I've only met Paul twice, but this is a win in my book. Although Paul does not specifically have a background in Housing or Economic Development (here's a link to his bio at MassInc.
http://www.massinc.org/About/Staff/Paul-McMorrow.aspx), he has worked closely with a number of progressive urban policy people in the city (particularly at the Dukakis Center at Northeastern although I'm sure elsewhere as well). I attended the Mayoral forum he moderated along with Stephanie Pollack concerning transportation and housing, (which took some lobbying for the candidates to attend) and I thought he presented well thought out questions and pushed the fairly well for the candidates to give real answers. Given his regional approach and advocacy for Chelsea/Revere/Everett, I'm not surprised that he would be recommended by Jay Ash,
In any case, I have to say I'm fairly impressed so far with the new administration's picks in terms of the Urban/Housing/Economic Development realm (I don't think transportation has been picked yet?). I guess the one criticism that could be leveled is that the they are all Boston centric (good for us, maybe not so much for the rest of the state?)
Within EOHED:
Jay Ash - Secretary
Paul McMorrow - Policy Director
Nam Pham - Assistant Secretary for Business Development (ran VietAID, a CDC that has been developing housing projects in dorchester)
Outisde EOHED:
Joel Barrera - Deputy Chief of Staff (formerly Deputy Director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council)
