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Council committee presses administration on safety planning for Boston's large events
Summary
Council members and public-safety officials discussed emergency planning, intelligence sharing and barriers for large gatherings at a Jan. 28 hearing; several department heads were absent and councilors sought follow-up on staffing, event permitting and OEM resources.
Boston City Council members held a Jan. 28, 2025 hearing on enhanced public safety measures for large events, hearing testimony from emergency-management and policing officials about planning, intelligence sharing and after-action changes while several invited department heads, including the fire commissioner and EMS chief, did not attend.
Lead sponsor Councilor Aaron Murphy, joined by Councilors Ed Flynn and Enrique Pepin, said the hearing was intended "to discuss how we can enhance public safety during large events in Boston," citing recent mass-casualty attacks elsewhere and the city's array of parades, festivals and large gatherings.
Adrian Jordan, chief of emergency preparedness for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), described OEM's role in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery for large events and emphasized the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as a coordination hub. "Mitigation ... is our first priority," Jordan said, describing the EOC as "a centralized hub for coordination and communication" that…
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