City Councilors Of The Past

Lydia Edwards

Former City Councilor, District 1

Councilor Edwards has spent her entire career as an advocate, activist, and as a voice on behalf of society's most vulnerable. She served as the deputy director within the Mayor's Office of Housing Stability where she was responsible for developing and delivering innovative solutions to fight displacement and brought together all stakeholders: landlords, management companies, housing authorities, and tenants.

Councilor Edwards worked as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services focusing on labor issues such as fighting for access to unemployment insurance, back wages, fair treatment for domestic workers, and combating human trafficking. She served as the statewide campaign coordinator for the Massachusetts Coalition for Domestic Workers, which advocated for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. In 2015, she was named Bostonian of the Year by the Boston Globe.

Her mother is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and current union worker with the Veterans Administration. She raised both Councilor Edwards and her twin sister. Councilor Edwards graduated from American University Washington College of Law and received a LLM in taxation from Boston University School of Law.

Salvatore LaMattina

Former City Councilor, District 1

Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattina is a life-long resident of East Boston. The Councilor and his wife Lisa have one daughter, Liana, who is now a graduate of Boston University. 

Councilor LaMattina graduated from East Boston High School in 1978. He subsequently attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science in 1984. 

After he attained his Bachelor's degree, he began a long and successful career of working for the public. Beginning in 1985 until 1987, Salvatore worked at the Crossroads Family Shelter in East Boston helping homeless families find housing. In 1987 he worked in the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services as the Neighborhood Liaison to the North End and East Boston. In 1999 Councilor LaMattina left Mayor's Office to work in the City of Boston Central Artery Team as Assistant Director. His role on the team was to mitigate construction impacts to the residents and businesses in the City of Boston. 

In 1999, Councilor LaMattina joined the Boston Transportation Department as Director of Operations, which he held until he was elected to the Boston City Council in 2006. 

Councilor LaMattina is the Chairman of the WARD 1 Democratic Committee. In addition to his affiliations with the Democratic Committee, Councilor LaMattina is a member of the East Boston Project Advisory Committee and is the Founder of Eastie Pride Day.

Bill Linehan

Former City Councilor, District 2

Bill Linehan is a life-long resident of South Boston elected to the Boston City Council in May 2007 and re-elected four times. After being re-elected last term Bill was elected President of the Council by his colleagues on the Council.  He has served as the chairman of the City of Boston Economic and Planning Committee and served as the Chairman of the Redistricting Committee.  Bill formed and chaired the Special Committee for the 2024 Olympics.  For the past twenty years, Bill has been working to improve the quality of life for Boston residents. 

Prior to his election, Bill had served as the Director of Operations for the City of Boston’s Parks Department and after that as the Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of the City of Boston.  The oldest of eight children, Bill has been active in politics since his teenage years and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. 

He and his wife Judy have four children and six grandchildren.

Frank Baker

Former City Councilor, District 3

Frank Baker was elected to the Boston City Council on November 8, 2011. His district includes most of Dorchester and a portion of South Boston and the South End.

Councilor Baker is proud to be a lifelong resident of Dorchester. He grew up in the Saint Margaret's Parish (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) area of Dorchester and currently owns a home in Savin Hill with his wife, Today Elaine. He is the twelfth child of John and Eileen Baker's thirteen children and a father of 11-year-old twins, Ben and Maxine.

Frank graduated from Don Bosco Technical High School in 1986 where he studied the printing trade. He worked for the City of Boston Printing Department from 1987 until 2010. Councilor Baker is a member of the CWA/Boston Typographical Union, Local 13 and served as a Shop Steward from 2000 until 2010.

Councilor Baker has been actively involved in politics his entire adult life and is a dedicated member of the Dorchester community. Frank is looking forward to bringing his passion for his community and a strong independent voice to City Hall. His priorities include Education, Public Safety, Substance Abuse Services, Housing and Economic Development.

As of 2018, Councilor Baker currently serves as Chair of the City Council’s Jobs, Wages, and Workforce Development Committee and the Special Committee on Charter Reform. He is also Vice Chair of the Planning, Development and Transportation Committee. Furthermore, he is a member of the Committees on Census and Redistricting, City, Neighborhood Services and Veterans Affairs, Government Operations, Homelessness, Mental Health and Recovery, Housing and Community Development, and Ways and Means.

Andrea Campbell

Former City Councilor, District 4

Andrea Joy Campbell was first elected as the District 4 Boston City Councilor on November 3, 2015, representing primarily the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Mattapan, as well as parts of Roslindale and Jamaica Plain. Throughout her second term on the Council, from 2018-2020, Campbell served as City Council President after being unanimously elected by her colleagues, becoming the first African-American woman to serve in this role.

Born and raised in Boston, and educated in all Boston Public Schools, including Boston Latin School, Councilor Campbell went on to graduate from Princeton University and UCLA Law School. She began her career at a non-profit in Roxbury, providing free legal services to students and their parents on education matters, including school discipline and special education needs. She has worked as legal counsel in both the public and private sectors, and before running for City Council, served as deputy legal counsel for Governor Deval Patrick.

On the Council, Campbell has established herself as an accessible, responsive, and pragmatic leader. She began her first term by chairing and expanding the Council’s Committee on Public Safety to include Criminal Justice in an effort to bring important conversations around re-entry services for returning citizens, solitary confinement, and the school-to-prison pipeline, to the Council. As one of the lead sponsors of the Community Preservation Act, she led the effort for its successful passage in 2016, which generates millions of dollars annually for affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space in the City of Boston. And, in 2017 she secured the first-ever dedicated line item in the City’s budget to specifically fund youth development programming and youth serving organizations.

As Council President, she worked to ensure that the Council was accessible and transparent, and brought the Council through its first-ever racial equity training to establish a deeper understanding of racism and racial inequities in Boston’s history and strategies to lead and legislate with an equity lens.

Councilor Campbell continues to focus on issues of public safety and criminal justice, education, affordable housing, and racial equity.

She lives in Mattapan with her husband, Matthew, and their sons, Alexander and Aiden.

Ricardo Arroyo

Former City Councilor, District 5

Councilor Arroyo was born in Hyde Park where he was raised by his parents Felix D. Arroyo, a former Boston City Councilor and the current Register of Probate for Suffolk County, and Elsa Montano, a retired Boston Public School teacher. From a young age his parents rooted in him a love of service and a responsibility to give back to the community.

It was those lessons that lead him to a career as a Public Defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services. As a public defender he saw firsthand how the lack of opportunity, inequity, and the marginalization of individuals ravaged lives. He has seen the cost to our communities when we do not see or hear those most in need.

Councilor Arroyo believes in collaborative politics and that we can achieve stronger economies, quality schools, affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, and healthy communities when we put people first by making sure that all people are seen, and all voices are heard.

He attended Boston Public Schools, holds a B.A. in History from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago.

He currently resides in Hyde Park.

Timothy McCarthy

Former City Councilor, District 5

From improving city services to creating opportunities for youth, Tim McCarthy has dedicated over twenty years to serving the residents of District 5. Tim’s first position as the Mayor’s Neighborhood Services Coordinator instilled a passion for helping his neighbors and earned him a reputation as someone who listened and solved problems.

As Director of the Boston Youth Fund, Tim McCarthy transformed Boston’s summer jobs program into a national model. He created the web-based HOPELINE to streamline and professionalize the hiring process. Because jobs provide important financial assistance for young people, but also teach work ethic and impart skills, Tim built partnerships with over 200 non-profit organizations to expand the number of summer jobs while also creating year-round employment and jobs training opportunities so young people would earn skills with real-world value.

Tim’s ability to make a good program great led to a senior leadership position in the Department of Public Works where he was again a voice for residents’ concerns about infrastructure, zoning, safety, and city services. His leadership on Boston’s Big Belly Solar Power trash initiative secured over $4 million worth of equipment for neighborhood business districts while generating revenue and protecting the environment, earning Tim MassRecyles “Innovation in Municipalities Award” in 2012.

For Tim McCarthy, public service isn’t merely a job but a life’s commitment. From Parkway baseball and football to Hyde Park Hoopsters, Tim has been a coach and mentor to Boston’s young men and women for more than 20 years.

Tim is a graduate of Catholic Memorial High School, Curry College and the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development. He is pursuing a Master’s Degree at Suffolk University and a City of Boston Credit Union Board Member. Tim McCarthy lives in Hyde Park with his wife, Maureen, a school teacher and medical editor, and sons, Dolan (19) and Garrett (17).

Kendra Lara

Former City Councilor, District 6

Kendra is a proud first-generation Black Dominican woman, a mother, a wife, and an artist. Born in the Bronx to a working-class, immigrant mother, Kendra’s family relocated to Jamaica Plain and has since called it home. 

As a first-year high school student, Kendra co-founded and later became the director of the influential and celebrated “by-youth, for-youth” organization Beantown Society. Like many young people of color in Boston, Kendra was directly impacted by gang violence. Because of her activist perspective, she quickly saw how her experiences with community violence were explicitly tied to poverty and racism. With her eyes open wide, she stepped in and at the age of 19, Kendra became one of a handful of women and the youngest in the city to provide trauma-informed support to young people as a StreetWorker with the StreetSafe Boston Initiative. Hicks would later support the expansion of this program internationally.

Before becoming the first person of color to represent District Six on the Boston City Council, Kendra was the Director of Radical Philanthropy at the historic Boston-based organization Resist. Founded by world-renowned activist Noam Chomsky just over 50 years ago, Resist grew — with Lara at the helm — into a leading force for racial and economic justice. Anchored by a socialist vision and a commitment to bring the margins to the center, Kendra uses her head, heart, and hands to push communities and local governments to use their imaginations and the resources at hand to expand beyond the realms of possibility towards liberation.

Matt O'Malley

Former City Councilor, District 6

Former City Councilor Matt O’Malley served as the Council President Pro Tempore and District 6 representative to the Boston City Council. Councilor O’Malley was first elected in a special election on November 16, 2010. His district included the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, parts of Roslindale, Roxbury, and the Back of the Hill. Councilor Matt O’Malley served as the Chair of Environment, Resiliency, and Parks Committee. Councilor O’Malley led on environmental initiatives such as promoting net zero carbon building standards, eliminating gas leaks and single-use plastic bags, and diverting organics through curbside composting in the City of Boston. Councilor O’Malley also led on various public health, economic, and social issues including but not limited to:

• Senior Silver Alert System 
• Free Sunscreen in Boston’s Parks and Playgrounds 
• Banning the Sale of Animals in the City of Boston
• Establishing Boston’s Latin Quarter
• Addressing Boston’s commercial vacancies
• Fair Housing Testing
• Affordable Housing Zoning Relief
• Conducting Safe and Accessible Elections amid Pandemic 

Former Councilor O’Malley grew up in Roslindale and is a graduate of Boston Latin School and George Washington University. Councilor O’Malley began his public service career as a high school intern for Councilor Peggy Davis-Mullen. Councilor O’Malley served as political director for MassEquality, a LGBTQ advocacy organization for marriage equality. He was a campaign manager to help elect the Commonwealth’s first woman of color Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral. He has served as a member of the Charles H. Farnsworth Housing Corporation, the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, Habitat for Humanity, Greater Boston, Project Hope and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Trustee for the Boston Latin School Association. 

He lives in West Roxbury with his wife, Kathryn and daughter, Margot.

Tania Fernandes Anderson

Former City Councilor, District 7

Councilor Fernandes Anderson resigned her position on July 4, 2025. The municipal election will be held in November. Please contact the District 7 office at 617-635-3510 or district.7@boston.gov for any constituent needs.

Tania Fernandes Anderson was born in Cape Verde. At the age of 10, she immigrated from Cape Verde to Roxbury, two places that she says formed the foundation of her unwavering commitment to the community. Councilor Anderson was elected to the Boston City Council on November 2, 2021, becoming the first African immigrant and Muslim-American elected to the Boston City Council. She proudly represents District 7, consisting of Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and part of the South End.

Before serving as Councilor, Tania was the Executive Director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets, a parent advocate with the Boston Public Schools, a program manager for a homeless women’s shelter, a business owner, and a child social worker. She has also been a foster mom to 17 kids while raising two biological children. 

The equitable distribution of mental health services has always been near to the Councilor’s heart, which is why she founded Noah’s Advocate. Noah’s Advocate is a trauma-informed mental health program that serves underrepresented communities. Tania is also the founder of a program that supports at-risk youth through theatre, fashion, and art. The shows and performances routinely sell out the historic Strand Theatre in Dorchester.

Councilor Anderson is passionate about economic opportunity and mobility, particularly for those who have been disenfranchised and left seeking opportunities and support from the margins. She will work to help create good jobs and stronger support systems for small business entrepreneurs because she believes that fostering and cultivating economic development and growth in Boston's small business districts is one of the paths to addressing the racial wealth gap.

As Councilor, Tania will work to ensure that Municipal Government is actively working for the people of Boston. Councilor Anderson is committed to enhancing constituent services for District 7 residents, prioritizing affordable homeownership, monitoring development, so residents are not displaced, centering District 7’s Age Strong population through aging with dignity support programs and initiatives, and multigenerational recreation. She will also work to improve the quality of life for residents by making sure that the City’s COVID-19 recovery efforts are equitable, collaborating with public health officials for a comprehensive approach to addressing mental health, violence, and substance abuse issues, decriminalizing our youth and helping to create jobs for their future.

Councilor Anderson created a “District 7 Action Plan” that began with conducting research on the District’s strengths and weaknesses. Data generated from the research was then used to drive meaningful, effective, and efficient responses to district challenges and community concerns.

Councilor Anderson attended the John D. O’Bryant High School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury and Springfield College. She is the proud mother of a US Marine and a young emerging Artist. In her spare time, Tania enjoys sewing gowns and playwriting.

Tito Jackson

Former City Councilor, District 7

Tito Jackson is a lifelong resident of Roxbury’s Grove Hall neighborhood and is the son of Herb and Rosa Jackson, two beloved community activists. As the District 7 City Councilor, he currently represents all of Roxbury and parts of the South End, Dorchester and Fenway neighborhoods.

First elected to the Boston City Council in March of 2011 during a special election, voters re-elected Councilor Jackson the following November for a full two-year term. In November of 2013 75% of the electorate once again called upon Councilor Jackson to serve the people of District 7 and represent them in City Hall.

Councilor Jackson currently serves as Chairman of the Boston City Council’s Committee on Education, and is Vice Chairman of the Committee on Government Operations. He also serves on the Economic Development & Planning & Labor Committee, the Special Committee on Small Business, Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Special Committee on Transportation, Public Infrastructure, Planning and Investment.

Prior to his election to the Boston City Council, Councilor Jackson spent more than 10 years as a sales and marketing professional, during which he won numerous awards and honors. Through that experience, the Councilor developed extensive knowledge of the healthcare, technology and government sectors.

In 2007, Councilor Jackson became the Industry Director for Information Technology in Governor Deval Patrick’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development where his portfolio focused on creating and sustaining jobs within Massachusetts and helping local businesses grow. As a member of the Patrick Administration, Councilor Jackson brought 2,500 jobs to Massachusetts. Later, he became the political director on Governor Patrick’s successful 2010 re-election campaign.

As City Councilor, Mr. Jackson is hard at work on issues surrounding the economic revitalization of District 7, starting with The Dudley Plan. He understands that the key to economic recovery is entrepreneurship and facilitating a range of employment opportunities in addition to providing pathways for small businesses to grow the local economy and support Boston’s families. Providing our children with world-class schools as a way to close the achievement gap is also one of Councilor Jackson’s top priorities. His agenda supports education at all levels as an effort to improve the quality of life for all of Boston’s residents, whether it be primary, vocational, secondary or higher education. Additionally, Councilor Jackson is working to ensure all of Boston's communities, especially those from underrepresented communities, participate in the civic process, no matter their socioeconomic status or age.

Councilor Jackson graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History where his peers voted him Student Body President and where he remains involved with the Alumni Association. During his college years, Councilor Jackson was well-known for his commitment to civic engagement and social justice, characteristics that overlap to many qualities of his tenure on the Boston City Council.

Councilor Jackson remains civically engaged with the community that raised him. He encourages young people to get involved in the civic process as a way to make a difference in their community, ultimately linking pride in ones community to lower violence, homelessness and poverty rates. Additionally the Councilor is an active leader in youth development programs such as Citizen Schools and Anytown/The Leadership Initiative and sits on the board of multiple organizations, including but not limited to: Heading Home, the Global Citizens Circle and the Boston Ballet.

Kim Janey

Former Mayor and City Councilor, District 7

Kim Michelle Janey was the 55th Mayor of the City of Boston and has been at the center of the City’s history — the bad and the good. At 11 years old, she was on the front lines of the battle to desegregate the City’s schools, facing rocks and racial slurs during Boston’s tumultuous busing era in the 1970s. Forty-five years later, she made history when she was sworn in as Boston’s first woman and first Black mayor, successfully leading the City through a multitude of unprecedented challenges, including the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Mayor Janey began her tenure with a citywide agenda of recovery, reopening, and renewal to address systemic inequities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic. Mayor Janey successfully re-opened Boston’s economy and its public schools by centering equity and prioritizing health and wellness. She curbed displacement with her housing agenda and her safety plan led to a significant reduction in the city’s homicides. Under Mayor Janey’s leadership, Boston became one of the most vaccinated big cities in America. 

Prior to becoming Mayor, Kim Janey made history in 2017 when she was elected to the Boston City Council as the first woman to represent District 7. In 2020, she was elected by her peers to serve as President of the most diverse City Council in Boston’s history.

Devoting her life to public service, Mayor Janey has 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. In her role at Massachusetts Advocates for Children, she championed systemic policy reforms to increase equity, excellence, access, and opportunity in Boston Public Schools. Prior to that, Mayor Janey worked as a Community Organizer, advocating for affordable, quality child care.

In 2021, Mayor Janey was named one of Boston’s Most Impactful Black Women and listed in Boston Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Bostonians. She has been recognized for her years of service with a number of awards, including the Boston NAACP Difference Maker Award in 2015 and the Sapphire Award in 2017.

A proud fourth-generation Roxbury resident, Mayor Janey comes from a long line of educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and advocates. Mayor Janey was raised with values that guide her to this day: the importance of education, the power of community organizing, and the fundamental principles of equity and justice.

Kenzie Bok

Former City Councilor, District 8

Kenzie Bok is a lifelong Bostonian who grew up in the small downtown neighborhood of Bay Village. She cares passionately about making Boston a great city for people from all walks of life and all stages of life to flourish and put down roots. With a background in affordable housing, budget analysis, and civic engagement, Councilor Bok was elected to represent District 8 on the Boston City Council on November 5, 2019. Her district includes Mission Hill, Longwood, Audubon Circle, Fenway, Kenmore, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and the West End. At 30, she is currently the youngest serving Councilor.

Prior to her election, Councilor Bok was the Senior Advisor for Policy and Planning at the Boston Housing Authority. She also previously served as Budget Director for another city council office. As a citizen, Bok helped lead the successful 2016 ballot initiative campaign to enact the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in Boston. She serves on the board of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) and on the vestry of Trinity Church in Copley Square. Bok also formerly held community leadership roles as part of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, the Back Bay Gateway CAC, the Spark Boston Council, the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee, and the Democratic State Committee. She lives on Beacon Hill, where her family has been deeply involved in neighborhood life for more than 65 years.

Councilor Bok’s priorities include increasing housing affordability (both rental and homeownership) at every income level to anchor our families and seniors, improving our transportation system and public infrastructure to move people around more safely, efficiently, and equitably (whether by foot, bike, bus, subway, or car), ensuring excellent schools for all Boston’s children and great career opportunities for our youth, and making Boston a model for how to tackle climate change. In an increasingly unequal city, she is invested in partnering with the city’s non-profit and for-profit institutions to accountably share resources in pursuit of greater equity. Councilor Bok is committed to providing excellent constituent services, a voice for community planning of responsible development, and strong stewardship of public land and public assets like parks and libraries.

After graduating from Harvard College, Bok earned an M.Phil and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Cambridge in England as a Marshall Scholar. She holds a lectureship at Harvard University, where she has taught courses on “Justice in Housing” and the philosopher John Rawls.

Josh Zakim

Former City Councilor, District 8

The residents of District 8 elected Josh Zakim to the Boston City Council on November 5, 2013. Josh represents the neighborhoods of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Kenmore Square, Mission Hill, Audubon Circle, and the West End. He is a Back Bay resident, attorney, and community activist, and chairs the Council's Committee on Housing and Community Development.

Josh’s parents instilled a strong sense of social and economic justice in him and his younger sisters, Shari and Deena. Josh’s father, Lenny, lived out those values every day in his work throughout Greater Boston by building and growing coalitions among our city’s many diverse groups. Josh brings to the Council that same passion for inclusiveness and a drive to provide access and opportunity for all Bostonians.

During his first term, Josh led the Council's efforts to address issues of equity and fairness in Boston. He authored the Boston Trust Act to improve trust and cooperation between immigrant communities and law enforcement, prohibiting the Boston Police Department from detaining residents based on immigration status. Josh also led a series of hearings to investigate serious health and safety concerns faced by Boston residents in rental housing, improving landlord accountability and maintenance. He successfully introduced an ordinance extending protections for apartment tenants whose homes are converted to condominiums or co-ops, including increased financial safeguards for elderly, disabled, and low-income tenants. Josh also convened hearings to address the unique challenges faced by seniors in the LGBTQ community in finding affordable, welcoming housing in Boston.

Josh has consistently advocated for the interests of Boston’s underserved and disempowered. Whether holding tax-exempt institutions publicly accountable when they resisted paying their fair share into the City’s PILOT program or joining with neighbors in Mission Hill and the West End in opposing development that would negatively impact residents and businesses, Josh has worked to ensure that all Bostonians have a voice in matters of civic importance. He also created the nation’s first municipal College Athlete Gameday Safety Protocol, providing health and safety guarantees for college athletes competing in Boston, and he amended the University Accountability Act to ensure fair and safe off-campus housing practices for our City’s students and their neighbors.

Josh graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University School of Law, and began his career at Greater Boston Legal Services where he represented working families who were facing the loss of their homes to foreclosure at the hands of predatory lenders. At GBLS, Josh fought for economic justice by working with stakeholders at all levels of government, his clients, and lenders to secure loan modifications that allowed most of these families to remain in their homes. Before running for office, Josh most recently worked in the Public Finance group of the law firm Mintz Levin, focusing his practice on municipal bond transactions for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MassPort, and the MBTA.

Josh continues to play an active role in community organizations as a member of the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee and a board member of the Lenny Zakim Fund, an organization founded by his father and friends to provide financial support and management training to innovative non-profits dedicated to tackling complex social issues.

Mark Ciommo

Former City Councilor, District 9

Mark was born and raised in a working class family in Allston-Brighton. Without a father, his mother, Louise, taught him the importance of community at a very young age. Growing up, Mark involved himself in numerous sports and youth organizations. Through these experiences, Mark learned the values of a close knit community of coaches, teachers, parents, and community leaders. Mark attended Boston Public Schools and went on to receive a BS from Suffolk University, being the first person in his family to earn a college degree. 

After graduating, Mark made it a priority to give back to the community that had given him so much. He served as a teacher for at-risk youth, was the Assistant Director of the Jackson Mann Community Center and spent 14 years as the Executive Director of the Veronica B. Smith Multi-Service Senior Center in Brighton. In addition, Mark has been a small business owner and been a founding member of several civic organizations including: The Hobart Park Neighborhood Association, the Allston-Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition, Brighton Little League, and the Boston Partnership of Older Adults. 

Mark and his wife, Laura, chose to live in Allston-Brighton and raise their two sons, Michael and Matthew, in the community that has served Mark's family for four generations. Mark believes that his responsibility as a City Councilor is to give back to the community that has given him and his family so much over the years. 

Annissa Essaibi George

Former City Councilor, At-Large

Annissa Essaibi George, a daughter of Dorchester and a teacher to East Boston, was adopted by all Boston neighborhoods when they elected her city councilor-at-large in November 2015.

A first-generation American, Annissa brings first-hand understanding of the immigrant experience. Her father, Ezzeddine, immigrated to the United States from Tunisia in 1972. Her mother, Barbara, was born in a Displaced Persons’ camp in Germany of Polish parents.

Annissa has made both her life and her living in Boston. She graduated from Boston Technical High School, and earned a B.A. in Political Science from Boston University and a Masters degree of Education from University of Massachusetts Boston.

She and her husband, Dorchester-native Doug George, are the proud parents of four boys: Douglas, age 11, and triplets, Charlie, Kayden and Samir, age 9. All of the boys attend Boston Public School the Oliver Perry School in South Boston.

Starting in 2001, Annissa taught Economics, Business Management (as part of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) and Health & Human Services to juniors and seniors at East Boston High School. She also served as the assistant softball coach. Prior to her working as a teacher, she served as the Student Services Liaison for the Boston Private Industry Council, where she connected students with workplace learning opportunities. Her abiding commitment to education and to helping students understand and prepare for work opportunities have been a primary motivation for Annissa. She looks forward to bringing the value of this experience to the City Council and, in turn, to students and families across Boston.

Annissa also is the founder and owner of Stitch House in Dorchester. This brick and mortar retail shop sells yarn and fabrics and offers classes in knitting, sewing, quilting and crochet, all hobbies Annissa has enjoyed since childhood. Stitch House is a thriving, small business that attracts customers from the greater Boston area and beyond since 2007.  Annissa understands the process of developing an idea, building a business and sustaining it during difficult economic times. She also appreciates how small businesses add value to a community, both economically and as a way to strengthen people’s ties to each other and their community. She’ll be an advocate for small business development on the city council.

Last, Annissa has contributed to her community as an active volunteer serving on the Dorchester House Health Center Board of Directors, Dorchester Day Parade Committee, Columbia Point Task Force, as a former Board Member of McCormack Civic Association and former President of Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association.

Along with her focus on quality and access to Boston’s schools and economic development, Annissa is committed to advance public safety in the city. She will make every effort to help the city address the scourge of addiction and reduce its cost to individuals, families, businesses and the city as a whole.

As a mother, a teacher and a small business owner, Annissa has profound investments in the future of the great City of Boston. She looks forward to collaborating with her colleagues on the Council and serving communities in every neighborhood to contribute to continuing Boston’s proud tradition of success.

Michael Flaherty

Former City Councilor, At-Large

Born and raised in Boston, Michael developed a passion for public service watching his father serve as a Massachusetts State Representative. He admired how his father built a career on helping people - leading the fight against drug addiction by assisting families with proper treatment and recovery services, helping with housing placement, and putting people back to work. Michael watched his father’s passion for public service and prioritized those same values as he began a career in public service himself.  After graduating from BC High, Michael worked his way through Boston College and Boston University School of Law as a Local 25 Teamster. Following law school, Michael worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County.  

In 1999, Michael ran for the Boston City Council because he wanted to get more involved in helping his fellow Bostonians. He served from 2000-2008 and spent five years as Council President. During this time, Michael was a new voice on the Council, bringing progressive ideas and goals to what was then an aging political body. 

In 2001, long before the Goodridge Decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, he was the first citywide elected official to publicly support marriage equality. At the time this was a radical and unpopular position in the city, but one Michael stood firmly behind. During the same year, Michael was an early supporter of the Community Preservation Act because he has always believed in protecting affordable housing and safeguarding Boston’s greenspace for future generations. 

In 2009, Michael decided to challenge Mayor Menino, who had been in office for 16 years. Michael wanted to bring the same fresh viewpoint that he had brought to the Council to the Mayor’s office. Unfortunately, this challenge was unsuccessful, so Michael focused on the practice of law. 

With Boston rapidly changing as the city began to boom, Michael decided it was time to come back to the City Council. He had seen both the benefits and the costs of the city’s growth. While many were prospering, others were being forced out of their homes--in some cases, homes that had been in their family for generations.

Michael was re-elected in 2013 as an At-Large Boston City Councilor and has been hard at work ever since, fighting to improve the quality of life for all Bostonians. The makeup of the Council has changed significantly since Michael was first elected, and he now has many other progressive voices on his side working to move Boston forward. 

In the last six years, Michael has many accomplishments on the Council. In 2016, Boston finally adopted the Community Preservation Act, a culmination of years of Michael’s advocacy and leadership on the issue. Michael now chairs the Community Preservation Committee, which oversees the authorization of recommended community preservation funding requests. In this role, he recommended passage of funding for 91 community preservation projects which total an approximate $42 million over the past year and a half.

Michael also has served as the Chair of the Committee on Government Operations, on which he has ushered many pieces of important legislation through to passage. These include a number of ordinances aimed at supporting housing affordability, including changes to the Inclusionary Development Policy and zoning code. Michael was the first Councilor to call for updates to the Linkage formula, which ensures that the boom of development in Boston creates affordable housing for those in need. Michael also worked with community leaders and other stakeholders to pass regulations on short term rentals, which will help return countless, badly needed units back to the housing market for Boston families to access. 

Michael also worked on legislation to increase voter access to the polls and registration, strengthening government transparency through lobbying regulations, public safety issues like speed limits and gas leak repairs, the energy efficiency of buildings, and healthy school purchasing standards.

Michael is proud of the work that he and his colleagues have accomplished, and looks forward to continuing to work with them on behalf of the people of Boston.

Althea Garrison

Former City Councilor, At-Large

Althea Garrison was sworn in as an At-Large member of the Boston City Council on January 9, 2019. Duly elected by the residents of the City of Boston from the municipal election in November 2017, Councilor Garrison brings a unique perspective to the Council as an independent voice for change. Her top priorities include:

• working hard to offer real affordable housing for residents
• caring for senior citizens
• supporting homeless veterans
• workforce development, and
• addressing the many challenges in public transportation throughout the City. 

Holding elected office is not new for Councilor Garrison, as she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1992 and served there until 1995. As a State Representative she served on the Housing Committee and the Election Law Committee, and she sponsored legislation that inaugurated mail-in voter registration to ensure that the voice and vote of every voter could be heard and counted. Councilor Garrison worked for 34 years as a clerk in human resources for the Massachusetts State Comptroller's Office and she is the Vice-President of the Board at Uphams Corner Health Center in Dorchester. She holds advanced degrees and certificates from Newbury Junior College, Suffolk University, Lesley College, and Harvard University.

Throughout her entire political career, Councilor Garrison has worked tirelessly to put the people of Boston first and to serve them above all else. A resident of Dorchester, she is a formidable woman who fights every day for the cares and concerns of all Bostonians.

Ayanna Pressley

Former City Councilor, At-Large

Ayanna Pressley’s career has been marked by history-making campaigns and a relentless determination to advance a political agenda focused on women and girls and breaking cycles of poverty and violence.

Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council on November 3, 2009, becoming the first woman of color ever elected to the Council. In her subsequent 2011 and 2013 reelection campaigns, Pressley made history as the first person of color and the first woman in 30 years to top the ticket.

During her time in office, Pressley created and chairs the City Council’s Committee on Healthy Women, Families, and Communities. The Committee is devoted to the causes that she has always been most devoted to: stabilizing families and communities, reducing and preventing violence and trauma, combating poverty, and addressing issues that disproportionately impact women and girls. 

Pressley is committed to working in partnership with community, building broad and diverse coalitions to advance policy reforms. She has earned local and national attention for her efforts to provide pathways to graduation for pregnant and parenting teens, ensure Boston high school students receive comprehensive sexual health education, diversify economic and wealth building opportunities for women and people of color, and strengthen support services for families of homicide victims and sexual assault survivors. In 2013, she formed the Elevate Boston coalition to ensure issues uniquely impacting women and girls and the LGBTQ community were part of the 2013 Boston mayoral race debate.

Understanding that neighborhood restaurants are community anchors, job creators, and engines of economic development, Pressley spent two years successfully advocating for reform to the State’s outdated liquor license laws. In 2014, Pressley advanced a version of her home rule petition through the State Legislature, returning control of the Licensing Board to the City for the first time in more than 100 years and providing 75 new licenses to the City over three years, with 80% of those licenses restricted to the neighborhoods most in need.

In 2015, Pressley earned the EMIILY’s List Rising Star Award and was named one of Boston Magazine’s Power Players. In 2014, Pressley was named to Boston Magazine’s Power of Ideas list, was a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Ten Outstanding Young Leaders honoree, and earned the Victim Rights Law Center's Leadership Award.

Pressley is an Aspen-Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership (Class of 2012) and was selected as a Truman National Security Project Partner in 2012.

Pressley’s political career spans more than 18 years, in various behind-the-scene capacities at the federal level of government. She previously worked as a Senior Aide for Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II and Senator John Kerry. 

Ayanna lives in the Ashmont/Adams neighborhood of Dorchester with her husband Conan Harris and her nine-year-old stepdaughter Cora.

Michelle Wu

Mayor and former At-Large City Councilor

Mayor Michelle Wu is working to make Boston a home for everyone.

Since taking office, she has invested more in making housing affordable than any other administration in Boston’s history. In her first full year as mayor, gun violence fell to the lowest level on record in the city—and has continued to fall every year since. She promised a paid summer job to every BPS student who wanted one—and delivered, and has expanded Boston’s Pre-K and early education to serve more children and families than ever before.

From climate resiliency and transportation, to public health and community safety, Mayor Wu has established Boston as a global leader in delivering solutions to the biggest challenges families are facing. 

She has divested City funds from fossil fuels and ended their use in all new City construction and major renovations; saved residents and businesses more than $230 million in energy costs through Boston’s Community Choice Electricity Program; secured funding for thousands of new jobs to protect Boston’s coastline; and doubled the number of trees planted on Boston’s streets every year.

Mayor Wu has boosted public transit ridership in the city through fare-free Boston bus lines; installed more speed humps to protect pedestrians and neighbors on residential streets in the last two years than in the previous six combined; secured a board seat granting Boston a voice in governing the MBTA; and deployed new technology to optimize traffic signals and reduce congestion on Boston’s roads. 

Under her leadership, the City settled a collective bargaining process with law enforcement that set a national standard for accountability and community policing—investing in officer education, improving family leave policies, and ending arbitration as a way to avoid disciplinary action for the most serious offenses. 

Building on the success of her BPS Sundays Pilot program, Mayor Wu worked to make nine of Boston’s leading museums and cultural institutions free to all school-aged children in the city. As a Boston Public Schools mom, she has expanded early college and career programs to more high school students than ever before; invested in the District’s first long-term vision for facilities informed by clear data and community standards; and delivered more resources for academics, arts, and student athletics across our neighborhoods.

Mayor Wu’s administration has cut the ribbon on 20 new or newly-renovated public parks; supported more than 90 new small businesses in revitalizing formerly vacant neighborhood retail spaces, creating more than 800 new jobs; filled more than 18,000 potholes; and helped nearly 700 families become first-time homeowners through City of Boston programs.

Mayor Wu is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She began her career in public service interning at City Hall for Mayor Tom Menino and is an alumna of the Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy. Mayor Wu lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and their three children, Blaise, Cass, and Mira.