Remarks by Julia M. Mejia
59 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 1:02:13
“Sorry, I was on mute. Good morning. I thought it was gonna be Councilor Fitzgerald, but I'm happy to be here. And I wanna thank everyone who has shown up to talk about all things that we need to do differently so that we can hold ourselves more accountable to those that we serve. So thank you, Councilor Laurel for your leadership in the space and the chair for facilitating. Just a few questions for me, Jim, and I'm sure you know, and Steve, Dave, I'm not sure if we've met, but I know that Steve and Jim, for those who have been following Boston politics, knows that I worked on establishing, at…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:05:04
“I get it. Even if you manage our expectations and say, hey, this is just a, you know, don't hold us accountable to every single cent that's here, but this is kind of what the projections are looking like, just kind of just more for communications purposes. But I'm gonna move on to some very specific questions now. The adopted FY26 budget included 4.7983 billion in reoccurring, I don't even know how to say that number, that's how far I grew up. 40, I think it's four, it's a lot, it's a billion, okay, in reoccurring revenue, divided into 13 categories. What was the actual total amount of…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:12:14
“You know what, Jim, I feel, I don't know. This is what happens when I guess when we're, and I don't know, Chair, how much time I have left, but this is where I feel like I don't think that you understand, I don't know. It seems like if they say that you can get the quarterly reports, then I just, I'm trying to understand why you say you can't get the data from last year that you're waiting for the auditing department. Just kind of like, I'm just trying to, there seems to be a disconnect with what I'm hearing and what you are saying. If we're able to do these quarterly reports, then why don't…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:13:12
“And David, I know that Councilor Culpepper is gonna probably want to reach out to you and get some information regarding the Connecticut commission that was established. We'd love to partner with Culpepper if he does decide to go that route and get some more insight. I am always on the side of being as transparent as possible when it comes to city dollars in particular, because these are the taxes and anything that we can do to create pathways and that allow for that is something that I'm always gonna raise my hand up and say, I wanna be a part of. So I'm looking forward to connecting with…”
City Council · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:16:43
“Thank you, Chair, and thank you for hosting this hearing. And for those who may not know, I won by one vote, so you know I'm going to show up for this hearing because... Every vote literally matters, and the more that we can reduce barriers for engagement, I am always gonna show up for that. I also just, I know we're gonna talk to Sabino and Carrie later, so these are my people, and I'm really excited that we're gonna be able to brainstorm together about what we need to do to address some of the apathy that exists here in the city of Boston. But just really quick, I have a few questions. So…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:21:03
“Thank you. So then one of the concerns that people sometimes raise about the same-day voter registration is election security. Can you please explain how Question 4 uses proof of residency, an oath to sign, and provisional ballots addresses this concern of election security?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:22:44
“I can't believe my time is almost up. So thank you for that. This council also recently passed a resolution in support of protecting mail-in voting. Besides mail-in voting, and same-day voter registration? How can we make voting more accessible? And what can the council do to support voting access and education? I mean, there's things that we could do right now, and I'd love to hear what you think those things are that you've seen in other municipalities. I'm all in for making voting a holiday. I think that that's no-brainer, duh. But what else can we be doing that you'd like to see us do?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:23:43
“And our Boston public schools play a role also in the education and civics, right? So we could be doing a better job at training the next generation of voters as well. So some signage, some public education, engagement and outreach. What else?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:25:09
“No, no, no, the pollster child. Thank you. I'll be back for a second round.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:48:32
“All right, so I often talk about the fact that my mom has a low literacy. She didn't make it beyond the third grade. And so that book is not only the letters are small, it's just not accessible to folks who have low literacy. And I'm just curious, what if any advocacy You'd like to see around maybe utilizing more visuals as ways to educate and inform people I also am a big advocate of audio So just curious if you have seen other other cities or states doing things around language Information justice is really what I like to call it not just language access I just think that we have to start…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:50:59
“Yeah, I don't know if I'll have to answer just because my time is ticking. But if she said everything, we're good.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:51:18
“Yeah, I'm good. I've got three more questions, and I'm trying to get them in before my time. OK, so I'm also curious about the poll workers in diverse languages. I'm curious what, if any, partnerships you have in terms of tapping to nonprofit organizations with diverse language skills.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:52:12
“Yeah, because what I think would be important is, like, yes, we need election day coverage, but if there's a way... I'm looking up. y'all back there, to maybe even bring people on board sooner so that those poll workers are also educating maybe their immediate neighborhoods. It's going to be election day next week. Make sure you have a plant. There's other ways that we could activate folks, that it's not just a one-off. And I think that that would also help support the level of enthusiasm. Voting isn't sexy. It's not fun. Who wants to go turn up at a poll? Nobody, right? Unless you know…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 1:52:52
“We can make it fun, right? We should. And I've been to some of your election day parties, and I love them. But in 2000, to Councilor Rubber's going down memory lane, I used to work at MTV. And I covered the presidential elections between Gore And I got to travel the entire country trying to get young people enthusiastic about voting. And that was my first experience with why people don't care. And you're absolutely right, Tracy. People don't understand the connection that politics has on their day-to-day life. And that was in 2000. And then after that, I came back home. And then I initiated…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:18:37
“Six or seven. We had seven the first time, five, seven, five, and now six.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:18:51
“Okay. So it's good to see you all. Thank you for being here. And congratulations, Carrie, given your IT work. I am going to assume that you're going to bring a lot of that energy in terms of moderizing the electoral process. So looking forward to all your creativity in that space. And Sabino, it's always great to see you. And welcome back. It's good to see you, Commissioner. So really quick, I'm going to start with Sabino. Sabino, how long have you been here?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:19:32
“34 years. And over the last decades that you've been here, can you talk to us about a time when you felt like the Elections Department had it right and there weren't a lot of hiccups? Can you name that era?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:20:09
“All right, then. So let me ask it differently. In the last few election cycles, in the last decades, which decade would you say, I will never want to repeat this again? Was there a time in your job experience where you're like, oh. Mm-mm, never again.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:21:03
“All right, Sabino. See, I was trying to line you up so that you could ask for more money, but you didn't go there. I know, but I was hoping you would name some things that I could be like, all right. But you didn't, and it's all good. So now let me ask the question. You had mentioned, Commissioner, that in 2028, everything that we're going to have to do to prepare for the presidential elections, that you're going to look to this body to help support. And I'm glad that you're asking now because there's also redistricting that's going to be happening in 2030. There's a lot happening all at the…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:22:25
“Yeah, that would be great. I think that we have to get ahead of these conversations, so I think it's good that you're already planting those seeds and getting us to start thinking about how we build capacity, because I always believe we can do this all we want, but if on this side of the aisle, if we're not providing you all with the resources that you need, it's just a whole bunch of just political theater when we're talking about this happened, but what did you do to advocate for the funds so that this department could actually be fully functioning? I think that it's really important for us…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:23:06
“I am curious, though, in terms of how the department interfaces with other departments. I'm thinking about BHA. I'm thinking about the Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Public Schools. How do you see that coordination? the Office of Direct Organizing and Civic Engagement and Community Engagement, what role do you all play in interfacing with those other departments?”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:24:53
“Yeah, no, I love that. And I always say that we're resource rich but coordination poor. And I think that that is an area of opportunity to kind of strengthen more the communication flow that comes out. Like I think about the Boston Public Health Commission and some of our community health centers. They do intakes where, you know, do you feel safe at home? There's lots of things that you get asked. There could be another question that you ask, are you registered to vote? I mean, there is so many low-hanging fruit in ways that we can really strengthen civic engagement and make that part of our…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:27:14
“And I'm curious, what I have seen here in my time, and I'm learning a lot as I go, is that you were really good at saying all bad things that are happening we're good at that but this would be an opportunity to talk about all of the amazing things that you are I know you wrote you you know listed lots of really great numbers but what would you want people to know about the Elections Department and the staff that works there not just your outputs and the things that you do but just like real stuff I mean those are real things but like what do you want people to know about your team”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:29:02
“And I also just want to thank your entire team. I love going down there and be like, hey, how y'all doing? And it is definitely oftentimes when there's so much in the news and just people always targeting us, it could be sometimes demoralizing. So just want to acknowledge how much we appreciate I'll speak for myself and I know council illusion that we deeply care and are Very grateful for the amount of time and energy that you all put to making sure that people have access And I think that my colleagues that are not here today Hopefully they'll watch this and realize the important work that…”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026
- Play at 2:34:20
“Yeah, I was waiting for, yeah, second round.”
City Council · Oct 2, 2026