Boston City Council Looks At Appointments, Urban Renewal, Charlestown Bridge & More

City Council President Michelle Wu publishes notes from Boston City Council meetings. The Boston City Council considered these items and more at their September 21, 2016 meeting:

Appointments and Confirmations

• BRA/EDIC: The Council voted to confirm Priscilla Rojas’ reappointment for a term expiring September 2021
• Zoning Commission: The Council voted to confirm the reappointment of Jane Cooper Brayton for a term expiring May 2019
• Boston Industrial Development Finance Authority: The Council voted to confirm the appointment of Quoc Tran for a term expiring April 2020

Urban Renewal: City Council President Wu filed a hearing order to create a docket for the upcoming Urban Renewal progress update hearings with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which were part of the Council’s approval for a six-year extension of Urban Renewal Authority. This was a procedural technicality, but because the Council voted on the original Urban Renewal filing, the docket was placed on file and we need a new docket number to publicly notice the progress updates. The first hearing will take place September 30 at 10AM.

New Washington Street (Charlestown) Bridge: The Council voted to approve the discontinuance by MassDOT of a portion of a state highway to allow the City of Boston to perform construction work on the North Washington Street Bridge. Councilor LaMattina reported back on yesterday’s hearing, where Public Works Department Engineer Para Jayasinghe testified that this was more of a formality, as the City has always maintained the bridge; a title search revealed that a sliver of the bridge had not been officially transferred to City ownership, so a Council vote and four Councilor signatures are needed to finalize the transfer. Mr. Jayasinghe mentioned that there have been over 30 public meetings on the design, with the next one on October 4^th. The proposed design includes cycle tracks and pedestrian space, along with vehicular traffic lanes. They are working to narrow some of the car lanes to allow for a dedicated bus rapid transit lane in the design, with a goal of construction in 2017.

Upcoming Hearings (Watch live at www.boston.gov/citycouncil/live.asp)

• Thurs, 9/29 at 3PM: Protections Against Unlawful Credit Discrimination in Employment (Government Operations)
• Fri, 9/30 at 10AM: 1^st Urban Renewal Progress Update with BRA (Planning & Development)

For complete notes on this meeting and prior Boston City Council meeting notes, visit MichelleForBoston.com or sign up to receive these notes automatically each week by email. 

Check out next week's City Council Meeting agenda available here on Monday, September 26th.