Jackson: Council will consider options on Mayoral veto

City Councillor Tito Jackson has not ruled out a potential override effort from the City Council after Mayor Martin Walsh nixed Jackson’s proposed Commission on Black and Latino Men and Boys on Monday.

“Any veto override is something that the council has the right to and should explore,” Jackson told the Reporter on Tuesday. “At this point, we will technically formally receive the veto at our meeting on Wednesday and then make a determination.”

Walsh filed the veto with the city clerk on Monday, citing a technicality in the city charter. All heads of commissions and departments are appointed by the mayor, according to Walsh’s letter. Jackson’s proposed commission conflicts with the law, according to Walsh’s spokesperson Kate Norton.

In his veto, Walsh also noted the commission would “duplicate and complicate” efforts already underway with the city’s My Brother’s Keeper Boston Advisory Committee, launched in September in partnership with a nationwide program led by President Barack Obama. The two bodies have a “shared goal of identifying opportunities to eliminate barriers and obstacles for Black and Latino boys and young men to succeed in the city’s public schools, workforce, and neighborhoods,” Norton said in a statement on Monday.

The commission was approved unanimously in the Boston City Council on Nov. 29. The veto will be read at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. Jackson said following the meeting, he will have a conversation with At-Large Councillor Michael Flaherty, chair of the committee on government operations. Flaherty’s office had no comment.

“I’m sure that Mayor Walsh has the same concerns that I have about the urgent issues facing black and Latino men and boys,” saids Jackson, who represents Roxbury and parts of Dorchester in his district 7 seat.
“I’m also sure that we can find a way to work together to address these issues and find a resolution to how we can move forward.”

Jackson is a member of the My Brother’s Keeper Boston advisory committee, Norton said.

“Like the proposed commission, the advisory panel is structured to continually focus and inform the mayor and other executive actors on ways city government can address the needs of, and create opportunities for, young men of color,” Walsh said in his veto. “The advisory committee has already begun this important work, and my administration is committed to supporting it, working with it, and learning from it.”

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