In response to the corruption scandal that resulted in more than a dozen city employees’ arrests on July 23rd, the City Council unanimously introduced a redevelopment/rehabilitation “Pay-to-Play” reform ordinance (#09-096) on August 11th.

The move would ban campaign contributions from developers to municipal officials for 12 months while the developer negotiates building projects in the city.

“It’s the right ordinance at the right time,” resident Daniel Levin told the City Council. “Eliminating conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest takes us from the depths of our problems to getting us to a much better shape.”

Resident Omar Dyer also praised the City Council for introducing the legislation, with exceptions. “The corrupt politicians who were arrested should resign,” he said, noting the absence of Councilman Mariano Vega, who was charged with taking a bribe to speed up a Garfield Avenue re-development project.

In 2007, a similar pay-to-play ordinance was defeated 7-2, with Mayor Jerramiah Healy among its opponents.

The new ordinance, introduced by Councilman Steven Fulop, will be up for final vote at the September 9th City Council meeting. If passed, it would ban contributions to elected officials and appointed city officials, city employees, council and mayoral candidates and political action committees from consultants, lobbyists, developers and third parties involved in a development. The developer would have to provide a sworn statement that no contributions were made.

Violators would face termination of development agreements and disqualification from future agreements.