Six Boston City Council Candidates Make Two-Minute Pitches

Three of the sitting At-Large Boston City Councilors and the three challengers for Nov. 8's election presented their main points at a West Roxbury forum on Monday.

The forum was held at the , and was sponsored by the and .

Candidates were given two minutes to speak about whatever they wanted, and then the crowd was able to ask questions of the candidates. Very few questions were asked of the candidates after the candidates spoke.

Residents may vote for up to four at-large councilors, who hold city-wide office as opposed to representing a particular district.

Current sitting At-Large Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley was unable to attend due to leading a committee hearing at scheduled for the same time.

Sean Ryan

Candidate Sean Ryan went first based upon his arriving first, said Greg Karr, CEO of Deutsches Altenheim. Ryan stressed his three esses: Schools, services and safety.

Ryan, a BPS alum, said he favors neighborhood schools, and that busing hasn't solved segregation.

For services, he said, "We’re going to have to be thrifty... We don’t cut the most critical services. We cut services that haven’t reached their intended ends."

Regarding safety, Ryan, a Jamaica Plain resident, , said he'd like to provide more addiction services. "We have to treat addiction and not make it a crime punishable with prison time. Our prisons are overflowing with people who have never committed a violent crime."

Will Dorcena

Candidate Will Dorcena went next and said he supports an elected , not through an application process and interview process as it is now. He said he feels that decisions are being made behind doors not out in public meetings.

Dorcena said if elected he would push for term limits for mayor of no more than two terms like the US president. 

Michael Flaherty

Former City Councilor Michael Flaherty and current candidate, said that information about programs for senior citizens to help with taxes, pay for heat and more, needs to be provided to more elderly residents. He joked how all of the seniors in the room will receive information on who to vote for, while not receiving info on how certain programs can help them.

Stephen Murphy (incumbent)

Current At-Large Councilor Stephen Murphy stressed the importance of non-profit institutions and businesses making payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT). Murphy led a committee that brought in more PILOT money than ever before and will increase payments from non-profits in the coming years.

Murphy, known as a councilor who doesn't always go with what Mayor Thomas Menino wants, stressed how he fought Menino's plan to close 10 libraries.

John Connolly (incumbent)

At-Large City Councilor John Connolly, a West Roxbury resident, talked about the Boston Public School system, saying that BPS can do better than spending more than one billion a year on schools and having a 63 percent graduation rate.

He added that BPS has no recycling contract and talked about what he deemed "my journey into BPS cafeterias."

"We were serving our children expired food, and giving stuff that had been frozen for two years... It made me angry because we’re spending tens of thousands on expired food. I’m proud that’s changed because of my work on the council."

Connolly also championed his work of holding an . "I didn’t do it to blame teachers or beat up unions. I held a hearing on that contract for one reason. They go behind closed doors and parents and students don’t get a voice."

Connolly, a former teacher, said Boston has one of the shortest school days in the country with only 5.5 hours a day. He said that needs to be changed through union contracts, as well as add teacher evaluations not being optional. 

"We close schools and lose teachers because they don’t have seniority. That needs to change. I don’t think it's fair to teachers and I know it’s not fair to kids," said Connolly. Connolly, going past his two minutes added that he and District Councilor Tito Jackson got . That legislation is now in committee at the State House.

Connolly added that he would like people to support Pressley, whom he called his "partner." Pressley was unable to attend.

Felix Arroyo (incumbent)

Last, but not least, was sitting At-Large City Councilor Felix Arroyo. Arroyo said he fought hard so the City didn't cut all of the initially-proposed 1400 youth summer jobs last summer. "1,400 kids on playgrounds, on street corners, while mom and dad were at work. Who’s watching that kid? That doesn’t sound like a good idea. We restored over a 1,000 of those jobs."

Arroyo said like Murphy, he worked to make sure that no libraries were closed, too. "Every commuity uses them. Whether you’re a young family for singalong, or seniors, or any place for access to the internet to apply for work. As a council we stood up, we didn’t want to see branch libraries closed. I’m proud to say I took the lead."

"As a City we have over 1 billion dollars deposited in banks. Councilor Murphy said we have a 2.5 billion budget, 1 billion sitting in banks. What do we ask these banks? Is our money safe?"

Arroyo, who lives in Jamaica Plain, said he wants to know if the banks could provide enough money if the City needed a large amount right away.

"We don’t ask if they lend to small businesses, to landowners. We don’t ask about foreclosrures. We don’t know simple answers to questions, and they have a billion of our dollars. I am working on legislation to force banks to tell us are they investing in our City."