Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 12 p.m. (Boston time), Council Chambers
The Boston City Council met on October 21, 2026, with Council President Liz Breadon presiding (Councilor Coletta Zapata chairing part of the session). The council approved minutes, confirmed the reappointment of a renewal constable, and unanimously confirmed ten appointments to the Zoning Board of Appeals (dockets 1515-1524). It accepted a $3.25 million grant for 887 new Bluebikes e-bikes (docket 1883, passed 10-2 with Councilors Flynn and Murphy voting no) and a $500,000 immigrant-advancement grant for a home care cooperative (docket 1774). New ordinances were introduced, including a 'worst landlords' list, a displacement impact mitigation initiative and trust fund, and neighborhood-based affordability standards, all referred to committee. Committee reports on data-center zoning, CPA affordable housing funding, and BPS responses to bullying and sexual misconduct were accepted, with those dockets remaining in committee. The council debated and passed (8 yes, 2 no, 3 present) a summons for MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, and passed home-rule age-waiver petitions for two public safety applicants. Resolutions adopted included saving the Fields Corner post office, recognizing Ride for Your Life, supporting veterans' dental care, opposing federal public housing cuts, naming the Dorchester courthouse for Judge Leslie E. Harris, making Election Day a holiday for council staff (10-3), and recognizing Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Late-file personnel orders and the consent agenda passed, followed by announcements and memorials.
3:36 good.
3:38 good afternoon everyone.
3:41 Good afternoon.
3:43 I call to order today's meeting
3:45 of the boston city council.
3:46 Viewers can watch the
3:49 council meeting live on
3:50 youtube@boston.Gov.
3:53 Backslash city council dash tv.
3:55 At this time I ask my
3:56 colleagues and those in the
3:58 audience to please silence
4:00 their cellphones and electronic
4:00 devices.
4:03 Also pursuant to rule 42 I
4:05 remind all in this chamber that
4:07 no demonstration of approval or
4:08 disapproval from members of the
4:09 public will be permitted.
4:10 Thank you.
4:12 MR. Clerk, could you please
4:13 take a roll call vote to
4:14 ascertain the presence of a
4:17 quorum and then I'll give you
4:18 the mic.
4:18 Yeah.
4:19 There you go.
4:20 Councilor breen.
4:20 Here.
4:22 councilor collette as a
4:23 councilor.
4:23 Culpeper.
4:25 Councilor durkan.
4:26 Councilor.
4:26 Fitzgerald.
4:27 Council.
4:28 Flynn.
4:29 Councilor louijeune.
4:30 Here.
4:31 Councilor.
4:31 Mejia.
4:33 Councilor murphy.
4:34 Council put pen.
4:35 Councilor.
4:36 Santana.
4:37 Councilor.
4:38 Weber.
4:39 I think councilor, we're all
4:39 here.
4:41 a quorum is present.
4:42 Thank you, mr burke.
4:43 Um.
4:44 I've been informed by the clerk
4:45 that a quorum is present.
4:48 Um, MR. Clerk, if you would
4:49 please do us the honor
4:51 of offering some brief remarks
4:53 as an invocation today we do
4:53 not have clergy.
4:58 Good morning.
5:00 Please stand.
5:01 Uh.
5:02 Let's pray.
5:05 We speak to the GOD, the
5:06 goodness, the spirit of life,
5:07 the eternal.
5:09 We speak to the mysterious
5:11 thread that connects us one to
5:13 the other and to the universe.
5:15 We speak to the deep wisdom at
5:17 the center of our beings.
5:18 We embody the yearning of all
5:22 people to touch each other more
5:24 deeply, to hear each other more
5:25 keenly, to see each other's
5:27 joys and sorrows as our own and
5:29 know that we are not alone
5:31 unless we create solitude for
5:32 ourselves.
5:34 And even then community awaits
5:34 us.
5:37 Out of our yearning we have
5:37 come.
5:40 MAY we help each other to
5:41 proclaim the possibilities we
5:44 seek to create the community we
5:45 desire to worship what is
5:47 worthy in our lives, to teach
5:50 the truth as we know it and to
5:52 serve with justice in all the
5:53 ways that we can in our lives
5:54 fulfilled in one another.
5:57 Let us go now into the silence
5:59 of our faith that is unique to
6:01 each of us and still the same.
6:04 Let us be silent together for a
6:04 moment.
6:10 MAY peace be yours.
6:12 Amen.
6:14 i recited the tradition.
6:15 I pledge.
6:18 Allegiance to the flag of the
6:20 united states of america and to
6:21 the republic for which it
6:23 stands one nation.
6:24 Under GOD.
6:27 Indivisible with liberty and
6:27 justice.
6:28 for all.
6:31 Thank you, MR. Clerk.
6:33 Thank you everyone.
6:36 Before we begin our present to
6:38 the presentation, uh, I'd like
6:40 to invite the a boston
6:42 students.
6:42 international newcomers academy
6:44 Uh, I think these students
6:44 visited our offices this
6:45 morning.
6:46 They had many good questions
6:47 for us.
6:48 Uh, and just invite our
6:49 students and and our colleagues
6:52 to come up for a photograph.
7:04 And there's some there's some
7:05 room up on the dais here.
7:06 So when they come on up, come
7:07 on up.
7:09 Don't be shy long after.
7:18 You.
7:23 Search on both sides.
7:23 So.
7:33 I say come on up and coming up
7:33 is there.
7:38 A it MAY seem like.
7:40 A good.
7:41 Stand up here.
7:43 You've only got what it looks
7:43 like.
7:44 You really mean business.
7:50 With which can hold in your
7:52 right hand and then paper.
7:55 Are we blocking anyone all the
7:55 time?
7:58 Okay how about this?
8:01 Because everybody is.
8:03 Full.
8:04 I have to.
8:06 Yeah.
8:09 come down here.
8:11 Should we should we go down?
8:12 The shorter ones the shorter.
8:12 Yeah.
8:16 That's what everybody in the
8:18 picture shows.
8:20 Usually you'll be short.
8:23 Come on through here.
8:23 Come here.
8:24 Yeah.
8:27 This is better.
8:27 All right.
8:28 Are you.
8:29 Is anyone still better?
8:30 Okay.
8:31 You guys got to be able to see
8:32 these phones, right?
8:35 Here in one.
8:37 Three.
8:38 Two.
8:39 One.
8:40 On your phone.
8:41 Thank you.
8:42 So thank you, big guy.
8:48 I had a good time.
8:50 What did you want to the.
9:06 Thank you.
9:10 Um, thank you to bangor for
9:10 coming to see us this morning.
9:21 No, we have one presentation
9:21 today.
9:24 Councilor pepen is recognizing
9:25 the boston red for life.
9:27 Councilor pepen, if you'd like
9:28 to come forward and bring your
9:29 guests with you.
9:30 Here they come.
9:33 One of our guests is all the
9:34 way from alaska.
9:36 So welcome to boston.
9:38 Come on up.
9:38 Yes.
9:44 grandma.
9:44 Yeah.
9:46 Good.
9:49 Welcome.
9:54 Good afternoon everyone.
9:56 Um thank you, MADAM PRESIDENT
9:57 for the introduction and good
9:59 here today.
9:59 afternoon to everyone gathered
10:01 Today I have the pleasure
10:04 of presenting to the
10:05 council alexa greenberg and
10:07 sherry arrington on behalf
10:08 of ride for your life.
10:10 Ride for your life is a
10:12 national organization that
10:13 advocates for safer streets and
10:16 an end to traffic fatalities,
10:17 particularly those involving
10:20 vulnerable road users like
10:21 pedestrians and cyclists.
10:23 The annual ride for your life
10:25 and companion events across the
10:27 country is both a somber
10:29 memorial to the lives lost to
10:30 traffic violence but also a
10:32 rally to demand action at all
10:32 levels of government.
10:35 Boston's annual ride and walk
10:37 will be taking place this
10:39 sunday, OCTOBER 25th.
10:44 Yesterday I had a very good
10:45 conversation with the family
10:48 of luis agag, a servant of the
10:49 city who lost her life riding
10:50 on our streets.
10:53 The family pointed to cities
10:56 around the country even to some
10:58 in our own backyard cities that
11:00 are doing the work and taking
11:02 ambitious steps to save lives.
11:04 That's what this is about
11:04 saving lives.
11:06 We have the obligation to do
11:09 the same here in boston, but at
11:12 this time I want to provide the
11:13 microphone over to alexa and
11:14 sherry to provide an
11:15 opportunity to for them to say
11:18 work that they're doing.
11:18 a few words and talk about the
11:22 Thank you so much, all of you
11:23 for having us today and
11:24 especially to councilor pepen
11:26 and his team for having us.
11:27 Uh, my name is alexa.
11:31 About two years ago my lifelong
11:32 friend was hit and killed by a
11:34 truck while biking in cambridge
11:34 .
11:38 Two years later, it doesn't get
11:38 easier.
11:41 Um, I wish I could tell you
11:41 that it does.
11:43 Especially for all of you who
11:44 knew and loved louisa.
11:46 My friend monty was killed in a
11:48 very similar crash to lucerne
11:49 this sunday.
11:50 We are going to honor both
11:53 of them and the 255 people
11:54 other people who have lost
11:55 their lives to traffic violence
11:57 this year in massachusetts.
11:58 I'd also like to have sherry
11:59 speak.
12:03 I'm sherry arrington and I'm
12:04 the one from alaska.
12:08 Uh, I'm the survivor of a fatal
12:08 crash.
12:11 Uh, OCTOBER 1st, 2021.
12:12 My husband and I had just
12:14 arrived in boston for the
12:15 beginning of a three week
12:16 vacation.
12:18 We got almost to danvers before
12:20 we were involved in a, uh,
12:21 crash for something came out
12:24 of a vehicle, struck our car,
12:25 came through the windshield,
12:26 impaled my husband and killed
12:26 him.
12:31 Um, so through that tragic
12:33 experience, I have the journey
12:35 that has brought mejia today.
12:37 I work with families for safe
12:39 streets and the truck safety
12:39 coalition.
12:42 Um, across the past five years.
12:44 I don't just do this to honor
12:45 my husband.
12:46 I realize that this is a
12:48 responsibility I have to help
12:50 make every community to talk to
12:51 people everywhere.
12:53 How do we make our communities
12:54 safer for everyone no matter
12:55 how they move?
12:57 Whether you're driving a car or
12:57 walking.
12:58 So I'm here.
13:00 I'll be leading the walk for
13:01 sunday.
13:03 And so come out and join us.
13:05 Um, because it really is
13:07 important that people hear and
13:08 see us and know that we need to
13:09 change our communities.
13:14 I'll just add the walk.
13:16 We'll go from boston common
13:17 around city hall, which I think
13:19 you guys are familiar with and
13:20 then and back at the common for
13:21 a rally and the ride taking
13:23 place at the same time we'll
13:25 leave from boston common, go to
13:26 the crash site where louisa was
13:28 killed and then back to the
13:30 common and there will be media
13:31 there at the ride will leave at
13:33 11 and the rally will be at
13:33 noon.
13:34 Thank you.
13:38 um I'm grateful to the both
13:40 of them and later on in the
13:41 council meeting I have, um,
13:43 filed the resolution that I
13:44 hope to get the support from my
13:45 colleagues just in honor
13:46 of ride for your life.
13:49 But I wanted to, um, provide
13:51 them both with a copy of that
13:53 resolution so that you can take
13:53 that home.
13:54 Thank you.
13:57 And then also, um, present
13:59 alexa goldberg with a special
14:01 city council um, citation for
14:03 your devotion to the cause
14:03 of pedestrian and cyclist
14:04 safety.
14:05 Thank you for your advocacy and
14:07 for organizing the boston
14:08 chapter of ride for your life.
14:10 So this is for you, alexa.
14:11 Thank you.
14:13 and to my colleagues, thank you
14:14 for your support and
14:15 partnership in making our
14:15 streets safer.
14:16 Please.
14:17 yes.
14:23 thank you.
14:34 The two different speeds.
14:37 Oh, I guess we are.
14:43 Okay.
14:49 Two one.
14:49 Three.
15:00 All right.
15:02 Thank you.
15:20 Have.
15:50 COUNCILMAN.
15:52 Thank you.
15:57 Thank you everyone.
16:00 Uh, mr clerk, could you please
16:02 amend the attendance to reflect
16:05 councilor flynn as and is
16:05 present.
16:10 We're now on to the first order
16:11 of business which is the
16:12 approval of the minutes from
16:14 the meeting of OCTOBER 7th,
16:14 2026.
16:16 All in favor say aye.
16:17 All opposed.
16:18 Say nay.
16:20 The ayes have it.
16:21 The minutes of the OCTOBER 7th
16:23 meeting are approved.
16:26 We are now on to communications
16:27 from our honor the mayor.
16:30 1953.
16:30 MR. Clerk, please read docket
16:39 Good work.
16:42 The lights on here.
16:48 And number 1953 message not
16:49 authorizing the city of boston
16:53 to accept and expend the amount
16:54 of $668,500 in the form of a
16:56 grant the community mitigation
16:58 grant awarded by the
16:59 massachusetts gaming commission
17:00 to be administered by the
17:02 office of budget management.
17:03 the grant will fund to offset
17:05 costs related to the
17:07 construction and operation
17:09 of gaming of a gaming
17:09 establishment.
17:13 Thank you.
17:15 This docket 1953 will be
17:16 referred to the committee on
17:16 ways and means.
17:19 Mr chair, could you please read
17:19 docket.
17:23 1954.195 for a message in order
17:25 for the confirmation of the
17:26 appointment of bertie makowski
17:28 as a renewal constable
17:30 authorized to serve civil
17:31 process upon the filing of his
17:34 bond for a period commencing
17:37 MAY 1st, 2026 and ending APRIL
17:39 30th 2022 2029.
17:39 Thank you.
17:41 mr chair recognizes
17:42 councilor santana country you
17:43 have the floor.
17:44 Thank you, MADAM PRESIDENT.
17:46 Brian mccloskey has been a
17:48 councilor for many years and is
17:50 seeking a confirmation of this
17:51 position for another term.
17:54 Also my coffee has served over
17:55 a decade and this council has
17:56 approved his reappointment
17:59 without any uh without issues
18:00 many times as chair of the
18:01 public safety and criminal
18:02 justice committee.
18:04 I recommend that docket 1954
18:05 ought to pass.
18:05 thank you.
18:07 Councilor santana, the chair
18:09 of the committee on public
18:10 safety and criminal justice
18:10 seeks suspension of the rules
18:13 and confirmation of docket 1954
18:13 .
18:16 All in favor say I all opposed.
18:17 Say nay.
18:18 The ayes have it.
18:21 Docket 1954 has been confirmed.
18:25 well now I want to report to
18:28 public officers and others uh
18:31 paratrooper regarding uh rule
18:31 39.
18:34 No no remarks on communications
18:35 from there are no remarks from
18:36 communications from from
18:37 councilors.
18:39 We are not um MR. Clerk, could
18:43 you please read dockets
18:44 195531957.
18:47 Talking number 1955
18:48 communication was received from
18:50 council flynn transmitting the
18:52 fiscal year 2026 annual report
18:54 by the office of the veteran
18:57 advocate talking number 1956
18:59 communication was received from
19:00 councilor flynn regarding
19:02 boston police officers
19:04 assaulted in blackstone park.
19:07 Ducky number 1957 communication
19:08 was received from council is
19:11 called for from world regarding
19:13 civil rights concerning
19:15 concerns with the bill uh blue
19:17 hill avenue transportation
19:18 action plan.
19:20 Thank you.
19:23 dockets 195521957 will be
19:24 placed on file.
19:27 We now on to reports
19:28 of committees.
19:29 Mr clerk uh, could you please
19:34 read a dockets 151531524.
19:37 Ducky number 1515 the committee
19:39 on planning development and
19:40 transportation to which was
19:42 referred to on AUGUST 5th 2026
19:45 doc number 1515 message in
19:47 order for the confirmation
19:48 of the reappointment
19:50 of giovanni valencia as a
19:51 member of the zoning board
19:53 of appeal for a term expiring
19:54 on MAY 1st, 2027.
19:57 Submits a report recommending
19:58 the order to be confirmed.
20:01 Ducky number 1516 the committee
20:03 on planning development
20:04 transportation which was
20:07 referred on AUGUST 5th 2026
20:09 message in order for the
20:10 confirmation of the
20:12 reappointment of kate katie
20:13 wear well as a member of the
20:15 zoning board of appeal for.
20:18 A term expiring MAY 1st, 2027
20:20 submits a report recommending
20:21 that the order ought to be
20:21 confirmed.
20:25 Talking about 1517 the
20:25 committee on planning,
20:27 development and transportation
20:28 to which was referred on AUGUST
20:31 5th, 2026 message in order for
20:33 the confirmation of the
20:35 reappointment of alan e blank
20:37 as a member of the zoning board
20:39 of appeals for a term expiring
20:41 MAY 1st, 2028 submits a report
20:42 recommending that the order
20:44 ought to be confirmed talking
20:47 number 1518 the committee on
20:48 planning development
20:49 transportation to which was
20:53 referred on AUGUST 5th 2026
20:54 message in order for the
20:55 confirmation of the
20:57 reappointment of sherry as a
20:58 member of the zoning board
21:01 of appeals for a term expiring
21:04 MAY 1st, 2029 submits a report
21:06 recommending that the order to
21:07 be confirmed.
21:10 Talking of a1519 the committee
21:12 and planning development
21:13 transportation to which was
21:16 referred on AUGUST 5th 2026
21:18 message in order for the
21:19 confirmation of the appointment
21:21 of shamir turner as a member
21:23 of the zoning board of appeal
21:25 for a term expiring MAY 1st,
21:28 recommending that the order
21:28 2029 submits a report
21:30 ought to be confirmed.