Boston City Council Passes $30 Million MBTA Bus Lane Grant, Josiah Quincy School Funds

Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6080 · Meeting of July 22, 2026

Boston City Council approves $30 million MBTA bus lane grant and $182.8 million school building funds at year-end session. The full 13-member council, presided over by President Kim Janey, voted unanimously Wednesday on more than two dozen dockets at what may be one of its final substantive sessions before the December 16 legislative cutoff. Councilor Michelle Wu, chair of the Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation, won passage of eight transportation grants totaling more than $37 million, including a $30 million MBTA agreement for dedicated bus lanes citywide and a cluster of North Washington Street Bridge grants drawing on Eversource Energy, National Grid, and state gaming commission funds; Wu placed on the record that the MBTA has committed to fund bus lanes "in subsequent years as well," a promise she called "a little bit outrageous" given the authority's concurrent budget crisis.

The council also completed the second and final reading of a $182,840,467 capital appropriation for a new six-story Josiah Quincy Upper School at 900 Washington Street in Chinatown, passed a property tax classification order that Councilor Matt Bach said protects homeowners from an estimated 50 percent tax increase, and retained two police oversight ordinances — a civilian review board bill and the mayor's competing Office of Police Accountability and Transparency ordinance — in committee, with Bach committing to resolve outstanding differences before December 16.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• The question before the body
• Substantive content
• The eight dockets included
• The deliberation
• Procedural steps and outcome
• The complete report — 3,865 words

Source: the Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6080 meeting of July 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.