CITIZENS   FOR  LIMITED  TAXATION
and the
Citizens Economic Research Foundation

EXCERPT

 "They didn't come forward to win a government contract, or obtain any favored treatment. No such thing was ever offered or requested," [Boston Mayor Tom Menino] said. "They did what they did out of a sense of civic duty."

Boston 2004, the host committee that is responsible for bankrolling the four-day party at the FleetCenter, already has pledges for $20 million from some 60 donors.

As the DNC tries to marshal resources, they may be able to save a few dollars by convening in Boston in 2004, noted David Begelfer, head of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office properties.

While the businesses say that they are providing the money to help support an important civic event, government watchdogs say the Menino administration faces inevitable conflicts as some of the region's most powerful companies seek city approvals - from zoning to contract awards - while they also help underwrite the convention Menino desperately wants to go well here.

But last summer, Menino was criticized when the ABC reality television show "Boston 24/7" taped him telling a lawyer for Sprint that he would give city business to AT&T because Sprint hadn't donated to the city's summer youth programs. Menino said the exchange was a joke and ABC producers later trimmed the threats from the episode.

Contracts for some 10,000 city employees will be up for renewal between now and the July 2004 convention. About 20 contracts, including those with the police, have already expired. Some previous battles have stretched into years. And at least some union representatives are already suggesting that they will use the convention to hold the mayor's feet to the fire if talks do not go smoothly.

Common Cause of Massachusetts Tuesday asked the state Ethics Commission to investigate whether Menino violated conflict of interest laws by asking companies to donate cash for the convention.

Both Menino and Kennedy said that they avoided conflicts of interest by refusing to solicit from those who had business pending before them. Menino, for instance, said he did not contact developers who had plans awaiting approval in City Hall, instead asking a co-chairman of the committee, Alan Leventhal, to make those calls.

The June 2003 deadline for the host committee to submit a full accounting of convention financing applies added pressure to its effort to find the $17.5 million needed in public funds from the city and state budgets, both of which are expected to undergo significant cuts. However, the $22 million in pledges already received from private donors eases the task of amassing the rest of the funds.

The city will sign its convention contract with the Democratic National Committee today, in a FleetCenter celebration meant to look like a mini-convention, complete with falling red, white, and blue balloons, and community leaders from Boston's neighborhoods posing as delegates. But that will mark only the beginning of the work for the Boston crew charged with pulling together the $49.5 million event.

Menino yesterday signed an agreement with the Democratic National Committee giving the city until July 1, 2003, to get local unions to agree to binding arbitration of any labor dispute that "may disrupt or delay the convention."

Amid cascading balloons, actors in Colonial garb, and standing ovations from more than 500 dignitaries and guests, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Senator Edward M. Kennedy signed the document yesterday officially naming Boston the site of the 2004 Democratic National Convention - committing the city to a host of stipulations, right down to the temperature that must be maintained inside the FleetCenter during the event....

The promise of keeping costs within the budgeted $49.5 million adds to the pressures on Menino, who faces severe cuts in state aid in the next fiscal year and potentially expensive labor settlements for some 10,000 city employees, including police, whose contracts will expire before the July 2004 convention.

McAuliffe said he was confident the convention will avoid the severe cost overruns of the party's Los Angeles convention in 2000, when organizers fell millions short weeks before the event. To prevent a similar problem in Boston, the 2004 contract requires organizers to secure commitments for the entire cost a year in advance.

"I think it will be at $49.5 [million]," McAuliffe said.

While Mayor Thomas M. Menino predicted that Boston merchants would reap millions providing the myriad services and supplies needed to put on the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the city was unable to negotiate a contract that guarantees local companies will receive even a minimum level of business....

The strictures of the pact demonstrate how tightly the national party wants to control preparations for its signature event. And the city's hope for ironclad contract language underscores the desire of local organizers to make the convention a salve for the ailing economy. While many of the organizers publicly say they trust the DNC to cooperate in awarding business locally, some have expressed concern privately that some of the most lucrative contracts could go to companies outside the state, as has been the practice at past conventions.

The contract Menino signed with the Democratic National Committee requires the Building Trades Council and other unions to sign an agreement promising not to disrupt the convention. That agreement has yet to be written and negotiations could get contentious if Menino's labor problems multiply....

The dispute with Nigro comes on top of Menino's already frayed relationship with the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. The police union, without a contract since summer, has already warned the DNC they plan to use convention-related events to highlight their dispute with Menino.

The team that hosted the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia yesterday warned Mayor Thomas M. Menino to keep a tight watch on the budget as Boston prepares for the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Backing off denials that he had lobbied firms that do business with the city to help fund the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Thomas M. Menino now acknowledges he personally asked at least two companies with city contracts to pony up for the 2004 event....

State ethics rules prohibit state and municipal officials from seeking contributions from corporations that do business before them - even if the money is for a nonprofit organization.

Financially pinched state and local government agencies appear to be backing away from their $17.5 million pledge to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, leaving organizers only three months to make up the money from local businesses. 

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he is confident that area corporations will quickly fill the void....

Officials with the Boston 2004 host committee, which promised to collect all the money by June 30, said yesterday they are unsure how much in grants, loans, or services the public agencies will contribute.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino may be concerned that Boston will fall short of its $49.5 million budget for the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but the Democratic National Committee is confident it will end up with the necessary money. 

Menino, the convention's host mayor, said last week that financially ailing state and local governments may not be able to provide their expected $17.5 million share of the overall cost....

That leaves the government contribution to the budget about $5.5 million out of balance, 16 months before the gavel falls on July 26, 2004. Party officials say they are not concerned about closing the gap, even after having found themselves millions short just weeks before their 2000 convention in Los Angeles.

Privately, some local Democrats have questioned whether the host committee is falling behind in the critical tasks of getting donations into the bank and ramping up for a major logistical undertaking....

Cash-strapped planners of next year's Democratic National Convention got a helping hand from Uncle Sam yesterday as federal officials promised to help defray skyrocketing security costs for the presidential nominating party.

Designating the event a national special security event in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave security control to the Secret Service.

Doing so could significantly cut the expected $10 million security costs and gives the Secret Service the top job in keeping 35,000 convention-goers and the public safe - not local cops....

Organizers have raised about half what they expect the convention to cost, Menino said.

Preparations for the largest political event in Boston's history are far behind schedule with little more than a year to go before the 2004 Democratic National Convention comes to town.

In the nine months since the Democratic National Committee tapped Boston to host its presidential nominating convention, the Boston 2004 committee has missed four of five deadlines in its contract with the DNC....

Mayor Thomas M. Menino refused to discuss the missed deadlines, saying, "You can be negative about anything you want to be negative about. We're going to have a great convention in Boston."

Democratic convention planners are considering parking national media trucks on the footprint of the old Central Artery but Mayor Thomas M. Menino doesn't want to pay to turn the rugged construction site into a giant parking lot....

"We're concerned because it comes with additional costs," said Menino spokesman Seth Gitell.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino held a secret sit-down with union heads at the Parkman House this week, telling them he wanted to settle contract talks within four months to avoid disrupting the Democratic National Convention next summer, a labor source said.

With all 32 employee contracts in the city expired, Menino pow-wowed Monday with major union presidents as well as Massachusetts AFL-CIO head Robert J. Haynes....

While Menino has voiced some support for easing a labor standoff, the four-month deadline is the most specific indication yet that Menino wants to clear up the issue soon so it won't become a distraction as the DNC nears.

Boston convention organizers are seeking $25 million from Congress to pay for security costs at July's Democratic National Convention, a figure more than double the $10 million the city had budgeted for security in its bid....

The $10 million the city had budgeted for the convention was said by some security specialists to be too low even before organizers realized that security needs were far greater than what they had envisioned.

For example, security costs for the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles were estimated at $22 million.

Boston is planning to put a multimillion dollar gloss on streets and sidewalks for next year's Democratic National Convention, even as budget cuts strain schools and block worker raises.

This spring, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will have city workers inspecting every street, sidewalk and handicapped ramp around the FleetCenter, the 60 convention hotels and dozens of event venues to make sure they're up to snuff....

Menino's repair plan, which won't have a final price tag until the snow melts and Casazza can assess Boston's roads, echoes the $40 million Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley spent on street, bridge and other road construction in advance of the 1996 Democratic National Convention....

Daley ultimately spent some $180 million beautifying the Windy City before the 1996 convention.

The Massachusetts Highway Department also has been told to "button up" its projects, including the major renovation of Cambridge Street near the FleetCenter, so that conventioneers don't get caught in traffic.

Highway officials refused to estimate how much extra that would cost.

The city of Boston will spend some $25 million fixing roads and sidewalks over the next nine months as part of a plan to beautify both downtown and the neighborhoods in time for the Democratic National Convention, Public Works Commissioner Joseph Casazza said yesterday....

While it's not unusual for convention organizers to differ with their hosts, the problems in Boston stem from Menino's close hold on many details and decisions in the planning, party sources said....

In the larger picture, however, the conflict seems to stem from what is also unique about Boston as a site for the national convention: Its local politicians are playing an unusually active role in the planning, creating constant conflicts by ignoring the DNC staff, local Democratic officials say.

"The DNC is used to coming into a city and everyone lays down for them," said one member of the host committee and a Menino ally. "But Boston feels it is the créme de la créme of the political world and that is not going to happen here."

As their party's presidential candidates haggle over tax cuts and ways to create jobs, top Democratic National Convention officials are raking in six-figure salaries paid entirely with tax dollars, documents obtained by the Herald show.

The two top earners are convention CEO Rod O'Connor, a former Democratic National Committee staffer, and Alice Huffman, who wanted his job but settled for a part-time post chairing the convention committee.

O'Connor will make $190,000 for 15 months of work - including four months on the convention payroll after the four-day Boston event ends next July. Huffman, president of the California NAACP, will make $130,000 for 13 months of work, ending a month after the convention, according to a draft budget obtained by the Herald.

The sky-high salaries are raising new questions about political convention funding and whether taxpayers should foot the bill for events that largely serve as advertisements to the parties' presidential nominees.

A major portion of the Central Artery could be closed during the Democratic National Convention to protect politicians and partygoers, forcing rush hour traffic to snake through city streets around the FleetCenter, the Herald has learned....

[U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Somerville] said he's telling Boston businesses to "consider a snow week during July" to avoid convention-related gridlock.

The Secret Service and security officials are considering rerouting Interstate 93 traffic near the FleetCenter during next July's Democratic National Convention, and they might even shut down the new underground southbound lanes....

Massive traffic adjustments on I-93 would be the second major transportation change in downtown Boston ordered up for security reasons, as planners prepare for the first national political event since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Security officials are also planning to shut down the North Station MBTA station, which is adjacent to the arena, and have commuter rail trains stop at a temporary platform short of the station.

Jeff Larson, general manager of SmartRoute Systems, a travel and information service, said a massive advertising campaign would be needed to avert chaos in the area of the tunnel if the underground roadway is shut down. At that portion of the interstate, traffic from the north comes off the bridge near where eastbound traffic from Storrow Drive meets I-93.

"It's not just alternate routes," Larson said. "When you have a situation like that, you have to look at other means people will have to come into the city, like commuter rail. It will be warm weather, so maybe some people can pedal in."

It hasn't taken long for next year's national Democratic convention to go from boon to boondoggle.

Bad enough, all those six-figure publicly funded hack jobs, the plans to temporarily close the Green Line stop at North Station and move the commuter rail stops. But now comes the worst news so far - they may shut down part of the Central Artery for a couple of days.

A couple of days! And Rep. Mike Capuano says maybe local businesses should "consider a snow week in July." In other words, just shut down but keep paying everybody, as if it's not already exorbitant enough doing business, or trying to, in the city of Boston.

The transportation chairman of the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay called the plan a "terribly silly idea" that could back up southbound traffic for miles.

"Don't they think about these things before they put a convention someplace?" said Eliott Laffer. "This must be a Republican plan to make everybody hate the Democrats."

"It would be horrendous as far as traffic goes. I cannot imagine how anybody from the North Shore would get into the city," said [US Representative Michael E. ] Capuano, a Somerville Democrat whose district includes much of Boston. "But I'm not all that worked up about it, because it's just talk at the moment."

Capuano said public safety issues can be worked out along with other traffic concerns, such as the shutting off of downtown streets to vehicular traffic, and the installation of temporary road signs to help out-of-town visitors navigate Boston's notoriously confusing street system. Businesses should be encouraged to shut down early if possible during the convention, and many residents may want to think about going on vacation that week, Capuano said.

"If you're smart, you'll take that week in New Hampshire," he said.

In the year since Boston was awarded the 2004 Democratic National Convention, organizers have attracted only about $3 million in cash donations, including just two worth more than $250,000, according to a list of corporate sponsors posted on the host committee's website.

The list shows that fund-raising has slowed considerably since Mayor Thomas M. Menino and US Senator Edward M. Kennedy secured $20 million in private cash commitments before winning the convention. Republicans, meanwhile, have already obtained more than $60 million in pledges for their convention, which will be held in New York City....

In a sign that organizers are concerned about the pace of fund-raising, Menino and Kennedy are hitting the phones in search of dollars again this month....

The Democratic convention was originally budgeted to cost $49.5 million, but increased security measures are expected to bump that total upward by as much as $15 million.

Organizers of next summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston are lining up security help from police departments as far away as New Bedford and are considering asking the National Guard to lend a hand during the event....

The officers are being recruited while the city is locked in tense negotiations with its main police union. Officials of the patrolmen's union are threatening to embarrass Mayor Thomas M. Menino by protesting during the convention if their contract isn't settled.

With Congress set to adjourn for the year as soon as the end of this week, Massachusetts congressmen are scrambling to nail down $25 million in federal funding for security costs associated with next summer's Democratic National Convention.

The federal money represents nearly 40 percent of the estimated cost of the convention, and it's considered crucial to convention organizers, particularly with the pace of private donations lagging....

And because New York has raised a vastly larger amount of private funds for its [Republican] convention, getting the security money in place isn't as important to New York convention planners as it is to Boston at this stage....

As federal help is being sought, the flow of private donations to the Democratic convention has slowed. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino lined up $20 million in commitments before winning the convention bid, but only about $3 million more has been secured since then. New York planners, meanwhile, have brought in more than $60 million from private sources for a convention that's expected to cost $91 million.

City taxpayers could be socked with millions more in Democratic National Convention costs as the bill for security soars past $40 million - a pricetag shocker just now being revealed....

Factoring in federal reimbursements, the city will face a $5 million additional cost on security alone as Menino faces decreasing state aid and new salary demands from city unions - some of whom have threatened to picket the Democrats' Boston bash....

One longtime city watchdog believes City Hall deliberately lowballed the security pricetag to win support for the event. 

"I'm not surprised," said Joe Slavet, former chief of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. "By definition people understate budgets in order to get them through."

As Mayor Thomas M. Menino fails to provide firm estimates of what the Democratic National Convention will cost City Hall, the Romney administration says state taxpayers won't put a dime toward funding the big event. 

"The governor believes that taxpayers shouldn't have to finance any of the costs related to a political convention," said Republican Gov. Mitt Romney's spokeswoman, Shawn Feddeman. 

Feddeman said the state will tally all its convention-related expenses - including state police overtime - and seek reimbursement from convention organizers after the Democrats leave town in July.

"They've done everything they said they would do, and they're very close to finishing up," McAuliffe said of the host committee. "We're in great shape. The mayor has done a great job. The host committee has done a great job."

But convention organizers declined requests to detail their fund-raising progress yesterday. A top convention official said last night that the host committee is "within striking distance" of raising $30 million, but declined to be more specific.

Last month, the Globe reported that the host committee had raised just $3 million in cash contributions and $4 million in in-kind donations in the year since winning the convention, after bringing in pledges of an unprecedented $20 million before winning the bid. Since that report, organizers have finalized just three more donations, each of less than $50,000, according to the host committee.

Even if organizers do fulfill the $32.5 million commitment, that would still leave state and city taxpayers on the hook for $8 million....

"If fund-raising's down and expenses are up, it's cause for concern," said Dominick Ianno, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "You know who's going to fill the difference: the taxpayers." ...

Mayor Thomas M. Menino has said he will try to avoid the use of city taxpayers, and he favors the state picking up any slack because state tax coffers will benefit most from convention-related business.

The Boston Globe is in negotiations to sponsor the official media welcoming reception at next summer's Democratic National Convention.

Officials with the convention and the newspaper cautioned that no final agreement has been signed regarding the media party, which will be held at the new South Boston convention center on Saturday, July 24. But representatives from both entities confirmed that the Globe is seeking to sponsor the bash, which is expected to be attended by some 15,000 journalists from around the world....

Julie Burns, Boston 2004's executive director, said the host committee is "excited at the potential of having the Globe as one of the sponsors for the media party."

After all, Menino all but singlehandedly killed plans for Sail Boston 2004 - the tall ships parade - which promised 500,000 visitors or more July 10-15.

The mayor didn't want the distraction or the drag on city resources from hosting two major events so close to each other.

A week after members of the national news media took a walk-through of the FleetCenter, representatives of a number of news outlets are openly worried about the apparent shortage of work space for the estimated 15,000 journalists who will descend on Boston for next year's Democratic National Convention.

"It's a huge problem," said Jim Drinkard, a political reporter for USA Today and a member of the Standing Committee of Correspondents in Washington, D.C., which helps handle press arrangements for the convention. "I've got to say that the words on the lips of everybody leaving [the walk-through] was 'how can they choose a site like this without thinking about this beforehand?' There's no clear place that meets all the requirements we have." ...

Finding space for the media is a crucial challenge. Convention organizers want to present a positive image for the Democratic Party and the city of Boston during the four-day convention.

That veteran TV journalists have already come forward to say accommodations are grossly inadequate should be a source of grave concern at City Hall....

Karen Grant, spokeswoman for the Boston 2004 host committee, says the group has "never discussed any contingency plan."...

Maybe organizers will solve the space problems around the Fleet. 

But isn't it better to be prepared for the worst? 

"This is a city known for its political talent. But right now ... it looks like amateur hour," says one veteran Democrat who has helped run the party's earlier national conventions. "I don't want to see us look like idiots."

The convention promises to be a signature event for the city, but for the tens of thousands who live or work in the vicinity of the FleetCenter, it also could be a headache, with disruption of activities including subway service, supply deliveries, and restaurant service.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who sees the convention as a rare moment to showcase a world-class town to 35,000 visitors and countless television viewers from around the world, has repeatedly tried to dispel what he calls "an assumption that the city will be locked down."...

With the exception of police cars and shuttle buses, Causeway Street near the FleetCenter will be closed to vehicles. There's also talk of closing down all or part of the new underground southbound tunnel of Interstate 93, though organizers say they'll probably only have major traffic disruptions on the highway while the presidential nominee is in the FleetCenter.

Cars will be barred altogether from the 11 blocks of storefronts and rowhouses known as the Bulfinch Triangle, bounded by Merrimac, Market, Beverly, and Causeway streets....

The North Station MBTA stop will close. Orange Line trains that normally stop there will bypass it. The Green Line, which also stops there, will be closed for construction. Commuter rail lines will stop at a temporary platform short of North Station, though officials say they haven't decided where.

The Democratic National Convention's skyrocketing security costs are expected to include the price of 12-hour shifts for Boston police as well as the bill for hundreds of officers borrowed from other jurisdictions.

Boston police overtime easily will top $3 million - setting a record for police payroll spending on a single security event.

And officials from neighboring cities and towns - who have been asked to lend cops for the four-day event - say they expect to forward their overtime bill to city taxpayers....

The Herald reported earlier this month that DNC security costs are likely to exceed $40 million, four times the price Mayor Thomas M. Menino predicted a year ago when he won the prestigious four-day event, set for July 26-29.

The contract Menino signed with the Democratic National Convention makes the city liable for all security costs.

The expected $3 million police overtime price tag for security at next summer's Democratic National Convention in the Hub overshadows security costs to all previous Hub extravaganza.

Boston 2004, the host committee for this summer's Democratic National Convention, has awarded a no-bid contract to R.F. Walsh Co., the development firm run by a longstanding friend and adviser to Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Convention organizers refused to disclose the value of the pact benefiting the company run by Robert F. Walsh, but acknowledged no other businesses were invited to compete for the work....

Critics branded the deal an example of cronyism by the mayor. "Why is this surprising?" said Joseph Slavet, a former senior fellow at the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs. "There is a lot of loose change in this convention so he turns to his friends."

The ethics panel decided Menino's convention fund raising was "warranted provided no one is coerced into making (contributions) or penalized for not doing so" because it will save taxpayers from footing the $50 million convention bill....

Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause of Massachusetts, who filed the ethics complaint, said she couldn't prove coercion despite her objection to Menino's direct involvement in raising cash for the political convention.

"It's a very, very difficult standard to meet," Wilmot said....

Wilmot said she still thought the mayor hitting up city contractors to fund the convention had a "smell problem."

Walking into John Hancock Hall to watch Mayor Menino deliver his annual State of the City address was a reminder of the still-powerful voice of labor in cities where Democratic mayors have had a history of giving in to the demands of labor unions....

Menino is welcome to warm January's frigid air with rhetorical bluster. The unions will be waiting patiently for spring, then summer and the arrival of the DNC and delegates from across the country.

"Shame on you, shame on you. Hang your head, hang your head." It will make great theater for Fox News and the rest of the media looking for something other than New England clam chowder and the Freedom Trail to showcase on national TV when Democrats come to Boston to nominate a presidential candidate.

Having squeezed what they can from corporate donors in Boston, the organizers of the Democratic National Convention say they are setting their sights on Washington and focusing particularly on the corporate interests that look to curry favor by donating to the national parties.

Boston 2004, the group running the Boston convention, will hit up Washington lobbyists representing federally regulated industries that have traditionally donated to national parties and political figures, organizers said. Those potential donors include healthcare companies, banks, and utilities that can help the Boston organizers raise another $5 million to $6 million, said the organizers, who spoke on condition they not be identified....

A US Supreme Court decision last year upheld the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law that bans soft money and corporate donations to political parties. But the decision also gave an opening for the Boston host committee to target some of the large national corporate donors who were holding back on commitments to fund the convention, not knowing how the court would rule. Because the committee is a nonprofit group, it can legally accept soft money.

The $25 million the federal government budgeted for Democratic National Convention security may not be enough to foot the bill, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday, raising new questions about how much taxpayers will have to kick in....

Previously, Menino has said he wouldn't spend any local revenues on security.

But yesterday he said he hoped the state would pick up the excess security costs - including the price of protecting the hundreds of dignitaries expected to attend the four-day event.

"That will be paid some by federal government, some by local government, what I mean by local is state government," Menino told reporters after the speech.

Less than six months before Boston hosts the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the stage is set for a standoff over how much state and city taxpayers should have to chip in.

Convention organizers do not like to talk about it, but a gap of approximately $10 million looms large on their balance sheet -- money that will almost certainly have to be made up through some combination of city and state dollars. Sharp differences of opinion have emerged between state and city leaders as to who should pick up the lion's share of those costs.

The battle pits a Democratic mayor and a Republican governor who view the convention in starkly different ways and who have different mixes of political ambition, pride, and fiscal prudence on the line....

"It's an interesting political situation," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed fiscal watchdog group. "There's some truth to both of their cases. But in the end, there'll have to be some compromise to pay for the convention."

Almost as soon as Boston snagged the Democrats’ 2004 presidential nominating convention 15 months ago, there were ominous signs that Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s political coup could turn into a costly boondoggle for taxpayers across the state....

There appears to be a gap of at least $10 million that the Democratic Party and Mr. Menino expect will be closed by taxpayers from Provincetown to Pittsfield, regardless of party affiliation.

Since entering office, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has put his weight behind a number of big projects, each of which was said at the time to represent his legacy....

His focus -- which invariably influences the city's overall decision-making and operational structure -- has shifted to a four-day run of politics, garish partying, and big spending glitz called the Democratic National Convention. This July event at the Soon-To-Be-Renamed Center is the latest to bear the mayoral legacy label....

The mayor desperately wanted the convention and should focus on its success. But his near obsession with it detours badly needed attention from projects and problems of far greater import...

Menino entered office as the everyday guy determined to make Boston a vibrant and livable city. He truly cares about education, neighborhoods, and affordable housing. But now this proud urban mechanic risks morphing into a mega-party planner. And that's not exactly the stuff of legacies.

With Governor Mitt Romney refusing to help cover Democratic National Convention costs, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has come up with a new idea: send the state a bill....

Menino is making his push for tax relief in the midst of a politically charged stand-off over which public entities should be responsible for convention-related costs. Perhaps $10 million of the convention's $65 million budget will have to be covered by some combination of city and state tax dollars.

Menino wants the state to pay, but Romney is refusing to go along and is insisting that all costs be borne by the private sector, the federal government, and the city of Boston....

House Republican leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. of North Reading ... noted that the convention wasn't thrust on Menino and that the mayor knew the state's tax arrangement when he lobbied national Democrats to choose Boston.

"You wanted the convention," Jones said.

Democrats to party in Boston while the rest of us foot the bill
By Barbara Anderson

Governor Mitt Romney blasted Mayor Thomas M. Menino's proposal to have the state share tax revenue generated by the Democratic National Convention, saying it would be nearly impossible to administer and unfair to state taxpayers.

"There are a number of problems with the mayor's proposal," Romney said yesterday. "The state was not asked whether we wanted to bid on the Democratic National Convention. We weren't party to the bid, we didn't make any representations or guarantees, we didn't put up money. And you certainly don't come to us afterward and say, 'Oh, by the way, we'd like you to put in several million dollars.'"

Beacon Hill's top leaders slammed the door yesterday on Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's bid to grab half of the tax take from this summer's Democratic convention in Boston....

House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran told WB-56, Menino's plan "would set a very dangerous precedent."

Let's see if we've got this right: Mayor Tom Menino pulls out all the stops to get the Democratic National Convention to Boston this summer because it will be so good for the city, he insists. And now he's whining that the city won't get its fair share of the proceeds....

And to hear the mayor talk, you'd think that that additional income and sales tax revenue just goes into some giant pit buried deep under the State House dome. A goodly share of those tax revenues come right back into city coffers. Last year state aid to Boston for schools, libraries, and a host of other accounts amounted to $533.8 million.

Of course we all knew when the Democrats announced they would hold their 2004 presidential convention in Boston, that we Massachusetts taxpayers would be asked, if that is the right verb, to pick up some of the tab.

When they said it would cost only $49.5 million (not, you will note, $50 million, but $49.5 million), we knew they were underestimating - by millions of dollars - the total cost, just as they have done on public works projects like the Big Dig.

When they said it will all be raised privately except for anticipated federal funds for extra security, we knew they would eventually be looking to the public for a lot more....

The political trick, as always, was to reassure everyone just long enough to reach the point of no return, and then dribble out the truth.

Editorial cartoon by David Hitch, Telegram & Gazette

Democratic National Convention organizers will build a temporary two-story structure on the site of the old Boston Garden to house members of the media during this July's four-day event.

The move comes after media representatives sharply criticized organizers for not making adequate preparations for the 15,000 members of the media expected at the convention....

Convention officials said they had not yet chosen a vendor to construct the temporary structure, and declined to discuss costs. But a spokeswoman for Boston 2004, the convention's host committee, said all media arrangements will be covered by the $5 million budgeted to be spent on media workspace preparations.

"We are completely within our budget for media workspace," Grant said.

Mayor Tom Menino and Sen. Ted Kennedy worked long and hard to bring the Democratic National Convention to Boston. It's a dubious honor, which will mean next to nothing to the vast majority of Massachusetts residents, who'll watch the show on TV if at all....

The deal itself is outrageous enough. Now Menino wants the state to pick up most of the cost of this giveaway....

Romney should stand his ground on this one, and legislators from this side of Boston should stand with him, whatever their party affiliation. Menino made this deal; let him pay for it.

Organizers of the Democratic National Convention said Tuesday they have come up with $58 million for the July event but must raise an additional $7 million to reach a price tag that has risen because of security costs.

Despite fears that city taxpayers will be saddled with a big tab for security at the Democratic National Convention, organizers insisted the costs will be covered by the federal government.

"We don't anticipate asking the city for any money," said Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, the host committee charged with raising the cash to put on the four-day show at the FleetCenter.

Burns made the pledge even as she revealed that the total tab for the convention will be an estimated $64.5 million - a $15 million increase over earlier projections.

Citing security concerns, MBTA officials want to shut down North Station to all commuter rail and subway traffic during the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter, several officials involved in the planning effort say, potentially snarling downtown traffic as convention-goers descend on Boston in July....

Combined with the decision to limit traffic in the new southbound Expressway tunnel to two lanes for 10 months beginning this spring, the North Station closure could tie the area's transportation network in knots, as thousands more commuters drive to Boston, exacerbating traffic and parking problems throughout the city. There is also a possibility that Interstate 93 -- which runs just feet from the FleetCenter -- will be closed, a move that would generate more commuting headaches.

Commuters hoping to navigate road and rail closings during the Democratic convention in July may find themselves facing daily surprises as they make the nightmare trip into the city....

Boston police Superintendent Robert Dunford said the Leverett Connector from Storrow Drive to the highway would be closed, affecting thousands of commuters.

Motorists' problems won't be limited to getting to the city.

Once they get here, they'll find hundreds of parking spaces off-limits.

Once, just once, it would be nice to see an elected official in Boston announce that we need to get something done not for the Democratic National Convention, but for the meaningless minions who people this city, otherwise known as residents....

In the last 90 days, the Globe has published 125 stories with the words "Democratic National Convention," many of them about fund-raising problems or union threats or the city's highways and byways getting shut down. The New York Times has run just 40 stories mentioning the Republican National Convention over the same time. One of them in particular jumps out: "Penn Station to Stay Open During G.O.P. Convention." Like North Station, Penn Station is also located under the convention arena....

This should be easy, yet we're fighting over nothing and giving away the store for no reason at all. Better for our leaders to pay attention to the daily realities of Boston than the image we project during a week in July.

DNC organizers, already facing a $7.5 million fund-raising gap, now may have to spend up to $500,000 to charter buses to transport conventioneers.

T General Manager Michael H. Mulhern said the transportation agency will have to revisit its commitment to provide free bus service, worth $512,000, if the agency decides to close North Station to commuter rail service during the July convention. The Globe reported this week that MBTA officials want to close the station for security reasons, potentially snarling downtown traffic if many commuters decide to drive instead of riding commuter trains that would stop north of the city.

Forcing some 25,000 rail users to switch to a bus or subway somewhere north of Boston is at least predictable. So too, making subway riders get off the Orange or Green lines at another stop.

We do hope transportation planners with an eye for fine details are in charge of the logistics....

For the same reason, officials ought to make a decision on closing Interstate 93 as soon as possible. The Secret Service can't be happy with the fact that you can practically reach out and touch the FleetCenter from the road.

We hope there are safe alternatives to closing it because, frankly, we can't imagine any alternative which could resolve that commuting nightmare (though we're willing to be convinced).

Whatever is decided, the DNC is coming to town. No one promised being a world-class city was always going to be a rose garden.

Lets just hope this is all worth it.

Because it's getting easier to understand why Mayor Thomas M. Menino put the hammer down on the Tall Ships last November....

If you're keeping score at home, it's starting to look ugly for the July 26-29 Dems convention. Why? Here's a few good questions - and answers ...

Throwing the spotlight on Boston's labor disputes, national labor union officials closely linked to the Democratic Party yesterday unleashed a scathing attack on Mayor Thomas M. Menino, calling lack of union contracts and stalled negotiations "shameful."

"What is at issue is mainly a question of respect - or complete lack thereof," reads the statement from the AFL-CIO's executive council.

The statement is part of an effort by national labor leaders to turn up the heat on Menino as the city prepares to host the summer's Democratic National Convention. The mayor has so far reached tentative contracts with only three of his 32 municipal unions.

Local and national labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, lashed out at Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday, accusing him of making anti-union remarks, and urged Democratic Party leaders to pressure the mayor to settle 29 labor disputes immediately.

"To hold [the] convention in a city that does not respect its own employees or their unions is not an option," said the national AFL-CIO's executive council in a resolution passed yesterday at its winter meeting in Bal Harbour, Fla. "The prospect of a Democratic Convention with a Democratic Mayor in a strong union city under these conditions is untenable and cannot be tolerated."

All kinds of problems have been coming down on Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

His fight with city unions is attracting fire from powerful national labor forces and shows no signs of abating before the Democratic National Convention in July....

Menino pledged that riots like those after the Super Bowl, in which one person was killed and several others injured, would not be allowed to reoccur. "I guarantee that will never happen again," he said.

To questions about traffic and commuter headaches that might be caused by the probable closing of subway stops and halting of commuter trains going into North Station during the convention, Menino said a transportation plan will be issued soon.

Several key roadways and transit lines will be under construction or partially closed for repairs this summer, just when the city's transportation system will be tested by thousands of visitors attending the Democratic National Convention.

City and state officials express confidence that the projects won't affect the convention, but the sheer number of them has others worried about gridlock....

Congestion and traffic jams led to bitter complaints during the Democratic convention in Los Angeles four years ago.

"We're not worried about gridlock," said James Gillooly, deputy commissioner for traffic management, engineering, and planning at the Boston Transportation Department.

Curiosity finally got the better of me, and I suddenly had to know what Alice Huffman does to earn her $10,000-a-month taxpayer-funded consulting fee as chair woman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention Committee.

The thing that bothers me most is that Huffman lives and works in Sacramento, while the convention, as careful newspaper readers might now realize, is scheduled to take place here in Boston....

So what does she do? In California, she serves as president of the state chapter of the NAACP and runs her own consulting firm. But what about the convention? I called her last week and again yesterday, but apparently her $10,000 a month doesn't involve dealing with the likes of me. I'm still waiting for the return call and not holding my breath.

Gov. Mitt Romney annoyed Democrats yesterday by suggesting they hold their nominating convention at the new South Boston convention center - citing security and convenience - rather than the FleetCenter.

"It would clearly be easier if this were being held at the new convention center ... it doesn't have trains coming into it, subway stops and a big roadway next to it," Romney said. "I would love to see it there."

Governor Mitt Romney offered some unsolicited advice to the Democrats yesterday: Move your July national convention from the FleetCenter to the new convention center in South Boston....

"It would clearly be easier if this convention were being held in the new convention center," Romney told reporters. "I anticipate that when people find it difficult to come in and out of the city, they're going to ask a question: 'Why wasn't this held at the new convention center?'" And the answer is, 'This is where the party chose to have their convention.'"

Governor Mitt Romney is right. The Democrats ought to consider a change of venue for their presidential nominating convention this summer.

With a new $600 million convention center set to open in June in the self-contained Seaport District, it has never made much sense to stage the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in the congested North Station area. In light of the terrorist train bombings in Spain, it makes even less sense to pack 35,000 convention-goers into an arena directly above a major railway hub. That's not paranoia; it's common sense....

Predictably, Democrats are already attributing dark partisan motives to the Republican governor's good-sense suggestion. That's nonsense.

The images have haunted rail commuters for weeks: hour upon hour spent staring out the windows of buses and trains, late for work, stuck in gridlock traffic while delegates to the Democratic National Convention whoop it up in the FleetCenter.

Then Governor Mitt Romney floated the idea of moving the convention site to South Boston, away from the tangle of rail lines and highways near the FleetCenter. Democrats may have brushed off Romney's suggestion, but many commuters at North Station can hardly contain their excitement....

By the time Romney interjected himself, rail commuters had already been complaining that Republicans are planning to keep New York's Penn Station -- near Madison Square Garden -- open during the GOP's convention in August while the Democrats are planning to close North Station for their convention....

Many commuters said they felt ignored, that officials glibly plotted station closings for the sake of the convention without contemplating the possible disruption to their lives....

Unless Democrats act on Romney's advice to move the convention site, many commuters at North Station said they will just leave town.

Cracking down on everything from scratched fenders to frayed floor carpets, city officials are forcing a beauty makeover on Boston cab drivers as the Democratic National Convention approaches.

When Democrats proclaim their commitment to national security and the nation's economy during their July convention, they want to do it on prime-time network television. That is why they will do it at the FleetCenter, whatever the security concerns, cost, and inconvenience to the local populace....

Luring the networks to Boston is the chief reason why Democrats have no interest in moving the event from the FleetCenter to the city's new convention center. Because of the pictures and the camera angles, they will ignore calls from Republican Governor Mitt Romney or anyone else to relocate to South Boston.

With Governor Mitt Romney's suggestion that they move their national convention, Democratic leaders are lashing out at Romney, accusing him of playing politics with the event to harm Senator John F. Kerry's campaign for president.

The comments mark the first time that Democratic elected leaders -- including Mayor Thomas M. Menino and US Representative Michael E. Capuano -- are publicly accusing Romney of standing in the way of a successful Democratic National Convention. Menino said the Romney administration has recently begun to put up "roadblocks" to convention planning.

"It's political mischief," Menino said....

"He wants to make the convention worse for the Democratic Party and the nominee," said Capuano, a Somerville Democrat whose district includes much of Boston. He has been involved in convention planning and is widely discussed as a potential Romney opponent in 2006.

National press were decrying the cramped workspace they were being offered at the Fleet. Concerns about public access to the area during the four-day convention were bubbling up. The prospect of closing down Interstate 93 and MBTA commuter rail service was starting to sink in....

Yet Menino's nightmare scenario is in part already coming true. Boston looks ill-prepared to deliver on the promises it made to land the convention.

The Democratic National Committee wants no part of Menino's homegrown union crises.

City residents and commuters are being forced to accept second-class treatment.

And the crushing demand for local money - nearly $40 million and counting - is snuffing out the civic and philanthropic activity that makes this city tick....

But instead of a thoughtful pause, or even a moment's consideration, Romney's suggestion this week that the DNC bash be moved to Southie was met with scorn - from top Democrats, from the Globe and Herald editorial boards, and most of all, from Menino.

Because there can be no heroes in Tom Menino's world.

Imagine the baseball playoffs went the other way; you're heading to Boston to watch the World Series, only to discover the Interstate 93 tunnels are closed and commuter rail service to North Station is halted.

That's the quandary an estimated 17,000 Merrimack Valley commuters are contemplating as word trickles out that the Democratic National Convention might turn Boston into a demilitarized zone this summer. 

Security concerns have federal, state and local officials mulling precautions that may slow the daily crawl to a halt for the week of July 26, as some 35,000 party faithful take over Boston's FleetCenter....

"They are going to have to map this out," said Methuen City Councilor Kenneth Willette, a frequent Boston commuter. "I think it's going to be more chaotic than anything the Big Dig incurred," he said. "If I was able to take a train to town, that would be fine. But if they shut down North Station, that's going to be a problem. If they shut down 93, that's going to be a problem. It's just going to be chaos."

Caught between pressure to control labor costs and the desire to settle union agreements before the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is offering city employees small raises now but considerably larger ones in subsequent years.

Menino hopes the strategy will entice the 28 unions that remain without agreements -- particularly the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association -- to sign contracts before July's convention....

Menino is coming under increasing pressure to settle city contracts before the Democratic convention, to be held July 26-29 in the FleetCenter.

After weeks of tension, Governor Mitt Romney met privately with Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday and pledged his support and cooperation in the final months before the Democratic National Convention.

It was the first time Romney and Menino have met privately since the two began trading barbs in the press over issues surrounding the convention....

Romney expressed confidence that the Massachusetts public would accept the inconveniences resulting from the convention and its security requirements.

"I anticipate that the security plans and transportation plans will be thorough and complete, and people will be able to judge for themselves as to the nature of the convention," he said.

"I would not go through the process again to get it," said Haller, who is now director of sales and marketing at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. "I would say it was not worth it. To be honest, having this little NBA All-Star game this year probably did more for the city than the DNC convention did."

Haller's sentiments echo those of other hotel managers and restaurateurs near Los Angeles's Staples Center, site of the 2000 convention. Downtown businesses, they said, were sold on hosting the convention by city officials who projected millions in revenue from rented hotel rooms, bar tabs, restaurant checks and tips, and hours of positive media coverage that would spotlight a once-blighted but revitalized downtown LA and draw tourists.

The Los Angeles convention should serve as both example and warning, some business owners said, for Boston establishments staffing up and hoping for a big boost when the Democrats come to town in July. For all the hype, some businesses just won't see a return, they said....

David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute, a public policy think tank at Suffolk University, agreed, saying Boston officials need to add the costs of security and other potential convention liabilities to their economic impact projections.

"If the DNC is saying that the delegates are going to spend $150 million, then it's necessary to adjust that figure downward to account for what's lost from the presence of the delegates," Tuerck said.

"Some tourists won't come now because the delegates will be picking up hotel rooms that tourists would have had, and some local residents will be avoiding the area and vacationing elsewhere. All that spending that won't take place would have to be subtracted from spending that will take place in order to arrive at a net effect," he said....

Still, Uno Thimansson, owner of the 285-room Figueroa Hotel, said he will never welcome another political convention back to Los Angeles....

"I don't frankly know why any city would go after a political convention," he said.

If experience teaches, here is a lesson for Boston:  Sixteen years ago, as national chairman of the Democratic Party, I selected Atlanta to host our nominating convention....

Atlanta kept its word on every count. The 1988 convention was a huge success, and that host city has reaped the benefits ever since....

Apart from the roughly $150 million in revenues estimated to flow from the convention, it is the residual benefits that can come to Boston if a spirit of cooperation and performance are always at the forefront....

Seize the moment. Celebrate Boston.

A new study suggests that the Democratic National Convention will be worth $28 million less to Boston's economy than convention boosters and city officials originally estimated....

"If a delegate goes to buy a T-shirt from a local shop owner for $10 and that shirt is made in China, only about $3 stays with that shop owner," [John Barrett, director of research at Beacon Hill Institute and principal author of the study] said. "The rest goes to pay the people who made the shirt. That $3 is what you want you want to count."

It's official - July's Democratic convention will bring a long-feared nightmare scenario for Hub commuters with shutdowns of North Station and the Central Artery.

The two gateways to Boston for thousands of daily commuters from the north and northwest will be closed for security reasons at the FleetCenter convention where Sen. John F. Kerry will accept his party's nomination....

About 25,000 rail commuters use North Station daily, while up to 200,000 motorists use the new I-93 tunnel....

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) has suggested that businesses take a week off in July to avoid convention-related inconveniences.

State and city officials had hoped for more limited disruption to commuters and had argued that shutting down both the highway and the rail and subway service would create a transportation nightmare the last week of July....

City and state officials declined to comment on the plans, but one person who has sat in on the security planning discussions over the last several months said, "We're just going to have to discourage people from coming into the city that week."

The Legislature's Transportation Committee will hold public hearings on plans to close major North of Boston commuter rail lines and roadways into the city during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

State Sen. Steven A. Baddour, the head of the committee, said he is "extremely disappointed" the decision to restrict access was made without notice or conferring with lawmakers and commuters.

He said the hearings will begin in April and include officials from the MBTA, the state Highway Department, Boston police and the Secret Service....

"If I can't get in on the train, I can't work," said Raffi Wengro, 33, a health care provider who works with disabled people in Boston. "It would be a big problem."

Jamie Knapik, 28, of Haverhill said she finds it hard to believe North Station would close.

"I don't see how they can shut down the whole North Station without a plan to get commuters who rely on it to and from work," she said. "That's ridiculous."

Knapik, a paralegal for a Boston law firm, added: "They make such a big deal about wanting people to use public transportation, but then they are going to cancel it without a second thought." ...

"It will be a mess," said George Yameen of Methuen, an account representative at Massachusetts Electric. "Maybe they should increase security or call in the National Guard to help out."

Sherrin Hebb of Boxford said siting the Democratic convention in Boston "was supposed to be a good thing for the town and the state. Now, it's turning out not to be."

Commuters leaving Boston during July's Democratic National Convention will probably face a tangled gridlock as a shuttered Central Artery pushes thousands of cars onto local roads during the evening rush hour, officials acknowledged yesterday.

"It could be a zoo," said Karla Karash, vice-president of Transystems, a transit consulting firm.

"Traffic's pretty bad anyway. To take a major facility out (of operation) ... I hope they have a plan," she said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and others said the city's best hope might be to frighten people with tales of nightmare traffic jams so many commuters leave town on vacation or call in sick during the Democrats' summer parley.

"What we're doing is ringing the alarm bell and saying the sky is falling," Menino said....

By contrast, Pennsylvania Station, which handles about 600,000 commuters daily, is being kept open during the Republican National Convention in New York a month later.

New York officials are boosting the number of police in the station and riding on trains, but the transit hub, which sits under convention venue Madison Square Garden, will operate normally.

It's not clear how lengthy a stretch of I-93 will be closed for the four nights of the convention. But even if a shorter expanse of the road is closed, traffic analysts said, officials would probably encourage motorists to drive around the city.

Southbound drivers on I-93 would then pick up Route 128 at the interchange in Woburn, the most dangerous and heavily travelled cloverleaf in the state....

A state transportation official who asked to remain anonymous said that both the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels could also be closed, forcing more traffic to use the turnpike and the Ted Williams Tunnel.

If Democrats could somehow blame the traffic nightmare in Boston during the Democratic National Convention on Republican dirty tricks, we're sure they would. That was the childish reaction to Gov. Mitt Romney's suggestion that they consider moving their event to the new convention center in South Boston because of security concerns.

It's too late for that, but we won't be at all surprised if, come July, event planners wish they had followed Romney's advice.

Businesses in downtown Boston are bracing for commuting chaos when the Democratic National Convention comes to town in July, with some planning to close for the week and others asking their employees to take time off, rather than endure interminable trips to and from work.

Yesterday's announcements that North Station will be shuttered for a full week and the Central Artery will be closed during late afternoon and evening kicked off what is likely to be months of frenzied planning by downtown companies and the tens of thousands of workers they employ....

"We can still maintain a level of security, but allow the restaurants and things of that nature in that area to function," said Steven D. Ricciardi, who is helping organize convention security as special agent in charge of the US Secret Service's Boston field office....

Mass. General [Hospital], which employs more than 10,000 people at its sprawling West End campus just a few blocks from the FleetCenter, faces daunting planning challenges for making sure that its workers arrive on time....

It's not just those who work in the city who'll be inconvenienced. Kevin Morrissey of Weymouth said his daily commute to and from Lawrence puts him on Interstate 93 at the very late afternoon time that the roadway will be closed.

"I just think it's crazy that they're going to shut down the main vein of the city just to please all these Democrats," said Morrissey, 38, an Internet application developer. "To inconvenience that many people is absolutely crazy." ...

Scott Nogueria, co-owner of Porters Bar and Grill on Portland Street near the FleetCenter, said he figures he has to stay open during the convention if this summer is to be nearly as productive as previous ones. His bar is already losing out on business that would have been generated by the ten or so concerts the FleetCenter would have hosted in July and August if not for the convention, he said.

The Secret Service may be overreacting to the security threat during the Democratic National Convention July 26-29, but commuters from north of Boston will have no choice but to make the best of the disruptions that result....

The proximity of transportation facilities to the Fleet Center, although it poses a security problem during the convention, represents compact urbanism at its best, and the weeklong inconvenience is a small price to pay for that.

The Secret Service may be overreacting to the security threat during the Democratic National Convention July 26-29, but commuters from north of Boston will have no choice but to make the best of the disruptions that result....

The proximity of transportation facilities to the Fleet Center, although it poses a security problem during the convention, represents compact urbanism at its best, and the weeklong inconvenience is a small price to pay for that.

Editorial cartoon by O'Mahoney, Patriot Ledger

A curse on all things PC
By Barbara Anderson

Do the math on what Boston will actually lose come July - as the DNC lays waste to our civil order - and the $154 million dividend Mayor Thomas M. Menino keeps crowing about starts to look mighty small.

The Sail Boston hit alone is an $85 million net loss, event organizers said.

The U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials? That's $15 million gone. The Reebok Pro Summer League? Almost $2 million more. Thank the DNC....

Let's get this straight, John Kerry is running for president on a platform to create 10 million new jobs.

And the contingency plan to make life bearable during the Dems' convention is for the whole city to bang in sick for a week? ...

I count about $110 million so far to be debited from that $154 million. And we haven't even touched on the $40 million worth of corporate philanthropic and charitable contributions the convention has vacuumed up.

It may be a party, but it's not fair.

That's the attitude of some Bay Staters when comparing the massive disruptions expected during July's Democratic National Convention to the Republican confab in New York a month later....

That Boston edifice stands to be the hub of a transportation nightmare with the week-long closing of North Station and the intermittent shuttering of Interstate 93.

Yet Pennsylvania Station beneath Madison Square Garden will stay open...

Wary Bay State officials yesterday vowed to beef up security efforts in the wake of a new FBI/Homeland Security alert that terrorists may try to bomb buses and rail lines in major U.S. cities this summer....

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) said while the bulletin was vaguely worded and cited no specific credible threat, such warnings should be taken "reasonably seriously" - particularly since commuter trains run under the FleetCenter, site of the July Democratic National Convention.

"The convention is a clear and logical potential target - but, given all the security, it would also be one of the hardest to hit," he said.

Metropolitan leaders are breathing a sigh of relief after learning yesterday that the expected evening gridlock for commuters leaving Boston during July's Democratic National Convention may not be as bad as feared.

Several who met privately with Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole and Mayor Thomas M. Menino said they were told I-93 will likely not be closed until after the evening rush hour from July 26 to 29, close to the 7 p.m. convention starting time....

"On a normal day, more than 65,000 cars drive through Somerville on McGrath and O'Brien Highway alone," said Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone. "If you close 93, that number will probably double."

Curtatone said Menino assured the mayors that convention planners will work closely with them as transportation details are ironed out. Still, Curtatone said it will likely cost Somerville "tens of thousands of dollars" in police and fire overtime pay.

Boston magazine editor Jon Marcus checked in on Friday - after we threw cold water on the DNC's projected $154 million in economic impact - to remind folks of a BoMag piece from July 2003 by one-time Herald scribe Phil Primack.

"If reporters put down their pompoms long enough to pick up their calculators, they might find the claims of an economic bonanza suspect," the prescient Primack wrote last summer. "Judging from past national political conventions in other cities, we may ultimately look back on the summer of 2004 and wonder what the hell we were thinking." ...

Of course, things have only gotten worse since Primack forecast the future. Sail Boston 2004 was relocated at an estimated loss of $85 million in spending. And the long-feared scenario of I-93 and North Station being forced to close has come to fruition.

Pat and Walter McKay of Wayland have a simple question: Why do we need a political convention?

"What are we doing this for?" asked Walter yesterday. "Have you figured it out yet?"

Conventions used to be for picking candidates. Not anymore. John Kerry's supposed to pick a running mate in June, after which he and his would-be vice president can pose for yet another Kerry photo in his floor-to-ceiling, wood-paneled Louisburg Square townhouse with a model schooner bigger than most people's kitchens....

Here's how it looks: Like everybody's just trying to placate the neighborhoods before The Passion of the Fleet Center Mother-of-All-Traffic-Jams begins. Back to Pat and Walter McKay from Wayland. "I'm still not sure," said Walter, "what the advantage of having the convention here is." Except, once again, for the dancing girls and shrimp at the Sheraton, which he won't be sampling, either.

A strong majority of Greater Boston residents believe that hosting the Democratic National Convention will be worth the hassles, a sentiment fueled by expectations that the convention will boost Boston's image around the country and trigger increased economic activity, a Boston Globe poll indicates.

But nearly two-thirds of those polled opposed the use of city or state tax dollars to cover convention costs, even as they become increasingly convinced that organizers will fail in their goal of raising all the cash they need from the private sector....

Convention organizers maintain that they'll be able to raise enough money to finance the convention's $64.5 million budget without leaning on city or state taxpayers. But only 31 percent of respondents said they believe that will happen, with 50 percent saying they expect the city or the state "will wind up having to contribute funds to cover the cost."

Boston's Democratic National Convention host committee has raised only $1 million since the beginning of March and is still $6.5 million shy of its $39.5 million fund-raising target, officials said yesterday.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and officials at the Boston 2004 host committee said they remain confident they will meet their fiscal goals well before the convention. But it was a disappointing showing in a month that was expected to be especially fruitful.

Organizers had predicted that once Senator John Kerry became the presumptive nominee, donations would pour in.

With the convention less than four months away, and with security and transportation costs expected to rise, pressure on fundraisers is mounting. Menino has pledged not to funnel city funds to the convention, but said yesterday that if costs balloon or if the host committee can't raise enough in private donations, he may be forced to.

Bostonians are glad the Democratic National Convention is coming to town in July, a new poll shows, but they strongly oppose use of state and local taxes to cover the deficit of the $65 million affair. The pollsters didn’t ask us, but that goes double for taxpayers here in the vast hinterland beyond the Route 128 beltway.

Maybe the "take a vacation" idea isn't so bad after all when it comes to the Democratic National Convention.

Not so bad for Les Marino, at least.

The Modern Continental Construction czar could be in line for a $1 million holiday if some convention planners get their way....

Marino's company is handling two major Big Dig contracts that in part occupy the "hard security zone" near the FleetCenter....

Convention planners, according to Big Dig sources, ideally want work shut down on those two projects during the entire month of July.

At an estimated cost of $200,000 to $250,000 per week, that would mean up to $1 million worth of work put on ice in the heart of the construction season.

But it doesn't mean Marino won't collect.

On the contrary, Modern Continental would essentially be paid for not working while Boston does its thing for democracy.