Globe story about Brighton resident & secretary of state Bill Galvin

Grown-up on duty - The Boston Globe

...Sometimes he simply states the obvious. Take the Boston Redevelopment Authority : "The BRA is an advocate for developers and institutions. It is not an advocate for neighborhoods."

He controls the Massachusetts Historical Commission in his capacity as its chairman ex officio. If it finds that a developer's plans would have an adverse impact on a historical asset, and no mitigation agreement is reached, Galvin can deny a sewer hookup. As in the toilets won't flush.

He's astringent about Harvard and his alma mater, Boston College. "They all have this sense of manifest destiny," he says about the perceived right of universities to expand.

There has been talk regarding Harvard's move into Allston of a tunnel below or a bridge above the Charles River so that, in his words, "Harvard students won't get lost finding the new campus." But the Charles, he says, is a historic asset, and if the commission rules such plans would have an adverse effect on the river, remember the toilets.