Boston City Council Rejects $2.55 Million in Anti-Terror Grants Three Years Running

BOSTON — September 13, 2023 — Boston City Council votes down $2.55 million in stalled anti-terror grants while advancing wage-theft and Mass-Cass measures. The council rejected three consecutive $850,000 Boston Regional Intelligence Center earmarks from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, each covering a separate fiscal year from 2021 through 2023, by identical seven-to-five tallies; Councillor Michael Flaherty moved to pass all three on the 22nd anniversary of September 11, saying the funds are "vital" and have been awaiting action for three years. A resolution by Councillor Erin J. Murphy calling for a state of emergency at Massachusetts Avenue and Malachia Cass Boulevard was blocked from an immediate vote by Councillor Ricardo Arroyo, who said the council needs a hearing to understand what powers such a declaration would confer, sending the docket to the Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery alongside a companion hearing-order docket. The council unanimously passed a wage-theft ordinance referral, confirmed three mayoral appointments to city planning bodies, and approved senior-services grants totaling over $684,000 from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.