQIA Pride Month (6/10/20)

  • Recognize September 12, 2020 as Black Joy Day in the City of Boston (8/19/20)

  • Recognize September 14, 2020 as Support Latino Business Day in the City of Boston (9/16/20)

  • Recognize September 15 - October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month in the City of Boston (9/16/20)

  • Recognize September as Suicide Prevention Month in the City of Boston (9/23/20)

  • Recognize October as Dyslexia Awareness Month (9/29/20)

  • Condemn the racist and predatory tactics Used by ICE in Boston (10/21/20)

  • Urge the placement of a ballot box outside houses of incarceration in Boston (10/21/20)

  • Highlight the Boston Black Hospitality Coalition's work to help impacted black business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (11/18/20)

ORDINANCES/17Fs:

  • Ordinance to establish an unarmed Community Safety Crisis Response System for nonviolent emergency calls

    • Date Filed: June 24, 2020

  • Ordinance Amending City of Boston Code, Ordinances, Chapter VI, Section 6-10, Language and Communications Access for City Services

    • Date Filed: October 7, 2020

    • Status: Hearing held, refiled in March 2021, passed and signed into law August 2021

  • Order requesting certain information under section 17F: regarding spending to address violence and substance use disorder in Mass/Cass

    • Date Filed: December 2, 2020

  • Ordinance establishing the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency

    • Date Filed: July 29, 2020

    • Status: Passed in December of 2020, signed into law December 31, 2020​

24

​hearing orders filed

1

17F order filed

3

ordinances filed

16

resolutions passed

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