Council approves transportation grants and labor contracts, schedules emergency hearing on elections oversight

Boston City Council members on Feb. 26 voted to accept two major transportation grants, approved supplemental appropriations to cover increased labor costs for school transportation, advanced appointees to the city’s building-emissions review board and referred an emergency hearing after the state named a designee to oversee the city’s Elections Commission.

The actions come as councilors pressed the administration on safety, parking loss, and implementation details for new programs funded by the grants and as the council moved quickly to schedule public review of the state’s intervention in the city’s elections administration.

Councilor Durkin, chair of the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation, said the larger transportation grant — a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All award — will target signal upgrades at 50 locations citywide to prioritize pedestrian safety, reduce high‑risk turning conflicts and focus work in the city’s high‑crash network. He told colleagues the award will fund signal timing changes that “place a stronger emphasis on pedestrian safety by allocating more time for crossing pedestrians and minimizing high risk turns.”

Durkin also presented a separate grant for the city’s Bluebikes program that will fund replacement of aging stations, conversion of on‑street meter poles to bicycle racks and a two‑station pilot to electrify selected Bluebikes docks for on‑site e‑bike charging. The committee recommended both dockets move to the full council.

Councilor Flynn opposed the Bluebikes grant, saying electrification and added e‑bike speed could worsen unsafe behavior. "Hardly a day goes by where a constituent doesn't…