Manuel Teshe has missed six of the council’s 14 meetings this year and has been marked absent on 20 roll-call votes, the most of any councillor by a wide margin. When he is in the room he is one of its most active members procedurally, with 27 motions under suspension, second only to Recupero. The record is that contrast.
What he has done
He chairs Planning, Development and Transportation, and opened the year with a February 9 subcommittee meeting where the Chelsea Housing Authority and the Corcoran companies presented the 40R smart growth district for the Fitzpatrick-Prattville redevelopment. The 23-acre district, allowing buildings up to 160 feet at the Revere line, passed the council in June.
His most consequential move came on March 30. After the City Manager presented his original inclusionary housing rewrite, Teshe moved to continue the meeting until a revised proposal was ready. The motion carried 7 to 2 over Taylor’s objection and sent the administration back to the drawing board. On April 6 he moved again to continue “to allow time for more public comment,” without objection, and later moved to refer the ordinance, as amended by Robinson, to the full council. In June he voted no on the Hines amendment that set the fee at $275,000, then yes on the final ordinance.
His one filing under his own name is a January resolution marking the 25th anniversary of Santaneco Restaurant.
Attendance
Absent March 3, March 9, March 23, April 27, the June 22 swearing-in and August 17. Late on June 8. The minutes do not record reasons. He was absent for the April 27 vote on Recupero’s zoning and for the special meeting that approved the state primary warrant.
The profile
The record shows a committee chair who has used procedure to slow the housing ordinance down and open it to more public comment, and who then voted against the deeper-affordability version when it came. His attendance is the part of his record most residents would want explained. He has run unopposed twice. His biography is here.