Council prez: Board will clash, compromise with mayor
The most diverse City Council in Boston’s history will continue a “partnership” with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, but newly elected council President Andrea Campbell said she also wants the board to pursue its own agendas and work for people who feel left out.
As expected, councilors unanimously voted Campbell, who represents Mattapan and Dorchester, as the council’s first black female president yesterday as the new council held its first meeting. Campbell is overseeing a council that includes five other women of color, the most ever serving at one time.
Two of those women — Lydia Edwards, who represents Charlestown, East Boston and the North End, and Kim Janey, who represents Roxbury — were first elected in November, along with South Boston Councilor Ed Flynn. Campbell said she was excited to work with the new councilors and was “humbled and proud” to lead the board.
“The diversity of this body is one of its greatest strengths,” Campbell told councilors and audience members at the meeting.
In an interview with reporters after the meeting, Campbell said she wanted to reach out to marginalized communities and would be holding meetings on racial equity, as well as revisiting proposals to increase diversity in the city’s police and fire departments. She said Walsh’s inaugural message focusing on the middle class would not come at the expense of other areas, but that the council will not shy away from pushing forward measures that the mayor’s office initially opposed, such as the plastic bag ban Walsh signed last month after previously speaking out against it.
“I think the council has the ability to put forth any policy and proposal it wants, but I think it works best when we have conversations with the administration,” Campbell said. “Sometimes we don’t always agree on when to do it or how to do it but I think through open conversation and dialogue we usually get to a place of compromise.”
Edwards predicted the council and mayor will clash at times, but would eventually reach accord.
“I can’t really say where the head-butting is going to happen — I’m sure it will — but I think the goal is not to avoid conflict; the goal is to have a real conversation that respects each other’s perspectives to get the best result for Boston,” Edwards said.