Boston Mayor Marty Walsh joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan in Studio three for his monthly #AskMJW. Walsh discussed casinos, affordable housing, transportation, and civic tree-watering duties.
Mayor Walsh talked about a Thursday show at TD Garden where over 80 attendees ended up in the hospital. Most of the victims were thought to have ingested the drug Molly. Walsh was concerned that electronic music shows — this show featured the Swedish DJ Avicii — were attracting unscrupulous drug dealers. “Billy Joel was in town last night [at Fenway]. There was no Molly there,” Walsh said.
Walsh declined to say how he’d vote on the recently-approved casino ballot initiative, but he was pleased that Mass. residents would be able to vote. “I’ve been fighting consistently for the rights of people of East Boston (...) and Charlestown to have a vote and a say in a casino that would be in their neighborhood.”
One concerned Boston resident called to ask why the city of Boston doesn’t adequately water its newly-planted trees. Walsh acknowledged that Boston has had problems returning to each site to water the plantings. “I’d ask the residents to help us out with trying to water trees,” he said.
When the conversation turned towards a possible 2024 Olympic bid for the city, the Mayor was cautiously optimistic. “It’s an exciting proposition. (...) It’s a great way for us right now to look at the future of the city.” Walsh assured that taxpayers’ money would not be used irresponsibly to court the US Olympic Committee, saying “I’m going to be very cautious with taxpayers’ dollars. (...) We’re going to look for private investment.” Jim asked the Mayor whether he’d like the NFL Draft — which historically takes place in New York — to be held in Boston. “Oh yeah, we want that here,” Walsh said.
Walsh also said the city is conducting an affordable housing study to see what can be done to ease Boston’s sky-high rents. Walsh said he’d make it a priority to convert unused, city-owned land parcels into sites for affordable housing. “We’re going to be making an announcement in July,” Walsh promised.
Walsh talked about making Boston pedestrian-friendly, and acknowledged a growing preference for public transportation over cars, different from his younger days. “At the age of 16 (...) I got my driver’s license. I wanted a car and my cousin sold me a car for about a hundred bucks.” Walsh said he also liked the idea of making Newbury Street pedestrian-only on weekends. “It happened on Marathon weekend, and it was very successful.”
When Jim and Margery brought up the Mayor’s TV-watching habits, Walsh admitted to having an obsession with one show in particular. “I love 24. I want to come back as Jack Bauer someday, hopefully.”
