"Brush with celebrity; Hub art galleries, shops get a business lift from movie-making boomlet" by Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff | September 17, 2009
.... As the film industry booms in Massachusetts, it’s creating a ripple effect across many businesses.
And DRAINING TAXPAYERS of HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!!
Some come readily to mind, such as caterers and hotels.
Remember how great they are doing for hotels, 'kay?
But others are more obscure such as galleries and antique shops that lease or sell paintings, maps, and photographs that are used to make the characters’ homes and offices look and feel real on screen. Although these firms don’t see their names in the film’s closing credits, they get bragging rights - as well as return customers when the next production comes to town.
Yeah, that will save our economy.
“Now that the pictures are rolling in, one right after the other, word of mouth drives filmmakers back to a lot of the same places that they patronized before,’’ said Nick Paleologos, executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office, which has created a listing on its website of businesses that lease and sell art props for the productions. The art rental business, Paleologos said, “becomes a thriving industry beneath the surface.’’
The agenda-pushing never ends.
See: Why the Arts Are Important
In 2006, only two films were made in Massachusetts. That number jumped to 13 last year with films that in total generated $452 million....
And which cost us 84 cents on the dollar!
This year, 10 films have finished or are currently filming in the state. Film industry officials and business owners say film producers have been attracted by a tax credit for in-state productions and two proposed movie studios on the South Shore.
Yup, NOTHING from the AGENDA-PUSHING PAPER on what it is COSTING TAXPAYERS, of course!
The influx has created a growing source of revenue for local galleries. The amount a gallery or shop charges for lending its work depends on the art, the budget of the movie, and the amount of time the art is used, gallery owners and film officials say....
Well, NOW YOU KNOW who is STEALING TAX LOOT from you, Bay Staters!!!
Glob thinks it's ALL GOOD!!!!
--more--"Latest related: Hollywood Helps Mass. Workers
Also see: What Is Wrong With Hollywood
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
I don't want to go to the movies anymore.
And just where will they be staying when they come to my crap state?
NOT HERE!!!
"Homeless use of motels still on rise" by Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff | September 16, 2009
The number of homeless families living in motels funded by the state now tops more than 1,000, a dramatic 37 percent increase since June 1, a top official for the state Department of Housing and Community Development said yesterday.
Tina Brooks, undersecretary of the department, said 1,010 families - including more than 1,400 children - are now living in motels, at a monthly cost of about $2.8 million for taxpayers....
That is a DROP in the BUCKET compared to the HUNDREDS of MILLIONS profitable Hollywood gets!
The recession, high unemployment, and continuing foreclosure crisis are forcing more families to seek help. The state has been placing families in motels since 2007, when the 2,000 rooms in the homeless shelter system reached capacity.
Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, said her office is receiving a flood of calls for help from desperate families seeking shelter and often her only option is to recommend they live in motels funded by the state. Frost said it’s not ideal because motels aren’t equipped to take care of families long-term....
She had to tell a mother that she couldn’t qualify for shelter because she owns a car. She’ll likely be sleeping in the vehicle with her teenage daughter, Frost said....
During the WINTER?
This is COMPASSIONATE, "liberal" Massachusetts?!!!!
In an effort to quickly move families out of state-funded shelters, the housing department started an emergency program in late July to provide rental assistance to families who need help for up to 12 months. Brooks said 352 families received help in the program’s first month, at a cost of $850,000. She said this is a better use of money than putting them in shelters, where families live an average of eight months at a cost of $24,000 per family.
The state also is working with property management companies to find vacant units in private developments to house homeless families and is working with community agencies to expand their involvement to help the homeless.
Yeah, the state is all over the problem. Pffft!
The state is looking forward to $44.5 million in federal stimulus funds, to be made available next month, to help the homeless....
That is NOT STIMULUS!!!
I'm not opposed to the idea; however, STIMULUS leaves a GOING CONCERN that CONTINUES to SELL PRODUCTS and CREATE JOBS! This DOES NONE of that!!!!
Yeah, I bet they get a suite at the Hyatt:
“If you stayed at the Hyatt last night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?’’
And WHO WOULD CARE, right?
"A hard ending for housekeepers; Uncommon outsourcing eliminates 100 Hyatt jobs" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | September 17, 2009
And WAIT until you SEE HOW!!!
When the housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area were asked to train some new workers, they said they were told the trainees would be filling in during vacations.
On Aug. 31, staffers learned the full story: None of them would be making the beds and cleaning the showers any longer. All of them were losing their jobs. The trainees, it turns out, were employees of a Georgia company, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who were replacing them that day.
The move to outsource the jobs of about 100 housekeeping employees at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside at Logan International Airport is unusual in the hospitality industry, which counts on the housekeeping staff to help make sure hotel guests are comfortable....
******************
After hearing the news at meetings last month, employees cried and screamed, said Drupattie Jungra, 55, who had worked at the Cambridge Hyatt for more than 21 years and made $15.69 an hour, plus benefits.
“Where am I going to go look for a job?’’ said Jungra, a widow who regularly sends money to her family in Guyana and whose four grown sons live with her.
“It’s unbelievable,’’ said Lucine Williams, 41, who has worked at the Hyatt Regency Boston for nearly 22 years and was making $15.32 an hour plus health, dental, and 401(k) benefits when she lost her job....
Umm, SHE DID NOT LOSE IT, it was TAKEN FROM HER!
I think you KNOW WHY, right, readers?
Williams, a single mother of a 13-year-old with asthma, stocked up on medication before her insurance runs out at the end of the month. Last week, the former Hyatt Regency Boston housekeeper also had to cancel an airline ticket she’d bought the day before she was laid off to go see her father in Barbados. She hasn’t seen him since 2005, and isn’t sure when she’ll see him again....
The dismissed workers received two weeks of pay when they were let go, plus one week of pay for every year they worked at the Hyatt up to five or 10 years, depending on the hotel. According to the housekeepers, two Hyatt employees from each hotel were asked to continue working, though it was unclear if they would be employed by the Hyatt or by the staffing firm....
Janice Loux, the president of Unite Here Local 26, a union that represents local hotel workers, said the new workers will make $8 an hour and receive no benefits, based on information from a Hospitality Staffing Solutions employee. Staffing firm president Rick Holliday sent out an e-mail stating his employees made competitive wages but didn’t answer further questions....
Loux called the outsourcing a “race to the bottom.’’ The Hyatt housekeepers were not part of the union but reached out to Local 26, which is organizing a picket and rally in support of the housekeepers today at 5 p.m. at the downtown Hyatt....
Hyatt officials confirmed the layoffs at the three hotels, but declined to say whether the chain was considering similar moves in other locations across the country. “As part of an ongoing drive to address challenging economic conditions, the Hyatt hotels of Boston have restructured their housekeeping services,’’ according to a statement from the hotel. “Regrettably, the restructuring included staff reductions.’’
Like many hotels in the Boston area, the Hyatt has struggled this year, as a recession has caused people to cut down on their travel plans. Boston area hotels experienced a 21 percent drop in revenue per available room in June compared to the year before, according to PKF Hospitality Research, and 10 percent in July. Chicago-based Hyatt reported revenue fell 18 percent to $1.6 billion in the first half of this year.
Other hotels have taken a different approach to riding out the recession. Earlier this year the Liberty Hotel ended its contract with the company that provided its security and night janitorial service and replaced them with hotel workers from other departments who might have otherwise been laid off....
And I heard they were happy as a pig in shit about it!
Paul Sacco, the president of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, said he isn’t aware of any other hotels that have outsourced their cleaning staffs but wasn’t surprised by the move. “In these economic times, it just calls for unusual initiatives that maybe we wouldn’t have looked at before,’’ he said.
But Sacco pointed out that outsourcing has been going on for years at companies around the country and that not only would the move save the Hyatt money, it wouldn’t affect the hotel guests. “If you stayed at the Hyatt last night and you bumped into the housekeeper, would you notice a difference?’’
Yeah, they are JUST a SLAVE for the elite.
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"Giraffe dies on movie set at zoo; Activists press for investigation" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | September 15, 2009
Tweet, the beloved giraffe who rose to animal fame as a star in the classic Toys “R’’ Us commercials, who provided laughs alongside Jim Carrey in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,’’ died Friday after filming his latest movie at the Franklin Park Zoo.
Related: A Day at the Boston Zoo
Meet Franklin Park's New Pivot Man
This Giraffe Really Gets My Goat
What the hell happened?
The 18-year-old giraffe apparently collapsed in his enclosure at the zoo while feeding and in the care of his trainer, according to a group that monitors animals on film sets.
Tweet had completed shooting his part in the movie, Kevin James’s “The Zookeeper.’’
The animal had no known health problems and no evident cause of death, said American Humane, the independent animal welfare organization that oversees movie sets.
A necropsy has been performed, and the results are pending. Tweet did not belong to the Franklin Park Zoo.
The timing of his death raised concerns by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which only a month ago sent a letter to the movie’s cast alleging a history of abuse by the film’s animal training crew, and urging the movie’s producers to use alternative ways to cast animals, such as computer-generated imagery.
ANOTHER REASON to want HOLLYWOOD out of the state (in addition to the looting)!!!
And I think computer-generated imagery is a GREAT IDEA!
“When it comes to exotic animal characters, the best casting choice is to ‘fake it,’ ’’ Debbie Leahy, PETA’s director, said at the time....
PETA’s concerns were based on the movie producers’ use of Gary Gero’s Birds & Animals Unlimited, a California-based animal trainer, saying the company had been cited by the Department of Agriculture for animal welfare violations. The charges include: failure to provide veterinary care, failure to provide animals with minimum space, failure to clean filthy cages, and failure to provide animals with proper shelter.
A spokesman for the animal training company did not return a call for comment yesterday.
But last month, when PETA sent its letter, the company responded by saying it has been in business nearly 50 years, is respected, and cares for its animals, and that PETA has been misinformed on past characterizations on animal treatment.And yet here we have a dead giraffe!
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Related: Meet Mrs. Jumbo
