Mayor Walsh’s commitment to long-range planning on virtually every front in his 2030-targeted system is to be applauded.
Taking on the big picture is a massive turnabout from the previous administration, which in some ways had a healthy aversion to centralized planning, and in other ways merely replaced it with mayoral fiat. Meanwhile, the local hunger for master-planning has grown.
Boston’s senior population is among its most challenged—particularly in mobility and in affording housing and property taxes. The City has conducted admirable elderly-friendly programs before, but Walsh’s five-year “Age Friendly Boston” plan is as impressive as it is needed.
Unfortunately, much of this planning could be monkey-wrenched by the ersatz master plan that is the Olympics bid. The Olympics is just one aspect of Boston’s long-suppressed hunger for the big picture, and we urge the mayor to focus on his 2030 rather than his 2024.