Ward 21 Democratic Committee Does Not Endorse for District 9 City Councilor

The Ward 21 Democratic Committee has decided not to endorse a candidate for the preliminary municipal election of District 9 City Councilor for Allston-Brighton.

The four candidates for the seat -- incumbent Councilor Mark Ciommo, plus challengers Abigail Furey, Benjamin Narodick, and Alex Selvig -- appeared individually in front of the committee last week to speak and answer questions. The committee then voted, with no candidate receiving the 2/3 majority required under its by-laws to obtain an endorsement.

In the 2007 election for the open seat, the committee endorsed Tim Schofield for the preliminary municipal election. When he failed to make the final by placing third, the committee then endorsed Mark Ciommo for the municipal election -- which was not surprising because the other candidate, Gregory Glennon, failed to appear in front of the committee.

This non-endorsement appears to be a black eye on the re-election bid of Councilor Ciommo, particularly since they have endorsed him previously. Selvig seemed to relish spreading the news on his Facebook page, as did Narodnick via Twitter. Furey? Not so much.

The Ward 21 Democratic Committee has undergone some recent leadership changes in its leadership. Darrin Wilson is the new chair, Eric Fox the secretary, and Nan Davis Evans has switched to the affirmative action/outreach position.


Image of question mark in Esbjerg by alexanderdrachman provided through a Creative Commons license.

How To Combine Zoos to Create "Efficiencies"

Governor Deval Patrick declared over the weekend that Zoo New England, the public-private partnership that runs the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, should explore ways to combine the two zoos as one way to resolve a budget shortfall resorting from Patrick's veto of part of the state funding for the zoos. The Boston Globe editorial page seconded the motion that ZNE at least entertain the idea of combining the two zoos:

Legislators shouldn’t rush to override Patrick’s veto of zoo money unless Zoo New England - which hasn’t responded to media inquiries - answers some basic questions: Why not consolidate the Stone Zoo with the Franklin Park Zoo?...

Combining zoos in order to save money -- create "efficiencies," in bureaucrat-speak -- could be accomplished in a number of novel ways by moving the Stone Zoo animals to existing exhibit space at the Franklin Park Zoo. The key is that new exhibit space cannot be built, otherwise such expensive new construction would not save money.

Here are some ideas for how to combine animal exhibits to save money:

Mexican Gray Wolves. These animals are one of the most popular attractions among the children at Stone Zoo, particularly due to the challenge to find them hiding up top a rocky promontory. Kids go crazy over the challenge of finding them, even if all they can glimpse are a few ears over the tops of some rocks.

At Franklin Park, the wolves could easily be incorporated into the Children's Petting Zoo in a pen alongside the sheep and goats. Just lock the barn doors at night, and let nature do its course. Cost savings: much reduced expenses for feeding not just the sheep and goats, but also the wolves. Bonus: occasionally take a few chickens next door and toss them into the barn before closing it for the night. More savings.

Coyotes. Ditto. Easy answer, similarly good cost savings. Added benefit: watch the wolves and coyotes duke it out, and charge admission to raise even more money.

Bald Eagles. The bald eagles at Stone Zoo could be put to good use in the Tropical Forest Pavilion, even though the climate inside (warm and humid) isn't quite to their liking. Just alternate them between the mandrill and lemur exhibits, both places where the eagles would have a field day catching hordes of mice. Kill two birds with one stone.

Flamingos. There are flamingo exhibits at both zoos, so a bureaucrat could easily look at a piece of paper and determine that putting them all into a single enclosure at Franklin Park would save money. Never mind that the Franklin Park enclosure looks horribly crowded already -- or that it was an (originally) temporary location for them when they were evicted from the bottom of the aviary next door, which itself had to be evacuated of birds a couple of years ago to make way for an installation of a dinosaur exhibit featuring fake animals. No worry. Just cram all those flamingos into that little enclosure and watch the mayhem that ensues. It'll look like Fantasia 2000, I'm sure!

River Otters. These frisky animals have a recently-renovated exhibit at Stone Zoo. They require water for swimming around, so the obvious place for them is the aquarium tank in the Tropical Forest Pavilion. Saves feeding costs for both river otters and fish (see Wolves, above).

Hornbills. There are a number of different birds at Stone Zoo that could be housed, at least in summertime, in the wide open space inside the Butterfly Pavilion netting. There's just a lot of extra, unused airspace waiting for animals to be crammed inside. Further efficiencies: some of the birds eat butterflies.

Lion Exhibit. The male lion's exhibit at Franklin Park -- his female companion died a couple of years ago due to a blood illness -- is full of lots of empty space. He spends pretty much the whole day in a little 10' x 10' area, sunning and sleeping and periodically roaring.

Save money by fencing this 100 square foot space off so that the lion can keep it, but create new, fenced-in cages for other animals with the remaining space. In order to add interest, populate those adjacent cages with animals that will tempt the lion: reindeer, pygmy zebu, markhur goats, yak, zebras, wildebeest, etc. The lion will be clawing at through the fence all day, and the kids will eat it up!

Jaguars, Cougars, Snow Leopard. These animals look sort-of similar to tigers, so you can just put them in with the yellow and white tigers in their recently-built exhibit. Or maybe just rotate the animals daily just to see if anybody notices. What's the difference?

Meerkats. The Stone Zoo has some of these small animals from southern Africa, who like to hang out in tunnels and stand on their haunches above-ground. Franklin Park has prairie dogs from North America that share the same interests. Any old bureaucrat can see that they're bound to become BFF. Just throw 'em all together.

Bonus: maybe they'll cross-breed and we'll get some new kind of mutant that can have its own series on Animal Planet. Licensing rights bring more money to the zoo, so it's gotta work.

Birds-Of-Prey Show. Stone Zoo has a show during the summer where zookeepers fly birds-of-prey around the audience to display their prowess. Turn these animals into a traveling show that sets up shop at a different North Allston corner every hour. You know, North Allston has something of a rodent problem.

Bonus: charge Harvard for the cost of the show, which they can then bill as a community benefit for their stalled Allston science complex. Win-win all-around.


Alternatives If Zoo New England Folds

If Zoo New England shuts down in October due to a budget shortfall, terms of the private-public partnership turn over all the property (including the animals) to the state. How would the state government find space for all the animals, without resorting to euthanizing them? Here's a few ideas:

Bats. The bat exhibit in the "Sierra Madre" area of the Stone Zoo is located behind a darkened cloth entry, so that visitors can see the bats in their nighttime behavior.

These animals are easy to find a home: I hear that the Governor's office has some nice new drapes that could provide the bats with their darkness.

Goats. The U.S. Naval Academy always needs more goats, so ship 'em off to Annapolis.

Snakes. Chairs of the committees at the state legislature would have first dibs in deciding where in the state house to release the snakes.

Kangaroos. These animals have a large pouch on their front, which a perfect hiding place for stashing wads of cash in order to slip through security. House the kangaroos in the Dianne Wilkerson Memorial Office at the state house?

Oh, and whose office would get the mountain gorillas? The stinky porcupines? The two condors?


Image of a Poitou donkey, a new introduction into the Franklin Park Zoo's petting area, from Zoo New England's twitterPic.

Franklin Park Zoo's Lion Mauls Giraffe; Kea Birds Attack Sheep

The lion at the Franklin Park Zoo was seen Friday morning mauling a giraffe while children were apparently cheering him on. His meal of fresh meat brought smiles to onlookers all around. The remnants of the giraffe can be seen at right.

Later Friday, several Kea birds were also seen pecking away at a sheep laying on its side; one Kea seemed particular fond of gnawing at the sheep's ears.

And to think: onlookers said that the zookeepers themselves moved the giraffe and sheep into the predators' cages. Yes, they did it deliberately.

Amazingly, these feedings occurred on the same day that the zoo announced that, without additional funding, it would have to close in October and would likely have to euthanize at least 20 percent of its animals because they would not be able to find them homes.

Wow.

Despite appearances, the zookeepers are not, however, feeding some of the zoo's animals to each other as part of shutting the zoo down.

The ravaging wildlife and the threatened zoo closure are completely unrelated developments.

The giraffe and sheep were constructed from cardboard and papier mache by children attending Zoo Camp during the last two weeks. Zookeepers put fresh meat into the giraffe for the lion to eat, and vegetables (possibly also meat?) into the sheep for the Kea [left].

The fake animals are introduced into the cages as part of the wildlife's "enrichment" -- a process to provide interest and activity to animals who spend their life in captivity.

Reports are that the Kea took a while to get interested in tearing apart the cardboard sheep, while the lion make short order tearing apart the cardboard giraffe.

The educational opportunities of the zoo camp is one of the many ways in which the Franklin Park Zoo provides a valuable service to the community.

Two Brighton Residents Sue City Over Boston College Expansion

Two Brighton residents, Patrick Galvin and Mark Alford, have jointly sued the City of Boston over its approval of Boston College's expansion plans into the former St. John's Seminary land purchased by BC in 2004-7 from the Archdiocese of Boston.

The suit was filed in Superior Court Thursday afternoon. It names three defendants, all official governmental bodies of the City of Boston: the Boston Redevelopment Authority, whose Board approved BC's Institutional Master Plan in January 2009; the Zoning Commission, which approved the IMP in May 2009; and the BC Task Force, an official advisory body to the BRA Board (and appointed by Mayor Thomas Menino), who wrote a letter to the BRA Board generally supporting most of the elements in BC's IMP.

Mayor Menino was not named as a defendant in the suit, which is a bit surprising (to this non-lawyer) given that he also had to approve BC's IMP. He objected to several details of the IMP as initially approved by the Zoning Commission; the ZC later approved modifications, and then Mayor Menino formally signed off in June 2009.

The plaintiffs own property on Lake Street abutting the former St. John's Seminary land BC refers to as their "Brighton Campus." BC's approved IMP calls for construction on that land of athletics facilities (baseball stadium, softball stadium, support building, tennis courts), an auditorium, museum and new building for their fine arts department, and a parking garage. A related Article 80 large project at 188-196 Foster Street (also part of the land bought from the Archdiocese of Boston) to build housing for BC's School of Theology and Ministry was submitted by the Jesuit society and approved in November 2008 by the BRA Board, although it was initially included in BC's IMP. The Zoning Commission changed the zoning at the property as part of its June 2009 IMP approval process.

No monetary figure for damages is specified in the suit.


Image of the scales of justice in Haarlem, The Netherlands by lant_70 provided through a Creative Commons license.


UPDATE: The Boston Globe now has a story on it.

A Bumper Sticker You'll Only Find in Massachusetts

Here's a bumper stick that you'll probably only find in Massachusetts: "Ban Republican Marriage / Hatred is unnatural. And disgusting."

Seen in Brighton the day after Martha Coakley, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, sued the federal government over the latter's Defense of Marriage Act definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Brighton Resident William Feegbeh Running Write-In Campaign for Mayor

While Brighton resident William Feegbeh may not have been successful in getting on this fall's ballot for Mayor of Boston -- he gathered enough raw signatures, but not enough valid ones to pass the 1500 signature minimum -- he is now running a write-in (sticker) campaign instead.

The sign at right was seen Thursday evening taped to the window of a business in Brighton Center. When I asked the business owner if he knew Feegbeh, he replied no, and proceeded to take down the sign. He had no idea how it got there... and handed me the sign. (No, I didn't ask him to take it down...)

Feegbeh was also unsuccessful in getting enough signatures in a 2007 bid for City Councilor-At-Large. The Dorchester Reporter gives a little bit of background on him:

...William Feegbeh [is] a 40-year-old who describes himself as a Northeastern political science graduate. He grew up in Brockton after coming over from Liberia in the 1970s when he was around seven years old.

At least one commenter over at Universal Hub is not quite so generous in his description of Feegbeh.

Former Allston-Brighton State Rep Goes to the BRA

Former State Representative Brian Golden will be named by Mayor Thomas Menino as the Executive Officer of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, according to today's Boston Globe.

Golden is no stranger to Allston-Brighton, having represented one of the district's two seats (18th Suffolk) for 1999-2005.

While a was registered a Democrat, Golden raised a lot of eyebrows by not only endorsing (and actively campaigning for) George W. Bush for president in 2000 and 2004, but also heading to Florida in 2000 to assist Bush's legal team in the recount process. The conservative National Review asked Golden in a 2004 interview why he is still a Democrat and not a Republican. Some people in the community have called Golden by the derogatory term DINO (Democrat In Name Only; online examples here and here), and MassScorecard gave him a "D" grade in 2003-4 for adherence to Democratic positions on the issues.

Golden's positions opposing abortion rights and gay marriage, supporting school vouchers, opposing the Massachusetts clean elections law, and supporting Bush's election, put him at odds with a neighborhood that is trending progressive. Golden's protege, Gregory Glennon, openly stated some similar political views in his 2005 bid to fill Golden's vacated seat, but by 2007 had become completely mum on these issues in his 2007 bid for District 9 City Councilor. Allston-Brighton's Wards 21 and 22 went 78%-20% for Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin in 2008, by the way.

The oddest aspect of Golden being named to the BRA position is that a number of Ward 22 neighborhood activists opposed to Boston College's institutional expansion proposals were actively supporting Golden's protege and former staffer Gregory Glennon in his failed 2007 bid for District 9 City Councilor. Since those activists supported the protege -- presumably at least in part for his positions on institutional expansion -- I wonder if they also support having the mentor in a lead role at the BRA? Somehow, I doubt it. Politics makes strange bedfellows, but affairs ain't the same as marriage.

Where will Golden, now a resident of Newton, come down on the issue of institutional expansion now that he is one of the leaders of the BRA, an agency tasked both regulating and promoting development? I haven't found much in the public record on this issue, particularly since he stepped down as state representative when these issues were really gearing up in Allston-Brighton. We'll see.

Is 'Clark Rockefeller' Trying to Get His Trial Moved?

Media coverage of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, aka 'Clark Rockefeller', is likely to ramp up leading to his May 11th trial date on kidnapping charges.

If the trial doesn't get moved somewhere else, that is.

I got a phone survey call Wednesday night related to the case, media coverage of it, and the public's awareness of its details.

While these phone survey companies are bound not to disclose who hired them (according to the caller ID, this one was done by a company in Oregon, 503-977-6714), there is little question in my mind that it was contracted by Gerhartsreiter's defense team -- and that they are hoping the survey provides data that could justify moving the trial elsewhere.

Questions in the survey probe public opinion about (not exact wording of the questions):

• What words first come to mind when you hear the name 'Clark Rockefeller'?
  
• Do you think the insanity defense is a legitimate defense in a criminal case? Do you know that 'Rockefeller' will be asserting this in his defense?
• Do you have an opinion already of whether or not he committed the crime [of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter]?
• Is there too much media coverage of him, too little, or the right amount? What is your primary news source (local paper, TV, etc.)?
• Are you aware of other allegations against him elsewhere in the U.S.?
  

The answers to these questions would all be germane to the issue of whether or not Gerhartsreiter would likely get a fair trial here in Suffolk County. That is why I suspect the opinion poll to be one paid for by his defense team in advance of asking to have the trial moved to another jurisdiction.

Note that some of the questions were posed poorly, particularly in relation to each other. The question of whether or not there is too much media coverage of him came before the question of your primary news source, but did not specify if you thought your primary news source was covering him in an appropriate amount. You can simultaneously think that there is too much coverage -- for example, by tabloid journalism sources that you don't read -- while still believing that your primary news source (local newspaper) has covered it appropriately.

The survey only used the name 'Clark Rockefeller' throughout the interview. The guy administering the survey appeared not to have ever heard the name Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter when I mentioned it -- he needed repeated help spelling it. That is an indication that few of the survey respondents knew his original (German) name -- instead only knowing his 'Clark Rockefeller' alias that he used here in the U.S. -- which undercuts any potential defense argument that there has been too much media coverage.

By coincidence, the Boston Globe ran a front-page-story-above-the-fold in today's edition about a grand jury investigating the death of two San Marino residents that may be linked to Gerhartsreiter. Universal Hub hasn't had a story on him since December 3, 2008. But neither sounds like saturated media coverage to me.

For those with longer memories, the media circus descended upon Brighton last year when he was flown in -- following extradition from Maryland -- and arraigned at Brighton District Court. I saw the craziness outside the Allston-Brighton D-14 station last year on my way to Mayor Thomas Menino's bicycle lane press conference.

Boston Globe Scoops A-B TAB on Conflicts-of-Interest Story

The Boston Globe's metro section ran as its top story yesterday a report of conflicts-of-interest among two members of the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Boston College Task Force, and another potential conflict-of-interest of the Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor Mark Ciommo.

In these days of community newspapers, where GateHouse Media's Wicked Local websites are fighting off a new challenge from the Boston Globe's YourTown entries, you would think that the little local paper would break a story like this -- particularly where the original public statements were made at local community meetings.

But you would be wrong. The Globe scooped the Allston-Brighton TAB -- on a local story on which many details are more than a year old.

Task force member John Bruno has a son who attends BC on an Allston/Brighton Scholarship provided through the community benefits portion of an earlier Article 80 review process -- a community benefits package that the task force is revisiting as part of the approval of BC's Institutional Master Plan. Task force member Denis Minihane owns property on Washington Street which he leases to BC to house its Boston College Neighborhood Center -- a center that BC touts as part of its Article 80 community benefits (page 13-9). And Councilor Ciommo's son recently was offered admission to BC, where he will be eligible for one of the Allston/Brighton Scholarships that would be part of the continued Article 80 community benefits (page 13-2).

The Allston-Brighton TAB reported on a meeting of the BC Task force in June 2007 when task force member John Bruno stated publicly that his son was attending BC on scholarship. Yet no mention in the TAB of the scholarship.

It reported on another meeting in January 2008 meeting of the task force when Bruno also stated that there was called by an ethics investigator -- likely from the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission -- and that he would fight the investigation. Yet no mention in the TAB story of the ethics investigation.

The TAB had a reporter in the room in a January 2009 meeting of the task force when Councilor Ciommo acknowledged that his son had been admitted to BC, and that he might be eligible for the scholarship -- but that he was unaware yet as to whether or not he would receive it. Yet no mention in the story of Ciommo's statement.

Why doesn't the Allston-Brighton TAB report on controversial stories, like this one on potential conflicts-of-interest, brewing in the community they cover?

One theory is that they try to avoid personal issues like these might be, even though they are alleged conflicts-of-interest among both elected officials (Councilor Ciommo) and part-time/volunteer municipal employees (the status of task force members, who are appointed by Mayor Thomas Menino and charged with advising the BRA's Board on the BC IMP).

The issues here, however, were not whisper campaigns run by enemies trying to discredit them (though they may have started out that way). Instead, these were public statements (with the exception of Minihane) at public meetings in apparent attempts to set the record straight in public. Bruno volunteered the information on two different occasions, and Councilor Ciommo was open in responding to the issue when raised by a member of the public -- both presumably speaking publicly in a way to get their message out. Why not report what they said?

Well, in a way, they did. The TAB provided a link to the Globe story yesterday in their blog.

The editor of the Allston-Brighton TAB, Valentina Zic, responded by email stating that the paper did not brush off the conflict-of-interest issues that had been raised at the meetings of the task force:

TAB reporters have always been encouraged to cover the conflict between Boston College and neighbors opposing aspects of its expansion. The issue is a complex one, and, with limited resources, we haven't been able to cover every aspect of the conflict. But there's never been a concerted effort to suppress conflict-of-interest discussions that happen at task force meetings.

Another possibility, however, is more personal about the newspaper staff. The TAB employed just one staff reporter until last year (now they have only free-lancers). Their reporter for the first half of 2007, Karen Elowitt, was, at the time, dating the son of the chair of the BC Task Force. Yet she had five bylines in the TAB for stories about the task force, and that no mention was made about the reporter's connections in the paper. (Note that Elowitt had left the paper before those three subsequent meetings that formed the basis for today's Globe story, and hence did not report on them.)

Zic responded that Elowitt had notified the paper of her potential conflict over reporting on the task force, but that the paper decided that she would be able to report fairly on the topic.

When covering community news, it may be difficult to find reporters with no inter-connections with their subjects, but isn't that why you might hire the occasional free-lancer to step in?

The issue is serious enough that Councilor Ciommo told the Globe reporter that he had filed paperwork with Boston's City Clerk about his potential conflict-of-interest with BC over his son's admission and possible scholarship. That sounds like a tacit admission from the councilor that this is a serious issue, not one to be brushed off as desperate ploys by opponents of BC's plans to build dorms and stadiums on the former St. John's Seminary land.


My personal opinion is that the TAB pulls their punches when reporting on local stories of a personal nature. People can get very defensive about stories that might be viewed -- rightly or wrongly -- as personal attacks; all you have to do is read the comments posted to the Globe's story at their website. The problem is that they showed excessive caution when a task force member -- appointed by the mayor to a governmental advisory body whose purpose is to advise the BRA on a $1 billion development project -- admitted that he had been contacted by an ethics investigator about a possible conflict-of-interest. That was enough of a red flag that warranted a story in the TAB.


Image of sculpture "Whispers" [by Stephen Weitzman] by takomabibelot provided through a Creative Commons license.

Shoveling Federal Money Into Allston-Brighton

Congress yesterday passed the $790 billion economic recovery ("stimulus") bill -- readying it for President Barack Obama's signature -- which includes many billions of dollars for "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects around the country.

What infrastructure work in Brighton is at the top of the list of projects to be funded?

A $5.5 million renovation of the Brighton Branch of the Boston Public Library is the ninth-most-expensive project requested by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, as tracked by the StimulusWatch.org wiki. The city estimates the work would create 45 jobs, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The library building, located at 40 Academy Hill Road in Brighton Center, has long been criticized not just for its brutalist facade, but also for inefficient interior design. A renovation design plan has been developed over the last couple of years and is already starting up (the library already closed on January 16, 2009, to remain closed until 2010), which makes it one of those "shovel-ready" projects. Modifications include updated wiring, heating, and ventilation, reconfiguring the children's area, better access (including an elevator), and LEED certified energy-efficient design standards.

Other city-wide improvements that would likely include Brighton, although details are not yet fully available, include $30 million for making 10,000 sidewalk curb cuts compliant with current code (240 jobs), $3.2 for expansion of bicycle lanes (24 jobs), $5 million for middle school renovation (possibly including the Edison School, which is merging with Hamilton and Garfield Elementary Schools this fall and whose renovations may be already initiated; 40 jobs), and $0.5 million for masonry repairs at Allston's Engine 41 station (which is already in the fire department's FY09 budget; 4 jobs). It's unclear if another $2.5 million for renovations at two community centers (20 jobs) would include the Veronica Smith Senior Center, where work is already underway.

What this list appears to demonstrate is that some of the individual projects, requested by Mayor Menino for funding from the federal stimulus bill, are projects already under way. This shouldn't be much of a surprise for "shovel-ready" construction projects. The city has already announced a large deficit that needs to be bridged, so federal funding appears to be saving projects already underway from getting axed.

If that's the case, then a significant portion of the federal stimulus infrastructure funding at the city-level would be saving existing jobs, not so much in creating new jobs. Federal stimulus funding then frees up city funding to plug gaps in other areas of the city budget -- like not laying off school teachers (or at least as many).


Via David Bernstein's Talking Politics blog.

When Will A-B Liquor Stores Get a Clue?

Last fall, the Boston Police Department's D-14 station announced to area business owners and residents that they were about to conduct a sting operation to catch liquor sales to underage purchasers.

Despite warning after warning that the sting operation was on its way, can you guess what happened? The sting operation still nailed a bunch of liquor stores -- and a couple of college students -- with underage purchase of alcohol.

The Allston-Brighton TAB reported that six Allston liquor stores in November 2008 sold alcohol to an undercover officer ("cadet") without requesting ID, and two Boston College students were issued criminal complaints for underage purchasing of alcohol on the same day as the sting operation.

Boston Police just issued a warning about a new sting operation that they will be carrying out in Allston-Brighton soon. Will local stores -- and underage college students -- heed the warning this time? Don't hold your breath.


Image of trunk full of beer by DrPantzo provided through a Creative Commons license.

Schofield Resigns from BC Task Force Following BRA Board Decision

Tim Schofield today submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority his resignation from the BRA's Boston College Task Force today following last night's approval of BC's Institutional Master Plan by the BRA Board.

His move followed the task force's reversal of its position on the 150-bed dormitory along Commonwealth Avenue proposed for BC's new Brighton Campus. Up through September 2008, the task force continued to be on record opposing all dormitories on the former St. John's Seminary land, but recently changed course with the majority on the task force supporting the 150-bed dorm -- with conditions -- following a secret meeting held by the group.

The task force was left dangling at Thursday's public hearing when Mayor Thomas Menino's aide announced that he wanted the dorm proposal removed from the IMP; Councilor Mark Ciommo and State Representatives Kevin Honan and Michael Moran subsequently reversed course from the positions they held earlier in the month to oppose the dorm proposal as part of this IMP.

Schofield declined to talk about his decision beyond the reason given in his resignation letter that "running a business in these difficult economic times requires all of my time and attention." Other members of the task force noted that he was in the minority on the dorm issue and that he appeared quite frustrated with the internal dynamics on the task force.

During their secret, internal deliberations in the past week and a half leading up to last night's meeting, several members are revealing that there has been a great deal of infighting.

Schofield led several of the task force's public meetings during the public comment periods and, other task force members note, was instrumental in drafting the text of the task force letters and trying to build consensus within the advisory group. He has been on the task force since March 2007, although he stepped down for several months in 2007 while running unsuccessfully for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor.

Electrical Fire at Furniture Store in Brighton Center

Traffic along Washington Street in Brighton Center, including buses 57 and 501, were all stopped up this evening due to a small electrical fire in the rear of the Europe Today furniture store at 380 Washington Street.

Steve MacDonald, Public Information Officer for the Boston Fire Department, said that the fire appears to have been caused by a water leak that shorted out some old wiring. The fire was contained to a wall towards the rear of the building. BFD responded to the one-alarm fire and reports no injuries. Traffic should be opened up by 6:15 pm or so.

Globe Moves Brighton to Newton to Appease GateHouse

Last night, the Board of the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved Boston College's 10-year Institutional Master Plan, despite objections from Brighton neighbors.

In a head-scratching move, the Boston Globe published the story online in their YourTown Newton website, even though the BRA's decision only impacts development of BC's property owned in Boston, not Newton.

Brighton just became a mini-battlefield in the conflict between the New York Times Company, owner of the Boston Globe, and GateHouse Media, which runs the WickedLocal sites and well over 100 community newspapers in New England.

The Times and GateHouse recently settled a lawsuit by the latter alleging that the Globe violated fair use practices through aggregation of GateHouse stories onto the Globe's new YourTown websites. Evidence in support of GateHouse's allegations were the large number of GateHouse stories that at times appeared on the Globe YourTown websites alongside very little originally Globe content.

In the settlement, the Times appears to have agreed to change from an automated aggregation format -- where GateHouse story titles and ledes were automatically inserted onto the YourTown webpages -- to a curated aggregation format more akin to blogging, where a short, human-written description accompanies the link to GateHouse content.

By putting a Brighton story into the YourTown Newton, the Globe appears to be trying to beef up the quantity of Globe content on their YourTown Newton website, probably so that it doesn't appear to be so heavily dominant on a competing newspaper's content.

The Boston Globe's City Weekly has regularly covered the debate between the university, neighborhood, and the City of Boston over proposed dormitories and athletic stadiums for the university's new Brighton Campus (the former St. John's Seminary site purchased from the Archdiocese of Boston in 2004-7), but, as far as I can remember, has done so by categorizing the stories with Brighton, not Newton, bylines. Nothing in today's story described how the process will impact Newton, which has its own project-by-project approval process -- as opposed to the master planning process found in Boston. The advance boston.com story was solely located on the YourTown Newton website, while another advance story on the BRA's BC Task Force was on the boston.com website. The story linked to from Friday's online Globe itself was then separately categorized in the higher education category.

BRA Board Approves Boston College Master Plan -- But Rejects Brighton Dorms (For Now)

After a three-and-a-half-hour hearing, the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Board today approved Boston College's 10-year Institutional Master Plan -- but without the 500-beds of undergraduate dormitories on the former St. John's Seminary land (aka Brighton Campus).

The move came after Dan Roan, Allston-Brighton Coordinator from the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, notified the board that Mayor Thomas Menino was requesting that the 150-bed dormitory along Commonwealth Avenue be removed from the IMP. Instead, the 150-bed dorm and another 350-bed dorm further inside the Brighton Campus will be the subject of a future study in order to determine a suitable location for them.

More details to follow.

"Broken Promises": Globe Op-Ed on BC's Institutional Master Plan

Two Brighton residents have an op-ed appearing in Thursday's edition of the Boston Globe which lists a series of reasons the Boston Redevelopment Authority should reject Boston College's Institutional Master Plan at the BRA Board's meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Ram Rao and Abigail Furey detail some of the broken promises from the university:

Among the most significant examples are its promises not to expand further into Brighton and not to build dormitories for undergraduates on the former archdiocese site. It also claimed it would not accept high-density housing for its students, but subsequently purchased, without notice to the city or the community, a 17-story high-rise about a half mile from campus for dormitory use.

When the college purchased the archdiocese property in 2004, the Globe reported that college officials "do not foresee using the land for core campus functions."

Yet in 2007 BC made a hard turn and is now insisting on putting those "core campus functions" -- dormitories, athletic fields and stadiums, parking garage -- onto their new property. By shifting from low-impact, day-time use facilities -- like administrative buildings, classrooms, offices, laboratories -- to high-impact, night-time uses, BC chose a path of confrontation with the surrounding neighborhood.

BC Task Force Meets in Secret and Relents on 150-Bed Dormitory

The Boston Redevelopment Authority's Boston College Task Force will recommend to the BRA Board approval of 150-bed dormitory on the former St. John's Seminary land purchased by BC in 2004-7, while recommending against an additional 350-bed dormitory on the property. They will further recommend that the BRA Board require that a different site be adopted for the 350-bed dorm, rather than allow it to be re-proposed by the university after conducting a site study.

The recommendations were crafted as the result of a secret meeting held by the task force last week -- and through subsequent email activity and phone calls -- according to several members of the task force.

Such meetings -- unannounced and not open to the public -- in order to deliberate, vote, and craft recommendations on various elements of BC's Institutional Master Plan, appear to be in violation of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law for municipalities (MGL 39, Section 23B), according to an opinion issued on June 1, 2007 by Suffolk County District Attorney Janis Noble. (In the statute, the district attorney is charged with its enforcement.) The DA's opinion rejected the BRA legal counsel's arguments that the task force should not be subject to the law.

Several members of the task force have repeatedly stated during the past year-and-a-half that they would not follow the OML, relying on the BRA legal counsel's position instead of the DA's opinion.

The task force's position on the 150-bed dorm is a concession by the task force from their previous positions in a series of letters they wrote between 2004 and September 2008. The recommendations are described in a letter released by the task force in advance of their presentation to the BRA Board Thursday afternoon, part of which reads:

1. Working with the BRA, the Task Force and the community, Boston College must house the remaining 350 students not accommodated by its current housing proposals on its traditional campus. The Task Force pointed to multiple sites for additional housing on the traditional campus (page 13 of our letter of September 5, 2008). A majority of the Task Force accepts the College’s plan to locate a 150-bed dormitory on the Brighton campus as a means to house all of its undergraduate students on-campus by 2018. The Task Force recognizes that this reverses our long-standing position on housing students on the so-called Brighton campus; we also recognize widespread community opposition to this proposal. In making this most difficult concession, the Task Force believes that the College should act decisively to forge common ground with the community by accepting an affirmative obligation to house 350 more students on its traditional campus.
2. Given the clear sensitivity to housing students on the so-called Brighton campus, the proposed residence hall must be a “dry dorm” where alcohol is prohibited.
3. The siting of the 150-bed dormitory needs to be sensitive to the landscape and physical features of the former Archdiocesan grounds. The historic stonewall, for example, needs to be preserved.

BC has resisted preservation of those stone walls along Commonwealth Avenue because they instead wish to have the roadway widened in order to allow for the "Boston College" T station (the terminus of the Green Line "B" train) to be moved into the center of the roadway.


Image of "The Secret And Magic Circle Meeting Begins" by :Duncan provided through a Creative Commons license.

BC Busing Students to Pack the Audience at BRA Board Meeting

Boston College's 10-year Institutional Master Plan goes to the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Board Thursday afternoon for a public hearing and likely vote.

Word out of the Chestnut Hill campus is that BC officials are trying to pack the room with students, going so far as providing a bus direct from campus to City Hall.

Alumni have been emailed in a last-minute attempt to deluge City Hall with support. And BC employees who live in Brighton have been contacted directly to ask them to attend and speak at the hearing.

The last time BC used hard-ball tactics like these, Mayor Thomas Menino was none-too-pleased.

Jack Dunn, Director of Public Affairs at BC, called for students to attend in Monday's edition of The Heights, the BC student newspaper:

Dunn encouraged students to attend the meeting in support of the IMP.

"It's a public hearing. Anyone can go. Anyone can speak, and they hear all voices," Dunn said. "We would encourage members of the BC community, students, faculty, and staff to support the plan."

The editorial board of The Heights further called for students to attend.

Those general appeals were followed up by an official email from Judy Robinson, Assistant Dean for Student Development ("off-campus dean"), which was sent out to many undergraduate students to notify them that one (or more?) buses would be running them from campus direct to City Hall for Thursday's hearing.

Who arranged the full-sized bus to convey the students direct to Mayor Menino's digs? None other than the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs at BC, who wants students to "be a presence" at the meeting, according to the email. Packing the hearing room with students doesn't sound like a very community-friendly program, does it?

Email appeals went out to BC alumni this week asking them to contact city government (both the BRA and the Allston-Brighton coordinator of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services) to express last-minute support for the university's IMP; they were also encouraged to attend the BRA hearing Thursday, thereby further packing the room.

This week's alumni appeal email was written by Thomas Keady, Jr., Vice President for Governmental and Community Affairs, and John Feudo, Associate VP of the BC Alumni Association.

Last June, Mayor Menino objected strongly to William Leahy, S.J., President of BC, sending letters to BC alumni encouraging them to write or call the BRA to submit public comments.

Keady doesn't appear to be satisfied with packing the hearing room with just students and alumni. He is reportedly personally calling BC employees who live in Brighton to twist their arms to attend. One such recipient of Keady's tactics felt manipulated by such a high-ranking BC official, realizing that he had little choice but to attend. There were many such BC employees in attendance at the BC Task Force meeting earlier this month, sitting towards the back, mostly silently.


Image of tour buses by Proggie provided through a Creative Commons license.

Where Does Flaherty Stand on the Issues?

Boston City Councilor-At-Large Michael Flaherty announced on Sunday his candidacy for Mayor of Boston. His announcement seems to have rushed to the (kitchen) table after Adam Gaffin, curator of UniversalHub, noticed a test version of Flaherty's video on YouTube. As such, his "Flaherty for Mayor" website isn't yet up, and won't be for a week or so.

Want to know where Councilor Flaherty stands on some of the issues before the city?

When he last ran for Councilor-At-Large in 2007, I assembled the following background on him via questionnaires, candidate forums, websites, and the like. It's a good start, although I acknowledge that these are his positions as of 15 months ago -- some of which might have changed in the interim.


City Planning Department: Should the city create a planning department in order to return to the model tossed aside when the Boston Redevelopment Authority was created and took over the city planning role? Flaherty's position: Yes. (Note that most large cities have a planning department.)

Casino Gambling in the City of Boston: Should Boston have a casino, particularly at the Suffolk Downs site in East Boston? Flaherty's position: Undecided, but noted that the idea holds "much promise." (Note that approving a casino is a state issue, but that a Mayor could easily help green-light a project or put up roadblocks at every step of the way.)

Neighborhood Schools: Should Boston return to the neighborhood school model, where children attend the nearest school, rather than the current system that allows parents choice among schools within their zone? Flaherty's position: Maybe, but it would be "it is unrealistic and socially reckless to go to 100% neighborhood schools overnight."

Delivering Constituent Services: Is the "Mayor's 24-Hour Constituent Service Hotline" an effective tool, or does it need changing? Flaherty's position: has called for adopting the "CitiStat" to track constituent service requests better. (Note: there have been some improvements to the hotline in the past 15 months, but I assume Flaherty continues to want more improvement in this service.)

BC Dorms on the Former St. John's Seminary Grounds: Should Boston College be allowed to build undergraduate dormitories on their "Brighton Campus", i.e., the property purchased from the Archdiocese of Boston? Flaherty's position: non-committal, but generally supports the city's universities constructing dormitories to house more of their students. (Note: he is a "double eagle", graduating from both Boston College High School and Boston College.)


Brighton Centered Questionnaire (October 2007)
Allston Brighton Community Blog Questionnaire (October 2007)
Asian Pacific American Agenda Coalition Questionnaire
GLBT Issues
Adrian Walker column on candidate forum
Candidate Forum audio (October 10, 2007)
Allston-Brighton TAB candidate profile


Note: I will be trying to assemble information on other candidates again this year. Kevin McCrea has also already announced he will be running for Mayor this year. Mayor Thomas Menino has not yet announced whether he will seek re-election.

Snow, Southie, and the Mayor

The last snow emergency in Boston was two weeks ago, but residents across the city continue to guard their shoveled street parking spaces with all kinds of old furniture, cones, trash barrels, and the like.

Boston has an unofficial policy allowing such space-saving for 48 hours following a snowstorm. The Boston Globe reported Saturday that city employees aren't picking up the junk guarding parking spaces:

City sanitation workers, under orders to throw away anything left in the street more than 48 hours after a storm, cruised Dorchester yesterday collecting garbage. But parking space savers stayed in place.

Why aren't city employees picking up the junk?

Seven words: Michael Flaherty of South Boston for Mayor.

Many people consider snow removal to be the third rail of city politics. Screw up and you'll get voted out. Anger the public and they'll have your scalp. Just ask former Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic.

The last time Mayor Thomas Menino made a big issue of enforcing the city's official policy banning such space-saving garbage he caused a near-riot that made national news. The late District Councilor James Kelly led the opposition to the Mayor, saying that Kelly had "more barrels than [Menino's] got trucks."

Compare the city's current silence on enforcing the ban to the Mayor's open involvement in 2005:

[Mayor Menino] extended the 48-hour grace period for holding spaces after snowstorms by four days.

Calling an end to the city's snow emergency today at 8 a.m., he said residents can keep their claims on spots until 8 a.m. Wednesday. Then, city crews will start picking up parking space markers -- everything from paint cans to trash barrels to a snow-packed picnic basket -- that now line the streets in some neighborhoods.

Councilor Flaherty is actually on record about the issue, looking for middle-ground:

"I don't think people should be entitled to the space until spring," Flaherty said. ''But I don't think 48 hours is enough. It should depend on the snowfall. If we get a light dusting, I don't think you should be allowed to put anything out. But in heavier snowfall, a week makes sense. It's fair and it's reasonable."

Since it's been two weeks since the last snow emergency, we can infer that Councilor Flaherty thinks that the city should currently be picking up the space savers.

In December 2007, it was hot line complaints led to the city taking action to remove the junk:

"The mayor's hot line has been receiving numerous complaints about space savers and a majority of those calls have come from South Boston," Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce said.

Now in January 2009, will Councilor Flaherty's South Boston supporters flood the Mayor's 24-hour Constituent Service hot line (617-635-4500) with new complaints, forcing a confrontation with South Boston residents that could alienate them from the Mayor in an election year?

It seems backwards, but Councilor Flaherty's South Boston supporters might help out their candidate by forcing a confrontation over the space savers -- losing their spaces in the short-term.

If I were betting on the outcome at one of Governor Patrick's casinos, I would put money on the city quietly letting people save their spaces indefinitely. South Boston has a lot of votes; were the neighborhood to unify in opposition to the Mayor, he could have quite a fight this fall.


Image of parking space-saving fan by stephanie says provided through a Creative Commons license.