"Menino says city won't back Tall Ships; Defiant Sail Boston insists event will go on" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | April 2, 2009
Brushing aside a deadline set last month by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Sail Boston officials failed yesterday to deliver a plan to pay the city for an estimated $2 million in public safety costs for its tall ships festival this summer. But in a rare show of defiance, Sail Boston said the ships would come anyway.
The declaration incensed the mayor, who said he would withhold all city services for the nautical extravaganza - no police officers, no cleanup crews - even though nearly 1 million people are projected to descend on the city to witness the spectacle of 50 tall ships from 20 countries parading across the harbor.
Keep reading; he's bluffing!
"Then it's a public safety crisis, because we're not going to be there," a visibly angry Menino said.... Sail Boston said it was still working on a finance plan. But the showdown cast the mayor in the unusual role of fighting against, instead of welcoming, a major tourist attraction to his city. It also threatened to cast a pall over one of the city's most widely anticipated spectacles.
City officials said yesterday that they were considering asking the Coast Guard to bar the main event, the Grand Parade of Sail on July 8, when the ships are scheduled to enter the inner harbor under full sail with their crews standing on the masts. City officials said they would also prohibit the public from boarding tall ships at city-owned docks. City officials said the events would simply draw too many people to handle without a serious investment of city resources.
This is going to be fun to watch!
"Who's going to provide the public safety?" Menino said. "Who's going to do the cleanup?"
You will, mistah may-a'!
Sail Boston officials said they would not be deterred by the city's refusal to participate in the festival, which drew 8 million people in 2000 and 6 million in 1992. They said that operators of the ships have already signed contracts to come to Boston for the six-day festival in July.
Just wondering why the Globe left this information out:
"This year, organizers predicted that the arrival of the ships - whose operators have already signed contracts with Sail Boston - would draw 4 million people"
Oh, so it is a FADING CONCERN, eh?
Globe must be FOR IT or they wouldn't have left that out, would they?
"The event is definitely happening; the 50 tall ships are definitely coming," said Sheila Green, a spokeswoman for Sail Boston 2009, a nonprofit group that organized the event.
Meanwhile, Sail Boston is still trying to come up with a plan to pay the city for its public safety costs by tapping its network of private donors, she said. "Sometimes," Green said, "that just takes a little more time."
The dispute has its roots in a $1.6 million bill that the city says it was left with in 2000, when Sail Boston last brought the tall ships to Boston. City officials said they were forced to absorb the bill for public safety costs that year because the state failed to reimburse the funds, which Sail Boston officials acknowledged was a burden on the city that they would seek to avoid in the future....
Why should the TAXPAYER have to REIMBURSE BOSTON for their SHOP SHOW?! WTF?!!!!!!!!!!
The event, part of an international regatta that begins in Vigo, Spain, and ends in Belfast, brings 50 historic sailing ships to Boston, many of them century-old naval training vessels sailing from as far away as Russia, Bermuda, and Argentina. In addition to the spectacle on the sea, the event includes a gala ball and a soccer tournament for the sailors and a traditional blessing of the sails at Old North Church.
Sail Boston backers were deeply disappointed that the city had decided not to support what they called a major opportunity to boost the local economy, by filling hotel rooms and restaurants that have been languishing in the recession.
Actually, that turns out to be a LIE!!! They are a DRAIN on the ECONOMY!!!
Flashback:
".... In 1992, city officials said the ships cost them $3 million - largely for the extra policing required during the event - and returned only $400,000 to their coffers.
Yeah, ONCE AGAIN the ELITIST CROWING resulted in a LOSS for TAXPAYERS!!!!
And here they are again, ACTING as a BUSINESS AGENT for the ELITE not a PUBLIC ADVOCATE!
Two years later, the state auditor, Joseph DeNucci, accused Sail Boston of paying $99,000 to a public relations firm headed by its chief organizer, Dusty S. Rhodes, even through the group still owed $733,000 to the Massachusetts Port Authority for portable toilets, receptions, bleachers, and other costs....
Of course, when you have an INTEREST at stake, the lies flow, don't they?
"It's just unfortunate we can't seem to pull this together," said Paul J. Sacco, a board member of Sail Boston and president of the Massachusetts Lodging Association. "It's going to be tough to see 50 tall ships on the harbor, with no events around them."
City officials said that, if crowds come to Boston for Sail Boston, the police are obligated to provide traffic and crowd control on city streets, no matter the costs.
So all that HOT FART MIST from Menino was ALL BLUSTER, huh?
WHY you PROTECTING HIM and playing along with the FOOLEY, Globe? Oh!
They said they would ask Sail Boston to scrap the parade of sail and, if Sail Boston refuses, ask the Coast Guard to cancel the event....
Well, you KNOW WHERE that is headed: THEY'S DEFINITELY COMING, so PAY UP, taxpayers!!!!!!!!!
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