三年半前，时任波士顿市议员的吴恬敏(Michelle Wu)首次提出了改造波士顿规划与发展局(Boston Planning and Development Agency)的计划。如今，波士顿市议会朝着实现市长的愿景迈出了第一步，即重组波士顿的建筑方式。
周三，议员们以11票赞成、2票反对的投票结果推进了吴的自治请愿，如果该请愿获得通过，将废除波士顿重建局(Boston Redevelopment Authority)和波士顿经济发展工业公司(Economic Development Industrial Corporation of Boston)，在法律上正式建立该机构为BPDA，该机构自2016年以来一直被称为BPDA。
更重要的是，请愿书将结束“城市更新”战略，即清除官员们认为在第二次世界大战后投入使用的破败地区和财产。BRA于1957年成立，作为该市的监管机构。
在当地，这种做法在波士顿留下了不可磨灭的印记，特别是在市政厅广场和政府中心在前斯科利广场的发展，以及城市西区社区的平整。成千上万的居民，特别是移民、工人阶级家庭和有色人种社区，因为这些项目和城市更新时代带来的其他项目而流离失所。
通过请愿书，吴正寻求细化BPDA的范围，将其缩小为三个原则:弹性、可承受性和公平性。
经市议会批准后，吴的签名将把请愿书送到比肯山，寻求州议会和州长莫拉·希利的批准。
周三，吴表示，目标是使波士顿的规划过程更具可预测性和可持续性。她说，理事会批准的请愿书的重点是使定义BPDA使命的法律语言现代化。
市长在市议会会议厅外对记者说:“与其让我们继续停留在20世纪50年代和60年代，专注于摆脱所谓的城市枯萎和衰败，不如说我们将动用市政府的全部力量来解决我们今天的需求，这些需求仍然非常紧迫。”
她补充说:“因此，当我们放弃旧的做事方式时……这是为了确保我们在过渡时期拥有与我们现在需要在社区中解决的问题相匹配的方法。”
多年来，吴一直在宣传分区法改革和全市总体规划发展的必要性，认为该市目前的分区法拼凑，使项目审批过程在不可预测的逐案基础上运行。
她在2019年说，每个新开发项目基本上都是在“编写自己的分区代码”。
在今年早些时候发表的“城市状况”演讲中，吴恬敏表示，波士顿过去十年的历史性建筑热潮未能惠及该市的所有不同社区，规划也未能考虑到与增长相关的重要方面，从社区稳定性和可负担性到交通和可持续性。
“我认为这最终是一个非常漫长的过程中的第一步，以确保我们恢复波士顿市的权力，以及我们的选民在城市规划和发展方面的权力，”议员肯德拉·劳拉(Kendra Lara)周三谈到自治请愿书时说。
尽管请愿书在议会的通过标志着吴淑珍在关键政纲政策上向前迈出了一步，但要让她的改革计划全面开花结果，还有很长的路要走。
Similar to a rising skyscraper, Wu will have to move brick by brick.
She reiterated Wednesday the vote was only one piece of a multi-year-long process to retool the BPDA, with steps that include not only zoning reform, but also organizational changes within the agency.
Part of that latter component includes transferring the over 250 employees of the currently quasi-public BPDA onto the City Hall payroll.
City Council President Ed Flynn said a key part of these transitions needs to include an open dialogue with residents to ensure the public knows and understands what exactly these changes mean, especially for public employees.
"Employees of EDIC are asking about how this impacts them and their retirement. I think those are important questions," Flynn added. "We still have a lot of work to do on that issue and making sure that employees at the BPDA, EDIC are treated fairly during this process."
Wu has also begun some of the work that does not require weigh in from the Legislature.
In January, she signed an executive order to create the Planning Advisory Council to begin considering changes to the planning code and moving planning operations from the BPDA to a newly established City Planning and Design Department.
Wu said BPDA staff is also now wrapping up various neighborhood planning processes. The takeaways from each will be codified into zoning policies.
Of course, the home-rule petition is also not yet law.
State lawmakers will have to sign off to formally abolish the BRA, since the agency was initially created by both the Boston City Council and the state Legislature over six decades ago.
City officials will soon be watching closely how things shake up at the State House, not only for the future of the BPDA, but also a second, monumental home-rule petition filed by Wu that the council passed in a separate 11-2 vote Wednesday. (Councilors Frank Baker and Erin Murphy opposed both proposals.)
That petition would bring rent stabilization to Boston, capping annual rent increases at 10%, at most, among other renter protections.
Home-rule petitions have a track record of little success, historically speaking. But the Wu administration says it has been in communication with the Boston delegation, and Wu emphasized how state lawmakers and city officials represent the same constituents and their concerns.
"I think we all share the urgency in knowing that this can't stand for Boston," the mayor said. "We cannot be a place where people get pushed out from the communities that they want to continue contributing to. So we'll make that case up at the State House, and we are going to go up strong, with a big voice from city government."
