Boston’s Black, Latino, and Asian residents now make up more than half of the city’s population, and this increasing diversity is starting to be reflected in its municipal government as Councilor Michelle Wu becomes the city’s first woman and person of color to be elected as mayor.
Wu’s parents immigrated to the US from Taiwan and she moved to Boston from Chicago to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School. She was first elected to the city council in 2013 and has since advocated for progressive ideals such as climate change policies in line with the Green New Deal. Her campaign also championed rent control and rent stabilization, eliminating fares on the metropolitan area’s public transit system, and abolishing the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Her argument is that the time has come to “empower a planning department to create a master plan for updated zoning and clear, consistent rules.”
Wu’s win as mayor of Boston breaks a nearly two-century streak of white, male city leaders.
Source image: Reuters
