Tim Murray Shoots, Scores?

Posted on April 4, 2008 by admin

Here’s a hot awesome gift shop item for you: The Tim Murray bobblehead.

Worcester’s dreadfully bad minor league hockey team will be honoring the city’s former Boy Mayor made good by handing these things later this month. The gesture is supposed to thank fans for, you know, caring about AHL hockey.

Irregardless of whether or not this stunning piece of desktop sculpture manages to put asses in Centrum seats, this promotion will surely lend some much-needed gravitas to an administration that is absolutely dying to be taken seriously. Three cheers to all involved.

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The Hill and the Hall Week in Review

Posted on April 4, 2008 by admin

(Cross-posted, per usual, from Boston Daily)

We hear that Governor Deval Patrick’s budget priorities are in trouble. That’s not any great surprise. The House and Senate took most of the governor’s recommendations and tossed them in the trash last year, too.

But here’s where things get interesting. The budget crunch is about to get a lot worse in the next few years, and when it does, it’ll put Patrick’s broad promises on public safety, education, parks, and property taxes in big, big trouble. Which, of course, will put Patrick in big, big trouble.

As previously discussed, because of the significant price tag that comes along with the myriad campaign promises Patrick made, his administration must look at fiscal troubles though a political lens. It’s one thing for the legislature to delay investing in new cops or early education for a few years; it’s quite another for the governor, who’s going to have a reelection fight on his hands well before the economy’s caviar and champagne days return.

And here’s what hurts extra-hard Continue reading →

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Keepin’ It Streets

Posted on April 2, 2008 by admin

Spotted on my way to the T this morning: One dude, late 30′s, tweed jacket, blue Oxford shirt, Toyota SUV, heading towards work. Listening to Beyonce‘s “Irreplacable.” Volume on this smoove R&B jam turned up to, like, 78. I didn’t see any tears, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
If you’re reading this: Stay strong, friend. Stay strong.

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Why All the Shrinkage, Metro?

Posted on March 31, 2008 by admin

Adam Reilly notes that the Metro has ended its short and inglorious reign as the second-largest daily in Boston. It did so in style, shedding a whopping 51,000 papers a day from its circulation. That’s a hell of a drop, even for a borderline-illiterate rag that’s better suited for wrapping fish or lining bird cages than reading. So what gives? Continue reading →

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The Hill and the Hall Week in Review

Posted on March 28, 2008 by admin

(Cross-posted from Boston Daily)

We may be watching the balance of power tip on Beacon Hill. While Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi go back and forth about casinos and taxes—and whether or not they’re going back and forth at all—Senate President Therese Murray is showing herself to be both smart enough to recognize the power vacuum brought on by the bickering, and strong enough to fill that vacuum with substantive policy proposals. Continue reading →

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Urban Renewal Nearly Brings Timothy Leary to the Comm. Ave. Mall

Posted on March 27, 2008 by admin

And hello there to you. Not a whole lot of activity on these here internets lately. I know. A light blogging regimen is the sign of a guy with a bunch of work that actually pays.

But who needs rent money when you’ve got totally subversive and unprofessional government memos? That’s what we’ve got here. By all means, please do read on. Continue reading →

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The Hill and the Hall Week in Review

Posted on March 21, 2008 by admin

(Cross-posted from Boston Daily)

Deval Patrick has got to hate St. Patrick’s week. This time a year ago, House Speaker Sal DiMasi appeared before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and absolutely brutalized the governor – much to the delight of the assemblage of reporters and rich people in nice suits.

And now, no sooner had the vomit dried on Broadway than the speaker was back before the Chamber, telling everybody that casino gambling “will absolutely cause damage on a grand scale” and ruin lives and everything. If it’s not the end of civilization as we know it, it sounded pretty damn close.

And with that, the great casino death train of 2008 pulled back into the station. In celebration of the occasion, some people jibbered. Others jabbered. Facts, figures, reports and the like were bandied about, and somewhere along the line, the governor’s casino proposal flatlined. Continue reading →

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The Hill and the Hall Week in Review

Posted on March 14, 2008 by admin

(Cross-posted from Boston Daily)

Word broke early this week that Governor Deval Patrick’s casino bill was dead. House Dean David Flynn told the Taunton Gazette, “The casino bill isn’t going anywhere. I find very little support for it from members of the house,” adding that he expects a roll call vote on his racino bill, while “the casinos won’t,” because Dan Bosley’s committee “will issue an adverse report, preventing the house from voting on the casino bill.”

It’s not how things work – the Speaker’s office has repeatedly said that Patrick’s bill will receive a vote on the House floor before it wraps its budget bill in April, regardless of whether or not it gets a favorable committee report. (PS – it won’t.) But that doesn’t mean that casinos still aren’t headed for a messy demise. Continue reading →

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Dept. of Buried Ledes: What the Chamber Study Missed

Posted on March 7, 2008 by admin

Hell of a header on this Globe story today – “Casino Study Backs Patrick.” The lede’s even better: “Governor Deval Patrick’s promise of thousands of new jobs and billions of fresh dollars would come true if three state-licensed resort casinos are opened across Massachusetts, according to a long-awaited Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce study released yesterday that largely bolsters the governor’s economic case.”

But, for a better summary of what the Chamber’s much-discussed report actually says, you’d have better luck looking to Dan Kennedy – “Casino Supporters Support Casinos.”

I understand that some of the issues we’re dealing with here are tricky. And I’m a reporter, so math does scare me, too. But you can’t write off the costs just because the Globe editorial board does.

If you chase down half the “opponents say” caveats in today’s front page story, you’ll find a much different scenario at play than all the governor’s promises being fulfilled. Continue reading →

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The Hill and the Hall Week in Review

Posted on March 7, 2008 by admin

(Cross-posted from Boston Daily)

Hey, guess what, everybody? Governor Deval Patrick wants to build three casinos in Massachusetts. He’s been saying that they’ll bring 30,000 jobs in tow. Turns out, they won’t. Shocking, we know. But it’s this revelation that gripped Beacon Hill this week. All other concerns were crowded out.

Most close observers (depending on whom you read) have known for several months now that the governor’s casino research is compromised and his economic assumptions shaky. And now that the town’s paper of record has spoken on the subject, the fan is really covered in it.

The administration has even stopped citing its 30,000 jobs figure, and taken to speaking of “tens of thousands” of jobs instead.

That’s a significant fact, because it marks the first time in this whole gambling debate that reporting has been able to knock the administration off its talking points. Continue reading →

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