During Mayor Michelle Wu’s third annual State of the City address, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft took to X to respond to several items Wu mentioned in her speech, including the building of affordable housing, the quality of Boston public schools and the overall safety of the city.
Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head of Kraft Family Philanthropies, faces a battle against the incumbent Wu, who has endorsements from several unions and city councilors.
Public safety
During her speech, Wu said Boston was the “safest big city in America,” citing the city’s homicide rate being at an all-time low in 2024, the lowest it has been since 1957.
Kraft, in an X post, responded to this claim, citing a survey conducted by the Downtown Neighborhood Association, a lobbying organization in Downtown Boston. The survey reported that 93 percent of residents feel public safety is a very urgent issue, while 70 percent say they feel less safe than they did at the beginning of the year.
The survey only polled people from Boston’s Downtown area, which makes up a small percentage of Boston residents. While there has been a substantial decrease in homicides, there has been an increase in other forms of violent crime as of March 16, according to BPD crime reports.
Education
Kraft reacted to Wu’s promise to “never stop fighting for BPS kids,” by bringing up her spending on the White Stadium and her lack of funding for the Madison Park Vocational Technical School.
Boston recently proposed a $700 million renovation for the Madison Park Vocational Technical School, Boston’s only vocational school. To support that cost, the City requested aid from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which has not been granted yet. According to the Boston Globe, the school is currently in a state of neglect.
Kraft also claimed graduation rates at Boston Public Schools trail other Massachusetts school districts by 10 percent. While graduation rates did dip among high schoolers, they only dropped by 0.5 percent, and Boston graduation rates have always trailed behind the rest of the state, according to the Boston Globe.
Affordable housing
In her speech, Wu claimed to have constructed 17,000 units of affordable housing during her tenure as Boston’s mayor. Kraft pointed out that she did not meet her previously-stated goal of 20,000 units.
A study done by the Boston Foundation found there is a limited supply of affordable housing in the city and that rents have increased by over $1,500 in the past three years. Additionally, public opposition to public housing has made it harder for mayors like Wu to build housing in Boston.
