Who Wants To Be... MAYOR!

I thought Joe Kennedy's ad usualy ran at the start of the winter and never as many.
 
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Joe will never hold another political office.

Beating your wife, building manager, person whom you broadsided while drunk, etc. to a bloody pulp on multiple occasions, all well documented in police reports. isn't terribly intelligent when you want to advance a political career. Neither is attempting to run Native American's off their tribal land so your corporation can take over their wind-farms, power plants, or mines. Of course stealing from the people of Venezuela by buying their national resources at well below market prices, from an oppressive communist dictator JFK would have never dealt with no less, in order to exploit poor people in the United States for various propaganda purposes isn't so stellar either.
 
Joe was a pretty good Congressman for the 8th District, even though he wasn't my first choice.
 
Banker & Tradesman - Feb 23, 2009
Menino The Master Builder?
Successful Developers Know Not To Upset The Mayor

By Scott Van Voorhis

Banker & Tradesman Columnist


Mayor Thomas M. Menino has all but appointed himself as the Hub?s master builder, a job that increasingly looks like it comes with a lifetime tenure.

Now, with the first mayoral race in years taking shape, maybe it is time to look more closely at the track record of the city?s developer-in chief.

More than any other Boston mayor, Menino has immersed himself in the minutiae of city development, setting himself as the final arbiter of whether projects live or die from his throne on the fifth floor of City Hall.

And frankly, the results, for all that effort, have been seriously lacking at times.

The mayor?s now nearly 16-year reign has had its share ? and then some ? of development misfires, from the near catastrophe of plans, now mercifully forgotten, to tear down Fenway Park and a good chunk of the neighborhood around it, to the ill-conceived proposal to build a 1,000-foot tower downtown.

But whether we have an honest appraisal of the Menino?s record as master builder is an open question.

The first rule for anyone wanting to build anything in Boston, from a new parking lot to a skyscraper, is don?t do anything at all to anger the mayor.

All of which brings us to a larger problem ? beyond goofy proposals and outright flops ? the role the mayor has adopted as the city?s virtual development dictator.

The mayor is famously oversensitive, not just to slights or perceived criticism, but to anyone, especially a developer, with a penchant for self promotion in the press.

The developers who fared the best have been the ones that have learned to toe the line, avoiding public attention like the plague and trudging ahead with predictable, but uninspired, proposals.

But that doesn?t exactly create a welcoming environment for new ideas and outside-the-box thinking. And with Boston facing its most severe economic test in decades, more mediocre plans from timid, don?t-rock the-boat builders are the last thing the city needs.

?In the Hub of the universe, the intellectual capital, it is just a way that stifles thought,?? noted one long-time observer of development in the city, who, fearful for his livelihood, won?t talk on the record. ?The city get?s cheated.??

Let?s start with the mayor?s record.

To give the mayor his due, there certainly have been some successes. The $800 million-plus convention center was widely panned as a bad idea, but Menino stuck behind the idea made it happen.

It has turned out to be a solid base hit, if not a home run. Time will tell.

There has also been explosion in luxury condo construction downtown, creating badly needed new housing, even as it threatens to turn parts of the Back Bay into a playground for the rich.

And let me say it?s hard to think of anyone who works as hard as Menino at his job, in the public or private sector. The guy is on the clock around the clock, as any of his former or current exhausted staffers would likely attest. Say what you like about his leadership approach and thin skin; he?s probably one of the most honest mayors Boston has ever had.

But mostly when I think of Menino?s track record as Boston?s development czar, what comes to mind are lots of big proposals ? some dubious, others not ? that went nowhere.

There?s Tommy?s Tower, the proposal for a 1,000-foot office tower, which, if anyone was crazy enough to build it, would have hollowed out the Financial District, not to mention plans to sell City Hall and build a new municipal palace on the waterfront, now quietly being scuttled.

But that?s just for starters.

There?s the never ending Fan Pier saga, that long-planned, multibillion-dollar waterfront development which, after more than a quarter century of talk, may finally produce a cookie cutter office building. That is if it can find a tenant now.

And no one will soon forget soon the Columbus Center air-rights fiasco, that $800 million-plus plan for decking over the Turnpike near the South End that recently went belly-up, leaving an abandoned construction site.

And speaking of holes in the ground, don?t forget Kensington Place. City officials pushed through the demolition of the historic Gaiety Theater near Downtown Crossing to make way for that beauty. More than five years later, there?s a big ugly crater, but no tower.

I?m still waiting for the South Station tower, first proposed a decade ago and no sign of it yet. At least they didn?t rip anything down there yet.

But more damaging than this collection of misfires has been the mayor?s habit of taking a dislike to any developer with the brains and moxie to propose a big idea and attempt to build it.

The biggest tragedy in this regard has been John Hynes, one of Boston?s most successful developers. Hynes? father is newscaster Jack Hynes while his grandfather was one of Boston?s most highly regarded mayors.

Hynes, for his part, is not shy about talking up his plans, combining a promoter?s flair with one of the more creative development minds around.

Backed by Morgan Stanley, Hynes shelled out $200 million in 2006 for Frank McCourt?s collection of parking lots just across the street from Fan Pier on South Boston?s waterfront. And he went to work drawing up a bold, multibillion-dollar development plan, with plans for a manmade hill, homes for thousands of new residents, and an international school.

But far from being pleased, the mayor was doing a slow burn. He took umbrage at the school idea, but that was visible sign of what already had become a deep rift. And in Boston, if the mayor doesn?t like you, your project is going nowhere.

When Hynes last fall fell short on his financing for an equally sweeping plan to redevelop the Filene?s building in Downtown Crossing, the mayor used it as a centerpiece for a short-lived, punitive proposal aimed at developers who run out of cash after starting work.

I guess no one inside City Hall had heard of the global credit crunch yet.

Ironically, McCourt, who sold his parking lots to Hynes? group, had suffered a similar fate as Hynes. Now owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, McCourt spent years talking up grand schemes for his property, only to draw the contempt of the mayor.

Now Don Chiofaro, the colorful tower builder who is Boston?s answer to Donald Trump, is the latest to find there is room for just one person on the Hub?s development stage.

The mayor?s dislike of Chiofaro, the International Place developer who has proposed a new pair of twin towers near the New England Aquarium, is an open secret in development circles.

Maybe?s it?s the personality, or maybe it?s the tie, who knows.

It does, however, make you wonder on how many development ideas Boston is missing out on, ideas that never make it to the public stage according the mayor?s whims that day.

Here?s where I hoped the mayor would give his two cents, but I will settle for Dot Joyce, the mayor?s press secretary. Of course I am both ?mischaracterizing most of these projects?? and forgetting to mention the mayor holds lots of design competitions in hopes of attracting unique development ideas, she writes. (OK, I take it back, Kensington Place isn?t a hole in the ground, there really is a 30-story condo tower there. I?ll remember to get my glasses checked.)

She also points to two very key decisions the mayor made in South Boston, to ultimately block the Patriots bid to build a football stadium and to ensure the new convention center got built.

?Can you imagine what South Boston would look like with a football stadium or how our economy would be faring without the convention center ? for all the bold ideas that didn?t make it there are several more that did,?? Joyce writes in an e-mail.

Still, this idea of taking personal offense at developers who think big and talk a little too much seems like a pretty odd way of doing business in one of the world?s greatest cities.
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The dream.

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The reality.

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I don't think Scott's found his "voice" yet, though. Some of his writing is clunky, for lack of a better word. His experience has been in short blurbs for the Herald, so it's only natural he'll need some time to get used to columnist-style writing.
 
Banker & Tradesman - March 6, 2009
Menino To Offer Incentives For Cos. To Stay In Hub

By Paul McMorrow

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino proposed his $40 million gap financing plan in December, in an effort to boost development projects in the city.In an effort to combat suburban flight, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced a plan today intended to keep corporate tenants with expiring leases from leaving the city.

The plan, outlined in Menino's annual speech to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, will direct the Boston Redevelopment Authority to "identify companies in Boston whose leases end in the next 24 months," and offer them "financial and technical assistance where appropriate" to stay in Boston.

"We're going to be out visiting businesses, knocking on doors, asking how we can help," Menino said in the press scrum following his speech. He acknowledged that Boston is competing with cheaper suburban rents, but said, "We're going to show the benefits of doing business in Boston."

Brenda McKenzie, the BRA's director of economic development, said the agency would partner with private commercial real estate firms to identify and target businesses that might be candidates for suburban flight. She could not yet identify which brokerage firms the city would be working with. However, she said the outreach effort would be wide-ranging, targeting industrial, office and lab users, large and small.

"One of the reasons companies say they leave is often that no one asked them to stay," McKenzie said. "We're going to ask them to stay."

Asked whether the city would be targeting tax breaks, tenant improvement funds or some other incentive, McKenzie replied, "We'll see what their needs are. This will really be customized to their needs."

The mayor also addressed stalled construction in the city, labeling himself "concerned about a few key construction projects that have stalled," while urging the room full of business leaders not to "overlook the fact that Boston has $5 billion worth of projects under construction right now."

"In the weeks ahead," Menino added, "We will expand that activity by adding federal stimulus money to work to kick-start capital projects."

The administration is preparing to deploy roughly $150 million in federal stimulus funds, including $33 million in Boston Housing Authority capital funds, $21 million for street repaving, $12.9 million for Dorchester Avenue renovations, $5 million in transportation technology upgrades, and $57 million in education funds.
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Banker & Tradesman - March 9, 2009
Menino?s Foes Shun Development Power
When It Comes To City?s Development, Mayoral Candidates Spout Same Criticism

By Paul McMorrow

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

03/09/09

The three declared candidates for mayor of Boston come from markedly different backgrounds, but on development matters, they speak like they're reading from a shared script.

Each wants to strip the Boston Redevelopment Authority of its planning functions. Each rails against the politicization of development deals, big and small. And each is betting that, in exchange for a hands-off approach from the fifth floor of City Hall, developers will be willing to submit their plans to more intense scrutiny from neighborhood interests.

And, thus, the metric for judging the development agendas of Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon and Kevin McCrea isn't found in marked policy differences. It's in rhetorical flourishes.

Michael Flaherty?They say the markets are frozen ? the only thing that?s frozen here is the mayor?s vision, for the past 16 years,? said Flaherty, the longtime at-large city councilor.

Remarkably, the Southie pol was once seen as Mayor Tom Menino?s preferred successor. [And in a January 2006 letter to the BRA obtained by Banker & Tradesman, Flaherty wrote about the Lovejoy Wharf project, ?I commend the vision of the mayor and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.? A Flaherty spokesman said, ?The mayor works hard but it doesn?t mean that he?s always right.?]

No longer. The mayor helped push Flaherty out of the City Council presidency three years ago, and since then, Flaherty has staked out ground as one of Menino?s most vocal critics on development matters. The mayor?s plans to move City Hall and build a 1,000-foot tower in Winthrop Square have been two favorite targets.

Hizzoner?s Boston, Flaherty now charges, is a rats? nest of opacity and favoritism.

?Good plans die on the vine, or they have to travel a different course,? he said. ?The issue is they change the rules in the middle of the game, depending on who the players are. They never stick to the plan. In their angst to get shovels in the ground, they?re letting development dictate planning.?


Harsh Words For His Honor

?It?s an understatement to say that development is way too political. It gets in the way of us being the city we know we can be,? said Yoon, a two-term at-large councilor from Dorchester.

Sam YoonYoon, a former affordable housing developer with the Asian Community Development Corporation, is fiercely critical of the BRA. He contends that the city?s planning and development agency uses neighborhood charettes as ?a check off a political checklist,? calls the Chinatown Master Plan ?a document that keeps the community busy,? and says the BRA?s planners ?know they?re entirely subservient to political interests.? And he lays all of that at Menino?s feet.

?You can?t disentangle the person from the system,? Yoon said.

?This city is run like a banana republic,? charged Kevin McCrea, the South End developer, owner of Wabash Construction, and self-proclaimed good government crusader. ?There are no rules. The BRA can change the rules for any project, anywhere. That doesn?t promote business. It kills business.?

Four years ago, McCrea ran for City Council and made headlines for his Harley motorcycle and his brash, no-holds-barred blog, which he used to dish campaign trail gossip and level heavy accusations at City Hall. Since that time, McCrea has successfully sued Flaherty?s City Council for Open Meeting Law violations, and has honed an acrid critique of the Menino administration. (A recent blog entry was headlined, ?Mayor Menino doesn?t believe in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, or sharing,? and accused the mayor of raising the assessment on his home by $700,000 as payback for criticisms he leveled during that 2005 campaign.)

Kevin McCrea?The zoning code is for sale,? McCrea alleged. ?Nobody wants to come to Boston. No big, open, legitimate corporation wants to get involved in these backroom deals. You shouldn?t have to get anyone?s blessing or kiss any pinky ring.?

All three contenders cite Hayward Place as a prime example of City Hall politics derailing development. (The $23 million downtown parcel was a parking lot when Millennium Partners won it in a tortuous bid nearly eight years ago, and it remains one today.) ?They were wired, and it sends a signal,? Yoon said. ?I was talking to a REIT recently, and they were saying, ?Boston has so much potential, but we can?t figure it out [politically].?? The mayor?s office did not provide comment before deadline.

Flaherty wants a separate city planning agency because, he said, the BRA appears ?incapable of performing its planning responsibilities.? He said he?d try to recruit corporate headquarters to Boston, execute a ?true citywide and neighborhood-specific plan, based on the needs of the neighborhood, and stick to it,? broadcast BRA and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings on television and the Internet, and impose a ?defined start and finish? to the Article 80 project review process.

Flaherty also pitched ?a contract with the community? during development review, ?where promises made are promises kept, and reasonable concerns of a neighborhood are reflected in the final submission.?

It?s McCrea?s intention to ?eliminate? the BRA, replacing it with ?a planning and zoning commission that?s accountable to the citizens.? The agency, he said, has ?allowed the mayor to do all his development dirty work with none of the responsibility.?

?Philosophically,? he said, ?I don?t think the state or city government should get very involved in commercial projects. If you have a level field, and honest, open, transparent permitting process and zoning bylaws, it allows capitalism to thrive.?

He also wants to sell off all excess city- and BRA-owned land, beginning with Hayward Place and the Winthrop Square garage. The proceeds would bridge the city?s budget gap, he contends.

Yoon, another advocate of severing planning from the BRA, said he would bring what he called a ?community development approach? toward building. He would stress collaboration, process and transparency.

?It?s not that difficult to get,? he said. ?You can?t have all of everything.?

An example of a good project, he said, is the Metropolitan, the Boston tower that the Asian CDC developed with Edward A. Fish Assoc.

?It?s built, it?s occupied and it satisfied a lot of masters. If you accept height and density in a neighborhood like Chinatown, you have the resources to cross-subsidize affordable housing.?

He added, ?In our city, the stakeholders are brought in 10 at a time and listened to very selectively, according to one person?s whim. You have to respect and believe in the process because good process makes a better project. You learn to differentiate the voices of distraction and delay, who have nothing positive to offer, from the voices that need to be listened to. When you listen to those people, and let them into the front seat of a project, you get a good project.?

BRA Director John Palmieri said Friday he provided a list of dozens of residents who have worked with the agency on thorny projects ,and brushed off the rancor as election year posturing.

?Candidates will look for ways to criticize the work that government does. It?s part of government, it?s part of the deal. These anecdotes float around, but they?re an unfair characterization of the work we do.?
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I gotta say the track record of the Mayor and the BRA is rather dirty (putting it mildly). Not sure how much these new ideas would help but at the very least we do need new ideas and new leadership.
 
I don't get why these people are so anti-development. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don't
 
Cutting out the BRA in favor of the community groups is a good thing? Isn't this the direction we've been going (well passing the point of "reasonable compromise") since 1970?
 
I really don't understand the reasoning behind thinking that doing away with the BRA and replacing it with another board is going to solve all our problems. We have an issue with our process, not with our agency. A new agency without a new process will end up being a mirror image of the BRA.
 
I thought the general complaint was that the BRA had a built-in conflict of interest, best addressed by separating redevelopment from day-to-day planning and zoning.
 
Remember cities before 'modern' professional 'urban planners' and massive government agencies dictating the terms of development? Less Koolhaas kool-aid, mulch Moses, grate Gropius, compost Corbusier and send Sert away already, our cities have suffered enough!

Where's the Arthur Gilman, Frederick Law Olmstead, Arthur Shurcliff, Baron Von Hausmann, William Wheelright, and Daniel Burnham's school of planning when you need it?
 
Was there really a difference between Moses' planning philosophy and the likes of Hausmann (demolish the city for massive roads) and Burnham (regional planning via massive roads)?

If the latter had been in their prime a few decades later they would have embraced the expressway with as much zeal as Corbusier.
 
There's a difference between planning cities by using streets and using streets to plan cities.
 
Yes, and both sets of planners did both.
 
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