WBCA Podcasts
Talk Of The Neighborhoods
Good evening and welcome to Talk of the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Heisler, your host, coming to you from the BNN Live Studios in Eglson Square or tonight on the Boston Neighborhood Network. Well, terrific show for you, some city politics to have Monchon, a couple of up-and-coming Boston City Councils will be joining us. First up, at large City Council, Henry Santini, just elected last year and we'll catch up with him on how his first year is going on the council. Then on the second half, District 4 City Council, Brian Warrell joins us. We'll talk about, among several things, of course, the city's budget and also the new liquor licenses that were approved by the state legislature of a home rule petition by the city council. All that and more tonight on Talk of the Neighborhoods, stay tuned, we'll be right back. [Music], thank you. [Music], thank you. [Music], thank you. [Music], thank you. [Music], thank you. [Music] All right, we're back with Talk of the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Heist, a two-part show, but all city politics, as is our want of joining us tonight, a couple of Boston City Councils, and first up tonight, he's just finishing off, well, on his first year in the Boston City Council, got elected last year, pulled a bit of an upset, but ran a great campaign and won a seat at large. We're talking about Henry Santana joins us, and Henry, thanks so much for coming in, Joyce. Thank you for having me. Nice to have you here. Well, how's it been going, you know, of course, you never know when you put your name on the ballot, you know, quite how it will turn out, you ran, as I said, a great campaign, won that spot, fourth the force at large spot, but is it what you thought it would be when you put your name on the ballot? Yeah, absolutely. It's been, we've hit the ground running. I feel like I had an advantage, you know, as being as a new City Councilor, having worked for the Mayor's Administration and having worked as a City Council staffer, so I knew the ins and outs of how to operate and what the job entails, so we weren't able to hit the ground running. Yeah. Well, of course, last year at this time, there were a lot of questions about, you know, the environment on the Council, there was some back and forth, some referring to it as a rather toxic culture. Has it changed? Has it gotten better? I know that was one of your things you wanted to bring a little more civility to the proceedings there. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's been a great culture at City Hall. We have a lot of new City Councilors, so a lot of us are trying to learn and grow, but we also have tremendous leaders, and, you know, our City Council President, Ruth C. Liu-Jian, has been a tremendous leader for us when leading our Council and I think has avoided some of those things that we've seen in the past. It's been, we've been able to work together, collaborative, not always agree, but disagree in a respectful manner and find common ground, you know, to push the City forward. Yeah, well, it is a collaborative effort, it has to be, Ralph, and I think it's done. What would you, if you had to pick out what you've been working on, what are your priorities, what are the highlights? Yeah, so I think as anyone who's followed my journey and my campaign in my first nine months in office, my number one priority has been youth, and, you know, making sure that youth are present at City Hall, part of the decisions, part of the conversations that we're having at City Hall, because ultimately it's going to be affecting them, it's going to be affecting future generations. So I'm very proud of all the work that we've done, the Mayor's Administration promised every BPS student a job this past summer, our job is, our office is making sure that we're holding the Administration accountable, and every single student that reached out to our office this past summer did receive a job, so, you know, we're very proud of that. It must have been 100,000, right, when all was said and done. Absolutely, absolutely. We had, you know, thousands of kids working this past summer, and, you know, that's how it should be. People who want to work, students who want to work, youth who want to work should be able to work. Yeah, Ralph, going to keep some, put a little cash in their pocket, there's nothing wrong with that. What about the challenges, what have you, what do you feel have been the biggest challenges so far in your first year here? I think, you know, just being able to, you know, at large, you're everywhere, you're hearing from all neighborhoods, all residents across the city. It's going to say, well, that's a big, and I take great pride in that, and I take great pride in being able to represent everyone here in the city of Boston, and I think, you know, what the challenges is trying to prioritize, you know, what you're going to be able to do. So, I mean, right now, housing across the whole city, you know, the city of Boston is incredibly unaffordable to many, and, you know, as a city council, you want to do as much as possible to relieve that barrier, but that's a, you know, that's a long-term solution, but we need to take small steps and try to figure out those small steps in the process. You know, it's one of the things that excite me, but it's something that's very urgent right now for our families. You know, the Ameriput 4th, what you know, some call it rent control, but rent stabilization package last year, and I might have rolled into the start of your term, I'm not exactly sure, but I didn't seem to make it through a home rule position, through the legislature. Is that likely to come back, or what else would you like to see happen in the housing situation? Yeah, I think, you know, I mean, when you're talking about rent stabilization, I think it's one of the tools that we absolutely need to explore here in the city of Boston. It's incredibly expensive to be able to live here in the city of Boston, and I'm looking forward to, you know, having those conversations when it comes back to the city council. It's absolutely something that we need to explore, and to really relieve our most vulnerable residents from what's happening here. There was, I saw a piece in the Herald, I think it was the Herald, I'm not sure about that Councilor Flynn was talking about, I don't know if it's removing the residency requirement for city employees, or easing it up, or what have you. Is that something you think that's in play that could be done? Yeah, I think part of our job as a city council is to always have those conversations, right? So exploring and having those conversations, that's just, you know, us getting educated and informed. In terms of where I stand, I really believe that, you know, we need to take it case by case and look at different departments, but as a whole, I believe that Boston jobs belong to Boston residents, and, you know, I think there's areas where we need to look at different departments that we're really struggling to recruit, but I really believe that we used to invest more training, invest more training for our youth, you know, our young professionals, our families here, in order to really, you know, create that pathway for them to be able to get these jobs. Well, of course, it's a double edged sword, you know, like I said, a lot of people aren't able to afford to say anymore, and I'm dating myself here, but I remember when the residency requirement was put into effect, and it was fairly, you know, pretty controversial at the time, but an effort to kind of keep the jobs, those city jobs, and any of my decent paying jobs to city residents, well, I want to ask you about, you know, when you're talking about the culture, and I'm happy to hear that it's better than it was because it was pretty toxic, but I recently read where Councillor Murphy, who ran for clerk, Suffolk County clerk of courts at SJC, and was unsuccessful, but she said, one of the interesting things I saw was that she said that one of the reasons that she ran, she wanted to possibly take a different job was frustration with not being able to get to be, I don't know if I'd say heard, she certainly nothing's stopping her from being speaking out, but that frustrations that hearings or that legislation she's proposing or resolutions weren't getting a proper hearing. I mean, are you experiencing anything similar to that, and I mean, our Councillors, even those that may not always be in the majority of somehow being prevented from having their voices heard? Yeah, I mean, I don't personally agree with that, I feel like, you know, our office has been collaborating with every single office on the City Council, just last week, I co-chaired a hearing that Councillor Murphy was a lead sponsor on, so I'm very collaborative and want to work, and my priority is, you know, really having conversations about the most pressing issues here in the City of Boston, so that's my priority, and then being collaborative, being able to work with one another, I think that's part of the job, seeing where there's common ground, see where, you know, areas where we agree, and being able to tackle those challenges together, and then the areas where you disagree, you know, you find other partnerships as well, and to be able to fulfill those. Right, well, so, you know, it's interesting, of course, everybody has a different take on it, and there's a lot of, you know, egos that play sometimes in bodies like yours, and so, it's interesting, we actually hope to have her on at some point in the future, but, well, anyway, next year, hey, we're almost, well, we're almost through this election here, and it's very exciting, you know, obviously, presidential election here, and a lot of focus on that, but city council, city elections are coming up, coming back for more, I mean, have you decided you can run for reelection? You know, when I first ran, you know, I said, and if elected, that I would, you know, I would love this job for as long as Boston residents want me in it, I've loved every second of this job, I love serving the city, the residents of Boston, and I worked hard, and I'm working hard on behalf of that, that's what they did. You made some history, and as well, you know, being elected, you know, it's great to see and, well, we shall see what the field looks like if, you know, when that day comes. Let's talk about some issues that, coming up, were you happy with the budget, the way the budget came through at the end of the day, did you feel like your voice was heard, your priorities were included in that, and if so, what were they? Yeah, so, you know, again, my number one priority was youth, and, you know, really making sure that summer jobs was uncapped, meaning that every BPS student, regardless of the budget that we had, if they wanted a job, were promised one, that was very important to me. I think the housing investments that we made, and, you know, towards housing vouchers, towards home ownership, you know, I think are critical, and, you know, we want to see more. So, I'm looking forward to my second round of budget this upcoming season with Chair Brian Warrell leading us away. He did an amazing job this past year, and, you know, just looking forward to working with my colleagues to pass yet another budget that reflects the values of our city. How about the, I understand that the police department is having a hard time recruiting enough, or having enough recruits to replace some of the people that are retiring, and how do you think the commissioner is doing? How do you think the school superintendent is doing? It's the start of the school year, speaking of youth. It sounds like there's been some snags, some troubles, or went around transportation. Are you surprised by that? >> Well, so I think, so I'm on the chair of public safety and education. >> Yeah, I'm going to say thank you for right up your elbow. >> I, you know, I'm very honored to have, you know, close relationships with both, um, Commissioner Cox and Superintendent Skipper, who I think, you know, are doing great jobs in their roles. Um, I think, you know, when it comes to transportation, you know, we're using a new app where we're really, um, you know, looking at, starting from the ground, from the ground at the bottom, um, to really see how we can make transportation, um, for our BPS students. >> Yeah, I mean, this isn't the first year where that's been a problem, right? >> It hasn't been, um, but I really believe that with time, um, with more data coming in, with more communication and civic engagement with our families, um, that we can get to a level where our students are arriving on time. Um, and I know that our BPS, um, um, uh, I, I was in public schools, was working very digitally on this and it's something that, um, you know, I know it's very frustrating for a lot of parents, um, it, it, you know, people have to get to work, um, and then- >> Are you getting a lot of calls or are you getting people? >> Yeah, so I, even in my own building where I live, uh, I'm, I'm getting stuck on my way out, um, and, you know, I'm, I'm, I think it's part of our job, um, to help these residents to help our families. >> Yeah. >> Um, but I, I believe with time, um, that, you know, we will see so many sessions disappear. >> Yeah. Well, and what about the schools themselves, you know, there's been, uh, some reports and I have not seen it in Boston and maybe that's a good sign, but, you know, like, I, in Brockton and, and I'm trying to think that another, uh, town on the North Shore where, uh, teachers were getting assaulted, kids were being, you know, uh, assaulted. Is there, do you feel like, uh, the schools are, are safe here or are there, you know, >> Yeah. I think, you know, public safety is a, it's a top concern, especially when it comes to our youth. >> Yeah. >> Um, our schools should be, um, the safest places- >> Right. >> In our city. Um, you know, one incidence, one too many, um, so we're working diligently to make sure that we, we have protocols and policies in place, um, that, that really protect our, our teachers and our students. Um, but, you know, I think for the most part, are, um, you know, our students are safer at school and, um, what we're doing diligently again, um, to, to deliver on, on the cases that we're seeing. >> Well, you know, the, uh, and I know you're aware of this, the, uh, state at one point was threatening to, uh, uh, sanction or take over the Boston Public Schools. Uh, how are they doing? How are we doing on that front? Do you, uh, uh, feel like, uh, making progress in the areas that, uh, the state had outlined that they wanted to see improvements on? >> I think we are. I really, I really believe, again, I, I really believe in, um, Superintendent Skipper's, um, vision, um, for Boston Public Schools and, um, I think it's gonna take, uh, it's gonna take some time, um, to see some of these investments that we're making right now, um, come into, into fruition, but, um, I know they're working hard and I know, um, our students have served the best, um, our students right now have served the best and our future for students have served the best, so, um, you know, we'll continue to make, um, the proper investments, we're making investments into our Boston Public Schools, um, I'm really ensuring that the investments we're making, um, are actually gonna be seen in the classrooms, by our students, by our teachers and by our families. >> Well, and I know kind of, uh, you know, lingering issue or a long time issue was the facilities that, you know, some, some of these schools are over a hundred years old and, uh, you know, in dire need of, uh, improvements and, uh, I know there's, you know, been some investments in new schools, uh, the, the one that seems to have, uh, uh, caught the, you know, uh, the most attention is the proposal to, uh, for a white stadium to, uh, do a public private partnership and, and, you know, redo it and, uh, that would allow women's professional soccer there as well as, uh, more sustainable use by, uh, B.P.S. students, uh, uh, talking with some other counselors, uh, other public officials are, they're feeling kind of caught in the middle on that thing. How are you dealing with that and are you supportive of, uh, the mayor's proposal to? >> Yeah. So I think right with white stadium, I think, um, and my top part is youth and, uh, you know, the, the proposal that's being put forward I think will benefit our youth, um, our athletes here in the city of Boston for generations to come. >> Yeah. >> Um, I think when it comes to major proposals like this, um, especially in a neighborhood like Roxbury, um, that has been, you know, historically, um, uh, you know, historically, historically under invested in, um, a lot of broken promises have been made, um, there's a lack of trust. >> Right. There's a lack of trust there. >> Yeah. You know, I, I really want to make sure that, um, the administration, um, and everyone in, in this project is, um, you know, really working with the residents, um, who are going to be impacted by this. This could be, um, a huge benefit for our, for our city and for our neighborhoods and for our youth. Um, but also we need to do it, um, in partnership with our residents, uh, making sure that the, um, the suggestions, um, the criticism that we're taking that all in, um, and that it's being reflected in the, in the revisions, um, that we're seeing, um, to White Stadium. >> Well, it, uh, it could be, uh, you know, quite the, uh, uh, it looks, the, the plans look, uh, very ambitious and very, uh, impressive, actually, in many ways. But, uh, I know, uh, it's, uh, the devil's always in the details, as they say, right? Uh, that kind of thing. Uh, speaking about public safety, uh, there's been some, um, blowback around all the increase in bike lanes and speed bumps. I don't know if you're hearing that as well, but, uh, of course, traffic is always an issue in City Boston and, uh, but it seems, uh, post-pandemic, it, uh, maybe it's just me, but, uh, a lot of people are saying as well, it just seems to keep beginning worse and worse, uh, um, now the mayor's, uh, you know, made a big commitment to kind of alternate means of transportation, including reaching the number of, uh, bike stands and certainly bike lanes all over, but it's also resulted in the reduction of some traffic lanes and, uh, and now there's also, uh, uh, I still want to speed bumps that I never saw before. Are you getting, uh, are you hearing that? Are you getting, uh, any blowback on that? And, uh, with speed bumps, I think, um, for the most part, I've gotten a lot of positive responses from residents, um, and I've actually received many requests, um, for speed bumps to be implemented into their streets, um, so, you know, I think, when it comes to speed bumps, I think we have, you know, we have drivers who are speeding, um, and the priority should be, you know, safety, um, safety for our drivers, uh, safety for our bicyclists, um, safety for our pedestrians, um, and when you're going, um, down these, especially right on some of these streets, um, that, you know, have youth, have kids, have families, um, we want to make sure that we're protecting, um, them from, from some accidents that, you know, we've seen in the past. Are you worried, though, at some point about it, you know, the kind of, I'm thinking about Cambridge, which is a nightmare to drive through. I mean, if you're driving through, obviously, I don't live there, but, uh, it's a nightmare, but that, uh, at some point, you reach kind of a gridlock, uh, uh, uh, stage and, uh, there's a balance to it, um, and I think, um, you know, there's a balance to it, and I think we'll, we'll analyze, um, data, but I think, yeah, I think, uh, the, the priority here and the intention here, um, is public safety, um, and, uh, you know, I think where we were before this, um, wasn't where we wanted to be, and, um, you know, we'll continue to, um, you know, analyze the data, um, and, and, you know, make sure that we're, you know, we're still functioning, safety, um, and make adjustments, um, but I think the improvements that we're making, um, are improvements to our public safety. Uh, generally speaking, well, we've got just a couple of minutes left, I, uh, I'm speaking of Mayor Wu. How's she doing? Uh, I know she's, uh, expecting so, uh, you know, but, uh, you know, uh, she's, she adds some proposals up, uh, on Beacon Hill, that says some of them didn't make it through, including the, uh, her tax proposal to shift some of the, the burden and some, some of the changes, but generally speaking, honey, think she's doing, and she, uh, you, uh, working well with her, are you getting along with her, or you, uh, I know you have a history with her, but, uh, you're in a different position now, and sometimes, uh, you know, that makes for a strange bed pillow, so to speak, you bump heads a little bit. Oh, there's, um, there's mutual respect there, um, um, between the Mayor and I, and, um, you know, we may not always agree on everything, um, but, um, work committed to working together, um, on behalf of the city of, you know, Boston residents, and, um, we were both representing the entire city, uh, so, you know, we have the best interest of, of everyone here in the city of Boston, um, and I think, uh, that she's doing a terrific job, um, and I think, um, in the areas where, um, I think there's still areas where we really need to make true investments, um, and I think, um, there, you know, I think we really need to make sure that we're, um, listening to all of our residents, um, but, you know, I think we'll continue into work together, um, and, you know, have a great, you know, a great relationship with her. Well, uh, you know, it's great to have, uh, at the end of the day, the way, uh, the city of Boston's former government has shaped that Mayor has, uh, you know, tremendous influence and, and power, of course, and so it's always great to have good working relationships, uh, you know, uh, if nothing else for those, uh, potholes that, you know, you know, um, what about that, uh, tax proposal though now, uh, it didn't go through, and so, apparently, if I'm understanding this correctly, it could, uh, mean, you know, fairly substantial increase in property taxes for residents. Now, compared to suburbs, Boston has a pretty decent residential tax rate, nonetheless, you know, no one wants to see their taxes going up, are you, are you getting, uh, any blowback on that? And also, I think that, right, we're thinking, we were able to pass out on the city council, um, and, you know, it's still, you know, it's up at the state house and then, you know, wasn't able to get, uh, completed our concessions, and I think there's still conversations that are happening. Um, but, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I think my job is, is, is, I'm, I'm concerned about, um, you know, our residents, our small businesses that are going to be impacted, um, and I'm, I'm really committed to working with, you know, not only the mayor's administration, but, uh, our state elected officials, um, to see how we can really, um, lessen the burden here because, um, this impact that we can potentially have, um, can be huge. Of course, the flip side is it would, you know, increase or potentially increase the, the tax rate on, on businesses and, uh, some fear and I'm playing a little devil's advocate here, but, you know, that, uh, uh, you know, it would, uh, kill the goose that lays golden eggs, so to speak for city Boston, the revenue that it gets, and, and there was this pretty substantial increase in the budget last year, some would say, uh, and some critics of the tax proposal said, well, maybe the city of Boston, uh, needs to cut back, needs to make cuts rather than, than asking to, uh, change the, uh, tax structure, um, what do you say to those people? Yeah, I think we, we should absolutely be having those conversations and I think we should, we should, we should, you know, explore, should do both, right? I think we need to be physically responsible on the city council, um, and, and as a city of Boston, um, but, you know, uh, again, I'm, I'm, I'm really, um, you know, my priorities are, are residents and making sure that they, they don't feel that burden, um, and our small businesses that, you know, our city of Boston drives at our small businesses, uh, making sure that, um, during, through this process that, you know, they're protected, um, and they're not feeling that burden. Well, we've got just a minute or so left, uh, now you, uh, as you look forward to the next year, what, what, uh, uh, what are you priorities at this point, or what are you, uh, hoping, uh, the new year may bring you. Yeah. Besides re-election, you know. Yeah, absolutely. I think I'm, again, housing is been, um, something we've been working on a lot, um, and, um, you know, my maiden speech on the, on, uh, on the Boston city council was about mixed income social housing, so, um, I'm really gonna look to, um, you know, see how we can potentially adopt that here in the city of Boston. How would that work? Yeah, so it's kind of, you know, I think the, it's like the city of Boston, um, was served almost, I guess, landlords, um, and, you know, we would, um, you know, uh, buy property, um, turn it into housing, um, and then have mixed income, um, um, um, um, um, um, families, um, residents who will be able to live in there, right, and I think, um, from the mixed income, um, model, um, you're able to, um, then have affordable housing, um, there, and because the city's not trying to make revenue, um, off of these properties, um, the revenue that is, um, created, um, you can invest into, um, buying more property, and I, you know, I think it's a tool that, um, we should absolutely explore here in the city of Boston, um, and it's a tool that we've seen other cities, um, you know, across the United States, um, used, and it's, they've been successful, and I think that we should absolutely be looking at that here in Boston. Interesting model, well, uh, which is the best of luck, and thank you so much for coming in again. And with Santana, he was just elected last year, his first term at large, and, uh, well, it looks, uh, like he's very hoping to come back for more, and here tonight, again, thank you for coming in. Thank you. Thank you. And sharing, when we come back, well, we'll talk some more city politics, uh, joining us, uh, uh, uh, uh, city council, Brian Worrell, he is the district four city councilor, and, uh, was the chair of the council's Ways and Means Committee this last year, and we'll talk about more budget and, uh, more politics, as usual. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. [Music] We're getting close to the first pitch here at Fenway Park, but no sign of only the Green House, and, uh, you know, we're getting close to the next pitch here at Fenway Park, and, uh, we're getting close to the first pitch here at Fenway Park, and, uh, we're getting close to the second pitch here at Fenway Park, and, uh, we're getting close to the second pitch here at Fenway Park. On Sunday, Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Public Schools announced the extension of its BPS Sundays program, offering students and families free access to some of Boston's top attractions through the end of the year. The BPS Sundays program has been so beloved and well used. We've had over 36,000 students and families take part. Some of our institutions have estimated nearly half of those who have come, have said it was our very first time visiting that cultural institution, whether it's the aquarium, the Museum of Science, the zoo, et cetera, even though these are Boston families who've been here, and so we really see the difference that removing those barriers makes, and the difference that it makes to not only bring, uh, to have the young person come for free, but to have family members be able to join them. The initiative has made a significant impact, particularly on families who might not otherwise afford access to these spaces. For this program, BPS emphasizes the importance of providing enriching experiences beyond the classroom to support diverse learning styles. You have students from all walks of life, but you have distance franchise students that particularly have different learning styles, and you want to complement that, not only with school facilities, but improved curriculums, but services outside of the school as well and connections to students that offer that experiential learning is super important. It's so important for all children in the area in Boston to have the opportunity to come and experience this beautiful zoo. Not all families might be able to afford the membership fees, and for some it might be really challenging if they have multiple children and large families. And having access to BPS Sundays makes it so that they can all come here, enjoy this beautiful environment, and feel like they have an equal opportunity. The BPS Sundays program includes access to renowned institutions, such as the Boston Children's Museum, Museum of Science, Franklin Park Zoo, the New England Aquarium, and more. And it is the mission of these institutions to underscore BPS' goal to educate and inspire future generations. We are thrilled to be having all of these young people in here. That's our mission. Ultimately, our mission is about preserving nature and biodiversity for future generations, and that's what these kids are. So having them come in here and learn and have fun and take away something that they didn't have before is what we're all about. With its success so far, BPS Sundays is continuing through the end of the year, offering even more institutions and opportunities for Boston students and families to learn and grow together. You have a choice. Every single BPS Sunday, do you want to go learn about animals and wildlife at the zoo and the aquarium? Do you want to get into art at the MFA or the ICA? Do you want to just run and play and climb at the Children's Museum or dive into science at the Museum of Science? We are so lucky to have this range of options in Boston. And again, we continue to be in talks with our partners about expanding it, adding more institutions. There's been a lot of excitement also from performing arts organizations. It works a little differently when you only have a certain number of concert tickets, but we are well on our way to expanding with, to give even more offerings. From wildlife exploration to museum visits, BPS Sundays is helping shape the future of Boston's young learners, one enriching experience. All right, we're back with more of Talk to the Neighborhoods. I'm Joe Heisler, who's tonight, all city politics and pleased to have joining me on the second half of another city councilor. Very up and coming this past year was the chair of the Council's Ways and Means Committee responsible for putting together and reviewing the mayor's budget, putting together some changes, some priorities for the council. I were talking about the District 4 city councilor, Brian Burrell. Brian, nice to have you here. Thanks so much for having me. Well, I was it, you were here, you and your brother were here, and I think it was right before you were getting ready to start on the new budget cycle and always a lot of twists and turns in that process, but how did you feel about how did it turn out? Yeah, we got a lot of great wins. It was a collaborative effort with my colleagues and the community. We wanted to make sure that this budget process, we heard a lot, it engaged the community a lot and also dove into the data on where we can find areas to reallocate money into investments that we were hearing from the community, whether it was community safety, college and career readiness, housing, those are the areas that we wanted to focus on and we were able to increase investments in all three of those categories. So it was a great, great process and we're looking to build off that process for next turn. I was going to say you're coming up on a new year, and you had, and I think maybe only insiders know, but the council had more say or more muscle in the process this year than in years past, in years past of course you couldn't increase something without taking something out and you know, it created a very complicated kind of give and take with the mayor and the administration, but how did that work, did you make use of those new powers? Yeah, we did, and how did that work, explain that for us. So what happens is the mayor introduces her budget and we have amendment powers, so as a city council we can amend a line item from going from one line item to another line item. So for instance we can take from the department called dog catchers and then reallocate money from dog catchers supplies to cat catchers personnel, right? So that's how we were reallocating, but we were basing our reallocations based off of underspending. So we were taking a look back at a five year time span of what each line item was doing and basing how much can we move and also hearing from chiefs and executive directors on their reason for underspending or why they didn't meet their budgeted amount. So we had all that information and then we had priorities based on what we were hearing from the community and a lot of that was housing, college and career readiness and community safety and we decided to allocate in those three buckets. Did you have to take something away in order to, now there was a pretty substantial increase in the budget. Right. That is driven by union contracts and that type of thing which some people don't really understand. It was pretty substantial increase in what we saw. Yeah, 8%. Yeah. And a lot of it to your point was salary, a lot of our city's budget is personnel and salary costs. So a lot of them are fixed costs, but where we have seen underspending is we have a lot of job vacancies in here in the city of Boston and you know there's some departments that have hundreds of job vacancies and we know it in the typical year based on past data. You know, we're not hiring hundreds of people in one department in a year. So we saw that as an opportunity as if you know we're not hiring those individuals. Can we use those, use that money that's unused to get more down payment assistance the first time home buyers. Can we use that money to support Boston students to get on a track for college and career readiness. Can we get more youth jobs, right, from that money that's not going to be used? I was just here talking about that youth jobs. You know, speaking of that, your colleague, Ed Flynn was here a week or two ago, I'm trying to remember, but and was talking about because of the dearth or the, you know, the shortfall in hiring for the police department, that it was resulting in a lot more over time and that type of thing. Do you make adjustments during the year? For instance, if that's adding costs to a certain line, how do you, how do you deal with something like that? Yeah. So what we want to do, because it's my first year having the budget, so what we plan on doing every quarter is having quarterly hearings with the administration, the budget office, to just talk about expenditures and revenue so that we as a council have an understanding of if we're on track, on meeting our budgeting goals, if we're going to be overspending or underspending, but we as a council don't have powers to reallocate funds during the year. When the budget powers come during the budget season, well, as you, and I want to talk about some other things with you as well, but as you look ahead and we're not even six months into the new fiscal year, what are you, what are you seeing on the horizon, say, issues that are likely come up, you will be doing the budget again, that's your eye. Yeah. Well, now we're going to be, because the BPS budget, that happens first. Yeah. So we're going to be focusing on the BPS budget, which is around $1.6 billion, almost like a third, more than a third of our city budget, which is at a little bit over $4 billion. So we're going to be having a conversation over the BPS budget first as a council, alongside with the school committee to make sure that, you know, the community is part of the process and also the council is able to advocate for our constituents. Can you get the buses to run on time? Yeah. I know. We're working on it. We're working on it. Yeah. Well, that's a tough issue, no matter how you do it, but I don't understand the new system was put in place and they're trying to work out the bugs of that. Right. Yeah. And I think it's going to take some time, but I know that with any technology and software takes time for the user to get comfortable with it. Is there some potential savings in that? I mean, transportation is a big piece of the school budget. Right. Yeah. That's better. I'm assuming it still was. Yeah. No, it is. It is. And we're going to dive into all those questions. This will be one of the first years in a long time that we finally get a budget book from Boston Public Schools. So we're curious to kind of see what the numbers are saying, where we can advocate to make sure that the investments is, you know, making sure our kids, our students get to school on time because that's the first step. You got to be inside those seats in order to learn. Right. And to make sure that they have all the proper support to receive, you know, high quality public education. Yeah. Well, lots to talk about, lots of things to work on. I want to talk about what, you know, a major win for you personally, I assume, and for certainly for the city of Boston, the state legislature and the governor approved the increase dramatic increase and the number of liquor licenses in the city of Boston, how did you manage that? How did you do that? Where did this process start? Yes. And give us more of the details of how it will work. Yeah. So back in my first term, 2022, we, I took a look at the disparities around liquor licenses. One of my goals as a city council is to push black and brown economic empowerment. And one way to do that is to make sure that our community has the tools to produce jobs to help generate revenue because we know that a thriving business district or a thriving economy inside of our local neighborhoods, it just reinvests into itself. So we took a look at the disparities on liquor licenses and what we saw was that certain zip codes had less liquor licenses than other neighborhoods. So for instance, along Blue Hill Ave, one of the longest streets, it's not the longest street in the city of Boston, only had six liquor licenses. And you compare that to a neighborhood like Bat Bay that had 80 liquor licenses, it kind of just shows, right, the lack of investment that our, that our community and neighborhoods already feel, but then we also take a look at restaurants that have liquor licenses generate two times the amount of the revenue we are really missing out on this revenue generating tool. So what we, so we saw that as a disparity and we, what we decided to do was focus in on those zip codes that needed this economic tool because there's a lot of business districts from common square to around Ashmond Station to Madepin Square to four corners, right? These are areas that have business districts that don't have a sit down restaurants and we constantly hear from our residents on, you know, we just want to walk down the street, go around the corner and have a glass of wine. Have a glass of wine, a bear, watch the game and then, you know, either walk back home or take a short ride back home, you know, we don't want to leave, you know, the neighborhood in order to do so. So we created a homewood petition where we was asking for 250 liquor licenses to be distributed across five years to around 10, 12 zip codes here in the city of Boston and those are neighborhoods of Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Roxbury and Madepin. And these were areas, as I mentioned before, that did not have, you know, liquor licenses. So that-- And then what's our-- there was a fixed number, there's a fixed number of liquor licenses that are allowed within the city, right? Right, yes. So a little history back in 1933 when prohibition ended, the Brahmins who controlled the state house, they wanted to restrict the flow of alcohol, so they kept cities and towns on how much liquor licenses we were allowed to distribute. And we as a city hit that cap in 2005, yeah. So since then have been efforts to increase the amount of liquor licenses that we need as a city because we have kept on growing. Oh, yeah, so we ran out of liquor licenses, so 250 were introduced in a homewood petition unanimously passed the city council, got up to the state house where state representative Christopher Warrell and Senator Liz Miranda sponsored these bills and passed the state house and then got over to the senate and now we have 225 liquor licenses coming here to the city of Boston. That was the compromise between the-- Yeah, the compromise between all, you know, the state, the house and the senate on how many liquor licenses were going to be coming out of the proposed bill. So we're excited about that because in past efforts, the liquor licenses weren't tied to these areas where we saw the disparity, the lack of liquor licenses. So now the liquor licenses, when they are here in the city of Boston, they cannot leave that neighborhood. So regardless of, you know-- It's not like that could be bought up and moved to the city. They cannot move, right? Yeah. Because I know some of those liquor licenses go for big money. 600,000 dollars, right? Wow. 600,000 dollars, these liquor licenses go for. We saw that also as the barrier for a lot of businesses in our neighborhood and our community. So yeah, these liquor licenses have to stay in the neighborhood. So we will always have a liquor licenses available to a restaurant that wants to come to town. And so how well those-- so they're limited to the certain zip code areas? Yes. Who will oversee that? Is that the licensing board? Yeah, the licenses board will oversee it and it's also a community process that you have to go through. So the neighborhood will be involved in telling, you know, the board and issuing their support on who is to get a liquor licenses, liquor license. So we're hoping to make sure that the community is a part of it, but also the license board has the final say on the distribution of the liquor license. Well, you got to be elated, do you know? Yeah, no, I'm excited. And I'm even more excited to make sure-- because policy is one part of it, getting the piece of paper pass, right, but now implementation is another part. So we want to make sure, because a lot of these restaurants, they operate solely as takeout. They've been operating as takeout for the last, you know, 20, 30 years. And now we're trying to make-- now we're trying to help them transition. So we want to make sure that the support is there, the information there, and also the service providers, right? Like, you know, how do you put a bar in? How do you run a bar, right? And-- And what about the cost of these licenses? Yeah, so these are going to be at cost. It's just an annual fee that you have to pay. But yeah, it's not the $600,000 price tag that you have to pay on the private market. So we see this as a free economic tool that's going to help generate a whole lot of money and a whole lot of jobs right in our neighborhoods. Right. Yeah. Some upgrades. Now, I'm playing devil's advocate here, but of course some people would say, "Well, you don't want-- we're not going back to Puritan times, but there are people. And there has been a lot of history of substance abuse, alcohol abuse, whatever. What do you say to those people that say, "Well, I don't know." Yeah. So, I mean, this is not for a liquor store, right? So this is for a restaurant. So even as a restaurant owner and as a bartender, right, you have to monitor someone's consumption of alcohol. There's already regulations in place, right, to monitor the consumption of alcohol and to make sure that we're not serving someone enough that they can't drive home or walk out properly. So we feel that, you know, we have liquor-- we have restaurants that serve liquor that do it properly, and we expect the operators that do it in our neighborhoods to do it the same way. Right. Responsibly. You said the potential for generating revenue, any estimates of what is-- Yeah. --is for yield. Yeah. Especially to the city of Boston, because you may need it, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm definitely looking into it. It's a good question. But it's definitely going to generate more revenue. And as I said, is that a restaurant will generate two times the amount of revenue. So whatever these restaurants are making now, once they get a liquor license, liquor license, and they start operating and getting people to come in and sit down and eat and buy a bear or buy some wine, their revenue is going to double. And we know, right, when local businesses make more money, they typically reinvest it into the neighborhood. They give to the pop corner, right? They give to the block party that's happening down the street, and they also start hiring more people. So we're hoping to monitor that, to see what economic benefits and impact it has on the neighborhood. But it's going to be two times, but it's a study that I'm happy to look into and report back on. Yeah. And talking about revenue and budget, so we've got just a few minutes left, I've got to ask you. One thing that didn't make it through the one such, it may still, apparently, there's still some discussions about it, but it was the mayor's proposal to adjust the taxes between residents and business and commercial properties, that kind of thing, which could mean some increase in taxes for residents. Some people are saying, well, maybe instead of that, the city should be looking at making cuts, and I'm still playing the devil's advocate here, so sick with me right now. How are, if there isn't, that tax adjustment proposal, however you want to reference it, does not go through. Is the city potentially looking at that? Might they have to pull back from some of the initiatives and get some great ones that you put forth. Right. Yeah, we're always looking at ways to find different revenue to help, get more investments to the things that we're looking to provide as a city. So that's always a thing that we're constantly as a body thinking about, but we also just want to make sure that we take this conversation piece by piece, right, that the mayor is still hard at work, the Senate, the Senate is still hard at work on getting this done. So I have all the confidence in my colleagues making something happen, but we'll review it. Evaluations come out sometime in October, November, and we'll review that to see where we stand in terms of residential commercial evaluations. That's what we're doing, by the way, how's the mayor doing? Yeah. The opinion is that that's the relationship matured. Yeah, no, the mayor and I have a, we have a good relationship. I think that the mayor has, you know, does, you know, we just heard about arapa dollars coming in in areas that we all see, that we all feel are important as a city and as a council, this housing, you know, streets, small business, and it's those type of investments and those type of policies that the mayor has put forward that's going to continue to push the city forward. So I'm excited about the leadership here in the city of Boston and the progress that we have made and will continue to make. It's early, but certainly you have another year in your term, but hoping to come back for more? Absolutely. Yeah. Well, anyway, City Council, Brian Warrell, District 4, and here tonight on Talk to the Neighborhoods as we catch up on some city politics and major victory for City of Boston and the legislature and congratulations on that. Thank you. Thanks so much for coming in. Yes, thank you. You're watching Talk to the Neighborhoods here on the Boston Neighborhood Network. We're here tonight and every Thursday night at the same time we'll be back next week and till then, for the entire staff and crew here at the Boston Neighborhood Network. Have a pleasant evening, good night. Bye. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]