WGBH's Morning Edition talks with Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell about becoming president of the council, plans to change start and end times for Boston Public Schools, and saying goodbye to colleagues. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Joe Mathieu: You're listening to WGBH's Morning Edition. As we turn to a new year, Boston will get a very different city council. After last month's historic election, voters chose the most diverse group of members in the chamber's history. Six women of color, and there are seven others, will be sworn in as the newly elected or reelected councilors on New Year's Day. And for the first time council members are expected to elect an African-American woman to become council president. And we're talking with her right now. Councilor Andrea Campbell, who represents District 4 including Dorchester, Mattapan, parts of Roslindale and Jamaica Plain. Welcome to WGBH's Morning Edition.
Councilor Andrea Campbell: Thank you and thank you for having me.
JM: Councilor, congratulations on your reelection victory to the council. You've got some big days ahead, it sounds like.
AC: Absolutely. And I'm up for the challenge, of course I am humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity, and grateful to my colleagues for placing their trust and confidence in me to take on this new role, to lead our body in the next two years. It's very exciting.
JM: Well, you say you have enough votes to become the council's next president. What enticed you to seek that role to begin with?
AC: First, it was donors and constituents who had reached out to me and encouraged me to consider running — including some of my colleagues. And for me this was an opportunity to not only do the work, but more importantly, to highlight particular neighborhoods including two that I represent, Mattapan and Dorchester, in a positive way.
JM: You said you want to focus on income equality, which we hear a lot about in your district, and affordable housing, which is, of course, huge in your district and of course huge citywide. What can you do to improve those two issues?
AC: Well, I would say, I think some folks anticipate that I might focus on those two issues. I like to think about it in a few different or in a different way. One is: I definitely want to ensure that this body continue to be transparent and accessible to folks. I also want to bring in this lens of equity. You know, there are folks in the community in certain neighborhoods that feel as though they're getting less than others. So how can we, from the council space, working in partnership with the mayor, address issues, not only of income inequality and of course more affordable housing, but looking at the quality of our schools and improving those in certain neighborhoods. I'm excited about looking to folks in the community for their thought leadership and ideas about how we move the needle forward on so many different issues.
JM: So how do you tell that story? How do you improve the dialogue over these important neighborhoods?
AC: I think, one, the media has an important role to play in this. You know oftentimes the media will look at certain neighborhoods and only report on the negative things that are happening in those neighborhoods — so the shootings, or the violence. And Mattapan, where I live, is more than that. This is a neighborhood where neighbors care about each other. We have active residents, many civic associations. So this is what I want folks to pay attention to.
JM: So Councilor, you're asking me to do a better job.
AC: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I don't want it to seem like I'm pointing fingers at anyone. We all have a role to play.
JM: It's one of the reasons why we're proud to open a Dorchester bureau and something that we're invested in here at WGBH as well.
AC: Which is so exciting.
JM: Well thank you, Councilor. So I wanted to ask you as well about schools. And we've been talking a lot about this last couple of days since there has been a plan to change the start and end times for some BPS schools. I'm wondering if you're hearing from parents, constituents who are concerned about the changes.
AC: So we have some families and some parents and students and school leaders that are happy with the changes. And then we have some families and students who are not. And some school leaders who are not. And so the question for me is whether or not folks were informed about this coming down the pipeline, and whether or not they were involved in the process. I understand that BPS, of course, cannot necessarily reach every single family and they did have a lot of different meetings that engaged ... I think it was over 10,000 participants or parents. Whether or not that was enough, I don't know. But I am concerned about those families, and those parents, and those school leaders, who say they didn't know anything about this. And so I really want BPS to be responsive to these concerns, and I look forward to working with them to make sure that families ultimately feel as though they're getting an adequate response from BPS.
JM: You mentioned working with the mayor. I'll ask you lastly, what you see for your future as the city council president in dealing, working with Mayor Marty Walsh — if you already have a good working relationship, and what it might look like a year from now.
AC: I'm excited to work with him. We have actually worked on many different things in partnership around many of these issues. And particularly around things related to education. My colleagues are doing incredible work as well, and I think, I want to make sure that their work is highlighted and ultimately that we have the innovative tools and technological tools to do our jobs even better.
JM: Speaking of your colleagues, I just wonder after what was, at least late in the game, a tough election battle if you're going to miss Councilor Tito Jackson?
AC: Absolutely. I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss Councilor LaMattina, Councilor Linehan. Each of them have a passion for their communities and for service and have been public servants, frankly longer than me. And each of them brings a unique passion and expertise. So I look forward to staying connected with them. And there are issues that Councillor Jackson raised during the campaign that aren't going to go away now that he's no longer a candidate. There are issues that we still have to talk about, that we still have to address, and that we still have to solve in order for this city to be not only great, but fantastic and wonderful for every resident who lives here.
JM: Well, I hope that we'll be in constant contact. I think we'll have a lot to talk about with City Councilor Andrea Campbell who is vying to become the council's next president. Thanks for talking with us on WGBH's Morning Edition.
AC: Thank you, and thank you for having me.
