Menino to appoint Peter Meade director of BRA

My thoughts:

New BRA Director Peter Meade Is Simply Mediocre
By John Keith, Patch.com

Mayor Menino has picked Back Bay resident Peter Meade as the new director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. This is not a bold or inspiring choice by the mayor.

On Tuesday, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced the appointment of Peter Meade as the new director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). The move comes two weeks after its current director, Thomas Palmieri, submitted his resignation. Palmieri?s last day will be May 1.

The newspapers have been full of effusive praise for Mr. Meade, a Back Bay resident and born-and-bred Bostonian. He sincerely sounds as though he's a great guy.

Buried deep in each article, however, was the fact that Meade has no redevelopment experience. He has worked in both the public and private sectors, notably at Boston City Hall and for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts but never, from what I can tell, in construction, architecture, or real estate.

Compare his resume with that of out-going director John Palmieri. Palmieri came to Boston after spending several years working on housing initiatives in Hartford, Connecticut, Charlotte, North Carolina, and after 18-years in Providence, Rhode Island under its then-Mayor, Buddy Cianci.

Although the Mayor remarked that Meade ?knows Boston? and that, ?He can call any CEO in Boston, and they will pick up the phone?, I don?t see how that qualifies him for the position of director. The Boston Business Journal estimates that Boston has 242 commercial projects worth $27.5 billion currently under review, covering 90-million square feet of space. That the city of Boston needs someone with the knowledge and experience of development, its funding and processes, should seem obvious to just about everyone.

The list of un-built projects in Boston is long; there?s Filene's, the hundreds of acres in the Seaport District, the hundreds of acres that Harvard University is sitting on in Allston, and developments new and in-process for the Massachusetts Turnpike, to name just a few.

Meade?s recent experiences include chairman of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and president of the Edward M Kennedy Institute for the US Senate. Neither project is complete - Meade left the Kennedy museum before it broke ground, while the Greenway Conservancy is still foundering in the wake of his departure. (The Conservancy this week resorted to asking for $5 donations from people so it could plant some rosebushes.)

Seeing as Meade will begin his job at the end of his professional career (starting his job at age 65 whereas Palmieri was just 56 years old), you can only wonder why Menino chose him. A mayor who was planning major new initiatives would want someone by his side who had grand visions and was up-to-date on everything that?s going on, far and wide, in regard to real estate, development, and municipal growth and prosperity.

Meade fits none of that criteria.

In my opinion, this was about as ?safe? a move as could be by Mayor Menino. I?d even call it ?lazy?. I think the Mayor only wanted to find a ?place-holder? to ride out the rest of the mayor?s current tenure. Any new mayor of Boston will want to put his/her own pick on the board of the BRA. If the Mayor was planning on sticking around awhile, he would have chosen someone else, someone more suitable for a city of our size. I think this move proves he?s no longer thinking very far ahead.

With this pick, the Mayor has guaranteed pretty much nothing will happen until his reign is over.
Click to expand...

http://patch.com/A-g0Rf
 
And, the Globe's thoughts:

Half of the right credentials
Boston Globe editorial, April 7

MAYOR MENINO didn?t even pretend to conduct a national search for a new chief of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Instead, he tapped Peter Meade ? a well-known civic leader with precious little real estate and development experience.

An effective head of the city?s powerful planning and development agency requires both management and technical skills. In Meade, the city gets half of what it needs.

Meade has local knowledge to spare. His consensus-building skills should soften some of the criticism of the BRA as arrogant and dismissive of neighborhood concerns. The former executive for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts also boasts extensive contacts in the city built over decades of public and nonprofit service. That should help him when it comes time to woo businesses to emerging areas of the city, including the new Innovation District on the South Boston waterfront. And Meade, 65, enjoys a strong relationship with the mayor, which he?ll need to counter Menino?s reputation for meddling in even routine development matters.

What?s worrisome is Meade?s lack of background in the financial and technical aspects of real estate and development. He?ll need to rely heavily on a staff of city planning and development experts ? some quite new to their positions ? when confronted with complex proposals.

Boston is coping with several stalled development projects, including the redevelopment of the Filene?s site in Downtown Crossing and multi-tower proposals at the current sites of the Government Center Garage and Harbor Garage along the Greenway. It?s not clear how someone with so little real estate experience will help to address these projects.

Meade?s experience as chairman of the Greenway Conservancy and head of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate shows he?s not afraid of new challenges. That?s important, because compensating for his lack of development expertise will be a challenge from day one.
Click to expand...

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/downtown/articles/2011/04/07/half_of_the_right_credentials/
 
bbfen said:
Maybe because he's the Mayor's friend he'll have the balls to tell Menino when he's wrong. Maybe he'll override Menino's decision. I'm withholding judgement but am not optomistic. Even a year or two could set Boston back significantly.
Click to expand...

These guys don't get anywhere by having guts. They are sycophants and masters of the cocktail party circuit. Kissing someone's ass, and wedging one's nose as far up it as possible, is the specialty of these people. Being enthusiastically willing to be shat on the face, wipe it off, and smile like a grinning idiot while expressing thanks, is what makes them indispensable to the people in power. They are the ultimate fall guys, which get to mooch off the elite, as long as they are willing to fall on the right sword if called upon.
 
Lurker said:
These guys don't get anywhere by having guts. They are sycophants and masters of the cocktail party circuit. Kissing someone's ass, and wedging one's nose as far up it as possible, is the specialty of these people. Being enthusiastically willing to be shat on the face, wipe it off, and smile like a grinning idiot while expressing thanks, is what makes them indispensable to the people in power. They are the ultimate fall guys, which get to mooch off the elite, as long as they are willing to fall on the right sword if called upon.
Click to expand...

^^^^ LOL
We'll this simply sums up Peter Meade.

Lurker, I would hate to be on your bad side. Brutal.
 
And, from Joan Vennochi.

A ?yes? man for the mayor?s city
By Joan Vennochi
Globe Columnist / April 7, 2011

PETER MEADE is a ?Hub fixture?? ? sort of like a cozy, old lamp that gets taken in and out of storage and moved from room to room.

A been-there, done-that, go-to guy, he has been a radio talk show host, a public relations man, and a member of assorted civic boards. Over the past six years, Meade moved from head of corporate affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts to chair of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy to president and CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

Now, he?s Mayor Thomas M. Menino?s pick to head the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

To understand what Meade?s newest job title really means, consider this account of the press conference called to announce his nomination. When Meade was asked why he would return to Boston City Hall ? where he worked 34 years ago for another mayor ? his new boss interrupted and answered the question. ?Me,?? Menino said.

?He?s right,?? Meade quickly replied.

He?ll be saying that a lot as BRA director.

For better or worse, Boston development is all about ?Me,?? the mayor who is well into his fifth term. As defined by ?Mayor Me,?? the development director?s job means carrying out his wishes. Given what is euphemistically described as Menino?s hands-on style, it makes sense for him to pick a Hub fixture who knows his wishes and will carry them out. It also helps that Meade knows the other Hub fixtures.

They are all part of what David D?Alessandro delighted in referring to as ?this aquarium we call Boston?? when he was CEO of John Hancock Financial Services. A decade ago, D?Alessandro was describing a town in which the same fish swim endlessly around in circles. Long after he sold Hancock to a Canadian insurance giant, many of the same fish are still gliding around the sometimes murky waters. Meade is one of them. He and others thrive because Menino is still the big sea turtle floating at the top of the tank.

This local aquarium is filled with decent people who love Boston. They also love being big fish in a small metropolis that, every day, feels like it?s shrinking. The sensation of glass walls closing in has nothing to do with population. It?s the byproduct of the years of out-of-town gobbling up of banks, retailers, and insurance companies. The new Boston has better restaurants, but fewer Boston-based CEOS. Today, corporate Boston?s biggest players run nonprofits or own sports teams.

It?s claustrophobic and incestuous at every intersection of business and politics, and especially where City Hall meets economic development.

A mayor for life comes with an entourage for life. Menino?s entourage encompasses a circle of developers and consultants whose projects routinely win approval. Those relationships fueled the building of towers, hotels, and condominiums. When Menino last ran for reelection, The Globe identified six developers who built 1 out of every 4 square feet constructed by private developers since 1996. The mayor?s cadre of favored developers included partners James G. Keefe and Patrick Lee, Anthony Pangaro, Joseph Fallon, Steven Samuels, Edward Linde, and Edward A. Fish. Between them, they developed, as the Globe put it, ?9 million square feet of glass and steel and concrete, the equivalent of five John Hancock towers.??

The boom years are history for now. Menino ? and Meade, as his latest development alter ego ? must deal with challenges associated with an economic downturn and its aftermath. Will Downtown Crossing and the Greenway be eternal dead spots, or can they be energized? That takes a new perspective, and if not new eyes, at least old eyes willing to look at those sites in a fresh way. Will the favored circle of developers ever break open to give others a hearing when it comes to building Boston?s future? That means considering the possibility of getting to yes with developer Don Chiofaro, instead of starting off with no.

A Hub fixture like Meade brings institutional memory, and a deep knowledge of where Boston has been. Getting it somewhere new takes more than moving around the furniture. It means lighting the way, not just providing background illumination.
Click to expand...

Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...les/2011/04/07/a_yes_man_for_the_mayors_city/
 
No High Hopes for Menino?s New BRA Chief
By: Rachel Slade

In appointing Peter Meade as the new BRA director, Mayor Menino exposes his deeply cynical soul. How a city gets shaped according to Menino has less to do with expertise, talent, and desire, and much more to do with an all-powerful central agency that grants or withholds permission to build based on? powerful connections?

See, Meade isn?t a city planner, he?s a ?businessman.? He?s one of those executive types who moves from job to job, lightly touching down before eyeing the next exciting gig. His latest post, which lasted only 18 months, entailed shepherding along an ambitious museum project dedicated to the Senate for the Kennedy family. There?s no building yet, and very little information about what?s happened during his tenure, but you can bet that he shook a lot of hands. Likewise, his time as the executive director of the Greenway was equally unremarkable. For his business savvy and coveted Rolodex, exactly zero projects came to fruition on our new acres of green ? and not for lack of proposals. So this is the guy who?s going to hail in a new, innovative era for Boston?

Just for reference, most (and possibly all) American cities have planning agencies. Planning is the operative word here. These agencies spend most of their time refining the height and location of buildings in the abstract ? generally removed from the political machine that may or may not enable development. That?s how you get the right mix of density and open space, low buildings and skyscrapers, that defines a place and gives it character. Here, the BRA is so mixed up with the power and money that it?s choked to death on countless promising projects. Big-time developers, once they get a good whiff of the BRA mechanism, walk run to the nearest exit.

For cynical Menino, building is about wheeling and dealing, and getting personal, and ultimately overlooking major components (like financial health, in the case of the Filene?s project). In Meade, he has found a welcome ally, a guy who digs power over progress. No visionary here, just another operator who likes the machine just the way it is.


http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2011/04/11/no-high-hopes-for-meninos-new-bra-chief/
 
If it's any consolation I can't possibly see him running for another term in 2014 when he'll be 71 going on 72. He's had enough minor physical ailments the last few years that the toll of trying to go until he's 76 starts becoming a war of attrition against his own body.

And there really isn't an heir apparent because he falls out with the top dog in City Council every few years and generally reshuffles with keep-away maneuvers anyone in his stead who starts showing a little ambition. Marie St. Fleur appears to be the flavor of the month, but no flavor of the month has ever lasted a full Menino term without falling out of Hizzonor's favor. Not real optimistic there won't be a setup by '14, but the cupboard isn't exactly full of future options under his thum if you look at the age of a lot of his closest advisors. When he passes on reelection it's going to be a flood of younger blood vying...folks who came of age during the 90's renaissance instead of the same tired old neighborhood caricatures.


(Or at least that's what I tell myself in naive hope that something maybe will come along to breathe some life into this calcified City Hall environment.)
 
There had been talk of Menino not finishing his term. I would not expect that until after Filene's has been solved. Does the head of the city council always then become mayor, as had Menino? I worry that Meade could be appointed. The article calls Meade a businessman, he's not a business man, he's a life long political hack. He might be the right man for the job but I would be very surprised. I hope I'm wrong.

Once Menino is out of office we can all head down the the Menino Convention Center in South Boston
 
I met mumbles at the Men's Event/Fenway Health event on Saturday. Seemed nice enough and he got a standing ovation after his speech. He's been a great liason for our community, but that still doesn't mean he should be appointing unqualified people to positions. He knows tons of people, if your going to hire a cronie, i'm surprised he couldn't just appoint one of his buddies who actually is qualified.

He also was using a cane and had a hard time walking.....
 
Lurker and John Keith,

I would like to hear your thoughts on our Mayor accomplishments for the last 20 years?

Good and Bad.


IMHO: I think it's just time for new energy. I feel anybody who is in politics over 20 years becomes corrupt to the core. They just can't help it. The Mayor probably went into politics with good intentions but overtime the power just gets to your head.
 
This guy needs to leave office...NOW! You can tell power is getting into his head if he is calling a ban of sugary drinks on city property.
 
TheRifleman said:
Lurker and John Keith,

I would like to hear your thoughts on our Mayor accomplishments for the last 20 years?

Good and Bad.


IMHO: I think it's just time for new energy. I feel anybody who is in politics over 20 years becomes corrupt to the core. They just can't help it. The Mayor probably went into politics with good intentions but overtime the power just gets to your head.
Click to expand...

I.e. Gaddafi
 
There was a bit reported in the Courant a couple of issues back that I wished I had saved that is a good illustration of the way the BRA deals with the neighborhoods. This concerned the W hotel, but I didn't see it in that thread, and in any event it is probably more relevant here.

The article detailed the complaints of the former President of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association that the W failed to meet any of the "mitigation" commitments made in return for neighborhood support. Although the BVNA called attention to this, the BRA signed off on the certificate of occupancy and declared the project done. Indeed, the BRA flaks went further, insisting that all of the commitments were honored. Mostly, what the neighborhood wanted related to some minor efforts to improve the streetscape of Warrenton Street - when the project was proposed, the issue in the neighborhood was "please don't just have a wall and a loading dock on Warrenton."

Now the irony is, this gentleman and several other past presidents of BVNA aren't exactly garden variety NIMBYs, and several active residents have even contributed to Menino in the past. BVNA leadership campaigned on behalf of Columbus Center, they signed off on 3x permitted zoning height for a building on Stuart Street, etc. They were OK with Loews/W if some street-level design issues were addressed. This view gained support, but not without some dissent - Bay Village has several long-time residents who have lived in the neighborhood since the 50s and 60s and distrust the BRA deeply. They resent the Radisson that destroyed the street grid in the '70s, didn't like the prioritization of cars over people in the Four Seasons project in the '80s and One Charles in the '00s. They see the BRA as an almost Soviet entity, brutal and corrupt to the core. The old-timers' view: the BRA never keeps its promises and the renderings never match the final product.

Now, of course, the old-timers are dishing out a big helping of "I told you so." Obviously, the W was built at a difficult economic moment, but before the city sunk it's own money into this project, couldn't it at least have tried to nail down the details? Instead, the rather elegant original Rawn design was stripped and value-engineered to death, the garage entry alignment was simplified to the detriment of Warrenton, and the little streetlights, etc. sought by the neighborhood were simply expunged from the record.

Given the economic climate, perhaps some in the neighborhood could ... very, very, reluctantly ... accept some degree of dumbing down. But what really sticks in people's throats is the BRA's reluctance to admit anything has changed or that they have welched on their agreements. History is simply re-written. What you saw with your own eyes never was. They really ARE Soviet in style and substance, crashing forward without heed to friend or foe, without care that neighborhood interactions are a repeated-play game.

This is how reactionary NIMBYs are created ... after multiple battles with Soviet evil, there's a strong tendency just to say NO to everything.

Which brings us to Meade: I hoped the BRA would get it's Gorbachev. I pray for the fall of the "pre-fab curtain" behind which good design and urbanism are brutally repressed. I shudder whenever an apparently intelligent person like Kairos Shen utters complete inanities in support of the regime that can only be the result of torture, and I mourn for the nameless dissidents who have been purged. Sadly, resume and public comments, it's clear that Meade won't be our Gorbachev. He's Andropov, perhaps Chernenko.
 
Couple brief points:

I stopped standing and applauding the Mayor at the Men's Event several years ago. More than a personal statement, I was often too drunk to stand.

I was talking to a reporter today from Boston.com and she asked me why the South End was better today than a decade or two ago. I gave a couple thoughts off the cuff and had to stop myself because I was about to compliment the Mayor.

Yeah, he did a bunch of stuff.
 
In the hood,

Enjoyed your post. It does seem good urban planning has been marginalized at the BRA and the appointment of Meade certaintly doesn't inspire confidence that matters will improve in the near term.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top