Boston Council Challenges Streets Cabinet Over $207M Budget and Stalled Projects

BOSTON — May 4, 2026 — Boston City Council scrutinizes $207 million streets budget amid stalled projects and rescinded federal grants. Council President Benjamin J. Weber chaired a lengthy May 4 budget hearing on the FY27 operating budgets for the Boston Transportation Department and Public Works Department, during which Interim Chief of Streets Nick Gove and Director of Finance and Budget Omar Koshoffa confirmed that two federal grants — a $20 million RAISE grant for the Roxbury Resilient Corridors project and a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant for Mattapan Square — have been rescinded, part of a $282 million capital grants portfolio now under active federal scrutiny. The streets cabinet's $1.4 billion capital plan, the city's largest by department, dedicates roughly $42 million — nearly 30 percent of the FY27 capital budget — to ADA-compliant curb ramp construction under a federal consent decree. Public commenters from Livable Streets Alliance, Transit Matters, and the Boston Policy Institute urged councillors to withhold budget approval until the administration provides specific timelines and deliverables on paused bus lane and bike infrastructure projects; the city's grant status list was not distributed until the morning of the hearing.