Walsh Administration Retooling Troubled Boston Redevelopment Authority

Boston, MA - After years of internal and external critiques, Boston's city planning division is seeking an identity overhaul, according to a press release from Mayor Martin Walsh's office Tuesday.

The rebranding effort comes after a city hall-initiated audit last summer depicted the Boston Redevelopment Authority in a state of organizational disarray. Moreover, the audit found, the authority does very little actual city planning, compared to peer cities. For a place experiencing a real estate boom like Boston's, that level of dysfunction bodes especially ill.

Hence, the rebrand. In the press release Tuesday, Walsh said the organizational overhaul's goal is "better serving the people of Boston and inspiring greater trust and confidence in the city's planning agency." The initiative establishes an identity, mission and values for the authority, all of which the 2015 audit identified as lacking.

To that end, the redevelopment authority will begin seeking a strategic adviser Monday. Pending board of director approval, he or she will be tasked with assisting in the development of an organizational identity and brand strategy that builds on the ongoing reforms, the press release said.

"While we have implemented significant change at the Boston Redevelopment Authority over the past two years, this is another opportunity to improve city government and take a hard look at an agency that has a difficult legacy to overcome," Walsh said in the release.