Universal Hub - Tom Menino

Menino to developer: Keep your $50 million

adamg — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:10:03 +0000

Interesting: Even as the city looks to give one developer a $16-million tax break, it rejects a $50 million offer from another. Of course, one is longtime local stalwart Liberty Mutual, which wants to build its new headquarters in the Back Bay, while the other is Menino foe Don Chiofaro, who wants to put a 59-story tower (and a tinier 40-story one) right on the waterfront. The BRA says it will deign to let him put a 16-story building on what is now the aquarium parking garage.

Across city, people rally to save their branch libraries

adamg — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:48:49 +0000

With BPL trustees meeting Tuesday to discuss how to start closing neighborhood branches, patrons are organizing to keep that from happening:

Kelly Young writes a letter in support of the Roslindale branch:

Menino: Close libraries, community centers

adamg — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:48:04 +0000

The Globe reports. No specific locations mentioned. The BPL board of trustees will meet next Tuesday (3 p.m., Rabb Hall at the main branch in Copley Square) to begin discussing how to decide which of 8 to 10 branch libraries to close.

Weatherman to Menino: Your math sucks

adamg — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:57:27 +0000

You can only push the weatherpeople so far. Sure, they were apologizing last week, but enough's enough. When Mayor Menino complains TV meteorologists make big bucks for only being right "25% of the time," that's just going too far, at least for Channel 25 weatherman A.J. Burnett.

Burnett tweets his team correctly called seven of the last eight "sizable storms," which by his calculation is 87.5% correct - so much for Mayor Menino's "fuzzy math." Besides, he adds, that's a batting average of .875:

Ted Williams life time was .344 – he's in the HOF and preserved?!

Donations from Liberty Mutual executives to the mayor as company prepared for major Back Bay purchase

adamg — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:28:35 +0000

John Keith pulls up the records from the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance on Liberty Mutual-related donations to Tom Menino between July 1 and Sept. 1, 2009.

It was during this period that the company was busy buying up two Back Bay parcels on which it said yesterday it will build a 25-30 story office building, for which the city will kick in $16 million in tax abatements over the next 20 years.

Can the city force public-housing tenants to stop smoking in their own apartments?

adamg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:49:23 +0000

Tom Menino thinks so.

Menino everlasting

adamg — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:22:26 +0000

Via The Boston Channel

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today took his record fifth oath of office at Faneuil Hall.

In his inauguration speech (complete text), Menino said his next four years would be devoted to four main goals: Transforming education in Boston, creating a high-tech research community on the waterfront, improving basic city services through new technologies and bringing the city's residents and neighborhoods closer together.

Tom Menino can serve until he dies

adamg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:52:40 +0000

The City Council today rejected a proposed limit on how long somebody can serve as mayor.

While backers of the measure, sponsored by at-large Councilor Sam Yoon, said it would reinvigorate the political process and prevent the abuses of incumbency, opponents said it was insulting to tell voters they could not vote for the candidate of their choice as often as they want.

Against: Ciommo, Consalvo, Feeney, LaMattina, Linehan, Murphy, Yancey.
For: Connolly, Flaherty, Ross, Tobin, Turner, Yoon.

The council voted 8-5 to reject a proposal by at-large Councilor John Connolly to limit city councilors as well; Ross, who voted for mayoral term limits, voted against.

Comments from councilors before the vote:

Mayor calls for new ideas in speech devoid of them

Cynic — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:54:16 +0000

In his first major speech since his election to a fifth term, Mayor Thomas M. Menino issued a rousing call for new ideas - apparently including such out-of-the-box notions as actually building something (anything!) on the old Filene's site, reviving the proposal for a Business Improvement District in Downtown Crossing, and improving the quality of public education.

The dream never dies: Tommy Tower edition

adamg — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:06:38 +0000

The most prominent thing on the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Web site is a Flash package that features Tom Menino standing in front of the Boston skyline - enhanced by the 80-story tower he wants to build at Winthrop Square.

For a building that never got built, Winthrop Square sure gets around: