It lastly occurred: Mayor Michelle Wu and Gov.-Elect Maura Healey sat down for an official assembly for the primary time within the latter’s new capability, after which they talked to press about city-state cooperation — very briefly, earlier than scampering again behind closed doorways.
“We talked a little bit about the pressing needs city and statewide around housing and transportation, the opportunity and the possibilities ahead of us with climate action,” Wu instructed the reporters who congregated outdoors of the mayor’s places of work on the fifth ground of Boston City Hall for what a press launch had accurately described as a “brief” press convention Tuesday afternoon.
Both insisted they’re going to get alongside effectively; Wu stated she’s “really, really looking forward to this partnership,” and Healey, who’s ending up her time period as legal professional common, stated she’s “really excited about the opportunity to partner and to work with” Wu and firm.
She added, “So many of the issues that we can find at a state level are issues that the city of Boston confronts as well.”
Then, from the horde of reporters who attended the press convention they’d referred to as, the pair took 4 questions earlier than heading for the hills.
The first three have been all concerning the scenario at Mass and Cass, met with a agency we’ll-see method from the incoming governor.
“What’s important here is that teams are talking — the state team talking with the team here in the city of Boston, working with other towns and cities around the state, making sure that there is a ready flow of information,” Healey stated.
Wu, who’s beefed with the Baker administration about what she perceived as inadequate assist in the troubled space that’s the hub of the opioid points within the metropolis and state, famous Healey’s participation of lawsuits in opposition to opioid producers as AG.
“We have that commitment and we have that partner,” Wu stated.
How about hire management, a significant precedence of Wu in Boston however a matter that Healey hasn’t proven a lot heat for?
“We need to be thinking in with a mindset that all solutions are on the table and we’re going to work together in partnership, as well as with the development community,” Healey stated.
Wu gave her an out by saying that “it’s impossible to say are you for this or that without looking at the specifics of it,” however she reiterated to reporters that the town intends to have a plan quickly earlier than the town council that might then want state approval.
The pair and their aides then darted again behind the locked doorways of the mayor’s suite of places of work — which has its personal elevator to the surface — as reporters shouted questions, together with concerning the political variations between the progressive mayor and the comparatively more-middle-of-the-road soon-to-be governor.
The pair hadn’t met in an official capability since Healey received the open governor’s seat at first of November, although they’d crossed paths a number of occasions out on the planet, together with a few occasions with the British royals who have been on the town final week. The two Democratic pols — every the primary girl to carry the respective workplace as soon as Healey is inaugurated in January — sipped tea with Prince William and Princess Kate in City Hall final week, took them to a Celtics sport after which had VIP tables on the royals’ “Earthshot” awards.
Wu and Healey, two Harvard alums, each have been round Boston-area politics for fairly some time, as Wu was elected to the City Council in 2013 and mayor final 12 months, whereas Healey received the AG seat in 2014, in order that they aren’t strangers, however neither of the pair, who each maintain pretty tight political circles, have been recognized for overlapping an excessive amount of.
Former Mayor Marty Walsh and outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker have been famously good buddies regardless that they got here from totally different sides of the political aisle.
Matt O’Malley, a former metropolis councilor and presently Healey transition group member, instructed the Herald he expects the brand new high pair’s relationship to be “positive.”
“You have two incredible, talented, smart, focused groundbreaking leaders,” stated O’Malley, who sat subsequent to Wu on the council for years and commonly labored together with her on environmental laws and is personally so near Healey that she officiated his wedding ceremony. “The success of Boston is the success of Massachusetts, and vice versa. You will see incredible partnership from Beacon hill and city hall in the years ahead.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
