Kevin McCrea writes the owners of One Beacon Street get a tax break of between $5 million and $8 million a year for building in a "blighted" area:
The juxtaposition of the One Beacon tower on beautiful Beacon Hill, just down from the State House and Franklin Park which is in the heart of Dorchester and Roxbury is striking.
When will our society stop giving tax breaks to the rich, while crying poor and shutting down cultural attractions in poorer sections of town?
Yoon goes online with the lefties at Daily Kos and promptly gets bushwacked by some Somerville residents upset about parking enforcement there. But he manages to steer the conversation back to Boston issues - some interesting stuff there about transportation - and ignore questions about when he's going to get rid of Joe Trippi.
Via Kat Powers.
How else to explain the humongous Flaherty and Menino signs now sprouting up on front lawns everywhere? But it is kind of odd that Yoon and McCrea signs are still so small.
Meanwhile, Joyce Linehan reports that, at least in South Boston and West Roxbury, Flaherty supporters seem to favor Chevy Suburbans.
The Herald reports the Sox offered up to $400,000 to save the Boston Police mounted unit, which often helped keep order around Fenway Park but that "the mayor looked a gift horse in the mouth and said 'neigh.' "
In a statement, Councilor and Would-Be Menino Replacement Yoon said:
Our mounted unit was an important community policing tool and public safety resource for our parks. News of its elimination prompted an outpouring from across the city of people pleading to save the unit. There were dozens of cost-saving reforms the mayor could have implemented to save the unit. But once again, Mayor Menino chose symbolism over substance.
Now we hear reports that the City turned down an offer from the Red Sox to continue funding the mounted unit. At a time when Boston is cutting back on schools, city services, and public safety, it would be shortsighted and foolish to reject an outstretched hand. The administration needs to clarify what happened and be transparent about any offers that were made regarding the mounted unit.
“These are the very public-private partnerships that can make our city great – and can transform education, athletics, and the arts for Boston's children. We need a mayor who can tap into all the generosity and talent that Boston has to offer.
Maybe Tom Menino figures he can keep delaying negotiations over debates until after the election. The Herald reports His Honor continues to play coy on the whole debate issue, while his mouthpiece tut-tuts a group organizing forums as unworthy of the mayor's attention because he finds it "doubtful" the group can actually organize a debate.
Kevin McCrea, who says he'll debate anyone anytime, fulminates:
... What does that mean? You mean they can't invite a bunch of people and put 4 chairs and a microphone on a stage? I would believe that Menino might not be able to handle that on his own, but MassVOTE?
The arrogance and disregard for the people shown by Menino is truly incredible. What is more incredible is how the mainstream media in this town play along with his invisible suit as well. The TV stations and the Globe and the Herald play along with this ruse because they are afraid of his vindictiveness, and they aren't doing the fourth estate's job which is to expose what is going on. ...
William Feegbeh of Brighton couldn't get enough signatures to get on the ballot, so he's running a write-in campaign - part of which apparently involves sneaking his signs into the windows of unsuspecting merchants - Michael Pahre reports.
Eeka arrived home today to find four identical Flaherty Good/Better mailings in her mailbox, addressed to the two people who actually live there:
... When I've volunteered for campaigns, they've had me do such exciting tasks as, well, going through their database and taking out obvious duplicate voters, so as not to waste money/trees/energy on mailings, not annoy households with duplicate phonecalls, and most of all, not make prospective voters think that the candidate is wasteful and can't bother to have humans work for him or her. ...
The Globe reports:
Asked multiple times if the firefighters themselves bore any responsibility for what city leaders call an abuse of the public retirement system, Flaherty repeatedly steered his answers to Menino, who is seeking an unprecedented fifth term in office.
"The mayor, as CEO of our city, has to take responsibility for contracts that he signs on behalf of the residents of our city," Flaherty said. "The buck stops on his desk."
Where the Candidates Are will keep you updated on the public appearances of candidates for Boston mayor and city council.
Boston Offline is tweeting from a candidates' night (city council and mayor) in Roxbury tonight.
Yoon tweets he bought a raffle ticket at fundraiser for the Boston Living Center last night, gave it to a cop on the way out, the ticket won $300, the cop gave the money to the center.
If they're from the Flaherty for Mayor campaign, he'd say "wonderful, wonderful."
E-mail from his campaign follows:
City Councilor and mayoral wannabe Sam Yoon says he will vote against the mayor's budget when it comes up for a vote tomorrow.
For Yoon, this is nothing new: He's always voted against the mayor's budget (you may recall the 2006 dustup with then Council President and now also mayoral wannabe Michael Flaherty, who ordered the boys in blue to clear the council chambers of the 300 kids Yoon had brought in to call for more anti-violence programs).
Michael Flaherty reads the Globe, too: After reading yesterday's article about the city's awful school athletics, he demanded the mayor immediately tackle officials from the region's pro sports teams and get them to help remedy the situation:
Now more than ever we need be creative about how we fund our important programs and carve out more opportunities for our BPS students. That's why I am calling on Mayor Menino to immediately broker partnerships with all the major sports teams that call Boston home -- the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, Patriots and the Revolution - and ask them to step up to the plate and help bolster BPS athletic programming.
Technically, the Patriots and the Revolution don't call Boston home, but you get the idea. His complete press release:
Former City Councilor Gareth Saunders, who failed to get enough signatures to run for mayor in 2005, wants the city elections department to review his signatures for mayor this year, to make sure he failed to get enough signatures to run this year, David Bernstein tweets.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
