This week on Talk of the Neighborhoods, it is an all 'Southie' show with state senator Nick Collins (D -1st Suffolk) joining us to talk about the latest from Beacon Hill. Then Dist. 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn joins Joe to talk about the latest from City Hall.
WBCA Podcasts
Talk Of The Neighborhoods
This week on Talk of the Neighborhoods, it is an all 'Southie' show with state senator Nick Collins (D -1st Suffolk) joining us to talk about the latest from Beacon Hill. Then Dist. 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn joins Joe to talk about the latest from City Hall.
- Duration:
- 54m
- Broadcast on:
- 12 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
- Hello, and welcome to Talk of the Neighbor. I'm Joe Heisler, your host, coming to you from the B&N Live Studios in Eggleston Square, where tonight, well, we've got an all-Southy show lined up for you, some special guests coming up, of course, state senator from the first Suffolk district includes Southy and much of Dorchester. We're talking about Senator Nick Collins. Then in the second half, joining us will be the district two city council, including Southy and other parts of the city, Ed Flynn. And tonight, just a special thanks. We're back after a summer hiatus, pleased to be back, and I want to thank my guest host while I was gone, David Halbert and Mary Tamer. Stay tuned, we'll be back with more of Talk of the Neighborhoods. (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) All right, we're back with Talk of the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Hudson, your host tonight. We're also being simulcast on our sister radio station, 102.9 FM, and I'm pleased to have joining us on this first half of the show. He is the sitting state senator from the first Suffolk district, who includes a large portion of City of Boston, and Nick. Nice to have you, Nicky. Thanks so much for coming in and joining us. Well, let's start with the, you just finished up the state budget, 57 billion. Did I, somewhere in that vicinity, I think I heard. What's in it for your district? How did you do, you know? Well, we did very well in the district in the City of Boston and across the Commonwealth and Massachusetts, and I think the important thing to note is that we did that while maintaining a strong reserve account, which has led us through some turbulence. Rainy Day Fund, Rainy Day Fund, which is 8 plus billion dollars, the lives has been over a decade since it started. It's the highest amount, which has given us a bump in the bond rating, so I think we've done our part to be officially approved, too, and that's born from the state. Well, you know, of course, the Boston Globe, in particular, is calling it the, well, I don't know, I can't pull it directly, but do nothing legislature talking about all the things that didn't get done, not the things that did get done. Yes, no, I remember taking a class at the Kennedy School and it was discussing assigning public value. We could have, you know, the same person, just the mindset of being in the old RV lines, and, you know, initially being busted in the technology, being on up to speed, then they make all the investments, and you're there in and out, and then, you know, the same individual might say, "What awaits the money?" So, I think the important thing is to know what we did do, and I just want to run through a few of them. We passed the Affordable Homes Act, which was roughly 5.16 billion dollar bond, authorization to support production and rehabilitation measures. Housing stock, we expanded and modernized the number of existing programs for veterans with respect to tax credits, annuities, access to health, and local benefits. We expanded the existing child and dependent tax credit, and eliminated the cap on dependents per household. We accepted employer assistance with student loan repayment and on employees taxable income, doubled the maximum, put in here, senior circuit breaker tax credit, and we also mandated that pay ranges for people, so they know as employees know what their pay ranges when they apply for a job with advertisements. We protected our police, firefighters and EMTs, and other public safety employees who were subjected to serious attacks while in the performance of the duties, by making the knowledge for 100% of their regular salary and protected our firefighters, one of our proudest acts at the end of this session, to force manufacturers to move PFAS from the protective equipment that firefighters use, which has driven a lot of cancers over the years. But we knew we had some unfinished business that we wanted to talk about. Well, why do you think, and we want to talk about that, of course, as well, but why do you think the legislature's gotten such a bad rap, so to speak? Well, I think there's a lot of issues that are going on, macro pressures, and there's a lot of pressure on us that fight micro-solutions too, and reasonable solutions. And so a lot of crises converge here at once, and I think we've dealt with in the last several weeks, even since the end of the session, multiple pieces of legislation, including an economic development bill for the city of Boston, to expand the alcohol. Right, liquor license. To bring a lot more opportunities, and we'll bring an increase in meal tax revenue to the city. So that just passed recently with unanimous consent, which is required in informal sessions. We're still having discussions. The Commerce Committee is still working on the economic development bill, which we are still hopeful will come together, some important pieces to help the city and the state from an economic development perspective. But we have challenges ahead, but I think we're meeting them with Prunes, but there are some places that I do think we need a shift, and that's in the healthcare, the mental health space. Right, yeah, and I'm on talk, but especially about, and State Representative Aaron Michael, what's a chair of House Ways and Means, which here on the election night, we talked somewhat about this, about the differences between the House and Senate proposal, including Mayor Wu's tax proposal to shift some of the burden there, and that did not make it through. And what's going on there? Why do you think that is? Well, I think it was a policy that was tested out 20 years ago, and in the aftermath, when we just saw this report come out, a resurface, I should say, it came out in 2004 when the waiver was given to the city back then, to this Mayor's temporary at the time. But, you know, according to the Federal Reserve, this isn't a temporary problem, because of the post-COVID, you know, workforce and the patterns that have taken shape. This isn't a problem that's going to be here. You know, I think the issue coming down the intersection was a compromise, but not a legislative change, which anything that would be legislative change would have to be done at the city council level. Right. So that would have to-- Yeah, and apparently it was, and for our viewers that aren't paying attention, correct me if I'm wrong, it would have shifted some of the burden from residential onto commercial and industrial. Yeah, so what it would do is it would be-- Yeah, the compromise, that was a-- how did that work? Yeah, it was a late-breaking one that really didn't have legislative teeth, so because the bill came up undemendable, it has to go back to city council. Okay. But I think there was a discussion about providing some relief to small businesses. Right. We have heard a lot in clear right now about their concern and opposition. But, I mean, in fact, there's-- Do you have the downtown area in your district? Yeah, I do. The tax rates are decided by the city and the city council over here. They're not automatic. Right. And there's no notion that anything's automatic. We haven't had automatic taxes since the king. That's it. So, you know, I think that's an important thing to know. These are votes we have to take. And the council hasn't done that yet. That's in November or later on this year when that has to happen. They've done it annually. But, you know, we know there's options for the city. The Ray Day Fund, Moody's has suggested is twice what it should be, it shouldn't be stockpiling. And, you know, it's a good thing to have that resource. It's a good thing to use it when needed. And we've done that, too, at the state level. You know, we had a 2%. 2.7% increase in the budget, the city had an 8% one. So, those, you know, obviously some challenges. When our revenues don't meet our budget, the governor steps in with 9C cuts. Right. And that happened last year. Yeah. And that's the difference in income from the state level, the city level. But there's a lot of concern out there. A lot of concerns from people who live in the city who work in the city. People who don't live in the city that work in the city or have business in the city. Right. And so, you know, I think this 2004 report is illuminating because it talks about. It's, you know, limited, you know, expedient. Relief that can set up problems and constitutional problems over time. So, if this is going to be not a temporary thing, which that turned out to be. And the Federal Reserve is saying, this isn't a temporary thing. Right. We're going to meet this with a long-term fix. A long-term fix isn't going to be that. So, I think there's still discussions being had. I think there's probably going to be alternative proposals offered by the council as well. And we'll see this continue. I think that it's something that could be done, you know, you're in informal session where you need. Yeah. I mean, it's good. Anything can be done with unanimous consent if this unanimous consent. Right. But it requires people coming together and having problems. But, you know, again, legislatively, that is that whatever is going to be voted on, if it's unamendable as to come after being voted on by the council. Yeah. And not just that. Of course, every year that it's kind of a give-and-take pushing poll between the Senate and the House as to, you know, what's going to go into this. Right, the priorities, the final bill. In this particular case, there was a plan put forth by the House. But the Senate rejected it. Is there, you know-- So, the economic development is different. It's not attached, which is a really significant piece of legislation. It includes the life science industry incentives and other economic development initiatives in funding. And then the reorganization of the life science. And the new life sciences, the Senate, it's going to be not far from here, it's going to be a square. That separate, that's a statewide legislation. And some of the home politicians. So, home politicians don't get done in formal sessions. But they require names. Right. So, we shall see. Yeah. We'll be doing that. We'll be doing that. We'll be doing that. We'll be doing that. And, you know, did Mayor Wu's comments about the-- The legislature's failure to enact this creates some bad blood with the Senate President? Is that-- Well, I think we all fix again. So, you know, a lot of issues to work on. So, I don't think that's low things now. Right. But we do have issues that require collaboration and prioritization. And one of them is the situation of massing gas. Right. And what has continued to be a public health crisis that has spread into the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, Salt Boston, downtown, Chinatown. I mean, what's happening? Tell us what-- Well, we know that the mental health crisis that's, you know, we haven't responded to, appropriately, combined with the drug and human trafficking trade that is persistent. That requires both, you know, criminal and civil intervention. I think there's been hesitancy on both sides. I think, finally, there's a recognition that the policy has to change across the board. And, you know, not putting our public health and safety folks in harm's way as we had, you know, in the past, and trying to extend ourselves to folks that were struggling. Treatment first has to be the model. It can't be housing first. Because treatment can include housing. Right. But without treatment, housing's not going to last and it's going to be trouble. Right. And we've seen that. And we've seen that in sort of invade senior homes, unintentionally, and in other, you know, not only disabled homes in the city, you can't have it. It's not a good quality life. On parishes that have overdose, that they get to not overdose by keeping them, helping them in the treatment. They have a good regard on that, on the criminal side. And, you know, on the civil side, we have interventions that we can employ. But there's been hesitancy, the Section 35 petitions, which are civil commitments. Right. That can be done by a lot of... What's the hesitancy on that? Well, the hesitancy is everyone but the family, the resident. The family members, you know, are the ones petitioning most of the time. Right. And, you know, sometimes it's court officials. More and more public shady is trying. It's still a difficult circumstance to do that. And others. But what we try to do late in the session, and we're going to be reintroducing this in the news session, is to acquire a social worker to do an evaluation of a patient. Who's overdose, got brought back to life at the emergency room, has recovered. Prior to having them discharged. Which is... Twenty-five hundred people have got discharged from the emergency rooms last year in Boston without treatment. We had 377 day, a quote, over those. Wow. And so we have a point of intervention there. Yeah. Because maybe that social worker can call a TV timeout. We're not letting them through the doors. Find in the right place. Is it a mental health facility? Is it a substance use facility? Is it a particular housing... You know, it just can't be discharged to the street. And those are two windows of opportunity that we can seize on and disrupt a drug and human trafficking market down at mass and cast. Because folks have the opportunity to go into treatment for 30 to 90 days. And if we're disrupting the market down there, it will be gone in 30 to 90 days. And people will be in treatment. That a factor of position should be treatment first. Folks like to, you know, brag about European approach than Portugal. That's what they do. You screwed up back to the tribunal, the public health tribunal. Nick, what happened? You get back out in the park, you know, doing what you're not supposed to. Well, I just like doing it. Well, you can't back to treatment. And giving people a chance. Every time. Treatment demands are quiet. Right. So we have to have a facility. Right. And investment that we haven't had in the one time. And so, are there, so bulldozing the tents didn't, wasn't the answer? Well, I think it needed to happen. Yeah. But no, it wasn't the answer to the whole challenge. Which is a combination of interventions. Civil, criminal, and, um, in having the facilities to back up. Long Island's been offline for a while. Mass, I'm sorry. And then, yeah, MSTPH's, uh, static is being, you know, reviewed both of the office. So we have a proposal that we studied, um, with the help of the Department of Mental Health, MIT, and the Navy, are converting a, um, uh, water-based vessel to a floating hospital for mental health and substance use doctor in Boston, Auburn, and on the shoreline. Um, as we have seen the USNS comfort, the USNS Mercy come in and, and support, uh, cities and states, uh, in need, um, right up to the shores, you know, talking to experts. Sure, that time. That they've been able to respond quickly. You don't get into the neighborhood issues, but really rock places when, when there's no mitigation, uh, on the challenges there. Um, and it would be, you know, uh, a, um, a short tab in comparison. Canada now says, no, we're not doing any more safe injection sites, and we've still been battling that, uh, debate here in the state. And we're going to open up ten treatment facilities. We have an open up treatment facility in a decade. We need to do that. Right. Well, hey, hey. And, uh, clearly there's a, a demand for it. And, uh, so, uh, you know, I wish you, you know, got, got speed with that because there's a lot of, uh, individuals out there that, uh, dire need help, uh, so unfortunately, we, we got just so much time. I wanted to shift gears a little bit and ask you about a couple of things. Of course, uh, uh, Carney Hospital. There was no way to save Carney Hospital. There was. I mean, I'm sorry. Yeah. No. We, we, we haven't given up. Um, there was, but it required support from the state that they weren't, they weren't willing to make. Yeah. You know, those are just, uh, parties but required state support and others that got it got it. And this just wasn't. There wasn't enough support in the. Yeah. There was, but there's, there must have been another thinking of plan. Sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you get it wrong. I think there's a, a, a 3.0 to Carney. Um, just for historical reference. Carney Hospital opened up at the site of Merrin Manor in South Boston. Yeah. And then it would move to Dorchester and Merrin Manor has, uh, was opened by a counter cushion. And, um, now Merrin Manor has had to, uh, close its doors because too big, uh, for, um, the, the service that they could provide probably half of what it could, uh, it could provide, um, sorry, half of the size is what it could provide. So we're taking a look at the thing. This is very viable at having Carney 3.0 include scenic care services. We just passed long term cable that created the workforce development and, um, capital trust fund to invest in, uh, nursing homes and long term care facilities, which are, uh, significant need. Including possibly a Merrin Manor. Exactly. Yeah. Uh, you have a, you know, 200, you know, that capacity there and the growing need for mental health. Services that provided there, but at a larger scale, um, in emergency services. 30,000 emergency visits. Oh, that's what I mean. I, I, I do. Yeah. It has to be sustainable. We believe that there's a sustainable partner, same partners. Uh, and we just need to continue. Um, obviously at the end of the state do that because it needs to modify its footprint. Just like a Merrin man, even modified sports footprint. I mean, did the governor underestimate the scope of the problem? I mean, did, was the state caught off guard by this? I mean, someone say that, uh, it was an accident waiting to happen. Yeah. Well, I think, no, I think Delta difficult hand with the cascade of a store. And in particularly where the hostels are located, vulnerable areas in the, in the, you know, the committee hospitals. Right. Um, and you know, I think, um, having to negotiate that, you know, at, uh, you know, bankruptcy court and some, you know, director in a direct way. You know, trying to maintain a lit. I mean, we had put forth funding in the, in the, in the, in the, the budget last year and they were just requesting certain information. They had a hospital providing. It was, it was difficult to get information to make sure that funding was going the right place. And so it had been a difficult, uh, you know, a couple of years, but, um, you know, it's unfortunate, but what's done is done and we're looking forward because we created opportunities in this legislation because you know, we need to meet the need. We have facilities that weren't, I mean, married men are, you know, had a great run and, and it was one of the few that survived in COVID. The National Guard came in several times, everybody rallied in a really terrible institution too, but they really stood through it all and making a strategic decision here, but I think what we, where we've learned through that process is a modified footprint. And it's not just here. It's statewide, which is why we passed statewide legislation. Right. And I think that's going to help us meet the need and, um, and we need to fill it. Yeah, well, so, uh, it's not over yet. So, um, of course, uh, for our viewers that are not familiar. Of course, uh, uh, Stewart health care declared bankruptcy and sold six of its eight hospitals here in the Commonwealth, but to include the Kearney Hospital and Dorchester and. Uh, and the show the valley and air mass were closed. So, uh, you know, kind of sad watching, uh, you know, some of the longtime employees. That's all in your district. It is. No, I remember there wanted to be a better pill to, uh, to witness that. It was totally, um, unfair and unfortunate, but we think there's a better way to transition the hospital, but, um, you know, I think the people that are so passionate about working there, you know, if there's an opportunity. And the neighborhood, uh, you know, rallying to, uh, that's a big part of the community and, uh, you know, the economic fabric of, uh, those are just a revenue and all bills. Right. Yeah. Well, certainly. Uh, are we through not to talk just about money, but, uh, talk about, uh, crisis, the immigrant crisis, uh, cost the state millions of dollars. Uh, actually, uh, is over a billion. I think it might be, you know. Um, and, and has the fix that was kind of come up with. Is that working? As far as you know, are we facing, uh, another, you know, supplemental budget that needed to kind of cover that? I think, I think we are getting some federal funds now coming, but, um, I think one of the most important things that we need to do, and it requires the help of the federal government, is to, in the, the president just announced the expansion of this. Um, it's the sponsorship program. But the government sponsorship program, sponsorship program, private citizens, um, you know, individuals and businesses and folks that can sponsor people to come in. You know, that's the best way to do that and the best way to be able to burden, um, you know, from a state perspective and really help people, you know, assimilate and get access to the things that they need access to while they here on TPS, which is what the, the, you know, uh, line share, the new arrivals are from TPS nations, largest from the island of Haiti. And, um, you know, tragedy of the assassination, a couple years ago has driven that. And so getting people that TPS signed up, uh, along with their access to the ability to get work permits and drivers permits and so security to get into the system and not be, you know, on the system, I think is the goal of, of everybody. And the best way to do that is through this expansion that the federal government is pursuing in having us utilize that as the system, the effective system of Massachusetts. Because, you know, to be fair, the government, she inherited this and, you know, people started, you know, hanging out and sleeping at the airports and then it just became this flow from the border. The border was just, you know, totally understandable. She called it the emergency, you know, to a credit. And I think trying to take action as aggressive as it could to contain the situation. But are we still seeing the numbers? No, no, we're not. But I think there's lessons here are to use the tried and true sponsor system, which I think was what they were trying to suggest earlier on welcoming people into their homes. But there is a de facto, it's got a welcome core under the Department of State. And if we were able to, if we can tap into that and get people who are here with family and friends moving forward, that's what, that's the goal. Well, and we can't talk a little politics. Congratulations. You won your primary. A lot of people didn't even know there was anybody wearing against you. Well, it's always a good thing. I've paid a complete in many ways. Easily, easy victory. You do not have an opponent in the fall, if I understand correctly. Yeah, no. What's the future for Senator Nick Cowan's? Well, as I said, we get some unfinished business in the Senate, little working towards in the district. Made a lot of great progress, you know, seeing the development of the greenway along the water and Dorchester. We have plans that were involved in with Morrissey Boulevard and the resiliency there and opportunity to bring our cruise industry to net zero, ship the shore power, which is going to have a dramatic impact on the environmental footprint in the waterfront and the port of the city. And it's close to home, so it's something that we hear about quite often. We have some great progress made, but unfinished on the electrification that's beginning of the Fairmont line, which is another critical area of environmental mitigation that we're working on from the South Station all the way to the High Park. And the red line, are you at the house, put some serious money in for the red line? And we put some in the trust fund. They put it directly into the trust fund capital. So it's, you know, six and one half of it is the other thing, but I think the GM and the chair and the board are focused on getting the repairs done. And, you know, in as best as safe way possible, but I think they're doing a good job. Because that, those are, it's an old system. They need to repair it. We know that. We're working with them in ways that we can to make that happen faster. But the good thing is the advances on the Fairmont line are happening. We're seeing, you know, those promises kept and I think people are very excited about that. And we're seeing action taken right now on the T and they're working hard. It's a constant. It's 24/7. Do you like the new general manager? Yeah, I think he's doing a good job. I think the speaker for him is he's a trained man, which is what's needed. You need something who's going to get that trained system and the community system on track. And I think that's happened. Again, state senator Nick Collins, he said in the first subject district. And just for our viewers, that includes of course, the south of much of Georgia, and what else? The downtown area? They have South Station, Federal Reserve Building, downtown Chinatown, Bay Village, South End. The Roxbury, St. Patrick's Church, BMC, Dorchester, running the Fairmont line from St. Margaret's all the way down to Lower Mills. Big stretch, a lot to do, lots of great people. Yeah, how was that politically, of course, South Boston has changed dramatically as well. How has Nick Collins dealt with that? We're still doing strong numbers, but I think it's a great mix of people, good collaboration, a lot of good energy. And it's like that way across the district. If you go down from every corner of it, there's a lot of great partnerships that our office has in the community that we get a lot of ideas from, that we partner with to get legislation passed and communities through. You know, where haven't been doing it? Congratulations. They keep up the good work. When we come back with more of the talk in the neighborhood, well, another South, the public official, politician, Ed Flynn, the district two city councilor will be joining us to talk about some of the issues he's working on. Special thanks to Nick Collins for joining us tonight. Stay tuned, we'll be right back. There's no better way to kick off a Boston summer than with live music. We started ours at Boston Calling, where we chatted with festival goers about what drew them here. Live music is genuinely what gets me through. It's, I love it so much. Music, live music lover, so many concerts. Three days straight is just like, I don't want to be anywhere else. I just enjoy the process of like seeing as many artists as I possibly can. I also very much enjoy like exploring new ones, but I can. The festival was a beautiful example of how music is a universal language and brings community together. Well, I really like live music because it's just a great experience and I think it brings everybody together. It's kind of one of those things that you can do in like a large group. There's not too much of that anymore in this world, so I think we need more of it. I think it's just really cool to be with like birds of a feather, especially with this is such a varied lineup. That was one of the things that drew me to it is multiple of my favorite bands across several genres of music. Everyone interprets music in different ways and it means different things to them. So it's really cool to see a bunch of people gather in one place and then have different reasons why they're there. BNN had a blast getting to know some of the festival goers and we can't wait for 2025. [Music] When people think summertime in Boston, they tend to think of lobster rolls, Fenway Park, and evening strolls through the public garden. But there's an often under-looked beauty in the Boston Harbor and its islands. One of the islands, accessible by ferry at the Long Wharf, is spectacle island. With a total travel time of just about 30 minutes, it's just a stone's throw away from the mainland. Growing up in Quincy, headaches island and Georges Island were always summertime mainstays. But spectacle island was different. Everyone always referred to it as a dump. And I never knew why. [Music] Opening to the public in 2006, spectacle island features hiking trails and paths that are both pedestrian and cyclist-friendly. [Music] There's a dedicated swimming area. [Music] And there's the Visitor Center, which is a great place to grab a hot dog if you start to feel hungry. If you come on a Sunday in the summer, you may catch students from Berkeley College of Music playing jazz. [Music] The Visitor Center is also a great place to learn about the history and transformation of this little island. [Music] spectacle island first sat in the Boston Harbor as two small hills or drumlins protruding out of the sea connected by a thin strip of land. It's believed to be named after its resemblance to a pair of glasses. It, like many of the harbor islands of the time, served as both a place of industry and seclusion from the budding metropolis. Both a home to Boston mariners and a Boston's first dedicated trash incinerator, which was commissioned around the turn of the last century to deal with the growing amount of trash that came with the city's expanding population. When the incinerator closed in the 1930s, instead of finding another place for proper disposal, trash was haphazardly dumped onto the island and left wherever it landed. Oftentimes, it spilled out into the water. As both the trash pile and the island grew, so did the environmental issues. It might seem like ancient history now, but for a time, the harbor was known as the dirtiest harbor in America. For decades, seemingly endless amounts of trash and sewage permeated the water. It was so bad that an identity grew from it. It was a mortalized song with the stand-dell's 1965 garage rock classic, Dirty Water, a song that the Boston Red Sox now play to celebrate home victories. [Music] It was also one of the marquee issues that sank the Dukakis campaign for the presidency in 1988, with the Bush Quail campaign highlighting it in a tack-ass. "Lost in harbor, the dirtiest harbor in America, will cost residents $6 billion to clean, and Michael Dukakis promises to do for America, but he's done for Massachusetts." It wasn't until the 1990s that trash dumping had officially halted, and the project to turn Spectral Island into a true, modified part of the beauty of the harbor could begin. Using dirt excavated from the Big Dig, the island underwent a major reconstruction. The pits of trash were covered, and the island was landscaped with pathways, plants, and trees to foster a healthy ecosystem. What's so striking when you visit Spectral Island is how pristine it feels. Walking or biking the trails, you might never know the island used to be a piece in the puzzle of an environmental disaster. I think the reason so many Bostonians counted out is because they remember the stories of its past, and the filth that used to be associated with it. Spectral Island has gone from industrial wasteland to a place where nature can thrive, and the people of Boston can enjoy a little getaway inside the city. All right, we're back with more of Talking to the Neighbors. I'm Joe Heitster, your host. Tonight, an all-selfie show. Earlier, of course, we had on State Senator Nick Collins, who covers a large part of the city. Now, joining us, I'm pleased to have District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn, who's got a big chunk of the city as well, including Southie, parts of Dorchester, parts of downtown, Chinatown. If I remember right, and Ed, thanks so much for coming in and joining us. Nice to have you back. Joe, it's good to be with you. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's start off with this. I was thinking about your tenure as the head of the city council. It was kind of a rough couple of years there. The council, some members, not getting along too well. How is it now? Is it better now? I know you're no longer by rule. You're no longer the president of the council. But how are people getting along now? It's still a competitive environment in there, this back and forth. People are trying to work well together, they're trying to do the best they can, but there are challenges. Sometimes it's seen in public and sometimes it's not. But for the most part, you try to be respectful to your colleagues, listen to your colleagues, respect them. You might not agree with them, but you do have to be cordial, you do have to be respectful. That's politics, it's compromise. Well, and of course adding to that kind of mix, one of your colleagues running for a county position ended up, people, members of the council endorsing various candidates, does that make it tougher? It does make it tougher. Erin Murphy, who I supported, and endorsed, ran for clerk of court, and most of my colleagues supported her opponent. I supported Erin. Erin's been a good colleague and friend. I know John Fitzgerald did as well, but most of the colleagues did support the other candidate. And does that, during those kinds of election cycles, does that make it more difficult to kind of collaborate? It does. It becomes personal, even though it shouldn't be personal. But there was a little bit of ganging up on Erin, in my opinion, by some of my colleagues. And I thought it was a little unfair at times. And having said that, this is politics, it's Boston politics, it's a lot of shop elbows in there. There's a lot of competition. So I understand that, but I do think that Erin should have been treated a little bit more respectfully than she was by my colleagues. Well, and she continues on the council for those that may not have been following, and she came up short in the Democratic primary for that Suffolk County seat. Let's look forward, instead of back. I know you're working on a lot of issues, and you've always been one of your priorities, has been public safety. And I know you've been working on some ideas on how to buttress the law enforcement people. There's been a shortage of officers recruitment efforts, notwithstanding to find new officers. How was that going? What's the latest on that? We actually left a city council meeting today, it was about a four hour meeting, and that's exactly what we were talking about is police resources over time. But the Boston police, we're down about 500 police officers in most developed police officers, now working double shifts, so they're working 16 hours a day consistently. And it's having an impact on them and their families, in their health, in their physical health, their mental health, but also, time away from family, you never get that back. Right. And being on the job for, after your 15th hour, your 16th hour, well, you're not in the best shape. Right. You're not making the best judgments, you're not making the best decisions. I have tried to stress this to the police commissioner and to the mayor, that we need to consistently hire about three or four hundred police officers every year consistently. We're making progress, not enough, but we also need to support our police officers and their families during these challenging and difficult times. Is that part of it? Is it kind of a police work stigmatized? You know, it's not held in as high regard at one time. Those were highly sought after jobs, and what changed? I think you're right, Joe. When I was young, they were difficult jobs to get. And now I think public opinion has changed where the police are almost the, not seen in the eye of the public with respect, like they have been in the past. And it has had an impact. You know, we're also seeing police officers leaving early before the mandatory retirement age. They're transferring to the fire department. They're transferring to other police departments. The time away from family is hurting police officers, but police officers also know that city hall is not going to support them. If there's a difficult decision that they make after being on the job for 15 hours, you're not on top of your game. I served in the military 25 years. I worked those types of hours, 16 hours a day straight for, you know, for a month or a couple months. But you're not on top of your game in making the best decisions. It also impacts the residents as well. We need to hire more police officers. We need to invest in police officers in their families. They're part of the solution. They're not the problem. They're part of our neighborhoods. They're youth sports coaches. They're active in after-school programs. They bring out the best in the city, and they deserve respect. How is the commissioner doing? Of course, you know, he has a long history with the department, and himself was a victim at one point and ended up suing the city. But you would think he would have a good understanding of what's really needed to draw these people, draw more people into the profession. How do you think he's doing? Well, he knows that we are desperately understaffed with limited resources, and we're putting police officers out every day, 16 hours a day per shift. He knows that's having a negative impact on the police office of their family, and the public is concerned about it. I'm trying to work with the commissioner with the mayor. Joe lost budget in the budget before. We were one vote away from cutting $30 million from the police budget, overtime budget. I also had to fight to get a Homeland Security grant. I think it was $15 million passed. Right, you remember that, yeah. That didn't pass the first time. It didn't pass, and I kept fighting to get it back on the agenda. My council colleagues didn't want to take a vote on it. But it was not only supporting Boston, it was supporting cities and towns around Boston on homeland security-related issues. Critical funding. My colleagues did not want to accept it. I want to accept that as an answer, and I almost demanded that we have a vote, which we did, and I was lucky to get that passed. But public safety issues I can't compromise on. And residents want me to fight for them on these difficult issues. Why do you think it's kind of taken a back seat to other priorities? I mean, this has been building for a while. Why do you think that is? Does it not have the support of the mayor, the administration? Does it not have, or is there other factors that are- I think there's probably other factors. Social media has an impact. The progressive part of the Democratic Party has been consistently defunding the police with that type of message. It is hurting the department. It has hurt our recruiting because police are not held in that high esteem like they were. So young people now don't want to necessarily be police officers. After all the negative comments we've heard about police officers in their families over the last maybe five or six years. It's having an impact now. Residents see it. Crime might be down, but violence is still here in the city. I represent downtown Boston. I love downtown Boston. I know there's open drug dealing taking place in the Boston Common on Tremont Street. Residents are concerned. It's happening throughout Andrew Station. Yes, Mass and Cass. Joe, why don't I get drug market down there? I'm down Mass and Cass. I drive by it at least four or five times a week. I saw today about 200 people on Melnea Cass in the streets off of it with the Chinese funeral homies and where Suffolk construction is. I've heard from those business owners, they pay huge property taxes to the city and they're getting lousy city services. I heard from a mother that takes her kid to the Orchard God in school and has to walk by that route every day. There's still tents up there. There's umbrellas now. They need to be taken down immediately. I talked to Superintendent Cullinane on Saturday. I called her on the phone as I was driving by. I said Superintendent, we can't allow tents in umbrellas to be up. There's drug trafficking. There's human trafficking. There's violence in those tents. They need to be taken down. They need to be taken down immediately. Anyone selling drugs should be arrested. People that are using drugs should be given an opportunity to go into detox. But we should have zero tolerance for crime in and around Boston. And I've had this discussion with a number of them. Why it seems like after everything went through with what was going on down there. Finally, the tents were taken down and whatever. But it seems like we're taking our foot off the gas pedal. And we can't quite understand why is that. I think you're right. I think we didn't focus on mass and cast because we didn't focus on it. It actually spread Joe throughout the city in the downtown area which I represent. I love the downtown crossing area. We have a lot of violence because of the homeless community. There was a young woman on Saturday. A young Asian woman on Boylston Street randomly punched in the face. They broke her nose. And she was brought to the hospital. There's a lot of random violence. There's a lot of human trafficking, drug dealing. But we do hear that we do have the safest city. And I'm not going to argue with that. But my job is to advocate for police resources in my district throughout the city. And that's what I'm going to continue doing. And even though my colleagues still want to cut the police budget, I'm going to continue fighting for the residents. Well, and we've got just a few minutes left. I want to ask you about a couple of other things. Including, of course, what's going on with all these bike lanes and the speed bumps now? Is the city administration trying to discourage people from driving into the city or driving around the city? And I know there's been some pedestrian deaths, so it's an important thing. But on the other hand, people with cars, usually, a lot of them, families that have to drive their kids, traffic has gotten even worse and worse. And I'm wondering, is there a coherent strategy here? And I'm not putting it on you, but I'm looking for some insight from you from what the administration is doing. One of the issues I focused on when I started seven years ago is pedestrian safety. I remember that. And raised crosswalks, reducing the speed limit, traffic enforcement as well by the Boston Police Department is critical. Anyone driving a vehicle recklessly over the speed limit should be pulled over. I think speed humps help. I think raised crosswalks, the lighting signals are also critical. But I think the bike lanes hasn't been implemented well. The planning didn't go over well. Residents in businesses, their voices were not heard. And I think the city of Boston, under the Chief of Streets team, just put in a plan that they thought was best for the residents of Boston in the neighborhoods. Without really consulting with the community, without consulting with the businesses, residents. And I think it's hurting the city. It's hurting businesses. And we are seeing the negative consequences of poor planning now. Well, I'm thinking, I don't mean to focus entirely on it, but I'm thinking, it's like Cambridge. I mean, I avoid Cambridge, like the plate, because you can't really drive there. I mean, even the lights are synchronized, so you can't drive through. And increasingly, I'm finding it's difficult to drive in the city of Boston. No, I'm an older man, so I'm not riding my bike. Maybe I should be. But there's a lot of people that do need to get around my car. And I'm wondering about that. I'm wondering where this is coming from and where it's going. Will Boston become the People's Republic of Boston? Well, Joe, the other aspect of bike lanes is, I don't think the voices of persons with disabilities also was heard. And what I mean by that is, when there's a bike lane, and there's a person in a wheelchair, it's very difficult for that person in the wheelchair to navigate through the bike lane, through the street, into the crosswalk, onto the other side. But I don't think it's fair to the persons with disabilities, and our seniors, bikes are going very fast. And at times, they can't stop when someone's walking about it. Sometimes they don't stop, and I get it. And I got to ask you about this before we, of course, because in fact, you're saying you do represent a large section of the downtown. Mayor Wu's tax proposal to shift some of the burden from residential to commercial. And it didn't pass in the state legislature. It was a home rule petition that passed. What do we do now? What's the solution? What's happening on that? Nick Collins said he thought there was some potential to reach an agreement still about it. But we're coming up on the new tax rates, and will people be surprised? I think we need to support our business community. They've had a very difficult time during the pandemic. Many of our workers are still working remotely three days a week. We don't have the foot traffic in downtown Boston and throughout Boston. Businesses are hurting. They're asking for assistance, really, from the city, not to pay what they currently owe. Never mind a significant increase. I think during these challenging times, we need to support the business community. I think providing an increasing tax on them, on property taxes, is not the right thing to do at this time. Let's work with them. Let's support them. Let's get Boston's economy back on track. Joe, our BPDA and ZBA are still meeting remotely. They're not in person. The pandemic is over. It's time for people to come back to work. When you're at the BPDA at those hearings and ZBA, there's lawyers, there's architects and developers, after they have their meeting, they go across the street and they might have a drink. They might have dinner, but they're supporting the economy and encourages other people to come back to work. We can't continue allowing these remote hearings to continue. There should be remote hearings for persons with disabilities in the elderly, but it's time for people to come back to work. I know the downtown businesses have suffered greatly. Some of those are almost what I won't call them ghost towns, but the impact has been significant. Ed, will you be running for re-election? You enjoy your time on the council? You're not discouraged by whatever, you win something, you lose some. I get discouraged sometimes. I love the city. I love the people. I love the neighborhoods. I love my job. I go into my office every day, and I'm in the district seven days a week. I haven't taken a vacation probably in seven years. I love everything about being a city councilor. I know the issues. I want to be part of the solution in supporting our businesses, supporting our community. In Boston City employees, they do a tremendous job, Joe. They need a fighter in there for them, so I'm going to continue advocating for them. Good for you, Ed. I keep up the good work again. Ed Flynn, district two city councilor. Unfortunately, we're running out of time tonight. We've been watching Talk of the Neighborhood here on the Boston Neighborhood Network. We're here tonight, and every Thursday night, at the same time, we'll be back next week. City Councilor Henry Santara joins us, and we'll be talking with him about more city issues. Till then, for the entire staff and crew here at B&M, thank you for watching. Have a pleasant evening. Good night. [MUSIC] (upbeat music)