Christopher A. Iannella
Christopher A. Iannella was a member of the Boston City Council in Boston, Massachusetts, for 33 years, spanning the late 1950s until his death. He also served eight one-year terms as City Council president.
Early years
Iannella was born in the small village of San Sossio Baronia in Avellino, Italy, and arrived in the U.S. with his mother and sister at the age of eight, unable to speak English. He went on to graduate from The English High School, Boston College, and Harvard Law School. He was one of the "college boys" featured in William Foote Whyte's classic text, Street Corner Society.Career
A Democrat, Iannella was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1950, and to the Boston City Council in November 1957. He served on the council from 1958 through 1967, when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Boston in that year's election. He was again elected to the City Council in November 1969, and served from 1970 through his death in 1992. He was the council president in 1962, 1980, 1982, and from 1988 to 1992.Iannella helped lead an unsuccessful effort to save Boston's West End before it was demolished in the 1950s. He was known for authoring a law that encouraged the city to hire Boston residents for government jobs, and more generally as an effective intermediary in the often contentious atmosphere of Boston politics.
In 1990, a plaque honoring Iannella was added to Paul Revere Mall. As a child, Iannella lived with his parents in one of the apartment buildings that was razed in order to make room for the mall.