Boston Mayor Marty Walsh joined Jim Braude on Greater Boston to talk about a slew of issues, including his re-election campaign, the Olympics bid (and the ten people on Twitter), addressing racism in the city and whether he'd vote for Republican Governor Charlie Baker ("we'll see what happens").

ON HOW HE'D GRADE HIS FIRST TERM

Walsh: I don't want to put a grade on myself. The voters will do that. I think we've done some very good things in the city around education... and on public safety. I mean I know that the councilor [City Councilor Tito Jackson, who is running against Walsh for mayor] was critical of us and critical of Commissioner Evans, but just look at the sheer numbers.... We are the safest mid-size city in America and, per capita, we're one of the safest cities in America.

ON CRITICISM OVER BPD CLEARANCE RATE OF NONFATAL SHOOTINGS

Braude: But Jackson is right on the clearance rate on nonfatal shootings—pitifully low.

Walsh: But that was just brought up recently.

Braude: That's right, David Bernstein, who works here—

Walsh: I've never heard of that before in my life.

Braude: But it concerns you, does it not?

Walsh: It does concern me to some degree. But Bernstein also had an axe to grind with some of the police department.... He was not happy they didn't get back to him and—

Braude: Well, were the numbers legit or not? Whether he has an axe to grind, who cares?

Walsh: Of course the numbers are legit. But when you think about shootings in Boston, I mean it goes back to having guns on the street that we can't trace back to anybody. So we have an issue with guns on the street that we've been working on for the last three years.

ON CRITICISM WALSH WAS TOO SLOW TO BRING IN THE PUBLIC ON THE OLYMPICS

Walsh: I think in the Olympic conversation, we went out to the community and the Olympic 2024 Committee—

Braude: But late in the game, isn't that fair?

Walsh: No, no it was early in the game, but No Boston Olympics came out earlier in the game and they immediately took a position against the Olympics without having a conversation with me or anyone on the Olympic side to see what it meant.

Braude: Well you were disparaging them, even when they started, you were talking about ten guys on Twitter. Wasn't that you?

Walsh: Yeah, who criticized me, yeah. If you go back and count the numbers, it was ten people on Twitter. Now it'll start it all over again, thank you.

Braude: They won, didn't they?

Walsh: I don't know if they necessarily won. I don't think anyone really won or lost there..... I mean I think the city of Boston gained recognition of being chosen as a potential city to host an Olympic Game. I think that's a good thing.

ON THE WINTHROP SQUARE TOWER CONTROVERSY

Braude: Michelle Wu, after the hearing, head of the City Council, spoke to a 'GBH reporter last night. She said the BPDA, formerly the BRA, "misled" the council. Here's what she said: "There were multiple hearings. There was almost a year of process, just in my time on the council. Not once in all those public conversations did the shadow issue come up. Folks on the BPDA knew about it."

Walsh: Why did the president of the council schedule a hearing for this to transfer the land over from the transportation—

Braude: I have no idea.

Walsh: I mean we should go back and ask her that.

Braude: But when she says the successor of the BRA misled the council, that's not true?

Walsh: That's not true. The only thing that happened here was when we transferred the land over from transportation, over to the BPDA, the council put a notification out. The notification put out was wrong, which led to a FOIA [Freedom Of Information Request], which led to the attorney general looking to see if they if they actually did it properly. The attorney general gave them a pass at the end of the day. This has been one of the most open, transparent issues and projects we've had.

Braude: So you think Wu's got an axe to grind, too?

Walsh: Well I don't know if she has an axe to grind, but I think that when you look at this, this is was worth $152 million for affordable housing, open space and parks in the city of Boston. And it's anywhere from $16- to $19 million in property tax. This is a deal like... we've never seen in the city. And on top of that... there's only one day that the shadow goes beyond 9:30 in the morning, there's 110 days that doesn't affect the public garden at all, and the Boston Common, and there's another 110 days, I believe, that has a shadow of less than 20 minutes.

ON ADDRESSING RACISM IN THE CITY

Walsh: I think it's important that we're having the dialogue around the city. I mean there's been a lot of conversations in the city of Boston over the years about talking about race and racism and I think what this [citywide dialogue on race] is going to do is really allow us the opportunity to begin to heal, have conversations around systemic racism, institutional racism... which exists, white privilege, things like that. And how do we deal with that stuff.

ON GOVERNOR CHARLIE BAKER'S APPROVAL RATINGS

Braude: A guy you work very closely with, the governor, the most popular governor in America—I'm sure you saw that Morning Consult poll—75 percent gave him an approval... Would you have been part of the 75 percent?

Walsh: I probably would have. Yeah, I would have. I mean, I think on most thing's he's moved the state along in a good way.

Braude: Where has he not?

Walsh: I have some concerns around the MBTA and privatization. I have some concerns there. We've had conversations about it. They were able to get to an agreement with the Carmen's Union and I commended him for that and I hope they can get to an agreement with the machinists as well. There's a lot of people that work in that shop that... have pension paid in and healthcare and families and if you privatize it, they're out of work.

ON WHETHER HE'D VOTE FOR BAKER

Braude: You ever voted for a Republican in your whole life?

Walsh: No.

Braude: Would you consider voting for Charlie Baker?

Walsh: Again, we'll see what happens. I'm running for re-election for mayor.

Braude: But it's possible?

Walsh: You never know. I mean you never know. You never know what's going to happen.

Braude: So, let's just be clear—

Walsh: I'm not ruling out anything.

Braude: You're not ruling out voting for—

Walsh: I'm focusing on being mayor.

Braude: But you're not ruling out—the people of Boston are entitled to know this. You're not ruling out voting for Charlie Baker.

Walsh: We don't know what the field is yet. We'll see what the field is. Right now we have two Democrats.... I'm a

Democrat. I generally vote Democrat—I vote Democratic all the time. I've never voted Republican.

Braude: But this could be a first?

Walsh: You never know. We'll see what happens in the field.

Note: Transcripts have been edited for clarity and brevity. To see the full interview with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, click on the video above.