波士顿市议员费连决定不挑战市长吴弭，选择竞选市议会席位连任
【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 11 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）据费连（Flynn ）的亲信消息人士透露，波士顿市议员爱德华·费连（Ed Flynn）已决定今年不挑战市长吴弭（Michelle Wu），而是计划竞选市议会席位连任。《波士顿环球报》记者Niki Griswold对此作了下述报道。
几个月来，一直有传言称费连正在考虑与吴弭竞争，费连是吴弭在市议会中最直言不讳的批评者之一，今年吴弭 正在争取连任。吴弭即将生下第三个孩子，她尚未正式宣布竞选连任，但表示她打算参选。
两位知情人士证实，费连选择专注于保住他在第二区的席位。 《波士顿先驱报》最先报道了这一消息。
据传，亿万富翁爱国者队老板罗伯特·克拉夫特的儿子、慈善家乔希·克拉夫特也在考虑与吴竞争。费连选择退出竞选很可能为克拉夫特向吴弭发起挑战扫清了障碍。如果克拉夫特真的发起竞选，他将不得不寻求各种选民的支持，这些选民可能对吴弭对该市的领导不满。
克拉夫特的政治顾问艾琳·奥康纳拒绝就费连退出的决定发表评论。
费连和吴弭的办公室没有立即回应置评请求。
费连在过去一年中对吴弭的许多政策和举措表示反对——最近一次是决定关闭或合并波士顿公立学校的几个校区，包括南波士顿的 Excel 高中。
他还反对她与一支职业女子足球队合作，花费 9100 万美元市政府资金重建白体育场的举措，批评她在市中心以及马萨诸塞大道与梅尔尼亚卡斯大道交叉口的公共安全做法，并抨击市长去年的“BPS Sundays”试点计划不包括特许学校、私立学校和在家上学的学生免费进入列出的文化机构。吴弭后来将该计划扩大到该市所有 K-12 学生。
作为市议会中较为保守的成员之一，费连也是唯一反对吴弭去年将更多城市房产税负担暂时转移到商业房地产上的议员之一。
吴弭向市议会和州立法机构寻求这样做的权力，以减轻住宅业主即将到来的税收上涨。费连以及商业和房地产领导人表示担心，这项措施将不公平地加重小企业和本已陷入困境的商业房地产行业的负担。由于一些公司继续推行远程工作政策，许多市中心办公楼的价值在后疫情时代有所下降。
吴弭认为，在一个生活和住房成本已经最高的城市，老年人或其他弱势居民将无法承受大幅增加的房产税。费连和知名商业组织则主张吴弭大幅削减该市的年度预算，选择不征收该市法律允许的全部房产税，并动用“应急”基金为低收入房主提供支持。
这些商业团体数月来一直在反对吴弭的提议，并进行游说，最终与她就一项妥协版本的立法达成协议。当最终的城市数据显示，即将对居民征收的税收不会像政府之前担心的那样大幅增加时，他们后来放弃了支持。
一位与费连关系密切的消息人士表示，如果费连和克拉夫特决定参选，他们将得到许多商界领袖的支持和资金支持。
吴弭在 2021 年赢得市长竞选后，成为第一位当选领导该市的女性、有色人种和母亲。
在准备竞选第二任期时，吴弭强调了一系列成就，希望引起选民的注意，以寻求他们的支持。这些成就包括 2024 年枪支暴力率创历史新低、该市带薪青年暑期工作计划的扩大、她为增加该市经济适用房存量所做的努力，以及她对该市基础设施的绿色能源和气候适应力的关注。
题图：波士顿市议员爱德华·费连（Ed Flynn）。Andrew Burke-Stevenson 为 The B 撰稿
附原英文报道：
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn decides against challenging Mayor Michelle Wu, opting to run for re-election to Council seat
By Niki Griswold Globe Staff,Updated January 11, 2025
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn.Andrew Burke-Stevenson for The B
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn has decided against challenging Mayor Michelle Wu this year, and is instead planning to run for re-election to his seat on the Council, according to sources close to Flynn.
Rumors have swirled for months that Flynn, who is one of Wu’s most vocal critics on the Council, was mulling running against her as she seeks a second term this year. Wu, who is due to give birth to her third child soon, has not formally announced her re-election campaign, but has said she intends to run.
Flynn instead is choosing to focus on keeping his District 2 seat, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed. The news was first reported by The Boston Herald.
Philanthropist Josh Kraft, a son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is also rumored to be considering running against Wur. Flynn’s choice to opt out of the race likely clears the field for Kraft to mount a challenge to Wu. If Kraft does launch a campaign, he would have to seek the support of various constituencies who might be dissatisfied with Wu’s leadership of the city.
Eileen O’Connor, a political advisor of Kraft’s, declined to comment in response to Flynn’s decision to bow out.
Flynn, and Wu’s office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Flynn has spoken out against many of Wu’s policies and initiatives during this past year — most recently the decision to close or merge several Boston Public Schools campuses, including Excel High School in South Boston.
He’s also pushed back against her move to spend $91 million of city funds to redevelop White Stadium in partnership with a professional women’s soccer team, criticized her approach to public safety downtown and at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, and slammed the mayor’s “BPS Sundays” pilot program last year for not including free access to the listed cultural institutions for charter, private, and homeschool students. Wu has since expanded the program to all K-12 students in the city.
One of the more conservative members of the council, Flynn also was one of the only councilors to oppose Wu’s effort last year to temporarily shift more of the city’s property tax burden on to commercial real estate.
Wu sought the authority to do so from the City Council and state Legislature, to soften a coming tax spike for residential property owners. Flynn, along with business and real estate leaders, expressed concern the measure would unfairly burden small businesses and an already struggling commercial real estate industry. Many downtown office buildings’ values have declined in the post-pandemic era as some companies continue remote work policies.
Wu argued elderly or otherwise vulnerable residents would not be able to afford a dramatic increase in property taxes in a city that already has some of the highest costs of living and housing. Flynn and prominent business organizations instead advocated for Wu to make steep cuts to the city’s annual budget, elect not to collect the full amount of property taxes the city is legally allowed to, and dip into the “rainy day” fund to offer support to low-income homeowners.
Those business groups fought and lobbied against Wu’s proposal for months before ultimately striking a deal with her on a compromise version of the legislation. They later walked back their support when final city numbers showed the looming tax increase for residents was not going to be as dramatic as the administration had previously feared.
Flynn, as well as Kraft should he decide to run, would have the backing and financial support of many business leaders in their races, a source close to Flynn said.
Wu became the first woman, person of color, and mother to be elected to lead the city when she won the mayoral race in 2021.
As she prepares to run for a second term, Wu has emphasized a litany of accomplishments she hopes to draw voters’ attention to as she seeks their support. Those include record-low gun violence rates in 2024, the expansion of the city’s paid youth summer jobs program, her efforts to increase the city’s affordable housing stock, and her focus on green energy and climate resilience in the city’s infrastructure.
