Source: State House News Service
Michael P. Norton and Alison Kuznitz, 6/28/23 2:33 PM
New MassDOT Board members (from left) Thomas McGee, Rick Dimino, Ilyas Bhatti, and Dr. Lisa Iezzoni. [SHNS and Courtesy photos]
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 28, 2023.....Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday turned back the clock and named a group of veterans of state transportation issues to help move Massachusetts beyond the congested highways, bottlenecked intersections and slow train rides that it's become known for.
While in Dublin on a trade trip, Healey announced she is appointing former senator and mayor Thomas McGee, A Better City President Emeritus Rick Dimino, and Ilyas Bhatti, former commissioner of the defunct Metropolitan District Commission, to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board.
Dr. Lisa Iezzoni, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, was also appointed and the Healey administration said she will provide representation from a member of the disability community on the board for the first time. Iezzoni's research for 25 years has centered on improving the "lived experience" and health care for adults with disability, with an emphasis on mobility disability, the governor's office said.
Directors serve four-year terms, and Healey's choices will immediately deliver to the board a heavy dose of institutional knowledge of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Massachusetts transportation issues dating all the way back to the 1980s and Gov. Michael Dukakis' administration.
Bhatti, Dimino and McGee each have long histories with the state's transportation systems, which are in the spotlight due to deteriorating MBTA service and highway congestion that have become the frustrating norm for many residents. Their appointments come days before a nearly two-month closure of the Sumner Tunnel.
Dimino replaces Betsy Taylor, the former MBTA board chair who had been required to also sit on the MassDOT board, a Healey spokesperson said. Bhatti replaces Kathleen Murtagh, Tunnel Redundancy Program director at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, in a seat reserved for a civil engineer.
Filling a seat tied to the interests of MBTA riders, Iezzoni fills the recent vacancy created by the departure of Carlos Aramayo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents hospitality workers.
The Healey administration also indicated Wednesday that it will "soon" fill a MassDOT seat dedicated to an individual with municipal government experience in a city or town that is not part of the MBTA district.
McGee fills the seat left open in January by Robert Moylan, former commissioner of public works and parks in Worcester. McGee is the second MBTA board member who also serves on the MassDOT board alongside Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca, the Healey spokesperson said.
Healey appointed McGee -- who chaired the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation from 2011 to 2018 -- to the MBTA board in April as she revamped leadership at the beleaguered transit agency. McGee was mayor of Lynn from 2018 until 2022, a former state representative and senator, practiced law at Quinn & Morris in the early 1990s, and is a former Essex County assistant district attorney.
Dimino, who was part of the Healey administration's transition team, served as Boston's transportation commissioner from 1985 to 1993 and represented the city on MBTA advisory boards and committees. A 1978 Northeastern University graduate, he chaired a City of Boston interagency taskforce for the Big Dig, and was president and CEO of the business-backed advocacy group A Better City from 1995 to April 2023.
Bhatti previously managed The Bhatti Group consulting engineering firm, and is the interim dean of the School of Management at Wentworth Institute of Technology, according to his LinkedIn page. He was also associate project director for the Big Dig from 1995 until 1998, and from 1989 until 1995 was commissioner of the MDC, the public agency that became the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
"I'm pleased to welcome our new members to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors," Fiandaca said in a statement. "Together, they bring a wealth of lived experiences and expertise that is crucial in serving our communities throughout the Commonwealth. We are focused on creating safe, equitable, and reliable transportation for all and I look forward to working with the MassDOT Board to further these goals."
Said Healey: "Our administration is committed to ensuring that our state's transportation system is safe, reliable and accessible for all, and we're confident that this talented, diverse group of leaders will drive that work on the DOT Board of Directors. We are particularly proud to be appointing a member of the disability community for the first time in the board's history. As a user of the DOT and MBTA systems herself, Dr. Iezzoni will bring a critical perspective to this board that will help us ensure that our transportation system is accessible for people with disabilities."
-END-
06/28/2023
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