The battle over redistricting in Boston – which comes to a head this week – is a referendum on the beleaguered and frequently bickering city council, which has split into councilors’ competing petty political fiefdoms.
City Council President Ed Flynn has lost control of the institution he’s supposed to lead and caves to the slightest political pressure he’s put under.
The district and at-large councilors pretty much run the council the way they want to. Flynn wasn’t even aware that one of his colleagues in charge of redistricting actually redrew Flynn’s own district.
That may be why there are rumors that some of the city’s power brokers – frustrated at the power some of the far left councilors are wielding – are getting together to fund a super PAC that would help elect more conservative city councilors.
Even Mayor Michelle Wu seems to have lost some of her control over her political subordinates. Her redistricting proposal was summarily rejected by the council, which in past years has bent to whatever the mayor wants.
It’s an utter disaster – so disastrous that the council is now having trouble coming up with a redistricting plan that won’t get rejected by a judge this time for being unconstitutional.
It may be time to revisit the Boston city charter and go back to the time when just nine at-large councilors ran things, without any district councilors. That would eliminate councilors on the fringe, making them all represent every neighborhood.
Only the at-large councilors are accountable to the whole city. Right now they’re all fighting for their own fiefdoms. No one is looking at the broad spectrum of the city.
It’s a lousy way to conduct business and results in district councilors who represent relatively few residents controlling some of the business on the council.
At-large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, who came in third and got 15% of the vote in the 2021 election, is chair of the committee handling redistricting – although even that is in question.
Louijeune has taken it upon herself to declare that her plan is the one the city council will start from – not Wu’s or others.
Flynn has exerted no control over her and it’s unclear exactly what power he does wield as council president, except hit the gavel once in a while.
Flynn was completely unable to control a near brawl that erupted after a council meeting last year. He did strip Councilor Ricardo Arroyo of his chairmanship because of old sexual assault accusations leveled against Arroyo.
But it’s time Flynn started taking some control or giving up his presidency for someone else with a stiffer spine.
The council has until May 30 to come up with a new redistricting plan to meet the court’s muster.
