My Conversation with Mike Firestone, Corporation Counsel for the City of Boston

Mike Firestone has spent more than a decade navigating state and local politics in Massachusetts. He served as the campaign manager for Maura Healey’s first run for state Attorney General and then as her chief of staff in office. He later joined Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s staff as the head of policy planning before becoming Corporation Counsel for the City of Boston. Over the course of his time in both state and local government, Mike has had to deal with the nuts-and-bolts of complex issues, ranging from housing to crime to local schools.

Our conversation covered a few topics:

• The future of Waymo and self-driving vehicles in Boston

• The need for more affordable housing in Boston and the Mayor’s approach for stimulating more housing supply

• Boston’s excellent progress on crime (it’s the “safest big city in America”) and the Mayor’s approach for achieving those public safety gains while staying true to her progressive values

• The challenges facing the Boston schools

We usually cover federal policy at The Bully Pulpit given my own background at the national level, but frankly, most of the interesting policy is being made at the state and local level these days. I hope you find the conversation with Mike illuminating.