Non-binding questions on rent stabilization, reducing the mayor's term from four to two years and rescinding the Community Preservation Act will not go on the November ballot.

City councilors Thursday couldn't muster the votes needed to override Mayor Jon Mitchell's veto of the non-binding ballot question on "stabilizing rents."

Mitchell's vetoes of the two other non-binding questions OK'd for the November ballot by the board likewise survived Thursday night's meeting ...

Saying residents "can no longer afford to be price gouged," City Councilor Shane Burgo defended the board's call for a non-binding ballot question in November on "rent stabilization."

In a statement issued Monday, Burgo criticized Mayor Jon Mitchell for his opposition. Mitchell called the council vote a "cop-out."

Mitchell said rent stabilization was a euphemism for "rent control," and that rent control has been discredited as a means of providing more housing. It has the opposite effect, he said.

Burgo stated, "Now is a time for listening and disussion, not for lectures on public policy and governance."...

The City Council voted Thursday night not to consider changes in how the city negotiates employee health insurance benefits, once again rejecting a move that Mayor Jon Mitchell argues is the most significant step the city can take to control rising expenses. 

In a 9-2 vote, the council nixed committee discussion of a proposal to adopt provisions of a state law that, among other things, would allow binding arbitration on health insurance. It’s the third time since 2018 that the council has turned down the proposal that has been strongly opposed by public employee unions, who argue that it would weaken their hand in setting terms for health coverage ...

Do the people of New Bedford want rent control?

That's basically the question that city councilors want to pose to voters in the next city election.

Councilor Shane Burgo made the motion during Thursday night's meeting to ask voters the following non-binding ballot question in the November election: “Should the City of New Bedford adopt an Ordinance stabilizing rents, in order to prevent displacement in the local housing rental market?”

Burgo said, "For many years now our residents have been struggling through not only the housing crisis but through certain landlords that are price gouging."...

Brian Gomes is typically one of the conservative voices on New Bedford’s city council. At Thursday night’s council meeting, he found himself reconsidering a policy that critics often dismiss as too far to the left.

“I never thought I would stand in this chamber and talk about rent control, because I never supported rent control,” Gomes said. “But it was almost like you had to do something. You’re hearing from the general public of what is happening to them.”...

New Bedford City Councilor at Large Shane Burgo announced on WBSM's SouthCoast Tonight that he is proposing a non-binding ballot question for the 2023 city election in November that asks residents whether or not the City should enact an ordinance to stabilize rent.

Burgo's motion, which will be brought before the city council during its March 9 meeting, requests that the following question appear on the municipal ballot on November 7...

At least two New Bedford elected officials have issued statements denouncing the controversial Facebook posts of Ward 3 City Councilor-Elect Shawn Oliver, just as New Bedford High School LGBTQ+ students and their allies planned a midday protest at the school over the posts and called for elected officials to publicly denounce the memes ...

City Councilor Shane Burgo was put on the spot when councilors bade an emotional farewell to longtime Assistant Clerk of Committees Donna M. Britto at a recent meeting.

After he made his remarks, Council President Linda Morad asked, "Councilor Burgo, you didn't have a song?"

He replied with a smile, "I didn't prepare one today ...

The December 13 meeting on the New Bedford City Council's Committee on Appointments and Briefings lasted approximately three minutes after Councilor at Large Shane Burgo walked out of the meeting in protest. Ward 6 Councilor Ryan Pereira also walked out, resulting in the meeting no longer having the required quorum of six councilors to take votes ...

Area homeowners could help to alleviate the city’s affordable housing crisis by slipping nearly invisible housing units into their neighborhoods.

Accessory dwelling units — ADUs for short — are small apartments built into single-family homes ...

In a Wednesday evening meeting, the New Bedford Housing Options for Momentum and Equity group explored the roots of the city's housing crisis. 

To moderate that conversation, Michael Goodman, senior advisor to the Chancellor for economic development and strategic initiatives at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, was called in ...

Access to housing is a foundational component of a prosperous society. Decades of studies show a direct correlation between an individual's housing security and their education, earning potential, and likelihood to avoid or end up in the criminal justice system.

Despite this, housing availability and affordability remains one of the most pervasive of equity issues, not just in the Commonwealth, but across the country, and the situation is particularly dire in New Bedford ...

The City Council approved almost $65 million in American Rescue Plan Act money in an 8-3 vote after a spirited debate Thursday. "Two years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic," said Councilor-at-large Shane Burgo, who voted to approve the allocations. "On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan ...

At just 28, newly elected city councilor-at-large Shane Burgo plans on tackling an issue that's important to him personally: the opioid crisis. 

Burgo lost both of his parents to addiction. Growing up in New Bedford, he saw family and friends lose loved ones to addiction, he said. What he plans to do now is change the narrative and stigma behind the opioid crisis. ...

Though they haven't taken office yet, Shane Burgo and Ryan Pereira are already gearing up for their new roles on the City Council, promising to bring a fresh perspective to city government.

Pereira, 24, Ward 6 councilor-elect, and Burgo, 28, councilor-at-large-elect were standouts in this year's municipal election ...

New Bedford is supposed to be a big Democratic city, if not so much a big liberal city, but of the 10 candidates at the councilor-at-large debate Tuesday, only one of them, Shane Burgo, could be classified as a progressive in any way ...

Much has been made of the fact that with an open at-large City Council seat, only eight challengers have taken out papers to run for office this year.

But three of those challengers — Shane Burgo, Jason Mello and Lisa White — are running ...

It’s been a while since you could hop a train from New Bedford to Boston.

“Vern Stephens was the shortstop for the Red Sox. That I remember,” said Marilyn Hamel, 85. “It was in the ‘40s.”

When Hamel was growing up in New Bedford, her father ...

Candidate for City Counselor at-Large, Shane Burgo, had the opportunity to sit down with The Communal Space - New Bedford on Thursday to talk about whyhe entered this race for the people of New Bedford.

“Our campaign message is simple...

Shane Burgo, who is running this fall to fill the at-large city council seat vacated by Deborah Coelho, is focused on issues of direct impact to “all of New Bedford”.

“Among voters,” he explained, “there tends to be more of a focus on national politics, but I’ve come to learn that real change happens here on the local level ...