With federal and state economic turmoil, two Boston City Council members have agreed to merge their respective campaigns for City Council president and end a potentially contentious debate in the name of unifying the council.
Councilor Mike Ross (Fenway, Kenmore, Back Bay) will still run for president, while his would-be opponent, City Councilor At-Large Steve Murphy, will run for the vice presidential slot in the Jan. 5 election, according to a joint statement released by the candidates yesterday.
Though Ross still needs a majority vote from the remaining councilors, incumbent City Council President Maureen Feeney’s spokesman Justin Holmes said he has high hopes for a smoother election now that the merger has taken effect.
‘Nothing is definite until the election,’ he said. ‘But we hope that this merger will signal that the council is willing to roll up their sleeves and work together.”
Ross, who became the youngest person elected to council in 1991, currently represents the majority of Boston University’s off-campus student population and is most noted for his sponsorship of a Boston Zoning Commission amendment limiting the number of unrelated undergraduate students living in an apartment to four. The regulation was hotly contested by Boston-area students, but was ultimately passed unanimously by the commission in March.
‘The City of Boston is facing great financial challenges that will impact the way we do business in 2009.’ This will have great repercussions on all residents of our city.’ The Boston City Council will be on the forefront of many fiscal discussions, and as a result the body will need to band together to work through these challenges,’ the joint statement from Murphy, Ross and Feeney states.
‘By putting to rest what usually is a contentious exercise, I believe the council will be able to continue to proactively address all the issues we face,’ Murphy said in the statement.