In the next phase of his makeover of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Mayor Martin Walsh said a consultant will try to reshape the image of the agency that controls development in the city.
BRA directors are set to vote Thursday on the hiring of a strategic advisor with the goal of “inspiring greater trust and confidence,” Walsh’s office announced.
The BRA has long been criticized for ignoring community concerns, dating back to its legacy of displacing thousands of West End residents in the late 1950s in a slum clearance program. The BRA is seeking to extend its urban renewal powers for 10 years in 14 city neighborhoods spanning 3,000 acres, maintaining its ability to take properties by eminent domain and grant tax breaks to developers.
Shortly after taking office in 2014, Walsh authorized a McKinsey & Co. analysis of the agency which faulted it for mismanagement, inefficiency and backroom dealing with real estate interests.
Under Walsh, the self-funded agency has made progress on clearing a backlog of unpaid bills from tenants who rent space in its properties and hired a new real estate director, former Somerville economic development director Ed O’Donnell, to maximize revenues from leases and development of BRA-owned properties.
It also has adopted new rules that give the public a chance to comment before it approves deals with developers for so-called “demonstration projects” using its urban renewal powers.
The issue came to a head after the state inspector general’s office faulted the BRA’s 2013 deal buying a parking lot from the Boston Red Sox for $2.7 million and granting the team the right to turn Yawkey Way into an open-air food court with little advance notice and inadequate established procedures.
Specifics of the new strategic adviser’s role will be spelled out in a request for proposals expected to be issued Monday. The duties will include establishing an “identity, mission and values for the organization that are reflective of the Walsh Administration’s commitment to smart and sound urban planning and positive economic development,” Walsh’s office said. The cost has not been determined.
