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Boston's Morning Newsletter
It's official: Boston has created a new planning department. Now what?
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To the news:
A change of plans: It’s official. Boston has a new planning department — or at least it will soon. Mayor Michelle Wu signed an ordinance yesterday to establish a new city planning department after it was approved by the City Council last week. As WBUR’s Simón Rios reports, the move allows the city to take over functions long held by the Boston Planning and Development Agency.
- How is it different? The BPDA will still separately exist and continue to oversee large developments. But according to Wu, the planning department — which will absorb much of the BPDA’s staff and be under the mayor’s control— allows the city to align housing and development with other mayoral priorities, like climate resiliency, equity and affordability. Wu also says residents will have more say at the start of planning, rather than later in the process (though critics argue those details are hazy).
- What’s next? The new planning department will start work on July 1, with funding from the coming city budget. It will be led by Boston’s planning chief, Arthur Jemison.
- What will it focus on? Jemison listed the department’s priorities during a press conference yesterday: “The modernization of the city’s outdated zoning code. Modernizing our development review process. Planning and rezoning our neighborhood squares and main streets to allow for greater diversity of housing options. Establishing a design vision that reflects the diversity of our city and its built environment.”
On the radar: Though its arrival may be delayed, there’s still a messy, multi-day winter storm on its way to Massachusetts. Expect widespread rain and sleet to move in this afternoon. But the storm won’t peak until overnight and tomorrow morning.
- Will we get snow? Not likely inside the I-95 belt — though evening commuters could encounter sleet. Meteorologist Danielle Noyes says any snow will be “elevation dependent.” The Worcester Hills, north-central Massachusetts and parts of the Berkshires could see up to half a foot.
- See for yourself: Click here to check out Noyes’ latest snow, wind gust and rain prediction maps for Massachusetts. (And for spring skiers looking up at New Hampshire or Maine, here are those expected totals, too. You’ll be pleased.)
No show: Sen. Ed Markey is hosting a Senate hearing in Boston today on Steward Health Care’s financial insecurity. But don’t expect to see Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre in attendance. Despite multiple invites, de la Torre and other Steward executives have declined to testify at the hearing, according to Markey’s office. “It is a clear reflection [of] how Steward has failed to show up for the communities they promised to serve,” Markey said.
- What you will see at the hearing: A lot of scrutiny of the rise of for-profit companies in the health care space. Read WBUR reporter Deborah Becker’s full preview here.
Meanwhile: Staff at two of the state’s largest hospital systems will no longer report every baby born with traces of drugs in their system to state child welfare investigators. The move bucks a state requirement addiction experts have chafed at for years.
- The new rules: As WBUR’s Martha Bebinger reports, Mass General Brigham and Boston Medical Center have changed their reporting guidelines to focus on an imminent risk of child abuse or neglect. Dr. Sarah Wakeman, a substance use disorder expert at Mass General, says reporting parents whose babies show signs of medications used to treat an addiction — like buprenorphine — could harm the whole family. “There’s a huge potential for a chilling effect if people are getting reported for child abuse or neglect for engaging in recommended medical treatment,” Wakeman said. Hospital officials also say differing policies at its facilities have led to disparities, especially for women of color.
P.S.— Just in! Rep. Ayanna Pressley formally announced this morning she’ll run for another term serving her Boston-area congressional district. Watch her reelection launch video here.
