BRA office supposed to formally monitor developers appears not to be formally monitoring developers

Since the press release announcing her hire, she hasn't been mentioned once on the BRA website. That press release, frankly, simply deepens the mystery around her role. She had a long career as a Treasury Department attorney, working on compliance issues from 1978-2002. Toward the end of her stint there, she suddenly experienced a burst in civic interest.

The BRA website puts it this way: She served "as the Chairperson for the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Turnpike Air Rights “Columbus Center Project.” Colley held the position from 2001 until the project’s final approval in 2003. Prior to that she served as a member of Mayor Menino’s Strategic Development Study Committee for the Turnpike Air Rights parcels, which produced the widely praised and award winning “Civic Vision” plan."

Let's translate that. Back in 1984, Ms. Colley purchased a nice house on Melrose St, half a block from the Turnpike. By 1998, the proposed auction of Turnpike air rights stood to impact her neighborhood and the value of her home, and so she took on her first civic role. She was one of 26 members of the panel that put out the "Civic Vision" report, but there's no indication from the report itself of what role, if any, she played in its authorship. At some point, she also became active in the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, rising to VP by at least 2002. She was a mayoral nominee to the Citizen's Advisory Committee - and, shockingly, was hit by complaints that she wasn't willing to share necessary information with neighborhood activists who had concerns about the development. Yet she shepherded the project through a final vote, and approval. Shortly thereafter, she was hired by the BRA.

I don't think it was a payoff. But I do think it was a recognition of a symbiotic relationship. In Colley, the BRA had found a qualified attorney with compliance experience, who also had the credentials of a community leader, but who had a proven track record of not rocking the boat. Of not disclosing information to the public. They knew she'd play ball; perhaps her career has a federal bureaucrat prepared her. The BRA wanted to have a compliance office, but it didn't want that office to be in a position to enforce agreements - that might not be popular with developers. So they hired her, and let her hire a staff. And when years passed without any apparent signs of progress, that was just fine with the BRA. Colley, for her part, has continued to play ball. She gets a salary and a parking spot, and since her appointment, suddenly discovered hitherto unseen virtues in Mayor Menino - chipping in $875 to his various campaigns after never donating before. And, back when the Columbus Center project was still on track, she condo-ized her townhouse and sold off two of the units at a considerable profit - with a park and low-rise neighborhood on the drawing boards, instead of a gaping hole, their value had no doubt significantly increased.