Ruthzee on the Issues

There is an urgency to the issues that the city is facing and I am ready to meet this moment with my passion and deep love for Boston. I was born and raised in Mattapan and Hyde Park, a graduate of Boston Public Schools & Harvard Law School, and a daughter of Haitian working class immigrants. I am trilingual (English, French, and Haitian Creole) and I am conversant in Spanish. My language fluidity makes me more accessible to Bostonians, which is an important part of constituent services. 

In my first term, I successfully led the council through the tumultuous redistricting process, passing a map that met standards set by a federal court order & that did right by our city. As Chair of the Committee on Civil Rights & Immigrant Advancement, I advocated for additions in the FY23 and FY24 budget including money for fair housing testers to fight housing discrimination, a municipal wage study to support increasing the wages among our lowest paid city workers, funding to expand the Office of Returning Citizens, and increased funding for new arrivals. I worked with the Boston Employment Commission on the Boston Residents Jobs Policy to ensure that we continue to do the necessary work to diversify and strengthen the construction industry. I’m working to make beekeeping legal across our city and for frequent dumpster pickups to improve the cleanliness of our streets and address the rodent issue. I’ve been working hard to bridge gaps and bring resources to every neighborhood in our city. I am keenly aware of the issues facing our residents, and I am ready to continue building upon the work I have done in my first term on behalf of residents to make this city more equitable, more inclusive, and more affordable.

Click below to read more about the work my office has been doing.