Taking Filene's Basement (By Eminent Domain)

Steven Roth, the developer responsible for the Hole That Was Once Filene's in Downtown Crossing, is about to feel the unmitigated wrath of the Menino Machine. The mayor has threatened to use the nearly boundless power of the Boston Redevelopment Authority to shut down Roth's project and even take over the site by the power of eminent domain.

Why the sudden fuss? Roth, a shady New Yorker, shared some surprisingly candid remarks about his strategy for collecting municipal subsidies with an audience of Columbia architecture students last week:

Why did I do nothing [about the big hole in New York that was to become the Bloomberg LP tower]? Because I was thinking in my own awkward way, that the more the building was a blight, the more the governments would want this to be redeveloped; the more help they would give us when the time came.

Sound familiar? The Hole That Was Once Filene's became a hot button issue during last year's mayoral election, and it's a constant thorn in Menino's side. We rarely get excited about using eminent domain to clear up alleged blight—it's usually just a way to screw poor people—but in this case, we've gotta say it. Go, Tommy, go.

[Hat Tip, UHub]