Council votes to summon MBTA chief Phil Eng over Blue Hill Avenue

The Boston City Council voted Oct. 21 to use its rarely used summons power on MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng. The order calls him before a council committee to answer questions about the planned redesign of Blue Hill Avenue, the main street through Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury, and to bring crash data. Eng also serves as interim state transportation secretary.

The fight matters to anyone who rides, drives or runs a business on the corridor. The Boston Globe called the vote a rare move. WBUR reported that the roughly $163 million plan would add center-running bus lanes, crosswalks, sidewalks and 42 parking spaces along about three miles of the avenue, and that federal grants cover more than half the cost.

How each councilor voted

Several news reports described the vote as 8-4. The council's official record for docket 1968 shows three groups:

• Yes (8): Liz Breadon, Miniard Culpepper, Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy, Henry Santana and Brian Worrell.
• No (2): Gabriela Coletta Zapata and Sharon Durkan.
• Present (3): John FitzGerald, Enrique Pepén and Benjamin Jacob Weber.

Boston.com reported the same split. The order was passed the day it was read, under a suspension of the rules, so it never went to committee.

What was said on the floor

Culpepper, the lead sponsor, told colleagues that his civil rights committee held a hearing Oct. 14 in Dorchester on rapid-transit gaps in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. Eng was invited and did not come, he said (watch at 1:52:35). He said the city administration also could not attend but had sent a written statement ahead of time. The summons also asks for official crash data for Blue Hill Avenue and Columbus Avenue, where Culpepper said crashes rose after center bus lanes went in.

Pepén said Eng and his team had come to several community meetings on the project and answered when he reached out, and said he would not vote for the summons (1:55:10). Mejia asked colleagues to see a difference between a community meeting and an official council hearing (1:56:50).

Durkan said she would vote no (2:00:51):

I do think the summons power that we have is incredibly important. So we should be choosy in the way that we use that power.

She later added that she did not believe Eng would appear and that state law limits whom the council can summon (2:07:01). Culpepper answered that state law lets the council summon some state bodies (2:10:03). Murphy said she had held many hearings where the administration did not show up (2:05:01). FitzGerald said he would vote present out of an abundance of caution (2:13:21). Flynn said he had voted against an earlier summons of a postal official but backed this one to support Culpepper (2:14:22).

The longer fight over this corridor

Our records show the council has split on Blue Hill Avenue all year:

• Feb. 25: Culpepper's hearing order on moving project money to streetscape work (docket 0402) was sent to the Planning, Development and Transportation Committee, not his civil rights committee. A roll call upheld that choice 7-6. Breadon, Coletta Zapata, Durkan, Louijeune, Pepén, Santana and Weber voted with the chair. Culpepper, FitzGerald, Flynn, Mejia, Murphy and Worrell voted against.
• March 4: Culpepper and Worrell's resolution asking the MBTA and the city to cancel the center bus lanes and put the money toward fare-free buses (docket 0483) went to committee after Pepén objected to an immediate vote. It is still there.
• July 8: A resolution backing study of an Orange Line extension along the avenue (docket 1341) went to Culpepper's civil rights committee after the chair reconsidered.
• Oct. 21: Culpepper and Worrell filed a letter on civil rights concerns with the plan (docket 1957). It was placed on file.

What the MBTA and City Hall said

The MBTA told WBUR it had let the council know ahead of time that Eng could not attend on Oct. 14. It said he had joined two recent public meetings on the redesign and had not received an official subpoena. A spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu's office said the administration does not see subpoenas as a helpful way to work with partners in government, WBUR and the Globe reported.

What's next

Boston.com reported that the order asks Eng to appear at a Nov. 6 hearing of the Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement Committee and to bring crash data from 2022 to 2026. Culpepper told the outlet he would consider court action if Eng does not come. Watch the meetings calendar for the hearing notice.