Divided Boston City Council has Ed Flynn pushing for a civility committee

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn is pushing for the creation of a civility committee for a Council known for its infighting and polarity at a time when families are preparing to tackle their own laborious political discussions this holiday season Flynn stated this past two-year term on the City Council has been particularly fraught with divisiveness at the national level trickling down to local politics which led him to pursue the formation of a civility subcommittee for the body I think national politics and local politics should be an opportunity for us to focus on common ground and not issues that divide us Flynn advised the Herald Monday I think it s worth having a committee to bring people together in society and in the city to learn from each other and show how we can get along especially during challenging times Flynn noted his proposal which he introduced as a hearing order at a City Council meeting earlier this month was also born out of his work with the National League of Cities over the past several years on how to improve civility in city authorities In latest years intense partisan identity has been on the rise with people shifting to further ends of the political spectrum Flynn revealed at the Council meeting It is beyond dispute that the worsening conditions that we have experienced at the national level have now trickled down to state and local Flynn cited unspecified polling from last year that located of U S adults were greatly divided on the largest part crucial values He announced that as multiple people correlate their personal identity with their political ideology disagreements across party lines can feel like a personal attack To combat this in my opinion it would be beneficial to look into how the city of Boston can work on its own civility-related issues so that we can serve as better role models for society discourse and lessen the effects of political tensions both locally and nationally the councilor reported Flynn is a moderate Democrat who is in the political minority on a majority-progressive City Council but was still able to garner the necessary encouragement to be elected as the -member body s president last term While he led the Council at a time when it was marred by infighting and scandals involving several councilors he spoke without getting into specifics of how this past two-year term has been particularly hard for him and his colleagues Flynn as a critic of Mayor Michelle Wu on a Council full of the mayor s allies has had difficulty gaining traction on plenty of of his proposals due to lack of encouragement from his colleagues He s expressed frustration about the Council dynamics and accused his colleagues of working with the Wu administration to try to discredit him When he introduced his order for a hearing to discuss the creation of a civility committee this month for example only three councilors signed on in encouragement Erin Murphy Julia Mejia and Brian Worrell Its been a challenging two years for us as a City Council and what s significant is we learn from the mistakes and how we can move forward as a city as a City Council and residents of Boston Flynn narrated the Herald But I have to admit it s been a challenging context on the City Council for the last two years Related Articles Battenfeld Michelle Wu s lax record holding Boston police accountable Syringe City Boston hands out million needles to drug users during Mayor Wu s tenure Boston Mayor Wu says she has no interest in bromance with Trump after Mamdani meeting Boston announces donation of Thanksgiving turkeys directs residents to food tools Battenfeld Sketchy K scheme to raise revenue could be latest Boston boondoggle Ruthzee Louijeune is Council president through the end of the year and another Wu ally Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata has mentioned she has the votes to succeed her though her claim is being challenged by Worrell and Mejia Coletta Zapata was criticized for excluding certain of her colleagues from backroom discussions when vying for the seven votes necessary to secure the presidency Louijeune faced several of the same criticism two years ago after announcing she had secured her seven votes just two days after the poll Civility is a critical part of governing body Flynn declared and if you don t have civility and respect for each other in cabinet it only hurts the residents His hearing order was referred to the Committee on Executive Operations for further discussion Herald file photoCouncilor Ed Flynn is seeking selected civility Herald file photo