We’ve Been Waiting For Over A Year For Boston to Honor State Public Records Laws

For the past year and a half, StreetsblogMASS has been waiting for the City of Boston’s public records office to release city emails, calendar appointments, and other documents related to Mayor Wu’s election-year “review” of the city’s transportation projects and policies.

But City Hall has repeatedly ignored those public records requests, in defiance of the state’s laws, even after the Secretary of the Commonwealth ordered the city (in January) to honor the law.

• On March 4, 2025 – the same day the City of Boston began removing flexposts from numerous bike lanes across the city – StreetsblogMASS submitted our first public records request for documents related to the 30-day review. Our initial request sought emails addressed to or from Mike Brohel, the City of Boston’s Superintendent of Basic City Services, that included the phrase “30-day review” or “bike lane” or “bus lane,” plus electronic calendar appointment records and any shared Google documents or spreadsheets that contained the phrase “priority project review” or “priority project reviews”.
• On March 20, the city’s public records office acknowledged our request, and requested additional time to fulfill it. “The public records law permits a response time of up to twenty-five (25) business days from the business day a written request is received, so long as a detailed explanation is provided,” the city’s records office wrote. “Due to the nature of your request, additional time is needed. As such, the City will need up to, but no more than, fifteen (15) additional business days to review and process your request.”
• The city’s records office did not meet that deadline. In fact, they never honored our request at all. In November, StreetsblogMASS submitted a complaint to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. But the Supervisor’s office informed us that, under state law, appeals must be filed within 90 days of the last communication from the city’s records office.
• In response, StreetsblogMASS filed a new request for the same records – but this time, we asked for emails and other documents from the entire “30-day review” period between February and the end of March 2025.
• City Hall responded and acknowledged our request on December 4, 2025, and once again requested 15 additional business days to respond.
• On January 9, 34 business days after the original request, the City of Boston had still not fulfilled its obligations. StreetsblogMASS appealed once again to the Secretary of the Commonwealth “to request that an order, pursuant to G.L. c. 66, §10(b), be issued with respect to the records requested in my November 19, 2025 letter.”
• On January 23, the Secretary of the Commonwealth ruled in our favor. “The City is ordered to provide Mr. MilNeil with a response to the request provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten (10) business days.”
• As of July 22, we’re still waiting for Mayor Wu’s administration to comply with the state’s laws. However, City Hall did finally fulfill a separate, similar request from Benjamin Siegel, a Boston resident. You can read a condensed and annotated copy of those records here.