Boston Metropolis Councilors will quickly be paid $125,000 a yr; they need to begin incomes it.
Because the Herald reported Tuesday, Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata mentioned she has secured the seven votes required to turn out to be the subsequent Council president. There’s extra to that story, however right here’s the kicker: Her first rent, she says, is Councilor-at-Massive Henry Santana.
Santana, who held off a comeback bid from former Councilor Frank Baker in final week’s election and completed fourth within the at-large race, would function vp of the council.
The Herald was advised that Santana has attendance points, to place it mildly. However that doesn’t appear to matter on a board extra concerned about being a rubber stamp for Mayor Michelle Wu. We condemn that line of pondering. It isn’t serving Wu nor the taxpayers of Boston.
The mayor must encompass herself with an equal dose of skeptics as supporters. Who’s going to problem her?
“There is no such thing as a different solution to provide yourself with protection in opposition to flattery than by making males perceive that telling you the reality is not going to offend you,” wrote Nicolo Machiavelli in “The Prince.”
Machiavelli wrote that pearl 512 years in the past as a playbook for nobles in a time when rival city-states dominated Renaissance Italy. It nonetheless holds true as we speak.
Why would Coletta Zapata flip to a junior member of the Council who barely held on to his job when Boston is heading right into a yr the place robust choices will must be made? It’s a blatant nod to the mayor.
Wu smoked Josh Kraft so badly the son of Patriots proprietor Bob Kraft sulked away days after his preliminary election thumping. Now town is seeing what occurs when politicians are unopposed.
Mayor Wu, to cite President Donald Trump, is a “good” mayor, however she’s left of liberal and that’s going to hit taxpayers arduous as she rolls out her agenda. So, the place’s the stopgap? Coletta Zapata and Santana will not be Batwoman and Robin.
The town deserves a dynamic duo and these two are removed from it. Plus, this selection might come again to hang-out the Council if Mayor Wu decides to skip the final years of her second time period and, say, run for U.S. Senate? Return to Harvard? Attempt her luck in Washington, D.C.?
Anybody paid $125,000 a yr is at the very least residing 4 occasions above the poverty line. It’s additionally $40,000 above the nation’s median family revenue of about $85,000, in accordance with U.S. Census statistics. And check out making that math work in Boston, the place homes are bought for $1 million — and up!
This metropolis wants hard-charging councilors who present up and push for solutions, not act as puppets. The opioid disaster is a pox on our home and must be solved earlier than the winter freeze hits. We’d like councilors to remain out of the police blotter and assist legislation enforcement, not query each transfer officers make.
Coletta Zapata can rely her votes and hope for the most effective, however she’d be doing town a favor by searching for steadiness and turning to another person to be her deputy.
Santana must put extra years underneath his belt and present up extra for each committee he’s assigned to. Something much less warrants a refund of his soon-to-be $125,000 giant take-home cheddar.
