Commentary in Dorchester Reporter – Boston needs a seat on T’s management board

The Dorchester Reporter has published the campaign’s first op-ed! Read the first few paragraphs here:

Amid the suddenly open Boston mayoral race and the precipitous decline in Covid-19 cases, a long-awaited decision on Beacon Hill about whether Boston residents will have a seat at the table on major public transportation decisions has disappeared from the public debate.

A plan for what comes after the existing Fiscal Management and Control Board (FMCB) was supposed to be made last year, when the T board was originally scheduled to close. Instead, with the pandemic raging, a last-minute deal extended the term of the existing FMCB for another year. That extension is coming to an end on June 30, and there has been no information released about what is next for MBTA governance.

Since the collapse of the T during the winter storms in February 2015, the FMCB had been directly supervising the T, meeting weekly with a goal of improving Greater Boston’s public transit system. Last year, a bill proposed to set one seat aside for the city of Boston to appoint was put forward, but didn’t happen. Beacon Hill needs to continue on the path they began last year and give the communities that support and use the MBTA seats on the new FMCB – one for Boston and one for the surrounding communities.

Read the whole thing on the Dorchester Reporter’s website.

Leave a Reply

The City of Boston is the only home I have ever known, and I am incredibly grateful to my community, who taught me the importance of service to others, civic engagement, and faith in a brighter tomorrow for all of us. It is these values that shaped our campaign for City Council, and, though we came up short of the general, it is these same values will continue to drive our City forward.

Running for City Council has been a lifelong dream of mine, and I was honored to do so alongside the largest, most historically diverse class of candidates that the City of Boston has ever seen. I am proud to have run a campaign that was a testament to my family, teachers, and community leaders – those whose investment in our City meant that a kid from Hyde Park could get an education, work at City Hall, and run for office to expand access to affordable housing, public transit, and City services for all.

I am grateful to our City-wide coalition of volunteers and supporters for believing in our vision. I am grateful to my fellow candidates for the ideas and passion that they brought to our many, many forums and neighborhood meetings and zoom conversations. Congratulations to those who are moving on to the Top 8 – you have made Boston incredibly proud of what you have achieved, and I look forward to working alongside you to advocate for fair housing, reliable transit, and an affordable City that works for all.

– Jon