By JOE DWINELL
The MBTA’s $130,000-ayear director of projects on agency land was hired at the height of the pandemic and worked remotely from Colorado until he quit last month, the Herald has learned.
“It’s true,” John Hersey said Tuesday from his new development gig for the city of Littleton, Colo. “I worked remotely, yes.”
When asked why he left, he said he “wasn’t a good fit for the job.” He then hung up the phone.
When it comes to working remotely, Dr. Jennifer Lo of the Boston Public Health Commission still appears to be holding the distance record. She is not expected to return from Hawaii for about a month, according to a commission spokesperson.
Lo, to the dismay of at least two Boston city councilors, has been a key member of the city’s COVID-19 response team from afar while taking care of her family during the pandemic, as the Herald has reported.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said Hersey was hired as the T’s head of transit-oriented development (TOD) in July of 2020 and “decided to leave” last month. Hersey was in charge of developing agency land around MBTA stations.
Payroll records show he earned a total of $132,500 during his tenure at the T — including a $2,709 “buyout,” according to the Comptroller’s salary database. Herald MBTA payroll records state his base pay was $130,000.
But some question how such a key post could be mastered from the Rocky Mountain State.
“That job is virtually impossible to succeed at from 2,000 miles away,” said fiscal watchdog Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute.
“Transit-oriented development is an absolute priority for the T,” Sullivan
REDEFINING REMOTE WORK: The MBTA’s former transit-oriented development boss, John Hersey, worked remotely from thousands of miles away over the last year before quitting last month. HERALD STAFF FILE
added. “The point is to get the business community to buy into the idea of expanding on MBTA land by building condos and mixed-use developments.”
Zoom sessions, he added, just don’t cut it.
“You have to be here. That’s a job that requires personal contact. It’s a critically important job,” Sullivan added.
Pesaturo said TOD developments are popping up in North Quincy and possibly Riverside next on the Green Line.
But the T is not alone in trying to make remote work a success. About a third of Massachusetts residents “can work remotely,” a recent McKinsey report states, “a higher percentage than in most other U.S. states, since the Commonwealth has a high share of jobs in sectors that lend themselves to remote work, such as technology and professional services.”
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