RE “IN Allston, BRA’s e-mails paint a disparaging picture’’ (Metro, Oct. 24): While residents in Allston have every right to be outraged over the contemptuous internal e-mails of a senior project manager at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, no one with any experience with the BRA should be surprised. My own experience in sitting through hearings on several projects tells me that the BRA has zero respect for community interests. The agency makes a big show of collecting community input, but, in the end, it approves projects that grossly violate community interests as well as existing zoning requirements.
We also should not be surprised at the BRA’s culture of disdain for community opinion demonstrated by these e-mails. The BRA said Thursday that the project manager had received a “verbal warning’’ in his personnel file over the e-mails. Yet, for an 18-month period, these e-mails had been exchanged with his colleagues and his superior, apparently without any warnings.
As an expert on organizational cultures, this gives me a strong indication that his attitude is rife throughout the BRA.
The agency has too much power. Fundamental change is needed.
Don Carlson, Boston 
