After a metropolis councilor known as for Boston’s Chief of Financial Alternative and Inclusion Segun Idowu to be ousted, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft pressed Mayor Michelle Wu to disclose Idowu’s “role” within the Metropolis Corridor home violence scandal.
Kraft launched an announcement Monday that his marketing campaign stated is “regarding questions surrounding the role of the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in a recent dispute between several subordinates.”
“I share the concerns raised by City Councilor Flynn about the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion,” Kraft stated. “Whereas it’s disturbing to be taught {that a} home dispute involving two Metropolis Corridor aides become an assault on a police officer, the suggestion {that a} cupboard chief, who’s one in all Mayor Wu’s most seen advisors, has performed a task on this disaster must be addressed.
“The public deserves more information,” he added. “Mayor Wu needs to tell the public what she knows about the involvement of the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in this matter. When it comes to being transparent about bad news — such as with the recent BPS bus tragedy — Mayor Wu has repeatedly failed to be straightforward with the public.”
Kraft, Wu’s principal problem within the mayoral race, added, “The mayor should follow the protocol in place to handle allegations of improper conduct by any city employee by referring the matter to the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption office, which has the authority to review such matters.”
Two metropolis staff — Marwa Khudaynazar, 27, chief of workers for the Workplace of Police Accountability and Transparency, and Chulan Huang, 26, neighborhood enterprise supervisor for the Workplace of Financial Alternative and Inclusion — had been arrested and charged in an alleged home violence incident final week.
Each had been charged with assault and battery on a family member, in reference to the alleged incident, which befell at a Chinatown house. Khudaynazar, a high official on the police accountability workplace, was additionally charged with assault and battery on a police officer.
The 2 staff pleaded not responsible to the fees at their arraignments at Boston Municipal Court docket final Thursday. They had been “placed on unpaid leave while the city investigates,” a Wu spokesperson stated in an announcement final week.
Idowu was not named within the police report.
He has headed the town’s Workplace of Financial Alternative and Inclusion since January 2022, and didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Monday.
The mayor’s workplace launched an announcement on Monday, following the Herald’s inquiries about Flynn and Kraft’s statements relating to Idowu, however didn’t point out the financial alternative and inclusion chief.
“The city takes these allegations seriously,” a Wu spokesperson stated. “After we realized of the incident final Thursday, each staff had been positioned on unpaid depart instantly. We’re following the suitable protocols as an employer and finishing an inside evaluation.
Flynn known as for each staff charged within the incident to be fired upon their arrests turning into public final week. On Sunday, he known as for Idowu’s resignation and termination as nicely, saying on X that the cupboard chief “failed to provide positive and ethical leadership to its employees, businesses and Boston residents.”
The councilor, who represents Chinatown, didn’t specify why he was calling for Idowu to be ousted. He did, nevertheless, rehash components of a previous assertion he launched in response to the alleged home violence incident.
Flynn known as for an “outside investigation into the hiring practices, workplace culture and environment” at a number of associated metropolis departments, the Workplace of Police Accountability and Transparency, Workplace of Financial Alternative and Inclusion, and Mayor’s Workplace of Neighborhood Providers.
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