Politics/ Transportation

Wu taking unusual approach with MBTA board appointment

Invites public to recommend someone or submit a resume

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BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu is taking an unconventional approach in appointing a person to represent Boston on the MBTA board of directors.

The Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey approved a fiscal 2024 budget in August that expands the T board from seven to nine members, adding a representative from Boston appointed by Wu and another appointee of the governor.

Instead of selecting someone from a list of candidates assembled privately by the mayor or her staff, Wu is inviting members of the public to recommend someone for the volunteer position or recommend themselves by submitting a resume.

“We’re looking for a Boston resident and T rider to help represent Boston’s needs and agenda in the governance of the MBTA. It’s a four-year volunteer position with several board meetings or subcommittee meetings each month,” Wu said in a substack article she wrote outlining her plan. 

Nothing would prevent Wu from picking a more conventional candidate. The mayor has several people on her staff who could easily fill the bill, including Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Boston’s chief of streets; Chris Osgood, a former chief of streets who now serves as Wu’s senior advisor on infrastructure; and Tiffany Chu, the mayor’s chief of staff who previously served as CEO of Remix, a transportation software company and before that commissioner of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment.

But the tone of Wu’s comments suggests she’s willing to roll the dice and appoint someone who emerges from the public engagement process – even if it’s an unknown with little experience.

The only requirements are that the person be a resident of Boston, a public transit rider, someone “connected to communities of transit riders, including employees, customers, and students;” and a person committed to “high quality, reliable, and affordable public transportation as a core strategy of economic growth, cultural vibrancy, and quality of life.”

Wu clearly has an agenda. “We need collaboration to deliver gold-standard rapid transit bus service to match the new infrastructure on Blue Hill Avenue; an expansion of the Silver Line to better serve Charlestown on Rutherford Avenue connecting to Kendall Square; bus network improvements to bring direct transit service that the patients and workers in Longwood Medical Area deserve,” she said in the Substack article. “And we need to move faster on improving bus service and reliability on every street in Boston, connecting the Red and Blue Lines to make thousands of regional trips per week faster by subway than by car, and electrifying the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line to transform our current diesel commuter rail trains into fast and frequent regional rail.”

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Bruce Mohl

Editor, CommonWealth
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About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

The deadline for resumes, suggestions, and comments is Tuesday. Wu, who sat in on the MBTA’s August board meeting last week, said the new appointee will be selected prior to the next meeting on September 28.

“You all have no idea how excited I am to be here,” she said last week. “This is one of my life-bucket items.”