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BOSTON - Tuesday, October 8, 2019 - In his
annual speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Martin J.
Walsh today laid out his Administration's progress over the last five years
in key areas including housing, transportation and education, and issued a
call to action to the business community to take what opportunities
Boston's progress has brought, and leverage the City's economic success
into lasting, positive change for all. With Mayor Walsh's leadership,
Boston is a city that is leading the way on building affordable housing,
investing in tools and training for its workforce, prioritizing climate
resilience in planning and development, and leading with values of
inclusion and equity.
As the Walsh Administration has invested in
its residents, Boston's economy has grown, adding 120,000 new jobs, with an
unemployment rate under three percent, and new investments being made in
Boston's housing stock, schools, parks, and libraries. With this
year-over-year growth in mind, Mayor Walsh today challenged Boston's
business community to step up as good corporate partners in helping address
some of the toughest challenges the city faces, including the need for more
affordable housing, safe and reliable public transportation, and
high-quality education for all students.
"Boston is as strong as it's ever been,
but if we're going to continue to thrive and meet our greatest challenges,
then we've got more work to do. Today I come before you with an appeal to
every industry, organization, and individual in a position of leadership in
our city: to focus our energies, strengthen our partnerships, and combine
our voices to meet our biggest shared challenges," said Mayor Walsh.
"To keep our economy working, we must provide what working people
need: in housing, in transit, at schools, and in jobs. We have to give
every single person a place to live and a path toward their dreams. To do
that, we need to be focused not just on the short term and the bottom line,
but on the long term and greater good to build a strong middle class, an
economy built to last, and a Boston that continues to lead in the 21st
century."
In his speech, Mayor Walsh celebrated major
transformations being made for the first time in a generation, including
investing in the Boston Common and Franklin Park; building new schools
focused specifically on STEM and arts education; building Boston's first
new firehouse in 30 years; spearheading a redesign of City Hall Plaza; and
earning perfect AAA bond ratings for six consecutive years, the first time
that's been achieved in the city's history. Boston's work on racial equity
and resilience has also brought attention to the city, and for the first
time in nearly 40 years, the City of Boston will host the NAACP National
Convention, welcoming members throughout the United States and the world
who are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities.
Mayor Walsh also announced that tomorrow he
will travel to Copenhagen for the C40 World Mayors Summit discussing
climate solutions with other leading cities committed to upholding the
Paris Climate Agreement. As North American Co-Chair for C40's Steering
Committee, Mayor Walsh will participate in a panel to share Boston's global
leadership on preparing for rising sea levels and climate change. Earlier
this morning, Mayor Walsh released an update to Boston's Climate
Action Plan, accelerating action towards carbon neutrality and
continuing Boston's ambitious goal to be a carbon free city by 2050.
In last year's speech to the Greater Boston
Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Walsh introduced "Resilient
Boston Harbor," a plan that lays out strategies along Boston's
47-mile shoreline that increases access and open space along the
waterfront, while better protecting the city during a major flooding event.
In just one year, the City opened Martin's Park along Fort Point Channel,
started construction on the Langone-Puopolo Park in the North End, and
moved forward with the redesign of Moakley Park in South Boston. Along with
these upgrades to protect Boston's shoreline, in July of this year, the
Administration proposed the city's first capital plan that dedicates 10
percent of all spending to resilience projects.
"We can't take the opportunity before
us for granted, because as far as we've come, big challenges of success,
like housing demand and transit capacity, remain," said Mayor Walsh.
"These challenges, some national problems like inequality and the
hollowing out of middle class, are threats to our economy. We have the
opportunity now to address them by building on our success."
In his speech, Mayor Walsh focused on three
cornerstones he called upon the business community to lead on: housing,
transportation and education.
Creating more
middle-income housing, stopping displacements, and ensuring every sector is
playing their part
Since Mayor Walsh took office in 2014, the
City of Boston has created over 31,000 new homes and has an additional
27,000 units in the pipeline, ahead of pace to meet its goal of 69,000 new
homes by 2030. Twenty percent of those new homes are income-restricted
units. Boston is currently are number one in the United States for
income-restricted, affordable housing.
Boston has also:
- Turned
three million square feet of city land into nearly 500 first-time
homeownership opportunities and over 1,100 rental units;
- Increased
Inclusionary Development and Linkage collections;
- Modernized
community planning and opened up new areas for transit-oriented
development;
- Dedicated
nearly $4 million of Community Preservation funding to a new,
low-interest mortgage program for first-time home buyers.
Boston's strategy is working. Rents have
stabilized in some neighborhoods and we're on the way to creating 1,000 new
homeowners. However, Boston needs the business community to ensure progress
continues, and affordable housing does not remain out of reach for
residents.
Mayor Walsh has called upon the business
community to:
- Support
Governor Baker's Housing Choice bill. It changes local approval from a
two-thirds vote to a simple, democratic majority. It's a simple fix,
with positive results for Boston's workforce;
- Encourage
developers to build middle class housing;
- Clamp
down on displacement, and take a stand against pushing residents out
of their homes and communities.
"The bottom line is, housing is not a
commodity; it's a community," said Mayor Walsh. "It's where
people build their lives. We have to be able to provide security and
stability in our communities, and we have to be able to house our
workforce. We also need owners and investors to take a step back and
consider the human impacts of their actions. Profits can't come at this
kind of cost. It's not a price and it's not a practice that we're going to
accept in the City of Boston."
Advocating for a
21st century regional transportation plan to meet today's needs and support
tomorrow's growth
In addressing one of the most pressing
challenges facing Boston and other municipalities, Mayor Walsh reaffirmed
his commitment to fighting for a reliable, frequent and affordable public
transportation system that meets today's needs and supports tomorrow's
growth.
Together with input from residents across
the city, the City has:
- Built
Boston's first bus lanes in a generation, in Roslindale, Allston, and
now the North End and Charlestown. Tens of thousands of people have
had their commutes improved by these lanes, and we're working on
more;
- Invested
in a new Transit Team that is working with the MBTA right now on
improvements in Mattapan, South Boston, and Roxbury;
- Invested
$6.5 million in T passes for our youth;
- Called
on the T to protect seniors from fare increases, and provide
late-night bus service for third-shift workers, and they are doing
those things;
- Testified
at the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board
- for
our plan to increase Fairmount Line service and Commuter Rail
frequency across Greater Boston.
Under Mayor Walsh's leadership, the City has
also put together its long-term transportation plan, Go
Boston 2030, which focused on improving access, equity and reliability
in transportation for all of Boston's residents.
"Recently, I sat with a group of
business leaders--you understand the urgency," said Mayor Walsh.
"We need your voices to communicate what's at stake for your workers,
your businesses, and our economy. And we need your expertise to help
develop solutions. Just as we've done in the City of Boston, we need to
work together, as partners, on a comprehensive plan to address the
statewide need for better transportation. And we need to make the hard
decisions necessary to fund and implement that plan."
Providing support
and innovation to our students so every school can make progress and
achievement gaps can be closed
Mayor Walsh believes that a good, strong
education is the best investment we can make in Boston's children and their
collective future, and is proud that more Boston students than ever before
are in high-quality schools. It's also why he has enacted the highest
budget for Boston Public Schools every year since taking office, investing
in the proven strategies for closing achievement and opportunity gaps. The
City of Boston is committed to looking at the whole student and removing
barriers to learning wherever we can find them, which means investing in
programs like new kitchens to provide healthy food, providing MBTA passes
to all Boston students grades 7-12, and offering free hygiene products for
girls. In addition, the City has added nurses to every school, and has made
available mental health professionals for students, and has support
available for students experiencing homelessness.
Boston has made historic investments in its
students and schools over the last five years, including:
- Funded
a longer school day;
- Committed
to having a pre-kindergarten seat for every four-year-old in Boston;
- Giving
every five-year-old a college savings account;
- Expanded
Summer Learning programs to 14,000 students;
- Created
a facilities program from scratch to replace roofs, windows, boilers,
and furniture and provide the technology that many students don't have
access to at home. Through Boston's investments, we're building new
high schools designed for 21st-century education.
However, Boston's efforts don't end with
students graduating. Mayor Walsh's focus on ensuring students have every
opportunity, from cradle to career, means he has called on businesses to
join in partnership with the City, to ensure economic prosperity is felt by
its students. In his speech, Mayor Walsh challenged companies to hire most
residents, looking to companies like Natixis, Vertex and Autodesk that
partner with students to improve their chances for success.
Mayor Walsh thanked the Speaker, Senate
President, education committee chairs and the Boston delegation for the
Student Opportunity Act, which has the key principles to meet the needs
facing every district and every student.
"We have to show people from every
neighborhood and walk of life that this great city we've built together
wasn't built for someone else, it was built for them and everyone,"
said Mayor Walsh. "I'm asking Boston's employers to draw from the deep
well of talent in our neighborhoods. I'm asking you to hire more
Bostonians. Our residents are skilled, they are resilient, they are diverse,
and they have a lived understanding of culture and community in today's
America. You need people like them in your workplace, and you don't have to
look far to find them."
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