Boston City Hall. The nearly 100-year-old Boston Municipal Research Bureau has long been the only major watchdog group tracking city affairs. iStock photo
For generations, the leaders of Boston law firms, banks, real estate firms and other major employers have kept a close eye on city finances, from the now-multibillion-dollar school budget to new development, long a driver of new tax revenue.
In 1932, the city’s business community launched the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, or BMRB, to provide a check on James Michael Curley, the city’s notoriously corrupt, populist mayor, and went on to become an influential and respected voice in civic affairs for decades.
However, when Sam Tyler, its long-time president, retired in 2019, the long-influential watchdog group lost its bark and its bite as it suddenly shied away from important and contentious city spending and policy issues.
Tyler’s successor, Pam Kocher, quietly stepped down in late 2023, with no public announcement by the research bureau of her departure, followed by a convalescence period under interim chief Marty Walz.
Under Steve Poftak, the head of the MBTA during the Baker administration, BMRB has returned to its traditional role, issuing timely reports on city finances and schools.
The resurgence at the research bureau comes as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu grapples with the loss of as much as $2 billion in tax revenue over the next five years as office tower values crumble in the new era of remote work.
Meanwhile, the research bureau now faces more formidable competition on the watchdog front as well.
Merger Launches New Watchdog
The upstart Boston Policy Institute announced last week that it would be joining forces with the Pioneer Institute and folding its operations under the umbrella of the libertarian-leaning, free-market think tank.
Greg Maynard, the co-founder and executive director of the Boston Policy Institute, will lead the newly formed Pioneer City Initiative.
The move will further expand Pioneer’s monitoring of Boston City Hall, with the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation currently engaged in a high-stakes legal battle with city officials over allegations of retaliatory assessment hikes against commercial property owners who filed for tax abatements.
Maynard and fellow Democratic political consultant Joe Caiazzo launched the Boston Policy Institute in late 2023.
And in its nearly three years as a free-standing entity, the city government watchdog has had an outsized impact, helping drive debate on the ongoing dysfunction at BPS and the growing threat to city tax coffers from crumbling office tower values.
Just a few months after its launch, BPI made a splash with a report warning Boston could lose more than $1 billion in tax revenue over five years as the assessed value of downtown office towers plunged.
Events of the past few years have more than borne that out. In a 2025 follow-up report, BPI warned the hit to Boston’s finances from lost tax revenue could top $2 billion.
Scott Van Voorhis
Pioneer Brings More Firepower
Maynard said Boston Policy Institute was essentially a one-man band, which was challenging, especially when it came to public record requests, which city officials could more easily ignore compared to a larger organization. At Pioneer, Maynard noted he will have backup from the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation when city officials attempt to stonewall public records requests.
“Boston residents deserve clear, independent, data-driven analysis of how their city is running,” said Maynard, now a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute, in a statement.
In one of its first moves, Maynard and the new Pioneer City Initiative announced they had filed public records requests seeking BPS documents and invoices for more than $857,000 in spending the state’s Inspector General’s Office has previously flagged.
“Boston is a great city with untapped potential,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of Pioneer Institute, in a statement. More transparency and accountability, along with better public services, will make it more livable and prosperous.”
Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist and publisher of the Contrarian Boston newsletter; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
