Henry Santana

Growing up in Mission Hill public housing, I learned that access to opportunity shouldn't depend on your zip code or income. That principle guides my vision of how I approach our city to this day. Our Harbor, rivers, and islands must serve all Bostonians. Through Santana's CAPE, I'm bringing together residents from East Boston to Dorchester to come up with policy solutions for their communities that include them. I envision the waterfront as a place where young people and their families can make memories and enjoy the city they live in. Environmental education should also be a key part of our waterfront. As the continuous threats of climate change worsen every day, we must continue to center sustainable education to ensure future generations know how to protect our city.

That poll reflects what I've seen firsthand through my work as chair of the Public Safety Committee: the waterfront is essential infrastructure for community health. Through my work with the Walking City Trail I've seen how connecting neighborhoods to waterfront access creates opportunities for physical activity and mental health benefits. The trail connects 17 neighborhoods over 27 miles, showing how we can link inland communities to our harbor and rivers without massive infrastructure investments. Continuing to build bridges between communities and the waterfront is key to our city's success. The waterfront is more than a place to visit, it’s part of who we are as a city. It shapes our identity and history, and it should be part of everyone’s daily life. When people cannot access a part of their city due to a lack of accessibility, they are being left out of part of what makes Boston, Boston. I’m dedicated to continue working to make sure that as the waterfront changes, it remains open to all our communities.

As Chair of the Public Safety committee, I see flooding as a public safety crisis that hits working families hardest. Growing up in public housing taught me that when disasters strike, it's our most vulnerable communities that suffer the worst impacts. That's why we're prioritizing flood protection for East Boston's Border Street corridor, where flooding threatens the Blue Line and affordable housing. The city's deployable floodwall along the Mary Ellen Welsh Greenway already protects 4,300 residents and 70 businesses. We need to scale these solutions citywide while ensuring they strengthen communities rather than displace them. Throughout my work, I've seen how flood infrastructure can serve multiple purposes. Elevated parks, accessible waterfront paths, and green infrastructure protect against flooding while creating community benefits. Real leadership happens when communities control the planning process. We can't let federal constraints become an excuse for top-down solutions that ignore neighborhood voices. Our coalition-building approach maximizes every federal dollar while keeping residents at the center of decision-making.

Through my work sponsoring hearings on youth jobs with the Labor, Workforce & Economic Development Committee, I understand that the Port of Boston's 66,000 jobs and $8.2 billion in economic impact must translate into opportunities for Boston residents, especially young people in neighborhoods like East Boston, where much of this activity happens. My approach starts with workforce development. We've seen record participation in the city's youth employment program, with over 10,000 young people hired last summer. Expanding these opportunities to new demographics and younger people would be a great way to stimulate the industry. Port expansion should mean opportunities for working families throughout Boston to build careers and benefit directly from the economic engine in their own communities.

Expanding access to bike share programs can help connect inland neighborhoods to the waterfront. We need to increase all transit options, whether bus, bike, or train, from places like Mission Hill to the harbor, with expanded Bluebikes stations near ferry terminals and safe walking connections through the Walking City Trail I sponsored. Shuttle connections from T stations to waterfront access points would make it much easier for Bostonians to reach the waterfront. We already have ferry service connecting East Boston to Long Wharf, along with seasonal routes to Salem and Lynn. Increasing the frequency of these services would make our city so much more connected. The East Boston ferry pilot program at Lewis Mall Wharf showed us what's possible. We need similar year-round service connecting Dorchester, South Boston, and Charlestown to downtown and the Harbor Islands. These aren't luxury amenities; they're public transit routes that happen to be on water. The key is treating waterfront access as essential infrastructure and ensuring we all have equal access to our city's greatest natural resource.