City Hall

In just the right light ...

Sean — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:31:21 -0500

Against the philistinism of a bunch of tourists, there comes a City Hall defender.

A lot the tourists know. Without City Hall, there'd be none of the "more aesthetically pleasing ameneties" nearby, like Faneuil Hall.

Councilor Flaherty gets WiFied

adamg — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:48:11 -0500

Tom Menino does it again.

Worst Building in the World!

adamg — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:35:19 -0500

Even without Keith Olbermann saying it. Reuters reports on some list of the ten ugliest public buildings/monuments in the world, and guess what's Number 1 on the list? Of course. The "award" goes well with 2005's announcement by the Project for Public Spaces that City Hall Plaza is the worst public space on the planet.

One sure way to improve City Hall: Station a guy in a chicken suit in front of it:

Prop 8 Protest on Sat at City Hall

rsiasoco — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:51:15 -0500

If you haven’t already heard, on Saturday there will be protests across the country to repeal Proposition 8, California’s discriminatory law that bans gay men and lesbians from marriage. Boston’s protest takes place at City Hall beginning at 1:30 pm. Don’t sit idly by, show up and fight for the civil right of marriage for all.

Light dawns over City Hall

adamg — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:57:37 -0400

I_am_Amy takes a dramatic shot of Boston City Hall.

Plan to move City Hall could fall victim to city budget cutbacks; so could sidewalk and school repairs

adamg — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:54:16 -0400

The Globe reports on efforts by Tom Menino to deal with shrinking investment income and cuts in state aid (hmm, the story doesn't mention it, but you gotta think revenue from the auto excise tax is also dropping).

In addition to a hiring freeze, the city is looking at scaling back $120 million in planned capital improvements over the next year - such as repairs and upgrades to parks, schools and sidewalks. Also on the potential chopping block: The proposed move of City Hall to the South Boston waterfront, for which the city had budgeted several hundred thousand dollars this year just in planning costs.

In an effort to jumpstart the local economy, Menino also asked the BRA to speed up its approval for $1.9 billion worth of construction projects in the Back Bay, near South Station and Downtown Crossing, the Globe reports.

The windy city

Ron Newman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:18:59 -0400

Here's why I enjoy living in a two-newspaper town.

Globe: At City Hall, a good use for all that wind

Herald: Wind turbine plan spins out of control

Google Moves City Hall

Brett — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:09:33 -0400

New game: Where's Mumbles?

(Google Maps has a history of getting landmarks in Boston wrong. A year or two ago, they had Kendall Station about 2 blocks east of its real location.)

Municipal musical chairs

adamg — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:10:13 -0400

The Herald reports South Boston state Sen. Jack Hart is proposing moving the Aquarium to Southie, City Hall to the Aquarium site and, um, something to City Hall Plaza (ooh, I know, I know: Luxury apartments!).

Of course, the same exact argument made against moving City Hall to South Boston (lack of real mass transit, unless you consider the Silver Line real mass transit) would apply to the Aquarium.

Michael Flaherty needs to bone up on his reading skills

adamg — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:15:49 -0400

Tom Menino sure pulled a good one on him, slipping $2 million into the city budget to study moving City Hall to South Boston, which Flaherty managed to vote for even though he opposes the move, because, well, it was on page 342 of the budget:

In an interview after the hearing, he said that he did not realize he had already voted to approve the funding for the studies.

As a reporter, I once covered a similar issue in Natick - when one selectman realized he'd been similarly, if not quite so back-of-the-bookishly, bamboozled, he said "If I'd realized what I was voting for, I would have voted against myself."

No offense to Natick, but shouldn't we expect more from Boston councilors, who, after all, get paid full-time wages? Surely a man who would be mayor of Boston would realize he has to be on guard when it comes to the man who is mayor of Boston - even if he does have a point about spending $2 million on a study like that in times like these.