Today's Tuesday - and here's what's happening
The Revenue Committee holds a hearing at 10 a.m. Children will be a major topic at the hearing with a bills to provide a child care tax credit, reduce the costs for adoption, and deal with deductions for contributions to college savings plans, Room B-1.... Coalition for Social Justice and SEIU 32BJ hold press conference to mark state's new earned sick time law's implementation, which begins tomorrow. Attorney General Maura Healey plans to participate, Irish Famine Memorial, corner of Washington and School streets, Boston, at noon... Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry joins federal, state, and local elected officials for press conference with immigration advocacy groups, leaders of the Haitian and Dominican community and clergy regarding the humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic, on State House steps, noon.
We're building it already: Why Boston 2024's legacy argument lacks some heft
Here's a quote that seems to sum up the case for the Boston 2024 bid:"This could be the biggest economic development opportunity of our lifetimes," said Boston 2024 chairman Steve Pagliuca, framing the new argument for the Olympics. Without the Olympics, previously obscure locales will remain underdeveloped. New neighborhoods may be left unborn.
The once-in-a-lifetime argument ignores a blatantly obvious local phenomenon: Boston, right now, already is going through a once-in-lifetime development explosion. Look at the transformation in Downtown Crossing, with the exclamation point being the massive Millennium Tower. A new neighborhood has risen in Fan Pier and an expanded one in Fort Point. The old Government Center Garage will be the site of a massive six-building complex, including a 528-foot tower and two residential high-rises, one 480 feet tall, a $2 billion project. Over 800 residential units are slotted. North Point (practically underneath the elevated Route 93) is in the early stages of becoming a full-blown neighborhood. Boston Properties is building a huge project at North Station -- about 500 residential units there. It's a $1 billion project. Boston has built or has plans to build the equivalent of the proposed Olympic infrastructure in the past four years. And it didn't have to deal with the IOC to do it. Just the BRA.
Would it be great to have Columbia Point developed, especially for affordable housing, after it serves the Olympic athletes? Yes, of course. One thing all the downtown building lacks is affordable housing and housing average people can afford. Is building a gargantuan platform overtop Widett Circle a fascinating way to facilitate the Olympic stadium and then transform into a new business and residential district? You bet.
The questions are at what cost, what risk, and why to we need an Olympics to build it? One problem the Boston 2024 folks face is a populace with a lack of burning enthusiasm for the honor of hosting the games. There's a distinct absence of irrational exuberance. Pagliuca is saying, hey, don't miss the boat. Boston may end up responding: We don't need to jump on board.
The Olympic bid coverage and analysis pours in: Here's a medley
* The plan relies on $765 million in still unfunded transportation upgrades, notes the Herald's Jack Encarnacao. http://bit.ly/1Hri7p7
* Boston 2024's commuter rail station plan for Widett Circle was news to the T's interim general manager Frank DePaola, the Globe reports.http://bit.ly/1Ip2G1I
* Globe columnist Joan Vennochi says thumbs up or down power rests with Gov. Baker, and she's right. http://bit.ly/1R0IdWi
* The proposed tax break for Widett Circle is particularly generous, reports a team of Globe reporters. http://bit.ly/1BTlMeT
* Pagliuca himself weighs in: "...Bid 2.0 avoids the most serious risk we face: letting this opportunity pass us by." http://bit.ly/1Ly9cnC
* The Boston Business Journal breaks down the Widett Circle development plan in its various stages. http://bit.ly/1BTyFFK
* Then there's the insurance for the Games, right now pegged at $128 million. The Herald's Encarnacao quotes a BC professor who says insurance doesn't cover cost overruns: http://bit.ly/1JnMign
Did Wynn investigators get special access?
Let's face it: If the Olympics weren't on full display, the media would be obsessing about the city's fight with Wynn Resorts and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Boston's legal fight with Wynn Resorts and MGC took another nasty turn Monday when the city issued a slew of subpoenas and claimed that private investigators for Wynn were given access to confidential files and wiretap reports in the attorney general's office as they looked into issues of ownership of the disputed Everett casino site, the Globe says. Among the more than a dozen people subpoenaed are former state police officers, members of the Patrick administration, including former Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, and executives at Hard Rock Cafe, which kicked the tires on the Everett land before Wynn stepped in and eventually secured the Eastern Mass. resort license. Commission spokesperson Elaine Driscoll accused the city of trying to "litigate meritless claims in the press." Coming up in the case: A July 9 hearing on a motion by the MGC to dismiss the city's suit. http://bit.ly/1LSjGvY The Herald, for its part, says if it can be shown that Wynn's investigators were allowed into what it calls the AG's "wiretap room," that could be enough to prompt the MGC to yank Wynn's license. http://bit.ly/1NuOd3v
Report says DCF overwhelmed by appeals
A report sent to lawmakers and the state's child advocacy office Monday finds the Department of Children and Families has made improvements since 2010 but that the agency still faces a backlog of appeals hearings that would take a full year to work through, the Herald reports. The Ripple Group reports that as of Dec. 31, 2014, DCF had 2,126 open appeals cases, a third of which dated back at least two years and some of which were as much as nine years old. "We hope our report will be received as a call to action," Mete Habip, a partner at The Ripples Group, told the Herald. http://bit.ly/1dumELk
Worcester's panhandle law still unsettled
The Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to revisit its earlier decision not to issue an injunction halting enforcement of Worcester's ban on street panhandling, a move that has both sides in the years-long legal saga claiming victory, according to the Telegram. SCOTUS declined to take on the case itself and instead ordered a Federal appeals court to reconsider its decision denying an injunction in light of the Supremes' own recent decision to strike down an Arizona town's sign bylaw because it treated signs differently based on their content. The ban on aggressive panhandling was passed by the Worcester City Council in early 2013, bringing immediate legal challenges on free speech grounds, the Telegram notes. http://bit.ly/1GWz2OQ
Dems call out Baker, list failed Republican candidates
After a Globe story revealed that Charlie Baker had filled some economic development posts with some unsuccessful Republican candidates, the Massachusetts Democratic Party issued a press release yesterday worthy of note simply because of its attention to detail. "If Republican Baker is going to institute a hiring freeze exemption to hand out plum positions in his administration as a reward for failed GOP candidates, there's 84 of his fellow Republicans sitting by the phone right now waiting for the call," Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman Pat Beaudry stated in the release. And then the Dems helpfully list all 84 of the Republican candidates.
Sen. Thomas Kennedy mourned
Leaders of both parties expressed sorrow over the passing of Sen. Thomas Kennedy (D-Brockton), remembered as a "true champion and public servant." http://bit.ly/1RPzl13
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