kim janey

The year 2021 brought significant turnover to Boston City Hall. After an historic campaign season, three mayors and a low-turnout election, Boston is now on the brink of a few major political changes.

At Hibernian Hall in Roxbury last Wednesday night, acting Mayor Kim Janey closed out her historic tenure as Boston’s 55th mayor and as the first woman and person of color to lead the city.

Advocates and medical professionals gathered last Wednesday near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard to protest actions that would remove residents from the encampment forming near “Mass and Cass” and would, they said, criminalize homelessness and struggles with addiction and mental illness.

As her tenure nears an end, acting Mayor Kim Janey is looking to bring relief to homeowners most at risk of losing their homes. Her new $5 million “Emergency Foreclosure Prevention Fund” is now open for income-eligible residents to apply.

Acting Mayor Kim Janey announced a ban on tents and temporary shelters in Boston at a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

After years of activism by civil rights groups, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance unanimously last week that increases transparency on police use of surveillance technology.

Boston City Councilor and mayoral hopeful Michelle Wu entered the crowded patio at Distraction Brewing Co. in her home neighborhood of Roslindale, to raucous cheers and applause, followed by a resounding chant of “Wu, Wu, Wu…”

Following a state-level ban on evictions that expired in October 2020 and a federal ban that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in August, acting Mayor Kim Janey on Aug. 31 announced a municipal eviction moratorium for the city of Boston.

In the latest public polls on Boston’s mayoral race, at-large City Councilor Michelle Wu was far ahead of the pack, with a MassINC poll showing her with 30% of the vote, followed by acting Mayor Kim Janey with 15%, at-large Councilor Annissa Essaibi George with 13% and District 4 Councilor Andrea Campbell, 11%. Former chief of economic development John Barros polled at 4%.

Now there is a real chance to establish Boston as one of the nation’s truly metropolitan cities. Andrea Campbell and acting mayor Kim Janey both score high enough in the polls, especially when considering the undecided, for at least one to win in the preliminary. But if both win, a new Boston is assured.

Acknowledging the recent tornado warnings and a close call with a hurricane that affected Massachusetts in recent weeks, acting Mayor Kim Janey announced Aug. 26 that she is asking the state to withdraw the Downtown Waterfront District Municipal Harbor Plan that had been submitted by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA).