Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Comments

  1. that it’s almost all election year pandering.  Here’s a mayor who spent the last several months acting like a petulant three-year old refusing to find any funds to cover the cost of “security” for the tall ships but now magically appears with a check for $200k to save a newspaper with a key readership demographic.

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    p>My questions are:

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    p>1. What are the terms of the loan?  

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    p>2. Is it being offered at market rates or is there a discounted interest rate?  

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    p>3. Is there any collateral being pledged?  If yes, what is the value of the collateral and how was it appraised?

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    p>4. What is the repayment period? 12 months? 5 years? 10 years?  

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    p>5. What happens if the Banner eventually folds and the loan defaults?  Who is on the hook for the outstanding balance and are City of Boston taxpayers completely protected in case of a default?

    • Last time the tall ships came to Boston, they stuck the city and its people with a tall bill.  You may disagree with Menino’s inconsistency, but he did the right thing with regards to the tall ships.

      • I have no problems with Menino refusing to pay for the tall ships. The onus was on them to find funding to pay its expenses. If anyone acted like a petulant three year old it
        was the organizers of the event. Some have suggested that Menino could just have made a few phone calls to raise the money, but surely if it were that easy then the organizers of the event should have been able to make those same phone calls over a period of six months? I don’t think that Menino should be blamed when the many potential corporate sponsors failed to pick up the tab. Personally, I was not happy with the idea that Boston tax payers would be footing the bill in these bad times.

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        p>Having said that, I think that Menino could have handled this a lot more diplomatically than he did.

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        p>Regarding the loan, isn’t it from the BRA? So if it defaults, the BRA would be on the hook, not Boston taxpayers – unless, of course, the BRA is dissolved.

        • No way the Mayor can win on this one. He’s election year pandering, or he’s flip flopping or he’s threatening  journalistic integrity or all three. All for offering a straightforward modest loan of $200,000 to a wonderful community institution. Geeze people.

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          The mayor told the Globe that the loan will come from the Boston Local Development Corp. fund, a private nonprofit administered by the Boston Redevelopment Authority that provides financial infusions to struggling small businesses. Menino said the Banner would work with Ron Walker, founder and president of Roxbury merchant bank Next Street Financial LLC, to develop a ”positive business plan.”

          The mayor said the loan is not an attempt to garner favor from the Banner, which focuses on the black community and has often covered Menino critically.

          ”This is about me helping a business that is very important to the minority community,” Menino said. ”I will step up anytime and help any business in this city. I’m trying to help a business survive. Tell me if that’s wrong.”

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          p>IIFD I am a Menino supporter.  

        • The questions we should be asking is I thought Menino had no controll over the BRA.. It was a private non-associated group of the City.

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          p>Funny how he is on the front page of the globe no saying he is in charge of the BRA and as a result he is giving money/loan to the Banner

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          p>That is the real story here..

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          p>Once again. when it is to his political benefit, he owe nes it. When it is not, he blames someone else.

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          p>Be fun watching this one play out.    

          • That article does not actually say that Menino claimed he was in charge of the BRA, nor does the reporter explain exactly what formal power or relationship he has with the BRA or the Boston Local Development Corp. While it is not clear whether he had the power to order the loan or just used his influence to suggest it, it does seem that he deserves to take credit for this particular move. It is perfectly fair to ask whether he would have done the same if he were not up for election. It is also fair to ask whether this is a good idea or not.

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            p>Regarding the credit/blame game in general. It is true that Menino tries to take credit for good things and to blame others for bad things, but that is what all politicians do, and your guy (employer?) Flaherty is no exception. Like how he blames all of the abuse of sick-time and disability claims of the firefighters on Menino while refusing to assign any blame whatsoever to the firefighters themselves, presumably because he feels beholden to them for their political support.

      • the state stuck the city with the bill.  And yes, his public comments made him seem like a petulant three-year old.  He could have worked behind the scenes to figure out how to raise the money, but instead his office put out ridiculous statements that they were not going to allow the ships in the harbor.

        • why didn’t they? Wouldn’t this have been a great opportunity for Michael Flaherty or Sam Yoon or Kevin McCrea to call up their business and political contacts to show what they can accomplish? Did any of them do that?

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          p>And is it fair to say that Menino stuck the state with the bill when it was not his idea to have this event in the first place? Isn’t the onus on the event organizer to make it work, not the mayor? And what are you trying to imply when you say that? Are you implying that City of Boston somehow was the only party benefiting from this event? It seems to me that it attracted more out-of-towners than Bostonians, and any sales tax raised as a result will go to the state, not the City.

          • Sure, there were a lot of other people could have helped too.  This diary was about Menino — not Flaherty or Yoon or McCrea or Sail Boston for that matter.  I have no love for any of them either.

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            p>But Menino is the mayor.  He’s the first one to take credit for everything that goes right, and the first one to blame someone else when it goes wrong.  He’s the one with control over the security plan and the costs.  

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            p>In my opinion, his public actions made Boston look like the small-time, parochial city that it often is.  Here’s a big event that has the potential to attract a lot of people — from in town and out of town — and the mayor is threatening to close the harbor?

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