BOSTON – At a meeting in early May, North End restaurant owners were angered by the city’s refusal to allow them to host outdoor diningBoston City Councilman Ed Flynn was asked if his presence there indicated interest defiant Mayor Michelle Wu in next year’s mayoral elections in Boston.
“No,” he said.
But in an interview Sunday with WBZ News, Flynn hedged his bet: “I haven’t focused on it. I’ve focused on my job as a city councilor.”
So that’s not a flat, no?
“That’s right,” he said.
Flynn says Boston has “significant” quality of life issues
And in the interview, Flynn touched on several issues where polls show significant dissatisfaction with the Wu administration.
“The public safety and quality of life issues are significant, they are increasing, so residents do not feel the situation has been resolved,” he said. “I don’t think we can allow people to openly sell drugs in the city and use drugs in the city. That’s a terrible message. That hurts the residents, that hurts the neighbors. What the residents want from us is positive leadership. longer turn a blind eye to someone who sells and uses drugs, someone who uses drugs. They have to be in a drug treatment program, someone who sells drugs has to be in jail because of the criminal justice system.
Flynn’s concerns about Boston schools
And about the schools, Flynn says that while he is discussing the work of Chief Inspector Mary Skipper“I am concerned about public safety in our schools. I am also concerned about the lack of academic progress in many of our schools, the high absenteeism in most of our schools, the lack of sports and after-school activities.”
Flynn emphasized the importance of working together to solve these and other problems, and was not personally critical of Wu. Still, his clarification about a possible run — along with interest expressed by others, including philanthropist Josh Kraft — suggests that a re-election bid for Wu won’t be a free ride.
Jon Keller
