Boston City Council - Aggiornamento

6 October 2023

?There is a legendary story about Pope John XXIII who had proposed “aggiornamento” in a speech in 1959, announcing his intention to convene the Second Vatican Council.? Someone asked him: “What does this mean?” He opened a window and said it was time to “open the windows and let in the fresh air.” The Boston City Council, a body on which I served for 10 years, needs aggiornamento – it needs some fresh air. ?[I have now succeeded in linking Pope John XXIII to the Boston City Council!]?

?One of the councillors has suggested to me that the City Council needs a “re-set.” The four new councillors should work among themselves and work with their other nine colleagues to make changes to a legislative body that has been rife with strife.?

?Unless the City Council changes their rules, they will elect a new president in January. Seven votes are needed to elect. The Council will then pass a new set of rules; truthfully, they don’t change that much from year to year. Most importantly, the new president will designate members of the Council to chair various committees, some of which have significant jurisdiction.

We can do better.? The Council has an important role to play in our city, as does every municipal legislative body. Democracy is gritty not pretty. There should be intense discussion, but it is not necessary that there be such rancor. Councillors can disagree and still function as a legislative body.?

?Dapper O’Neil and I served on the City Council simultaneously for ten years and only stood together while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, yet the Council of my days, much maligned though it was, was much more civil, as the times demanded.

?The Council has a vital role to play in providing constituent services.? No councillor should dismiss a constituent’s request and suggest they call 311.? I survived politically in 1975 because I had done so much constituent service work. I had written hundreds of recommendations. I put so many people, many of them Vietnam veterans, to work, that some voted for me despite the fact they disagreed with much of what I said.

?Let us hope that the bright young minds who will be arriving at City Hall in a few weeks can open the window and let in some fresh air.