Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of Forty Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($40,500.00) in the form of a grant, for the Adopt A Statue Endowment Fund, awarded by the Boston Foundation to be administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. The grant will fund the care and maintenance of the John Boyle O’Reilly sculpture by Daniel Chester French.
Thank you, Doctor. 0349 will be referred to the Committee on Public Safety Criminal Justice. Mr. Clarke, please read docket 0350. Lucky Numbers 0350 message. An order authorizing the city of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $40,500 in the form of a grant for the Adopt a Statue endowment fund awarded by the Boston Foundation to be administered by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. The grant will fund the care and maintenance of the John Boyle O'Reilly Sculpture by Daniel Chester French. Thank you, Mr. Clarke. The Chair recognizes Council Edwards Chair of the Committee on Arts, Culture, Special Events. Counsel Edwards, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. Due to the amount of the money and the fact that this is not a controversial fund, it is simply to preserve fund statutes and to allow for us to make sure that we have the care and stewardship of public monuments. I am moving to suspend and pass for this $40,000 to be immediately put to good use. I know my colleague, Councilor Baucus and brief remarks to make about the statute as it is in her district. But I would encourage my colleagues not to belabor this, nor do we really need a long hearing, about $40,000 to help preserve . And maintain the statue. So I am moving to suspend and pass. Thank. Thank you. Counsel Edwards, the chair recognizes counsel. Bar counsel. You have the. Floor. Thank you so much. President Clinton, I just briefly wanted to note on this statue, since we got St Patrick's Day coming up, John Paul O'Reilly was a really amazing figure in Boston. He grew up in Ireland. He was actually imprisoned by the British for being part of the Fenian Brotherhood and pushing for Irish home rule and independence. He was ultimately shipped off to Australia as part of the, you know, the shipping of prisoners to Australia. He made a daring escape from the Australian penal colony on a New Bedford whaler ship came to the US. We've been talking a lot lately about how Boston is a city of immigrants and the country is a country of immigrants. And I think it really underscores that when O'Reilly showed up in the U.S. the day that he landed, he was naturalized as an American citizen. Something which doesn't happen these days. And he then moved to Boston and ended up becoming an incredibly celebrated and beloved man of letters here in the city. He was the editor of the pilot, which was this big Catholic publication, and he was also just a really well known poet throughout the country. And so when he died. Oh, and I should also say, really importantly, he ended up being a real cultural figure between the like the sort of Protestant establishment in Boston and the growing Catholic immigrant community who was kind of beloved by all. And so when he died in 1890, it was really like all factions of the city that came together to create this subscription fund. The statue was actually paid for by just individuals and the public signing up, but thousands and thousands of them from all over the world actually have to fund this $20,000 statue. And but the city council actually appropriated the money for these memorial books to be printed by the City Printing Office. So when I was doing the history reading about this, I laughed because it's the municipal printing office that printed this and they were paid for out of the City Council's incidental expenses fund, a thing which doesn't exist these days, but, you know, just a flag. And so, you know, rather than having this just be like words on a piece of paper on the agenda, I wanted to underscore that he was just a really important person in the cultural life of the city 150 years ago. And also that I think it shows you that the stories of how immigrants become completely essential and embedded in the fabric of Boston is a story that we can we can and should tell again and again, and that we should memorialize again and again. So grateful to councilors for supporting Councilor Edwards's motion for suspension of passage today. And the statue is in Fenway. It is. It's facing if you you're coming on Boylston Street from the back Bay to cross the fence, it's immediately on your left across from the Massachusetts Historical Society Building. If you know it, it's kind of like some seating around it. Um, and, you know, I have a whole two page poem by O'Reilly, but Lydia said, I go on too long, so you're not going to get it today. But it was, you know, he he was the favorite poet of many Boston Saint Patrick's days for many years. So thank you for your indulgence. Thank you. Council balking. And in South Boston on Dorchester Street, we have the John Boyle Reilly apartment buildings as well. So just wanted to give you a little bit more trivia. Councilor Edward moves for suspension of the rules and passage of docket 0350. All those in favor say I. I oppose say nay. The ayes have it. The docket has passed. Mr. Clarke, can you please read?