At NINE NINE rally, citizens will demand leaders rescind raises

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Quincy residents who oppose the mayor’s and council’s pay raises, which will cost taxpayers an additional quarter of a million dollars a year starting in January, will rally at City Hall Plaza on Monday, September 9, to demand that the council rescind the raises and involve the public in future raise discussions. 

The “Nine Nine” rally is being organized by A Just Quincy, the group that formed to fight the raises and work towards greater accountability and transparency in the city.

Residents are encouraged to bring homemade protest signs to the John Adams statue on the plaza starting at 5:30 pm that day. Later, those who are able to will head into Old City Hall to watch the first council meeting since June 17, when the council voted to increase the mayor’s and council’s salaries by 79 and 50%, respectively.

Those raises proved hugely unpopular with the public. More than 6,030 people physically signed a petition to repeal the mayor’s raise and 4,642 signed a petition to repeal the council’s raise in the 20-day, state-mandated window following the raise votes. Although those figures fell short of the 8,000 or so signatures needed to legally force the repeals, they represent a third and a quarter, respectively, of the number of people who voted in the November 2023 election that brought the mayor and council into office.

“The people have spoken, and they do not want these raises,” says Joe Murphy, founder of A Just Quincy.

City leaders have so far remained silent on the pay boosts, ignoring the vast majority of emails sent to them as part of a recent A Just Quincy campaign asking residents to request that councilors rescind the raises and meet with them. Residents have received zero responses from every councilor except Ward 2’s Richard Ash, who answered three of six emails in AJQ’s campaign (in two he offered to meet to discuss the issue, in one he simply thanked the letter writer for their input); Ward 3’s Ian Cain, who answered one of nine emails (and offered to meet); and Ward 4’s James Devine, who answered one of six (he said the raises were warranted). None of the at-large councilors, Noel DiBona, Nina Liang, or Scott Campbell, answered any of the 30-odd emails that each of them received. Check out your councilor’s response rate at ajustquincy.com/who.

“The mayor and city council’s getaway plan is to wait the outrage out – a move that worked for them when our hospital closed, our property taxes went up, and our land was sold to developers in sweetheart deals,” says Murphy. “It’s up to the people of Quincy to decide if it will work again, and we’re hoping the ‘Nine Nine’ rally will be the next of many actions to show it won’t.”

To join the A Just Quincy email list, go to bit.ly/ajqlist.

Flyer to promote A Just Quincy's NINE NINE Rally