Bruce Bolling
Bruce Carlton Bolling was a politician and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Boston City Council and served as the council's first black president in the mid-1980s. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 1993.
Early years and family
Bolling was born April 29, 1945 in Boston. He was from "the city's most politically successful black family. His father, Royal L. Bolling, served as a state senator and his brother, Royal L. Bolling Jr., served as state representative." He had eleven siblings: three brothers and eight sisters.Bolling's father is described to have been "one of the city's pioneering black politicians" at the time Bolling was growing up. Bolling was raised in Roxbury, a neighborhood which was multicultural. The main racial demographic of his neighborhood was white, including some Jewish residents. However, the neighborhood was diversifying at the time of his childhood, with well-off African Americans moving in. Bolling would as an adult characterize the 1950s in Roxbury as relatively idyllic, including in regards to the relations at the time between its white and growing black populations. Bolling was educated at Boston English High School, Lindsey Wilson College, and received a master's degree in education from Antioch University. In the mid-1980s, he took courses at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, earning credits towards a possible Master's degree in public administration.
After graduating from Northeastern University, Bolling served in the United States Coast Guard, being discharged in 1969.
Bolling married Carol Ann Nicholson. His wife had originally been from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. He continued to live in Roxbury during his adulthood. Later in his life, he remarried to Joyce Ferriabough-Bolling.
Early political and government career
Bolling believed his family upbringing had set him up to become a politician. In 1977, he unsuccessfully ran for the Boston City Council. He placed sixteenth, failing to win one of the nineteen seats for election. After being discharged from the Coast Guard, Bolling began working as a functionary in the administration of Mayor Kevin White. In the mayoral administration, he filled a variety of roles over the course of several year. This included holding positions in the Office of Public Safety and serving as the manager of a mayoral administration field office at Franklin Field.City council
Bolling served on the Boston City Council between the years 1982 and 1994. He came to be considered the city's best-known black politician.Despite promoting numerous progressive causes on the council and receiving support from liberal organizations, Bolling was widely considered a political moderate. Bolling was regarded to have occupied a role as a bridge between the local African American community and the city's predominantly white political establishment. He managed the balancing act of appealing both to the city's black electorate, as well as politically moderate working class white voters. He was considered to have been slow to join other black political leaders in calling out racial inequities, taking a relatively conciliatory tone on issues of race. This tone on issues of race earned him respect from many white voters, but also frustrated some in the city's black community. His overall approach to politics on the council was to work quietly at assembling consensus for his proposals, as opposed to taking a more confrontational approach. Bolling agreed with characterizations of himself as a compromise-seeking moderate, remarking in early 1992, "I've never seen myself as a down-the-line liberal. I try to look at what the impact of issues will be, one way or the other." The Bay State Banner described Bolling's image and political approach,
First term (1982–83)
In the 1981 Boston City Council election, Bolling was elected to the Boston City Council, in the final election when all seats were at-large. Bolling's candidacy had received the backing of the political machine of Mayor White. White had backed a slate of seven candidates for council that year, who got dubbed "Kevin's Seven". Of these seven, Bolling was the only to win election. Bolling was the first black councilor to be elected in ten years since.In his first term, Bolling was the chairman of the council's Committee On Planning, Development and Housing. In this position, he led the 1982 passage of an ordinance establishing the creation of the city's first Fair Housing Commission, which investigated discriminatory housing practices. When working to secure support from more conservative council members, Bolling opted to privately persuade councilors in private by assuaging concerns and offering compromises, rather than publicly pressuring them to adopt his original proposal. This reflected Bolling's overall approach during his council tenure of working quietly to assemble consensus for his proposals. Bolling spearheaded the establishment of the city's first-ever Arson Prevention Commission, in order to address the 1982 Boston arson spree.
In 1982, Bolling and Raymond Flynn were the sole votes against the adoption of a map for the council's new district seats.
Bolling's father's return to the Massachusetts Legislature elevated the Bolling family's political stature. The Boston Globe described the Bolling family as having become "the most prominent black political family in Boston". The Globe noted that it marked the first instance in Boston's politics that three members of the same family had simultaneously held office. It also noted that the three Bolling men were nearly half of the city's entire roster of black incumbent elected officials, therefore playing a major role in government representation of the city's African American community.
In 1983 the city adopted the Bolling-sponsored the Boston Linkage Ordinance, which required that developers of projects constructed on downtown public land must fund development projects in the city's non-downtown neighborhoods. This police brought millions of dollars to those neighborhoods. The linkage policy became a major subject of the city's 1983 mayoral election, with Raymond Flynn and Mel King being the only two candidates who supported imposing linkage fees. During the city's 1983 election, voters overwhelming supported a Massachusetts Fair Share-backed non-binding referendum in favor of linkage policies. Bolling's linkage package, which was included in comprehensive housing legislation that he was involved in crafting as chair of the relevant council committee, was controversial. It aimed to use funds collected from developers of downtown construction projects to invest in the construction of affordable housing in the city's residential neighborhoods.
The council also passed the Bolling-sponsored "Boston Jobs for Boston residents" policy, which mandated that construction projects receiving public funding in Boston must utilize a workforce that includes at least 50% Boston residents, 25% people of color, and 10% women.
Second term (1984–85)
, Bolling was elected the inaugural councilmember to represent the 7th district. He would win re-election to three further 2-year terms representing the seat in the subsequent elections.In 1984, Democratic voters of the 2nd Suffolk district elected Bolling to represent the district on the Massachusetts Democratic Party's state committee. Bolling was unopposed for the position.
In October 1984, Bolling was of six councilors to vote against Mayor Raymond Flynn's 1984 rent control ordinance, thus defeating it. He also was one of five to vote against James M. Kelly's compromise rent control package, which was adopted. His opposition to rent control attracted criticism from tenant groups.
Third term and council presidency (1986–87)
Bolling was re-elected to his district 7 seat in 1985.Bolling was council president in 1986 and 1987, being the first Black person to hold that position.
In 1986, the council and mayor adopted Bolling-sponsored legislation which created the Neighborhood Housing Trust Fund that developers pay into under the city's Inclusionary Zoning statute. The passed legislation was created as a compromise from an earlier proposal, and was written in collaboration with Councilman James M. Kelly. It expanded the city's linkage policy. By 2014, the policy was credited with creating in excess of 4,000 units of affordable housing in the city. By the end of Raymond Flynn's mayoralty in 1993, this fund had already received over $70 million, which helped in the city's creation of over 8,000 units of affordable housing.
Bolling was the sponsor of the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Ordinance. The ordinance, adopted in 1987, increased the availability of municipal contracts to businesses owned by people of color, women, as well as small local businesses.
Bolling fought against an effort to have some of the minority-majority areas of Boston secede and form a new city. This idea was floated by some African American activists as a more radical means of addressing racial tensions and underlying issues.
In November 1986, Bolling's brother lost his State House seat. This decreased the collective political stature of the Bolling family.
In 1987, Bolling introduced an ordinance which, if it had been adopted, would have required the city's police to arrest professional athletes who committed violent acts during game play at the city's professional sports arena, exempting only boxing. The ordinance was proposed in an era in which NHL professional ice hockey was particularly violent. The ordinance was criticized by prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz as being too vague to be enforced.
In 1987, Bolling offered Mayor Flynn praise for his leadership on addressing racial violence, but also asserted that further work on addressing racial matters was necessary.