Not his world anymore, and I'm going to make this just like my trip: a quick in-and-out.
"Walsh seeks waiver from residency rule for top officials; Councilors wary but will listen" by Andrew Ryan | Globe Staff June 02, 2014
Mayor Martin J. Walsh is seeking the authority to waive a longstanding rule requiring top municipal officials to live in Boston, a reversal of the mayor’s earlier position that is already sparking pockets of resistance on the City Council.
The residency requirement has made it difficult to fill top positions in the new administration because family considerations prevented some qualified candidates from moving to the city, Walsh said in an interview....
“I’m not looking to exempt and get rid of the residency requirement in the City of Boston,” Walsh said. “I’m just looking for an option in limited cases that I would be able to have it not apply to certain people.”
The city’s residency law requires new hires and top city officials to live in Boston but allows a significant proportion of other municipal workers to live elsewhere.
Under Walsh’s proposal, a request for a waiver would entail filing a letter with the city clerk stating the name, address, and position of the new hire. The mayor would not need approval by the city clerk or City Council to grant a waiver, according to the proposed ordinance.
“If I use this, it’s not something I’m going to be using a lot,” Walsh said.
Some top administration officials live outside the city, and Walsh said at the time of their hiring that they needed to move to Boston within six months. On Monday, Walsh said he “potentially could” retroactively waive the residency requirement for people he has already hired.
The mayor’s corporation counsel and close confidant, Eugene L. O’Flaherty, lives in Chelsea, although Walsh said O’Flaherty recently purchased a condominium in Charlestown. Another top aide, Joseph Rull, lives with his family in Norwell, and the city’s new chief financial officer, David Sweeney, lives with his family in Milton.
Councilor Tito Jackson, who backed Walsh’s campaign last fall, said he was surprised by the mayor’s proposal and not inclined to support it.
“I’ve always been a proponent of residency,” Jackson said. “It is important that we draw from the awesome local talent that we have right here in the City of Boston.”
Councilor Michelle Wu also seemed skeptical. “It’s important for the City of Boston to provide economic opportunities for Boston residents,” Wu said. “There’s a huge benefit to city employees and people in leadership positions living in the city and being tied to our communities.”
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Critics have long argued that the residency requirement has made it harder for the city to attract top talent to key jobs....
That's always the excu$e they give to ju$tify corporate CEO pay.
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Related:
Time to move on from residency rule
Walsh under fire for push to waive residency requirement
Walsh withdraws proposal to waive residency rule for top city officials
I'm not looking to live there anyway.
BRA director on Army Reserve duty in Mideast
Does that disqualify him from the job?
"Chance for union-backed mayor to tackle labor costs" by Shirley Leung | Globe Columnist June 04, 2014
The whisper campaign about the high cost of union labor in this town is deafening. Developers, contractors, and real estate executives will tell you there’s a big reason why Boston can’t build more middle-class housing: construction workers’ fat paychecks.
It’s a front-burner issue because Mayor Marty Walsh has been on his own campaign to solve Boston’s housing crisis. The middle class can no longer afford to live here, with the average price of a downtown condo approaching $1 million. The Walsh administration is considering several ways to boost production, including making city-owned land available for development and handing out tax breaks.
What middle class? There is one left?
And it is the $ame old $tory.
But curiously missing from the Walsh agenda is how, and if, our labor-backed mayor — who was once the head of the Boston building trades — would ask his brethren to budge on wages.
Would he? The answer is yes.
“Let’s put all the problems on the table — cost of construction, cost of land, cost of labor,” Walsh told me during an interview last week in his fifth-floor office in City Hall.
He pointed out that’s why labor representatives sit on the housing task force he formed. “Labor costs are clearly going to be one of the issues we are going to talk about,” he said.
But will it be more than just talk? We should all hope so.
More than anyone, Walsh is uniquely qualified to make Boston a city where working families are welcome again.
This is confirming everything I have been saying here.
We worried that this card-carrying union guy from Dorchester would stay in the pockets of big labor that spent millions to get him elected.
Not to worry; he appears to be in the snug pocket of financial, pharmaceutical, and military-industrial corporations.
On the campaign trail, he assured us he would be the union guy who could stand up to the unions. He stayed true to his word when he negotiated a firefighter’s contract that didn’t drain the city budget.
I read that wasn't such a good deal.
Now comes along another issue near and dear to Walsh, and he is thinking about how the unions can help. Some locals, he pointed out, already offer a discounted residential rate when they build homes instead of office towers. The carpenters, for example, have a separate division that charges a residential rate of $28 an hour, plus benefits, compared with a commercial price of $40 an hour.
Walsh suggested that structure could be adopted on a wider scale to attract developers to build workforce housing because they can then make the numbers work. If the city can reach a critical mass of homes under construction, the unions could create a new wage category because there would be plenty of jobs to go around.
“In the past, there hasn’t been enough of a market for this moderate low-income housing to really justify creating a separate division,” said Walsh.
The one factor really not discussed here is ever increasing wealth inequality.
Brian Doherty, who succeeded Walsh as head of the Boston building trades council and sits on the mayor’s housing taskforce, said it’s too early to talk specific solutions. But he added, “We believe in collaboration and appreciate the opportunity to bring workers’ voices and values to the table.”
Developers have shied away from the lower end of the residential housing market because it’s hard to make a decent profit. Construction costs are roughly the same — whether you build a luxury apartment in the Seaport District or an affordable unit in Mattapan — so you follow the money.
Now when real estate types talk about reining in labor costs, it’s often about going “open shop” and using skilled nonunion workers without the fear of getting blacklisted by the Boston Redevelopment Authority or seeing a giant inflatable rat at your work site.
Is there a big difference? One developer offered this example: He recently put up an apartment building in Watertown and another one in South Boston. Putting in the “expensive stuff” — like mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements — cost him $32 a square foot in Watertown using nonunion workers versus $82 a square foot in Boston with union.
That means to get a return on his investment he will need to rent it out for $4 a square foot in Boston compared with $2.50 a square foot in Watertown. Do the math on an 800-square-foot apartment and you’ll see it’s the difference between affordable and unaffordable for many: a monthly rent of $3,200 versus $2,000.
Walsh may be willing to support lower labor rates to help build housing, but he doesn’t buy the argument that the city’s union construction costs are so out of whack that we need to cut wages on other projects or that we need more nonunion labor.
“Reducing the salary is not the way to go,” said Walsh. “We already have an economic gap in Boston between the rich and middle class and the poor. I don’t want that gap to widen.”
In the push for more housing, our new mayor has a chance to stand for — and up to — labor.
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She really let me down this time, and she had such promise.
So who will build it so they will come?
"Influence in city lessening, a top executive leaves Suffolk Construction" by Andrea Estes | Globe staff June 06, 2014
The president of Boston’s biggest construction company has parted ways with a senior executive who was closely allied with Mayor Thomas M. Menino after learning that the executive was unwelcome in Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s City Hall, several people briefed on the departure said.
Suffolk Construction chief John Fish, whose company prospered under Menino, severed ties this week with executive vice president Peter Welsh, said an adviser to Walsh after a friend of the mayor indicated that Welsh would no longer have access to city officials.
The Walsh representative told Fish that “the door is open to everyone, but not Peter,” according to the adviser to the new mayor.
Welsh, who had been the top adviser to Menino before leaving City Hall to work for Fish in 2002, campaigned hard last year for Walsh’s primary opponent, Charlotte Golar Richie. He had also criticized Walsh, and the criticism made its way back to Walsh, according to two Walsh allies.
Two people close to Suffolk Construction executives said Welsh was fired, but a Suffolk spokeswoman and Welsh both denied he had been dismissed. Welsh and a Suffolk spokeswoman insisted the decision to leave the company was “mutually agreed upon” by Fish and Welsh, who had been Suffolk’s executive vice president for business acquisition.
“I think Mayor Walsh is great,” Welsh, who remains a close friend of Menino, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “He’s a very compassionate human being, and I don’t think he does politics that way. He’s been very decent to me whenever I’ve talked to him.”
Fish was not available for comment, but Suffolk Construction spokeswoman Kim Steimle Vaughan said, “Peter was at a point in his career where he had begun to think about other opportunities, and after conversations with John, he decided it was time to move on from Suffolk.”
The Walsh administration had no comment on Welsh’s departure.
Welsh’s departure may be the starkest example to date of the fallout in the business community from the change at City Hall after 20 years of Menino. Welsh’s job in large part was to secure city approvals for Suffolk projects, wielding so much influence with the Boston Redevelopment Authority that the board would sometimes delay meetings to accommodate his schedule.
While Welsh was at Suffolk, the company emerged as the dominant construction company in Boston, managing billions of dollars worth of construction from bio-tech and high tech facilities to the $650 million development taking shape at the old Filene’s department store site in Downtown Crossing.
Fish, meanwhile, has been one of the most civically engaged business leaders in the city, leading the effort to bring the Olympics to Boston in 2024 and helping to set up the One Fund Boston to benefit Boston Marathon bombing victims, which has raised nearly $61 million. He has also pledged $5 million to restore White Stadium in Franklin Park.
Fish also assiduously courted Menino, hiring not only Welsh, but David Passafaro, another Menino ally and former chief of staff, as well as Menino’s son Tom and brother David. Passafaro, a vice president, is expected to remain with the company, as are Menino’s son, who works as a safety engineer for a related company, Liberty Construction Services LLC, and his brother, who is a laborer for the company, say Suffolk Construction officials.
Fish largely stayed out of the mayoral race, donating neither to Walsh nor his general election opponent, John Connolly, according to state campaign finance records. Fish told the Globe four months before the vote that he was remaining neutral. Over the years, Fish has given Connolly $2,500, but never donated to Walsh, records show.
Welsh, by contrast, campaigned hard for Walsh’s primary opponent, Golar Richie, saying in a Globe interview on Wednesday that he supported the former Menino administration official “big time.”
Walsh came into office in January promising a “new era of transparency” after years in which Menino exerted direct personal control over economic development, often negotiating with developers himself in his fifth-floor office. Political pundits predicted that Menino insiders such as Fish would lose clout with City Hall.
While avoiding direct criticism of Menino, Walsh pledged to overhaul the BRA and other agencies, sending his first warning shot in March when he laid off 14 BRA employees. Walsh eliminated the entire business development division Menino had created last year.
Walsh is now sending the message that Suffolk Construction is “not the only game in town any more,” said an adviser to the new mayor. “Are others happy because there appears to be a broader playing field? Yes.”
The circumstances of Welsh’s departure were confirmed by several people close to Suffolk executives and the new mayor. Some observers said Welsh should have known that his job was in jeopardy once Menino left office.
“What’s the saying — live by the sword, die by the sword? This is the law of the jungle,” said a former city official who is friends with Welsh.
But Welsh took at least one step to ingratiate himself with the new mayor after he took office.
He wrote a $500 check to the Walsh campaign in February.
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Meanwhile, for the rest of you residents we have a nice little hovel:
She really let me down this time, and she had such promise.
So who will build it so they will come?
"Influence in city lessening, a top executive leaves Suffolk Construction" by Andrea Estes | Globe staff June 06, 2014
The president of Boston’s biggest construction company has parted ways with a senior executive who was closely allied with Mayor Thomas M. Menino after learning that the executive was unwelcome in Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s City Hall, several people briefed on the departure said.
Suffolk Construction chief John Fish, whose company prospered under Menino, severed ties this week with executive vice president Peter Welsh, said an adviser to Walsh after a friend of the mayor indicated that Welsh would no longer have access to city officials.
The Walsh representative told Fish that “the door is open to everyone, but not Peter,” according to the adviser to the new mayor.
Welsh, who had been the top adviser to Menino before leaving City Hall to work for Fish in 2002, campaigned hard last year for Walsh’s primary opponent, Charlotte Golar Richie. He had also criticized Walsh, and the criticism made its way back to Walsh, according to two Walsh allies.
Two people close to Suffolk Construction executives said Welsh was fired, but a Suffolk spokeswoman and Welsh both denied he had been dismissed. Welsh and a Suffolk spokeswoman insisted the decision to leave the company was “mutually agreed upon” by Fish and Welsh, who had been Suffolk’s executive vice president for business acquisition.
“I think Mayor Walsh is great,” Welsh, who remains a close friend of Menino, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “He’s a very compassionate human being, and I don’t think he does politics that way. He’s been very decent to me whenever I’ve talked to him.”
Fish was not available for comment, but Suffolk Construction spokeswoman Kim Steimle Vaughan said, “Peter was at a point in his career where he had begun to think about other opportunities, and after conversations with John, he decided it was time to move on from Suffolk.”
The Walsh administration had no comment on Welsh’s departure.
Welsh’s departure may be the starkest example to date of the fallout in the business community from the change at City Hall after 20 years of Menino. Welsh’s job in large part was to secure city approvals for Suffolk projects, wielding so much influence with the Boston Redevelopment Authority that the board would sometimes delay meetings to accommodate his schedule.
While Welsh was at Suffolk, the company emerged as the dominant construction company in Boston, managing billions of dollars worth of construction from bio-tech and high tech facilities to the $650 million development taking shape at the old Filene’s department store site in Downtown Crossing.
Fish, meanwhile, has been one of the most civically engaged business leaders in the city, leading the effort to bring the Olympics to Boston in 2024 and helping to set up the One Fund Boston to benefit Boston Marathon bombing victims, which has raised nearly $61 million. He has also pledged $5 million to restore White Stadium in Franklin Park.
Fish also assiduously courted Menino, hiring not only Welsh, but David Passafaro, another Menino ally and former chief of staff, as well as Menino’s son Tom and brother David. Passafaro, a vice president, is expected to remain with the company, as are Menino’s son, who works as a safety engineer for a related company, Liberty Construction Services LLC, and his brother, who is a laborer for the company, say Suffolk Construction officials.
Fish largely stayed out of the mayoral race, donating neither to Walsh nor his general election opponent, John Connolly, according to state campaign finance records. Fish told the Globe four months before the vote that he was remaining neutral. Over the years, Fish has given Connolly $2,500, but never donated to Walsh, records show.
Welsh, by contrast, campaigned hard for Walsh’s primary opponent, Golar Richie, saying in a Globe interview on Wednesday that he supported the former Menino administration official “big time.”
Walsh came into office in January promising a “new era of transparency” after years in which Menino exerted direct personal control over economic development, often negotiating with developers himself in his fifth-floor office. Political pundits predicted that Menino insiders such as Fish would lose clout with City Hall.
While avoiding direct criticism of Menino, Walsh pledged to overhaul the BRA and other agencies, sending his first warning shot in March when he laid off 14 BRA employees. Walsh eliminated the entire business development division Menino had created last year.
Walsh is now sending the message that Suffolk Construction is “not the only game in town any more,” said an adviser to the new mayor. “Are others happy because there appears to be a broader playing field? Yes.”
The circumstances of Welsh’s departure were confirmed by several people close to Suffolk executives and the new mayor. Some observers said Welsh should have known that his job was in jeopardy once Menino left office.
“What’s the saying — live by the sword, die by the sword? This is the law of the jungle,” said a former city official who is friends with Welsh.
But Welsh took at least one step to ingratiate himself with the new mayor after he took office.
He wrote a $500 check to the Walsh campaign in February.
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Meanwhile, for the rest of you residents we have a nice little hovel:
"Colleges to give data on off-campus housing; Walsh wants addresses to fight overcrowding" by Jonathan Saltzman and Thomas Farragher | Globe staff June 04, 2014
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Tuesday that more than 20 universities in Boston have largely agreed to disclose the addresses of students living off campus — a long-resisted step that he called critical to combatting chronic overcrowding that he said imperils student safety.
“They don’t see a problem with it,’’ Walsh said after emerging from an hourlong, closed-door meeting with the presidents and representatives of the schools. “Not one college pushed back.’’
But if no college actively pushed back, one did emerge from the meeting saying it was not ready to commit to the plan. Boston College says it has continuing concerns about violating student privacy.
The mayor met with officials from Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, and other city colleges at the Parkman House, the city-owned mansion on Beacon Hill.
In recent weeks, Walsh had said that if he encountered resistance from university leaders, he would consider introducing a City Council ordinance to force disclosure of off-campus addresses. The information, he said, is essential so the city can to identify overcrowded apartments and protect the health and safety of tens of thousands of university students.
Boston College voiced its concerns after the meeting, but the mayor said he heard no objections at the session from any college officials. Several representatives pledged speedy compliance.
“It’s fine; it’s not a problem,’’ James McCarthy, Suffolk University’s president, said outside the Parkman House afterward. “We’ll move immediately to get the address lists that they’re looking for. . . . It’s a safety issue.’’
The extraordinary meeting came one month after the Globe Spotlight Team uncovered widespread overcrowding in Boston’s college neighborhoods, where students confront living hazards ranging from rats and bedbugs, to smoke detectors dangling uselessly from ceilings, to bedrooms stuffed illegally into basements or firetrap attics.
The hazardous conditions are especially acute in sections of Brighton near Boston College, where a Spotlight Team survey found 80 percent of the students questioned there said they had more than four undergraduates in their apartments.
A city zoning provision prohibits more than four full-time undergraduates from sharing a house or apartment, a provision that the Globe investigation found is widely ignored by students, landlords, and property managers.
After a fire last year that killed 22-year-old Binland Lee, a Boston University student, community activists called on city universities to release the addresses of their off-campus students to enable the city to build a database to detect dangerous, overcrowded living conditions.
Only Boston University complied.
Boston College — which has hundreds of students living off campus, frequently in overcrowded apartments — has said that federal student privacy laws do not allow the school to disclose where their students live off campus, even though federal regulators say schools that designate addresses as directory information are generally permitted to do so.
After Tuesday’s meeting with Walsh, Boston College said its lawyers are studying the mayor’s request. A college spokesman said the school wants to make sure it abides by federal privacy rules, which he said allow students to bar the release of this kind of information.
“If a student opts out, the university cannot disclose even directory information without consent,’’ BC spokesman Jack Dunn said in a statement. “A very large number of college students choose to opt out, which makes the off-campus list of directory addresses incomplete.’’
But Walsh said those objections were not voiced yesterday when he asked university and college officials to comply with his request.
“We will do that, and I think that’s the sense of everyone there,’’ said Sister Janet Eisner, president of Emmanuel College, which has about 1,900 students in Boston, about a quarter of whom live off campus.
John A. Nucci, a Suffolk vice president who attended the session, said Walsh could not have been clearer.
“He said he’s going to get the information that he needs, and he’s expecting universities to provide it,’’ said Nucci, a former Boston city councilor, School Committee member, and clerk of Suffolk Superior Court. “We got that message loud and clear.’’
Walsh appeared to allay the privacy concerns of a number of college officials by saying that the city did not need the names of students, only the addresses where they live....
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"Notorious landlord has another problem to explain; Operating a dormitory with possible structural issues and no valid license" by Jenn Abelson and Jonathan Saltzman | Globe Staff June 08, 2014
One of Boston’s most notorious landlords is housing international high school students in a building for which he does not have a proper license and whose facade Boston University considered structurally unsound when it sold the property to him in 2006.
Anwar N. Faisal, who largely caters to student tenants in Boston and was among the subjects of a Globe Spotlight Team investigation last month, has been operating a dormitory on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston with a license intended for the New England Institute of Art.
The art school, however, moved its students out in August 2013. In the meantime, Faisal has been leasing rooms to CATS Academy Boston, a private preparatory school, and also renting units in the building to other tenants in violation of city regulations.
BU decided to sell the seven-story dorm in part because the facade was separating from the building — a very costly repair — and it was in the midst of building the well-appointed, high-rise Student Village II housing complex, according to current and former university officials. The New England Institute of Art moved in after Faisal bought the Packard’s Corner property for $8 million and its 2012 dormitory license is still posted in the lobby.
Licensing rules require dormitory licenses to be renewed annually; each license is for a specific educational institution; and rooms in the dormitory are not to be rented to members of the public or students from other educational institutions except with special permission, according to officials from the city’s Licensing Board.
CATS Academy, which is run by the United Kingdom-based Cambridge Education Group, said it is unaware of any licensing problems at 1110 Commonwealth Ave., where several dozen students from around the world reside on two floors. The international school hired consultants to inspect the building after the Spotlight Team report detailed squalid conditions at many of Faisal’s apartments around Boston.
“These students, who are scheduled to move out this weekend, will not move back in until our consultants complete a full assessment of the premises and are certain that the property is fully compliant with applicable laws,” Nancy J. Sterling, a spokeswoman for CATS Academy, said on Thursday.
Faisal also failed to disclose, as required, a prior criminal conviction when he did finally seek a city license last week allowing CATS, which stands for the College for Arts Technology and Science, to occupy the building.
Robert L. Allen Jr., a lawyer representing Faisal, wrote in an e-mail to the Globe on Friday that he believes all necessary inspection certificates for the building, known as Nora’s House, have been obtained from the required city and state agencies without any issues.
“Unfortunately, you are making certain assumptions that are inaccurate, but you can be assured that Nora House has and will continue to work with all regulatory agencies and comply with all State and Local regulations to ensure the safety of its occupants,” Allen wrote.
Since Faisal purchased the building, he has made internal renovations to the individual units, installed an alarm system, upgraded the electricity, and made “minor masonry repair to . . . outside wall,” according to building permits pulled for the property since 2006.
Those permits sanctioned work to remove temporary partitions, ceiling tiles, and a non-load bearing wall.
But the records reviewed by the Globe do not indicate structural repairs to the building, which Faisal renamed Nora’s House after one of his children. Lisa Timberlake, a spokeswoman for the city’s Inspectional Services Department, said there is no application on file for such work....
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Time to get to class, kids.
Walsh says he should have been told about plaza repairs
The guy who didn't tell him claims he had to take action quickly and is “what I get paid to do” -- after having neglected the site for 2 years.
Arts have starring role in the economy
Contest aims to enliven public spaces in Boston
Like this?
"Program in Boston targets men who buy sex; City aiming to cut prostitution by 20% in two years" by Zachary T. Sampson | Globe Correspondent June 04, 2014
Boston is instituting a program to reduce prostitution by targeting men who buy sex instead of the women who provide it, officials announced Tuesday.
The world's oldest profession. Don't know how you stop that. Maybe make them escort call services for the wealthy elite.
The city is partnering with Demand Abolition, a Cambridge-based group led by former US ambassador Swanee Hunt, to end human trafficking by stifling demand rather than by punishing sex workers. The goal of the public-private partnership is to reduce demand for prostitutes in Boston by 20 percent in two years.
The project will involve collecting data on the solicitation of prostitutes, and a team of local leaders, which has not yet met, will make recommendations for specific awareness and enforcement measures.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said traditional ways of combating prostitution have long involved criminal punishment that leads to a cycle of sustained vulnerability for sex workers....
Related:
"A federal jury convicted a Dorchester man Tuesday of sex trafficking involving a teenage girl, according to US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office."
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Related: Most sex convicts do not win release
One who did:
3-time convicted rapist charged in Arlington attack
Deval Patrick's Wille Horton.
Rapist’s victim unaware of release
Rape case shows challenge of tracking sex offenders
NSA really screwing up, huh?
Also see:
Report backs autonomy for schools in Boston
Mayor Walsh’s top aide on schools steps down
Diversity lags in full-time city hires under Walsh
I'm lagging on posting, sorry.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
It is as I have been saying in so many ways.
"Residential tower to join offices on Boston’s skyline; 60-story Back Bay tower will house 180 luxury condos, becoming largest residential project yet in surge that is changing city’s skyline" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff June 11, 2014
On a Boston skyline dominated by office towers, John Hancock and the Pru are about to get a new neighbor: A 60-story tower of ultra high-end condos that will be the city’s tallest residential building.
The $700 million project — next to the Christian Science Plaza — got a huge boost Tuesday when Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts said it will manage the hotel and residences in the building, promising to bring a new level of opulence to the already pricey Back Bay.
At 699 feet, the building will be the largest of a new generation of residential towers planned to shake up a skyline that has been the exclusive province of hedge funds, banks, and insurance companies....
“This is going to bring a different aesthetic to the market,” said Kevin Ahearn, president of the real estate firm Otis & Ahearn Inc. “We’re really going from luxury to super luxury.”
Must be for the 0.1%.
********
With the city’s condo market surging, Mayor Martin J. Walsh offered strong support for the project Tuesday, saying it will bring permanent and construction jobs and boost the city’s overall economy. In recent weeks, the mayor has emphasized the need for more middle-income housing in the city, but he said the Four Seasons project will cater to a luxury tourism market that is also critical to the city’s growth.
They are all captive of corporations at this point.
The new tower will include two restaurants, two lounges, and a health club and spa. Its residences are certain to be among the most expensive in the city....
Condo prices in Boston have soared to record highs in recent months, with the average unit in full-service buildings downtown now selling for about $1 million, according to LINK, which tracks condo prices in the city, a threshold seldom crossed in a city that is a relative newcomer to the super-luxury market. New York and London routinely achieve far higher prices, as do densely built cities such as Beijing and Hong Kong.
Boston’s ascendancy into that market is fueling a burst of construction activity. More than 8,000 luxury residential units are expected to be built in Boston during the next three years, doubling the supply of units built in large, luxury complexes since 1960. Most of those units will be apartments, but developers are beginning to build condos as well. Several new hotels are also under construction.
Related: Look What Was Tucked Into the Convention Bill
The millions of dollars in debt interest flowing for decades is going to be how much more than the actual project??
“Boston has really had a great run in the last several years,” said David Begelfer, chief executive of NAIOP Massachusetts, a commercial real estate association. “We’re getting a lot of well-heeled people coming into the city. They fly first class and they want to stay first class. The top-tier hotels are doing very well.”
And you know what?
“The story for the Massachusetts economy, if you ignore high levels of unemployment and inequality, is the economy has been performing very well.”
I think I'm going to ignore the rest of this article, thank you.
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"Activists continue protest over housing access" by Jacqueline Tempera | Globe Correspondent June 11, 2014
A coalition of community groups protested outside a foreclosed Dorchester home Tuesday and called for more affordable housing in Boston.
Can't afford a condo?
The group, made up of seven nonprofit organizations, took to Norwell Street for the second time this week. Over the weekend, the group attempted to move a homeless family into the vacant house, only to be driven out by law enforcement officials, said Darnell Johnson, a coalition spokesman.
You $ee who the murderous thin blue line $erves in Ma$$achu$etts. Fuck you guys and your collective bargaining rights, pensions, health care benefits, and budgets.
The Norwell Street house has been vacant for months. The Federal National Mortgage Association — widely known as Fannie Mae — took over the home after its previous owners were removed but has rejected offers from nonprofit developers to buy it, Johnson said.
Fannie Mae did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Thanks, Obummer!
The Norwell Street house and others remain unoccupied while families live on the streets, said Johnson, who advocates for more affordable housing and a restructuring of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
The protest drew a crowd of about 75....
Sheila A. Dillon, Boston’s chief of housing and director of neighborhood development, said in a telephone interview, “The city certainly agrees with the protesters.”
Hmmmm!
Then why did law enforcement.... never mind.
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Hey, at least the KINGS are going to have a NEW TOWER!
Related: Protestors occupy vacant house, rally for housing
Speaking of law enforcement convictions:
"NYC settles with 14 Occupy protesters for $583K" by Jennifer Peltz | Associated Press June 11, 2014
NEW YORK — The city has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to settle allegations that police wrongfully arrested a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters, marking the largest settlement to date in a single Occupy-related civil rights case, the marchers’ lawyers said Tuesday.
Why must TAXPAYERS PAY for the OPPRESSION by POLICE?!
Let THEM THAT COMMITTED the ACT PAY, or get their banker backers to do it!!!
The $583,000 pact involves 14 demonstrators who said police ordered them to leave but prevented them from doing so and arrested them in lower Manhattan early on New Year’s Day 2012. The disorderly conduct cases got dismissed, according to the protesters’ federal lawsuit, which argues that they were arrested ‘‘for expressing their views.’’
‘‘We were out there to send a message, and our rights were suppressed,’’ one of the demonstrators, Garrett O’Connor, said Tuesday. The 34-year-old labor activist said police tackled him to the ground as he tried to follow their order to clear out.
In AmeriKa? No way!
The city did not immediately comment. City lawyers had said in court papers last fall that the arrests were lawful and police ‘‘acted reasonably, properly, lawfully, and in good faith.’’
And thus all tyranny is justified.
The march unfurled after a restive New Year’s Eve in Zuccotti Park, the lower Manhattan plaza where the people protesting economic inequality had set up camp from the previous September until the city rousted them that November. Some 68 people were arrested there on that New Year’s Eve when police said the protesters tore down barricades surrounding the park.
Yeah, you kids remember back when you thought AmeriKa was a free country and good government that would listen?
At least you got an education in pure power politic$.
Shortly after midnight, some others set off to walk en masse to Manhattan’s East Village.
A city lawyer called the march ‘‘rowdy and tumultuous’’ at a court date last fall, according to a transcript. But the protesters’ lawsuit says they behaved peacefully and obeyed traffic laws, and police at times blocked traffic to let them cross streets safely together.
But then, in the East Village, officers boxed them in and made arrests, the suit says.
Police have made more than 2,600 arrests on various charges at Occupy-related events over time.
That after all the spying and infiltration of them, too.
--more--"
I guess they can credit the new mayor who is the new voice of Occupy Wall Street.
Time to vacate this post.
