Hennigan: Reform BRA
By Scott Van Vorrhis, Boston Herald
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Mayoral challenger Maura Hennigan plans to shake
up City Hall's development arm and fire its longtime director
if she succeeds in her long-shot bid to unseat Mayor Thomas M.
Menino, Hennigan told the Herald.
A longtime critic on the City Council of the powerful
Boston Redevelopment Authority, Hennigan said she will dismiss
BRA director Mark Maloney and strip the agency of some of its
key powers.
Whether the 24-year City Council veteran will ever
get a chance to implement the purge is doubtful, political observers
say, given Menino's power as an entrenched incumbent.
Still, Henningan appears to be tapping into an
undercurrent of unhappiness with the BRA among developers and
neighborhood activists. Some developers gripe that the key city
authority favors politically connected rivals when reviewing projects
or doling out a choice building site. Community activists complain
decisions are effectively made before they get a chance to weigh
in.
``Developers need to know there is going to be
an even, level playing field,'' Hennigan said.
A spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority
argued the authority works well now under its current structure
and leadership.
``We conduct an open and transparent community
process,'' said spokeswoman Meredith Baumann.
Still, Hennigan contends that Maloney, appointed
by Menino in 2000 as the city's development chief, has been unable
to get out of the mayor's shadow and pursue an independent agenda.
The 24-year City Council veteran also wants to
create a separate ``planning agency'' to closely vet projects.
But some builders fret that another agency would further drag
out an already cumbersome city review process.
``It's a matter of being able to strike when the
market is there,'' said David Begelfer, head of the local chapter
of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.