As yr two of the Wu administration dawns, Mayor Michelle Wu says it’s time to show the web page from getting inside geese in a row to extra forward-looking subjects corresponding to lease management and college infrastructure.
Last week marked a yr for the reason that five-term metropolis councilor crossed over to the opposite aspect of City Hall’s fifth ground, and it’s been a busy one for the primary girl and first particular person of colour elected mayor of Boston.
This first stretch has been one thing of a slog at instances for the progressive Wu, who received the mayoralty by an authoritative margin final yr after which confronted every thing from protests over her pandemic restrictions to high-profile felony incidents in colleges to a few of the metropolis’s neighborhoods to pushback from a recalcitrant council.
She’s additionally had her wins: a profitable effort to dismantle the tent encampment within the troubled Mass and Cass space — although that portion of the South End nonetheless stays in tough form — plus signing a number of main open contracts, staving off state receivership of the varsity district and with the ability to program the almost no-strings hooked up $350 million finances within the instructions she needs, notably towards inexpensive housing.
Wu, in a sit-down interview with the Herald, characterised her first 12 months as “a return to fundamentals.”
“The goal for this year was to build a team, and I’m so excited at where we’ve ended up with the leaders in place now across our cabinet and departments who are ready to take on this work,” Wu mentioned. While “some of those searches took longer than ideally we would have liked” town “ended up exactly where we needed to be” with a wide selection of cabinet-level positions getting stuffed.
So now what, in yr two of her four-year time period?
For one, a proposal for lease management, or “rent stabilization,” as Wu’s administration calls it. She’s had a panel engaged on the subject for the previous six months, and they need to quickly be able to roll with a plan for the controversial subject Wu ran on.
“End of this year, early next year, we will see our proposal for rent stabilization,” Wu mentioned. “That will be ready in time to get filed up with the state for their new legislative session.”
Any proposal like this would want the approval of Beacon Hill, the place incoming Gov.-elect Maura Healey has not sounded too enthused about it.
Wu additionally hinted that “some of the reforms that we have been working through and finalizing” across the Boston Planning & Development Agency, which she’s lengthy vowed to abolish, will come out quickly.
Also on the to-do record is getting shifting extra with faculty infrastructure enhancements, which Wu ranked as a excessive precedence.
“Now we’ll see many of those community processes, getting to finishing the visioning portion of it and resulting in the capital budget for this next fiscal year — having real dollars for design and then after that construction of new facilities,” she mentioned, particularly calling Madison Park Vocational Technical School as “the centerpiece” of that.
What can she do higher?
“I think a lot of my time was internal,” Wu mentioned. “Working to interview and set the tone and really try to take down separations between different departments so that we could have a more collaborative structure.”
“But I only had so much time, and therefore didn’t get to be out visiting community organizations or directly partnering with as many of our community-side partners as I would have liked. So the goal is to be “moving from an inward-looking organizational-building, foundation-setting year into a partnership, collaboration and community collaboration here.”
One of Wu’s challenges — although she didn’t put it that approach — is coping with a very salty City Council that’s clashed together with her on just a few completely different subjects. She’s vetoed the council-passed finances, components of the federal pandemic restoration funds invoice and pay hikes for the council and herself. The council overrode elements of her vetoes for the finances and salaries.
For a quick second, one thing of a political-horseshoe impact appeared on the council, because the councilors each on the left flank and its extra conservative members united of their criticisms of the mayor’s workplace throughout the pandemic-relief discussions, voting collectively at instances.
That alliance was short-lived, although, as councilors clashed repeatedly over inside points on the physique after which additional fractured throughout a nasty council redistricting course of that Wu had the pleasure of largely with the ability to sit out.
Asked about her relationship to the council, Wu struck a diplomatic if obscure tone.
“I have so much respect for an institution that I grew up in and know very well, and for the leaders who choose to put themselves out there and run for office in order to serve our communities,” Wu mentioned.
She did add, although, that they’ve all been on the identical web page about points just like the MBTA Orange Line shutdown and mentioned, I can consider instances the place I’ve been with every counselor of their district celebrating a hero sq. commemoration or chopping the ribbon on new group house, or simply spending time at an area restaurant.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”