The mayor wants a former Big Dig contractor, Paul Pedini, to return two foo dogs to Chinatown. The contractor had "liberated" them to decorate his snazzy sustainable home, which was built from Big Dig recyclables.

The contractor claimed it was okay for him to take the two foo dogs because they were going to be replaced by brand-new ones. There were four old foo dogs—two went to Pedini, and two went to the Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus because Saugus has a thing for large animals, like the orange dinosaur. But only two foo dogs are presently gracing Chinatown.

The Boston Art Commission head, Julie Burns said yesterday "her department knew the old foo dogs had been removed from their Beach Street perch, but said the city did not authorize them to be given to Paul Pedini, the former vice president of Big Dig contractor Modern Continental."

Now that's an intriguing comment because several news outlets, local and otherwise, wrote about Pedini's home because it was recycled. Surely someone in the Boston Art Commission came across a mention of Pedini's roof garden. Pedini wasn't exactly sneaky about the foo dogs. And how did a Saugus restaurant get the other two?

Image of two foo dogs from Talaria Enterprises.