Boston City Council Looks At Logan Flight Patterns, Small Businesses Week & Artists, Elections & More

Councillor-At-Large Michelle Wu provides notes from Boston City Council meetings. The Boston City Council considered the items below and more at their April 15th and April 22nd, 2015 meetings:

2015 Preliminary Municipal Elections: The Council voted unanimously to move the date of the Preliminary Elections in Boston from September 22nd, 2015 (the 3rd Tuesday after the 1st Monday in September), to September 8th, 2015, in observance of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays. September 29th, 2015 was not an option because by law there must be 60 days between the Preliminary and Final elections, so this would keep the rest of the Election calendar intact. 

Logan Airport Flight Patterns: Councilors Zakim and McCarthy reported back on a hearing held by the Special Committee on Transportation, Public Infrastructure, Planning & Investment on the FAA's changes to flight paths at Logan Airport that have resulted in a concentration of flights over Boston neighborhoods. This recent change has the planes flying low over neighborhoods and leading to increased noise and pollution. Councilor McCarthy asked that this issue remain in committee to give the FAA an opportunity to respond and to have working sessions. He also recommended that we include our federal representatives in those working sessions.

Boston Arts Academy Renovations: The Council voted unanimously to approve the $1.7 million dollar feasibility study and design of Boston Arts Academy. The item received its first reading and vote on April 1, 2015. Today was the 2nd vote, in accordance with the proceducre for approving appropriations and loan orders. 

Acoustic on Main: Acoustic on Main is a 10-day initiative to help neighborhood small businesses recover from a tough winter, while also showcasing the city’s arts and culture talent by encouraging acoustic performances throughout Main Streets districts (no permitting involved!).
In concert with National Small Business week May 1st-10th, any Main Streets small business is invited to host acoustic performances with up to 5 instrumental or vocal performers between 4-9 PM - no need to apply for a live entertainment license and no fees.  The below registration links are to help the City track and promote participation.  An official promotional website will be coming soon.  Please help encourage businesses and performers to register, and save the dates to spend time in our neighborhood small business districts May 1st-10th!
Musician Registration and Business Registration

Paid Parental Leave: Today the Council's Government Operations committee held a public hearing on the Paid Parental Leave ordinance that Councilors McCarthy, Jackson, and Wu introduced in partnership with Mayor Walsh at the March 25th City Council meeting.  The ordinance would require the City to offer paid leave to new parents—moms AND dads—for birth, stillbirth, or adoption, and including same-sex couples.  Currently, there is no paid leave available, so new parents must use vacation or sick days if they wish to spend time with their new baby but can’t afford to take unpaid leave. (See more details of the ordinance and the text at www.michelleforboston.com/paid-parental-leave).

For complete notes from the April 15th and April 22nd meetings, visit www.michelleforboston.com/notes or sign up to receive these notes automatically each week by email at www.michelleforboston.com/sendmenotes.