–
Boston DNC Convention 2004 –
Anatomy of an inevitable taxpayer mugging
– Page 13 –
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
Kerry campaign officials - frustrated that the state nixed a special Democratic convention Boston Pops concert - charged the Romney administration sat on their permit request and failed to even discuss the issue with them.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Friday, July 9, 2004
Pops goes Dem concert plans: State:
No cops for Esplanade gig
By Dave Wedge and David R. Guarino
Kerry campaign officials - frustrated that the state nixed a special Democratic convention Boston Pops concert - charged the Romney administration sat on their permit request and failed to even discuss the issue with them.
They said the GOP governor, Mitt Romney, as head of the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, should know multiple large events can be managed amid terror threats.
"Look at the Olympics in Utah, where you have big national events and have many events happen at one time," said Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan. "It's been done before. It's been done by people involved in this before."
Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] wanted the special July 28 Pops concert and fireworks display during the convention week as a "gift" to the general public of a "classic Boston experience." The event was expected to draw 200,000 people to the Esplanade.
But state officials say the decision to nix the Hatch Shell bash was "based on extraordinary public safety and security concerns," not politics.
"Our concerns about this are strictly and narrowly related to overcapacity," Secretary of Public Safety Edward Flynn said.
Flynn said the additional manpower "simply isn't there" to host what amounts to another Fourth of July event amid the unprecedented security at the convention.
But Meehan said the issue was never discussed with the Kerry campaign before the state rejected the proposal. "They say ... they have legitimate concerns. We respect that, but we had hoped we would have had a chance to discuss them. The application went in a couple of months ago."
In a letter to Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Katherine Abbott that prompted her to deny the permit, Flynn said, "The demands for personnel are so severe that we must rely on out of state resources including state police officers from all other New England states."
State officials rejected John Kerry's request yesterday for a Boston Pops concert on the Esplanade during the Democratic National Convention, saying it would require a massive security effort and create gridlock amounting to a "serious public safety hazard."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, July 9, 2004
State turns down Kerry concert bid on security grounds
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
State officials rejected John Kerry's request yesterday for a Boston Pops concert on the Esplanade during the Democratic National Convention, saying it would require a massive security effort and create gridlock amounting to a "serious public safety hazard."
In a letter to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which issues permits for performances on the Esplanade, Public Safety Secretary Edward A. Flynn said the concert would pose a security risk that the city couldn't handle.
With Boston strained by traffic and security precautions during the week of the convention, the "necessary personnel and resources needed to properly secure the proposed event will not be available," Flynn said in his letter.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference shortly after federal security officials warned about terrorist threats during the run-up to November's elections, Flynn said the difficulties would be compounded by the short time remaining before the concert.
"We have spent 18 months planning this particular event," Flynn said of the Democratic convention. "Quite frankly, the planning capacity in the remaining three weeks, to police an event that might have 200,000 to 500,000 people attending it, simply isn't there. This is one additional event that would be inappropriate at this time with the current threat conditions and the available resources."
Commissioner Katherine F. Abbott of the Conservation Department immediately issued a brief statement denying the Kerry campaign's request for a permit.
The decision was made days after city officials, already engaged in a public spat with Kerry over perceived snubs in recent weeks, raised questions about the concert. They questioned whether an event organized by a political campaign would be legal at the Hatch Shell, whose use is restricted to public events under terms of the state trust that controls it, and whether it would strain police resources. Flynn's ruling did not address questions about the legality of the event at the Hatch Shell.
Flynn said that politics played no role in the decision and that Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, had no influence over the recommendation.
"It was charged to me to make the decision strictly and narrowly on public safety grounds," Flynn said. "The governor's office was adamant about that."
The Kerry campaign began the application process in May, proposing a free July 28 event featuring James Taylor, the Boston Pops, and a fireworks display. Aides described it as a way to give something back to the people of Boston and said Kerry was "quite hell-bent for it."
But criticism came from several quarters, as some residents complained that the event would atttract several hundred thousand people, creating more headaches in a city already inconvenienced by the convention. Some convention planners pointed out that the event would have taken place the same night that police and other security forces would be needed for the vice presidential nominee's address at the FleetCenter.
Kerry's senior campaign adviser, Michael Meehan, said he was disappointed that the permit application was rejected without giving the campaign a chance to address security concerns.
"The permit was applied for two months ago, and we never had a chance to discuss any of their concerns," Meehan said.
He said the campaign will still try to host a Pops concert or other event to "thank the people of Boston and Massachusetts for staging the convention," though other campaign officials said it might be after the convention.
Friction had been increasing between Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Kerry, who canceled plans to speak at the US Conference of Mayors in Boston rather than cross a union picket line. Menino later called the Kerry campaign incompetent, saying he suspected Kerry's aides had leaked a story that the mayor hung up on Kerry during a heated phone call. Menino has denied hanging up on Kerry.
Menino also had been angered when Kerry floated the idea of not accepting the nomination at the convention to store away more campaign funds.
Though Menino has publicly insisted that his problems with Kerry have been overblown, aides have said he remained miffed.
Menino would not comment yesterday on the state's decision. His spokesman, Seth Gitell, said the action was "not Mayor Menino's."
A spokeswoman for Romney, who had spoken in Kerry's place at the mayors' conference, insisted that politics was not a factor it the decision.
"Absolutely not," said the spokeswoman, Shawn Feddeman.
Despite security concerns about a Pops concert on the Esplanade, the city will host a Pops concert at City Hall Plaza during the convention.
Boston 2004 president David Passafaro said the City Hall event poses much less of a security problem because it will take place Sunday night, before the convention officially begins.
"We don't have the deployment of security people in the FleetCenter [on Sunday] in the kinds of numbers there would be on the proposed day of Wednesday," he said. "The difference in the dates is fairly critical."
The Bush administration warned again yesterday that Al Qaeda terrorists are "moving forward" with plans to attack the United States during the presidential campaign, but said authorities have no specific intelligence that this month's Democratic National Convention in Boston, or its Republican counterpart in New York, is a target.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, July 9, 2004
Al Qaeda planning attack, Ridge says
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration warned again yesterday that Al Qaeda terrorists are "moving forward" with plans to attack the United States during the presidential campaign, but said authorities have no specific intelligence that this month's Democratic National Convention in Boston, or its Republican counterpart in New York, is a target.
"Credible reporting now indicates that Al Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said. "We live in serious times, and this is sobering information about those who wish to do us harm."
Ridge did not raise the national terror risk alert and said authorities have no specific information about the time, place, and nature of any planned attack. But he said he would visit Boston and New York to review security preparations.
Asked at an afternoon news briefing about the timing of the announcement -- which interrupted coverage of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's selection of John Edwards as his running mate -- White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied a political motive.
"We have an obligation, regardless of the time of year or what year we are in, to protect the American people and keep them informed about what we are doing to provide for their safety and security," McClellan said. "This is an update to the American people. And it is also important to update them on the protective measures that we have put in place . . . in certain areas of the country where terrorists might want to strike."
A senior intelligence official, briefing reporters after Ridge spoke, was also asked what new threat information came in since the last public warning. The official described daily "nuggets" that add to a growing body of knowledge about Al Qaeda's intentions and capabilities.
Ridge also announced the opening of a Homeland Security Operations Center, described as a 24-hour national nerve center for information sharing and incident response, as well as new programs to track the movements of high-risk trucks on US highways, monitor the perimeters of high-risk chemical plants, and issue hand-held radiation detectors to police.
Such measures, Ridge said, will help ensure security for the major party political conventions, each of which will concentrate much of the country's political leadership in one place. The Democratic convention is set for Boston's Flee Center from July 26 to 29, while the Republicans will have theirs in New York City's Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.
"We are working very closely with state and local officials in New York and Boston," Ridge said. "I will soon travel to those sites myself to review the security measures being implemented."
Ridge and other national security officials have repeatedly warned that Al Qaeda may try to repeat its success in the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid, credited with swinging Spain's vote toward a party that pledged to pull its troops out of Iraq.
On May 26, just before Memorial Day weekend and the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller held a similar news conference to warn about threats to the summer's national events. Ridge had issued a similar call for vigilance on April 19.
Yesterday, Ridge cited recent arrests of suspected Al Qaeda members in England, Jordan, and Italy as evidence that the group is active. He also said Homeland Security is focusing on the Boston and New York subway systems because terrorists have attacked rail lines in Madrid, Moscow, and Tokyo in recent years.
Both Boston's FleetCenter and New York's Madison Square Garden are adjacent to train stations.
"Clearly, given the particular venues that have been selected and the proximity to railroad and mass transit, that is of a concern, but we feel we can adequately address it," Ridge said. "One of the reasons we've been able to draw that conclusion is because of the extraordinary cooperation with state and local law enforcement."
The senior intelligence official told reporters that because Al Qaeda has had success overseas using truck bombs, the government suspects the group may try to use them on American bridges and tunnels. The network also remains interested in targeting planes, possibly for hijackings, as it did in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he said.
The US Secret Service is heading security for both conventions. Several transit security measures are on its list in Boston, including the closure of North Station and Interstate 93.
In Boston, Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety Edward Flynn said officials have planned for the convention for the past 18 months, spending "thousands of hours and millions of dollars" on a security plan that will deploy thousands of police officers.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino stressed there is no specific intelligence "that pertains to the greater Boston area at all." And Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said federal and local officials are prepared for "every possible scenario" to ensure that the convention is safe.
"I think it's important that we do not overreact to reports," she said. "We have to be vigilant. We have to be concerned, of course. But I know we're very well prepared for this event."
In New York, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly also told reporters that the terror warning would not change security operations because the city already was on high alert.
In a statement, the Kerry campaign accused the Bush administration of failing to do enough to protect against another attack.
"Our crucial intelligence and military resources are overstretched abroad and our homeland security effort at home is underfunded and poorly managed," it said. "We need a serious effort and serious programs to protect our ports and trains, our chemical and nuclear plants, and other critical infrastructure resources."
Congressman Edward Markey, Democrat of Malden, said the threat information should persuade Congress to grant a bipartisan request by the New York and Massachusetts delegations for $50 million in federal security funding for the conventions. "A successful attack at either convention would be a devastating blow to the political process and to our country's collective psyche," he said.
Globe correspondent Heather Allen and Globe staff writers Glen Johnson and Shelley Murphy contributed to this report from Boston.
If $95 million plopped into the laps of local politicians, they could throw a convention for 35,000 Democrats and reporters -- or fly every Bostonian to Orlando. Or easily pay the salary of the New York Yankees' infield.
The cost of the Democratic convention is now pegged at $95 million, nearly twice the amount city officials originally forecast in 2002. At least half of that total is expected to be public money, mostly the federal government's share of security costs, and the rest is private donations. Another $14.9 million is coming from the federal government for the convention committee....
The money could build nine 500-student elementary schools or cover the cost of refurbishing 50 structurally deficient bridges. The money could pay for 19,000 street lights. Or it could buy Chevrolet Malibus, which cost about $26,000 each, for every one of the 3,632 people who live in Nahant.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, July 9, 2004
Counting ways to blow the convention's budget
By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
If $95 million plopped into the laps of local politicians, they could throw a convention for 35,000 Democrats and reporters -- or fly every Bostonian to Orlando. Or easily pay the salary of the New York Yankees' infield.
The cost of the Democratic convention is now pegged at $95 million, nearly twice the amount city officials originally forecast in 2002. At least half of that total is expected to be public money, mostly the federal government's share of security costs, and the rest is private donations. Another $14.9 million is coming from the federal government for the convention committee.
Sure, the convention's backers boast that the event will yield "positive impacts that will continue for months or even years." But it also will shut down highways, scare away tourists, and prevent the city from hosting other high-profile events later this month.
So what else could we get for $95 million?
Bostonians weary from the convention will probably want a vacation: Round-trip flights to Orlando in late July and August are running about $160, so there's enough money to purchase tickets for all 589,141 city residents. Or the money could bring Boston the Yankees' star-studded infield, which is paid $53 million this year. Think Kobe Bryant would look great in green? At Bryant's current salary, the Celtics could sign the superstar free agent for seven years.
The money could build nine 500-student elementary schools or cover the cost of refurbishing 50 structurally deficient bridges. The money could pay for 19,000 street lights. Or it could buy Chevrolet Malibus, which cost about $26,000 each, for every one of the 3,632 people who live in Nahant.
Of course, residents of that North Shore town would be wise to steer their new Chevys far away from Interstate 93 between July 26 and 29.
With some 40 miles of roadway being closed for the convention and with hospitals and nursing homes located in or near a zone of heightened security around the FleetCenter, the caller wondered if arrangements had been made to transport the dead.
"I thought we had talked about it all," Baddour said. "They raised a legitimate point: What are they supposed to do with the bodies? It's an area I'm sure no one thought of." ...
But despite the assurances, some funeral directors say that security restrictions, road closures, and convention-related traffic mean that funerals in downtown Boston could all but come to a halt during the week of the convention.
The problem is bigger than the inconvenience to families who may decide to delay memorial services and burials, the funeral directors say. Many nursing homes and some hospitals, most notably Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital next door to the FleetCenter, lack refrigerated facilities for storing bodies....
With most wakes held in the afternoon and early evening, Richard Sullivan of Sullivan Funeral Home in Brighton said that even if hearses get through security checkpoints, funeral guests probably would not....
"We just have to pray that everybody stays healthy," said Marguerite Arrigo, office manager at the Langone Funeral Home.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Death won't take a holiday
Fearing convention road closures,
morticians seek access to transport bodies
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
For months, state Senator Steven A. Baddour's office has fielded calls on just about every gripe imaginable about the upcoming Democratic National Convention, from bus companies worrying about access to South Station to commuters complaining about the shutdown of Interstate 93. The cochairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, considering himself a problem-solver, had an answer for most of them. But then John Linnehan called.
"I didn't have an answer on this one," the senator confessed recently.
It turns out nobody did.
The caller was a Haverhill funeral home owner who raised a point that was apparently overlooked as federal and local law enforcement officials finalized plans for one of the most complex and expansive security lockdowns in the city's history. With some 40 miles of roadway being closed for the convention and with hospitals and nursing homes located in or near a zone of heightened security around the FleetCenter, the caller wondered if arrangements had been made to transport the dead.
"I thought we had talked about it all," Baddour said. "They raised a legitimate point: What are they supposed to do with the bodies? It's an area I'm sure no one thought of."
Baddour hastily arranged a State House meeting with convention security officials, who told funeral directors they would try to find ways to accomodate hearses entering the security zone to recover bodies. But despite the assurances, some funeral directors say that security restrictions, road closures, and convention-related traffic mean that funerals in downtown Boston could all but come to a halt during the week of the convention.
The problem is bigger than the inconvenience to families who may decide to delay memorial services and burials, the funeral directors say. Many nursing homes and some hospitals, most notably Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital next door to the FleetCenter, lack refrigerated facilities for storing bodies.
"And it's not exactly the coolest time of year," said David Casper of Casper Funeral Home in South Boston.
After last week's meeting, security officials promised to let hearses into high-security areas if funeral directors call in advance.
But worried about heavy traffic, detours, and long waits at security checkpoints, several funeral directors said they plan to make trips only in the early-morning hours.
"You might have to go 5 miles north and turn around just to go to a place that's a mile north of you," said Dino Manca, director of Joseph A. Langone Jr. Funeral Home in the North End. "I guess we'll do it after midnight if we have to."
At Spaulding, whose 296 beds are often occupied by elderly patients, officials plan to work with nearby Massachusetts General Hospital to transport bodies to refrigerated facilities if need be.
"We have a relationship with Mass. General," Spaulding spokeswoman Christine McDonald said. "We will work with them, if for some reason we need to transport a body."
Massachusetts General officials say they have pledged to help Spaulding in any way they can.
"We are going to work with all the other hospitals to make sure our patients get in and out -- and, I guess, cadavers," said spokeswoman Julie Bergan.
With most wakes held in the afternoon and early evening, Richard Sullivan of Sullivan Funeral Home in Brighton said that even if hearses get through security checkpoints, funeral guests probably would not.
"It would be short-sighted to schedule a wake during that week," he said.
Manca has made arrangements with affiliated homes in East Boston and Everett to host services if grieving families don't want to wait until after the convention to bury their loved ones.
On the positive side, some directors said, is the sporadic nature of their business.
Casper Funeral Home has occasionally had to pick up several bodies in one day, then hasn't had a pickup for a week. "That's the thing about the funeral business," Casper said.
Some hope that circumstances reduce the need.
"We just have to pray that everybody stays healthy," said Marguerite Arrigo, office manager at the Langone Funeral Home.
It's a good thing that state Secretary of Public Safety Edward Flynn had the sense to nix John Kerry's plan to hold a Boston Pops Concert on the Esplanade during the Democratic National Convention.
C'mon, Senator. In case you hadn't heard, Boston will be the site of the most expensive and largest nonmilitary law enforcement buildup in the history of the United States.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Sunday, July 11, 2004
No fiddling while Beantown burn$
By Howard Manly
It's a good thing that state Secretary of Public Safety Edward Flynn had the sense to nix John Kerry's plan to hold a Boston Pops Concert on the Esplanade during the Democratic National Convention.
C'mon, Senator. In case you hadn't heard, Boston will be the site of the most expensive and largest nonmilitary law enforcement buildup in the history of the United States. It only will be outspent and outdone by New York in its anti-terrorism efforts during the Republican National Convention.
Convention organizers predict they will spend$50 million for security. They also estimate that $32.5 million of that amount will go to pay overtime for local police, fire, transportation and emergency medical workers. The closing of I-93, North Station and a wide stretch of other roads - about 40 miles worth of heavily traveled asphalt - is expected to cost about $7 million in traffic enforcement and alternative means of transportation.
Nearly $4 million will be spent on equipment, including a security camera system around the FleetCenter, upgraded communications and detection equipment, bulletproof vests, munitions and other supplies.
Yup, that's right. Munitions. And lectures from experts on suicide bombers and crowd control.
Though actual manpower details will not be revealed, DNC organizers say at least 20 law enforcement agencies will be involved. Local and state police officers from other states will be on hand. Boston police already have canceled vacation time for employees and said officers will have 12-hour shifts.
Given what is known about this staggering anti-terrorism effort - and much is unknown at this point - it's a little odd, almost clueless, that Kerry would suggest inviting as many as 200,000 people to what amounts to a heavily armed camp. And with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suggesting Thursday that he had "credible" intelligence reports of terrorist plots "to disrupt our democratic process," it's even more curious that a Kerry spokesman would attack Flynn's decision as Republican politics rather than a genuine concern about security.
While Kerry and Boston 2004 organizers are spending an inordinate amount of time making sure Democratic delegates have a grand old time inside the FleetCenter and at various "official" parties throughout the city, some are wondering about the non-monetary costs associated with the law enforcement buildup. One such critic is Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.
She points out that while everyone wants to particpate and enjoy a safe convention, the recent MBTA decision to randomly search anyone "acting suspiciously" is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from such arbitrary law enforcement behavior.
"How ironic would it be that we must give up some of our core democratic principles in order to hold a political convention?" she asked. "We need to make sure that we have balance and reason and not just pretend security instead of effective security. It would be a tragedy to simply have violations of individual privacy rights. It would be even more egregious to give people a sense of false security."
Rose explained the MBTA has dispatched about 250 officers to monitor the estimated 1 million T riders and commuters throughout the public transportation system.
It's impossible for that many officers to effectively maintain an anti-terrorism system among that many people. The MBTA has made it quite clear their plan includes random searches. But it also will rely on the eyes and ears of T riders - "See something, say something." It remains unclear whether a passenger's tip is enough to justify the search of someone characterized as "suspicious." Already, homeless men and women, more drunk than threatening, have complained they are being locked up for so-called security reasons.
The other concern is the heavy buildup of local and state police officers from outside Boston.
"The Boston police have a history of effective crowd control that has not shown a pattern of abusive behavior," Rose said. "But other police officers who may not be accustomed to Boston's command and control style of policing may not receive enough training to prevent what has been a disturbing tendency when large amounts of police officers are assembled to control a crowd. That tendency has been to use a disproportionate amount of force to what's necessary to gain control of a situation."
No one can predict in this day and age of uncertainty what might happen during the DNC, and it's better to be overprotected than under. But having another party, right outside the Fleet demilitarized zone would cause more problems than any symbol of Kerry's largesse would be worth.
After 18 months of planning, and just days before an estimated 35,000 visitors descend on Boston for the Democratic National Convention, federal, state, and local law enforcement officials will roll out the most ambitious security operation ever mounted in New England.
At a cost of about $50 million, or nearly half the convention's budget, an estimated 3,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from nearly 100 departments will be assigned to police the convention, fanning out across a city that officials fear could be an attractive target for extremists.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Convention gears for top security
US, state, and local officers set for Boston
By Kevin Cullen, Globe Staff
After 18 months of planning, and just days before an estimated 35,000 visitors descend on Boston for the Democratic National Convention, federal, state, and local law enforcement officials will roll out the most ambitious security operation ever mounted in New England.
At a cost of about $50 million, or nearly half the convention's budget, an estimated 3,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from nearly 100 departments will be assigned to police the convention, fanning out across a city that officials fear could be an attractive target for extremists.
Officials say they are on the watch not just for Islamic militants but also domestic terrorists, including far-right and antiabortion extremists who consider the Democratic Party especially hostile to their views, and far-left radicals who oppose capitalism.
Officers will be policing what Democratic officials bill as a giant party. They will seal off huge swaths of land and shut down about 40 miles of roadway leading to the FleetCenter, where the convention will be held July 26 to 29. About 5,000 delegates and thousands of others will face strict scrutiny at the first national political convention since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"The level of security will be unprecedented," said Kathleen M. O'Toole, the Boston police commissioner, who says law enforcement officials have prepared for any possible scenario of violent disruption. Citing security concerns, law enforcement officials would not say exactly when the deployment would begin.
More daunting than protecting the huge, tightly secured FleetCenter, is the task of protecting delegates and thousands of others attending the parties that are part of the formal nomination of the presumptive presidential candidate, John F. Kerry, whose Beacon Hill home, less than a mile from the convention, will be fortified.
No potential risk is considered too small, officials say. Around the convention site, manhole covers will be sealed, surveillance cameras have been installed, and mailboxes and trash bins that could hold a bomb have been removed. Newspaper vending boxes have been ordered removed from about 20 streets, including Boylston and Newbury, a good distance away from the FleetCenter. Uniformed and plainclothes police and security guards will be watching hotel lobbies, corridors, and stairwells.
Boston Police Superintendent Robert Dunford, who is in charge of the department's convention security, said police have advised businesses and residents around the North Station area to prepare for inconveniences. Deliveries, for example, will be restricted to from 2 a.m. to noon. He said restaurants were advised to stock up on nonperishable items. Dunford said hotels have adopted heightened levels of security. In nearby residential areas, such as the Charles River Park apartments, residents will have to show identification to get into garages.
Rich Lucas, regional manager for Equity Residential, which manages Charles River Park, which has about 1,800 residents, said the Secret Service has asked residents to keep their "eyes and ears open."
Steven Ricciardi, the special agent-in-charge of the Boston office of the US Secret Service, which is the lead agency at the convention site, said officials had prepared for "all sorts of scenarios."
Ricciardi said the Secret Service, by law, will provide protection for former presidents and their spouses, as well as the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The US Capitol Police will be sending officers from its dignitary protection unit to guard members of Congress and their families, according to Michael Lauer, a spokesman for the agency.
As they attempt to throw a security blanket over the city, officials must abide by the First Amendment, which gives those determined to protest -- from anarchists looking for a platform to police officers looking for a raise -- the right to gather, creating another potential flashpoint in a 29,000-square-foot "free-speech zone" near the FleetCenter.
Civil libertarians worry that the intense security could at times be overzealous and arbitrary, leading police to rely on racial and ethnic profiling and prejudice rather than on reasonable suspicion. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts says MBTA Police plans to randomly search bags of passengers are unconstitutional and ineffective, "pretend security," in the words of ACLU executive director Carol Rose. She said she is especially concerned about police from smaller departments who will be under Boston police command as part of larger tactical task forces.
Dunford said members of multiagency tactical forces "are extremely well trained," and he said all officers working the convention have been trained to engage in "behavioral profiling" that focuses on how people act, not their race or ethnicity. He said Boston police will not randomly search bags or individuals.
"If you're walking down the street in a full-length jacket in the middle of the summer, or hauling a backpack that looks too heavy, you're going to attract our attention," he said.
As police fan out across the city, so, too, will those determined to deter and report abuses of authority. Urszula Masny-Latos, director of the National Lawyers Guild in Boston, said that by the time the convention starts, her chapter will have trained more than 100 "legal observers" who will scrutinize the way police interact with demonstrators.
"During the week, there will be about 150 to 160 legal observers on the streets, across the city," she said.
Some terrorism specialists say the intense security makes it highly unlikely that Islamic extremists, such as Al Qaeda members or sympathizers, will attack. But the same sources said that anything is possible and caution against concentrating too heavily on Islamic extremists, given the greater ease with which domestic extremists can move about without attracting attention.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge acknowledged Thursday that US officials have no intelligence about a specific threat against either the Democratic convention here or the Republican convention in New York next month.
Jessica Stern, a fellow in the International Security Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, who has interviewed Islamic extremists and written extensively about terrorism, said she believes "New York is a far more attractive target" than Boston.
Vincent Cannistraro, former CIA terrorism chief, said Al Qaeda's history suggests it attacks soft targets when security is lax. "They hit accessible targets, so with all the focus on security at these conventions, it would be unusual for something to happen," he said.
But Cannistraro, Stern, and other terrorism specialists said the Boston convention could be at risk from white supremacists or antiabortion extremists who fit a profile that accounts for the vast majority of people who will fill the city during the convention: white Americans.
The preconvention scrutiny of delegates is expected to be about the same as at past conventions, where background checks were the norm. Donald W. Anderson, a US Secret Service special agent in Boston, said, "Our name-checking policy has remained the same. It was thorough before, and it's thorough now."
Some delegates are being warned to expect extra-tight security. Maine delegates were given a long list of objects prohibited inside the FleetCenter, including umbrellas, sealed envelopes, and flashlights, and were told to anticipate possible searches not only at the FleetCenter, but also as they board buses at their hotels.
To guard against violence, police are wheeling out new gadgets, paid for with federal grants specifically targeting terrorism. Boston police have launched a 57-foot harbor patrol boat, while State Police have new hazard suits to ward off chemical and biological weapons. Borrowing from technology that the British Army perfected in Northern Ireland, State Police helicopters now have cameras that can read license plates on moving cars.
Every officer of the 2,032-member Boston Police Department will be working 12-hour shifts, covering not just the convention area but ordinary, everyday policing in the entire city. After what is expected to be an exhausting week, law enforcement officers will find some solace in overtime checks that are expected to total $32 million.
While off-duty, some Boston officers will be walking picket lines to showcase their demands for a new contract. Police officers from out of town are expected to join them, including those traveling with the New York and California delegations.
There will also be the biggest concentration of bomb-sniffing dogs ever assembled in a city, police officials said, among them much of the 100-dog canine unit of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
On the water, the US Coast Guard will conduct random searches of all boats, commercial and pleasure, before they enter Boston Harbor, or, in the case of the popular Boston Duck Tours, before they enter the Charles River and get near the Fleet.
About 1,300 troopers and officers from the tactical, motorcycle, mounted, air, canine, and marine units of the State Police will operate out of a command center on the Charles. Troopers from other New England states will help patrol Massachusetts highways, freeing Massachusetts troopers to work the convention, Dunford said.
"The overriding threat is terrorism," said Colonel Thomas G. Robbins, superintendent of the State Police. "We will be extra vigilant in all observations of all comings and goings related to the convention."
Expecting to make an average of 200 to 300 arrests daily during the convention week, officials are preparing for a crush of extra cases and prisoners. Fifteen prosecutors from the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley will handle the cases, while lawyers and volunteers from the Suffolk Lawyers for Justice will represent defendants, according to David Procopio, a spokesman for Conley.
To make room for those arrested during the convention, about 140 prisoners -- federal detainees held on immigration violations -- will be moved to holding cells outside the city, according to Elizabeth Keeley, chief of staff for Suffolk Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral.
Officials seem confident, and realistic. As Edward A. Flynn, Massachusetts secretary of public safety, put it: "I'm too much of a fatalist and Irish Catholic to say we are ready for anything at any time. We've tried to anticipate as many scenarios as possible."
Globe staff members Stephen Kurkjian, Shelley Murphy, Sean P. Murphy, and Michael Paulson contributed to this report.
Boston is busy girding for the Democratic National Convention. With any luck, it will be the last....
But let's confront the truth: For the delegates there will be no functions beyond the ones in hotel ballrooms and hospitality suites. For the thousands of reporters there will be no story, except to point out that there is no
story...
Later this month the Democrats should make another promise. They should promise never to do this again.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Sunday, July 11, 2004
No more political conventions, please
By David M. Shribman
Boston is busy girding for the Democratic National Convention. With any luck, it will be the last.
The parties do know how to throw great parties. There will be open bars, steaming cups of chowder, plenty of bunting and balloons, and probably a lot of people wearing stupid hats too.
But there won't be much else. A few pallid speeches, a handful of contrived rallies, clutches of earnest protesters, some clever political buttons. But let's confront the truth: For the delegates there will be no functions beyond the ones in hotel ballrooms and hospitality suites. For the thousands of reporters there will be no story, except to point out that there is no story.
This is no knock on the Democrats, who after all invented this institution and used it to nominate Andrew Jackson, to celebrate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and inebriate many thousands of delegates over the years. The Republican National Convention in New York will be no better, nor more sober. Mark my words: Correspondents at both events will dismiss the proceedings as a "coronation," and two days after the closing gavel -- barring a catastrophic security incident -- no one will remember a thing that happened at either of them. If you doubt me, take this simple test: Can you recall a single phrase from a speech, a single image from the hall, or a single vote on a controversial issue from either convention four years ago? Or even where they were held?
It wasn't always this way, of course. National political conventions are peculiarly American spectacles; they place politicians in sports arenas, after all, combining the nation's two richest spectator events. In their heyday they were an expression of true democracy and, for a time, the reforming spirit.
Over the years they have been the settings for true drama: The 103 ballots (in a 17-day struggle in Madison Square Garden) that the Democrats needed in 1924 to nominate John W. Davis. The open struggle for vice president that John F. Kennedy lost to Estes Kefeauver after ripples of vote shifts in the second ballot in 1956. The battle over competing delegations -- one black, one white -- from Mississippi at the 1964 convention that nominated Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey.
But here's a sobering thought: Political conventions were created to nominate presidential candidates, but there hasn't been a second ballot at an American political convention in the last half-century.
H.L. Mencken, who loved conventions -- almost certainly because they possessed an intoxicating mix of pomp and pomposity -- once wrote that most speakers at political conventions seemed "plainly on furlough from some home for extinct volcanoes." In recent years the volcanic lava that has spewed forth from convention rostrums has been peculiarly heavy, and peculiarly forgettable.
Indeed, in the entire past half-century there may have been only four great convention speeches: John Kennedy's remarks setting out the New Frontier in Los Angeles in 1960; Barry Goldwater's extremism-in-the-defense-of-liberty speech in San Francisco in 1964; Edward M. Kennedy's dream-will-never-die speech in New York in 1980; and Mario Cuomo's city-on-a-hill speech in San Francisco in 1984. You will note that the last two, which transfixed hushed audiences, weren't even delivered by the nominees.
The rest of the remarks can't compete with what you might hear at Speaker's Corner on a soggy day.
Conventions in the modern age have only one plausible purpose, and that is to gather the faithful under one roof. Sometimes that backfires, mostly because many of the faithful can't stand each other. Which is why the parties themselves often have reason to wish they hadn't met at all.
The Democrats could have lived without the civil war that broke out in the streets of Chicago in 1968, and the Republicans sure could have lived without the call to arms in the cultural wars that Pat Buchanan proclaimed at the Houston convention in 1992. Neither party won the election that year.
Conventions are often the settings for great promises. Walter F. Mondale promised in San Francisco in 1984, for example, to raise taxes. He never got the chance. George H.W. Bush, in the read-my-lips speech at New Orleans in 1988, promised not to. He wishes the words never passed his lips.
In fact, in the 11 conventions I have attended over the years the only convention promise I can remember that was actually kept was the one I thought the least likely. It came four years ago, under an umbrella around the pool of the Beverly Hilton in California. The promise came from the mayor of Boston, Tom Menino. He vowed to win the next Democratic convention to Boston.
Later this month the Democrats should make another promise. They should promise never to do this again.
David M. Shribman, for a decade the Washington bureau chief of the Globe, is executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The federal government has begun shipping chemical warfare antidotes to different parts of the country, with Boston and New York at the top of the list thanks to the Democratic and Republican conventions....
Meanwhile, neighbors of the Democratic convention site said the latest anti-terror news is one more reason not to love it.
"We're trying to get away," said George Burden, whose view includes the Fleet Center, who said he's irked the convention is "forcing us out of our apartment."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 14, 2003
Hub hospitals to get chem antidotes
By Jules Crittenden
The federal government has begun shipping chemical warfare antidotes to different parts of the country, with Boston and New York at the top of the list thanks to the Democratic and Republican conventions.
The stockpiles are supposed to be available to local emergency rooms within an hour in the event of an attack, public health officials have told the Boston Herald.
State and federal officials have refused to discuss details of the program in the past, but a Centers for Disease Control official has acknowledged the program is being accelerated.
"It's a quick way for hospitals to know they'll have the antidotes they need," Donna Knutson, CDC's deputy director of terrorism preparedness, told The Associated Press.
The CDC began shipping four months ago. The gurney-sized packs come with a variety of antidotes to known terrorist weapons; atropine to fight nerve agents, amyl nitrite for cyanide, with autoinjectors for use at the site of an attack and others packaged for emergency-room use. The CDC confirmed New York and Boston got shipments earlier than planned because of the conventions.
The CDC said it is up to state health officials to distribute the packs. Officials have told the Herald supplies are being stored outside the city in undisclosed locations, to be rushed where they are needed.
The chem-packs will ensure "you have a ready cache of supplies if you have a large number of chemical victims," said Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association. "The right doses will be there, and hopefully you don't have to worry about people making up medications and overdosing or underdosing patients."
Meanwhile, neighbors of the Democratic convention site said the latest anti-terror news is one more reason not to love it.
"We're trying to get away," said George Burden, whose view includes the Fleet Center, who said he's irked the convention is "forcing us out of our apartment."
Transportation planners, worried about gridlock during the Democratic National Convention, plan new restrictions on Interstate 93 as part of an effort to persuade drivers to use Route 128 instead.
Planners had already announced that the 6-mile stretch of I-93 that snakes through downtown past the FleetCenter will be closed from approximately 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. each day during the convention. Under the restrictions detailed yesterday, only two lanes of traffic will be allowed on the portions of the interstate north and south of the city that will remain open.
In addition, if the congestion gets too heavy, a longer stretch of the interstate will be shut down altogether.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
I-93 loses 3d lane to convention
Planners hope flexibility will avert gridlock
By Anthony Flint, Globe Staff
Transportation planners, worried about gridlock during the Democratic National Convention, plan new restrictions on Interstate 93 as part of an effort to persuade drivers to use Route 128 instead.
Planners had already announced that the 6-mile stretch of I-93 that snakes through downtown past the FleetCenter will be closed from approximately 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. each day during the convention. Under the restrictions detailed yesterday, only two lanes of traffic will be allowed on the portions of the interstate north and south of the city that will remain open.
In addition, if the congestion gets too heavy, a longer stretch of the interstate will be shut down altogether.
"We're restricting it down to two lanes because if, God forbid, nobody pays attention to us and that road turns into a parking lot, we'll have fewer cars to worry about," said State Police Major Michael Mucci, who is coordinating the convention-related road closures that have been prompted by security concerns.
The restrictions could set off more anxiety, as commuters and planners alike worry about logjams that could result during the four-day party gala, which begins July 26. The traffic closures are among the most controversial of the security measures adopted for the convention, with some residents calling them an overreaction and others confused by the detours and changes and fearful that traffic in the region will be overwhelming.
Transportation planners say their goal is to reduce by half the volume of cars and trucks on I-93, which typically carries some 8,500 vehicles an hour. But officials are also trying to prevent local roads, especially around Medford, from being overwhelmed by traffic exiting I-93 at the last possible departure points closest to Boston. Mayors in the close-in communities have expressed concern that their streets will be so clogged by drivers exiting I-93 that emergency vehicles won't be able to get through.
Mariellen Burns, spokeswoman for the convention planning group coordinating security and transportation, said, "We're not going to let any community get gridlocked."
Travel was already going to be more difficult for commuters on I-93 during the convention, because one lane north and south of the city will be limited to emergency and bus travel.
In addition, from about 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. on convention days, State Police said yesterday, they will reduce traffic on I-93 southbound from three lanes to two along a 5-mile stretch from Route 128 in Woburn to Medford -- the last operative exit, where southbound traffic will be diverted from the highway.
During those same hours, traffic on I-93 northbound from Route 128 in Braintree to the Frontage Road-Massachusetts Turnpike exit in Boston will also be squeezed from three lanes into two. If bottlenecks develop at the final exits, State Police may force cars to exit I-93 farther from Boston.
"The volume of the traffic is the key to the whole thing," Mucci said. "We have the basic structure of the plan, but there's a lot of fluidity to it. If people think it's just another Monday, and they do everything they normally do on any Monday, we're in a lot of trouble."
South of the city, Mucci said, State Police will be monitoring traffic flow at Exit 20, where drivers can go either east or west on the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90), or take Frontage Road to downtown. If gridlock develops, troopers will divert traffic off I-93 further south, possibly at Columbia Road, where drivers can be turned around and sent back southbound on I-93, Mucci said.
North of the city, planners are setting up another release valve, so that Route 60 in Medford is not overrun. Officials have long planned to divert all traffic at Exit 32 in Medford, where drivers have the option of going east or west on Route 60. To relieve some pressure there, local traffic will be allowed to travel in one lane to Exit 31 at Route 16, a modification made at the request of Medford officials.
Similarly, if Route 60 east or west becomes gridlocked and local emergency vehicles can't circulate, Medford officials will be authorized to shut down the diversion at Exit 32. In that case, traffic will be forced off I-93 one exit north, at Exit 33 at Roosevelt Circle.
The traffic will be carefully monitored by the Operations Control Center for the Big Dig in South Boston. Police will use cameras, but will also count on hundreds of state troopers, "who will be able to see one another, they will be so evenly spaced," Mucci said. "We will have instant information to make all decisions."
Mayor Michael J. McGlynn of Medford said he was relieved there would be lane restrictions on I-93 and flexibility built into the traffic-diversion plans.
"What this does is, it eliminates the gridlock, which is the big fear that I have had," said McGlynn, who met with State Police yesterday. "With gridlock, you have problems dispatching public safety vehicles."
McGlynn said he was confident that State Police, in coordination with the Massachusetts Highway Department, would monitor traffic carefully starting at 4 p.m., and close exits and options if the situation deterioates.
"They're going to have a command center, and they will have the ability to shut down a ramp that's creating gridlock, and that's what we have sought all along," he said. "They are going to have 165 troopers from other states and put them 400 yards apart, and additional troopers will be posted throughout the city. Now we have a plan that will be successful for all of us."
Mucci said the ultimate impact of the revised plan is twofold: to give drivers more options, but to take those options away if there are huge traffic jams. Allowing local access to Route 16, for example, relieves pressure on Route 60. But if that option gets overused, it will be taken away.
The plan calls for Medford officials to watch for gridlock in Medford Square, as drivers take Route 60 west. If an unmanageable traffic jam develops, drivers will be barred from traveling west on Route 60 and will have to take Route 60 east. If Route 60 east backs up, drivers will be sent back onto I-93 north.
"If both ways on Route 60 get gridlocked, we'll close off [I-93] at Roosevelt Circle," Mucci said.
Mucci said he was hoping traffic volume during convention week would be about 50 percent of the usual volume and that 40 percent would be even better.
He said police will monitor the road closings very carefully, and if less time is needed to clear the highway in front of the FleetCenter by 7 p.m., the closures may all start a little later in the day.
"We're going to hold off the closures for as long as possible," he said.
Attendees of the Democratic National Convention have pulled out of hundreds of hotel rooms in Boston’s suburbs in recent weeks, leaving executives scrambling to find last-minute guests to fill the empty space.
The Sheraton Ferncroft Resort in Danvers, which had blocked off 328 of its 367 rooms for convention guests, learned last week that convention organizers would take just 50 per night — potentially costing the hotel more than $350,000 in lost revenue....
The Democratic National Convention Committee placed a hold on thousands of hotel rooms in the area to accommodate the delegates, media members, and other guests. Corporations and other groups also reserved blocks of rooms to ensure space for employees and attendees.
But as the date of the convention approached, attendees and organizers firmed up their plans. In some cases, they didn’t need all the space they reserved; in others, they found accommodations closer to the FleetCenter, where the convention is being held.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Participants pulling out of hotels in suburbs
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff
Attendees of the Democratic National Convention have pulled out of hundreds of hotel rooms in Boston’s suburbs in recent weeks, leaving executives scrambling to find last-minute guests to fill the empty space.
The Sheraton Ferncroft Resort in Danvers, which had blocked off 328 of its 367 rooms for convention guests, learned last week that convention organizers would take just 50 per night — potentially costing the hotel more than $350,000 in lost revenue.
Another hotel, the Holiday Inn Boston-Peabody, had expected the Secret Service would take up as many as 100 of its 180 rooms. But hotel executives recently found out the agents and staff would instead be staying closer to the city.
"They just moved all the rooms into the city and left the suburbs holding an empty bag," said Gregg Bolduc, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing.
The Democratic National Convention Committee placed a hold on thousands of hotel rooms in the area to accommodate the delegates, media members, and other guests. Corporations and other groups also reserved blocks of rooms to ensure space for employees and attendees.
But as the date of the convention approached, attendees and organizers firmed up their plans. In some cases, they didn’t need all the space they reserved; in others, they found accommodations closer to the FleetCenter, where the convention is being held.
The pullouts have hit hotels north of Boston particularly hard, where road closings will mean long commutes into the city. The issue has heightened tensions between Boston and its surrounding areas over who will reap the estimated $154 million in spending generated by the convention, and who will suffer lost business.
Dave Hall, executive director of Peabody’s Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in his region initially had expected a boost from the convention, but that many now are "petrified" of the road closings and think it will have far fewer benefits for the North Shore.
"Initially, there was a lot of optimism, because the North Shore is a great tourist area — a lot of history, a lot of culture," he said. "As soon as the security considerations were announced, people had a more pessimistic view."
The hotels agreed last year and earlier this year to block off large portions of their rooms just for convention guests, though organizers never explicitly guaranteed they would fill the space.
Convention organizers say they gave hoteliers ample warning the rooms might not be filled.
"These hotels knew when we signed the contracts with them that we designated blocks for groups, and the groups could stay there or not," said Peggy Wilhide, the DNC committee’s communications director. "The convention-goers want to stay as close to the city as they can. Those rooms go first."
She said organizers try to direct anyone still seeking rooms to some of the suburban hotels.
Some hotels south of Boston had better luck. The Boston Marriott Quincy, which says about 80 percent of its guests that week are linked to the convention, said it plans to make as much money this July as last year, or maybe more. And while other hotels have experienced a slowdown well before the convention, the Quincy Marriott has found business to be brisk, said Cory Chambers, the Quincy Marriott’s director of hotel sales. Still, he said the hotel has found that many of its convention attendees are staying only three nights, rather than the five or six the hotel had expected.
As the convention approaches, hotels further from the city are slashing rates, offering discount packages, and are even making an effort to persuade local Bostonians to stay in a hotel instead of in their homes. So far, they said, their efforts have had mixed results.
The Sheraton Ferncroft Resort plans to start a radio advertising campaign today that pitches the hotel as a good spot for locals who want to golf instead of work during convention week. Julie Campisani, the hotel’s general manager, said executives also called corporations around Boston to see if they needed meeting space during the week of the convention, but that they largely struck out.
"It’s a major financial hit," she said. "We’re a convention hotel. They blocked out our rooms, so we weren’t able to book any conventions at that time. We’re trying to rebound, but it isn’t really happening."
Though the Sheraton Ferncroft said it received little warning that the convention would not use its hotel space, the Holiday Inn said it received some warning convention organizers would not need all the rooms they had blocked off. Bolduc, the Holiday Inn’s director of sales and marketing, said convention officials first informed him several months ago they would not need about 60 of the Secret Service rooms. Then, about three weeks ago, he said, they decided not to use the remaining 40 blocked-off rooms, either. He still has about 50 rooms blocked off for members of the foreign press, but he said he worries they may find other accommodations, too.
For the month of July, he said the hotel is only about 40 percent booked, compared to 85 percent in years past. He said he has been somewhat successful in attracting other guests. The hotel has knocked down rates to $99 from $129 in hopes of attracting even more people.
"It’s a gamble you take going into something like this," he said. "We all understand that. You try to limit your losses. People really thought the DNC was going to come through for them, and that’s not the case."
Other business leaders in the North Shore preferred to look on the bright side yesterday.
"There is availability. Now more than ever, you can have a fantastic vacation experience," said Aimee O’Brien-Jeyarajan, director of public relations for North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. "There’s plenty of activity. There are great discounts. There is great value to be had."
Commuters using Interstate 93 are not the Pavlovian dogs Democratic National Convention transportation planners take them for.
There is no need to add to the DNC traffic headache by closing another lane of that highway southbound from Woburn to Medford and northbound from Braintree to the Frontage Road/Massachusetts Turnpike exit. All this just to try to modify commuters' behavior.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 15, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Planners run amok on I-93 lane closure
Commuters using Interstate 93 are not the Pavlovian dogs Democratic National Convention transportation planners take them for.
There is no need to add to the DNC traffic headache by closing another lane of that highway southbound from Woburn to Medford and northbound from Braintree to the Frontage Road/Massachusetts Turnpike exit. All this just to try to modify commuters' behavior.
Memo to DNC transportation planners: This area's drivers may not be the most courteous in the nation, but they're not stupid.
Yes, it's nice that grumpy Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn was appeased. Those who do venture onto I-93 between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. will be forced off the road at Route 16 instead of Route 60, an exit closer to Boston.
But at least there's a plausible security basis for closing the highway as it approaches Boston and the FleetCenter. (One which we presume Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge supports after he spent part of yesterday traveling all 40 some miles of those roads which will be closed periodically.)
The rationale for the latest plan, like the last one, is to scare off as many additional commuters as possible by making the situation worse than it has to be. And if drivers still aren't scared, make them so miserable they'll wish they were.
The designers of this plan are clearly not seasoned Boston commuters - who are dangerously close to being obsessed about avoiding gridlock. A virtual cottage industry has now sprung up around providing traffic updates.
Commuters make informed choices all the time about routes to take, times to travel, times to avoid and whether to opt for public transportation.
Yes, this could be far worse than the worst day on the old Central Artery. But give commuters information. Don't manipulate them. If drivers can take another route, they surely will. If they can't, they'll grimace and bear it.
When you gotta go, you gotta go - unless you're in town for the Democratic National Convention.
Party-hearty Democrats may have to hold it or commune with the great outdoors of downtown Boston, a fact that has city officials suddenly panicked.
Pols are terrified over the 11th-hour realization that Boston's handful of public toilets shut down at 5 p.m. sharp - long before the 35,000 convention-goers stagger into the streets after last call in local bars.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Toilet crunch to make Dems do 'business' elsewhere
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley
When you gotta go, you gotta go - unless you're in town for the Democratic National Convention.
Party-hearty Democrats may have to hold it or commune with the great outdoors of downtown Boston, a fact that has city officials suddenly panicked.
Pols are terrified over the 11th-hour realization that Boston's handful of public toilets shut down at 5 p.m. sharp - long before the 35,000 convention-goers stagger into the streets after last call in local bars.
The specter is all the scarier because the images, and odors, are fresh from this year's public Super Bowl party, when portable johns were yanked off the streets for security reasons and reveling fans simply answered when nature called.
"The people who live around here, they're going to have people urinating in their back yards or against their walls or behind their businesses," City Councilor Maura A. Hennigan said. "Very unpleasant."
Hennigan and other councilors called yesterday for an emergency hearing on the lack of public restrooms in the city, but it was unclear whether it could be thrown together before the convention arrives in 12 days.
No relief is forthcoming from Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who flatly refused to extend the hours of operations on the city's five coin-operated public toilet kiosks, which are located behind City Hall, at the New England Aquarium, in the Charlestown Navy Yard, at the Boston Public Library and at Puopolo Park in the North End.
Menino aides said any conventioneer with a bursting bladder can use the FleetCenter facilities during convention business hours, and would have to brave the barroom bathrooms after-hours.
"I think we can flush these fears away," Menino spokesman Seth Gitell said. "We're confident that just like for a major sporting event, this city will be well-positioned in this area."
Convention officials wanted nothing to do with the dicey issue.
"We're not responsible for putting port-a-potties all throughout the city," said Karen Grant, spokeswoman for Boston 2004, the convention's host committee.
At some point, now that Boston plans to shut down 40 miles of highway, spend at least $32 million in federal tax dollars just for police and emergency personnel overtime expenses, and suspend for at least four days the rights protected under the U.S. Constitution by searching anyone boarding the MBTA, it might be a good thing to ask whether having the Democratic National Convention here was really worth it.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 15, 2004
It'll be a costly show few will watch
By Howard Manly
At some point, now that Boston plans to shut down 40 miles of highway, spend at least $32 million in federal tax dollars just for police and emergency personnel overtime expenses, and suspend for at least four days the rights protected under the U.S. Constitution by searching anyone boarding the MBTA, it might be a good thing to ask whether having the Democratic National Convention here was really worth it.
Conventional wisdom suggested it was a good thing, would provide some sort of value well after the Democrats left town and generate an economic windfall when they were here. The tourism business would blossom as a result, and the delegates would spread the word back in their villages across the country about Boston as a great host for future conventions and sightseeing trips to such exotic places as the L Street Bath House or the architectural wonders of the FleetCenter.
Of course, Mayor Thomas Menino has been busy sprucing up the place, installing plants and repaving roads in and around North Station, Back Bay and Beacon Hill. All of this was to transform Boston from its proud, rough-and-tumble past to its TV-ready future. Initial estimates of the DNC-led boom for Boston were as much as $150 million. These days, very few believe the city will actually make money on this deal. In fact, two think-tanks suggest the city could end up losing as much as $50 million.
And given Menino's luck on this thing, guess the latest and unkindest cut? The major networks have decided to devote only an hour per night, from 10 to 11, for a total of three hours. The networks are skipping Tuesday night all together - maybe with the exception of some 30-second nugget during their nightly newscasts. Who can really blame them? If the choice is between watching a desperate fool eating boiled goat testicles on a reality show or listening to an elected official talk about the Patriot Act or the Middle East, guess which one gets the nod. Certainly not Sen. Ted Kennedy and his attempt to excite the Democratic masses. He's scheduled to speak Tuesday night.
And that reality falls squarely on the politicians themselves for failing to make politics exciting. They have failed to make politics matter for average Americans. That disconnect is reflected in the networks' decision.
Respected television journalist Ted Koppel told TV critics in Los Angeles earlier this week that he agreed with the scaled-back coverage and called conventions "publicity-making machines." Of course, Koppel didn't have much to say about the political ads that politicians pay the networks to air. But Koppel's point is well taken: Political conventions aren't news anymore. With the nominee chosen in early primaries, conventions provide little drama and only serve to offer both parties a chance to showcase their respective candidiates in carefully choreographed moments. It has become so transparent that Koppel walked out of the 1996 Republican National Convention, saying it was too much of an informercial.
The network slide has been slow but steady. NBC, CBS and ABC each gave 15 hours to the 1992 conventions, 12 hours in 1996, and eight-and-a-half hours in 2000, according to the Vanishing Voter project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Those numbers are in stark contrast to 40 years ago. In 1960, Nielson said, each network devoted as much as nine hours of continuous nightly coverage. At the 1972 Democratic convention, ABC coverage began in prime time and ran until 4:45 a.m. on Monday, midnight on Tuesday, 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday and 3:40 a.m. on Thursday.
That's a lot of television. Of course, cable outlets have picked up the slack, and newspapers do what they can to serve up gavel-to-gavel coverage. But none of this really matters to most folks who live and work here. For nearly two years, Bostonians have been told that the Democratic National Convention would be like a winning lottery ticket. Everyone would benefit from the four days of national politicking, and it would pay dividends well into the future. It was believed the TV coverage alone would be worth the aggravation.
That still might be true. But for a city desperately seeking national confirmation that it has emerged from its difficult past, the lack of television coverage only serves to reinforce the city's second-tier status.
It's better than nothing. But for the few seconds of B-roll showing Boston's beauty spliced between network coverage of the speeches inside the FleetCenter, the question remains: Is hosting the DNC worth it?
While Democratic convention bigwigs hobnob in the air-conditioned FleetCenter and swank function rooms, city kids will find gates to some neighborhood swimming pools padlocked because of security and traffic concerns.
Pools in Cambridge and Somerville will be closed early during the July 26 Democratic National Convention week "to facilitate area traffic flow," while the Lee Wading Pool on the Esplanade has been closed entirely to make way for a state police command post....
Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan said the pool's hours wouldn't impact traffic because most kids who swim there walk from neighboring homes.
"I think it's a bad decision," Sullivan said. "We have a large number of kids in that area. We have not had a hot summer so far, but that is a major outlet for kids in our community."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Friday, July 16, 2004
Out of the pool:
DNC security sinks kids’ swimming holes
By Dave Wedge
While Democratic convention bigwigs hobnob in the air-conditioned FleetCenter and swank function rooms, city kids will find gates to some neighborhood swimming pools padlocked because of security and traffic concerns.
Pools in Cambridge and Somerville will be closed early during the July 26 Democratic National Convention week "to facilitate area traffic flow," while the Lee Wading Pool on the Esplanade has been closed entirely to make way for a state police command post.
"There was no need to close that pool," Mark Horan, spokesman for Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, said of the state's decision to shut down Latta Brothers Pool 1 hours early each day during the DNC. "The kids that use that pool are primarily from that neighborhood right there. They would not pose a traffic problem."
The Magazine Pool on Memorial Drive also will be closed 1 hours early each day because of anticipated traffic jams.
Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan said the pool's hours wouldn't impact traffic because most kids who swim there walk from neighboring homes.
"I think it's a bad decision," Sullivan said. "We have a large number of kids in that area. We have not had a hot summer so far, but that is a major outlet for kids in our community."
Curtatone expressed his disagreement with the decision to state officials yesterday while Sullivan said he plans to vent to them today.
State police negotiated to use the Lee Wading Pool months ago and were busy yesterday building a security compound on the site and an adjacent ballfield. The splash pool, popular with toddlers, closed Monday and will remain closed until Aug. 1.
State Department of Conservation and Recreation spokesman Felix Browne said officials decided to shut down the Somerville pool early because it is near an I-93 off-ramp. Similarly, the Cambridge pool is being shut down because it sits on busy Memorial Drive, he said.
"We want to do what we can to facilitate traffic flow during peak commuter times," Browne said. "If we get the pool closed by 4, rather than 5, then we think it can make a meaningful difference in traffic."
Browne said the agency has received no public complaints but anticipates some as the temperatures surge this weekend.
"People have been pretty understanding," he said. "It's part of the inconvenience (of the DNC), but we've received no complaints."
While angry parents fumed over the shutdown of some public pools during the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano blasted the state agency in charge, calling the decision "overkill."
"To close down a pool on what is on average the hottest week of the year is nuts," Capuano said. "These kids have no other place to go. It's unnecessary."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Pols swim against tide of DNC 'overkill'
By Dave Wedge
While angry parents fumed over the shutdown of some public pools during the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano blasted the state agency in charge, calling the decision "overkill."
"To close down a pool on what is on average the hottest week of the year is nuts," Capuano said. "These kids have no other place to go. It's unnecessary."
The Department of Conservation and Recreation - the agency formerly known as the oft-criticized Metropolitan District Commission - decided to close pools in Somerville and Cambridge 1 1/2 hours early each night during the convention because of traffic concerns.
Another pool, the Lee Wading Pool on the Esplanade, has been closed entirely until Aug. 1 because it is being used as part of a state police command post.
Capuano sent a letter to DCR Commissioner Katherine Abbott yesterday asking her to immediately reverse her decision to close the Magazine and Latta Brothers pools at 4 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. during the DNC.
"It's overkill. It makes no sense," Capuano said. "The DCR, the MDC or whatever alphabet soup name they're using, they don't have a long history of being sensitive to community needs."
Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan also has sent a letter to the DCR, while Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone too has complained. All say traffic concerns are invalid since most pool-goers are neighbors who walk to the facilities.
But the DCR isn't budging. In a letter to Sullivan, Abbott said, "The closure of roads adjacent to (Magazine) pool and the pool in Foss Park in Somerville will cause both traffic and public safety issues if the pools do not close by 4 p.m."
"Many, many organizations have made adjustments to their hours to accommodate the convention, and DCR must do the same," Abbott said.
Swimmers at Magazine pool yesterday said the pool is a city oasis on hot July nights.
"I think it's wrong to shut down one of the best things we have to offer kids - free swimming," said Kathy Coll, who swims at the Cambridge pool with her two children almost daily.
Drawing the line between what's necessary and what's excessive when it comes to security and traffic control for the Democratic National Convention is not an easy job, to be sure. But we'd feel a lot better if we knew it was someone's job to draw that line.
At the peak of summer, the Magazine Pool in Cambridge and the Latta Brothers Pool in Somerville will be closed 1 hours early - the one because it's on Memorial Drive, the other because it's near an Interstate-93 off-ramp. How silly.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, July 17, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Pool closures are overkill
Drawing the line between what's necessary and what's excessive when it comes to security and traffic control for the Democratic National Convention is not an easy job, to be sure. But we'd feel a lot better if we knew it was someone's job to draw that line.
At the peak of summer, the Magazine Pool in Cambridge and the Latta Brothers Pool in Somerville will be closed 1 hours early - the one because it's on Memorial Drive, the other because it's near an Interstate-93 off-ramp. How silly.
Is anyone commuting down I-93 to go for a swim? Officials in both communities say that neighborhood kids, who mostly walk to the pools, are the ones who will be shut out by the early closures.
The trouble is - when it comes to traffic gridlock or security - most politicians are afraid of their own shadows and concerned about their own political futures.
No one wants to be the one to say "no" to a road closure or any other measure suggested by the "experts" because if something happens, fingers will be pointed.
But someone has to start pushing back. Any grownup with clout and a little courage will do.
If he arranges the pasta container just so and then stacks up two banana boxes next to the canned tomato display, Bruce "Albie" Alba figures that the contraption will hold up for four days. That's where the North End produce vendor plans to sleep during the Democratic National Convention.
He won't be alone. Worried that some 40 miles of road closures will keep them from getting back and forth between work and home, many North End business owners who live in the suburbs are preparing to stay in their shops, rather than close early or shut down altogether....
While sleeping in stores and restaurants is illegal, many are betting that city officials, already under fire for expected inconveniences that week, won't be looking for offenders. And they appear to be right.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, July 17, 2004
In North End, they'll sleep where they work
By Benjamin Gedan and Donovan Slack
If he arranges the pasta container just so and then stacks up two banana boxes next to the canned tomato display, Bruce "Albie" Alba figures that the contraption will hold up for four days. That's where the North End produce vendor plans to sleep during the Democratic National Convention.
He won't be alone. Worried that some 40 miles of road closures will keep them from getting back and forth between work and home, many North End business owners who live in the suburbs are preparing to stay in their shops, rather than close early or shut down altogether.
"Everyone is expecting the worst," said Alba, a Saugus resident whose Parmenter Street store, Alba Produce, normally closes at 6 p.m. Road closures are expected to begin at 4 p.m. during the convention. "The only other time this happened was the blizzard of '78."
In cramped corners and storage rooms throughout the North End, they'll be curling up next to 50-pound bags of coffee and sliding into restaurant booths.
Few want to miss the extra business they believe will be strolling North End streets convention week. At Polcari's Coffee on Salem Street, owner Bobby Eustace will sleep on a rusty beach chair in a storage nook, and he plans to push back his closing time from 6 to 9:30 p.m. to take advantage of the extra demand.
"Why not, if I'm going to be here anyway," said the Medford resident, who joked that with 400 pounds of coffee on hand, he could also stay up the entire week.
Worried that staff members may also not be able to get in and out of the North End in a timely way, if they show up to work at all, Filippo Frattaroli has enlisted his wife, two daughters, and two sons to staff his restaurants that week. And the Winchester resident reserved several upstairs tables for them after closing at Filippo Ristorante on Causeway Street.
"The only way to be open, you've got to sleep over," said Frattaroli, a Winchester resident who also owns Ristorante Lucia on Hanover Street. "The booths we can make like a bed."
Some business owners are adorning storefronts with "Welcome Delegates" signs or baking red-white-and-blue cookies in preparation for the political extravaganza.
But not everyone expects convention delegates to stop in for a pound of freshly butchered chops or a bag of rotilli. And many think that the residents who normally frequent the mom-and-pop stores that are the stock-in-trade of Boston's Little Italy will flee town for the week. For some, staying open is just a matter of tradition.
Sulmona Meat Market has been open every day since the blizzard 26 years ago, and Franco Susi has strict orders from his father, who happens to be going to Italy that week, not to close before 6 p.m., no matter what traffic nightmares may keep him from getting home to Medford.
"We'll just sleep on the chairs over here," said Susi, pointing toward a waiting area along one wall of his family's Parmenter Street store.
In a way, it is a throwback to an earlier era, when North End storekeepers lived in their shops or in apartments above them and there was no such thing as closing time. A sign on the door might have said "closed," but knocking would bring the proprietor.
Susi admits, though, that this time around, "there's nothing romantic about sleeping in the meat market."
While sleeping in stores and restaurants is illegal, many are betting that city officials, already under fire for expected inconveniences that week, won't be looking for offenders. And they appear to be right.
"We expect that the roadways will be free and clear and that no one will have need to sleep in their stores, but if for some reason people get stuck, they get stuck," said Michael Kineavy, director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services.
"We will deal with the situations as they arise," he said, "but we're not looking to punish anyone."
Some aren't taking the chance, though. At Mike's Pastry on Hanover Street, part-owner Elaine Martins plans to put up relatives in her grandparents' Clark Street apartment, rather than setting up cots in the bakery. Her brother Angelo from Woburn, uncle Joseph from Southborough, parents Mike and Annette from Saugus, and husband Richard from Medford will all cram into the three-bedroom apartment with her grandparents.
"That apartment will be occupied," said Martins, who wants her relatives standing by in case staff doesn't show up that week.
Alba says it will be like summer camp. He could get his morning coffee at Polcari's, and he'll cook meals in his store's toaster. "Steak comes out great in a toaster oven," Alba said.
Suffolk County officials are gearing up for the arrest of as many as 2,500 protesters during the Democratic National Convention, scheduling dozens of prosecutors and defense lawyers to handle cases, designating four judges for arraignments, and emptying scores of jail cells.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Officials prepare for arrest of 2,500
Convention protests could crowd jail cells
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
Suffolk County officials are gearing up for the arrest of as many as 2,500 protesters during the Democratic National Convention, scheduling dozens of prosecutors and defense lawyers to handle cases, designating four judges for arraignments, and emptying scores of jail cells.
Boston is planning to issue about 100 permits for demonstrations and marches, more than first expected, because the city extended the deadline for applications from last week to two days ago.
Officials want to make sure the court system can handle a flood of arrests. "We're just all trying to prepare for the worst-case scenario," said Marilyn J. Wellington, administrator of the Boston Municipal Court, which expects to handle most of the cases. "We'd rather be overly prepared than surprised."
Estimates of possible arrests vary among law-enforcement officials, but all appear to be much higher than the number of people arrested at previous national party conventions. Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Charles R. Johnson recently estimated that 1,500 to 2,500 people could be arrested during the convention. He based that partly on projections by police, Wellington said.
US Secret Service officials have projected up to 1,000 arrests during the convention, according to Elizabeth Keeley, the chief of staff for Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, who operates the county House of Correction in South Bay.
Either figure would dwarf the totals four years ago at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, when just under 200 people were taken into custody, and at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia, when some 390 were arrested.
Beverly Ford, a police spokeswoman, said Thursday that she did not know where Johnson's figures came from and that they seemed high. The Police Department is "not giving out any numbers, because you can't predict for that," she said.
The extensive arrest preparations have alarmed some defense lawyers.
"I just know from my experience that when there are large demonstrations and you have police officers on horseback in riot gear ready for action ... they don't want to get all prepared and do nothing," said John Salsberg, cochairman of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice.
Boston police say those concerns are unwarranted.
"If everybody behaves themselves and follows the law, there will be no arrests," Ford said. "We're prepared, but we don't anticipate any large-scale arrests."
Suffolk County officials have taken steps to streamline the arrest process. Instead of being booked at a district police station, those arrested will be taken to the House of Correction in South Bay, about 3 miles from the FleetCenter, for booking at five special stations.
To accommodate defendants who have to be held overnight, about 140 prisoners, federal detainees being held on immigration violations, are being moved from the House of Correction's Building 8 to holding cells outside the city, Keeley said.
Fifteen veteran prosecutors will be assigned to the district court throughout the week to handle arraignments, and Suffolk Lawyers for Justice has assembled a team to defend those who cannot afford private lawyers.
Citing the possibility that police will overreact to protests, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a left-leaning bar association, plans to have at least 130 observers poised to attend demonstrations to serve as witnesses if people are arrested.
By yesterday, the city's Consumer Affairs and Licensing Department had issued 94 permits to groups ranging from the Falun Dafa Association of New England, which engages in the Chinese meditation practice commonly known as Falun Gong, to Vietnam Veterans Against Kerry, according to Lisa Pollack, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
Stephen Kurkjian of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
The pothole plague has been lifted like a miracle from the areas around the Democratic National Convention site, but outlying neighborhoods are complaining that Boston's DNC beautification is passing them by.
With indignation growing over the haves and have-nots of a sudden spurt of street repairs, more than 1,200 Boston residents have signed petitions in the last two months, demanding the release of pent-up roadwork money.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Sunday, July 18, 2004
City's going to pot:
Convention prep skips holes in neighborhoods
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley
The pothole plague has been lifted like a miracle from the areas around the Democratic National Convention site, but outlying neighborhoods are complaining that Boston's DNC beautification is passing them by.
With indignation growing over the haves and have-nots of a sudden spurt of street repairs, more than 1,200 Boston residents have signed petitions in the last two months, demanding the release of pent-up roadwork money.
The petitions have been flying off their stack on the front counter at Jamaica Plain's Classic Cleaners, whose owner Michael Pavone became galvanized after city officials turned a deaf ear on his pleas to fix a sinkhole in front of his Roslindale home.
"I would assume the downtown or wherever the DNC is going to be is going to look pretty good," Pavone said. "What makes us that are outside the city - Roslindale, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Mattapan - any different? We're the ones that have paid for all this."
City Councilor Maura Hennigan has been blanketing the city with petitions, asking Mayor Thomas M. Menino to release $22 million she says has accrued in a city account intended for permanent repairs and fueled by deposits from private entities that tear up streets.
Menino aides insisted the outlying neighborhoods aren't being left out in the cold - only that convention-centric work had to be done early due to Secret Service security demands.
Two months ago, the administration unveiled plans to spent $12.8 million on 175 citywide road and sidewalk repairs by November. Of the total, $2.7 million is being spent on the area around the FleetCenter.
"It might seem as if that area is getting more attention, but the public works effort is going to continue throughout the whole summer," said Menino spokesman Seth Gitell.
Even with the singular focus on prettying up the convention areas, some spots still seem to have fallen through the cracks.
Witness the 16-inch-diameter, 3-inch-deep pothole in the sidewalk in front of Caffe Dello Sport on Hanover Street - practically shouting distance from the FleetCenter.
Worried that folks with walkers or wheelchairs will hurt themselves trying to get into his establishment, owner Michael Spencer has repeatedly mixed his own concrete and patched the giant hole himself - including just last week, despite repeated pleas over a dozen years for the city to do something about it.
"They repaired every sidewalk in the North End in certain areas adjacent to me, but didn't touch me," Spencer said. "Especially with the convention coming into town, you figure they'd come out and do it."
The Democratic National Convention Committee - facing embarrassing public criticism on their record of doling out contracts to businesses owned by women and minorities - is flatly refusing to provide details of their contracting process.
After numerous inquiries from the Herald about DNCC catering contracts, the DNCC refused to provide the information, citing a privacy policy.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Convention panel hides info on minority biz contracts
By Ann E. Donlan
The Democratic National Convention Committee - facing embarrassing public criticism on their record of doling out contracts to businesses owned by women and minorities - is flatly refusing to provide details of their contracting process.
After numerous inquiries from the Herald about DNCC catering contracts, the DNCC refused to provide the information, citing a privacy policy.
The Herald's inquiry came the same day as one by Boston City Councilor Charles C. Yancey, who said he has been focused for some time on making sure that minority- and women-owned companies could feast on the much-hailed economic boon of the Democratic National Convention.
"I can't provide details of the contracts because we don't make any of that public," said Lina Garcia, press secretary for the DNCC, the official organizing arm of the DNC.
Yancey said the DNC has vowed to award contracts to people of color and women. "I will work with the DNC to correct any problems in not achieving those goals."
"I certainly have concerns," Yancey said. "I do have a call into the DNC at this point to get a list of the vendors as well as an identification of those by gender and race. I expect to get that information. ... within a c ouple of days."
The DNCC spokeswoman said she was unsure whether Yancey would receive the information, saying, "I'd have to look into that. I don't know."
Garcia stressed that of the $14 million spent on Fleet Center construction, minority- and women-owned companies have reaped about $4.3 million in subcontracting work.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino had directed his Boston 2004 Host Committee, which is handling contracts for catering and other services for citywide events outside the FleetCenter, to compose a special list of small businesses and those headed by minorities and women. The much-hyped goal of the vendor list was to funnel DNC contracts to these businesses.
Andre Thomas, who owns Jones Hill Cafe in Dorchester, which provides catering services and offers a menu rich with American and Caribbean choices, said he has landed some DNC-related business, but mostly from chasing down his own leads, not from being sought out because of his inclusion on the list.
"I understand the good-old-boy system in Boston and realize there were some opportunities that I could have had if it wasn't for those kind of barriers where people just work with specific groups of people, or don't really do the kind of outreach they need to do to work with minority- and women-owned businesses," Thomas said.
Yancey is optimistic that DNC money will flow to businesses in all of Boston's neighborhoods.
"In aggregate, I expect the picture to be very positive but I'm still waiting for the numbers, because the numbers tell the story," he said.
"Do not go to Boston during the DNC!" New Hampshire Motor Transport Association President Robert Sculley recently wrote in the group's newsletter.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Motor Transportation Association has advised Bay State truckers to allow for an extra 2 1/2 hours of delay - at least - if they can't avoid I-93 between Woburn and Braintree. All trucks traveling that stretch of the highway will be searched, MMTA said.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Monday, July 19, 2004
Truckers honkin' on out
By Thomas Caywood
A New Hampshire trucking industry group is warning truckers to stay out of the Hub next week or face hours of delays as cops search rigs on Interstate 93.
"Do not go to Boston during the DNC!" New Hampshire Motor Transport Association President Robert Sculley recently wrote in the group's newsletter.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Motor Transportation Association has advised Bay State truckers to allow for an extra 2 1/2 hours of delay - at least - if they can't avoid I-93 between Woburn and Braintree. All trucks traveling that stretch of the highway will be searched, MMTA said.
Floyd Hanes, an owner at Aranco Oil Co. in Concord, told the Union Leader newspaper he'll divert his trucks to oil terminals outside of Boston next week.
"I'm not going to have my drivers call me and say, 'I'm 100 trucks deep and I'm going to be here another eight hours,'" he said.
North End restaurant owners are cursing the Democratic National Convention as a business bust that has scared away their regular customers and turned a tourist mecca into a desolate security zone.
"I do more business during a February snowstorm than I've done this week," said a downtrodden Dom Capossela, owner of Dom's Ristorante on Salem Street. "It's an absolute disaster."
Hopes were high for a hefty boost from convention traffic this week, but many restaurateurs say business has been so slow they are planning to close early unless they see a dramatic turnaround....
The depressing pace of business stood in stark contrast to rosy predictions from city officials that the convention would produce a flood of business for local bars and restaurants....
"They hyped everybody up for this and when it's all said and done they're going to come out with what it costs taxpayers (for security)," D'Amelio said.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Thank$ for nothing, DNC
Empty eateries, empty promises
By Casey Ross
North End restaurant owners are cursing the Democratic National Convention as a business bust that has scared away their regular customers and turned a tourist mecca into a desolate security zone.
"I do more business during a February snowstorm than I've done this week," said a downtrodden Dom Capossela, owner of Dom's Ristorante on Salem Street. "It's an absolute disaster."
Hopes were high for a hefty boost from convention traffic this week, but many restaurateurs say business has been so slow they are planning to close early unless they see a dramatic turnaround.
The normally bustling business district, which sits in the shadow of the FleetCenter, was eerily quiet Monday and yesterday as police and military officials patrolled the neighborhood like it was a war-torn European city.
In a sight that shocked longtime residents, there were even a few empty parking spots along Hanover Street, which is usually jammed with double-parked delivery trucks and frustrated tourists.
"You know it's dead when that happens," said Richard Martins, manager of Mike's Pastry, which often has lines out the door. "I actually sent employees home early yesterday and today."
The depressing pace of business stood in stark contrast to rosy predictions from city officials that the convention would produce a flood of business for local bars and restaurants.
Instead, restaurant owners say, it is producing only hefty losses as their beefed-up waitstaffs watch the evening pass in quiet dining rooms.
At noon yesterday, George D'Amelio, owner of 5 North Square restaurant, stood in his immaculate but empty eatery and kicked himself for giving up a Maine vacation this week.
"They hyped everybody up for this and when it's all said and done they're going to come out with what it costs taxpayers (for security)," D'Amelio said. "I hope it's going to pick up for the weekend, but you never make back what you lose."
Boston merchants who anticipated jingling cash registers with the arrival of the Democratic National Convention say the promise has been a bust as an exodus of locals, a boycott of Boston by commuters, and slower-than-expected convention trade have driven down sales at many businesses by more than 50 percent....
From the North End's candlelit trattorias to the high-sheen boutiques of Newbury Street, business was so slack that grousing owners were forced to send workers home early -- even from shops and restaurants that had stocked up in anticipation of brisk convention commerce....
"We thought that according to the mayor, business was going to be good around here. But we got absolutely nothing," said Albert Scaperelli, manager of the Euno Ristorante in the North End. "We were so supportive of the city that we even changed our hours to cater the DNC. But we haven't seen one person from the DNC." ...
Some merchants said Menino and the Democrats committed a significant tactical error by locating the convention in the congested neighborhood around the FleetCenter, rather than at the new convention center in South Boston. That location, farther from Interstate 93, would have kept more roads open and would have had virtually no effect on downtown businesses, they said.
Now that the damage has been done, said Joseph Pagliuca, owner of Pagliuca's Ristorante on Parmenter Street, Menino should reimburse North End eateries for their losses.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Shops’ dreams don’t pan out
By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff
and Benjamin Gedan, Globe Correspondent
Boston merchants who anticipated jingling cash registers with the arrival of the Democratic National Convention say the promise has been a bust as an exodus of locals, a boycott of Boston by commuters, and slower-than-expected convention trade have driven down sales at many businesses by more than 50 percent.
In neighborhoods across Boston, business owners criticized leaders and law enforcement authorities for casting a thick security blanket over the city that left workers standing idle on sidewalks, watching streets that were as empty as their shops and restaurants.
From the North End's candlelit trattorias to the high-sheen boutiques of Newbury Street, business was so slack that grousing owners were forced to send workers home early -- even from shops and restaurants that had stocked up in anticipation of brisk convention commerce.
Interviews yesterday with more than two dozen owners and managers of restaurants, clothing stores, and gift shops around town drew responses ranging from disappointment to sharp anger directed at City Hall. The impact was most significant in the North End, where bakeries and restaurants reported that sales were off by more than 50 percent. Along Newbury Street in the Back Bay, shopkeepers said the situation was not as bad, although business was lagging.
Business owners who had supported bringing the convention to Boston said yesterday they felt especially betrayed by the turn of events. They faulted Mayor Thomas M. Menino for agreeing to security measures they thought were too extreme, and the media for hyping the extensive road closures.
"We thought that according to the mayor, business was going to be good around here. But we got absolutely nothing," said Albert Scaperelli, manager of the Euno Ristorante in the North End. "We were so supportive of the city that we even changed our hours to cater the DNC. But we haven't seen one person from the DNC."
Menino, who has staked a chunk of his political legacy on the convention, said at a news conference yesterday that business has been "uneven."
"Some are doing well, some are not doing so well," the mayor said. "I know of some restaurants that are booked solid for five days, other ones aren't."
Responding to a question about upset business owners, Menino said, "I can understand their anger, a little bit."
Some merchants said Menino and the Democrats committed a significant tactical error by locating the convention in the congested neighborhood around the FleetCenter, rather than at the new convention center in South Boston. That location, farther from Interstate 93, would have kept more roads open and would have had virtually no effect on downtown businesses, they said.
Now that the damage has been done, said Joseph Pagliuca, owner of Pagliuca's Ristorante on Parmenter Street, Menino should reimburse North End eateries for their losses.
"It would have been best in South Boston. This way, there's no business," said Pagliuca, who estimated he had lost 90 percent of his usual business since Sunday. "We're standing outside, day and night. The government has power, but how can they make businesses close for a week? We have families to feed."
In the two years since Boston won the right to host the nation's Democrats, shopkeepers had nurtured hopes of a business bonanza, with delegates on shopping binges and flocking into neighborhoods for meals. Instead, with the exception of the Quincy Market area and parts of Beacon Hill, convention-goers have not swept into neighborhoods near the FleetCenter. Locals and commuters, meanwhile, are avoiding downtown Boston this week by the tens of thousands.
The results were on stark display at lunchtime in the North End, when the neighborhood's narrow streets were uncharacteristically bereft of vehicle and pedestrian traffic. In front of Old North Church, a lone couple on the Freedom Trail studied a map. The sidewalks climbing Hull Street to Copp's Hill Burying Ground were empty -- no tourists, no residents.
Business was dismal around the corner at Philip's Total Care Salon on Charter Street. "You're looking at it," stylist Doreen Merola said, gesturing at two customers. Not a single walk-in had come to the salon, which Merola said usually sends a coiffed client out the door every 30 minutes. "It was a total misconception that we would have some kind of business generated by this convention," she said.
On Salem Street, Bova's bakery opened a new streetside sales window this week with a sign to welcome the DNC. By late yesterday afternoon, the window was shuttered. Inside, cannoli -- the bakery's most popular item -- were not selling. Bakers usually refill five trays at least three times a day. "Today, I'll be lucky to fill it once," said Diana Bova, an owner, adding that sales had tumbled 50 percent.
Down the street, Ernesto's Old World Pizza had sold 70 pies by 4:30, down from a daily average of 200. "It's awful, and I'm angry about it," said the owner, Rocco Anciello. "The convention is not benefiting us at all."
At dusk, as candles melted at 14 vacant tables at Strega on Hanover Street, two waiters, a busboy, hostess, chef, and the owner stood on the sidewalk. "This street is usually electric," said owner Nick Varano. "Now, it looks like there's tumbleweeds."
A similar refrain reverberated along Newbury.
"I didn't have any delusions of how it was going to be," said Stefan Bieri, the owner of Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland. "Last week, all of our regular customers said, 'Bye, bye, I'm going to the Cape.'"
Globe correspondents Emily Anthes, Katie Nelson, Tyrone Richardson, Alonso Soto, and Emma Stickgold contributed to this report.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is fending off complaints that businesses are suffering because residents fled, tourists avoided the city and Democratic conventioneers are being privately entertained.
After swearing that delegates wielding fistfuls of cash would jump-start the local economy, Menino said yesterday, "I can understand their anger - I'm not making any excuses. We'll make it up to them when we bring other conventions to the city."
But businesses are worried about surviving the one that's already here.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Menino: We'll make it up to businesses
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley, Greg Gatlin and Jay Fitzgerald
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is fending off complaints that businesses are suffering because residents fled, tourists avoided the city and Democratic conventioneers are being privately entertained.
After swearing that delegates wielding fistfuls of cash would jump-start the local economy, Menino said yesterday, "I can understand their anger - I'm not making any excuses. We'll make it up to them when we bring other conventions to the city."
But businesses are worried about surviving the one that's already here.
"When you shut down a city and have enough police to take care of an uprising in Baghdad, you're not going to attract anyone here," said Irving Liss, owner of Hilton's Tent City, just down Friend Street from the FleetCenter.
Many merchants, from print and graphic design shops to restaurants around the FleetCenter and beyond, said the convention hasn't come close to living up to its billing as a cash generator.
Sinasi Birgun, who runs Empire Photo on Causeway Street, stocked up on framed photos of John F. Kennedy. But sales so far, he said, "won't even pay the electric bill."
Instead of buying JFK portraits, conventioneers have been shooting their own photos of the pictures in Empire's window.
"Can't wait for it to be over," said Mic Gandhi, co-owner of Downtown Crossing's Green Mountain Coffee stand, where sales have plunged 75 percent.
"It's ruining our business," said Mary Martin, general manager of the Elephant and Castle restaurant on Devonshire Street near Fidelity Investments' Financial District headquarters. Martin predicted business will be down $10,000 this week, or 30 percent.
Some restaurants and shops in toney Back Bay - home to so many hotels - reported doing better.
Kevin Moriarty, with clothing store Brooks Brothers on Newbury Street, said business is up with last-minute requests for ties, shirts and suits from delegates and other pols.
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