City Council - Environmental Justice, Resiliency, & Parks Committee Hearing on Dockets #0260, #0760, & #0761

Thank you.

City Councilor and under chair The Boston City Council Committee on Environmental Justice, Resiliency, and Parks. Today is April 21st, 2026. The exact time is 1101 a.m. In accordance with Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025, modifying certain requirements of the Open Meeting Law, I'm going to leave in public body the same requirements, including the requirement that public bodies conduct this meeting in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public. The City Council will be conducting this hearing virtually via Zoom. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being livestreamed at boston.gov backslash city-council-tv and broadcast on Infinity Channel 8. RCN Channel 82 and Files Channel 964.

Ring comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.ep at boston.gov and we've made part of the record available to all counselors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing. Individuals be called on in the order in which they signed up and we'll have two minutes to testify. If you wish to sign up for public testimony and have not done so, please email our Central Staff Liaison Shane Pack at shane.pac at boston.gov for the Zoom link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket number 0260. Message in order for the confirmation of the appointment of Samira Ahmadi as a member of the building emissions reduction and disclosure ordinance. Review Board for a term expiring May 23rd, 2026. This matter was sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and the Purchasing Committee on February 4th, 2026. Docket number 0760.

Message in the order for your approval and appropriation in order in the amount of $860,000 for the Cemetery Division of the Parks and Recreation Department The Trust Office of the Treasury Department to be funded from the Cemetery Trust Fund established under Chapter 13 of the Act of 1961. Target number 0761. Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend The amount of $375,000 in the form of a grant, Red Sox Arts in Parks Program Grant awarded by the Boston Red Sox to be administered by the Mayor's Office. These matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu, referred to the committee on April 8th. 2026. First, we'll start off with the Virto appointment and just want to give an opportunity for the

Appointee to give a chance to introduce themselves and give us a few words on your background.

Thank you, Mr. Nipper. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, members of the Boston City Council. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to I'd like to give you a few words about my background and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have. Samira Ahmadi, I am the funding principal of NV Energy Studio. We are a Boston-based energy and sustainability consulting firm. I am also a resident of the city of Boston. I have a background of more than 15 years experience in energy and sustainability consulting, working mostly in the greater Massachusetts. New England area and for the past few years I have been very much involved with assisting building owners mostly

Large residential and commercial buildings in Boston and Cambridge, complying with Berto as well as Bodo requirements, but also helping a lot of affordable housing building owners. meeting the decarbonization goals in the city of Boston. I have a background in architecture and engineering. And again, I have been working in the world of energy and sustainability consulting for the past 15 years. and I look forward to hopefully serving on the Berto board and I appreciate the opportunity to be here and answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you. We've been joined by Councilor Fitzgerald. Councilor Fitzgerald, the floor is yours to ask any questions of Samara. Is it Samara? Did I say that right? Sorry.

That is correct. Yes, it is Samara.

Ahmadi, who is a Birdo board appointee.

Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. Samira, thank you so much for being here today. Congratulations on being selected to the board. Just a question more, not so much about... More about the general category. When you say you work with affordable housing developers and others to talk about helping them get over the Berto regulations and other things that can prove costly during this otherwise very expensive time to build. What are some of the things that you're hearing that they're most concerned about besides just cost? Like if you could just dive into it just a little so I have a better understanding of that, that'd be very helpful.

Sure, so I should say a lot of our especially affordable housing clients that we help with them, they actually come to us with the goal of not specifically meeting Bardo requirements, it's more of It's an existing building. It needs improvement. And now that they have the opportunity to make improvement, they want to go through electrification and decarbonization. Most of the time it's about how we can actually face this work because being sustainable and green is very important to them. They want but at the same time provide Thank you very much.

Improvements that also bring down the cost, the utility cost and the operational cost of the building. and that's generally what we do and also does it need to be a phase decarbonization or can it happen all at once so those are generally the questions that they have.

Thank you for that answer. What do you think has been the option more chosen? I know it depends building to building, but do you think people are doing it all at once, or is the phased approach... My guess is if you did it all at once, you start seeing the savings more quickly. So it might make sense for their bottom line to say, let's just do it all in one take and rip the Band-Aid off. In other scenes, I can see, well, let's just take it bit by bit. And given, you know, how much money they have to work with, etc. What have people been doing the most?

So we have a combination of both. If the building is vacant, we generally, and if they can raise the money, the off-run costs, we generally suggest that we do it all at once. because you want to make improvement to the building envelope before you electrify the building. but we also have cases that they choose the phase to phase decarbonization because majority of these buildings are not subject to any Um, immediate regulation when it comes to like Birdo, ACPs that they need to pay so they have time to actually go through the phase decarbonization. It all depends on whether the building is fully occupied or if the building is vacant. Their preference is always if the building is vacant to actually do the full retrofit and decarbonization day one.

Great. I think lastly, anything else you would add in terms of the hurdles of some of these regulations versus getting growth to occur? And just your general thoughts of how you see that going forward and how it'll play out.

I know that Berto has a lot of resources, so we generally try to use the resources that comes from Berto, but also the knowledge and experience that we have to help them to make an informed decision. But the general rule for them is that majority of our clients, and I specifically focus on affordable housing because that's the major sector that we work with. is that they want to bring the environmental justice to these entities and to these buildings, meaning that they want to give them A healthier, more sustainable place. It comes with some challenges and as a practitioner, We always try to outline those challenges early on and try to find resources to help them to navigate through those challenges as well.

Great. And have you found, has it gotten easier? Like, are we getting more rhythm of how to help folks and get a little bit more going as we've been doing this? I know a lot of things always have bumpy starts, and then once you get it going, you kind of find the, you know, find the... Do we feel like we're finding our groove with helping people get through the Birdo process?

I think the resources out there, people hearing more and more, especially smaller entities hearing more and more about Birdo. Maybe like if I compare it to a few years ago, a lot of entities still didn't know what that is, what they need to. But I see it more and more because we are receiving more requests, more calls these days for the past year or so. So I believe they're hearing it more, they are more curious about it, they want to learn more about it, and they want to know how they can navigate it.

Great. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you. Appreciate the time.

Thank you, Councillor. The chair recognizes Councillor Louijeune. We've also been joined by Councillor Durkan. Councillor Louijeune, the floor is yours. All right. Councilor Durkan.

Councilor Worrell. I'm sorry. I don't have any questions. I was just on and I've just been listening. But thank you, Councilor Worrell.

Oh, thank you, Councilor Wu. Councilor Durkan, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chair. Samira, thank you for stepping forward. I think it's really important that we have qualified people to and many more. Thank you. you know that time where they're all sort of going to have to sort out some of those nuanced issues so we need really qualified people to to serve so I'm just grateful to you for stepping up I know that these Positions have gone to Planning, Development, and Transportation, and they've also gone to this committee, so given that, I generally would ask a lot more questions, Hearing about your background and your expertise, I just want to thank you for stepping up to serve. I know that it's important that we have qualified people doing these roles.

and it gives me greater confidence as we head into the next few years where You know, people are going to have very nuanced questions about how to get in compliance that we have qualified people sitting in these seats. So thank you for stepping up. And my questions are mostly regarding where my Chair, just regarding another grant that is in this committee right now, so I'll wait for the second round after we get through the nominations.

Thank you Sharon, I appreciate your feedback.

And thank you, Samara. Looking forward to serving with you on the board. I see that you bring a lot of experience and knowledge. and I just again looking forward to working with you on the board. So we'll move now to the next docket. Mr. Mayor, I know you have a probably busy day ahead of you, so you're now free to go.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, everyone. I look forward to it. I appreciate it.

Awesome.

Bye. And now we will go into docket number 0760. and 0761 will give the administration an opportunity to introduce themselves starting with The Cemetery Division, General Superintendent Sullivan.

Hi, Councilor, how are you? Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Just saying hello. We're here today and I'm here with Margaret Dyson from the Trust Office and appreciate your time. Margaret, you want me to get into it?

Sure, if the counselors are ready. Great. Tom.

If I could just... Tom, Margaret, the floor is yours, yes.

Okay. Yeah, sure, Councilor. So do you want me to run down what the request is and speak to that?

That would be perfect.

Okay, sorry about that. Yeah, so we're here today requesting additional funds from the City of Boston Cemetery Trust Fund. In this ask, we're asking for $200,000 to engage in a licensed professional to develop a plan for future burials for the needs for the City of Boston. Just to speak briefly, currently we have new graves at our cemetery location in High Park. and best estimate at the current rate, which can always change is about two to three years left at that location. So that's kind of what we're looking for. in that department to try to be ready for and be creative with the next step so we can continue offering City of Boston residents proper burial space for their loved ones. We're asking $300,000 to improve pathways and water infrastructure at Mount Hope, Fairview, and Evergreen Cemeteries.

Those are the three active cemeteries. And all three could use some love in terms of water access for the public. and throughout the many acres that we have there. It's currently quite an old system. We're asking $200,000 to improve the landscape infrastructure including fencing and walls at Mount Hope Cemetery, Fairview Cemetery, and Evergreen Cemetery. 200,000 to fortify fences and walls, a lot of which obviously need a lot of love and care and have been neglected, let's say, to improve. to improve appearances and access to the public. Fourth on the list is to improve signage at Mount Hope, Fairview, and Evergreen.

We're asking for 100,000 for improved pathway signs, street signs, and section name signs so that the public can better find the locations and offer a better presentation to all who visit. The Hallow Grounds. We're asking additionally for $35,000 to improve public access to support digital access for the Cemetery Records and Maps of the Burials at Mount Hope for Everyone Evergreen Cemeteries. This is a fund that will help. We're currently undergoing a digitization of all our records, which we're very excited about. and this will help support that in terms of the cloud and access that the public will have going forward. And just briefly, just to give it, just to give it a broad shot. So we have, there's 19 cemeteries that are owned or operated by the city of Austin.

We have 16 historic where we simply, you know, you see them on the Freedom Trail and in most neighborhoods in the city. We no longer intern loved ones in those locations, but we just beautify, obviously get the sidewalks in the winter and mow the grass and try to make them look as good as we can. The three active cemeteries are Mount Hope in Mattapan, Fairview in High Park, and Evergreen next to Boston College in Brighton. Those cemeteries are most of our day's work. We do anywhere from the last three years or so, we do everywhere from 600 to 800 burials per year. We have a staff of about 25 people. We have a great staff here. We work well together. I'm proud of them and the job they do. I've been over here since 2010 and these guys and gals have never missed a burial, even with all those crazy snowstorms of 2010 and 2015 and so on.

So they do commendable work. The total acreage of what we oversee is 265 acres of land that includes the historicals and and yeah we just feel we're a big part of the community we try to do a good job every day and uh and make the residents proud and also be um you know be attentive to their needs their concerns their three one ones and so on So I'm just a pleasure to be here today and appreciate your time.

Thank you. I'll now turn it over to my council colleagues. Any questions? Starting with Councilor Fitzgerald. Councilor, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chair. Thomas, good to see you, brother. How are you?

Good. Good to see you, Councilor.

Absolutely. No, listen, I think it's great. Never had many complaints. You guys keep the places looking beautiful. And I love to hear about the investment going in, not just to the beautification of the parks, but also into the analog stuff of how to look up loved ones and that. That's always an important feature and a very one that government should be on top of and aware of. So I'd like to see the investment there to care for people after their loved ones pass on. So thank you for the work you do. Thank you to the great team you guys have in being consistent throughout all those years and giving people that are having sometimes their hardest day Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councilor. The Chair recognizes

I think it's only... Oh, Councilor Durkan, Councilor, the floor is yours. All right.

Sorry, I'm here. I just stepped away for just a second. I am in full support of this, so I'm actually asking about the next docket. I'm here to talk about the next docket.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Tom, Thomas, thank you for all the work that you do. I know that The residents over there in Mount Hope, they not only, they love this space. They also, I think I believe they were out there a couple weeks ago planting trees, and I think it's something that they did last year as well. and your spaces are not only a place for your loved ones to go and visit their loved ones, but it's open space for a lot of communities that do not have parks. So thank you for your work. Thank you for your investments into the parks. I'm looking forward to passing these grants at the next council meeting.

Thank you, Council, very much.

Thank you. Now we'll move on to docket number 0761. And now we'll turn it over to the administration to introduce themselves and to provide any information or presentation that they may have.

Thank you, Councillor. Good morning, everyone. My name is Beata Culloy, and I'm the Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Wu. This is an annual agreement that we receive, sorry, an annual grant that we receive As part of an eight-year agreement with Boston Red Sox, each year the grant increases by $25,000, and in this case will be $375,000. And this is the fourth year of the agreement, so several more years to come on this and to be working with all of you. For context on this year, this grant is especially important for the Fenway community area as the city approved a 13th Fenway concert earlier this year and so as a result would like to focus on the Fenway area receiving these funds. We do not currently have an exact list in terms of how we would like to spend the money this year but we will be working very closely alongside Durkan, and Fenway community leaders as we move forward on the process later this year. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. I will now turn it over to Councilor Carly. Questions, starting with Councilor Fitzgerald. Councilor, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chair. No further questions at this time. I appreciate all your work. Thank you, Councilor.

Thank you, Councilor. The Chair recognizes Councilor Durkan. Councilor, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Chair, and I'm grateful to the administration and the Red Sox for this grant money for both the neighborhood and the surrounding communities. I know that I've been working with the administration and with the neighborhood to come up with a list of things that Thank you for joining us. Community, and I know there's an equity component to this as well, just making sure that everyone sees some benefit from this money. But I just want to thank the Boston Red Sox and want to thank The Neighborhood for always stepping forward in advocacy. We have a lot of parks advocates. We have a lot of folks in the Arts, and I know there's a lot of different things that come through my email that

you know people in the Fenway they have you know 30,000 people roll through you know the Fenway every other night for Red Sox games throughout the season there are 13 concerts permitted for this year and there's a lot of impact so it's nice to see you know there being some relationship between you know mitigating that and grateful to Fenway Civic Association, the Charles Cade Alliance, a lot of the and many other local groups that are doing great work in the community. And I know that we've granted out portions of this money in the past for the neighborhood and I'm in support of continuing to have the neighborhood feel and get to see the impact of these funds. So I know I've been talking directly to the administration, so I don't have any questions at this time. I just want to, you know,

say that I support this grant going through the council and I'm grateful to the Red Sox for their support of the community, which I know doesn't stop or start with this money. There's a lot of other things they do in the neighborhood that are beneficial. And I think with great impacts comes great responsibility, and I think they do a great job. I want to thank Dave Friedman, Claire Durant, Alejandro, and sort of the whole community relations team for all the work that they do. and you know I don't have a chance to thank them often on the city council so I just wanted to take this opportunity and grateful chair for you hearing this grant I know that it's very impactful in community and it's One of the top things we get questions about in our office. So we'll continue to answer those questions and meet with the community. And just grateful that we had time to discuss this during a council hearing.

Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Fayada. And also thank you to the Red Sox, to the community that all come together to make sure that this grant shows up in a real way inside of the neighborhoods. I have no questions around this. It seems like Checking all the boxes has the administration, the partner and the Red Sox and the community and their counselor all on board and having conversations on the best ways on how to Thanks so much. Thank you. Seeing no public testimony, I just want to thank our central staff, all the panelists today, my colleagues on showing up and asking questions.

And again, thank you to the panelists and this hearing on docket number 0260. and Dr. 0760-0761 is adjourned. Thank you, everyone.