30 North Margin Street - North End

[czsz]

Ugh, that election still pisses me off. Cheryl Jacques got railroaded by the Southie machine. I hate knowing whatever vote I cast in that district is wasted because of some decision made in a union hall on D Street.

 

[Scott]

Cheryl Jacques had some serious corruption issues of her own and could not win because her beliefs did not match those of the voters.

I am aware of no union halls on D Street.

If not for Union political power and there would have been no Big Dig. That would mean a pile of rubble down Atlantic Ave just like the Sullivan Square overpass. They actually got a couple extra years out of the Green Monster than what was considered safe.

Unions are not the problem in this state, 16 years of Republican governors not fixing a damn thing is the problem.

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

^^

Probably just the whole political culture of trying to project power (yeah I mean you, Sal DiMasi) instead of actually working together (especially since everyone's in the SAME PARTY) and getting stuff done. Instead of complaining about it being 25,000 construction jobs instead of 30,000, why don't you actually make a plan that CREATES JOBS? Having everyone in the same political party doesn't really help, there could be either 2 party gridlock or 1 party splitting into 2 factions gridlock, Massachusetts style.

This along with NIMBYism is a big reason why nothing bold or provocative gets done, everyone has to balance among the many political powers that each want a cut, including unions, politicians, and NIMBYs, watering down EVERYTHING and politicians having grudges against developers blocking some great plans, unions slowing construction down so they can charge more, politicians blocking whole projects for personal benefit (Cape Wind), massive NIMBY power due to Town Meetings and Public hearings, I could go on and on. It's a great city, but the political culture gotta change.

 

[Ron Newman]

ridiculous height and the obnoxiously large garage.

I agree about the garage, but what's wrong with the height? It's a 5-story building, and I haven't heard that it would violate the North End's 55-foot height limit.

Unions have a right to lobby like everyone else, but they should never get into a shouting match with local residents.

 

[czsz]

Cheryl Jacques had some serious corruption issues of her own and could not win because her beliefs did not match those of the voters.

Her beliefs didn't match those of the voters in a district gerrymandered to drown out some of the more left wing suburbs with Southie and Dorchester. I don't really care if Southie keeps picking one of its own to represent it, but why are so many towns with distinct political personalities subjected to its whim?

 

[mpm617]

These union thugs had no right to be there. I'm surprised no one got a beating afterwards. There is a building boom going on now. It's not like anyone is out of work. I'm tired of seeing all the constuction workers trucks from New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island in the state.

New England is truly the Balkans of the United States. The six state region is slightly smaller in area than the state of Washington yet we can't get it together. Every other state in the region with the possible exception of Rhode Island HATES Massachusetts and Massachusetts returns the favor. We fight each other for jobs, we fight over taxes. Certain states think themselves superior to others yet we are all the same descendents of mostly European extraction. We are dealing with a high priced region of stagnant population growth and intense competition for jobs from regions that actually cooperate. If you've lived elsewhere in this country and return home it is amazing how dysfunctional we are.

 

[statler]

^^ And yet one of the things people love about New England is a sense of place. Or more to the point, a sense of places.
I wonder if the area might become homogenized without all the infighting.
I'm not saying it certainly would, but I could see it as one possible outcome.

 

[mass88]

New England is truly the Balkans of the United States. The six state region is slightly smaller in area than the state of Washington yet we can't get it together. Every other state in the region with the possible exception of Rhode Island HATES Massachusetts and Massachusetts returns the favor. We fight each other for jobs, we fight over taxes. Certain states think themselves superior to others yet we are all the same descendents of mostly European extraction. We are dealing with a high priced region of stagnant population growth and intense competition for jobs from regions that actually cooperate. If you've lived elsewhere in this country and return home it is amazing how dysfunctional we are.

I would not say we are dysfunctional. Of course we compete for jobs with the New England states. Name another region in the country where 6 states make up the small area of New England. There is not one, so of course battles with other states are going to seem bad. Explain how other regions cooperate? You think the state of Georgia does not battle states like Texas, North and South Carolina and Tennessee for jobs and has no problems with losing jobs to those states?

I spent 3 years living in Atlanta and moving back home to Massachusetts gave me a new appreciation for home.

 

[pelhamhall]

Getting back to the thread topic...

You can't go into a community hearing and act like hot-shot, know-it-alls and tell the idiots to "shut up" - even if they are idiots and are interrupting you. It's so bush league. I bet they walked into the meeting wearing $3,000 suits with Rolexes too. You gotta leave that stuff at home and show up with your sleeves rolled up, khakis and no tie. It's crazy and an indictment on our political development process - but these details actually (unfortunately) matter.

They strike me as an unsophisticated group when it comes to dealing with the neighbors. A little PR/community outreach beforehand would come in handy. Then you could align some North End groups to come to the meeting in support of your project, instead of filling the room with union "types" - people that the community as a whole has little sympathy for.

 

[mpm617]

Explain how other regions cooperate? You think the state of Georgia does not battle states like Texas, North and South Carolina and Tennessee for jobs and has no problems with losing jobs to those states?

I spent 3 years living in Atlanta and moving back home to Massachusetts gave me a new appreciation for home.

I've lived in several large states and the states themselves have very distinct regions within them that correlate well to our situation except that they are contained within one state. They seem to realize that it is in their best interest to cooperate and they do. We don't do that here and we are only hurting ourselves. Long before the revolution the King of England wanted to establish the State of New England with Boston as it's capital. It didn't happen because WE didn't want it to. I came back because, as they say, you don't know what you have till its gone. I love this area more because I left it. I just have a hard time with the bickering.

 

[underground]

They seem to realize that it is in their best interest to cooperate and they do. We don't do that here and we are only hurting ourselves.

I'm gonna need to be presented with some actual scholarly evidence before I accept this as fact. Seems to me it's just based on more of the "everyone else is nice and New Englanders are mean" conventional wisdom than actual fact. I'd be willing to bet that the Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and whatever legislatures are just as accrimonious as the Mass. legislature.

 

[palindrome]

Imagine if new england did get it together, and cooperate more. 12 senators in a region comparable to a state with 2 senators.

 

[aquaman]

Her beliefs didn't match those of the voters in a district gerrymandered to drown out some of the more left wing suburbs with Southie and Dorchester. I don't really care if Southie keeps picking one of its own to represent it, but why are so many towns with distinct political personalities subjected to its whim?

Not to get totally off topic, but I live in that district... in Needham. For the life of me, I can't figure out how I'm in the same district as Southie.

 

[Scott]

Okay, then why is Dorchester split right down the middle? To increase their political influence?

"Everybody knows" that Dorchester and Southie are completely different places as Charlestown is different from Somerville, yet are geographical neighbors. Only in movies like The Departed does the Whitey Bulger character's influence extend beyond Andrew Square. Dorchester is a different animal politically and culturally from South Boston or the South End and is the biggest victim of gerrymandering in this state.

 

[czsz]

Scott, you answer your own question. Dorchester is split to reduce the influence of the people who do, in fact, make it a different political animal than Southie. The remainder supports Southie's fiat rule over the district.

It's not even the most ridiculously-shaped district in the state:

 

[Ron Newman]

This is getting way off the topic of a proposed North End development on a current parking lot.

 

[czsz]

True, but I think it's great that we can generate a discussion about Mass.' congressional representation from one about a North End parking lot. And when does a thread on this forum not get off topic while there's no real news to report?

 

[Scott]

In one of the evening?s more tense moments, the project?s lawyer shouted ?shut up!? at an activist and the city?s project manager threatened to end the hearing.

Ron, if I reread that article correctly it was neighborhood activists who were doing the loudest shouting not the iron workers.

Shouldn't "activist"s be respectful of others opinions and not try and bully them?

 

[kz1000ps]

Update on that little project on Salem St.

 

[kz1000ps]

The Salem Street project:

As for the project this thread is named after, well, nothing's doing: