Boston City Councillor John FitzGerald aired-out his frustration with the Wu administration today for what he says is a pattern of cancellations of City Council-ordered hearings on matters ranging from the Mass & Cass crisis to modernizing the city’s emergency services phone system.
FitzGerald, who is running unopposed for re-election in the District 3 seat he won in 2023, said he’s fed up with the administration’s failure to send staff to scheduled hearings or to seek to cancel or postpone hearings with little notice.
“Over the past month, we have heard on multiple occasions, the request to postpone or cancel Council Hearings due to the lack of availability of top staff, and to reschedule any hearings for what is coincidentally after the primary election date,” FitzGerald wrote in a statement sent to The Reporter on Wednesday.
The statement was also posted on FitzGerald’s social media accounts.
“This not only affects constituents throughout the City of Boston, this is a sign of disrespect to this body, our staff and central staff who work on so many other factors besides securing a date, for games to be played.”
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Mayor Wu defended the administration, noting that Wu administration officials in 2025 “have participated in 122 City Council hearings to date, including eight hearings just in the last week alone on issues such as the use of surveillance technology, impacts of social media on BPS students, City employee payroll, sidewalk accessibility, environmental grants, and affordable housing.”
FitzGerald is particularly aggravated that Wu officials have sought to push a previously scheduled Sept. 4 hearing focused on a resolution to declare the Mass & Cass area a public health emergency. FitzGerald, who chairs the committee that will run the hearing, says administration officials want the hearing pushed until after the Sept. 9 election.
“This has become an egregious overreach of a manufactured excuse not to hear the issues before our City,” he said. “In my district specifically, the issues of Mass and Cass and pedestrian safety loom large and are issues we cannot afford to postpone. It’s taken too long to respond to these issues as it is.”
A Wu spokesperson said Wednesday that the Council can hold hearings whenever they want “on any topics at any time they wish to schedule them, without needing any approval or coordination with the administration.”
The mayor’s staff “do our best to be responsive and prioritize their requests alongside the other important duties that departments must carry out to serve residents across the city,” the spokesperson added. But, “in rare instances, ask for rescheduling if there is a compelling reason to do so,” the spokesperson added.
FitzGerald’s complaint drew immediate praise from one of his State House colleagues, Rep. John Moran, who also represents the Newmarket and South End neighborhoods hardest hit by the Mass & Cass crisis.
“Thank you, Councilor for standing up for your constituents,” Moran commented on FitzGerald’s Instagram post. “The time for a hearing on Mass and Cass is now.”
In addition to the “Mass & Cass and Impacted Neighborhoods” hearing, FitzGerald’s office said today that another hearing held by his committee — this one dealing with the city’s EMS dispatch on July 31 —was nearly derailed when Wu officials said they wouldn’t be able to attend. Ultimately, FitzGerald went forward with the hearing and an administration delegate did attend, but many of the council’s questions weren’t fully answered.
Two other council hearings originally set for this week— one to discuss the impacts of CORI checks and another on towing practices in the city— were also cancelled, according to FitzGerald.
“I have 3 young children who I am trying to create memories with over the summer months like anyone else and am in a re-election year, and I am finding the time to make myself available to host or participate in these hearings,” FitzGerald said. “I find it hard to believe others cannot do the same. The serious issues facing this city should not be manipulated to advance political outcomes.”
