SBOL_Jeanne

The State Election is TUESDAY, November 8, 2022. If you are a registered voter, you can still vote early at City Hall on Friday, November 4.  Check it out at Boston.gov/early voting.And if you are still in doubt about Mid-term Elections, we suggest that you think about the four questions on the 2022 Mid-term Election ballot: 1.- Additional tax on income over one million ($1,000,000) dollars:    A YES vote would authorize that tax, which could raise an additional $1-2 billion for schools and transportation but there are two things to consider – first, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has an estimated tax surplus right now of roughly $5 billion; second, the State Constitution forbids a graduated (stepwise) income tax.  Do we need to raise more tax [...]

City Councilor Erin Murphy Calls for Transparency and Language Access Around Council’s Redistricting Process “The lack of transparency throughout this whole process has been unsettling.” Said Councilor Murphy. “Redistricting is the most important thing we will do as the legislative body of the City, and this process has been rushed. The focus has been on getting it done rather than on getting it right. The Boston City Council finally received the Committee Report from Councilor Liz Breadon, Chair of the Redistricting Committee, after several requests from Council colleagues, and the public, asking to see what changes she made to the map that she was ready to ask for a vote on the Council floor at the last meeting. The vote was delayed last week only [...]

By Carol Masshardt Building Pathways, housed in a simple building on Columbus Ave. has a powerful mission and an Executive Director devoted to the goal of helping women, and others historically underrepresented, gain a foothold in the trades. Mary Vogel, an attorney with a Georgetown degree, knows not only the laws and regulations of construction process and safety, but has been deeply committed to equity and inclusion throughout her career. “I wanted to be a social worker, and actually started to go that route, but it was really community organizing as an agent of social change that was my interest, and that’s what the labor movement is,” she said. So, with law school behind her, she did legal aid work in the 80’s and then [...]

City Councilor Liz Breadon (the Redistricting Chair) put off a vote on the final City Council District “Map” until next Wednesday Recently, South Boston Online published an article that reported on redistricting the City of Boston, as required by law every ten years.    Basically, a controversy has arisen about the proposed new District “Maps”.  There presently are five of these “Maps”.  Two of those “Maps” best reflect the controversy that has arisen in 2022 redistricting – a “Unity Map” by Councilors Arroyo and Breadon (the Redistricting Chair) that changes district borders very sharply, and a more balanced “Coalition Map” put together by District 3 City Councilor Frank Baker and his staff.  The “Unity Map” features a much different east-west district border pattern; the “Coalition [...]