BOSTON - Wednesday,
June 23, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey today delivered remarks to the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce during their virtual Government Affairs Forum,
laying out how she is leading Boston through the COVID-19 pandemic with a
citywide agenda for recovery, reopening and renewal. Below are the
Mayor's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Good morning!
Thank you Miceal Chamberlain for that introduction. And thank you, Jim
Rooney. You were an integral part of my transition committee, and I am
grateful for your leadership. I also want to extend my gratitude to the
Chair of the Board, Micho Spring.
I’m pleased to be
joining you today from the Rapid 7 headquarters located in The Hub on
Causeway in Boston. Rapid 7 is a leading global technology company, led by Corey
Thomas. Like Corey, I am committed to investing in Boston’s diverse pool of
strong and exceptional talent. I appreciate Rapid 7 for hosting me
today.
It’s a beautiful
day in Boston.
Today, we are
healthier than we have been at any time in over a year. New cases of
COVID remain at low levels. More than half of our residents are fully
vaccinated. Over 60 percent have received at least one dose. And, for
those hardest hit by this pandemic -- our seniors -- over 75% are fully
vaccinated.
Today, our economy
is rebounding, and people are getting back to work. Our unemployment
rate has dropped from 16% a year ago to roughly 6% today. And,
economic activity continues to pick up.
And, today, Boston
is buzzing. Tens of thousands of people were out this
weekend. Families and friends reconnecting across our city -- from
Juneteenth celebrations at Franklin Park to barbeques in backyards.
Residents and visitors are strolling in our neighborhoods, cooling off in
our parks, and dining under our streetlights and stars.
It truly is a
beautiful day in Boston.
As we reflect on
our recovery and reopening, we must neither forget the 1,389 souls that
we have lost in Boston due to COVID, nor the distance we still have to go
as a city.
Boston -- our
neighborhoods, our business community, our people -- is incredibly strong
and resilient. And, the challenges we faced prior to COVID are still
ones we must solve today: rising sea levels, high housing costs, and
wealth, health and wage disparities along race and gender lines.
Our work over the
last 16 months provides a path we can follow to tackle these challenges.
We are recovering from this pandemic because we analyzed the data and
followed the science. We made tough decisions both at home and at
work. And, above all, we partnered together, focusing our efforts on
those most in need.
Black Suffragist
Mary Church Terrell coined the phrase “lifting as we climb.” She
understood that our own progress is tied to improving the conditions of
others.
When I took the
oath of office, I promised to lift up the people most affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic, and improve the health, wellness, and economic status
of workers and our business community.
That promise
guided the municipal budget that I submitted to the City Council for approval next
week. I want to thank Justin Sterritt, our CFO, and his team for
their work.
My budget includes
a $3.2 billion dollar capital plan. It is the largest in our city’s
history. I believe that now is the time to invest in Boston. It will
shape our recovery.
·
To
prepare the workforce for our future, we are funding new and renovated
public schools across our city, like the Josiah Quincy Upper School in
Chinatown that we broke ground on last week.
·
To
strengthen the open spaces that residents relied on this past year, we
are investing in nearly 80 different projects in our parks;
·
To
mend the fabric of our neighborhoods after this year of social
distancing, we are funding hundreds of millions of dollars for our
cherished community centers and libraries;
·
And,
to make transit and transportation more safe, reliable, and accessible
for all, we are dedicating over $1 Billion to improving our streets and
sidewalks all across our city.
As we invest
through this budget, we are creating the structures that allow us to not
just get back on our feet but to go better as a city.
In this budget, we
are funding Boston’s first Office of Participatory Budgeting, to elevate
the voice that residents have in City Hall.
We are creating an
Office of Police Accountability & Transparency. This office will
strengthen the trust between the public and our police
department.
And, we are
investing heavily in the staff and programs necessary to address the
disparities that exist in how City government contracts.
The City’s recent
Disparity Study examined the $2.1 billion in City government contracts
between 2014 and 2019. The study revealed that only 2.5% of the spending
went to minority and women-owned businesses combined, and less than one
percent went to Black-owned businesses. In a city that has a population
that is majority people of color, and in a city that is brimming with
talented entrepreneurs of every race, ethnicity and gender, we can do
better. We must do better.
Through the work
of our Chief of Equity and Inclusion, Celina Barrios-Millner, we are
transforming our procurement process to foster systemic change. We are
marketing all of our procurement opportunities to diverse vendors,
developing yearly equitable spending plans at the department level, and
supporting the growth of minority and women-owned businesses.
We are also
developing a pipeline of diverse vendors. This week we awarded grants to
56 local, diverse businesses through our newly created Boston Contracting Opportunity Fund. This fund helps businesses build their
capacity to compete for City contracts. One of the grantees is Ricardo
Pierre-Louis of Roxbury. Ricardo ran a valet parking service that was
devastated by the pandemic when restaurants shut down. With relief funds
from the city, he will be able to support his employees and pivot his
operations to managing garages. His business, Privé [Pre-Vay] Parking,
was recently awarded a major private contract on the South Boston
Waterfront and he will leverage the Opportunity Fund grant to scale up.
To further help
all companies compete for City contracts, I have created a new
five-person Supplier Diversity Team. This team is charged with creating
fair and equitable access to City contracting opportunities. This team is
led by a Supplier Diversity Manager.
I have created a
new Director of Strategic Procurement in our Administration and Finance
Cabinet. Together, the Director of Strategic Procurement and the Supplier
Diversity Team, will develop the City’s first-ever Purchasing
Plan. This will help companies see what we plan to purchase so that
businesses can get ready to bid.
I want to make it
easier for businesses to connect with us, so we are hosting Pathways to
City Contracting Opportunity Fairs where entrepreneurs meet with City
departments and learn about upcoming contracting opportunities that align
with their expertise. Quite like the Chamber’s Pacesetter’s program, the
City is proactively inviting underrepresented enterprises to do business
with us.
This is an intentional
focus on addressing racial disparities as we advance the City’s largest
capital budget. It will, over time, increase competition for City
contracts, strengthen local businesses, and close persistent wealth gaps
in our city.
We need to take
that same approach in our support for workers and in our housing policy.
We must be intentional in our efforts as we emerge from this crisis so
that we rebound as a stronger city.
That means we must
continue our focus on those most impacted during this crisis. For
many of our lowest income workers, that means simply being able to pay
the rent.
We have
responded with a $50 million dollar Rental Relief Fund. This fund helps renters remain in their homes; it helps
landlords keep up their buildings; and, it helps our neighborhoods have
stability as we emerge from this crisis.
This fund is
already making a real difference for residents like Marlinda, an elderly
woman from Allston. She was about to be evicted from an apartment
that she lived in for 27 years. She owed $15,000 in back rent. We were
able to pay her landlord all that was due. With our help, Marlinda was
able to stay in her home.
Suzanne, a
landlord from Dorchester who did not want to evict her tenant when he
fell ill during the pandemic, had applied for rental relief on his
behalf. Through this fund, we paid his back rent, utilities, and two
months of future rent.
Rental relief is
helping our residents get through this crisis. But, systemic change is
needed to make Boston affordable for the long term. I strongly support
the growth of housing in Boston, but it must be growth that helps to
build a middle class and keep our city accessible to all.
In July, we will
take another step in that direction. Under the leadership of Sheila
Dillon, our Chief of Housing, we will release a funding RFP of $30M to
support the creation of housing for families, seniors, and currently
homeless residents.
Homeownership is
also a key strategy for tackling the wealth gap in Boston. To make
homeownership more accessible, I recently invested $2.4 million into the Boston Home Center's
first-time Homebuyer Program. This commitment more than triples the average amount of
assistance previously offered by the City to income-eligible, first-time
homebuyers.
Emergency relief
for renters and homeownership opportunities for residents gives our city
and our economy stability. As does support for our small businesses
and our City’s entrepreneurs.
The spirit of
entrepreneurship resides deeply in my blood. I come from a long line of
entrepreneurs. From construction to graphic design, from insurance to
small business incubators, I am proud to come from an enterprising family
that means business.
Our business
community experienced multiple closures and loss of profits during the
pandemic. Through grant-making initiatives, such as the Small Business Relief Fund, we distributed $16 million dollars to
over 4,000 small businesses — from iFresh Noodle in Allston to Beacon Hill
Nutrition in the Back Bay to Mattapan Bottle and Can, Inc to the Rozzie
Square Theater.
To ensure that
small businesses can thrive as our city reopens, we’ve recently taken
steps to expand our commercial rent relief and small business support
programs by another $16 million dollars. This investment also helps business owners, their landlords and
property managers build long-standing partnerships with each other and
with the neighborhoods they serve.
Our travel and
hospitality sector, which is 70% people of color and the 3rd largest
industry in Boston, plummeted during the pandemic. This sector is
still climbing towards recovery. So, we launched and extended the All Inclusive Boston campaign. This campaign encourages residents
and travelers to take advantage of the unique offerings in each of
Boston’s neighborhoods. We also launched the B Local app to support small businesses by rewarding
users for shopping locally.
Just last week,
Midori Morikawa, our Chief of Economic Development, and I hosted a
listening session with a critical part of the hospitality sector: our
restaurant owners. I heard the challenges they are facing: severe
staffing hurdles, limited operating hours, and massive debt from PPP
loans. We also heard how valuable the outdoor dining program has been
during this pandemic. It’s been a lifeline for many of our
restaurants.
Coming out of this
listening session, we are putting in place $1.7 million dollars in new
City support for our restaurants.
This includes a
new outdoor dining team to work with restaurateurs and neighborhoods to
bring dining to streets, sidewalks, and open spaces in the years ahead. It also will fund a marketing campaign
for local business restaurants in Boston, to raise their profile as we
recover as a city.
To address the
staffing challenges that restaurant owners identified, this funding will
also support staff recruitment and retention bonuses and offer tuition assistance to
workers for two years while employed at a restaurant. This should help
our local restaurants -- and their employees -- rise as we recover.
No matter the
scale of your business, you know that your employees are your most
critical asset.
That’s why I am
putting workers at the center of Boston’s recovery. I am committed to
making sure investments in Boston’s reopening not only help businesses
but also help workers whose employment and savings were most impacted by
COVID.
That’s why, in our
FY ‘22 budget, we are allocating $1 million in job training in the
hardest-hit industries and $1 million in job training for artists. It’s
why this budget also expands programs to support child care
entrepreneurs, immigrant professionals, and careers in green jobs and
transportation. And, it’s a budget that invests $4 million to expand our
City-sponsored youth summer jobs program to reach 5,000 youth during the
summer and 1,000 youth year-round.
To help ensure
that these investments and our policies in City Hall best support workers,
I’m proud to announce the creation of a new cabinet-level Chief of Labor
and Workforce Development.
This new cabinet
member will help identify and advocate for legislation and investments
that will end wage disparities and create stronger career
pathways. And, they will work across the city to ensure Boston’s
workers have the skills they need to meet the challenges and
opportunities of tomorrow.
By focusing on our
workers, by supporting our businesses, by diversifying who we contract
with, we will all rise from this pandemic to a stronger Boston that is
more equitable, just, and resilient.
So, I encourage
you, in the days ahead, to invest in our talented, local and diverse
businesses, who are eager to do business with you!
As you return to
your offices, hire Boston residents, and make Boston youth part of your
reopening plans. They need opportunities to grow their skills in a
professional workplace.
Dine in our
neighborhood restaurants. As you make plans for a joyful summer,
choose a destination in a Boston neighborhood you’ve never been to
before.
We are going
better, we are centering equity, and we are “lifting as we climb!” | 
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