Ayanna Pressley
A word of advice to Boston's next mayor
By adamg - 11/10/11 - 7:32 amYes, Ms. Pressley, we're talking to you, now that the Herald has named you a force to be reckoned with (well, or they would have if they hadn't spelled it "rekoned"): Remember what happened to the last at-large councilor who did surprisingly well and started having his name bandied about as the next mayor and don't fall in love.
Meanwhile, David Bernstein crunches Tuesday's numbers in the at-large race.
Pressley tops ballot
By adamg - 11/8/11 - 9:27 pmPressley victory speech by Mike Deehan/Dorchester Reporter.
Ayanna Pressley, the first-term incumbent whom many thought was most vulnerable to defeat this year, topped the field of candidates for one of four at-large City Council seats.
City councilors propose ban on tinted windows in school, day-care vans
By adamg - 10/19/11 - 11:52 amAt-large councilors Ayanna Pressley and John Connolly say a ban might have prevented the death of Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre, who died locked in an unattended van for several hours last month.
"It's very possible that someone might have seen Gabriel in that van and intervened," Pressley said at a council meeting today at which she held up a T-shirt emblazoned with Gabriel's photo. The ban is part of "Gabriel's Law," a series of proposals by his mother, Virginie Cazir, who lives in the same building as Pressley.
All other councilors signed up as co-sponsors of the proposal, which now goes before the council's committee on government operations for a formal hearing.
City Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester) said he hopes the hearing will expand to cover more general issues of day-care van safety.
Connolly, Pressley pull a Floon
By adamg - 10/16/11 - 8:50 amThe Globe reports ticket topper John Connolly and cash-poor Ayanna Pressley have merged their campaign finances and begun campaigning together as they run for re-election for at-large City Council seats. For Pressley, the move means immediate resources; for Connolly, it means access to new constituencies should he ever run for another office.
Fine from club that shut doors on black Harvard alumni to help black students get into college
By adamg - 5/11/11 - 6:23 amCity Councilor Ayanna Pressley and state Attorney General Martha Coakley say a $28,500 fine imposed on the Cure Lounge will be split among four groups that provide scholarships and help to black high school students who want to go to college.
The state began investigating the downtown club after Pressley complained about the way it shut its doors during an event for black Harvard alumni following the annual football game against Yale.
Pressley says she was raped in college
By adamg - 3/30/11 - 7:44 pmAt-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley, who attended Boston University in the early 1990s, released a statement today, in advance of a hearing on sexual violence she is holding with follow first-term Councilor Felix Arroyo:
Murphy to Flaherty: Fuhgeddaboudit
By adamg - 3/22/11 - 6:17 amThe Phoenix reports City Council President Steve Murphy will back Ayanna Pressley for re-election to her at-large seat even if Michael Flaherty tries to get back on the council this fall.
Pressley: Not giving teens tools to deal with sex would be cowardly
By adamg - 2/15/11 - 3:53 pmAt-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley today called for a comprehensive sex-education program and for easier availability of condoms in Boston schools.
"Not taking action, now that would be controversial. It would also be cowardly and counter to what I believe the role of government is - to solve problems and make people's lives better," she said at a hearing.
Pressley said she was not advocating teaching young people how to have sex. "Our young people already know how to have sex," she said. She said she would want any program to include discussions of abstinence. "I wish our young people would wait as long as possible to become sexually active, wait until they're older, more emotionally mature, better prepared to deal with the consequences and in a healthy, safe and exclusive relationship with a loving partner. But a solution based on wishing our young people would wait to have sex and doing nothing else is no solution at all." [Pressley's complete opening statement]
How about turning those snow farms into snow parks?
By adamg - 2/9/11 - 8:06 amCouncilor Ayanna Pressley thinks the city should be getting creative with the vacant lots on which it now dumps tons of snow after each storm: Why not turn them into neighborhood sledding and play areas?
Pressley's real intent is to identify additional locations onto which the DPW can dump even more snow than it is now - all the piles residents have had to build in recent weeks. But she will ask fellow councilors today to schedule a hearing on both better ways to clear city streets and put the snow to good use:
There are a number of open spaces in each of our neighborhoods that should be considered for snow dumping; and such sites could also be potentially used by children and families as 'snow playgrounds' for sledding and other snow activities.
Check out the racial, geographic and gender makeup of workforces at large Boston construction sites
By adamg - 1/13/11 - 4:13 pmAs promised by city councilors Mike Ross and Ayanna Pressley, a city Web site now lets you see how construction projects in the city match up with the city's construction job policy, which asks developers to ensure at least half their workers are Boston residents, 25% are people of color and 10% are women.
