Baker Halts BCEC Hack-O-Rama!

Convention Centers, Sports Stadiums and other TAX PAYER SUBSIDIES are a SCAM, likened to the CASINO FOLLIES  merely picking your pocket!

These are posts and excerpts from previous posts in this venue:
Convention Center Deal REEKS!
The Convention Scam

Ya gotta hand it to the political hack-o-rama......

....they buy into a FOLLY and no reasonable explanation can persuade them otherwise.

FROM: The Convention Scam

But even with its success, the facility posted a $65 million operating loss in its most recent fiscal year, most of which was offset by a state fund set up to finance the center’s construction.

Rooney said the fund, which is supported by taxes on hotel rooms and other tourism activity, generates enough money to cover losses at the existing building and pay for the new one.

But the effort to build a 1,500-room hotel complex could require tens of millions of dollars in public assistance such as tax breaks or direct subsidies. That’s because private developers and lenders have been unwilling to take the risk on such a project without public support.

“Tax deferrals and other arrangements are used to help these projects get across the finish line,”......

Demonizing the Poor?: how 'bout the Monument of Political Hackery called the Boston Convention Center?

The edifice of Beacon Hill Patronage and Questionable Decisions has been stopped temporarily by Governor Charlie Baker.

Have ya been there?

This massive structure is HEATED and COOLED even when idle, staffed for security etc..

The SILVER LINE runs FREE to the CONVENTION CENTER at a time MassTransit is cash-strapped, tunnels dug included in Big Dig costs?


And NO ONE QUESTIONS?

Baker
Halts BCEC Expansion

Gov.
Baker put the brakes on the planned $1 billion expansion of Boston Convention
& Exhibition Center. He also made over the Convention Center Authority,
installing seven new members to the 13-member board. The Globe says the
administration plans to let the new board determine if the expansion is still
warranted even as events already in the books for as far out as 2029, as well as
related hotel projects, are put in jeopardy. http://bit.ly/1zfSZzU
Former BCEC honcho Jim Rooney tells the Boston Business Journal he's
disappointed in the move but hopes the freeze is only temporary. "It's 'pause'
... 'pause' is the word of the day," he said. http://bit.ly/1AkqjRw

The Baker administration halted the $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on Wednesday, citing concerns that its economic impact has been overstated and its debt payments could drain money from the state.

Governor Charlie Baker also abruptly replaced seven of 13 board members at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the quasi-public agency that oversees the sprawling South Boston convention center.

“The environment has changed greatly in the five years since this proposal was first introduced, and the Seaport District has experienced an economic boom,” Baker said in a statement. “[It] would be irresponsible given the vast amounts of taxpayer dollars necessary to not only build but operate the expanded facility.”

Postponing the convention center expansion could have ripple effects on other development projects on the South Boston Waterfront — a large hotel proposal may be scaled back, and two parking garages may be scuttled.

The architect of the expansion plan, departing convention center authority executive director James Rooney, said that any delays risk driving up the project’s debt and construction costs. Though disappointed in Baker’s announcement, he said he remains hopeful that the new board members will come to the same conclusion as their predecessors and recommend that the expansion proceed.

The Legislature approved $1 billion in borrowing to finance the expansion last year, but the Baker administration must sign off on the bonds before they can be issued.

Herald, Carr Explain MBTA Hack-O-Rama

T opens pension books

Photo by:

John Wilcox

‘FRUSTRATED’: The T panel’s refusal to release pension records earned criticism in recent days from Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey, above, and Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo.

Friday, August 9, 2013
By: Matt Stout

More than one-third of MBTA employees getting pensions retired before the age of 55 and a thousand-plus left in their 40s, according to a Herald review of a massive database that was finally released yesterday after a series of stories that challenged the T retirement board’s refusal to disclose the payouts.

Your tax dollars at work: MBTA pensions

The data — which was released by the T itself and not the MBTA Retirement Fund that oversees the $1.77 billion fund — represents a first look into payouts made public under a law the Legislature pushed through this summer.

A Herald review of the database showed:

• More than half of the 6,300-plus people listed in the database retired before the age of 60, and 35 percent — or 2,240 — left before 55.

•   Another 1,129 retirees, or 17 percent of the system, opted out in their 40s. They include five of the top 30 pension holders, including former MBTA General Manager and the fund’s current Executive Director Michael Mulhern, who retired at age 46 with a pension of $64,800.

• Eight retirees are pulling in more than $70,000 annually, with the top earner at $76,881. All of them retired before the age of 60.

Demands for scrutiny have stepped up as taxpayers have been forced to funnel more to cover T pensions. Those payments soared to $56.3 million last fiscal year, up from $30 million in fiscal 2007.

“I think it’s safe to say, when I hear some people with a full boat in their 40s, that raises some eyebrows, and that is precisely the reason we wanted to take a look at some of these documents to make sure the tax dollars are being spent correctly,” Rep. Brad Hill (R-Ipswich) said.

Currently, T employees can retire with a pension at 55 with 25 years of service in the transit agency, according to the T. But many retired under previous guidelines, where they were able to punch out at any age if they accrued 23 years of service.

While the individual payouts released yesterday may not reach the staggering sums of other pension systems — the state, for example, has at least five people getting over $200,000 — the old T rules allowed many to retire earlier.

“That’s a very generous pension that you can get after only 20 (plus) years of service,” said David Tuerck of Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute.

The data’s release comes after a series of Herald reports about the retirement fund’s foot-dragging response to the paper’s public records request. That request was sent right after the law requiring public disclosure of the database was enacted on July 12.

The pension fund’s stonewalling sparked a growing chorus of criticism, including from Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey and, just yesterday, Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo, who said he was “frustrated” with the panel’s response — just hours before the pensions were disclosed.

“You guys are probably the ones who made it happen,” said Paul Regan, executive director of the T advisory board, citing a Herald story yesterday in which Davey said the board “need(s) to be compliant.”

“The MBTA received the pension data about two hours before the Herald received it,” T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in an email. “It was released for the very reasons described (Wednesday) by Secretary Davey. MassDOT and the MBTA are strongly committed to openness and transparency.”

Steve Crawford, a spokesman for the retirement board, declined to comment, instead pointing to a three-page response the panel’s lawyer sent to the Herald this week.

More On: MBTA pension MBTA Retirement Fund - See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/08/t_opens_pension_books#sthash.7ysRSEfP.dpuf



Carr: T pension list a map of Bulger fam’s free rides 

Photo by:

Mark Garfinkel

WHAT DOES MBTA STAND FOR? Patrick Bulger, son of William Bulger, above, retired from the T in 2007 at age 43. He now collects $55,546.42 a year.

The MBTA pension list — the Holy Grail of the hackerama, or maybe Dead Sea Scrolls is a better analogy.It’ll take a while to decipher, but once we do, we’ll know ever so much more about the life and times of the payroll patriot.

Let’s start where all things in the hackerama begin — the Bulger family. Don’t forget, MBTA used to stand for Mr. Bulger’s Transportation Authority.

Your tax dollars at work: MBTA pension database

This is likely going to be a very bad day for the First Family of Freeloaders, but if your name is Bulger, every day is Bunker Hill Day.

Just ask Patrick Bulger, one of the Corrupt Midget’s sons. He retired from the T in 2007 at age 43 — remember, they only had to work 23 years to go out with the full boat. He now collects $55,546.42 a year.

Even for bums like the Bulgers, 43 is a little early to quit “working,” so he immediately began working on another kiss in the mail, at the Probation Department. It was a nationwide search — his brother Chris, Whitey’s favorite nephew, was already there, making $100,000-plus.

But then Chris was fired in a scandal — imagine that, a Bulger mixed up in a hack hijinks — and Patrick seems to have likewise vanished from the Probation payroll.

The runt of the Bulger litter is Jackie, who faithfully supports his serial-killing sibling in court every morning, unlike the Corrupt Midget. Jackie was the clerk of the Boston Juvenile Court and lost his pension after a conviction for obstruction of justice.

He succeeded Paul Heffernan, after a vacancy was created by promoting Heffernan to a judgeship. Now Heffernan’s daughter Mary Beth has herself been kicked upstairs to the bench, after making sure as public-safety secretary that Lt. Gov. Tim Murray’s cellphone records never leaked out after his mysterious 2011 auto accident.

But I digress. Before he got to the courthouse, Jackie “worked” at the T, and his son followed him there. Mark Bulger retired in 2008 at the age of 43 with a pension of $34,732.44.

Jackie has a daughter named Beth Zodda. She makes $65,000 on the Senate payroll, where she’s been employed, so to speak, ever since Uncle Corrupt Midget was president. She has a husband, and until his retirement he toiled at — yes, you guessed it!

Robert Zodda went out at age 55 in 2010 with $42,822.24 a year.

When Whitey Bulger’s coke dealers were busted in 1990, the feds turned over in discovery a number of tapes from the hack/dealers, discussing how to buy their sinecure at the T. The late Stippo Rakes paid $3,000 for his. At the time of his murder, Stippo had been collecting $31,632.98 a year since 2008.

The T has always been a great dumping ground for straw candidates — say you’re a fading pol facing a serious challenger. Then you need a second guy in the fight to split the anti-votes. There used to be a solon from Dorchester named Joe Walsh. He filed all of Billy Bulger’s bills for him.

Around 1984 an Italian-American was giving Joe Walsh fits. So suddenly another Italian-American jumps into the race. By an amazing coincidence, his brother happened to be a made member of the Mafia.

Joe Walsh was re-elected, and after still another nationwide search, the Mafioso’s brother got a job at Mr. Bulger’s Transportation Authority. He retired in 2007 at age 63 with a pension of $44,783.16.

Then of course there’s Jim Rooney, a hack’s hack, who doesn’t believe in feeding at the trough when he can lick the plate. He recently, ahem, tightened his belt and took a small pay cut at the MCCA from his $357,000 salary. Of course, he had a little something extra to keep him warm — his T pension of $62,541.24.

He started collecting it in 1999, at age 41.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Please, drop a dime on one or two of these tax-fattened hyenas. Put a rocket in their pockets at howiecarr@wrko.com, and on the message line write “T hacks.”

Lower the boom on them before they do it to you.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2013/08/carr_t_pension_list_a_map_of_bulger_fam_s_free_rides