We don't get nearly enough chances to use the word "kerfuffle" these days and it's a shame. In any case, the mosh-hating mayor says there's more to hip life in the city than 24-hour gyms and says he's just the hip kinda guy to provide what the young'uns want, rather than some upstart high-tech whippasnappas (who, as John Carroll notes, don't even have a functional Web site yet).
But as Mayor Menino and Boston Police remind fans: Don't make officers get out their pepper spray.
Peter Gelzinis has one common-sense observation in his column today - that hipsters who don't know where Roche Bros. is, let alone want to collect signatures there, pose little real threat to Tom Menino.
The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports Hizzona hates the plan to tear down the overpass in Forest Hills, but says, hey, it's not his project, so blame the state when the work turns the neighborhood into a living hell.
Wait, is that Tom Menino up there with them?!?
Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday brushed off claims of an upstart group of hip entrepreneurs that he's out of touch, saying he's tried to extend late-night buses and has infused his administration with several young, new staffers.
Summer jobs, more anti-violence street and case workers, chats with people getting out of jail, efforts to broker ceasefires among gangs, more surveillance cameras among the efforts announced yesterday.
Mayor Menino today announced a building swap with the North Bennet Street School that could let the Eliot K-8 School double in size.
North Bennet Street will pay the city $11.4 million for 150 North St. and 130-140 Richmond St. and will give the city its current buildings at 37-39 North Bennet St. and 48-52 Tileston St.
Channel 4 reports the mayor's not happy with the latest blackout in the Back Bay and nearby areas.
Venu in repose.
The Herald reports the mayor's fed up with deadly violence outside six Theater District clubs and wants the Boston Licensing Board to hold a club summit and consider rolling back their 2 a.m. closing times.
Separately, the owners of one of the clubs, Venu on Warrenton Street, skipped a hearing yesterday before city licensing director Patricia Malone to discuss why she shouldn't lift the club's entertainment license for a November incident in which four people were shot outside the club.
In a recent post, The Mayor's new budget -- which raises our real estate tax the maximum amount -- I asked the question: "Do residents get good value?"
Today's Globe Editorial criticizes the city's handling of fiscal issues, in particular, school renovations:
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[/float]In the last 3 days in Boston, 10 people have been shot and 2 have died from gun shot wounds. In all likelihood, all of these crimes were committed with illegal guns.
www.MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org has proposed Federal legislation that would help get illegal guns off the streets. Ask your Congressman, Senators and neighbors if they support it.
The NRA is one of the most powerful lobbies in the USA so we have a lot of work to do to get this passed. Scott Brown says he opposes Federal legislation on this issue because "it is a local issue." Mayors Tom Menino and Mike Bloomberg and mayors from 625 cities in the USA disagree with Scott Brown.
Mayor Menino today announced a Host Community Advisory Committee to consider the ramifications of a proposed resort casino at Suffolk Downs, chaired by Brian Leary, partner at McCarter and English (and, yes, former Channel 5 reporter).
Other members: Sarah Barnat, VP of development, National Development (and East Boston resident); Lisa Calise, CFO, Perkins School for the Blind (and former top financial aide to the mayor); and Ronald L. Walker II, president and founding partner of Next Street.
City and BTU negotiators last night threw up their hands and decided there's nothing more they can say to each other, so they'll be seeking state help to mediate a contract.
The declaration comes 21 months of negotiations; firefighters still hold the modern Boston record for going without a contract, at four years.
Over the weekend, the mayor announced a grant and loan program for people who either already own one of the iconic buildings or who want to buy one. Participants in the 3D program can also get discounts at local hardware stores and sign up for classes on maintaining the buildings.
Roxbury Wakeup is a site dedicated to the premise that the city's plans to renovate the Ferdinand building as the new BPS headquarters is just a plot to gentrify the Dudley Square area:
The Herald reports on Tom Menino's ire towards the bank that's scheduled an auction of the Charles Street AME Church, whose pastor Menino appointed to the School Committee.
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