PERSON: Julia Mejia
Employer
Boston City Council
Position
Member
Biography
Julia Mejia is an At-Large City Councilor in Boston, Massachusetts. Elected in 2019, Mejia is the first Latina elected to the council.
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised by a single mother, Mejia came to the United States when she was five years old. She graduated from Dorchester High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Ida College.
Mejia worked as a reporter for MTV covering the 2000 U.S. presidential election and an organizer with Massachusetts Charter Public School Association. She is the founder of Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network (CPLAN).
Mejia ran for one of four at-large Boston City Council seats in November 2019 in a field of eight candidates. After a recount, she won the fourth seat by one vote. Mejia took office on January 6, 2020, becoming the first immigrant to serve on the council.
In June 2020, Mejia (along with Ricardo Arroyo, Andrea Campbell, Kim Janey, and Michelle Wu) was one of five members of the Boston City Council to vote against Mayor Marty Walsh’s 2021 operating budget for the city. Mejia wrote, “I am no longer interested in having drip-drop incremental changes that expect us to continue to hope and pray and wait some more about finally having the type of budget that really reflects the needs our people find themselves in today.”
In 2020, the Boston Magazine named Mejia the year’s “best city politician,” writing that she had, “fought back against racist harassment after taking office in early 2020,” and, “also worked to improve bilingual communications in Boston and even made a series of TikTok videos with her daughter to liven up the mood at City Hall during the early days of the [Covid-19] pandemic.”
At a City Council meeting early October 2023, Mejia opposed holding vote on a resolution proposed by Ed Flynn which called the attack a “terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with “Israeli people as well as those innocent Palestinians suffering as a result”. Mejia voiced support later in the meeting for an ordinance proposed by Tania Fernandes Anderson related to the Israel–Hamas war. Unlike the other resolution, Fernandes Anderson’s resolution was not focused on condemning the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and instead centered on calling for a ceasefire. Fernandes Anderson’s resolution met criticism for characterizing the attack as a “military operation” rather than an act of terrorism. With two councilors opposing an immediate vote on the resolution, which had only been introduced during the meeting, it was referred to the committee of the whole instead of being voted on.
Mejia lives with her daughter, Annalise, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
>> Wikipedia
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised by a single mother, Mejia came to the United States when she was five years old. She graduated from Dorchester High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Ida College.
Mejia worked as a reporter for MTV covering the 2000 U.S. presidential election and an organizer with Massachusetts Charter Public School Association. She is the founder of Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network (CPLAN).
Mejia ran for one of four at-large Boston City Council seats in November 2019 in a field of eight candidates. After a recount, she won the fourth seat by one vote. Mejia took office on January 6, 2020, becoming the first immigrant to serve on the council.
In June 2020, Mejia (along with Ricardo Arroyo, Andrea Campbell, Kim Janey, and Michelle Wu) was one of five members of the Boston City Council to vote against Mayor Marty Walsh’s 2021 operating budget for the city. Mejia wrote, “I am no longer interested in having drip-drop incremental changes that expect us to continue to hope and pray and wait some more about finally having the type of budget that really reflects the needs our people find themselves in today.”
In 2020, the Boston Magazine named Mejia the year’s “best city politician,” writing that she had, “fought back against racist harassment after taking office in early 2020,” and, “also worked to improve bilingual communications in Boston and even made a series of TikTok videos with her daughter to liven up the mood at City Hall during the early days of the [Covid-19] pandemic.”
At a City Council meeting early October 2023, Mejia opposed holding vote on a resolution proposed by Ed Flynn which called the attack a “terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with “Israeli people as well as those innocent Palestinians suffering as a result”. Mejia voiced support later in the meeting for an ordinance proposed by Tania Fernandes Anderson related to the Israel–Hamas war. Unlike the other resolution, Fernandes Anderson’s resolution was not focused on condemning the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and instead centered on calling for a ceasefire. Fernandes Anderson’s resolution met criticism for characterizing the attack as a “military operation” rather than an act of terrorism. With two councilors opposing an immediate vote on the resolution, which had only been introduced during the meeting, it was referred to the committee of the whole instead of being voted on.
Mejia lives with her daughter, Annalise, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
>> Wikipedia
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