2009 is only a few days old, but already we’ve seen major changes. Today, Boston City Council elected Mike Ross President. As a longtime friend of Boston Daily, we asked Ross to blog about what the change means for him, and how he intends to approach his tenure.

Take it away, Mike.

Earlier today, I had the honor of being elected president of the Boston City Council. I’m extremely grateful to my colleagues for their support, and to Maureen Feeney for her leadership over the past two years. I have learned much from her example.

It is not an easy time to be leading the Council. Bostonians spent 2008 struggling with rising food and fuel costs, while fighting to keep their jobs. Thousands of our residents — both owners and renters — lost their homes in the foreclosure crisis, while a weak economy led to a spike in youth violence. The city is facing huge budget cuts, and expects to lose millions in state aid in 2009. The fiscal crisis is hitting us hard.

My top priority for 2009 is to ensure that the council does its part to keep our city on-track during these trying times. To do so I plan on tapping into some of the region’s brain-trust by hosting an economic summit, building on Councilor Feeney’s work of last year. We will bring together the city’s economic, non-profit, and business leaders to provide their insights and ideas on steps we can take to stimulate the city’s economy.

The 2008 presidential election inspired an extraordinary number of citizens to participate in our democracy for the first time. Our vision for local government should offer no less promise. Our citizens deserve a government they can be proud of, and that they can access easily. I hope to do this in two ways. First, we will move a number of our regularly-scheduled afternoon meetings into Boston’s neighborhoods, and we’ll hold them at night, so more people can attend. People have the right to participate more fully in their government, and we seek to make the City Council more accessible – and more accountable – to the people we serve.

Secondly, I will require that all council documents be made available electronically on the City of Boston website. It is time for the City Council to enter the 21st century, and ensure that all documents, legislation, and resolutions be fully accessible online.

In a departure from past practice, when rules and committee assignments often are announced in February, I pledge to have them ready by next week. The task ahead of us is daunting, and we must get to work right away.

I invite you to let me know what you think of these initiatives. I’ve launched a new website—mikerossboston.com. We have a number of new features there, including a Constituent Request form, and a feature we hope will add to our efforts to further engage the public, a Suggestion Box. There, you can tell me what you love about the city, and what you think we can do to make Boston better, and we’ll post the best and most interesting suggestions every month, even if we don’t agree with them. Isn’t spirited debate what the Internet is all about?

Working together, reaching out to our city’s greatest minds, making Boston a better place to live, and being more accessible to those we serve—these are the building blocks for overcoming the challenges of today. It’s a daunting task, but I can’t wait to get started. I look forward to hearing from you.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Ross Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted by Paul Flannery on 1/5/09 in Ross Report 2 Comments »