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Baker calls Arroyo a 'predator' but withdraws demand for subpoena of his BPD file

In a contentious meeting in which Council President Ed Flynn had to keep banging his gavel, telling both councilors and residents to keep quiet, Councilor Frank Baker withdrew his demand for a look at the BPD file on sexual-assault allegations against Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, saying his point had been made by today's Globe interview with a woman who claims Arroyo sexually attacked and threatened her in high school.

But Baker (Dorchester) said he could be back, at any moment, so don't push him: "If a predator continues to roam, the killing field only becomes larger," he said.

Before withdrawing his motion, Baker said the allegations against Arroyo had cast "a dark shadow" over the council and said he didn't know about other councilors, but he was going to stand up for the survivors of sexual assault. "No matter the outcome my conscience is good with this decision," he said, adding he did so even though his family has been harassed in ways he did not specify.

Following that, Lara (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Mission Hill) withdrew her demand for a subpoena of BPD files on Baker's 1990s conviction on marijuana-distribution charges.

She said she didn't think Baker was unfit to serve and said that criminal records have too often been used to go after officials even if they have changed their lives around - and that elected officials should not be judged on things that happened decades earlier, but rather on their work as after their elections.

She said her reason for filing her request had been proved by both Baker's action and by Flynn's decision to strip Arroyo of his council leadership positions, that "people of color on this city and on this council are not only held to higher standards, they are also disciplined in harsher ways by leadership."

Throughout the council's meeting, Flynn had to repeatedly wield his gavel and call brief recesses as temperatures in the concrete box the council meets in rose high. Fights broke out in the hallway outside the council chambers.

Earlier, in a discussion about trying to clean up Clifford Park in Roxbury - in Baker's district - so that children could once again play there without fear of getting stuck by needles or having to deal with mounds of human waste and broken dirt, Lara apologized to his constituents for the council only now trying to do something after "screaming into void for months if not years" due to inaction by Baker.

Baker angrily retorted that, in fact, it was his office that has spent years trying to clean up the park, and that the city sharps team, which collects needles across the city, started as work by his office. "Me, I handled it," he said. "Roll your eyes, I handled it."

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https://twitter.com/CotterReporter/status/1565041550060576774

Chambers cleared, arguing/fighting in the hallway

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I think many ordinary Bostonians would be positively galled if they saw what the proceedings looked like today.

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"Buncha goddamned foolishness. Why don't they grow up!?"

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If they continue to allow the public to attend, which I think they should, the rule is, "One peep out of you and you are gone." No second chances. Equally applied to everyone. Think of the way a courtroom is run. You rarely get people calling out and getting into fights in a court gallery. That's how the City Council meeting needs to be run. It would take a few false starts, but people will get it.

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Looks like Shawn Nelson from the Catherine Vitale crew was in the middle of the altercation in the hall. Sean Cotter from the Herald said there was an arrest.

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I watched this. One thing that struck me was this outfit is getting a raise. Very poor reflection on the state of our city.

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Enjoy this outcome of a) your consistently 30% at best voter turnout and 2) rewarding Democrat sociopaths with votes.

Seriously, the people depicted here are no better than your Ted Cruzes and your Matt Gaetzes (who also govern with nothing even remotely resembling any kind of actual majority.)

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Just shut it down.

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