Results tagged “thomasmenino”

           

The Silver Line now runs from Dudley Station to South Station. The bus is called Silver Line 4, SL4 on the maps, and it went into operation today. Bostonist joined a throng of real reporters and state and local politicians on the first SL4 to South Station, which left Dudley a little after 1 p.m. and arrived a little after 1:30 p.m.

So, StoneTurn, the Boston-based computer forensics, has had a pass at Michael Kineavy's second computer, and the results, which were posted on the city of Boston's website were less than revealing. Approximately 740 new e-mails were made public, but most of them were essentially blank, retaining only the e-mail header. The newest release of e-mails reportedly did not contain e-mails submitted to federal investigators in connection with the Dianne Wilkerson corruption investigation.

The Globe reports that attorney general Martha Coakley has finally gotten involved in the Kineavy email scandal. The U.S. Senate candidate said that her office was now "inovlved" in the effort "to determine whether there have been any violations of the public records law by [Boston] City officials.

Remember when the Secretary of State ordered Menino aide Michael Kineavy's computer seized so that a computer forensic expert could pore over his hard drive and recover his supposedly deleted emails? And then the city released 5018 "lost" emails and claimed that it couldn't provide any emails Kineavy sent to people outside of City Hall because recovering them would be too expensive?

Don't miss tonight's mayoral debate between Thomas Menino and Michael Flaherty. It starts at 7 p.m. on WCVB-TV (Channel 5), and it will be the first debate between the two candidates since the primary. The next debate will take place on October 19.

Unless you've been living under a rock, or in Somerville, you've probably heard about the new Flaherty-Yoon alliance. A "marriage," according to the Globe's Scott Lehigh, which weirdly echos something we overheard at Fenway Park yesterday. "You know, Flaherty-Yoon; it's like gay marriage, but for politics." After the jump: Tell us how the "Floon" ticket changes things.

Update: It pains us to write this, because the whole event seemed so hilarious—another reason to love our Jakes—but, apparently, the fire drill was not the doing of the Boston Fire Department. Our usually more level-headed friends at Universal Hub, where we got the story in the first place, have issued a retraction, and we'll do the same. Apparently, the fire drill was scheduled by the building management, not the BFD. So, sorry, Jakes!

On our way from our polling place to the T this morning, we passed a school bus full of kids who were screaming, "Vote for Menino! Vote for Menino today at the Curley School." Look out for the big yellow machine.

Let's get a completely unscientific idea of who will win Boston's mayoral primary with an internet poll. As you know by now, four candidates are in the running, and only two will survive tomorrow's primary. We've fashioned two questions for you, which you can answer after the jump.

The Globe announced its endorsements for mayor today, and they really didn't come as a shock. Menino and Flaherty. Of Menino, the Globe writes:

We could see it coming. The Secretary of State has ordered the seizure of city computers due to suspicion that Menino aide Michael Kineavy has been deleting emails in violation of public records law. The state has ordered the city to attempt to recover the emails. The administration was able to locate just 18 e-mails to or from Kineavy in the period from Oct. 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. Considering we get that many emails an hour, something seems sketchy.

As we predicted, we didn't make it home in time to watch tonight's Boston mayoral debate on Channel 25, which was helpfully scheduled for rush hour. Luckily for us, Adam Gaffin was available to liveblog it. The highlights? Michael Flaherty doesn't know how much it costs to ride the T. Yoon explained why there are four candidates in the race. The moderator asked Menino if he thought he spoke like an imbecile. McCrea yelled a lot. [Universal Hub]

           

Bostonist Flickr contributor A.P. Donovan attended the Boston Labor Day Health Care Rally and took this series of great snaps. The Globe estimated the crowd at 1,000 or more, and it included several high profile office-seekers, including prospective Senate candidates (and current Attorney General and U.S. Representative, respectively) Martha Coakley and Michael Capuano and Boston mayoral candidate (and current Mayor) Thomas Menino. The crowd gathered on the Boston Common for speeches and marched to Copley Square to continue the rally.

"Power," "Corruption," "Lies." Throw in "Blue Monday," and the Boston mayoral debate could have been a New Order album. So, you watched the debate on WBZTV, or, at the very least, you read our marginally coherent live blog. What did you think? Who won the debate?

Strap in, Bostonist readers, because we are going to live blog tonight's Boston mayoral debates. Just a warning: We aren't the brightest on the block when it comes to local politics. If you're looking for insightful wonkery, go to BlueMassGroup. If you're looking for jokes about Menino's articulation or Michael Flaherty's tie, stick around here. As always, the most recent update will be on top.

Despite the sweet t-shirts, YouTube channels, rock band endorsements, and shiny new presents from the city, the 2009 Boston mayoral race has been kind of a snoozer. Sure, Menino's opponents have dogged his record on development, education, and crime, painting him as a dictatorial autocrat with his hands on every municipal project. But, when you open up the dictionary to "Mayor of Boston," the entry reads "dictatorial autocrat with his hands on every municipal project." Menino's most polemical opponent, the South End developer Kevin McCrea hasn't gotten much traction outside of the Boston wonk corner of the internet.

The City of Boston has just unveiled an online, searchable map that allows visitors to see where and when complaints to the city's 24-hour hotline were made. From requests to fix broken sidewalks—common—to requests to replace missing signs—surprisingly uncommon—the map lets you see, at a glance, how broken the city is.

The Sam Yoon campaign knows how young people communicate with each other. Using their t-shirts. The campaign has set up a Cafe Press store hawking several t-shirt designs using Yoon's name in sometimes excruciating puns. Nobody among his competitors in the mayoral race offers anything similar. We couldn't find a single Thomas Menino shirt for sale, provided this one doesn't count, and Michael Flaherty only offers boring white t-shirts with the campaign's logo affixed.

Bostonist's inbox has been flooded by press releases from Sam Yoon's campaign office describing Yoon's "GreenPrint" for Boston. It's a series of proposals to add incentives for homeowners, business owners, and drivers to reduce their carbon footprint—by renovating existing buildings and using alternative transportation—that Yoon hopes will become central to his campaign. To kick things off, he proposed legislation in City Council today to add a tax incentive for businesses who are willing to build "green" roofs—roofs with soil and living flora that reduce winter heating requirements and storm runoff and clean the air to boot. It's a big proposal, destined for the front page of the Globe, right?

Mayor Thomas Menino announced today that the City of Boston will be raising local hotel and meals taxes at the beginning of October. The move, which was authorized by the recent state budget, will increase Boston's hotel tax from 12.45% to 14.45% and the meals tax from 6.25% to 7%. Menino expects the increases to net $18 million during the next fiscal year. According to city figures, the rates are still lower than other major cities. New York, for example, levies a 14.75% hotel tax and a 8.38% meals tax.

Maybe it was the parade. The MassEquality gay rights PAC, which has been a major player in the efforts to spread marriage equality throughout New England, has endorsed Thomas Menino's candidacy for an unprecedented fifth term as mayor of Boston. "When it comes to supporting marriage equality, programming for LGBT youth and seniors, HIV/AIDS prevention and education, and legislation to prevent discrimination based on gender identity and expression, Mayor Menino is without peer," Executive Director Scott Gortikov said in press release.

Today, Mayor Menino will present Boston's proposed 2010 budget to the city council. The budget balancing magic derives from laying off more than 500 workers, including 212 teachers and classroom aides, 67 police officers, 44 police cadets, 39 community center employees, and 26 library workers. Even horses are being let go: some of the police officers are mounted patrol, meaning that 24 horses will have to find new adoptive homes. Those figures are somewhat prematurely alarmist, though: successful wage negotiations, particularly with unions, could mean reduction in hours or wages rather than layoffs, and resignations can cover some of the teacher cuts. Stimulus money from the federal government might also help out. All is not lost, but there is cause for concern.

                    

We learned the news almost a year ago that Hyde Square landmark the Milky Way Lounge was going to have to abandon its digs after its landlords, Mordechai Levin and Terry Bruce, demanded a $11,000 increase in monthly rent. And it's finally happened. The last game of candlepin at the Milky Way was rolled last night.

The Globe reports that Boston police face historic layoffs as funds from the state dry up. The city has only laid off cops twice before in its history. Mayor Thomas Menino's office has said that no layoff plans have been finalized.

Our Popular Mayor has been shelved by an impending knee surgery and will be back in Mayoral action by Monday morning, at the earliest, according to the Herald. The arthroscopic surgery, which will take place Friday morning, is required to repair damage to the knee sustained when Menino committed a costly error during the October 2007 Red Sox World Series rally, dropping the World Series trophy.

When Bernard Margolis lost his job as president of the Boston Public Library in a power play with Mayor Menino, Bostonians called foul. It looked as if Our Popular Mayor was trying to politicize the BPL, a treasured -- and independent -- Boston institution. Now, amid revelations that three BPL trustees had undisclosed financial dealings with City Hall, the front-runner for the position appears to be former state Senate president Thomas F. Birmingham. The only problem? He has no library experience. The search committee for the position has also shortlisted five token professional librarians who are not friends with Menino.

--Obligatory stories about high gas prices over Memorial Day. Thanks to high gas prices, now you have to dig for conversation topics with family members at home instead of on the Cape. [Boston Herald]

--Mayor Menino hops on a bike in honor of Bike Week. [Boston Globe]

Yesterday, City Council President Maureen Feeney's civic summit brought about 400 people together to get people more involved in city government. Mayor Menino even showed up, although Michael Pahre noted, "Mayor Thomas Menino breezed in -- and out -- of the convention center probably feeling a little bit unwelcome" since it wasn't his idea. Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub live-blogged the event and summed up the takeaways, with education and crime high on the list of concerns.

The Milky Way, Jamaica Plain's popular candlepin bowling bar and hangout, will close no later than next year, according to the Jamaica Plain Gazette. Bella Luna, its companion restaurant, will move to the Brewery Complex on Amory Street.