Boston’s woke Mayor Michelle Wu is being slammed for her “anachronistic” and “false” plan to give voting rights to 11-year-olds and illegal immigrants when deciding how to allocate millions of dollars in public funds.
The city’s new participatory budget voting process, which goes into effect in July, gives ordinary Bostonians the power to decide how a portion of the city’s budget is spent. Boston Herald report.
Democratic City Councilman Ed Flynn blasted the new process, especially its involvement of children, during a committee hearing reviewing Wu’s fiscal 2025 budget earlier this week.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction in a letter to Renato Castelo, director of the Participatory Budget Office, expressing his “clear and vehement opposition” to the impending process.
“At a time of great fiscal uncertainty, including a study warning that remote work policies and declining commercial property values in the city could result in a $500 million annual revenue loss, and proposals to increase tax rates on commercial property, it is more important than ever that we demonstrate to Boston taxpayers that we take our fiscal responsibility seriously,” Flynn wrote.
“Allowing children to decide how taxpayer money is spent will have the exact opposite effect and will be viewed by my constituents as insensitive, unserious and completely inappropriate.”
Boston’s participatory budgeting, a process that has become increasingly popular in other progressive cities, was first approved by voters in 2021.
Following approval from the Council late last year, the relevant committees and secretariat were established.
Starting in July, residents will be able to decide how to spend $2 million in city funding after the Wu administration handpicks 15 local priorities on which residents can choose.
Flynn argued that the $2 million figure was “too large” given the current economic situation.
Several other lawmakers also complained that the process gives budgetary power to taxpayers rather than to the Legislature itself.
