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by Rick Winterson Recently, a vitally important public hearing took place. In an unusual step, the Boston City Council’s Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery held this hearing off-site – not at City Hall. District 3 City Councilor John FitzGerald chairs this Committee and he decided that an offsite public meeting was important. The hearing was urgent, controversial, and if it results in effective action, will ultimately have been successful. Docket #1547, a resolution proposed by District 2 City Councilor Edward Flynn, was the hearing’s single topic. This docket reads, “Resolution to declare Mass. and Cass and impacted neighborhoods a Public Safety and Public Health Emergency and a Humanitarian Crisis.” And there’s little or no question that drug abuse is now a crisis in [...]

At the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission hearing, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn testified in support of the City of Boston acquiring and preserving Sister Mary Veronica Park through the use of Community Preservation funding and the Open Space Acquisition Fund of the Parks and Recreation Department. This pocket park in South Boston - nestled between F Street, West 8th Street, and Grimes Street - has been a topic of contention for several years with significant concerns over a potential sale and loss of open space and five mature trees within the neighborhood. In 2023, there was a petition signed by over 1,700 South Boston residents to save the park for the community. The park was named after Sister Mary Veronica, a South Boston girl [...]