By Jon Keller
Updated on: March 16, 2025 / 9:31 AM EDT / CBS Boston
As he prepares to host the annual South Boston St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, Massachusetts State Sen. Nick Collins (D-South Boston) expressed confidence that changes to the security plan would forestall a repeat of last year’s scene along the St. Patrick’s Day parade route, which included rowdyism, public drinking and vandalism. He also weighed in on the mayoral race and his thoughts on Mayor Michelle Wu’s plans for commercial real estate.
“The State Police are stepping up their support for the parade at the request of Boston Police, along with the Transit Police, and we have a really well thought out plan by the MBTA on how they’re managing the flow of people,” said Collins in an interview on the Sunday edition of “Keller At Large.”
“Sending a message up front early is important that it’s a family-friendly environment, and we have reestablished the family-friendly zone at Medal of Honor Park, which was the scene of some of the incidents last year.”
Commercial real estate tax plan
On other issues, Collins took heat from the Wu administration late last year for his role in blocking the mayor’s plan to boost commercial real estate tax rates to make up for a looming revenue shortfall from the downtown office real estate market. The mayor has since refiled her bill with some changes regarding relief for residential property taxpayers that Collins applauds.
“It was welcome news that the mayor and her team put in some of the recommendations we made, [such as] leveraging the stockpiled surplus fund that’s been built up over several decades to leverage for rebates, as well as for expansion of residential exemptions and senior property tax exemptions. Which we’re supportive of. And that’s something that we can do with existing resources that don’t require a tax shift or an increase in taxes on anybody.”
But Collins is less enthusiastic about Wu’s continued push for state permission to raise the commercial tax rate.
“It’s unnecessary, it’s risky long-term,” he says. “It’s bad policy and that it could raise constitutional issues as well. But I think the important thing is we have resources that we can put together for property tax relief. The previous proposal was not tax relief. It was a tax shift.”
Boston mayor’s race
Collins declined to endorse Wu for re-election but did point to the chronic drug abuse and homelessness issues that have plagued the Mass and Cass area and other parts of the city.
“We’ve had 10,000 people overdose on the streets of Boston the last four years, and we’ve had over 2,500 die, and that has to change,” he says. “I think we need to make a major shift on how we intervene. When we have people who are being brought to the emergency room and are discharged without treatment, oftentimes with hospital slippers on, back to the street who come back in the same door, or into the courtroom or into a jail because of either victimizing someone or being victimized, and we don’t change policy, that’s on the government at this point. There should be a policy that we’re going to use our tools, both public officials and medical officials, to intervene and lobby that individual for voluntary treatment, and if not pursue involuntary treatment.”
Watch the entire interview in the video above and join us every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. for the weekend edition of “Keller At Large.”
Jon Keller is the political analyst for WBZ-TV News. His “Keller @ Large” reports on a wide range of topics are regularly featured during WBZ News at 5 and 6 p.m.
