CITY SERVICES POSITION STATEMENT

Effective and efficient city services are an important quality of life issue. A well maintained and monitored city infrastructure is vital to our public safety. I believe that a key role for the Mayor of Boston is to provide residents with the necessary city services that will ensure a safe and well-designed community. I believe that city services must be provided in a manner that considers the public's best interest and that distribution of services should be fair and equitable.

I believe that citizens are the City's "eyes on the street" for a variety of problems large and small, and when there are concerns or problems, the City should provide an effective, responsive system for these problems to be addressed and citizens to be heard. I believe that the current system is too fragmented, confusing and non-responsive to provide an adequate level of follow-up or effective recording of the public's concerns. For the past 24 years as City Councilor I have fought for the citizens of Boston to receive the quality of city services they deserve for the property taxes they pay.

Boston relies on property taxes for almost 60% of its operating revenues. Over the past two years Boston homeowners have seen over a 25% increase in taxes and increases are slated to continue through 2009. I believe that the effectiveness and efficiency of basic city services to the residents of Boston do not reflect those tax increases. I believe we can and should do better.

As Mayor, I will make citizen's concerns a priority. I believe in a Boston where the streets, sidewalks and parks are well maintained and safe. If the City expects its citizens to maintain their homes and sidewalks, the City has the duty to ensure that its infrastructure is clean and properly maintained. Under a Hennigan administration there would be accountability, transparency, accessibility, and a fair and equitable distribution of city services.

Are you satisfied with the quality of city services that you are receiving? Are you getting what you pay for?

The Menino Administration Report Card

NEGLECTING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE: A Public Safety Issue

An aging infrastructure, 12 years of neglect of proper maintenance, and a reactive, rather than a proactive administration has resulted in public safety issues on and under our roads and streets. Dangerous potholes and cracked sidewalks can be found in every neighborhood of the city. Stray voltage problems, manhole fires decreasing ground water levels have become more common and pose a serious threat to public safety.

Road maintenance is simply not getting done. Since the beginning of 2005 the current administration has received 525 pothole complaint calls and more than 275 claims for damages.

City roads are not being repaired properly after they have been dug up by utility companies and contractors working on the city infrastructure. This occurs over 10,000 times a year throughout the city. Band aid patches are being used instead of solid repairs despite the fact that the City gets paid by the contractors working on the streets to make a permanent repair. There is approximately $27 million in unused utility company fees originally designated to be used to properly repair city roads.

Boston ranks in the top 10 urban areas with the highest percentage of streets and highways with "poor ride quality" due to "unacceptable pavement quality".

On average Boston drivers pay $525/year to fix the damage to their vehicles due to poor road maintenance.

FAILING TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS: A Planning and Oversight Issue

Parking in Boston is a growing problem. Between 1996 and 2002 the number of cars registered in Boston increased by 42% and the number of residential permits has risen by 75%.

There are approximately 375,000 vehicles registered for residential parking within city limits. In some neighborhoods there are two to four times more cars with residential parking permits than there are parking spaces.

Lack of affordable off street parking deters people from visiting Boston and hurts the City's economy.

According to the Boston Transportation Department, there are 7,000 parking meters in Boston ''proper". Yet every weekday, some 600,000 vehicles enter the city for working, shopping and visiting - most looking for a place to park their car.

Boston only has 134,000 off street parking spaces, forcing visitors to our City and those who work in the city to pay exorbitant parking fees at off street garages.

Studies show that due to the poor quality of road repairs in Boston and the lack of effective synchronization of traffic lights in the city, Boston ranks above average in traffic congestion with the average Boston driver sitting in stalled traffic 58 hours each year.


LOSING REVENUE: A Mismanagement Issue

Several substantial revenue sources for the city have not been realized due to neglect and lack of enforcement.

Boston has failed to collect on 52,787 trash violation tickets since 2000 resulting in a loss of $3 million in trash violations.

As many as one-half of trash violations in the City of Boston are ignored with no consequences to the violators

Of the 6845 meters in the City, 1700 are out of order. This has resulted in an estimated loss of $500,000 in meter revenue over the past 2 years. It is also estimated that $3 million in parking fines have been lost due to out of order meters.

Much of Boston is built on marsh land and land fill. Insufficient planning and monitoring by the City of Boston has resulted in a dangerously low ground level water table jeopardizing the foundations of much of the surrounding downtown neighborhoods affecting $10 billion worth of property value and 16% of the City's tax base. The present ground level crisis threatens our historic neighborhoods and property owners in many neighborhoods of Boston.

The current administration has issued building and development permits without regard for the future impact on property owners in Boston by not taking into account or actively monitoring the impact of displaced ground water. Low ground water levels are jeopardizing building foundations in much of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the South End, Bay Village, and Chinatown. Inattention to the ground water crisis in Boston could result in severe damage to the foundations of much of historic Boston and the costs of repair will affect all of the residents of Boston.


A Hennigan Administration Will Mean Accountable, Accessible City Services

BELIEVING IN A BETTER BOSTON MEANS: Community

As your Mayor, I will implement a City Services Center where citizens can lodge complaints and requests, either online, by mail, or on the telephone. Each request will be logged with a tracking number and time of receipt. Citizens will receive a report on the status of their request and a report on the resolution. As City Councillor, I have created a website to report potholes which has been very effective. As your Mayor I will open that communication process to include all city service issues

As your Mayor, I will involve the public and ensure that city services are accessible to all citizens and neighborhoods. My City Services Center will eliminate preferential treatment and ensure equity. A better tracking system will enable the City of Boston to evaluate its delivery of city services and make adjustments as needed.

As your Mayor, I will make sure that each neighborhood has a voice in all issues related to parking availability and fight to make sure each neighborhood has adequate parking. Not only is it important to have adequate parking for residents of the city, but adequate parking is essential to support a vibrant local business community.

BELIEVING IN A BETTER BOSTON MEANS: Accountability

As your Mayor, I will work to increase and improve communication between city agencies. My administration will create a centralized web portal to provide an up-to-date database of city services and make it possible for city agencies to share information easily and efficiently as well as to monitor progress in resolving reported problems.

As your Mayor, I will require annual spot inspections of our City's infrastructure including road condition, street lights, manhole covers and ground level water testing wells. All findings will be made public and accessible. An immediate repair program with reports of remedied conditions will be implemented and information made easily available. As City Councillor, I recently filed legislation concerning this issue and as your Mayor I will make sure it is implemented.

As your Mayor, I will require all agencies and utility companies working in the city to publicly disclose all information they garner from the annual inspections of their equipment and infrastructures.

As your Mayor, I will be in constant contact with the companies that provide our water, gas and electricity. If citizens are not getting heat into their homes, I want to know about it. If the water coming out of our taps isn't clean, I want to know about it. If neighborhoods are experiencing too many power outages or there are out of order street lights or possible stray voltage hazards, I want to know about it. If ground water levels that are essential to the stability of our buildings and neighborhoods are low, I want to know about it.

BELIEVING IN A BETTER BOSTON MEANS: Results

As your Mayor, I will create an active public awareness campaign which will provide citizens with information on how to access my City Services Center, alert them to any infrastructure problems such as potholes, stray voltage and decreasing ground water levels, and keep them informed of ongoing repair work and city improvements.

As your Mayor, I will institute a system for repairing roads that follows national recognized paving standards. In my administration, money collected from utility companies and contractors who dig up city streets won't sit in City Hall but will be used promptly for the intended purpose; to ensure well maintained and safe city streets and sidewalks.

As your Mayor, I will institute an annual review of all revenue streams related to city services to ensure oversight and enforcement of all fines such as parking and trash tickets and put in place a system to regularly report and repair broken parking meters. I will also investigate the newest vandal proof parking meter technologies.

Most importantly, as Mayor, I want the residents of the city to be proud of the city in which they live. Trash on our streets and poor parking conditions not only hurt our economy, they affect the livability of our City. We are proud of our history, our universities, and our sports teams. I want Boston residents to also be proud of how hard their city government is working for them.

I believe in a Better Boston, and I will hold city services to a higher standard of performance and accountability. Litter, potholes, broken parking meters and street lights, poor maintained streets and sidewalks, and low ground water levels which threaten the foundations of our historic properties are chipping away at our quality of life, and as your next Mayor I will change that. I believe we can and should do better! We are a world class city and it's time that the conditions of our streets reflect that. We should expect more. Effective and efficient city services are quality of life issues that will help attract and retain residents, visitors, and businesses to Boston.

Maura Hennigan
At Large City Councillor
Candidate for Mayor


SOURCES FOR CITY SERVICES STATISTICS

Neglecting Our Infrastructure: A Public Safety Issue:

Losing Revenue: A Mismanagement Issue