Charles Calvin Yancey (born December 28, 1948)"Boston City Council: Charles Yancey" is a former member of the Boston City Council. Yancey served sixteen consecutive two-year terms, with a service totaling 32 years. He represented areas of Mattapan and Dorchester as the district councilor from the 4th district. He was City Council President in 2001, and unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2013. His council tenure ended after he lost re-election in 2015 to Andrea Campbell.
Yancey was a frequent dissenter on the council, often casting lone votes in opposition to measures. He was a frequent, and often lone, voice of council opposition to the city's mayors; being the council's chief critic of all three mayors that his council service overlapped with: Raymond Flynn, Thomas Menino, and Marty Walsh. Yancey was a chief proponent of Boston's disinvestment from South Africa (in opposition to apartheid). A pet issue Yancey long advocated unsuccessfully for was a proposal to establish a new high school in Mattapan.
While on the council, Yancey several times ran unsuccessfully for higher office. He lost campaigns for United States House of Representatives in 1992 and 1998; state auditor in 1986; lieutenant governor in 1994; and mayor in 2013.
Early life, family, education, and early career Yancey was born at Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Boston on December 28, 1948, to Howell Yancey Sr. and Alice W. Yancey. He was one of nine children in his family. He grew up in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and was educated in the Boston Public School System.
Yancey's mother, Alice (who died in 1996), worked a nurse. She was an active member of the Campbell and Jeremiah Burke home and school associations. In the 1960s, she was an active participant in the civil rights movement's efforts to integrate the student bodies of Boston Public Schools. She frequently held heated discussions with the Boston School Committee to advocate on the issue. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (whom she had personally met with many times), she led a successful petition drive to have the Campbell Junior High School renamed in honor of King. She was the founding president of the Women's Improvement League, and also worked as the director of Action for Boston Community Development, Roxbury Multi-Service Center, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmery.
Yancey attended the Philip Brooks Elementary School, the Patrick T. Campbell Junior High School, and Boston Technical High School. He was the first among his nine siblings to attend college. He received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Tufts University in 1970, and later earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1991. While at Tufts, he helped found the Afro-American Society and the African American Cultural Center. Yancey moved to the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston in 1975.
In 1978 and 1979, Yancey served as director of administration for the Massachusetts Office of Communities and Development. He would years later recount that this role gave him fiscal control over $260 million. Before being elected to the council, he also served as the head of the Black Political Task Force organization in Boston. His early work also included serving as director of economic development for Circle Venture Capital Fund Inc., which built an office building in the Dudley Square neighborhood of Boston and a industrial park in Durham, North Carolina.
Boston City Council (1984–2013)
Yancey unsuccessfully ran for the Boston City Council in both 1979 and 1981. In November 1983, Yancey prevailed in his third campaign for the council, being elected to the 4th district seat. Yancey was re-elected fifteen times, serving sixteen consecutive two year terms. His final re-election was in November 2013.
When Yancey first joined the council, the boundaries of the 4th district were situated primarily in Mattapan, and parts of Dorchester. In his later terms the district primarily represented areas of Dorchester.
Yancey served as a frequent lone dissenting vote, regularly being the sole councilor to vote in a given direction. This tendency led to him finding few strong allies on the council, and even being disliked by many of his fellow councilors. By the 1990s, council observers believed that his frequent dissents had caused several colleagues to, in turn, reflexively oppose proposals Yancey had introduced due to the mere aspect of his involvement. A 1992 profile by Don Aucoin published in the The Boston Globe described Yancey as the "resident council contrarian". A 2013 profile by Akilah Johnson published in the same newspaper described Yancey as frequently going "against the grain" in his political career,
Yancey and his admirers, however, touted his political independence as a virtue. Yancey himself argued that while his agitative approach may have earned him foes on the council, it also applied pressure to produce change. In a 1992 interview, Yancey remarked "everyone knows by now I'm not a rubber stamp councilor, but I don't consider myself a Lone Ranger." Yancey's district's constituents were predominantly black, and often felt disconnected from city government. Some council observers praised Yancey's work on behalf of his constituents and his individualism, while others argued that his isolation from other councilors made him a less effective advocate for the interests of his constituents.
Yancey was described to be a liberal and progressive member of the council. Other councilors who were described as having somewhat similar ideological leanings during Yancey's earlier terms in the 1980s and 1990s included Rosaria Salerno and David Scondras. Other councilors who were described as having somewhat similar ideological leanings during his later terms in the 2000s and 2010s included Ayanna Pressley, Michelle Wu, Tito Jackson, Matt O'Malley, and Josh Zakim.
Yancey was the council's sharpest critic of Raymond Flynn during the years of Flynn's mayoralty (1984–1993). He took pride in being Flynn's chief critic on the council, and noted that before being elected mayor himself, Flynn had incidentally been the council's loudest critic of Kevin White (Flynn's mayoral predecessor). During the later the mayoralty of Thomas Menino (1993–2014), Yancey continued to often be a lone vote of dissent towards the city's mayor. When Menino had previously served alongside Yancey on the council, he had voiced his dislike for Yancey's confrontational and contrarian approach. During the mayoralty of Marty Walsh (who succeeded Menino as mayor in 2014), Yancey continued his tradition on the council as a frequent and often lone voice of opposition to the city's mayors.
During James M. Kelly's lengthy council presidency, Yancey was often at odds with Kelly over matters relating to race. Yancey alleged that Kelly was a racist, which Kelly denied being.
During Yancey's tenure, he was successful in advocating for the construction of a new police station and a new library branch location in his district, but was unable to realize his long sought establishment of a new high school in Mattapan.
First term (1984–85)
Yancey opposed South African Apartheid. In 1984, he was a chief champion of an adopted ordinance that divested $12.5 million of city assets from companies which did business in South Africa. Due to his work on this ordinance, he received an invitation to speak at the United Nations. Boston was one of the first United States cities to pass such legislation.
In 1984, Yancey brought about the creation of the council's Post Audit & Oversight committee. This committee existed until 2016, when its roles were transferred to other committees (a Post Audit Committee was re-established in 2020 by then-council president Kim Janey).
In October 1984, Yancey was one of five councilors to vote against James M. Kelly's package of amendments for a pending housing ordinance. The majority of councilors, however, voted in support of Kelly's package in the 8–5 vote. Kelly's package most notably removed Mayor Flynn's plan to expand the number of rent controlled apartments in the city. After this, at the same council meeting, Yancey was one of six councilors to vote in support of a proposal put forth by Councilor Scondras to substitute Kelly's package with an amended version of Flynn's proposed housing package that retained more of Flynn's proposals. This proposal failed in a 6–7 vote, and the council voted to adopt a final version of Kelly's package in another 8–5 vote, in which Yancey again dissented.
Second term (1986–87)
Yancey was re-elected to a second term in 1985.
1986 Massachusetts Auditor campaign
In 1986, Yancey unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts state auditor. His opponents were state senator A. Joseph DeNucci, fellow Boston city councilor Maura Hennigan, and state representative Richard T. Moore. The four contenders launched their campaigns after the incumbent auditor, John J. Finnegan, made the surprise announcement in March that he would not seek another term. Yancey was the only black candidate seeking statewide office in Massachusetts that year.
At the party's state convention in May, Yancey placed third in delegate votes. He placed just above the necessary 15% threshold at the state convention to qualify for the ballot in the September primary election. DeNucci had held a vast lead at the convention, receiving 54.3%; while Maura Henigan placed second at 20.6% and Yancey received 15.1%. Moore was eliminated from the race, after only 10% of delegates at the convention, less than the threshold for inclusion in the primary. Yancey had, in the initial tally of delegate votes, also been set to be eliminated. However, several challenges were filed to delegates, and some delegates that had initially backed DeNucci also shifted their votes before the finalization of the first ballot in order to keep Yancey in contention.
Yancey placed third in the Democratic primary, behind DeNucci and Hennigan. Yancey received 11.3% of the vote, Hennigan received 34.7% of the vote, and DeNucci received 54.0% of the vote.
Third term (1988–89) Yancey was re-elected to a third term in 1987.
In 1989, Yancey introduced a proposal to direct two-thirds of money seized in drug raids to neighborhood anti-crime organizations. At the time, the (on average $240,000) seized in drug raids was evenly divided between the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the district attorneys office to fund their anti-drug efforts. Yancey proposed a home rule petition that, if passed, would eliminate the money received by the district attorneys office and decrease the share received by the police department by 20%, instead directing that money to community organizations. The BPD (including Superintendent Francis Roache), the district attorney, and police unions such as the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association opposed the proposal. Peter J. Howe of The Boston Globe described the proposal as "refueling the nasty, years-old feud between [Yancey] and the Boston Police Department".
As part of his opposition to South African Apartheid, Yancey served as Vice President of the United States Conference on Apartheid.
In 1989, Yancey proposed an ordinance to mandate that 65% of money seized in drug raids by the city's police be directed to community youth groups, drug treatment facilities, and neighborhood crime watch groups. This would have been a shift from the existing model of splitting it evenly between the police department and local district attorney's office to fund drug investigations.
Fourth term (1990–91) In 1989, Yancey won re-election without any opposition.