City Council calls for more transparency from Wu over transportation projects

The Boston City Council is calling for increased transparency from the Wu administration over stalled transportation projects. 

The developments come after new reporting in The Boston Globe revealed that Mayor Michelle Wu is now requiring that most transit and road safety projects get her personal approval before moving forward. Many transportation projects have been slowed or completely stalled because of this policy, the Globe reported. 

The majority of the City Council is generally allied with Wu, making the increased pressure notable. Two of those allies, Council President Liz Breadon and Councilor Sharon Durkan, were the ones that sponsored hearing orders this week calling for more transparency. 

Wu’s office did not return a request for comment Thursday. 

The city’s participation in numerous transportation projects, from small scale sidewalk improvements to major “corridor-level” initiatives, has been indefinitely paused in recent months, according to Breadon’s hearing order. She cited “recent press coverage” as an indication that this pause amounts to a “de facto policy.” 

An estimated $200 million in transportation investments could be in jeopardy if these delays continue. Breadon’s hearing order specifically mentions MBTA projects like improvements to the Mattapan Line, the Green Line Transformation program, and the Orange Line Southwest Corridor Modernization project. 

The city is currently in the midst of a “challenging budget season,” Breadon said, citing “chaos” in Washington, rising costs, and limited revenue growth as reasons to be extra careful with external funding and cognizant of deadlines. 

Breadon said that her proposed hearing would focus on understanding what state and federal money is currently on the table for Boston-based transportation projects. She wants more information on which deadlines apply to these projects and what consequences the city faces if they are not met. 

“In these volatile times, we simply cannot afford to make a terrible situation even worse by squandering hundreds of millions of dollars in external funding through our own delay,” Breadon said. 

Breadon is hoping that a hearing will occur sometime in the next few weeks. Durkan signed on to support Breadon’s hearing order, alongside councilors Miniard Culpepper, Gabriela Coletta Zapata, John FitzGerald, Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune, Erin Murphy, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana, Ben Weber, and Brian Worrell. 

Durkan’s hearing order focused on “transportation philosophy, governance of street infrastructure, project status, and mechanisms for community engagement.” She also mentioned public reporting about policy shifts within the administration and turnover within the mayor’s so-called Streets Cabinet.

Former Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge announced his departure from the administration not long after Wu secured her reelection last November. Franklin-Hodge was a prominent member of Wu’s cabinet who often served as the public face of the mayor’s transportation agenda. 

Durkan called for a comprehensive update to the city’s transportation goals, something she said has not been done since the “Go Boston 2030” long-term plan was released in 2017. The city is currently collecting public feedback on how that plan is going. 

Durkan cast herself as one of the council’s “most progressive” members on transportation policy and said that this has often aligned with the goals of the Wu administration. 

But the time has come for the council to exert more influence, she added. 

“It is important for the council to exercise our oversight on what happens on our streets. I hope that we will come together and work towards alignment on our shared priorities,” Durkan said. 

Councilors Breadon, Culpepper, Coletta Zapata, FitzGerald, Pepén, Santana, Weber and Worrell signed on to Durkan’s hearing order. It was referred to committee, and Durkan said she would like to see a hearing scheduled as soon as possible.