"Greeters add friendly welcome to forbidding City Hall" by Andrew Ryan | Globe Staff May 03, 2014
Standing in the dank lobby this week, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he wanted to “lighten up City Hall,” a bunker-like concrete building where traditional greeters have been security guards asking patrons to empty their pockets. It can set an unwelcoming tone for visitors.
“They come in through a metal detector. There’s not much friendliness here,” Walsh said. “The first thing that people should be greeted with is a hello. This is the public’s building. Taxpayers pay for the building . . . the first point of entry should be positive.”
Because it is all negative after that.
Take greeter Elizabeth Torres, a 22-year-old from Orlando who is one of eight Northeastern University co-op students on six-month internships at City Hall.
Related:
"There are up to 1 million unpaid internships offered in the United States every year, said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute. He said the number of internships has grown as the economy tumbled and he blamed them for exploiting young workers and driving down wages. ‘‘The return on a college investment has fallen, students are facing higher and higher debt burdens, and the reaction of employers is to make matters worse for them by hiring more and more people without paying them,’’ Eisenbrey said."
They get their cut yet?
How could that happen in an economy that is recovering, and does it have anything to do with concentration of wealth in the 1%?
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On April 11, the city launched the greeter initiative and shifted interns from the phone lines to the front lines of municipal government. They take turns in the lobby from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, helping citizens find their way.
“I have a huge interest in municipal government,” Torres said. “I wanted to get to know the nuts and bolts.”
During the lunch hour this week, people clutching excise bills and orange parking tickets spun through the lobby’s revolving door, queued at the metal detectors, and streamed toward Torres.
She smiled and answered a rapid succession of questions: Business registration? Parking stickers? Moving permits?
“Sometimes, this place can be a little intimidating. It’s not the cheeriest type of facade,” said Steve DiMarino, a 55-year-old from West Roxbury who came to City Hall to visit the credit union and chatted with Torres.
And what did he think of the greeters? “It’s a good thing,” he said.
The Walsh administration agrees. Greeters help soften the feel of City Hall, a circa 1969 building constructed in the always-welcoming Brutalist style of architecture.
In fact, senior citizens may soon join the college interns through a volunteer program coordinated by the Elderly Commission, said Justin Holmes, the city’s interim chief information officer, who helped launch the initiative.
Each greeter is armed with an iPad.
The war mentality is so ingrained in the reporting it makes one ill after a while.
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The students received customer service training and took detailed tours of City Hall. They made practice runs to the first-floor restrooms and took note of landmarks so they could provide directions to people in a hurry.
After three weeks of greeter goodwill, officials have learned that City Hall needs better signs to help people find what they are looking for, Holmes said. The top reasons to visit the seat of city government are parking tickets, birth certificates, tax payments, business registrations, and public bathrooms.
During last year’s race for mayor, Walsh’s rival, John R. Connolly, vowed to “make our city services work like the Apple Store.” It was a pitch to make government more consumer friendly and to improve efficiency....
That task now is in the hands of Eugenia Soiles, a 22-year-old from Arlington, Va. When she started, Soiles didn’t know Boston had a neighborhood named Back Bay, and she got lost inside City Hall when she arrived for her job interview.
But now, Soiles can navigate City Hall with the skill of a South Boston native who has been on the city payroll since the Flynn administration. As an example, Soiles described an irate woman who got a ticket on a block where the street cleaning signs had blown down.
“I told her how to appeal it, so she was pretty happy,” Soiles said.
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Sorry for skipping the rest of the tour.
Also see: Walsh Wipe
Two years of renovation work for the neglected patch will not help the interns.
Related: Walsh's World
Yeah, regarding those properties and related intere$ts:
"Walsh aims to keep city in top financial health" by Andrew Ryan | Globe staff April 29, 2014
Mayor Martin J. Walsh inherited a city in tip-top financial shape, with a sky-high bond rating.
Now, Walsh is getting some advice from a municipal watchdog on how to maintain that robust financial health: continue trimming the ranks of municipal workers, keep construction cranes in the air, and take advantage of the city’s bond rating and stimulate the economy by spending more money on parks, bridges, or other major projects.
The recommendations come in a 171-page manifesto from the Boston Municipal Research Bureau that is essentially a do-it-yourself City Hall guide for Walsh’s fledgling administration. The report also recommends that city budget writers estimate revenue conservatively to provide a cushion at year’s end to pay for snow plowing, spikes in police and fire department overtime, or other costs that can be hard to control.
“This is intended to be a helpful guide and benchmark report for the Walsh administration as it faces the challenges of managing a $2.7 billion budget,” said Samuel R. Tyler, president of the research bureau, which is funded by businesses and nonprofit institutions.
Related: "nonprofits provide new ways for corporations and individuals to influence"
So much for having a man of the people and of labor as a leader. We can $ee what is running Bo$ton the$e days.
Tyler has worked at the bureau since 1972, and Walsh is the fourth mayor in that period. The report, which took seven months to compile, traced the city’s policies and actions over the past 12 years, a time that spanned economic growth and a historic recession.
“It’s interesting,” said Walsh, who received a copy of the report last week. “I view it as kind of a blueprint for me to use with the city.”
The research bureau urged Walsh to save the rainy day fund for truly rainy days, when the city needs a cash infusion to cover a one-time cost.
The report stressed that collective bargaining teams working on labor contracts should keep in close communication with the budget office so negotiators remain cognizant of the ultimate price tag.
Boston derives two-thirds of its revenue from property taxes. That leaves city government dependent on a steady stream of new construction to keep pace with rising costs. The report included eight recommendations to aid the development process, such as streamlining the zoning process.
The research bureau also suggested Walsh designate sections of the city for tax breaks or other incentives for developers instead of the current project-by-project, piecemeal approach. The goal would be to stimulate transformative change by encouraging construction in underserved neighborhoods or areas with other challenges.
We have been hearing the same thing for years as if it is unchallengable dogma, and yet there is more wealthy inequality in Boston than ever.
Walsh began his term with the highest bond rating in Boston history.
I'm glad the banks are happy with Boston.
The report urged the new mayor to take advantage of his position and finance more infrastructure improvements.
The city’s strong bond rating will make it less expensive to fund capital projects, which can stimulate more economic growth.
That's because the whole $y$tem is based on borrowing money.
Over the last 12 years, the administration of Mayor Thomas M. Menino gradually reduced the city’s full-time workforce by 6 percent, more than 1,000 positions. The majority of the cuts came from smaller departments and not the School, Fire, and Police departments, which account for the bulk of city workers.
Boston spends almost 70 percent of its budget on salaries and benefits.
Tyler suggested that trimming the number of people on the payroll will have to continue because of reductions in state and federal funding and because of new pay deals for police and firefighters.
Related:
Boston firefighters approve contract with city
Mayor Walsh pushing pay raise for police Commissioner Evans
Tougher rules sought for Boston police, fire jobs
Part of the negotiations.
“If we are going to continue to have these expensive contracts, it’s going to require retrenchment in other areas,” Tyler said. “The only way the city can quickly reduce spending is not filling positions.”
Walsh has been in office for almost four months, and Tyler said there are signs the new mayor is serious about maintaining Boston’s fiscal health. In his first budget, Walsh set aside money for retiree pensions and health insurance and avoided using rainy day money to cover recurring expenses.
“For the first test, the mayor has done the right thing,” Tyler said. “We’ll see what happens in next year’s budget.”
Yeah, let's see if the intere$ts that rule Boston are still happy with him.
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Related:
Walsh announces $3.1m investment in Uphams Corner
Walsh offers space for startups in Dudley Square
New high-tech sculpture will light Dudley Square
Also see:
New school ratings bring criticism from charter backers
On casinos, Walsh should use all tools to defend city’s interest
He's rolling the dice.
