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Boston DNC Convention 2004 –
Anatomy of an inevitable taxpayer mugging
– Page 10 –
Introduction
Citizens'
inconvenience and business
loss will be only the beginning of this partisan political
boondoggle, the Democratic National Committee's 2004 convention.
Direct costs of outright taxpayer subsidies, indirect
costs imposed by public
employee unions pressure, and implied or perhaps explicit quid pro quo
benefits to corporate large donors are just as inevitable as "cost
overruns" were to the Big Dig -- as we predicted back in the
mid-80s.
This is, after all, Massachusetts. The DNC couldn't
have picked a better sucker.
In the end, Democrat organizers will turn to the state
for an expensive taxpayer bail-out. In this state dominated by Democrats,
so many with presidential aspirations (JFK in '60, Ted Kennedy '80,
Dukakis and his disastrous "Massachusetts Miracle" in '88, Paul
Tsongas in '92, and now John Kerry in '04), inevitably it's like a Boston
Celtics slam-dunk right there in the FleetCenter's hoop. When the time
comes -- despite "the worst fiscal crisis since the Great
Depression" -- we Massachusetts
taxpayers will bankroll an 11th-hour bail-out of the Democrat's
national convention.
That's a FleetCenter event you can bet on.
Here's an historical time-line, so that later there can
be no excuses but lame excuses.
And we will be here to again announce "we told you
so"!
Chip Ford – December 11, 2002
Even some BPPA members believe Menino may only dig his heels in deeper in light of the protests, faced with the effort to derail what is supposed to be a moment of personal national triumph....
So, this has become a classic Boston political story, driven by equal parts principle and resentment. The spirit of negotiation is supposed to be compromise, but this is now about who will blink. Menino knows he will eventually have to reach a settlement with the union. Nee knows that the leverage afforded by the convention will eventually evaporate.
But for now, the demonstrators are proxies in a war with no victors and one obvious loser: Boston.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Taking it to the streets
By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist
The demonstrators who lined Causeway Street this week have certainly made a statement, in a show of defiance that has already slowed preparations for the Democratic National Convention. If anyone doubted that unions can still put bodies on the streets, now they know better.
Yet this battle isn't about numbers. It's about two strong and stubborn personalities: Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Thomas Nee, the president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. This became personal a long time ago.
Had Nee been available for comment, he would have likely disputed that. Yesterday, Menino himself was reluctant to personalize their fight, saying, "I saw Tommy Nee at an event the other day, and we had a very cordial conversation."
That's nice to hear, but it doesn't change the accumulated bad blood of recent years, exemplified by the heckling of Menino's family by the BPPA at the State of the City speech last year. As Menino's former friend City Councilor Jim Kelly could tell Nee, there is no faster way to escalate a feud with Menino than to drag his family into it. It doesn't help that Officer Thomas M. Menino Jr. has been pressured to toe the union line in opposition to his father. Menino publicly dismisses the use of his son as a pawn, but his friends say he seethes privately.
In theory, the two sides are not miles apart. BPPA officials have said they would be willing, as a base, to accept something on the order of the 11.9 percent raise over four years. That is what the city now has on the table.
The sticking point is 2002, a year in which teachers and firefighters got big raises, negotiated several years earlier, while the police did not. Partly because of that, police officers believe they have failed to keep pace with other unions, especially the firefighters. Because of that, the two sides are roughly 5 percent apart -- substantial, but hardly insurmountable.
"That year has to be dealt with," one union member outside the Fleet said on Tuesday. "You can't just make it go away, or pretend it doesn't exist."
The tough-talking Nee has never made any apologies for being a hard-nosed fighter for his membership, as a union president ought to be. But at this point, winning a contract seems less important than scoring points. Arbitration with a 12 percent raise as a starting point isn't a bad offer; the union so far considers it beneath discussion. Why?
Perhaps, as the BPPA is said to believe, they really are in a stronger bargaining position today than they were a week ago. But one official in another union, watching the scene unfold from a distance, wondered how long the BPPA can maintain the pressure and the support of other unions whose members are losing money every day that the work of converting the FleetCenter into a convention hall goes undone.
Even some BPPA members believe Menino may only dig his heels in deeper in light of the protests, faced with the effort to derail what is supposed to be a moment of personal national triumph.
While pressure may be mounting on Menino, it is on the BPPA as well, which is running out of cards to play. DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe can fret and fume, but in the end there's not a lot he can do about this. What's his option? Move the convention? Ultimately, only two people are key to reaching an agreement.
So, this has become a classic Boston political story, driven by equal parts principle and resentment. The spirit of negotiation is supposed to be compromise, but this is now about who will blink. Menino knows he will eventually have to reach a settlement with the union. Nee knows that the leverage afforded by the convention will eventually evaporate.
But for now, the demonstrators are proxies in a war with no victors and one obvious loser: Boston.
It is a scene out of old Boston, old labor, old politics. You can smell the cigar smoke, even though no one is actually smoking one. You can imagine the leg-breaking, even if none actually takes place. It is the kind of old-fashioned, old-style labor politics that turns off young and independent voters. Could the timing be worse? At the very moment the nation is celebrating the memory of a president who stared down labor in the form of air traffic controllers, Democrats are celebrating union thugs?
The stand-off between the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and the City of Boston is not just a problem for Menino. It is a microcosm of a larger problem for Democrats. It showcases their longstanding genuflection to labor, no matter how bad labor makes the party look....
There's a bigger urgency at stake: not just showcasing Boston, but the Democratic party.
Show some collective courage, Democrats. If you can't stand up to Tom Nee, how do you stand up to Jacques Chirac, Yasser Arafat or Al Qaeda?
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 10, 2004
The Democrats' labor problem
By Joan Vennochi
JOHN KERRY has a plan for health care, the economy, and the war in Iraq. How about announcing a plan to stand up to organized labor when it acts like a spoiled bully?
"It's like the Mafia," said Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association.
Nee was standing in front of the Fleet Center yesterday morning as he offered this description of what he contends it is like to deal with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino in ongoing labor negotiations. A short time later, if anyone shared a resemblance to the Mafia, it was union members who blocked a crane driver from entering Fleet Center property.
"Game's on," said Nee, as the driver started down Causeway Street then stopped before turning into the Fleet Center. A theatrical entreaty from Nee to the driver -- "Listen to your heart" -- quickly descended into expletives and threats from the rest of the pack. It all played out against the constant chant of "Do not cross, do not cross."
The crane driver looked at the surging line of picketers, listened to what they shouted, shook his head and turned away. Victory for the union.
That is the picture beamed from Boston. It is more than the picture of a showdown between one city mayor and unhappy union members. It is also the picture of the Democratic Party held hostage by organized labor.
The picture is not pretty.
I believe in unions, indeed belong to one. But belief in the organized power of many to negotiate fair wages and benefits for all workers does not go hand in hand with condoning the scene at the Fleet Center.
That's a personal reaction. However, looking at the bigger picture, it's hard to understand how a scene like this benefits the Democratic Party and Democratic presidential nominee Kerry.
It is a scene out of old Boston, old labor, old politics. You can smell the cigar smoke, even though no one is actually smoking one. You can imagine the leg-breaking, even if none actually takes place. It is the kind of old-fashioned, old-style labor politics that turns off young and independent voters. Could the timing be worse? At the very moment the nation is celebrating the memory of a president who stared down labor in the form of air traffic controllers, Democrats are celebrating union thugs?
The stand-off between the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and the City of Boston is not just a problem for Menino. It is a microcosm of a larger problem for Democrats. It showcases their longstanding genuflection to labor, no matter how bad labor makes the party look.
Menino is standing up to the unions. It isn't easy, given his history of appeasement and recent past generosity to Boston firefighters. Rather than isolate this as a Menino problem, this is where party leaders and Kerry should stand behind him.
Menino has an offer on the table -- 11.9 percent. "What is the problem with going to arbitration?" asks Menino. "I'm above board ... I've always been upfront."
Asked to respond to Nee's "Mafia" description, Menino said: "I'm not into soundbites. I'm not into grandstanding. I'm into getting a contract done."
What about the party that Menino is hosting for the Democratic National Convention? Shouldn't the party and the party nominee stand up, too? Said Menino: "Mayors stand up and take heat. We're used to it. We are on the front lines every day. Other people, will they stand up? I don't know." He says the response from taxpayers, directly and via e-mail is "stand your ground ... stand your ground."
You can argue Menino created the problem, and to some degree he did. But he was just following standard operating procedure for Democrats. To change the big picture, standard operating procedure must change, from the top down.
What if Kerry stood up to the picket line and asked them to let crane drivers and others in to do the work needed for the convention? How many votes would he pick up with a stand like that?
Nee said he would "walk John Kerry in to be nominated." He says that "nothing going on in Washington serves working class people." If he believes Kerry is the nominee who can do something for working people, why stage photos that will undercut Kerry's cause? According to Nee, it is necessary to convey "a sense of urgency."
There's a bigger urgency at stake: not just showcasing Boston, but the Democratic party.
Show some collective courage, Democrats. If you can't stand up to Tom Nee, how do you stand up to Jacques Chirac, Yasser Arafat or Al Qaeda?
A federal judge ordered union pickets at the FleetCenter to clear the way yesterday for construction workers and supply trucks attempting to enter the arena and dispatched US marshals to the scene, warning that those who violate his order could face criminal charges....
As the third day of picketing led by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association continued to hold up construction, Democratic leaders in Washington briefed the party's presumptive nominee on the problems in Boston and scrambled for ways out of the impasse. Construction delays are costing $100,000 a day, said a Democratic official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A planned media walk-through Tuesday to show off progress on the $14 million conversion of the FleetCenter was postponed, a Democratic official said.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, June 11, 2004
Judge orders picket lines to clear way at FleetCenter
US marshals are dispatched to the arena
By Shelley Murphy and Heather Allen
Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
A federal judge ordered union pickets at the FleetCenter to clear the way yesterday for construction workers and supply trucks attempting to enter the arena and dispatched US marshals to the scene, warning that those who violate his order could face criminal charges.
US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro, who called an emergency hearing after city officials said that union demonstrators had blocked workers and construction vehicles from entering the FleetCenter on Wednesday, said he had arranged for "a visible marshal presence" at the site.
"There should be no blocking of anything," said Tauro, warning that he will refer violations to the US attorney's office. "If you block access, you're running the risk of being arrested or found in contempt."
As the third day of picketing led by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association continued to hold up construction, Democratic leaders in Washington briefed the party's presumptive nominee on the problems in Boston and scrambled for ways out of the impasse. Construction delays are costing $100,000 a day, said a Democratic official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A planned media walk-through Tuesday to show off progress on the $14 million conversion of the FleetCenter was postponed, a Democratic official said.
In Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino met privately with leaders of Service Employees International Union Local 888 and arranged for marathon bargaining in hope of wrapping up a deal. Menino and Democratic leaders have said that an agreement with service employees could go a long way in weakening the FleetCenter picket line.
Talks continued late yesterday evening, but with 11 separate contracts to sign -- covering 2,300 city workers, including 911 dispatchers and school secretaries -- officials said it would be difficult to finish a settlement by last night.
"We are in hard bargaining, but we are still a ways apart," said Jeff Hall, a spokesman for SEIU Local 888.
One city official said that even if an agreement couldn't be reached, Menino hoped to make enough progress to persuade the union to agree not to join the picket line this morning.
Early yesterday, some 200 pickets assembled at the FleetCenter, the site of the Democratic National Convention starting July 26, and a truck attempting to deliver steel turned around after a crowd of union members stood at a chain-link gate in front of the arena, shouting "back it up," and "respect the line, buddy."
On-duty police officers, who had been instructed to prevent pickets from restricting access, did not intervene. After the court ruling, US Marshal Anthony Dichio arrived at the site and met with union leaders, Boston police, and FleetCenter managers.
Dichio toured the perimeter of the building with Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole, telling union members they could picket up to the edge of entrances but not in front of them. He said pickets must ask on-duty police officers for permission to cross in front of those entrances from now on.
"You just can't be free like you have been," he told pickets.
Police union president Thomas J. Nee summoned pickets to gather around him and told them the union would not quit and that the fight had not ended. The pickets shouted, "No contracts, no convention," as they headed back to the line.
O'Toole said violators will be arrested.
"No one under any circumstances will block entrances," said O'Toole. "Boston police will enforce that.... My hope is that we won't have to make any arrests, that is my good hope."
The showdown at the FleetCenter has squeezed an already-tight construction agenda.
Workers were supposed to spend the first three days of the 48-day construction period removing seats from the FleetCenter and preparing for the conversion; starting on Tuesday, steelworkers were supposed to begin working round-the-clock shifts, building reinforcements for skyboxes and the staging area.
Five feet of concrete was also supposed to be poured outside the building on the footprint of the old Boston Garden, to level the foundation for the two-story, 100,000 square-foot media pavilion, the workspace for some of the 15,000 reporters covering the event.
Catch-up work was set to begin inside the FleetCenter today. In a statement, Thomas Goemaat -- president and chief executive of Shawmut Design and Construction, which is building out the FleetCenter -- said: "This project is on an extremely tight construction schedule, and we are working on plans to make up the time we've lost. I am optimistic that we will be able to do so and have the FleetCenter ready in time for the Democratic National Convention."
In court yesterday morning, Alan H. Shapiro, one of the attorneys for the police union, told the judge that some courts have allowed demonstrators three to five minutes to clear access to a site.
But Tauro shot back, "Not in this case."
"You can be on the side and be visible," Tauro said. "You don't have to be on a front bumper waving a flag. I expect my orders to be obeyed unless they're modified or revisited. If you don't obey them, I'll hold you in contempt. "
Nee said he was "insulted" that his members were accused of criminal conduct by Tauro. He blamed Menino for failing to resolve the contract dispute.
"He has no exit strategy," Nee said. "He's like Bush in Iraq, I don't mean to sound cavalier. I don't know how to get him off the field. Tommy Nee isn't in this business to play a game. I'm an advocate of people's rights. I'm not looking for a fight."
Late in the day, a rumor flashed through the picket line that Menino had fired his chief negotiator, Dennis DiMarzio. Menino said that was "wishful thinking."
Negotiations with the police union have been hung up for months over the size of the pay increase to be awarded to police officers. The city's latest offer is 11.9 percent over the next four years, with the raises beginning in the second year of the contract.
The police union is seeking between 16 and 18 percent over four years, and wants the increases in 4-percent increments, beginning in the first year of the contract.
Menino has repeatedly said the city cannot fund the raise police demand. .
Glen Johnson, Rick Klein, and Frank Phillips of the Globe staff, and Globe correspondents Elise Castelli and Tyrone Richardson contributed to this
story.
Even so, this mess is already a public relations disaster for the Democrats, and it could get worse. If the city and the union aren't able to come to terms on a contract within the next six weeks, John Kerry could well see his prospects for election undone. Rather than a five-day commercial for the Democratic Party, picket lines and demonstrations by Boston cops at the convention may well provide voters nationwide with the best reason yet to re-elect George W. Bush....
Wow. The Democratic convention brought to a standstill by a small cadre of union members. The mayor of Boston humiliated. The entire Democratic Party caving in to the demands of a few.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 11, 2004
Hub police union deserves rap from all Democrats
By Thomas Keane Jr.
When it comes to Democrats and the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, perhaps what's needed is a Sister Souljah moment.
Despite picket signs that say "No contract, No convention," in all likelihood the police union won't stop the Democratic National Convention from being held in Boston. Some combination of court orders, jawboning and breaking of union ranks will allow work to continue, fitfully and possibly with a job less well done than hoped for, but enough to allow the event to proceed.
Even so, this mess is already a public relations disaster for the Democrats, and it could get worse. If the city and the union aren't able to come to terms on a contract within the next six weeks, John Kerry could well see his prospects for election undone. Rather than a five-day commercial for the Democratic Party, picket lines and demonstrations by Boston cops at the convention may well provide voters nationwide with the best reason yet to re-elect George W. Bush.
Which is why now may be the time for national Democrats, including John Kerry, to play hardball.
Why is that? Because one of the Democratic Party's greatest strengths - its unwavering support of workers and unions - is also one of its greatest weaknesses.
Democrats support unions, they say, because they care about working men and women. Unions return the favor, providing a ready source of money and, more importantly, ground forces for Democratic politicians at all levels of government. And, party members argue, unions are popular; a February Zogby poll, for example, found that 63 percent of all Americans approve of labor unions.
Probe a little deeper, however, and a different picture emerges. Popular or not, unions are on a precipitous downward slide. Two decades ago, more than 20 percent of all workers were union members. Now it's less than 13 percent.
Moreover, the public support for unions is tepid at best. The same Zogby poll found that Americans overwhelmingly support right-to-work laws and paycheck protections - both anathema to unions. When asked if they personally would join a union, most said no.
It comes down to this. People like the idea of making sure workers get good wages and fair treatment. But they don't like it when unions stop reform, dictate work rules or go to extremes.
And so, imagine if you will that you're a moderate voter living in Arkansas - a swing state where just under 7 percent of workers are unionized - and you turn on the television one evening in late July. The convention is on and, predictably, it's boring. Second-rate luminaries, thrilled to be in the national spotlight, are giving snoozer speeches. Everyone knows Kerry will be nominated. You're just about to turn the channel.
But wait, there's some excitement. The Boston police are holding a massive demonstration! Picket lines have been set up! Delegates are refusing to attend parties and events around the city!
Wow. The Democratic convention brought to a standstill by a small cadre of union members. The mayor of Boston humiliated. The entire Democratic Party caving in to the demands of a few.
And for you, the bewildered citizen of Arkansas, the idea of a Democratic president is suddenly a lot scarier.
Bill Clinton faced an analogous circumstance in 1992 when he was running against George Bush the First. Sister Souljah, a black rapper, said in an interview, "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Democrats, fearful of upsetting a key constituency, said nothing. Not Clinton; he knew a line had been crossed and publicly denounced the remark as racist. In that moment, he established his independence by refusing to kowtow to Democratic special interests. Even better, while Clinton's repudiation may have seemed risky, it was political genius. Black voters didn't desert him and moderates were impressed.
Like Sister Souljah, the BPPA has crossed the line. Rather than being afraid, national Democrats should back Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and say the obvious.
Clearly, the BPPA's tactics are beyond the pale, opportunistically driven with seemingly no care for consequences. And as should be evident to anyone who has followed the city's contract negotiations with the union, the battle isn't merely about wages and benefits (if it were, the union would take up Menino's offer to arbitrate). Rather, it's a highly personalized struggle of wills and fight for power.
Of course, BPPA members might argue that it is Menino, not the union, that imperils the convention. Menino could back down as easily as they.
True enough. Do so, however, and Democrats simply provide more grist for the widespread belief that they are pawns to unreasonable union demands. Menino, otherwise reliably pro-union, has had his Sister Souljah moment. Rather than pressure Boston's mayor to capitulate, national Democrats should find the same sort of courage.
According to figures compiled by the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the average base pay in 2003 of a member of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association was $52,200 (the city puts the number at $57,000). The average compensation for a BPPA member - including overtime, paid details and Quinn bill benefits for advanced degrees earned - was $81,000.
How many of the city's taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill for raises even come close to earning that kind of money each year? ...
A federal judge and federal marshals are now riding herd over union tactics. But only city officials can hold the line on behalf of the taxpayers - and they must continue to do so.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Friday, June 11, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Truth-telling on police pay
The union-generated noise around the FleetCenter - and its political repercussions - have obscured some very basic facts about police pay.
And while no one begrudges a decent wage to those often called upon to put their lives on the line, some stubborn facts remain.
According to figures compiled by the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the average base pay in 2003 of a member of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association was $52,200 (the city puts the number at $57,000). The average compensation for a BPPA member - including overtime, paid details and Quinn bill benefits for advanced degrees earned - was $81,000.
How many of the city's taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill for raises even come close to earning that kind of money each year?
Of the BPPA's 1,400 members, 264 took home more than $100,000 last year, a total of 456 earned more than $90,000. One patrolman (base pay $56,145) topped out at $152,373 in compensation which included $25,000 in overtime, $59,000 in paid details and more than $10,000 in Quinn bill benefits.
"Boston has always been in the top five cities in the nation in per capita cost of police services," said Research Bureau President Sam Tyler, attributing that in large part to Quinn bill benefits and the fact that paid police details are mandatory on road construction and utility projects (where other localities can use flagmen).
The city is offering the BPPA raises of 11.9 percent over four years. The union is looking for 17 percent with 4 percent in the first year - something the city contends is not fiscally manageable. All of this comes at a time when the city lost $79 million in state aid.
Members of the Boston Teachers Union settled for 9.2 percent over three years - and they don't have the same opportunities for overtime or paid details.
BPPA leaders obviously see in the upcoming Democratic National Convention an opportunity to throw their weight around, get more than their fair share and if they embarrass Mayor Tom Menino in the process, well, so much the better.
A federal judge and federal marshals are now riding herd over union tactics. But only city officials can hold the line on behalf of the taxpayers - and they must continue to do so.
Last August, in a ninth-floor conference room on Beacon Street, about 20 leaders of Boston's city employee unions sat down for a meeting that once seemed unthinkable.
Some of the labor leaders had never met before. Many of those who did know each other viewed the men and women sitting next to them in competitive terms, since they often claw for the same public dollars.
But with none of their unions under contract and the Democratic National Convention a year away, they promised to pool their financial resources and stick together in their negotiations with Mayor Thomas M. Menino....
But as Menino's team made initial offers to unions, the union leaders ran the terms by fellow members of the coalition, who counseled them to push for more in terms of salary and other concessions.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, June 11, 2004
Union coalition thwarts mayor
Stymies efforts to divide, conquer
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
Last August, in a ninth-floor conference room on Beacon Street, about 20 leaders of Boston's city employee unions sat down for a meeting that once seemed unthinkable.
Some of the labor leaders had never met before. Many of those who did know each other viewed the men and women sitting next to them in competitive terms, since they often claw for the same public dollars.
But with none of their unions under contract and the Democratic National Convention a year away, they promised to pool their financial resources and stick together in their negotiations with Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
The unprecedented "Unity Coalition" has stymied Menino's efforts to use a divide-and-conquer strategy to quickly settle contracts with the city's 32 collective bargaining units. The united labor front contributed to the standoff this week at the FleetCenter, where private contractors have refused to cross a picket line manned by police officers, firefighters, and other city workers.
The decisions reached at the group's weekly meetings -- from coordinated advertising and public relations to back-channel communications -- changed the nature of union politics in the city of Boston this year, the mayor and labor leaders agree. It also undermined Menino's efforts to isolate the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association as a rogue union.
"It magnified our strength enormously," said Peter Wright, who hosted the meetings at the local headquarters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. "The unity coalition has produced a result that has forced the mayor to deal with the workers in unison, rather than individually."
The seeds of cooperation planted at that first meeting helped defeat a project labor agreement Monday that could have kept private sector trade unions from striking. Local labor leaders continued to help each other as late as yesterday: As Menino aides worked furiously to settle a contract with the local affiliate of Service Employees International Union, SEIU leaders on the picket line were keeping members of the police union updated on their talks.
Menino acknowledged that this has been a labor year like no other in his 10-plus years as mayor, in part because of the activities of the Unity Coalition. The increased communication among unions has been complicated by the fact that the city has less money to spend on raises, he said. Twenty of the city's 32 unions still lack contracts, though 62 percent of the city workforce has deals in place.
"It's different than it has been in the past," the mayor said. "I mean, it's like they keep checking each other -- 'what's more, let's get more.' But you know, each one of the unions is different, and we have different obligations to different unions."
Now that the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association has made its point, its leaders will show their true intentions with their next move, said US Representative Michael E. Capuano, a Somerville Democrat. Capuano said the union's negotiations with the city have resembled the typical "dance" to date, but it is not yet clear whether union leaders are more interested in getting a settlement or in embarrassing Menino and Senator John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
"If it's going to impact the presidential election -- and it's not at that point yet -- you have to wonder about their political agenda," said Capuano, a former mayor of Somerville. "What do they want? Where are we in the dance? It's hard to tell."
The true test of support for the picket line could come this morning, when US marshals clear a path for Teamsters who are scheduled to deliver supplies and equipment at the FleetCenter. Menino expressed confidence that plenty of workers and supplies will get to the job site today, after a judge ruled that protesters must make way for entering vehicles.
Menino has tried to isolate the police union by settling city contracts with SEIU Local 888 and Boston Firefighters Local 718, so the patrolmen would be the only large city union without a contract.
But that's been slow going, and the fact that so many private-sector building trade union members are honoring the picket line caught convention organizers and Menino by surprise. Myles Calvey, business manager of Local 2222 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said some union leaders who are ordering workers to go to the FleetCenter are having members balk at crossing a picket line.
"Don't lose sight of this: It's one thing what the leaders say; it's another thing doing it as a member," said Calvey, whose union of Verizon workers is refusing to cross the picket line.
Menino never wanted to get to this point. Last October, he convened a meeting of local labor leaders -- many of them members of the Unity Coalition -- at the Parkman House, and said he would seek to settle all city contracts by the end of January, a full six months before the convention.
But as Menino's team made initial offers to unions, the union leaders ran the terms by fellow members of the coalition, who counseled them to push for more in terms of salary and other concessions. The information-sharing strategy prevented Menino from getting unions to settle on the cheap, and the mayor wasn't able to ink his first agreement until March. Meanwhile, the coalition was busy influencing public opinion, which is often vital in negotiations with public-employee unions, since they are forbidden by law to strike.
Anyone who has not already made plans to leave town when the Democratic National Convention is in session in July must surely be rethinking by now.
If the FleetCenter isn't struck by lightning, the Charles River is sure to overflow or a rare Massachusetts tornado will follow a path straight to the North End.
What was supposed to be a stunning success story for Boston has turned into a tale of calamities....
Who knows what the next hurdle will be for this star-crossed event. With six weeks to go, there's time for many more foul-ups.
(Full report follows)
The Patriot Ledger
Saturday, June 12, 2004
A Patriot Ledger editorial
Hex bedevils Democratic convention
Anyone who has not already made plans to leave town when the Democratic National Convention is in session in July must surely be rethinking by now.
If the FleetCenter isn't struck by lightning, the Charles River is sure to overflow or a rare Massachusetts tornado will follow a path straight to the North End.
What was supposed to be a stunning success story for Boston has turned into a tale of calamities.
This is a shame. Regardless of political persuasion, having a major political convention in Boston is a landmark event. It's not the Democrats' fault that the convention is considered a potential terrorist target and therefore commands maximum security. And for those bemoaning the disruption to commuter traffic on I-93, Route 3 and on commuter rail, let's remember that the FleetCenter's location is a great asset when security is not a grave concern.
This week's event was a major showdown between the Boston patrolmen's union and Mayor Tom Menino. Much to his credit, Menino was having none of the blackmail being dished out by the cops.
The union leadership is crying poor because patrolmen have been without a contract for two years. In case you were wondering, the average cop's salary is $57,200, but that's before the Quinn Bill incentives and the overtime. Remember, Massachusetts is the only state in the country that requires a police officer for even a minor road job. Those and other private details boost the average take to $80,000.
The officers were supposed to have an informational picket at the FleetCenter during construction to transform the indoors from a sports arena to a convention. Anyone who saw the jockeying between the cops on the picket line and the construction crews trying to get inside the Fleet could see for themselves how bullying the line was. The work didn't get done. The mayor went to court, and the law won, not the off-duty law enforcers.
Federal District Judge Joseph Tauro was emphatic; picketers will not be permitted to prevent construction workers from entering the building and if they attempt to do so, they will be arrested. Tauro ordered federal marshals to the site.
No question the sight of police officers and other city workers picketing a Democratic convention - if contract talks are not resolved - will be unpleasant for delegates and will disrupt the event to some degree. But in the public relations battle, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is the real loser. Menino had offered arbitration before the picket lines went up, but the union refused. On Friday the picketers left the FleetCenter and shouted outside Boston City Hall instead.
Who knows what the next hurdle will be for this star-crossed event. With six weeks to go, there's time for many more foul-ups.
But while Boston is alternately amused or revolted by the ongoing DNC travails, the rest of the country is oblivious. From Florida to Alaska, thousands of delegates know they are coming to the place where America began. They are going to need hotels, food and beverages, souvenirs and a little fun outside the FleetCenter. We should be pleased and proud to have them visit.
Kerry, whose campaign is coordinating the July convention during which he will accept his party's presidential nomination, was pleased yesterday that the protesting cops moved away from the FleetCenter, aides said. The move cleared the way for renovations in the arena.
But City Hall sources noted privately that Menino got no political support during the standoff over the police contract.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, June 12, 2004
City labor pains don't move Kerry
By Jack Meyers
As Mayor Thomas M. Menino squirmed in the spotlight in the tense Democratic convention standoff with Boston police, Sen. John F. Kerry watched comfortably from the sidelines - a stance aides said was out of respect to Ronald Reagan.
Kerry, whose campaign is coordinating the July convention during which he will accept his party's presidential nomination, was pleased yesterday that the protesting cops moved away from the FleetCenter, aides said. The move cleared the way for renovations in the arena.
But City Hall sources noted privately that Menino got no political support during the standoff over the police contract.
"You have a paralyzed (Democratic National Convention Committee), a paralyzed candidate," said one mayoral adviser.
Kerry aides said the senator was right to lay low. "Our campaign took the week off out of respect for President Reagan," said Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan. "We're glad the construction has begun."
Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and other city union members removed their pickets from the FleetCenter - where federal marshals had been called in to keep gates open for construction crews retrofitting the arena for the convention. Instead, they held a boisterous rally at City Hall.
Work began yesterday on the $14 million in renovations - and there was progress in city talks with some unions as well.
After a marathon session lasting until 4:30 a.m. yesterday, city negotiators reached tentative deals with four Service Employees International Union bargaining units, representing more than 1,100 workers including city clerical staff.
The pact provides wage hikes of about 10.5 percent over four years, changes in the city's residency rules and sets up an affordable housing trust fund for SEIU members.
"This begins to rectify some of the inequities lower paid employees have experienced," said SEIU Local 888 president Susana Segat.
The city also reached a tentative deal last night with the union representing municipal police, which has about 120 members.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino's spokesman, Seth Gitell, said almost 70 percent of city workers now have agreements with the city.
The BPPA and city negotiators have agreed on a mediator, Gary Altman, for their next bargaining session, scheduled for Monday by the state's Joint Labor Management Council.
BPPA president Thomas Nee said the unions "were displaced down at the FleetCenter" by a federal judge's rules limiting the pickets.
But Nee vowed to keep "spreading the message," noting Mayor Menino has a golf tournament scheduled for Monday.
A seething Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday ordered New Yorkers thumbing their noses at a Southie convention week party be forced to stick with the neighborhood - whether they think it's racist or not.
Menino, reacting to New York Democrats' complaints about South Boston's "racial" past, ordered planners to keep the party at the famed L Street Bathhouse.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Mayor: Bathhouse will do just fine
By David R. Guarino
A seething Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday ordered New Yorkers thumbing their noses at a Southie convention week party be forced to stick with the neighborhood - whether they think it's racist or not.
Menino, reacting to New York Democrats' complaints about South Boston's "racial" past, ordered planners to keep the party at the famed L Street Bathhouse.
"The mayor thought it was important to keep it at L Street," said Julie Burns, director of Boston 2004, the local Democratic National Convention host committee. "We are all more determined to make this a great event."
The Herald reported yesterday New York Democratic Party Chairman Herman Farrell Jr. wrote in April to Boston 2004 leaders expressing concerns about the New York party slated for South Boston - each state party is being held in one of Boston's 20 neighborhoods. Farrell said the delegation worries about Southie's "history of racial turmoil and tension."
The letter emerged after reports last week that New York Democrats were upset with a location called the L Street Bathhouse because it sounded like a gay club.
The New York Democrats tried to end the dust-up, issuing a statement saying "concerns have been amicably resolved."
The statement said Boston officials were moving the party from the L Street Bathhouse to The Fish Exchange in South Boston.
Farrell told WBZ-AM radio the state party would receive a "better venue" in South Boston. "Some of my people looked at it and wasn't really overjoyed with it," Farrell said. "Sometimes you just don't feel right so we went somewhere else."
Denise King, executive committee chairwoman of the New York Democratic Party and a Pittsfield native, said New Yorkers should realize that communities change.
Still, tempers continued to flare in South Boston, where pols and residents fumed over the letter.
"I tell ya, we're all a little stunned," said state Sen. Jack Hart (D-S. Boston). "But we're going to be a lot more welcoming of them than a Bostonian would be going into Yankee Stadium with a Red Sox cap on, that's for sure."
Just when you think this Democratic National Convention nuttiness can't get any worse - it does.
This time it's the New York delegation that has its collective nose out of joint over the location of one of the convention week parties. (Ah, yes, there's one of the pressing issues of our generation.)
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, June 12, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
A tale of Demmies behaving badly
Just when you think this Democratic National Convention nuttiness can't get any worse - it does.
This time it's the New York delegation that has its collective nose out of joint over the location of one of the convention week parties. (Ah, yes, there's one of the pressing issues of our generation.)
First, the geniuses in the New York delegation, when informed that their party would be at the L-Street Bathhouse, wondered whether it was a "bathhouse" of the old New York gay hangout variety. And even if it wasn't, might not others make that same mistake. (Of course, the good news there might be having Bette Midler show up and do a set just for old times sake.)
No sooner was that "crisis" put down than New York State Democratic Committee Chairman Herman D. Farrell Jr. writes to convention organizers that he is "deeply concerned about the selection of South Boston as the reception site given its history of racial turmoil and tension."
That the "history" goes back 30 years now seemed not to bother Farrell one bit. "For those of us who were on the front lines of [the civil rights] struggle, the prospect of celebrating in a neighborhood that so fiercely opposed integration is very troubling."
We assume that by that never-forget, never-forgive standard, Farrell's travel agenda must be a very narrow one indeed. But mostly it is his level of ignorance that is almost unfathomable.
Now it may well be that this little flap, at the end of the day, has little to do with gay bathhouses or a decades-old controversy over school integration. It could be that New York delegates just can't abide the idea of a clambake on the beach when they'd rather be sipping martinis in some fancy hotel ballroom.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino and his party-planning crew made the grave mistake of thinking that Democrats might actually like to get out into the neighborhoods of one of the nation's most Democratic cities. It was a genuinely populist notion - and a good one.
But, as we know all too well, in politics no good deed goes unpunished.
Boston's police union abandoned the picket line that held up Democratic convention preparations at the FleetCenter after the city reached early-morning agreements with four city bargaining units, key allies on the picket line.
With US marshals looking on, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association marched away from the FleetCenter at 9:25 a.m. Trucks carrying steel, drywall, and cement rumbled unimpeded into the arena less than an hour later.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Police abandon protest at arena
Work proceeds at FleetCenter
By Rick Klein and Heather Allen
Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
Boston's police union abandoned the picket line that held up Democratic convention preparations at the FleetCenter after the city reached early-morning agreements with four city bargaining units, key allies on the picket line.
With US marshals looking on, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association marched away from the FleetCenter at 9:25 a.m. Trucks carrying steel, drywall, and cement rumbled unimpeded into the arena less than an hour later.
By late morning, about 70 laborers, carpenters, ironworkers, and electricians were working at the site, drilling holes into the ceiling, moving out seats, and clearing the site of the old Boston Garden for construction of a temporary media center.
"I'm relieved it's over," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said of the end of the stand-off in which supply trucks repeatedly turned away from heckling union members since Tuesday.
The police association's decision to remove the picket line represented a dramatic change in the union's tactics. For about two hours after the FleetCenter pickets stopped, the union and its allies rallied on City Hall Plaza and inside City Hall, but that demonstration lost steam as tired union members trickled away.
The de-escalation was ordered by leaders of the patrolmen's association after consulting with other members of the Unity Coalition, an alliance of city unions formed last year to battle Menino for contracts. They concluded that, without service employees by their side, there was no point in another day of picketing, said Thomas J. Nee, president of the patrolmen's association.
"Staying out there would have been a bad scene," Nee said. "We accomplished what we set out to do for the week."
On Thursday, US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro deployed US marshals to the FleetCenter to clear a path for vehicles to enter, when the city complained that protesters had been blocking access. Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole ordered on-duty Boston police officers to arrest anyone who violated the order, and union officials said they were concerned that off-duty officers found to be in contempt of court would lose their jobs.
About 4 a.m. yesterday, following more than 16 hours of negotiations, the four biggest city bargaining units of Service Employees International Union signed tentative agreements with the city. The deals, covering 1,145 city workers, effectively removed many SEIU members from the ranks of demonstrators, leaving the patrolmen's association and the firefighters as the only large city unions without contracts.
According to the union, SEIU Local 888 won pay raises of 10.5 percent over 4 years, slightly less than the city's last offer to the patrolmen, and persuaded the city to loosen its residency requirement. The city also agreed to establish an affordable housing trust fund for the local's members who are covered by the residency ordinance.
"This agreement begins to rectify some of the inequities lower-paid city employees have experienced," said Susana Segat, president of SEIU Local 888.
Further isolating the police, informal talks continued yesterday between city officials and Firefighters Local 718, with former Senate president Thomas F. Birmingham serving as intermediary. Menino said those talks are showing progress.
On Monday, the patrolmen's association and the city are scheduled to meet with a mediator chosen yesterday by the state Joint Labor-Management Committee. The committee chose Gary Altman, a veteran labor mediator and arbitrator, to oversee the talks. Neither side objected to the choice. The union had earlier rejected a city offer of arbitration.
Yesterday, lawyers for the patrolmen's association began preparing an appeal of Tauro's ruling, and vowed to picket at Menino's upcoming appearances. They are planning protests at the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston at the end of the month and are looking to put boats in Dorchester Bay when Menino entertains fellow mayors at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum during that event.
The union also plans to picket at all delegation host parties being run in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention and will bring in officers from cities around the country to join them during the convention.
"We're going to move our message around a little bit," Nee said. "There is no leverage lost here."
But convention planners said privately they believe future actions by the patrolmen's association or other city unions won't have the same impact as this week's picket line. The high stakes of an expensive and tightly scheduled construction project along with the intensive media coverage and plentiful labor allies of this week's standoff are unlikely to occur again, they said.
With constrictuion at the FleetCenter now underway, convention officials said workers will need to work overtime in the days and weeks to come, causing costs to rise. But the president of Shawmut Design and Construction, the general contractor, said the delays can be managed. The convention begins July 26.
"Although this project is on an extremely tight construction timetable, we . . . are absolutely confident we can complete this project on time and according to plan," said Thomas Goemaat, Shawmut's president and chief executive.
The ticking clock was a major reason Menino was intent on showing progress with city unions, to blunt the impact of police-led protests as national Democrats grew concerned about the construction delays. City and SEIU negotiators went through 14 pots of coffee at the Parkman House, with talks that started before noon Thursday.
For several hours after agreements were reached at 4 a.m. yesterday, picketers at the FleetCenter appeared ready for more confrontations at the main delivery gates. About 15 union members stood in front of the gates, holding signs. Seven on-duty police officers arrived about 5:45 on motorcycles, and six US marshals, in sunglasses and navy windbreakers, arrived about 7:15.
By 8 o'clock yesterday morning, some 150 protesters were in place, and about 30 uniformed officers were on hand. O'Toole came to observe the scene and confer with commanders about 9:15. Nee paced nervously and bit his fingernails, and he conferred with other union heads and members of his leadership team at the patrolmen's association.
About 9:25, Nee called off the picketers. He and a handful of other labor leaders climbed into the bed of a red pickup truck, and each gave a short speech. Nee got on the megaphone last, saying: "This gate is blocked for the last time this week. I ask each and every one one of you to take this to City Hall."
The protesters then ambled toward City Hall Plaza, chanting "Contract now," and "Tommy," calling for Menino. At the time, Menino was attending a memorial event for President Reagan at the Boston Public Library.
They called for Menino to come out to a bargaining table theatrically set on the plaza with a white tablecloth, and the group then entered City Hall. They had a 10 minute minirally inside the fifth-floor City Council chambers, and City Hall and the plaza were cleared of protesters by 11:30.
Meanwhile, at the FleetCenter, there was relative quiet as delivery trucks entered a loading area free of protesters for the first time since midnight Monday. The trucks and two giant cranes drove past picketers' discarded water bottles and protest signs starting about 10:20. Ten minutes later, the workers arrived in large numbers, as the marshals watched.
Globe correspondent Tyrone Richardson contributed to this report.
On this, both sides agree: At this summer's Democratic National Convention, the official welcome party for the New York delegation will take place in South Boston.
Precisely where is another question. While the New Yorkers apparently believe they'll be feted at the elegant Exchange Conference Center at the Seaport, Boston organizers said yesterday that the party would be held at the L Street Bathhouse.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Party's still on at L St. bathhouse
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff
On this, both sides agree: At this summer's Democratic National Convention, the official welcome party for the New York delegation will take place in South Boston.
Precisely where is another question. While the New Yorkers apparently believe they'll be feted at the elegant Exchange Conference Center at the Seaport, Boston organizers said yesterday that the party would be held at the L Street Bathhouse.
The venue dispute began this spring, shortly after Boston organizers, intent on holding delegation galas in outlying neighborhoods, assigned New York to a clambake on the beach in front of the bathhouse.
A few weeks later, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Herman "Denny" Farrell Jr., wrote a letter to the Boston host committee, objecting to the site because of South Boston's "history of racial turmoil and tension."
The complaint, leaked to the press, incensed some Boston politicians, who complained that New Yorkers were unfairly maligning the South Boston of today.
So yesterday Farrell issued a public statement saying his concerns "have been amicably resolved." He thanked Mayor Thomas M. Menino for helping to find a new location: The Exchange Conference Center at the Seaport.
But Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, said she left a voice mail message yesterday afternoon at the New York Democrats' headquarters, informing them that the bathhouse would remain the party site.
"The people of Southie are excited about it, and we're excited to show off just another great Boston site," Burns said in an interview yesterday.
As for the New Yorkers' apparent belief that they would be celebrating at the Seaport, Burns said she couldn't comment on "misinformation."
Calls to the New York Democrats' executive director were not returned yesterday.
The Exchange Conference Center, while technically part of South Boston, is located on the Boston Fish Pier, closer to downtown.
Owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority and restored for $7 million in 1996, it was known for a time, colloquially, as the "Tocco Mahal," after former Massport director Stephen Tocco, who presided over the project.
The L Street Bathhouse was built in 1931 by Mayor James Michael Curley, who was apparently responsible for the maxim etched in stone above the door: "Cleanliness of body is due reverence to God."
Menino defended the bathhouse yesterday, calling it a "historical site over there" and "a great place for people from all over the country to go and bathe in the summertime and the spring."
"I just say it's a great location to have a delegation party," he said.
Speaking to reporters at the Boston Public Library, Menino said the New Yorkers' complaint was a sign of ignorance. "They don't know about Boston presently," he said. "That's Boston's past, and I will not stand for that."
Meanwhile, state Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat, offered to take Farrell on a tour of the neighborhood, "to show him that any of his notions of this town are ill-conceived."
Still, Hart said he harbored no ill feelings toward the crew from the Empire State.
"We as proud South Boston residents welcome the New York delegation," he said, "and we would probably give them more of a welcome than a Bostonian would [get] going to Yankee Stadium."
Rick Klein of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Police union protesters and their inflated salary demands will crop up again, most likely at public appearances by Mayor Menino. But the union's tactics and demands are less impressive each time. Bostonians are coming to learn that members of the police patrolmen's union earn, on average, about $81,000 annually, including overtime, extra pay for work on police details, and bonuses for education.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, June 12, 2004
A Boston Globe editorial
A sensible police deal
Rationality returned this week when US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro made clear that he would not abide further attempts by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to block construction at the FleetCenter, site of next month's Democratic National Convention. The police protesters pulled back, tradesmen set to work, and other unionized employees -- notably the Service Employees International Union -- made significant progress on their contract negotiations with city officials.
Police union protesters and their inflated salary demands will crop up again, most likely at public appearances by Mayor Menino. But the union's tactics and demands are less impressive each time. Bostonians are coming to learn that members of the police patrolmen's union earn, on average, about $81,000 annually, including overtime, extra pay for work on police details, and bonuses for education.
Capitulation to the union's demands for raises in the 16 to 18 percent category over the next four years would lead only to cuts in basic city services or dangerous raids on city reserves.
Menino has shown his mettle by refusing to buckle under to the police. And he should resist any future effort by the union to take the convention or any other institution captive. In this case, the police union's leaders have badly misjudged the patience of the public and the courts.
On Monday both sides in the negotiations are expected to sit down with a mediator. City officials are ready with an offer of an 11.9 percent salary increase over four years. The question hanging over the city is whether or not the police will respond in a reasonable frame of mind.
Commuter rail riders on the Newburyport-Rockport line will face a much tougher morning during the Democratic National Convention than their counterparts on the Haverhill, Lowell, or Fitchburg lines, MBTA officials say....
But the estimated 8,700 weekday riders on the Newburyport-Rockport line -- the most heavily used of the four commuter lines emanating from North Station -- must transfer at Lynn to shuttle buses that will have to fight traffic on Route 1A on their way to South Station.
There will be no dedicated lanes for those buses and the riders can't be transferred to the Blue Line at Wonderland because that part of the subway system can't handle so many people, said Michael Mulhern, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Convention to hit North Shore rail the hardest
By Anthony Flint, Globe Staff
Commuter rail riders on the Newburyport-Rockport line will face a much tougher morning during the Democratic National Convention than their counterparts on the Haverhill, Lowell, or Fitchburg lines, MBTA officials say.
During the week of July 26, riders coming in on the Fitchburg line will transfer to the Red Line at Porter Square in Cambridge. Haverhill line passengers will transfer in Woburn to shuttle buses that will have their own dedicated lane on Interstate 93 into Boston. And those on the Lowell line will transfer to the Orange Line at Oak Grove in Malden.
But the estimated 8,700 weekday riders on the Newburyport-Rockport line -- the most heavily used of the four commuter lines emanating from North Station -- must transfer at Lynn to shuttle buses that will have to fight traffic on Route 1A on their way to South Station.
There will be no dedicated lanes for those buses and the riders can't be transferred to the Blue Line at Wonderland because that part of the subway system can't handle so many people, said Michael Mulhern, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
"We're dealing with the heaviest commuter rail line matching up with the smallest rapid transit line," he said.
The Blue Line operates with four-car trains. There is a plan to extend that to six cars, but that requires extending the platforms at all Blue Line stations, a project that is underway. More than 90 new Blue Line cars are also on order, but won't be here by this summer, Mulhern said.
Riders on the Newburyport-Rockport line also have the option of continuing on to Chelsea and using existing MBTA bus service into Boston from there. But those buses will have no special lanes, either, and will take riders to South Station instead of their usual destination of Haymarket.
For the return trip, riders should take the Blue Line to Wonderland, where they will be put on shuttle buses to Lynn to catch trains taking them to points north, Mulhern said. The shuttle bus from Lynn to South Station will only operate in the mornings, before 10 a.m., he said.
The T will closely monitor the progress of the shuttle buses and if they get bogged down in traffic on Route 1A, riders might be diverted to the Blue Line after all, Mulhern said.
"We're going to focus on this line more than any other," he said. "The potential for inconvenience is much worse. It's a tough corridor."
Zachary Greene, who normally boards the Newburyport-Rockport line at Swampscott to get to his job in Back Bay, said he is staying in his in-laws' vacant apartment downtown that week.
"I'm lucky," he said. "It makes sense they can't dump all those people from commuter rail onto the Blue Line. But with all the traffic already on 1A, and they are going to add a stream of buses to that? I know it's not going to work."
Meanwhile, state lawmakers anxious about the looming traffic nightmare hiked to Haverhill last night to put convention planners' feet to the fire over the fate of North Shore commuters likely to be most inconvenienced.
Lawmakers want to know whether state police will be able to control the traffic, what alternatives are available to commuters, and why the event wasn't moved to the new South Boston convention center once the hardships of FleetCenter security became clear.
"Nobody's been answering those questions. We're going to force those answers," said Senate Transportation Chairman Steven A. Baddour (D-Methuen).
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Menino: It’s always a ‘crisis’:
City, cops hold mediation session
By Jack Meyers and Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Days after paralyzing union pickets at the FleetCenter were pulled down, Mayor Thomas M. Menino conceded the city rarely works out contracts without such a "crisis" atmosphere.
"It's a process that we're in when it comes to labor negotiations. Always it gets settled in a crisis situation," Menino said yesterday afternoon, hours after a mediation session with the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association had adjourned until tomorrow.
The mayor said union talks always need a crisis because public sector unions can't strike.
Menino's comments in some ways echo recent statements from union officials who have contended the city got serious about negotiating only when unions ratcheted up pressure by holding pickets that halted construction for the Democratic National Convention.
City negotiators and officials of the BPPA met with a mediator for several hours, ending early yesterday morning, the first meaningful session in weeks.
The mediator issued a gag order, and both sides refused to discuss specifics of the sit-down.
But Menino was hopeful.
"As long as we're talking, we'll get a contract done, and that's what I'm looking forward to," Menino said of the BPPA mediation.
In other talks, city negotiators hammered out tentative agreements last night with three units of the Service Employees International Union Local 888, covering about 400 workers with the Department of Public Health and homeless shelters, the union's spokesman, Jeff Hall, said.
The city and four other units from Local 888 agreed on contracts for about 1,100 workers after a marathon negotiating session last week.
Menino said he is confident plans for the Democratic National Convention will not be affected by last week's picketing.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers anxious about the looming traffic nightmare hiked to Haverhill last night to put convention planners' feet to the fire over the fate of North Shore commuters likely to be most inconvenienced.
Lawmakers want to know whether state police will be able to control the traffic, what alternatives are available to commuters, and why the event wasn't moved to the new South Boston convention center once the hardships of FleetCenter security became clear.
"Nobody's been answering those questions. We're going to force those answers," said Senate Transportation Chairman Steven A. Baddour (D-Methuen).
Traffic on Interstate 93 must be cut in half during the Democratic National Convention or North of Boston commuters can expect 12- to 14-mile backups during the four-day event, state officials said last night.
Massachusetts Highway Commissioner John Cogliano said the normal volume of traffic on I-93 into Boston would create massive gridlock, and the only way to unsnarl it would be to turn cars around and send them back north during the July 26-29 convention.
During weekdays, about 70,000 cars a day flow into Boston on I-93 from North of Boston, including Southern New Hampshire. Reducing that to 35,000 means tens of thousands of commuters will need to take trains and buses into the city. Or go on vacation during the convention.
(Full report follows)
The Eagle-Tribune
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Gridlock predicted for I-93
By Shawn Regan, Staff Writer
Traffic on Interstate 93 must be cut in half during the Democratic National Convention or North of Boston commuters can expect 12- to 14-mile backups during the four-day event, state officials said last night.
Massachusetts Highway Commissioner John Cogliano said the normal volume of traffic on I-93 into Boston would create massive gridlock, and the only way to unsnarl it would be to turn cars around and send them back north during the July 26-29 convention.
During weekdays, about 70,000 cars a day flow into Boston on I-93 from North of Boston, including Southern New Hampshire. Reducing that to 35,000 means tens of thousands of commuters will need to take trains and buses into the city. Or go on vacation during the convention.
Cogliano made his surprise announcement at a convention traffic information meeting at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill. Special security measures will require closing busy roads and train service around and into the FleetCenter, the site of the convention, while it is in session from 4 p.m. to midnight.
About 50 people attended the session, arranged by State Sen. Steve Baddour, D-Methuen, chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee.
State Sen. Susan C. Tucker, D-Andover, was one of those present. She expressed concern that government officials have not been aggressive enough in warning North of Boston drivers to stay off the roadways leading into the city.
"Don't even think about driving to Boston," she advised.
Robert Dunford of the Boston Police Department said the decision to secure the area in and around the FleetCenter was based on this simple equation: the most likely scenario for a terrorist attack on the convention from the highway would be in the form of a 3,000- to 4,000-pound "improvised" bomb inside a large sports utility vehicle. Such a bomb would deliver a blast of up to 600 feet.
He noted that the distance from the southbound lane of I-93 to the glass wall of the FleetCenter is 120 feet.
The security plan also calls for shutting down I-93 southbound from Exit 32 in Medford during the convention hours, diverting vehicles onto the streets of Medford.
That caused Medford Mayor Michael J. McGlynn to announce that he would detour traffic back onto I-93 northbound if the additional traffic in his city caused gridlock.
Despite the "nightmare scenarios" promised for Boston-bound motorists, there was good news for those who plan to use public transportation, even though North Station will be closed.
Michael Mulhern, general manager for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said Commuter Rail riders from Haverhill won't be charged when they pick up the Orange Line at Oak Grove Station -- the Haverhill commuter line's last stop during the convention.
It typically costs a daily rider without a monthly pass $1.25 to ride the Orange Line. The Orange Line will transport riders to Haymarket Square south of the FleetCenter in downtown Boston.
That news prompted state Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, to suggest that those who commute to Boston via the train from Newburyport drive to Haverhill and pick it up there, instead.
"Haverhill has the easiest trip to Boston by train (during the convention) and Newburyport has the toughest," said Stanley, who has called Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini for help in promoting a temporary commuting alliance between the two communities.
Under the convention commuting plan, riders who pick up the train in Newburyport before 10 a.m. during the work week will travel to Lynn, where they will pick up a shuttle bus to South Station, a ride estimated to be 50 to 70 minutes. After 10 a.m. and on the weekend, shuttle buses from Lynn Station will travel to Wonderland Station on the Blue Line for connecting service to Boston.
Stanley predicts the total travel time from Newburyport to South Station will exceed two hours in most cases. The ride by car from Newburyport to Haverhill is about 20 minutes, and from there to Boston by train takes less than an hour, she said.
State Sen. Steven A. Baddour, D-Methuen, agreed with Stanley's idea.
"People from Haverhill are going to have a fairly easy commute into Boston as long as they take the train, and the fact they will be able to connect to the Orange Line for free is great news," said Baddour.
Dunford, who is director of convention security, also gave an explanation why North Station is being closed during the Democratic National Convention, while New York City's Penn Station will remain open during the Republican convention.
The latter convention runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 4, directly above the train station in Madison Square Garden, the convention site. But Penn Station is five stories under Madison Square Garden; in contrast, the ceiling of North Station is essentially the FleetCenter's floor.
Boston's northern neighbors are insisting the Hub cough up cash to pay for police details along suburban streets expected to be gridlocked by traffic diverted off Interstate 93 during the Democratic National Convention next month.
"None of the communities outside of Boston are receiving any support at all," grumbled Malden police Chief Ken Coye, who said the issue of who should pay for police details to keep traffic moving has come up several times already in meetings with Boston and DNC officials.
"The standard line is: 'There are no resources,'" Coye said.
But suburban officials aren't taking no for an answer.
Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn, who has threatened to block Route 60 at I-93 as a last resort to prevent diverted traffic from jamming Medford Square, said he and other mayors expect to meet with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino soon to discuss "funding needs." ...
McGlynn said closing Route 60 and sending traffic around the rotary and back up onto I-93 north would be done only as a last resort to restore public safety.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
I-93 closure will take toll: Towns want $ for trouble
By Thomas Caywood
Boston's northern neighbors are insisting the Hub cough up cash to pay for police details along suburban streets expected to be gridlocked by traffic diverted off Interstate 93 during the Democratic National Convention next month.
"None of the communities outside of Boston are receiving any support at all," grumbled Malden police Chief Ken Coye, who said the issue of who should pay for police details to keep traffic moving has come up several times already in meetings with Boston and DNC officials.
"The standard line is: 'There are no resources,'" Coye said.
But suburban officials aren't taking no for an answer.
Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn, who has threatened to block Route 60 at I-93 as a last resort to prevent diverted traffic from jamming Medford Square, said he and other mayors expect to meet with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino soon to discuss "funding needs."
"Give us the resources we need in the form of manpower and/or money," Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said. "From Somerville's perspective, this is going to cost us a quarter of a million dollars."
Somerville police will be stationed throughout the city and will be prepared to close major roads to foil cut-through traffic clogging the city, Curtatone said.
Hub and Boston 2004 host committee officials didn't return calls yesterday. Interstate 93 will be closed at Exit 32 in Medford to all inbound traffic evenings from July 26 to July 29 as a security precaution.
McGlynn said closing Route 60 and sending traffic around the rotary and back up onto I-93 north would be done only as a last resort to restore public safety.
"What do you do in a medical emergency?" he said.
Massachusetts Highway spokesman Jon Carlisle, while declining to comment specifically on the mayor's trump card, said that stretch of Route 60 is considered a local road under Medford's control. The rotary is controlled by the state.
In Malden, which is bisected by Route 60, police have arranged to put portable defibrillators on motorcycles in case ambulances can't get through.
Coye, the Malden chief, said Exit 32 is the worst place for security planners to close I-93 because hapless commuters will be pushed off onto a congested two-lane road.
"I just don't know why they will not move this to Route 16," he said, referring to the Exit 31 interchange about a mile south of Route 60.
Security-driven airspace restrictions during the Democratic National Convention will ground traffic reporters who patrol the skies, limiting their ability to monitor the flow on roads at a time when commuters face unprecedented highway shutdowns and anticipated traffic headaches....
That means traffic reports and advisories will be issued without the benefit of reporters seeing the congestion from the air, even as travelers are diverted off I-93 onto local roads and into areas that are unfamiliar to some drivers....
Jeff Larson, general manager of SmarTraveler, compared the loss of air access during the convention to a snowstorm, when planes and helicopters also can't fly.
"But we're in a situation here with the DNC where the traffic pattern is going to be so different for us," he said. "If it's a snowstorm and we don't have the aircraft, we have a long history of knowing what happens in snow. With the DNC, we won't know ... We've never been through this before."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
DNC security to rob motorists of eye in sky
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff
Security-driven airspace restrictions during the Democratic National Convention will ground traffic reporters who patrol the skies, limiting their ability to monitor the flow on roads at a time when commuters face unprecedented highway shutdowns and anticipated traffic headaches.
The federal restrictions will keep private helicopters and planes out of the air for a radius of 30 nautical miles around the FleetCenter, where the four-day convention will be held. Among the aircraft grounded will be the helicopters and planes used by the city's two traffic-reporting businesses and by five television stations.
That means traffic reports and advisories will be issued without the benefit of reporters seeing the congestion from the air, even as travelers are diverted off I-93 onto local roads and into areas that are unfamiliar to some drivers.
The traffic-reporting businesses SmarTraveler and Metro Networks say they'll bolster the number of reporters on the ground and make sure all 60 stationary roadside cameras are working. But those are mostly positioned along major highways, and the road closings mean 35 of them will be trained on empty or emptying roads.
Instead, officials at SmarTraveler and Metro Networks say they'll rely more on police scanners and reporters in the field -- some of whom may end up stuck in the delays they're reporting on -- to find the traffic hot spots.
The detours and closings around Boston are unprecedented, said Mariellen Burns, spokesperson for the DNC Planning Group.
"This is new territory," she said. "And we feel that the traffic reporters are a very important part of what we need to get done here ... We understand that there are airspace restrictions and we are looking at whether there is any possible way to accommodate them."
Officials at the traffic reporting companies say they plan to ask that a single helicopter be allowed to monitor traffic along Route 128, but not closer to the FleetCenter. However, Burns said it is unlikely that the Federal Aviation Administration or the federal Transportation Security Administration will grant a waiver on the airspace ban.
Jeff Larson, general manager of SmarTraveler, compared the loss of air access during the convention to a snowstorm, when planes and helicopters also can't fly.
"But we're in a situation here with the DNC where the traffic pattern is going to be so different for us," he said. "If it's a snowstorm and we don't have the aircraft, we have a long history of knowing what happens in snow. With the DNC, we won't know ... We've never been through this before."
Meanwhile, Federal Aviation Administration officials said yesterday they were completing final details on a temporary flight restriction plan around Boston for private, noncommercial flights during the convention.
The plan creates two restricted zones. One is a ring of 10 nautical miles around the FleetCenter in which commercial flights can land and take off under tight restrictions at Logan International Airport.
The larger ring is 30 nautical miles around the FleetCenter, which will keep private aircraft away from nearly anywhere within the Interstate 495 loop.
Military flights, medical emergency flights, and the State Police helicopter will be allowed in that airspace. A State Police spokeswoman referred to the US Secret Service and convention organizers questions about whether the state agency's helicopter could be used to gather traffic information. The Secret Service and DNC said the answers should come from the State Police, which did not return subsequent calls seeking comment.
The flight restrictions will also affect how some media cover the convention. For example, there will be no aerial shots of protests or live flyovers of the scene outside the FleetCenter.
"We will have no opportunity to go in the sky and take pictures of that event," said Matt Ellis, news director for CBS 4. "We'll have to wait to establish a live shot from the ground, which when you consider how traffic will flow or not flow that week, will take a lot longer."
Laura Brown, spokeswoman for the FAA, said that at the recent G8 Summit in Georgia no media outlets were granted waivers to enter a similar no-fly zone.
Jeff Brown, vice president of East Coast operations for Metro Networks, said the traffic cameras on the ground -- operated either by Metro Networks, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, or the Massachusetts Highway Department -- give the public a view of traffic congestion at key points on Route 128, Interstate 95, the Big Dig, and the turnpike.
He said he was most worried about covering the major detour route around Boston -- Route 128 -- during the convention.
"The one thing we'll end up losing is not so much an enormous amount of information but the ability to get from one place to another quickly," Brown said, noting that Metro Network's Jet Ranger helicopter goes up twice a day for 4 hours. The network also has access to two airplanes.
He said on-the-ground drivers who monitor and report traffic problems around the region -- a group Metro Network calls probes -- are being recruited to make up for the lack of air access. Normally, Brown said the company would wait for such reporters to come to them.
"We just have to work around the restrictions," he said.
But Larson noted that traffic planes and helicopters often provide key details that those on the ground cannot gather.
"With a helicopter we can see first hand if [an accident] is in the right lane, if it's 2 feet in the right lane, or all the way in the right lane," he said.
Soaring production and construction costs are pushing the Democratic National Convention well above its $64.5 million budget, with staging, building, and readying the FleetCenter for television expected to cost $10 million more than initial estimates....
The increased price tag, combined with the host committee's inability thus far to fulfill its $39.5 million fund-raising commitment, has spurred organizers in Boston and Washington into action. Yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino enlisted three top Boston business leaders to help the host committee's fund-raising efforts.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Convention going $10m over budget
Construction, production costs blamed
By Ric Klein and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
Soaring production and construction costs are pushing the Democratic National Convention well above its $64.5 million budget, with staging, building, and readying the FleetCenter for television expected to cost $10 million more than initial estimates.
According to convention organizers, construction is expected to cost $13.9 million, nearly twice the $7.2 million estimated by local and national planners in 2002. And this week organizers signed off on a production budget of $9.1 million for Ricky Kirshner Productions, up from the $6 million in the Democratic National Committee's original agreement with the host committee.
The full scope of the construction and production projects is still being finalized by convention planners, in conjunction with Senator John F. Kerry's campaign. But according to several planners, the items driving costs skyward include several that Kerry aides and Democratic Party officials want in order to give the convention a different look: Two side podiums in addition to the main stage, for example, and plans to pipe in live coverage of remote appearances around the country during the convention.
In addition, new steel beams must be installed on the FleetCenter ceiling to support a state-of-the-art lighting system that the Kerry campaign's producers want to use. New rigging for lights, sound, and video must be suspended from the ceiling because national Democrats want the main stage in the middle of the arena, not at one end, as in most concerts held at the FleetCenter.
The question of added costs has produced some unease between national and local convention planners, who may have to wrangle over who will pay for extras when convention bills come due and each gives different explanations for the sources of the larger price tag.
David A. Passafaro -- president of Boston 2004, the convention host committee -- said that much of the added costs are related to the Democrats' desire to produce a flashier convention to showcase their candidate.
"They're driven by the [Democratic National Campaign Committee]'s desire to have a better production, their drive to attract additional and new voters to the process, and their hope that they can best show their candidate to the public," he said.
While the host committee and national Democrats crafted the original budget in 2002, the first draft contained few specifics. Since Kerry locked up the party's nomination in March, his aides have become more closely involved with convention planning.
Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said costs have increased not because of added features, but because of higher-than-anticipated costs for labor and because upgrading the electrical network near the FleetCenter and providing enough space for the news media have proved costlier than expected when the convention budget was written in 2002.
Meehan said the Kerry campaign is working to raise money in conjunction with the host committtee so that those obstacles can be overcome without affecting the production. "We're interested in putting Boston's best face forward on the national stage," Meehan said. "It's obviously important to our campaign."
Convention officials say they now believe that the convention budget will be about $70 million. That's because they expect about half of the $10 million in added construction and production costs to be offset by savings elsewhere in the budget, where costs will be lower than anticipated. In addition, the final construction costs could be lower than $13.9 million, according to the host committee.
The increased price tag, combined with the host committee's inability thus far to fulfill its $39.5 million fund-raising commitment, has spurred organizers in Boston and Washington into action. Yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino enlisted three top Boston business leaders to help the host committee's fund-raising efforts.
At a private breakfast at the Parkman House, Menino asked the chief executive officers of three of the city's most prominent businesses -- David F. D'Alessandro of John Hancock Financial Services, Alan Leventhal of Beacon Capital Partners, and Jack Connors Jr. of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos -- to help tap their friends in the business community. Leventhal and Connors are two of the host committee's cochairmen; the third is Carol Bolling Fulp, who is vice president of community relations for John Hancock.
"They've been helpful in the past on the fund-raising, and they will be helpful as we continue to move forward," Menino said. "It's going fairly well, and we're making progress every day."
John Hancock, Beacon Capital, and Hill Holliday have all already given at least $100,000 each to the host committee, and Menino said he is not asking them to give more themselves. Yesterday's meeting was also attended by Passafaro, and the mayor said the business leaders were updated on planning progress as well.
It remains unclear how much, if any, local organizers would be required to raise to cover larger costs. The Kerry campaign has said it would pay for any extras it asks for. But fund-raising for the convention is technically handled by the local host committee, a fact that has raised speculation that it could be stuck with part of the bill.
Boston 2004 host committee officials point out that under its contract with the Democratic National Committee, the host committee is only responsible for bringing in $39.5 million in private donations.
The host committee is within $3 million of its $39.5 million target, and Menino has told associates that he wants to close the book on his portion of fund-raising by the end of this month, so he can concentrate on logistical planning for the convention. The Democrats will convene at the FleetCenter July 26-29.
Kerry fund-raisers have begun raising money for the host committee to cover cost overruns. Three of the Kerry's top fund-raisers, Robert Farmer, Lou Susman, and Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, are heading up those efforts.
Months of simmering discord between pols planning the Democratic National Convention boiled over yesterday in a round of public fingerpointing about soaring cost overruns.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino openly blamed national Democrats for running up the ledger sheet, bluntly saying, "It's on their dime."
National Dems, though, said the culprits were high-priced local labor along with special logistical demands from Democratic nominee-in-waiting John F. Kerry.
Democratic National Convention Committee officials said the construction costs, originally slated to be $10.7 million, have now ballooned to $13.9 million.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Dems trade darts over convention's soaring cost
By David R. Guarino and Jack Meyers
Months of simmering discord between pols planning the Democratic National Convention boiled over yesterday in a round of public fingerpointing about soaring cost overruns.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino openly blamed national Democrats for running up the ledger sheet, bluntly saying, "It's on their dime."
National Dems, though, said the culprits were high-priced local labor along with special logistical demands from Democratic nominee-in-waiting John F. Kerry.
Democratic National Convention Committee officials said the construction costs, originally slated to be $10.7 million, have now ballooned to $13.9 million. Spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said $900,000 of that increase is increased costs to outfit media workspaces and luxury suites.
She said the remaining $2.3 million boost is owed mostly to unanticipated changes and to increased labor costs. Wilhide said Boston labor costs are $1 million more than the party spent at the 2000 convention in Los Angeles.
Local Democrats, led by Menino, insisted the convention building be entirely union-only contracts - which experts say also drove up costs by as much as $2 million.
Organizers also said production costs went from $6 million to more than $9 million, driven largely by demands from Kerry's campaign, sources said.
"That's an issue for the Democratic National Committee. It's on their dime. It's not on the city's dime," Menino said. "They have to deal with those issues of the cost overruns on the convention."
Kerry's campaign denied suggestions he drove up production costs and tried to tamp down the local turmoil.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday he will make sure that city taxpayers don't have to cover cost overruns at the Democratic National Convention, saying that he believes decisions made by the national Democratic Party are responsible for the fact that construction and production costs have ballooned....
"It's their obligation," Menino told reporters at a City Hall news conference. "It's an issue for the Democratic National Committee. It's on their dime, not the city's dime, and they have to deal with those issues of the overruns in the convention costs ... It's not the City of Boston, that's for sure."
The mayor's comments sharpened a disagreement between local and national convention organizers over the source of the cost overruns. The Kerry campaign and DNC officials have said that unanticipated cost increases in labor, electricity, and providing work space for members of the news media are causing the budget spike, not any added elements ordered by the party....
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, one of Kerry's national campaign chairmen and a driving force in Boston's bid to land the convention, said any additional investment will be worth it "in order to get the message out and be able to communicate to the broadest group."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Mayor says Democrats responsible for convention overruns
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday he will make sure that city taxpayers don't have to cover cost overruns at the Democratic National Convention, saying that he believes decisions made by the national Democratic Party are responsible for the fact that construction and production costs have ballooned.
Menino said the convention show is being designed by the Democratic National Committee and Senator John F. Kerry's campaign, not the local host committee the mayor leads. Since their decisions for more expensive staging and production are adding to the convention's budget, he said an estimated $5 million in additional costs should be paid with funds raised by Kerry and the DNC.
"It's their obligation," Menino told reporters at a City Hall news conference. "It's an issue for the Democratic National Committee. It's on their dime, not the city's dime, and they have to deal with those issues of the overruns in the convention costs ... It's not the City of Boston, that's for sure."
The mayor's comments sharpened a disagreement between local and national convention organizers over the source of the cost overruns. The Kerry campaign and DNC officials have said that unanticipated cost increases in labor, electricity, and providing work space for members of the news media are causing the budget spike, not any added elements ordered by the party.
But host committee leaders have pointed out that the convention will include a range of costly features that were not anticipated when the convention's budget was designed in 2002. Those include two side podiums in addition to the main stage, live remote video feeds from around the nation that will be piped into the FleetCenter, and new steel rigging necessary to support the lighting needed for the main stage.
Peggy Wilhide, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Campaign Committee, said convention officials are committed to raising the money necessary to put on a memorable show. All fund-raising is formally conducted through the host committee, but Kerry has enlisted several of his top fund-raisers to bring in cash.
"Everybody's pulling together to raise the money necessary to put on a first-class convention," Wilhide said.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, one of Kerry's national campaign chairmen and a driving force in Boston's bid to land the convention, said any additional investment will be worth it "in order to get the message out and be able to communicate to the broadest group."
"We have a convention every four years," Kennedy said. "It's important that we have the best in terms of technology."
The city has signed off on permits for about 50 protest rallies and marches during the Democratic National Convention next month, but activists who want to take their message to the streets will have to march where and when the city tells them.
"It's really the parade routes that are the problem," said Patricia Malone, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing. "They all basically want to go during rush hour through the city of Boston."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Hub officials to DNC protesters:
You can march - on our terms
By Thomas Caywood
The city has signed off on permits for about 50 protest rallies and marches during the Democratic National Convention next month, but activists who want to take their message to the streets will have to march where and when the city tells them.
"It's really the parade routes that are the problem," said Patricia Malone, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing. "They all basically want to go during rush hour through the city of Boston."
Malone approved the requests with the condition that marches happen at a time of the city's choosing and follow a route to be mapped out by the city Department of Transportation and Boston police.
Local anti-war activists mounting what they expect to be a major rally and protest march on the DNC say they're waiting to hear from the city on permit requests filed a year in advance.
"We're moving forward with our organizing regardless," said Peter Cook, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition.
The group, whose name is an acronym for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, intends to rally July 25 on Boston Common. The march route is up in the air, Cook said, but the plan is to head for the heavily fortified FleetCenter.
Malone said the group's permits were approved Friday, but no protesters or anyone else without special credentials will be allowed on Causeway Street for security reasons.
"It seems that it's more based on trying to create a situation of hysteria that somehow having people exercise their free speech is a threat to the convention," Cook said. "I think it's a bogus argument."
Boston cabbies are up in arms over the city's suggestion they accept discounted flat-rate vouchers from 5,000 delegates needing rides to and from Logan International Airport for the Democratic National Convention next month....
A proposal that could require drivers to accept a flat rate of $8 per delegate - with a minimum of three people to a cab - was presented to cab associations two weeks ago by Mark Cohen, the civilian director of the Boston Police Department's Hackney Licensing office, drivers said last night.
The trial balloon didn't fly with the cabbies who, when operating on a meter, can earn airport fares ranging from $20 to more than $30 depending on traffic.
The flat rate also does not appear to include the $6.25 each cab must pay for tunnel tolls and a Massport fee....
"All taxi drivers should just take off on that week," scoffed one angry driver.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Unfare! Cabbies protest DNC pay: Voucher plan eyed
By Jennifer Rosinski
Boston cabbies are up in arms over the city's suggestion they accept discounted flat-rate vouchers from 5,000 delegates needing rides to and from Logan International Airport for the Democratic National Convention next month.
"It puts you in the range of what you'd make in theory, but not close enough to what it would really cost you," Peter Sheinfeld, president of Eastern Mass. Transportation Inc., said last night at the Logan taxi depot where a crowd of angry drivers gathered to vent.
"Basically what we get is the minimum fare," Sheinfeld said. "Stick with the meter, is what we're saying."
A proposal that could require drivers to accept a flat rate of $8 per delegate - with a minimum of three people to a cab - was presented to cab associations two weeks ago by Mark Cohen, the civilian director of the Boston Police Department's Hackney Licensing office, drivers said last night.
The trial balloon didn't fly with the cabbies who, when operating on a meter, can earn airport fares ranging from $20 to more than $30 depending on traffic.
The flat rate also does not appear to include the $6.25 each cab must pay for tunnel tolls and a Massport fee.
During previous conventions, officials and drivers say, transportation for delegates has been handled by private contractors.
Carole Brennan, director of external affairs at the Massachusetts Port Authority, said the transportation plans are not set in stone.
"Boston 2004 (the convention planners), the city's hackney unit and Logan have met to discuss the best way to move delegates through Logan to the city during the convention, while at the same time be able to give the taxi industry a piece of the action," she said.
"It is absolutely a work in progress," Brennan said. "Everyone at the table has the taxi industry's best interest at heart. Nothing would go into effect without their input."
A group of independent drivers and some taxi associations plan to meet tomorrow with Cohen to discuss options. A recent proposal upped the flat fee to $10 with an agreement to waive the Massport fee of $1.75. Drivers still would pay tolls.
Drivers would accept nothing less than a flat fee of $15 per person or a metered fare paid by cash, voucher or a combination of both, said Sheinfeld and other drivers.
"All taxi drivers should just take off on that week," scoffed one angry driver.
Boston taxi drivers are threatening to boycott the Democratic National Convention after city officials this week told them they may have to accept vouchers in lieu of using their meters to drive delegates to and from the airport....
"If the city won't go up to at least $45 to take three passengers, we'll go on strike," said Balwinder Gill, 37, a 10-year veteran driver from Everett. "We're just not going to take it. We're going to lose money."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Voucher proposal angers cabdrivers
By David Abel and Stephanie Vosk
Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent
Boston taxi drivers are threatening to boycott the Democratic National Convention after city officials this week told them they may have to accept vouchers in lieu of using their meters to drive delegates to and from the airport.
At the taxi pool at Logan Airport last night, irate cabdrivers said the city first told them that vouchers would be worth only $8. After meeting with city officials, drivers said the city increased the value of the vouchers to $10.
"This is absolutely crazy," said Jean Abrahm, 45, a 16-year veteran driver from Boston. "If you take one person to town, it's usually about $30, and I'm going to take one person for $10? And I have to pay the toll, too? With gas now up, this is just a rip-off."
Abrahm and other cabdrivers said last night that with all the traffic and closed roads during the convention, they worried they would lose money going to and from the airport. Instead, they said, unless the city revises its proposal, they might boycott the convention and take the week off.
Officials from the Massachusetts Port Authority said there is no final plan, but Carol Brennan, director of external affairs, said representatives from Massport, the Boston Police Department's Hackney Unit, and Boston 2004, the convention host committee, have met to discuss ways to transport the 5,000 delegates to and from Logan.
"We're trying to come up with a plan that gives [the taxi drivers] some of the business rather than move it to private contracts, which is what has historically been done," Brennan said.
She said the groups have the taxi industry's "best interest at heart."
Karen Grant, communications director for Boston 2004, said the flat rates for taxis was one of several ideas being discussed. She said the committee, which is obligated to provide transportation for the delegates to and from the airport, also is looking at using the existing airport shuttle system or hiring a private carrier.
"Right now, the goal is to figure out whatever the best method is to transport delegates from the airport to their hotels," Grant said.
Cabdrivers yesterday said city officials have offered several incentives that would make the vouchers more attractive. One incentive includes Massport waiving the $1.75 fee taxi drivers pay every time they take a fare into the city. However, drivers would still have to pay the $4.50 commercial toll, which would take a significant portion of their fare. Another incentive would allow drivers accepting vouchers to go to the front of the line at the Logan taxi pool.
"If the city won't go up to at least $45 to take three passengers, we'll go on strike," said Balwinder Gill, 37, a 10-year veteran driver from Everett. "We're just not going to take it. We're going to lose money."
Other drivers said they hope the city revises its offer at a meeting between drivers and city officials expected to be held in police headquarters at noon tomorrow.
City negotiators and officials from the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association went back into mediation yesterday afternoon, hoping to settle their rancorous contract dispute before next month's Democratic convention....
Meanwhile, Menino said firefighters' union officials "continue to change what their requirements are," which is limiting progress.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Menino 'hopeful' for end to cops' contract dispute
By Jack Meyers
City negotiators and officials from the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association went back into mediation yesterday afternoon, hoping to settle their rancorous contract dispute before next month's Democratic convention.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino refused to discuss any specifics, saying the mediator has imposed a gag rule on the talks.
However, the mayor said there has been a lot of momentum generated in the past week as the city has bargained with other unions.
"We've settled 11 contracts in seven days," Menino said. "I'm hopeful that we can come to a conclusion" with the BPPA, he said.
On Sunday, the city and the cops held their first meeting with the mediator and it lasted about 10 hours, ending early Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Menino said firefighters' union officials "continue to change what their requirements are," which is limiting progress. Nick Dimarino, president of the firefighters' union, said no talks are scheduled and did not comment on Menino's criticism. Other sources said city residency rules are the remaining sticking point with the firefighters' union.
In a setback, the city's 216 school crossing guards voted down a tentative agreement negotiated with the city two weeks ago. The pact, which called for a 10 percent wage hike over four years, was defeated unanimously Tuesday.
The union's members voted down the deal after news media reported other city unions getting higher raises.
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