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Description
Boston Municipal Research Bureau Annual Luncheon - 5/31/22
A
So,
first
time
for
everything,
this
is
my
first
time
ever
trying
to
speak
with
reader
glasses.
I
bought
at
cvs
so
we'll
see
how
that
goes.
So
thank
you
for
taking
the
time
to
join
us
today.
It's
wonderful
to
be
back
in
person.
It's
wonderful
to
see
all
of
you
and
to
be
able
to
enjoy
this
beautiful
spring
day
together
and
we'll
thank
the
folks
that
helped
create
coveted
vaccines
that
make
it
more
possible
for
us
to
start
to
spend
more
time
together
in
person
as
we've.
So
long
wanted
to
do
so.
A
She
also
offered
boston's
communications
for
access
to
city
services,
regardless
of
english,
language
proficiency
or
communications
disability.
So
it's
all
about
openness
and
engagement,
as
our
governments
should
be
mayor.
Wu
got
her
start
at
city
hall
working
for
mayor,
thomas
menino,
as
a
rapaport
fellow,
where
at
that
time
she
created
the
city's
first
guide
to
the
restaurant,
permitting
process
from
start
to
finish
and
was
also
a
driving
force
to
launch
boston's
food
truck
program.
B
B
And
among
so
many
distinguished
leaders
from
all
across
our
city
and
our
communities
in
the
room,
there
are
way
too
many
to
to
go
around
table
by
table
and
thank
you
for
all
the
many
hats
that
you
wear
and
contributions
to
our
city
in
your
professional,
your
personal,
your
civic
capacities,
I'm
incredibly
grateful
for
all
that
you
do
for
boston.
I
do
want
to
recognize
our
cabinet
members
who
are
here
and
some
fellow
elected
officials
as
well
so
I'll
just
run
down
the
list
that
was
provided
and
then
I'll
see
who
I
missed.
B
I'm
told
that
our
chief
of
economic
opportunity
and
inclusion,
shigun
idolwu,
is
here
our
chief
of
housing,
sheila,
dillon,
chief
of
policy,
mike
firestone,
chief
of
energy
environment,
open
space,
mariama
whitehammond,
our
corporation
council,
adam
cederbaum,
chief
of
communications,
jessica,
pierre
director
of
the
office
of
police,
accountability
and
transparency,
stephanie
everett
senior
advisor
on
labor
lou
mandarini,
our
director
of
intergovernmental
relations,
claire
kelly
chief
of
community
engagement,
brianna
mellor
and
our
chief
administrative
officer
alex
lawrence.
Please
give
a
round
of
applause
to
our
incredibly
dedicated
team.
B
B
Who
did
I
miss
from
our
city
cabinet
side?
Okay,
I
think
they're
just
not
raising
their
hands.
I
see
some
of
my
christopher's
here.
Other
folks
are
here
on
our
team
as
well.
Thank
you
and
I
want
to
recognize
the
elected
officials
who
I
get
to
serve
with
every
day,
incredibly
honored
to
be
working
alongside
them.
For
this
this
moment
in
our
city
city,
council,
president
ed
flynn
is
here.
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
Many
others
echoed
this
worrying
that
their
businesses
would
sustain
serious
losses
during
a
period
of
heavy
construction,
for
something
never
seen
before
and
never
recover.
After
that,
others
spoke
with
a
threat
to
health
and
property
posed
by
construction
that
might
disrupt
sewers
water
pipes
and
electric
wiring.
B
That's
true
today,
and
it
became
apparent
almost
immediately
after
that
first
line
was
up
and
running
within
just
three
years
of
its
construction
park.
Street
was
the
fourth
most
highly
used
subway
station
in
the
world
and
in
the
first
10
years
after
the
tea
was
introduced.
Boston's
public
transit
ridership
numbers
increased
by
nearly
60
percent,
and
in
the
decades
that
followed,
public
transit
became
the
most
popular
way
for
residents
and
visitors
alike
to
access
downtown
with
the
t
bringing
in
roughly
half
of
all
downtown
foot
traffic.
B
Neighborhoods
and
businesses,
parks
and
libraries,
museums,
colleges,
all
suddenly
became
accessible
in
ways
they
hadn't
before
public
transit
proves
to
be
a
public
good
in
the
truest
sense
of
the
term.
It
connects
us
to
this
day
to
the
places
and
resources
we
need
to
thrive
in
our
communities.
It
connects
us
to
each
other.
B
Today
we
have
a
similar
opportunity
to
connect
and
transform
our
city
in
a
moment
of
urgency
and
possibility.
The
urgency
is
clear.
Cities
across
the
country
are
struggling
to
fully
emerge
from
the
pandemic.
Remote
and
hybrid
work
have
forever
changed
our
economy
and
the
relationship
between
where
we
live
and
what
we
do.
B
Boston
lost,
roughly
37
000
residents
between
2020
and
2021,
a
little
less
than
one
percent
of
our
total
population,
but
working
in
person
at
our
downtown
commercial
buildings
remains
down
by
nearly
a
third
of
pre-pandemic
foot
traffic
as
global
competition
for
talent
and
capital.
Sharpens
in
this
changed
environment
of
flexibility
and
remote
work.
Boston
must
become
a
place
where
people
can
thrive
where
innovators
and
entrepreneurs
from
all
communities
all
walks
of
life
want
to
be
and
can
afford
to
stay.
B
At
the
same
time,
the
pandemic
deepened
existing
inequities
across
the
society,
from
higher
mortality
rates
within
black
communities,
to
the
virus's,
disproportionate
impact
on
women
in
the
workforce
and
the
urgency
of
climate
action.
We
are
at
a
crossroads
and
the
perception
that
inaction
is
somehow
safer
that
the
status
quo
comes
at
no
cost,
simply
isn't
true.
B
Our
challenges,
long
predating
the
pandemic
have
been
made
more
complicated,
grown
more
entrenched
by
our
own
unwillingness
to,
as
the
anti-subway
league
president
said,
so
extensively.
Tear
up
the
street
from
deferred
maintenance
on
the
t
or
in
our
school
buildings.
Skyrocketing
housing
costs
the
deepening
racial
wealth
gap,
pushing
families
out
of
our
city
to
pollution
from
increasingly
congested
roads,
impacting
our
long-term
health
and
the
mental
health
epidemic
rooted
in
trauma
and
isolation.
B
B
We
must
move
away
from
putting
band-aids
on
the
symptoms
of
our
problems
and
invest
instead
in
tackling
root
causes.
Here
is
where
our
greatest
opportunities
lie.
In
fact,
that
local
government
stands
the
best
chance
to
rebuild
our
economy,
democracy
and
communities
in
this
moment
because,
as
intertwined
as
our
challenges
are
so
are
our
solutions,
and
we
are
already
working
hard
every
day
to
shift
what's
possible
through
setting
a
foundation
for
the
future
connecting
our
communities
and
delivering
on
the
details
of
city
government.
B
B
B
Over
the
next
year,
this
office
will
focus
on
expanding
our
options
for
early
ed
and
care
and
accelerating
the
creation
of
a
universal
pre-k
system.
This
upcoming
school
year,
one
thousand
more
four-year-olds
and
hundreds
more
three-year-olds,
will
be
enrolled
in
a
quality
pre-kindergarten
program
than
when
the
initiative
first
began
and
we're
working
to
clarify
existing
siting
and
funding
requirements
in
the
zoning
code
to
embed
the
centrality
of
early
education
and
care
in
boston's
growth.
B
We
don't
just
attract
the
best
and
brightest
minds
here
in
boston,
we
grow
and
raise
them,
and
we're
going
to
do
all
that
we
can,
which
brings
me
to
my
next
point,
our
most
important
and
immediate
pipeline
for
talent
and
innovation
in
our
city,
our
schools,
as
a
mom
with
two
boys
in
bps.
I
am
deeply
aware
of
the
potential
our
education
system
has
to
broaden
horizons
and
widen
the
paths
our
young
people
tread,
and
I'm
also
aware
of
the
ways
in
which
our
current
system
falls.
Short
of
that
goal.
B
Bps
today
faces
enormous
disparities
deepened
by
the
pandemic,
which
need
to
be
addressed
with
urgency
over
the
course
of
a
mayoral
term.
A
child
who
is
just
starting
kindergarten
will
be
almost
finished.
With
elementary
school,
a
student
entering
high
school
will
be
preparing
to
graduate
and
leave
our
boston
public
schools.
There
is
no
time
to
waste.
Earlier.
B
B
Our
charge
in
this
moment
is
to
ensure
that
boston's
growth
connects
our
communities
with
thoughtful,
comprehensive
planning
and
the
infrastructure
for
mobility
and
accessibility.
Last
week
we
welcomed
our
new
chief
of
planning
to
city
hall.
Chief,
arthur
jemison
brings
a
wealth
of
expertise,
wisdom
and
vision
to
embark
on
the
journey
of
reorienting,
reorienting
our
processes
and
structures
towards
predictability,
resiliency
and
affordability
in
boston,
together
with
our
chief,
our
new
director
of
operations
and
organizational
transformation,
devon
quirk
and
a
soon
to
be
hired
director
of
urban
design.
B
B
Connecting
our
communities
also
means
doing
more
to
celebrate
and
uplift,
the
heart
and
soul
of
our
city.
The
arts
and
culture
that
bring
boston
to
life,
infuse
our
neighborhoods
with
energy
and
inspiration
and
make
our
city
a
place
that
people
want
to
live,
work
and
play
in
the
strength
and
vibrancy
of
our
art
scene
underpins
our
community
and
our
economy.
B
The
challenges
before
us
aren't
new
they're,
long-standing,
complex
and
daunting.
Even,
but
I
want
to
talk
to
you
about
what's
special
about
city
government
delivering
on
the
details.
City
government,
especially
now,
is
about
that
fact
that
there's
always
room
for
action
at
the
local
level
when
we're
closest
to
the
people.
Even
in
our
first
six
months,
we've
already
begun
breaking
down
the
details
of
how
municipal
government
can
act
with
impact
we're
putting
our
money
where
our
mouth
is
to
close
the
racial
wealth
gap,
with
a
focus
on
equity
in
city
contracting.
B
B
B
B
Even
while
acknowledging
the
challenge
of
trying
to
picture
a
world
changed
by
hundreds
of
years
of
progress
and
technological
advancement,
medical
innovation,
cultural
progress,
they
tried,
there
were
guesses
about
cloning,
about
alternative
energy
sources
and
even
how
many
of
the
surrounding
cities
and
towns
boston
would
start
to
absorb.
We
didn't
quite
get
there.
B
I
think
brookline
stopped
us
and
yet,
despite
all
their
imagining,
the
second
thing
that
every
single
letter
shared
was
the
very
beginning
the
opening
salutation
they
each
began
with
some
version
of
sir
or
dear
mr
mayor
for
all
their
determination
to
dream
big
and
boldly
about
our
future.
Not
a
single
mayor.
Imagine
that
someday
someone
like
me
or
kim
janey
before
me
would
be
mayor
and
almost
certainly
they
couldn't
have
imagined
the
resources
and
momentum
available
to
us
at
this
moment
to
implement
lasting
changes
and
build
a
foundation
for
a
brighter
future.
B
So
you
take
just
one
thing
away
from
today:
let
it
be
this
this
moment
is
proof
that
we
are
capable
of
so
much
more
than
we
can
imagine.
We
can
make
transit
accessible
in
housing
and
high
quality
child
care
affordable.
We
can
close
the
gaps
in
our
school
system
and
become
the
greenest
city
in
america.