BRA rebuts Channel 25 report before it even airs

By adamg on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 6:04pm

Not a clue what Channel 25 and Commonwealth Magazine will be saying about some city affordable housing program, but here's the BRA's retort. OK, looks like the BRA is responding to teaser tweets from a Channel 25 reporter questioning whether city workers get an unfair advantage in a housing lottery.

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Comments

On tonight

By anon on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 6:15pm.

Per Commonwealth Magazine's site

The BRA is indeed one of the

By zingbaby on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 6:20pm.

The BRA is indeed one of the biggest Menino scamjobs in the city of Boston.

Surprise, surprise

By anon-a-mouse on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 7:16am.

Kineavy's cousin (also named Michael) got a half-million dollar condo in the north end for $220,000...

It's happened before

By Ian Lamont on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 8:02am.

I saw the report last night. I believe the estimates are probably a little low -- the TV report said that the workers have to make the disclosure, but how many failed to do so?

The Commonwealth report is here:

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Investigations...

FWIW, I remember a similar scandal over waterfront developments back in the '80s or '90s. Connected people were getting the set-asides. See http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-5625561...

Or maybe..

By 02119 on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 11:51am.

Rather than jump to conclusions, could it be that City workers are more familiar with this program than other segments of City? The article in Commonwealth magazine notes that one development near Roslindale Square didn't even have enough people apply to the lottery. That seems to suggest that the program may not be very well known to a lot of people. The article additionally notes that most city workers are required to live in the City--a fairly big incentive for someone to seek out programs that enable them to do that. The article goes on to raise the ire of the readers by pointing out the many of these units are "in the desirable waterfront neighborhoods of Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston." Guess what, that is where the developers are building them.

If the total was 40% of this BRA affordable housing stock was filled with City workers who only represent 6.8 of the Boston Based workforce, then it would be pretty fishy. But a less than 11%? If people really want to get their dander up, they should focus on the fact that this program lags behind other cities in creating affordable housing stock (10 times less than Denver).

Isn't there a housing shortage?

By Stevil on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 2:41pm.

Your comment "one development near Roslindale Square didn't even have enough people apply to the lottery" would seem to indicate not. I don't think there's anything overly nefarious going on here - but I would venture a guess that these properties aren't getting marketed properly and so the general public rarely hears about the opportunity or the process. One more of the benefits that are "available to the general public" if you know where to look - but somehow only the City Hall insiders know about them and the system is set up to make it easier for the insiders to get information and access.