As a planning board commissioner, I have to review the applications for development throughout the city, and the bulk of those applications have been for the waterfront. I think the progress the waterfront has made is amazing.

Speaking as a planning board commissioner, Frank frames his view of the city’s waterfront through the lens of regulatory work: he sees development not as an abstraction but as a steady stream of formal applications. The remark suggests the waterfront has been the primary focus of recent growth and investment, and that—at least from his vantage point—this has produced visible, positive change. Implicitly, the quote also highlights how planning boards function as gatekeepers of urban transformation, where the cumulative effect of many individual proposals can reshape a district. His emphasis on being “amazed” signals a contrast with earlier conditions or expectations, underscoring the waterfront’s rapid or substantial redevelopment.