Boston Globe
June 3, 2004

House votes to nearly double Massport's board

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff

The board of the Massachusetts Port Authority, criticized for years by area
residents as unaccountable and aloof, would nearly double in size to include
six new members from communities abutting Logan International Airport and
Hanscom Field, under a proposal passed by the Massachusetts House yesterday.

The changes, which approximate recommendations made by an independent
commission after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, would drastically
alter the governance of an agency that has regularly sparred with
communities surrounding its airports. The fate of the legislation passed
yesterday is by no means certain, however. The measure was bundled into a
massive election-year transportation spending package that ultimately must
be approved by Governor Mitt Romney, who would see his influence at the
authority radically diminished if the bill were signed. The bill called for
more than $1 billion in new project spending, most of which the governor is
unlikely to approve immediately, such as a $425 million expansion of
commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River.

But state Representative Jay R. Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat and critic of
Massport's Hanscom operations, called the measure "huge" and expressed hope
that it would make it past the governor's veto pen.

"If nothing else, this guarantees us a seat at the table, and Massport can
no longer deny us the way they have," Kaufman said.

If enacted as envisioned by the House, the bill would add six new seats to
Massport's seven-member board - three appointed by Boston Mayor Thomas M.
Menino, and three appointed by a new, 30-member community advisory committee
made up of mayors and selectmen from municipalities abutting Logan and
Hanscom.

Currently, all seven Massport board members are appointed to seven-year
terms by the governor, a post that for more than a decade has been held by a
Republican. The House is largely controlled by Democrats.

Menino said the changes were long overdue and the proposals had nothing to
do with political affiliations.

"The House really understands how drastically this impacts our city," Menino
said. "I would hope the Senate sees the wisdom of having seats from the city
of Boston. It impacts us environmentally, trafficwise, and a lot of other
ways."

US Representative Michael E. Capuano, a Democrat whose congressional
district covers much of Boston, as well as Somerville, Chelsea, and
Cambridge, said he had yet to see the legislation, but that "the concept is
fantastic." He said Romney has largely ignored Massport since taking office
last year, and instead has focused on merging the Turnpike Authority and the
Highway Department, so "he shouldn't be too concerned about having
appointees."

"If he were actively involved, that would be a different matter," Capuano
said.

Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for Romney, said she could not comment on the
specifics of the legislation, but said that, in general, the administration
would frown on taking a piecemeal approach to changing the state's
transportation system. She said the governor hopes to bring all agencies
under one umbrella to reduce redundancies and eliminate patronage. "The best
approach is to have a unified transportation network," she said.

Officials at Massport were cool to the proposal.

Barbara Platt, an authority spokeswoman, said, "Massport believes the
current seven-member board structure has proven to work well for the
organization."

She added later, "Massport's in the process of reviewing the vote and trying
to get our arms around what the implications are for the authority. We're
confident that everyone has the same goal of determining what's in the
long-term best interests of the authority."

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in which two jets that
took off from Logan demolished New York City's World Trade Center, a
commission headed by former State Street Bank CEO Marshall Carter
recommended a list of changes at Massport, which oversees Logan. One
recommendation was that the Massport board be expanded from seven to nine
members, with the two new members coming from communities affected by the
busy airport.

When the Legislature passed a transportation bond bill the following year,
however, it ignored the report and instead expanded the Massachusetts
Turnpike Authority board.

The measure that was passed yesterday now moves on to the Senate, which is
headed by President Robert E. Travaglini, whose district of East Boston is a
neighbor of Logan airport. A spokeswoman last night said Travaglini could
not be reached for comment.

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