While Kraft, a Democrat, has repeatedly said he’s never supported Trump, Wu has cornered the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft to take stronger action to defend himself.
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Maura Healey delivers millions to boost downtown Boston housing revival
An effort to convert vacant office space into nearly 200 new units of housing in downtown Boston has received a $7.4 million backing from the Healey administration.
Gov. Maura Healey is awarding the state funding to a pair of projects in Boston’s office-to-residential conversion program that Mayor Michelle Wu says she hopes will lead to “greater downtown vibrancy and support for our local small businesses.”
The Boston Planning Department has already approved the two projects: one awarded $4 million to create 110 rental units at 31 Milk St., and the other awarded $3.4 million to produce 80 rental units at 15 Court Square.
All together, the conversion pilot program received 15 applications to convert 606,000 square feet of old office space to create 762 housing units, 139 of which will be deemed affordable, a Planning Department spokesperson told the Herald on Wednesday.
The BPDA board has approved nine projects, with the program’s first applicant, 281 Franklin St., slated to have tenants beginning to move in at the end of the summer, the spokesperson added.
“We need to build more housing across the state to lower costs for everyone,” Healey said in a statement on Wednesday. “That’s why I directed my administration to identify every resource already available to us that could be turned into housing.”
The 31 Milk St. project, approved last month, will renovate what is currently an 11-story office building into 110 residential units, including 22 “income-restricted,” while maintaining a ground-floor post office.
The 15 Court Square project, approved in March, will also renovate an 11-story mixed-use office building into 80 new homes, 16 of them “income-restricted.” The apartments will include a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, while the building maintains its current ground-floor retail space.
“These office-to-housing conversions at 31 Milk Street and 15 Court Square are exactly the kind of bold, creative solutions we need to address our housing crisis while breathing new life into underutilized spaces,” state Sen. Lydia Edwards said in a statement.
The conversion program received a $15-million state boost last summer, with the Healey administration funding up to $215,000 per affordable unit, with a cap of $4 million per project.
Wu said at the time that the money would allow for a year-and-a-half extension of the program.
In her State of the City address this past March, the mayor announced the program would expand to universities and employers looking to reactivate office buildings as dorms or workforce housing.
The Wu administration in the summer of 2023 announced that the initiative would offer a 75%, 29-year tax abatement to building owners who jumped at the chance to convert. The discount was intended to offset the high cost associated with converting office space, designed and engineered differently, to residential uses.
The tax break “could provide a strong incentive to encourage conversion,” officials said.
Super PAC backing Josh Kraft spends $1.4M on advertising opposing Mayor Michelle Wu
A super PAC backing Josh Kraft reported spending more than $1.4 million earlier this month on a suite of billboards, digital advertisements, and television, radio, and streaming hits, a massive sum that comes only months before Boston voters are set to decide the mayoral contest.
The spend by the “Your City, Your Future” super PAC is the first major outside injection of cash into Boston’s mayoral contest, where the marquee matchup is between Kraft and Mayor Michelle Wu.
In a disclosure filed Friday with state regulators, the super PAC reported spending $200,000 on digital advertisements, $668,750 on television, streaming, and radio hits, and $550,000 on billboards — all to oppose Wu.
The filing also showed that the super PAC spent more than $10,000 on text messages with Opinion Diagnostics, a political firm run by Brian Wynne, the former campaign manager and senior political advisor to Gov. Charlie Baker.
The super PAC has drawn millions in donations from major business executives, including $1 million alone from Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, $100,000 from Kessler Group President Howard Kessler, and $1 million from New Balance Chairman Jim Davis, according to state data.
A spokesperson for “Your City, Your Future” did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Monday afternoon.
Super PACs and the candidates they back are barred from coordinating under state law.
Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, pledged last week to give his campaign $2 million from his own personal wealth. He had just over $151,000 cash on hand at the end of April after raising $197,000 and spending $328,000 that month, state data showed.
Wu had a formidable $2.2 million in her campaign account after raising more than $376,000 and spending $168,000 in April, according to state data.
A spokesperson for Wu’s campaign did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Monday about the super PAC spending.
Battenfeld: Probe of fatal bus crash should be swift and transparent
Mayor Michelle Wu’s “independent” investigation into the fatal bus accident in Hyde Park should be swift and totally transparent and include the city’s failed oversight of the bus vendor Transdev in order to ensure Boston kids are safe getting to school.
The investigation should not take until the end of Wu’s reelection campaign and should rise above politics in the interest of the public and parents.
Wu and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper should already be taking action to shore up their own weak oversight of Transdev. And police need to immediately release the accident report, which has been kept under wraps.
But there are signs the fix is already in – the investigator, a white collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, has donated to several far-left Democrats and works for a politically connected law firm. And Wu has already determined it was the vendor’s fault and not her administration.
“There are protocols and this is a case where it looks like the responsibilities and obligations of the vendor were not held up,” Wu said last week.
Wu’s appointment of the investigator – Mintz Levin lawyer Natashia Tidwell – came just a week after the Herald and several city councilors called for an outside review of the crash.
Why did it take Wu so long to appoint an investigator in the April 28 accident that killed a 5-year-old Hyde Park boy, Lens Arthur Joseph?
It appears that she finally caved to political and public pressure because of the horrific nature of the crash and the fact that it was blowing back against her administration. Tidwell is charged with reviewing existing safety policies, the bus company’s performance, and making recommendations if more safety measures are needed.
“The public deserves a full understanding of how this could have happened and what changes are needed,” Wu said in a statement.
But will the public really get a “full understanding” of the accident if the investigation is focused on only Transdev and she has already absolved the School department of blame?
And why didn’t Wu appoint someone with no ties to Boston politics?
Tidwell has donated to a number of left-of-center Democratic pols, including Attorney General Andrea Campbell in 2022, 2021 and 2020, former Suffolk County DA Rachel Rollins, Cambridge City Councilor Paul Toner and Plymouth County DA candidate Rahsaan Hall, records show.
Tidwell has not donated campaign money to Wu.
But Wu’s campaign has received more than $28,000 from Mintz Levin lawyers and employees, according to campaign finance records.
The Wu administration finally released more detailed information about the accident and the bus driver, Jean Charles, in a Friday news dump, and after nearly a month of silence, Transdev released a statement.
Charles had been involved in four incidents in the last two years, and hit a parked car during the day of the fatal accident, but kept driving against protocol.
It was previously reported that Charles’s certificate to drive the bus had expired in 2024, and he did not try to renew it.
Charles resigned his position after Transdev moved to terminate him.
City looks to improve response times with new South Boston ambulance center in Seaport
City officials and first responders gathered Friday for the groundbreaking of a $16 million “state-of-the-art” ambulance center on the South Boston waterfront.
The project, slated for completion next year, was touted by the mayor’s office as a “major investment in public health infrastructure and emergency response” for the one of the city’s “fastest growing neighborhoods.”
“This groundbreaking marks our continued efforts to protect the health and safety of every Boston resident,” Mayor Michelle Wu said. “As the Seaport and Boston overall continue to grow, this new EMS station ensures we can continue to respond to emergency calls with timely care, as well as providing updated facilities and strong support for our EMTs and paramedics.”
The new ambulance center will be located on Dry Dock Avenue in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park adjacent to Pier 10. City officials anticipate that the addition will enhance emergency response times and expand access to life-saving care.
The station will feature a two-bay ambulance garage, public restrooms, and a second-floor crew space with a lounge, kitchenette, showers and a gym to support EMS personnel.
James Hooley, the city’s EMS chief, described the day’s groundbreaking for the new facility as “a long time coming.”
“Over the past decade, emergency calls in the South Boston waterfront area have doubled,” Hooley said. “This station will strengthen our ability to get the right resources to people at the right time, and improve outcomes when every second truly matters.”
The station will be fully electric, as part of the city’s climate-friendly goals, and built on a site that will also include a newly-paved plaza and a landscaped parklet with trees and greenery enhancing the surrounding public space, officials said.
City Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents the area and whose father, former mayor Ray Flynn, is the namesake of the park where the new station is being built, described the investment as a “lifeline for our community.”
“This has been years in the making,” Flynn said. “It’s a step forward for public safety, access to city services, and the well-being of every person in our neighborhood.”
Originally Published:
Josh Kraft pushes Mayor Wu to reveal cabinet chief’s ‘role’ in Boston City Hall dispute
After a city councilor called for Boston’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Segun Idowu to be ousted, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft pressed Mayor Michelle Wu to reveal Idowu’s “role” in the City Hall domestic violence scandal.
Kraft released a statement Monday that his campaign said is “regarding questions surrounding the role of the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in a recent dispute between several subordinates.”
“I share the concerns raised by City Councilor Flynn about the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion,” Kraft said. “While it is disturbing to learn that a domestic dispute involving two City Hall aides turned into an assault on a police officer, the suggestion that a cabinet chief, who is one of Mayor Wu’s most visible advisors, has played a role in this crisis needs to be addressed.
“The public deserves more information,” he added. “Mayor Wu needs to tell the public what she knows about the involvement of the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in this matter. When it comes to being transparent about bad news — such as with the recent BPS bus tragedy — Mayor Wu has repeatedly failed to be straightforward with the public.”
Kraft, Wu’s principal challenge in the mayoral race, added, “The mayor should follow the protocol in place to handle allegations of improper conduct by any city employee by referring the matter to the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption office, which has the authority to review such matters.”
Two city employees — Marwa Khudaynazar, 27, chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and Chulan Huang, 26, neighborhood business manager for the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion — were arrested and charged in an alleged domestic violence incident last week.
Both were charged with assault and battery on a household member, in connection with the alleged incident, which took place at a Chinatown apartment. Khudaynazar, a top official at the police accountability office, was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer.
The two employees pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignments at Boston Municipal Court last Thursday. They were “placed on unpaid leave while the city investigates,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement last week.
Idowu was not named in the police report.
He has headed the city’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion since January 2022, and did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The mayor’s office released a statement on Monday, following the Herald’s inquiries about Flynn and Kraft’s statements regarding Idowu, but did not mention the economic opportunity and inclusion chief.
“The city takes these allegations seriously,” a Wu spokesperson said. “When we learned of the incident last Thursday, both employees were placed on unpaid leave immediately. We are following the appropriate protocols as an employer and completing an internal review.
Flynn called for both employees charged in the incident to be fired upon their arrests becoming public last week. On Sunday, he called for Idowu’s resignation and termination as well, saying on X that the cabinet chief “failed to provide positive and ethical leadership to its employees, businesses and Boston residents.”
The councilor, who represents Chinatown, did not specify why he was calling for Idowu to be ousted. He did, however, rehash parts of a prior statement he released in response to the alleged domestic violence incident.
Flynn called for an “outside investigation into the hiring practices, workplace culture and environment” at several related city departments, the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, and Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services.
Originally Published:
Battenfeld: Buck stops with Mayor Wu on deadly bus accident
Wu can’t just point the finger at the bus vendor and the driver – she needs to take full accountability for the city’s needless delay in reporting details of the April 28 accident and appoint an independent investigator to oversee the deadly incident.