Boston City Councilor-at-large Michelle Wu released a plan Monday to reform Boston’s zoning and development process. At the heart of Wu’s plan is her belief that for a true change in Boston’s development process, the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) needs to be abolished. Wu said the agency’s lack of long-term planning and focus on private development has contributed to Boston's affordable housing crisis and racial inequity.
“Boston has the resources to be solving these problems, but the way that we are developing and the way that we are growing is actually making all of these problems worse,” Wu said during an interview with Boston Public Radio Monday.
Critical to Wu’s argument is that the BPDA was set up at a time when the city was trying to destroy slums and bring in private development to raise property values. Wu said she believes that today, the agency works more for private interests than for the community. She is calling for the creation of a planning department jointly overseen by the city council and the mayor that will, she hopes, incorporate more input from city residents.
“I think the best thing that we can do in this moment is to leave behind an agency that was clearly designed for a different time in Boston’s history,” Wu said.
