Sunday, March 10, 2013
Boston City Councilors Stephen Murphy and Tito Jackson have proposed updating the way people can pay parking meters and bills in the city.
The Boston City Council will be discussing whether to enable residents to use smart phones to pay parking meters or pay bills at payments kiosks throughout the city. The two ideas are separate and were proposed by different councilors but fall under the same idea of using technology to make things easier for residents. At the council meeting on Wednesday, March 6, City Council President Stephen Murphy filed for a hearing to discuss the feasibility of payment kiosks. "Several other cities and towns do this. They have kiosks that are located in heavily populated and trafficked areas," Murphy said. "It's like a remote satellite station to pay a municipal bill. I’ve seen them at sports arenas, libraries, transit stations, and they get good …
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Boston City Councilors look to work with state with many chronic offenders re-entering the city due to the Jamaica Plain Drug Lab scandal.
With as many as 600 convicted drug dealers headed to the streets of Boston before their full sentences are up, city councilors are brainstorming about how to handle the influx. "We have seen the news. We know there are and will be several hundred more people released into our community... due to the crisis at the JP state lab," said District 7 Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson at Wednesday's council meeting. A "rogue chemist" may have mishandled evidence in 34,000 cases over nine years of work at the shuttered State Drug Lab in Jamaica Plain. State and municipal officials have been struggling to deal with the fallout as convicted drug dealers get released early. Calling for an immediate hearing to address the issue, Jackson said many of …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Mayor Menino rejected the previous redistricting map submitted by the Boston City Council, citing it "concentrates our many citizens of color into too few districts."
The Boston City Council passed a second redistricting map today in a 7-6 vote, which now needs to be passed or vetoed by Mayor Thomas Menino. Menino rejected the previous redistricting map passed by the Council in a 7-6 vote on Aug. 23. He said the proposed map "concentrates our many citizens of color into too few districts, and in doing so may limit their equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice." Several city councilors warned of possible litigation being brought against the city if the map did not accurately reflect the demographics of the city. City Council Tries Again District 7 City Councilor Tito Jackson reintroduced the map he and District 6 City Councilor Matt O'Malley created. (The map is attached to this article.) …
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Friday, September 7, 2012
After 16 months of trying to come up with a map, it was vetoed by the mayor, sending the Boston City Council back to the drawing board.
After Boston Mayor Thomas Menino rejected the redistricting map passed by the City Council, councilors say they're ready to create a new map that will represent all people fairly. Menino said the plan left people of color concentrated in few districts. Ayanna Pressley City Councilor At-Large Ayanna Pressley, who voted against the map on Aug. 23 (the map passed the council narrowly, 7-6), said she knows the Council can do better. “We know the diversity of this city is only growing. Our final map needs to go further to increase equitable representation, voice, power and influence in city elections,” said Pressley, who warned her peers during the Council's vote the city could face a lawsuit if a non-inclusive map were approved by the city. …
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson is looking to learn about offering paperless voter registration—and the ability to do it Facebook, too.
Looking to increase and save money on voter registration, Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson called for a hearing to assess the feasibility of paperless voter registration—and using Facebook to register online. During Wednesday's Boston City Council meeting, District 7's councilor spoke about the state of Washington offering the ability to register to vote online through Facebook by using a program engineered by Facebook and Microsoft. Jackson said research has show that voting online costs three cents while voting on paper costs eight cents. New York City is offering online voting registration, as well, said Jackson. "Both Facebook and Microsoft have offices here—let's get them in and see how we can continue to expedite this process…
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Irish Social Club continually applies for temporary alcohol licenses after a board member mistakenly gave back the club's alcohol license.
The Boston City Council unanimously supported a homerule petition to give the Irish Social Club of Boston a permanent special full-alcohol license from the state, months after a member mistakenly returned the club's previous license. If granted, the license would only be for the Irish Social Club of Boston and would not be transferrable. Councilors Matt O'Malley and Stephen Murphy petitioned for the state homerule petition, which would need to be approved and signed by the governor, for the Club to get an alcohol license immediately. At the Council's regular Wednesday meeting, O'Malley spoke of the Club's beginnings in Roxbury, 65 years ago, and eventual move to Park Street in West Roxbury. Last April, the club's former leadership …
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Boston City Council approved the School Committee's plan that would expand student's access to high-performing schools, but also results in the loss of a Mission Hill k-8 neighborhood school.
After an agonizing and devisive review of the Boston Public School's proposal to shuffle facilities in an effort to expand access to high performing schools, the Boston City Council approved the plan today - despite strong opposition from parents. Moving the Mission Hill K-8 school out of the Mission Hill neighborhood and into Jamaica Plain's Agassiz building uproots students and will destroy the close-knit community, according to an online petition to stop the plan. The Fenway High School will move into the Mission Hill K-8 location. While most agreed the overall proposal (see attached screenshot) makes sense for the other eight schools affected and is good for Boston in general, District 8 Councilor Mike Ross, whose district includes …
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Thursday, May 17, 2012
The council also talked about parking meter technology and approved $1 million for public parks during the May 16 regular meeting.
The Boston City Council supported holding two hearings related to Boston Public Schools: one on efforts to diversity the teacher workforce and the other to discuss recess as an important part of the school day. Councilors also talked about bringing the latest technology to parking meters, and approved $1 million for park maintenance. Diversity Boston Public Schools has made efforts to increase diversity in its teaching staff, but it still doesn't reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender demographics of the student body, At-Large Councilor Ayanna Pressley said in her order filed for a hearing on the issue. The racial diversity among students isn't mirrored among teachers, she said. The hearing discussion would center on what's working, …
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Boston City Council's weekly meeting was short on time, as councilors rehashed redistricting districts.
The Boston City Council's weekly meeting was quick and to the point this week with District 2 City Councilor Bill Linehan once again producing a redistricting map that several of his colleagues did not like for their districts. Linehan did say additional public meetings and hearings will be held prior to a Boston City Council vote on a new redistricting map to represent Boston for the next 10 years. Said Linehan, "This particular task has been going on for nine months now. This map here demonstrates in my mind all of that work. It presents a map in which discussion, presentation and public discourse was fully vetted. It truly is a map that a majority of our body could support. No map will achieve unamimous support." Then District 4 City…
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The DNC will be in Charlotte, NC, from September 3-7, and local delegates will be there to choose President Obama as the official nominee for the party.
Massachusetts Democrats elected delegates this past Saturday at statewide caucuses to attend this year’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. Three Boston City Councilors were chosen: At-Large Councilor Felix Arroyo, District 7 Councilor Tito Jackson, and District 4 Councilor Charles Yancey. In September, convention delegates will cast their votes to officially nominate President Barack Obama for a second term. Massachusetts delegates are selected to the Democratic National Convention by three ways, according to the Massachusetts Democratic Party: Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh spoke about the statewide caucuses. “We have elected an impressive and diverse group of delegates who I know will represent …
don warner saklad
4:49 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
a) The Redistricting maps need to be labeled with the NAMES of the BORDERING streets of the DISTRICTS. That way folks can understand the maps easier. That way it's easier to see where a District ends and another begins. b) Online overlay maps need to be put on the web to compare proposed Districts with one another and with current Districts. Another example of how Boston City Council … more ›