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Boston's Morning Newsletter
3 things to watch in today's Boston City Council election
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
Now, let’s begin with a look at what’s at stake in the state’s biggest city. The Boston City Council is on the precipice of change, with at least four new members slated to join the group of 13. (PSA: Boston voters, remember to double check your district and polling place, since this election is using new district maps. Just search your address here.)
Here are three things to know:
1. Moderates have a chance to regain power: After two of the Council’s most outspoken liberal voices were ousted in the September preliminary, today’s election offers an opening for more moderate candidates to cut into what has often operated as a progressive supermajority. However, the results could cut the other way, too — with progressive candidates (both of whom finished first in the preliminaries) more closely aligned with Mayor Michelle Wu. WBUR’s Walter Wuthmann has a closer look here at the power struggle playing out in District 5 and District 6 (together, they cover Boston’s most southwestern neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury).
- Go deeper: The Common also interviewed the candidates in both races. Listen to their pitches here: District 5 and District 6.
2. Frank Baker could go out on a W: The council’s most outspoken “conservative, or whatever” voice is also leaving office. But it’s looking like it will be a challenge for progressives to flip his Dorchester-based seat. Baker’s preferred successor, John FitzGerald, won the preliminary with more than double the votes as the other finalist in the race, Joel Richards, a progressive backed by Boston’s teachers union. FitzGerald has also out-raised Richards by a greater than three-to-one margin, WBUR’s Simón Rios reports.
- Go deeper: Listen to The Common’s interviews with FitzGerald and Richards here.
3. The at-large contest seems like a two-person race: There hasn’t been any public polling, so it’s difficult to say for sure where the race stands. But with three incumbents running for re-election and one seat up for grabs, most of the institutional support has lined up behind two of the five at-large candidates hoping to join the Council: Bridget Nee-Walsh and Henry Santana. Similar to the district races above, there’s pretty clear ideological divides between the two. Nee-Walsh describes herself as “right of center but open-minded” and has been endorsed by Boston’s firefighters and police unions, among others. Meanwhile, Santana is a self-described progressive, supports rent control and was endorsed by Wu.
- Go deeper: Today’s election has other storylines, too. Councilor Liz Breadon is facing a challenge from the left; perennial candidate Althea Garrison is making what she says is her final run for office.
- Read about all the candidates — and other essential voting information — in our full Boston City Council election guide.
Clover’s next chapter: In an effort to stay afloat, Boston-based vegetarian fast-food chain Clover Food Lab has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. WBUR’s Zeninjor Enwemeka reports the chain hasn’t seen the post-pandemic bounce back it hoped for. (Clover also says the Silicon Valley Bank collapse hampered its finances.)
- What’s next: Clover — which already closed its Back Bay location — plans to close other high-rent restaurants, sell some of its delivery vehicles and focus on its most profitable business lines.
Getting discharged from the hospital could soon get a lot faster for many patients in Massachusetts. Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s largest health insurer, says it will reduce administrative burdens to allow hospitals to discharge patients ready to go home. The move is meant to ease backlogs in the crowded health care system.
- The deets: WBUR’s Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports that hundreds of patients are stuck in Massachusetts hospitals, waiting for insurers’ approval to be discharged. But starting in January, Blue Cross Blue Shield will stop requiring hospitals to get advance approval before sending patients home. They say the move will eliminate over 14,000 authorizations from the system each year.
Heads up, Orange Line riders: Shuttle buses will replace all Orange Line service north of North Station beginning at 8:45 p.m. tonight, Wednesday and Thursday for MBTA track work.
- Yes, the diversion coincides with Thursday night’s home Bruins game. MBTA officials say they’ll have extra employees outside TD Garden to ensure that fans who take the Orange Line know about the post-game shuttle service.
P.S.— If you want to hear directly from each candidate in the Boston City Council races, Boston.com has posted Q&A’s with all of them here. It pairs very well with our own guide, if I do say so myself. Hope this helps!
