Ruthzee Louijeune, Boston City Council's first Haitian-American president, outlines priorities

Boston City Council's newly sworn-in president, Ruthzee Louijeune, pledged Thursday to change the tone at a council that was engulfed in scandals and infighting last year.

In an appearance on WBUR's Radio Boston, she said she will make civility on the council a priority for her presidency. "People try to talk about 'old Boston' and 'new Boston,' and I think that language is intentionally divisive," Louijeune said, alluding to long-simmering tensions between the council's more moderate, historically Irish Catholic faction and the growing ranks of progressive, mostly non-white councilors.

"That doesn't mean that we're not going to disagree, because we will. We are a diverse body with diverse opinions," she said. "But can we do so with collegiality, and with goodwill, and always centering the needs of the residents of the city of Boston? We can fight with a smile. And yes, that's what it's going to be."

Former council President Ed Flynn had made a similar plea for civility, to no avail. But there are a few different faces in the room this year.

Louijeune's ascent to one of the top posts in Boston politics has been quick. A graduate of Harvard Law and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the Hyde Park native served as senior attorney for Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential campaign before winning an at-large city council seat in 2021. When she steered the council through a contentious redistricting process in 2023, she cemented her reputation as a cool-headed member of the sometimes hot-tempered body.

As for policy priorities for this term, Louijeune said one key area for her is improving access to housing. "I'm bringing both my background as an attorney who represented families facing eviction, and as a daughter of parents who bought a house in 1996 that they wouldn't have been able to buy today," she said. "We have a city that is too unaffordable for too many of our working class families and too many of our black and brown families."

When Louijeune's mother first arrived in Boston from Haiti, she took a job at McDonald's. Her dad found work at the former Store 24 convenience chain, and today, at age 74, works in a Northeastern University dining hall, Louijeune said.

The council president said she supports Mayor Michelle Wu's efforts to change local zoning to allow for more housing production, and to pass a real estate transfer tax that would be used to fund public housing development.

Other priorities will include building more schools, she said, and dealing with trash pickup issues in the city.

In her comments, Louijeune noted that in her own moment of success, she is "completely saddened" that Claudine Gay, a fellow Haitian American, resigned as Harvard University's president under pressure this week. Gay had come under sharp criticism after being grilled in Congress for her response to antisemitism on campus and also was accused of plagiarism in some academic research. Gay has said she has corrected missing citations and stands by her work.

Louijeune said she was at Gay's inauguration at Harvard and lamented her short tenure "at the helm of this storied institution that is also an imperfect —  a very much imperfect institution and also my alma mater."