Massport

Citizen complaint of the day: When jurisdictions collide

adamg — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:52:09 +0000

A vigilant citizen reports somebody at Liberty Wharf is using the bike lane on Northern Avenue for valet parking, to which the city replies, oops, nothing we can do, that's Massport territory.

Earlier:
BPD wants authority to enforce the law on Massport land.

Snow in East Boston park a matter of national security?

adamg — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:20:02 +0000

Adam Weiss reports he was ordered out of the Massport-owned Bremen Park yesterday by a Massport cop who singled him out, possibly because he was the only person there taking pictures - of the snow. Weiss said the cop told him the park was closed because of the snow, but that as he left - unsure at the time who actually had jurisdiction:

I couldn't help but notice all of the other people walking in the park, or the children playing in the snow, or the sign that gave the park's winter hours, and said nothing about it being closed in bad weather.

Massport making free WiFi permanent for the next two years minimum

Kaz — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:20:21 +0000

Massport has announced today that they are offering free Wifi for the next two years! Since Thanksgiving, WiFi access has been free at Logan and other airports around the country due to a sponsorship deal with Google to provide the access for free that only required you to click past a splash page announcing Google's sponsorship.

The two months showed a sixfold increase in usage at Logan according to Massport and they wanted to follow up on that by continuing the program with other sponsorship.

Massport honcho gives out Logan parking passes to rich friends; screams at cops who say that's a security risk

adamg — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:48:54 +0000

De-icing fluid getting into airplane air-conditioning systems not the only problem at Logan, the Herald reports.

Hey, remember when Massport said it had to build a new runway to reduce delays at Logan?

adamg — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:05:35 +0000

Would it surprise you to learn it hasn't?

Suspicious package forces evacuation of Massport offices near Logan

adamg — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:41:24 +0000

UPDATE: Channel 5 reports officials have ruled out any threat from the "shoe box with duct tape around it" found floating in the water.

The Herald reports "a package with some tape and 'possibly some wires' " has forced several hundred Massport workers out of 1 Harborside Dr. this morning.

Local 718 tweets the package was found around 10:30 a.m. and that the State Police bomb squad and the Massport and Boston fire departments are on scene.

Worker found dead under Jersey barrier at South Boston warehouse

adamg — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:34:26 +0000

Massport and State Police are investigating how the man, a 50-year-old worker from East Boston, wound up crushed under the barrier around 3 p.m. today at 1 Black Falcon Ave.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office says no evidence of foul play has been found. The man, who died alone, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incompetent, lying bastards who run Massport

adamg — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:08:12 +0000

Hey, remember the new runway that was supposed to reduce delays at Logan and not increase the number of jets flying over East Boston? Yeah, Massport got it wrong.

Tobin Bridge closure

roadman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:51:32 +0000

For almost three hours now, the northbound Tobin Bridge has been completely closed to traffic. Boston.com has been reporting "an emergency", and WBZ Traffic has been reporting "due to police activity".

Perhaps we're dealing with another Mr. Stuart here. That would explain the cloak of silence surrounding whatever incident has happened on the bridge.

Massport chairman to Beacon Hill: Stay out of our hair

adamg — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:45:48 +0000

John Quelch explains why Massport is so much better than those other loser transportation authorities.

TV station, state transportation czar shocked, shocked to discover collective bargaining going on

adamg — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:00:39 +0000

Like, oh my God, Massport is paying for dry cleaning for employees! Channel 4 breathlessly reports the story and Jim Aloisi pretends to be absolutely shocked at the outrage.

Of course, as Channel 4 does acknowledge, the dry cleaning is for the uniforms that employees wear as part of their jobs, because God forbid a state authority want its workers to look decent as they deal with the public or that employees negotiate something like this as part of their contracts because they don't want to pay for something their employer forces them to wear. And Jim Aloisi used to be the head lawyer at the turnpike authority, so you'd think he'd know more about how collective bargaining works than to fulminate that "the next time we negotiate with these folks, dry cleaning will be off the table."

Massport rescinds $1 parking increase at Logan

adamg — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:12:21 +0000

Of course, this being Massport, they'll find some other way to get their pound of flesh.

Lying liars at Massport

adamg — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:25:06 +0000

Jimbo sums up why longtime East Boston residents don't believe a single word out of Massport when it comes to the 9,000-car rental-car garage it wants to build in East Boston:

... Massport lies, and it does so with impunity. Before any big new projects move forward, the agency's pattern of abandoning its promises should be reviewed, after which Massport should be made to live up to its word. Only then can there be discussion of the Logan Airport's future, and the people who live around the airport -- not just those who stand to profit from it -- should have a larger voice in such matters. ...

Whatever happened to Gidget?

adamg — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:58:43 +0000

Weird: Seems Peter Blute's been doing radio spots for Massport, the authority he headed until he went on a three-hour tour. Heslam of the Herald not only calls him out, she posts a copy of the infamous photo, still with a discrete black bar hiding some of what Gidget's got.

Wait a minute, what happened to Massport?

adamg — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:12:28 +0000

Remember when Massport was going to eat up the turnpike authority and solve all its problems? Now the state Senate is looking at a proposal to create a super-duper Massachusetts Surface Transportation Authority to gobble up the turnpike (which includes the Harbor tunnels), the MBTA, DCR parkways and the Tobin Bridge (now owned by Massport).

State Sen. Steven Baddour explains the proposal on Blue Mass. Group (with more details here), says the thing would be called MassTrans. One interesting idea: turn the current state highway fund into a "Surface Transportation Trust Fund." So those new gas taxes could help subdidize the T?

Baddour says reorganization could save up to $6 billion (over 20 years) in reduced overhead. Cool, no? And we'll just pretend for a second that the state has an outstanding record with creating authorities and commissions that run well and cost effectively (hey, there's always the MWRA).

But what happened to Massport in all this? Perhaps this is all for the good - without the Tobin, that authority can get back to doing what it's supposed to: Running the port of Boston.