Take Action for Boston's Kids Tomorrow

An Important Message From City Councilor Sam Yoon

This Wednesday, June 28, I will be casting the most important vote during my tenure so far on the Boston City Council. I will be voting NO on the city's operating budget.

The reason is that it does not provide nearly enough funds to reverse the epidemic of violence and hopelessness that is plaguing certain neighborhoods in our city, and especially its young people.

Since my election late last year, beginning with a quadruple murder in my own neighborhood in Dorchester, until just last week, when a prominent minister-activist and friend of mine decided to move out of Roxbury to protect his children, I have heard and seen everything I need to hear and see.

I have followed the media reports, walked in marches, participated in rallies; I have done the research, read the studies, talked with the police, worked with youth workers, and met with the families of murder victims. I have appraised the problem from the macro to the micro level, and I am convinced that we need to take real action, and we need to do it now.

We need a bold response that focuses like a laser beam on young people. This is both sound public policy and common sense, because so much of the violence in our city begins and ends with troubled youth.

Furthermore, we need to buffer their friends, families, and social networks from what the Boston Globe has called “toxic stress.” From their June 19 editorial: “In metaphorical terms, entire neighborhoods are starting to suffer from toxic stress. And if the authorities can't check the violence and restore peace to the neighborhoods, then the likely response to the stress will be harmful to Boston. Fight or flight.”

I have outlined a fiscally responsible plan for increasing the city's funding for summer jobs and for youth violence prevention. It is eminently affordable, and yet it will greatly multiply our current under funded efforts in these areas.

If the City Council has any power at all, it has the power to steer the budget toward the city's most pressing priorities. If the City Council chooses not to exercise this power during this time of unprecedented risk to young people and to hard-hit communities, then shame on us.

Please join me in calling upon the Boston City Council to block approval of the Mayor's budget until it reflects a response that is commensurate with the problem at hand.

Specifically, I invite you to attend the City Council meeting on Wednesday (June 28, 11:30, 5th floor of City Hall). Your presence in the gallery will provide a measure of accountability that will help to sway some of my colleagues.

If you are so moved, I would also invite you to call all of our city councilors beforehand and express your views to their staff. This is not just a Roxbury-Dorchester-Mattapan problem. It is a City of Boston problem.

Since taking office, I made a promise that every public action I take would be fully transparent. Nothing of any importance that I do on your behalf should be done privately or behind closed doors. I am a public servant, and I serve you, so I felt it was my responsibility to communicate my thoughts on this matter, and to explain my actions fully.

Don't ever hesitate to tell me how I'm doing, whether you agree or disagree. It makes me better at what I do. But as always, I thank you for your continued support and for listening.

1. What does a NO vote mean?
It simply means that the City Council is requesting additional time to negotiate with the Mayor’s administration around funding for youth. The City Council will meet again on July 12. As of July 1, the city’s operating budget will temporarily use FY06 funding levels until the FY07 budget is approved by the council.

2. How much additional funding is being requested?
An additional $1.2 million for youth summer jobs (which will restore recent drastic cuts to this program), and an additional $3.9 million for violence prevention, in the form of increased city personnel (both Streetworkers and youth workers), as well as contract employees or the creation of grant programs to fulfill short-term needs for youth services and violence prevention. This funding program would be designed with community-based organizations.

This $4.1 million represents a 0.19% increase over the Mayor’s proposed operating budget.

3. How do I contact my city councilor?

Councilor Sal Lamattina
617-635-3200
salvatore.lamattina@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Jimmy Kelly
617-635-3203
james.kelly@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Maureen Feeney
617-635-3455
maureen.feeney@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Charles Yancey
617-635-3131
charles.yancey@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Rob Consalvo
617-635-4210
rob.consalvo@cityofboston.gov

Councilor John Tobin
617-635-4220
john.tobin@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Chuck Turner
617-635-3510
chuck.turner@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Michael Ross
617-635-4225
michael.ross@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Jerry McDermott
617-635-3113
jerry.mcdermott@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Felix Arroyo
617-635-3115
felix.arroyo@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Michael Flaherty
617-635-4205
michael.f.flaherty@cityofboston.gov

Councilor Stephen Murphy
617-635-4376
stephen.murphy@cityofboston.gov