May 25 - June 1, 2000
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The quiet man
New Boston Redevelopment Authority head Mark Maloney has a great reputation in affordable-housing management. But what kind of BRA director will he make?
by Ben Geman
With a spread of shrimp, fresh mozzarella topped with prosciutto, and other goodies, last week's groundbreaking for the renovation of 470 Atlantic Avenue into a glassy waterfront office building was pretty swank. And why not? The groundbreaking summed up the rosiness of Boston development circa 2000 -- there's money flowing in, energy is focused on the waterfront, and the new development promises to reinvigorate the harbor.
An incident at the groundbreaking could also come to symbolize new Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) director Mark Maloney's place at City Hall: the soft-spoken Maloney wielded a pretty big stick at the event -- a sledgehammer, in fact -- which he swung at an interior wall alongside his boss and friend Mayor Tom Menino and developers Lelio Marino and Ken Anderson. But of the whacks taken by the four men, Maloney's made the smallest hole.
Will he make a similarly underwhelming impression at City Hall? In his first three months on the job, Maloney, who came to the position from a stellar career in affordable-housing management, has kept a relatively low profile -- in stark contrast with his predecessor, Tom O'Brien, who clashed with Menino before he was ousted last year. Uncertainties surround Maloney as he settles in. Chief among them: whether he can translate his housing savvy into results for the city, and whether he will be able to take charge enough to guide development under a mayor who's made himself the point person on important projects. As the area's housing crisis rages and its development booms, can Maloney make sure the answer to these questions is "yes"?
When one local attorney who works with real-estate developers heard that Menino had tapped Maloney as BRA head, he was a little curious. " `Who?' That was the response," he says. "No one knew who he was." But in the less flashy world of affordable housing, Maloney is something of a titan. His firm, Maloney Properties, has a good reputation and boasts a portfolio of more than 6000 apartments. Most of them are subsidized and located in the Boston area. Housing activists say his company is the most progressive in its field.Tall and ruddy with silver hair, Maloney, 49, has worked in the private and public sectors, doing stints at organizations such as the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency and Greater Boston Community Development (now called Community Builders) before founding Maloney Properties in 1981.
Maloney, who grew up in Newton and majored in sociology at Holy Cross, attributes his career in affordable housing to the unlikely fusion of his interests in social justice and real estate, the latter of which he developed as a child. "It's pretty hokey," he says, standing in Brighton's Veronica Smith Senior Center moments before participating in a panel discussion on housing. "I'm interested in real estate because I'm one of 10 children who grew up in a house that was too small." His family looked at other places, he says, but could not afford to move.
Not surprisingly, affordable housing is high on Maloney's agenda today. "A healthy community has people living in it. When I look at areas like the waterfront and the Fenway, I want to make sure our interest is in who is going to live there and work there, and that comes from my work in the neighborhoods," Maloney says.
He adds: "My hope is that the BRA and DND [Department of Neighborhood Development] will work in conjunction so we create healthy communities that include housing and retail and recreation in a way that does not make people move, that doesn't create such a vibrant market economy that people have to cash in on it. We know that there are more and more smaller households. We want them to live in the city, but don't want them to create an economy where they are driving out our family households, people who are older -- we really think the variety of people who live in the city is one of its biggest strengths."
To hear the Menino administration and its allies talk, Maloney's selection as BRA head is more evidence that Menino, who's upped funding for housing and announced several new housing initiatives over the last year, is making affordable housing a priority throughout city government. That doesn't mean everything is cozy between Maloney and housing activists. This week he's been the public voice of the city's resistance as advocates call to speed the "linkage" payments required of commercial developers for affordable housing, and to close a loophole in the program. But his housing knowledge should still make his tenure a net plus on the issue. "Clearly, housing is one of the front-burner issues and continues to be, and Mark has an impeccable reputation on that," says David Passafaro, Menino's former chief of staff, whose name was mentioned in some circles as a possible replacement for O'Brien. "He also has some terrific contacts and interaction and experience with community groups. Mark brings to the table a lot of things that the mayor was looking for."
"He's a very capable guy who does not come out of the wheeler-dealer world of downtown financial development, and that may be a good thing," adds Michael Kane, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants. "He can better oversee and manage it [development] without having too many [insider] relationships."
But it's unclear whether Maloney will get the chance to do so when Menino is so closely involved with the development process. Major projects -- like Fenway Park -- go chiefly through the fifth floor of City Hall, where Menino's office is located, not the ninth, where Maloney works.Unlike O'Brien, Maloney may not be the type to stake out his turf aggressively. O'Brien went down in flames for letting his $90,000-a-year chief of staff buy a below-market-rate waterfront condo through a program meant for lower-income buyers. But despite his poor judgment in that instance, he was for the most part a smart operator, and he managed to carve out an independent course for himself. An up-and-comer who was only in his mid 30s, O'Brien was plainly ambitious, mentioned as a future candidate for higher office, and willing to talk to reporters without first checking the party line.
All of this irked Menino. And it seems that in appointing Maloney to the top BRA post, the mayor has gone out of his way to ensure against having to deal with someone who's hungry for the spotlight. "He [Maloney] is not a `Me! Me! Me! I am over here!' kind of personality," notes a friend of Maloney's. (But, friends warn, even if his manner is low-key, don't underestimate him.)
Plus, Maloney comes to government after a successful private-sector career; usually it's the other way around. He had already decided to leave Maloney Properties before his appointment, something he says he had mentioned to the mayor when Menino attended a fundraiser for the City School, a nonprofit service center for teens where Maloney is president of the board of directors. Still youthful, Maloney is nonetheless closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and he probably doesn't see City Hall as a steppingstone to higher office.
"I am not sure he is someone we will see trying to have a high profile in the city," says Samuel Tyler, director of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a city-finance watchdog group. "I think that Mark will be effective in working at the BRA and particularly behind the scenes with the mayor, and the mayor will listen to him and be influenced by him. I don't see, at least at this stage, Mark as someone who, when there is a disagreement, will take an independent course from the mayor."
At any rate, in a development boom like this one, which is going to have an impact on what the city looks like generations from now, it would be naive to think that Menino (or any mayor) wouldn't remain the captain of city development. But different mayors have taken different approaches to the BRA, and Menino's is quite distinct from, say, that of his predecessor, Raymond Flynn. Flynn gave BRA director Stephen Coyle plenty of space, notes Tyler. And this, in turn, stood in marked contrast to the approach Flynn's predecessor, Kevin White, adopted with the various BRA directors -- such as real-estate developer Robert Walsh -- who served during his tenure.
Now some say the pendulum has swung back too far. "Tom Menino is the head of the BRA," says former Eighth District city councilor Tom Keane, who writes a city-government column for the Boston Herald. "If I were advising the mayor, and believe me I'm not, I would tell him to back off." According to Keane, when the mayor is the point person on development, it makes it harder for the agency to address "non-political" concerns, and it's impossible for the mayor to be an arbiter when he's pushing a project. As an example, Keane cites the controversy over Fan Pier, where Menino has been solidly behind plans proposed by the Pritzker family and has refused to consider seriously a late-breaking proposal by developer Frank McCourt.
Maloney appears to be both well informed and cautious. He voices support for the mayor's development agenda. At recent public appearances -- such as a city-council hearing on the South Boston Waterfront and a housing panel at the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation's annual meeting -- Maloney strays little from the party line and reads frequently from notes. Yet he disagrees with people who say he won't get the chance to play a leadership role. "The mayor would not have hired me if not for my leadership abilities demonstrated over many years," he says. "It is not a question of whether I have the ability to lead the way."He [Menino] has never interfered in what the BRA director's job is," he adds. "It has never been an issue."
Having held his new position for only three months, Maloney has had little time to craft his own identity at the BRA. But his old job may provide clues to what form his directorship could eventually take.
Maloney's leadership style at Maloney Properties emphasized the importance of teamwork. He made Maloney Properties into a democracy of sorts, with the owners -- the majority of whom are women -- making decisions by consensus if possible and, if not, by majority vote. Ownership stake -- how much stock in the company one of the partners had, for example -- wasn't a factor. "It was so the larger stockholders couldn't gang up on and override other people," recalls Sandra Henriquez, head of the Boston Housing Authority, who was a partner at Maloney Properties before entering city government in 1996. "It was a place where everyone worked together to build consensus to establish the direction of the company. It was wonderful to know that every idea was shared equally and fully discussed."
This is a spirit Maloney wants to bring to the BRA -- he talks about including neighborhood "stakeholders" in planning. He sees the BRA as an enlightened monarchy. "My regular pattern, if you will, is to develop consensus around issues, and mostly do that to make sure I am properly educated before I make a decision," he says. "It's to make sure the issues are on the table so I can make a decision and move forward."
Maloney also wants to concentrate on a topic that's on the lips of many BRA critics: the agency's planning, or its lack thereof. Over the past decade, the BRA has seen its ability to look to the long term slashed along with its staff. In 1990, the BRA had 275 staff members, with 73 in planning and zoning, according to the mayor's press office. After a decade of reductions, the number is down to a total of 104, with 35 in planning and zoning, and job postings out for five more.
It's not enough, and Maloney has vowed to make the hiring of a chief planner a priority. The city has announced formation of a new 17-person panel to look far and wide for someone to fill the position. And Maloney says that the ongoing Roxbury "master planning" process is a model he looks forward to replicating in other neighborhoods, such as Allston-Brighton. "We will be elevating planning so it truly sets the stage for what will be happening in a variety of communities," he says.
If he's as committed to planning as he appears, it will be welcome -- and it is badly needed. "This is a critical time for the city of Boston, and there are some major decisions on the horizon that will affect the built environment for the next 50 years," says Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, who helped Menino evaluate the BRA after O'Brien's departure. A smart guy with a good career already behind him, Maloney can flourish at the BRA. But that won't happen unless the mayor gives him and the BRA space, so that Maloney doesn't find City Hall as cramped as, say, the house he grew up in.
Ben Geman can be reached at bgeman[a]phx.com.
