Politics

Boston City Council At-Large Race: Erin Murphy

"I’m committed to improving our public school system, so that all of our children have a quality public school they can attend in their own neighborhood."

Erin Murphy. Jes Stought

By Annie Jonas and Chloe Courtney Bohl

5 minutes to read

Erin Murphy, 53, lives in Dorchester with her four children.

Murphy graduated from Fitchburg State University, where she earned a degree in Business, History and Elementary Education, after which she earned an M.A.Ed. from Fitchburg State University. Murphy will be seeking a third term as city councilor at-large.

We surveyed Murphy on her priorities and some of the most pressing issues facing the Boston City Council this election season, based on input from our readers.

The following responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

What are two of your top priorities that you would like to address?

I’m committed to improving our public school system, so that all of our children have a quality public school they can attend in their own neighborhood.

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Our schools should all be world class and I think people would be surprised at how many other issues facing our city this solves. That doesn’t mean just improving the curriculum, which is obviously important, but offering
before-school and after-school programming that really makes a difference for students and families.

I’ve also been working hard to ensure that we have safe streets. That means not just fully supporting our police, fire, and emergency responders, but working to improve our supports and outreach to address substance abuse and addiction, and to aid in recovery.

We need a city where our seniors feel comfortable in their neighborhoods and, again, that’s a quality-of-life issue that will bridge a lot of the other gaps that we have.

What solutions would you support regarding the area of Mass and Cass and the underlying issues of addiction, mental health, and homelessness?

Mass. and Cass is, truly a humanitarian crisis, and a catastrophe unfolding right in the heart of our city, and I’ve repeatedly asked the Boston Public Health Commission to declare a public health crisis in the area.

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It bothers me that we have allowed this to go on for as long as it has. It affects the outlying neighborhoods, local businesses, and children’s sports programs in the area.

And it’s largely symptomatic of a much broader problem not just in Boston, but in society: that of addiction, substance abuse, and mental health problems.

As Chair of the Council’s Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery, and as someone who has long centered recovery in my own advocacy, I believe we need to invest more in supports, prevention, rehabilitation.

We need to erase the stigma of addiction, and to help these individuals find productive roles in society.

How can housing in Boston be more affordable and inclusive of all communities while mitigating gentrification?

The cost of living has spiraled out of control and it’s hurting the fabric of our city. As someone who is a renter in Dorchester and raised a family here as a single mom, I feel this every day on on a personal level.

We need to increase the stock of affordable housing, and we need to be creative and flexible in how we do it. It’s vital that, as we do so, we prioritize addressing historical inequities across our neighborhoods so that communities that have been underserved are given the attention and assistance they deserve.

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We can do this by collaborating with housing authorities, developers, and community organizations to create more affordable housing units and explore innovative solutions such as cooperative housing models.

We should also be open to, when they abide by building safety and fire codes, more Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in neighborhoods where they are appropriate.

I’ve been supportive of both attached and detached ADUs. I am open to streamlining the Article 80 process, but we need to do so in a way that allows for adequate residential input.

What does the city need to do to address gun violence and improve public safety?

First, we need to get the guns off the street, and that starts at the lawmaking level. Our state has made tremendous strides in making Massachusetts one of the most difficult states in the country to obtain a gun, and I’d encourage my colleagues on Beacon Hill to go further.

We need to be fully supportive of our law enforcement and to emphasize community policing, building relationships between the community and authorities that help suppress crime, particularly in our most vulnerable neighborhoods.

That’s why I voted in favor of grants for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), which works with the Department of Homeland Security to gather intelligence and data to prevent violent crime and assist our counterterrorism efforts.

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And, I think we need to do more with programming: offering summer jobs opportunities, before-school and after-school programs, fully funded arts and athletics budgets in our public schools. We need to offer alternatives.

How would you improve Boston’s roads and public transit?

As an At-Large City Councilor, I move around the city every day and I’m fortunate to be able to visit every neighborhood. But I don’t need to tell people that as a city we need to do a better job of making the city navigable.

I’m very supportive of Mayor Wu’s efforts to eliminate fares on certain bus routes and hope we find a way to continue and expand those programs. We should also look at expanding the use of M7 Cards and S-Cards, which provide reduced-fare travel for students.

We’ve also made progress in that Boston finally has a seat on the MBTA Board of Directors, which should result over the long term in better transit results for city residents and increased equity measures.

I think our roads need to be improved and one improvement I’d like to see is better coordination between city departments, so that traffic doesn’t get snarled by too much roadwork in a concentrated area. Better communication could solve a lot of that.

Just like every other cold-weather city, we need to be attentive to our road conditions. Potholes can be both dangerous and expensive for drivers and cyclists.

Many readers say they’ve lost faith in the Boston City Council. How would you work to regain their trust?

I think that we, as a City Council, need to do better and to regain the trust of our constituents. Unfortunately, there have been some instances of unacceptable behavior in the last several years that I think we’re now moving past.

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But I think that – and this is the nature of the job – a lot of attention gets paid to the negatives, and very little to the hard work we do in the communities.
As an At-Large City Councilor, I’m fortunate to represent every neighborhood in Boston, and I take pride in my ability and my office’s ability to deliver constituent services in every neighborhood.

A lot of my passion from the job flows from the ability to connect a constituent
with the city service they need, and I think those one-on-one interactions – when I get to do the job that an elected official should be doing – is very rewarding for both parties.

I think those constituents who have an interaction like that where city government is responsive and accountable do have faith in the City Council. So I am going to keep the faith by continuing to do that.

Find out more about Erin Murphy on her website and social media.

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