Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards Calls For Revamping Of City Charter

Lydia Edwards.jpg — Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards speaks at a news conference on Aug. 21, 2019.

Joe Mathieu, host of WGBH's Morning Edition

Joe Mathieu is the anchor and executive editor of WGBH's Morning Edition. Before joining WGBH Radio, Joe worked for six years as morning anchor on WBZ NewsRadio in Boston, where he was part of the team that received a Peabody Award for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. Joe also received the Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast in a major market.

January 16, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards is leading the charge on efforts to reshape the city's charter, which is a document that lays out how Boston's government works. WGBH Morning Edition host Joe Mathieu spoke with Edwards to learn more about why she wants to change the charter, and how it would work. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.

Joe Mathieu: You're thinking big thoughts and proposing some big ideas, we're hearing. I'm guessing most people have not read the city charter, and you say you're essentially trying to empower the Council and the people of the city to make their own decisions. Is that fair?

Councilor Lydia Edwards: That's fair. If you want to be direct, I'm calling a charter convention, or a constitution convention, for the city of Boston. And why is this necessary? It's because we have grown so much as a city. And the real question is, as it stands, is the charter or the city's constitution, really functioning the best way it can? Most people don't know that we don't have it in one document. It's a patchwork of documents, of Home Rule Petitions, of city ordinances, of regulations and department heads in someone's file and court decisions. That's our city charter. And the way that Boston's moving and growing, there's been a lot of discussions about how we need to change things, whether it's a school committee, whether it's — the BPDA is a creation of the charter.

We're wondering if, as we are going right now, this is something that can continue and is truly reflected of the everyday needs of Bostonians. So that's the question I have, and the process to kick off a charter review begins with this hearing order that I started.

Mathieu: So this is more of a discovery process for you, I guess, than saying, 'I want this to be changed and we need to do that.' You're not proposing specific changes yet?

Edwards: I am proposing that we have a comprehensive charter written down, [and] instead of using all these different patch works to actually make one document. Now, my proposal is that we make that one document that is very clear about how it can be amended and how it can be changed so that we're not adding to the patchwork with these Home Rule Petitions, [as] we're doing right now. So if we want something like election change, we just ask for election change and see if the State House will give it to us. They usually say no. Instead, I'm asking for a true process that's led by the people, for the people of Boston, and that can be changed by the people of Boston.

Mathieu: And let me guess: whatever changes you make will need the approval of the state legislature.

Edwards: Not at all. And that's why I want it done this way.

Mathieu: In creating the new charter, it would not need lawmakers' approval.

Edwards: Let me walk through the process. It's a long process, but if we decided as a city of Boston after these hearings that I'm having that this is a conversation worth having, then we need to go straight to the folks at Boston and actually get 15 percent of registered voters to sign a petition saying, 'We want a new charter.' Then that question goes on the ballot. If this were to happen as fast as possible — let's say the fall of 2021 — and we get all those signatures in, on the ballot comes that question of a new charter and we have to elect a commission independent of the City Council and the mayor. Nine people will run to be on the commission to help to write that. That ballot and those commissioners go on the ballot, let's say, of fall 2021. And then if elected, and we agree that we need a new charter, those nine people then have 45 days to start [public] hearings on the charter. They have 18 months to get it done. And then that charter goes on the ballot and back to the people to decide if that's what they want as the new constitution for the city of Boston. So assuming the fast track way, that would put us at an election in 2023. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that process because we should take the time to decide how we want to be governed. But I want it to be the people of Boston, not the State House.

Mathieu: .Some people have framed this as a Council versus mayor story, which you have pushed back on. I know you work closely with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on a lot of issues like affordable housing [and] the real estate transfer tax. Is this something that you feel like you're doing in concert with the mayor's office?

Edweards: I want to be very clear. This has nothing to do with Martin J. Walsh and the mayor of Boston. This has everything to do with the people of Boston and whether they feel that they have a voice. And I have looked at different charters around the state and the country, and I think we can do better in Boston. And that's that's really it.

Mathieu: I was going to ask you how unique our sort of patchwork is when you look at other cities of this size — other major cities around the country? Are we behind where we should be?

Edwards: Yes, we're behind where we should be. I mean, here's a perfect example. Framingham just became a city, and they have a charter. And they have not only that, but they have citizen protections in that charter that allow for them and the citizens of Framingham to amend, to push [and] to recall city councilors and the mayor — to really be at the table. And that's, I think, the most modern version of a charter that we have, because they just became a city and they just wrote it. So they learned from all the other lessons from other cities and said, 'This is how we're gonna do it.'

So I think that we can do better in the city of Boston. For heaven's sake, we're the cradle of — I think — American democracy. Yes, you could argue the Constitutional Convention was in Philadelphia, but we're the city of Boston. And I think we can do better and I think we need to do better. If we're honestly going to engage folks and really have them get involved, we need them at the table. We need them to help us write this charter.

Mathieu: Lastly, Councilor Edwards, when we look at the long game here, the issues that you're trying to get your arms around like affordable housing [and] income inequality, does this help us achieve those aims in the long run?

Edwards: Yes, like looking at the school committee [and] looking at the development that we have. All of those things are zoning. All of that is controlled through this patchwork. And right now, if you want us to be engaged and pushing and moving together, we need a constitution that makes it clear about how we can change and move the rules, and also brings people together.