Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement on October 14, 2026

0:00 All

0:28 right. See you.

0:31 My name is Minyard Co Pepper,

0:34 District 7 city councelor,

0:37 and I am the chair of the Boston City

0:40 Council Committee on Civil Rights,

0:42 Racial Equity, and Immigrant

0:45 Advancement.

0:47 Today is October 14th,

0:51 2026 and the exact time is 6:17

0:56 p.m.

0:57 We are at the Prince Hall Grand Lodge,

1:01 24 Washington Street,

1:04 Dorchester, Mass. Uh, this hearing is

1:07 being recorded. Written comments may be

1:09 sent to the committee email at

1:12 ccccc.ivil

1:13 rightights@boston.gov.

1:16 and will be made part of the record and

1:18 available to all counselors. Public

1:22 testimony will be taken in three groups

1:24 during this hearing. Individuals will be

1:27 called in the order in which they signed

1:29 up and will have two minutes to testify.

1:33 If you're interested in testifying in

1:35 person, please add your name to the

1:39 signin sheet near the entrance.

1:41 And if you brought written

1:43 documentation, please give 15 copies to

1:46 our central staff leazison Megan

1:49 Kavanaaugh.

1:51 Today's hearing is on docket number

1:53 1340,

1:55 order for a hearing to examine the civil

1:57 rights implications of rapid transit

2:00 equities in the city of Boston. and

2:02 docket number 1341,

2:05 the resolution in support of evaluating

2:08 an orange line extension along Bluehill

2:12 Avenue. These matters were sponsored by

2:15 councilors Minyard Co Pepper and

2:18 councilors Brian Werewell and were

2:20 referred to the committee on July 8th,

2:24 2026.

2:25 Today I am joined by my colleagues in

2:28 order of arrival. Councelor Murphy,

2:32 Councelor Mahia, Councelor Flynn,

2:35 Councelor Lu Jong, and councelor Warel.

2:41 Good evening everyone. I want to thank

2:43 my council colleagues and panelists,

2:47 community organizations, and most of all

2:50 the residents who came out tonight.

2:53 I made this a field hearing on purpose.

2:56 When I filed these dockets, I felt a

2:59 real sense of urgency to bring the

3:01 council

3:03 directly to the community,

3:06 the community that will be impacted by

3:08 this project the most.

3:11 Certainly tonight, I'm disappointed that

3:14 the MBTA general manager, Phil Ing, uh

3:20 has decided not to

3:23 come and testify,

3:26 but he will uh be subpoenaed

3:32 for our next hearing.

3:34 Uh, I think Phil Ling is one of the most

3:37 critical witnesses

3:40 in this

3:42 hearing with regard to the MBTA

3:45 and funding that has been invested

3:49 in and around the city of Boston.

3:53 Chief of Streets Chris Ozgood

3:56 also not here tonight.

3:58 Uh, we anticipated he would come. We

4:02 hadn't discussed a subpoena, but we will

4:04 be discussing a subpoena with regard to

4:07 Chris Ozgood. And I know most of you

4:10 know me when I practice law, a subpoena

4:12 was one of the first things that I would

4:14 do. Whenever you want someone to come

4:16 and testify before you, you just

4:19 subpoena them.

4:21 And so

4:23 as a city councelor,

4:27 I'm happy that we have the subpoena

4:29 powers available to us when witnesses

4:32 have decided not to appear.

4:38 When I think about where we are tonight,

4:41 this hearing was scheduled so that

4:43 residents could hear not just from us,

4:47 not just from the counselors, but also

4:49 to get answers that you've been hearing

4:53 different

4:55 facts in the public in the community in

5:00 those hearings. And tonight we want to

5:03 try and correct a lot of the things that

5:05 you have heard that just aren't

5:07 accurate. Every [clears throat] time a

5:09 center running bus lane has been

5:11 proposed to Blue Hill Avenue, this

5:14 community has opposed it. Let me say

5:18 that again. Every time a center running

5:20 bus lane has been proposed for Blue Hill

5:23 Avenue, this community has vehemently

5:28 opposed it clearly and loudly. In 2009

5:32 when the state proposed a city running

5:35 bus lane from Madapan to Roxberry and

5:37 again in recent year through petitions

5:40 pack community meetings and testimony

5:42 the residents of Roxbury, Dorchester and

5:44 Matipan including Nubian Square, Grove

5:47 Hall, Franklin, Madapan Square and all

5:50 the neighborhoods along the Bluehole

5:52 Avenue corridor

5:55 have said we deserve better than a

5:57 center running bus lane. When you look

6:00 at the MBTA's rail map, most of the city

6:03 has convenient access to rapid rail

6:06 transit.

6:07 Our neighborhoods do not. Blue Hill

6:11 Avenue is the busiest corridor in the

6:13 MBTA system, accounting for 11% of the

6:16 total wrership. Yet, the people who rely

6:20 on the MBTA have no rail.

6:25 That's a transport. We We live in a

6:27 transportation desert.

6:29 And it's a result of decisions that have

6:32 been made not to invest in the

6:34 community. Not because of geography.

6:37 This community

6:41 is not only having a center running bus

6:43 lane that no one asked for to be forced

6:46 on. It has been handed a false choice.

6:50 Accept the bus lane or lose the safety

6:54 and beautifification improvements that

6:56 are part of the same project. These are

6:58 improvements the community deserves and

7:01 has been asking for for decades.

7:04 Why should they be contingent on design

7:08 on the design that the community

7:10 continues to reject? And here's what's

7:12 interesting. Anou signed by the city and

7:15 the MBTA and sent to the Federal Transit

7:18 Administration is the reason why these

7:21 improvements cannot be separated from

7:24 the project.

7:25 It's not that the FDA required they be

7:28 part of the project. theou there's a

7:32 memorandum of understanding between the

7:34 MBTA and the city signed by the mayor

7:38 that

7:43 stated in no uncertain terms that that

7:47 $18 million that we've been saying we

7:50 wanted to be used right now

7:54 is committed to the center running bus

7:56 lane in theouou. We haven't been told

7:59 that. The mayor told us that if they use

8:02 that $1 million, then they would have to

8:04 come back and do it over again. So, it's

8:07 best not to use it right now when theou

8:11 requires that money be used for the

8:14 center running bus lane signed by the

8:16 mayor and general manager in thatou

8:21 tells us something else about Columbus

8:23 Avenue. the April 2024th letter that's

8:27 sent toou to the Federal Transportation

8:30 Administration,

8:33 Federal Transportation Administration

8:35 that Brian and War and I met with last

8:38 week and found out a lot of information

8:40 that we had not been told the truth.

8:44 when they talk about the money being

8:47 sent back to Washington and we were

8:49 being criticized by folks who said stop

8:52 opposing it because the money is going

8:55 to go back. Well, the money can't go

8:58 back because the money has not been

9:01 given to the state or the city. The

9:04 money hasn't been obligated yet. There's

9:07 still so early in the process. They had

9:11 us believing that they had the money.

9:13 That's why you can't believe all that

9:15 fake news.

9:17 The money is not obligated,

9:20 so it can't go back cuz you can't give

9:23 back something you don't have.

9:25 But they led us to believe that they had

9:27 the money already.

9:31 And when you think about thatou that the

9:33 mayor and the general manager signed, it

9:35 points to Columbus Avenue as a model for

9:37 the project, calling it as similar to

9:39 what we envisioned for Blue Hill Avenue.

9:42 That's the Columbus Avenue project they

9:44 just pulled down that they called in

9:47 theou similar to Blue Hill Avenue. You

9:50 heard Chris Oddsgood last week trying to

9:53 distance it from Blue Hill Avenue saying

9:55 Columbus Avenue is different from Blue

9:57 Hill Avenue, but in theou

10:00 and so let me just close there. I could

10:03 talk about what's going on, but I want

10:06 to give my colleagues an opportunity.

10:09 But tonight's hearing is really a civil

10:11 rights hearing. That's what we're

10:13 focused on tonight. That's the bill that

10:16 I filed. It's a civil rights hearing.

10:19 And that's why I filed docket 1340 in

10:22 order for a hearing on the history of

10:24 transit equity in Boston and its civil

10:27 rights implication. Cuz I believe when

10:29 you invest in all the communities around

10:31 Boston and you don't invest in this

10:33 community,

10:35 that's what they call a civil rights

10:36 issue.

10:37 That's right. And so we're here tonight

10:41 with my colleagues and I thank my

10:43 colleagues for coming

10:46 and I'm going to give each of them an

10:49 opening state an opportunity to give

10:51 their opening statements. I've got

10:53 plenty more to say but we'll talk about

10:55 later but I want to hear from them now.

10:57 I'm going to give each of them two

10:59 minutes and we're going to start with

11:00 them by arrival. We're going to start

11:02 with councelor Murphy. Councelor Murphy

11:05 you have the floor.

11:06 Thank you. Um, thank you councel Kalper

11:10 and Council Warel for all of your work

11:13 and advocacy up to this point. I know

11:16 that you and your staff I want to thank

11:18 your offices also because you've been

11:20 doing a lot of work and what you're

11:22 advocating for. Unfortunately, it seems

11:25 like we have this same conversation time

11:29 and time again that when we or the

11:33 administration allows and listens to the

11:36 community, they do the opposite of what

11:39 the community asks for or they make you

11:41 think that they're listening to you, but

11:43 then you find out that they're not

11:45 taking, you know, lived experiences. You

11:48 live in this neighborhood. You know best

11:51 what your neighborhood wants. And when

11:53 it's completely ignored, to me that is

11:55 unacceptable. So as an atlarge city

11:58 councelor, it is a privilege to

12:00 represent all of the neighborhoods. I

12:02 also get to see that

12:05 not every neighborhood is listened to

12:07 the same. Right. It is true. It's not

12:09 just people complaining. It's not just

12:11 saying poor us. It's it is true that not

12:14 every neighborhood. So if we have that

12:16 political will, it is disrespectful that

12:19 the administration is not here. They

12:22 always get plenty of time to show up.

12:25 And I think that falls on us as a body.

12:27 I think if all 13 of us, not just some

12:30 of us, said the subpoena, they often say

12:33 that our subpoena power, but what what

12:35 teeth does it have? What can you really

12:37 do with it? Well, we can stop council

12:39 meetings. We can stop the business of

12:41 the city if we all stand together. So,

12:44 I'm here to listen to the community, but

12:46 also support my colleagues who have been

12:49 working hard in making sure that this

12:51 community doesn't have another thing

12:52 pushed on to them that that your voices

12:55 are heard and respected. So, thank you

12:57 for having this meeting and just glad to

12:59 be here.

13:00 Thank you, Council Murphy. Councelor

13:01 Mahia, you have two minutes.

13:04 Uh, thank you, Chair. Um, and thank you

13:06 everyone for showing up because showing

13:09 up is half the battle, right? And I'm

13:12 sure that half of you, if not all of

13:14 you, are tired of doing just that,

13:16 showing up and not feeling like whatever

13:18 you have to say is being heard and um

13:21 and honored. So, I'll just say a few uh

13:25 things. First of all, um Blue Hill Lab

13:29 is at the heart of the black and brown

13:31 community. It is one of the last

13:32 corridors that are still left standing

13:35 in terms of gentrification. And whatever

13:37 we do and however we decide to move, we

13:40 have to make sure that we're moving with

13:42 intentionality and making sure that the

13:44 people who are living in and around that

13:46 neighborhood have not only a seat at the

13:48 table, but are dictating what happens in

13:51 that neighborhood. And I think that's

13:53 going to be one of the things that I'm

13:54 going to be paying most attention to

13:56 because how we do this matters, right?

14:00 Um, the other the other piece of it is I

14:02 I reject the false hope narrative that

14:06 we either take this or we have nothing.

14:08 The same thing happened with White

14:10 Stadium. Either we're going to renovate

14:11 it or you don't get anything. We can't

14:13 continue to have this and or we should

14:17 and we and I believe we deserve it all.

14:19 And that's what we should be fighting

14:21 for is having it all. Um, and it

14:24 shouldn't be pitting people against each

14:26 other. this whole dynamic where you have

14:27 transit people against folks who who are

14:30 fighting for parking. That is how they

14:33 win. What I'd like to see is all of us

14:36 coming together, working in

14:38 collaboration with each other and

14:40 designing what we want as a unit instead

14:44 of pitting each other against one

14:45 another. That's played out. And then

14:47 lastly, I'll say this that in January of

14:50 2022, I was the city councelor that

14:53 hosted the first town hall at Morning

14:56 Star. And then I asked the

14:58 administration for real meaningful

15:01 community engagement. That was in 2022.

15:04 And then most recently, I was the first

15:06 city councelor to host an off-site

15:08 hearing on this particular topic right

15:11 on Blue Hill A last year in 2025. So,

15:14 I'm not new to this, but what I will say

15:17 is that what we need to start doing is

15:19 organizing differently because pitting

15:22 people against each other when no one's

15:24 going to win under those dynamics. So,

15:26 I'm really encouraging you all to

15:28 understand what's at stake and start

15:30 learning how to be with each other

15:32 instead of in conflict with one another.

15:34 And I'll end with this that I'm going to

15:35 leave at 7:30 and I don't want nobody

15:36 talking smack about me leaving because I

15:38 got to go take care of my kid. And

15:40 that's it. 7:30.

15:42 Thank you, Councilman here. Uh,

15:44 Councelor Flynn, you have two minutes.

15:47 Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to

15:48 Councelor Co Pepper, Council Well, for

15:51 bringing this forward. Honored to be

15:53 here. I'm probably the only city

15:55 councelor at the at the table here that

15:58 doesn't necessarily represent this area,

16:01 the impacted area. But I came here for

16:04 two reasons.

16:06 one to support my council colleagues

16:08 councelor Cole Peppa council who I have

16:11 a tre tremendous amount of respect for

16:13 and two to listen to residents because I

16:16 have respect for the residents here as

16:18 well I'll be here for the three hours

16:20 listening to every comment and concern

16:22 you have um councelor co pepper

16:26 mentioned it there's a reason this is

16:28 being held in the committee on civil

16:30 rights not transportation or or planning

16:34 and the reason as council co pepper said

16:36 is this is a racial justice issue. This

16:39 is a civil rights issue.

16:42 And that's what the lens of this meeting

16:45 should be about and would be about is

16:47 listening to residents about the impact

16:51 city decisions are having on civil

16:53 rights for residents in and around the

16:55 impacted neighborhood. Um I I agree. I

16:58 believe it is a civil rights issue. Um

17:01 and I think it's a critical civil rights

17:03 issue. I don't think the best decisions

17:05 are made at city hall. I think the best

17:08 decisions are made in the neighborhoods

17:11 and the best decisions are are us

17:14 listening to you and your elected

17:16 officials, especially councelor Co

17:18 Pepper and council elected by you to do

17:22 their job. And that's exactly what

17:24 they're doing, advocating for you,

17:27 ensuring that you're being treated with

17:30 respect, but which you're not. in my job

17:33 is to support council co pepper and

17:35 council war and I'll do everything I

17:37 possibly can to stand with them

17:41 especially on the alternative plan that

17:43 council co council co pepper but I agree

17:46 it's about civil rights it's about

17:48 racial justice thank you

17:50 thank you councelor Flynn

17:53 councelor Louis you have two minutes

17:56 thank you um good evening everyone sorry

17:58 I'm a little raspy I'm a little bit

17:59 under the weather um But I just want to

18:02 thank everyone for coming out here

18:04 tonight. I want to thank central staff

18:05 for being here. Um, and I want to thank

18:07 my colleagues for putting this together.

18:08 And I want to thank all the residents

18:10 who are taking time out of their evening

18:11 to be here to really talk about and

18:13 shape what our community looks like,

18:16 what Blue Hill Avenue looks like. I know

18:17 that there have been many, many hearings

18:20 and meetings on this topic. And I want

18:21 to thank my colleagues for their work

18:24 here. Um, I'm really concerned and I

18:27 know that folks in here are really

18:29 concerned about issues involving

18:31 displacement both during construction

18:34 and after. Whether we're talking about

18:35 business displacement, whether we're

18:37 talking about resident displacement, um,

18:40 and and on top of that, we have a a

18:42 pernitious and a very real racial wealth

18:45 gap that we don't want to see furthered.

18:48 And so, we have to be very careful. So,

18:49 I have a lot of concerns regarding that.

18:52 And at the same time, Bluehole Avenue is

18:54 worthy of investment. It's worthy of

18:56 making sure that all of our residents

18:58 feel safe. Um, and so I'm going to be

19:00 here to listen. I'm probably not going

19:03 to be able to last the entire hearing,

19:04 but I do want to know want to mention

19:06 that back when there were meetings at

19:08 K's Oasis before K's Oasis closed about

19:11 this project. I know some of y'all were

19:13 there because I was there listening and

19:15 talking to community members about what

19:17 their vision is for Blue Hill A. Whether

19:19 you are older, whether you are younger,

19:21 I do so much on a little loud. My salons

19:23 are there, so many. So, I hear about

19:25 this all of the time and I think it's

19:26 really important to hear from all of

19:27 you. So, I look forward to doing that

19:28 for as long as I can last this evening.

19:30 Thank you. [snorts]

19:32 Thank you, councelor Luis Yung. The next

19:35 uh next councelor to present to you his

19:40 opening is councelor Brian Warell.

19:43 Councelor Warell.

19:45 Thank you, councelor Copeper. Um, thank

19:48 you all for being here tonight.

19:51 And tonight is about the people who live

19:53 here. So, I want to start with a simple

19:56 question. What level of transportation

19:58 investment does our community actually

20:01 deserve? The MBTA spent more than a

20:05 billion dollars extending rail service

20:08 to New Bedford. After a year, that line

20:11 is carrying roughly 2,500

20:14 riders a day. Here on Bluehav, we're

20:18 talking about close to 20,000 bus riders

20:22 every day. That is a huge difference.

20:26 Yet, this community is being told that

20:28 an investment that is a fraction of that

20:31 amount is somehow our once in a

20:34 generation opportunity

20:37 and that we better take it because we

20:39 may never get another one. I don't buy

20:42 that.

20:43 You can get on a train in Providence and

20:46 get to South Station in about an hour.

20:49 But if you're taking public

20:51 transportation from Madapin inside of

20:54 the city of Boston, it could take you

20:56 longer than that to get downtown.

21:00 That should bother all of us because

21:02 this is just not about shaving a few

21:05 minutes off of a bus trip. This is about

21:08 whether this community, our community,

21:10 is finally going to receive the kind of

21:12 transportation investment that

21:14 [clears throat] matches the need. So the

21:17 question is not whether Blue Hill Lab

21:19 needs investment. Of course it does. The

21:22 real question is whether a centerrunning

21:24 bus lane is the best long-term answer

21:27 for our community. And before we answer

21:30 that question, we ought to know what the

21:33 alternative actually look like. Now let

21:36 me be clear. Nobody is saying build a

21:39 train tomorrow. What we are saying is

21:42 that before we lock oursel into this

21:45 corridor into one solution for the next

21:47 generation, rail deserves a real modern

21:50 evaluation. And so does alternatives

21:53 included side running bus lanes. And

21:56 rail is not some wild idea. Rail was up

22:00 and down blue lab before. This community

22:03 has been talking about better rapid

22:05 transit for decades.

22:07 So for me, this is not about So for me,

22:10 this is also about restoration.

22:13 It's about looking at a community that's

22:15 waited a long time and asking whether we

22:17 can finally make the kind of investment

22:19 that matches our need. And here's where

22:22 the MBTA's own planning framework

22:25 becomes important. The MBTA already has

22:28 a framework for the kinds of places

22:30 where highquality transit and rail

22:33 should be considered. They talk about

22:35 dense inner city communities that lack

22:39 rail and rapid transit. They talk about

22:41 places that rely heavily on buses. They

22:45 talk about communities where people face

22:47 longer trips to jobs and opportunity.

22:51 And they did and they did not just

22:53 describe our community. They

22:55 specifically named Bluehill Lav in the

22:59 MBTA's own focus 40 plan. Bluehill A was

23:03 identified as an inner core community

23:05 lacking rapid transit. That is not my

23:08 phrase. That is the MBTA's phrase. So

23:11 we're not asking the MBTA to create some

23:13 special standard [clears throat] for

23:14 Blue Hill Lav. We're asking them to

23:16 apply the standard they already created.

23:20 If Bluehill Lab checks the boxes they

23:23 say matter, then put the rail and the

23:25 BRT side by side. Show us the ridership.

23:29 Show us the travel times. Show us the

23:31 cost. Show us the impact on businesses

23:34 and development. And show us the

23:36 long-term benefits for our community.

23:38 Then let the facts tell us what makes

23:40 the most sense. And there's another

23:42 piece of this conversation we cannot

23:44 ignore.

23:46 Massachusetts now has a new source of

23:48 transportation revenue that did not

23:50 exist a few years ago. The fair share

23:53 amendment is bringing hundreds of

23:55 millions of dollars into transportation,

23:57 including investments in the MBTA and

24:00 additional capacity to fund major

24:02 transportation projects. So, when people

24:05 say this $80 million federal grant is

24:08 our one opportunity, that conversation

24:10 is missing something. We now have new

24:12 state transportation revenue coming in

24:15 through the fair share. So the question

24:17 should not just be how do we hold on to

24:19 this one federal grant at all cost. The

24:22 question should be what is the right

24:23 long-term investment for Blue Hill Lab

24:26 and how do we put federal state fair

24:29 share and other resources to pay for it?

24:32 Because if this quarter truly needs a

24:34 generational investment, then we should

24:36 be looking at every available tool to

24:38 make that general investment happen.

24:43 And that is where accountability comes

24:44 in. We keep being told to trust our

24:47 experts and expertise it does matter.

24:50 But expertise also comes with

24:52 responsibility to follow the evidence

24:54 and apply standards consistently.

24:57 Residents deserve to see the analysis.

25:00 They deserve to see comparisons and real

25:03 engagement means people have some say in

25:05 the biggest question. What kind of

25:08 transportation system do we want serving

25:10 this community for the next 50 or 100

25:12 years? If people keep showing up, keep

25:15 raising the same concerns and keep

25:17 asking for alternative, government has a

25:20 responsibility to do more than just hear

25:22 them. We have a respond and show them

25:26 those analysis and those alternatives.

25:28 So tonight is about listening. It's

25:30 about giving residents the space they've

25:32 been asking for. And before anybody

25:35 makes a generational decision about Blue

25:37 Hill Lab, the people along Blue Lab

25:40 deserve a say. Thank you.

25:45 [applause]

25:48 In addition to what Brian said, there's

25:51 an obvious disconnect between what

25:54 disinvested and what underserved

25:56 communities ask for. and what government

25:59 gives them. Agencies claim to be

26:02 helping, but they too often divide us.

26:04 When other communities ask for

26:06 transportation improvements, they get

26:08 them regardless of cost or technical

26:11 challenges. Cambridge and Somerville got

26:14 the red line extension to Alwife built

26:17 in the 1980s for $574 million.

26:21 Somerville and Medford got the Green

26:23 Line extension, which they went through

26:25 major cost overruns and redesigned

26:28 before the state found more money, 2.3

26:32 billion in all. On the South Boston

26:35 waterfront, the Silver Line got 624

26:38 million for the tunnel. Today the green

26:40 line, let me just say this again. Today,

26:43 this day, 10:1426,

26:46 the green line is slated for $2.9

26:50 billion investments and we are given a

26:53 bus lane. Those communities did not have

26:56 to fight the way we have to fight to

27:00 keep a center running bus lane from

27:02 coming. They got rail investments they

27:04 asked for. All we want is what they got.

27:09 Rosendelle is now undergoing a

27:11 feasibility study for rail line from

27:15 Rosendale to the orange line. All we

27:18 want is what Rosendelle is getting a

27:21 feasibility study. And when you think

27:23 about what we have to fight for in order

27:27 to get what we asked for,

27:30 we realize that it's a civil rights

27:33 issue. That's right.

27:35 One that we have to fight for. And we

27:37 know that we've been fighting for a long

27:39 time. Whatever we get, we fight for it.

27:43 And when we fight,

27:44 we win.

27:45 Not like that. When we fight,

27:48 we win.

27:49 Let me uh move on to uh our first panel.

27:53 I'm going to rearrange this a little bit

27:55 because tonight is really for the

27:57 community. So, I'm going to have our

27:59 first panelist come up tonight and after

28:02 Ann McKinnon comes and talks, a senior

28:04 planner, and after Lewis Alisa comes,

28:07 our first panelist, then the rest of the

28:09 night will be for community testimony.

28:13 That's what tonight was geared for. I

28:15 remember I was at those hearings when

28:17 they cut them off. 20 people didn't get

28:19 to speak at one, more than 20 didn't get

28:22 to speak at the other. This is your

28:24 night. So, Ann, why don't you come on

28:26 up? Uh, Dr. Lewis Alisa, come on up.

28:39 And we'll give each of you seven

28:42 minutes.

28:42 Okay. More or less.

28:47 I'll see some of you.

28:55 Hello. Um I'm an McKinnon. I live in

28:57 Jamaica plane. I um worked for um about

29:02 35 years as a planner and a number of my

29:05 clients were most of my clients were

29:08 public agencies uh including the MBTA

29:11 and other transit properties around the

29:13 country and um city of Boston and other

29:16 municipalities and the state. So I um I

29:20 know a little bit about um how the the

29:23 planning process is supposed to work and

29:26 it's clearly failed here but failed by

29:29 design um

29:32 in in terms of of transit service here.

29:36 You only need to look at a map and see

29:38 that this neighborhood is not served by

29:41 transit and it's an outlier in the city

29:43 of Boston. The carter is served only by

29:46 buses, which is the uh slowest and least

29:49 efficient form of transportation that

29:52 exists. Um the MBTA actually at at the

29:57 hearings said that the ridership on in

30:00 this corridor is uh kind of similar to

30:03 the blue line um that goes to East

30:06 Boston and River. and we don't hear

30:09 anybody talking about um the blue line

30:12 would be well served by a bus. Um and

30:16 the facts are pretty clear.

30:19 The the mode that has been chosen for

30:22 Blue Hill Avenue because it's quick and

30:25 relatively easy to build is buses. Buses

30:28 are the lowest capacity

30:30 transportation mode that exists. They

30:33 have the least the lowest ability to

30:37 impact land use and development

30:40 decisions.

30:42 Um the travel time sta savings are

30:45 overstated. Um they say it'll save the

30:48 bus way will save 10 to 15 minutes. Um

30:53 first of all that's not enough to get

30:54 people to sell their car and say gee

30:56 I'll save 10 minutes and jump on the

30:58 bus. Um, but a lot of that travel time

31:00 savings is unrelated to the busway. It's

31:04 it comes from five minutes comes from

31:06 eliminating the U-turn in Milton.

31:09 So, they don't tell you that. You have

31:11 to read the thousandpage document to to

31:14 get that. The project will do nothing to

31:17 speed traffic beyond north of Grove

31:20 Hall. And that's about 50% of the of the

31:24 um of the trip from Matapan to Nubian

31:27 Square. So a lot of the trip is uh is

31:32 still stuck in traffic.

31:35 And for all of this investment, the MBTA

31:38 says that um it might be able to add

31:42 maybe 10 additional buses, round trips,

31:46 10 additional round trips over an

31:48 18-hour day on the 28 bus, which is

31:52 hardly a noticeable increase in service.

31:56 So, it really the the benefits are

31:59 really oversold by the MBTA.

32:02 So, why does this neighborhood get

32:03 crumbs when other neighborhoods get

32:06 serious improvements? And that's because

32:09 they fight for them and they're listened

32:10 to. And that's why we're talking about

32:13 this as a civil rights issue. Um,

32:16 transit equity cannot be achieved

32:18 without talking to people, without

32:21 developing alternatives and analyzing

32:24 them and um selecting the alternative

32:28 that meets most of the goals.

32:33 Transit equity requires

32:36 um really thoughtful and serious

32:39 planning

32:41 and bold action and neither of which has

32:44 happened here. The decision to pursue

32:47 the pot of money at the feds uh at the

32:50 at the federal government level um was

32:55 probably done because it was seen as

32:57 easy to get. And you know, it's

32:59 unfortunate that some some areas of the

33:03 city and the state um are allowed to

33:06 think big, think bold, and go for the

33:10 money that's needed to make a meaningful

33:12 improvement in this corer. For whatever

33:15 reason, they went for the uh for the

33:18 bunt instead of the home run.

33:22 Um,

33:24 as the counselor said, this money for

33:27 construction has not been approved.

33:30 Basically, the city has been misleading

33:32 people by saying that they have the

33:35 money. And

33:37 that is a that is a lie. Um, and and and

33:41 why why else the money's relatively easy

33:44 to get, they thought. They also didn't

33:46 care that there were other the past

33:48 studies that said this corer should be

33:52 studied for a higher quality transit

33:55 service. Those studies go back to 1978.

33:59 Nobody cared or they ignored them.

34:03 I mean, in addition, you know, the city,

34:05 in addition to the city, the a number of

34:08 transit advocacy groups um have said

34:10 that this is a great project and they

34:13 basically are saying they they speak for

34:15 the community. Well, clearly they don't.

34:18 Um and and I think they need to be

34:20 checked. Um and finally, you know, bold

34:24 action and um you know, big vision

34:28 uh seems to be allowed in other

34:31 neighborhoods but not here. And I think

34:34 the uh the strength of the community

34:36 that's come out to oppose this uh is

34:38 making people pay attention that they

34:41 need to think a little bolder than a bus

34:43 on Blue Hill A.

34:47 Thank you, Ann

34:50 [applause] Lewis.

34:53 Seven minutes.

34:55 That's a lot That's a lot

34:56 [clears throat] more than I get when I

34:57 go downtown. I'm glad to be home. Um

35:01 first um Reverend Dr. uh Co Pepper let

35:04 me thank you for bringing this um

35:06 hearing where it belongs into the

35:08 community. Most of our meetings should

35:10 be held in the communities that are

35:12 being impacted. That's the only thing

35:13 that makes sense. I want to thank the

35:15 other members u of the city council who

35:16 did not think it robbery. to take time

35:19 and come out and hear what the community

35:20 had to say is the real challenge of this

35:23 20th century that people do not who

35:26 govern do not hear often from the people

35:28 that they govern. They are in positions

35:31 that they get elected to and forget that

35:32 the people who voted them in should be

35:34 heard. So I appreciate each of you being

35:37 here today, but I thank you very much

35:39 Dr. Co, Dr. CO Pepper for bringing this

35:42 home because you tried to move this in

35:44 this issue situation around

35:46 transportation into your committee from

35:47 the beginning because like you said this

35:49 is a civil rights issue. The right to be

35:51 able to go to work, go to school, move

35:55 safely and comfortably about your

35:57 community. The right not to have your

36:00 businesses undermined or destroyed. The

36:02 right to be able to get from one place

36:04 to another as everybody else in this

36:06 Commonwealth. It's yours because you pay

36:09 the same taxes as everyone else. You

36:12 need to know that we are suffering from

36:14 the most ardent racist political process

36:18 that I've ever been a part of. That the

36:20 city of Boston has deliberately with

36:23 malice of forethought undermined the

36:25 development of Roxbury, Dorchester,

36:27 Madapan, lower Roxbury for the past 50

36:30 years that I've been a resident of this

36:32 city that they deliberately went out of

36:34 their way to undermine the resources.

36:36 They deliberately took rapid transit out

36:39 of the community affecting over 45,000

36:41 homes and families in Roxbury and moved

36:44 it a mile away from where the people

36:46 lived in Roxberry in Dorchester. Moving

36:49 that orange line was a different issue

36:51 to minimize the ability of folks to get

36:53 from their home to a place of

36:55 employment. Giving a a free 28 or 22 bus

36:59 does not get you to where you need to

37:01 be. When you get to the end of the line,

37:03 you still have to pay to go where the

37:04 jobs are. They have no direct connection

37:07 to downtown or to the industrial zones

37:09 or to any place else. It was a

37:11 deliberate decision. I've served five

37:13 governors, two presidents, and two

37:15 mayors. And throughout my tenure in

37:18 time, we have been arguing. We have been

37:20 fighting, discussing the civil rights of

37:22 the residents of Roxbury, which was

37:24 denied, denied, denied. You ask any

37:27 councelor up here, they'll look at their

37:29 sheet and they'll tell you what they've

37:30 given to other cities and other

37:32 communities. $43 million to build a

37:34 swimming pool in in in Charles Town. And

37:37 then you ask, "What do we have on Geneva

37:40 A or what do we have in Franklin Park?"

37:41 They didn't spend $43 million in

37:43 Franklin Park over the last 50 years.

37:45 Now they want to take the park and put

37:47 $335 million for somebody else to

37:50 control it. They took $135 million from

37:54 the children at Madison Park High

37:55 School, told them they'll have to wait

37:57 eight years before they have a school

37:58 that makes the only difference in this

38:00 community to keep up with technology.

38:02 Wait seven years while we get a soccer

38:05 league to come in and make a difference

38:06 in Roxbury. You won't be able to play.

38:09 Our children won't be able to play. And

38:11 they're encroaching on the playstead

38:13 that has been neglected for 50 years.

38:15 That the money that they spend in

38:17 Franklin Park is onetenth of what they

38:19 spend on the common. and for the last 50

38:20 years and now they're saying they're

38:22 concerned. We should be happy that

38:23 they're concerned and so they come and

38:25 ask us do we want protection? They had

38:28 the tarity ass we want protection. Do we

38:31 want blue from 1983 when Dukakus

38:34 returned as governor Senator Wilkerson

38:37 Sister Virginia? They all sat on

38:40 commissions. We've had three commissions

38:41 on Blue Hill Avenue. We laid out what

38:43 they had to be done to make the

38:45 economics of Blue Hill Avenue work. We

38:47 laid out clearly what we needed, wanted

38:49 to see. They've ignored everything for

38:51 the last 50 years and now they're saying

38:54 because there's money available that's

38:56 going to the construction industry, we

38:58 need to make a choice of whether or not

38:59 we want to see our businesses destroyed

39:01 and our homes destroyed. We're building

39:03 more. There are more cars coming through

39:05 Roxbury and Dorchester Matteran emanate

39:09 and in in in uh towns and cities that

39:13 are not related to us. This is not

39:15 improvement for Roxbury. When you start

39:17 doing construction, ask anyone who lives

39:19 at the low end of Blue Hill Avenue what

39:21 happened for the three years they tore

39:23 up the whole streets and what happened

39:24 to the businesses down there that end

39:25 near Dudley. Let's be clear, this is not

39:29 about development for our community.

39:30 This is about construction dollars that

39:32 goes back in the terms of campaign

39:34 funds. This is not economic development

39:37 because economic development would say

39:38 we fix the sidewalks, we put in the

39:40 streets, we fix the storefronts, we deal

39:42 with the nine, 10 large scale

39:44 developments that are going up on Blue

39:45 Avenue and we don't take away from the

39:48 economy and the ability of things

39:49 getting done. There has been no economic

39:53 impact study. None. There has been no

39:56 environmental impact study. None. The

39:58 economics of this is that if they spend

40:00 $22 billion to fix up the South Boston

40:03 waterfront and M brother Flynn, I'm

40:05 going to tell you, yeah, you have

40:06 interest here because that's money that

40:08 fix the city of Boston and your

40:09 residents. Also, when they take 22

40:12 billion and do the South Boston

40:13 waterfront, they can't account for a

40:15 billion dollars over the last 50 years

40:17 in Grove Hall. They can't account for

40:19 the money that they spent just recently

40:22 in Finway. all the money that they spend

40:24 in the ink block in terms of housing and

40:26 street development in growth wall in

40:28 Roxbury. So the question that we've been

40:29 asking, Garrison Trot has been asking,

40:32 Bluehole Avenue Commission has been

40:34 asking the people in the community, when

40:36 it gets from Matapan Square to growth

40:39 hall, where does it go? For seven years,

40:42 we've asked that question. They've had

40:44 four studies, spend a million dollars

40:45 over a great scale from Harvard, came

40:47 here in 24 and 25, and we met with them

40:50 overund6 times and each time the people

40:53 in this community says we don't need it.

40:56 We need the community to work. We need

40:59 transportation that'll work. We need

41:01 Blue Avenue that's safe for our kids. We

41:03 need environmental impact study to tell

41:05 you what slowing down those cars from

41:07 Milton and Randolph and and and Brockton

41:10 is going to mean to the lives of an area

41:12 that has the highest asthma rate in the

41:14 country. None of that has happened yet.

41:16 We're saying the the justice the

41:19 injustice of this process has an

41:21 economic effect. that when you slow down

41:24 the growth, when you minimize and

41:26 complicate the ability of people to be

41:28 able to use their neighborhoods and use

41:30 their homes and use their businesses for

41:32 economic growth, it's a civil rights

41:35 issue. Thank you for taking this on. I

41:38 need people to keep in mind this issue

41:40 should not go away. You should not go

41:42 from here and be comfortable. Tell your

41:44 friend, tell your neighbors that your

41:46 community is in jeopardy, your homes are

41:49 in jeopardy, your lives are in jeopardy.

41:51 And if we don't stand up now, we won't

41:53 be here later.

41:59 [applause]

42:01 Want to move to the counselors now.

42:07 Counselors, you have two minutes

42:11 for questions if you choose to ask any.

42:14 And we'll start with councelor Murphy.

42:16 You have two questions. is gone.

42:20 Councelor Murphy left.

42:22 He's gone.

42:22 Councelor

42:24 Mahia.

42:25 Yes.

42:26 You have

42:27 two minutes for questions.

42:28 I'll take Murphy's, too. [laughter] Um,

42:33 nah. Uh, so first of all, thank you,

42:35 Council Co Pepper. Um, and I was in the

42:38 chamber that day when we were trying to

42:40 debate where this hearing was going to

42:42 go, and I fought for it to be in civil

42:43 rights because this is where it belongs.

42:46 Um, and so I just want to thank you for

42:47 your fierce advocacy. Um, and also for

42:51 the panelists and Lewis and I go way

42:53 back. We've been fighting against every

42:55 single thing that is happening in

42:56 Dorchester, Roxbury, and Matapan.

42:59 and we're still fighting.

43:01 And at some point, we're

43:04 we're tired. And what we're not talking

43:07 about and something that I, you know,

43:10 John, I'm gonna just call you out

43:11 because we've been you, we've been

43:13 talking about this offline, is the

43:15 displacement that is going to happen to

43:18 communities, gentrification that's going

43:20 to happen because whenever we get

43:22 anything shiny, what happens?

43:28 Right? And there's this threat and this

43:32 fear that we have as people of color

43:35 that things are always being done to us

43:38 without us. And so I would love to hear

43:42 from Lewis um and an what would a

43:48 a restorative justice practice

43:51 to repair the harm that has been caused

43:54 question

43:55 as it relates to the uh the community

43:58 engagement that has not really happened

44:01 in George Roxbury and Matapan as it

44:03 relates to this like how can the city

44:06 turn it around? What if anything needs

44:08 to happen for the city to turn this

44:10 around?

44:13 Well, I I think um part of the problem

44:16 or the biggest problem is recently is

44:18 that um they're not asking for input on

44:23 the fundamental question about the the

44:26 mode, what what is going to be um what

44:29 mode is used on Blue Hill. They're

44:31 asking for um you know what color the

44:34 bus stop should be and and what kind of

44:37 tree should be installed. The problem

44:39 with the city of Boston is they don't do

44:42 planning. You can't even find a planning

44:45 um division on the BTD the Boston

44:48 transportation department website. So,

44:51 as has been said and I think councelor

44:53 Wel said it really well is um you know

44:57 you got to step back and do a real

44:59 planning study with alternatives. You

45:01 start by looking at what's the problem

45:03 and you develop alternatives. Side

45:05 running bus lane, rail, center running

45:07 bus lane, um peak hour bus lane, roller

45:12 skate lane, whatever it is. you you

45:13 develop your alternatives and you get

45:16 you walk people through the process

45:19 slowly analyzing each one. The city came

45:23 and said, "Here, you know, we we got a

45:26 bus lane project. What do you think

45:27 about it?" And that's fundamentally not

45:29 how you do it.

45:30 Yeah. Thank you for that. And I know my

45:32 time is up. I heard the the beeper, but

45:35 before Lewis says something real quick,

45:37 I just want to acknowledge uh two

45:40 things. One is that I am the chair of

45:42 education and I'm also going to be u

45:45 speaking at the school committee in a

45:47 little while. So I'll be stepping out

45:48 and coming back. And then the other

45:50 thing that I'd like to just put on the

45:53 record is that there has been historical

45:56 harm caused to our communities. I grew

45:59 up here in the city of Boston. I know

46:00 what it's like. Um, and I think that we

46:03 have an opportunity to write the wrongs

46:07 that have happened here in this process.

46:10 And having watched this over the last

46:12 seven years, because it was 20 2022,

46:16 Lewis, that we hosted the first hearing,

46:18 the first town hall at Morning Star, and

46:21 then five or six years later, the people

46:23 who showed up to speak at Morning Star

46:25 weren't even able to be heard. So that

46:28 is a problem. And that is something that

46:31 I think Lewis, you can talk to in terms

46:34 of what we're hearing and what we're

46:35 doing with what we hear. Where's the

46:38 disconnect as it relates to community

46:40 engagement?

46:41 The disconnect is the respect. We get no

46:44 respect for our leadership and no

46:45 respect for the knowledge that we have.

46:47 Before I go on, I want to thank pas the

46:49 Grandmaster Colin Herel for the use of

46:51 the space. And I also want to thank

46:53 sister Virginia for the time she put in

46:55 because there's some people that have

46:56 stayed here and made made this work. You

46:59 know, the the nation had made growth

47:01 hall work. This building here, this

47:04 grand lodge has been here for years to

47:07 make this community work. We provided if

47:10 they talk to us, they would talk to the

47:12 people who make a difference, who make

47:14 the change in our community, we'd have a

47:16 totally different environment here. It's

47:18 been deliberate. There is no accident.

47:20 Talk to our counselors. Ask them what

47:22 they've asked for. Ask them to what when

47:24 we ask for equity, why we can't get it.

47:26 If they spent 10% of what they spent in

47:29 ink block and Grove Hall, it'd be a

47:31 totally different environment. So, you

47:33 know, what they have to do is push city

47:36 councils because you have the power is

47:39 to get them to listen to what we're

47:40 saying, get them to follow. Clearly,

47:42 they talk to no planners, no city

47:44 planners, no transportation planners for

47:46 the designs that they've created. This

47:48 last project that they've given us, we

47:50 start in 2017 at the Lee School saying

47:53 no, this doesn't work. not no we don't

47:55 want development no we don't want

47:57 improvements we're saying the design

47:58 that you're pushing doesn't work and

48:00 we've given them alternatives they said

48:02 no to our alternatives but they keep

48:04 bringing on things that work for them

48:06 when they start closing Harvard Street

48:08 and they close ESON and Charlotte Street

48:10 and they close access to move people

48:12 around to minimize the amount of time

48:14 that you spend taking in carbon monoxide

48:16 they're not listening to us we've got to

48:18 bring this to a head and the head has to

48:20 be that we charge them with the racism

48:22 that's controlling their decisionmaking

48:24 that takes away from what our counselors

48:26 and representatives are saying.

48:28 Thank you. Thank you, Louis. And I'll

48:30 just know for the record that, you know,

48:31 I've spoken to many of the business

48:33 owners up and down the corridor and some

48:36 of them didn't even know that that was

48:38 happening. So, I find it very hard to

48:39 believe that at this moment in time,

48:41 there's still people who don't even know

48:43 that the city is planning to do

48:45 something like this that's going to

48:46 impact their businesses. And that says a

48:49 lot in terms of still the work that

48:50 needs to be done in terms of community

48:51 engagement. And I know my time was up.

48:54 Councelor Co Pepper, thank you for

48:55 allowing me to speak.

48:56 Thank you, Council Mahia. Uh I do want

48:58 to acknowledge recognize uh Senator

49:01 Wilkerson

49:03 for being here with us tonight. Uh and

49:06 uh Oh, you are going to testify. Did you

49:08 sign up?

49:10 Are there any other elected officials or

49:12 former elected officials?

49:17 Council,

49:17 I do want to acknowledge Councelor

49:19 Santana. Uh thank you, Council Santana.

49:23 And uh after

49:26 I've been given the counselors two

49:29 minutes for an intro and two minutes for

49:31 questions, let me go to councelor Flynn

49:34 uh and then councelor Bujon. And then uh

49:38 we'll come to you councelor Santana.

49:41 Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I

49:44 also want to recognize sister Virginia

49:47 and Senator Wilkerson and and so many

49:50 others that are that are here, community

49:52 leaders, and my my good friend as well,

49:54 Louis Lewis. Lisia Louisa, um I was

49:58 going to ask Lewis a question, and I've

50:00 known Lewis a long period of time, and

50:03 it's not it's not a trick question, but

50:06 Lewis, I I opened up my statement saying

50:09 this. I believe this is a civil rights

50:11 issue. Um, I I I voted to to ensure that

50:16 this docket went into the civil rights

50:18 committee. Um,

50:21 but the city thinks of this issue as a

50:23 transportation and planning

50:26 issue. I don't necessarily think they

50:30 classify this as a civil rights issue

50:32 like like the residents do, like we do,

50:36 like like you do. My my question is

50:40 knowing that how do how do we shift the

50:42 focus to have civil rights be part of

50:46 the discussion

50:48 from city officials

50:51 because we know the community knows it's

50:53 a civil rights issue but city officials

50:56 are not supporting that narrative. Um

50:59 that's my question. laws.

51:01 The question falls back on you and the

51:03 council to um get the city to admit they

51:06 don't respect the concept of civil

51:08 rights. That's the bottom line is the

51:11 former head of the Boston branch in

51:12 NACP. Unfortunately, we had to sue to

51:15 get people to recognize that the right

51:17 to have housing and the right to have

51:19 transportation and the right to have

51:20 good schools and the right to have clean

51:22 air and the right to be able to move

51:24 safely is a civil it's a right for

51:26 civilians. It's also a human right. And

51:29 so transportation that gives you

51:31 education and gives you access to

51:32 housing and gives you access to jobs and

51:35 everything else. It's a right for you as

51:37 a human being to be able to survive in a

51:39 city of this nature. We don't have an

51:42 effective transportation program. So

51:44 therefore, we must have we must have

51:48 focus on the civil rights of everyone

51:50 who's trying to make a living, go to

51:52 school, get good health care, and

51:54 participate in their society.

51:57 Thank Thank you, Lewis. I think part of

51:59 the strategy and discussion too, I think

52:02 the city council has a responsibility to

52:05 speak firmly that this is a civil rights

52:08 issue. I don't think we can be

52:09 wishy-washy and some of us say it is a

52:12 civil rights issue. Some say it's a

52:14 transportation issue. Some say it's a

52:16 construction issue. It is a civil rights

52:18 issue. If if we united on that one theme

52:21 and that one goal, I think the

52:23 administration will hear us as a

52:26 collective body that this is a civil

52:28 rights issue, I think there's some

52:29 responsibility on my colleagues to

52:32 firmly state that this is a civil rights

52:34 issue and to ask the administration to

52:37 treat it such um Thank you, Mr. Chair.

52:40 Thank you. Thank you, Council Flor.

52:44 You have two minutes.

52:45 Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. Um, and thank

52:48 you to the panelists for your testimony

52:50 and for being here today. Um, I have a

52:53 question regarding like what I care

52:55 deeply about the issue of displacement

52:59 is one of the reasons why we fought so

53:00 hard for rent stabilization. It's one of

53:02 the reasons why we fought so hard for to

53:04 get more money from the state house to

53:06 do the work of affordable housing. When

53:08 I'm thinking about businesses and

53:10 potential businesses being displaced,

53:12 especially black and brown ones during

53:14 construction, we can look at the other

53:16 end of Blue Hill Avenue to see what it's

53:18 like for businesses to suffer through

53:20 construction. U and whether we're

53:22 talking about a center running bus lane,

53:24 whether you're talking about Middle

53:25 Lane, whether you're talking about a

53:26 rail, construction happens. And so I'm

53:29 thinking whether you're talking about

53:31 the other side of Blue Lab or in High

53:33 Park or when the bridge was down, there

53:35 were businesses that suffered. What does

53:37 a model look like to support businesses

53:41 um like to support businesses during

53:44 construction?

53:47 Well, for me, the first thing that has

53:48 to happen is good planning, which hasn't

53:50 taken place. That's the most important

53:52 thing. Planning for the time that

53:54 businesses are going to be down,

53:55 planning routes that are used as

53:57 alternatives for people to get to school

53:58 and to get to work and things of that

54:00 nature. Best example,

54:01 Louis, I'm I'm talking about

54:02 specifically for the businesses, right?

54:04 Like, how do we help the businesses? You

54:06 help the businesses by planning. You

54:08 have to plan ahead to say what's going

54:10 to happen during construction period. As

54:13 a former FEMA regional director for

54:14 places that have been completely

54:16 destroyed, I know that the first thing

54:18 you have to do is talk about how

54:20 businesses are able to survive during

54:22 the construction or reconstruction of

54:23 any area. If they don't plan for it,

54:25 they don't take consider if they haven't

54:27 done a survey to even understand what

54:29 the businesses are and what their needs

54:30 are, they can't move ahead productively.

54:35 Ann, do you have a

54:38 [clears throat]

54:39 Well, I think you know it goes back to

54:41 talking to people. You have to

54:43 understand the the um quirks of each

54:46 business when they get their deliveries,

54:49 how long the deliveries take. Um and it

54:52 it really it's planning to avoid not mop

54:58 up but avoid making problems um by

55:02 tailoring your your construction to how

55:06 businesses actually operate. And you

55:07 know the MBTA h has done a decent job

55:11 with this in the past and they need to

55:13 have their feet held to the fire but you

55:16 really need block by block to understand

55:18 what each business's needs are.

55:22 The same work they did for South Boston,

55:24 the same work we did in New Bedford, the

55:26 same approach we've done on any highway

55:27 and roadway construction prior to this

55:30 event other than environmental impact

55:32 statement for economics and

55:33 environmental impact for health. They

55:35 meet with all the businesses in the

55:37 community. They meet with the business

55:39 network and they find out how businesses

55:41 run so they can plan on behalf of them.

55:44 That was the most important thing in

55:46 building the third harbor tunnel that we

55:48 got the traffic off of Dorchester

55:49 Avenue, created a bypass road and made

55:52 it available for residents of Dorchester

55:54 and South Boston and to be able to

55:55 survive.

55:58 Thank you. I mean I think my time is up.

56:00 I would love to hear what you thought

56:01 your thoughts around residential

56:02 displacement as well, but I believe

56:03 that's my time. I don't know if Council

56:05 Co Pepper

56:06 Council She can answer the question.

56:08 Yeah. Around like I asked about

56:09 businesses, but what about residential

56:11 displacement? How do you plan for

56:13 prevention of that

56:14 when construction is happening?

56:16 That's a that's a hard problem, but you

56:19 know, the mayor claims she has an indie

56:20 displacement plan, but um remains to be

56:25 seen.

56:26 I think it's a paper document that is on

56:29 a shelf now. I I I that's a that's a um

56:34 that's a bigger topic.

56:40 Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are my

56:41 questions.

56:42 Thank you,

56:42 Sh. Can I just say displacement and

56:44 disruption are two different things, but

56:45 they have the same effect because

56:47 residents lives will be so disrupted.

56:50 Business will be so disrupted, it'll

56:51 make it almost untenable when they're

56:53 doing two sides of the street coming

56:56 down a major thorfare artery like Blue

56:59 Avenue. There is no plan in place. It's

57:01 sort of like the so-called

57:03 transportation plan they have for White

57:04 Stadium. It's a myth.

57:08 Thank you, counselor. U want to move now

57:12 to councelor Santana. Uh councelor I

57:15 gave each of the counselors two minutes

57:18 to make an opening statement and I gave

57:21 them two minutes for questions and so

57:25 I'll give you four minutes if you need

57:27 them all.

57:28 Thank you chair co pepper and good

57:30 evening everyone. It's good to be here

57:32 and great to see everyone. Um

57:35 I want to thank the panelists um for

57:38 being here as well and for taking the

57:39 time um to answer our questions. I think

57:43 you know I think

57:45 right now I mean you hear from my

57:47 colleagues obviously I'm hearing from a

57:48 lot of you all about what's going on in

57:50 our neighborhoods here. Um and you know

57:53 a a big thing about that is the lack of

57:56 communication and transparency um that

57:59 many residents feel um and know right

58:02 that um that they're lacking right now.

58:03 So my question for the panelists is more

58:05 about right now obviously our current

58:08 process or the current process of the

58:10 administration [clears throat] um of how

58:13 they do business and how they get

58:15 feedback from residents um is not

58:17 currently working. There's a lot of

58:18 meetings, right? We I know a lot of you

58:21 show up to a lot of meetings um and and

58:23 testify. I know we're going to hear

58:24 testimony today, right? But it's about

58:27 not checking a box about how do we

58:29 actually take that feedback and actually

58:30 incorporate it into the plannings that

58:32 we're doing. So my question is, and I

58:34 don't know if you know I'm sorry for

58:36 coming in late, so I I I will apologize

58:38 if this question has been asked and

58:40 answered. Um but my question to the

58:43 panelists is more of like the current

58:45 process is not working right now. So

58:48 what what what about the process? The

58:50 whole process has to change, right? So

58:52 my question to you both is um what are

58:54 some starting steps that we can take as

58:56 a council um to change that process um

58:59 from the ground up?

59:03 Well, I I think the the problem is that

59:07 they hold a meeting to talk about a

59:09 project that was never embraced

59:14 instead of and the solution is you start

59:16 over with a true alternative study that

59:21 I that studies each alternative to the

59:25 same degree. This is what the federal

59:27 government requires. If this if this

59:30 were subject to um a very indepth

59:34 environmental review, the requirement is

59:38 that you study each alternative to the

59:40 same degree. And the reason that the

59:43 that the National Environmental Policy

59:46 Act requires this is to prevent people

59:49 from lurching toward the solution. They

59:52 think we all have biases. So, you have a

59:55 a highway engineer or transit

59:58 professional who says, "This is what I

1:00:00 think we ought to do." And the the

1:00:02 environmental review and any planning

1:00:04 review mandates that you step back and

1:00:08 evaluate alternatives that you a have

1:00:11 alternatives, b you evaluate them to the

1:00:14 same degree.

1:00:17 And this project did not do that. They

1:00:22 cannot prod produce any document saying

1:00:24 that they truly analyzed

1:00:27 and tried to make work other

1:00:30 alternatives.

1:00:32 It's not just saying, "Oh yeah, we

1:00:33 looked at, you know, a side bus lane, it

1:00:37 didn't work." No, you have to analyze

1:00:39 it. So, so the solution is step back and

1:00:43 look at alternatives and evaluate them

1:00:46 as if they did not have a preferred

1:00:49 solution. And so that requires really,

1:00:52 you know, making a commitment to a true

1:00:55 planning process.

1:00:56 And can I just do a follow-up question

1:00:57 on that in more spec I mean, is there a

1:01:00 specific project that have you seen um

1:01:02 in the past where maybe it was

1:01:04 introduced, it was not um embraced by

1:01:07 the community as you mentioned, right?

1:01:08 And then that what you just h what you

1:01:10 just explained actually occurred. Is

1:01:12 there a specific project that

1:01:15 I'm hearing from community? I'm hearing

1:01:17 are you you're talking about nationally

1:01:18 or in Boston cuz here in Boston. No,

1:01:20 here in Boston.

1:01:20 We can take you to the seapport where

1:01:22 they said they didn't want it to happen.

1:01:23 We can take you to a number of places

1:01:25 where they said, you know, the the bike

1:01:27 lanes and some of the things that

1:01:28 they're proposing, the bus lanes does

1:01:30 not work for the businesses there. We've

1:01:32 got examples of everybody other parts of

1:01:34 this city being respected in a very

1:01:36 different way.

1:01:37 We've got real we've got real, you know,

1:01:40 examples. And so the question is though,

1:01:42 is not just in the city council, but in

1:01:44 the state and at the federal level

1:01:45 because most of this decisions made at

1:01:47 the highest level of department of

1:01:48 transportation. And that's why we're

1:01:50 appealing to them is because they didn't

1:01:52 do their due diligence. When you're

1:01:54 involving this many people, this many

1:01:56 thousands of people, MEEP is supposed to

1:01:58 kick in automatically. There's supposed

1:02:00 to be an automatic environmental impact

1:02:02 assessment as well as economic

1:02:04 assessment. We've done it for bridges

1:02:05 and tunnels all over the city. Trust me,

1:02:08 as head of the Seapport Advisory

1:02:10 Council, I did it from Gloucester to

1:02:11 Seapport Secon and also in New Bedford.

1:02:14 did nothing moving forward without

1:02:16 talking to the community and getting

1:02:18 analysis of what the impacts would be.

1:02:20 Thank you, Councelor Santana.

1:02:22 Thank you um Chair and I just want to um

1:02:25 I just want to give a few shoutouts. I

1:02:27 obviously um Senator Rickerson Sister

1:02:30 Virginia. I see um Steven Wilson, the

1:02:32 great um here in the building. I also,

1:02:34 you know, one thing I'm big focused on

1:02:36 and I think many of you know is how we

1:02:38 incorporate our young people into these

1:02:40 conversations. And you know, I just want

1:02:42 to give a shout out to some of the young

1:02:44 people here that I know um who are here

1:02:46 on a on a Thursday. Is it Thursday?

1:02:49 Wednesday. Wednesday night. Um really

1:02:51 appreciate y'all being here and being

1:02:53 engaged. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

1:02:54 Thank you, councelor. Councelor Warel,

1:02:56 you've got uh two minutes.

1:02:59 Uh thank you, chair. Um my question is

1:03:01 around past planning um proposals that

1:03:06 the community has created. Uh Lewis, you

1:03:08 spoke to uh initiatives or um planning

1:03:11 processes that dated back to 2017. Uh

1:03:14 whether that was the Roxberry,

1:03:15 Dorchester, Madapan transit needs study.

1:03:17 Uh there was a Washington Street

1:03:19 corridor coalition um and few other um

1:03:23 uh times communities came together to

1:03:25 discuss transportation needs and

1:03:27 planning around Bluehav. Uh my question

1:03:30 to both you and Ann is how how should

1:03:32 have those past planning process been

1:03:35 factored into this conversation and when

1:03:38 if they should have been introduced uh

1:03:41 to the community about here here are

1:03:44 past pin and processes that talked about

1:03:47 different uh initiatives and strategies

1:03:49 to make the bus more efficient on Blue

1:03:51 Lab.

1:03:53 Well, any planner who's serious about um

1:03:58 getting to yes on an agreeable solution

1:04:02 starts by looking at what was studied in

1:04:04 the past. You go back to 1978. You go

1:04:07 back to all of the um previous efforts

1:04:10 and you bring all those alternatives

1:04:11 forward and you say, you know, this was

1:04:13 looked at. We're going to update the

1:04:15 data and look at it. they just jumped to

1:04:18 what they thought they could get funding

1:04:21 for and what was going to be easy to

1:04:25 implement. And that's a lazy um arrogant

1:04:28 way to um approach a project of this

1:04:31 magnitude.

1:04:32 That's right.

1:04:34 Sister Sister Virginia and Senator

1:04:36 Wilkersonson and others who've been at

1:04:38 it for about 40 years now can tell you

1:04:40 that there's at least three studies out

1:04:42 there. is a blue lab avenue commission

1:04:44 that came up during Dukakus in the

1:04:45 second Dukakus came up you know even

1:04:48 with King and others they all they have

1:04:50 to do is do the research the

1:04:52 alternatives have been presented for the

1:04:54 10 years that I've been working on this

1:04:55 project specifically we've had five

1:04:58 groups come together and grayscale they

1:04:59 paid a million dollars to from Harvard

1:05:01 we sat with them throughout 24 and 25

1:05:04 and we met with over 106 meetings and

1:05:07 each meeting people said resoundingly

1:05:09 the center line process doesn't work

1:05:11 Here are two alternatives. The first

1:05:13 alternative is to enforce chapter 90,

1:05:16 the transportation code. Four major

1:05:19 public safety agencies in the area and

1:05:22 they still don't enforce the law. The

1:05:24 second is to manage the traffic and

1:05:26 improve transit service, which means

1:05:30 starting at the the the head where the

1:05:32 buses come from, send them out on a

1:05:34 regular basis. In the winter time, move

1:05:36 the snow in in the summertime and force

1:05:39 the parking in. You can pick up 10

1:05:42 minutes, not five minutes. If you

1:05:43 enforce

1:05:44 Yep.

1:05:45 If you enforce the traffic regulations

1:05:47 in the area, this community needs

1:05:48 improvement. We've wanted to improve.

1:05:50 This is not a group of membies. We're

1:05:52 not saying no. We're saying we don't

1:05:54 want our lives destroyed and our health

1:05:56 taken away in order for construction

1:05:57 people to make a lot of money and then

1:06:00 our community lose our businesses. We

1:06:01 suffered that through COVID and we know

1:06:04 exactly what will happen if we don't get

1:06:05 it right.

1:06:06 Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Warwell.

1:06:10 And that will end the uh panel

1:06:12 discussion. We'll now move into the

1:06:17 testimony from the public.

1:06:21 Each speaker will get two minutes. I'll

1:06:24 call the panelists

1:06:27 uh five at a time. You come up to this

1:06:30 mic here. Uh

1:06:34 and as one panelist speak, I I'd ask the

1:06:37 other four to stand behind them so we

1:06:40 can uh

1:06:43 give them a few minuteses

1:06:45 to stand. We don't want that long line

1:06:48 down there where you have to wait an

1:06:49 hour. So, we're just going to call five

1:06:51 at a time. Uh and I'll call the first

1:06:54 five. You'll come to the mic and you'll

1:06:56 have two minutes. The timer is right

1:06:58 here. Uh, Westward,

1:07:02 Jeffrey Sams,

1:07:04 Maxon

1:07:06 Medcrier,

1:07:08 uh, Judith Vanam,

1:07:11 and Demarcus White

1:07:18 West,

1:07:20 peace and blessings, sir.

1:07:22 Uh,

1:07:25 Wes's mic is not on. Uh

1:07:31 hello, hello, hello.

1:07:33 I think it's on now. Great.

1:07:37 Peace and blessings to my brothers and

1:07:39 sisters of Boston, to the Commonwealth.

1:07:42 Thank you. How you doing? How you doing,

1:07:43 sister? My name is Wes Wood. I represent

1:07:46 the people. Um I'm the chair of the

1:07:49 Matipan Coalition and I'm leading the

1:07:51 corridor coalition as well.

1:07:54 Before I begin, I want to Who's in the

1:07:56 room? Can everyone put their hands up if

1:07:58 you're from Roxberry, Madapan, and

1:08:00 Dorchester?

1:08:03 Almost everybody.

1:08:05 Wonderful.

1:08:07 I'm born and raised in Boston. My family

1:08:10 has been in this city for over a hundred

1:08:12 years. And when I see my people being

1:08:14 torn away from their homes, when I see

1:08:17 them being torn away from their friends

1:08:18 and family and having to look elsewhere

1:08:20 to live, this tells me that this is a

1:08:23 human rights issue, not a political one.

1:08:26 We assembled in this historical hall

1:08:28 tonight to demand payment on a long

1:08:31 overdue

1:08:32 on a long overdue promisary note from

1:08:35 the city.

1:08:37 Decades ago, when the transit

1:08:39 infrastructure was dismantled through

1:08:41 this corridor, the city made a vow to

1:08:44 the people of this corridor, to the

1:08:46 working men and women of Roxberry,

1:08:48 Dorchester, and Matipan

1:08:50 that equitable connection and dignity

1:08:53 and rapid transit would follow. But

1:08:55 instead, this community was handed a

1:08:57 checkmarked insufficient funds. Billions

1:09:00 of dollars inflowing everywhere else

1:09:02 into the city, and we was given red

1:09:04 paint on the streets.

1:09:10 What is on trial here tonight is not

1:09:12 about a bus schedule, but what is on

1:09:15 trial is the moral architecture of this

1:09:17 city. When you bring blueprints, traffic

1:09:20 models, periodic dockets into this room,

1:09:25 not one of you can look at the

1:09:26 businesses, the barbers, the salons, the

1:09:29 the people who actually keep this

1:09:30 corridor alive and thriving with

1:09:32 culture. You can't look at them in the

1:09:33 eyes and say, "In five years, your

1:09:35 business will still be here." And if you

1:09:37 can't say that to them honestly,

1:09:42 you promised this corridor rapid transit

1:09:44 decades ago. You gave white

1:09:45 neighborhoods subways, trains, and you

1:09:48 come to our neighborhood and you're

1:09:50 giving us diesel exhaustion. And you're

1:09:52 asking us to be thankful.

1:09:55 We want transit sovereignty. We want our

1:09:58 merchants to be protected. And if you

1:10:00 can't deliver rapid transit equity and

1:10:03 economic security to the people whose

1:10:04 tax dollars built this city, then you

1:10:07 have no business running this city.

1:10:10 Boston still owes this corridor rapid

1:10:12 transit and it was promised. What are

1:10:14 you going to do to promise that? Can I

1:10:16 have your hands up? Every counselor

1:10:18 who's actually going to say yes and push

1:10:20 for this forward.

1:10:25 For both dockets.

1:10:31 Okay. Thank you.

1:10:44 Jeffrey

1:10:48 Sams Jeffrey

1:10:52 Jeffrey is not here. Uh Max Sense,

1:10:57 is he here?

1:10:59 Come on, Max. Come on. You got two

1:11:01 minutes.

1:11:02 I thought I had a couple more people to

1:11:04 go. Good evening, everyone.

1:11:06 Thank you counselors for holding this

1:11:08 meeting again. Council Mahia, thank you.

1:11:11 I I went to the the one on Blue Hill

1:11:13 Avenue. Um so I just jotted some notes

1:11:16 down because I grew up here. My name is

1:11:18 again Max Sans Mateer. I grew up in uh

1:11:21 Roxbury

1:11:23 Matapan and Hyde Park. And I've been

1:11:25 here most of my life. I have three

1:11:27 children and we all commute in some way.

1:11:30 I walk, I take the bus, take the train,

1:11:33 I drive. So, I feel it all. I see it

1:11:36 all. And not one time in my commuting,

1:11:39 at least on public transportation, that

1:11:41 I don't see someone, a child, an elderly

1:11:44 person dragging a cart behind them,

1:11:46 someone with a small child and a baby in

1:11:49 a carriage that is either rushing for

1:11:51 the bus, which is very easy when you're

1:11:54 coming from the curb. Now, imagine those

1:11:56 individuals having to cross the street

1:11:58 to get to the center, still have traffic

1:12:01 coming at them. Maybe the child drops a

1:12:03 toy in the middle of the street. Now you

1:12:05 have to stop, pick it up, maybe wait,

1:12:08 right? Because everyone's always in a

1:12:10 hurry. This is a major throughway. A

1:12:13 major throughway for everyone who wants

1:12:15 to divert off the highway, come up Route

1:12:17 128, 138, off 93 just to get to and from

1:12:21 work. At night, when there's no one else

1:12:24 commuting to work, it's quiet. The

1:12:28 streets are calm. The buses run freely.

1:12:33 I challenge everyone to try to find out

1:12:36 how late are the number 28 buses. How

1:12:39 late are they? 28 30 uh excuse me, 23.

1:12:43 They're not on the top five list. They

1:12:46 [clears throat] get us there. Why do we

1:12:48 need something in the center that now

1:12:51 that now challenges us to cross the

1:12:53 street? Many elderly. This is a multif

1:12:55 family community, business community,

1:12:58 homeowned neighborhood. This is not a

1:13:01 street full of buildings of renters

1:13:04 turning over. We have people who have

1:13:06 lived here a long time. They grow old

1:13:09 here. They start young here and they

1:13:11 need to commute safely, efficiently.

1:13:14 They need to get to the curb under

1:13:17 perhaps a canopy. Why can't we have

1:13:19 covered bus stops like Washington Street

1:13:22 down the south end? My bus goes through

1:13:25 there as well. I've seen it restored.

1:13:28 I've seen new bricks. I've seen repaved

1:13:32 at least three times. And we have to

1:13:34 continue to deal with what is going on

1:13:37 on Blue Hill Avenue. We have to continue

1:13:40 to accept substandard

1:13:43 conditions. Our bus drivers are great.

1:13:46 And you ask them, they too see people

1:13:48 running for the bus. They're not

1:13:50 necessarily for it. When I attended the

1:13:53 last meeting, I said, "Well, gee, are

1:13:55 our buses really that late? Is it a an

1:13:59 attendance issue?"

1:14:01 One of the city reps paused on that one.

1:14:04 I saw her write it down. Not the

1:14:07 counselors, Mayor Woo's office. Okay.

1:14:11 So, I don't think it's even that because

1:14:14 we get two buses at a time. So, what is

1:14:17 it really for and who is it really for?

1:14:20 It's not really helping us. It actually

1:14:22 will impact our lives more negatively,

1:14:25 more negatively than what we have now.

1:14:27 It's not telling us that we are being

1:14:29 supported and what we want and don't

1:14:31 want is being heard. It's about

1:14:34 disrespect, disenfranchisement,

1:14:36 continuous disenfranchisement.

1:14:38 And we continually say the same thing.

1:14:42 Where are these supporters of this

1:14:43 project? They're not here. If they are,

1:14:46 they're not saying anything. Someone

1:14:48 told me on the street, we just stuck up

1:14:50 a conversation that he heard there are

1:14:51 3,000 supporters. Really?

1:14:54 Where are they? Where are they? Where

1:14:57 are they? Oh, you're there. Oh, really?

1:14:59 You support this project?

1:15:01 You must not have grown up here. You

1:15:04 must not have really fully embraced

1:15:06 fully embraced all of the diversity.

1:15:13 Okay, beautiful. I'm happy you

1:15:15 supported. I'm happy you supported.

1:15:17 Thank you for your time. I appreciate

1:15:19 it. Um, you know, every time no one

1:15:22 supports this.

1:15:22 Thank you, Max.

1:15:23 Thank you so much.

1:15:28 We follow and we are we are obligated to

1:15:32 follow the rules as if we're down at

1:15:35 city hall. So, we have to follow the

1:15:37 council rules, which means that there's

1:15:39 no expression of support one way or

1:15:42 another. And so if you would just

1:15:44 refrain from uh showing your support one

1:15:48 way or another, as if we're down the

1:15:51 council.

1:15:52 Yes. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

1:15:54 We're following Nope. Tonight we're

1:15:57 following the rules as if we're down the

1:16:00 council. And so I came here knowing that

1:16:03 y'all are going to follow the rules as

1:16:06 if we're down the council.

1:16:09 You can speak for two minutes, but what

1:16:12 you can't do is show support one way or

1:16:14 another. Thank you.

1:16:20 No. And we tell you down the council to

1:16:23 stop clapping.

1:16:25 Mac, [laughter]

1:16:28 let let's get back so folks can testify.

1:16:32 Let's not get distracted. Uh, who's

1:16:34 next? Judith Vanham.

1:16:45 You've got two minutes.

1:16:53 I would like you to note that there is a

1:16:55 better way of doing transit on Blue Hill

1:16:59 Avenue

1:17:00 and it's nothing that anybody's talked

1:17:03 about so far that I've heard. It's solar

1:17:05 mobility.

1:17:07 uh transit. And if you c I I'll describe

1:17:11 it so you know what I'm talking about.

1:17:14 If you can imagine small pods that carry

1:17:18 typically one to four people. They're

1:17:20 private. You get in there with whom you

1:17:22 want to travel with and they move fast.

1:17:27 Um

1:17:29 and they're solar powered. So all of

1:17:32 Blue Hill A would have a panel of solar

1:17:36 solar panels. So, you know, that's a

1:17:38 protection also for people who are

1:17:40 walking. Um, what what this does is that

1:17:48 it it just provides faster, cleaner

1:17:51 transportation, less expensive, and it

1:17:54 you puts you up in leading the head of

1:17:57 all the all the transit in the world.

1:18:01 This system will then because it works

1:18:04 so well and is so is affordable both to

1:18:07 build and to use will connect with all

1:18:09 of Boston and way beyond Boston. Um it's

1:18:14 something that you before you make a

1:18:17 decision what direction you want to go

1:18:19 in, it's very important to look at it.

1:18:22 Any

1:18:28 questions that I could quickly answer?

1:18:30 Judith,

1:18:31 we're not answering questions from the

1:18:33 panelists.

1:18:34 Public

1:18:35 just using two minutes for your

1:18:37 statement.

1:18:39 Thank you.

1:18:42 If you want to look it up, here's the

1:18:44 company that I I've been following since

1:18:47 I tried to get it to use in Hull, which

1:18:50 I'm still working on. The company is

1:18:52 JPods. It's jpo

1:18:55 ds.com.

1:18:59 Okay, check it out.

1:19:00 Thank you, Judith Demarcus White.

1:19:13 Good evening, everyone.

1:19:16 My name is Demarcus White. I was born

1:19:18 and raised in Roxberry

1:19:20 and I've um people be telling me,

1:19:23 Demarcus, you have a vision of Boston.

1:19:27 Why do I have a vision?

1:19:28 That's good. Um, before I get to the

1:19:31 plan,

1:19:32 oh,

1:19:33 before I get to the plan, um, take down

1:19:35 my email address because I'm going to

1:19:36 send you the Orange Line project plan

1:19:39 that I presented to Coun, uh, council,

1:19:42 uh, to the to the counselor, demarcus

1:19:45 w35gmail.com.

1:19:48 That's demarcus dm a r cus w35gmail.com.

1:19:56 All the plan has been put in place for

1:19:59 the Orange Line extension from Rugles to

1:20:02 Madapan.

1:20:03 It's going to be great for our

1:20:05 community. Not not this this uh center

1:20:09 lane that the city is proposing.

1:20:13 Now about my vision, everybody knows mo

1:20:16 mostly everyone knows that I've drawn

1:20:18 drawn the orange line. I've been drawn

1:20:20 for 40 years. drawn the orange line from

1:20:23 Forest Hills to to do drew drew the

1:20:26 green line from North Station to Leech

1:20:29 and that's where my vision comes in. So

1:20:31 I've created a plan. I created stations

1:20:33 within this Orange Line plan. It's not

1:20:36 just going to be about the stations

1:20:39 itself underneath. Let's say the tunnel

1:20:44 will be 125 ft deep if we plan to build

1:20:48 the orange line in between.

1:20:51 In between the stations and the street

1:20:54 level, we will have businesses for our

1:20:58 communities. We're talking about retail

1:21:00 stores. We're talking about

1:21:03 um businesses that where people own them

1:21:07 who looks like us.

1:21:09 And we're talking about well imagine

1:21:12 this Martin Luther King Boulevard is

1:21:15 which is the station that he wants. Can

1:21:18 you imagine having a king center, a

1:21:21 local king center within the station?

1:21:24 That's what we need where Bernard when

1:21:26 Reverend when when we can bring Reverend

1:21:28 Bernice King up there and do the grand

1:21:31 opening with the station named after her

1:21:34 father.

1:21:37 I um once you get the um project, you'll

1:21:41 see it and we need to have a meeting

1:21:43 together to talk about it. We're talking

1:21:46 again businesses

1:21:48 underneath the station

1:21:51 because I've been to New York. I've been

1:21:53 to Penn Station. They have major

1:21:55 businesses under the station. We need to

1:21:57 have that here in Roxberry, Dorchester,

1:21:59 and Madapan where people don't have to

1:22:01 go to South Bay uh to to Staples. we can

1:22:04 have our own BPS supply store where we

1:22:07 can where we can buy our own school

1:22:10 books and all that and everything within

1:22:12 our community where we don't have to go

1:22:13 to South Bay or Somerville.

1:22:15 Demarcus, can you wrap it up now?

1:22:17 Yes. So, um so uh um

1:22:22 so uh again, my email address is

1:22:24 demarcus35gmail.com.

1:22:27 I'll send you I'll send you that package

1:22:29 and um let's let's have a meeting about

1:22:31 this and continue.

1:22:34 Thank you.

1:22:36 Want to call up the next five.

1:22:39 Uh Reggie Stewart,

1:22:41 Terresa Rochelle,

1:22:44 Jeffrey Ferris,

1:22:47 Michael Kosu,

1:22:49 and John Smith.

1:22:58 Uh good evening. Can y'all hear me?

1:23:04 How about now?

1:23:06 Is that better? All right. Uh good

1:23:08 evening everybody. Uh good evening uh

1:23:11 Chair Co Pepper. Uh Vice Chair uh Mahia

1:23:15 who's with us in spirit. Uh thank you

1:23:17 counselors for coming. Uh as I think

1:23:20 about this issue, I think about some of

1:23:22 the questions that we should ask

1:23:24 ourselves. And it's not just a question

1:23:27 that I would pose to the counselors or

1:23:30 just to the mayor, but also to our state

1:23:32 partners as multiple levels of

1:23:34 government are involved uh in this

1:23:37 project. Uh, you know, I I want us as

1:23:40 officials, community leaders, activists,

1:23:44 residents, uh, that we as a city really

1:23:46 look in the mirror and be honest, uh,

1:23:49 when we ask ourselves the question, do

1:23:52 black communities deserve the same scale

1:23:54 [clears throat] of investment and the

1:23:56 same determination to solve

1:23:57 transportation problems as other

1:24:00 communities? Now, on the surface, we

1:24:02 should say yes, but if that's the case,

1:24:06 we're not acting like it. Uh, in 1987,

1:24:09 when the elevated orange line was

1:24:11 removed, uh, and not replaced, it

1:24:14 essentially cut off black Boston from

1:24:17 the rest of the city. And here we are

1:24:20 four decades out, still waiting for that

1:24:23 promise to be fulfilled. Uh, in the

1:24:25 meantime, uh, Massachusetts has spent

1:24:28 billions of dollars. we uh uh was

1:24:32 referenced 2.3 billion uh for the Green

1:24:35 Line extension into Somerville and

1:24:36 Medford. And I agree with everyone when

1:24:39 you we say it's a civil rights issue

1:24:41 because it can't be lost on us that the

1:24:44 communities of Somerville and Medford

1:24:47 are 70%

1:24:49 white residents.

1:24:51 And that project, it faced soaring cost,

1:24:54 threats of cancellation, but the state

1:24:57 did redesign. They found the money and

1:25:00 they built it and figure it out. Uh so

1:25:02 why do some communities uh receive a

1:25:05 conversation uh while we're offered

1:25:07 crumbs and crumbs that we did not ask

1:25:11 for and that we're told to be grateful

1:25:13 for. And when we propose rail, cost and

1:25:17 feasibility concerns are used to shut

1:25:19 down the conversation as opposed to a

1:25:23 doorway for government to find a

1:25:26 solution. And that's why so many of us

1:25:28 rightly see that racism underpins this

1:25:32 entire conversation. It's not racism

1:25:35 through explic explicit prejuditial

1:25:38 statements or attitudes, but it's

1:25:41 through decades of decisions about which

1:25:43 communities get transformative

1:25:45 investment and which ones do not. Uh so

1:25:49 I echo uh the call for feasibility

1:25:52 studies uh serious alternative analyses

1:25:56 designs to address costs feasibility

1:25:59 concerns around displacement and ensure

1:26:01 authentic intentional community

1:26:05 engagement. Again I'll say it authentic

1:26:08 intentional community engagement which

1:26:10 has been missing from this process as

1:26:12 well as many others uh throughout our

1:26:15 neighborhoods. And I just want to close

1:26:17 with just the ask. Do not tell black

1:26:21 Bostononians what's feasible or what's

1:26:24 possible when you haven't even done the

1:26:26 work to find out in the first place.

1:26:30 Thank you.

1:26:33 [applause]

1:26:34 Theresa

1:26:38 Terresa Rochelle,

1:26:41 Jeff Ferris.

1:26:47 Thank you, counselors. Uh, yes, Jeffrey

1:26:50 Ferris. Uh, some many of you may know me

1:26:52 as the former longtime owner of Ferris

1:26:55 Wheels bike shop in Jamaica Plane. Yes,

1:26:57 I'm in Jamaica Plane. I am not in this

1:26:58 neighborhood.

1:27:00 Did just go through a process has some

1:27:02 similarities. the the loss of the

1:27:04 overpass at Forest Hills, I was on the

1:27:07 losing side. The city and the state did

1:27:09 not want to replace that bridge, no

1:27:10 matter how much we [clears throat] in

1:27:12 the community fought for it. But anyway,

1:27:16 for tonight, um I'm mostly addressing

1:27:18 the second docket, which is about the

1:27:20 need for a study of

1:27:24 the Orange Line Down Blue Hill Avenue.

1:27:27 So,

1:27:29 you know that

1:27:29 orange line down Blue Hill Avenue?

1:27:32 Why should this sound crazy? Is it

1:27:34 because it's just a lot of black folks

1:27:36 and other people of color? The city and

1:27:39 the tea never did a complete and open

1:27:42 alternatives analysis of the Blue Hill

1:27:44 Avenue corridor. You've heard this a

1:27:46 number of times tonight already. They

1:27:48 come up with their own idea of a center

1:27:50 bus proposal and told the community that

1:27:53 this was the best thing for them. They

1:27:55 still haven't learned that the community

1:27:56 is tired of being told what's good for

1:27:58 them.

1:28:00 Now, I could not find a comprehensive

1:28:02 list of project goals for this for the

1:28:04 transit improvements, but in this era of

1:28:06 climate change and global warming, it

1:28:08 needs to include getting as many people

1:28:11 as possible out of gas guzzling cars.

1:28:15 It is well known that an underground

1:28:17 heavy rail subway like the Orange Line

1:28:19 to downtown along this or any corridor

1:28:22 would attract the most riders.

1:28:24 This includes people from this community

1:28:27 currently on the buses along with new

1:28:29 local riders and commuters as have been

1:28:31 mentioned from other communities south

1:28:33 of here currently driving up Blue Hill

1:28:35 Avenue. A one seat ride to downtown

1:28:38 along with many destinations in between

1:28:40 is a wonderful goal. Why is this

1:28:44 community being denied this future

1:28:47 opportunity?

1:28:49 Now the detail if after

1:28:53 what was that

1:28:55 that's your time Mr. But go on and wrap

1:28:57 up.

1:28:58 Thank you.

1:28:58 You can wrap up.

1:28:59 If after a proper analysis, it was

1:29:01 determined that the underground subway

1:29:02 was the right approach, but they'd

1:29:05 already put in a center bus lane, what

1:29:08 would have to happen? They'd have to

1:29:09 tear up the whole center bus lane to

1:29:11 build the subway under the street. That

1:29:14 would be a sad result following the huge

1:29:16 cost and disruption the center bus lane

1:29:19 would have caused.

1:29:21 Obviously, the orange line extension

1:29:23 here is a long range desire. Choosing

1:29:25 this does not preclude the need for

1:29:27 immediate transportation improvements.

1:29:29 There are many ways these can be done,

1:29:30 but don't choose so-called improvements

1:29:32 that preclude the Orange Line

1:29:34 construction down the road. The current

1:29:37 center bus lane planning should stop

1:29:39 immediately until an open public

1:29:42 thorough alternatives analysis is done,

1:29:44 including the Orange Line extension.

1:29:46 Look at the pros and cons of each. any

1:29:49 community would deserve this, but

1:29:51 especially here with the decades of

1:29:53 broken promises to the people of color.

1:29:56 Thank you.

1:29:57 Thank you. Want to just make sure that

1:30:01 Teresa Teresa Roshelle, you are you

1:30:03 going to testify? Teresa,

1:30:07 Michael, why don't you testify and we'll

1:30:10 let Teresa follow you?

1:30:16 My my name is uh Michael Kosu,

1:30:19 co-director of project right. Why this

1:30:22 issue is a civil rights issue is that

1:30:24 this whole process has been flawed from

1:30:26 the start and the neighborhood that's

1:30:28 most impacted negatively by this pro uh

1:30:30 plan has the least input into the plan.

1:30:34 When the meeting was at Growalt Library,

1:30:37 they had big poster boards of the

1:30:38 intersections south of of Franklin Park.

1:30:42 The intersections from Franklin Park

1:30:44 into Warren Street was very small. It

1:30:46 was this this wide. You cannot see the

1:30:49 impact of that plan. And there was a

1:30:51 reason why for that when they first

1:30:54 tried to nest scheduled the meeting,

1:30:56 they had it at the Holland BCY facility

1:31:00 on by boat in Geneva. We told them

1:31:02 that's not Grove Hall. So then they

1:31:03 moved it to the Holland Techch or Burke.

1:31:06 And as much as I love the Hall and Tech

1:31:07 Burke, because I spent a lot of time

1:31:09 there, we told them that that's not

1:31:11 accessible community-wise for seniors,

1:31:13 those in walkers, those in wheelchairs,

1:31:16 and so forth. And the side path that

1:31:18 they had you take was to go right by the

1:31:20 dumpsters where there's a lot of needles

1:31:22 we find, and a lot of rats. So that's

1:31:24 not very accessible. They said, "Oh, we

1:31:26 were going to try to use the Grove Hall

1:31:27 Community Center." But they did not tell

1:31:28 anyone. So a lot of people who I knew

1:31:31 who knew the Hall and Tech Burke did not

1:31:34 come because they knew that it was

1:31:35 totally inaccessible.

1:31:37 The other part on this is that we've

1:31:39 always said before you present a plan on

1:31:42 Blue Avenue and you're using the flawed

1:31:44 design of the Columbus A process. Let's

1:31:48 evaluate what happened on Columbus A.

1:31:50 It's not safer. We've had two elders,

1:31:52 very respective elders, killed trying to

1:31:55 cross the street along Columbus A. You

1:31:57 have apartment buildings no longer have

1:31:59 parking in front. So, uh, seniors and

1:32:03 families have to go around the corner

1:32:05 several blocks just so they can get to

1:32:07 their their building. So, why are we

1:32:08 repeating that same mistake? Businesses

1:32:10 have lost u customers. We've lost our

1:32:13 fish market that everyone like to go to,

1:32:16 right? So, why are we repeating that?

1:32:19 And they're going to try to tell you

1:32:20 that it's better and it's faster. Not

1:32:23 for us. It's it's for growall. So you

1:32:25 can look at the plan, but if you're

1:32:27 riding the bus, you you have instead of

1:32:30 two bus stops between Columbia Road and

1:32:32 War Street, you only have one. You can't

1:32:34 drive across uh Blue Avenue. If you're

1:32:37 leaving your house, you're going to have

1:32:39 to go one way. You only have one way,

1:32:40 and you usually have to go into traffic

1:32:43 um into dead of traffic. In front of

1:32:45 Harbor Street Health Center, you're

1:32:47 you're going to have part-time parking.

1:32:49 So during rush hour, you cannot load and

1:32:51 unload to a health center. And we have a

1:32:53 lot more. I think Anton's going to talk.

1:32:55 We have copies of our of our statement.

1:32:59 Thank you.

1:33:01 [applause]

1:33:02 Teresa Roser

1:33:04 and John

1:33:07 Smith, you're next.

1:33:08 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is

1:33:09 Teresa Rochelle. I'm a longtime resident

1:33:12 of Rox Ferry. I am here to express my

1:33:15 concerns about the um blue the Grove

1:33:18 Hall bus one bus going up um from Brock

1:33:22 Prevy to Madapan.

1:33:24 I'm really um concerned more or less

1:33:28 that a lot of the statistics and the

1:33:30 data weren't given at a number of the

1:33:31 meetings. I've attended all of the

1:33:34 meetings for Roxberry, Dorchester,

1:33:37 Madapan, and Jamaica plane. And there

1:33:40 was a stark difference in Roxberry in

1:33:42 Dorchester and Matapan. When I went to

1:33:45 JP, it was more accessible when there

1:33:48 were more people there and they were

1:33:50 more uh their neighborhood association

1:33:53 was more involved. During the meetings,

1:33:55 one of the questions that was asked is

1:33:57 how come the neighborhoods do not know

1:34:00 about the meetings that are being held.

1:34:02 If I went home and I asked people in my

1:34:04 neighborhood and many of the people in

1:34:06 my neighborhood had no idea about this

1:34:09 meeting or the Blue Hill AB bus meetings

1:34:12 in certain neighborhoods. So, how are

1:34:14 the neighborhood associations being

1:34:16 contacted is what I'd like to know.

1:34:18 Another thing is that the Orange Line I

1:34:22 grew up when we had the Orange Line. It

1:34:24 was a high It was a a a train track that

1:34:27 was up high, probably about 20 feet up

1:34:30 in the air.

1:34:32 Yes. And so the it it leaned a little

1:34:35 bit, but they promised another transit

1:34:38 system and we never got another transit

1:34:40 system. We all we have is the buses.

1:34:43 Now, the problem I have with the buses

1:34:45 is that there's not enough information

1:34:48 that was put out during the meetings.

1:34:50 They didn't give us an environmental

1:34:52 study. They gave us all the pros and

1:34:54 none of the cons. When you give a

1:34:56 audience the information, you're

1:34:58 supposed to produce both so you can have

1:35:00 an objective informed view. That did not

1:35:03 happen from my perspective. I asked

1:35:06 about the studies and I did not see

1:35:08 them. The number one concern that I have

1:35:11 is that you want a bunch of diesel buses

1:35:13 going up and down in Roxbury

1:35:15 neighborhood. You're not giving into

1:35:17 consideration other projects that are

1:35:18 already in the making. Not only that,

1:35:21 you're not considering the fact that

1:35:22 Roxberry is one of the high toxic

1:35:25 neighborhoods in the whole state. There

1:35:28 are many studies that tell you about the

1:35:29 environmental problems and the high

1:35:31 toxicity rate here. And none of that was

1:35:34 mentioned at any of the meeting or how

1:35:35 they were going to address it. When we

1:35:37 asked about when are we going to get um

1:35:40 electrical buses, the answers are

1:35:42 [clears throat] in three years. So you

1:35:43 mean you just going to put a system in

1:35:45 and wait for three years for more

1:35:47 pollution? I just think that we need

1:35:50 alternative not one one one shoe size

1:35:54 does not fit everyone. So we should have

1:35:56 had an alternative plan. That's all.

1:35:58 Thank you John Smith.

1:36:02 [applause]

1:36:13 How's everybody doing?

1:36:16 My name is John Smith Saintier and I've

1:36:18 spent all of my life between Roxberry

1:36:21 and Madapan.

1:36:22 And so I found a quote by Malcolm X. I

1:36:25 really think um sums up my feelings

1:36:27 about with this whole situation. So he

1:36:30 says, "If you stick a knife in my back 9

1:36:32 in and pull it out six inches, there's

1:36:35 no progress.

1:36:36 If you pull it out all the way, there's

1:36:39 no progress. Progress is healing the

1:36:42 wound that the blow made. And as we all

1:36:45 know, for generations, our community has

1:36:48 experienced sustained disinvestment by

1:36:50 both the city and state. Transportation

1:36:54 is one of the clearest examples. We have

1:36:56 been left heavily dependent on bus

1:36:58 service, and that inequity limits access

1:37:00 to employment, health care, civic

1:37:03 participation, and much more. Do you

1:37:06 know how many people I speak to in my

1:37:08 neighborhood that have never even been

1:37:10 to city hall? When I ask them why, some

1:37:13 tell me plainly that that they do not

1:37:16 have a reliable way to get there. That

1:37:19 matters because civil rights are not

1:37:22 only about formal exclusion.

1:37:25 Civil rights are also about whether

1:37:27 public systems create structural

1:37:29 barriers that limit meaningful

1:37:32 participation.

1:37:34 So if residents cannot reliably reach

1:37:36 city hall and access government,

1:37:39 transportation, transportation inequity

1:37:42 becomes a barrier to civic participation

1:37:44 itself.

1:37:46 And none of these barriers exist in

1:37:48 isolation.

1:37:50 Structural inequities have contributed

1:37:52 to premature death and shorter lives.

1:37:54 Transportation is part of that larger

1:37:56 system. It shapes where people can go,

1:37:59 what opportunities they can reach, and

1:38:01 how much time and access they lose

1:38:04 simply trying to move through the city.

1:38:08 That is why the civil rights question

1:38:10 cannot simply be how much money is being

1:38:12 spent on Blue Hill. A government can

1:38:15 spend hundreds of million dollars in our

1:38:17 community and still leave the underlying

1:38:20 inequity intact.

1:38:22 Mayor Michelle Woo's approach to racial

1:38:24 justice too often appears to be making

1:38:27 historically inequitable systems operate

1:38:31 more efficiently. But making an

1:38:33 inequitable system work better is not

1:38:36 the same as correcting the inequity

1:38:38 itself. So I ask for like the millionth

1:38:42 time, when are we going to stop managing

1:38:45 inequity more efficiently and become

1:38:47 willing to correct the inequity itself?

1:38:50 Thank you.

1:38:54 Want to call up the next five. Uh Marcus

1:38:59 Ny,

1:39:01 Paul Simmons,

1:39:03 M Hudson,

1:39:06 Robert Hector, and Alan Tanner.

1:39:15 Marcus,

1:39:17 are you here? Marcus.

1:39:20 Sir, what's your name?

1:39:22 I'm Robert.

1:39:23 Did you sign up?

1:39:27 Robert Hector.

1:39:29 Why don't you come on, Robert Hector?

1:39:32 Come on. I'm going to talk to you about

1:39:35 solar power invitation transportation.

1:39:39 But first of all,

1:39:43 30 over 30 years ago, this neighborhood,

1:39:46 they tore down the elevated train

1:39:50 and they moved it out of the

1:39:51 neighborhood. And this is the only

1:39:54 neighborhood without any rail service at

1:39:56 all.

1:39:59 Years later,

1:40:02 along comes Deval Patrick. goes down to

1:40:05 Dudley station and says he has better

1:40:09 transportation for this neighborhood.

1:40:11 What he gave you was a civil line.

1:40:15 [clears throat] That's what he brought.

1:40:17 What I have here

1:40:20 is solar powered ramp transportation.

1:40:23 Doesn't cost you 4 cents to put it in.

1:40:27 That's about it. There's no fossil

1:40:29 fuels. It operates by itself. you uh

1:40:33 punch in where you're going to go and

1:40:35 you go.

1:40:37 I propose that one side of it'll be it

1:40:41 can be put it together in a solid train

1:40:44 all the way down from Matapan to Dudley

1:40:47 or you can use it as parts and you can

1:40:49 use your notebook to punch in where you

1:40:52 want to go and it's run by

1:40:56 the sun. And it's called solar powered

1:41:00 energy.

1:41:02 The way it works, it will start on one

1:41:05 side of Blue Hill Avenue, not two sides

1:41:07 is the way they want or down the middle.

1:41:10 At each bus stop will be a station

1:41:13 and you get on it and you just punch in

1:41:16 where you want to go. It doesn't cost a

1:41:18 lot of money to install it. We're asking

1:41:21 the city to listen. We already had two

1:41:24 bills with the state and they wanted to

1:41:26 put it in South Boston. We want it here

1:41:28 in this neighborhood.

1:41:30 This is where we need the the

1:41:32 transportation.

1:41:34 And if anyone wants to see it right now,

1:41:38 I can give it to you on your cell phone

1:41:42 right now. Your [clears throat]

1:41:44 telephone number if you want. that this

1:41:46 this so power industry doesn't cost

1:41:49 anything to put except for an investment

1:41:52 in the community and putting

1:41:55 uh all the cars and things that were on

1:41:58 one side of the street down the middle

1:42:00 will be gone. You put one side where

1:42:04 cars can go up and down. You'll have the

1:42:06 trees and them still will still be there

1:42:08 and you still have your bicycles riding

1:42:10 and everything. It'll it'll can come

1:42:12 from Matapan

1:42:15 all the way down Blue Hill Avenue. We

1:42:16 can run it over to downtown Boston or

1:42:19 over to the Orange Line.

1:42:22 And uh the use in it is for us in this

1:42:27 neighborhood. So I'm asking the city to

1:42:29 take a look at it.

1:42:30 Thank you, Mr. Hector.

1:42:33 [applause]

1:42:35 Is Marcus here? Is there a Marcus here?

1:42:39 No.

1:42:41 There's a Mac here.

1:42:46 Mac is Mac Hudson.

1:42:52 Thank you. Um, first, good evening to

1:42:55 all the city councilors, chairman, and

1:42:59 to everybody that came out. My name is

1:43:01 M. Hudson. Uh, I am one of the main

1:43:04 facilitators of the Black Agenda

1:43:05 Coalition and I keep showing up for

1:43:08 these meetings because I think for the

1:43:12 first time I'm hearing at least framed

1:43:15 of the proper way as a civil rights

1:43:17 violation. And I think there is no

1:43:20 fundamental constitutional right than

1:43:22 the right to be heard. And when I've

1:43:25 showed up at all these hearings, the one

1:43:27 thing that I've realized is that we're

1:43:29 not being heard. We're being talked to,

1:43:33 spat at,

1:43:35 not being heard.

1:43:36 Bamboozled.

1:43:37 And then the the other fundamental is

1:43:39 the right to redress.

1:43:41 At [clears throat] these meetings, there

1:43:43 should be a redress if you're not

1:43:45 hearing what you should be hearing,

1:43:48 right? All of which our community has

1:43:51 been deprived of and and constantly

1:43:53 being deprived of. So I I want to urge

1:43:58 this body and the rest of us to stop

1:44:01 thinking now we cannot depend on what

1:44:05 the city's going to do because I'm

1:44:07 hearing now the the plot thickens.

1:44:10 They're lying about the what what the

1:44:12 agreement was. We we just heard this

1:44:15 about the theus,

1:44:17 right? I mean what they're coming before

1:44:20 us. They don't even have the decency to

1:44:22 tell us the truth.

1:44:24 To me, that is the most greatest

1:44:26 disrespect that you can do to a

1:44:28 community, but it's being done to our

1:44:31 community because we're black and

1:44:34 because we're not respected. Now, if

1:44:37 that makes city hall a racist, then I

1:44:40 would be the first one to say that's

1:44:42 exactly what I'm feeling, that they are

1:44:44 racist. And there's no way to understand

1:44:47 this because when I look at every other

1:44:49 community, it's not a fact that they

1:44:51 just coming out to vote, but they're

1:44:53 showing up in those spaces saying what

1:44:55 they do and what they don't. And no

1:44:57 matter how many times we show up in

1:44:59 these same spaces and say we don't want

1:45:01 it, we're being s we're being told so

1:45:04 what. That's a fundamental wrong. And so

1:45:09 I concede and I know my two minutes is

1:45:11 up and I urge all of us to stop

1:45:13 contemplating. We need to stop filing an

1:45:16 action. We need to bring this to a

1:45:19 court. We need to sue the city. We need

1:45:22 to start suing them on every single bit

1:45:25 and fight them to the end. Peace.

1:45:29 Thank you, Paul Simmons.

1:45:40 Uh, do you hear me?

1:45:44 Hello.

1:45:47 Am I coming through now?

1:45:48 Yes.

1:45:49 Okay. My name is Paul Simmons.

1:45:50 [clears throat] Um, prior to the last

1:45:52 meeting, I asked an engineer who had

1:45:55 worked for the MBTA with the MIT degree

1:45:58 what his professional opinion was of the

1:46:00 city's proposal. If you'll bear with me,

1:46:03 I'll quote from the email he sent me to

1:46:05 so there's no misrepresentation.

1:46:09 In my opinion, there are numerous

1:46:10 problems with the proposed center

1:46:12 running bus lane project. The tea is

1:46:14 promising that the project will result

1:46:16 in a 10 to 15 minutes shorter bus ride

1:46:18 along Bluehill Avenue. I think the time

1:46:21 savings will be marketkedly less,

1:46:23 perhaps closer to 5 minutes or less. So

1:46:25 why build the project in the first place

1:46:27 and settle small businesses with several

1:46:29 years of significant construction

1:46:31 impacts? We can instead focus on

1:46:34 implementing roadway safety improvements

1:46:36 in the near term. And while true

1:46:38 alternative alternatives analysis and

1:46:40 feasibility study performed that analyze

1:46:43 a range of possible public transit

1:46:45 improvements along the corridors,

1:46:47 including all rail options. The 10 to 15

1:46:51 minute time savings is indeed

1:46:53 questionable given the following. We

1:46:56 believe that the higher end of the

1:46:58 bracket is applicable to a southbound

1:47:00 trip from Grove Hall to Madapan Square

1:47:03 since the proposed roadway upgrades will

1:47:05 allow a bus to turn left directly on the

1:47:07 Madapan station rather than having to

1:47:09 proceed further southbound over the

1:47:11 river then make a U-turn as is the case

1:47:13 today. As part of a near-term standalone

1:47:17 safety improvement project, if so

1:47:19 desired, we can reconfigure the

1:47:21 intersection to facilitate a left turn

1:47:22 for buses and realize a fiveminute time

1:47:25 savings. It follows we should focus on

1:47:28 purported 10-minute time savings and

1:47:30 dispute this metric. The proposed

1:47:33 project will reduce the number of bus

1:47:35 stops by approximately 50%. Accordingly,

1:47:38 many riders will have to travel

1:47:40 significant further significantly

1:47:42 further to a bus stop, thereby

1:47:44 increasing their nonb their nonbus

1:47:46 travel times, even though the actual

1:47:48 trip times on the bus may be shorter.

1:47:52 The 10-minute time savings is only

1:47:54 realizable for a full length trip from

1:47:56 Matapan Square to Grove Hall or full

1:47:59 length trip in the opposite direction.

1:48:01 Many passengers board buses. Is that am

1:48:04 I running out of time? Paul, going to

1:48:06 wrap up. You can wrap up.

1:48:08 Okay. Well, well, briefly, there were

1:48:10 all kinds of flaws in the city's

1:48:12 presentation. My other concern, which I

1:48:15 wasn't able to get to, was increased

1:48:16 congestion. The problem you have, and

1:48:19 it's been mentioned before,

1:48:20 I was speaking the mic into the mic.

1:48:22 Okay. Other people have mentioned the

1:48:24 issues of air quality. You have extra

1:48:26 congestion. You have you have more

1:48:29 particular pollution. Thanks to the

1:48:31 senator, I now know that there will be

1:48:33 350 buses coming in to shuttle people

1:48:36 into White Stadium. That is also

1:48:39 expected to increase congestion. So,

1:48:40 what you're going to see given the

1:48:43 existing sensors for particular

1:48:45 pollution, it's increased air quality

1:48:49 degradation, more asthma triggers, and

1:48:52 inevitably more deaths. So anybody that

1:48:55 calls himself to be in favor of

1:48:56 environmental justice cannot in any way

1:49:00 in conscience support this project

1:49:02 because people will be hurt. Thank you.

1:49:06 Thank you

1:49:08 Alan Tanner.

1:49:22 Good evening members of this Boston City

1:49:25 Council and to everybody present. My

1:49:27 name is Alan Tanner. I testify today as

1:49:32 a leader with Prophetic Resistance

1:49:34 Boston and as well as a resident of

1:49:36 Roxbury.

1:49:39 My first point is that this process was

1:49:43 not based in listening to the people.

1:49:46 Listening to the people is what we see

1:49:48 today where we have the city coming to

1:49:51 the people, listening to the needs of

1:49:53 the people and then moving upon what the

1:49:56 people have said.

1:49:58 That is not what we have seen in this

1:50:01 process of the center running bus lane.

1:50:04 Um my next point

1:50:06 is that there has been a

1:50:07 disproportionate impact in black

1:50:10 communities. you know, constantly as has

1:50:12 been mentioned already, if

1:50:14 [clears throat] we have other

1:50:15 communities, if I go to Back Bay, if I

1:50:17 go to JP and we have people that are

1:50:20 saying, "No, this is not something that

1:50:23 we want," then guess what? That's

1:50:25 actually considered. But now, if we go

1:50:28 to Roxbury, Doorchester, Matapan, we are

1:50:31 constantly told, "Oh, don't don't worry

1:50:33 about it. This is it's the money's

1:50:35 there. It's going to happen. It's going

1:50:36 to happen." That is not okay.

1:50:41 My next point, rail has been here

1:50:43 before. This is not the first time we

1:50:46 are looking at the possibility of rail.

1:50:50 And so we we should not shut down all

1:50:54 other options. We we should not shut

1:50:56 down, you know, options and say, "Oh,

1:50:59 well, no, we just don't have the money

1:51:01 for rail." But as has been mentioned, we

1:51:03 have the fair share amendment. You know,

1:51:05 we have invested money in other things.

1:51:08 So, let us think about investing and not

1:51:11 divesting from our communities. Um, my

1:51:15 other point, other center bus lanes such

1:51:18 as the one on Columbus Avenue, that has

1:51:21 been atrocious. It's created traffic.

1:51:23 It's created bottlenecks, and it has

1:51:26 been consistently known that that is not

1:51:30 what we want.

1:51:33 Safety issues. I'm actually particularly

1:51:35 worried. I've looked at the plan. um for

1:51:38 the segment of Blue Hill Avenue that's

1:51:40 in front of my church. Um and they plan

1:51:44 to put a a bike lane also kind of like

1:51:47 on the sidewalk in front of my church.

1:51:50 So I'm like, "Oh, so now not only are we

1:51:52 asking our seniors and our young people

1:51:54 to cross two lanes of traffic, but we're

1:51:57 also asking them to cross a bike lane,

1:52:00 too. So now we're adding another

1:52:02 hazard." Well, that does not work for

1:52:05 me.

1:52:06 Um, and in my closing two points,

1:52:10 I want to focus on

1:52:14 the the fact that to consistently say we

1:52:17 are going to go ahead and we're going to

1:52:19 do this, that is an egregious abuse of

1:52:22 authority.

1:52:24 And lastly, I call for an alternative

1:52:28 analysis. Thank you for your time.

1:52:30 Thank Thank you. [applause]

1:52:34 The next five is uh Maha Alim.

1:52:41 Maha Ashlin.

1:52:47 Drew Carpenter,

1:52:54 Asia Jackson,

1:52:57 Antoine

1:52:59 Joe Care,

1:53:03 Anthony Bayz, and Diane Wilkerson.

1:53:09 Yes.

1:53:11 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

1:53:13 Good evening.

1:53:13 My name is Drew Carpenter.

1:53:16 Um, Out of all the speakers that came up

1:53:18 here, I think I'm one of the ones who

1:53:22 actually just lived like two minutes

1:53:24 from here. I moved at 484 Blue Hill Lav

1:53:27 in 1972.

1:53:30 I moved 484 Blue Hill Lav 1972 right

1:53:33 next to M Dixon. I watch Blue Hill Laugh

1:53:36 shrink.

1:53:38 I watch him shrink and I'm like, you

1:53:41 know what is their fixation on Blue Hill

1:53:44 Laugh?

1:53:46 You know what is their fixation on blue

1:53:48 your lab? Like I grew up in this

1:53:50 neighborhood and we did good, you know,

1:53:53 as we did as we do. Well, whatever we

1:53:56 do, whatever we did, we did do good. I

1:53:58 don't know if that makes sense. I'm a

1:53:59 little nervous. I ain't going to lie.

1:54:01 But what I do know is that that bus lane

1:54:04 thing triggered me. That bus name

1:54:07 triggered me. I understand the history

1:54:09 of Boston. See, I was bus from there to

1:54:12 South Boston and had to get under the

1:54:14 bus, get under the seats because rocks,

1:54:16 bricks, sticks, and racist slurs was

1:54:18 coming through the window. You know what

1:54:20 I mean? I didn't want to leave my

1:54:22 neighborhood and go somewhere else. What

1:54:24 I what we did want was them to give us

1:54:27 what they gave them. And that's what we

1:54:29 don't get. We never get what they get.

1:54:32 We get less because that's how they view

1:54:35 us, less.

1:54:37 This community, someone's talked about

1:54:39 gentrification. I'm going go I'm going

1:54:41 to go a different route and this is no

1:54:42 charge to the Hispanic community. This

1:54:44 community is like 75% Hispanic. I can

1:54:48 count the Hispanic people on my hands in

1:54:50 this room. Is the word getting to them?

1:54:53 Is anybody talking to them,

1:54:55 communicating with them or the rest of

1:54:57 them?

1:54:58 But they don't care because they wanted

1:55:00 this to go quiet as possible. I was at

1:55:03 the Burke meeting when they I was told,

1:55:05 "Oh yeah, construction is going to

1:55:07 happen regardless in 2028. Everything

1:55:09 was paid for." I was lied right to my

1:55:11 face.

1:55:13 That's disrespectful.

1:55:16 That's straight disrespectful. I And I'm

1:55:18 triggered by all this. I'm pro black all

1:55:21 day. I love my people. I love my

1:55:23 community.

1:55:25 I want y'all to love us, too, the way we

1:55:27 are. To me, I've been taking that those

1:55:30 buses since they was 10 cent up and down

1:55:33 Blue Hill A. I'm okay with waiting the

1:55:35 extra five minutes because the extra

1:55:37 five minutes gave me an opportunity to

1:55:39 meet someone in my neighborhood that I

1:55:41 never met before. Community

1:55:45 togetherness. We don't need y'all to

1:55:46 come over here and dictate how we move

1:55:49 about in our community.

1:55:51 We don't need that. What you What we

1:55:54 need is y'all to hear the people in the

1:55:55 community. Talk with them. meet with us.

1:55:58 But y'all don't want that. That ain't

1:56:01 what y'all want. That ain't what y'all

1:56:02 ever wanted, you know. So, leave us

1:56:06 alone.

1:56:11 [cheering]

1:56:13 Anton.

1:56:21 Anton, can you just stay where you live?

1:56:23 Sure.

1:56:24 So, I'm Anson Joano. I work for Project

1:56:26 Wright. Um I've worked in Grof fall

1:56:28 since 19 2000 something like that but um

1:56:32 basically I just wanted to talk about

1:56:34 the plan that they have proposed

1:56:35 [clears throat] and how it affects

1:56:36 growall itself because I understand

1:56:38 whether we don't want it or not but what

1:56:40 they've actually proposed like what what

1:56:42 is it that we have so um part of the

1:56:46 issue is that a lot some of the project

1:56:48 is not even what directly happens at

1:56:49 Blue Hill but it's what's going to be

1:56:51 pushed into the neighborhood streets

1:56:52 around it that we need to also be

1:56:54 concerned about. So between Sver and

1:56:57 Wayne, the current design reduces

1:56:59 northbound traffic to one lane,

1:57:01 restricts several left turns, makes

1:57:03 nazing a one-way eastbound, redirects

1:57:06 traffic towards Sver and Elmhill. Right

1:57:08 between Wayne and Washington, there's

1:57:10 only one general traffic lane in each

1:57:12 direction along with a pickup and drop

1:57:14 off from the Carolina Academy. Right.

1:57:17 And at Castlegate, drivers would be

1:57:19 limited to a right turn with other

1:57:21 movements redirected through Washington,

1:57:22 Normandy, or Elm Hill. And each of these

1:57:25 changes is small by itself, but together

1:57:28 they raise one major question, which is

1:57:30 how much traffic is being moved off

1:57:32 Blueh Hill and onto the streets where

1:57:34 Groveall residents actually live.

1:57:36 Right. So this is information the

1:57:38 community should see. We need the we

1:57:41 need the projected before and after

1:57:43 traffic volumes for Elm Hill, Sver,

1:57:46 Washington, Normandy, Nas, Pasadena,

1:57:48 [clears throat] Wayne, Supple, all of

1:57:50 these streets

1:57:52 before we can actually make even an

1:57:54 informed decision and we haven't been

1:57:56 presented with any of these. Um, we also

1:57:59 need to know what happens in the

1:58:01 one-lane sections during the real

1:58:02 neighborhood conditions. School pickups,

1:58:04 deliveries, double parking, crashes,

1:58:07 disabled vehicles. Their transit

1:58:09 concerns, too. Existing bus stops at

1:58:11 Sver Street are being replaced by

1:58:13 stations farther along the corridor,

1:58:15 which could mean longer walks for some

1:58:17 riders. Um, the current plan shows no

1:58:20 bike lanes from Sver through Warren

1:58:22 Street. So, the idea about bike

1:58:25 transportation being better, we don't

1:58:27 get that. So, that's another question to

1:58:29 bring up there. Uh, just wrap up. So if

1:58:33 Gro Falls is asked to accept these

1:58:34 tradeoffs, then we need the numbers that

1:58:36 are specific to Gro Hall and not just

1:58:38 the corridor wide averages.

1:58:40 So thank you.

1:58:42 Thank you. Thank you, Asia Jackson.

1:58:50 Asia, could you just state where you

1:58:52 live?

1:58:53 I live in Roxberry.

1:58:56 Roxberry.

1:58:58 Oh, my time started, y'all. Okay. So,

1:59:01 good evening everyone. My name is Asia

1:59:02 Jackson. I'm from Roxberry. I'm a

1:59:05 stakeholder here. I'm speaking for

1:59:07 myself, but I'm a part of several

1:59:09 organizations that are in this room.

1:59:12 Five generations, five

1:59:15 lived on this soil, fought for this

1:59:18 rail. My grandmother, my greatg

1:59:20 grandmother fought for this rail. Fast

1:59:22 forward to tonight. My son spend 95

1:59:26 minutes from Matapan station all the way

1:59:29 to Rugos twice daily.

1:59:34 Think about that. That is not a delay.

1:59:37 That is not inconvenience. That is a

1:59:39 human life, human potential and economic

1:59:43 opportunity systemically

1:59:46 stolen from our children by a broken

1:59:50 transit grid. Let's be honest. Darkest

1:59:53 number 1340 and 1341

1:59:56 for the rapid transit that was stripped

1:59:59 from us in 1987

2:00:02 was never replaced when billions flow

2:00:06 seamlessly

2:00:07 to white communities. $2.3 million

2:00:12 billion

2:00:14 for the green line extension. 1.58

2:00:17 billion for the red and orange line on

2:00:20 the other side extension,

2:00:22 1 billion for South Coast Rail, but our

2:00:27 neighbors neighborhoods are given measly

2:00:31 little pennies. We get $164 million

2:00:35 diesel bus lane. What is that?

2:00:39 That is not an accident.

2:00:42 That is modernday infrastructure

2:00:44 redlinining.

2:00:46 This is separate and unequal layout

2:00:49 inflicts structural economic harm. It

2:00:53 sentences our families to profound

2:00:56 health equity crisis. I'm going to be

2:00:58 one more minute longer because I got

2:01:00 some demands and they need to be

2:01:02 answered in 30 days. So blockading

2:01:06 direct access to Boston Medical Center,

2:01:09 New England, Longwood Medical Area, our

2:01:13 children, are they not worth more?

2:01:17 Is our time worth less? Are we not

2:01:21 supposed to have jobs in our

2:01:23 commonwealth

2:01:24 that help us our livelihood?

2:01:28 95 minutes

2:01:31 to Ruggles, not even downtown. Before

2:01:34 this body commits a single dollar to a

2:01:37 painted bus lane, I demand a formal

2:01:40 title six civil rights review. Number

2:01:44 one, I am placing eight action

2:01:47 actionable mandates directly onto the

2:01:51 official record. Number one, price a

2:01:55 green line connection. There's a rail

2:01:59 underneath Tmont Street that is not

2:02:01 being used. We need to look into that.

2:02:06 There's a formal mass dot form that even

2:02:08 gives the information about how much it

2:02:12 will cost for that rail to go to Newbian

2:02:15 Square and then extend to Madapan

2:02:18 station. We deserve that.

2:02:21 Number two, study a direct heavyline

2:02:24 rail connection from Matapan to Forest

2:02:27 Hills or South Station, which would be

2:02:30 better.

2:02:31 Three, force a 30-year operational cost

2:02:34 audit. Number four, formally review my

2:02:37 Gold Line 28 Express for immediate

2:02:40 interim relief while we work on our rail

2:02:45 system. Number five, stop using fake

2:02:48 riding times claims from true doortodoor

2:02:53 trips, taking away stops that our

2:02:56 elderly residents cannot get to these

2:02:58 stops, which will in fact create longer

2:03:02 travel times by 20 plus minutes for

2:03:05 elderly and disabled residents traveling

2:03:09 on this middle bus bus disaster. So um

2:03:15 we need number six a published verified

2:03:18 fatality construction impact and canopy

2:03:21 removal data block by block. Number

2:03:25 seven we need funds for home ownership

2:03:29 stability and binding reperative growth

2:03:33 especially for the leftover American

2:03:36 free men that are here along Blue Hill A

2:03:39 and in Roxbury. Establish number eight,

2:03:42 my last establish absolute

2:03:45 accountability. I demand that every

2:03:47 single agency involved answer each of

2:03:50 these eight demands

2:03:52 in writing point by point within 30

2:03:56 days. We will not wait another 40 years.

2:04:00 Our community deserves equality,

2:04:04 economic mobility, health equity, and

2:04:07 rail now. Thank you.

2:04:13 I'd like to acknowledge

2:04:17 uh and

2:04:20 give my uh councelor colleague uh

2:04:24 councelor Pepin. I didn't see you down

2:04:26 there. Uh so I just want to acknowledge

2:04:29 councelor Pepin. Uh we're in public

2:04:32 testimony, but let me just give him two

2:04:35 minutes to make his opening statement.

2:04:38 Since we don't have a panel up anymore,

2:04:41 uh you won't need those two minutes, but

2:04:43 councelor Pepin, uh go on and make your

2:04:45 two-minute opening statement.

2:04:48 I appre Thank you, Councelor Pepper. I

2:04:51 co pepper, thank you so much, council

2:04:53 war. Thank you so much for for just

2:04:56 holding this this council hearing

2:04:57 tonight. Uh for me this is a very

2:04:59 important topic. Uh public

2:05:01 transportation

2:05:03 for me advocacy has been gone a long way

2:05:05 before I was a city councelor. Used to

2:05:07 work for an organization called

2:05:08 transportation for Massachusetts where

2:05:11 we studied a lot the implications of

2:05:13 public transportation. And I actually

2:05:15 got the opportunity to do a lot of the

2:05:16 studying of the lack of public

2:05:19 transportation investments in these

2:05:21 neighborhoods. And to their credit and

2:05:24 to the credit of a lot of residents that

2:05:25 I've heard tonight, the hurt is real.

2:05:28 And I know that the BTA and the state

2:05:30 and even the city has for a long time

2:05:32 promised a lot of projects that were

2:05:34 supposed to be here. Um they moved the

2:05:37 orange line away from Washington Street

2:05:39 and Square many years ago. They moved

2:05:41 away the light rail, the trolley that

2:05:43 used to run down Blueho Avenue. A lot of

2:05:46 things have been taken away from these

2:05:47 communities. And I know many of you know

2:05:50 that I do support this project.

2:05:52 But it's not because of any

2:05:53 relationships or any new ideas for me.

2:05:56 It's it's because of I truly believe in

2:05:58 the usage of public transportation. Um I

2:06:02 do believe in the fact that if we allow

2:06:05 this type of infrastructure to come, it

2:06:07 does give the opportunity to build a

2:06:10 light rail down Blueho Avenue like many

2:06:12 of you are asking for. But I also have I

2:06:16 I believe it was a previous speaker that

2:06:18 mentioned the tunnel that's underneath

2:06:20 Washington Street that used to that used

2:06:23 to connect um the old previous orange

2:06:25 line. There's a lot of infrastructure

2:06:26 underneath our grounds that are being

2:06:29 they're not used and um I know that

2:06:32 there was a proposed extension by some

2:06:34 of my colleagues, but I think there's

2:06:35 even a better proposal out there that ex

2:06:38 extends out of Tus Medical Center down

2:06:41 street to Nubian Square and then an

2:06:43 extension down to under Blueho Avenue.

2:06:46 Um that type of infrastructure that is

2:06:48 worth looking into. I believe that study

2:06:50 that that was referenced by the

2:06:51 residents is the 2012 Mass DOT study

2:06:54 with in partnership with the Roxberry

2:06:56 Doorchester Matapan Coalition that did

2:06:58 that study and actually recommended

2:07:00 that. And I say that because it is

2:07:03 important to recognize what what the

2:07:05 work has been done and what hasn't been

2:07:06 done. But ultimately I say all that just

2:07:08 to say I am a pro public transportation

2:07:10 advocate. That is essentially why I

2:07:12 really do support this. But I do hear

2:07:14 why people don't support this. And I

2:07:16 just wanted to make sure that I was here

2:07:18 to hear more comments from the

2:07:19 residents. And thank you, councelor Cole

2:07:20 Pepper.

2:07:22 Thank you, Council Pepin. Let us move

2:07:24 back to our public testimony. Anthony

2:07:26 Bayz and then Diane Wilkerson.

2:07:34 Hello, my name is Tony Bias.

2:07:35 Tony Bayas, where's you from?

2:07:37 Peacel. And someone asked where the

2:07:40 Hispanics are. Here we are. So, first,

2:07:43 could I get a show of hands from our

2:07:44 electives who've actually rode the bus

2:07:46 to get here?

2:07:48 Well, I did, and it was slowed by

2:07:50 traffic. Now, imagine you rely on the

2:07:52 bus to get to work or to go to school.

2:07:55 The plan to install center running bus

2:07:56 lanes is sensible in light of the facts

2:07:59 and despite the lies. I will now go over

2:08:01 what is true in this debate. We know

2:08:04 that 40,000 people a day ride the bus on

2:08:07 this corridor. We know that the majority

2:08:09 of traffic on this corridor is made up

2:08:12 of bus riders. We know that over 75% of

2:08:15 bus riders on Blue Hill A are people of

2:08:18 color. We know that this plan would save

2:08:21 up to 15 minutes for each rider. We know

2:08:24 that the grant is specifically allocated

2:08:26 for buses and not for any other project.

2:08:28 We know that if not used, this money

2:08:31 would not be returned and invested in

2:08:33 this community. Now, let's go over what

2:08:35 is not true. In other words, lies. The

2:08:39 plan can be changed for other purposes.

2:08:42 Center running bus lane platforms are

2:08:44 unsafe to board. Have you ridden the

2:08:46 green line? The plan is removing

2:08:48 parking. Not happening. The plan will

2:08:50 preclude future plans for rail projects.

2:08:53 There hasn't been thousands of hours of

2:08:55 community outreach. All of these

2:08:57 statements are not founded in truth.

2:09:00 Let's also dispel the notion that this

2:09:02 hearing was of importance to the civil

2:09:04 rights committee. This was orchestrated

2:09:06 in order to have a biased hearing.

2:09:08 Lastly, I want to address the people

2:09:10 that think that if this is built, these

2:09:13 bus lanes would gentrify the

2:09:14 neighborhood. What do you think is going

2:09:16 to happen if they build a subway?

2:09:25 [clears throat]

2:09:38 Senator Wilkinson.

2:09:44 Good evening.

2:09:48 For the record, my name is Diane

2:09:50 Wilkerson.

2:09:51 too many organizations in history to

2:09:54 recount, but I live about 60 seconds

2:09:57 from Blue Hill Avenue off Harvard Street

2:09:59 and Harvard Common

2:10:08 to me the question to thank you for

2:10:12 being here. The these counselors I

2:10:15 suspect all started already had a day at

2:10:17 city hall hearing. So I think Lewis said

2:10:20 I'm thank you for considering it not you

2:10:23 know not robbery for you to give up your

2:10:24 evening to be here. We appreciate you.

2:10:29 The question for me is how is this not a

2:10:33 civil rights issue.

2:10:36 I want to share with the counselors

2:10:40 um just a brief history

2:10:43 related to you related to the council.

2:10:46 In 1989,

2:10:48 the city of Boston's city council held

2:10:50 its first ever out of city hall

2:10:55 community hearing.

2:10:58 Do you know why? Because the federal

2:11:01 court ordered the city of Boston

2:11:05 to to create a home rule petition to

2:11:08 give the Fair Housing Commission some

2:11:10 teeth. They called our Fair Housing

2:11:12 Commission a paper tiger.

2:11:16 the then chair of the housing committee

2:11:19 for the Boston City Council. Some of you

2:11:22 may know the name, attorney Jim Burn. He

2:11:24 was the partner for somebody named Tom

2:11:27 Fineran. That name sound familiar? Well,

2:11:31 Councelor Burn said after we did all of

2:11:35 the hearings, the city council hearings,

2:11:37 the place was packed in support of the

2:11:41 home rule petition.

2:11:44 Councelor Burns announced that he was

2:11:46 certain, despite the fact that they had

2:11:48 not heard any at the council hearing,

2:11:50 there must be some opposition out there

2:11:52 and we're going to go find it. So, the

2:11:55 first of the hearings

2:11:58 was at St. Angel Church in South Boston.

2:12:04 I'm amazed that they always feel like

2:12:05 they need to tell us how to behave. When

2:12:08 did we ever have a city council hearing

2:12:10 that? Anyway, y'all get the picture.

2:12:15 It was the ugliest,

2:12:18 most intense

2:12:20 environment I have ever experienced in

2:12:22 this city. I was the attorney, the

2:12:26 council for the Boston branch at the

2:12:29 time that was led by Lewis Alisa

2:12:32 and I was there. I went to the hearing

2:12:34 with my co-consel

2:12:36 Naen Cohen who was attorney at the

2:12:38 lawyers committee and councelor

2:12:42 Co Pepper very familiar.

2:12:45 I was the only black face in that room

2:12:47 about 400 very angry white people

2:12:52 and we ended up having to get police

2:12:55 escort to get me out of the building

2:13:01 in 1993

2:13:04 and my first year in the state senate.

2:13:08 I was one of the signitories on the

2:13:10 letter that was signed that was

2:13:12 organized 94 because Mayor Manino signed

2:13:16 that letter.

2:13:18 Almost all of the city councilors signed

2:13:20 the letter. All of the state rep, state

2:13:23 representative Fox, state representative

2:13:25 Rushing signed the letter committing to

2:13:29 the commitment

2:13:31 for comparable replacement to the orange

2:13:34 line when it came down.

2:13:37 My signature is on that letter.

2:13:43 In 2004,

2:13:46 after negotiating with the MBTA with the

2:13:50 help of the former Congressman Capalano,

2:13:54 I ended up leading the cavalcade

2:13:58 of buses from the MBTA out of Cabbat

2:14:02 Yard on Washington Street in Egleston.

2:14:06 finally

2:14:08 after I don't know how many years. Why?

2:14:10 Because it was a toxic toxic deadly

2:14:16 site. The most deadly

2:14:20 because the buses idled all the time. We

2:14:24 we literally had a cat a cavalcade that

2:14:26 left Cabat Yard down Washington Street

2:14:30 into the Arborway to get those buses out

2:14:33 of Roxberry. We have the largest number

2:14:36 of school age children in that fivemile

2:14:39 radius that we call Roxberry,

2:14:41 Doorchester, and Matipan. The highest

2:14:44 rates of asthma in the state

2:14:49 because of the toxic fumes spewed by the

2:14:51 diesel buses.

2:14:54 How you could say counselor

2:14:58 that you heard all the con concerns but

2:15:01 you still support public transit is

2:15:03 completely beyond me. People died

2:15:07 because of the experiment at com at

2:15:10 Columbus Avenue. The day after the

2:15:13 Holland school hearing the city

2:15:15 announced they were scrapping the plan

2:15:17 for the extension on Columbus A. And I

2:15:21 would submit is because they don't ever

2:15:23 want people to see

2:15:26 the number of incidents, accidents,

2:15:28 fatalities

2:15:30 that occurred in that site.

2:15:33 You've never seen it and you never will.

2:15:40 This morning,

2:15:42 the mayor was on Java with Jimmy talking

2:15:46 about Blue Hill Avenue.

2:15:49 He said, "I I I I know that you've had

2:15:53 all these meetings. There's a lot of

2:15:54 opposition." She said, "No, there

2:15:56 isn't."

2:15:58 She said, "No, there isn't." Did you

2:16:00 watch the hearing at Matipan

2:16:03 at Morning Star Baptist Church?

2:16:08 Almost half of the people there

2:16:09 testified in support. That's what she

2:16:11 said this morning.

2:16:15 So when you ask the questions, why has

2:16:18 it been so difficult?

2:16:20 Is because she lies.

2:16:25 And more important than that,

2:16:28 for the first time in all the almost 50

2:16:30 years that I've been here, as we sit

2:16:32 here this evening, the city of Boston is

2:16:36 marshalling its assets against us.

2:16:40 They have a rapid response team of

2:16:43 employees that we pay for every day who

2:16:47 were on your Facebook post 10 minutes

2:16:49 after you post them.

2:16:52 Try it.

2:16:54 I've seen them respond to you. I've seen

2:16:57 them respond to you. Oh, they always

2:17:00 respond to me until I chase them off.

2:17:03 But we chase them with facts. The day

2:17:05 after the Morning Star meeting,

2:17:09 someone posted, "Why would they say

2:17:12 we're going to have increased service?

2:17:13 We're going to lose bus stops."

2:17:16 That's a fact.

2:17:19 We're going from 19 to 10. What that

2:17:23 means is those people you see pushing

2:17:24 the baby carriages, toting their carts

2:17:28 on the walkers are going to have to walk

2:17:30 three times further to get on this bus

2:17:33 in the middle of the street.

2:17:36 Can you see the traffic from Canton and

2:17:39 Milton and Stoton tearing down Blue Hill

2:17:42 Avenue blowing their horn to get Grandma

2:17:44 to hurry up and get across the street

2:17:47 cuz that's what we're going to see. So

2:17:53 she said it this morning, folks. Oh, no.

2:17:57 Most of supporting 3500 signatures on a

2:18:01 petition to date. When did 3,500 of us

2:18:04 sign anything?

2:18:07 No, there will not be any electric buses

2:18:11 in three years. The MBTA already

2:18:14 announced that they are pulling pushing

2:18:16 it back. They're at least five years

2:18:19 away. Can you just get toxic spewed in

2:18:22 your face every day for five more years?

2:18:25 It's going to kill us,

2:18:27 Senator.

2:18:28 Period. So, I'm I'm gonna wrap with

2:18:30 this. I think it was West who asked the

2:18:33 counselors to raise their hands if they

2:18:35 supported the I the con the notion that

2:18:38 this was a civil rights issue.

2:18:45 Six actually everybody who was here

2:18:48 raised their hand. I think there was six

2:18:50 and I we already know that councelor

2:18:52 Murphy who had left she already said she

2:18:54 was in that's seven

2:18:57 even without counselor from district

2:18:59 five seven is a majority on the council

2:19:03 last I checked

2:19:06 the idea that somebody could be bold

2:19:09 enough to walk in here and say I live on

2:19:11 Beacon Hill.

2:19:16 Oh, no. I was not going to let that one

2:19:18 go.

2:19:21 Can you imagine the audacity?

2:19:27 And he didn't tell you he works for

2:19:30 Council Durkin.

2:19:33 Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You order.

2:19:36 Y'all order.

2:19:37 He didn't tell you that he's taken out

2:19:40 papers OCPF to run citywide for city

2:19:44 council. He ain't saying I'm That's a

2:19:46 lie, is he? Cuz it is. He's taking out

2:19:49 his papers to run. So I guess he's

2:19:51 practicing on us. How dare you?

2:19:55 You took the bus.

2:19:57 It's the other direction, you fool. It's

2:19:59 not Matipan.

2:20:05 So let let me just let me just say let

2:20:07 me just say this. This is my ask. This

2:20:10 is my ask of you.

2:20:12 This is my ask for the counselors. Seven

2:20:15 counselors said they believed that this

2:20:17 was a civil rights issue.

2:20:20 One one word of advice. I used to remind

2:20:24 my my c my colleagues in the Senate, the

2:20:27 other 39 senators. I have 180,000

2:20:32 bosses. We call them constituents and

2:20:35 not one of them is in this room. I don't

2:20:37 work for you. You don't work for the

2:20:40 mayor. You don't work for the governor.

2:20:43 I didn't work for the governor. You work

2:20:45 for this. This is these are your bosses.

2:20:48 Order. So, if you are comfortable enough

2:20:50 to come in here and say that you believe

2:20:53 that this is a civil rights issue, I

2:20:56 want you to be comfortable enough to

2:20:59 sign a letter

2:21:03 authored by councelor Warwell and Co

2:21:06 Pepper to the mayor that said, "You

2:21:08 heard enough and raise concerns and you

2:21:10 think that we need to follow up on some

2:21:12 of these before we move any further."

2:21:14 That to me is minimum. If you believe

2:21:17 what you just said, seven of you said

2:21:19 yes.

2:21:21 Seven of you.

2:21:23 Co Pepper, Warell, Murphy, Flynn,

2:21:27 Santana, Lugenne, and Mahia. Seven of

2:21:31 you said yes. If you don't do that,

2:21:35 it'll be reported at our next meeting on

2:21:38 accountability. Because see, this is

2:21:40 like when people go to black churches

2:21:42 and talk about racism. Go talk to the

2:21:44 white people.

2:21:46 Don't come in here and tell us you

2:21:47 believe it's a civil rights issue. Tell

2:21:49 the folks who are making the decision.

2:21:51 All we're saying is if you believe we

2:21:54 should pursue it, we should at least

2:21:56 look at this.

2:21:59 Support the two counselors that this

2:22:01 gentleman was so disrespectful to go to

2:22:03 Morning Star Baptist Church and scream

2:22:05 at them and talk about he's ashamed. Who

2:22:08 cares?

2:22:09 Who cares?

2:22:11 For real. For real. This is serious,

2:22:15 folks, because this is going to kill us

2:22:17 all if we don't if we don't push back on

2:22:20 this. Brand new

2:22:23 shiny buses are still going to be

2:22:26 spewing diesel.

2:22:31 We can do better than this and we have

2:22:32 an obligation to do better than this.

2:22:34 Thank you, Senator.

2:22:36 I want to call up the the next five

2:22:40 and we the next five and we promised

2:22:42 we'd be out by nine. Uh Mea Bush,

2:22:47 H. Joseph,

2:22:51 Jay McManis,

2:22:54 and Ms. Grace,

2:22:57 Mela Bush, H. Joseph J Mcmanis

2:23:04 and Miss Grace

2:23:11 Mela.

2:23:12 Good evening. My name is Mela Bush.

2:23:15 Thank you for holding this hearing here.

2:23:17 It's very hard for people to go to city

2:23:19 hall and to hold it in the evening in

2:23:21 our community for an issue that um

2:23:23 actually is so important to us is

2:23:28 amazing. Thank you so much. Um

2:23:32 I just want to speak to the um one

2:23:36 thing. The life expectancy of people in

2:23:39 our zip codes here in the community. I'm

2:23:42 in 0 to 119

2:23:45 is uh about 28 to 30 years less than

2:23:49 those in Beacon Hill. is already true.

2:23:52 So that is a fact and there are reasons

2:23:55 why that were um laid out here around

2:23:59 asthma rates, diesel pollution.

2:24:03 I I just wanted to say that the second

2:24:05 thing that I wanted to say is about the

2:24:08 um the civil rights. I worked for over

2:24:11 20 plus years on working to get the the

2:24:14 Fairmont line up and running and leading

2:24:15 the community process to do that. That

2:24:17 was a civil rights battle. A right to a

2:24:20 ride, a right to get on the train and to

2:24:22 ride the rails that uh trains were going

2:24:25 through our communities and they were

2:24:27 polluting our lungs, but there were no

2:24:30 stops and we weren't able to get on

2:24:32 those trains. We now have four stations.

2:24:34 One in Bluehill a Cumins and Matipan

2:24:37 Square, one on Morton Street, Talbert A,

2:24:41 Uppam's Corner, Four Corners, South Bay

2:24:44 going straight to South Station.

2:24:47 That's a rail line that we fought for

2:24:49 and we won. We protested. We did all of

2:24:52 that. And now we're here and we're

2:24:55 talking about the civil rights and the

2:24:58 equity and the the right to um adequate

2:25:01 public transportation. I want to lift up

2:25:04 a name that some of you know here uh who

2:25:07 fought for replacement rail on

2:25:10 Washington Street with the Washington

2:25:13 Street Corridor Coalition. and we know

2:25:15 he's no longer here with us. His name

2:25:17 was Bob Terrell. He was a transit

2:25:20 historian and he worked and ran the Fair

2:25:22 Housing Commission in city hall. He

2:25:24 didn't live to see the day that that uh

2:25:27 replacement came to other communities in

2:25:30 Roxbury after the Orange Line was taken

2:25:32 down. I'm not speaking necessarily on

2:25:35 behalf of an Orange Line replacement.

2:25:37 Um, we're talking about comparable,

2:25:40 equitable transportation that is

2:25:42 non-polluting,

2:25:45 that is not going to exacerbate our

2:25:48 children's asthma and impact our health.

2:25:52 My family lost uh two young people under

2:25:55 the age of uh 35 to respiratory issues.

2:26:01 That one lived to be 24 years old and

2:26:04 she passed away because of asthma. It's

2:26:06 the reason why I do this work. My son

2:26:10 was in the hospital over 40 times for

2:26:13 asthma. Why? Because we lived in

2:26:15 Roxberry, grew up in Roxberry, we lived

2:26:18 in uh Dorchester, Matipan, and the the

2:26:21 old housing stalk. And then we lived in

2:26:24 Jamaica Plane, and we we were in the

2:26:26 area where the buses deadheaded all the

2:26:29 way up to Forest Hill Station. Back in

2:26:32 the 2000s, we fought to stop those buses

2:26:35 early 2000, late 90s to stop those

2:26:38 diesel pollutant buses from going to uh

2:26:42 Forest Hills, shut down the Bartlett

2:26:45 yard, stop the dead heading of those

2:26:48 diesel powered buses. And today we they

2:26:51 came back. We we were able to get

2:26:53 compressed natural gas buses to go

2:26:56 through our community that were a little

2:26:57 less polluting to try and save our

2:27:00 lungs. And then I watched during COVID

2:27:04 when the buses that were um banned from

2:27:06 coming into what was then Dudley

2:27:09 Station, Ashmont, Forest Hills, they

2:27:11 weren't allowed to let diesel buses run

2:27:13 over here because we fought and stopped

2:27:16 those buses from running through our

2:27:18 communities. They slipped them back in.

2:27:21 And I watched that black diesel soot

2:27:23 spewing out of buses on Transit Equity

2:27:25 Day in Nubian Station a few years ago

2:27:28 during COVID in 2020. And I said, "Oh my

2:27:31 god, they're back."

2:27:33 And what are we fighting about right

2:27:35 now?

2:27:36 Put in more diesel buses. And I mean

2:27:40 more diesel buses with shuttles that

2:27:42 they will not divulge to go to White

2:27:44 Stadium

2:27:46 to transport people.

2:27:49 So many hundreds of buses that are going

2:27:51 to be coming in and they're saying, "Oh,

2:27:53 we'll put electric buses three years

2:27:55 after the start of the first game. Why

2:27:58 aren't they saying they'll do it now?

2:28:00 So, we need you to continue to fight for

2:28:03 our civil rights, our right to arrive,

2:28:05 our right to breathe clean air, and our

2:28:08 right to have our lifespan extended to

2:28:11 90 years plus and not have this

2:28:14 situation. He ran out of here, the

2:28:16 Beacon Hill guy. Um, he's not here

2:28:19 anymore

2:28:21 because that's a fact. We have a right

2:28:23 to breathe here. We still can't breathe.

2:28:26 And we need to have this thing addressed

2:28:31 and address the our rights to clean air,

2:28:34 quality public transportation that is

2:28:37 going to get us to where we need to go

2:28:39 and to look at viable options and to

2:28:42 look at how we can um actually live a

2:28:45 few minutes longer. Thank you for

2:28:48 allowing me to speak.

2:28:49 Thank you, Mea. The uh H. Joseph,

2:28:54 H. Joseph, J McManis, Miss Grace. If if

2:28:59 there's someone who hasn't signed up yet

2:29:02 and you want to speak, please go to the

2:29:05 back and sign the signup sheet. There's

2:29:08 someone that wants to talk and you

2:29:10 haven't. We don't want anyone to leave

2:29:13 here

2:29:15 who hasn't talked but wanted to talk.

2:29:18 Okay.

2:29:19 Hi, good evening. My name is Helena

2:29:21 Joseph. I do live in Dorchester. I also

2:29:23 work in Dorchester. And I want to thank

2:29:25 you guys for um holding this meeting. I

2:29:28 also want to thank the community folks

2:29:30 to come out and represent yourselves. Um

2:29:33 a lot of times we hear about these um

2:29:36 meetings are taking place and a lot of

2:29:39 the community people do not know that

2:29:41 these meetings are happening. I think we

2:29:43 need to do a better job to inform the

2:29:46 residents and the people in the

2:29:47 community when those meetings are taking

2:29:50 place because people do care about where

2:29:52 they work and where they leave. Um I'm

2:29:55 tired of speaking. I am tired of

2:29:57 talking. I feel like we are talking and

2:29:59 we are talking. What are you guys going

2:30:01 to do to help us? I mean are we talking

2:30:03 today? What is going to what is the

2:30:05 result of all this talking today? What's

2:30:08 going to happen? what action is going to

2:30:10 actually happen for people in this

2:30:12 community. Um my brother and his wife

2:30:16 built a dental practice for 25 years on

2:30:18 Bluehab. I'm actually working with them

2:30:21 right now. We have three um construction

2:30:24 buildings happening right around um the

2:30:27 practice and I I can tell you it has

2:30:30 been really challenging for us and for

2:30:34 the patients. Parking is a problem now.

2:30:38 What is going to happen when we have all

2:30:41 these things that is supposedly already

2:30:44 um going to happen? We are talking about

2:30:46 it, but it sounds like this is something

2:30:48 that's already going to happen whether

2:30:50 we talk no matter how many times we say

2:30:52 we don't want it. It's something that it

2:30:54 seems like it's already things are in

2:30:57 motion. You have these three

2:30:59 construction buildings um happening and

2:31:02 they have all these huge vehicles. We've

2:31:04 spoken to the city. they have come in

2:31:06 and they have um tried to help. It will

2:31:09 work one week and then the following

2:31:11 week challenges for patients to parking.

2:31:14 Patients has to go streets upon streets

2:31:16 to find parking. Sometimes we have

2:31:18 patients cancelling appointments and I'm

2:31:20 just saying who are talking to the

2:31:22 people the businesses that are serving

2:31:25 the community who are representing them.

2:31:28 How are you are you guys going into

2:31:30 these businesses and talking to people

2:31:32 and talking about the challenges? I

2:31:33 think we can talk all we want, but until

2:31:36 we don't see the action, it just seem

2:31:38 like we we just talking just for talking

2:31:41 sake. And I hope that we do something

2:31:44 about the people that are being

2:31:46 affected. Not only the businesses, we

2:31:48 also have the all of these construction

2:31:51 things that are happening. You have the

2:31:52 side parking on the streets. You have

2:31:54 the double parking. It's a mess. And I

2:31:57 just hope that we take the consideration

2:32:00 of what people are saying, the what

2:32:01 people are feeling and make people feel

2:32:03 like what they're saying is being taken

2:32:06 into consideration and people feel like

2:32:08 their concerns are being met. We need to

2:32:11 respect the people in the community. We

2:32:13 need to take the their concerns and we

2:32:16 need action. All this talking, I hope it

2:32:19 means something. Thank you.

2:32:21 Thank you. What business was that?

2:32:24 What?

2:32:26 Okay, thank you.

2:32:30 Jim McGanis,

2:32:35 are you H Joseph?

2:32:38 That's David. David. That's David.

2:32:40 That's David.

2:32:41 You didn't sign up yet, did you?

2:32:43 You thought you did?

2:32:53 We don't sit on the list, but

2:32:56 go on. David, two minutes.

2:32:59 Thank you, sir.

2:33:00 Thank you, sir. Um, thank you all for uh

2:33:04 listening. Um,

2:33:07 my name is David Seawward. Um, my name

2:33:11 is David Seawward and I want to tell you

2:33:13 a bunch of things that I learned when I

2:33:15 worked for the MBTA that have not been

2:33:18 said, which is crazy to me because rail

2:33:22 is so possible is so possible and I

2:33:26 agree with everything that's been said

2:33:28 here, so I'm not going to repeat it. Um,

2:33:32 councelor WHL talked about restoring the

2:33:35 rail on Blue Hill Avenue. That's how we

2:33:38 know it's possible because the streets

2:33:40 here were designed for the rail to be

2:33:44 there. That's why their bus project is

2:33:47 easy and cheap because it's already been

2:33:51 you have the geometry perfect. You

2:33:53 almost never have this possibility.

2:33:56 Now, do you know that right next to us,

2:33:59 right next to us, they are funding and

2:34:02 building the upgrade of the Matipan line

2:34:05 to be light rail,

2:34:07 they're building a traction power uh

2:34:11 substation that's what powers the

2:34:13 overhead uh catenary wires u right

2:34:17 there. That is that and they're building

2:34:20 a vehicle maintenance facility.

2:34:24 Those are the biggest costs that made

2:34:26 that green line extension project so

2:34:28 hard and so costly. We already have them

2:34:31 at Madapan Square. So, we're going to

2:34:33 get that. We're going to get light rail

2:34:36 from Milton,

2:34:38 70% white. And how are we not going to

2:34:41 get it here? Like, you don't have to be

2:34:44 from here to feel that this is just

2:34:46 nuts, right? Um, and so all like at a

2:34:51 minimum like at a minimum

2:34:55 what you for you could have rail light

2:34:58 rail transit

2:35:00 going up uh Blue Hill Avenue in their

2:35:04 center

2:35:06 and Columbus

2:35:07 7-year construction project make it to

2:35:10 Jackson Square. Thank you so much.

2:35:12 Thank you. [applause]

2:35:17 H Joseph

2:35:22 J. Mcmanis

2:35:27 ma'am, what's your name?

2:35:29 Pardon me. Oh, Miss Grace. Okay, Miss

2:35:32 Grace. I think Miss Grace is our last

2:35:34 speaker for the night.

2:35:36 Oh, good evening.

2:35:38 Give our counselor. I just like to say

2:35:40 that we've had a hundred years of white

2:35:44 male mayors and you're probably not used

2:35:47 to a nonwhite mayor, but give Mayor Woo

2:35:52 the respect that she deserves. That's

2:35:54 all I'm going to say. Um, people have a

2:35:57 problem with everything she does. Um,

2:36:02 everything she does. Oh, non-white

2:36:04 people. We don't know how to build. We

2:36:05 don't know how to run the city. Mothers

2:36:08 can't be mayors. Oh, I think they can.

2:36:11 So, I I just don't like the the the

2:36:14 disrespect. If I mayor, they would have

2:36:17 never disrespected Mighty Wells and

2:36:20 certainly not Mayor Manino. Um, I may

2:36:23 have my differences with them with

2:36:25 issues and whatever, but I never

2:36:28 disrespect them like she is being

2:36:30 disrespected today everywhere she goes.

2:36:33 um the racism attacks against her.

2:36:36 Would you direct your comments to the

2:36:37 dockets?

2:36:38 So, I'm going Well, that's one of them.

2:36:40 Um the other thing I want to say is yes,

2:36:43 I do support uh the the the bus center,

2:36:48 bus lanes coming down Blue Lab. I

2:36:50 support the money that's coming in our

2:36:53 community. I have not um the city

2:36:57 council, this is a meeting. You said it

2:36:59 was a city council meeting. So, you

2:37:01 should have brought the data. Okay. Can

2:37:05 we actually have rail? How long is that

2:37:09 going to take? Can we use this $163

2:37:13 million for rail? If it takes, like you

2:37:16 said, uh 5 years to do something else,

2:37:21 how many how long is it going to take us

2:37:25 to get rail? And can this money be used?

2:37:30 So this money was allotted for this

2:37:32 center bus lane. Can it be used? And it

2:37:36 needs to be clear for rail. Now the

2:37:40 other thing it is a lie that when you're

2:37:44 saying that there was no community

2:37:45 engagement. I participated in 2021 to

2:37:50 2023 in a community engagement process.

2:37:55 the city of Boston hire at Gayscale.

2:37:58 Gayscale subcontracted

2:38:01 with a black woman's community

2:38:03 engagement firm out of Matapan.

2:38:07 Okay. Um, if you goo if you Google

2:38:10 grayscale community engagement, you can

2:38:13 see they taped all the conversations,

2:38:17 recorded everything, and I went and I

2:38:20 and I must say that I also participate

2:38:24 in my neighborhood um, association

2:38:27 meetings, not just mine, probably about

2:38:30 four of them. So ask not what your city

2:38:34 can do for you. What are you doing for

2:38:36 your community? Uh the neighborhood

2:38:39 associations are putting out information

2:38:41 and you need to contact them, get on

2:38:44 these mailing lists and and know about

2:38:46 them.

2:38:46 Thank you, Miss Grace.

2:38:47 Uh that that's one thing.

2:38:49 Thank you, Mrs. Grace. Thank you, Mrs.

2:38:51 Grace.

2:38:51 But um

2:38:53 Thank you, Mrs. Grace.

2:38:54 I support I support the

2:38:57 that money.

2:38:59 this we this the city of Boston has

2:39:03 failed to do any major investments in

2:39:06 our community for 80 years and now we

2:39:09 want to start White Stadium. We want to

2:39:13 stop the we want to stop this money into

2:39:16 our community. What other community is

2:39:19 stopping money going into their

2:39:20 community?

2:39:21 Thank you, Miss Grace.

2:39:22 Thank you so much. Uh, Elna Elnara

2:39:27 Miles is the last speaker of the

2:39:31 evening.

2:39:33 We'll give the counselors one minute to

2:39:34 give a closing statement. I do want to

2:39:37 thank everyone that came out.

2:39:40 Thank everyone that stayed here the

2:39:42 entire time. Thank everyone that

2:39:44 participated.

2:39:46 Thank all the counselors. And I want to

2:39:49 make sure that we recognize the city

2:39:52 council central staff that really

2:39:55 conducted and operated me. Stand up.

2:39:57 Come on. Let's have all of the city

2:39:59 council central staff stand up. Come on.

2:40:02 All you know. Come on. Stand up. Just

2:40:05 stand up. Just stand up. [applause]

2:40:10 [cheering]

2:40:13 We thank them for coming out tonight and

2:40:18 spending the time to make sure that this

2:40:21 council hearing uh went in good order.

2:40:25 Uh Miss Miles, you have two minutes.

2:40:28 Well, I don't need that long, but

2:40:29 Okay. Okay.

2:40:30 Thank you everyone. My concern is

2:40:34 whatever project they're going to bring

2:40:36 to this community. I'm not seeing any

2:40:39 people of color working on the streets.

2:40:44 They've dug up Blue Hill A. I'm a Grove

2:40:48 Hall member and we live right on the

2:40:51 corner Devon Blue Hill and I'm also the

2:40:55 insurance agent in the community Empire

2:40:59 Insurance.

2:41:01 But we don't see any people of color

2:41:04 working here and all the construction

2:41:07 that's going on. There used to be a guy

2:41:10 that would monitor

2:41:12 who

2:41:14 and I want to make sure somebody

2:41:18 is appointed to that job to make sure

2:41:21 people of color are represented with the

2:41:24 construction that's coming to the

2:41:26 community.

2:41:27 Thank you, Miss Miles.

2:41:28 Thank you.

2:41:28 I also want to recognize

2:41:31 all of the staff for the different

2:41:33 counselors that are here tonight. Uh

2:41:36 there's my chief of staff, Taric Meyers.

2:41:40 There's uh council war, staff, Yousef

2:41:44 Matthew. Uh there's

2:41:49 Bailey.

2:41:51 [applause] There's Kristen. Uh

2:41:55 what other staff is here?

2:41:59 What's it?

2:42:00 Bradford. Where's Bradford?

2:42:01 Angela.

2:42:02 Angela. Where's Angela? Give all the

2:42:05 staff a round Give all the staff a round

2:42:07 of applause. Thank you, Angela.

2:42:10 [applause]

2:42:12 I'm going to give each counselor a

2:42:14 minute to close out. Uh I just thank all

2:42:17 of you for coming tonight. Uh thank you

2:42:20 for being part of this hearing. Uh we'll

2:42:23 take all that we have. Tonight is the

2:42:27 final night that the mayor and the MBTA

2:42:30 will be taking comments to submit uh

2:42:33 with their application. Uh we're going

2:42:35 to make sure all of these comments a

2:42:37 part of that submission so that uh your

2:42:41 voice will be heard. This is not the

2:42:44 last of these councils here. We're not

2:42:46 closing out this council docket because

2:42:48 we're going to work uh to make sure that

2:42:52 you get a chance to hear from the MBTA

2:42:55 general manager and the questions that

2:42:57 folks have and concern. Just want to

2:43:00 thank all you for a great night. Thank

2:43:02 you for participating and uh we will

2:43:06 have other meetings uh and we'll make

2:43:08 sure everyone knows about them. Let me

2:43:10 start with uh Councelor Flynn uh for a

2:43:14 minute closing.

2:43:17 Thank you, Councelor Co Pepper. Thank

2:43:18 you, Council War. Thank you to the

2:43:21 residents for being here. I stand with

2:43:24 my two colleagues, Council War and

2:43:27 Council Co Pepper

2:43:30 in against this plan and for an

2:43:33 alternative plan. And that alternative

2:43:36 plan has to come from the residents. The

2:43:39 alternative plan

2:43:41 is about respecting the residents. It's

2:43:45 about listening to residents

2:43:47 and understanding that the best ideas

2:43:50 don't come from city hall. The best

2:43:53 ideas come from the residents. I do

2:43:56 think as I mentioned at the very

2:43:58 beginning, this is a civil rights issue.

2:44:02 I think that has to be the main focus

2:44:06 and we have to ensure that this

2:44:08 community is respected and heard

2:44:12 and I just don't think that it is heard

2:44:16 at city hall and including on the Boston

2:44:19 City Council. I don't necessarily

2:44:21 believe my city council colleagues um

2:44:24 think of this as a as a civil rights

2:44:27 issue. I think they think of this as a

2:44:30 transportation issue and we we still

2:44:33 have a lot of work to do to

2:44:37 educate city councilors about the impact

2:44:40 this has on civil rights. Thank you very

2:44:43 much. Honored to be here.

2:44:48 Councelor

2:44:51 is councelor Pepin

2:44:53 councelor Santana.

2:44:55 Um thank you Mr. Chair. I just want to

2:44:57 thank you and um councelor Warel for um

2:45:00 you know putting this um hearing

2:45:02 together and for being the main filers.

2:45:04 I want to thank the community who came

2:45:05 out um showed out and testified. Um and

2:45:09 you know I think we've learned a lot. I

2:45:10 think there's a lot of work that had to

2:45:12 do. Um as I mentioned in my questioning

2:45:14 and my opening remarks um I think we

2:45:16 need to completely change how we do our

2:45:18 community process. um it's not it's

2:45:20 currently not working and there's been

2:45:22 one too many projects um where I've

2:45:24 definitely been in community and and and

2:45:26 hear the opposition um and things don't

2:45:29 necessarily change. So um I think that

2:45:31 needs to change but really appreciate

2:45:32 the opportunity and the organizing. I

2:45:34 also want to thank central staff um for

2:45:36 all the work that you do and I'm looking

2:45:38 forward to the work ahead. Thank you

2:45:41 council war. Um I want to thank the

2:45:44 chair. I want to thank um our staffs. I

2:45:46 want to thank central staff. Um, but

2:45:48 especially I want to thank everyone that

2:45:50 has continued uh to show up. If this is

2:45:53 your first year fighting against the

2:45:54 center running bus, if you've been

2:45:56 fighting for it um over years and years,

2:45:59 just want to thank you for showing up in

2:46:01 a real way for your community. Um, I

2:46:04 take my job as an elected official, uh,

2:46:07 very seriously [clears throat]

2:46:08 knowing that I was elected by you, the

2:46:11 residents, to work in partnership with

2:46:13 you to bring the solutions that we can

2:46:16 work together to make our neighborhoods

2:46:18 better. Um, as Councelor Flynn has said,

2:46:21 a lot of the good ideas, a lot of the

2:46:24 great ideas, a lot of the best ideas

2:46:27 come from neighbors, come from the

2:46:29 residents. So that is why we need to

2:46:31 work in partnership to make sure that we

2:46:34 are bringing uh not only the best but

2:46:37 the same level of service that is being

2:46:40 uh given to other neighborhoods to our

2:46:42 neighborhood and that's what you can

2:46:43 expect from me every day as your elected

2:46:45 official in city hall. So thank you uh

2:46:48 for showing up. This fight is nowhere

2:46:50 near over. So please stay engaged and

2:46:53 stay tuned. Um there is a meeting

2:46:55 tomorrow uh city council hearing on the

2:46:58 Boston residents job policy at 2 pm

2:47:01 which talks about the u requirements or

2:47:04 the at the goals that we have as a city

2:47:06 for every construction site. So please

2:47:09 join in on that conversation but we also

2:47:11 have to make sure that during this

2:47:13 conversation when construction is going

2:47:16 to happen for rail or a side running bus

2:47:18 lane I'm going to claim it now that

2:47:20 those jobs also go to our neighborhood.

2:47:23 So, thank you again. Um, let's continue

2:47:24 to fight.

2:47:25 Thank you to everyone who stayed with us

2:47:27 tonight, the residents who took time

2:47:29 away from the family and work, the

2:47:31 panelists, the community organizations,

2:47:34 and my colleagues on the council. We

2:47:36 came to Blue Hill Avenue because this is

2:47:39 where the decisions will land. You want

2:47:42 safety improvements. You want crossings

2:47:46 that are ADA compliant. You want new

2:47:49 lighting. You want trees. You want

2:47:51 better bus stops. and you want them now.

2:47:54 You do not want a center running bus

2:47:56 lane that no one here has asked for. And

2:47:59 you should not have to accept what they

2:48:02 have told us we're getting in order to

2:48:05 get what you deserve. This is a question

2:48:07 of transportation equity. This is a

2:48:10 civil rights question and it will not go

2:48:13 away because this hearing ends and

2:48:16 neither will we. Thank you for showing

2:48:19 up tonight and for showing out and may

2:48:21 God bless you.

2:48:28 The meeting is now ending.

2:48:30 [clears throat]

2:48:31 Docket number 1340 and 1341.

2:48:35 Thank you for all that you've done.