POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Wu makes her case for four more years

 

By Kelly Garrity BOSTON STRONG — Michelle Wu’s reelection battle has begun. In an address marking the unofficial kickoff of her campaign, Wu made her most pointed pitch to Boston voters Wednesday night for why they should give her another four years in office, rolling out a handful of new policies and projects aimed at making the city more affordable for residents while positioning herself as Boston’s chief defender against a potentially hostile federal administration. But first, the mayor took a victory lap. Wu pointed to a rash of new liquor licenses the city won state approval for last year, Boston's record-low crime rate, hard fought contracts for several of the city’s unions and more. And like last year, she ran the numbers on the ways her administration has improved quality of life in the city: filling 15,000 potholes, planting more than 5,000 trees and repairing more than 30 miles of sidewalk and 60 miles of roadway. Facing the tough realities of governing, Wu has tempered some of the progressive promises she made when she swept into office three years ago. She traded talk of rent control (an issue still stalled on Beacon Hill) for an announcement about a new co-purchasing pilot the city is rolling out today/ And she swapped the calls for a fare-free T for promises to get Boston Public Schools buses back on track. The miles of bike lanes installed across the city were left unmentioned. But it wasn’t all nuts-and-bolts action items. Wu turned the national message she delivered during her recent congressional testimony to a local audience, taking a more fiery tone at home as she warned federal officials not to mess with Boston. “Tonight, I can say that the state of our city is strong. And we have to be,“ Wu said from the stage at MGM Music Hall. “Because all over the country, people are feeling the weight of a federal administration that’s attacking our sources of strength — the same people and purpose that make Boston great: public servants and veterans; immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community; the institutions that conduct groundbreaking research and provide lifesaving care.” GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. GBH News and WBUR have more takeaways, or you can read or watch the full speech. ***THE NEWTON NEBBISH IS A WASTE! SCRUTINIZE THIS CLOWN BEFORE YOU SUPPORT HIM! SPENT HIS LIFE SURROUNDED BY ELITES RAISING $$$ WITH NO REAL SOLUTIONS!***** One difference this year?  The steady stream of rebuttals flowing from Wu’s chief opponent in the mayoral race, Josh Kraft. Kraft  took to X  to critique the speech in live time,  criticizing Wu’s handling of schools, safety downtown, encampments at Mass & Cass and more. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey speaks at Revere Mayor Patrick Keefe’s State of the City Address at 6:30 p.m. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at the at the North Shore Chamber’s Business Expo at 8 a.m. in Peabody and leads a meeting of the STEM Advisory Council at 11 a.m. in Burlington. Attorney General Andrea Campbell speaks at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce forum at 9:30 a.m. in Boston. Rep. Lori Trahan tours Incompass Human Services at noon in Chelmsford. Rep. Ayanna Pressley  Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@politico.com .    Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant. Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now .     DATELINE BEACON HILL ***CELEBRATE IMMIGRANTS WHO CONTRIBUTE SO MUCH TO COMMUNITIES!***** — “Hundreds push for new bills, rally for immigrants’ rights at State House,” by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: “Hundreds of people gathered in the State House to celebrate recent legislative gains, advocate for bills that could combat President Donald Trump’s wave of executive orders and, most of all, welcome and celebrate immigrants in a state where immigrants make up about 20% of the workforce. Soon after the event, hundreds of advocates flocked to legislators’ offices to promote bills they want to see become law.” — “Voc-tech admissions saga zigzags toward finish line,” by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Beacon: “A nearly decade-long debate over admission policies at the state’s vocational high schools seems to be nearing a conclusion, but it’s been a tortured path and there is plenty of discontent with the likely outcome on both sides. Whether that means state officials have struck the appropriate middle ground or ignored sound arguments that have been put forward depends on your point of view.” — “Leading Massachusetts: Politicians to watch in 2025,” by John L. Micek and Ryan Mancini, MassLive. FROM THE HUB ANTI-SEMITISM? TRUMP PRAISED CHARLOTTESVILLE WHITE SUPREMACISTS WHO CHANTED "JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US"! ***** — “One year after pro-Palestinian protests, Emerson College faces enrollment drop,” by Kirk Carapezza, GBH News: “When Meira Fiber-Munro chose to enroll at Emerson College in Boston in 2023, she was drawn to the school’s celebrated journalism program and vibrant downtown campus. But after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel thousands of miles away from Boston, the response on campus gradually eroded her sense of safety and belonging. … Fiber-Munro transferred to the University of Oregon in Eugene. She wasn’t alone — at least ten of her Jewish friends left Emerson, too. GBH News spoke to five of them, and each had similar stories of feeling ostracized or harassed because of their identity.” — “In last-minute maneuver, Boston’s White Stadium opponents seek new ‘legal theory’ to block city’s soccer project,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “With half their case already dismissed, a group of plaintiffs vying to stop the City of Boston’s public-private plan to rehab White Stadium for a pro soccer team made a last-minute motion near the end of trial to try to enhance their legal claims. The late motion aims to provide a layer of insurance to the plaintiffs’ remaining major claim, by way of a legal theory purportedly backed by state law that gives 10 taxpayers the ability, through the court, to block the type of project the city and Boston Unity Soccer Partners are pursuing with their plan to rebuild the stadium on public parkland.” ***MUST READ IN ITS ENTIRETY!**** excerpts:  While 20 neighbors of Franklin Park’s White Stadium joined the Emerald Necklace Conservancy in filing last year’s lawsuit, not all of them were homeowners who pay property taxes. The motion adds to their legal challenge, that the proposed for-profit stadium would illegally privatize protected public land, by ensuring that the plaintiffs include 10 “taxable inhabitants of the City of Boston.” The plaintiffs’ motion “to conform their pleadings to the evidence presented at trial,” drew backlash from attorneys for the City of Boston, who argued that the last-minute legal maneuver should not be allowed by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Matthew Nestor. An attorney for the city, when the motion was introduced at the trial Wednesday, described it as “extremely prejudicial to us,” given that the plaintiffs were seeking to “add claims in the middle of a trial” that the city’s legal team had not had a chance to review nor prepare evidence for. Lipkind responded by saying there “no new claims” introduced by the motion. “It’s just another tool to give the court a legal theory to rely on,” Lipkind said. A city attorney also sought to convince Nestor to disallow the motion by arguing that it was “futile,” given that the city is only paying for its half of the project, there’s “nothing illegal” about the city spending city funds to build a school building and sports stadium, and Boston Public Schools will retain ownership of White Stadium after it’s rebuilt. FROM THE DELEGATION — “'We have questions': Mass. residents flood congressional Democrats' town halls, calling for action,” by Deborah Becker, WBUR: “Hundreds of people angered by national politics are crowding town halls led by members of Massachusetts' all-Democratic congressional delegation. Many are venting frustrations with Democrats, accusing them of inaction as President Trump and his administration dismantle or threaten government services. While Republican members of Congress have been advised against holding constituent town halls after heated arguments, concerned residents have packed some Democrats' forums.” FROM THE 413 — “South Hadley Select Board reluctantly backs budget that members agree does not meet resident needs,” by Emilee Klein, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “The Select Board is reluctantly supporting a $58 million budget that will be presented at annual Town Meeting this spring, with members acknowledging that the spending plan for next fiscal year does not meet the needs of residents.” ****ICE DESPERATION!***** WHERE ARE THE DANGEROUS CRIMINALS ICE BLABS ABOUT? WORKING IN A RESTAURANT? IT'S A SHAM! — “ICE officers made an arrest in Pittsfield and visited a Lenox restaurant,” by Greg Sukiennik and Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle: “Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made their presence felt in the Berkshires on Wednesday, arresting a worker in Pittsfield and visiting a Lenox restaurant, apparently in search of another person.” THE LOCAL ANGLE — “City hires expert to investigate police narcotics and internal affairs units,” by Anastasia E. Lennon, The New Bedford Light: “The city has hired an internal affairs expert to investigate two troubled New Bedford Police Department divisions, but the mayor has not identified the expert nor when he was hired. The units that are under review include the Professional Standards Unit (internal affairs), which investigates police misconduct and recommends discipline, and the Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau (OCIB), which handles narcotics cases.” — “34 groups work to join Rockport MBTA 3A suit,” by Stephen Hagan, Gloucester Daily Times: “The number of citizen groups attempting to join forces in a lawsuit to fight the state’s MBTA Community Act, also known as the Section 3A housing law, is growing. A lawsuit, first filed by litigants in Rockport on Oct. 5, 2022, has seen 34 citizen groups attempt to join the legal action, according to Michael C. Walsh, an attorney with Lynnfield-based law firm Walsh & Walsh LLP who represents a number of plaintiffs in the legal actions.” ****NEVER A SINGLE MENTION OF THE ORIGINS OF THE MBTA COMMUNITIES ACT! WHERE WERE THOSE WHO NOW OBJECT WHEN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER SIGNED IT INTO LAW?****  ****DON'T BLAME GOV. MAURA HEALEY FOR ENFORCING A STATUTE THAT GOV. CHARLIE BAKER ENACTED! ***** When then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed the bill in January 2021, much of the focus landed on a different zoning measure: a lower, simple-majority threshold for towns to adopt some zoning changes. That's in no small part because Baker had been trying to get that particular measure passed for years. In February 2021, Baker’s housing and economic development secretary Mike Kennealy called that change “the most significant zoning reform in decades.” The zoning requirements — and the grant eligibility rules — had emerged in a late-night, last-minute compromise between House and Senate lawmakers before the curtain officially closed on their 2019-2020 legislative session. Before Baker signed it, the Massachusetts Municipal Association urged the governor to veto the MBTA Communities language, arguing it would "override local-decision making” and penalize communities that fail to meet the mandate. But Baker wasn’t swayed. He told lawmakers that while he didn’t propose the section, he would still sign it into law because it gave his administration “considerable discretion to determine compliance.” And now, three years later, Gov. Maura Healey and her administration are the ones tasked with determining the cost of non-compliance. — “Brockton’s mayor isn’t running again: What made this past year in office hard,” by Susannah Sudborough, MassLive: “After five years as Brockton mayor and 14 years as a city councilor-at-large, Democrat Robert Sullivan has decided not to run for mayor again. His last year in office was an eventful one, and leaves Brockton with lingering issues that will need to be tackled by his successor.” — “Marlborough School Committee reopens its search for new superintendent,” by Norman Miller, The MetroWest Daily News: “It’s back to the drawing board for the Marlborough School Committee in its search for a new superintendent of schools. The School Committee voted unanimously during its March 11 meeting to not offer the job to either of the two finalists selected by a search committee, instead choosing to conduct a second search to find a replacement for the retiring Mary Murphy.” HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Karlee Fain. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .   Follow us on Twitter Kelly Garrity @KellyGarrity3   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters Follow us

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