By Mike Napolitano
City Councilor Michael Ross listed residential opportunities for college graduates and the economy as two major issues he will focus on in the near future, after council members unanimously elected him City Council president Monday.
Ross, who represents the Fenway, Back Bay, Beacon Hill and Mission Hill neighborhoods, received all 13 votes from the council, which will make him Boston’s first Jewish council president. The election followed an agreement between City Councilor At-Large Stephen Murphy and Ross in October that Ross would appoint Murphy as council vice president if Murphy withdrew his own bid for council president.
“Given the challenges ahead, the fact that we all work really well with each other … it makes sense to combine our efforts and work as a team,” Ross said.
The City Council president, Ross said, is in charge of running City Council operation and making decisions in regard to who chairs certain committees and appointed positions in city government. One of these committees, Livable Boston, will explore ways of attracting and retaining residents, he said.
Ross called Northeastern students “prospective residents” and said the city must do more to create opportunities for college graduates to live in Boston.
“My hope is that students at Northeastern will find a home in Boston after graduation,” he said. “Right now, that’s not the case. It is transitional, not a place to live, buy a home, start their life, which is unfortunate.”
Ross said it is “virtually impossible” for students to live in Boston after graduation right now because new students are constantly coming in to take their place.
“Decisions have to be made to foster greater residential opportunities,” he said, citing his push for increased creation of residence halls like Northeastern’s soon-to-open Parcel 18 and the economically postponed plan for Building K.
The economy, a priority for many politicians at the moment, also remains at the forefront of Ross’s to-do list. The council president promised to situate committee chairs by next week, ahead of the usual date in February.
“We have some serious work ahead of us that we need to get to work on right away,” he said. “We are walking into obviously a very difficult economy and budget with $60 to $80 million in cuts we’ll have to handle.”
Ross said he will form an economic development summit and plans to include non-governmental leaders in the discussion as well.
“I’ve never felt government has all the answers,” he said.
Ross said he plans to seek out business and academic leaders, including Northeastern, to find out what they think should be done about economic issues concerning the city and its institutions.
Northeastern professor of political science Bruce Wallin said he has had some experience working with Ross on city issues. When Ross was handling the city budget as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he and Wallin gave five honors students the chance to develop assessment tools for citizens to voice their opinions, concerns and ideas to Ross.
“We organized a group of five honors students and we went to Mike and said is there something you could use us for,” he said. “We came up with this idea for a website where people could express their concerns and ideas about city government services. It was run partly through the Center for Urban and Regional Policy, they helped host it and built the website.”
Wallin said that in addition to the website, students handed out postcard surveys at MBTA stations that people could mail in. He said the students felt they benefited from the project.
“We really liked doing it. Students got to meet with the city counselor and his staff [a number of times],” he said. “I’ve been impressed with [Ross] throughout his career. He’s got lots of good ideas. I like the fact that he’s an idea person, not going to take this role lightly. He gets excited about ideas, and I think that’s what the city needs now.”
Vice President for Marketing and Communications Mike Armini also voiced his approval of the council’s selection.
“As our district councilor, Mike Ross is already well known here at Northeastern,” he said. “President [Joseph] Aoun has reached out to congratulate him on his election as council chair, and we look forward to working with him on a range of important issues facing the university and the city.”
