Given the recent history of locals losing interest in minor league teams full of players outside the major league pipeline, it looks like a risky business venture. But more importantly, the stadium would be astonishingly unproductive as a tool for revitalizing Malden’s struggling downtown. Right now the city needs as much mixed-income transit-oriented development as it can grab, and giving away a prime site across from the T isn’t the way to get there.

Read the whole thing here.

My latest for the Globe looks at the recent noise emanating from City Hall about using a Suffolk Downs casino to pressure Vornado into filling its Filene’s pit. The problem with these threats coming from City Hall is, there’s no way Hizzoner will actually throw the brakes on Suffolk Downs as payback for Filene’s. The mayor can’t credibly threaten Vornado when he’s been in the tank for Suffolk Downs for yeas.

Which is not to say those threats can’t or shouldn’t be made. The solution: Take the casino question out of the mayor’s hands, put it to a citywide vote, and unleash an angry electorate on the developers.

Read the whole thing here.

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