Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has refiled a $13.3 million counter-terrorism grant forward of subsequent week’s City Council assembly, giving the physique one other crack at contemplating the federal funding its earlier iteration voted to dam final month.
The Department of Homeland Security grant shall be included on the Wednesday assembly agenda, however could also be referred to committee, given the 4 new council members who didn’t participate within the final committee listening to or the Dec. 13 vote.
“The grant would fund planning, exercises, trainings and operational needs that help prevent, respond to and recover from threats or acts of terrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents,” Wu wrote in a Wednesday letter to the City Council.
“I urge your honorable body to adopt this order so that the City of Boston may accept the funds expeditiously and expend them upon award for the purposes for which they are granted,” the mayor added.
The Council voted 6-6, with one councilor absent, on the finish of final time period, falling a vote shy of what was wanted to cross the annual funding allocation for the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, which incorporates 9 cities: Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville and Winthrop.
Boston, as chair, acts because the fiduciary, and thus is chargeable for accepting funds on behalf of the complete area. That job is delegated to the City Council, which was closely criticized within the weeks that adopted its vote to reject the funding.
Two of the dissenting councilors, Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, have since left after failing to win re-election. Wu waited till the 13-member physique turned over this month earlier than refiling the grant.
Three of the 4 new councilors, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana and Benjamin Weber, have been progressives endorsed by the mayor forward of the November election. The fourth, John FitzGerald, is seen as a extra conservative-leaning Democrat.
Another Wu-endorsed progressive councilor, Sharon Durkan, who was elected to her first full time period within the fall after first successful her seat in a July particular election, voted in favor of the funding final month.
Councilor Liz Breadon and new Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, who each benefited from the mayor’s fundraising efforts, voted in opposition to the grant, nonetheless, citing a need for extra data and neighborhood conversations. Also voting ‘no’ have been Julia Mejia and Brian Worrell.
While 5 of the six dissenting councilors beforehand voted in opposition to grant funding for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, the town police division entity that will obtain a part of this explicit allocation, Breadon has voted to assist the BRIC prior to now, making her a flip of kinds.
Breadon beforehand informed the Herald that whereas she usually helps the counter-terrorism piece, having voted to fund the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region in prior years, she was searching for extra data on how the grant could be used to reply to pure disasters.
Voting in favor of the funds on Dec. 13 have been Councilors Frank Baker, Gabriela Coletta, Durkan, Michael Flaherty, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy. Baker and Flaherty have since left the physique, after selecting to not search re-election.
Tania Fernandes Anderson was absent from the assembly.
Flynn, who ended his two-year time period as Council president final month, has been among the many refrain of local-, state- and federal-level criticism directed on the physique because it voted to dam counter-terrorism funding for the area, an outlier amongst votes in prior years, when the grant was usually authorised unanimously.
He spoke to what he sees because the “critical” nature of the grant on Wednesday.
“This $13 million in federal funding is critical to the safety and security of our residents and will give the necessary resources and support to our public safety officials and first responders to do their jobs effectively in protecting not only residents in Boston, but the entire region,” Flynn informed the Herald.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”