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Proposal would guarantee Boston residents the right to a City Council hearing - if they collect 250 signatures

City Council President Michelle Wu is proposing an ordinance that would require a council committee to hold a hearing on any issue backed by at least 250 Boston residents.

The "free petition" proposal would be similar to a section of the state constitution that requires legislators to introduce bills submitted by their constituents - just with a requirement for signatures.

Wu credits community activist Jamarhl Crawford of Roxbury with proposing the idea - which she will ask fellow councilors to go to a committee for study in a motion at this Wednesday's council meeting.

She said several other cities in the state already have such ordinances. In a statement, she said:

This ordinance will provide another outlet for residents to get involved in influencing policy and public discourse in Boston. One of the Council’s most important duties is to provide a platform for community voice. Codifying the right of free petition will ensure that the City Council is as responsive as possible to the issues facing families across the city.

The council's regular Wednesday meeting begins at noon in the council's fifth floor chambers in City Hall.

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Comments

I cannot imagine what petition #1 will be about.

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.

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I can imagine a lot of silly things coming out of this, but I think if someone is willing to stand outside Roche Bros and get 250 others to agree with them, they are probably not totally scatter-brained.

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Better a city council hearing than a ballot measure. This sounds like the white house petitions earning a response at what, half a million? Nothing requiring a positive response... just a response.

So sure, let our councillors earn their keep. If they didn't want to listen to their crazy neighbors they should've stayed in the private sector.

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the Council should have time to hear every citizen, even if some find the issue "silly".

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How does the city know the signatures are coming from actual Boston residents and not suburbanites?

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And submitting fake signatures is a crime.

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Thanks. I can picture someone going to a bar in Weymouth and Braintree with a petition to "save" the St. Patrick's Day Parade route.

Obviously those signatures shouldn't count and it sounds like the city has something in place to do spot checking.

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https://twitter.com/BicycleLobby

I think theres a joke in here about trying to collect signatures from cyclists running red lights or whatever, have at it.

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To get a signature from someone who blows by you directly through a red light.

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How do you get their signatures when their windows are rolled up?

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bikes, dear, the comment was about bikes

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Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh.

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a) Let interested folks respond to the remarks of Councilors from the Public Meeting of Boston City Council. Make available online the $60,000 Stenographic Record of the Public Meeting of Boston City Council. Let Members of the Council reach interested folks with their remarks from the Public Meeting of Boston City Council.

An example of online Stenographic Record
https://www.cambridgema.gov/license/hearingminutes

b) The Public Meeting of Boston City Council can be from time to time held in different neighborhoods.

Easier to read maps are needed of Boston Precincts particularly of Chinatown Precincts and South Boston Precincts!

c) Boundary Streets on maps could be better, easier to interpret at http://www.bostonplans.org/research-maps/maps-and-gis/electoral-maps

d) Narrative descriptions of Precinct Boundary Streets could be included with mapping.

e) Digitization of Public Records of Boston City Council would make the Council more open.

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will provide citizens access to digitized signatures with GPS locations overlaid on Yelp maps for those hungry and lost voters looking for their great aunt Mary's Council Citation as crosswalk monitor of the week in pre War 1941.

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