1. William P Linehan is an American politician who was a member and president of the Boston City Council in Massachusetts.
17 Facts About Bill Linehan
1. 2.
Bill Linehan represented District 2, which includes Downtown Boston, the South End, South Boston and Chinatown.
3.
Bill Linehan has been active in politics since his teenage years.
4.
Bill Linehan was reelected five times, until announcing in February 2017 that he would not run in the November 2017 election.
5.
Bill Linehan was president of the City Council in 2014 and 2015.
6.
Bill Linehan's district included Downtown Boston, the South End, South Boston and Chinatown.
7.
Bill Linehan faced criticism a proposal he made in his role in chairing the post-2010 United States Census redistricting process to divide Chinatown between two separate City Council electoral districts.
8.
Bill Linehan was accused by critics of attempting to help his own electoral fortunes in his influence on the process.
9.
Bill Linehan argued that such a tax could fund programs to combat substance abuse.
10.
Also in 2013, Bill Linehan proposed legislation to raise the citation given for public smoking of cannabis in city parks to $200.
11.
In 2013, Linehan was one of five Boston city councilors that voted against a successful City Council rule change that effectively allowed for the City Council to effectively discharge from committee a bill that was being stalled in committee.
12.
In 2014, Bill Linehan was elected by his fellow councilors to serve as Boston City Council president during his fifth term.
13.
At the time, Bill Linehan was regarded to be the council's most conservative member.
14.
Also in 2014, Linehan championed a proposal to rename South Boston's Branch Library for former Massachusetts Senate President William M Bulger.
15.
Bill Linehan advocated for increased scrutiny and regulation of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft.
16.
On October 18,2017, Bill Linehan made the surprise move of immediately retiring from the council two months before his term had been set to expire.
17.
Bill Linehan endorsed Ed Flynn's campaign to be elected his successor.