Remarks by Edward M. Flynn
54 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 8:56
“Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and to the members of the panel that's here, I apologize. I apologize for being a few minutes late. I had the opportunity probably to work with a lot of people on the board. I just want to say thank you to you for stepping forward for the work you're doing. Sometimes I agree with your decision. Sometimes I may disagree with your decision. But I respect the work you're doing. And I think you are a credit to the citizens of the city, to the city itself. I want to say thank you for your leadership in helping build a stronger Boston. I do want to…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 41:54
“Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, thank you to the people here that will be on the board or soon be on the board. I want to say thank you for your leadership, again, in helping build our city. We may disagree on... I do want to see the ZBA get back in person. I do like when people are in City Hall. I love to see people in City Hall doing the job, engaging with each other. I love seeing architects here. I love seeing union members here, neighbors here. I love the debate. I like going up there and hearing the Discussions, hearing the arguments, hearing the fights, I love that. But it also sends a…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 45:28
“Anyone else? Anyone else want to weigh in or maybe I'll just ask. Let me ask a question to Jane and Jane, respect the work you've done and I know you've been the longest member of the ZBA. knowing that you're the longest member, what type of mentorship or type of support can you provide some of the new members that might need a little bit of guidance and support throughout the process? Is this something that you and Sherry are thinking about and are able to work on?”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 48:19
“Thank you. Madam Chair, may I ask one more question?”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 48:22
“Okay. And before I ask a question, I do want to recognize the young people that are here. I think they're brought in by Councillor Brian Worrell. um power core so we want to say thank you to these um young people young adults for outstanding leadership in the city as well um my my my my final question um would be maybe maybe to sherry or or to gene or to whoever would like to answer it and cherry knows this as well as i do probably the issue i focus most on as a city councilor's language and communication access. I think it's critical in this city to communicate not just in English, but in so…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 51:01
“Is there a way, though, if you're watching it on television, cable television, that and if you're a Spanish-speaking person, can the text down at the bottom of the television screen, can the text be in Spanish? Or could the text be in Chinese or another language? Just so that...”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 51:30
“Just so people are able to understand... You know, we think of, you know, the Spanish-speaking communities throughout the entire city. So they might be interested in watching the whole discussion, and maybe they can't because of that language barrier. But I'm not saying we need a decision now, but I'm just saying, is this something we could work on down the road?”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 53:17
“No, just I'll make a final point. I worked with the BRA BP da when the BRA Didn't have any Cantonese speaking people that were able to communicate, but I worked with the BRA and BPDA to ensure that language and communication access was critical. And one of the things I did was ensure that the, and I have respect for all of the community organizations in Chinatown, but I made sure that the development team would speak before the Chinatown Residents Association because That group, the Chinatown Residents Association, predominantly the entire conversation is in Cantonese. And the people that…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 1:18:19
“Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the three nominees, Bill, Carla, and Patrick, not just for coming forward for the Zoning Board, but for the incredible leadership you all provide in helping build a stronger and better Boston. Bill, I respect the work you're doing, especially in East Boston, on tree canopy issues. As Councilor Murphy mentioned, that's an issue I've been focused on in Chinatown. We have the lowest tree canopy in the city, but I'm working to get more trees there. I know, Carla, you mentioned as a social worker, but you also highlighted the asthma rates of many…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 1:24:40
“No, thank you Bill, thank you Carla, and thank you Patrick. I do sometimes focus a lot of my attention on environmental justice issues, and I'm glad to know that you have, you take this as seriously as well, and I know that's part of the discussion is the impact development has on the environment And one of the reasons I highlighted it, not just because Chinatown is one of the highest asthma rates of any neighborhood in the state, really, along with Roxbury, but I was exposed when I was in the military to an area where we were breathing in toxic fumes. And when I left, before I left, I didn't…”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 1:30:06
“Well, just want to say thank you to all three. I know you'll do a tremendous job on the zoning board and want to say it's outstanding appointments. Looking forward to working with you again. I just want to say thank you for your ongoing commitment to the residents of Boston. Thank you, Madam Chair.”
City Council · Oct 16, 2026
- Play at 6:22
“Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to acknowledge Councillor Well, Councillor Culpepper, Councillor Mejia for bringing this forward. I believe this is a common sense exceptional recommendation on how we can better be prepared for upcoming budget process, but also be prepared for changes in revenue that will impact basic city services in the budget process as well. This shows residents that we're focused on the fiscal stability of Boston. It also ensures that we're providing financial oversight that we're providing transparency, accountability, and the positive leadership to Boston residents.…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 42:28
“Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to David and to Jim and to Steve for informative testimony. So let me start with Jim. Jim, the reports that could be given to the City Council on a quarterly basis, would that include purchasing issues, contracts that were signed or went out or paid, general information such as that?”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 43:24
“Yeah, I'm just thinking out loud, Jim, when we saw that Inspector General report from the state on $900,000 misappropriation funds at the public school department, could that have been caught on a monthly basis, a quarterly basis, knowing that there's some financial misappropriation of money. But could any report have caught that if someone looked at it on a monthly basis and said, hmm, this doesn't look all that right, this doesn't look good, on a quarterly basis, there's something wrong here, instead of having it increase over an extended period of time?”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 44:33
“All right, let me ask Steve basically that same question. Could that type of information, if city council has known about it or the mayor's office knew about it on a monthly basis, a quarterly basis, not just someone at the public school department, but could that have prevented misappropriation of money?”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 46:27
“Yeah, okay. My main point to Jim and to Steve is how could we have prevented this, you know, almost immediately when we saw something initially that didn't look right. That's my main point. Let me go on to David. David, freedom of information from residents is a critical part of transparency. We have something on the city council called It's similar to that. It's basically called a 17F. It's a request for information from the city council to the mayor's office or the city administration to request certain information. Oftentimes, it's just ignored. But do other cities have the ability? We…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 48:23
“regardless if it's controversial or regardless if it supports the administration or opposes the administration, the data shouldn't matter. Is that accurate, David?”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 48:59
“We take the position that if it's going to put the administration in a bad light, that the city council should not get that information or should not request it even. Hmm.”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 49:34
“Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair, for highlighting that. But do you want me to stop my questioning, Madam Chair? Is that what you're asking me?”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 49:54
“Madam Chair, I understand that. Okay. I'm just somewhat surprised that I was cut off, but I'm going to, I'll stop asking questions if that's what you want, Madam Chair.”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 50:14
“No, Madam Chair, I was the only one that was cut off. So I'm just going to stop there.”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 2:33:45
“if you could just use that six minutes for your opening and questions and then we can wrap up thank you thank you mr chair and thank you for sharing this important hearing and to the sponsors as well for bringing this forward i do apologize for being late but i will watch the video over the weekend to learn more about the subject during during the haiti earthquake I was living in Guantanamo at the time, which is not very far from Haiti, and the base at Guantanamo, the airfield really, was used as an airfield for supplies getting into Haiti by the Navy as part of the relief effort, but have…”
City Council · Sep 25, 2026
- Play at 2:35:48
“We, attorneys or non-attorneys, it doesn't matter, right?”
City Council · Sep 25, 2026
- Play at 2:36:21
“Could someone make a donation that might help offset or help support legal efforts? Could they make a financial contribution? Is that something people could do also?”
City Council · Sep 25, 2026
- Play at 2:38:47
“Yeah, thank you. Were there... Um, so... With Haitian... The Haitian community in Boston, or greater Boston, and with the possibility of being deported, are we seeing a lot of Haitian workers now not going to work and afraid of going to work because of the role the federal government could play in picking up? Is that what we're seeing also? Oh, yeah.”
City Council · Sep 25, 2026