Coverage from Beacon Hill's BPDA hearing & City Council Committee Assignments released

Globe & Massterlist summarize BPDA hearing, Committee Chairs & Vice-Chairs named

The first hearing on Beacon Hill for the home rule petition making changes to the Boston Planning & Development Agency is in the books and the local press provided two different takes on Monday’s hearing, while highlighting two actions to look for. Also, the 2024-2025 Boston City Council Committee Assignments were released - read on to see more!

ABOLISH OR STREAMLINE? ACCOUNTS DISAGREE ON HOW TO DESCRIBE BPDA PROPOSALS

Since the Wu administration first released its set of proposals dealing with the BPDA in January 2023 there has been consistent disagreement about how to describe them. MASSterlist and the Boston Globe’s summaries of yesterday’s hearing are the latest example.

MASSterlist’s Sam Drysdale writes:

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's plan to "abolish" the city's urban planning agency was met with mixed reactions during its hearing on Beacon Hill on Monday — though most opponents were not against the idea, but argued that it went about it the wrong way. 

The Boston Globe’s Niki Griswold writes:

In testimony before a legislative committee Monday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu urged lawmakers to approve a home rule petition to legally restructure the Boston Planning and Development Agency as part of an effort to streamline and promote transparency of the city’s development processes.

At Monday’s hearing the confusion over whether the proposals represented a fundamental change in how Boston’s real estate development process was evident among both lawmakers and those testifying. Griswold’s article takes the issue on, and does the best job that we have seen in settling the abolish/streamline debate:

The proposals are part of Wu’s effort to redesign the city’s development approval process, though it doesn’t go as far as abolishing the BPDA entirely, which Wu had called for on the campaign trail and in a white paper published in 2019.

It remains unclear how the BPDA would operate differently under City Hall’s jurisdiction.

Finally, at Monday’s hearing Mayor Wu and Senator Nick Collins both laid out timelines for next steps on BPDA reform:

• Mayor Wu said in her testimony that her administration would release an ordinance to “codify the staff transition from the BPDA to the City of Boston.” This ordinance was expected to be released in the coming weeks after being previewed by the BPDA in their 2023 year-end report - read more in our post about Monday’s hearing here.

• At the end of the hearing State Senator Nick Collins held out the idea that the home rule petition would be amended, saying: “It wouldn’t be the first piece of legislation we amended.” Listen to his complete comments below:

Watch the whole hearing here and read the transcript on Legislata.

BOSTON CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS RELEASED

On January 1st, 2024 At-Large City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune was elected President of the Boston City Council. Now we know who else will be joining her to lead the body, with a list of Committee chairs & vice-chairs getting released earlier this week.

The Boston Municipal Research Bureau put together a great graphic comparing committees, chairs, and vice-chairs from the 2022-23 term to the 2024-25 term:

2nd term District 4 City Councilor Brian Worrell is the new Ways & Means Committee Chair, with freshman District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepen serving as his Vice Chair. As Chair Worrell will lead the City Council’s FY25 budget process, an important role that former At-Large Councilor Annissa Essaibi George talked about for BPI’s City Council Transition Guide:

More details on committee assignments are expected from City Council President Ruthzee Louisjeune at today’s City Council meeting, which starts at 12 PM. You can watch that meeting here, and make sure to check BPI’s Boston City Council feed on Legislata for an AI-generated transcript after the meeting!