Current:Home > ContactBoston Mayor Michelle Wu pledges to make it easier for homeowners to create accessory housing units -Capitatum
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu pledges to make it easier for homeowners to create accessory housing units
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-06 14:45:52
BOSTON (AP) — Making it easier for Boston homeowners to create smaller, independent living units inside their homes or yards is just one of the proposals offered by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in her annual State of the City address Tuesday,
The proposal — a modest effort in part to address the city’s housing shortage — would streamline efforts by homeowner to construct the accessory dwelling units “to expand lower-cost housing options, empower residents to build wealth, and foster diverse, multigenerational living spaces,” Wu said.
It was also a more modest proposal than those championed by the Democrat when she was running for the office in 2021 — proposals like making greater Boston’s MBTA public transit system free. So far, a few bus lines are operating fair-free.
Wu pointed to a series of actions including working to ban fossil fuels in new city buildings, introducing zero net carbon zoning and launching Boston’s first-ever networked geothermal system aimed at delivering clean energy for heating and cooling to hundreds of families.
She said the city has launched a program to convert office buildings into residential complexes that has already attracted proposals to turn eight downtown buildings into housing. To tackle traffic, the city is using machine learning to detect where congestion is worst, then optimize signals to unclog key corridors.
Other goals outlined by Wu include preserving existing affordable housing across Boston’s neighborhoods and adding 50 electric school buses this year, more than doubling the current fleet of electric buses.
She also announced that starting in February, every Boston Public School student and up to three family members will get free admission on the first and second Sundays of each month, to a slew of cultural institutions, including the Boston Children’s Museum, the Franklin Park Zoo, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium.
Wu said she was inspired by a story that her mother, a Taiwanese immigrant then struggling to understand a foreign language, told her about the time she took her in a stroller to a downtown museum on a Tuesday when admission was free so she could stare up at a painting of a cliff full of wildflowers.
“In this moment, this mom with no money and no words in this language feels like the best mom on earth because she has given her daughter the world for a day,” Wu said. “Tonight, her daughter gets to announce a new program for kids all across Boston, to feel at home in the places that show them the world.”
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Trevor Noah's Next Job Revealed After The Daily Show Exit
- 34 Mother's Day Gifts for the Athletic Mom: Beats, Lululemon, Adidas, Bala, and More
- Today’s Climate: May 4, 2010
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- Chinese warship comes within 150 yards of U.S. missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait
- Gwyneth Paltrow’s Daughter Apple Martin Pokes Fun at Her Mom in Rare Footage
- Carbon Tax Plans: How They Compare and Why Oil Giants Support One of Them
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Why keeping girls in school is a good strategy to cope with climate change
Ranking
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Over-the-counter hearing aids will bring relief, but with some confusion
- 3 Republican Former EPA Heads Rebuke Trump EPA on Climate Policy & Science
- There's a bit of good news about monkeypox. Is it because of the vaccine?
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- A rapidly spreading E. coli outbreak in Michigan and Ohio is raising health alarms
- Why stinky sweat is good for you
- U.S. Unprepared to Face Costs of Climate Change, GAO Says
Recommendation
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
Demand for Presidential Climate Debate Escalates after DNC Says No
Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for the first time on record
Score $131 Worth of Philosophy Perfume and Skincare Products for Just $62
Bodycam footage shows high
Gwyneth Paltrow Shares Sex Confessions About Her Exes Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck
Priyanka Chopra Recalls Experiencing “Deep” Depression After Botched Nose Surgery
Today’s Climate: May 15-16, 2010