Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 3/14/25

3 of 4 Audit Cmte appointees get hearing; BPI's in-depth report on DESE's 5 year long intervention in BPS kicks off important discussion; Boston YIMBYs host discussion on Rozzie Sq 'Squares & Streets'

ICYMI: BPI released an in-depth report by education expert Dr. Kerry Donahue about the Commonwealth’s intervention in Boston Public Schools:

The current agreement ends on June 2025, so BPI looks at what brough on state intervention, how BPS has performed, the options for next steps, and provides our own recommendation. Read more about the report in coverage from Contrarian Boston, the Boston Herald, and Boston Focus, and look for more on this report in coming week!

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This week saw significant action in Washington, DC and on Beacon Hill that likely has major impacts on Boston, and in Boston there was also important action:

• Boston YIMBYs got an important update about the on-going rezoning of Roslindale Square and heard from local advocates and both a Boston & Cambridge City Councilor working on zoning reforms;

• A Council hearing on Thursday was for just 3 appointees to Boston’s Audit Committee - a 4th appointee withdrew last week after the Boston Municipal Research Bureau raised questions about his business ties to Mayor Wu’s political operation.

Keep reading for more on that meeting & hearing.

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BOSTON YIMBYS HOST DISCUSSION OF ROSLINDALE SQUARE’S SQUARES & STREETS PROPOSAL

The meeting featured a wide-ranging disucssion about the future of Roslindale and the wider region, and had a diverse panel of advocates, politicans, and a City Hall planner:

• Bashak Alhan is a professional planner, and she hosted and facilitated the discussion;

• Andrea Harris Long, Director of Land Use for the Metropolican Area Planning Commission;

• Enrique Pepen, a Boston City Councilor for District 5, which includes part of Roslindale;

• Eric Ouyang, the founder of Perci PBC, civic-tech start-up that provides community planning & engagement tools;

• Burhan Azeem, a Cambridge City Councilor who recently led the successful effort to enact far-reaching zoning reform in that City;

• Abdul-Razak Zachariah, a planner for the City of Boston who is serving as the project lead for the Rosendale Square area’s draft zoning.

Here are the highlights of their discussion:

• Zachariah provided an overview of the Squares and Streets initiative, focusing on promoting housing growth, mixed-use development, and commercial flexibility in Rosendale Square. He explained the recently approved small area plan and the current public comment period for the draft zoning map, which aims to reflect the plan's vision.

• Councilor Pepen shared his perspective as a Roslindale resident and city councilor, highlighting the importance of proactive zoning improvements and addressing residents' concerns about displacement and neighborhood character.

• Ouyang presented data-driven insights on the potential for change in Roslindale, estimating modest housing unit growth over the next decade.

The panel discussed case studies from other cities, like Seattle and Cambridge, and the link between zoning, housing affordability, and anti-displacement. The discussion also covered other tools beyond zoning to prevent displacement, such as anti-displacement action plans, affordable housing preservation funds, and tax exemptions for landlords.

For more on Squares & Streets, make sure to follow Nate Stell, one of the organizers of last night’s event:

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LONG-TIME BOSTON CIVIC LEADER LARRY DICARA TESTIFIES BEFORE COUNCIL AFTER BEING RE-APPOINTED TO AUDIT COMMITTEE

On Thursday the Council’s Transparency Committee heard from 3 people who had been appointed to the Boston’s 5 member Audit Committee, which oversee the City's external and internal audit activities and presents an annual assessment of the activities of the committee and the Mayor. 2 of those appointees were new - Janet Peguero and Samantha Reimer - and 1 was a re-appointment: Larry DiCara, a former City Councilor, mayoral candidate, and long-time civic leader who has served on the Committee since it was created back in 1982.

A 4th person who had been appointed to the Audit Committee by Mayor Wu - William Harry Shipps, a long-time Massachusetts political operative - withdrew his name from consideration last week after the Boston Municipal Research Bureau submitted testimony highlighting Shipps’ work for Mayor Wu’s political operation - read more from the Boston Herald.

At Thursday’s hearing the Council heard from all three appointees. DiCara provided an overview of the Audit Committee and the City’s current fiscal position, where he highlighted an issue that BPI first brought to the fore: the impact falling office values are having on Boston’s budget. Here is DiCara - he is Speaker 5 & starts at the 35:03 mark in the transcript:

I think the other thing that we have to be concerned about, and I think that Janet talked about this, you know, our property tax base is gonna be different than it was five or ten or fifteen years ago. Our downtown properties are gonna be worth less, and the auction about to take place for 1 Lincoln Street will probably tell us where the bottom is, and that's going to hurt. And that probably means that those of us who are residents who own property, and I'm one of them, may pay a little bit more. The good news is because of classification, a property tax payer in Boston pays far less than someone in a nearby town.

All three appointees who testified on Thursday should be approved by the full Council at their next meeting. They will join Jaclyn Youngblood, who Mayor Wu appointed to the Audit Committee back in 2023, who was approved by the Council to serve a term that extended until September 2028.

That leaves one open slot on this important City board.

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