Rox Vote Archives - Madison Park Development Corporation

In The Bay State Banner: Janey delivers farewell address

Kelly Lydon — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:36:41 +0000

Mayor Kim Janey Farewell. (Mayor’s Office photo by Isabel Leon)

At Hibernian Hall in Roxbury Wednesday night, acting Mayor Kim Janey closed out her historic tenure as Boston’s 55th mayor and as the first woman and person of color to lead the city.

To a room packed with supporters, government officials and press, Janey reflected on her time in office and the ongoing challenges facing Boston. She spoke to the coronavirus pandemic and her efforts to distribute the vaccine, her efforts to increase housing stability, her commitment to public art and culture through her “joy agenda”, her work on public safety and even her controversial approach to the ongoing joint drug and public health crisis on Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard.

“Addressing the challenges of our city takes courage and commitment because these issues can only be solved when we all work together to create systemic change. From managing a public health crisis to confronting institutional racism, we have achieved historic milestones together,” Janey said.

Read the entire article as it originally appeared in The Bay State Banner here.

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In the Boston Globe: Read the full text of Kim Janey’s farewell speech as acting mayor

Kelly Lydon — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:33:21 +0000

Acting Mayor Kim Janey gave a farewell address at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury on Wednesday to city officials and community members in an event that included a performance by local artists and video highlighting her mayoralty’s accomplishments. Janey, the acting mayor of Boston since Martin J. Walsh became US transportation secretary in March, will be succeeded by Mayor-elect Michelle Wu, who will be sworn in as the city’s leader on Nov. 16.

Read the entire article as it originally appeared in The Boston Globe here.

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In the Mission Hill Gazette: Acting Mayor Kim Janey delivers farewell address days before Wu set to take office

Kelly Lydon — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:29:48 +0000

A farewell event for Acting Mayor Kim Janey was held at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury on November 10, where she delivered a farewell address and reflected on her service to the City of Boston as its first woman and first Black mayor.

WCVB’s Karen Ward Holmes hosted, and performances were given by singers Nia Ashleigh, Danny Rivera, and Dana Whiteside, who sang the National Anthem. Rev. Willie Bodrick delivered the invocation.

In her address, Janey spoke about how the city worked together during the pandemic and rolled out vaccines in every community, as well as enacted mask mandates and ensured homeowners, renters, and business owners were provided with resources.

“To protect the most vulnerable of our residents, particularly people within the immigrant community, we supported asylum-seekers and invested in work-readiness opportunities for Dreamers,” Janey said in her prepared remarks.

She also spoke of the JOY Agenda, which she said was created “as a strategy to heal from trauma” and brought things like public art and dace parties to neighborhoods.

She talked about Boston’s observance of Juneteenth as a holiday for the first time, as well as declaring Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the city.

“While ensuring stability in a time of crisis was a top priority, I also led Boston towards the more equitable and just city we all deserve,” Janey said.

The Boston Home Center’s first-time homebuyer program was expanded, as was down payment assistance.

“Crime is down and at its lowest in five years,” Janey said, and “we must continue to address trauma, which is often the root cause of violence.”

Janey also spoke of green jobs and equitable transportation, notably her pilot for free bus service on the route 28 bus which travels through Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury. The Supplier Diversity Program also now includes LGBTQ+ owned businesses.

Read the entire article as it originally appeared in The Mission Hill Gazette here.

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On WBZ4 CBS Boston: Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey Delivers Farewell Address

Kelly Lydon — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 00:05:40 +0000

Acting Mayor Kim Janey — Boston’s first woman and first Black resident to serve in the top post — bid farewell to the office Wednesday, ticking off a series of accomplishments during her brief tenure, including helping the city navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite holding the office for less than a year, Janey marked a dramatic pivot in the city’s long history — a history she found herself thrust into as an 11-year-old when she was bused to a largely white neighborhood during the second phase of Boston’s tumultuous school desegregation era. Rocks and racial slurs were hurled at her bus.

Read the entire story as it originally appeared on WBZ4 CBS Boston here.

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On NBC10 Boston: Boston Mayor Kim Janey Delivers Farewell Address

Kelly Lydon — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 00:02:23 +0000

Kim Janey, the first woman and first Black mayor of Boston, said farewell to the city Wednesday as she passes the torch to another trailblazer.

The Roxbury native was met by a standing ovation as she was introduced to the crowd at Hibernian Hall in the neighborhood. Among those cheering were Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Mayor-elect Michelle Wu.

Both women have made their mark in Boston’s long political history of exclusively electing white men as mayor.

Read the entire story as it originally appeared on NBC10 Boston here.

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On WHDH Channel 7: Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey Delivers Farewell Address

Kelly Lydon — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 23:59:31 +0000

BOSTON (WHDH) – Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey is set to deliver a farewell address Wednesday as Michelle Wu prepares to take office.

The address will take place at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall at 4 p.m.

Janey was appointed to the role of acting mayor after Marty Walsh resigned back in March to become President Joe Biden’s labor secretary.

Her appointment made Janey the first woman and Black mayor to serve Boston.

Read the entire story as it originally appeared on WHDH Channel 7 here.

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PRESS RELEASE: Mayoral Candidates Make Commitments on Equitable Homeownership at MAHA/MPDC Forum. Still More Work To Do.

Kelly Lydon — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 18:53:49 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, October 29, 2021

Contact for MPDC: Kelly Ransom

P: 617.721.9306

E: kransom@madison-park.org

Contact for MAHA: Cortina Vann

P: 339-221-7794

E: cvann@mahahome.org

Mayoral Candidates Make Commitments on Equitable Homeownership at MAHA/MPDC Forum. Still More Work To Do.

BOSTON, MA – On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) and the Madison Park Development Corporation hosted mayoral hopefuls Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu at a virtual forum on making access to homeownership more equitable in Boston. Members of both organizations shared their stories and asked the candidates to commit to the most critical steps the new mayor can take to shrink the city’s racial homeownership and wealth gaps.

“We know who is most affected by these crazy rents and home prices. People of color who have been deliberately excluded from homeownership opportunities for generations” said MAHA Board member Acia Adams-Heath. “While those who own their homes are able to provide security and a legacy for their children, people of color are working harder and harder to pay our landlords, while our net worth remains close to ZERO.”

She added, “We want to leave this meeting knowing how much each candidate will use the power of the mayor’s office to Expand the Affordable Housing Pie and implement key parts of our Homeownership Justice Vision”.

Both candidates gave firm commitments in response to some questions and pledged to work closely with MAHA and MPDC to pursue the organizations’ other proposals. View the Scorecard with the specific questions and answers.

The forum was moderated by MAHA’s Incoming Executive Director Symone Crawford and MPDC CEO Leslie Reid.

Said Leslie Reid, “We’re excited about all the commitments both candidates made, and we will be there right after the election to get to work on them. We also appreciate both candidates’ pledge that MAHA and MPDC will be at the table as partners as our additional proposals are researched, and hopefully embraced.”

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On WBUR, Radio Boston: How Boston’s Mayoral Candidates Are Thinking About The Racial Wealth Gap

Kelly Lydon — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 17:34:22 +0000

As the race for mayor heats up in Boston, a major focus is wealth inequality, and how housing impacts the racial wealth gap. We hear the latest from WBUR’s Anthony Brooks, and get analysis from Leslie Reid, the CEO of the Madison Park Development Corporation, a community development organization in Roxbury.

This segment aired on August 4, 2021.

Listen to the entire interview on WBUR here.

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On WBUR: Early Voters Go To The Polls In Mass., Voice Concerns Over Getting Ballots Counted

Kelly Lydon — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:59:54 +0000

At the DeWitt Center in Roxbury, elections warden Marie Bowden-Lockhart said many voters are coming out early to make sure their votes are accounted for.

“Their fear, from what they’ve been seeing on the television and reading in the newspapers, I think has motivated them to come out,” she said. “They want to make sure that… their vote is counted. That’s that’s the main thing for most people.”

Ethel Duncan of Roxbury, a retired MBTA conductor who voted at the DeWitt Center, said she doesn’t have confidence in voting by mail.

“I believe in voting in-person, because if there’s something going on in the Post Office, we’ll never know. You know, maybe [my vote] falls on the floor, gets swept up in trash. But now I know I put it in the [ballot] box.”

Read the entire story as it originally appeared on WBUR here.

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In the Bay State Banner: Will you pledge to make sure your community counts in the 2020 Census?

Kelly Lydon — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 15:29:31 +0000

Will you pledge to make sure your community counts in the 2020 Census?

Beyazmin Jimenez & Beth Huang

Six months from now, on April 1, 2020, the U.S. census will be in full swing. This is our opportunity of the decade to get our fair share of public resources and political representation. The census will determine our political representation from city council to Congress.

Neighborhoods in Boston, especially Roxbury, are facing rapid change, and the 2020 Census is an important chance for us to voice what our communities need for greater stability. Data from the decennial census helps secure $40 million in federal funding for Boston Public Schools and resources for nonprofits like Action for Boston Community Development to provide 7,000 households with heating during the harsh New England winter. Every commuter on public transportation or driver on congested roads knows that our infrastructure needs as much investment — federal and local — as possible.

Many of our neighborhoods are at risk of an undercount. Sixty-three percent of Boston residents live in hard-to-count census tracts, which had low response rates in the 2010 Census. Dorchester and Roxbury have the highest concentration of hard-to-count census tracts due to the high number of renters and transient nature of our community with the influx of students and new families entering the area. Another reality is the current national political climate of fear and distrust means that these response rates could be worse in 2020. An undercount in the 2020 Census will have profound negative effects on our community, including exacerbating our housing crisis if funding levels don’t match the real need. Programs like SNAP and WIC are also at risk if an undercount occurs.

Read the entire op-ed as it originally appeared in The Bay State Banner here.

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