In his annual State of The City speech last night at Symphony Hall, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh addressed a number of issues affecting life in the city with a particular emphasis on affordable housing and transportation. WGBH Morning Edition host Joe Mathieu spoke with Boston-based attorney and former City Councilor president Larry DiCara about how the Mayor did, and how he could turn his plans into reality. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Joe Mathieu: Two major themes last night at Symphony Hall: housing and transportation. Did the mayor hit the right notes?
Larry DiCara: I think he did. He is stepping up on housing big time. This is the greatest commitment that I've seen from city government to housing in my lifetime. Probably one has to go back to The Depression to see that kind of a commitment from government and that was mostly the federal government. I think the mayor understands that if we are to be a great city, we have to be a great city for everybody, not just for the very rich and the very poor. I think he was right on target. And as the old saying goes, he's putting his money where his mouth is.
Mathieu: Well, there's a lot of money there, Larry. $500 billion over five years. He's going to need a few people to come to the table to make that happen.
DiCara: Absolutely, and needs the cooperation of the legislature as well.
Mathieu: Well, that's the point here, right? You've got the mayor making some pretty major proposals [and] putting out some big ideas as Governor Baker, the speaker of the House [and] the Senate president sit right there in the front row. As the most important city in the state, though, he still needs the support of the legislature.
DiCara: As he said with respect to transportation, if you won't do it, let us to do it. And I think that is the general overall message of the evening. It was bold. It was affirmative. It was not a passive acceptance of the status quo. And in Massachusetts, cities and towns have far fewer powers than their comparable cities and towns in the rest of country. New York, Chicago [and] other cities can do things with respect to taxation that we cannot do. This may be the new beginning of a different kind of relationship between the capital city, which generates the great bulk of the revenues for the state come from Greater Boston.
Mathieu: You put your finger on it, Larry. The mayor was back in the spirit [of] if you can't fix it, step back and let us lead. "Be bold," might have been the line of the night. He also said Boston is not a fan of taxation without representation.
DiCara: He also was talking about getting a seat on the advisory board.
Mathieu: Yes. That seems to be a priority for him. Does he get to make that happen?
DiCara: I don't know. Once again, it requires an action of the legislature and the numbers are really clear. This is a suburban state. Boston has 12 [or] 13 percent of the members of the legislature. That's very different than 50 or 100 years ago, so it requires the cooperation of leaders, whether it be Governor Baker or Speaker DeLeo or any of the leaders up there. This whole concept of regional ballot initiatives, which has had great traction elsewhere in the country, basically says Boston can put a question on the ballot -- come up with 1 percent of revenues, or a surcharge on the tax rate -- in order to, for example, make all the buses free. I would argue if the 39 bus -- which I take regularly from Jamaica Plain -- was free, more people would take it and there'd be fewer cars on the road.
