Walsh: Council oppo ‘causing a lot of harm’
Mayor Martin Walsh slammed the pending move at the City Council to throw out some of his Zoning Board appointments, saying that councilors are “causing a lot of harm” by holding up his nominees to the troubled board.
“This is for a couple of the councilors about politics right now — this isn’t about moving our process forward,” Walsh said. “These actions or inaction by a couple of counselors is causing a lot of harm in our city.”
City Councilor Michelle Wu, who chairs the Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation, filed a report this week recommending that her colleagues vote to reject three of Walsh’s four appointees.
Wu — who’s often seen as a likely mayoral contender in 2021 — asserts that these nominees should be replaced by candidates who better fit the ZBA reform package passed by council and signed by the mayor last month. That compromise legislation will only take effect if legislators on Beacon Hill approve it.
The board was shaken by a bribery scandal last year that resulted in one staffer being federally charged and one member resigning. The reform legislation would make transparency-based and reporting changes, as well as creating specialized seats for experts in urban planning and climate change.
“The types of expertise introduced in the home-rule petition are not immediately evident in the resumes of confirmed and nominated members and alternates,” Wu wrote in the committee report this week.
The council is expected to vote on the board members in its meeting Wednesday. Wu said that the goal is to have new nominees ready for a vote by the next council meeting, which is Sept. 16. There’s one scheduled ZBA meeting between now and then.
“There’s a long history of people in power trying to label advocacy and hard work as ‘being political’ so they can dismiss it — avoid accountability and ignore community advocacy and demands for better leadership,” Wu told the Herald, insisting the council is “actively working to resolve the issue.”
Walsh had put forward Timothy Burke, Ann Beha, Konstantinos Ligris and Kerry Walsh for spots on the board. Wu seeks to reject all but Kerry Walsh — no relation to the mayor — whose nomination would also remain in committee until September.
There are normally seven slots for board members, plus six alternatives. Three of the board members and four alternative slots are empty, and the mayor has so far put forward these four four people — one last September and three in January.
Walsh, at his press conference on Tuesday, fumed about the “hundreds and hundreds of cases” that have built up in a backlog before the board, which has struggled to consistently have a quorum due to all the vacancies.
“If we don’t get these voted on, we won’t have a quorum, and it would really stop development in the city,” the mayor said referring to his nominees.
Walsh insisted, “These are the best candidates.”
Walsh’s office say there’s a backlog of more than 600 cases, including the JJ Carroll Boston Housing Authority redevelopment in Brighton, which refurbish 64 units and add 80 more of housing for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. The ZBA had to kick that can down the road until the fall, as the board couldn’t get a quorum to vote on it in a July 28 meeting.
Also at that meeting, the board couldn’t vote on a proposal to demolish a restaurant at 229-231 Bunker Hill St. in Charlestown and replace it with a new threeunit building.