JFK Fellow to Replace Logue as Head of BRA

Boston Mayor-elect Kevin White has appointed Hale Champion, a Fellow of the Institute of Politics, to be director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Champion succeeds Edward J. Logue as head of Boston's most powerful superagency, which handles all aspects of urban renewal and urban rehabilitation in the city.

The 46-year-old Champion came to the Institute last February after serving six years as Director of Finance for the State of California. He is virtually unknown to Boston residents. But Daniel P. Moynihan, head of the Joint Center for Urban Studies, said last night that among people who know public policy, "there aren't five men in the country with his reputation."

Champion's appointment is the first to come out of the task force on talent-hunting set up by White, which is headed by Samuel P. Huntington, professor of Government, and which includes Barney Frank '62.

Recommendations

It is expected that in the next few weeks the task force will be recommending to the Mayor new heads for Parks and Recreation, Traffic, and other departments which traditionally get new leaders when a new Mayor takes over.

There is speculation that the task force will also recommend a new police commissioner, although Edmund L. McNamara still has four years remaining in his term of office.

At a party for Champion at 78 Mt. Auburn St. last night, Richard E. Neustadt, director of the Institute of Politics, praised the new BRA director for his "voluntary labor for the Institute" during his year here. Champion and three others--Seymour Martin Lipset, professor of Government and Social Relations; Samuel H. Beer, professor of Government; and Howard Raiffa, Frank Ramsey Professor of Managerial Economics--organized a Faculty study group on "Decision-Making by Candidates in a Contested Political Campaign."

Champion said last night that he "is concerned about neighborhood participation." During his six years in California, he explained, he had administered a program which set up 13 neighborhood cen- ters throughout the state. In these centers, all kinds of government agencies came together and Champion hopes "to be involved in the same kind of project in Boston."

Champion's term at the Institute was to expire January 31. It is known that while White's aides were suggesting the BRA post to him, he was also considering several other offers, including a job similar to the BRA directorship in a city larger than Boston. He visited that city over the weekend, and told White Monday morning he would accept the Boston post.

He is a former newspaper reporter, and was a Nieman Fellow here in 1956-57