A need for transparency brings me back to the airwaves

By Liam Day
October 22nd, 2008

It’s been a while. I apologize to my many fans (and by many I mean you, Petrillo; I know you’ve been desperately waiting for my next post) out there who have missed me since I last posted well over a month ago. Things around Pioneer’s office have been a little crazy. We’ve released 4 pieces of research in just the last three weeks alone (reports and policy briefs on regionalizing local services, declining school enrollment in Massachusetts, voc-tech education, and the budget cuts the Governor should have offered instead of the ones he did), put up online a GIC estimator for Revere so that the city’s employees and retirees can calculate how much they might save if it were to purchase health insurance through the state, and on top of all that we’re gearing up to celebrate Pioneer’s 20th anniversary with a star-studded gala November 13th. Let’s just say we’ve been a little busy.

Nevertheless, the fact that the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s budget is not available to a sitting city councilor, never mind the public at large, has me wired up. In the past, I’ve defended the BRA as a necessary, though sometimes blunt, tool with which to cut through the development process in the city. But keeping its books closed to outsiders only lends credence to opponents who see the agency as unfriendly to the city’s residents and neighborhoods and completely unaccountable for its actions. The BRA needs to open its books up for public inspection. No ands, ifs or buts.

Coincidentally, or maybe not (I don’t know, the Globe editorial staff might be that good), today’s paper also has an op-ed on the flimsiness of the state’s public records law. Too many Massachusetts’ politicians and public managers don’t seem to get it. Even as they moan about Question 1, they display little evidence they comprehend one of the primary motivations that drive such ballot measure – simple distrust. Toothless public records laws and a lack of transparency – and a necessarily corresponding lack of accountability, for how can there be accountability without transparency – only engender more distrust.