"In Boston, all politics is ’Loco; A simple city event wound up pitting mayoral pique against a burrito maker’s overheated tweet" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / April 23, 2011
It seemed like a feel-good idea: Boloco, the hip burrito chain, would provide free burritos to the first 200 people who showed up wearing a bike helmet at Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s unveiling of the city’s new bike-sharing program.
For what was supposed to be a feel-good, front-page article.
Boloco would enjoy some goodwill from the public. The city would get attention for its program. And the rest of us? We might get a free lunch.
Only bankers get those. And who is "us," Globe?
But what ensued was nothing less than a burrito brouhaha involving hot tempers, a Twitter tirade, and a tense phone call between the mayor and John S. Pepper, Boloco’s chief executive and Boston’s best-known burrito magnate.
As with so many City Hall spats, this one involved complaints about red tape and rudeness.
I'm starting to feel like I have an upset stomach.
It all started with a call Wednesday from a Menino aide at City Hall, asking Boloco to donate burritos for the mayor’s bike event. Boloco, which counts Menino as a customer and opened its School Street location with a mayoral ribbon-cutting two years ago, agreed. “We said, without hesitation, ‘Absolutely,’ ’’ Pepper said.
The next morning, Boloco’s burrito stuffers began rolling flour tortillas with rice, buffalo chicken, Teriyaki chicken, and vegetables. Then City Hall called Boloco with a question: Where’s your permit? Any food served at an outdoor event, the company was told, needs the proper paperwork from the Inspectional Services Department.
Pepper said he was taken aback. The company, whose name stands for Boston Local Company, prides itself on being a good corporate citizen.
The bureaucratic demand, he said, was a strange way to thank him for his little foil-wrapped gifts to the city.
“If we’re just donating 200 burritos,’’ he said yesterday, “why do we need a permit?’’
But City Hall did not back down. Pepper and inspectional services officials traded heated calls. Pepper says one inspector warned a Boloco manager that if he did not get the proper permit, the city could shut down Boloco’s Federal Street location, where the free burritos were being made.
Talk about TYRANNY!!
With an hour to spare before the event, Pepper dispatched an employee to inspectional services headquarters, and the employee paid $30 for the permit.
We call that extortion in these parts.
The burritos made it to City Hall Plaza on time and into the bellies of helmet-wearing cyclists. But Pepper, still smarting, took to Boloco’s Twitter account, which has more than 5,580 followers.
'“How a city can thank businesses for supporting its civic efforts with rudeness, threats, and disrespect has us reeling today,’’ he wrote Thursday. “Not staying quiet any longer. Between the union rackets, bureaucracy, red tape, and lack of graciousness, it’s a wonder anything gets done.’’
As you may have noticed, I'm not a big Boston fan.
He added: “By the way, these tweets 100% represent the view of the CEO of company. That’s me. And yes, I’ve double-checked the locks on my doors.’’
Pepper also took to Boloco’s Facebook page, which connects to more than 6,400 people.
In a pointed poke at City Hall, he offered free burritos to the first 200 people who posted thank you notes on the page. The latest round of free burritos, he wrote, would “make up for the 200 we gave away to a ‘cause’ that shall remain nameless but needs to learn how to say thank you properly. Oh . . . no bike helmet required!’’
They couldn't have liked that downtown.
The mayor, asked about the burrito fracas yesterday, was clearly incensed. “He wants to blog, make news?’’ Menino said. “OK, you do your blog.’’
:-)
He refused to discuss the issue in detail....
A spokeswoman followed up with a written statement: “The city hosted a terrific event yesterday in which participants enjoyed donated food by a local business, and any issue involving the permitting was quickly resolved.’’
Yeah, as long as this guy forked over $30.
Later yesterday, the mayor called Pepper, and the two rehashed the food fight. Afterward, Pepper sounded almost contrite....
The same way I feel after a burrito works its way through my system.
Little mayoral intimidation, 'eh?
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more--" Related: The End of Boston's Bike Program
Apparently not:
"Hub set to launch bike-share program; Menino to sign deal worth nearly $6m today; 600 bikes, 61 stations to be ready by July" April 21, 2011|By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff
As early as this summer, residents and visitors taking quick trips in Boston will be able to rent bicycles from dozens of sidewalk kiosks, under an agreement expected to be signed today that will create a bike-sharing network inspired by those in Paris and Washington.
Yeah, WHO CARES if you are LITERALLY TAKING YOUR LIFE in your HANDLEBARS?!
Boston officials said the system, to be called Hubway, will open in July with 600 bicycles and 61 stations in the city, though they envision growing in a few years to as many as 5,000 bikes at more than 300 kiosks, from Brookline to Somerville.
At an afternoon ceremony with bicycling advocates, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to sign a contract worth nearly $6 million with a company called Alta Bicycle Share to build and operate Hubway for three years. Alta is also behind a program that debuted last year in the Washington area and now boasts 1,100 cherry-red bicycles at 114 stations.
No local tax dollars are being used to establish the bicycle rental system. Instead, the city is using grants and donations to cover the start-up costs, while corporate sponsorships and revenue from riders will cover annual operating expenses.
Local officials and planners believe Hubway will generate 100,000 trips in its first year, filling gaps not served by the MBTA and attracting casual bicyclists who until now have avoided biking in the city because of the cost and other challenges associated with owning, storing, and maintaining a bike in Boston....
What "other challenges?"
Nothing about POSSIBLY BEING KILLED in the agenda-pushing PoS promotion.
Riders must first sign up for memberships — including a liability waiver and a pledge to wear a helmet — on kiosk touch screens, with memberships likely to range from about $5 a day to $85 a year.
I hope you have good health insurance here, tourist.
Trips shorter than 30 minutes will be free, with incremental charges for longer rides. The city intends to make low-cost helmets available at nearby shops and through a partnership with the antipoverty agency Action for Boston Community Development....
What do bike helmets have to do with antipoverty and community development?
Menino has had his sights set on bike sharing since he launched a major bicycling initiative in 2007, hiring urban planner and former Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman with a mission to end Boston’s perennial ranking among the world’s least bike-friendly cities, a distinction attributed to the city’s cramped and twisting streets and aggressive drivers.
Are you an Olympic-class biker, dear resident or tourist?
And have your head on a swivel with all the aggressive drivers; you don't want to end up dead.
Since then, Boston has added 38 miles of bike lanes, up from a single city block in 2007, and installed 1,600 public bike parking spots.
At what cost to taxpayers as services were slashed?
Freedman, meanwhile, has led the effort to plan and raise money for the regional bike-sharing network.
“The news [from France] was that this is one of the ways to transform your city into a world-class bicycling city,’’ said Freedman, hired just as Paris was opening its Velib network....
This as China and India are abandoning bicycles for cars as their economies explode.
Then again, bikes will be looking pretty good to the former middle class of AmeriKa.
Alta, not the city, is responsible for liability. If the system fails to attract as many riders as projected, Alta would be on the hook for the difference, Freedman said....
Whadda ya mean if it fails to attra.... sigh.
Never mind.
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Pedaling away as fast as I can, readers.
