We are a group of concerned residents from Quincy, MA, committed to holding our local government accountable and ensuring transparency by leveraging the power of our votes.
Astonishing – our mayor and city councilors voted themselves huge raises, with NO public input! 79% for the Mayor and 50% for the city councilors. After five months of public protests in various forms, they finally bowed to pressure and announced the deferring of the raises until after the next election. However, they still haven’t rescinded the raises, and they haven’t allowed any public hearings on the issue. People are being informed without any opportunity to get involved. Join us in the fight to repeal the raises and demand public meetings. We’re also launching a drive to boost voter registration and turnout. The vote is our final say.
Learn where your money is going
Dear All,
Next Monday, May 12, there will be a budget hearing on the proposed 2026 city budget at 6:30 PM in the Great Hall of City Hall.
Quarry Hills Citizen Associates is organizing a rally at 5:30 PM, just before the hearing. Please see the attached flyer for details.
Also attached is the proposed 2026 budget for your review.
See you Monday!
Kathy Thrun, Virginia Ryan and Ziqiang "Susan" Yuan
Dear All,
The city of Quincy has grown in leaps and bounds for quite a few years now. This expansion has brought new developments, necessary roadwork, increased infrastructure across the entire city. But with any household, you plan and budget to ensure not spending beyond your means. This is not the case with the city of Quincy. We, Quincy taxpayers, are in a bad situation because of unchecked spending. The financial health of our city is declining. Quincy is in debt, serious debt, which has huge property tax and rent implications. Quincy has an enormous amount of debt (over a billion dollars) and undisciplined politicians, who do not know how to say no to another statue or a copper and slate roof or even a 79% raise.
The Mayor is presenting the city budget to the City Council at 7:05 PM, Monday, May 5th. It is important to listen and to delve as deep as possible into the budget. Our politicians don’t seem to have the will to question the mayor----so we need to at least have a presence at this meeting to let them know we are watching and we are listening. And this year---the city councillors are facing an election. https://cms7files1.revize.com/quincyma2024/Agendas%20&%20Minutes/City%20Council/City%20Council/Agendas/Council_2025_05_05.pdf Vote on November 4, 2025 for change!!!!
The Patriot Ledger reviewed the unprecedented level of debt in Quincy. We are second only to Boston in all of Massachusetts. https://www.patriotledger.com/ At least in Boston, you can go to the theater, listen to the symphony, or take a ride in a Swan boat. We have great restaurants in Quincy---but what else is there?
See you Monday at the city council meeting!
Kathy Thrun, Virginia Ryan and Ziqiang (Susan) Yuan
Please take a moment to take the survey. We want to be sure that we re doing things that meet the needs of the community! You can take the survey by scaning the QR code in the survey flyer below or use the link: bit.ly/3P0A729
Quincy--so where is your money going? Bad enough that the headquarters is costing us $175 million ($320 million with interest). The building already has an overly expensive copper roof. Now we have two 10-foot statues going up in front of the building. The statues cost $850,000 (and will likely go over a million with site preparation). Is this the right use of taxpayer money? Is the separation of church and state dead? This is a diverse city--bringing in what appears to be religious symbolism is not appropriate.
What next? We have a mayoral 79% raise and a federal indictment of the head of the Elder Services department for stealing from the elderly. We are over a billion dollars in debt. So, what will your property taxes be? Higher, much higher….. And once again, only one City Councilor has stood up, Dan Minton - retired from the Quincy Police Department.
Please consider signing the petition (prepared by Claire Fitzmaurice) demanding that Mayor Koch withdraw the artist's commission for the new statues in front of the Public Safety Headquarters on Sea Street. Thank you. https://chng.it/JWp8BvDTzn
There will be a public hearing on the tax rate at 6:45 PM. Do you want your voice heard about your property taxes and your costs of renting???? Let City Councillors know what you think. We pay for Quincy acquiring property and losing property taxes, e.g. Acapulco, DCR property. We pay for leasing property without benefits for the city’s citizens, e.g. Granite Links golf course.
City Council Meeting Agenda 12/2/2024
City Council Meeting and Public Hearing Recording 12/2/2024
Come to stop another bad deal for Quincy, namely the 50 year lease extension for the Granite Links Golf Course.
· December 3rd, Community Meeting conducted by QHA and Councillor Campbell. (5:30pm, Granite Links Golf Club 100 Quarry Hills Drive)
Community Meeting Recording 12/3/2024
· December 9th,Public Hearing through Ordinance Committee (6:35 PM in in the Great Hall at Historic City Hall 1305 Hancock Street) (Potential deliberation and vote out of Committee)
Ordinance Committee and Public Hearing Recording 12/9/2024
· December 16th, City Council Meeting, (Potential Final Vote)
City Council Meeting Recording 12/16/2024
The Quincy City Council is meeting on Monday, 11/18. During that meeting they have included two items that have negative consequences for Quincy-costly, unwanted land grabs. One item is to provide a 99 year lease for the Quarry Hills Golf Course to one of the mayor’s favored developers. The golf course is public land, but Quincy has seen little to no benefit from private management. The other is to purchase the Acapulco Restaurant to build another park. Yet again, loss of a taxpayer and a park and a golf course that we will pay for.
Please come with signs!
City Council Meeting Agenda 11/18/24
Join us this Council meeting! Stay informed with what the City Councilors are deciding on next for Quincy.
City Council Meeting Agenda 11/12/24
Halloween Gathering! We’ll be dressing up ourselves and our pets, carrying signs to celebrate our first victory—the mayor’s and city councilors’ massive raises being deferred until after the next election. We’ll also be demanding accountability and transparency from our local government. During the event, we’ll do a short parade around the plaza area and then return to the plaza to give out prizes. We will have prizes for best costumes (humans and pets). And the grand prize will go to Best Sign!
Hosted by WeVoters
Check out the event pictures in the Blog.
Since we weren’t allowed to bring signs into the City Council chamber at both the 9/9 and 9/16 meetings, we’ve decided to wear our messages instead! Join us by wearing a white T-shirt and/or a white mask with your message written on it.
Come to City Hall Plaza at 5:30 PM to write your own signs on the provided white T-shirts and masks using markers (we’ll supply everything). Afterward, we’ll march into the City Council chambers together. The length of our sit-in will depend on the meeting agenda.
Hosted by WeVoters
Check out the event report and pictures in the Blog.
Tomorrow, 9/16, the city council will meet—but they’re still not discussing the raises issue. This is the last meeting in September, and the next one isn’t until October 7th. We don’t want to wait that long to take action, so here’s the plan for tomorrow. It’s super short notice, but we’re ready to act!
Please bring your beach or folding chairs and your signs to City Hall Plaza tomorrow, 9/16, at 6 p.m. We’ll sit in a circle in the middle of the plaza, hold our signs, and discuss strategies and next steps. We’re combining a protest and a meeting—two birds, one stone! Afterward, we’ll go inside to hold signs in the council chambers. If this format works well, we’ll plan another sit-in/sit-out protest on October 15th, again with a meeting. City Hall Plaza is our meeting space, with fresh air and open skies! And the City Hall council chambers is where we’ll continue to make our stand.
Please join us for our first sit-in/sit-out protest tomorrow! If you can’t bring a chair, we’ll have extra. Most importantly, bring your signs! If needed, you can make your signs there, just like at last week’s rally on 9/9—we’ll have supplies.
Hosted by WeVoters
Recap of the 9/9 Rally and 9/16 Sit-In
See the result of our actions in our Letter Submitted to the Quincy Sun